Archive for February, 2004

Rebirth of the Armored Gun System

Phil Carter has an excellent post about a request by the 82nd Airborne Division’s request for heavy firepower that can parachute in with the troops. A possibility would be the XM8 Armored Gun System.

The requirement for an air-droppable platform has existed at least since the late 1990s, when the division disbanded one of its battalions — the 3rd Battalion of the 73rd Armored Regiment, which was equipped with an aging armored reconnaissance vehicle called the Sheridan. At the time, service officials thought other capabilities would become available to the paratroopers once the M551 Sheridan retired.

When the division deactivated the armored battalion in 1997, however, Army officials had already terminated AGS, which had been regarded as the Sheridan’s replacement. Proposed in the 1980s as a lightweight combat vehicle that could fit aboard a C-130, AGS featured a 105 mm cannon, an ammunition autoloader and options for armor protection. United Defense LP had produced a handful of prototypes of the vehicle in 1996, when then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis Reimer terminated the program. Eliminating AGS freed more than $1 billion over the service’s outyear funding plan — money that was badly needed for other cash-strapped programs, officials said at the time.

What was not eliminated was the need to equip light forces with an air-droppable platform that had enough firepower to hold off opposing forces until heavier forces arrived, sources said.

Carter writes

Ironically, the Army is building a new variant of the Stryker light armored vehicle that has a 105mm cannon and could serve as the 82nd Airborne’s direct-fire weapon of choice. I’m not sure if it’s air-droppable or not, but it is C-130 capable, so presumably it could be brought in quickly once paratroopers secure an initial airhead. The first M1128 Strykers with 105mm cannon are slated to roll off the line in April 2005. Presumably, this program could be enlarged to accomodate an additional purchase for the armor needs of the 82nd Airborne and the rest of XVIII Airborne Corps.

The problem with the Stryker solution is that not only is the Stryker not air-droppable, the 105mm-armed variant isn’t even C-130 deployable at this time. Not only isn’t it suitable for the 82nd Airborne’s needs, it isn’t even suitable for the Stryker Brigade’s needs. The Stryker Brigade currently deployed in Iraq went without its heavy firepower.

I’ve mentioned before the many problems with the 105mm-armed Strykers, which are called the Mobile Gun System (MGS). It seems that the primary problems are (in no particular order): 1) the recoil of the M68A1 105mm gun damages the turret mounts, 2) The gun suffers from severe autoloader problems, 3) it is grossly overweight, 4) the muzzle blast damages the hull of the vehicle and could kill the crew if hatches aren’t sealed properly, and 5) the vehicle tends to flip over if the gun is trained off to one side or another.

I imagine that the autoloader problems can be solved, and perhaps the weight issue can be addressed. The rest of the problems, however, stem from the plan to use left-over guns from the original M1 tanks. That will save a few bucks, of course, but they were designed to be fired from low, squat, heavy tracked tanks, not tall, narrow, light, wheeled troop carriers. They just plain don’t fit the profile.

The XM8 Buford AGS, on the other hand, sports a 105mm gun designed for a lighter vehicle. It’s the XM35, a low-recoil weapon. The XM8, in it’s base armor configuration, weighs about as much as a standard Stryker. Like the Stryker, additional protective measures can be added.

Either the Army should find a way to use the XM35 gun on the Stryker MGS, or it should adopt the XM8 instead. If the latter, there wouldn’t be the commonality with the rest of the Strykers that is a benefit of a standard platform. However, the 82nd Airborne would be able to get what it wants.

This reminds me of the earlier request for air-droppable self-propelled 155mm howitzers. It seems to me that the French company Giat demonstrated the Ceasar 6×6 truck-based artillery system for the US Army last year. The country of origin obviously is a problem, but maybe something can be worked out.

Carter also discusses armored Humvees, something that I think there will be a lot of call for over the next decade. In fact, the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment currently consists of armored Humvee units, though they are scheduled to convert to the Stryker in the near future. I think that they should stick with the Humvees. There are going to be times and places that we will want the even-lighter Humvee forces, such as supply line security or interventions in places like Liberia or Cuba.

Election 2004 Projections

Although this site is run by an admitted Bush supporter, his actual process of incorporating poll results into his calculations actually seems to be skewed in favor of Democrats. Maybe I’m missing something.

Anyway, he currently shows Bush winning with 300 electoral votes to 238 and 50.59%.

The results are what would happen TODAY, not what is predicted to happen in November.

Just something to keep an eye on. Check it out.

