Many thanks to Patrick for sending me the link!
I need to chew on the implications of this. A .50 cal, plus determination, plus TrackingPoint and a big dose of audacity would seem to indicate mission success every time...especially if you use a little common sense.
I need to chew on the implications of this. A .50 cal, plus determination, plus TrackingPoint and a big dose of audacity would seem to indicate mission success every time...especially if you use a little common sense.
This system is overrated I think. Some say that you don't have to be a marksmen to make long range shots with the system. However, with this system you have to pick an aiming point meaning you have to be familiar with the ballistics of your weapon at long distance. The main promise of this system is that it minimizes the human error in jerking the trigger, having an shaky hand, etc.... Now, when they manage to get the fire control system of an M1A2 miniaturized to the size of a rifle scope, that will be a real game changer.
ReplyDeleteyou're thinking like a sniper. think like a guy that just wants to make the kill. think like a terrorist. instead of a 800m or more shot, bring it in to 400 or 600m. what was difficult suddenly becomes can't miss.
DeletePicking the aiming point with the system doesn't depend on the ballistics of the weapon at long distance. The aiming point is simply the point that you want to hit. The system then actually calculates the full ballistics dynamically and releases the trigger when the weapon is at the position that satisfies the ballistics solution. Overall, it is a pretty slick solution.
DeleteThe one drawback of the current system however is that it needs a static target. This is a productization trade-off for the market they are targeting. The baseline system can and probably will be upgraded to enable targeting of a moving target in the future.
The system works via calibrated ammunition(+-10 fps), dynamic calibration of scope to barrel(via visual/ir marking on the barrel), and a continously updating ballistic solution along with inputs for wind(the one thing the scope cannot dynamically measure currently). They of course also blueprint the ballistic characteristics of the rifle with the ammo.
A militarized solution based off of the technology would have more powerful optics of course and the capability to track moving targets. The spotter would be able via a tablet like device to input wind correction as well as see exactly what the scope is seeing.
So yes, in many ways this system is effectively a M1A2 fire control system for a sniper rifle. Everyone in the gun industry who has tested it has been very impressed.
I agree for the moment this greatly increases hit probability at short to medium range for anything more you would need some sort of lidar to read the wind down range at the same time such active system as lidar would be easy enough to detect so exposing the sniper to countersniper fire even before he took the shot.
ReplyDeleteHere is a better video... this is INSANE!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2EqO1qbrQ
The Israeli’s use a similar way of trigger control in one of their counter-terrorism units.
ReplyDeleteMultiple rifles are used and aimed at multiple targets (more than one shooter per target). The shooters aim and pull the triggers whenever the target is in their sights. However, the gun does not fire. At the command center, a control console shows how many shooters have a target in sight.
At any time the commander can set the console to fire as soon as X number of targets have Y number of shooters with a positive shot. At that point, all the guns fire at the same time.
I saw this back in the late ‘80s so I will try and dig up some info on it.
fire on command is pretty common...even in regular grunt units...and on a single target. still the computerization of that seems pretty wild!
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