Why is the gunner still exposed?
Ayn Galt
23

I worked with that technology- the CROW system is amazing, and works about as you describe. Not only is the gunner safer, the computer lets you automatically zero at excess of 2,000 meters with a click of the button, allowing first or second round effects on target.

The downsides are- it’s expensive and breakable. If you’re waging war on a budget it means it’s harder to outfit every vehicle with it. And of course, every bomb that hits hurts a lot more.

Even worse, it limits the gunner’s field of view and situational awareness. You can only see what the little camera is directly pointed at, and it’s cumbersome and slow shifting left and right. On patrol, that’s frustrating and dangerous. It means that ten guys can be laying in ambush up ahead on the right, and the gunner doesn’t see them because he’s looking dead ahead with no peripheral vision. Against a competent guerrilla army like Hezbollah, that’s one hell of a downside.