Upgrades give soldiers better, deadlier weapons - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Upgrades give soldiers better, deadlier weapons

Improvements in the works for three key weapon systems will help ensure soldiers never enter a fair fight.

Leading the way is the combat-proved Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, or CROWS. The Army’s plan is simple: More and better.

CROWS

CROWS has been a huge hit among combatants. It’s not hard to understand why. It gets operators out of the turret and under the armor, and turns area weapons into precision engagement weapons. Target identification and day/night surveillance capabilities are light years beyond what small-level leaders have had in the past.

And the increased demand for CROWS has led to lot of growth in the program, said Lt. Col. Thomas Ryan, product manager for crew-served weapons. The Army is bumping the ceiling from 11,000 to 18,000 systems. It currently has 7,575 in service.

The contract will allow the Army not only to buy new systems and maintain current ones, but also engineer product improvements, he said.

While the draft request for proposal is not expected for two months, a Feb. 16 recapitalization solicitation said the five-year contract will see production rates up to 300 CROWS monthly, with the ability to surge to 500 for limited durations.

This equates to continued fire superiority, tactical advantage and protection for operators, Ryan said.

Officials also are looking to develop stateside home training programs as the program evolves. Other improvements may include an escalation of force kit, IR pointer and 360-degree situational awareness with the day and night cameras.

A badder MK19

Other improvements are still in the works, but gaining attention. Such is the case for a fire control system designed for the MK19 automatic grenade launcher.

The advanced sighting/targeting system will provide first-round accuracy, therefore eliminating the need to walk rounds to the target. And that is just the beginning.

The Army on Nov. 30 issued a “sources sought” for a targeting system that can operate during day, night and all weather conditions. Manufacturer General Dynamics, in league with Vingtech Corp., have answered the call.

Their fire control system is a user-friendly, multifaceted tool that provides the MK19 myriad new capabilities, said Richard Hollen, Vingtech’s U.S. program manager.

It currently is in a demonstration phase. If the Army likes it, fielding could take anywhere from months to years, depending on need and funding.

The first-round accuracy is the cornerstone, and with good reason. Range estimation remains the No. 1 source of error in machine gunnery. With the FCS, the days of walking rounds to the target are over. The operator lazes the target and the programmable rounds do the rest. The enemy is silenced and collateral damage is minimized.

The system also can program air burst rounds. If the enemy doesn’t like the XM25, imagine the response when soldiers have the same capability but at greater distances using 40mm rounds in automatic mode. Soldiers can use an IR pointer to “paint” a target, and can quickly program a fire pattern, or a “string of pearls,” and walk a series of rounds in any direction through the target area. The first round will head where the target is lazed, and subsequent rounds will have offset programmed in flight. And while the best MK19 shooters sometimes venture into the realm of indirect fire, the FCS makes it easy.

The system creates a digital range card that adjusts as you move. In addition, it boasts a target acquisition function out to 5,000 meters that allows the shooter to obtain exact distance and GPS coordinates that can be used for reconnaissance or supporting fire. The video and still pictures it captures can be streamed back to the higher-ups.

But lazing targets with a MK19 raises immediate questions. After all, lasers shoot straight; a 40mm grenade doesn’t.

Army Times was allowed to put the FCS to the test. For the record, this reporter has fired thousands of MK19 rounds and was not sure how easy it would be to adjust.

It took one try.

Once the shooter lazes the target, the sight automatically decouples and the shooter need only keep the dot on the target. In doing so, he brings the weapon to the elevation needed to cover the distance. And because the gun’s function is independent, the shooter doesn’t lose the area suppression capability if a target pops up.

The FCS is just one element of the MK19’s product improvement kit. There also is an improved, buffered mount for better stability while firing. It dampens recoil and brings the motion straight back, which eliminates “gun jump.” This was necessary for a MK19 that now looks to hit point targets, said Jonathan Piazza, General Dynamics’ project engineer for crew served production.

The improvement plan includes an M108 aluminum tripod, which comes in at 15 pounds, compared with the 44-pound M3 tripod. And the weapon will no longer be attached to the traverse and elevation mechanism, or T&E. Instead, a shoulder bar puts the once-hard-mounted MK19 in a controlled, free-gun state. This will provide much faster response time, easier target-to-target acquisition and enhanced situational awareness, Piazza said.

HAMR time

While General Dynamics looks to improve an old soldier, gun maker FN wants to put the “light” back in the machine gun.

Enter the Heat Adaptive Modular Rifle, or HAMR. While the Army has not issued a need statement for such a weapon, FN in February demonstrated the weapon to officials from the Maneuver Center of Excellence.

The HAMR started as a competitor for the Marine Corps’ infantry automatic rifle program, launched to replace a limited number of M249s, said Gabe Bailey, FN’s marketing director for combat rifles and technical support. The weapon developed “a minor coppering issue” in that competition, he said. Specifically, buildup occurred in a gap between the crown and the flash hider and affected accuracy.

It was a “hard lesson learned,” Bailey said. But FN fired back with the HAMR.

The weapon is most noted for its thermal actuator, a phase-change material in and around the chamber that changes from liquid to solid as the chamber heats up. This “smart gun technology,” as Bailey calls it, allows the weapon to start from the closed-bolt position, thus providing critical first-shot reliability in an ambush or room-clearing scenario.

As the temperature heats up and the material solidifies, it pushes the piston into a rod that trips the open-bolt sear. Army Times found that it takes about 450 rounds in full auto to force the transition, which was unnoticeable.

As the weapon cools, it transitions into closed bolt. The operator doesn’t need to think about it. He just needs to pull the trigger.

But Army Times was equally as intrigued with the weapon’s control and grouping. Its cyclic rate of fire is only 600-625 rounds per minute, compared with the 750-1,000 rounds spit out by the M249. The bolt carrier also rides on rails in the receiver in a continuously straight, bore-axis motion. These factors result in a very controllable trigger pull and tight grouping, even in full automatic.

And there is no need to worry about recoil breaking your optics. There are pellet guns with harder recoil.

An added benefit is what you don’t see. The HAMR doesn’t look like a machine gun — which is good news for machine gunners. When the enemy sees an M240 or M249, they see a target. But the HAMR looks remarkably like an assault rifle, and that is by design.

HAMR shares much of the SCAR architecture and has 60 percent parts commonality with the MK16. The short-stroke gas piston expels gases out the front, making it far easier to keep clean. It comes in at 11 pounds, significantly lighter than the 17-pound M249.

The HAMR is fed with a drum or box magazine, though Bailey said FN is developing a belt-fed option without a top tray, as well as a high-capacity, box-style magazine.