The future infantry soldier will have to fight in an all-weather environment, by day and night, varying terrain conditions and in conventional as well as asymmetrical warfare; under the shadow of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) threat. With the proliferation of digitisation in all walks of life and electronic gadgets being part of daily usage; the soldier cannot be left behind. Moreover the increased use of electronic systems in the army, it is required to keep the soldier in the loop. The lethality and accuracy of current and future small arms and other weapons need active and passive measures. The soldier in the lead will have reliable tactical intelligence and needs to be shared. The individual soldier has the potential to function as a shooter, sensor, and communicator. The infantry soldier is every Army’s ultimate weapon, thus it necessitates the requirement of a soldier modernisation programme to match with the future operational environment. Some Global programmes are given below.

US Land Warrior Programme

The US has identified five categories of modernisation-lethality, mobility, command and control, survivability, and sustainment. This initiated the Land Warrior System which is an integrated fighting system for individual infantry soldiers which provides the soldier enhanced tactical awareness, lethality and survivability. The systems integrated into Land Warrior are the weapon system, helmet, computer, digital and voice communications, positional and navigation system, protective clothing and individual equipment. The Land Warrior system will be deployed by infantry, and combat support soldiers, including rangers, airborne, air assault, light and mechanised infantry soldiers. The US Army began operational assessment of the Land Warrior and Mounted Warrior systems in May 2006 with the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT). Inspite of announcing its cancellation, the 4th SBCT equipped with Land Warrior and Mounted Warrior systems was deployed effectively in Iraq. The system is modular and tailored for the soldier’s task and mission thus the unit commander decides the components of Land Warrior that will be deployed for a mission. The two main Land Warrior configurations are for the soldier and the squad leader. All the sub systems provide different roles like the ‘Fighting load vest’ is worn by the soldier for carrying and interfacing with the sensors and the computer. The electronic systems are connected and integrated via the ten-port hub installed on the body. Similarly Land Warrior helmet provides ballistic protection and carries the main components of the soldier’s communications systems. The soldier is armed with M4 Carbine, .223 calibre, with a 30-round magazine which can fire by day and night. In June 2005, General Dynamics C4 Systems was awarded a contract to provide up to 500 Land Warrior (mounted warrior) Stryker integration kits which provides the mounted soldier voice, data and communication. The Indian Army had based their Future Infantry Soldier as a System (F-INSAS) on the Land Warrior concept.

UK’s Future Integrated Soldier Technology’ (FIST)

In March 2003, the Britain Army awarded the contract for the FIST to Thales. FIST was an adjunct to the abovementioned ‘Future Soldier’ project launched by the US with similar aim. Between 2015 and 2020, the British Army is expected to field 35,000 sets of FIST system.

France’s FELIN

FELIN Soldier System entered service in the French Army in February 2011. It includes an integrated equipment suite developed by Sagem as part of an overall soldier modernization programme. At the heart of the system is the “tactical vest”, an advanced combat webbing integrated with cabling harnesses, power packs and electronic units mounting an individual radio with integrated GPS, its processing unit, batteries and man-machine interface, and a miniature terminal that displays data. The addition of optronics equipment has considerably increased the effective firing range of Famas rifles, even at night. It is reported that 22,600 French soldiers have been equipped with FELIN systems.

Future Infantry Soldier As A System (F-INSAS)

F-INSAS was conceptualised in April 2005 to integrate future military technologies, with the personnel equipment, of the future infantry soldier so that he has an edge over other competing armies. The area of focus of F-INSAS was ‘Lethality; Situational Awareness; Sustainability and Protection’. The future soldier was to be provided with effective sensor-shooter interface; and integrated with his section, platoon and company.

Weapons

The weapons included assault rifle, close quarter battle (CQB) carbine and light machine gun (LMG). The weapons were to be multi-calibre individual weapon systems with the fourth calibre attached to a UBGL (Under Barrel Grenade Launcher) capable of firing air bursting grenades. The weapons were to have night firing capability and a laser range finder to provide range and direction. When linked with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) (similar to GPS) would allow the soldier to call for indirect fire accurately.

Protection

Bullet Proof Jackets (BPJ). Modular Bullet Proof Jackets to provide protection to vital parts of the body. It will have add-on inserts to protect front, sides, back, throat and groin. The ballistics resistance of body armour is evaluated by the NIJ (American) and STANAG (NATO) standards. The problem is a trade off between weight, protection and cost.

