Top secret CIA technology capable of pinpointing an individual’s heartbeat was reportedly deployed to rescue a USAF soldier in Iran — but that is merely scratching the surface when it comes to science-fiction-style weaponry.

Ghost Murmur reportedly harnesses long-range quantum magnetometry to detect the unique signature of a human heartbeat, cross-referencing the data with artificial intelligence software to distinguish the signal from background noise.

Yet it is far from the only cutting-edge military technology that appears to have been lifted straight from the pages of a science fiction novel. Here, we examine some of the most extraordinary futuristic capabilities available to the US armed forces, just days after America’s new ultra-stealthy combat drone was unveiled.

Combat exoskeletons

Familiar from blockbusters such as Iron Man and Aliens, exoskeletons could soon become battlefield reality. Troops from the US Army’s 1-78 Field Artillery Battalion training unit at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, successfully completed a three-day “proof of concept” evaluation of the latest generation of “exoskeleton suits.”

This forms part of an ongoing series of experiments stretching back as far as 1960, when the Pentagon was exploring a “power-operated mechanical suit or skeleton that would transform the ordinary GI into a Superman”. In those distant Cold War days, military chiefs envisioned a soldier dressed in “a special suit which will have its own engine, enabling him to run faster, stop quicker, and lift bigger loads than ordinary mortals”.

The forecast from Army Research & Development magazine suggested that the wearer of the US Army’s proposed combat armour “Will be immune to germ warfare, poison gas, and the heat and radiation from nuclear blasts”.

While the notion of powered armour of the type featured in films such as Starship Troopers and Avatar is likely still some distance away, a wearable “fork lift,” akin to the power loader Ripley operated in the closing scenes of James Cameron’s 1986 Alien sequel may become reality within the next few years.

Panasonic subsidiary Activelink has been developing a powered exoskeleton that could assist military personnel in confined environments – such as submarines or aircraft carriers – to manoeuvre heavy missiles or torpedoes effortlessly.

Invisibility cloaks

The notion of stealth has been a fundamental component of warfare for centuries, whether we’re discussing the introduction of khaki uniforms in the mid-1800s to counter the advancement of precise sniper rifles, or the US air force’s ultra-stealthy B-21 Raider, anticipated to rule the skies in the 2030s.

But the next generation of military camouflage appears to be lifted straight from the pages of Harry Potter. Modern combat zones are bristling with thermal sensors capable of detecting humans and vehicles purely from their heat signatures. Ukrainian drones are already deploying infra-red sensors to home in on Russian soldiers’ body heat.

For this very reason, the US Marines are anticipating delivery of their own “invisibility cloak” by 2030. The Multispectral Camouflage Overgarment, or MCO, “is intended to provide individual signature management for Marines by mitigating detection across the visual (VIS), near infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrums as well as suppress thermal signatures in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR) to reduce the likelihood of detection by thermal sensors,” according to a recent Marine Corps equipment order.

The Marines have stated they require 13,000 of these cloaks by 2027, and 61,000 by 2030.

Meanwhile, certain Royal Marines units in the UK are already utilising the Barracuda cloak, manufactured by Swedish firm Saab. The poncho-style garment, which can also be deployed as a camouflage drape for bivouacs, offers low visibility across multiple sensor types as well as, crucially, to the naked eye.

Drone killers

The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated how much of the “cutting edge” weaponry developed for large-scale superpower confrontations has been rendered obsolete by small, comparatively affordable drones. The next generation of drone warfare, featuring vast “swarms” of independent yet co-ordinated drones designed to overwhelm conventional defences, has military chiefs concerned.

General John Murray, head of the US Army Futures Command, cautions that these next-generation weapons can strike at such velocity and in such quantities that no human defender can realistically combat them. “When you are defending against a drone swarm, a human may be required to make that first decision, but I am just not sure any human can keep up,” he said.

