Super Sniper Scope: Next War's 'Secret Weapon'? (Updated)

It's probably not the game-changing, "secret weapon" of the Iraq war. But it could help win the next one: a stealth sniper scope for invisible assassination.

Battles are increasingly about taking out a few select enemies, not large numbers of foes. If you want a device that allows you to locate, target and kill a subject, you need look no further than DARPA's Super-Resolution Vision System (SRVS), which I looked at recently in the New Scientist technology blog.

Heat haze ordinarily throws off snipers. But SRVS changes heat haze from an obstruction into a means of enhancing the view. An effect called " turbulence-induced micro-lensing" means that every instant the heated air acts as a series of lenses; at a given moment you may be able to look right through them and see a magnified view of the scene beyond. The trick is to use digital technology to identify the "lucky regions" or "lucky frames" when a clear view appears and assemble them into a complete picture.

The end result is a portable device 35 centimeters long and weighing two kilogram with an unprecedented capability. This sniper scope can beat the
'diffraction limit,' which defines the best that any other optical device can do -- in conditions of severe heat haze, no less.

Specifically, the SRVS will be good enough to positively ID individuals at sniping range:

*1) With an aperture not to exceed 6 cm, demonstrate that full scale facial images meeting ANSI INCITS 385-2004 can be correctly identified by trained observers (90% correct identification)
at a distance of 1 km (representing a 3x improvement over current performance). *

2) Demonstrate better-than-diffraction-limited super-resolution imaging at a speed of not less than 1 Hz where human subjects moving at
1 m/s can be correctly identified by trained observers (90% correct identification) at a distance of 1 km.

The spooky aspect of the SRVS is that even if the target is looking right at you, they won’t see a thing because of the heat haze. A sniper using one of these will be a truly invisible assassin, with the ideal technology for picking off high-value targets.

The prototype is supposed to be ready for 2009, with finished units being delivered to Special Operations units in 2011.

UPDATE: Henry Kenyon has a bunch more on this project, and on a related Darpa effort, to make buildings all-but-transparent to U.S. forces.

ALSO:

• Pain Ray vs. Snipers
• The Sniper Baiting Debate
• Iraq Sniper Attacks Quadruple
• Pentagon Sniper Data Shot Down
• Next-Gen Scopes for Can't-Miss Snipers
• Lasers Stop Snipers Before They Fire
• Nanowires vs. Snipers