Themes - Infantryman of the Future - When the first "Infantryman of the Future" System was fielded with the troops on 01 July 2004 at the Hammelburg Infantry School, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Hans-Otto Budde, said inter alia: "And while in other areas it is still theorized about transformation of armed forces and its consequences we have managed with the Infantryman of the Future to begin with the realization already." The "Infantryman of the Future (IoF)" is noteworthy for several reasons even though the term appears to be rather insignificant say nothing of presumptuous. Some who think only in categories of major projects like Eurofighter, submarines, and frigates or of Network Centric Warfare (NCW) ask the question: Does the infantryman have a future at all? The fighter on foot is absolutely indispensable and that is not only after the lessons learned in the Balkans, in Afghanistan and Iraq. The American experiences gained in Iraq have not only shown that battle tanks will continue to be of great significance, but that it is in no case possible to do without dismounted infantry

In: Europäische Sicherheit: Politik, Streitkräfte, Wirtschaft, Technik, Volume 53, Issue 9, p. 36-41