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US Military Deploys Personal Gunshot Detectors
RedEaredSlider writes "A new warfighting technology will soon be making its way to Afghanistan. US Army forces will be getting gunshot detection systems, which can tell where a shot was fired from. Approximately 13,000 gunshot detection systems will be given to individual footsoldiers later this month, according to the US Army. The system, called Individual Gunshot Detector, has four small acoustic sensors and a small display screen attached to the soldier's body armor that shows the distance and direction of incoming bullets. The sensors are each about the size of a deck of cards and can detect the supersonic sound waves generated by enemy gunfire. It alerts the soldier of the shot's direction in less than one second."
13,000 gunshot detection systems will be given to individual footsoldiers...
Oh give me a break! How is each soldier going to carry 13,000 gunshot detection systems? Isn't one enough?
if it is really detecting supersonic sound waves, it needs to be re-calibrated methinks...
I immediately thought of the "red glow of pain" that most modern FPSes have to help you figure out where you're being shot from.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Which is the point, right now without gunshot senors the unit is pinned down trying to determine the location of the sniper.
They've been using them in police and military applications for over ten years.
And yea, fireworks don't spoof them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfire_locator
Sup dawg, I heard you like gunshot detectors, so I put 12,999 gunshot detectors in your gunshot detector so you can detect shots while you detect shots while you detect shots while you detect shots whi [FIELD TRUNCATED]
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
4-directional Sonic Input Gunshot Heading Triangulator
4SIGHT
It's a sad day when the military can't come up with a good backronym.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Its called the Soldier Wearable Acoustic Targeting System (SWATS) - and as a former Army Ranger (and a current QinetiQ employee) - I can tell you its a very cool and useful item. Bullets can whiz by you without you knowing where they came from. This little device at least gives you an estimate based on the sonic shockwave and gives you a heads up as to where a shooter might be. Not super high-tech, but super-useful if you're being shot at.
"As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I imagine the primary use of this is that, if bullets start flying and you take cover, you will be able to figure out where to return fire (or send backup, etc.) without needing to pop your head out first.
That's more or less right. If the bullets are flying in large quantities it's generally not hard to figure out where they're coming from, but if you've got one or two snipers taking potshots at your platoon, it can be quite difficult to find them. In those cases, the traditional method for locating the shooter involves the section/squad commander yelling "charlie team, take a bound!". This seems much safer.
4way Sonic Kinetic Inference Notifier
If this saves any lives, then I'm all for it.
It's certain this won't save the lives of any Afghans or Iraqis, whether the bullets are coming from a helicopter a mile away or a soldier that just kicked in his front door.
It might, actually. If the American soldiers are better able to determine where they are being shot at from, there is less likelihood of them shooting back at the wrong place. It should, to some extent, reduce "collateral damage".
Of course, I have my doubts about the usefulness in an urban environment (where it would have the most positive effect for reducing collateral damage), where I would think the complicated environment (lots of echoes) would confuse such a device. Maybe they get around that by concentrating on these wondrous sound waves that move faster than the speed of sound.