With the news that the Brazilian Army has concluded customer acceptance tests of its first 30mm unmanned turret for its armoured vehicles, the time is right for a recap of recent additions to the field of remote weapon systems.

UT30BR
The UT30BR is an Israeli made remote weapon system to be integrated into the Brazilian IVECO 6X6 Guarani vehicle. The system incorporates a 30mm automatic cannon, a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, a Laser Warning System (LWS), commander panoramic sight and smoke grenade launchers. It also is fully dual axis stabilized and combines an automatic target tracker.

SARP
The Turkish Stabilized Advanced Remote Platform (SARP) is a remote sentry watch system. It can carry 12.7 mm and 7.62 machine guns, as well as 40 mm grenade launcher. It uses thermal and conventional cameras to observe potential threats. Once the threats are identified, its laser distance finder and automatic target tracing systems ensure that the system is accurate.

Protection at a Cost
Both of the remote weapon systems reduce the exposure of the gunner; with the platforms being operated from inside the safety of the vehicle or another location. This lack of exposure protects the gunner, but potentially may reduce the effectiveness of any counter-insurgency campaign and attempts to bond with the local population

Future Trend
While the nature of future of warfare, after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, is unclear at the moment, one trend looks set to continue. The development of unmanned and remote systems will continue to expand, with various branches of the US Military publishing plans for increased integration of unmanned systems into US doctrines. The protection offered, either directly or indirectly, to military personnel, coupled with potentially more efficiency help explain this focus on unmanned and remote systems.