If you take a quick look at what's going on with military hardware, you'll notice that a lot of research is going into the development of new vehicles: Aircraft, ground vehicles, drones, you name it. With very few exceptions, no one seems to be thinking about the dismounted soldier actually fighting in the dirt there.

One of those exceptions is something called ACHILE. With a name inspired by the legendary Greek warrior who made his name a myth during the Trojan War, ACHILE is a European effort to "Innovative solutions for next-generation dismounted soldier systems." to develop.

Several major European defense companies are involved in the project, including Safran, Rheinmetall, Indra Sistemas and Leonardo, and it received a €40 million (about $44 million) grant from the European Union last week.

ACHILE is, of course, an acronym (a forced one, if you ask me, but it had to sound cool) and stands for Augmented Capability for HIgh end soLdiErs. And it covers almost everything a soldier needs to have a better chance of surviving combat.

Initially, the companies involved will look at making devices that are lighter and more ergonomic, but also modular to allow for the integration of new hardware.

New visual and auditory perception technologies will also be developed to increase the soldier's situational awareness. At the team level, advanced capabilities will be supported through network connectivity and shared situational awareness.

Soldiers will also be able to interact differently with the vehicles and weapons used during missions, and the project also targets mission planning and even training.

All of these are generic goals at the moment, and we don't yet have specific hardware to discuss. That's because work on ACHILE has just begun and will take place over the next four years. We know that the technology being considered includes everything from navigation units and head-up displays to weapon sights and even exoskeletons, which should really enhance a soldier.

The companies involved in the project (and there are 30 of them in total) will work from initial studies to demonstrators and prototypes. Then the systems developed under ACHILE will be harmonized throughout the Old Continent.

At the time of writing, there is no official timetable for when the new ACHILE technology will be ready, but if we take into account the four years it will take to develop it, and if we assume that everything works as advertised, a new generation of European soldiers should be born by the end of this decade.

Source: ACHILE project to provide HUDs and exoskeletons to dismounted soldiers very soon - autoevolution