The Army is rolling out Land Warrior systems that plug individual soldiers into the battlefield Internet:
As Land Warrior reaches its first anniversary in combat, the Army is seeking to equip an entire brigade combat team with the high-tech system which increases mission speed and effectiveness and decreases risks to the warfighter.
The Army has approved an Operational Needs Statement to field the Land Warrior system to the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, in 2009. ...
Land Warrior is a modular fighting system that uses state-of-the-art computer, communications, and global positioning technologies to digitally link Soldiers on the battlefield. The system is integrated with the Soldier's body armor and has a helmet-mounted display.
Meanwhile, the Army is testing the more ambitious Future Combat Systems:
"Right now, Spin Out 1 is down at the Army Evaluation Task Force at Fort Bliss, Texas, getting ready to be tested by about 1,000 combat-tested Soldiers this summer who will be employing this new technology, said Maj Marty Hagenston, FCS system coordinator.
"They will be touching it, feeling it and learning how to fight it, then they will provide feedback to the program," he said. Spin Out 1 consists of unattended sensors, seismic acoustic sensors that can be employed remotely and detect enemy activity. It also consists of a Non Line-of-Sight Launch System - or six to eight "rockets in a box" - which can be deployed remotely.
"The other piece that Spin Out 1 contains is 'B kit' which consists of JTRS GMR (Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radio) and that is the network pieces and parts we put inside current force vehicles that provide Soldiers situational awareness on screen, so it's three parts: a radio, computing system and an interface with the Soldier," said Hagenston.
The B kits will be used on Bradleys, Humvees and M-1 Abrams battle tanks.
This is just the first wave of a full system of systems. If it all works, it will be pretty cool. But never think that an Army wins with technology.
Well-trained soldiers, Marines, sailors, and airmen led by well-trained officers, fighting with appropriate tactics and plans in pursuit of realistic objectives set by our civilian leaders are the sources of victory. Technology is just icing on the cake at that point.
And without the sources of victory, technologically dazzling weapons just become so much destroyed junk littering a battlefield.
