From: "John", INTERNET:jv38@dial.pipex.com
Sunday Times 9.8.98
The Pentagon is developing a high-tech weapon whose computerised bullets
can kill an enemy out of the line of sight, writes Keir Knight
Assault rifle fires around corners
AN ASSAULT RIFLE that can kill soldiers hiding around corners is about
to give greater firepower to the US Army.
Pentagon generals are planning to issue the Objective Individual Combat
Weapon (OICW) to elite infantry units within eight years - once the rifle
has been fully developed by an international consortium that is led by
the defence specialist Alliant Techsystems of Minnesota and includes
Heckler and Koch, the German gunmaker.
The OICW is a lightweight modular weapon with two magazines and two
barrels, one to take 5.56mm bullets and the other for 20mm exploding
rounds, which act like small grenades. It has computerised controls
linked to a video night sight and laser rangefinder. As if to prove
that battles of the future will not be fought solely with high-tech
equipment, it comes with a bayonet.
It is the battlefields of the next century, however, that engineers
had in mind when they designed the rifle. The OICW is expected to be
in its element in urban combat, especially against guerrillas.
As a standard rifle using Nato 5.56mm ammunition, the OICW is designed
to outperform the standard issue M16 rifle in range, rate of fire and
- most importantly - accuracy. The zoom-lens video sight uses a laser
to lock on to a moving target and automatically calculate its range. In
the hands of a skilled soldier the weapon is expected to produce a 95%
hit rate at up to 500 metres.
The laser rangefinder is also the key to its most impressive feature -
the ability to hit a target hidden behind a corner or sheltered in a
trench.
Once the soldier has pinpointed the target, the OICW is able to finish
the job. When the firing system has the correct range it feeds the
information to a computer chip implanted in the fuse of a 20mm
high-explosive bullet. When the round reaches its destination - up to
1,000 metres away - it explodes in an airburst, showering deadly
shrapnel on the target.
Michael Moore, programme manager for Alliant Techsystems, says: "The
OICW will revolutionise warfare much as the machine gun did earlier
this century." He adds that the weapon is perfectly suited to urban
conflicts that are expected to become the US Army's biggest challenge.
Limited engagements in chaotic situations - such as Somalia, for
example - will be the natural theatre for the OICW.
While much of the technology used in the OICW is already in use,
especially in tanks, this is the first time that a combat rifle has
been equipped with such firepower.
"Right now, a soldier has nothing to take out troops at 700 metres
who are dug into a trench or hiding behind walls," says Moore. "This
weapon will give individual soldiers the ability to take out enemies
in those situations without having to call in artillery support.
"It's the biggest development in small arms likely in the next 25
to 30 years."
Testing at the US Army's research and development centre in Picatinny
Arsenal, New Jersey, will continue for the next 12 months before moving
to the Army Infantry Centre in Fort Benning, Georgia.
The Pentagon expects to pay about $12,000 (£7,300) for each rifle,
with 20mm high-explosive rounds costing about $30 a pop - an M16
fitted with a grenade launcher and less competent targeting systems
can cost up to $35,000. The first order is expected to be for 45,000 OICWs.
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Not really described above, but shown in a diagram in the Times, the user is
meant to target an object (a lamp post in the example) that is adjacent to
the enemy taking cover round a corner. This measurement is then used to
send the shell just past the corner, so causing them to be hit by fragments
from the 20mm. Sounds great in theory, but in practise that lamp post may not
be where you wanted it and the time taken to "laze" the target might get
you hit.
$35,000 for an M16 ! - the Pentagon must still be purchasing gear from that
outfit who got done for defrauding the US Government, they supplied
screwdrivers that were latter invoiced at $1000 each. Funny how everyone
seems to be gearing up for urban conflicts, much of our own TA's training
is now focused on house to house fighting - I wonder why ?
John
--
I think he got the decimal point in the wrong place, though frankly an M16A2
fitted with an M203 should cost less than $1,000, especially in the quantities
the DoD orders them. Anyone who thinks the OICW is the last word in combat
weaponry hasn't seen it (picture in Nick's column in the current issue of TS).
I wouldn't want to lug one of those around. And what happens when your
batteries for all the gizmos go flat? You have a very heavy rifle with no
sights.
Steve.