Sponsored by Control Solutions LLC.
http://www.controls.com/product-cat/systems/
——————————————————————-
08 Jan 16. Meggitt Training Systems (booth #12267) will demonstrate the latest in shooting range equipment at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) and Conference in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 19-22, 2016. Driven by a legacy of more than 90 years through the Caswell brand and fielding more than 13,000 ranges worldwide, Meggitt is an industry leader in turnkey shooting range design, equipment and installation for law enforcement and commercial ranges. Meggitt will showcase its expertise in shooting range systems with a variety of products on display:
• XWT GEN3 target carrier – A wireless target carrier with an internal direct-drive, dual-motor system running on a unique closed-track design for a quieter, smoother operation. Available in indoor/outdoor versions, the carrier is weather resistant, offering adjustable speed controls and flexible user interfaces to support varying courses of fire.
• XCT target carrier – Operates via a touchscreen control system at the firing line. The carrier can be stopped at any distance through six programmable presets for a variety of distances, or by manually adjusting the movement on the touchscreen controller.
• Bullet traps – The world’s first rubber bullet trap, the GranTrap™, and the LE5000 escalator steel bullet trap, will also be displayed.
07 Jan 16. General Atomics Plans 150kW Laser Tests on Avenger. General Atomics is to start testing a potentially revolutionary weapon next month: a 150-kilowatt class laser. Several other companies are developing laser weapons and “we’re looking at all of them,” said Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, in an interview with Breaking Defense.
General Atomics hopes to see AFSOC install a version of the weapon on the AC-130 gunship in the next few years. They also envision equipping the company’s new jet-powered Predator C Avenger drone with a laser derived from their High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS).
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will run the live-fire tests at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The HELLADS beam will be fired at a wide variety of airborne targets over the next 18 months. It produces its silent, invisible, but blow torch-hot beam by pumping electricity through rare earth minerals to excite their electrons and generate energy.
HELLADS “is designed to counter rockets, artillery, mortars; counter cruise missiles; counter air[craft]; defend against surface to air missiles,” said Michael Perry, the vice president in charge of the company’s laser programs. During the tests at White Sands, the targets could include real rockets, real mortars, and real missiles. “There’s a whole variety of targets that will be shot with this system,” Perry said.
The system being tested at White Sands is far too large to put on an airplane. But GA already has developed a smaller, self-contained Generation 3 High Energy Laser and is working on an even more compact Gen 4 HEL to respond to AFSOC commander Heithold’s goal of putting such a weapon on AC-130 gunships by 2020.
The possible targets for an AC-130 laser are many, Heithold said. The silent, invisible beam might be used prior to a hostage rescue mission, for example, to covertly disable motor vehicles, boats, airplanes or any other “escape mechanism” an enemy might use to move the hostages or flee from U.S. forces. The laser might also be used to disable or disrupt an enemy’s communications, he said.
“The reason that I want it on an AC-130 is, right now, when an AC-130 starts firing kinetic weaponry, everybody knows you’re there,” Heithold said. “What I want on the airplane is to be able to silently disable something.”
Heithold envisions equipping up to five AC-130Ws with a laser whose beam could be aim