This narrative is designed to explore the difference that robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomy and augmented reality spatial computing could achieve with technologies that presently exist, or will exist commercially in the near future. The aim is to understand how human-machine teams (HUM-T) could enable advantage to Australian close combatants. The narrative is in two parts; the first is a story of a ‘contact’ in Afghanistan by an eight person infantry section. It could be any contact that occurred in the past decade of Australia’s military experience. The second narrative is an imagined future. It explores the same scenario using existing technologies to augment human cognition of the environment and enhance human-machine cooperation. It is not a distant future but in fact a future that is achievable with technology available today if simply used differently. In doing so it exploits autonomy and robotics while still retaining the relationship between soldiers and the physical environment and the information that is typically used to make decisions during contact. This narrative is an informed hypothesis and tries to convey the potential for change – it is not a predicted future. It is also not a story of ‘digitisation’. A digital backbone allows information exchange; it also allows machines and people to cooperate to their strengths. The aim therefore is not digitisation but to use the product of digital systems to create better cognition of the environment by humans and machines. In doing so, the foundation of HUM-T is created by the combination of robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomy and augmented reality computing to allow better performance in close combat. Finally, the imagined narrative is a change in the manner our leaders and empowered combatant teams fight, adapt and win in the land domain.
The Future Soldier System 2025
A Brief Introduction of Concept Parts
PASS: Personal Augmented Soldier System. PASS is the soldiers’ personal equipment that keeps them alive, augments their auditory and visual detection ranges and consolidates local data into their field of view and auditory system for faster cognition. It is akin to the current body armour, helmet and rifle of a present-day soldier in that it keeps the individual soldier alive and fighting. PASS hardware consists of augmented reality ballistic glasses for visual data; a hearing system for protecting, enhancing and allowing auditory data to be presented to the soldier; a team of micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and ground unmanned vehicles (GUV) to gather data beyond human biological sensing range or where threats are high risk; the system also includes a sensor system that measures the soldiers biometric data, ammunition usage and location data, providing valuable information on the soldiers physical and logistic state. The backbone is a local data dense computing solution that aggregates and passes data between the soldiers’ PASS and the Team Augmented Patrol System (TAPS). The TAPS is the interface that aggregates the PASS data collected from each patrol member. The TAPS software allows facial recognition, voice recognition, NBCD(1) state change management, object recognition programming such as weapons profiles and 3D enhanced terrain mapping.
TAPS: Team Augmented Patrols System. TAPS is the interface between the PASS systems and assets that have been allocated to the mission. The TAPS creates a local cloud computing bubble that allows fast data processing and exchange between all entities in the network. This high-density data cloud connects all devices in the operating area including weapons platforms, robotic sensors, civil infrastructure sensors, intelligence and geospatial data to support a specific mission or area of operations. TAPS enables analysis of large volumes of real time data and matches it to its preloaded data base of information. The members of the patrol have input to program TAPS during pre-mission battle preparation. This can include areas of interest, areas of significance such as schools or religious sites and specific automated responses for ‘actions on’ a particular event occurring. This pre-programing allows a mission specific level of autonomy and ensures humans remain conscious of the likely responses the TAPS system will make to environmental stimulus. The advantage of TAPS is that it reduces the cognitive load of Section or Team Commanders by automating responses to routine, planned or anticipated events. This allows the commander to focus on aspects of the situation that require human levels of cognition. This system therefore ‘augments’ the cognitive capacity of the patrol members and its commanders.
WASP: Wide Area Surveillance Platform. WASP consists of any aerial or ground based ISR systems allocated to a patrol. It is an operating system that uses any software and any hardware to enable information to be aggregated for mission support tasks. Unlike the systems in the PASS, the WASP is a ‘mission’ or ‘team’ asset that is coordinated by the local commander. In this sense it is like a current ‘crew served weapon’. A crew served weapon is planned for and tasked by the commander for mission effects, not the personal effect of an individual combatant. The WASP ensures that the PASS systems of each patrol member act cooperatively and make efficient use of resources. It also gathers data from higher echelons such as the Platoon & Company Headquarters.
MULES: MULES are a load carrying system that allows mobile computing stacks, radio communication stacks, power and recharge stations and additional UAV and GUV to be carried, powered, computed and deployed. It is a mobile logistic system that supports a local patrol or specified mission tasks. While one MULE supports a section, it is used in at least pairs for redundancy.
Future Combat System: Encounter Battle.
