Sniping Could Be the Next Killer iPod App

An anonymous Coward writes "Knights Armament Corp. who supply sniper rifles to the US military have developed a iPod Touch mounting system and software for the US Army M110 sniper rifle system. The use of off the shelf hardware no doubt cut costs and allowed rapid development of this system." If it automatically played a theme song after every head shot, this would be the coolest rifle accessory ever.

More gear!

[barneco (1353761)]

Forget my aimpoint and NV gear...hook me up with the FLIR-enabled Ipod!

Re:More gear!

[themacks (1197889)]

There is no reason for these to be on the internet, so apple can't do anything to them. It looks like they just found a cheap system capable of crunching some numbers with a good interface.

Oblig

[by Anonymous Coward]

MMMONSTER KILL

And with new iLife 09

[by Anonymous Coward]

Photo face recognition can help you identify who you just shot!

The Source from Knights Armaments

[nweaver (113078)]

The Knights Armaments [knightarmco.com] page on both the software and the mounting system.

Really allows you to reach out and touch someone with your iphone.

Out of line

[ktappe (747125)]

If it automatically played a theme song after every head shot, this would be the coolest rifle accessory ever.

Am I the only one who found this attempt at humor disturbing and objectionable?

(And yes, I know my comment will get me modded down, but I strongly doubt I'm alone in thinking a real life killing is quite different from killing in an FPS.)

Re:Out of line

[Lightwarrior (73124)]

Yeah, I also found it tasteless. Center-of-mass hits are much more reliable than head shots.

Re:Out of line

[DaveAtFraud (460127)]

Center-of-mass hits are much more reliable than head shots.

Yeah, but a head shot with a "pink cloud" is a confirmed kill. If the target is worth sending a sniper and you only get one shot, go for the sure thing.

Cheers,
Dave

Re:

[red_blue_yellow (1353825)]

I also found it disturbing. The death of a human should not be treated so ... disgustingly. Somebody needs to do something about Samzenpus and the garbage he puts out.

Re:Out of line

[by Anonymous Coward]

Somebody needs to do something about Samzenpus and the garbage he puts out.

Definitely. Someone should shoot him with an iPod-enabled sniper rifle.

Re:Out of line

[halivar (535827)]

I'm firmly convinced that 90% of all offenses taken spring from a deep-seated human desire for martyrdom and it's accompanying ego-expansion. Somehow, in the state of having been offended, we believe we can attain the deeply satisfying, self-aggrandizing self-righteousness of an unjustly oppressed person.

IOW, you're just looking for stuff to piss you off because you like it. Suck it up, princess.

Re:Out of line

[tsm_sf (545316)]

I'm firmly convinced that 90% of all offenses taken spring from a deep-seated human desire for martyrdom and it's accompanying ego-expansion.

Well, that's because you're an asshole.

Re:Out of line

[halivar (535827)]

Of course. That's why I said 90%, not 100%. But I'll tell you this: the things that offend me are all actions, not words.

Re:Out of line

[drinkypoo (153816)]

The death of a human should not be treated so ... disgustingly.

Aside from your total misapplication of the word "disgustingly" I'm not really clear on what absolute metric you are using to determine what should or should not happen.

I'm glad that your moral compass is here to guide us all.

Somebody needs to do something about Samzenpus and the garbage he puts out.

Won't somebody think of the children?

Your comment sickens me. Literally, as in, made me nauseous.

"Somebody needs to do something" about your smug sense of moral superiority.

yeah

[Trepidity (597)]

My eastern-european friends didn't like being sent cryptically named .wav files containing the Starcraft audio "WE REQUIRE MORE VESPENE GAS", either.

Re:Out of line

[revery (456516)]

If it automatically played a theme song after every head shot, this would be the coolest rifle accessory ever.

Am I the only one who found this attempt at humor disturbing and objectionable?

Not only objectionable, but completely impractical. What kind of sniper would want to draw attention to his location by playing a theme song?

Re:Out of line

[thethibs (882667)]

Wow! An orgy of self-rightious political correctness. Can I play too?

Re:Out of line

[tmosley (996283)]

It's the only type of orgy Slashdotters get invited to, so we have to take advantage of them when we can.

Re:Out of line

[LanMan04 (790429)]

(And yes, I know my comment will get me modded down, but I strongly doubt I'm alone in thinking a real life killing is quite different from killing in an FPS.)

90% of people on this board have experience with making virtual headshots. Real headshots, >1%. It's just what we know.

Re:Out of line

[couchslug (175151)]

It's hilarious.

(Sensitive people need a second, different internet.)

