April 25, 2007

Sniper detectors are still a work in progress. The acoustic detectors
have had the most success, and over 500 of them have been shipped to
Iraq and Afghanistan. Sniper detection systems provide directional
information about where the snipers are. Several generations of these
systems have showed up over the last three years. The usefulness of
these anti-sniper systems has increased as the manufacturers have
decreased the number of false alarms, and improved the user interface.
There other reasons for all this progress, including major advances in
computing power, sensor quality and software development. The latest
improvement is providing nearly instant, and easy to comprehend,
location info on the sniper.


Not all the manufacturers are American. The French firm Metravib, has
been turning out several generations of their Pilar system, since the
1990s. This is a high end system, costing about $70,000. That gets you
the acoustic array, a laptop size device containing the signal processor
(specialized computer) and a laptop that displays the results, and
controls the system. Pilar has recently received a companion system,
Pivot, which will automatically point a camera at the source of the
fire, and display the video wherever it is needed. Pivot costs $200,000,
and could substitute a machine-gun for the camera. But no one wants to
go there just yet.



The U.S. firm, iRobot, which makes the most widely used combat robot,
the PackBot, has developed a similar system. Called REDOWL (for Robot
Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers), it mounts a 5.5 pound device on
a PackBot that contains an infrared (heat sensing) video camera, laser
rangefinder and acoustic gunfire detector. When the device is turned on,
the camera and laser will point to any gunshot in the area. This makes
it a lot easier for nearby troops to take out the sniper. REDOWL can
also be mounted on vehicles, or anywhere, for that matter. In tests,
REDOWL has been right 94 percent of the time. Some developers suggested
equipping REDOWL with a machine-gun in place of the laser. But the U.S.
Army isn't ready for an armed robot that will identify and fire on
targets all by itself. Pilar has one edge over REDOWL, longer range.
Pilar can find snipers who are as far as a thousand meters out, about
twice the range of the iRobot system.



Israel has produced a similar system, SADS (Small Arms Detection
System), that also has a thousand meter range. On the low end of the
cost scale, there is the U.S. Boomerang system. This one has been around
for several years, costs about $5,000 each, and has been effective
enough to get new orders and lots of work from troops that are used to
it.



For decades, sniper detectors were theoretical darlings of military R&D
geeks. But now, with lots of need, better technology and money to buy
several generations of a system, the devices are actually making
themselves useful. Not all units have officers or troops who can make
the most of sniper detection systems. But those that do, are hell on the
local sniper population.