Over the past two days, Cassidian (EADS Defence & Security) has announced two separate awards to deliver Future Soldier technologies to European Armies.
First, they were awarded a 20 million Swiss franc contract by the Swiss defence procurement authority Armasuisse for advanced production engineering of the IMESS programme (Integrated and Modular Engagement System for the Swiss Soldier). Cassidian’s Warrior21â„¢ system has been undergoing testing with Swiss forces since 2007. Interestingly, the contract also calls for the installation of IMESS network into Swiss Duro and Piranha vehicles.
On the 2nd of March, Cassidian announced that they had been commissioned by Germany’s Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) to deliver a further 400 units of the Future Soldier System (Infanterist der Zukunft) in its basic version (IdZ BS) for use by troops heading to Afghanistan as part of ISAF. This new delivery will raise the Bundeswehr’s total number of IdZ BS equipment sets to 2,900.
According to Cassidian:
“An IdZ BS system for equipping an infantry squad (ten soldiers) consists of an identical basic configuration for all soldiers (including modular bullet-proof vest in protection class I to IV, C4I equipment including NaviPad for situational awareness and transmitting messages, target data and images, night vision device, tactical radio) and various special items (such as laser range finder, camera, thermal image sighting device).”
