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Army's top 10 inventions emphasize Soldier protection and precision
For nearly a decade, the Army has recognized the top inventions that boost warfighter effectiveness and survivability, through the U.S. Army Materiel Command's Army Greatest Inventions program. The winners for 2011, chosen by a panel of field-grade officers and NCOs with recent combat experience, hone in on technologies and refinements that protect Soldiers and provide them with operational precision capabilities in the field.
The latest winning inventions, which were first fielded in 2011, span a variety of crucial areas, from munitions, machine guns, and precision mortars, to video feeds from unmanned aircraft, to protective gear and vehicle armor. No matter the invention, people working on them shared the same motivation: support the Soldier.
"The ability of people to work as a team and integrate all of the sophisticated technology in a way that reduces the burden on the Soldier is really how we achieve this leap forward in capability," said Patti Alameda, Competency Manager for the Mortar and Common Fire Control Systems Division at the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC).
CASE IN POINT: EXCALIBUR
A good example is Excalibur, the world's first GPS-guided, cannon-fired projectile.
"What sparked the development of the Excalibur was that maneuver commanders needed more precision to avoid casualties among civilians who might be in the vicinity of a target, or to reduce risk to friendly forces in a close fight," said Peter DeMasi, the Excalibur Deputy Product Manager for Program Executive Office (PEO) Ammunition's Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS).
"That's what Excalibur provides, and that means maneuver commanders have for the first time the ability to service targets precisely with reduced collateral damage. It also means that the maneuver commander now has the ability to utilize
both close air support and artillery to do the job," DeMasi said.
The M982 Excalibur Increment la-2, one of the 2011 Army Greatest Inventions (AGIs), is a GPS-guided, 155 mm extended-range, precision-guided projectile that has a range capability of 37-5 kilometers, which is a dramatic improvement in accuracy over the hundreds of meters for conventional artillery ammunition. The extended range is achieved through the use of folding glide fins, which allow the projectile to coast from the top...