A Real Iron Man Suit
BALDWIN: Are you in the market for maybe a new truck? How about an extended cab? How about an assault rifle for the gun rack while we're at it? A Florida truck dealer is offering free vouchers for weapons with each purchase. So, anyone who purchases a truck can get 400 bucks as a voucher to redeem at a local gun store. In fact, we also found another deal in Missouri making a similar offer. I thought it was interesting. OK. So, we're sitting around in the morning editorial meeting and our whole team and we learned about this piece, this idea that we thought was so cool we had to show you. First, you know the movie "Iron Man." Actor Robert Downey, Jr., he puts on this space-aged suit that made him stronger. You know, he can fly. Basically, he becomes Iron Man. So, when we saw that, we wondered -- why don't real-life soldiers actually have that technology? So, it turns out they may soon have some of it. CNN's Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence takes us to Utah where a prototype is in the works.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brix Jameson (ph) -- it's got a "Tony Stark is Iron Man" sort of ring to it. Stark runs a defense-contracting company. Jameson just works for one. But Raytheon's test engineer is no playboy billionaire. Married, three kids, but just maybe wearing the prototype for future soldiers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't fly. That seems to be the big thing that Iron Man does.</s>LAWRENCE (on camera): If you're Tony stark, I mean, where's -- you know, where's the sports cars? Where's the scantily clad women, the penthouse, all that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I roll in a minivan, man. It reacts to the force of your feet so you want to react immediately.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): Granted the XOS2 is dead weigh -- until it's used by outside power, and then the hydraulic fluid starts pumping. Steel and aluminum arms make everything lighter. (on camera): So, do you -- this 200 pounds feels like?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Less than 20 pounds. The weight of my arms does most of the work. You don't have this imminence feeling of strength that just when you go to do something that you couldn't do without it. Then that's when you notice it.</s>LAWRENCE: So, this is probably three inches of pine thick enough to hold up the second story of a house.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not even going to tell you how much that hurt.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show off.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): But here's where fictional meets functional. Iron Man can fly and shoot pulse rays out of his hands. This suit is still tethered to its power source. Mobile batteries like lithium either don't last long enough or can't be strapped to a soldier' body.</s>DR. FRASER SMITH, V.P. OF OPERATIONS, RAYTHEON SARCOS: They get breached. They aren't gentle in the way they explode.</s>LAWRENCE (on camera): So, for safety, liability reasons, they can't power up the suit with me in it. But I've at least got to feel what it's like inside. Without the hydraulics, the first thing you notice is how heavy this is. I mean, it's tough to take a step forward. But I still feel like I've got my dexterity, the range of motion. (voice-over): That's important to supply units where being tethered to a power source wouldn't matter.</s>SMITH: The logistics personnel in the military typical move 16,000 pounds a day, which is an awful lot of load.</s>LAWRENCE: And the suit can keep lifting for hours.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things that would just destroy your back, this thing pick it up, no problem.</s>LAWRENCE: Today's troops are carrying up to 150 pounds in Afghanistan. But the suit can make armor and equipment feel 17 times lighter.</s>SMITH: That means you exert one pound and it exerts 17. That's a major amplification of strength. And -- but it's all loads that the person doesn't have to carry themselves.</s>LAWRENCE: Chris Lawrence, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.</s>BALDWIN: You've got to admit that is kind of cool. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and for the last 15 years, she has been under house arrest. But could she be a mere hours from her own freedom? The incredible story of activist Aung San Suu Kyi. That is ahead. Plus, Dana Bash is standing by with brand new information just in from the world of politics. We'll get you the CNN Political Ticker -- next.