The purpose of a military armament is to engage, hit and destroy a threat.
However, reliably hitting a target from a moving vehicle or vessel with a machine gun using a conventional mount is nearly an impossible task. Manually keeping the weapon on target and continuously compensating for movement especially of a vehicle driving off-road or boat can be an impossible task for a gunner. The movement of a naval craft in seas or vehicle driving off-road eliminates the possibility of effectively aiming. Few and more often no target hits are achieved despite the rounds fired.
The Flex Force ASP (Agile, Small-deflection, Precision) converts the standard MK-98 to a gyro-stabilized system that has demonstrated ability to repeatedly hit the target better than 90 percent of the time.
The ASP allows a manned machine gun to rapidly acquire, accurately engage and destroy targets with enhanced lethality independent of the movement of the platform it is carried on. The basic package adds a stabilization module and modified hand-grip control to the standard mount and weapon. A reflex or red-dot aiming sight like the Trijon MGRS or a multi-spectral day/thermal electro-optic or a can also be included on the weapon to further simply aiming.
In various field demonstrations comparing the ASP and a conventional manual mounted weapon replicating firing from moving platforms, boats, and vehicles it consistently achieved significantly superior results. In one case the ASP saw eighty-nine target hits of one-hundred rounds fired while the manual mount’s gunner was able to fire only sixteen rounds achieving zero hits in the same engagement time.
The ASP not only increases firing accuracy but also has been demonstrated to allow gunners to both acquire a target and train the weapon onto it in less time. It further increases the practical effective firing range by providing a tighter shot grouping.
The ASP can be employed with machineguns in 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 12.7mm (.50) calibers. Demonstrations have been conducted to the US and various NATO militaries with the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy acquiring the system for fielding on various vessels.
A Royal Navy seaman who fired the ASP with the .50 caliber machinegun underway in seas explained, “With the (ASP) mount stabilizing itself it allowed us to give a longer, more accurate burst of fire which enables us to eliminate threats quicker and at greater ranges.”
by Stephen W. Miller
