Future Soldier

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Future Soldier is the overall name given to a multi-nation military project by the United States and its allies. Launched in the late 1990s, it is aimed at providing the same overwhelming superiority to ground forces as is enjoyed by air forces. This will be achieved by equipping the average ground-based combat soldier of 2025 with an integrated set of high-technology uniforms and equipment. These will be linked to an array of real-time and archived battlefield information resources. Soldiers will require not only enhanced versions of existing equipment (rifle, pistol, knife, helmet, armour, clothing), but also new forms of equipment that will become possible as new types & combinations of technologies become viable for battlefield deployment (such as exoskeletons, micro robot vehicles, surgery-enhanced vision, invisibility shrouds, and others). Vital to the success of the project will be the psychological and tactical preparation of ground combat soldiers for using their new capabilities. Various Future Soldier programs are heavily funded and underway around the world, including FIST (UK) Land 125 Australia, Netherlands Soldier System (NSS) Netherlands,African Warrior (South Africa), Félin (France), IdZ (Germany), Black Robes (Russia) , MARKUS (Sweden), NORMANS (Norway), Infante do Futuro (Portugal), Soldato Futuro (Italy), Futuro Combatiente (Spain), ANOG (Israel), Advanced Combat Man System (Singapore), and Land Warrior (USA).

An analogous program is claimed to be underway in Russia, and its name may translate as "Project Wolf" or simply "Soldier 2000." Reports of this are met with considerable skepticism, due to budgetary problems in the Russian military.

Some of the early Future Soldier equipment was tested in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Land Warrior is currently being assessed for possible deployment to Iraq in 2007.

The 3rd Annual Future Soldier Conferen