Archive for the ‘Land’ Category
U.S. Army Sgt. Bruce Harrington, left, with the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) security force, stands guard at a proposed construction site in Kandahar, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 14, 2011. The PRT visited the site to evaluate it for the construction of truck scales needed to ensure drivers are fairly compensated and warehouse managers know how much product they have on hand. (DoD photo by Chief Master Sgt. Richard Simonsen, U.S. Air Force/Released)
From left to right, U.S. Air Force Capt. Kenneth Cooper, 820th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) airborne flight commander; Tech. Sgt. Joshua Tully , airborne fire protection craftsman; and Capt. Christopher Smith, RED HORSE airborne officer in charge, run away from a Nevada Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter after rigging an 11,000 pound steel training block during airdrop and sling-load training at the Senator Harry Reid Readiness and Training Center in Nevada June 28, 2011. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Brett Clashman, U.S Air Force/Released)
What a crazy coincidence that “Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers” comes out “RED HORSE.”
On SoldierGeek: Army buys 18,000 new M320 Grenade Launchers
The Army announced today that it has awarded a $38.5M contract to German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch for the production of 18,000 40mm M320A1 Grenade Launchers. The M320 is the replacement for the venerable M203 grenade launcher, first fielded as an experimental system during the Vietnam War, and novel because it was the only technology spun out of the Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) flechette-grenade launcher program to go into production.
Here’s a shot of it mounted on a carbine:
XM320 grenade launcher on M4 carbine
And also see HK USA’s site on the XM320.
Murdoc’s guess is that the fact that the similarity between the designation M320 and the M203 is going to lead to all sorts of typos.
Wham! A Shell froma 105-mm Infantry Howitzer Speeds after Retreating Nazis
This gun crew is opening up on the Germans near Carentan, Normandy, as Yank troops burst from the penninsulat to drive eastward toward Paris. More effective than the famous 75-mm of World War I is this mobile artillery piece, imporant element of an infantry regiment's fire power.
From a 1944 article in National Geographic.
A U.S. Soldier, center, with the 101st Airborne Division, returns fire with a M249 light machine gun during combat operations in the valley of Barawala Kalet, Kunar province, Afghanistan March 29, 2011. (DoD photo by Pfc. Cameron Boyd, U.S. Army/Released)
Who’s the guy on the left?
U.S. Marines with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Battalion Landing Team, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), sight in with their rifles March 30, 2011, during routine weapons training aboard the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Essex (LHD 2) off the coast of Japan. The 31st MEU is involved in Operation Tomodachi humanitarian relief efforts after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan. (DoD photo by Lance Cpl. Brennan O'Lowney, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)
U.S. Soldiers with Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group fast-rope from a CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft during exercise Emerald Warrior 2011 at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., March 1, 2011. Emerald Warrior is an annual two-week joint/combined tactical exercise sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command designed to leverage lessons learned from operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom to provide trained and ready forces to combatant commanders. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. DeNoris Mickle, U.S. Air Force/Released)
Last week, MO pointed out a Military.com story about how the Army wants more XM25 grenade guns and that they’ve nick-named it the ‘Punisher.’
Kit Up! learned, however, that while the XM-25 is impressive, the weapon had been fired a few more than 50 times in less than 10 engagements and had chalked up only two suspected kills.
Though not a bad start, it’s certainly not a sample size large enough to guarantee success.
The XM-25 has fired 55 rounds in nine firefights between Dec. 3 and January 12, when the formal Forward Operational Assessment ended. Officials say the weapon “disrupted” two insurgent attacks against an observation post, destroying one PKM machine gun position in one of those attacks. That is where the ”usually our engagements last for 15-20 minutes. With the XM-25 they’re over in a few minutes” line came from.
The XM-25 also “destroyed” four ambush sites during engagements on foot patrols or movements to contact. In one instance, the 25mm HE round exploded on a PKM gunner and he was either wounded and fled or scared and fled, but dropped his machine gun, which Soldiers later recovered.
Though the details aren’t given, it sounds as if it could have been a “direct hit” and yet the target was able to flee. That certainly won’t do anything to convince those who wonder if the 25mm rounds are powerful enough. It could be a case where the explosions simply surprised and frightened the target into running off. If the lethality of the XM25 isn’t there, it won’t take long for the enemy to learn that its bark is a lot worse than its bite.
Of course, maybe it wasn’t anything like a “direct hit” and these concerns are not valid.
Story on Military.com today: ‘Punisher’ Gives Enemy No Place to Hide
By all accounts, the futuristic XM-25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System has been quite a rude surprise for the bad guys.
“I don’t know what we’re eventually going to call this product, but it seems to be game changing,” said the commander of the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, during a Feb. 2 briefing with reporters at the Pentagon. “You no longer can shoot at American forces and hide behind something. We’re going to reach out and touch you.”
After years of XM-25 development, last fall the 101st Airborne submitted an urgent request to field the weapon for troops on patrol in Afghanistan. In response the Army took the five weapons it had been testing at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., added 1,000 hand-made explosive rounds and shipped them to the war zone in October of 2010.
The claim is that the five prototypes have had no maintenance issues but that one outstanding issue is the rechargeable battery power supply.
The ammo is currently running $1,000 per round (yes, you read that right) but claims are that it could drop to $35 per round if/when mass production starts. The Army wants to buy 36 more XM35s, but it’s uncertain whether they’ll get them and it will take up to a year to get them into the field.
If the thing really works as well as they’re claiming, they’d better find a way to speed that up.
A Soldier aims an XM25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test Center, Md.
Don’t see a lot of photos of these guys:
French soldiers from the 7th Mountain Infantry Battalion (7eme Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins) walk during a patrol near Tagab in Kapisa province on January 26, 2011.
Another below:
Read the rest of this entry »
