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 Following evaluation of the Land warrior system over
several years,
the US Army decided to drastically simplify the system, making it less
complex, more durable and suitable for realistic combat conditions.
The resulting system is the Land warrior Stryker, or "Mounted
Warrior", now
scheduled for completion and deployment by 2006. New features
provide dismounted soldiers combat identification for enroute
situational awareness and power recharge to reduce "friendly fire"
incidents; CDA leader planning tool, weight and power reduction,
scalable and tailored for operational missions, enables transition
to Army Future Combat Systems interoperability, and path for
technology insertions from Objective Force Warrior (OFW - currently
designated Future Force Warrior or FFW) and other sources.
Mounted Warrior equips Army crew members assigned to Stryker
vehicles and requires the use of a helmet mounted display for
hands-free viewing and increased situational awareness. Following a
competitive evaluation of various helmet mounted displays, held in
August 2005, the Army selected the ProView S035 monocular helmet
mounted display provided by Rockwell Collins. The same design has
been qualified for use in the Army's Land Warrior program.
Key capability of the system is its interoperability
with the Stryker family of combat vehicles, attained through a
Stryker Vehicle Integration Kit (VIK). When mounted on the vehicle,
VIK provides voice intercome and radio communications, data
communications and electrical power recharging connectivity
through an umbilical connection. Voice and data connections are
provided through an extension of the individual soldier's personal
Area Network system, providing intranetworking between team members
as well as radio and data connectivity with external sources,
carried through the vehicle's intercom system. On dismounted
operations, soldiers will have full communications via the
vehicle's radios and data systems, as long as they remain within
wireless network's effective range. When mounted, each soldier will
also have seamless synchronization of tactical information, via data
connection with the Army Battle Command System (ABCS) through the
vehicle's FBCB2 system. Prior to dismounting, the system will
provide an update position of all associated elements, as received
from the vehicle's GPS system. The VIK will have battery recharging
racks to replenish batteries drained during dismounted operations.
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