Precision Strike Suite for Special Operations Forces

The Precision Strike Suite for Special Operation Forces (PSS-SOF), a computer program that will make the United States Field Artillery more accurate and lethal than ever.

 

In a recent interview with Inside the Army, Maj. Gen. David Ralston, commander of the Field Artillery school at Ft. Sill, sang his praises of the new technology. Ralston said that this new program “enables soldiers at the tactical level to precisely locate a time-sensitive target for fires within about five minutes,” which is faster than every before.

 

According to an Inside the Army article, published April 24, 2006, PSS-SOF is becoming a program of record for all the services and is being incorporated into the Army’s existing Forward Observer Software. The software program may be fielded to soldiers in Iraq within three months. A soldier using PSS-SOF would use a series of lasers to locate a target on a grid after entering his own location. The software then draws a 3-D map from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency of the target that the soldier has identified. If the target is wrong, the soldier has the option to drag and drop an icon from his computer onto the correct location on the map, ensuring that the correct target will be fired upon.

 

“It’s a great system and very easy to use,” Ralston said. “This is not mensurated targeting, it is near-mensurated. But it is close enough that it will get you ‘precise’ targeting,” which means within 10 meters of the target. “We think now we’ll be firing more, because we bring this new asset to the fight.”