/me thwaps Al for his crappy formatting

And here we have the return of the Sentry Gun from the loch of our ancient Nessie. The Sentry Gun will be up for review until 14th April 2010... Definately need to get that review in early, otherwise I'll be in London...

Andy

Name Of Technology: Sentry gun “Hawk Eye” Auto mated weapon system

Category Of Technology: Weapons

Description of Technology

This weapon system is designed to a multitude of operations these are listed below:

- Fire support: This can either via automatic operation or via manual operation.
- Area denial: Weapon can be placed into a specific area and told to deny access to this area, provisions can be made for authorised personnel to enter and leave area.
- Base defence: Can be used to defend a permanent or temporary installation against attack.

Weapon specifications:

Dimensions:

Height: 1.2 meters
Length: 1.5 Meters
Width: 1Meters

Device arrangement:

The weapon system is built on a tripod mount allowing for maximum stability, the weapon portion itself is allowed to rotate the full 360 degrees and can be
elevated up to 45 degrees and lowered to -45 degrees. Its body is cast from solid Duriduim providing sufficient armour against most energy and projectile weaponry. The 3 batteries are located at the base of each leg.

Power source:

There are 3 on-board Batteries with varying lifespans dependant on use, there is however a slot in the head of each “foot” of the turret for a mains power supply. This will automatically override the on-board power supply (batteries), unless the power supplied drops below the required level for operation and trickle charging of batteries. The various batteries are explained below:

1. Battery 1: Located at the base of leg “A” , this is marked on the device .Supplies the optics, sensors and control systems to provide an operational standby life span of three days, active tracking and engagement mode cuts life span of battery to one day of continues usage.
2. Located at the base of leg “B” Used to supply power to the attached weapon and allowing for continual firing of standard phaser fire of up to level seven for one day, dual batteries allow for “field replacement” of one battery while the other provides power. Each battery provides power for continual phaser fire of up to roughly 12 hours.
3. Located at the base of leg “C”, operates exactly as stated above.

Sensors:

Multiple sensors are built on board to the weapon system and are mounted in armoured positions to protect against destruction by enemy fire, these are located : half way up each leg, various locations around the cradle and one optic sensor placed on the same axis but 5 centimetres to the right of where the weapon would sit. Auxiliary sensor input ports are located on the underside of the tripod assembly, specifically where the 3 legs meet. Thus allowing for extra sensors to be connected to the device for more precise operations.

On board sensors include: Infrared, motion tracking, night vision, Electromagnetic(EM) sensors and standard optical video unit.

Control: The unit is controlled by isolinear circuitry located on the lower half of the rear of the device, this is heavily armoured and is difficult to replace in the field to the various connections the entire unit has to the various subsystems. Changing control chips is a simply process of opening the control unit cover but further component replacement requires specialist tools. The weapon system can be either be controlled remotely from a standard star-fleet tricorder, manually by a trigger system of the actual mounted weapon, by a starship in orbit or can be left in standby mode to fire on a number of pre-selected variables.

Weapons: The system can be equipped with:

1. Type IIIa Phaser Rifle
2. Type IIIb Phaser Rifle
3. Type IIIc Pulse Compression Phaser Rifle
4. TR-116 Projectile Rifle
5. Type IIId Pulse Compression Phaser Rifle- EVA version*

* Note: Reserved for use in EVA environments.

The weapon is to be slotted into its “cradle” , basically a small housing with a gap at the rear for the trigger. The power-cell and optics on the weapon are to be removed before the device is inserted then once the weapon is seated correctly the power-supply and optics connector is to be pushed down into place via its barrel hinge arrangement.

Optical display:

The optical display will present the user with all the data acquired from the weapon, power supply and sensors. This unit itself is a precision piece of equipment and thus field repairs are ill-advised, replacement is done via removing the pin in the barrel hinge and lifting the unit out.

Portability; The device can be erected by a 3 man team within 10 minutes, providing enough time for operational checks to be done on the devices sensors, weapons and control systems. This amount of time is needed due to the obvious complex workings of the device and to ensure that the device's IFF system works well.

However a “Plug and play” set-up can be done within 5 minutes though this is not recommended as this bypasses all safety checks and simply activates the weapon ready for use upon erection.

Transport:

This weapon can be transported in its supplied cases or by hand via carry handles on the various devices, although not using a case does leave several usually unexposed areas of the device exposed to the elements.

Conclusion:

This device should meet the current stop gap in starfleet ground based security applications, further versions are in design for heavier weapons. This weapon is aimed at usage by both starfleet and by marine corps forces, due to its portability and small size it allows for even a small starship to carry several. This device is also aimed at relieving the ever present issue of lack of manpower which tends to arise in combat engagements.

Creator of Technology: Alasdair Sutherland.