New Ipod App

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...nipodtouch.jpg

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This official US Army M110 Sniper Rifle has all the necessary accouterments: long barrel, scope, and an iPod touch.

You see, that iPod is running the program BulletFlight, available now from the App Store for $12. BulletFlight is essentially a ballistics calculator that turns environmental factors like windspeed and distance into simple "click" adjustments on the rifle. Five different rifle profiles have been preloaded into the software to factor in specifics like muzzle velocity and bullet weight.

But even more importantly, having a gun app on an iPod finally gives the sniper a excuse to blast AC/DC while clearing an area of hostiles—as if another one were needed.

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Link

Cool idea, but I have a few conscerns.
1. Is it rugged enough? ie weatherproof, dust proof, shock proof, cracked screen proof
2. Does it detract form the mission at hand? ie block vision, impair concentration
3. Can the interface be operated in full gear? ie buttons look small, soldiers often wear gloves / chemical gear.
4. Is it tactical? display seems very bright. Is there a darker color scheme? I wouldn't want this thing giving away my position
5. Is it rugged enough? Believe me when I say, soldiers will damn near go out of their way to find out if they can break something.

To answer questions 1-4 IDK,
for question 5 something like tearing armor plates of a tank?

Actually I is was making sure my "butter-bar", tank-rider, leuitenant didn't get taken out by some overhanging branches. It just so happened that I nicked a tree and ripped the first two armor plates clean off the tank and launched them about 20 ft off the trail.

As to #5, let's see.
We used the cooling fins on the FBCBII computer cases to wipe the mud from our boots, thereby neagating any cooling effects they might have provided.

The pivot mounts for the LCD's would last between 3-9 days because once dust got in the pivot joints it would grind them to a larger size.

I had mechanics tell me my tank's engine was operating at 96% efficiency, even though it was seriously underpowered and periodically stalled. Within 48 hours I had it sitting still at 100% efficiency.

People used to joke around that the chemlight, aka glowstick, was specifically made for the Army, because it only works when broken.

It might be cool for my long range weasel gun but I already have a ballistics calculator that measures wind speed. I guess you have to guess at the wind speed and direction with this doodad. I don't think attaching it to the rifle is a good idea.

Here are the links to complete the gadget thingy

Knight Arms

And a review

There are also other things to consider besides wind speed and distance, such as barell length, twist, humidity, temp, barometric pressure, projectile weight, ballistic coefficient, powder burn rate, target angle, and geographic position/situation. This could be better than memorising ballistic tables. But I agree, my spotter can play with it and just give me the correction factors.

Seriously. This is THE killer app for the iPhone. I can't believe no one has said that in this thread yet.

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Originally Posted by Nexus Flux

There are also other things to consider besides wind speed and distance, such as barell length, twist, humidity, temp, barometric pressure, projectile weight, ballistic coefficient, powder burn rate, target angle, and geographic position/situation. This could be better than memorising ballistic tables. But I agree, my spotter can play with it and just give me the correction factors.

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Didn't I say my "ballistic calculator" does wind speed and direction? It does everything else (external ballistics). Of course it only does wind from the firing position. The wind downrange is up to you. Ever shoot on the 1000 meter range at Ft. Walters (Mineral Wells)? You can have three wind directions at once and a different mirage at every focus distance.