News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by jki275 on Thursday January 31, 2019 @01:45PM (#19047492)
The Mk-19 has been in service since Vietnam.
Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by openasocket on Thursday January 31, 2019 @02:02PM (#19047660)
Of course, but it doesn't have programmable grenades. Though apparently in the last few years some air-burst grenades have been developed for it. The idea of these programmable grenade systems is being able to lay down very accurate fire, where you can program the grenade to punch through a wall and detonate 1m after it comes out the other side.
Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by ranger207 on Thursday January 31, 2019 @02:15PM (#19047774)
There's also the Mk-47 grenade launcher which has smart munitions.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mk_47_Striker

Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by openasocket on Thursday January 31, 2019 @02:35PM (#19047956)
I didn't know they had smart munitions, interesting. I guess what I'm picturing is a Mk-47 with smart munitions mounted on a remote weapons station on an APC/IFV. Putting it on an armored vehicle makes it more maneuverable of course, but it also provides protection to the gunner. Unlike warfare in a more open setting, due to the presence of buildings you may have to get well within the range of small arms fire to have line of sight to your target.

And apparently there's some work being done on equipping Stryker's with the XM813, a 30mm Bushmaster autocannon that can fire programmable air bursting rounds. Which might accomplish the same thing.

Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by stcredzero on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:09PM (#19048306)
In the article, the Strykers proved to be too vulnerable in the urban environment. They brought in Bradleys and M1 Abrams tanks instead.
Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by openasocket on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:48PM (#19048687)
Very true. Well, the Bushmaster prototype could probably be put on the Bradley in place of the Bushmaster that's already there. As for smart grenades, I don't think there's an obvious place to put one on a Bradley, but some versions of the Abrams TUSK included a CROWS remote weapons system with an HMG, maybe you could replace the HMG with the grenade launcher?

There's definitely a need for armored vehicles better suited to urban combat. Maybe the Army's Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program will provide something. I don't know much about how vehicle armor works, but maybe there's room for optimization? I mean, it's not like the enemy here is firing APFSDS rounds, or using advanced ATGMs. It's all IEDs and RPGs at close range. I know there's stuff like having a V-shaped hull improves performance against mines, and slat and cage armor to deal with explosively formed penetrator type weapons, but I wonder if there's other techniques that can produce a survivable vehicle without needing a full, 60+ ton tank

Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by edraferi on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:36PM (#19048567)
Yup. EFPs are no joke.
Re:Stealing the Enemy's Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr ... by jki275 on Friday February 01, 2019 @06:52AM (#19053377)
Right. I was answering the last part of the comment, perhaps should have made that more clear.