A section patrols through a lightly built up village in Afghanistan in open file. Overhead are two drones, observation platforms that feed the patrols artificial intelligence (AI) system with data.
The ISR: The Section commander stops and speaks to his headset, ‘show god view’.(2) The ballistic glasses switch view to his digital display, showing the terrain ahead in a 3D birds eye view. He can see the two wide area surveillance platforms (WASP) circling 100m above in his peripheral view, allowing him to switch between the digital terrain data that was pre-loaded during mission preparation and the real time data being aggregated by the SLAM (software that enables Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping). No obvious radio comms, or any obvious threats are detected in the updated feeds. He stands up and moves. The signal of his movement provides a green hue in the scout’s combat glasses, indicating he can move a bound further forward.
The section scout stands up, his personal augmented support system (PASS) dispatches two of his micro drones forward, each scanning to the front and flanks of his movement. The PASS observer drones can detect NBCD changes, conduct facial recognition, identify movement, and draw on databased images from TAPS such as weapon profiles, to provide prompts from the environment to the operator that are beyond human line of sight and auditory senses. The scout was looking through his combat glasses in support mode. Support mode provides a digital data feed displayed over the natural field of view. Indicators from his data feed confirmed that threat signs, ammo state and fratricide risks were all green, meaning nothing unusual ahead. The scout stepped out from behind a mud brick wall to move between two compounds. A red-hue warning alert pops-up in the digital overlay… immediately he hears a shot, a round passes by and kicks up earth to his right. The soldier swears and steps back quickly to the cover of the wall.
Contact Time: 0 minutes.
The Section: The shot is heard. Each member of the section dives to the nearest cover, applying the run, down, roll or crawl drill before they observe their arcs for signs of the threat that has just emerged.
The PASS: The auditory system worn by each soldier detects the sound of the shot. It confirms that it was supersonic by judging the crack-thump of the projectile breaking the sound barrier. Single shot. Concurrently, the Scout’s heart rate monitor detects a spike and his skin monitoring system detects a sudden release of adrenalin. PASS confirms the sound data and the biometric indicator spike with the Team Augmented Patrol System (TAPS) data. TAPS combines the local data readings from the eight patrol member’s PASS and the WASP system overhead. Eight similar PASS readings are detected. The WASP also detects the same sound and reviews the data in its onboard processors.
The data is passed to TAPS which assembles a more coherent picture from the fragments of data. The triangulated location of auditory signals identifies the shot location, the WASP cameras have also observed the projectile in flight, seeing frame by frame the direction of travel, allowing the location to be narrowed to a section of wall at compound 11. The aggregated data is distributed back to each patrol members’ PASS and to WASP.
Contact time: 1 minute.
The Section Commander: The section commander finds cover and stops. He looks at the Patrol status in his glasses. Everyone’s life indicators are normal – no-one is seriously injured. He looks at god mode and identifies the firing location. As he is viewing this the WASP system passes a warning – there is human movement all over the terrain forward of their position. Given the shot they just heard, movement was to be expected. Most people are moving away from the area trying to avoid trouble, several are moving towards it. This anomaly of behaviour is identified by WASP in its pattern recognition algorithm. WASP also uses image recognition to identify three suspects, likely men, observed carrying rifles. The data is drawn from the profile of the gait as they run and the deep learning algorithm that taught the WASP to identify firearms from digital images. This data is overlayed onto the 3D terrain model. The Section commander identifies that he has interrupted a threat force. He assesses that they intend to defend this local area. He says this out-loud to his PASS who captures the assessment.
The Section: The PASS systems of each soldier dispatches small drones around their combatant, extending the sensing capabilities of each human and adding depth to the all-round protection the patrol created as part of its contact drill. Each member hears the Section commander over their auditory system. He describes the situation and each member can see a basic 2D terrain map showing enemy locations. In turn, each member interrogates this data in the 3D mode to see how the enemy positions effect the terrain. Areas of potential cover and concealment and clearly open areas are displayed on this view. TAPS assembles the data from the PASS and WASP feeds using mathematical models to predict penetration effects of various weapons. This information is based on the pre-loaded data of terrain and building composition that is part of the enhanced terrain model. The weapons effect assessment is based on the rifle shot detected at the start of the contact and the rifles observed in the visual data from the crowd; it will add other weapon effects dynamically as they are detected and create a 3D model that shows which areas are in cover, which offer concealment and which are open to enemy view and fires.
