"Osprey may get turret-mounted machine gun"
Bill Baker wrote:
On 2007-10-21 07:47:55 -0700, "Paul J. Adam"
said:
Don't forget the sighting system, too - if the V-22s are going in at
night then you need to match the sight to the weapon and its range (so
you can identify targets in time to effectively engage them).
Actually, it seems to me that the V-22 could have a real advantage in
this respect. Contemporary remotely-targeted gun systems can slew, aim
and burst-fire far, far faster than a single gunner can provide it with
targets. And the heavy part of the system is the gun, ammo and physical
aiming hardware, not the targeting vision systems and associated
avionics. So why not take a COTS gun, add another 6 vision/targeting
channels and let the troopies in the back pick out bogies for the gun to
shred? A full-360 ventral TV/IR vision system wouldn't add much weight,
and the individual soldier aiming apparatus need not be more than a
headset LCD sight and a joystick plugged into the targetting data bus.
Assign one of the senior NCO's to monitor all the troopie targeting
pippers with an override switch in order to prevent friendly-fire
mistakes or ammo wastage.
Expense might be a prohibitive factor, but probably not weight. Do
wonders for the morale of the ground pounders making the assault, though.
of course you make the V-22 light up like fireworks for any AAA.
Vince
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