So I spent a good amount of time while I was in the sandbox with the Army’s 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment which is outfitted with Land Warrior equipment.
There were decidedly mixed reviews of the thing, and I gotta tell you, I could feel the frustration from the guys hefting that extra 17 pounds.
Take a look at our lead story today on Military.com for more details.
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 Warriors 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.
And that’s just the kind of thing the Land Warrior was designed for: maneuver warfare against a dispersed enemy.
“The one thing that it has done is allow speed to be the primary advantage,” said Maj. Ryan Wolfgram, operations officer for 4/9. “Now we can spend less time on the objective. It reduces the confusion of getting to the right spot at the right time.”
Problem is, that’s not the kind of battle Soldiers at this base in downtown Baqubah are fighting anymore. Instead it’s a daily grind of house calls, checking in on the city’s residents to see if they’ve had a full day’s worth of electricity, running water and consistent trash removal from the streets…
Read the rest of the story HERE…
– Christian
You’d think that the field commanders would have some common sense about when & how to deploy this system.I think that it like the body armor that our troops & marines have to wear. In open spaces it just slows down the troops.In a closed room clearing environment though,you’d most likely want all the armor that you can safely wear.
Are they forcing the troops to wear the Land Warrior System because of the possibility of attack at any moment? That the visit to see if the water is running could turn into a gun fight?
The Germans are having problems with their version of the Land Warrior System.Their “Doctors(PHD) of Engineering” doesn’t seem to want to hear common sense criticism to what they have put out though.
I like the Apple statement though.If they could can come out with a laptop light enough to put in a manila envelope,then I’m sure they could also come out with a lighter kit for the troops to carry.
“Crackberries” for the troops,yeah!!!!!
A government contract sponsored piece of kit comes out over budget, over-weight, over-complicated and doesn’t work half the time and people are surprised? Come on now.
The soldier makes a valid point. If you had outsourced this to existing electronics companies they would have come up with something far lighter, more efficient, and sleeker. And then from there the army could make it more rugged and make it fit their network. A cell phone or iPod can power an LCD for days and they weigh next to nothing. Why can’t the Army find a lighter battery? There is no reason for this crap to weigh anywhere near as much as their body armor itself.
Outsourcing it to Apple isn’t a bad idea at all. Their price gouging can’t be any worse than what the contractor is charging.
Loved the comment in the full article about Apple. Not only do they make things small, efficient, and powerful, but they know how to combine systems of systems to elegantly work together. I doubt Jobs would add weapon systems to Apple’s portfolio but you have to admit, our army would rock.
Why, if this is as troubled as you make it seem, does the 5–2 SBCT have an Operational Needs Statement requesting it? The government has once again cut all funding for the project, which has been funded on and off for years at best. The guys on the ground are asking for the gear, yet without an ONS they can’t even get funding for the program. There are upgrades available and planned, but it takes money to go anywhere.
Take off a few things like the stuff the soldiers don’t like or use, and you save a few pounds. DUH!
Basically make it LandWarrior-lite.
what a another failed idea that came from a civilan or a colonel . that prob never spend a single outside the wire? millions on dollars wasted? let me guess did that bird turn into a star yet?
Test this on the border?
Local law enforcement. LAPD SWAT Unit?
Radical.
Get those bugs out.
Do domestic field testing.
Send agents into Mexico for Land Warrior projects.
IE blow meth labs.\
ravage the drug trade.
JH. Remove things that aren’t needed? DUH? Not so much. There really isn’t much to Land Warrior on the soldier. Its mainly a PDA, a Helmet Mounted Display system, and a Battery pack, maybe a small processor/control pack. The majority of the actual hardware in the kit is in the vehicle, which allows the Land Warrior kit on the soldier to connect into the vehicle systems, and probably charge batteries. There isn’t much to take out, just stuff to lighten, like the battery. I would think the battery adds the most significant weight. It needs a bit more than a normal “Crackberry” battery, as its gotta be rugged, and probably lasts longer with what I expect is equipment more power hungry than normal PDAs. I’m not saying its great, I don’t know much of what it does functionly, but the guys on the ground are asking for it.
