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timeOday
October 25, 2024 @11:58PM
timeOday writes: The U.S. Marines are testing a system for standard service rifles that automatically fine-tunes the point of aim with the help of a powered buttstock as a new option to help shoot down drones. The service is in the midst of a broad push to acquire new capabilities to help every Marine better protect themselves from ever-growing uncrewed aerial threats...
ZeroMark’s system is not the first automated small arms targeting system the Marines have looked into in recent years with a particular eye toward helping engage drones. The service has also at least been evaluating SMASH 2000-series computerized optical sights from Israeli firm Smart Shooter. SMASH-series sights have the ability to detect and lock onto targets of interest, even ones on the move, and calculate an optimal aim point for the shooter. Depending on how the system is configured on a particular gun, it can even prevent the trigger from being pulled until the weapon is properly aimed at the target...
The targeting system in ZeroMark’s FCS is similar, in some very broad strokes, to that of the SMASH family. It uses an array of sensors, including electro-optical cameras and LIDAR, coupled with machine vision and advanced software algorithms, to acquire targets, according to the company. Where ZeroMark’s offering differs most substantially is in its motorized articulating buttstock, which uses the data from the sensors to help physically move the gun’s point of aim. This, in turn, helps the shooter engage the target with greater precision and speed...
“[The mechanized buttstock] doesn’t move the soldier’s arm, it creates a virtual pivot between shoulder pad and handheld positions that creates angular change of the bore axis (ultimately where the gun’s pointed),” ZeroMark CEO Joel Anderson said in an interview earlier this year, according to TechCrunch. “The control systems for it are modeled to compensate for all the human factors (proprioception, noise, movement, torque, etc.) as well as the drone’s movement. So if you point in the general direction of the drone such that you’d be in the vicinity of a drone, the system does the rest.”
Zeromark says it is also easy to install and uninstall as required on a wide variety of different rifle types. A promotional video seen earlier in this story shows prototypes or mock-ups of the system installed on rifles in the AK-47/AKM, AR-15/M16, and Tavor families...
Overall, ZeroMark says its FCS “makes hitting a small drone at 200 yards as easy as hitting a 60-foot-diameter circle” at the same range, per TechCrunch. At least for now, the company has said work on its targeting system is focused on the counter-drone role, but has acknowledged that its system could be adapted for use against a wider array of target types in the future.
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