For this effort, every Marine in the Über Squad will be equipped with an M27; a suppressor; and Ops-Core helmets used by U.S. Special Operations Command with built-in hearing protection systems that muffle noises loud enough to damage eardrums, while magnifying other sounds to maintain troops’ situational awareness.
“This capability protects [Marines’] hearing from high explosives and other loud noises we can’t mitigate in combat,” Wade said. “But digitally, it allowed you to hear ambient sound.”
Experiments to date with suppressors on whole infantry units have shown they work well — so well that a squad leader might not be able to locate his or her own squad by sound on the other side of a hill.
“Not only do we need hearing protection, we need hearing enhancement,” Wade said.
He also plans to fit the section of company-level
M240 medium machine guns supporting the squad with suppressors, using equipment borrowed from SOCOM to suppress both barrels of the guns.