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The Army's New Land Warrior Gear

Apr-18-2007 » Filed Under: 4/2 SBCT , General Military

The 4/2 SBCT is featured in the following article, which appears in the May 2007 edition of Popular Mechanics.

By Noah Shachtman, Popular Mechanics

There's a half-billion dollars invested in the gear hanging off the heads, chests and backs of the soldiers of Alpha company. Digital maps displayed on helmet-mounted eyepieces show the position of all the men in the unit as they surround a block of concrete buildings and launch their attacks. Instead of relying on the hand signals and shouted orders that most infantrymen use, Alpha company communicates via advanced, encrypted radio transmissions with a range of up to a kilometer. It's more information than any soldiers have ever had about their comrades and their surroundings.

But as Alpha kicks in doors, rounds up terror suspects and peals off automatic fire in deafening six-shot bursts, not one of the soldiers bothers to check his radio or look into the eyepiece to find his buddies on the electronic maps. "It's just a bunch of stuff we don't use, taking the place of useful stuff like guns," says Sgt. James Young, who leads a team of four M-240 machine-gunners perched on a balcony during this training exercise at Fort Lewis, Wash. "It makes you a slower, heavier target."

Since the late 1990s, the U.S. military has pushed hard to link every vehicle, every sensor and every soldier in a sprawling intranet for combat. The objective of this network-centric warfare: Boost battlefield communication and situational awareness — making troops smarter, quicker and deadlier. Today, a big chunk of the combat vehicles and command posts have been wired up. But most soldiers on the ground still don't even have a radio.

Alpha's electronics package, known as the Land Warrior System, is designed to finally plug the infantryman into the battlefield network. These exercises in the shadow of Mount Rainier are the Army's most comprehensive test of the system yet — a dry run before Alpha company and the rest of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment take Land Warrior to Iraq.

But on the eve of what should be the program's biggest success, support for Land Warrior is crumbling. In the halls of the Pentagon there's a pitched battle being waged over Land Warrior's long-term budget and its long-term future. Army program managers are questioning Land Warrior's most basic premise: Does every soldier need to be wired?

If the program is going to survive, it will need rave reviews from the field. But, at least on this crisp, sunny afternoon, Alpha doesn't seem all that happy with the gear. "I'm not a big fan, personally," says Pvt. Donald Starks, who's dripping with sweat after a morning of rehearsing house-to-house fighting in his Land Warrior rig. [...]


Comments For "The Army's New Land Warrior Gear":

This article is already dated: the Land Warrior program was terminated a few months ago. The program never overcame technical challenges regarding system weight and battery life.

Posted by: currahee [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 19, 2007 9:01 AM

As I understand it, funding for Land Warrior has been greatly reduced, but the program is not yet terminated. From my son who's in C Co., 4/2 SBCT, A Co. deployed to Iraq with the Land Warrior system and is the only unit to do so.

Posted by: dedhed52 [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 20, 2007 9:53 AM

The Land Warrior systems currently deployed were funded under the FY07 budget. As of FY08 (1 Oct 2007) Land Warrior is no more:

http://www.fcw.com/article97586-02-06-07-Web

Posted by: currahee [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 21, 2007 2:45 PM

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