Pentagon wants real-world Iron Man tech for future fighting vehicles

From World War II onward, armies around the world have evolved their basic ground vehicles from small trucks like the original two-man Jeep into something resembling a miniature tank. The next-generation Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for U.S. armed forces due next year will sport a curb weight of 14,000 lbs., mostly to provide the armor necessary to survive the roadside bombs that maimed and killed so many American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But bombing tactics can evolve faster than vehicle designs. Which is why the Pentagon's advanced technology arm has launched a program to reinvent the military vehicle for the 21st century — asking whether technology can do a better job of saving lives than simply adding more armor.

Last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency unveiled the Ground-X Vehicle Technology program, which invites contractors to help design a radically different fighting machine. DARPA's goals for the program couldn't be more radical: it wants a vehicle that's twice as fast as what U.S. armed forces use now, that weighs half as much (with a corresponding reduction in fuel use), takes only half the crew and can travel over 95 percent of terrain.