Ballistic Helmet. The Ballistic Helmet will be lightweight and comfortable, made of advanced materials to provide ballistics protection to neck and ears as also facilitate the use of headset for communications radio. The Helmet envisages two versions – the commander’s version which would have a provision for head phones and the soldier’s version would be without head phones.

The Modular Individual Load Carrying Equipment (MILE). This would include a Harness, Rucksacks and Hydration Pack.

Survival Kit. The survival kit comprises of the soldier’s Personal Kit, Elbow and Knee Pads, Multipurpose Tool and First Aid Kit.

Target Acquisition Sub-System. This includes Night Vision Devices, Weapon Sights for day and night and Hand-Held Target Acquisition Device.

Computer and Communication Sub-System

Shall comprise a soldier wearable computer, which is lightweight and battle rugged with a display and the Software Defined /IP based Radios for communication. It will also facilitate power management and integration of all sub-systems of F-INSAS.

Reflex/Holographic Sights and Red Dot LASER Pointer

The Reflex/Holographic Sights and the Red Dot LASER Designator/ Pointer would be procured along with the CQB Carbine and the Assault Rifle.

Image Intensifier-based Passive Night Sights

As per the road map of the ‘Indian Army Night Vision Philosophy’, night operations capability was to be ready by 2015. Bharat Electronics Limited Optronic Devices Ltd (BELOP) has started manufacturing Gen2 Image Intensifiers in collaboration with and as a Joint Venture with BV DELFT Netherlands in 1994. In 2012, the plant was upgraded to produce XD-4 II Tubes with technical know-how from PHOTONIS, France, and about 40,000 tubes were supplied. The plant is presently being upgraded to XR-5 grade. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) has entered into a partnership with Exelis Inc., in Gen 3 Image Intensification based NVDs.

Separation of F-INSAS in two projects.

In January 2015, the Indian Army split the F-INSAS programme in favour of two separate projects; one arming the modern infantry soldier with the best available assault rifle, carbine and LMG, and personal equipment such as the helmet and BPV; and the second component is the Battlefield Management Systems (BMS) which included the computer and communications. However due to high cost of BMS which impinged on the acquisition of state of art small arms, the Indian Army foreclosed BMS in July 2018. Thus after 13 years of money invested in development, the focus now is to the get the best personnel weapon and equipment like BPJ and ballistic helmet.

Progress on truncated INSAS

Personal Weapons

Assault rifles. India had signed a 700 crore deal to buy 72,000 of these rifles from the US under fast track procedures. The first lot of 10,000 SiG716 assault rifles arrived in India on December 1, 2019 and another batch of 10,000 rifles will arrive soon. The SIG716 uses the more powerful 7.62x51mm cartridge. There are plans for a joint venture between India and Russia to produce seven lakh AK-203 assault rifles in India which will be modified for carbine role.

LMG. The Indian Army has started its search for a new LMG with the calibre of 7.62x51mm by sending a delegation during April/May 2019 to Bulgaria (Arsenal Company); Israel (Israel Weapon Industries) and South Korea (S&T Motiv Co.). Currently the Army is looking for 16,400 LMGs under Fast Track Procedure.

Bullet Proof Vests (BPV). The shortage of bullet-proof jackets for armed forces is being met through procurement of 1.86 lakh such jackets by April 2020 for nearly 639 crore. So far, the DGQA quality checks have been completed and 10,000 bullet proof jackets have already been procured and a total of 37,000 BPJ are planned to be procured by end 2019. SMPP Pvt Ltd, which has developed these indigenous BPV claim that their BPJ can withstand hardcore steel ammunition fired from an AK-47 rifle.

Bullet Proof Helmet. During early 2018, a Kanpur-based company, MKU limited, which supplies military equipment to the UN and NATO, was awarded a contract worth 180 crore to supply nearly 1.6 lakh helmets. The company has delivered the first tranche on July 15, 2018. The helmet has a main protective layer of Kevlar and is designed to withstand the impact of 9mm ammunition fired from a short range. The helmet is also designed for soldier comfort which can be integrated with communication and night-vision devices.

The Boot Anti Mine (Infantry) (BAMI). Northern Command had procured 6250 BAMI at a cost of 16.77 crore in 2018 under the Army Commanders Special Financial Power Fund from Gee Kay Engineering Industries(Punjab) but it was reported during November 2019 that the payment has been withheld due to supply of faulty boots.