US Army puts a high-tech computer on its soldiers’ weapons
WASHINGTON – US Army has decided on optics for its next-generation small-caliber weapon – the latest ‘smart’ fire control system for the U.S. military will be supplied by Sheltered Wings, a subsidiary of Vortex Optics, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.
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It is known that the value of the deal is estimated at 2.7 billion dollars – a contract for 10 years, during which Vortex Optics must deliver up to 250,000 Next Generation Squad Weapon – Fire Control systems [NGSW-FC].
Next Generation Squad Weapon – Fire Control is a high-tech configuration of mini computer systems that can calculate and solve real-world tasks in front of the soldier, thus facilitating his actions. NGSW-FC will be able to calculate ballistics, range, atmosphere, direction information, digital overlay, and wireless connection to a do-it-all magnifier.
NGSW-FC is a ‘close combat’ system. The new optics will replace the existing one, which is in service in the United States on the assault rifles and machine guns of soldiers.
According to information from ArmuTimes, American troops will receive the new equipment in stages, including absolutely all soldiers and marines, i.e. special operations, Marine and Army infantry, combat engineers, and scouts.
US Army puts augmented reality goggles
As we reported last year, an agreement has been reached to provide augmented reality military goggles for the U.S. military. Microsoft has reached an agreement with the Pentagon and will receive a contract worth $ 21,88 billion and a ten-year development and integration period.
The futuristic goggles of Microsoft are under the program Integrated Visual Magnification System or IVAS. The program started nearly two years ago and should integrate many new technologies among the U.S. military in the coming years. So far, several prototypes have been presented in the program, which means that the United States is ready to move to the production of selected products.
“The program delivers enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and decision-making in a variety of scenarios,” said a press release issued by Program Executive Office-Soldier and Microsoft.
According to sources, Microsoft will also offer cloud services for its futuristic glasses, namely the benefits of Azure.
“Microsoft has worked closely with the U.S. Army over the past two years, and together we pioneered Soldier Centered Design to enable rapid prototyping for a product to provide Soldiers with the tools and capabilities necessary to achieve their mission,” says Microsoft.
What are Microsoft goggles?
Microsoft is offering a product that expects to become an integral part of military equipment, such as the assault rifle. The U.S. Army will use Microsoft goggles for training, exercises, and actual combat.
These are mixed reality goggles. They will have a navigation system, location information for friendly soldiers, face recognition, and avatars to participate in developing strategies. The goggles have the standard optical equipment – thermal, night, and day vision.
2,5 kg is the weight of the prototype, but IVAS says the designers will eliminate this problem. Microsoft goggles will be able to record scripts and then review them. They will also be able to communicate with micro-drones, which will give the soldier a completely different view of the battlefield.
According to preliminary characteristics, the army goggles will be included in various networks and cloud services and work under the Android system. They will be constantly synchronized in the Azure cloud service and will instantly process new data.
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