Archive for August, 2007
Got this media advisory from DoD:
MRAP Orientation Day
Media are invited to attend an orientation of the Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicle at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 24, 2007. Due to the security requirements to enter Aberdeen Proving Ground, media will need to register with the Army Test and Evaluation Command public affairs office by 5:00 p. m. on Wednesday, August 22, 2007.
Media must arrive at the parking lot of the Target store at 1025 Middleton Road Aberdeen, Maryland 21001 no later than 9:00 a.m. on the morning of August 24, 2007. From that location the Army Test and Evaluation Command will provide transportation to the orientation location. No media vehicles will be allowed to travel onto Aberdeen Proving Ground.
The MRAP orientation will include the opportunity to photograph the vehicles with some restrictions for operational security reasons. Photography will be permitted from designated areas only. Members of the media will be permitted to ride in an MRAP vehicle as part of the orientation.
Media who plan to attend should contact the Army Test and Evaluation Command public affairs office to register at 703-681-2755 by 5:00 p.m. on August 22, 2007.
This sounds fun and interesting. I wish I lived a bit closer so that I could take advantage of some of these sorts of opportunities.
Recently: More U.S. Marine MRAPs Bring Total to 6,415
And from White House Wants $5.3B For 1,520 New MRAPs in ’08:
This comes to $3.4 million per MRAP, which could jolt lawmakers expecting to pay around $1 million apiece, according to James McAleese, who monitors defense programs for McAleese and Associates, McLean, Va.
Moreover, he said, “There could be some congressional surprise that the $5.3 billion amendment only funds an additional 1,520 vehicles, instead of approximately 4,600 additional vehicles.”
McAleese suggested the operations and maintenance funds in the request could be shifted to procurement, with the support funding coming from future defense budgets.
Just shove those expenses down the road. Or request the money in an emergency bill. Because you didn’t know anyone would ever have to change the oil or rotate the tires, and now it’s an emergency.
Performed de-orbit burn at 11:25 ET. Scheduled to land at 12:32 ET.
All eyes will be on the tiles.
UPDATE: Thankfully, pics now show that the shuttle seems to be okay. Will be down in a couple of minutes.
UPDATE 2: Down and stopped. I still think that they should have tried the repair methods, though it’s tough to argue with success.
It will be interesting to see how the damaged section fared.
UPDATE 3: A commenter noted the expensive and never-used Shuttle launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was originally built for the MOL program in the 1960s, for which it was also never used. More info and a bunch of pics at 1985: Space Shutle at Vandenberg.
Misfire: AP’s Bogus Ammo Shortage Story
Tucson SWAT trainingI had seen the headlines a few days ago, but only scanned one of the articles, noticing this bit:
The military is in no danger of running out because it gets the overwhelming majority of its ammunition from a dedicated plant outside Kansas City. But police are at the mercy of commercial manufacturers.
That right there made me think that the story might not be as solid as it appeared. Since the military production is separate, how much can it really be contributing to civilian and law enforcement shortages? Is the military “stealing” commercial capacity? The article didn’t claim it was.
Also, re-reading it now, I see that three calibers are specifically mentioned: .223, .40, and .38 Special.
First, I don’t know how many police are using 5.56 NATO and how many are using actual .223. They aren’t exactly the same. I’d bet that a lot of police are using 5.56 as they’re using surplus military rifles, but even if that’s the case isn’t it likely that many (if not most) of them would be using M193 ammunition, and not the current military standard M855? So, concerning .223, we’ve got a situation where many police are using actual non-military .223 and where many of the police using military-grade ammo are using the older M193 instead of what the military is currently producing by the boatload in separate lines. So the direct link between the military demand and civilian/LE shortages is a bit tenuous.
Regarding shortages of the .40 and .38 Special, SHUT UP. The overwhelming majority of military handguns are either 9mm or .45 ACP. There are a few .40s around, but I don’t know that I’m aware of any .38 Specials. Oops. The article doesn’t mention them. So the direct link between the military demand and civilian/LE shortages is bunk.
And yesterday (via Instapundit) we had Confederate Yankee, who made some phone calls:
To understand the ammunition shortage being experienced by some police agencies today, we shouldn’t look at September 11, 2001, but instead, begin with February 28, 1997.
It was on that day in North Hollywood, California that Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Matasareanu, two-heavily armed and armored bank robbers, engaged in a 44-minute shootout with an out-gunned Los Angeles Police Department. The two suspects fired more than 1,300 rounds of ammunition, and each was shot multiple times with police handguns. The 9mm police pistol bullets bounced off their homemade body armor. Phillips eventually died after being shot 11 times; Matasareanu died after being hit 29 times.
