Vern
'Spray and pray' is something of an erroneous and pejorative term, and certainly not what was being promulgated by the proponents of Hitchman and having nothing to do with operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning was about developing combat reflexes - to shoot at a threat immediately - one that looked like a human shape, rather than to shoot at a bullseye target at known ranges, and then go into combat where the situation was completely unlike the firing range.
The conclusions draw from Hitchman relate to the concept of firing a swarm of missiles at a target to compensate for aiming errors on the part of the soldier, not pouring massed and random fore in no particular direction.
Development took two tracts. One was the submunition swarm, such as the shotgun firing flechettes or other improved projectiles to extend range to cover the typical combat envelope. The expanding cone of submunitions would compensate for aiming errors on the part of the soldier.
The second track was the serial rifle, where the infantry weapon would fire a short, high rate of fire burst with each projectile having a slightly divergent path (nutation) which would duplicate the 'swarm' concept.
Both concepts worked, but both have their limitations. The British experience in Malaysia validated the shotgun approach, as hits increased in the typical contact and ambush fighting with the introduction of semi-automatic shotguns. However, with the ammunition of the time, range was severely limited.
The serial projectile rifle also demonstrated increased effectiveness. Duplex ammo alone (where 2 bullets were fired from the same case) showed an increased hit probability of 67% over conventional ammunition over the simulated combat conditions of both SALVO and ACR. The G11, with its 2000 rpm burs showed similar improvements. Unfortunately, none met the Army's 100% improvement in hit probability criteria.
Focus now is one so called smart ammunition - computer controlled airbursting fragmentation ammo. The burst radius of the ammunition will compensate for aiming errors, as well as allow the engagement of targets that are protected from convention linear fire by terrain or structures.
You can hit a man behind a wall or in a DFP with a rifle, but you might be able to do with an airbursting munition.
'Spray and pray' is something of an erroneous and pejorative term, and certainly not what was being promulgated by the proponents of Hitchman and having nothing to do with operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning was about developing combat reflexes - to shoot at a threat immediately - one that looked like a human shape, rather than to shoot at a bullseye target at known ranges, and then go into combat where the situation was completely unlike the firing range.
The conclusions draw from Hitchman relate to the concept of firing a swarm of missiles at a target to compensate for aiming errors on the part of the soldier, not pouring massed and random fore in no particular direction.
Development took two tracts. One was the submunition swarm, such as the shotgun firing flechettes or other improved projectiles to extend range to cover the typical combat envelope. The expanding cone of submunitions would compensate for aiming errors on the part of the soldier.
The second track was the serial rifle, where the infantry weapon would fire a short, high rate of fire burst with each projectile having a slightly divergent path (nutation) which would duplicate the 'swarm' concept.
Both concepts worked, but both have their limitations. The British experience in Malaysia validated the shotgun approach, as hits increased in the typical contact and ambush fighting with the introduction of semi-automatic shotguns. However, with the ammunition of the time, range was severely limited.
The serial projectile rifle also demonstrated increased effectiveness. Duplex ammo alone (where 2 bullets were fired from the same case) showed an increased hit probability of 67% over conventional ammunition over the simulated combat conditions of both SALVO and ACR. The G11, with its 2000 rpm burs showed similar improvements. Unfortunately, none met the Army's 100% improvement in hit probability criteria.
Focus now is one so called smart ammunition - computer controlled airbursting fragmentation ammo. The burst radius of the ammunition will compensate for aiming errors, as well as allow the engagement of targets that are protected from convention linear fire by terrain or structures.
You can hit a man behind a wall or in a DFP with a rifle, but you might be able to do with an airbursting munition.
