Marine and Army squads to get laser directed 40MM grenade rounds

[Tahuyaman]

That sounds awesome to me. I was a 203 gunner during Desert Storm. The laser would have been a great addition. And it will clearly increase the lethality of the infantry squad.

The 2K range isn't necessary, but it would be nice to have a grenade launcher with at least the range of the M240.

[Peter1469]

The 2K range isn't necessary, but it would be nice to have a grenade launcher with at least the range of the M240.

Right. I was focused on basic light infantry tactics.

[Tahuyaman]

Right. I was focused on basic light infantry tactics.

1000 meter range would be good.

[MisterVeritis]

That sounds awesome to me. I was a 203 gunner during Desert Storm. The laser would have been a great addition. And it will clearly increase the lethality of the infantry squad.

That was not my concern.

It doesn't matter. The Schools will figure it out.

[Peter1469]

That was not my concern.

It doesn't matter. The Schools will figure it out.

That is what they are there for.

[Cletus]

My concern about things like this is the same it has always been. After a while, it becomes more than an asset. It becomes a necessity. That almost always becomes the case with increases in technology. GPS replaced map and compass. Night vision devices replaced human senses.

Technology is a two edged sword. It also tends to fail when you need it the most.

[jimmyz]

Can you program the round for air-burst and distance? That would be a bonus IMO. Say in a scenario where the enemy is behind a berm at 200 yards

[Tahuyaman]

My concern about things like this is the same it has always been. After a while, it becomes more than an asset. It becomes a necessity. That almost always becomes the case with increases in technology. GPS replaced map and compass. Night vision devices replaced human senses.

Technology is a two edged sword. It also tends to fail when you need it the most.

I retired from the Army in 2000. We had the GPS technology and we used it, but we still trained using a map and compass. Our GPS device was completely unreliable as it would give you an eight or ten digit grid via satellite, but that grid did not translate to the map because most maps hadn't been updated in decades.



Same with our night vision devices. We often trained without them so we could be effective in the event of a failure. The didn't replace human senses. They just intensified one human sense.

I've been out of the net for a long time, but I assume we still train soldiers to fight without the aid of devices which routinely fail.

[Peter1469]

My concern about things like this is the same it has always been. After a while, it becomes more than an asset. It becomes a necessity. That almost always becomes the case with increases in technology. GPS replaced map and compass. Night vision devices replaced human senses.

Technology is a two edged sword. It also tends to fail when you need it the most.

I can see that.

One my last deployment prep I had to make up my land nav quals, so I went with another unit and got teamed up with lower enlisted. For whatever reason they put us in teams of 10 for the night part. In my group someone used their cell phone GPS and a bunch of the guys followed him along the fire breaks. I took some private who really wanted to learn land nav and showed how it was done. We came out exactly on each point and he was really excited. I told him maybe he would survive when the GPS goes dead. The guys who followed GPS were pretty impressed to see us make each point. I told them the private did all the work and he did a good job.

[Lummy]

My concern about things like this is the same it has always been. After a while, it becomes more than an asset. It becomes a necessity. That almost always becomes the case with increases in technology. GPS replaced map and compass. Night vision devices replaced human senses.

Technology is a two edged sword. It also tends to fail when you need it the most.

If EMP should knock out electronics that we have become totally dependent on, it will be chaos, I think.