Oh look, it's our Seppie counterparts!
—A Clone trooper upon seeing Confederate elite troopers wearing AE-II armour
The Armoured Exosuit Mk II (Often abbreviated to "AE-II") was a model of full body armour developed by the Techno Union Earth Division for use by the elite troops of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The suit was developed from the earlier Armoured Exosuit Mk I, which was a prototype developed by Zarkan Arms and was considered too unwieldy and expensive for large-scale service thanks to the huge battery needed to power it due to the comparative primitive battery technology used by Earth before contact with the Separatists, with the Mk II TUED was able to use advanced battery technology to both shrink the size of the battery down to a more efficient size and increase its power and longevity before needing to be recharged.
I'm glad they made the Mk II, the Mk I was a pain to wear, it was really sluggish and heavy, and the huge battery literally strapped to your back not only did a number on your spine, but it put you at risk of being blown to pieces.
—An AE-II trooper commenting on the AE-I
As with droids and other combat gear different paint schemes were sometimes applied to signify different operating areas and branches of the military, the standard scheme was grey, in line with the standard Confederate uniform colour, other schemes included green (Army; temperate and forest), yellow or light brown (Army; desert), white (Army; winter), black (Presidential Guard) and black with red stripes (Bloodtrooper Brigade)
Behind the Scenes[]
The design and function of the AE-II was inspired by the T-45d power armour from Fallout 3, one of the author's favourite games.