#Weapon

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 gunner Oleg Yuzkovich about his trusty PKM machine gun, in an interview with 5 Kanal (Channel 5 Ukraine, embedded below.

The US Army’s newest magazine for the M16 and M4, the Enhanced Performance Magazine (EPM), failed a recent USMC test of rifle magazines, according to a recent Marine Corps SYSCOM document released by National Review. The report shows the EPM coming in last in the tests, with a mean rounds between failures (MRBF) figure below the baseline 600 in almost every subtest. In contrast, the magazine from Vendor A – which TFB has confirmed was the Magpul PMag Gen M3, recently adopted by the United States Marine Corps – was the best performer in every subtest. You can see the results of the test in the slides embedded below:

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 President Josh Dorsey’s complaint that the MHS program had been left unfinished, saying that the endurance testing went “uncompleted”. However, a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) contradicts this assessment, and notes that the Army never promised in the Request for Proposal (RFP) to award more than one contract prior to Product Validation Testing (PVT).

The United States House of Representatives has just passed their version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and included within it is a provision that will mandate the release of all M1911 handguns currently in US Army inventory to the Civilian Marksmanship Program, for distribution to eligible US civilians. The new bill would overwrite the 2016 NDAA, which allowed for the release of 10,000 of the pistols, but did not mandate it. The text of Section 1064 of the 2018 NDAA is as follows:

A concept for an advanced suit of powered personal armor was unveiled late last month at the Moscow Prototyping Center, sporting hexagonal modular armor panels, full face helmet with mocked up information display, and a bullpup rifle. The suit, revealed to the internet via a YouTube video from Russian government funded RT-subsidiary Ruptly, was more conceptual mockup than prototype, evidenced by its engraved polymer “display” insert, stylized armor, and non-functional gun and mechanism. The Ruptly video is embedded below:

Can a computer pick out and identify guns directly from video footage, without the aid of a human? That’s the technology being demonstrated by a program at the Spanish University of Granada, which earlier this year released a video purporting to show an computer artificial intelligence doing just that. You can see this technology in action in the video released by the University, embedded below:

Since the Government Accountability Office’s decision to reject Glock’s protest of the Modular Handgun System contract award to SIG Sauer, the GAO has released a statement. The 17 page document outlines not only the reason for the GAO’s decision, but provides insight as to the deciding factors in the MHS contract award as well. Chiefly, the document reveals that SIG substantially underbid Glock, and that this – and not any technical difference between the competitors’ pistols – was the deciding factor in the contract award:

“…Not until they invent handheld laser beams or something” – maybe you’ve heard this tacked on the end of an argument about how small arms are at their peak, and unlikely to change very much anytime soon. Well, the day when Star Wars-style blasters become a reality may be sooner than some think: Military technology giant Raytheon has conducted the first comprehensive flight test of a helicopter-borne high energy laser weapon capable of blasting drones out of the sky.

At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association’s (NDIA) annual Armament Systems Forum in April, Mr. Howard Kent of Armor Development Group, and Dr. Jeffery Widder presented a concept for a caseless grenade system which allows the user to aim by changing the muzzle velocity of the round itself. Their grenade design would allow a grenadier to fire on targets at varying ranges while maintaining the same firing angle as well as approximately the same impact angle.

At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association small arms conference in April, the US Army revealed its efforts to produce new improved varieties of 40mm low velocity ammunition for the M203 and M320 grenade launchers. Product Director for Medium Caliber Ammunition Christopher Seacord’s presentation at NDIA lists three new types of 40mm ammunition: XM1166 High Explosive Air Burst (HEAB), XM1167 Door Breach (DB), and XM1168 Short Range Anti-Personnel (SRAP):

Surefire, not content to let the cheap imitation knock-offs gobble up the tacticool market has announced a slew of new Scout weapon lights. The new Scouts focus on offering a variety of weapon-ready configurations, combining various weapon mounts, body lengths, and tape switches so that customers no longer have to purchase the various parts a-la-carte.

The South African state-owned defense conglomerate Denel Land Systems has recently experienced a large rise in sales which have maxed out its production facilities, African defense website DefenceWeb reports. According to DefenceWeb’s article, most of the increase in recent sales have been from small lot sales to the Middle East.

According to a Military.com article, an element of 1st Battalion, 6th Marines will be deploying a 13-man squad of Infantry fully equipped with M27 IARs, suppressors, drum magazines, and other pieces of experimental gear. Called the “Über Squad”, it will be chosen from companies within 1/6, and will use the gear through an entire workup, training, and deployment cycle to Europe. From Military.com:

Is it possible to convert someone into an AK fanatic, or do you have to be born one? Can the comfort zone of aircraft-grade aluminum and nitro-injected ergonomics be overcome by the simple elegance and robustness of the Kalashnikov? This question is one I’ve found myself asking a number of times after I published my love letter to the AK back in early 2015.

In the wake of Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley’s testimony to Congress on the present and future state of the US Army, there has been a significant amount of speculation and in some cases misleading reporting regarding his statements on small arms and ammunition. Authors such as Todd South with Army Times and Eric Graves of Soldier Systems have presented their take on General Milley’s comments, but in doing so have presented an interpretation of his testimony that I do not think reflects what he said or meant. Therefore, briefly, I’d like to go over some of these interpretations and explain why I think they are not accurate and what General Milley meant, instead. After each bullet I will list the interpretation that I think is incorrect, followed by General Milley’s statement regarding it, and then my own explanation.