Italy’s Future Soldier:
The current status
Paolo Valpolini looks at Soldato Futuro as it moves into its industrialisation phase
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Checking information on the 4-inches screen; most links are by
cable in order to minimise interference and jamming problems.
© P. Valpolini |
With the signature of the contract for 92 preproduction
sets, the Italian Future Soldier
programme known as “Soldato Futuro” enters its
industrialisation phase. Developed by a team of
five companies led by Selex Communications, the
other four being Selex Galileo and Larimart both
part of Finmeccanica as the prime contractor,
Beretta and Aero Sekur, the programme went
through a technological demonstration phase in
2004 which led to the delivery of three prototypes
in 2007, one per each configuration, team leader,
grenadier and rifleman. These were put through a
series of tests at the Italian Army Infantry School
at Cesano, near Rome, which provided feedback
used to modify wherever possible the prototypes
before the second round of tests, which took place
in March 2008.
Italy’s Future Soldier system’s pivotal element is the
command and control system whose software is provided
by Selex Comms and Selex Galileo and which runs on a
Larimart computer using a standard man machine interface
(MMI) 4-inch touch-screen (the section commander having
an 8-inch screen,) which allows the user to receive and
send pre-formatted and free text messages and to show
digital maps, navigation menus and GPS grids. The
computer, together with batteries and other electronic
components, such as the GPS, are installed on the
soldier’s back and linked through the so-called “e-vest”
which contains all connecting cables, wireless links having
been reduced to a minimum in order to minimise
electromagnetic signature and jamming problems.
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The vision system is based on an HMD where the soldier can see
some of the information provided by the C2 system and by an LLTV
for night operations. © P. Valpolini |
The helmet is equipped with a Helmet-Mounted
Display (HMD) which shows information coming from the
computer or the image provided by the Low Level TV
camera mounted on the other side of the helmet, in order
to maintain balance. The subsystem is provided by Selex
Galileo and is known as NIMOS (Night Mobility Subsystem).
The headset including the microphone are linked to the
communication hub while a blood-pressure measurement
system fixed to the soldier’s ear provides automatic health
monitoring. The Individual Pocket Radio (IPR) operates in
the 800-900 MHz range and provides a range of 1,300 m
in ideal conditions; it ensures communications within the
infantry section and allows the section commander to
communicate to the section’s vehicle and through the
vehicle’s radio, to upper command echelons.
Some of the problems which have been debugged
following the first testing phase were linked to the
previously described systems. The C2 software has been
implemented taking into consideration most of the
feedback, systems stability has been considerably
enhanced, while considerable effort has been directed at
improving the electromagnetic compatibility of various
system components. The autonomy proved to be
significantly less than the 24 hours initially required;
however while a more realistic evaluation scheme based on
different mission profiles is now being considered,
requirements might also be lowered considering those
adopted by foreign systems. The IPR’s range decreased
consistently in urban areas; with options being considered
to solve the problem, one of them being the adoption of an
expendable node to be left on the ground in order to
provide a better coverage of the area, while a reduction in
frequency (to 400 MHz) might give problems due to the
scarce spectrum availability and the coexistence with other
radios working in that frequency range, already installed on
board vehicles.
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Clothing, ballistic and NBC protection systems will be the subject of deep changing in the pre-production kit.
© P. Valpolini |
Coming to the weapon, the Beretta ARX 160
assault rifle in 5.56 mm calibre has been developed as
an integrated system with the GLX 160 single-shot
grenade launcher and two aiming systems provided by
Selex Galileo; the Aspis Individual Combat Weapon System and the Scorpio Grenade Launcher Fire Control
System. The ARX 160 has a foldable stock and can be
equipped with three different barrels, 10, 12 and 16
inches long, and with the longer barrel its weight is less
thank 3 kg unloaded. The Aspis features an IR camera
working in the 8-12 μm band with a 320x240 uncooled
sensor and a 20x15° Field of View (FoV), a daylight
black & white TV camera with a 640x480 sensor and a
10x7.5° FoV, a laser pointer with visible and IR mode,
and a red dot sight with a x1 magnification; all these
functions are packed into a sight which weighs less than
1 kg with batteries and which image can be send to the
soldier’s HMD via blue-tooth link (with cable back-up).
The GLX 160 grenade launcher can be fixed
underneath the rifle barrel while the Scorpio aiming system
is fixed on the left Picatinny rail; equipped with a laser
rangefinder and a ballistic computer which allows it to
obtain the elevation to hit a static target in less than 1s and
elevation and lead angle against a moving target in less
than 3s. The Scorpio, which has a range of 400m, allows a
dramatic increase of accuracy when firing a grenade. The
overall weapon system was successful since the first trials,
although some minor ergonomic adjustments are being
carried out within the industrialisation process to further
improve the overall system.
While the GLX 160 will be issued to the two
grenadiers who are part of the Italian Army infantry
section, the section commander will be equipped with the
Lynx target acquisition system; this allows to identify a
target and compute its grids, and to pass over the picture
and the grids to higher echelons via the Future Soldier
system. It features an uncooled IR camera with the same
sensor used in the Aspis but with a 12x9° FoV, a colour
daylight TV camera with an 8x7° FoV, a laser rangefinder
with a 4,000m range, a digital magnetic compass and a
GPS receiver, and weighs less than 1.9kg.
The Future Soldier programme also includes many
other items in the ballistic protection, NBC protection and
clothing fields. According to the first field tests these
items will have to undergo considerable modification in
order to respond to the Army requirements. Some
decisions still have to be made, such as merging in a
single element the combat vest and the e-vest, while the
NBC protection suit which was originally a two-piece item
might become a single-piece item. Different fabrics are
also being sought while further developments of the NBC
respirator and of other items such as ballistic eyewear are
also on the list.
Despite any possible delay arising from review of
requirements and technical solutions related to the NBC
and clothing components, the C2 and weapon subsystems
are planned to be ready for acceptance tests by year end
in order to complete these tests in early 2009 and to
provide the kits to the Army within the second quarter. All
the equipment will be assigned to the USD (Unità
Sperimentale Digitalizzata) base in Altamura, in southern
Italy, which is the unit earmarked for carrying out all
testing related to battlefield digitization. The USD will
receive soon the first Freccia wheeled armoured infantry
vehicles, which are the first Italian Army vehicles
developed from scratch as digitized platforms, as well as
Ariete MBTs, Dardo IFVs and Centauro armoured cars, all
equipped with the SICCONA command, control and
navigation system which was jointly developed by Selex
Communications and Otomelara. Autumn 2009 might
prove to be the moment of truth for the Italian Army
digitization programme, when USD soldiers will be able to
start tactical trials of the new equipment aiming both at
validating the systems and at verifying the evolved
doctrine developed by the Army Staff. ■
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