The Kalashnikov Concern is developing a sophisticated fire control system for small arms, the company’s spokesman Sergey Urzhumtsev told Russia's Zvezda TV channel.
“We are working on this. I predict that we will present such system on the market in the near future,” Urzhumtsev said.
He explained that over the past four years, there has been a global trend towards increasing the effectiveness of small arms by integrating their control systems.
“It allows you to perform a rather wide range of tasks that are typically carried out by a serviceman. These include the detection of a target, the capture of a target in the sight, as well as the introduction of amendments depending on weather data and firing range,” the Kalashnikov spokesman pointed out.
Russian military experts have suggested that the new fire control system would be mainly useful for snipers, who currently have to take a whole array of devices with them when on combat missions, including portable weather stations, digital rangefinders, ballistic calculators and small laser gadgets.
“The idea of creating such a system looks attractive because it is capable of integrating all tasks a sniper needs to implement when on the mission. In particular, he needs to understand the distance to the target, select the desired aiming angles, as well as allow for wind and precipitation. At present, all this is conducted by the sniper himself, along with a fire controller,” the experts said.
They underscored that “like any other military personnel, snipers tend to make mistakes due to fatigue and emotional arousal, which is why the fire control system that is being developed by the Kalashnikov Concern will be of help to the snipers.”
According to the experts, the effectiveness of the use of the advanced fire control system has yet to be assessed, as it depends on the specific situation on the battlefield. The experts also did not rule out that in the future, the process of shooting a sniper rifle would become automated and would obtain elements of artificial intelligence.