Ike and the alien ambassadors

MSNBC has a WaPo story about tomorrow being the 50th anniversary of the day that some believe President Eisenhower visited with some aliens in California. I don’t think they mean illegal immigrants, either. The official story is that Eisenhower had some emergency dental work done. Also interesting is the fact (?) that the AP Wire ran a “President Eisenhower is dead” bulletin before retracting it two minutes later.

To be honest, isn’t the previous paragraph enough of a premise for a Oliver Stone movie? I imagine we’ll be hearing about this tomorrow on Twisted History.

Two things stood out to me about this article. First, a leading proponent of the alien theory is Michael Salla, a former American University professor who now runs the Peace Ambassador Program at AU’s Center for Global Peace.

For much of the ’90s, Salla studied conflict resolution and tried unsuccessfully to apply that knowledge to prevent war in East Timor and the Balkans, he says. Frustrated, he began looking for an extraterrestrial connection to human misery and, he says, he found evidence of ET visitations — including the Ike encounter — on the Internet.

“There’s a lot of stuff on the Internet,” he says, “and I just went around and pieced it together.”

Well, he’s absolutely correct when he says there’s a lot of ‘stuff’ on the internet.

The second thing that stands out to me is the response from the Eisenhower people to the theory:

“Not to our knowledge,” says Jim Leyerzapf, an archivist at the Eisenhower Library. “There’s nothing in the archives that indicates that.”

Then Leyerzapf bursts out laughing.

He has heard this theory before. “We’ve had so many requests on that subject that we have a person who specializes in this.”

That person is archivist Herb Pankratz.

“He specialized in transportation,” Leyerzapf says, “and we decided to add UFOs to that. He does trains, planes, automobiles — and flying saucers.”

The library fielded dozens of questions about the alleged Ike-ET meeting in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when several UFO books advanced the theory, Pankratz says.

“It’s interesting how these stories have changed,” Pankratz noted in an e-mail. “Initially, the accounts claimed the President made a secret trip to Edwards Air Force Base to view the remains of aliens who had crashed at Roswell, N.M., in 1947. Later stories then claimed he had actually visited with live aliens.”

Weird.

Coppola and Lucas join to produce Skywalker Ranch wines

Francis Ford Coppola’s Niebaum-Coppola Estate Vineyards and Winery in Rutherford, CA, will produce Skywalker Ranch Viandante del Cielo Marin County Chardonnay and Merlot from grapes grown on George Lucas’ property. “Viandante del Cielo” means “sky walker” in Italian. (If you don’t get the reference, forget this and just go on to the next post.)

Coppola and Lucas have made wine together for about 12 years, but the 2002 vintage is their first commercial release. McLeod says Lucas and Coppola were chatting at a Niebaum-Coppola harvest party 12 years ago and Lucas mentioned that some grapes he had planted on his sprawling studio ranch were ready for picking. He had no winemaking facilities and no buyer lined up.

Coppola offered to vinify the grapes for a fee and return the wine to Lucas, who used it for corporate Christmas gifts and events. Coppola’s staff began advising Lucas’ vineyard managers on pruning, irrigation and the like. They talked about commercializing the project over the years, but it never made it off the back burner until now, says [Niebaum-Coppola's Scott] McLeod.

The wine label doesn’t have Lucas’ name on it, and the image is an abstract from stained glass in Lucas’ home. It may or may not be a woman’s chest or two wine glasses. (No doubt, when technology catches up with Lucas’ grand vision, we’ll find out what it is when he releases the Special Edition Wines.)

Lucas’ vineyard apparently doesn’t have prime grape-growing conditions, either in soil or climate. Still, many great wines are great expressly because of the relatively harsh location of the vineyard.

I’d say “We’ll see,” but we probably won’t. Only 320 cases of Chardonnay and 350 cases of Merlot will be produced this year, and some years will yield no wine at all. (via TheForce.net)

UPDATE: Actually, maybe we WILL see. You can order the wine online here. Enter coupon code SPLT03 for a first-time-buyer’s 15% discount. The Chardonnay only is available for $30 per bottle before discount or shipping. I’ll maybe order one to drink when the Classic Trilogy DVDs come out.

X-43A Flight Delayed

Rudder problems on the Pegasus booster have forced a postponement of the flight of NASA’s X-43A scramjet test vehicle. The flight is now scheduled to take place in late March or early April.

This flight hopes to build on lessons learned after the previous test aircraft was destroyed after a malfunction almost three years ago.

