Elbit to Develop Helmet-Mounted US Soldier Mission Command System
The US Army has awarded Elbit America a $120.5-million contract to develop a helmet-mounted mission command system that fuses multiple battlefield sensors into a single visual feed to enhance dismounted soldiers’ situational awareness.
Soldiers wearing the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC) system will be able to share visual intelligence and threat data across their unit in real time, enhancing both the speed and quality of collective battlefield awareness.
According to the company, the system will maintain its capability even in denied or degraded environments.
“Our Soldier Borne Mission Command is critical to winning on the battlefield. Soldiers need processed data distilled, so they’re more lethal and survivable,” President and CEO of Elbit America Luke Savoie said.
“They need it at near-zero latency and in a manner that enables them to shoot, maneuver, and share instantaneously.”
Elbit America has partnered with Booz Allen Hamilton to build SBMC’s software backbone, incorporating extended reality capabilities, networking architecture, and AI-enabled analytics.
“SBMC changes the speed of decision-making and enables confident, decisive action in moments that define the fight,” Senior Vice President and General Manager of Warfighter Systems at Elbit America, Erik Fox, added.
“Thanks to our close collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton we gain mission-critical information, instantly and intuitively, allowing Soldiers to think and react faster.”
Visual Augmentation System Follow-Up
The SBMC effort follows the troubled Integrated Visual Augmentation System program, which encountered multiple technical, usability, and operational issues during testing, including complaints from soldiers of headaches, nausea, and eyestrain in earlier device versions.
To address those challenges, the SBMC program aims to deliver a broader mission-command and sensor-fusion capability rather than simply an augmented reality headset.
The initiative is being pursued through rapid prototyping contracts with several defense technology firms to accelerate the development of next-generation capabilities for soldiers.
Anduril Industries and Rivet Industries have received contracts to develop night-vision and mixed-reality systems under the program.
Anduril has separately been contracted to develop the SBMC software architecture, which will integrate the data seen by soldiers through their displays with higher command echelons.