Contact time: 2 minutes.
The Section Commander: The section commander reviews the automated AAWWW(3) report. TAPS has compiled this format automatically for his review and so he can add the ‘what the commander intends to do’. He adds his intent verbally; ‘will send ISR elements forward and get eyes on – will dispatch destroyer drones to target known combatants. Will move forward to investigate what the enemy is protecting’. He looks at the report in his display – it provides his location, the time now and time of contact, describes what happened, what he has assessed of the situation and what he intends to do next. He quickly uses his finger to identify to PASS the threat areas he wants observed by poking at the augmented reality map he is viewing in his combat glasses. This data is passed by the section commanders PASS to the TAPS. TAPS disseminates this data to each member’s PASS while also sending a data burst to the Platoon Commanders TAPS network. As this data is being sent, the Section commander reviews his assets; an autonomous medical evacuation platform is inbound and moving to the pre-designated RV (rendezvous). The RV is about 200m rear of the section position. This data is taken from the 3D model which is now determining the most covered and concealed areas in the combat zone, relevant to the engagement that has just occurred. This understanding of the environment updates dynamically as the automated CASEVAC vehicle approaches, adding new data as the situation changes and more threats are identified or neutralised. It is like Google Maps, but instead of using road user density data to determine dynamic routing, it uses the most covered, then concealed and quickest route data to move towards the patrol – staying in cover 200m rearward of wherever the section commander is located. It also allows ‘pre-sets’, similar to Google Maps ‘no toll roads’ to avoid schools, religious or other sensitive sites. It takes a manual (human in the loop) authority to allow transit past or through these locations or across an open area and only if an alternate route is not possible.
The Section: Each individual finalises their initial scan using their digital views and normal visual to assess their location. PASS identifies potential visual gaps between the troops. The data is transmitted to TAPS which assess the whole data set and closes gaps in the sections small perimeter with additional small drones. They are soon firm in a position that offers all around observation and ensures that each soldier has visual contact physically or digitally with the next person on the perimeter.
WASP: WASP is scanning the area and gathering data. In particular, communication from the known enemy combatant location is being tracked. Phone calls and radio transmissions can be easily identified and traced to the receiver. This allows WASP to understand the connections of people and geography through signals traffic not observable to humans. It provides a tactical advantage by making threat communications a form of reconnaissance. It also allows the bandwidth and signal strength to be identified, capturing this data to allow localised jamming and interception options to the patrol commander.
TAPS: TAPS is busy. TAPS is taking the data from each PASS feed, WASP and the section commanders direct commands and is disseminating information and materiel to best effect through its programmed algorithms. Eight micro drones move forward to join the WASP system and observe the potential threat forces. Two drones are provided to each threat WASP has identified. The little PASS micro drones fly for 30 minutes only. This isn’t an issue, TAPS will simply coordinate the flight times to retain observation and rotate them back to the Section’s MULES to recharge. The two MULES are autonomous ground systems that hold additional micro drones for this task. The MULES carry the radio stacks, computer stacks and battery power for the patrols autonomous systems to cooperate. The mules are essential kit for the tactical system and stay well away from the combat or high-risk areas. Each MULE generates enough power for the communications, computing, and robotic systems of the Section to operate for 24 hours, ensuring a redundancy of one. Despite the redundancy, the MULES are high value targets as they are essential to the Tactical Combat System functionality and the advantage that small teams have over their adversary.
Contact time: 5 minutes.
The Section Commander: The section commander holds his position, waiting for and observing the TAPS feeds to confirm the threat picture. Meanwhile, the Platoon commander has indicated he will not move to the Section location but will monitor the situation from the Patrol base some 20 minutes’ drive time away. He has a quick reaction force formed of two WASP drones and two armed drones – the armed drones loiter, they won’t attack but will release small drones that can fly to and destroy identified targets with high levels of precision – Destroyer drones. He also has another section patrol in armoured vehicles, ready to be dispatched if required. The Platoon Commander confirms to the Section Commander that the autonomous casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) and logistic supply vehicles are dedicated to support the Sections current contact and will not be re-tasked until the action concludes. The platoon commander meets with his tactical support team to discuss the next move. The team commences planning and prepares public messaging. They also observe and monitor the linkages between the information WASP is providing about phone and radio signals from enemy locations to understand where the receivers of these communications are located and what messages they are communicating.
