Investigadores del US Army están trabajando en el desarrollo de armas portátiles más precisas y además, que puedan ser operadas de forma remota en lo que suele ser llamado “shooter out of the loop”. Ello implica el desarrollo de plataformas estabilizadas que permitan por ejemplo, realizar disparos con un fusil de sniper desde un helicóptero, pero que el tirador esté operando el arma a cubierto desde una consola a distancia. Los desarrollos están orientados a armas individuales y a las operadas por una dotación. Podrían incluso sensar si el blanco dispone o no de chaleco de protección, de forma tal de dirigir el proyectil hacia un sector más vulnerable. El objetivo final es lograr que el soldado individual, disponga de capacidades similares a las que cuenta el apuntador de un blindado moderno para disparar sobre blancos en movimiento.
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Army researchers are targeting ways to make small arms more accurate by removing the shooter from the loop.
The gear they’re working on ranges from platforms that allow a sniper to insert his rifle for better stabilization while shooting from a helicopter, to nearly fully-automated robotic firing systems that can stand alone on the battlefield while the soldier fires via remote control behind cover.
“We’re … letting the computer do its thing so all the solder has to do is pull the trigger,” said Terence Rice, a project manager engineer at Army Materiel Command’s Research, Development and Engineering Command.
Rice and researchers with his team presented and displayed some of the equipment at this week’s Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting & Exposition.
Researchers are looking at both individual and crew-served weapons. They want soldiers with small arms to have the same abilities as an M1 Abrams tank, to fire on the move and hit targets.
System sensors identify targets and track them as they move by drawing a digital “box” around the threat. Test have shown accurate center mass hits.
But, Rice said, the next step is having the system adjust fire. For instance, if the target is wearing body armor, rather than aim for center mass, the system would strike a more vulnerable part. Testing has shown a more than 50 percent hit probability to vulnerable, non-center mass areas so far.
Remote firing systems continue to improve, he said.
“It is a new way of shooting,” he said. “You’re taking a lot of fundamentals away from the shooter.”
The goal is to improve accuracy and lethality through these stabilization and computer-enhanced systems in order to increase soldier survivability, he said.
Fuente: https://www.armytimes.com
