Archive for the ‘Land’ Category
Seems to be a pretty decent solution, considering who they’re using it against. First noted here.
U.S. Army Capt. Scott Hall jumps from a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter after landing in Deh Yak district, Ghanzni province, Afghanistan, Oct. 19, 2011. Hall was the personal assistant to Brig. Gen. Gary Volesky, the 1st Cavalry Divison deputy commanding general – maneuver, who was conducting a battlefield circulation to several International Security Assistance Force positions south of Kabul to see how Operation Shamshir was progressing. (DoD photo by Spc. Ken Scar, U.S. Army/Released)
Homemade Bulldozer Battleship Joins Libya Fight
Land Battleship: An anti-Gaddafi fighter flashes victory signs on an armored bulldozer during violent clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces at the frontline in center Sirte.
Onto a battlefield littered with bizarre homemade weaponry, Libya’s ruling militia fighters have rolled out their weirdest contraption yet: a concrete and steel behemoth that’s a cross between a bulldozer and a battleship.
The towering monster, which appeared Wednesday in Sirte to help capture Muammar Qaddafi’s home town, has a battleship’s pointed prow and portholes along its sides with steel covers that can be pulled down…
The vehicle is also manned by four gunners who have five heavy machine guns to fire and a tank gun mounted on top.
The driver cannot see out. There had been a video camera set up to provide a view, but it was shot away.
The Libyan navy finally has a ship that no one can sink.
U.S. Army Prepositioned Stock and Material Support Command-Korea personnel receive M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles by rail at Camp Carroll in Waegwan, South Korea, Oct. 17, 2011. (DoD photo by Spc. Bryan Willis U.S. Army/Released)
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jason Roberts, a squad leader assigned to the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), observes a busy street from a rooftop as members of the PRT meet with residents in Mehtar Lam district, Laghman province, Afghanistan, Oct. 8, 2011. The PRT visited the social affairs committee to discuss building a second orphanage. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Crane/Released)
USMC Issues Production Delivery Order to HK
Heckler & Koch was awarded a competitive contract to produce the U.S. Marine Corps’ new Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR). The formal “Full Rate Production” announcement by the Marines caps a competition that began more than three years ago.
Designated the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, the lightweight, 11.62 pounds weapon with ancillary equipment, is a variant of the highly successful Heckler & Koch HK416 used by military, law enforcement, and special operations units in the U.S. and throughout the world.
For more discussion of the IAR and how it will be used, see The Infantry Automatic Rifle: Closing the last 5 yards in the Marine Corps Gazette.
General Dynamics Awarded $243 Million to Produce 115 More Double-V Hull Stryker Vehicles
This is on top of a previous contract for 350 (about one brigade’s worth) of the upgraded Strykers.
There are currently no plans for DVH models of the Mobile Gun System for NBC Recon variants. I wouldn’t be surprised if the MGS simply cannot support the additional weight of uparmoed hull.
Gotta say that don’t look all that impressive:
U.S. special operations forces (SOF) and Afghan National Army commandos conduct a patrol during a clearing operation in Chak district, Wardak province, Afghanistan, Oct. 9, 2011. SOF team members and Afghan commandos conducted the operation in order to disrupt insurgent activity in the area. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Kaily Brown, U.S. Army/Released)
The guy with the M240 looks pretty much gassed.
Murdoc’s not heard what the distribution plan is for the new grenade launcher or how far along it is, but it looks like 37th Infantry, part of the Ohio National Guard, has them.
The 37th Infantry also include elements of the Michigan National Guard, including the 126th Cav from the city of Wyoming (Grand Rapids area). That’s Murdoc’s stomping ground.
Army demonstrates new LSAT lightweight machine gun
Lightweight Small Arms Technology over at SoldierGeek:
The LSAT program has been run out of the Armaments Reserach, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal for several years. It’s original goal was to produce a lightweight machine gun aimed at the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon role, by redesigning both weapon and ammunition from the ground up. The program was later restructured to look at lightweight small arms technology applications in multiple roles, to include carbines, using the lightweight LMG as the technology demonstrator.
Go check it out. SoldierGeek was involved in some early work on the project and has some good personal thoughts. And if you don’t have him bookmarked or in your RSS feed, fix that problem right now.
Here’s an overview of the LSAT:
Lightweight Small Arms Technology (LSAT)
