In a series of experiments this year, units from 2nd Marine Division will be silencing every element of an infantry battalion -- from M4 rifles to .50 caliber machine guns. ...
"What we've found so far is it revolutionizes the way we fight," [Marine Major General] Love told Military.com. "It used to be a squad would be dispersed out over maybe 100 yards, so the squad leader couldn't really communicate with the members at the far end because of all the noise of the weapons. Now they can actually just communicate, and be able to command and control and effectively direct those fires."
As someone who's limited military experience (non-war) has left me with a bit of near-trivial hearing loss in my left ear from firing a rifle, that's good on that level, too.
Still, I suspect Inspector Hammer would disapprove:
While it is interesting that the lower sound levels allow better command and control at the squad level, doesn't fully exploiting this noise reduction require the cooperation of an equally quiet enemy and supporting big rounds that are just as quiet?
But even the big rounds aren't producing as much noise because precision reduces the number of big, loud bangs, as the Strategypage link in this post indicates.
Perhaps Nitrowhisperin is nearing perfection.
UPDATE: One advantage even without Nitrowhisperein or the suppression of noise from the large caliber weapons is that reducing the noise signature makes it more difficult for the enemy to tell where firing is coming from. I didn't think that would make much of a difference, but it does and the troops seem to like this. The cost is about a million dollars per battalion.
