Marksman weapons firearms shooting training system for carbines and rifles

FN Expert Belgium Defense Industry FN Herstal

The FN® Expert is a marksmanship shooting training system for carbine and rifle that provides instruction to both shooters (from beginner to already confirmed) and coaches. The simulation system focuses on training fundamental shooting skills (sight picture, breathing, trigger squeeze, etc.), building muscle memory and providing feedback following the shot. It is a wireless system capable of dry-fire and live-fire training on virtually any rifle or carbine. The system can be used on the shooters assigned weapon, together with any optics or accessories the shooter already has. It can be used indoors with simulated shooting distances, or outdoors with life-size targets and real shooting distances (up to 300 meters). It measures rifle movement, detects the shot, shows the location of both the hit and miss, and analyzes the shooter’s performance. It develops coaching skills by providing objective tools to measure shooter performance and visual output to instructors with problem definition. The Optical Measurement Part is a LED (Light Emitting Diode) device with an optical emission that is safe to the human eye, at the opposite of usual laser beam systems.

Components

The optical unit consists of Optical Measurement Part (OMP, in front) and User Interface Part (UIP), which includes main electronic board, rechargeable battery, buttons, buzzer, USB connector and graphic display. A cable replacement is available with a built-in Bluetooth module. The FN Expert device can be mounted directly to a Picatinny rail of a carbine or rifle, either on top or on one of the two sides of the weapon. Instead of mounting the FN Expert device to the Picatinny rail, most usually the device is mounted above the barrel of the weapon. For mounting the device to the barrel, an optional barrel adapter is needed.

Silhouette figures can be used as the target is equipped with P38 single prism reflector, which is placed to the desired center point of the target. At longer ranges in advanced training more prisms are needed to retain precision. The difficulty of training is practically independent on a distance to the target. This way training for e.g. 300 yards’ range ( 275 meters) with an assault rifle, or any other distance/target combination, can be done with any available space. In addition, a target with reflective tape can be used at short ranges.

Training

Depending on the characteristics of a selected training exercise FN Expert can be used in four configurations which stem from two possible operation modes Dynamic or Static, and whether FN Expert operates stand-alone or is connected to a PC as follows: 1. Tactical Marksmanship Stand-alone. 2. Basic Marksmanship stand-alone. 3. Tactical Marksmanship Connected. 4. Basic Marksmanship Connected.

Tactical Marksmanship Training: In this scenario, multiple operators are progressing from target to target. Digital target can be used in standalone or in combination with popup target system. The training session is usually performed stand-alone, without computer. All shots during the action will be stored into internal memory of the FN Expert device. When required, the setups are done in advance with PC computer. Shooters can be organized into teams. After the training action, all shots can be downloaded to a PC for reviewing.

The FN Expert dynamic training system consists of the following parts: - weapon and FN Expert device. • Digital target with a single prism reflector. • Optional: PC, USB cable and FN Expert application program. • Optional: Pop-Up target(s), Target Modules(s).

Basic Marksmanship Training: In this scenario, operators are static with simulated distances or real distances. Basic marksmanship training can be performed with either a single FN Expert device or in a multi-user system. All FN Expert devices can be connected to PC(s) or a tablet device. The session can also be conducted standalone and all the results downloaded after the session. Usually, the training sessions are performed indoor with small paper targets, or outdoor at real distances on customer’s specific targets. With suitable rugged tablets and targets equipped with several prisms, the training can be held at shooting range out of doors also. A basic marksmanship training session is performed using the FN Expert application working on Windows or Android. In Basic Marksmanship connected mode, a software zeroing is possible for quick and easy start of training.

The FN Expert basic static training system consists of the following parts: • Carbine or and FN Expert(s) with USB cable(s), if desired. • Target(s) with prism reflector(s) or reflective tape (classroom). • PC/tablet with Windows or Android operating system. • FN Expert application.

Multiple shooters Several FN Expert devices can be connected and used simultaneously. Several shooters can shoot at the same target simultaneously. Alternatively, all shooters can shoot at their own targets as well. An easy solution for training several shooters at the same time is to have one computer shared with two trainees. More flexibility can be obtained with Bluetooth connections.

Monitoring

Network capability can be used for monitoring training sessions. In this case, all shots from several computers are sent to a special monitor computer, which can be used for review, storing and printing. For monitoring, all computers are connected to the Internet. Instructors computer acts as monitor and all other computers are nodes for individual shooters.

Application Software: When the FN Expert device is connected to the PC/tablet, the application software is used for setting options as well as training control and after action analyzing of training sessions. Basic and tactical marksmanship training sessions can be replayed in several different view forms. Most common replay is a target view. Application user interface language can be changed by pressing ‘Language’ -button. Desired language is selected from the list of available language files. Each language file can be edited using any available text file editor, such as standard Windows Notepad.

Result analysis In basic marksmanship training analysis model, the shooting performance is divided into four result factors: breathe, hold, aim and trigger control, which are basic elements needed for successful results. After each shot, a quick grading of shooting analysis is displayed on each shooter display.

Session summary Training session summary can be viewed whenever the button is available in the toolbar. In basic marksmanship, training mode summary includes shot number, score, aiming time in seconds, center-of gravity points, and deviations in rings, and quick grading results. In dynamic training mode, the summary consists of hit/miss and timing information only.

Operational use

The FN Expert device is used for shooter training, both indoor and outdoor. A typical training system consists of the FN Expert optical device, a PC/tablet with application software and a silhouette target with a target module. Both USB or Bluetooth connections can be used. In most tactical training situations, the actual shooting distance to a target is not known beforehand. In Dynamic training mode, Expert allows very quick, military-type, instinct reaction type shots with varying target distance to be recorded. FN Expert automatically scales target per the distance, as shooting gets more difficult with increasing distance, just like it is in real shooting. However, in most basic/tactical training situations the set-up is quite stable. In its Basic Marksmanship training mode, FN Expert automatically maintains the difficulty level of shooting per selected distance/target combination regardless of the actual shooting distance used in training. In other words, the difficulty of training is independent on a distance to the target. This way training for any distance/target combination can be done with any available (limited) space.