Kane'ohe Marines test tech-war gizmos
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Sitting in the back of a Humvee, 23-year-old Marine Cpl. David Carrier sighted far downrange, and let loose a burst of .50-caliber rounds that kicked up red dirt as they tore through an old, rusty hulk.
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He was using the M-2 machine gun, a standard weapon in the U.S. inventory.
An Air Force master sergeant gets instruction on operating the EX-45 weapons system from its color liquid crystal display during demonstration testing at the Ulupa'u Crater range on the Marine Corps Base in Kane'ohe. The EX-45 allows a gun to be remotely controlled using joysticks, with a video screen for aiming.
What was different was that Carrier was firing from the Humvee while the gun was mounted in an adjacent seven-ton truck.
Carrier, a TOW missile gunner with Weapons Co., 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines at Kane'ohe Bay, had fired the M-2 using joysticks to adjust its aim while watching the target on a color monitor.
The two vehicles just as easily could have been separated by hundreds of feet, or Carrier could have fired the gun from a bunker using a helmet-mounted monocular view screen.
"It's different," Carrier said after firing the experimental EX-45 Weapons System Thursday at the Marine Corps base. "It's nice because it's a lot more stable than actually ... (firing the gun) manually."
The Defense Department talks a lot these days about its "legacy force," using current-technology weapons, and the futuristic "objective force" with science fiction-like advances that could be on the battlefield in 2010.
The EX-45 uses standard weapons such as the M-2, but it's an indication of technology of the future.
Being developed by a Navy lab in Louisville, Ky., the EX-45 comes with a laser range finder and high-intensity spotlight with infrared capability.
It also has a laser "dazzler" that throws up a cloaking green curtain of light.
Mark-19 40 mm grenade launchers and the GAU-17 7.62 Gatling gun also can be fitted to the system, which uses a zoom camera, electric motors, fiber-optic gyros and range finder to aim the weapon and calculate bullet trajectory.
All the operator has to do is use the joysticks and video screen to put a set of crosshairs on the target.
Marine Forces Pacific science adviser Ashley Johnson said the system's cost — not yet determined because the EX-45 is a prototype — is expected to be economical because it uses existing weapons and can be installed on the MK 16 stand common to all Navy ships.
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The system's relatively small size is what makes it special, he said.
A machine gun is mounted on an EX-45 Weapons System. To the right of the machine gun is a video camera that allows the operator to see and track a target.
"Sure, we have remote (firing) systems for missiles and things like that," Johnson said. "To do it coupled with this type of weapons system — that is new. We've come a long way in being able to put something like this in a small package."
The gun mount has an attached unit about the size of a case of soda.
The EX-45 was demonstrated at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia in July, and at Fort Knox, Ky., last month.
On Thursday, the system was tested at the small-arms range at Kane'ohe Bay for Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Coast Guard service members.
Johnson said the ability to sight-in from afar and fire from a remote location are big pluses.
"At night, if you're standing behind a searchlight, the obvious place to shoot is at the searchlight," Johnson said, "so you have the opportunity to get yourself away from the weapon — a big advantage in a remote situation."
Johnson said one scenario in which the system could be used is in an embassy defense situation, where it could be placed at the corner of a building.
"What you are really trying to do is survey, detect and identify things that are threats around you," Johnson said.
On a ship, meanwhile, Johnson said the video screen signal could be split and fed to the bridge so commanders can see what's in the potential line of fire.
Several services already have expressed interest in the EX-45.
But Johnson said it's early in the development process, and "you are looking at years as opposed to weeks and months" before the system is fielded.
"It really depends on how much utility we determine (there is)," he said. "If we get multiple service interest, of course that's going to accelerate things."
Part of the purpose of the demonstrations is to get feedback for improvements.
"We want the Marines to take a look at it, kick the tires so to speak, get eyes on it and have a chance to get some comment and then feed that back into the development system," Johnson said.
The McConnell Technology & Training Center in Kentucky, a partner in the project to incorporate new prototype electrical motors in the EX-45, noted that the firing backlash and shock from boats in heavy seas or vehicles on rough landscape can cause significant loads on the gearing and result in decreased system accuracy over time.
But the weapons system is a definite indication of new technology to come.
Among its gizmos, the EX-45's laser dazzler, which limits the field of vision on the opposite end, is intended to let would-be intruders know they have been spotted.
The Army and a team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have envisioned future "objective force" warriors who may have sealed-unit helmets with a host of vision enhancements and communications.
Protective suits capable of stopping a bullet and inflating over a wound to stop bleeding are among other advancements theorized.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
