(Army Times) Editorial: Use improved Land Warrior

[unhappycamper]

Use improved Land Warrior

the so-called Land Warrior system was a flop in initial training exercises. Soldiers wearing the digital command-and-control system in 2006 found it to be too slow and said it didn’t add enough battlefield capabilities to make the extra 10 pounds worth carrying. Two years later, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, soldiers deployed to Iraq with a revamped system.

Team leaders carried an improved system on patrols and into combat and the experience made believers of them. They reported that Land Warrior opened a new window on the battlefield through a small helmet-mounted computer screen that the wearer flips down in front of his eye. Viewing digital maps of the area and computer symbols marking the positions of other soldiers and key landmarks, each team leader manipulated a tactical mouse to more accurately and rapidly carry out critical functions: identifying targets, plotting and directing fire on enemy positions, sending and receiving text messages and, most importantly, keeping up with each other’s locations.

Soldiers so equipped are “going to be faster, more lethal and more agile,” 4/9’s Bravo Company commander Capt. Jack Moore told Army Times.

Retired Col. Richard Hansen Jr., who ran the Land Warrior project until July, agreed. Now, after three contractors, hundreds of millions in development costs and plans to send a full brigade to the war zone with an even lighter, more improved system, the Army intends to wait on broadly fielding Land Warrior. That’s because a more advanced system called Ground Soldier Ensemble is being developed as part of the Army’s $200 billion Future Combat Systems program.

That system may turn out to be better. But for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the future is now. The Army ought to expand training and production to put this battlefield-tested system into as many hands as possible, and as soon as possible. The Army can build on the experience gained to improve what comes next.


FCS article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_landwarrior_102708/%2



uhc comment: You Guys should check the bank balance before spending another $200 billion.

[thunder rising]

1. The population is dying and the Army is still fantasizing about deadly toys. $200B?

[Sherman A1]

2. Well Said!

We need to seriously pull back on military spending. Now is not the time for new "gee wiz" gadgets.