Martijn Rasser from military think-tank Centre for a New American Security suggests kamikaze drones could prove the ideal first-strike weapon: “You throw so much mass at [an air defence facility] and so many numbers that the system is overwhelmed.

“This, of course, has a lot of tactical benefits on a battlefield,” he told German news outlet Deutsche Welle. “No surprise, a lot of countries are very interested in pursuing these types of capabilities.”

Unsurprisingly, measures are already being implemented to counter this next-generation threat. On US aircraft carriers, an integrated network of aircraft, missiles and microwave “death rays” would be deployed to neutralise the assault of an incoming drone swarm.

The death ray — or more precisely the Epirus Leonidas — is a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon designed to neutralise large numbers of incoming drones. The system can select individual targets or operate in wide beam mode to blanket a large area, affecting any electronic device within its “kill zone.”

Beyond aerial drones, the system can also disable AI-guided boats of the kind deployed by Ukraine to devastating effect against Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Leonidas “was effective against vessel motors at record ranges” during recent tests, according to a US navy announcement.

Epirus CEO Andy Lowery told Defense News: “Leonidas, by its nature, it’s just an old-fashioned platform. We’ve made force fields … of electromagnetic energy. Whether that electromagnetic energy spoils a drone’s electronics from working correctly or spoils a boat’s motor, or use your imagination, anything with little computers in it and stuff, is susceptible to these persistent fields of energy.”

Combat robots

“Robot wars are already happening,” says Oleksandr Afanasiev from the Ukrainian army’s K-2 brigade, which is amongst the first to deploy “armed uncrewed ground vehicles,” or killer robots. Ukrainian and Russian combat robots have reportedly clashed on the battlefield without any human presence. Robots, he explains, are far easier to repair and replace than human soldiers – and are entirely without fear: “They open fire on a battlefield where an infantryman would be afraid to turn up. But a UGV is happy to risk its existence.”

The deputy commander of the 33rd Detached Mechanised Brigade’s tank battalion, who uses the codename Afghan, told the BBC that one Ukrainian UGV armed with a machine gun ambushed a Russian personnel carrier, while another robot defended a Ukrainian position for weeks.

He emphasised that although the operators of these robots may not be physically present on the front line, the decision to fire a lethal shot remains in human hands. He continued: “Modern UGVs are part-autonomous. They can move on their own, they can observe and detect the enemy. But still, the decision to open fire is made by a human, their operator,” he said.

“Robots can misidentify the wrong person or attack a civilian. That’s why the final decision must be made by an operator.”

At present, combat robots tend to be compact tracked vehicles, however Maksym Vasylchenko, director of specialist robot manufacturers Tencore, believes that humanoid “terminators” will be prowling the battlefield far sooner than most anticipate. “It won’t be science fiction any more,” he said.

Smart bullets

Hitting a stationary target with a firearm is simple enough, but on a fast-moving, unpredictable battlefield, the challenge becomes far greater. In 2008, the EXACTO programme was launched by US weapons research agency DARPA, with the aim of developing a “fire-and-forget” smart sniper rifle system incorporating a guided intelligent projectile.

The bullet is engineered to alter its trajectory mid-flight, homing in on its designated target regardless of where it moves. Researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, USA have already produced a prototype, backed by funding from Lockheed Martin.

Much of the core technology behind DARPA’s smart bullet remains strictly classified. However, it has been disclosed that the EXACTO round was developed utilising “optical sighting technology” to extend “day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems.”

Test footage of the EXACTO bullet in action shows it sharply adjusting its course as the target is repositioned. Perhaps most unsettlingly, the released trial video demonstrates both seasoned marksmen and complete novices firing the experimental round with identical precision — effectively turning every soldier on the battlefield into a lethal sharpshooter.

Combined with the newly developed heartbeat-detecting Ghjost Murmur technology, smart bullets could prove a near-unstoppable pairing. Tomorrow’s battlefields may well become no place for a human being.