Neat Idea: A Portab.

le Boresight Panel
by Captain Bart Howard

The key to putting steel on target is

disciplined, accurate boresighting.
Nothing new here. As tankers, we've
proved that time and time again - on
the gunnery ranges of Grafenwoehr,
Clabber Creek and the sands of Ku-
wait and Iraq.

The Problem
How do you boresight in combat?
Scenario - An M1A1 tank company
has just destroyed an enemy defen-
sive position. It has been ordered to
perform reorganization and consolida-
tion on the objective. Ammunition and
fuel is on the way. The attack will con-
tinue. The company has sustained no
casua~ies, but two tanks report finding
scars on the turret. They have taken
direct hits. One vehicle has a possible
fire control malfunction.
Enemy resistance is very light. There
is time to boresight, but the horizon is
featureless, except for a few burning
vehicles. What can you boresight on?
The doctrinal answer is any right angle
you can get your sights on, but that is
not the best answer. The best object
to boresight on is a boresight panel.
At the recent Armor Conference,
there were a number of TRP markers
that could be used for mobile bore-
sight panels, but I found nothing as ef-
fective as the panel constructed by
SFC Richard Bean, Bravo Company,
3·67 Armor Master Gunner.
Most TRP markers or boresight pan-
els acquired for DESERT STORM
were made of a flexible material. In
even a slight wind, the material
flapped and was hard to make taunt.
Testing at Fort Hood gave us an indi-
cation that canvas panels would not
be as effective as wood, but a wooden
boresight panel would be too large to
transport. We wanted a panel that
could be carried on a tank and quickly
placed. We planned for the most aus-
tere conditions.
SFC Bean came up with a novel so-
lution. He designed a panel that folded
in four sections, using a number of
common hinges and latches. Once
Front View
folded the panel could be carried in a
burlap bag on the bustle rack of a
tank. When appropriate, a tank could
move fOlWard and within a few min-
utes place a sturdy boresight panel.
What about Thermal? A future model
might have pockets to hold medic
thermal packs, but we found that we
could adequately heat the panel by
merely backing up to it for a few min-
utes. When boresighting was com-
plete, a crew could quickly police the
panel up and stow it away.
The panel worked very well for Bravo
Company during Operation DESERT
STORM. The unit destroyed 58 com-
bat vehicles from ranges of 2800 me-
ters to as close as 400 meters on the
AI Mutla intersection of the Basra
highway. The panel was used exten-
sively before the ground war and
came in very handy up until the com-
pany redeployed to CONUS.
Although tank commanders can
boresight on any right angle, the best
boresight comes from a boresight
panel. It's what we use in live fire
Rear View
U-SHAPED
ENGINEER PICKET
Folded Configuration
training and in combat conditions.
Using a panel reduces the chance of
human error, Le., "you mean that thing
over there or the one behind itl" There
is no question of where the reticle
should be. It worked for us, and I
know it will work for you.
Captain Bart Howard was a
DMG of the University of Santa
Clara and commissioned in
Armor in 1984. He served as a
tank platoon leader, scout pla-
toon leader and company XO in
the 5th Bn, 73rd AR, 194th AR
Bde (Sep). Following AOAC, he
served as S1, 1st Bn, 72d AR,
210. He also served as the asst.
S3, 1st (Tiger) Bde, 2AD, and
commanded B Co, 3d Bn, 67th
AR during DESERT SHIELD/
STORM and subsequently
HHC, 3d Bde, 1CD. Currently
he is serving as a team chief for
the AOB Division, 2d Squadron,
16th Cav, Ft. Knox, Ky.