British soldier of future: Star Wars helmet and sharpshooter rifle

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British soldier of future: Star Wars helmet and sharpshooter rifle

Armed to the teeth with the latest in technology, this is the new face of the British soldier.

And if he looks a little familiar, it's probably because you've seen something very similar in the Star Wars movies.

Gone is the old style 'pudding-bowl' helmet. In its place is one which features ear protection to shield the user from loud bangs and a mouthguard - yet also allows human voices to be heard clearly, and comes with side-mounted torches to assist in night operations.

The helmet, currently under trial, forms part of what the MoD calls FIST - Future Integrated Soldier Technology - and is part of a £1billion-a-year programme to update battlefield equipment.

Changing: A British soldier wearing the clothing of the future, current operational clothing and what British soldiers were wearing five years ago (From left to right).

The rest of the kit, as worn by a soldier from the Royal Anglian Regiment, is already in use and features camouflage specifically created for the conditions of Afghanistan.

It replaces two previous designs - a 40-year-old four-colour combination better suited to European woodland conditions and a lighter pattern for the desert.

The soldier holds the first all-new combat rifle used by the Army for 20 years.

The Lewis Sharpshooter is semi-automatic and said to be accurate up to 2,500ft - ideal for mountain warfare.

The SA80, standard issue since 1976, uses lighter rounds which were found to lose effectiveness at distances of more than 1,000ft.

 

[no_name]

Won't the face guard get in the way? Looks bulky

 

[Awesome]

Any assistance to the sniper rifle from the helmet? From the description, its nothing more than what you would gain from a cricket helmet, sun glasses, with a headset and oh yeah some torches.

There should be an HUD on the helmet, synch the crosshair of the gun on the display.

 

[Arjun MBT]

man this sure looks funny to me..... this is not the way to take it next gen

 

[mjnaushad]

NOT COOL......A WW2 Soldier looks more cool than this.....

 

[hillman32]

Gear is Good - But man behind the GUN does matter..............!!!!!

 

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First FELIN soldier systems delivered to the French army

The versatility of the FELIN will revolutionise French Army operations.

This makes it the world’s first future soldier system to enter service with an armed forces and go into series production: the first of a total of 22,588 ordered FELIN future soldier systems have now been handed over to the French Army. Early this week, the French Armament Procurement Agency (Direction générale de l'armement, DGA) announced that it had delivered, in late May, the first 90 FELIN (fantassin à équipements et liaisons integers) systems to the French Army. The systems have been handed over to the French Infantry School’s FELIN training centre to provide basic training on the system to French army instructors.

Being one of the largest and most advanced soldier modernisation programmes, the value of the entire French FELIN programme, including development, industrialization, production and initial support is estimated at approximately €1 billion ($1.5 billion). FELIN is designed to enhance all the dismounted soldier's operational functions: protection, observation, C4I, weapons use, mobility and support.

 

[Arjun MBT]

I wonder when F-INSAS would be delivered, waiting for it....

 

[RescueRanger]

The UK has serious equipment issues, for starters the body armour and equipment shortage for their troops, unlike the M8 thier Mk6 is bulky and not very comfortable.

Britian did announce last year in Jane they had developed the MK7 which looks like a sleeker version of the M8, but it is still on trial. So i doubt it will see action in Afghanistan. The current Osprey body armour which replaced the Combat Body armour is bulky and hard to wear during tactical movement:

The political fall-out from his death proved highly damaging, and the MoD has now spent some £16million sending 16,000 upgraded Osprey body armour sets to Afghanistan and Iraq for infantry troops, along with an even heavier "Kestrel" version with extra arm and neck armour for soldiers in the vulnerable "top cover" position on patrol vehicles.

Each set of Osprey armour costs around £1,000 - compared with just £167 for older sets which had smaller ceramic plates to protect the vital organs.
But after putting Osprey to the test in battle, many troops are quietly now ignoring orders to wear it.

One Marine told the Mail: "We've had situations where as soon as we've got into a contact [firefight with enemy], guys are pulling out the plates and throwing them away. That's what I did.
"It's hard to run for cover wearing Osprey. They're heavy, but more importantly they're so bulky you can't even bend down.

Read more: British soldiers' £16million body armour so bulky troops must take it off to fire | Mail Online

From what it seems they really need to review their equipment practices and R&D, since it took them 10 years to get the modified L85A2 from H&K.

 

[yjs14]

man, you know what China Defence mean???

 

[RescueRanger]

man, you know what China Defence mean???

Good Point - the post is in the wrong section.

 

[prototype]

this FIST system look more like a joke,though the FELINS look cool

 

[Jackal]

The SA80, standard issue since 1976, uses lighter rounds which were found to lose effectiveness at distances of more than 1,000ft.

The SA80 hasn't been standard issue for the British Army since 1976. Although its design goes back even further than that year, this particular rifle began its preliminary design at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in 1972, quite early but it wasn't until around the year of 1986 it started to enter service with the British Army and the final acceptance of the rifle in 1987, it wasn't until 1989 when another contract was signed for more of the rifles.

And, it wasn't until 2002 the SA80 finally got the upgrades it deserved, it being the SA80 A2 which resulted it being one of, if not the finest rifle in world and certainly without a doubt the most reliable because of the changes it had got. Thats before it got the Heckler & Koch AG-36 40mm grenade launcher fitted to it which put it into a class of its own, of which, there are currently trials of new types of ammunition for the AG-36...And I also can say that theres new plans & ideas for new ammunition for the SA80 and a new telescopic site which will be more suited for sniping at longer ranges, it'll be much longer, have a wider body and have a bigger objective lens.

With these upgrades, from a professional point of view I guess these rifles will be service until around 2025-30.