Small unit unmanned weapon system for today's army

Abstract

While engaged in the Global War on Terror, our soldiers have discovered the need at the small unit level for a non-line of sight, man portable, lethal, unmanned device that could be used to gain entry into a building by blowing the door, kill enemy personnel or disable soft skinned vehicles without a soldier ever exposing himself to the enemy and while minimizing collateral damage. This capability could potentially save soldiers lives and increase the combat effectiveness of our units currently deployed in combat zones. Our project team will evaluate several alternatives and provide a recommended solution for such a device to provide these capabilities to the soldier on the ground. Currently, the US Army - specifically special operations command (SOCOM) and the US Marine Corps operate with small and unmanned surveillance equipment. None of these systems however have a lethal component. Additionally, they are currently all operated primarily at the company or battalion level. Other unmanned ariel vehicles are equipped with a lethal capability but they are too heavy and require too large a launch footprint to be effectively employed by small unit ground forces. FMI 3-04.155 (army unmanned aircraft system operations) is the current field manual which outlines the effective employment of current UAS in the inventory [3]. Currently, there is a noticeable capability void which can be best addressed by a system which incorporates the flexibility of a smaller man portable UAV with the lethality of one of the larger systems. Our study seeks to find a solution which will address this capability void.