Apache helicopter pilots have been killing terrorists and other enemy combats for years on grainy black-and-white screens, but that will soon change.
The Modernized Day Sensor Assembly, or M-DSA, will allow soldiers to take out high-value targets in high definition and in color, Fox News reported.
“With the extended range capabilities … the pilots can quickly and accurately identify targets at further standoff ranges, which allow them to stay out of harm’s way,” Fred Swisher, who manages the M-DSA program at defense contractor Lockheed Martin, told Fox News.
The Army hopes that the new technology, which allows pilots to magnify targets from great distances, will also cut down on civilian deaths in areas where terrorists try to blend in with non-combatants.
“We have the potential with this new system to make sure that we are engaging the right targets at the right time,” said Lt. Col. Steven Van Riper, the Army’s product manager for Apache sensors, Fox News reported. “And really that all ends up saving lives of American forces, of our allied forces.”
The M-DSA has one final round of tests to complete before it goes into full production. If successful, it will be produced for the U.S. military by Lockheed Martin and installed on the helicopters in 2017, Fox News reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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