Discussion+6-+Technological+vs.+Physical+Warfare

=Warfare = 03.12.02 //To get a closer look at the Land Warrior, Objective Force Warrior, and Future Warrior and their equipment, check out our **slide show**. //  [|**Total posts: 40**] by  [|John Knowles] Half a mile outside the enemy-held airport that is tonight's objective, 100 U.S. Special Forces operatives stow their parachutes, regroup into squads, and prepare their attack. In the past, these soldiers wouldn't have known where the enemy was or whether they were walking into an ambush—until the shooting started. They would have relied on printed maps with information that was likely several hours old when they boarded their C-130 for transport to the objective. But this unit has advanced technology that gives it a decisive edge. Each soldier is equipped with a helmet-mounted GPS navigation receiver, a small wireless intrasquad voice and data comms system, and a wearable computer linked to an intrasquad LAN. From a flip-down display on his helmet, each soldier can scan the darkness with thermal and night-vision sensors mounted on his M-4 rifle. Each soldier navigates his computer through a track pad mounted beneath his uniform on top of his chest. For navigation and situational awareness, a soldier calls up his position on a map that automatically scrolls as he moves in any direction. The relative positions of his squad members are also displayed, as are surrounding buildings and suspected positions of enemy soldiers, updated in near–real time via radio. As each soldier and his squad members come within a few hundred meters of the airport buildings, they fan out. The soldiers approach the immediate objective: a structure believed to be, based on the latest intelligence data, the enemy's sleeping quarters. One soldier takes up a position just outside the main door and swings his rifle into the doorway, surveying the scene via a camera mounted on his M-4 rifle, avoiding exposure to hostile fire. Although this scenario may sound improbable, all this technology exists, with much of it deployed piecemeal throughout the U.S. Department of Defense's inventory relies on computer technology, according to Kathy MacDonald, head of the IT office at [|Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)], the DoD's main laboratory for weapons systems development, headquartered in Arlington, [|Virginia]. The development of smaller, faster, and cheaper computers, interface improvements, networks, database access, and improved software algorithms has put computing power in the hands of U.S. infantrymen and women. And they need it. Given the low-intensity urban, internecine conflicts likely to erupt for the foreseeable future and the American public's expectation of low casualties, the best hope for the U.S. to achieve its defense goals is to seize and maintain the same technological superiority with ground troops that served it so well in aircraft, tanks, and ships during the Cold War. []