Section: The patrol members observe for threats. Nothing is obvious. Each member waits but switches between views, manually scanning and switching between digital views to understand the wider battle unfolding between the drones and the enemy combatants. In this way they can track visual, auditory and electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) signals.
WASP: The WASP communicates with TAPS, providing data to aid the small drones move into position. Two obvious enemy combatants are seen moving, several other suspects are being tracked. The TAPS tasks two Destroyer drones forward from the MULE. The drones are small but have 20g of nano explosives as their payload. They fly swiftly, much faster than the observation drones. The section commander confirms the two combatants and selects kill. The drones take less than a minute to fly the distance, guided by the visual feeds of the observation drones. As they close, WASP lases the target, allowing both visual and laser target guidance to provide data to the Destroyers, limiting the capacity for error or jamming. The Destroyers are programmed to time their impact to be simultaneous, exploding 10mm short of contact with their targets heads and approaching each human target from outside their field of view. The small blasts are enough, the Section commander confirms two KIA.
The Enemy: The sudden deaths of two comrades sends the contact ‘loud’. An enemy PKM machine gun, RPK’s and rifles are suddenly emerging with their firers from enclosed rooms in compounds 6, 11 and 9. They commence firing at the two visible WASP systems. The large WASP drones commence to rise and move away from the target area. They can observe from further afield, but they lose the benefit of an overhead view, getting a more obstructed view from an obtuse angle due to the walls and buildings that obstruct line of sight. One WASP takes a direct hit from a small-arms round and crashes. Only one WASP drone remaining.
Contact time: 10 minutes.
Platoon Commander: ‘I31A, drone QRF(4) package inbound. You’ll have two additional WASP and two loiterers in 15 minutes. Loiter drones will have approximately 20 minutes time on station upon arrival – make it count. Also, public messaging has occurred – all civilians have been requested to move inside and remain there’. The public messaging system is a ‘catch all’ communication that sends SMS texts to all mobile phones within range of the phone towers in the combat area. The same message is broadcast over the local radio stations in all languages common to the known local demographic data. It tells non-combatants to remain indoors and not to move between buildings. It also tells combatants to surrender openly or they will be targeted and killed.
Section Commander: ‘PASS – show suspected enemy combatants;’ Seven are displayed… ‘dispatch our remaining Destroyers and engage any target that I have confirmed’. The Section Commander assesses each suspect enemy, confirms their hostile actions / intent and allocates them as ‘confirmed enemy’. He also assesses the ‘network analysis’ view. It shows lines of varying thickness that link the known enemy positions to unconfirmed locations. The lines vary on the volume of radio traffic passed between entities.
TAPS: The PASS and TAPS coordinate. The patrol has six remaining Destroyers. They move to their targets. Four are successful. Two are caught in fine nets not detected by their navigation sensor systems. The nets are fine like cast-net fishing nets. They are a common low expense defensive mechanism to reduce the effectiveness of the Destroyer drones. The two obstructed Destroyer drones detonate ineffectively, too far from their targets. They do however inform the WASP system of the location of the nets to avoid a repeat approach route.
Contact Time: 12 minutes.
Section Commander: The Section commander quickly sketches with his finger on the digital map displayed in front of his face. He shows the approach routes, targets and allocates team tasks. The TAPS interprets the data and calculates an estimated distance and time for each of the team members to achieve their task. The Section commander confirms he is happy that this level of coordination will suffice and places faith in the fratricide warning system and dynamic routing abilities of TAPS to deconflict the movement.
The plan: Section Commander.
Intent: Kill enemy combatants in compound 11, 6 and 9. Secure and search compound 9 followed by 6 and 11. Prelim targeting by Destroyers partially effective. I suspect threats remain in compound 9 and possibly 6. Airborne QRF package inbound 13 minutes – two WASP drones, two loiterers.
Team 1: Seize Compound 11, then 6. Then support Team 2 secure compound 9 once you’re firm. Use the 40mm loiterer’s to aid your movement to compounds 11 then 6. My team (Team 2) will fire all our loiterers to help you move to compound 6, you use your teams’ loiterers to move to compound 11. Team 2 will not move until the QRF package is overhead. WASP will jam all enemy comms out of compound 6 from H-hour until secure.
Team 2: On my order fire all loiterers in support of Team 1. We will use the new QRF package Destroyers and WASP Drones to support our movement to compound 9. Pair one will breach, pair two will secure entry point and we will clear old style once in. Destroyers will neutralise anything stupid enough to move in open areas as we execute.
