Military Tech

The Italian Army has ordered 81 Hitrole Light remote controlled weapon stations for its Iveco Lince vehicles in response to increased IED attacks in Afghanistan, according to the Italian Ministry of Defense.

Italy has struggled to live up to its NATO commitments in the face of wide spread domestic opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and has gone to great lengths to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. One way to do that is to stay buttoned-up.

The Hitrole is one-man, electrically powered machine gun turret, manned by a gunner ensconced safely below. The gunner aims and fires using a flat panel display and a joystick; elevation and traverse functions are all electric. The standard sensor package consists of a color day TV camera, infra red night sight and an eye-safe laser rangefinder.(PDF)

The gun system is fully stabilized and features an automatic target tracker, this combination increases the probability of first round hits on both stationary and fleeting targets even while the platform is moving, according to the Italian manufacture Oto Melara. The contract was worth approximately $30 million to the company. Oto Melara, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, was once called Vickers Terni, of the rugged Vickers machine gun WWI fame.

The unit can be fitted with a variety of weapons up to a .50 caliber machine gun, or an automatic grenade launcher. Reloading is also preformed from below, with belt ammunition being fed through a flexible duct.

There have been 1,505 coalition deaths in Afghanistan since the war began as of yesterday, according to a recent tally-22 of which were Italian.

The Italian army has ordered 81 Hitrole Light remote-controlled weapon stations for its Iveco Lince vehicles in response to increased attacks in Afghanistan employing improvised explosive devices, according to a statement last month from Italian Ministero della Difesa, or ministry of defense.

Italy has struggled to live up to its NATO commitments in the face of widespread domestic opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and it has gone to great lengths to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. One way to do that is to stay buttoned-up.

The Hitrole is an electrically powered machine gun turret, operated by a single gunner ensconced safely below. The gunner aims and fires, using a flat-panel display and a joystick; elevation and traverse functions are electric. The standard sensor package contains a color daytime TV camera, infrared night sight, and an eye-safe laser range finder (PDF).

The gun system, which is fully stabilized, features an automatic target tracker, increasing the probability of first-round hits on both stationary and fleeting targets, even while the platform is moving, according to Italian manufacturer Oto Melara, which signed a contract worth 20 million euros with the Italian defense ministry.

A subsidiary of Finmeccanica, Oto Melara was once called Vickers Terni, of rugged World War 1 Vickers machine gun fame.

The unit can be fitted with a variety of weapons up to a .50 caliber machine gun or an automatic grenade launcher. Reloading is also preformed from below, with belt ammunition being fed through a flexible duct.

There have been at least 1,500 coalition deaths in Afghanistan since the war began, according to a recent tally--22 of whom were Italian.

Advanced gamer hardware may soon allow PacBot operators to tell exactly how hard a robot's grip is, allowing soldiers to more safely pick up and handle fragile or dangerous objects, while also increasing their situational awareness.

Novint Technologies, a company that makes 3D touch controllers for video and computer games, announced last month that it has been awarded a subcontract to co-develop a remote touch kit (RTK) for the iRobot unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) PacBot.

The new RTK will allow soldiers to tactually sense the amount of force a robot is exerting from a safe operating distance--a first for military UGVs, according to Novint. It will also increase spatial sensitivity.

For example, the soldier would feel the bumps and jerks when driving the robot, thus improving performance over rugged terrain. The operator would also "feel" when the robot's arm touches a wire--a not inconsequential feature when dealing with booby-trapped IEDs. The result, the company says, will be "greatly reduced task times and operator burden, increased dexterity and situational awareness, and reduced training."

"As demand for unmanned military robots continues to grow, Novint's touch technology will play a crucial role in enhancing operator control during mission-tasks such as bomb disposal or surveillance," Novint Technologies CEO Tom Anderson said in a statement.

Novint already offers interactive, bi-directional, high-fidelity 3-D that enables doctors and technicians to interact with medical imagery such as MRIs, CT scans and 3D ultrasounds.

It does this through applied Haptics, the art and science of applying sense of touch to human interaction with computer generated environments. A Haptic device makes touching a virtual object seems real and tangible.

The project is funded by the Secretary of Defense Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise through the Robotics Technology Consortium.

