Vehicle-mounted Acoustic Sniper Detection System

August 28, 2005 If there’s one thing worse than having snipers shooting at you, it’s getting shot at and not knowing. That’s the bizarre situation US Forces have encountered in both Iraq and Afghanistan as they travel the vast distances in convoys, unable to tell if a bullet has just flown past amidst the noise, dust, and rumble of up to 100 war machines around them. DARPA and BBN Technologies decided to tackle this increasingly common problem and came up with the device pictured. It’s called the Boomerang Mobile Shooter Detection System and alerts soldiers of incoming sniper fire to give them the opportunity to retreat to safety or return fire before they are hit. The Boomerang units attach to a vehicle and use seven small microphones, arranged like the spine of a sea urchin, to detect both the muzzle blast and the shock wave from a speeding bullet. Once a sniper's bullet is detected, Boomerang's display panel, which is located inside the vehicle, alerts soldiers through audio and visual signals that a bullet has been fired, its direction and elevation. Boomerang is currently being trialled on 50 Humvees in Iraq.

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