A Guide to Kroll/Mendoza suit types

[John R Starvele]

A Guide to Kroll/Mendoza Suit Types

I have been asked: “What with all the different types of Kroll/Mendoza Industries International’s suits? It’s confusing. Why is it important to your stories?

My stories describe the people and development of armored suits and the effects on and the capabilities of the people that wear the armored the suits. To bring reality to stories the suits have to have a manufacturer, models and sub-models. I come from an aviation background. Airplanes like my suit have a manufacture’s names. For example, Cessna is named for Clyde Cessna a Kansas farmer who built and crashed 29 airplanes before he taught himself to fly and build a flyable airplane, Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation is named for my fictional founders Dr Frederic Kroll and the Mendoza Brother Pablo and Juan.

Different Airplanes manufactured by the same company have models or types and some time names that have different features and performances Cessna has whole numeric: collection from the years they were in production for example the 120, 140, 150, 152, 170, 172, 175, 177, 180, 182, 185, 188, 190, 195, 205, 207, 208, 209, 210, 302, 305, 310, 320, 337, 340, 411, 414, 421, 525 to mention just a few but by no means all the Cessna models. All the Cessna models are very different and with different capabilities and performance. A long term armored suit manufacture would also have different models as they make improved to their suits. Hence the Type I, II, III, IV, V, VI. I used roman numerals in their designation in deference to designation given to vintage diving suits -the most famous: the Mark V.

The Cessna 172 the Sky Hawk remains the most ubiquitous of airplanes but they are not all the same. There have been changed over the years but not enough to be a completely new model or type so the smaller changes are marked by a sub-designation by a suffixed letter. The 172 first flew in 1957 It was built for three years (I think) then in 1960 (or there about) they made a change by sweeping back the vertical fin and rudder and it became the 172a. At this time I think Cessna has gone through the entire alphabet with their 172 models.

So I have different types of suits and sub-types in my stories. I have taken the time to list the different types of Kroll/Mendoza Suits with their abilities, requirements and a little development history to help your understanding and use as a reference while you are reading my stories.

The Kroll Type I

The Kroll Type I was the creation of an expatriated German Nazi -Dr. Frederic Kroll- in his garage in his off hours from his employment in Mexico after WW II. The blood and gore that Dr Kroll experienced during the war convinced him that armor in future battle was imperative for his Nazis future success. His first suit was not truly a suit; it was a collection of armored parts: helmet with a visor, a jacket, pants, gloves, and boots that were camouflage to area of intended fighting. After poor sales, radio communications were added to suit which did not improve his sales. There was no provision for sealing the suits to poisonous gasses and biological weapons which was a fatal flaw.

Kroll/Mendoza Type II

The Kroll/Mendoza Type II was Dr. Kroll’s attempt to correct the flaws of the Type I by making a fully closed armored environmental suit. Dr Kroll attempted to include all possible systems of modern warfare in his new suit. The development of the suit proved overwhelming financially and technologically to Dr Kroll in his advanced years. He was close to giving up when he was approached by the Mendoza brothers.

Pablo Mendoza, the older brother by 3 years was tall and thin for a Mexican. He was a chemical engineer and metallurgist. His younger, shorter and rounder brother –Juan- was from very early in his life, a hustler, an expediter and a ruthless businessman where murder was included in his arsenal of business tools. Both were wealthy from their questionable activities involving manufacturing and distribution of a product where their employees and customers often met with violent deaths. Their initial interest in Dr. Kroll work was for armor for their employees so their product could be more dependably delivered but they both recognized a potential in Dr Kroll’s designs. Juan provided the finances and Pablo worked with Dr Kroll completing the Type II suit in the new partnership of Kroll/Mendoza Industries Ltd.

The Type II emerged as: a full environmental suit. All incoming air was filtered through bio and gas filters. The suit had heating and cooling systems for extremes in environments -57°C - 66°C (-70°F -150°F). With the internal oxygen generation and scrubber systems, the suit for short periods of time -3 hours max- could be submerged in many caustic liquids or exposed to vacuum. The suit had a urinary collection for men and eventually for women, and a drinking tube for thirst quenching. The suit lacked a fecal collection system so its wear time was limited to 18 hours or less.

