Geopolitical tensions and military escalations are now a part and parcel of modern life. Though nobody favours war owing to its social, health, and economic impact, there are situations where nations must mount an offensive or military pressure to protect their interests. And some neighbourhoods, like the one India inhabits, remain dangerous places. All said and done, it pays to be prepared to protect, defend, and even aggressively defend our interests.
Over time, the threat landscape has evolved across our borders and international boundaries of land, sea, and air. Even complex terrains and harsh and remote environments that were considered too hard to intrude into have become fair game now.
India’s international boundaries are today among the most fortified on earth. Regular surveillance and control infrastructure is deployed at strategic locations. Because of the heavy cover at prominent boundaries, hostile neighbours and terrorist outfits are now pushing deeper into remote areas where traditional control and monitoring stations are harder to establish owing to harsh environmental conditions.
Such threats call for a more diversified and technology-enabled pro-active defence framework that can be deployed into such challenging terrains. While environmental conditions make it hard for military personnel to focus on defending against threats and intrusion continuously, a better breed of intelligent and sustainable weaponry can drastically shift the chances of success in a dire situation.
Let us examine the key attributes that advanced battle weapons need to incorporate today to aid assignments in remote and harsh areas:
Dynamic combat environments require reactive decision-making from military personnel in areas such as firing speed, targeting, threat discovery, etc. Every split second can prove to be a life-challenging moment that can sway in either direction. Modern weaponry needs to have intelligent assistance mechanisms that aid decision-making among the personnel operating the same.
From multi-target engagement to situational awareness-based threat identification and targeting, the firing gear needs to complement human-focus considerably in today’s combat situations. Sometimes enemies create challenging scenarios by forcing civilians into acting as human shields to cover their progress. With assisted accuracy capabilities, military personnel can avoid collateral damage by hitting the right targets and saving numerous lives.
Weapons can be complex but using them should never be so. Modern weapons and mounts need to be built with high levels of usability that allow personnel to operate them with minimal training efforts. Repeated training and onboarding are also not feasible so it should also be possible to enhance them with new capabilities with easy integrations over time. It should also offer minimal maintenance cycles with more reliable materials used in manufacturing. This results in an overall total lower cost of ownership for the military and faster induction into combat regimes.
Adding to the accuracy capabilities needed in modern weapon mounts, gyroscopic stabilization is a key attribute that must be evaluated before selecting combat platforms. Weapons of today need better strike distance for long-range operations, higher kills per loadout, and faster tracking and targeting even from very difficult operating terrains. This could include unstable or dynamic terrain like water or moving off-road vehicles. In other words, they need to be flexible in accommodating a wide range of dynamic combat situations permitting automated stabilization, with minimal effort, making the person behind the weapon more lethal in neutralizing the threat.
With more digital and information management systems being connected to military operations, it is important for weaponry to offer seamless interoperability with the same. Easy network integrations, smart connectivity for remote operations, secure control systems, guidance, and navigation system compatibility are some of the major areas where interoperability of new weapon systems and mounts needs to prove its mettle.
Combat weapons are always subject to damage by enemy forces. It is possible that electronic systems or automation controls may get damaged in heavy shelling or attack scenarios. In such cases, an ideal weapon should have a fail-proof recovery mechanism in place that offers manual control over its firing capabilities. It can then operate effortlessly with manual operation thereby eliminating delays or events where guardrails are left vulnerable for enemy penetrations.
To neutralize these new threats in new avenues, existing military infrastructure, and weapons arsenal need constant upgrades, additions, and enhancements. There is absolutely no scope for compromises on quality or tactical agility as they help our brave men and women keep our borders safe and our nation’s interests protected against all forms of threats. It is important for the military to have in possession, strategic assets that shift combat advantage into the hands of our personnel irrespective of the terrain or environment they are engaged in. This is where our offerings like the ASP Gyro Stabilized Weapons Mount can become a game-changer. Get in touch with us to know more.