Terrorist and Insurgent Teleoperated Sniper Rifles and Machine Guns

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“This data set consists of twenty-one teleoperated weapons systems used by terrorist and insurgent groups. It is worth noting that there are many more systems’ images available, but no group affiliation could be associated with them, which is why they were not included in this research project. The plethora of videos and photos on social media indicates that terror and insurgent groups are increasingly turning to improvised weaponry use on the battlefield. One class of improvised weapon that is emerging is remote controlled sniper rifles and machine guns. They are being used across Syria, Iraq, and a lone case in Libya as early as 2011. Typically, rifles or machine guns are improvised to be secured on a base — either mobile or stationary — and linked to cables, which are connected to a remote and screen. Some systems are more refined than others, such as with cameras, but all have at least proven to be somewhat effective. The Free Syrian Army was at the forefront of using improvised weaponry for the better part of 2013, based on what is still available on social media. But other rebel groups as well as Islamic State and Al Qaeda affiliates caught on to the trend quickly. In early 2016, videos and Twitter images even surfaced of improvised weaponry developed by Iraqi military forces. There is a level of sophistication and practicality of these groups to use what is available and create a weapon that can cause a great deal of damage. Social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube take down undesirable content periodically, but the majority of these system videos have remained online.

“While there is an abundance of teleoperated weapons in the hands of Islamic militants, they are certainly not of the quality one would see fielded by developed nations with sophisticated research and development teams. In Daejeon, South Korea, engineers developed a belt-fed .50 caliber machine gun turret known as the Super aEgis II, which was unveiled in 2010 and has since been improved as of 2016. An Ethernet cable runs from the turret’s base to the back of a computer with the rifle controlled by a joystick. With a four-kilometer engagement range, the joystick gives the operator the ability to maneuver the weapon and aim, while adjacent buttons control distance, chamber loading, and firing. The system will not fire without the command from a human operator. The Super aEgis II costs $40 million and has had a number of buyers, mostly in the Middle East: airbases across the United Arab Emirates, the Royal Palace in Abu Dhabi, and an armory in Qatar. Others have purchased the system for use at airports and military bases. This is the most recent debut by South Korea who have also created more improvised — and less costly — weaponry to protect their border with North Korea.”

This data set is from August 2016 and contains maps and appendixes, with images of weapons and terrorist symbols.

The Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is an open source research organization of the U.S. Army.

About the authors:

Dr. Robert J. Bunker is an Adjunct Research Professor, Strategic Studies Institute , U.S. Army War College and Adjunct Faculty, Department of Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate University. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor and Minerva Chair at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College and a past Futurist in Residence , Behavioral Science Unit /Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit , Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy.

Alma Keshavarz is a PhD student in Political Science at Claremont Graduate University. She received her MAP from Claremont Graduate University and her MPP from Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy.