US 'Land Warrior' wearable-computing headed to Iraq

The current incarnation of Land Warrior weighs 16lb, a very significant addition to an infantryman's combat load. Soldiers have tended to be overburdened with kit for a very long time (Roman legionaries, ordered by Consul Gaius Marius to carry all their own gear, called themselves "Marius' Mules"). This problem is as bad as ever it was, with modern troops staggering under the weight of heavy body armour, ammo, weapons, water – and now an ever-increasing load of batteries and electronics.

That said, unit leaders and commanders are more positive about Land Warrior. They like the ability to see where all their people are in close to real time. They are particularly pleased with the ability to mark a potential target with a gun-mounted rangefinder and instantly transmit its coordinates up the chain of command, perhaps accompanied by a picture or a video clip. This allows a strike by artillery or air support to be approved fast and arrive quickly, saving much wearisome reading out of numbers over voice channels and debate about whether a particular nail really deserves the big hammer or not.

Some believe that the complaints from ordinary grunts about bugs, weight, and so on are just normal military grumbling. A staff-sergeant was quoted by Popular Mechanics as saying "all guys bitch and moan about new gear. They'll get used to it".

While Land Warrior is more or less dead, with funding removed for any further procurement, a fair amount of kit is already bought and cash is there to maintain it. The 4th battalion of the US 9th Infantry, recently ordered to Iraq earlier than planned as part of President Bush's "surge" of troops, will use a limited amount of Land Warrior gear. Popular Mechanics suggests that the 4th of the 9th will use the full rig only for squad-leaders and other commanders, perhaps letting the ordinary grunts get by with just a locator beacon and comms.

The 4/9th were the unit engaged in full field tests and training with Land Warrior last year, and there are suggestions that they have asked to take the gear to Iraq because some of them at least are big fans.

Other sources, however, have suggested the only reason they have taken it is that they were given no time to re-train with standard gear after the programme was effectively cancelled and the 4/9th was ordered to the warzone ahead of schedule.

It seems probable that only a truly stellar performance in Iraq can now save Land Warrior. That in turn might easily call the UK's FIST programme into question – and indeed, FIST already looks like shocking value for money even if it works as advertised. A set of FIST will cost at least £70k (as opposed to Land Warrior at a reported $30k) and seems unlikely to be any better.

The UK, too, could be described as having skewed its infantry funding far too much towards equipment and away from people. Spending £2bn to develop British wearable-tech could be seen as foolish in light of the rising proportion of Blighty's infantrymen who must now be recruited overseas due to low pay and poor conditions. Some UK taxpayers might ask why they should pay extra for British-made kit which may not even be any use, if this means we can't afford British soldiers.

A final nail in the Land Warrior/FIST coffin might also be the total lack of any reported interest from the special-ops community, always the leaders of military fashion. Special-forces units are always looking for any edge they can get in close combat, and to date have achieved almost invincible gunfighting performance mainly by intensive live-fire rehearsals, endless training, and a few relatively simple bits and pieces such as stun grenades, night-vision gear, and specialised sights or illuminators. Given the intensive media spotlight always focused on these units, we'd probably know if the super-troopers were moving into wearable networking in any big way.

All in all, it could be that the day of the digital warrior is still some way off. ®

Lewis Page was a navy diver himself, but suffered a fairly torrid introduction to close-combat tactics at the hands of Royal Marine instructors after rashly volunteering for Commando training during a moment of madness. His frankly brilliant book on the British military and its troubled relationship with expensive technology is now out in paperback. Even if you don't like it, it's printed on very absorbent paper and has hundreds of uses around the home.