Questions? Good – let’s go. TAPS timings from now – H-hour in… 2 minutes.
Contact Time: 15 minutes.
The Section: Four 40mm loitering munitions pop into the sky from Team 2’s position. Team 1 commences its move. The loiterers have a 10 minute coverage time, allowing targets to be designated by either the observer drones or by soldiers with their visual system. The soldier then locks a target and tracks it visually until impact. Unlike the Destroyer drones, the loitering 40mm is less discriminate, creating a blast area lethal to ten metres and therefore is more challenging to use in urban areas due to the civilian casualty and collateral damage risk they incur. The first pair of Team 1 take a bound, using a small drainage ditch and some scrub as limited cover of their approach. They adopt a position observing to the North and place a ‘dazzler’ in front of their location. The second pair of Team 1 starts to move. The dazzler is an anti-drone and anti-viewing device. It detects glass surfaces and uses its multiple high power directed lasers to blind visual sensors. This occurs through TAPS. TAPS compares detected potential targets to the terrain model and the live position feeds from the WASP and PASS systems. It determines which potential targets are friendly, which are environmental such as windows and which are not. It applies dazzle effects to anything not specifically identified as ‘friendly or neutral’. It’s a bit crude, but a very effective means of covering gap crossings where enemy drones or snipers may lurk.
Team 1: Pair 1 leapfrogs Pair 2’s position until they reach the wall of compound 11. The pair clears manually with the assistance of a prelim sweep. The prelim sweep is two PASS micro drones moving forward and observing for threats inside the compound, including the compounds single mud brick room. If threats are identified, the loitering 40mm munitions or the soldiers rifle fire can then be applied to destroy the threat. The micro drones observe two deceased combatants, clearly killed by successful Destroyer drones, apparent from the head wounds. The pair moves in, clears the compound physically and occupy positions looking north. The second pair moves, leaving the dazzler to help cover their approach and moves towards compound six. The second pair is up and moving fast. Shots suddenly explode from compound 6. A burst of automatic fire cracks and thumps into the earth around Team 1’s second pair from a firer who emerges above the line of the compound wall. An Australian soldier screams out loud and twists as he falls onto his back. He is crawling desperately towards the cover of the ditch. The team returns fire but is pinned down. The nearest PASS observer drone identifies the firer, WASP also observes the scene and indicates a low Collateral Damage Estimate (CDE). Unfortunately, the offset position of the WASP prevented earlier detection of the threat behind the wall. It now dynamically reorients to increase its view angle into the threat compound. Team 1’s Commander sees the decision support recommendation provided by TAPS to his PASS and checks the visual feed – he quickly allocates the loitering munition authority to attack. It crashes into the enemy firer a moment later.
The Section Commander: The section commander tracks the injury. The sensors in the soldiers’ uniform identify a leg wound, the automated leg tourniquet constricts blood flow to the wounded leg. The soldiers’ biometric tracker shows concerning but acceptable vital sign readouts. The information is being sent in compressed data bursts to the Platoon Headquarters where it can be assessed by the Platoon Medic. The medic reviews the data and authorises a slow release pain killer and a drug that helps the wound coagulate. The drugs are dispatched through patches worn by the soldier that release upon electrical stimuli that the medic can administer remotely, providing a virtual support to the patrol. The section commander observes the passage of events and adjusts the plan, sending a pair from Team 2 forward to assist with clearing compound 6. The PASS observer drones show no further enemy activity as they approach. Like compound 11, the drones and people cooperate to secure the location, allowing Team 1 to move the injured soldier to Compound 6 and consolidate their position. The section commander authorises the automatically generated 9-liner21 and views his god view map, mentally assessing a new assault plan onto compound(5).
TAPS: The data from the soldier’s injury is passed from PASS, to TAPS and converted into a 9-liner. The data suggests the soldier is unlikely to die within the hour. The 9 Liner is dispatched and the autonomous recovery vehicle moves forward to the RV now designated as compound 6. The TAPS data suggests that the soldier will be in the vehicle and moving to the Helicopter RV in less than 10 minutes. The helicopter will be dispatched to another RV with the automated recovery vehicle outside the contact area. Marry-up will occur in 20mins – 2km South of the town on the infiltration route the patrol used to enter the area. The plan is received by the Platoon Headquarters who indicate ‘support’ providing the authority for the casualty evacuation plan to proceed as the Section Commander requested.
Contact Time: 21 minutes.
