When James, the main character in the Oscar-winning movie The Hurt Locker, straps on his blast-resistant suit, he undergoes a transformation. In a recent interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, actor Jeremy Renner described his "love-hate" relationship with the 60-pound suit.
"The suit was such a big part of that character, a massive part of that movie - visually, and then just physically," he said. "If it was a fake suit without all the Kevlar in it, I would have not walked the way I walked. I wouldn't be able to move the way I moved in it. Something very sort of lunar."
So how does suit like worn by explosive ordnance disposal technicians work? Dvice has a fascinating, full-length story on the suit, including the exotic-looking helmet, which can take the force of an explosion, and the high-tech cooling system designed to keep the wearer from succumbing to heat prostration. It also gives some details on the high-tech armor plates. According to the manufacturer, the plates are slightly curved ("like flattened boomerangs") to reflect blast energy away from the bomb-disposal specialist.
Interestingly, at the height of the roadside bomb threat in Iraq, the military tested out an adapted version of the suit, called the Cupola Protective Ensemble. The idea was to protect the exposed turret gunners in Humvees from blast and shrapnel. But the concept, at least to use the EOD suit, got mixed reviews: It was often too hot to wear, and it limited the visibility of the gunner.
[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]