Re:Out of line

[PitaBred (632671)]

Naah. There are a number of people who make so many other people's lives so miserable that their deaths should be celebrated. For example, Kim Jong Il, Stalin, Hitler, and so on. There are numerous smaller warlords and tribal leaders who also deserve such treatment.

Life is not sacred. If you use yours to deny other people rights, livelihoods or even their own lives simply for existing, you deserve to lose yours.

Keeps track of points

[the4thdimension (1151939)]

The military was the last bastion of "pen and paper" score tracking. Thanks to Apple's great products and a little ingenuity, the DoD finally has a tool to automatically keep track of scores. All we need now is a database for it to upload to automatically via wireless, and we can have a global real-time kill count and score!

Re:Keeps track of points

[pak9rabid (1011935)]

...the DoD finally has a tool to automatically keep track of scores.

I believe the correct term is frags.

Re:Keeps track of points

[Kingrames (858416)]

frags, literally speaking, refer to killings of superior officers.

I do believe sir, that you should use different terminology when marketing it to the military.

Yay DRM

[emag (4640)]

Now in the middle of a "situation", snipers will get a "you have already authorized this iPod on 5 sniper rifles" error...

Re:

[Lendrick (314723)]

In response to this innovation by Apple, Microsoft will release the Zune Sniper Edition Basic and Zune Sniper Edition Ultimate. Both of these will come equipped with their exclusive ShootsForSure technology, which will prevent you from borrowing ammunition from other snipers.

Ballistics calculator on a rifle

[mr_mischief (456295)]

This should help not just snipers but hunters and perhaps some day main force ground troops. At the listed link, the article's author states that the application software is available at the iTunes store. Contrary to some stories on the 'net, it is a general rifle ballistics application that allows someone to enter a different rifle and ammunition profile. So it's good for less specialized rifles, and not just the M110.

The article didn't mention the availability of the mounting hardware. It attaches an iPod Touch mounted in an Otterbox protective case to a side-mounted picatinny rail. That seems much more handy in combat situations than digging an iPod out of one's pocket. This is what makes it not just another ballistics app for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Mounting it on the rifle could be a big deal in certain situations, and lots of rifles can be fitted with picatinny rails on the side.

On first glance at the title..

[LordByronStyrofoam (587954)]

.. I thought it would be an article about sniping eBay bids at the last second from my iPod.

Apple Military Equipment?

[jason.sweet (1272826)]

So much for "Don't ask, don't tell."

A light source on a sniper rifle?

[jcr (53032)]

Seems like it would be a problem w/r/t revealing the sniper's position.

-jcr

Re:

[faloi (738831)]

I doubt it'd be used much in the field, at least not without some heavy modification to the iPod. I can't imagine it's resilient enough to meat mil-spec standards off-the-shelf. Once it's out there, I'd bet the spotter uses it more to get rapid numbers to feed to the shooter than the shooter uses it. The spotter can keep it mostly concealed and hide the light.

I guess it's time....

[8127972 (73495)]

.... To point out this YouTube Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXh3EfX_CqA&eurl=http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=igun&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=&feature=player_embedded [youtube.com]

Illumination?

[Culture20 (968837)]

Because what every sniper needs is to have his face lit up when he's trying to remain hidden.

Re:Illumination?

[Chemisor (97276)]

If you are close enough for the enemy to see your face, you need neither the sniper rifle, nor complex distance calculations.

Re:Illumination?

[mea37 (1201159)]

Depends on context.

Your target may not be the only person in the area hostile to you.

You may not know all of their locations.

You would probably prefer that none of them know your location.

Yeah, this is going to be cheap.

[dreemernj (859414)]

But they are charging an arm and a leg for the wifi seeking missiles they are selling to our enemies.

Legitimate, if disturbing to some

[dazedNconfuzed (154242)]

Computing ballistics in the field has been an ongoing issue for long-range shooters, as determining the required elevation & windage settings for precision shots depends heavily on a variety of factors (wind speed, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, bullet weight, ballistic coefficient, barrel length, powder burn rate, barrel twist, target angle, distance, and even latitude & direction). Until recently, sharpshooters/snipers addressed the problem by computing ballistics tables ahead of time, memorizing or taking paper copies into the field, developing a reliable "gut feel", and even using specialized slide rules (ex.: Mil-Dot Master); only recently have portable computers been adapted or built (Palm Pilot, Barrett BORS) to improve situational accuracy. Bringing the iPod Touch into the picture via a convenient mounting system allows tremendous improvement & flexibility in creating applications to solve ballistics problems, as there are already at least 3 apps available, and both professionals & hobbists can easily develop their own apps. That this mounting system is provided by Knights Armament, a well-respected name in high-quality small arms, helps as well.