Incidentally, the B-52 that will carry the Pegasus/X-43A stack up to 40,000 feet for launching is the same aircraft that carried the X-15 rocket planes in the 1960s. Cool.

Russia to build new spacecraft

Soviet…umm…Russian officials have announced that they plan to develop a sort of “Super Soyuz” manned spacecraft.

The new craft will be able to carry at least six cosmonauts and have a reusable crew section, Russian Aerospace Agency director Yuri Koptev said at a news conference. Soyuz carries three cosmonauts and isn’t reusable.

The spacecraft, designed by the RKK Energiya company, will have a takeoff weight of 12-14 metric tons (13-15 tons) — about twice as much as the Soyuz, which was developed in the late 1960s.

Energiya has also proposed developing a new booster rocket based on its Soyuz booster to carry the new spacecraft to orbit.

I’m skeptical that Russia is going to be able to put together the money for this baby, but maybe the EU will foot part of the bill for a partnership.

If they do manage to pull it off, I expect that it will fly sooner than and will be more reliable than what ever contraption NASA cobbles together as its Crew Exploration Vehicle. Also, the booster will probably be cheaper and more reliable.

At least I’m not bitter.

U.S. flag insignia to be worn by all

Now all US service personnel are authorized to wear the US flag on their uniform, regardless of deployment status.

“The flag has been around for years to identify deploying troops. Now based on the Army’s joint expeditionary mindset, the flag represents our commitment to fight the war on terror for the foreseeable future,” said Sgt. Maj. Walter Morales, the uniform policy chief for G1.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker approved the uniform item Feb. 11, and all Soldiers have until Oct. 1, 2005 to get the insignia sewn on their uniforms.

I hadn’t realized that everyone already didn’t wear the flag until this issue was raised a couple of months ago. Also noted in the story is the fact that only the full-color, red, white, and blue flags are allowed. They must be the reverse flags.

Subdued flags are not allowed. That’s bizarre, because I have seen many photos of US troops in Iraq wearing the subdued flags, and it seems to me that the slight improvement in camoflage could potentially make a difference at some point for someone.

The government is going to issue five flags to each enlisted man, and an expected shortage is the reason for the lengthy period to adopt to the new policy. An estimated 30 million flags need to be purchased.

Troops on their way overseas will have priority. Much like the Interceptor Body Armor. It will take years for everyone to get their patches. Much like the Interceptor Body Armor.

(Buy stock in flag patch makers. I’ll bet if we dig, we’ll discover that Dick Cheney is a former chairman of the largest flag patch maker in the USA. We’re not at war for oil, it’s for the flag patches!)

Well, actually, now that I’m looking for a subdued flag patch I can’t find a picture of one on a deployed soldier. I did come across some pics of guys with the flag and unit insignia mixed up, or no flag at all, or even a flag on the left shoulder instead of the right. Since most of the pictures gave the names of the subjects, I won’t link to them from here. I realize that they’ve got important business to focus on. (via Styker Birgade News)

They don’t all hate us

Remember that statue an Iraqi sculptor was fashioning out of bronze from melted down Saddam Husseins? The one that memorialized US soldiers and their fallen comrades? It’s finished.

(via Sgt. Hook via Badlilocks via Being American in T.O.)

Strategy Page had a post about the new Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) on Monday.

I came across the CROWS while searching for info on the Stryker’s Remote Weapons Station for a post last month. The CROWS seems to be superior to the Stryker’s system, as weapons can be easily changed out by the troops and, most importantly, since it is stabilized. That means that the weapons can be fired accurately while the vehicle is moving. Like the Stryker’s system, the CROWS mounts a number of visual and infrared cameras, laser rangefinders, and other targeting electronics.

The initial use of the CROWS is going to be on Humvees. According to Strategy Page

CROWS was originally scheduled to enter service in 2006. But it has been doing so well in testing, that four systems were sent to Iraq and mounted on armored hummers. After six weeks of use, the four CROWS systems had suffered no failures, performed as they were designed to and the troops using them didn’t want to give them up.

For a four minute promotional video of the CROWS, visit the Recon/Optical, Inc. site. The video is available in a number of formats and sizes.

For detailed info and test results from 2002, check out this National Defense Industrial Association PDF file.

Space shuttles likely to be grounded till 2005

Doesn’t really matter why. It’s no surprise, and it’s probably not the last delay we’ll see. Although this announcement isn’t an official adjustment to the schedule, I find it troubling that it’s happening so early in the year. I expect that this will become official within the next month or so. I didn’t expect that to happen until June.