Sniper snooper: 'Boomerang' can tell where Taliban marksmen are by 'listening' for enemy gunfire



A revolutionary device called Boomerang which ‘listens’ for enemy gunfire and instantly alerts soldiers to the sniper’s location is helping British troops fighting the Taliban.

The system can work out exactly where shots are coming from, allowing soldiers to move quickly to safety or return fire.

The Ministry of Defence says the device has saved lives. It has spent £20million to place Boomerang III at isolated British patrol bases and checkpoints on the frontline in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.







It comes after claims that the Taliban has hired sharpshooters to target Nato forces, including snipers and specialist bomb disposal experts.

Captain George Shipman, of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, fighting in Afghanistan, said: ‘We’ve used it on a number of occasions and it’s helped us to identify exactly where that firing point was. Usually it would take us maybe ten seconds to identify a firing point but the Boomerang speeds that up considerably.’

Sensitive: The mast device uses seven microphones which detect the blast and supersonic shockwave from a speeding bullet

The Boomerang was developed in the U.S. and honed for the warzone by scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Britain.

It is mounted on a mast and has seven sensitive microphones which detect the blast and supersonic shockwave from a speeding bullet.

Crucially, the machine is programmed to ignore outgoing shots and other noises such as door slamming, firecrackers and the wind.

Once an enemy bullet is detected, the device makes a lightning-fast calculation and pinpoints the direction, distance and elevation from which it was fired.

Soldiers are alerted to the marksman’s position by a reading on an electronic display panel and a recorded robotic voice.

The whole process takes less than two seconds. MoD officials claim this has helped save troops’ lives by giving them valuable extra seconds to scramble to safety or by allowing them to fire back before they flee.

Lance Bombardier Dyron Yard, from 5 Regiment Royal Artillery, who has been using the Boomerang III in Helmand, said: ‘It triangulates the point where the enemy is firing from. It gives you a range and bearing so that you can put accurate fire on that target and neutralise it.’

Defence minister Peter Luff described the kit – also used by New York police to pinpoint gunmen in urban areas where blasts echo off buildings – as ‘invaluable’.

The Taliban has increasingly been using snipers to target British forces. Last month an inquest heard that two paratroopers, Private Lewis Hendry, 20, and Private Conrad Lewis, 22, were killed by a single shot from a Taliban marksman.

Lifesaver? This radio units gives soliders details of the marksman's position using an electronic display and robotic voice

The close friends died side by side while on foot patrol.

The mission had been to find enemy snipers’ nests and reassure the population in a small village, but the patrol quickly came under fire.



As the pair crouched behind a wall, a shot struck Private Hendry, of the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, in the head then hit Private Lewis, a reservist the 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment, in the neck.