Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
February 2, 2007
By Associated Press
OROGRANDE, N.M. — The Army unveiled parts of its high-tech Future Combat Systems on Thursday in a mock raid on a fictitious village, demonstrating equipment that aims to make soldiers' work safer.
The late morning exercise was the first public glimpse of a series of camera mounted-robots, small unmanned planes, radios that can send text messages and other equipment that Army and defense officials say will make combat safer for U.S. personnel.
Sgt. 1st Class Rick Haddad, an Afghanistan war veteran who participated in the exercise, said the new equipment "is going to make soldiers smarter."
Haddad and about two dozen other soldiers were given the job of raiding and clearing several buildings in the fake village Thursday. As they charged toward different buildings, they sent in a camera-mounted robot, called a SUGV or small unmanned ground vehicle, to get view of what they were facing.
In one building, the camera spied an enemy soldier. In another location, it caught an improvised explosive device with a trip wire.
The images were relayed in real time to field commanders who described to forward soldiers what was being sent. Images from the small unmanned aerial vehicle were also sent to the battlefield in real time.
In a real-life combat situation without this equipment, a U.S. soldier could have been injured or killed trying to gather the same information, Army commanders said.
"You've got a visual without having to compromise yourself," Haddad said of the camera shots.
Following the exercise, soldiers said the new tools, which include computer software that tracks the movements of U.S. soldiers and the enemy, were invaluable and also help prevent deadly friendly fire incidents.
Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright told reporters that the Boeing-created system is an ever-evolving series of technologies that will be upgraded and changed based on what soldiers say they need and want.
Boeing officials have been developing the system for nearly four years and hope to start giving the Army some pieces of the project by next year. The entire system is expected to be in place by about 2014.
Early versions of the SUGV and the small UAV are already being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Then the computer crashes.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Then the computer crashes.

And the Troops call for a Time Out to get everything up and running again.
No different than putting a Video Game on pause to use the bathroom.
The Geneva Conventions of War will of course have to be updated for such as to restrict (at least legally) the enemy from firing on US Forces once a Time Out due to Technical Difficulty is called.

"The images were relayed in real time to field commanders who described to forward soldiers what was being sent"

That's the part that got me. Why wouldn't the Forward Troops just see fir themselves what is going on and relay such info back? Field Commanders should trust their Combat Troops.

For starters our company commander doesn't believe a thing we say so...

sad... very sad indeed.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Then the computer crashes.

i wouldn't worry about just the computer crashing. what do you do when you run out of batteries to power those things in field? and, if as Gator says troops are able to call "time outs" in combat, why not just one up it, give every trooper a controller, a screen, and a recliner, and have a robot do the job for them?

Hell they're letting them call timeout in Basic... anybody try this in Iraq yet?

What if it actually turned out to work in Iraq?

Someone is shooting at you and you get stressed about it so you raise your yellow card and they have to leave you alone for fifteen minutes??
This is the single most assinine artifact Clinton left in the armed forces and has been sorely missed in the changes made since his departure. I'm dead serious in Basic if someone raises that bloody card the drill sergeants may be required to leave them alone but I will ride them like a kid with a sack full of dimes on the pony in front of Safeway on Sunday.

How can something like this work in an all out "Urban Battle War"
this is to good to be true, it will be very interesting to see.