Posted on 04/22/2009 3:11:47 PM PDT by Ben Mugged
The U.S. Army is testing the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS) — a remote-controlled unmanned Vigilante robot helicopter equipped with a high-velocity sniper rifle.
Its RND Edge semi-automatic gun is mounted on a self-stabilizing turret with built-in zoom camera, and fires 7 to 10 precisely aimed .338-caliber rounds per second.
Back on the ground, a human directs it using a modified Xbox 360 controller, which plugs into a laptop so that the operator can see what the drone sees.
"Having the ability to accurately engage single point man sized targets with an airborne UAV will give the ground based soldier the ability to have a high-point survivable sniper at their disposal when needed," stated the Army solicitation notice when the project was announced in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Because of the obvious domestic value of this weapon to his administration, President Obama will make sure that this is one weapon system that receives sufficient research funding.
I gotta get me one of those.
We’ll lose sleep over this.
Imagine that...Lon Horiuchi with wings :-(
I hope that thing can hit targets from a long range because it sure isn’t going to sneak up on anyone.
It has to be my favorite military acronym though.
Yeah but......does this mean our AG can prosecute the robots for something he doesn’t like?
A little more miniaturization and we’ll be in Biblical territory ... locusts, with the face of a man, having the power to sting and to torment. How else could such a thing have been described two thousand years ago?
Inch by inch, step by step..robot apocalypse! The end is near.
Skynet approves.
WANT.
To paraphrase Alfred Coppell, “What a pleasure it would have been to use in Vietnam”.
We should build enough of these to blot out the sun and send them all to Israel.
Not sure what cartridge it will be based on but the 1000 yarders are shooting something like the 338 Lapua. But I doubt that even a stabilized turret could have the same accuracy. I guess that is why it has a very high rate of fire. So, it really isn’t a “sniper” platform because they are relying on a high volume to make the kill rather than extreme accuracy.
I would assume there would have to be some sort of trade off there. If you could make it accurate enough you wouldn’t need the fire rate. At any rate helicopters are noisy so you would have to make a hit at range.....or paint it to look like a news helicoptor.
I am not an expert but the rotor noise of a helicopter is directly related to the weight of the helicopter. I have seen a small remote controlled helicopter carrying a high definition television camera using a muffled engine operate at 1500 feet altitude and 200 yards away and it could not be heard.
Have you ever looked at an Apache helicopter from the front, telling me that doesn’t look like a big locust coming at you. The first thing I thought of the first time I saw a picture of one them.
OUCH! That comment will leave a mark!
They should name it after the top American sniper of the Vietnam war or in American history period, they could call it the Waldron.
Perfect. Let’s see if the Obambi administration can court martial a flying machine.
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