Central and South Asia

New technology in Afghanistan

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The American troops in Afghanistan’s Helmand province are employing some new military technology in their counter-insurgency efforts. The World’s Aaron Schachter reports on two examples of the updated technology — the Stryker and something called “the land warrior.”

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LISA MULLINS: Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, thousands of US marines and British troops are staging major operations in town and province. The offensive is the first stage in President Obama’s strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan. The American troops in Helmand are employing new military technologies in their counter-insurgency efforts. The World’s Aaron Schachter is embedded with the US army in Helmand right now. He tells us about two examples of the updated technology. The Stryker and something called the Land Warrior.

AARON SCHACHTER: The Stryker looks like some kind of post-apocalyptic vehicle, straight out of a Mad Max movie. It’s an imposing mishmash of armor and steel grading, and a whole lot of firepower. In addition to massive machine guns, it can fling 40 grenades a minute more than a mile, and its eight wheels make it a good match for Afghanistan’s so-called roads, as well as the mountainous terrain in the north. Sergeant Charles Kennedy is with Alpha Company 423 Infantry Battalion Fifth Striker Brigade.

CHARLES KENNEDY: It’s better than a humvee, more efficient, more mobile. We get from point A to point B a whole lot faster. It can, the cages on my side were made for RPG’s, top of the RPG once it hits it, it disintegrates and the cage stops it from hitting the truck. The technology’s updating a lot. We got long distance radios now instead of the humvee.

AARON: The inside’s pretty impressive as well. It holds 11 soldiers and a battery of computer hardware. Four screens give constant positions of troops in the field, and keep tabs on the vehicle itself. Thermal imaging lights up the night for a mile in all directions. In fact, because of the incessant dust here, it’s easier to drive at night with the lights off. At more than $3 million each, the Stryker itself isn’t new. It was first deployed in Iraq, but it’s been outfitted with new gear and made to work with a new type of combat soldier, demonstrated by first lieutenant Adam Smith.

ADAM SMITH: In this back up here contains your Land Warrior.

AARON: Robocop it’s not. On the face of it the Land Warrior’s technology isn’t much more than what you’ve find in a sophisticated cell phone, but when integrated into a battle plan, it’s a major step for the army, especially when it comes to avoiding friendly fire.

ADAM: The biggest thing is you get an idea of where the friendly elements are in the battlefield, and you do that through, you got a little TV screen here over your eye, and there’ll be just little icons in there, showing you where they are relative to your position and then you can send them text messages inside there’s a little keyboard on this. And that’s the biggest thing about it is, providing you with some idea of where your guys are on the ground.

AARON: In the past commanders relied on radio traffic over different networks to keep track of their troops. With the Land Warrior, everyone knows what’s going on at once. Some soldiers say the extra ten pounds is more burdensome than helpful, but Lieutenant Colonel Wade Blackwell says most soldiers just don’t understand how far the military has come. When he joined nearly 20 years ago for example, there were only line of sight walkie-talkies. Now soldiers are as networked as if they were in a modern office. Blackwell commands the Third Battalion 82^nd Aviation Regiment. He’s got soldiers in the dangerous province of Southern Helmand.

WADE BLACKWELL: If a ground soldier can see first, meaning he can see the enemy before he sees him, if he can talk to his people, if he can decide and he can start action before the enemy does, then he’s got a tremendous advantage. We call it a common operations picture, that means that the guy on the ground is seeing what the guy at the headquarters is seeing.

AARON: But the military isn’t really fighting a ground war, it’s attempting to win Afghan hearts and minds, while struggling against guerilla attacks and roadside bombs. So flashy battlefield technology doesn’t necessarily ensure victory. But with nearly 70,000 troops expected in the country by the end of the year, if technology makes it possible for fewer soldiers to fight and more to connect with local Afghans, it will have done its job.

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