In the aftermath of the shootout, the LAPD, followed by police departments large and small nationwide, began to feel that rank-and-file patrol officers should be armed with semi-automatic or fully-automatic assault rifles or submachine guns in addition to their traditional sidearms, anticipating an up-tick of heavily armed and armored subjects. The trend has failed to materialize more than a decade later.
As with most trends in law enforcement, the trend towards the militarization of police patrol officers to a level once reserved for SWAT/ERT teams was slow, though one that gathered momentum rapidly after September 11, 2001.
Today, it is this increased and on-going militarization of police forces and the associated training requirements that have caused the ammunition shortages experienced by some police departments, and the lack of ammunition is not related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in any meaningful way.
I wonder, though, how much impact private military contractors, many of which work in Iraq and Afghanistan, might have. I’m not sure how they procure things like ammo, but I would think that at least some of it must come through regular civilian channels.
This is probably as good a time as any to note that I’ve never really thought that the police, which the exception of a few SWAT-type units, need full auto rifles anyway. We should all know that a trained shooter with a good semi-auto is going to out-shoot a “spray-and-pray” moron almost every time. And a lot of SWAT seems to have gone to 9mm submachineguns like the MP5, which is probably the right move.
Anyway, I’m also wondering why my local gun shops always seem to be out of .223 Wolf. Because I hope that that even the police aren’t using Wolf (except maybe for training?). I’ve got a bit of a stash built up, but not nearly as much as I’d like.
Picture from the Tucson Citizen.
UPDATE: Via a commenter:
Patrol rifles are generally semi-only, not full-auto. Most dept’s. generally don’t issue full-auto to patrol guys, only SWAT types.
That’s good, though I’d be interested to see the percentages. One county sherriff I was talking to some time back said that they had been granted some surplus M-16s but that they weren’t using them because there was no money in the budget to get them de-autoed and they didn’t want full autos and definitely didn’t want to pay for the ammo use on full autos. I probably took this one conversation and extrapolated it out to the entire law enforcement community.
A lot of SWAT teams have NOT gone to 9mm, in fact the opposite. A lot of teams have gone/are going to .223 rifles because they know that the .223 is far superior to the 9mm/.40, for its intended purpose.
I am also glad to hear this, though again I sometimes wonder if our police forces are becoming too militarized. Oh, well. If some of the police soldiers ever save my butt I’ll be pretty thankful. I still seem to see the majority of SWAT-type guys with submachineguns, though.
There’s no mistaking which branch of the military Nicholas Popaditch served with — his prosthetic eye is embedded with the Marine Corps emblem. Popaditch, a retired gunnery sergeant and tank commander from San Diego, was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in Fallujah, Iraq. He lost his right eye and most of the vision in his left.
Via Reddit. Get a load of some of the intelligent comments:
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Dean:
Remember when “Made In China” simply meant “cheap and poor quality” rather than “frickin’ dangerous?”
25 Million Rounds of Ammunition (7.62 x 39mm)
Presolicitation notice for a bunch of 7.62 Russian ammo. Probably for the Iraqis.
25 million rounds sounds like a lot, of course, but if you factor in an Iraqi army size of around 200,000 by the end of the year, that’s only 125 rounds per man. Four mags. Is that even enough to zero your weapon and complete qualification?
The troops over there are going through ammo like you wouldn’t believe.
Hat tip to IraqSlogger and DJ Elliott.
Terrorist Propaganda Picture of the Week
Funny.
Iraq Report: Sunni insurgents vs. al Qaeda in Diyala
I’m sure that the big bombings over the past few days have convinced Iraqis that the terrorists are the good guys.
No refill please! Drinks can add on the pounds
I think drinks are a huge part of a lot of peoples’ weight issues. You take in a lot of calories that you don’t really think about.
NASA Decides To Phase Out Delta 2
Now that the USAF has decided to stop using the booster, NASA has determined that it will be cheaper to use Atlas 5s or Delta 4s for launches that would have used Delta 2, even if the larger vehicles are underloaded.
German militant convicted of GI’s murder freed
Served 21 years of a life sentence. Nice. Great to see justice done.
I Am Not A Global Warming Heretic, or Denier
Murdoc’s position is very, very close to that of Dean.
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No, not a loose cannon security organization: Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers
(Bloomberg) — A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.
The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.
The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina — twin sisters — exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled “priority” were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.
C&D has been barred from getting government contracts. Ya think?
Just communicated up to the astronauts less than a minute ago: No repair to the TPS (Thermal Protection System).
The Mission Management Team meeting just ended. An evening press conference will begin shortly.
