Assault rifles and their ammunition

[Tony Williams]

I have a LockMart presentation on the DInGO. It mentions an effective range of 1500-2000m. It doesn't say anything about crosswind correction.

[LRRPF52]

I have a LockMart presentation on the DInGO. It mentions an effective range of 1500-2000m. It doesn't say anything about crosswind correction.

We are waaaay out of service rifle effective range with those distances. Only military caliber guns I can think of that punch out that far with any retained energy left are .338 LM 300gr, .408 Cheytac, and .50 BMG. Is that presentation available for open-source reference?

[LR1955]

In other words, they have asked for it to function and perform its tasks without the soldier removing his hands from the weapon, to be viable in a CQB-to-further than 400m range on moving targets, compensate for bullet drop and moderate winds, with an 8hr battery life for a price of $600 per unit per 50,000 unit order.

They seem to correlate 40m with long range, which it isn't. If they can pull this off, keep the unit small and lightweight, like under 16oz., and integrate all those capabilities, they still will need a soldier who can hold the weapon steady enough to make the hits, and an 8hr battery life won't cut the mustard, I can assure.

There are a lot of tall orders in that stack, even with a 400m capable system. The price is almost laughable, even with the volume ordering. That's the price of an Eotech or Aimpoint, and this unit will have integrated LRF, BDC, Wind Compensation, variable magnification, and some type of limited visibility capability in hours of dawn/dusk? Can't wait to see it...

Prediction (and I honestly hope I'm wrong): The taxpayers are in for another fleecing on this one, while Lockheed Martin will profit from millions in R&D. Look for them to say that significant obstacles in integrating the technology have been encountered, if the weight and cost objectives continue to be non-negotiable, and they need more money if the program is to continue. The next beg will be for 3-10x the initial R&D budget. This all might be good for the actual ground taken towards such a sight, but I am doubtful at best that the will pull it off.

LR52:

This time I think the effort will pay off. Understand that this proposal has been around for fifteen plus years but fifteen years ago we did not have the micro technology and today we do.

Next step is to get the carbine and ammo combination to reliably hold a 20 inch diameter target at 600 meters.

I think this is great and hope they succeed ten fold.

LR55

[Tony Williams]

Is that presentation available for open-source reference?

It isn't on the web as far as I know, but I'd be happy to send it to anyone who sends me an email address.

[Variable]

Request sent!

I was wondering about the feet vs yards thing, and I'd be pretty skeptical on first blush about their chances of success too. But maybe they can pull it off??? I'd bet on them being way over budget by the time they got it, but it would be nothing but pure win for the rest of us as the tech trickled out/down. I wish them the very best of luck!

[LRRPF52]

I've actually wanted the same thing after seeing the capabilities that Land Warrior proved were actually viable, to my initial and immovable skepticism. I've seen how far micro-circuitry has come, since a CPU and complete computer board is now the size of a thin drive slot. It's just that a lot of the weapon-mounted systems have been ridiculously cumbersome, despite advancements in sizing down thermal weapons sights, IR pointers, optics, and illumination. This is especially true with the grenade launcher sights with LRF and quadrant electro-optical aiming solutions. They simply are removed and left back, or carried as dead weight, or expeditiously damaged and written off as a "combat loss".

I actually have some designs myself that would integrate magnified optics, 1x optics, and other components introduced with Land Warrior, plus a few others, that would be the size of a small Eotech, and work in conjunction with certain aspects of a new weapon system. It's what they're looking for, after talking with the head of small arms development from Benning, who was one of the Recon Squad Leaders from my Scout Platoon in Korea years before.

The biggest challenges are in simplifying some existing designs, ruggedizing them, and integrating them together into a package that is intuitive, rather than something an engineer developed with little or no constant reminders from end-users that his black box won't cut the mustard when Joe Tentpeg gets his hands on it.