Self-Aiming Sniper Rifles Coming Next Year

[youngda9]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/01/self-aiming-shot-sniper-rifle-scheduled-year/?test=faces

The new "One-Shot" system calculates bullet impact and drift for the sniper ensuring a hit, according to the article. The scope measures every variable that influences the bullet's flight and calculates the aim offset into the crosshairs.

15 field-testible prototypes are expected for delivery by next October.

More information here:
http://www.militaryaerospace.com/index/display/article-display/0657946308/articles/military-aerospace-electronics/executive-watch-2/2010/10/lockheed-martin_to.html

 

[geekWithA.45]

Clearly, he needs a self-aiming gun.

Look, I love gadgets as much as the next guy, but the rules for windage and hold over aren't that difficult to master.

I would not recommend wandering into a warzone with a fragile scope that has an RF connection to a package of electronics that somehow got lobbed downrange without that ability.

And if you have that ability, why are you wasting time with the toys?

Enabling sub competent riflemen is a questionable design goal.

 

[merlinfire]

Self-aiming may be a bit of a misnomer....

But a self-zeroing scope (on the fly, at that) would be the coolest thing ever, if that's what we're talking about here.

 

[kmcintosh78]

Saw this article a while ago, on another board.
Will say the same thing here that I said there. I saw that type of Optics in the early 2000's. It was being used by snipers with the secret service.
Been there and done that.

 

[Rshooter]

Sounds to me like Congress needs to act now. Ban them before they hit the streets.

Really, this kind of star wars junk is going to start getting banned before civilians even have hope at seeing a real one. Unfortunately who knows what it will take with it.

 

[ambidextrous1]

This stuff will certainly change the rules at Camp Perry a bit.

I'm gonna get me one of them rigs and show up at Perry next year; I'll show them young kids how it's done!

 

[Shawn Dodson]

I reckon pretty soon there'll be a "sniper in a box" in which the sniper "rifle" will be packaged in a man portable "turret" controlled by a "gunner" with a joystick and a video monitor. All the gunner will have to do is put the reticle on the target, lase it for range, and trigger the gun to fire. The "sniper in a a box" will do all the rest.

 

[youngda9]

"Sniper in a box", funny. It sounds like it would enable the military to take less time and $$ training snipers. More average marksman can be given a better rifle with the supplied optics to engage the enemy at further ranges, striking fear in them and preventing casualties on our side. Of course they wouldn't have the fieldsmanship training(observation, camoflage, movement, etc) that a real sniper would have, but they would have the ability to kill the enemy at great distances.

Wouldn't it be nice to start hammering the enemy as they are moving into position 1Km out with several "snipers" at your disposal instead of waiting for them to close in and take some of your own out in the fire-fight? I've heard countless stories about how snipers have changed the outcome of battles and severely limited enemy troop movements and ability.

I'm surprised so many seem against it.

 

[Beaux Nehr]

I reckon pretty soon there'll be a "sniper in a box" in which the sniper "rifle" will be packaged in a man portable "turret" controlled by a "gunner" with a joystick and a video monitor. All the gunner will have to do is put the reticle on the target, lase it for range, and trigger the gun to fire. The "sniper in a a box" will do all the rest.

Isn't that how the M1 Abrams works?

 

[Rebel2345]

This sounds stupid to me.

I guess it could be handy if a soldier is only firing within 500 yards in a city environment where the wind isn't blowing across his field of view in more than one direction. But a "self zeroing" scope will not be able to correct for a change in wind direction that's out passed 500 yards, or again passed 1,000 like they have problems with in Afghanistan. He'll still end up having to do the work himself.

I see this as kind of the same thing that happened with air combat. When heat seeking missiles were brought to the table, they decided to drop the guns. I'm sure most of us here know how that turned out.

I don't think this, in any way, should be a crutch for a sniper in training. They should still go through every minute of training they already receive. Technology is no replacement for skill.

 

[geekWithA.45]

But a self-zeroing scope (on the fly, at that) would be the coolest thing ever, if that's what we're talking about here.

Sorta, but not really.

A "zeroed" scope is a scope that has the reticle adjusted such that the bullet will strike at the point of aim at a known distance, in the absence of wind, shooting on a flat plane parallel to the ground.

Because all other windage and range adjustments are offsets from that zero, you'll still have to zero your scope before the offsets are calculated based on sensor inputs, and then applied.

IMO, the sensor wind inputs are probably the most valuable part of the package, but that's something that really only matters at extreme long range shooting.

 

[Cosmoline]

If it CAN actually adjust for wind at 500 or 1,000 yards, it would be fantastic. That calculation is always a bit of guesstimate, because you don't know the exact speed or the speed of cross winds that far down range. If a system could read the mirage, dust clouds and come up with a precise adjustment number, that would be really useful wouldn't it?

 

[Toaster]

Street smarts/common sense can't be engineered into an electronic component. And scout snipers don't have batteries or sensitive elctronics that can be disabled by wet weather or EMP.

 

[Mainsail]

I still remember the "old head" Flight Engineers sneering at pocket calculators saying, "My slide rule is good enough..."

My first instinct was to be critical of the system, but change is always coming and if it can up the percentage of hits on the enemy; bring it.

 

[Beaux Nehr]

I saw that type of Optics in the early 2000's. It was being used by snipers with the secret service.
Been there and done that.

That's odd: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/04/super-snipers/