Land Warrior

Land Warrior in its current incarnation.

Land Warrior is a United States Army program that uses a combination of commercial, off-the-shelf technology (COTS) and current-issue military gear and equipment designed to:
* Integrate small arms with high-tech equipment
* Provide communications and command and control at the infantry soldier level
* Look at the individual infantry soldier as a complete unit rather than as a segment of a larger force

While technology has always been a focus of the United States military, very little of it has actually been adopted by the infantry soldier. With growing concerns of urban warfare and dismounted infantry actions, the US Army recognizes the need for individual infantrymen to be better equipped, better informed, and better protected in the 21st century battlefield. The Land Warrior program draws upon many wearable computer concepts, and maximizes existing technologies to correct most infantry soldier limitations in the short term.

The SI (Stryker Interoperable) version of the system has completed US Army testing as of November 2004. It has so far not yet entered full service pending changes; but field is planned as early as fall 2005.

Internationally, there are several similar development programs, these include FIST (UK), FELIN (France), Land 125 (Australia), MARKUS (Sweden), and ACMS (Singapore).

History of the US Land Warrior Program

The original Land Warrior program, in the mid-1990s, was initially handled by a division of Hughes Aerospace, which was subsequently acquired by Raytheon. Early demonstration versions of the LW system used software written in the Ada programming language running on a Unix platform. In January 1999, in an attempt to reduce development costs and accelerate the program, the development work was transitioned to a multi-company team that had been organized by Exponent (NASDAQ: EXPO), an engineering firm with headquarters in Silicon Valley.

An intensive re-architecting of the system ensued, and both the embedded firmware and the application software were rewritten from scratch. Many of the COTS hardware components were purchased (literally "off the shelf") at Fry's Electronics, the legendary Silicon Valley retail chain. Approximately 100 proof-of-concept Land Warrior units were built and successfully demonstrated in September 2000 by a US Army platoon that was air-dropped into a large war-fighting exercise at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

These initial prototype units, designated Land Warrior v0.6, were built around a PC/104 computer platform running Microsoft Windows. The system used the CAN-bus protocol on the wired PAN (personal area network). The communications subsystem was built using Windows CE running on a StrongARM platform, and the wireless network protocol was IEEE 802.11. During the Fort Polk exercise, preliminary interoperability with traditional military radio networks was also demonstrated for LW v0.6, using a two-way, SINCGARS-compatible gateway radio.

The success of the Fort Polk exercise reinvigorated the program, and further funding was allocated for the next phase of LW development. A "Land Warrior Consortium" was formed by several of the contracting firms, with the goal of designing and building the first field-able LW system, designated LW v1.0, later LW-IC (Land Warrior - Initial Capability). The basic Windows and WinCE platforms were retained, and a new hybrid PAN was designed, which drew upon both USB and FireWire protocols. A modified version of the IEEE 802.11 protocol was adopted, which added various enhancements for COMSEC and information security, mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) capabilities, and support for multi-hop packet routing.

In 2003, a variant of the LW-IC system was developed to incorporate features of the CombatID System (CIDS) -- a form of IFF (identification friend or foe) that is designed to reduce the potential for friendly fire incidents. This version, designated LW-CIDS, was successfully demonstrated in interoperational tests with several other CIDS-equipped units at Moffett Field, California.

Land Warrior is assessed during urban training at Fort Lewis, 22 June 2006.

As the Land Warrior program matured, it became clear that its successful deployment would hinge significantly upon the key factor of batteries. The need to continuously resupply (or recharge) LW batteries was proving to be a major logistical challenge. This was one of the driving factors behind the decision to move away from an earlier plan to initially equip airborne Army units, as in the Fort Polk exercise, and to focus instead upon those using Stryker ground vehicle systems. This latter approach would enable more LW batteries to be distributed and/or recharged as needed.

The contract for development of the Land Warrior - Stryker Interoperable (LW-SI) version of the system was awarded in 2003 to an industry team that was led by General Dynamics and included most of the existing Land Warrior Consortium companies. At about the same time, further development of the existing LW-IC system was halted and the manufacturing plans for it were shelved indefinitely. The Land Warrior Consortium was formally disbanded and work got under way on the newly-focused LW-SI program.

As of May 2006, the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment is training with and evaluating the Land Warrior system for possible deployment to Iraq in 2007.Erwin, Sandra. "'Land Warriors' Link Up With Stryker Vehicles", National Defense Magazine, May 2006."Army assess new Land Warrior System", Army News Service, 22 June 2006.

The current Land Warrior system

Land Warrior has three priority objectives:
* Improving the lethality of an individual soldier
* Increasing the survivability of a soldier
* Providing full command, communications, and control to a soldier

Land Warrior has seven main subsystems:
* Weapon
* Integrated helmet assembly
* Protective clothing and equipment
* Computer
* Navigation
* Radio
* Software system

Weapon

The original system is built around the M16 rifle or M4 carbine, both with modular rail mounts to allow customization as needed for each mission. It includes the weapon itself, plus components such as a daylight video sight, thermal weapons sight and rangefinder/compass. The LRF/DC provides range and direction information, while the cameras provide a video feed and thermographic capabilities, plus allowing a soldier to shoot around corners or behind cover without actually exposing himself to enemy fire.

Helmet

The Helmet Subsystem (HSS) combines a lightweight advanced helmet with a computer and OLED display that provides various information from digital maps and troop locations down to his weapon-mounted video camera. This is what allows the soldier to see (and fire) around corners. The HSS also incoporates a microphone as well as a headset.

Armor and protection

The Interceptor Body Armor system and Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE) load-bearing system currently in service with the US Army and Marines today are partially a result of the Land Warrior program.

Computer

The Computer Subsystem (CSS) provides the processing power and storage capacity for the system. The CSS is based around an ARM XScale processor. The CSS connects to each one of the LRUs (Line Replaceable Units) as well as to the batteries.

Navigation

The Navigation Subsystem (NSS) provides positional information, it integrates a GPS receiver and a Dead Reckoning Module (DRM) that maintains accurate location when GPS signal becomes unavailable.

Radio

The Combat-Net Radio Subsystem (CNRS) provides communications capabilities for the Land Warrior. The CNRS is based on EPLRS.

Software

Land Warrior's software system is powered by a variant of the Linux operating system and has a modular, open architecture for further improvement. Reliability in recent testing at Fort Benning has been extremely high.

Future developments

The Land Warrior program may play a huge part in Urban warfare situations in the future. Currently, the system has finished its first phase of testing, but limitations keep it from being adopted by soldiers in the field. Other elements may influence future Land Warrior development, such as the eventual adoption of new weapons systems like the XM8 Carbine (shelved in Oct. 2005) and XM29 OICW, as well as new technologies from both military and civilian firms that may or may not be included.

References

External links

* - General Land Warrior info
* - Additional Land Warrior info

Land Warrior: Encyclopedia BETA

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