In the opening sequence of the Academy Award-winning film The Hurt Locker, a soldier wears an explosive ordnance disposal (OED) suit pretty close to the spot where a bomb goes off. Can a soldier survive such an incident? Dvice contacted the manufacturer of the suit to get the lowdown on how it protects a soldier from both the shockwave and the shrapnel of an explosion. The 60-pound suit contains a lot of modern technology at work. Link -via Unique Daily
They're useless for any mission other than what they're made for.
1. the military can't even afford to give Kevlar to soldiers
2. This thing probably costs $80,000 for a prototype, and won't see mass production for years
3. It will be made by the lowest bidder anyways.
Hopefully, our children will one day live to see such things become standard issue, but sadly I don't see any Afghanistan/Iraq war soldiers getting this one anytime soon. :(