RE: Berets and other head varients.

G'day (sorry just can't help myself),
	I've found this thread on hi-tec for the Grunt interesting. It
anin't that
far off. B coy 1 Bn 15 InfReg in the states is currenlt trialling their
futuristic "Land Warrior" system. The system consists of throat mikes,
personal night vision gear, new communications equipment and apparently
some VR type goggles (target indication?). The idea is to have a platoon
using the system by the end of the year trialling it. The "Land Warrior"
system is intended to improve the preformance of a whole platoon by
allowing (as I understand it) Company and other platoon commanders to
directly recieve information from another platoon or it's members.
	France is also introducing new systems to their infantry but
rather than
being a co-ordinated package they are consentrating on stand alone
systems
like night sights and new individual radios. This sort of system would
not
allow the CO to see what PFC Shirack does. The hope is that each system
can
be throughly tested in the field and later intergrated with the other
packages to produce a complete system, the Systeme d'Armes Combattant,
which interestingly includes a full face helmet and body armour.
	Finally Australia has it's own ideas called Project Wundurra,
which in
some respects similar to the American idea but not quite as ambitious.
Australia is aiming to produce a ssytem which greatly improves the
proformance of a section (squad for the Yanks) rather than an entire
platoon. Like the other systems it includes individual radios, small
mikes,
postion location devices on each soldier, millitarised laptops (God only
knows what it ways) and night vision equipment. From the photos I've
been
able to get my hands on the night vision gear comes in single and double
eyepiece versions, the double appears to be linked to the comms
equipment
on the trooper. I've also seen what appears like a flip down VR screen
on
some troopers which again is linked to the comms. As for helemets, most
of
the soldiers trialing the gear where bush hats but thats probably just
us
Aussie's.
	Interestingly the officer in charge of the projet felt that
introducing
such hi-tec equipment to a recruit too early in their training would
actually make worse soldiers in the long run.

	Finally, I have heard from a computer illiterate friend that
somewhere on
the net someone had come with special stats for U.N. ships for the FT
background. I can't think where else to look. Any ideas?

	Tony Wilkinson.
	twilko@ozemail.com.au 
	"If you build a better mouse trap,
	Nature will always build a better mouse!"

At 01:01 PM 8/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>>
>><<I wonder, this is SF where the high tech battle field rules?  What
about
>>the
>>radio R/T, infra red pop down interface, helmet cam, built in map
projector (
>>with the "you are here red arrow!), ammo status, magna gogles, aural
>>magnifier, em detector, etc.
>>
>>In the High Tech battlefield the elite troops would be the ones with
helmets
>>and the militia would be the ones without. 
>Tom Hughes >>
>
>Pfc. Hoskins crouched silently in the bush, sweating in the overweight
>laughably named 'cool' suit. The freezon-12 can had run out at least
two
>weeks ago, along with the batteries for the chil-pak on his newfangled
>MPPG, forcing him to fire it in semi-auto mode only. He groaned as he
>carefully removed the newlar "squat-pot" off his head and used the high
>tech helmet for what it did best, provide a stable seat during the long
>ambushes in the bush. At least the Indig militia had those old steel
>pots that could hold water for shaving or a quick cat-cat bath in the
>field. Hell, the Ell-tee had traded his cool-suit to a gadget-hungry
>Indie Captain for a set of the local's cammies and a bottle of
coconanna
>hooch weeks ago. Maybe some of the new lightweight battle dress would
>>come through on the next shuttle...... Maybe....
>>
>
>