미 해병, 사격훈련에 '자율로봇 표적' 도입 VIDEO: The Marine Corps's new robotic targets look, move, and even shout just like real humans
The Marine Corps's new robotic targets look, move, and even shout just like real humans
Hope Hodge Seck, Military.com July 23, 2019
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Levi Burton with 2nd Law Enforcement Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group fires a 12-gauge shotgun during a live-fire range, testing a new autonomous robotic target system at Camp Lejeune, N.C., June 26, 2018
(U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Tanner Seims)
미 해병, 사격훈련에 '자율로봇 표적' 도입 미 해병2사단, 자율로봇 표적시스템 16대 리스 방식 구매
미 해병대가 사격 훈련에 '자율 로봇 표적 시스템(autonomous robotic target system)'을 정식 도입한다. ‘비즈니스 인사이더’에 따르면 미 노스 캐롤라이나에 위치한 해병 2사단은 앞으로 병사들의 사격 훈련에 기존의 표적지 대신 자율 로봇 표적 시스템을 도입하기로 했다. 자율 로봇 표적 시스템은 바퀴를 장착한 휴머노이드 로봇으로, 자율적으로 이동할 수 있으며 여러 대의 로봇이 협동 작전을 벌일 수도 있다. 적군처럼 보이도록 외국어도 구사하며 총을 갖고 있어 실제적인 위협이 된다. 로봇들이 자율적으로 이동하면서 병사들을 교란하기 때문에 병사 입장에선 기존 표적 보다 명중시키는 게 쉽지 않다. 미 해병은 오랫동안 자율 로봇 표적시스템 도입을 추진해왔다. 해병대 전투연구소를 중심으로 시스템 도입을 검토해왔으며, 지난해 로버트 넬러 사령관은 자율 로봇 표적 시스템의 도입이 사격 훈련의 수준을 어느 정도 높일 수 있는지에 관한 연구를 외부 기관에 의뢰하기도 했다. 하지만 시스템 도입에 들어가는 예산이 걸림돌로 작용해왔다. 예산 문제로 시스템 도입이 미뤄질 수 밖에 없는 상황이었다.
이 같은 상황에서 해병 2사단은 자율 로봇 표적 시스템의 리스 도입을 결정하고, 210만 달러의 비용을 들여 총 16대의 시스템을 도입하기로 했다. 자율 로봇 표적 시스템 도입으로 사격 훈련 시설 현대화도 도모할 수 있을 것으로 보고 있다. 기존의 사격 훈련 시설은 위치가 고정되어 있기 때문에 쉽게 변화를 주기 힘든데 반해 움직이는 표적인 자율 로봇 시스템은 로봇 배치를 변경하는 방식으로 사격 훈련장을 현대화할 수 있다는 설명이다. 대신 해병 2사단은 그동안 사격 훈련장을 종전의 야드 단위에서 미터 단위로 바꾸는 계획을 포기했다. 단위를 미터법으로 바꾸면 다른 서비스 또는 다른 국가 군과의 작전이 보다 용이하게 이뤄질 것으로 판단했다. 하지만 여기에 들어가는 예산도 막대할 것으로 보고 있다. 미 해병은 자율 로봇 표적 시스템 도입으로 사격 훈련 시설의 재설계 등에 적은 비용이 들어갈 것으로 판단하고 있다. 해병 2사단은 자율 로봇 표적 시스템이 도입되면 움직이는 표적을 사격해야하기 때문에 병사들의 명중률이 크게 떨어질 것으로 보고 있다. 명중률을 20~30% 수준으로 보고 있는데 앞으로 80~90%까지 끌어올린다는 계획이다. 이를 통해 적은 병력으로도 적과 대치시 전투 능력을 제고한다는 목표를 갖고 있다. 심지어 16대의 로봇을 한꺼번에 투입하면 실제 소대 단위보다 병력이 많기 때문에 병사들이 불리한 전투상황에서 비상 대처 능력을 키울수도 있을 것으로 기대하고 있다. 장길수 ksjang@irobotnews.com 로봇신문사 |
Editor's Note: This article by Hope Hodge Seck originally appeared on Military.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
At 2nd Marine Division in North Carolina, troops who have spent their careers shooting at static bull's-eyes on paper are being forced to adapt to a new kind of target — one that can charge at them, move in unexpected directions, respond when engaged and even shout at them in a foreign language.
The division is the first operational unit in the military to employ autonomous Marathon targets: humanoid figures on four-wheeled platforms that can be programmed to operate in concert, and are fast and unpredictable enough to rock the most experienced marksmen back on their heels.
