Hearts And Minds

This might explain the accuracy, Kate.

The Auto Pointing System (APS) is based on an inertial navigation system which enables it to be unhooked and into action in 30 seconds. The APS replaces the traditional dial sight and takes into account trunion tilt, without the requirement to level any spirit level bubbles as before.

A touch-screen display tells the gun controller when his gun is laid onto the correct target data provided. This enhancement improves the accuracy of the fall of shot to a greater degree of accuracy than possible with the dial sight.

And a Youtube of the gun in action.

Naw, it's not accuracy, it's a fluke. The weapon itself might be quite accurate for an artillery piece, but, with a 5 second flight time, hitting a target in the chest is in no way indicative of skill or accuracy.

Plus, at that range, the artillery piece was most likely employed in a direct-fire role, meaning the "APS" wouldn't have been used.

For those who aren't well versed in military terminology, direct fire means using relatively flat trajectories and low elevations - say 5 to 20 degrees above horizontal - in order to engage close targets which you can actually see. This is much easier than firing in an indirect-fire role, where the barrel can be almost 90 degrees above horizontal (ie, completely vertical), which allows the weapon to fire over obstacles and engage targets at much longer distances.

I have to somewhat agree with Alex...a fluke.
However, such accuracy at 2.6k has been done with 50 cal heavy snipers.....and this sort of accuracy (direct fire) by the dreaded '88mm German gun is legendary.
But basically Alex is correct...with a flight time of 5 seconds a whole host of things can go wrong and usually do.

Here's a youtube vid supposedly of a Canadian sniper picking off Taliban snipers. Warning dead body bits are seen flying around.

fluke, but a nice fluke.

Fritz:

Video gives new meaning to the "Religion of Pieces"

Shooting marmots with a .50. Such is life.

Sorry to disappoint all, but the video is a fake - or rather the credit to Canadian snipers is false. It is actually a video of 'rock chuck' hunting in Utah.

At the url, go to Varmit Safari II previews, and 'rock chucks'. Most of the clips from the 'canadian sniper' video are there.

http://www.rmvh.com/Scenes.htm

From The Black Rod's piece:
"[A] spokesman for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud threatened two suicide attacks per week in Pakistan if the drone attacks continued."

Hmm. We kill you, and you respond by threatening suicide? Call me crazy, but this sounds like a win-win situation, if ever there was one.

The article also mentions Canada's CH-146 Griffon helicopters. They kind of remind me of Vietnam era Huey's, but I'd sure love to fire a minigun from a helicopter! Yahoo - even though the most recent versions have been de-tuned from 6,000 rounds per minute to 4,000 rpm, it would STILL be a blast!
(Oops, sorry - is my red neck showing? LOL)

Sarge...yeah that makes sense....the veggies etc were all wrong for Tora Bora....
Fred:
Indeed....I for one love it when that happens...
usually cross winds, heat thermals, or just bad luck messes things up. General rule for long range shooting is the bigger the projectile the less this occurs. Neighbour here has a .17 Rem that can go weird in 100 metres. We tried it in a BIG building and could drive tacks---outside in the wind and sun.....another matter....

Reports on the news indicate the Navy "snipers" engaged the pirates from 25 meters.
Generally this is pistol range....however....
Trying to shoot, from a pitching, rolling ship, a target, on a lifeboat going up and down like a yo-yo, is a daunting proposition.

Lots of good stuff over at the Black Rod...obviously lots of progress is happening.

It's also true that much of the news could be spun negatively. All the good news could be ignored. More importantly, those incursions into Pakistan could be portrayed as attacks on a sovereign nation (and ally!) without a formal declaration of war. Bush was never so lawless. It would be easy to whip up and report opposition in Pakistan that could threaten the party in power. Instead, we get an oblique reference in the closing paragraphs of a story in the Edmonton Sun. The G&M does a story about improving school enrollment.

This is the result of Obama's superior diplomatic skills. Obama can focus on a single-front war whereas Bush needed to fight a two-front war: against the terrorists and the press. It seems that all along, the press was the more formidable opponent.

They were using the Light Gun in the Falklands.

As other posters have noted it was fluke shot. While the probable error in range would be quite low given the range and the charge used hitting a "chest wide" target is not a recognized part of the weapon's capability.

They were using the Light Gun in the Falklands.

As other posters have noted it was fluke shot. While the probable error in range would be quite low given the range and the charge used hitting a "chest wide" target is not a recognized part of the weapon's capability.

"But basically Alex is correct...with a flight time of 5 seconds a whole host of things can go wrong and usually do."

Yeah, on the other hand with a 35lb shell "close enough is good enough". You miss by 10 yards your're almost always still getting a guarenteed kill. (You, and your little dog too, Dorothy.)

That being said, it's pretty nifty shooting from a largish crew served weapon. After all you have to acquire the target, get your gun-bunnies all doing their thing, acquire relative range, angle, etc... Adjust for wind, weather and altitude, blah blah blah.

What understatement: he was hit in the chest by a 35 lb shell and died instantly.

Well, what else COULD you do?

Nice thing about the 105mm or any artillery round, close is good enough. Still, direct hit on the bad guy is always fun.

Aaaaah - Alex, if the barrel is at 90 degrees from the horizon, we have the makings of a slight faux pas - what goes straight up tends to come straight back down.
If I was trying to maximize the range of the gun, I'd tend to want to work at about the 45 degree point - taking wind resistance, etc, into account, somewhere between forty and fifty degrees ought to maximize things rangewise.

Agree Phantom. Close counts this time. A 25M miss is really a hit.

kakola...yeah 90o is Darwin Award territory however in practice 90o shots usually get high enough to grab enough wind (+coreolus effect) to make them drift.
Generally circa 60o produces the most range.

I think you will find around 30 degrees from horizontal actually gives the most range. In a vacuum a 45 degree anfle would give the longest range since both velocity components are equal.

I suspect just about every other non-Western nation on earth considers that an expensive and wasteful gadget. You wanna hit the enemy? Fire 2000 shells at him. All the rest is namby-pamby sissy-PC bulls**t!

Seriously, it is nice to be able to hit a single target,but there are reasons why there are MGs in a platoon, for instance. Sometimes the sher volume of fire is what's needed, and it's war. People gotta die...