Section Commander: ‘Sunray I31, we are consolidated at GR 4567 8643. One casualty, leg wound. He is stable. 9 liner sent and CASEVAC in process. I’m going to continue with clearance of compound 9. Suggest ground QRF comes forward for battlefield clearance including local citizen ‘Shura’ to try and understand what’s just happened’.
Platoon Commander I31: ‘Ack I31A’ – we will move and consolidate at GR 4567 8673 about 300m from you. I’ll be at your location in 20minutes. Use TAPS to effect marry-up once you confirm compound 6 is clear’. The platoon commander updates the public information messaging, requesting that the village sends escorts to compound 6 when requested to meet with the Platoon and escort them to meet with the village elders. The elders in this village are well known. TAPS will confirm both the escorts and the elders facial recognition profile matches the database as security to enable a degree of trust. This data will be cross referenced to the radio and phone communications captured during the contact to help identify the locations from where the attack was coordinated and potentially who orchestrated the attack.
Contact Time: 25 Minutes.
The CASEVAC vehicle arrives at the compound, the final RV is designated on the map by Team 1’s commander who meets the vehicle outside compound 6. The wounded soldier is loaded on board. He is stable, basic combat first aid has been applied and monitored remotely by the Platoon Medic. He is now 10 minutes of bumpy road journey to the ‘dust-off’ RV location. The Role 2 Hospital where his surgery will be performed is tracking the soldier’s condition. They have contacted a supervising surgeon in Adelaide, all the way back in Australia. This surgeon is a specialist in gunshot wounds and will assist the attending physicians through telepresence.
Compound 9 is secured with the additional WASP and Loiterers from the airborne QRF supporting. There are live enemy combatants again. The Loiterers from the airborne QRF have arrived. The Loiterers dispatch Destroyer drones which assist in neutralising the threat and the compound is quickly secured.
Contact Time: 35 Minutes.
In the 20 minutes prior to the ground force QRF reaching the RV with the Section, the WASP systems commenced to identify the movement of civilians. The system gathers data and compares it against the data base of known inhabitants of this village. It looks for anomalies in inhabitants through facial recognition but finds none. It takes additional data from people whose faces are covered, comparing their shoulder and hip width to their height and gait to assess potential males. It focuses on these people to confirm the locations they move to and to attempt to identify weapons. The WASP also identifies digital signatures, people using cell phones and hand-held radios, comparing local EMS signatures to visual images to determine who is communicating. This data is aggregated into areas of potential interest and risk, augmenting the patrols knowledge prior to their next move.
The Section Commander: The Section commander assesses the data and makes some notes, indicating areas that may be hot spots and assigning drones to watch these areas more closely. He also sends an update to the PHQ, showing his annotations on the 3D map and a suggested plan to commence the clearance of the village. In particular he notes a compound whose volume of phone traffic with the combatants already killed indicates a high-risk area worth securing and searching. The autonomous resupply vehicle moves casually from position to position in the section. It had been trailing the CASEVAC vehicle. The data from each soldier’s combat system confirms the exact number of munitions required to return to ‘first line’. It is supplied as the vehicle does its rounds.
It’s a familiar pattern that starts again; the drones observe and detect, the commander interprets and reassigns priorities to the drones. The augmented data presented to the commander is visual and allows dynamic interactions between the physical, digital and biological terrain that make up the patrols augmented reality. The cooperation between robots and people occurs through basic algorithms and the presentation of data in visual and auditory cues. It hasn’t prevented a casualty, but it has ensured the mission was a success, assisted the speedy recovery of the casualty and provided valuable information to support the patrols next move.
About the Author: Scott Holmes is an Australian Infantry Officer working in capability modernisation at Army Headquarters. Scott was a 2018 Chief of Army Scholarship winner and used this opportunity to commence a Doctorate of Public Leadership at the University of New South Wales. The study is focussed on the implications of a Fourth Industrial Revolution for Army.
1. Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Detection.
2. God view refers to an aerial overview of the situation.
3. At, At, What, What, What Report: At what time, At what location, What happened, What’s your assessment, What’s your intended action.
4. QRF – Quick Reaction Force
5. The biometric data, location data and threat situation are aggregated by TAPS and provided to the Section Commander as a suggested report. The Section Command can use voice prompts to edit the data and can use the 3D map to high-light areas of concern or new rendezvous points. Upon completion, this report is data burst to the Platoon Headquarters TAPS.