FORT HOOD, Texas--Soldiers and civilian contractors braved the heat here this week for the first Robotics Rodeo to view and interact with a long lineup of robot systems and to give feedback on which ones could potentially find a place in the U.S. Army's robo stable.

Despite the hundreds of military robots that show up in concept or as prototypes on company Web sites and corporate reports, humans still do the fighting on the ground and it's likely to stay that way for a while. However, there's a growing niche for "the dirty, the dull, and the dangerous" jobs where robots could take over. In fact, it's the law. The 2001 Senate defense authorization bill mandates that "one third of the operational ground combat vehicles of the armed forces will be unmanned by 2015."

The Army wants robotic researchers, developers, and manufactures, many of whom have collected millions in government seed money and grants over the years, to get off the dime and start delivering (PDF).

"If you're not fielding, you're failing," said Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, Fort Hood commander and co-host of the Robotics Rodeo.

Lynch cites the rapid advancements made in fielding unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"Most folks are familiar and comfortable with (UAVs), and we've shown over eight years of combat just how critical those systems are to the warfighting effort when properly used and integrated," Lynch said. "There are hundreds of other robotic concepts that could also be useful to our Army and this Robotics Rodeo will showcase some of those--it's a great educational opportunity."

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and Fort Hood III Corps invited more than 40 vendors to attend the rodeo and show off their wares.

In terms of priorities, clearance of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) tops the general's wish list. Other needs include programmable unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to patrol and make deliveries on planned routes or conduct "persistent stare," i.e. long-term surveillance missions.

"The enemy often places IEDs in the same locations that he has used in the past. A robotic system that can observe these locations for a prolonged period of time and alert us of a significant change would be of great value," Lynch said. One of true tests would be a UGV that acts as a robotic wingman or can assume a role as a member of a squad.

However, most UGVs in service today are limited to detecting and defusing IEDs. Concepts to broaden their uses are many, but it's unclear how practical and feasible they are. In any case, much of the technology on display at the "rodeo" is commercial off-the-shelf--some of it already in use in private industry.

So what's keeping the stuff on display from becoming standard issue? Three letters--ONS--according to vendors.

If there's an urgent need for equipment, a general officer may step forward and submit an ONS, or Operational Needs Statement, to get the ball rolling. No one is willing to do so, vendors complain. For example, the Qinetiq rep says his modular advanced armed robotic system (MAARS) could be ambushing IED-planting bad guys right now, but for the paperwork (PDF).

The true test: be the first to sign off on a M240B machine-gun-mounted UGV.

Talon military and first-responder robots can now be equipped with two-way hailers, which enable operators to "listen" and "speak" with their robo-counterparts--in "high fidelity" no less.

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Ever since the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army has been trying to field a grenade launcher that duplicates the accuracy of that mythical grenadier and his M79 so compelling portrayed in Francis Ford Coppela's movie "Apocalypse Now."

The M320 40mm Grenade Launcher Module issued to the 82nd Airborne Division recently may do the trick. Specs for the M320 called for something more reliable, more ergonomic, more accurate, and safer than the so-so M203 launcher troops have been using for more than four decades. Heckler and Koch, who was awarded the contract, delivered a parcel of clever, if heavier, improvements.

For starters, the 320 can be deployed as either a stand alone or attached under the barrel of an M16 rifle or M4 carbine. (PDF)

It comes with its own pistol grip--no more using the host weapon's clip as a hand grip. Slicker still, it's double action--if it misfires, the operator can pull the trigger again--unlike the 203, which requires a re-jacking.

The mojo, however, is expected to be delivered by the new integral day/night sighting system produced by Insight Technology Inc. It also comes with a separate infrared laser pointer that's actually supposed to make the weapon more accurate at night than daytime, project engineer Bob Phung told the Army News Service.

At the very least, the new setup interferes less with the sights of whatever it happens to be mounted on than did that of its predecessor. It also eliminates the need to re-zero every time it's reattached to a weapon.

But it's hard to image an experienced gunner pausing to fiddle with a laser pointer in the heat of battle. Army brass may suspect as much. On the range, instructors admonished paratroopers to use the weapon as it was designed to be used.

"Many times, guys get new equipment, and they second guess it," Staff Sgt. Joseph Foti of Fort Benning's 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment admitted. "But the engineers who developed this weapon have already removed the guesswork. This stuff works. Trust it."

