Jana Barancicova

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to invite you to attend the Future Soldier Systems Conference, which is a follow-up of the successful Open NATO Future Soldier Workshop 2014. The goal of the conference remains the same as two years ago: to bring together experts from the military area, academia and security as well as rescue forces and to offer them a platform where they can share their experience and knowledge in the area of dismounted soldiers’ protection.

There is no doubt that the role of a dismounted soldier on a modern battlefield has not declined. Moreover, there are new threats that he must be ready to face. Modern technologies that soldiers could have only dreamt of fifty years ago can be of huge help as well as a big disadvantage. However, the human under all the new equipment is still the same as he was fifty years ago. The crucial challenge thus of course is to provide him with all he needs to complete his mission while respecting his limits at the same time. Providing him with all the state-of-art equipment without implementing human factors as much as possible will lead only to a dead end. No matter how many modern devices the soldier wears or carries, he will not be able to fulfill his tasks while being crushed by extreme thermal or weight burden. On the other hand, there is no doubt that cleverly-used new solutions can be a huge step forward in soldiers´ protection, survivability and mobility.

Therefore, dismounted soldier systems will be the highlight of the Future Soldier Systems Conference. The conference will be a great platform for presentations, discussions and dynamic and static demonstrations with a major focus on current and future military technologies and particularly on interoperability of soldier systems. The conference is intended to become a meeting point for military and civilian experts from both government and industry.

I believe that the conference will help to address soldier systems challenges falling into the four sections of the programme. I hope that both speakers and attendees will find the conference valuable and will enjoy the time spent in the beautiful city of Prague.

Do not hesitate to join us in October!

Ms. Jana BARANCICOVA
Chairperson of the Future Soldier Systems Conference; Vice-Chairperson NATO LCG DSS/CCIEP WG