New 'One-Shot' Rifle Sight Could Make Snipers Deadlier Than Ever

[MikeL]

http://www.businessinsider.com/new-one-shot-rifle-sight-technology-does-the-aiming-for-every-sniper-2012-10

New 'One-Shot' Rifle Sight Could Make Snipers Deadlier Than Ever
Geoffrey Ingersoll | Oct. 24, 2012, 2:54 PM

Snipers are already one of the more deadly anti-personnel assets the U.S. military has, but somehow, they're going to get deadlier.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency just awarded a $6 million contract to Cubic Corporation to develop the last phase of it's XG (Next Generation) sniper sight. Through use of complex sensor systems, the sight automatically adjusts for windage, elevation, even direction and speed of the target.
From DARPA:
The system developed will measure all relevant physical phenomena that influence the ballistic trajectory and rapidly calculate and display the offset aim point and confidence metric in the shooter’s rifle scope. The system will provide the ability to see the aim point on the target in either day or night to enable rapid target identification, weapon alignment, measurement of range to target and the crosswind profile.
Basically, the sight removes the necessity for snipers to use spotters — a spotter is the guy with binoculars lying next to the shooter. responsible for calling adjustments to wind, elevation, etc., and is generally the higher ranking of the two.


This doesn't mean snipers won't travel in teams of two, but it does act as what the military calls a "force multiplier," meaning now each team member can take shots.
The goal of this development phase of the system is to make the sight compact enough to fit on the top of a rifle, or on a spotter's scope.
"The No. 1 error among our snipers is not being able to accurately measure downrange cross wind profile between the shooter and the target," Steve Sampson, vice president of Advanced Programs for Cubic Defense Applications, said to Laser Focus World. "The technology that Cubic is helping to develop under this program aims to do that within seconds. Using a unique two-way measurement system operated from existing sniper rifles or spotter scopes on current and future weapons, One Shot XG is designed to provide greatly improved first-round accuracy."

 

[Colin Parkinson]

How are they going to measure crosswinds 600m out? Some sort of laser doppler effect?

 

[jeffb]

Theoretically it could be done by looking at the effects of the wind on various objects downrange and then estimating. The old Beaufort Wind Scale and all...

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Theoretically it could be done by looking at the effects of the wind on various objects downrange and then estimating. The old Beaufort Wind Scale and all...

So then how is this different than what they are doing now? The article is making this as a sight that does it all including sensing.

 

[Harris]

What the article forgot to mention is the sniper team has to put a GPS sensor on the target prior to firing.  ;D

 

[Pieman]

How are they going to measure crosswinds 600m out? Some sort of laser doppler effect?

If I had to guess, I would think it is likely scintillation (same reason stars twinkle at night) of a laser. A laser that is pulsed and measured at specific times. Gives a measure of the turbulence out to a specific distance which should translate well into wind speed. Method is used to adapt cameras in telescopes to filter out atmospheric noise.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

[Illegio]

I don't think that this sight will obviate the need for a spotter by any means, as the article suggests, but it is an interesting tool in the toolbox.

 

[KevinB]

When it works it is very neat...

When it does not work - well not so neat.

 

[Mr.Neville]

Just like KevinB pointed out above, I think this device could very useful, but that shouldn't stop military's from training their snipers the old fashioned way in case of malfunctions with the device. Personally I wouldn't put all my trust in one device, and it's always nice to have a back up plan. Should be interesting to see how this project progresses over the next few years.

 

[UnwiseCritic]

I can see a problem with the whole laser theory. Let's for example use a 7.62 rd, it does not travel in a completely straight line. It arcs with a culminating point of 16ft (not 100% sure) but you get my point. Wind speeds as you all know differ at heights. Even if you were to just lay down on the ground and then stand up you can feel a significant difference in wind speeds. And becuase wind is ever so changing you should just hold for wind, so would the scope reticle be constantly shifting? And what if you were waiting for a lapse in wind speed. Could it adjust fast enough?

Also any delays with the scope adjusting could result in a miss. As a lot of snipers from what I'm told will "combat sight" their rifles. Meaning they will have it zeroed at 400m then hold for distance.

As well as adjusting for mechanical shift at closer distances.

Sometimes old school is better, but I would have to try it before putting it down.

 

[KevinB]

Lot more than 16'

My drop to 1000m is 13.446m (~13.5mils), in the vicinity of 46'


But not all lasers shoot straight lines in one plane