Land Warrior Needs Work, Soldiers Say

[unhappycamper]

Land Warrior Needs Work, Soldiers Say
Military.com | By Christian Lowe | February 13, 2008

CAMP ABLE X-RAY, Iraq --- It was billed as a revolutionary new tool that promised to give Soldiers an added edge in the fight, with a heads-up displayed map, a see-around-corners rifle sight and speed-of-light communications.

And on its first deployment to combat, the decades-old Land Warrior system did win over many of its detractors. But as the Soldiers carrying Land Warrior’s burdensome boxes and wires on their backs labored into their seventh month of deployment, some are beginning to question whether this version of a system the Army worked so hard to get to the field is worth the price.

"It's like a 17-pound GPS unit," said a Soldier assigned to Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, the first Army unit to ever deploy to a war zone using Land Warrior. "We don't use half the things it's supposed to be able to do."

Fielded as an interim solution to the long-term goal of providing the individual combat Soldier with an improved, digital option for greater situational awareness, the current Land Warrior suite has proven its worth in some of 4/9's operations, Soldiers say.

On targeted raids and complex "kinetic" operations, the Land Warrior's capabilities blossom -- with detailed photo-realistic maps displayed on a small screen attached to each helmet, real-time locations of target houses, and friendly personnel at a Soldier's fingertips and short text communications with battle managers in the rear.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,161855,00.html?wh=wh



uhc comment: Here's wikipedia's take on the Land Warrior system --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Warrior