The suit outer layer was of ceramic reflective silver chain mail to deflect energy weapons. It was a front seam entry suit much like a pair of heavy coveralls. The helmet went on a neck ring and was reflective silver including the visor. The shoulder and elbows joints were covered in an exoskeleton with power actuator coordinated by the suit’s computer weapon targeting systems. The upper arms and forearms of the exoskeleton had weapon pads that accepted a large variety of weapons. Under the suit’s silver chainmail was a polymer of impact goo that spread the impact of a projectile. Below the outer layers were the redundant gas tight layers with the imbedded heating and cooling systems.

The electronics of the suit were provided by LenTri with the latest in communications GPS mapping and weapon interface targeting. Hester Krispmann -LenTri’s South American sale associate- also saw a potential in Kroll/Mendoza Industries Ltd for her future sales. Hester aggressively promoted KMI products along with her LenTri products to her South American customers. She often did demonstration wearing the Type II suit to demonstrate her faith in their products. Thanks in large part to Hester Krispmann, the Type II was very successful with most South American armies, and mercenary around the world which included the soldier of the drug cartels.

With the success of the Type II Juan and Pablo took the company into a full international corporation with publicly traded stocks. With the success of the Kroll/Mendoza Type II Juan and Pablo limit their work to Kroll/Mendoza Industries and Kroll/Mendoza Placement Service mostly legal enterprises.

Kroll / Mendoza Type M

With the success of the Type II armored suit- Dr Kroll went to work on a version of his suit for the medical corpsman and military doctors but unfortunately he died before the medical suit was finished. He left no immediate heir to his part of the company; however his distant relatives still work at KMI and are treated well by the majority stock holders -Juan and Pablo- allowing them to option stocks.

The Type M was a sealed environment medical suit based on the Type II with reduced armor; the only armor in the suit was the helmet and in the chest region. The shoulder yoke, the arm exoskeleton and actuators and the weapon pads were eliminated. The environmental systems were simplified; by the elimination of the oxygen generator and the heating system. The suit could not be submerged or exposed to vacuum. The computer systems could access medical records but had no provisions for accessing weapon targeting systems.

It was popular with corpsman and military doctors until replaced with the Type M1 suit and is currently out of production.
A civilian variety of the suit the Type M3 without any armor is still in limited production and a favorite of orthopedic surgeons that have not up-grade to a Type M4

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type III

The KMI Type III suit was primary developed outside KMI by the Venezuela Military in the Amazona Providence by a military doctor designation as lieutenant M-3548 or Doctor Qadria Vasquez, formally a US Doctor Qadria Vahabzadeh born in Pakistan.
The Venezuela Military was searching for ways to lengthen the wear time of their armored suits as part of a project they called the Ultimate Super Cybernetic Soldier program. Doctor M-3548 was forefront in their efforts. She developed the exchangeable backpack without breaking the suit seals system, an in-suit bathing system, a fecal collection system and a computer selecting feeding system that enabled her to stay in her modified Type M suit for a week.

The Type III suit featured a refinement of M-3548’s systems for mass production, with an up-grade to other suit systems. Externally the Type III is indiscernible from a Type II with the exception of the seam of the exchangeable backpack, although all it performance number were greatly improved.

The Type III is still in production and electronic suite is continually up-grade. It still commands good sales with short term wear personnel such as, handlers of environmental and biological hazardous materials, security guards, firefighters and police.
Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type M1

The KMI Type M1

KMI Type M1 suit was also developed in Venezuela by now Captain M-3548 by modifying a Type II for medicine. She converted the computer display and weapon targeting systems of the Type II to medical scanning equipment and guidance system for robotic surgical tools installed in the weapon pad of the suit rendering the suit capable of very accurate microsurgical applications.
It had limited sales primary for military organization for the corpsman and doctors in battle. It has been effectively replaced by the

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type M2

The M2 is a medical adaptation of the Type III suit like the M1 was of the Type II suit. It is still in production and is a favorite of corpsmen and military doctors.

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type IIIa

The KMI Type IIIa suit was also developed in Venezuela as a test bed part of the Type IV suit development and the continuation of the Ultimate Super Cybernetic Soldier program by General M-124. M-124 felt part of extending suit wear time required the entertainment of the suit occupant by full on-line virtual reality complete with sexual stimulation. Again Doctor M-3548 tested these systems by remaining suited for 6 weeks. The Type IIIa came into production before the Type IV because of all the delays in the
development of the Type IV.

