14 DAY TRIAL // Well, you know that scene from Aliens, where Ripley and the marines had to fend off countless xenomorphs via specially placed automated turrets while they were watching the action in a separate room? Well, the U.S. Army thinks that was a good idea after all.
As a part of movie ideas that become reality, automated sentry turrets are turning into real-life devices that will protect U.S. bases in the future while being remotely controlled by just a couple of guys instead of an entire company of soldiers.
At Fort Bliss, Texas the Army is conducting tests of weaponized towers which should become more effective than actual military personnel. Remotely controlling the turrets, two soldiers inside the base camp tactical operation center can do the work of ten.
According to Lt. Col. Raphael Heflin, commander, 142nd Combat Service Support Battalion (CSSB), 1st Armored Division “Every Soldier I have assigned to securing the perimeter is one I don’t have that can execute support missions.”
Lethal surveillance
Instead of just calling them automated turrets, because that's what they were called when some cinematographer invented them, the Army calls them containerized weapons systems, because fanciness. Apparently, one expeditionary tower, the base for the CWS, “can be put together by six Soldiers in less than an hour, with minimal training,” said Capt. Robert Scott, officer-in-charge of the 142nd CSSB’s base defense operation center. The soldiers also noticed that the entire system is easy to use, pack and deploy, something that really comes in handy when in a hurry.
The usual weapons attached to the CWS were a Browning M-2 50-caliber machine gun and a 338 Lapua sniper rifle mounted on towers. These are just a part of weapon systems compatible with the towers. Since these are proper turrets, it seems that the weapons can be raised, lowered, rotated by 360-degrees and fired remotely. The software that controls the firing mechanism is called Joint All Hazard Command Control System and is integrated with the much larger base surveillance “Tower Hawk System.”
Unfortunately, as we know, these systems won't fire at bloodthirsty aliens but at people. Because after all, this is about war.
