The US military spends a lot of
time and money training world-class snipers, which could be why it's started to
look into the use of computerized rifles that can make anybody a sharpshooter.
The Army has announced that it made its first purchase of six
high-tech rifle kits from smart rifle-maker Tracking Point. The goal is to
"begin exploring purported key target acquisition and aiming
technologies," said Alton Stewart, the Army's Program Executive Office
spokesman.
For Tracking Point, which typically markets its guns to
hunters, the Army's use of its weapons is both a welcome and natural
fit.
"We're really excited about the opportunity to provide this
technology to increase our country's effectiveness in times of war,"
Tracking Point Vice President of marketing and sales Oren Schauble told CNET.
"We're very interested in how we can increase the average soldier's
effectiveness."
Tracking Point's tech-heavy rifles,
which debuted last year,
come with built-in computers that help shooters hit targets at distances up to
1,200 yards away -- which is equivalent to 12 football fields. This ease of
shooting is possible through technology like a guided trigger and
"Networked Tracking Scope" that can lock onto and track
moving targets.
When users shoot the smart rifle, they first tag their target and
then pull the trigger -- the gun then decides when to fire the
round based on ballistics data like distance to the target,
barometric pressure, wind, and more. This means lesser-trained troops could hit
targets at distances never before imagined.
These guns aren't cheap, however. They start at $22,500 and go up
to $27,500. Tracking Point isn't selling the full rifles to the Army, but
rather just the computerized portion of the weapons, like the guided trigger
and high-tech scope. The company will then help soldiers integrate the kits
onto government XM2010 sniper rifles.
Apparently, the military will test and evaluate these systems and
see whether they could work for soldiers in the field. It's not likely these
guns will be seen on the battlefield anytime soon, however -- testing new
weapons is usually a lengthy and extensive process.
Tracking Point also just came out
with a semiautomatic version of
its smart rifles; it's unclear if the Army is interested in testing
these weapons too.
Source: CNET
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