Thursday, April 7, 2011

US Army Deploys GPS guided Mortars

 Another Day Another US Military BreakThrough

Precision guided munitions have completely altered the face of warfare, but the humble mortar has remained virtually unchanged for decades, lobbing explosive rounds at a faraway enemy with a relatively high degree of inaccuracy. Finally, the U.S. army is giving this this infantry workhorse a 21st-century update, fielding GPS-guided mortar rounds for the first time.
One Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan has already received the new rounds, known as Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative cartridges (APMI), and seven more are expected to receive them in the next sixth months. The GPS-guided 120-millimeter mortar rounds will offer infantry commanders precision-strike capability, offering them an alternative to blanketing an area in indirect fire.

The APMI XM395 cartridge employs a standard 120-millimeter projectile body, but packed in the nose is a GPS receiver and controller that ensures the aerodynamic directional fins guide the shell toward the target. It also contains a multi-functional fuse that can be programmed to detonate upon impact, in the air, or after it penetrates the ground or a structure. Coordinates are dialed into the round using a computer.
The result is a round that is at minimum seven times more accurate than the most accurate round currently fielded, though there is still some room for error--the APMI is expected to hit within about 30 feet of a target at least half the time, not perfect by any means but still a remarkable improvement. That kind of accuracy also offers one more distinct advantage: less rounds fired means more rounds saved, which cuts down on vulnerable resupply missions to troops in combat zones.


Source: Popsci.com , US MILITARY, DARPA 

49 comments:

Bento.1337 said...

Hot damn that sounds awesome. And deadly.

Plate said...

What an age we live in.

Nice post. Definitely following.

A70 8Trac said...

Wow, crazy stuff. I can't believe this stuff is actually real. Seems like something out of Terminator

RaisinCrunch said...

This would save so many lives, and kill many people at the same time.

Anonymous said...

wow really?

John Cartwright said...

That is awesome, now we can precision strike those enemy positions with less ammunition wastage.

Eric said...

Haha sounds cool. Great read!

Dazza said...

thats awesome, hopefully less civilians accidentally killed as a result

Painkiller! said...

wow!
Great Blog!
Following

mious said...

interesting stuff

Clint Mullins said...

It is weird when movies and reality seem to collide. Keep us posted.

Whereas said...

i sure could have used those while i was deployed

Fred Junxs said...

"The U.S. army got their new ideas for weapons from Black Isle Studios" fiction and reality get closer!

Nate said...

wow military technology is becoming amazing

DynamiteGanja said...

Soon we won't even need to send troops to war. Our robots will do our evil for us

BennyBeatz said...

crazy stuff man thanks for the info!

Remi said...

It's this kind of technology that's gonna cause the end of the world, weapons tech are way to advanced!

Come At Me Bro said...

This is great!

Anonymous said...

The future is here!!

Tristan said...

damn thats a good idea, warfare is becoming too simulated to fight anymore, no one will win

Kamran said...

That is awesome! +following

Admin said...

Ugh. No level playing field.

Rolo said...

awesome, bringing military tactics down to video game level, no more pesky aiming involved. should save money as more accurate mortars mean less mortars shot and missed.

laycat said...

Modern engineering feats are pretty incredible. It's weird to think back about the exponential increase in technology capacity over the past few decades.

Icepax_Nmir said...

Wow, that's sick... I hope it doesn't get abused...

Lich said...

Well, I'd prefer cars that drive themselves using GPS, but this is still some amazing tech!

Audio-Visua said...

Thats kinda scary, really

Clint Mullins said...

I've been thinking about this more and more and its pretty crazy.

Ill said...

technology is insane these days

Ronald said...

Thats sick!!!!

Amalek said...

this is great information! following

Mike said...

thats really interesting! wow how our technology keeps improving! i hope we catch it up with it and wont let it destroy us as many have predicted

said...

Wow, this is cool stuff. I wonder what else the military will start using soon?

Jack said...

Wow this is so.. wow technology is crazy!


great blog following (:

123mikeyd123 said...

awesome, just like in cod

Jay Reid said...

Great stuff, considering mortars aren't extremely accurate.

Jaxter said...

wow that is actually pretty unfair, haha, sweet info.

peteyyyyyy said...

the more tech we get in the army the better

Ryan Lyles said...

weapons are getting so high tech its almost scary.

Mike said...

impressive stuff, good blog btw.. following you:)

Anonymous said...

That's an advanced new development

MaggotsGalore said...

What next bombings powered by Angry Birds?

Andrew Smith said...

Weapons are always advancing I heard theres lasers now that can burn ships.

Magic Nerd said...

crazy can't believe how advanced weapons are getting.

Daniel Smotherman said...

sounds pretty badass

Fright Vault said...

I'm with Dazza with regards to civilian loss of life.

Scrogglez said...

GPS : bomb target --->>> BOOM!

Charlie said...

wow, i bet this is the least of their crazy tech

Jack Sin said...

scary thing to think about...

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