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No. 17898
ID: c5dfe3
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The first version of the People Sniffer was the XM-2 personnel detector man-pack (also known as the E63 man-pack personnel detector). The XM-2 consisted of a backpack-mounted sensor, coupled with an air intake tube mounted on the end of a M16 rifle. Deployed during 1967, reports are that the XM-2 was often a bit too sensitive, and would only pick up the sweat odors of its user. This, coupled with the rather loud “ticka-ticka-ticka” noise that sensor made while in use rather gave the whole game away. Understandably, troops were uncomfortable carrying a heavy noisemaker into an ambush zone. So the XM-2 man-portable system gave way to the much more powerful XM-3 airborne platform, normally mounted on a helicopter. The XM-3 delivered much better results, although the Viet Cong eventually learned ways to deceive the device’s ability to detect sweat, urine and campfire smoke.
If you can find an XM-2 “personnel detector” out there somewhere, it will make a great accessory for your vintage M16A1 rifle—granted you can find one of those.
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