Lockheed Martin $3.9M Contract to Develop Advanced Rifle Scope

[Chieftain]

For your consideration

From Defense Industry Daily:



DARPA Awards Lockheed Martin $3.9M Contract to Develop Advanced Rifle Scope for Soldiers

AKRON, Ohio, May 26th, 2010 -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $3.93 million contract to develop a rifle-scope attachment to enhance soldiers’ marksmanship capabilities.

The Dynamic Image Gunsight Optic or DInGO system will enable soldiers to accurately view targets at varying distances without changing scopes or suffering a decrease in optical resolution. The system will enhance soldiers’ ability to accurately hit targets at a range of between three and 600 meters.

DInGO automatically calculates the range with a low power laser rangefinder, digitally zooms in on it and accounts for environmental conditions such as wind using sensors built into the scope. It then projects the bullet’s point-of-impact calculated from the embedded ballistics computer.

“Current scopes are optimized for a single target range, impacting soldiers’ effectiveness and survivability when engaging targets at different distances during a single mission,” said Dan Schultz, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Sensors Ship & Aviation Systems business. “DInGO will solve this problem, significantly increasing soldiers’ ability to rapidly reconfigure optics for use from short to long ranges and improving marksmanship capabilities for all soldiers.”

DInGO is based on Lockheed Martin’s One Shot Advanced Sighting System, which utilizes similar precision engagement technology to automatically transmit crosswind information to a long-range sniper’s scope and modify the crosshairs to display exactly where the bullet will strike.

DARPA awarded Lockheed Martin an 18-month, $9.7 million contract in 2008 to integrate One Shot’s new crosswind measurement technology into a prototype spotter scope – a small telescope that is carried by sniper teams and is used to bring far-away objects into close view. During tactical field tests in December 2009, snipers were able to engage targets twice as quickly and increase their probability of a first-round hit by a factor of two using the One Shot technology at distances beyond 1,000 meters.

The nine-month Phase 1 contract, with options for additional phases, calls for Lockheed Martin to develop the DInGO system for use on the M-4 and M-16 automatic rifles. Work will be performed at Lockheed Martin’s Akron, Ohio, site, which has a strong track record for developing laser technology for ship and airborne infrared countermeasures, communications, wind correction and active sensing.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.


Go figure.

Fred

[theblackknight]

Sounds like a tuff task to make this kinda tech battle worthy.

[MookNW]

Mongo WANT!

[Entropy]

A scope like that, if they could actually make it work, would probably cost between $50k to $100k per unit.

[Hoss356]

That seems like a long way off but look how cheap and fast computers have gotten in a little over a decade, it's still quite an undertaking though. Something our children's children will be issued.

[kalikraven]

This isn't as far off tech as it seems...

http://www.burrisoptics.com/laserscope.html


ELIMINATOR™ LASERSCOPE
In a Split Second, The Eliminator

Ranges your target
Calculates your trajectory
Illuminates your perfect holdover

No more guessing yardage or fumbling with a shaky handheld rangefinder. No more losing sight of your trophy. No more guessing holdover. The Eliminator knows the precise horizontal distance to your trophy and exactly what your cartridge will do. Eliminator lights a 1/3 MOA illuminated aiming dot showing exactly where your shot will go. With The Eliminator, just Range, Aim, and Fire.

[kwelz]

A scope like that, if they could actually make it work, would probably cost between $50k to $100k per unit.

And be worth every red cent!

I will say though that 3.9 Mil seems like a small contract for this kind of tech.

[JSantoro]

This oughta be fun to watch. Lockheed will gank it up. I've been getting fed a paycheck from them for the last few years, and they have entirely the wrong kind of hive-mind

They've only very recently delved into the Ground Combat Element side of warfighting, and that's almost exclusively on the programmatic-support side of things. Their overall corporate culture is all-the-way geared toward missle tech, avionics, infosystems, etc. The concept of an end-user operating in a truly austere environment in which they have to cart their stuff around with them, and practically use the stuff to pound in tent pegs is completely foreign to them.

I have no doubt that they can produce a system that will do all of the above, but won't be able to get past the idea that it isn't gonna be mounted to an airframe. It'll be heavy, bulky, complex (i.e., maintenance-intensive) and cost a metric f@@kton of money.

That said, I'd love to be able to eat my words. Truly.

[DMR]

I recently read some materials on a sniper scope "system" that sounds like this. It has recieved good reviews, but is far from one on every soldiers carbine material. If it performs as advertised it should greatly aid the precision Sniper Rifle program. First round hits at exdended range were greatly increased.

I'll see if anything else is availible.

[dhrith]

What Barrett has with the BORS is so close to this as to be a de facto proof of concept. Change to a more advanced screen, put in a slightly different chip, add blue tooth connectivity to a locally positioned vehicle with an atmospheric package added and VOILA.

[CarlosDJackal]

A scope like that, if they could actually make it work, would probably cost between $50k to $100k per unit.

And will probably be the size of the PAN/VS-2s!! :eek:

http://ugca.org/07jan/nightpvs2.jpg

Personally, I think they should redirect some of that funding towards more effective and continuous marksmanship training.

[JSantoro]

**shudder**

[Artos]

Great post Jim...but hey, would love to see you eat your words too. Who doesn't want a better mouse trap??

[orionz06]

We already have autofocus and range finders, I dont see how this would be too difficult to produce. Durability is always the question, but it is a start.

[Smuckatelli]

I think it is a waste of DARPA's funds.

This is something that should be handled at the Service level research labs; ONR...ARL. Not DARPA.

DARPA came about to answer the challenge of Sputnik, it was supposed to come up with new unthought of technology 20 to 30 years into the future, not combining current technologies into a single unit. DARPA usually takes on programs that are labeled as 'DARPA hard,' with the understanding that nothing may pan out of the effort, there is supposed to be an unofficial 80-90% failure rate. The high rate of failure actually enables new technologies.

Kinda like the ITT out at Camp Pendleton, the service level research labs are creating most of it, DARPA has their fingers in it but they aren't working with current technology. They are working on what will eventually become the SITE; Star Trek type Holodeck.

[CarlosDJackal]

This isn't as far off tech as it seems...

http://www.burrisoptics.com/laserscope.html

I got to handle this during the NRA Convention. I was pretty much underwhelmed. It's good for hunting but I'd never trust it in combat.