Have you seen the extended version of ‘Aliens’? In the longer cut, the surviving Marines who are marooned on LV-426 deploy remote sentry weapons outside their makeshift fortress to hold off the advancing aliens while Bishop the android remote-pilots the backup dropship from the orbiting Sulaco to rescue them.
The robotic guns work beautifully — for a while — until the approaching xenomorph horde proves to be too many for the weapons and exhausts their ammunition supply.
SIG SAUER apparently wants to be the supplier of remote weapons systems for the Colonial Marine forces of the future. Toward that end, they’ve just announced the acquisition of Israeli firm General Robotics, maker of robotic and remote weapons platforms.
Here’s their press release . . .
SIG SAUER is extremely excited to announce the acquisition of General Robotics, one of the world’s premier manufacturers of lightweight remote weapon stations and tactical robotics for manned and unmanned platforms and anti-drone applications.
Ron Cohen, President and CEO, SIG SAUER, Inc. began, “This acquisition will greatly enhance SIG SAUER’s growing portfolio of advanced weapon systems. The team at General Robotics is leading the way in the development of intuitive, lightweight remote weapon stations with their battle-proven solution.”
Recently, the U.S. Army selected the SIG SAUER lightweight machine gun (XM250), automatic rifle (XM7), and high-pressure hybrid ammunition for the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program, representing a historic step forward in weapons technology. The NGSW program is currently in the early stages of adoption and the U.S. Army will field the weapons at the squad level in 2023.
“The combination of the General Robotics remote weapons station with SIG SAUER’s lightweight squad weapons and high-pressure hybrid ammunition will revolutionize small arms for military forces worldwide. This acquisition exponentially increases the capabilities of our lightweight weapon systems delivering transformative advancements in mobility, greater lethality and battle tested force protection for today’s warfighters,” continued Cohen.
“General Robotics and all our employees are honored to join forces with global defense leader SIG SAUER to integrate our platforms into a single solution to support military units around the world,” concluded Shahar Gal, CEO, General Robotics.