Externally it is indiscernible from the Type III and the performance figures are not significantly different.
The Type IIIa had a period of great popularity and sales as an alternative to the undesirable Type IV but it tapered off very quickly with the introduction of later model Type III suits and it is no longer a big seller.

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type M3

Was introduced during the development period of the Type IV it is a derivative of the Type M2 suit for non combat doctors by eliminating the armor.

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type IV

The Type IV was developed in Venezuela by Major M-3548 as part of their continuing Ultimate Supper Cybernetic Soldier program pushing back the human physical limitations.

The suit was an immersion suit -the occupant was completely covered in a transfer fluid. The transfer fluid was 10 times more efficient than air envelope of the occupant in providing oxygen to skin and removing the skin waist products. The immersion fluid was also better at heat transfer for heating and cooling. It was also better at impact absorption from weapons. Using immersion fluid also eliminated the odious need for in suit bathing.

The suit used a breathing fluid saturated into the tissues of the occupant by high pressure. The breathing fluid required a full-time ventilation system to circulated fluid in and out of the occupant’s lungs. The saturation of the breathing fluid removed the danger of bubbles formation in blood and joints from rapid pressure changes. The breathing fluid ventilation system prevented the subject’s chest from collapsing and allowed conscious activities at a sustained 25 Gs or more. The suit articulations were all power augmented and controlled by brain implants direct to suit computer allowing the occupant to move at the 25 Gs.

The suit has a blood tie-in allowing the infusion of: nutrients, a large number of pharmaceuticals, and artificial blood for additional oxygenation and for enhanced performance.

The suit was designed for indefinite wear periods and as such it had the full on-line virtual reality functions. Suit security was of paramount concern over the ease of entry and exit. The helmet was part of the suit body with no face plate to cause a structural weak point. All visual and auditory perceptions were by hardened sensor through computer interpretation to implants. The suit had numerous implanted interfaces to make the suit systems work properly and to greatly enhance environmental perceptions of the occupant. It was an aft entry suit that took special equipment to open the rear seam –a heavy steel frame with hydraulic rams moving seam retractor claws. The rear seam bolted together with 47 high sheer bolts.

The suit was also the first to feature servo units. The human occupant was designated as the Primary and had 99 servo units. The servo units were a mechanical copy of the Primary right down to imprinted brain patterns on their LenTri central processor. The primary could access all his/her servo units for complete data by direct brain interface. The Primary could direct the servo units by same direct brain interfaces.

Cathleen Flannigan from R & D LenTri was the first person to fully test the Type IV suit. She was transferred to the Venezuelan Military for the suit testing. Her Venezuelan military designation was XP-44000. As result of her suit testing, she was the first person to walk on bottom of the Marian Trench in her Type IV suit. She was tested in Russian centrifuge at 27 Gs for over 24 hours while simulating operating a space ship. She was one of the few that were able to manage the 99 servo units. Others went mad from the myriad of data inputs and demands of controlling the servo units.

The suit was also a departure from her earlier suit designs in that it was huge in size: 2.44 m (8 ft) high 39.4 cm (4 ft) wide and the weight was over 537 Kg (1,181 lbs). It turned out to be the company’s greatest silver elephant -Silver was the base color but it was first suit to have a rudimentary skin camouflage function that allowed color and brightness changes. It was the company’s biggest failure because of its large size and weight proved impractical in combat even with its 99 servo units but the systems proved viable test bed for later KMI suits.

The Type IV is out of production but some of the suits are still in use in the Russian navy as deep sea diving suits with the submarine attachments. Other suits are in the Russian space programs.

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type IIIb and IIIc

Type IIIb and IIIc suits were reversed and value engineered in house from the KMI Type IV without the knowledge or the permission of M-3548 or the Venezuelan military; they had been the driving force behind all the development of KMI newer suits to this point. The Mendoza brother felt they had to do something after the financial disaster that the introduction of their Type IV.

Unlike the mammoth -a great silver elephant the Type IV- the Type IIIb and IIIc were the same size as the preceding Type IIIs -not much bigger than a pair of heavy coveralls with a thickness of 4.4 cm (1 3/4”). However, they were immersion suits like the Type IV that were form fitted to the body to eliminate the pooling of the liquid transfer medium.

