21 February 2019

IDEX 2019: AIO develops integrated soldier-worn display for Egyptian special forces

by Giles Ebbutt

Arab International Optronics (AIO) has developed the Egyptian Integrated Soldier System (EISS) and showcased it at the IDEX exhibition in Abu Dhabi in February. AIO is owned 49% by Thales Group and 51% by the Egyptian government.

The EISS is an integrated surveillance and aiming ensemble that provides images from different electro/optical devices to a head-mounted display (HMD), and links these optics to either the daylight scope of an RPG-7 or a targeting dot sight on a machine gun or assault rifle.

Each system has two assemblies: the commander and the soldier. The commander system has a helmet group consisting of a thermal sight and a single eye piece HMD, and a weapon group that is a thermal sight. Power and control is provided by a belt-mounted rechargeable battery with a control switch.

The soldier system helmet group consists of a daylight and lowlight camera mounted on each side of the helmet, plus the same HMD as the commander. Mohammed Galal Abdel Hamid, AIO’s product development manager, told Jane’s that in practice the soldier would remove whichever camera was not needed for a mission depending on whether it was day or night. The weapon group has the same twin-sight capability, and the control box is also the same.

The EISS from AIO shown at IDEX 2019. Commander system is on the left and the soldier system is on the right. The control box can be seen on the belt on the right-hand side of each model. (Giles Ebbutt)

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