The US Army’s new centralized procurement organization has been named: In his address at the Eisenhower Luncheon at the 2017 Association of the United States Army, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley announced the creation of a Futures and Modernization [Read More…]
US Army, what on earth are you doing? The US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley promised that the new Next Generation Individual/Squad Weapon (NGSW/NGIW) program will give a “10 times improvement” in individual small arms capability “over any [Read More…]
SIG Sauer certainly didn’t waste its opportunity to show off its win of the Modular Handgun System contract at the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, bringing not XM17 MHS prototypes, but full-fledged M17 and M18 MHS production (or [Read More…]
In a recent letter released to Army general officers, Chief of Staff of the Army Mark Milley outlined a plan for reform of the Army’s development and procurement arms. In it, he also made mention of the Army’s plans for future individual weapons and [Read More…]
US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley has released a letter outlining a major reform and restructuring effort for US Army weapons development, testing, and procurement. In the letter, CSA General Milley spoke of the need for a new procurement command structure: [Read More…]
With the recent push for small arms ammunition with increased range, power and capability, are military customers in danger of being taken for a ride by industry marketeers working to sell rifles in new calibers? Is the primary driving force behind new infantry [Read More…]
The US Army is seeking 12,600 Magpul PMag Gen M3 magazines, or equivalents, from commercial vendors, according to a recently updated listing on FedBizOpps, posted in early August. This announcement was updated soon after the news that Army TACOM had authorized the [Read More…]
The US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) has just authorized the purchase of Magpul PMag Gen M3 polymer magazines through requisition by unit commanders, marking a major step in the use of PMag magazines in Army service. Although a previous [Read More…]
After being cancelled in mid-2016, could the M4 Carbine upgrade program still be alive? That is the suggestion from a line in the US Army’s justification for its research budget in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which references an “M4A2 Plus [Read More…]
The Austrian fantastic plastic handgun Glock has won a contract to supply pistols to the Philippine Department of National Defense, which will supply the new handguns to the Philippine armed forces. The contract award is for the supply of 74,861 Glock 17 Gen 4 handguns, [Read More…]
After World War II, the UK sought to modernize its small arms, many of which were based on designs originating from before the First World War. For its medium machine gun, the British were still using the reliable but increasingly obsolete Vickers water cooled gun in [Read More…]
According to Yle.fi, Finland’s national public broadcasting company, the Finnish army will use video games/simulators for training purposes. By the end of the current year, they will purchase 1,200 computers for €3,000,000 (about $3.6 M) to equip the training [Read More…]
With the termination of the Interim Combat Service Rifle, the CSASS program on hold, and the XM25 CDTE dead and buried, many are wondering: When will the Army get its act together on small arms? Given the long history of Army program failures, though, maybe a better [Read More…]
We have just seen the cancellation of the Interim Combat Service Rifle, which gives me a good springboard to talk about marketing. Specifically, we will be discussing a kind of undercover word-of-mouth marketing that I’ve encountered a number of times over the [Read More…]
The US Army’s program to field a new standard-issue 7.62mm caliber rifle is dead in the water, it seems. Multiple anonymous sources have informed TFB that the Interim Combat Service Rifle program has been cancelled as part of a massive review of US Army small [Read More…]
The US Air Force’s recent decision to adopt the Magpul PMag Gen M3 was based on Army testing conducted in 2015, according to a spokesperson for the Air Force. In a communication with Military.com writer Matthew Cox, Vicki Stein of the Air Force Installation and [Read More…]
In yesterday’s article, we took a look at examples of two different methods of design, which I called “preference-driven” and “process-driven”. For these examples, I supposed two engineers from two different cultures – called [Read More…]
If you were designing the next small arms round, how would you do it? What methods would you use to determine its physical characteristics and performance attributes? How would you know what was too large or too small, too powerful or too weak? Perhaps more critically, [Read More…]
Artillery is a staple on the modern battlefield. With its awesome destructive power and long range, it is a fantastic support tool for the grunt on the ground. Adding in laser guidance on projectiles, the sheer variety of ordnance types, and general accuracy, I’ve [Read More…]
Manufacturers who are gearing up for the US Army’s Interim Combat Service Rifle competition better know where to get their ammo for testing, and the Army is ready to help. The US Army is facilitating the procurement of 7.62mm M80A1 ammunition to competitors for [Read More…]
Those who take advantage of SIG’s recently announced “voluntary upgrade” may soon be taking home a little piece of the Modular Handgun System program: The company evidently plans to introduce a new trigger design developed for the MHS program as part [Read More…]
The Infantry’s load is at an all-time high, resulting in a high rate of injuries and medical non-deployables. Planners are desperately searching for new ways to lift the burden on soldiers and Marines, before the problem spirals out of control. The obvious and [Read More…]
SIG Sauer – recent winner of the US Army’s Modular Handgun System competition – is being sued by an officer from the Stamford, Connecticut Police Department Special Response Team over an incident he claims was the result of a defect in their P320 [Read More…]
The US Army has released a solicitation for a new 7.62mm infantry rifle to replace the M4. The Interim Combat Service Rifle program, known to be in the works since April of this year, would replace M4 Carbines in use with combat units with a new weapon in the 7.62x51mm [Read More…]
Coke’s slogan is “Taste the Feeling”, but maybe in the Ukraine it should be “the Army’s Rust Remover!” instead. “We use Coca-Cola when the gun is rusty. Coca-Cola takes rust away” says Ukrainian Ground Forces machine [Read More…]
According to a recent article at Military.com, US Army spokespersons said in emails with the magazine that the Army would not be re-trying the Modular Handgun System competition between finalists SIG Sauer and Glock. This statement comes on the heels of Glock Vice [Read More…]
In January of 2001, the US Army introduced a new slogan to replace the classic “Be All You Can Be” which young men had recruited under for over two decades. The branch’s new slogan was “An Army of One”, signalling a brand new take on a [Read More…]
Alliant Techsystems’ (ATK) spinoff company Vista Outdoor has won a contract worth $52 million for Mk. 311 Mod 3 frangible ammunition to supply the US Army, with a completion date of June 22, 2022, according to the June Department of Defense contracts press [Read More…]
After 13 years of searching for the US Army’s next pistol, a successor to the Beretta M9 has been selected. However, with the selection of the SIG P320 as the M17 and M18 Modular Handgun System, many individuals in the industry have been compelled to cry foul and [Read More…]
The state-owned Ordnance Factory Board’s most recent rifle submission has failed the Indian Army’s initial rifle qualification trials, in the words of the Hindustan Times it “miserably failed”. This most recent trial comes right on the heels of [Read More…]
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