Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Dick Young’s Safe America
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • Critical Race Theory
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money

Upgrades to Abrams Tank to Give Hunter-Killer Edge Over Enemies.

August 26, 2016 By The Editors

Source: marines.mil

Marine Corps Systems Command is modernizing the tank commander’s weapon station on the M1A1 tank by developing a suite of systems that give tank commanders and their gunners a hunter-killer edge over their enemies.

The new Abrams Integrated Display and Targeting System, Tank Commander Single Handle and slew-to-cue capability make up the modernized trifecta that cuts time to enemy engagement by half while increasing accuracy, range and lethality on the battlefield.

ABRAMS INTEGRATED DISPLAY AND TARGETING SYSTEM

Responding to feedback from Marines, the Abrams Integrated Display and Targeting System, or AIDATS, upgrades the thermal and day sights on the stabilized commander’s weapon station through a state-of-the-art, high-definition camera and permanently mounted color display.

Old black and white camera display.

“The most significant benefit—the main reason why AIDATS was started—is the color display,” said Michael Kreiner, AIDATS project officer in MCSC’s Armor and Fire Support Systems. “Users didn’t like the black and white camera that was in the tank before, because they have a hard time distinguishing between different color trucks.”

In battle, situational awareness is key for tank commanders. Kreiner and his team are leveraging technology currently available in the marketplace to provide a thermal sight that can be used around the clock and provide a color day camera with a color display.

AIDATS is made up of three principle
components: a multi-function display, a high
resolution color day camera, and an improved
Thermal Sight Module (TSM)

“The thermal sight can be used for 24 hours,” said James Shaffer, systems engineer in AFSS. “It has low light capabilities, can see through obscurants, and works in the diverse environments under adverse weather conditions.”

The display for both upgraded thermal and day sights will be hard mounted in front of the tank commander, allowing him to minimize extra movement and focus on the action. Better optics enable commanders to increase identification and detection range while in the tank, which will improve situational awareness.

With AIDATS, tank commanders will have double the identification range with thermal sight and triple the identification range for the day sight, said Gunnery Sgt. Dennis Downes, M1A1 project officer in AFSS.

“AIDATS also has an azimuth indicator that will allow the tank commander to identify where his weapon is in relation to the vehicle at that moment,” said Downes. “On the legacy system, the tank commander had no situational awareness of where the weapon system is in relationship to the turret.”

TANK COMMANDER SINGLE HANDLE

In addition to providing tankers better line of sight, the AFSS team is improving tank handling for the commander.

“There’s currently one set of controls for the stabilized commander’s weapon station and another set of controls to operate the turret,” Downes said. “Combining the two handles into one gives the commander a better workspace.”

Reducing the number of handles the tank commander controls increases the overall efficiency of the system, leading to faster engagement times, he said.

SLEW-TO-CUE

The third upgrade to the tank commander’s weapon station has yet to be officially named, but the AFSS team currently refers to it as “slew-to-cue.” This new capability enables the tank commander to move the turret, typically controlled by the gunner, over to a target with the push of a button.

“With slew-to-cue, the tank commander can push a button on his single handle and, as long as the gunner has his handles engaged, the turret will automatically slew to what the commander is looking at on the 0.50-cal machine gun sight,” said Kreiner.

Video: Example of Slew to Cue

This additional capability allows the commander to assist the gunner when the tank is moving, making it easier to manipulate the turret toward a target, said Shaffer. Preliminary tests show the three systems used together reduce target engagement time from six seconds to three seconds. The team hopes to field all three systems simultaneously in the first quarter of 2018. Currently, the team is conducting qualification testing on five demonstration AIDATS systems at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

“We’re pushing the envelope where you can actually see the target, identify it and engage it at a farther range,” Kreiner said. “All three things combined will significantly reduce the engagement time, and essentially give tank commanders and their gunners a hunter-killer system.”

AFSS equips Marines with fire support systems, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, Expeditionary Fire Support Systems, tank systems, information-related capabilities and radar systems to accomplish their warfighting mission.

M1A2 Abrams SEP V3 main battle tank General Dynamics AUSA 2015

Related Posts

  • Here Comes the Abrams Super Tank
  • A Jobs Killer
  • Should You Fear the New Russian Tank?
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
The Editors
Latest posts by The Editors (see all)
  • Democrats Running AWAY from Biden on the Campaign Trail - June 30, 2022
  • Touch Sensitive Robots Could Revolutionize Manufacturing - June 30, 2022
  • RED WAVE COMING? Americans Fear the Future of Biden’s Economy - June 29, 2022

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Hungarian Hardliner Viktor Orban Shows European Globalists the Way
  • DEATH SPIRAL: Crime Soars in Democrats’ #DEFUNDTHEPOLICE Cities
  • Your Life on Main Street will Never be the Same
  • Concentrate on Dividend Record and Compounding
  • You May Be Surprised by America’s “Least Woke City”
  • Government Should Be Small, Laws Unobtrusive, and Men Left Alone
  • Vermont Abandoned, Dairy Farm Economy Devastated
  • Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory
  • Globalism Has Made America Dependent on Foreign Countries
  • What Do You Know About Rho-Kinase?

Our Most Popular Posts

  • FOOD SHORTAGE: Not "If," But "How Bad?"
  • One Surprising Thing You Should Know About Private Jets
  • Saudi Oil Is Different from U.S. Oil?
  • The Most Controversial Restaurant in Paris?
  • Good News for the 2nd Amendment
  • FLORIDA DODGED A BULLET: Elected Superb DeSantis Over Unstable Gillum
  • Your Survival Guy in Paris: Awakened from His Slumber, “Dad, I’m Going to London”
  • The Great Reset and the COVID Coup D'etat
  • What Just Happened? Fixing Its Historic Mistake
  • 10th AMENDMENT: Dobbs Decision a Win for States' Rights

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Time to Save, Troubles Dining Out, and Intelligence on Yellowstone
  • RURAL RENAISSANCE: America Finds the Country Again
  • Are Google, Amazon, and Microsoft About to Crash This Specialized Real Estate Market?
  • Why Work When Taxes Take It All?
  • Regulators’ Bungled Attempts to Cut Emissions Drove Oil Prices Higher
  • Your Survival Guy in Paris: Awakened from His Slumber, “Dad, I’m Going to London”
  • What Happens to Your Passwords When You Die?
  • Your Survival Guy: Clearing the Decks, Buying a Boat, Seeing the World and More
  • Is the Great Job Boom Over?
  • Here’s Why You Need a 15-Year Retirement Investment Plan

Should You Believe Ms. Hutchinson?

Biden’s Economy Even Weaker than Thought

A Cashless Society Is A Debacle for Americans

Time to Save, Troubles Dining Out, and Intelligence on Yellowstone

Democrats Running AWAY from Biden on the Campaign Trail

Touch Sensitive Robots Could Revolutionize Manufacturing

Copyright © 2022 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives