(Fort Wayne, Indiana) - At the 2014 Indiana SWAT Challenge, Targamite’s advanced robotic target system—called the TARGABOT—tested the shooting skills of officers from 16 SWAT teams throughout the state of Indiana and beyond.
Fifteen Indiana SWAT teams and one from as far away as Idaho Falls, the Idaho National Laboratory Team, participated in the yearly training event held September 3-5 at the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in Edinburgh, Indiana.
The TARGABOT was featured on day one of the training competition in the “Team Obstacle Course” Event. Positioned at a distance of 200 meters in a small second-story window of an urban house stage, the TARGABAOT challenged snipers’ precision shooting. The team sniper initiated the event by shooting at the TARGABOT, which then triggered a run on the obstacle course by fellow team officers.
Also on day one, the TARGABOT was integrated into a line of conventional static targets situated in a traditional shooting bay. Set up to create a shoot/no shoot scenario, two TARGABOTS, placed in tandem, simulated real live moving threats, challenging officers to keep their eyes hot on the target while maintaining keen peripheral vision. “Awesome! Great system! ,” said one SWAT officer upon completing his competition round. “Poor muscle memory can get you killed and the TARGABOT can help prevent that tragedy.”
On day two of the training competition, the TARGABOT was positioned at two separate locations. One was again situated in a small second-story window of an urban house stage, while others were located farther afield, at a distance of 450 meters. Lightweight, portable, and battery operated, two TARGABOTS were easily placed at the edge of a woods in a clearing prepared, on the spot, by Lt. Ken Lopez of the Delaware County Sheriff’s office, which was the host agency for the 2014 Indiana SWAT Challenge. Lopez arranged one TARGABOT in front of the other to simulate a shoot/no shoot scenario, which required snipers to engage the target from the second-floor window of a shoot house.
This shoot/no shoot set-up using the TARGABOT was the most challenging of all, and congratulations to the handful of SWAT officers who engaged the TARGABOT, including Matt Campbell of the Rochester Police Department and Tyler Talbot of Idaho National Laboratory Security Team!
And, a hearty congratulations to the Lafayette Police Department whose SWAT participants were the overall champions for the second year in a row.
ABOUT TARGAMITE LLC
Targamite LLC is a robotics company producing advanced tactical training platforms, including portable, computer-controlled target systems, with both predictable and unpredictable behavioral characteristics, for law enforcement, the armed forces, tactical training, and elite shooter communities worldwide.