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2009-04-23 Science & Technology

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2009-04-23 04:53|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1 One could really go Charles Whitman with one of these things.

Posted by gromky 2009-04-23 05:34|| 2009-04-23 05:34|| Front Page Top

#2 Paint it grey, give a basic load of ammo, and put it to sea off the coast of Somalia.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-04-23 08:14|| 2009-04-23 08:14|| Front Page Top

#3 Make it stealthy and keep it outside the pirate villages.

Posted by Bright Pebbles the flatulent 2009-04-23 08:27|| 2009-04-23 08:27|| Front Page Top

#4 But can it talk with Austrian accent?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-04-23 08:41|| 2009-04-23 08:41|| Front Page Top

#5 Just don't connect it to Skynet. Nothing good comes from that.

Posted by Steve White 2009-04-23 09:31|| 2009-04-23 09:31|| Front Page Top

#6 It sounds good for some applications, but I don't want one cruising the freeway over me.

Posted by Richard of Oregon 2009-04-23 09:41|| 2009-04-23 09:41|| Front Page Top

#7 Use it for patrolling our southern border.

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-04-23 10:37|| 2009-04-23 10:37|| Front Page Top

#8 It needs a sticky on the bottom that says "KISS MY ARSS"

Posted by Kofi Claitle6576 2009-04-23 11:32|| 2009-04-23 11:32|| Front Page Top

#9 More from Wired...

The system is intended for the urban battlefield an eye in the sky that can stare down concrete canyons, and blink out targets with extreme precision. Attempting to return fire against the ARSS is liable to be a near-suicidal act: ARSS is described as being able to fire seven to 10 aimed shots per minute, and it's unlikely to miss.

Recent events off Somalia, however, may have suggested other uses for this technology. Last week's standoff between pirates and the U.S. Navy in the Indian Ocean ended famously with three sniper shots, as a drone watched overhead. In 2008, French special forces captured six pirates on land after ransom had been paid. "There were four helicopters involved," The Independent reported at the time. "A sniper [in a Puma helicopter] shot out the motor of the pirates' four-wheel drive vehicle. A second helicopter [a Gazelle] then landed nearby, allowing the six pirates to be arrested" without any casualties.

The U.S. Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) uses helicopter-borne snipers to take out drug-running boats. They are accurate enough to knock out engines without harming the crew or damaging fuel tanks. "The driver just threw his hands up," concludes the description of one such action in Men's Vogue, after all three engines were disabled with three shots.

And because the Vigilante is smaller, lighter and cheaper than a manned combat helicopter, it can be supplied in greater numbers, and without the need for those elite, highly-trained snipers.

Sniping from a chopper currently takes tons of skill and training. But ARSS is literally point-and-shoot for the operator on the ground, using a videogame-type controller. The software makes all the necessary corrections, and the system should ensure first-round kills at several hundred yards. The secret is in the control system and stabilized turret (on the right in the picture above), which is currently fitted with a powerful RND Manufacturing Edge 2000 rifle specifically designed for sniping work, using the heavyweight .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge.

The stabilized turret could be fitted to a variety of other vehicles including a a small blimp, or a fixed-wing unmanned plane, like the Predator. Compared to the Predator's array of Hellfire missiles, the ARSS' lone gun would be much less likely to hit civilians. It would also give a far deeper magazine: dozens of shots instead of a handful of missiles, and at a cost of around $4 per trigger pull rather than about $100,000 for a Hellfire. But the turret doesn't need such a big craft to carry it, as the complete turret assembly weighs less than a single Hellfire.

Posted by Kofi Claitle6576 2009-04-23 11:39|| http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/army-tests-new.html]">[http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/army-tests-new.html] 2009-04-23 11:39|| Front Page Top

#10 Kofi makes this thing sound irrestible. It costs $4 a pop and there is a prize every time. Better than Cracker Jacks! Maybe not as healthy, though.

Posted by Richard of Oregon 2009-04-23 12:53|| 2009-04-23 12:53|| Front Page Top

#11 Just don't connect it to Skynet. Nothing good comes from that.

It's all automated. Computer control, and all that. Nothing to worry about.

Posted by SteveS 2009-04-23 13:18|| 2009-04-23 13:18|| Front Page Top

#12 put its picture in the dictionary, next to the entry for "~~arse~~ARSS-whuppin'"

Posted by Querent 2009-04-23 14:19|| 2009-04-23 14:19|| Front Page Top

#13 The military has been extremely reluctant to deploy weaponized unmanned ground vehicles...UGV's mounted with an M240 or M249. I wonder if they'll have the same reticence about deploying this system. One of the key issues is fratricide, since you'd expect this to be used near front-line troops. But the other is collateral damage. If they shoot the wrong person is it going to be a CNN moment? Again, that seems to be a major issue with the weaponized UGV's.

Posted by remoteman 2009-04-23 15:42|| 2009-04-23 15:42|| Front Page Top

#14 I assume they have computerized adjustments for that whole "shooting downhill" thing.

Posted by Unemble Pelosi6598 2009-04-23 17:56|| 2009-04-23 17:56|| Front Page Top

#15 "a cost of around $4 per trigger pull"

I'll place a standing order to buy 25 pulls. Target(s) of the Army's choice. :-D

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-04-23 18:30|| 2009-04-23 18:30|| Front Page Top

#16 Remember the movie "Blue Thunder"? How about "The Running Man"? In both movies, the gist was the use of a helicopter to hose riots and demonstrations.

And as recent years have proven, there are plenty of people out there who would have no problem wiping out an entire tea party.

Posted by Anonymoose 2009-04-23 20:10|| 2009-04-23 20:10|| Front Page Top

#17 Just don't connect it to Skynet. Nothing good comes from that.

It's all automated. Computer control, and all that. Nothing to worry about.

Yup
"Thie ie the first completely automated flight............. absolutely Nothing can co wrong, go wrong, go wrong Etc.

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2009-04-23 21:36|| 2009-04-23 21:36|| Front Page Top

#18 This thing, and other cool weapon systems will eventually be used against Americans trying to save their country from the godless Liberals hellbent on your destruction.

You are running out of time.

Posted by New Delhi Don 2009-04-23 21:43|| 2009-04-23 21:43|| Front Page Top

#19 Sounds like some third worlder is jealous...

Posted by Kofi Claitle6576 2009-04-23 23:32|| 2009-04-23 23:32|| Front Page Top

#20 I have $4 with your name on it New Delhi Don!

Posted by Kofi Claitle6576 2009-04-23 23:33|| 2009-04-23 23:33|| Front Page Top

#21 Or Dinesh D'souza reader.

Posted by GirlThursday 2009-04-23 23:46|| 2009-04-23 23:46|| Front Page Top

23:55 Barbara Skolaut
23:46 GirlThursday
23:37 newc
23:33 Kofi Claitle6576
23:32 Kofi Claitle6576
23:28 newc
23:11 Verlaine
22:30 Old Patriot
22:15 Broadhead6
21:50 Barbara Skolaut
21:49 GirlThursday
21:45 Barbara Skolaut
21:43 Barbara Skolaut
21:43 New Delhi Don
21:41 Barbara Skolaut
21:41 Redneck Jim
21:39 Barbara Skolaut
21:37 Redneck Jim
21:36 Redneck Jim
21:19 Don Vito Anginegum8261
21:16 Besoeker
21:05 newc
20:57 newc
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