12-03-2011, 04:37 PM
Tony, I was involved with the testing of the Land Warrior System starting as early as 1997 in 25th ID, as well as a more matured system for testing in the 82nd in 2000-2001, and have been following the latest electro-optical aiming and ballistic solution developments closely. While there are some significant advantages to these developments, we don't have a system that will compensate for wind factors downrange, as that would require use of assets allocated for higher priorities than watching trees blowing in the wind to give a correct wind deflection solution to Joe Tentpeg and his super blaster.
The wind reading at the shooter's location is only one factor into wind-deflection if you're talking about shooting past 300m in speeds over 10mph, so until you get satellites to provide real-time wind readings based on conditions throughout the bullet's flight path, if there are any indicators (which are few and far between in the Middle East), you need a well-trained team to get a 2nd-round hit at 800m in realistic wind conditions.
Just as relying on GPS for your primary navigation solution is an absolute mistake without an understanding of map-reading, compass use, terrain association, pace count, etc., relying on technology for a firing solution without an underlying experience base with intermediate range shooting (that is only taught in sniper training currently) is a mistake.
Also, with the nature of a high-stress engagement where the Pashtun fighters have purposely initiated a far ambush outside the effective range of even optimistic effective ranges for the 7.62 NATO, no shoulder-fired weapon other than the M107 and maybe a .338 LM will begin to even touch them at the ranges they like to initiate at. These engagements are usually resolved with CAS, mortars, or artillery.
The wind reading at the shooter's location is only one factor into wind-deflection if you're talking about shooting past 300m in speeds over 10mph, so until you get satellites to provide real-time wind readings based on conditions throughout the bullet's flight path, if there are any indicators (which are few and far between in the Middle East), you need a well-trained team to get a 2nd-round hit at 800m in realistic wind conditions.
Just as relying on GPS for your primary navigation solution is an absolute mistake without an understanding of map-reading, compass use, terrain association, pace count, etc., relying on technology for a firing solution without an underlying experience base with intermediate range shooting (that is only taught in sniper training currently) is a mistake.
Also, with the nature of a high-stress engagement where the Pashtun fighters have purposely initiated a far ambush outside the effective range of even optimistic effective ranges for the 7.62 NATO, no shoulder-fired weapon other than the M107 and maybe a .338 LM will begin to even touch them at the ranges they like to initiate at. These engagements are usually resolved with CAS, mortars, or artillery.