5 High-Tech Military Gadgets Used By Special Operations Troops

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Whether it is a hostage rescue or deep reconnaissance, particular operations troops are constructed to deal with various mission necessities. They characterize the elite tip of the spear of any army department, supported by cutting-edge know-how and funding extra strong than that of normal forces. Make no mistake, the gear wielded by these revered troops is formidable and costly, however Hollywood movies have typically exaggerated their sophistication into science fiction.

Names just like the U.S. Army Delta Force and the much-vaunted U.S. Navy Seals simply come to thoughts (due to Hollywood, once more), however they don’t seem to be the one ones brimming with shiny high-tech {hardware}. Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS), Russia’s Spetsnaz, and Israel’s Sayeret Matkal are among the many world’s best-known elite formations, they usually use specialised instruments designed with precision, stealth, and survivability to attain their goals. With that stated, listed below are 5 high-tech army devices utilized by these particular operations troops.

Urban areas are typically thought-about probably the most harmful terrain for an offensive or counterinsurgency pressure to function. Densely packed high-rises supply cowl to the defenders who can simply slip out and in. To counter that, U.S. Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) fields a man-portable slice of the bigger SIGINT/EW (alerts intelligence and digital warfare) package deal, the Joint Threat Warning System.

Designed to function on the tactical stage and sufficiently small to experience on a Marine’s again, the system scans throughout the very-high-frequency (VHF) and ultra-high-frequency (UHF) bands, zeroing in on the transmissions’ bearing and site in actual time. In different phrases, the operator can’t solely listen in on radio alerts, however he also can inform the place they’re coming from by way of a tablet-style map show. Think of them as a Marine unit’s digital and radio eyes of the battlespace.

The system additionally comes geared up with Low Probability of Detection/Interception (LPD/LPI) waveforms and different emission-control strategies to successfully shrug off counter-interception.

Engineers at Russia’s Burevestnik Institute sought to “silence” loud mortars and got here up with the 2B25 Gull. This 30-pound gun equips the Russian Army’s particular forces (generally known as “Spetsnaz”) and fires rounds as silent as a Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle with a sound suppressor. In the world of mortars, that is equal to whisper-quiet.

It’s not the mortar itself that does the trick, however the 3VO35 82mm spherical it fires. This spherical ditches the standard propelling expenses in favor of a self-contained cartridge with a piston on the finish of its lengthy tail meeting. In sensible phrases, when a 2B25 releases its high-explosive payload, it does so with out a bang, smoke, or muzzle flash.

There’s a trade-off, after all: vary. Because its cartridge is self-contained, the 2B25 produces much less propellant fuel to drive the projectile. In different phrases, it does not go very far. The U.S. Army’s present light-weight mortar of alternative, the 60mm M224, and even the World War II-era Soviet M-37 82mm mortar, can hearth over 2 miles. Meanwhile, the 2B25 goes simply 0.7 miles. Regardless, buying and selling vary for stealth is not an unfair compromise, particularly contemplating most targets engaged by the Spetznaz can be inside shut vary.

Sometimes, within the warmth of fight, the primary shot is all that issues. And what higher method for U.S. Marines and particular ops groups of the Israeli Defense Forces to try this than by a complicated focusing on system? Enter the SMARTSHOOTER, SMASH 2000, an Israeli system that exactly acquires targets for the person and might set off the shot on the proper on the spot.

Smart focusing on techniques have been round for a while, however what the SMASH 2000 brings to the desk is unprecedented full hearth management and autonomous monitoring for small arms. The system has three parts: an optical sighting system, a particular pistol grip, and a strain button, all of that are connected to a rifle — within the U.S. Special Operations Joint Task Force’s case, a M4A1 carbine. The optical sighting system does a lot of the heavy lifting, with its digital camera and laser vary finder, backed up by onboard computing techniques, calculating the exact intention level whatever the shooter’s physique actions.

Amid the present proliferation of quadcopters and unmanned aerial autos (UAVs) on the battlefield, SMASH 2000-equipped weapons additionally discover use as counter-drone techniques. The SMASH 2000 is not but a U.S. Army-wide weapon, with solely the particular forces belonging to the Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (SOJTF-OIR) in Syria being noticed with the system in fight. However, the Army has a long-standing curiosity in each superior optics and counter-drone techniques, and the SMASH 2000 is making good on it.

Silence and stealth are key to particular operations. Reveal your place, and the enemy is aware of the place you might be and might interact accordingly. An superior communications gadget initially developed for civilian use, bone-conducting headphones enable particular forces to function with out breaking this golden rule.

The science behind bone conduction listening to includes taking a easy shortcut: bypassing the outer ear canal and eardrum and sending vibrations on to the cochlea by way of the cranium bone. This helps hearing-impaired customers who cannot choose up sound waves by the ear canal as successfully as everybody else. They are additionally wonderful instruments underwater since they use vibrations as an alternative of sound waves.

U.S. Navy Seals have since tailored this innovation for tactical use, pairing bone-conduction earpieces with microphones deliberately strapped to the throat to intercept vibrations from the larynx. It’s a mix that enables wearers to speak extra discreetly in an unsafe atmosphere — say, a constructing crawling with hostiles — whereas listening for ambient sounds. These techniques are usually linked to encrypted radios such because the AN/PRC-148 MBITR to kind a compact, low-signature communication setup optimized for stealth.

The aptly-named Black Hornet nano UAV is the featherweight champion of the ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) world. That’s as a result of whereas it could actually fly over 1.2 miles and final for half an hour, at simply 7 inches lengthy and weighing 70 grams (for the newer Black Hornet 4), it’s small and nimble sufficient to suit right into a soldier’s pocket or slip by home windows unnoticed.

Officially marketed because the “Personal Reconnaissance System” by developer FLIR (and fielded by the U.S. Army because the “Soldier Borne Sensor”), the Black Hornet takes the type of a helicopter with overhead and tail rotors. It navigates by way of a direct radio hyperlink and satellite-linked management; when GPS or comms are jammed, sure variants can swap to vision-based navigation or just scurry again towards the operator. Onboard thermal imaging and electro-optical cameras imply there is not any hiding at the hours of darkness when a Black Hornet’s about. Its small measurement additionally means diminished noise: do not anticipate the tell-tale auditory signature of quadcopters.

Those attributes make the Black Hornet exceptionally well-suited to trendy, close-in drone reconnaissance. It has been battle-tested as a tactical recon platform by British and American particular forces in Afghanistan and has seen use with Ukrainian Special Operations Forces. A typical unit — two drones, a docking station, a handheld touchscreen, and a controller — prices nearly $200,000.