Those with snide remarks should be aware that (A) this is legitimately needed by military and police to keep your life safe and comfortable, and (B) long-range target shooting is a legitimate and popular sport.

Calibration

[SoundGuyNoise (864550)]

Do you calibrate its accuracy like a touchscreen and a stylus? Except with live human heads?

Some potential uses

[Lt.Hawkins (17467)]

So obviously there are some pretty funny comments on this, and some incredulous "why?" or "won't this give away a snipers position?" posts as well.

To address the latter:
As most of the /. community can appreciate, projectile ballistics isn't as simple as a game; The hardest I've seen in a game is "move the crosshair around to simulate breathing" Obviously, its more difficult than this, or *everyone* at war would be sitting back at 1200 meters, sniping from safety.

When you get into precision shooting, you need to take into account so many factors, it boggles the mind. Muzzle velocity, wind (and wind isn't constant at the point of your muzzle and where the target is, humidity, bullet mass and aerodynamics, barrel twist rate, etc. This ballistics computer helps you input that data, and will spit out how you need to adjust your crosshair to account for all this stuff.

A system like this would also make it easy to log past shot data, which is very important for precision shooters.

I've seen wrist-watch ballistics computers as well; beats the crap out of charts.

As for when it would be used:
In training.
In competitions.
By police snipers in some situations (where, perhaps, concealment isn't important, but getting that first cold-barrel shot exactly on target is.)
By a sniper's spotter, perhaps.

disclaimer: despite my username, I'm not military, nor am I a precision shooter; i've merely had experience shooting as a major hobby.

Re:

[morgan_greywolf (835522)]

No, I think that was just ESR making sure he gets his order in...

Re:haha!!!

[dreemernj (859414)]

And now you can shoot from the "hip"

Apple Branding Standards and Practices

[HTH NE1 (675604)]

But I thought Apple was more protective of its branding to an extent of not allowing its computers to be depicted in movies as killing people for example. This application is available from the iTunes store for $11.99; I would have thought Apple would refuse to carry it and they'd have to use hacked devices to run it.

Re:

[audunr (906697)]

Yes, and it comes bundled with the iPod Touch of Death.

Re:Killer App

[mnky-33 (1293220)]

Good job, you appear to have identified the pun in the article.

Re:

[cjjjer (530715)]

Actually this should be played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2b1D5w82yU [youtube.com]

Re:Theme song

[HTH NE1 (675604)]

You've got the Touch! You've got the power! [youtube.com]

Re:anyone who has ever taken a human life

[agrounds (227704)]

I'd consider them blessed that they don't know how it feels afterward, or have the sleepless nights that come with it, or the hot ball of sour sickness that tightens in your gut every time you come under fire.

They may be ignorant, but it is not a failing, just the naivete of youth and living a privileged existence even if it is in very bad taste. In a better world, no one would have to know what it is like.

Re:anyone who has ever taken a human life

[Broken scope (973885)]

There are some exceedingly grim jobs in the military.

Some folks never talk about it.
Some folks talk about it.
Some folks become very detached about what they do.
Some folks develop a grim/dark sense of humor.

Don't call someone a cretin or a sociopath because of their coping mechanism. It doesn't mean they enjoy it.

Re:on the contrary

[AioKits (1235070)]

Coping mechanisms aren't formed when someone does a 'wrong' action, merely a stressful one. How many people in high stress jobs have a drinking or drug problem as their coping mechanism?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_skill [wikipedia.org]

In a normal circumstances I will probably not be exposed to a situation where I will have to kill someone. However, if I'm the victim of a mugging gone bad and I have to kill him or he will kill me, believe that's what will happen. There is no sense of right or wrong, merely that I must survive. It will probably be stressful afterwards, and I will probably adapt dark humor to avoid thinking about it.

And thank you for showing you have no concept of how military chain of command and subordination works.

Re:But can you flaunt it in public . . . ?

[rts008 (812749)]

Well, for reliable sniping at 1000 yards you will want something ballistically superior to the 7.62x51 NATO (.308 Winchester) round/M110 package.
The .308 Win. bullet transitions from supersonic to subsonic around 625-700 yards, causing the bullet to become unstable and seriously degrading accuracy to unacceptable levels for a sniper/target shooter.

That's what the cartridge/rifle packages in the 7mm-8mm magnums (which includes the venerable .300 Winchester and Weatherby Magnums) are best suited for, which cover 1000 yards quite nicely. :-)

Over 1500-1600 yards is the realm of the BMG .50 caliber/rifle packages.