Finally serious money is going into equipping the army with ACMS.
http://www.stengg.com/pressroom/press_releases_read.aspx?paid=1392
Assuming the advanced manned combat system costs between S$10k-S$20k, that could mean 5000 to 10000 units entering the army.
3 out of every 7 men in a standard infantry section will have ACMS components. The above estimate is likely to be sufficient to equip a large part of the SAF. Every brigade has ~81 infantry sections.
The new release indicates that the deal will be completed by 2012.
Features of ACMS
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2008/sep/05sep08_nr/05sep08_photos2.html
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2008/sep/05sep08_nr/05sep08_fs2.html
whats the weight?
Depends on the equipment carried. ACMS is made up of varying components eg radio, PC, sensors, sights, keypads. The comp is likely the heaviest (I think 13.5lbs) but not everyone is going to carry one.
Looks very cumbersome & I wonder how effective & reliable all this new fangled expensive gizmos are. Imagine adding all this stuff to the standard equipment carried plus body armor.
They can spend all this money but have they issued any basic or decent night sights for our SAR 21s yet ?
I tot compared to previous gen hand-held radios in the SAF, the radios at least look a lot lighter :)
Also, considering how map-reading and location finding used to be done, I would have tot the GPS functions and digital maps would be very useful.