Ukrainian forces say they’re testing exoskeletons in battle for the first time, deploying them in logistics and combat positions on the Pokrovsk front.
The 7th Air Assault Corps posted a video on Friday of its 147th Separate Artillery Brigade demonstrating the new tech.
The exoskeletons are designed to be buckled at the waist and legs, with the apparatus wrapping behind the user’s back and weaving toward the front of their knees. It also features two actuators at the hip that serve as hinges.
Each exoskeleton, the corps said, is meant to reduce the load on leg muscles by 30%, helping troops move at up to 12 mph for about 10 miles.
Clips showed two soldiers using the exoskeletons to carry and load artillery shells on a French CAESAR self-propelled Howitzer.
“Every day, artillerymen endure heavy physical loads. They carry 15 to 30 shells daily, each weighing 50 kg,” said Colonel Vitalii Serdiuk, the corps’ deputy commander, in a statement attached to the video.
The exoskeleton appears to be foldable, allowing it to fit inside a briefcase; the corps said the device itself weighs about 4.4 pounds.
Captions on the video said the exoskeletons are equipped with artificial intelligence that adapts in real time to the load on the soldier’s legs and spine, allowing them to function in 10 different modes.
The 7th Air Assault Corps said this was the first time that any Ukrainian unit had trialed such technology in combat, and that the exoskeletons it received were test samples.
The US has also been designing its own exoskeletons, such as the Army’s SABER, a soft, wearable exosuit that is strapped to the back and around each leg to reduce spinal strain.
Another example is Lockheed Martin’s ONYX, a lower-body exoskeleton with knee actuators that wraps around the legs, but it hasn’t been made standard-issue for the US military.
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