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German IdZ-2 Now Called Gladius

The Germans have named their Infanterist der Zukunft or IdZ-2 (Future Soldier System) made by Cassidian with the moniker Gladius.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2012 at 06:03 and is filed under Digitization, Foreign. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

19 Responses to “German IdZ-2 Now Called Gladius”

  1. Ben says:
    May 24, 2012 at 08:45

    This is only partially correct:
    The first version of the IdZ, which is being procured since 2004, was made by a consortium led by what is today known as Cassidian (formerly EADS Defence & Security). The IdZ-2, previously named IdZ-ES (Enhanced System) is made by a consortium led by Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, which is currently reorganizing to Rheinmetall Combat Systems.
    The addition “Enhanced System” is quite misleading, as the IdZ- 2or Gladius is actually a completely new set-up and has little to nothing to do with the first version of IdZ. The level of ambition is also different, the first IdZ was rather to be based on COTS solutions.
    Cassidian has also progressed its IdZ system for export, called Warrior21, and is involved in other soldier modernization projects such as Spain’s ComFut or Switzerland’s IMESS.

    • SSD says:
      May 24, 2012 at 09:37

      I’m curious, did you actually read what was posted?

      • Ben says:
        May 24, 2012 at 17:19

        Yes – did you actually read my reply?
        “The Germans have named their Infanterist der Zukunft or IdZ-2 (Future Soldier System) made by Cassidian with the moniker Gladius.”
        Wrong, should read:
        “The Germans have named their Infanterist der Zukunft or IdZ-2 (Future Soldier System) made by Rheinmetall Defence Electronics with the moniker Gladius.”
        That simple.

        • SSD says:
          May 24, 2012 at 19:18

          So Cassidian no longer manufactures it?

          • Ben says:
            May 24, 2012 at 20:01

            Cassidian only manufactures the first version of the IdZ, the “IdZ-1” if you will. While the German Army has committed itself to procure IdZ-2 from Rheinmetall from 2013, it had also ordered another (third or fourth) batch of IdZ-sets from Cassidian quite recently – a sort of urgent operational requirement for Afghanistan.

            So, the IdZ is combat-proven, so to speak – even though the soldiers don’t use the (expensive) electronic equipment (computers) in the field. One reason is also the lack of training with the equipment at home, the soldiers usually only come across the IdZ during pre-deployment training. Most of the gear is in Afghanistan, and a lot stays there in the shelves.

            Germany is gained some experience with soldier modernization kits, and many of the flaws of IdZ-1 should be solved with IdZ-2. But behind the scenes, there is fights between Cassidian and Rheinmetall: Cassidian apparently wants to see as many orders for IdZ as possible, and currently they are hampering the procurement of the competing IdZ-2 in the German MOD.

            So in fact, there will be two systems in parallel in the German Armed Forces, plus the legacy equipment. Also, the IdZ-2, which has a high level of ambition, is ******* expensive. This may lead to a lower number of sets to be acquired for the German infantry, which would just be really bad.

            By the way, you had it all right here:
            https://soldiersystems.net/2009/12/21/german-military-awards-pre-production-contract-for-future-soldier-system/

            The comment you find under https://soldiersystems.net/?p=16984 in contrast is related to IdZ-1 (rather UOR-type of order while IdZ-2 was still under development), while the picture shows an early version of IdZ-2. Confusing stuff, I know.

          • SSD says:
            May 24, 2012 at 22:26

            I feel like Cassidian has been doing their damnedest to muddy the waters and confuse what is what.

  2. Reseremb says:
    May 24, 2012 at 09:35

    @Ben, now that you mention ComFut, in less than a month it will be a new presentation of additional companies offering their products for it, the Program Office is aware that they need a major cut in weight and bulk, current systems are absurd heavy.

    • Ben says:
      May 24, 2012 at 17:22

      Heard of that, yes. Would also agree, the standard setup was beyond 35kg or so. Oh, by the way, I’m not working for either company, nor one of their sub-supplier.

  3. MattF says:
    May 24, 2012 at 12:20

    It’s called Gladius by Cassidian.
    …yep, it’s made with bits of real gladiator, so you know it’s good…The Germans have done studies you know. 60% of the time it works everytime.

    • Ben says:
      May 24, 2012 at 17:30

      For a long time, the IdZ-2 prototypes were very much engineer solutions, trying to implement all unrealistic requirements from elderly officers too far away from the soldiers and their demands. That has improved somewhat over the past two years, and now, while I am still not a fan of the set-up, it has become quite modular and more down-to-earth – better in my opinion than the more integrated, but less flexible French solution, for instance, the FELIN. Thankfully, the Germans have gone away from their initial, weird body armour solution, for instance.

  4. Joe Schmoe says:
    May 24, 2012 at 14:07

    The only one’s who seem to be keeping their future soldier system in any level of sanity are the Israelis. Instead of one super large rollout that never happens smoothly or just goes overbudget, they are adapting each system one at a time for the battlefield.

    Tavor (already fielded)
    Arm mounted computer network (already being fielded)
    Eye scope computer controller screen
    Radio networks to allow said computers to communicate
    etc.

    All while coming in under-budget and on time while the soldiers receiving it are happy.

    • Ben says:
      May 24, 2012 at 17:33

      NORMANS from Norway is also pretty straight forward. Finland’s approach is also more cautious towards giving soldiers gadgets that may not only overburden them weight-wise, but also cognitively.

  5. Strike-Hold! says:
    May 24, 2012 at 17:06

    The model looks like Bono – especially with those glasses…

  6. snmp says:
    May 25, 2012 at 07:49

    Gladius is not rally good name for Western European countries cause that’s the name rogue stay-behind networks build by CIA & NATO and infltraded by Neo Nazie movements (Commission on Terrorism) & Cosanoatra (Mafia)