Future combat systems: in 2014, it will have taken some two-and-a-half decades after the fall of the Iron Curtain for some of the major Western armies to gear up to the new World Order. At least four major pragrammes are currently underway to meet tomorrow's new challenges.

The most comprehensive overhaul comes from America in the form of the Future Combat System, more generically known under the (confusing) FCS acronym. Planned to enter service from 2014 hence, the FCS project will completely equip approximately 43 active and reserve brigades with a 'system of systems' comprising manned ground vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned air vehicles and unattended munitions. Senior service officials have summarised the aim of the FCS project as combining << the lethality and survivability of the heavy force with the deployability of the light force >>.

Unlike the American project which encompasses the systematic replacement of virtually all systems from main battle tanks, via howitzers down to armoured personnel carriers, the three European programmes are more focused on light infantry equipment. This is not too surprising because a number of their heavier key elements such as tanks and howitzers are of more recent technology than say, the Abrams or the M-109, and are thus more intrinsically apt for network-centric integration.

Interestingly, Sweden was the first to run a programme aimed at defining a family of modular tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles, actually before the takeover of Hagglunds by BAE Systems. Known as the Sep, this programme is intended to create a family of air-transportable fighting vehicles to enter service early in the next decade. These will support the Swedish Army's heavy combat vehicles--the Leopard 2S tank and the CV90 combat vehicle--that are expected to remain the backbone of its combat capability for another 30 years. In a first stage the army is seeking to acquire 540 vehicles to replace its oldest tracked personnel carriers.

In Britain, and paradoxically given BAE Systems' deep involvement in the FCS programme, the situation is still in a blur. A number of armoured vehicle studies had been launched and dropped for various reasons, and with Hagglunds now in the BAE fold various ideas that have emerged from the Sep could flow into the Fres and vice versa. In its Single Statement of User Need for the Fres the Ministry of Defence defines that << the user requires a system of medium land forces able to conduct sustained, expeditionary, full-spectrum operations in combined-arms, joint and multi-national contexts, in a wide range of future operating environments >>. The Fres project will deliver a medium weight capability that will complement, not replace, the army's heavy forces. The collaboration between Sweden and Britain on a joint Sep/Fres project could result in the largest armoured fighting vehicle programme in Europe--and the FMV has not ruled out other partners. The organisation has already handed over to the European Defence Agency a document explaining the potential for collaboration with other European nations.

The last project comes from France with the Boa programme, which involves Thales, Giat and Sagem and, at a later stage, MBDA. Launched in June 2004 and sanctioned by a development contract in December 2005, the study << will introduce new concepts of network-centric warfighting as a response to the close combat needs of the French Army over the coming decades. It combines the key assets in the air-land theatre--mounted and dismounted combat elements supported by unmanned ground and air vehicles--to increase the operational tempo, improve the effectiveness of units on the ground and provide them with better protection, and allow commanders to be in control in all situations >>.