SMARTSHOOTER wins Army Awards 2025: Every Bullet a Laser-Guided Missile - VIDEO

SMARTSHOOTER has won the Innovation Award in the Precision Fire Control category at the Army Technology Excellence Awards 2025, thanks to the SMASH technology: a compact system that combines artificial intelligence, computer vision, and targeting algorithms to significantly increase the accuracy of small arms.

The dream of every rifleman, even inexperienced

For a rifleman, especially if young or inexperienced, hitting a moving, distant, or small target (like a drone) is not just a matter of strength: it's a matter of timing, calmness, technique, and a lot of practice.

SMASH changes the rules because it helps to see, track, and stabilize the target, and “locks” the shot at the best moment. In simple terms: it reduces human errors in the most difficult seconds.

That's why many would describe it as the dream of every rifleman: it doesn't make the soldier “magical,” but it can make the shot seem almost as if every bullet becomes a “guided missile” — a metaphor to say that the probability of hitting increases and ammunition waste decreases, with less risk of hitting what shouldn't be hit.

Important: the system remains Human-in-the-Loop. The weapon does not decide on its own: the soldier is always in command.

Even stronger on servo-assisted mounts: anti-drone vehicles and fixed positions

Where this technology can become even more effective is when it is not “just” on a rifle, but integrated on a servo-assisted mount (for vehicles, light turrets, or fixed positions).

The reason is simple:

• the mount stabilizes better,
• follows the target more smoothly,
• can stay on target longer without tiring the operator,
• and in an anti-drone context, it matters a lot, because drones are fast, small, and unpredictable.

In practice, on an anti-drone position or on a vehicle, SMASH can become a “multiplier” of effectiveness: more control, more tracking continuity, higher probability of neutralizing the threat with fewer attempts.

Conclusion

The 2025 award recognizes one clear thing: precision is no longer just individual talent. With SMASH, SMARTSHOOTER brings “assisted” precision that can truly help the rifleman in the field — and can become even more powerful when integrated into servo-assisted systems for fixed or mobile defense against drones.