Walther Chr. Håland, Major (ret.)
Kongsbergs PROTECTOR Remote Controlled Weapon Systems on the vehicle’s roof There are many hundreds of vehicles across the world in international peacemaking/peacekeeping operations that are not equipped with remote controlled weapon protection systems on the vehicle’s roof which can protect the gunner who could sit in the inside of the armoured vehicle. Many vehicles are only equipped with a machine gun that the gunner has to operate unprotected when he/she is staying in the vehicle’s roof opening. In situation like this, the gunner is exposed in a very dangerous unprotected situation being a target for snipers, being a victim of exploding mines and improvised explosive devices (IED). This gunner has to aim, estimate the range and engage the targets manually and the hit probability is dependant on the gunner’s skills.
KONGSBERG is the world leading producer of remote controlled weapon stations. More than 5000 Systems have already been delivered world wide, and as of 2009 more than 7,500 additional units are covered under existing contracts. PROTECTOR has been selected or is already in service by the following nations; USA, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic,
Artilleri & Luftvärn
Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Kuwait, and Slovenia. The main elements of the PROTECTOR, consists of two parts, one on the vehicle’s roof, and one inside the protected vehicle. The guidance and control unit consists of a computer and a display in the same unit. This makes the control unit one single box mounted inside the vehicle. The gunner has a joy stick and switches on the control unit for changing sensors, changing to training mode, arming and firing. These switches are mounted around the screen display. Controlling the weapons platform is usually done using the joystick.
Walther Håland har varit verksam inom norska armén men skriver numera på frilalnsbasis artiklar för diverse olika militära tidskrifter.
Three sensors The weapon station atop the roof consists of the weapon and sensors. It is stabilised. There are usually 3 sensors on the weapon station, one night thermal camera, one video camera and one laser range finder. The weapon station runs on 4 brushless electrical servomotors, 2 for the weapons and 2 for the sensors. All information goes through the software from the computer to the weapon station. For firing, the commander gives the order, and the information is through
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