The targets have been a subject of experimentation within the Marine Corps for several years. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, out of Quantico, Virginia, had taken point on experimentation with the systems, and in 2018 then-Commandant Gen. Robert Neller commissioned a study on how the targets could improve Marines' skills and training quality.
But officials at 2nd Marine Division were not content to wait until a service-wide decision was made on how to use the robots. When Marine Corps budgets became constrained at the end of last fiscal year due to storm repair and other costs, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joshua Smith, division gunner for 2nd Marine Division, said he stepped in to save the experimentation effort.
"When I first approached [2nd Marine Division Commanding Gen. Maj. Gen. David Furness] and told him the Marine Corps could not fiscally afford to keep these targets for the next year, he immediately responded, 'Find a way to get the money; I want these targets for the division,'" Smith told Military.com.
The division ended up leasing 16 targets for a total cost of $2.1 million.
That may sound steep compared to traditional static targets, but Smith notes having targets that move means he can modernize or alter any range cheaply in the space of an hour. The Marine Corps, Smith said, recently abandoned a plan to convert all its rifle ranges from yards to meters -- an effort that would allow Marines to operate more easily with other services and other nations' militaries -- because of the towering cost, estimated at $1 million per berm.
"How do you do that on the cheap? You move the target," he said. "You don't move the berm."
Smith said he's now finding range configuration limited only by his own imagination. And the same, he said, is true for employment of the targets, which not only test marksmanship skills through evasive, human-like maneuvering, but also make a convincing enemy force that can leave troops dry-mouthed when they charge a shooter at 10 miles per hour.
He said the Marine Corps-commissioned study found the targets could increase individual marksmanship effectiveness on a moving target dramatically over the course of just one day.
"A Marine went anywhere from a 20-30% hit rate on a moving target to 80-90%," Smith said. "Imagine, if I can do reps and sets like that all the time, how I could increase lethality at the individual level."
A primary objective for Smith this year is the collection of more data: usage rates and statistics demonstrating increases in lethality across 2nd Marine Division.
"We're trying to show that these are a valuable target to us," he said.
They're already wildly popular, with wait lists for division units to use them. Smith said units preparing to deploy get priority; others get in line. He has brought out the targets for unit events such as the 2nd MarDiv squad competition in June and July, where a group of targets simulated an enemy patrol. A Marine Corps squad ambushed the simulated enemy with an M18 claymore mine, then fired on the robots when they scattered in a realistic human response to the attack.
"When we first leased them, it was sort of little-known that we had these targets. When I got Marines in front of them, that's when the usage rates went up," Smith said. " ... Marines are asking why are these not on every range."
Among his future plans is a live-fire range in which the targets work their way inside an infantry unit's perimeter, putting human troops on the defensive.
Having 16 of the humanoid targets means a rifle squad can be matched or even outnumbered by a yelling, advancing simulated enemy.
"As we get out of the [Iraq/Afghanistan] conflicts, what that was, we always outnumbered our enemy," Smith said. "Now, as the [Defense Department] starts to look at peer-versus-peer, we try to give that to the Marines now. A rifle squad is fighting a rifle squad. A fire team is fighting a fire team."
It's not just the ground-pounders who can benefit from the targets, though. Smith said amphibious assault vehicle crewmen have fired on the targets using their guns, and tanks have been able to train their 7.62mm coaxial machine guns on them.
"Some of the stuff we would like to see in the future is the ability to incorporate some of our higher-caliber munitions," he said. "Right now, we're up to 7.62 and some of the smaller fragmentation [rounds]. We would love to incorporate mortars. ... Those are some of the things we have been looking at."
Business Insider
edited by kcontents
Smith said he's also thinking about how to rig the targets to "shoot back" at human troops, possibly by incorporating the Instrumented Tactical Engagement Simulation System, or ITESS, essentially a high-tech version of laser tag.
Marine Corps-wide, Smith said he'd like to see eight to 16 of the targets fielded to each infantry battalion. But whether or not the service springs for the technology, he's confident his Marines will be able to keep training with them.
"This is going to be up to [Headquarters Marine Corps] for them to find the budget," he said. "Within 2nd Marine Division, we're going top watch this very closely and see what the institution does. If it doesn't go the way we would like it to go, I will tell you with confidence that Gen. Furness will give me guidance to find said money and keep these targets within the division."
This article originally appeared on Military.com
https://taskandpurpose.com/marine-cops-robot-targets
kcontents
