the M-2 ASITS counter sniper sensor system .

hi , thiswebsite is the home page of a company that reports that it has developed a new counter sniper system which is superior to previous systems because :

1) it does not require line of site to the firing position , [ it only requires projectile is visible to the sensor at some point on its trajectory ]

this means that one sensor can detect and target incoming fire impacting nearby units , enabling accurate suppression fire to be targeted by other units .

2 ) it is not based on muzzle flash , but projectile track -- so " obvious tricks " like firing from within a room or using sound suppresors / cloth flash catchers will not deter it .

read the articles , there is some pretty good stuff in there , if it all works as claimed .

That's not too new, my friend.

We Brits had a similar machine towards the latter 70s (deployed to NI) which gave the approximate direction the round[s] had been fired from. From memoury, this was deployed at Coy level but may have been issued to individual patrols in a rural environment.

I do remember however, a patrol coming under sustained sniper fire from a wood dotted along the border in so called 'bandit country' of Crossmaglen.

The sniper was firing at ten to fifteen second intervals yet, he [or she] had not hit anyone.

The result was a full platoon attack on the wood inquestion with two Generals giving fire support. The assault duely went in, with 2 sections up, 1 in reserve and the Generals giving it rooty-toot.

When the smoke cleared and the reorg took place on the edge of the wood, there came the sudden and somewhat unexpected report of the sniper's rifle.

As the 2 sections went to ground, the 3rd section assaulted the wood clearing it yet again. Again another reorg and again, another single rifle shot. But, there was no sniper in the wood.

As it does in moments like this, the fog of war slowly lifted and the platoon realised that the sniper was still firing but, even though his targets were really close, he had still not hit anybody.

They conducted a metre by metre search and came across a crow scarer which, even as they looked on, fired another shot at them.

I don't know what happened to those machines after that, but troops had very little faith in them and I think they were withdrawn.