Cities have become the new battleground and Hybrid or Urban Warfare the greatest threat being waged by ISIS to Boko Haram to Hamas to Ukraine rebels. Fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria is being waged as Urban warfare. Boko Haram is carrying out its urban terror campaign against the Nigerian Army and its allies. IDF’s ground forces is preparing to deal with an enemy that moves on foot, appears and vanishes quickly, is armed with deadly shoulder-held missiles and operates in an urban setting, filled with noncombatants. Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris also provide glimpses of this new kind of conflict that will be more frequent and more complicated.
The terrorists and other groups resort to Asymmetric Warfare that tries to counter technological superiority by exploiting the limitations and vulnerabilities of high-tech weapon and platforms, with relatively simple, low-cost countermeasures, tactics and solutions like dispersion and concealment tactics.
New air, ground and sea based platforms are desired having capabilities of accurately engaging targets in urban terrain with low collateral damage. The size of projectiles and weapons need to be miniaturized so that they can be employed in helicopters and small UAVs, while enhancing their lethality and engagement ranges to defeat even concealed targets.
Information technology advances are enabling, new generation of guided munitions that allow extremely precise position location and navigation capability as well as miniaturization of the fuses, sensors and guidance systems, while reducing their costs. Artillery projectiles and tactical rockets are being miniaturized, with precision guidance along with long range and accuracy.
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has appointed Saab for its massive overmatch assault round (MOAR) study. The contract requires the company to conduct research on the development of a precision-engagement capability for shoulder-fired weapons.MOAR seeks to leverage commercial technologies to provide a low-cost, multi-use, and multi-function precision engagement capability.
“This research is crucial to improving the power of small military units,” said Görgen Johansson, Head of Saab’s Dynamics business area. “Today’s short-range weapons lack active guidance, while long-range weapons are extremely expensive, physically burdensome, and often require teams of operators that smaller units do not have.
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