Posted on 03/10/2006 3:09:57 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
The U.S. Army has discovered a remote control gun turret that works, and cannot get enough of them. The army wants over 9,000 CROWS (common remotely operated weapon stations), but is only getting 15 a month. There should be about a thousand CROWS in service by the end of the year.
The idea for CROWS has been around for nearly half a century. Years of tinkering, and better technology, eventually made the remote control gun turret effective and dependable. CROWS us a real life saver, not to mention anxiety reducer, for troops who drive through bandit country a lot, and have a turret mounted gun (usually in a hummer). The guy manning the turret mounted machine-gun is a target up there, and too often, the bad guys get you. Not with CROWS. The gunner is inside the vehicle, checking out the surroundings on a computer monitor (with night vision and telephoto capabilities). CROWS also has a laser rangefinder built in, as well as a stabilizer mechanism to allow more accurate fire while the vehicle is moving. The CROWS systems cost about $260,000 each, and can mount a variety of weapons (M2 .50 caliber machine-gun, MK19 40-mm automatic grenade launcher, M240B 7.62mm machine-gun and M249 5.56mm squad automatic weapon).
But there's another reason, not often talked about, for the success of CROWS. The guys operating these systems grew up playing video games. They developed skills in operating systems (video games) very similar to the CROWS controls. This was important, because viewing the world around the vehicle via a vidcam is not as enlightening (although a lot safer) than having your head and chest exposed to the elements, and any firepower the enemy sends your way. But experienced video gamers are skilled at whipping that screen view around, and picking up any signs of danger. Iraqis are amazed at how observant CROWS is. Iraqis tend to just wrote this off as another example of American "magic." But the troops know betters. Video games can save your life.
I just knew all those hours playing "Call of duty 2" were worth something.
We've got one near here - one, single system. The kids rave about it, and how easy it is to make it perform.
May I introduce ma deuce.
Not quite like being behind a Ma Deuce, I suppose, but much safer.
260k for a turret, a screen, and sensors? Sounds a bit pricey, but I guess anything is cheap if it saves a life.
A bit of history.
The first operational remotely controlled gun turret that fire 4 .50 caliber machine guns first flew in1943 when the B-29 started flying.
How successful and effective was it?
Well it was able to rapidly shoot down attacking Japanese fighter aircraft. The closing speeds (B-29 airspeed and the Japanese fighter’s speed) was over 600 miles an hour.
The sighting method was a set of binoculars in a mount with a man behind them.
It took 50 plus years to change it from the Mark-1 human eyeball to a video system?
Wonder what else from the 1940-1950 era we should be exploring?
Because of innovations like this, in another 10 years, tanks and other armored vehicles are going to change beyond recognition. Buck Rogers country!
But a hell of a lot safer than being in front of one...
Nice!
I spent a lot of quarters on that one, back in the day. That, and Missile Command.
Missle Command is one of the few video games that I could not bring myself to play. Watching oneself get nuked at the end was too horrible.
we should almost never have to be seen.
Sometimes you do have to be seen.
Understandable.
Back to tank games, I lamented the removal of Tokyo Wars from the local Dave & Busters. Had kickers in the seat for when you fired the main gun, or got hit, great sound, fun stuff.
http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=538&page=1#1336
That's a really excellent observation.
I like technology. I like not exposing gunners. But sometimes the man on the gun has to be seen to be believed. Sometimes the driver of the on rushing car has to SEE the look on the gunner's face and back off and nobody dies that day. Such subtlety is not possible with Robo-cop tech.
I loved that game. What was it called?
Looks familiar!
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