Airborne soldiers do some smart shooting with new sight that helps smash drones

Airborne soldiers have been issued with a new smart optical sight that uses artificial intelligence to help them shoot down drones more efficiently.

Members of 16 Air Assault Brigade were the first to receive the new SmartShooter Smash fire control system.

The Smash sight gives soldiers a high probability of destroying small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) that are trying to locate and target their positions.

• Royal Marines hit the range and practise CQB with new KS-1 assault rifle
• KS-1: All the gen on the British Army and Royal Marines' new rifle
• Ukraine names operative claimed to have made world's longest sniper shot

Troops from across the brigade have been testing the new sight at Fingringhoe Ranges near Colchester.

They have been training as counter-UAS specialists and will then go back to their units and pass on their skills to their colleagues.

The Smash sight is mounted on the standard issue SA80 L85 A3 assault rifle and uses image processing software to detect a UAS in the sight's field of view.

It then displays a box around the target, tracks and predicts its movement, and only allows the rifle to be fired when it is aligned to make a successful hit.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Joe Cooke, who runs the brigade's small arms training, said: "The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have really shown the threat and capabilities of UAS.

"Our current option to target a drone is to just shoot at it, and they are small and mobile targets that are very hard to hit.

"The Smash sight increases the probability of a hit, reducing the amount of ammunition used.

"It's about efficiency, and it also offers a surveillance capability to detect drones that soldiers might not have been spotted.

"We've got medics and signallers on this course who because of their role don't use their rifles as much as infantry, and they are shooting with an accuracy that they have never achieved before."

Another soldier training with the new sight is Lance Corporal Harry Howes, a driver with 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, who was full of praise for the Smash sight.

LCpl Howes said: "The Smash sight is a simple piece of kit to use. It just takes a few goes to get used to how it works.

"You still pull the trigger, but the system fires the rifle when it is most confident of a hit – which it gets!"