Tuesday, November 21, 2017

If God is My Copilot, the Internet is My Gunner

Remote weapons stations (RWS) have saved lives by ending the exposure of gunners to direct fire. The Army sees these systems as key to robotic and remotely controlled ground vehicles. Why not use the for manned/unmanned teams, too?

Strategypage reviews remote weapons stations and notes:

The army sees RWS as a key element in the development of remotely controlled, or autonomous, armored vehicles.

I'd like to see remotely operated weapons stations on our crewed infantry fighting vehicles.

If we can operate weapons on an infantry fighting vehicle remotely via troops in the rear areas, during some missions like advance to contact, we'd reduce the exposure of troops to catastrophic loss and high loss of life when the crew and infantry in an IFV are supporting tanks on the move.

That's what I argued in this Infantry article (and which I incorporated into this entry into an Army science fiction contest).