We gave you a glimpse into the future of the America's Army franchise late last year but today the US Army has now officially announced their plans to release America's Army 3, the next full version of their long running free multiplayer shooter game. This is the first major new version of the title since the original was released way back in 2002. The Unreal Engine 3 based game is scheduled for release later this year.

Like the original, America's Army 3 was designed to be a recruitment tool for the US Army and as such the game will let the player follow a recruit through basic training as an Infantry soldier (a second role, the combat medic, will be added later this year). After going through Basic Training in the game's single player modes players can take their characters and go through additional training to unlock more weapons and abilities. Of course America's Army 3 will also have multiplayer as well and players can use their persistent characters into the online field as well.

As with the original game players can expect America's Army 3 to expand over the years with new maps, missions, features and more. The game's official web site has now launched and is now taking sign-ups to beta test the game. Hopefully we will get more info on a specific release date soon. In the meantime you can check out the game's system requirements after the jump.

Update: We have added three more screenshots to the gallery. They do not appear on the America's Army 3 web site and show off two more levels (one for Ranch and two for Impact)