Smart Fire Control System for Next-Gen Weapons

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An Israeli company has recently showed off its new high-tech, smart-shooter technology that the United States Army is currently evaluating to potentially integrate with its Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW).

Recently demonstrated in Las Vegas, the SMASH Fire Control System has been designed to improve the accuracy of shooters targeting stationary and moving targets  in both night and day conditions. The system enables operators to acquire, lock on and engage targets. 

The SMASH system is composed of a weapon-mounted aiming sight and a special pistol group that allows the weapon to fire a round only if the system can detect a guaranteed hit.

The technology is currently competing in the United States Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon Fire Control competition. Even though the system has already applied to compete, the company claims that the technology is still being worked on and improved upon.

In the summer of 2019, the United States Army has called upon defense firms to design and build prototypes of a smart fire control system to be integrated with the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon. The NGSW is a 6.8 millimeter weapon that comes in automatic and semi-automatic variants and is intended to replace the service’s M4A1 and M249 automatic weapons.

If all goes according to plan, the United States Army expects to arm its soldiers with the NGSW and its advanced fire control systems by the beginning of 2023.

The SMASH fire control system features a lock button. Once the shooter places the weapon’s crosshairs on its target and presses the lock button, the system will automatically know to target that specific target. That information is fed back to the system’s computer which will instruct the system to automatically fire the weapon only if the shooter’s weapon is lined up to hit its intended target, and if the shooter is holding down the trigger.

The system can also work without the target lock feature if quicker shots are needed according to Military.com.