Iron Man'-type power suit 'will be in war zones within 5 years

Within five years, soldiers in war zones will be wearing Iron Man-style power suits that will make them vastly stronger, a U.S. defense technology firm says.

The company, Raytheon Sarcos, says its XOS 2 suit -- pronounced "exos" -- allows the wearer to carry 150 pounds with little effort and punch through four wood boards at once, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

Two version of the exoskeleton suit are under development: a waist-down combat model intended to support heavy backpacks; and a full-suit logistics variant meant to allow personnel to carry water, supplies and ammunition boxes.

Demonstrating the strength of the suit, Raytheon test engineer Rex Jameson said: "If you push at the boards, you are, like, 'I'm never going to be able to do that' but then you walk up and do it and away they go."

The company says it expects to release a "tethered" version of the suit first, attached to its power source permanently, before improvements are made to allow the wearer full independence of movement.

"We would expect them to appear in theater (war zones) probably in about five years for the tethered version and perhaps three to five after that for the untethered version," said Fraser Smith, the company's vice-president of operations.