Christian Lowe, the managing editor of Military.com, has published a blog post categorically stating that he has it on record that the SCAR Mk-16 has been cancelled … And the meme that that Mk-16 wasn’t “cancelled” and that only hyperbolic “reportage” [Read More…]
Army.mil reports on Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli’s visit to the Army-owned (but ATK operated) Lake City Ammunition Plant … And with that, the tour started first with the production lines of 7.62 mm and .50 caliber ammunition [Read More…]
I recently blogged about Tony Williams’ presentation at the NDIA Conference in which he argued that that NATO needs a new rifle and machine gun round. Directly after his presentation Per G. Arvidsson, Chairman of the NATO Weapons & Sensors Working Group, gave [Read More…]
Anthony Williams has just posted a new article online which discusses what is needed for the next generation of small arms. Before the Afghan conflict began, it was assumed that small-arms engagements would continue to take place within the traditional 300 metre limit, [Read More…]
The Marine Times reports … The Marine Corps intends to purchase 1.8 million rounds of the Army’s new green bullet in addition to the millions of U.S. Special Operations Command cartridges already downrange as the service looks to find the best replacement for [Read More…]
C.J. Chivers at The NY Times has posted a well written article about the M4 reliability controversy … Given these conditions, while we can’t draw definitive conclusions about the current performance of the M-4 and M-16 lines, it is nonetheless a jolt to find no [Read More…]
I always get a laugh from reading the Army maintenance comics. [ Many thanks to Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the info. ]
Military.com reports on the deployment of the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle. Program officials maintain that the increased accuracy will compensate for the M27′s slower, sustained rate of fire. Unlike the M249, the new IAR doesn’t have a spare barrel that can [Read More…]
The journalists at China’s Peoples Daily appear to be even less informed about guns than your average American journalist. Yesterday they reported that the Taliban were training monkeys to operate AK-47 rifles and Bren light machine guns. Recently, a British [Read More…]
Liquid armor has been in the news quite a few times over the past couple of years. It looks like the technology is progressing nicely. BBC News reports … The BAE scientists describe it as “bullet-proof custard”. … “In standard bullet-proof [Read More…]
Nearly 70 years after it was first produced by Mauser during WWII, the MG 151/20 20mm autocannon is still being manufactured by French firm Nexter. In the below photos it is hooked up to one of those fancy remote control turrets which is mounted to a stripped-down [Read More…]
The SCAR-H PR (Precision Rifle) show below has an extra rail for accessories (this one is with the KAC front sight, but future models will have front sight integrated into the rail), a heavy 20″ barrel, new two-stage adjustable trigger and a 6-positon buttstock [Read More…]
FN has published a press released claiming that “allegations recently found on the web that USSOCOM abandoned the 5.56 version of the SCAR” are untrue. This is an interesting twist considering FN previously published a press release that implicitly confirmed [Read More…]
Every five years the Swiss get together for a month long shooting competition / party. This year the Eidgenössische (Federal) Schützenfest was held in the city of Aarau. There were 2300 teams made up over over 45,000 individual shooters! Swiss reader Laurent, who [Read More…]
USSOCOM’s decision to cancel the transition from the M4 to the FN SCAR Mk. 16 must have been the worst PR disaster to hit FN for quite some time. The FN SCAR was being proclaimed as the preferred rifle of the elite warriors of a superpower. It is now the rifle [Read More…]
AccurateShooter reports on the Army’s new 5.56mm ammunition … The 62-grain bullet for the new M855A1 ammo is a completely new design. While it may appear to have a plastic “ballistic tip”, that’s deceiving. The new bullet created for M855A1 ammo has a [Read More…]
Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) light machine gun (LMG) and rifle project is coming along nicely. Tony Williams, sent me photos and project’s latest news. The LMG now weighs 9.21 lbs in plastic-cased-telescoped (CT) and 9.9 lbs in caseless (CL), [Read More…]
This photo is form a set of Life Magazine never seen before Korean War photos. Does anyone know what they are doing? It looks like they are loading a case, but that can’t be right … can it? Larger version and other Korean War photos at Life Magazine. [ Many [Read More…]
The big news this week is that SOCOM are abandoning the FN SCAR MK-16 (5.56mm NATO version) after buying less than 1000 rifles. Military.com’s Kit Up blog reports … Details provided exclusively to Military.com reveal that SOCOM, the Tampa-based command that [Read More…]
Many thanks to Val for emailing me these photos. Lots more photos after the jump … (more…)
From the Navy press release ( 5/29/2010 )… WASHINGTON (NNS) — Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), with support from Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren, for the second time successfully tracked, engaged, and destroyed a threat representative [Read More…]
The photo is a classic. [ Many thanks to areader for emailing me the link. ]
The accurate detection and compensation for the effect of cross winds is the holy grail of sniper scope development. A patent awarded two days ago to the Israeli Government’s Soreq Nuclear Research Center describes a system that can do just that. The patent [Read More…]
These Chinese operators sure know their craft. BadassWeakling explained what the video is showing … I’m only 5 minutes in, but apparently there is a national marksmanship competition coming up. Every “group” (battalion? company?) only gets to [Read More…]
South Korea was distributing this brochure for their K11 20mm air burst grenade / 5.56mm rifle at the NDIA Joint Armaments Conference. Many thanks to Tony Williams for sending it through. Click to expand the images.
Practice shooting of Pandur wheeled armored personnel carriers took place on Friday 4 June 2010 at Kišnica shooting range in Kosovo, in the area of responsibility of the Swedish contingent. [Hat Tip: mj78 @ MP.net ]
The Wounded Artist Project is a nonprofit that is sending art kits to war wounded recovering in military hospitals. They have produced a range of videos to help teach art including this video which shows how to draw an M4. You can donate to the project over at their [Read More…]
ZOR MASHUR, KANDAHAR PROVINCE – JUNE 09: A soldier with the 1-71 Cavalry sits in a field of cannabis plants while on patrol June 9, 2010 in the village of Zor Mashur, south of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Cannabis produces the hashish drug that is popular in [Read More…]
Photos of the L129A1 deployed in Afghanistan. Defense Review has more photos of the rifle at SHOT Show. [ Many thanks to Brent for emailing me the photos. ]
I have no idea what hoofing means, but it is apparently what the British Army’s new AR-10 style L129A1 is, as described by Commando Sergeant Baz Evans in a UK Ministry of Defense Press Release (via. Kit Up blog ) … “I have fired over 1,000 rounds on [Read More…]
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