#Utm

It is finally official. The French Ministry of Armed Forces have ordered 74,596 Glock pistols in a contract worth over 44 Million Euros (about $49 Million USD).

Advanced Target Technologies has just released a Simunition/UTM version of their Lumatic Target Plates. The system is designed for target designation and hit notification with sensors that display information via self healing LED lights. The Sim/UTM Lumatic Targets complement ATT’s current system for live fire training available here. Details, links and information can be found below.

Nestled in small Alliance, Ohio is the Alliance Police Training Range. One of the main attractions at the Alliance facility is the 8,100 square foot 360 degree shoot house. The Alliance PD Range was established to provide quality training to military, law enforcement, and responsibly armed civilians. Many engagements happen in or around structures, but few ranges have the facilities to train for these encounters.

Known by the companies that produce them, Simunitions or UTMs, or by their colloquially gifted name “Blue Guns”, reality-based training firearms for Law Enforcement and Military training exercises have been in constant use for the past several decades. Their high prices and strict guidelines have unfortunately led them to sometimes be scarcely used among the end users that actually need them the most. But this doesn’t mean they don’t have any training value. In fact, these are some of the best trainers around when it comes to trying to replicate actually working with firearms in a defensive capacity.

Ultimate Training Munitions, or UTM, has a new product that’s available for sale direct to civilian consumers-Their Civilian Target Ammunition, or CTA.  CTA ammunition works by simply replacing one’s AR-15 Bolt or one’s pistol slide and barrel, and is intended for use in environments and situations that might not be conducive to training with lethal ammunition.  The plastic projectile weighs “less than 1 gram”, and has a velocity of 375 fps out of an AR-15.  It’s noise level is relatively low at 113DB, it does not use gunpowder, just their dual-primer system to cycle the bolt and propel the projectile.  Apparently, it is capable of 1.18″ groups at 32 yards.  Because of the projectile’s short and non-lethal trajectory, one could practice firing at angles that might otherwise be unsafe, or use them in a plywood shoot house with no possibility of a lethal shoot-through.  It is also a non-toxic, lead free training option.

UTM has a stripped down kit, called the Core Kit, which is just the bolt carrier group, magazine and 50 rounds of ammo for $294.  Basically it just doesn’t have the targets, traps and cleaning kit.

I was initially unsure about UTM’s decision to bring to market a civilian derivative of its training marker ammunition; it seemed to me that most would rather shoot regular ammunition through their rifles on a range than buy a multi-hundred-dollar conversion kit and $0.60/round ammunition to do nonlethal training.

UTM, the company that makes marker conversion kits for military and law enforcement training, has announced a civilian derivative, utilizing lower powered non-marker ammunition for increased safety:

BreachBangClear has posted an excellent trieste and introduction to new 7.62mm marking munitions from UTM.  Man-Marking Rounds are deployed by the US Military, Federal agencies, and LE customers to better simulate real-world firearms combat.

UTM, a manufacturer of non-lethal training ammunition, is now selling an updated version of the company’s portable training facility (PTF.) Since the training “house” is designed to contain only training ammunition, the walls are lightweight and can be moved to create a different layout each time a student goes in.

Combat City USA, a gun range in Florida, is offering you the chance to shoot your friends with real guns. They allow you to bring your owns guns to use in their airsoft arena. They swap out a number of parts to convert them to the Ultimate Training Munitions (UTM) Man-Marker Round (MMR) system or the Simunition system. In the video below the rifle is being used with UTM rounds and the revolver with Simunition rounds.