URBEX 2005, the future is Now!
Cpl McGeachy observes the sight picture from the video camera.Guns that fire round corners and a manpack RADAR that can see through walls? "Nonsense!" I hear you cry in unison. This was my opinion too until I deployed on URBEX, where I saw the futureÂ…..
The prospect of 2 cold weeks in Copehill Down had not filled the lads from Air Defence and Y Tps with glee. URBEX exists to test and develop various emerging technologies in the urban environment. Our work was focussed on the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) side. Y Tp was operating the in-service manpack EW equipment, SCARUS whilst AD Tp were expecting to be in the UAV operator role. 'It Flies it Dies' has recently been superseded by 'It Flies It Spies'.
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A Rifle Company of The Kings' Own Royal Border Regiment was testing the urban ops kit, including the crazy round the corner pistol, new collapsible ladders, handheld TI and simunition. It is all run by QinetiQ, a civvie organisation full of scientists who have replaced clipboards with handheld computers. Imagine their surprise when some lads from Air Defence Tp turned up to operate millions of pounds worth of new kit!
Cpl McGeachy pretends to use the sniffer antenna whilst Sgt Bowles pretends to cover round the corner.Scarily it wasn't a bite; the 'joystick-literate' Air Defenders turned overnight into operators of the ISTAR trials kit. This ranged from Zeiss Thermal Imagers (TI) capable of seeing a tank at 16Km to crazy civvies with devices dreamed up in garden sheds.
Our favourite article was in the latter category and consisted of a cunning cross between a big balloon and a kite. The inventor, who looked like he was having an afternoon off from Countdown, had attached a camera and radio to the kite with maskers and string. This hovered above the village, beaming images into the ISTAR HQ, collocated with the Coy HQ. Sgt Jase Burns, whose ample charm is usually employed on the fairer sex, was given the task of babysitting Richard Madeley's look-alike. I do not think that he trappedÂ….but they were certainly discussing the exact volume of balloons and the fact that "they inspire love when in flight." Quite.
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Whilst the Air Defenders were being lashed up by the inventors the Y Tp lads had dipped out. For some reason they felt seen off digging sub-surface Listening Posts and occupying them every day for two weeks. They were operating SCARUS to great effect in the URBAN environment, twice pinging an 'enemy' transmitter to the correct house. An accuracy level that surprised us more than the civvies and was thanks to the new 'sniffer' antenna, which we had previously regarded as useless. EW experts indeed!
A final word on the 'Cornershot', which tends to inspire ridicule. It is a Sig Sauer Pistol housed in a robust frame, with a camera, torch and IR torch aligned with the barrel. A 180 pivot is seated behind the pistol so that it can fire round either left or right-handed corners. Behind this is a screen with cross-hairs, displaying the image from the video camera. Behind this is a trigger mechanism, linked to the pistol, and a stock, enabling accurate fire. It is currently in service with the Israeli forces and they certainly know a thing or two about Urban ops.
All in all it was a productive couple of weeks out of the confines of camp. We got a smart t-shirt with "Urban Warrior" emblazoned across the back and those who were especially friendly with the inventors have proffed such luxuries as chad caps, pens and mouse mats. Lucky us.
