Kryvostvol 2.0
A long time ago, a weapon that allowed you to shoot from behind cover and at the same time not expose yourself to enemy bullets was considered almost shameful. It was a shame to use attachments and crooked barrels to shoot the enemy with impunity. However, over time, an understanding of the entire absurdity of the term "dishonest weapon" came, and almost all arms firms offered their solutions to this issue. And at the end of the First World War, American Albert Pratt proposed an absurd pistol helmet.
The humor of this melee device was in the method of firing: the owner of this miracle helmet had to blow forcefully into the tube in order to fill the pear that pulled the trigger. How much time passed before the shooter found the target and opened fire, history is silent. The curved barrel is, of course, considered a classic of this kind of weaponry. During the Second World War, the Germans used an attachment for Krummerlauf rifles, which, however, did not allow aimed fire and seriously worsened the ballistic properties of the bullet.
There were also trench rifles with a system of periscopes, which already made it possible to aim fire from cover. The TRAP T2 (Telepresent Rapid Aiming Platform) program from 1998 became an extreme manifestation of the desire to protect the fighter from the enemy bullet by all means. This mechanic is designed for the most expensive soldier on the battlefield - the sniper. In fact, TRAP T2 is a stationary remote-controlled robot with a rifle, wirelessly connected to the operator. At the same time, the sniper shooter need not be afraid of suppressing the firing point even with the help of tank guns, since the technique allows the operator to be removed 100 meters from the weapon. But the weight, high cost and low mobility did not allow the TRAP T2 to become a mass weapon.
But weapons for the Corner Shot special forces have been adopted by many countries. This breakable pistol (rifle, 40-mm grenade launcher) with a video camera performs its main function well - aimed fire in tight spaces from around a corner during assault operations. But in ordinary life, it is excessively bulky and expensive.
The French with the FELIN complex turned out to be the closest to the most optimal concept of safe shooting from around the corner. A rather bulky infrared sight is mounted on the FAMAS F1 rifle, the FN Minimi light machine gun or the FR-F2 sniper rifle, equipped with an interface with an IEEE 1394 standard port for communication with the OVD helmet-mounted observation device. However, the clarity of the picture and the resolution of the display leave much to be desired.
In the 2000s, a similar Land Warrior project was implemented in the United States, which included the possibility of broadcasting video from a sight to helmet-mounted displays. In the first versions of such a system of wires, there were so many that it was sometimes easier for a fighter to leave the battle altogether. Also, the excess weight and cost of the entire kit forced the project into a sluggish state, although the Yankees are still actively testing it in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rapid Target Acquisition
The American Rapid Target Acquisition (RTA) program from PEO Soldier, BAE Systems and DRS Technologies has incorporated the best of the military high-tech sniper shooting: compactness, light weight, energy efficiency and high price (about $ 18,000). The soldier is equipped with the latest generation AN / PSQ-20 (ENVG) helmet-mounted mono- or night vision binoculars, connected wirelessly with the FWS-I thermal imaging sight on the M16, M4 or M249.
The equipment is quite compact and, in the case of mass use, will seriously change the picture of hostilities. Strictly speaking, it cannot be called a full-fledged firing system from behind cover. The Israeli Corner Shot will be more effective, as it completely isolates the limbs of the fighter from the fire from around the corner. In the RTA, the hands in some angles still stick out from behind cover along with the rifle. But the American system has one undeniable advantage - versatility. During testing at the range, most of the fighters were not only able to hit most of the targets presented from cover without raising their heads, but also learned how to conduct an aimed single fire without putting a weapon on the shoulder. This allows you to make a thermal imager located in front of your eyes with a contrasting reticle. The RTA system simultaneously provides the shooter in a picture-in-picture mode with a 40-degree view of the surrounding reality, as well as an 18-degree visual field from the weapon's sight.
Actually, where does this lead to? If the same fighters without RTA hit 17 targets out of 40, and with RTA 34 out of 40, then this definitely reduces the requirements for the level of weapon proficiency. A decrease in the skill of the shooter inevitably leads to a decrease in responsibility. From a professional of high standard, he turns into an operator of another gadget, capable of killing with ease. In addition, conducting automatic shooting without resting on the shoulder threatens with a sharp decrease in shooting accuracy due to uncontrolled recoil. Moreover, in such cases, the accuracy of fire disappears as a concept: bullets can fly anywhere and hit their own or civilians. The Americans seriously fear that the adoption of such systems will not allow the recruits to develop sustainable marksmanship and safe shooting skills.
The second major problem is the alignment of infrared and thermal imaging channels on ENVG-B displays. In some modes of operation, the fighter does not see a person, but only his outlines of red. This, by the way, is implemented in Rapid Target Acquisition around the clock: soldiers look at the world through a thermal imager / night vision device during the day. How to determine that there is an armed man in front of you? It is not clear what is in his hands (of course, if it is not a machine gun or a grenade launcher) and what kind of clothes he is wearing. But even if the target is identified as a combatant, where is the guarantee that it is not yours? At the same time, the RTA system allows you to “see” through thin walls, doors, fog, snowfall or heavy rain. All this seriously increases the risks of shooting one of the fellow soldiers.
But it seems that this does not particularly concern the leadership of the US Army. In 2021, it is going to announce workable devices of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) project, which Microsoft has been working on since 2018. These are virtual reality glasses like Google Glass or HoloLens, which will display on a transparent matrix everything that is most important for a fighter at the moment: maps, thermal imaging of the surrounding area, video sequences with mini-drones and, most importantly, highlight enemy targets. How this will be done in relation to people is unclear. There is an assumption that a fighter with IVAS will simply and thoughtlessly execute orders to defeat the targets indicated by the system, without bearing any responsibility for this. Isn't it a cyborg killer from science fiction films?
