Patent ID: 7946212

Claim:
A gimbaled weapon system (GWS) comprising, in combination: a sighting system, a control unit, a weapon cradle for receiving a weapon, wherein the weapon cradle is co-located with the sighting system as a unit in the GWS; a first elevation drive for elevating the weapon cradle; a first azimuth drive for rotation the weapon cradle in azimuth; a second elevation drive elevating the sighting system independently of the elevation of the weapon cradle by the first elevation drive, wherein elevation of the weapon cradle by the first elevation drive does not affect the elevation of the sighting system such that target tracking performed by the sighting system is independent of the elevation of the weapon cradle; and a second azimuth drive for rotating the sighting system independent of the weapon cradle in azimuth; and an operator interface for the GWS located remotely from the weapon cradle and the sighting system for operating the weapon cradle and the sighting system.