Try Taking This Toy Hostage, Jihadis

I think I've already mentioned this, but it's so cool it's worth linking again.

Quinn said it was a “bootstrap development process� to convert a Talon robot, which has been in military service since 2000, from its main mission - defusing roadside bombs in Iraq- into the gunslinging SWORDS.

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The $200,000, armed version will carry standard-issue Squad Automatic Weapons —- The SWORDS can fire about 300 rounds using the M240 and about 350 rounds using the M249 before needing to reload.

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A typical soldier who could hit a target the size of a basketball from 300 meters away could hit a target the size of a nickel with the SWORDS, according Quinn.

The better accuracy stems largely from the fact that its gun is mounted on a stable platform and fired electronically, rather than by a soldier’s hands, according to Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos of the EOD Technology Directorate at Picatinny. Gone are such issues as trigger recoil, anticipation problems, and pausing the breathing cycle while aiming a weapon.

“It eliminates the majority of shooting errors you would have,� said Tordillos.

Chances are good the SWORDS will get even more deadly in the future. It has been tested with the larger .50 caliber machine guns as well as rocket and grenade launchers - even an experimental weapon made by the Australian company Metal Storm LLC that packs multiple rocket rounds into a single barrel, allowing for much more rapid firing.

I think every one of these bastards should be fitted with a jet black cowboy hat, just like Yul Brenner in Westworld.

More at the link.

posted by Ace at 12:52 AM

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