I don’t develop the tech, and cannot participate in the military, but have observed both over decades.
On the various forums about Land Warrior I am seeing many objections that amount to, “Spend money on things *I* understand/remember/am used to, and don’t enrich *anyone* who might talk to a congressman.” Such views may be emotionally satisfying, but will kill more soldiers, as the years go by, and opponents gain our present level of military technology. The *only* people who are *allowed* to build any tech for the military are almost defined by the fact that they *do* talk to congressmen!
The technology of Land Warrior has advanced slower than commercial tech, because it is a government program, under a political hierarchy. 12–25 years is needed to field a fighter plane for the same reason. The political hierarchy is there to control, and far too often does that by squashing the productive networks that can produce new advantages. So, until you can wave a magic wand and have that hierarchy start acting like a network (like getting a dog to mew like a cat), let us have a more productive discussion than another bitch session about yet another technology that is victim of political controls.
As to the comments from field users, it has been noted that kinetic warfare that LW was built for has become rare in Iraq. Does *anyone* here believe that will be the case elsewhere as WW IV goes forwards? If the State Dept. were doing the sewer/electricity/garbage checks that the military is stuck with, as State should be able to, then the complaints about LW would apparently drop 10/1, because the military would not be dragging that 17 pounds through peaceful neighborhoods.
Even in kinetic warfare, it still has problems.
Being physical, it has mass, and weight, and few want a single pound more than must be on their backs, much less their necks. The weight is going to shrink as fast as the political hierarchy will allow engineers to experiment at doing it. As has been noted, a *lot* of that is batteries.
There are new Lithium Ion technologies that will put 10 times the energy in each ounce of battery, but they must be engineered into working batteries and those integrated into future LW systems. No one knows how fast the hierarchy will allow that to be done.
The rest of the changes will be related to moving and lightening the opto-electronics itself, while making it more rugged. While that will take time, it should shrink well. The doctrine and means to *train* people in using this tech also need much work.
Finally, the lack of use LW has had in current Iraq context simply screams for using the tech in other ways. If (if only!) the State Dept. *were* doing the infrastructure checks, they could use the tech to locate and immediately report the broken water mains, electricity outages/pirating, piles of garbage directly to the people in the garbage trucks, and the rest of the local governments that are beginning to operate in Iraq.
Of course, that would again require, a swift development to meet new needs, and breaking free of the political hierarchy’s control. So, I’ve broken my own suggestion above. Well, .. I’m not perfect. Hopefully, Ihave shed a small amount of light.
Regards,
Tom Billings
I’ll admit, I forgot about the rifle mounts. Those could go if they are not required, and should be optional to carry anyways, but the rest of the parts are the base infrastructure for the system. The government really needs to do more work with Lithium Ion and other new lighter battery technologies. Through my work in military tech, I’ve seen that there is alot of fear in the use of lithium ion because of the heat issue. A poorly designed battery can shoot fire through a hole pierced by a bullet. Not that you can’t get around that, but the military is stuck on old tech when it comes to batteries. We need to step it up.
I started thinking about when you want the heavy stuff: Going door to door room to room and being able to stick your gun around the corner or through the window and keep your self behind cover and assess the room, throw a HG/flash shoot in without being exposed or walk to the next door/window and start the surveil and nuetralize all over again. You are with your team quick is good but running at full speed might be less of a concern since you are with your team and have a spot to cover. Then I thought about open space like deserts and moutains and again I would want the laser designator and the camera to pinpoint with laser range found gps coordinates for excalibur and jdams and if the 12x zoom if it actually makes all the m16’s out there like designated marksmen I would want that too. Then if you think about the guys who get to ride in trucks to their objective then weight is less of a concern again. The only time I might not want the “extras,” is patrolling the streets when I just react in street to street action and jump/run for cover when engaged.
Thusfar we’ve only heard from units with LW in Iraq — are they planning to deploy it to Afghanistan or elsewhere? I’m wondering how perceptions would change in another theater.
j like to work in military usa
j’m from Macedonia