New to Kroll/Mendoza industries the outer skin was black as a default color but it had computer controlled surface camouflage that rendered the suit nearly invisible and actually better than the Type IV’s. New to the Type III series, The b and c had all the articulating joints power actuated, boosting the occupants strength 6 times and to in many cases to over a tons in force. Also new to the III series was life support functions for enhanced performance.

Both b & c suits were deemed extreme long-term wear suit but not a permanent wear suit that the Type IV was in pursuit of. Therefore, both suits offered a complete virtual life functions that were developed in the Type IV. Because of extreme long-term status of the suits, the ease of entry and exit was not a consideration however the structural integrity of the suit was. Thus the suit had the structural superior rear entry bolt-up seam, like the Type IV requiring hydraulic frame with seam spreaders to open the rear bolt-up seam. The rear seam boasted of 38 of hi-sheer bolts that ran down and through the spinal column of the occupant’s inner back support corset. Unlike the Type IV the newer IIIs had a distinct helmet, but the helmet like the Type IV eliminated the faceplate for structural integrity using hardened sensors and computer enhancement placed on display screens or in the earphones to relay auditory and visual cue in the infrared, visual, the near violet and the x-ray spectrum to the occupant. The suits also had sonar. The helmet screwed to the suit body sealing ring with 40 some flush screws.

The Type IIIb offered the most options of any of the KMI suits. All the systems developed in the Type IV were available in the Type IIIb in one option or another. It was a custom build suit for the buyer and wearer.

The Type IIIb remains the most popular of the KMI products and is considered to be a gateway suit. All prospective wearer of the Type V and the Type VI suit are required to wear the Type IIIb suit continuously for 2,440 hours to demonstrate their commitment to a permanent suit wear.

Type IIIc came into production shortly after the IIIb and it was the fully loaded suit with all the options of the IIIb. Or another way to put it- It was/is a miniaturize Type IV because it had everything the Type IV offered and more.

The Type IIIc is alternative to the Type V allowing the occupant some possibility of an exit. It is not a popular suit and may be dropped soon.

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type V

Was another contribution of Colonel M-3548. Toward the end or after –it is difficult to tell since there are no records- XP-44000’s testing of the Type IV suit, Doctor M-3548 started introducing nanoknights to the fluids of her Type IV suit. 2 years later when they finally opened XP-44000’s Type IV suit; she emerged in a permanent and completely assembled Type V suit. The base color was black with the invisibility camouflaged functions.

The Type V was nanoknight assemble on Cathleen Flannigan (XP-44000) had no seams so there were no weak points in the suit armor that was as nearly indestructible to almost anything short of 15 kiloton nuclear explosion right next to her. It also meant there was no exit method or tools to allow for an exit.

The Type V suits are now assembled on people in vats rather than in a Type IV suit but the conversion in a Type IV is still an option for those wearing a Type IV suit.

It is a popular suit for the very serious suit wearers but nowhere as popular as the Type IIIb because of its permanence.

NO LIVING PERSON HAS EVER BEEN EXTRICATED FROM A TYPE V SUIT.

Kroll/Mendoza Industries International Corporation Type VI

The Type VI Was developed by Feleena Sanchez under study of M-3548 in Pablo’s R & D department at KMI and is also a nanoknight assembled suit on a person. Its base color is a reddish black from the photosynthetic algae contained in the armor matrix. It is a fully closed synergistic environmental suit not requiring the exchange of backpacks like all the previous suits. In fact it doesn’t have a backpack it has a diminutive chest pack that flatter the female form. The active algae within the suit convert the waist products of the occupant to the needs of the occupant. The other protozoans in the matrix continuously renew the living armor. The only needed for the conversion is source of energy usually provided by solar exposure.

The Type VI suit makes use of Nikola Tesla’s application of Einstein Unified Field Theory -first demonstrated in Philadelphia harbor on the destroyer Eldridge -know as ‘The Philadelphia Experiment’- of dimensional translation.

Newly introduced and sales are increasing supplanting the Type V.

Kroll / Mendoza Industries International Corporations Sales Costumes.

Smahley Billings, Tali Orbor, Yadza Zooqus, Duke Doom, Justin Tyme, Ken Cosmos

[Robert Pinkerton]

This is reminiscent of an artifact of the fictional "world" of John Brunner's novel, The Jagged Orbit, viz. the Gottschalk System C.