{"id":218330,"date":"2024-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=218330"},"modified":"2024-07-08T23:39:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T23:39:11","slug":"82nd-airborne-joins-3rd-10th-sf-groups-to-airdrop-test-new-weapon-sights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=218330","title":{"rendered":"82nd Airborne joins 3rd, 10th SF Groups to airdrop test new weapon sights"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT LIBERTY, North Carolina \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Airborne and Special Forces Soldiers here are testing after nightfall, the latest small arms weapon sights.<\/p>\n

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\n A SOF Soldier with the 3rd Special Forces Group checks his altitude during the military free fall portion of the Family of Weapons Sights \u2013 Individual test.
\n (Photo Credit: Maj. Joshua Cook, Deputy Chief of Tests at ABNSOTD)<\/span>
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The 82nd\u00a0Airborne Division, joined by the 3rd\u00a0and 10th\u00a0Special Forces Groups, are in the final stages of testing the Family of Weapons Sights \u2013 Individual (FWS-I) for static line and military free fall airborne infiltration.<\/p>\n

The FWS-I program will provide Soldiers with thermal enablers (sights) for individual weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FWS-I gives Soldiers the capability to see farther into the battlefield, increase surveillance and target acquisition range, and penetrate day or night obscurants,\u201d said Lashon Wilson, a test coordinator for Project Manager Soldier Lethality.<\/p>\n

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\n A SOF Soldier with the 3rd Special Forces Group approaches Laurinburg Drop Zone during the military free fall portion of the Family of Weapons Sights \u2013 Individual test.
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\u201cAmerican paratroopers and Special Operations Soldiers are renowned for attacking when and where least expected and almost exclusively at night,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Derek Pattle a Test NCO with the Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate.<\/p>\n

\u201cConducting forced entry operations during daylight hours leaves paratroopers exposed to enemy ground fire and counterattack during airborne assault,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why mastering night vision devices and targeting systems is a critical skill for Army paratroopers and Special Operators and vital to mission accomplishment during forced entry parachute assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n A Soldier from 1\/325 Airborne Infantry Regiment employs the Family of Weapons Sights \u2013 Individual as a standalone optic prior to night target identification testing Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
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According to Capt. Joseph Chabries, a Plans Officer at ABNSOTD, the core question for military equipment employed by Army paratroopers and Special Operations regarding is in its survivability.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Can the system survive airborne infiltration?\u2019\u201d said Chabries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividual paratroopers as well as vehicles and cargo delivery systems are bristling with technology, which can at times be fragile,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring these systems are both suitable and effective for issue to airborne forces often requires a more technical approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n SOF Soldiers with the 10th Special Forces Group prepare to exit an Air Force C-27 aircraft over Maxton, North Carolina during the military free fall portion of the Family of Weapons Sights \u2013 Individual test.
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Staff Sgt. Dalton Carter, a weapons squad leader with 2nd\u00a0Brigade, 82nd\u00a0Airborne Division said, \u201cI feel as if this is a step in the right direction for army night vision and lauded the operational features the FWS-I can provide his squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FWS-I test also exposed many veteran paratroopers to operational testing for the first time.<\/p>\n

Sgt. David Brown, a fire team leader in Bravo Company, 1\/325 Airborne Infantry Regiment, serving as a test participant during static line testing, said, \u201cI feel like the FWS-I can be a real force multiplier for key leaders during hours of limited visibility or when the battlefield might be obscured.\u201d<\/p>\n

During post-drop operations, jumpers assembled for accountability and to ensure all FWS-I\u2019s were fully mission capable by performing a system functions check and collimation using the Mobile Boresight Collimation Station, which is used to evaluate the bore sight retention and repeatability of the FWS-I before and after static line and military free fall infiltration.<\/p>\n

The data from the MBCS allows the test team to determine if and how much the boresight reticle on the FWS-I was moved or displaced due to any shock induced from exiting the aircraft, the opening of the parachute canopy, or landing on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cABNSOTD is one of the few organizations in the Department of Defense that maintains a bore sight collimation capability and the only mobile system of its kind,\u201d said Mr. Jacob Boll, ABNSOTD\u2019s Operational Research Analyst.<\/p>\n

The ABNSOTD instrumentation section is charged with maintaining and employing this unique capability and trained extensively to conduct post-drop weapons testing before beginning operational testing of FWS-I.<\/p>\n

Maj. Joshua Cook, Deputy Chief of ABNSOTD\u2019s Test Division described the importance of testing and how it plays into the future of technology in warfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cOperational Testing is about Soldiers and ensuring the systems developed are effective in a Soldier\u2019s hands and suitable for the environments in which they train and fight,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

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About the U.S. Army Operational Test Command:<\/p>\n

Headquartered at West Fort Cavazos, Texas, the mission centers on ensuring systems developed deliver optimal performance in the hands of Soldiers and are suitable for the environments in which they train and fight. Through direct feedback from test units and their Soldiers, the command plays a crucial role in refining current and future systems for enhanced military readiness capability.<\/p>\n

As part of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command, the Fort Liberty, North Carolina-based Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate plans, executes, and reports on operational tests and field experiments of Airborne and Special Operations Forces equipment, procedures, aerial delivery, and air transportation systems to provide key operational data for the continued development and fielding of doctrine, systems or equipment to the Warfighter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT LIBERTY, North Carolina \u2013\u00a0Airborne and Special Forces Soldiers here are testing after nightfall, the latest small arms weapon sights. A SOF Soldier with the 3rd Special Forces Group checks his altitude during the military free fall portion of the Family of Weapons Sights \u2013 Individual test. (Photo Credit: Maj. Joshua Cook, Deputy Chief of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218332,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218337,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218330\/revisions\/218337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/218332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}