Wonder what Roach would say.

Crews hoping for more personal fire power when scrambling from a tank hatch or other confined conveyance will be disappointed to learn that the U.S. Army is putting the search for a "subcompact" carbine on hold, according to industry reports.

While searching for a possible alternative to the M4 carbine, the Army had also been looking at a new "personal defense weapon" to give drivers and crews a little more punch than the currently issued Beretta M9 9mm pistol. But that plan has followed the economy, and the military budget, down the drain, according to the industry press.

"I see this as an uphill battle," C. Reed Knight Jr., owner of Knight's Armament Company told Military.Com in an interview. "I think it will probably die a slow death."

There's been no shortage of candidates; the market has been flooded with new grease gun wannabes. The challenge has been to come up with something both more powerful than the pistol ammunition now used by many PDWs, yet lighter than the 5.56mm round used in assault rifles.

Knight's Armament submitted a 6x35mm PDW--a streamlined, 4.5 pound weapon that can fire 700 rounds per minute. But there's less than "a 50-50 chance" of anything getting adopted, Knight said. "The government still doesn't know what it wants."

There are plenty of other contenders on the shelf, including the LWRC International PSD, which sports an 8-inch barrel and comes in both 5.56mm and a punchy 6.8mm, and the Adams Arms at 7.5 inches.

The Army's position: don't rush us. "The subcompact has to serve a lot of different people...it's much too early to say this is what we are looking for," Jim Stone, the head of the Soldier Requirement's Division at Fort Benning, Ga., told Military.com.

Internal bleeding can cause irreversible haemorrhagic shock within 30 seconds or progressive shock within eight hours, either way, it's not good and the military wants a portable, noninvasive way to detect and stop it right on the battlefield.

To that end, the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has contracted with Siemens Healthcare, the University of Washington's Centre for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound and Texas A&M to develop something called the Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation cuff (DBAC). The cuff is a semi-automated, ultrasound device designed to cut blood loss and shock resulting from combat limb injuries, one that can be operated by any GI with minimal training.

As it stands now, a wounded soldier can quickly lose 25 percent of blood volume while waiting to be evacuated. This can lead to progressive shock and death. On the spot treatment with the cuff would curtail these needless combat deaths and amputations, according to the military.

A medic applies the cuff to the injured limb, the DBAC automatically locates the bleeding and triggers a dose of high-intensity, focused ultrasound toward it, this prompts quick coagulation and an end to the bleeding.

The system uses doppler-based "automated bleed detection algorithms," according to DARPA. The software used is based on "unique spectral and power Doppler bleeder signatures that, when coupled to volumetric data, allows for automated bleed detection and localization."(PDF)

Blood mimicking fluids and heat resistant, tissue mimicking phantoms were custom created to allow DBAC testing on a full-sized leg mockup. DARPA hopes to be able to have a prototype in 18 months.

The new Special Forces combat assault rifle (SCAR) meant to replace a hodgepodge of weapons currently used by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is undergoing its field assessment phase, the last step before full-production and battlefield deployment.

Available as the MK-16 or MK-17, (accepting 5.65 and 7.62 NATO ammunition respectively) the SCAR is a highly modular system designed to adapt easily to future upgrades and new ammunition. The weapon, produced by the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FN), with replace the Colt M4, long a source of bitter gripes throughout the SF community due to its lack of punch and high jam rate (PDF).

Featuring a short stroke gas piston system, its ambidextrous layout, telescoping, folding butt stock and adjustable cheek piece aim to please even the fussiest of commandos.

But it was the interchangeable, chrome-lined, steel barrels, the switching-out of which can, in minutes, effectively shrink the SCAR from carbine length to submachine gun, that most impressed Special Forces operators interviewed by Military.com on the firing line in Northern Virginia recently.

"That's the best part of this weapon," one soldier told Military.com. "When we deploy, we usually go with just our M4s. But if we're on an operation where we need an overwatch or we're observing at a distance, the M4 doesn't do us much good until it's too late."

Both the Mk-16 and Mk-17 accept barrels measuring from 10 inches for close-quarters assault work to 18-inch sniper units.

SOCOM has ordered about 18,000 SCAR variants for its troops, including a limited run of about 1,200 rifles already in production, FN USA told Military.com.