The us army is intensively developing high-tech equipment for Marines and a new generation of personal weapons, which are designed to provide a decisive advantage for American soldiers in combined-arms combat. The so-called "Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team" is responsible for the modernization program) Command of the future (Futures Army Command). The group is led by U.S. army infantry Brigadier General and chief of infantry school David HODNE. In collaboration with industry representatives, the group develops, among other things, high-tech glasses, a more efficient generation of weapons and the most successful night vision glasses currently on the market.
Thenational defense strategy developed by former Secretary of defense James Mattis and published in 2018 "revealed an alarming weakening of the superiority between the us armed forces and our adversaries around the world", as General D. Hodn stated in his video speech on the occasion of the 2020 Maneuver Warfighter Conference. The "Russian New Generation Warfare Study", conducted by retired Brigadier General of the American infantry Pete JONES, was also instructive.
Us army Brigadier General David HODN
«This study, "said D. Hodn, " in conjunction with the" strategic melee portfolio Review "and the national defense Strategy 2018, identified gaps that warrant serious research."
«Almost two decades of combat operations continue, as before, to produce experienced commanders and veterans versed in the tactics of small units. However, our opponents have accurately analyzed how we use our armed forces, how we fight and what we fightwith, " Khodn continued.
«Our opponents have capabilities that match our abilities, and in some cases even exceed them. Sometimes our opponents can detect us before we detect them, which means they can target us and attack us before wedo." Gaps in capabilities were found, in particular, with regard to fighting in urban space and fighting in tunnels.
Based on these findings, the efforts of the cross-functional soldier lethality group focused on the modernization of the "close Combat Force" (CCF) units. These units consist of infantry, scouts, engineers, observers, and medical teams operating on the front lines. As noted by D. Hodn, although the CCF forces make up only four percent of the total number involved in the fighting, but historically they bear 90 percent of the losses. The General also mentioned that their modernization programs, in General, receive only a small part of the budget intended for these purposes.
Among other things, the next three projects are aimed at eliminating the identified gaps in the capabilities of the US army and providing its soldiers with a decisive advantage in short-range combat in the near future.
Integrated augmented reality system of the US army
The integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) is a digital information glasses developed in collaboration with Microsoft. The glasses connect to a small computer and radio device.
The integrated vision system add-ons
The entire system consists of information glasses with a built-in projection display, a compact computer, radio devices for data transmission, a compatible battery pack, a charger, and a tactical cloud server. The soldier carries only glasses, radio equipment and batteries. The tactical server is embedded in one of the company's vehicles.
The IVAS system has both a digital night vision channel and thermographic sensors and is therefore suitable for use during the day and in conditions of limited visibility. Glasses improve the perception and situational awareness of personnel, support their decision-making, and help them detect and defeat targets. The field of view of the glasses is 80 degrees at the front and 40 degrees at the height.
IVAS can translate from foreign languages
On the battlefield, IVAS can provide information about the position of the enemy, its own and allied forces to a us army soldier. The system uses facial recognition software that allows you to identify a person if data about them has been uploaded to the database in advance. It can translate different languages into English and allows soldiers to have digital wireless data exchange between different levels of the squad, platoon and company, including coordinates and recording of what is happening on the battlefield.
So, in urban combat, for example, you do not need to describe in detail some dangerous places in language. One glance in the direction of a dangerous place (target) is enough, and the recorded image can be sent to all network participants (other military personnel of the unit). Then they are guided by the terrain, arrive at the designated place and take a position. At the same time, they no longer need to painstakingly search for a conditioned goal.
Group of soldiers equipped with IVAS
According to Lieutenant Colonel brad WINN, head of the IVAS project as part of the cross-functional soldier lethality group, the US army has completed more than 20,000 hours of tests using information glasses in the 28 months since the project began. During this time, dozens of design changes were made to the hardware and thousands to the software. About 1,000 soldiers from the U.S. army, marine Corps and special operations forces took part in the tests, according to his statement. Additional military tests conducted by the us airborne forces, the so-called Soldier Touch Points, have recently ended.
The US army assumes that the involved military personnel will work about 40,000 hours with IVAS by the end of the entire test series. B. Wynn expects that the final version of IVAS will be transferred to the first military units in the fourth quarter of 2021. It is planned that all CCT units of the 58th brigade combat team of the US army and the national guard will be equipped with smart glasses.
To be continued…
By materials soldat-und-technik.de