Weapons manufacturer FN Herstal has created a "Black Box" that detects, discriminates, counts shots, measures burst rates and burst lengths, records firing sequences and detects stoppages due to failures to cycle. Designed to fit any weapon type, the molded FN Black Box improves maintenance processes and can deliver critical information to mission commanders including, when coupled to a GPS, ID and location data.

The unit has a non-replaceable battery and the company says it has a service life of 10 years and a recording capacity of 100,000 rounds.

FN Herstal's Black Box is part of its Armatronics system, which can communicate useful information to the chain of command during a mission because the unit holds the identification number of the weapon and can therefore indirectly identify the soldier. The upper command level could, for instance, follow up the ammunition usage/supply of a squad during a mission.