Army Stryker battalion soldiers to get improved situational awareness

June 28, 2005
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., 28 June 2005. Systems designers at General Dynamics C4 Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz., are providing hardware and software to improve situational awareness and communications between infantry soldiers and Stryker combat vehicles.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., 28 June 2005. Systems designers at General Dynamics C4 Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz., are providing hardware and software to improve situational awareness and communications between infantry soldiers and Stryker combat vehicles.

Company experts are integrating as many as 500 Land Warrior ensembles and Stryker Integration Kits into a Stryker experimental battalion not only to improve situational awareness, but also to enable commanders to see soldiers on maps and communicate with them using voice and data.

Land Warrior is an integrated, modular fighting system that uses technology to enhance individual soldiers' close-combat tactical awareness, lethality, and survivability. It includes weapon-mounted sensors, an integrated helmet assembly, a communications-navigation computer system, and software for friendly-force tracking and command/control programs.

General Dynamics C4 is doing the work under terms of a $30 million U.S. Army contract announced June 28. Delivery of the assessment versions of the Land Warrior ensembles and integration kits will be March through May, 2006.

General Dynamics received the award after successful completion of nearly four months of Land Warrior field testing at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2004. Military personnel used the system's thermal sight for nighttime firing and digital video sight for daylight shooting during range testing.

In addition to field testing, a Land Warrior weapons firing test by Marines at Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va., in May resulted in better-than-expected accuracy and system battery life, General Dynamics officials say.

"We were able to hit targets with much greater accuracy from greater distances," says Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Soldier System Manager (TSM) Col. Ernest Forrest. "The ability for soldiers to fire off-hand or around corners with such accuracy is unprecedented."

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