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Three years ago, the program to develop the high-tech weapons and communications package faced complete disaster.

Today, though, it appears project officials can do no wrong.

Land Warrior’s Integrated Logistics Support team was recently presented with the 2000 ILS Management Award for its success in solving Land Warrior’s future storage problems.

Beginning this fall, project officials are set to test the version of Land Warrior the Army hopes to begin fielding in 2004.

It will be an improved version of the system that a platoon from the 82nd Airborne Division successfully tested in September at the Joint Contingency Force Advanced Warfighting Experiment at Fort Polk, La.

The system’s microcomputer processor and built-in global-positioning satellite system allowed the platoon to acquire targets, navigate with precision over foreign terrain and remain in constant contact with leaders during the intensive week of force-on-force and live-fire operations.

Based on soldier feedback, the fielded version would be lighter than the current version and have a better radio — with a range out to at least 300 meters, versus today’s 150-meter limitations.

If all goes well, the Army plans to issue this updated version to the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga., followed by the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the new Interim Brigade Combat Teams at Fort Lewis, Wash.

Other infantry units would follow.

When that day comes, units will need a new way to secure the wearable computers, heads-up displays and sensitive communications gear, since current arms rooms lack the needed capacity.

As a solution, Land Warrior’s logistics team devised a centralized locker in which a unit’s Land Warrior equipment, including individual weapons, would be stored in a large storage container that could be secured with an alarm system similar to those in today’s arms rooms.

“It’s mostly a time saver for the soldiers,” Ellis Mosely, chief of Research, Development and Logistics said of the one-stop storage concept. “Everything is set and ready to go.”

But before any gear is issued, the final version of Land Warrior will undergo a series of developmental tests scheduled this fall to evaluate reliability, safety and performance. It’s then slated to go to about 200 paratroopers from the 82nd for company-size operational testing in August 2002.