FN Herstal's FCU Mk3 Fire Control Unit selected by Germany for Infantryman of the Future

Eric B
by Eric B

Companies in the business are gearing up for this week’s EnforceTac exhibition in Germany. TFB will be heading that way too, of course.

FN Herstal are proud to announce that their FCU Mk3 Fire Control Unit has been chosen to the IdZ-ES program.

Infanterist der Zukunft (Translated “Infantryman of the future”) is the German Bundeswehr’s program as part of the Future Soldier project.

You can see it in the top picture, FN FCU Mk3 Fire Control Unit selected for the IdZ-ES program.

Below: IdZ-ES, Infantryman of the future. (Source: Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH/)

The program is a development towards a modular, integrated fighting system designed to provide significant lethality, survivability, mobility, battle command, and training to the German infantryman.

You can read FN Herstal’s Press Release below:

FN Herstal’s Fire Control Unit: Part of the Infanterist der Zukunft – Erweitertes System (IdZ-ES) for the German Army

(Herstal, Belgium) – February 27, 2018. FN Herstal is pleased to announce that its FN® FCU Mk3 Fire Control Unit has been selected to be part of the Infanterist der Zukunft – Erweitertes System (IdZ-ES) program for the German Army. The FN® FCU Mk3 Fire Control Unit makes target engagement fast and very accurate, day or night – and dramatically increases the hit probability of the 40mm grenade system.

The FN® FCU Mk3 takes into account a number of complex factors: the range to the target, slope angle, temperature, grenade type, cant and drift effect and automatically indicates the correct point of aim to the user. This is particularly helpful when faced with extreme stress situations in defense or security operations.

Below: Standard model of the FN FCU Mk3 Fire Control Unit for 40mm grenades.

Additionally, FN Herstal’s Fire Control Unit is easy to use, light and compact, and can be fitted onto a wide range of under barrel and stand-alone launchers. Last but not least, the FN® FCU Mk3 has several laser safety features for enhanced training capability.

At EnforceTac you will also be able to see the following weapons and services from FN Herstal:

The new FN® 509 Handgun in 9x19mm NATO caliber. Read TFB’s take on it here.

The entire FN SCAR range including the newly-developed FN SCAR-SC Subcompact Carbine in 5.56x45mm NATO caliber. Here’s what TFB wrote about it.

The FN Expert Marksmanship Training System, pictured below.

As a bonus, I have a few pictures from Milipol 2017 that we haven’t shown before. Enjoy!

If you’re around, the FN FCU will be on display on FN Herstal booth (Hall 10.1, Booth no. 219) at ENFORCE TAC 2018 trade show in Nuremberg, Germany, on March 7 and 8.

Eric B
Eric B

Ex-Arctic Ranger. Competitive practical shooter and hunter with a European focus. Always ready to increase my collection of modern semi-automatics, optics, thermals and suppressors. TCCC Certified. Occasionaly seen in a 6x6 Bug Out Vehicle, always with a big smile.

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  • Noob Noob on Mar 06, 2018

    Has there been a weight and bulk comparison between the SCAR SC and the MP7 when both are suppressed and include a combat load of ammo?

  • JF JF on Mar 23, 2018

    I always thought that developing lighter, easier to use and more accurate fire control systems for the current suite of 40mm UGLs is a much better idea than the millions (billions worldwide) that has been wasted on 20-25mm grenade-rifle systems, such as the XM25.

    When you think about it, 40mm already has the advantage of having a wide range of ammunition types, greater lethality, more industry support and it would be much easier to implement a rail-mounted FCS than it would be to take away the soldier's primary weapon and expect him to lug around some mag-fed 25mm grenade launcher.
    With new rounds constantly being developed that offer improved lethality and range (the Hellhound comes to mind) I would suspect that it wouldn't be too difficult to develop a 40mm airburst munition that can work with said rail-mounted FCS.

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