Category: Military

Ma Duce Replacement?

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They have been talking about replacing the .50 cal M2 Browning machine gun for decades, and now they are talking about the LW50 as a replacement.

The M2 has some flaws, most notably weight, a lack of a quick change barrel, and the need to set head spacing, but I’ll withhold judgment for now, particularly since I’ve never served of handled an automatic weapon.

It appears that the sticking point may be rate of fire, which is about 2/3 that of the M2.

I always wanted to be John Browning when I grew up.

Hope Hits Target in Tests

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The German Hope penetrating glide bomb hit its target in flight trials in September.

It’s a 3000 lb class weapon that is supposed to have a better penetrating capability than the 5000 lb GBU-28, and it has a range in excess of 100 km and a CEP of 3m.

I find it interesting that it appears to have a variable incidence oblique wing, at least as shown in the picture, which is probably needed to get the range.

If one assumes a launch at 35,000 feet, and a terminal dive from 5000 feet, the range implies a 10:1 glide ratio, which would require decent aerodynamic efficiency.

Eisenhower’s Kid Speaks

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John S.D. Eisenhower, Dwight Eisenhower’s son, notes that he is the only son of a president or vice-president who served in combat while their parents were serving, and he notes that Sarah Palin’s, Joe Biden’s, and John McCain’s sons should not be serving in Iraq:

As the time for my deployment approached, I discussed my intentions with my father. We met at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, just after the Republican convention, and I explained my position. My father, as a professional officer himself, understood and accepted it. However, he had a firm condition: Under no circumstances must I ever be captured. He would accept the risk of my being killed or wounded, but if the Chinese Communists or North Koreans ever took me prisoner, and threatened blackmail, he could be forced to resign the presidency. I agreed to that condition wholeheartedly. I would take my life before being captured.

On looking back, however, I now feel that I was being unfair and selfish, and that my father was being far too conciliatory in giving me such permission. On the other hand, I don’t think that the army should ever have given me an option in the matter.

(emphasis mine)

This argument also applies to Prince Harry, by the way.

Brazil Shortlists Fighters

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Brazil is looking for fighters to replace it’s existing 1960s vintage fighter force.

It has now shortlisted the Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale and Gripen NG while dropping the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16, and Su-35 from the competition.

If they are looking at lifecycle costs, the Gripen wins, being half the weight of the competitors.

If they are looking for an aircraft to operate of their carrier, the Rafale wins, because the F/A-18 is really too big for their rather small carrier.

Additionally, they have an existing relationship with Dassault, as they leased Mirage 2000s from them.

That being said, Stephen Trimble notes they are very interested in technology transfer, wanting to rebuild their defense industry, which, after all, was half of the effort to build the Italo-Brazilian team that built AMX attack plane in the 1970s, so it may come down to who gives them the best technology transfer.

My guess is that this competition is France’s to lose, but they have found innovative ways to lose export competitions recently.

More on the M4, M16, and the 5.56 Round

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Well, first, it appears that as a part of a potential M4/16 replacement, the army is once again looking at the 25mm smart grenade launcher, now called the XM25 Individual Air Burst Weapon, which grew from the abortive Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW).

Incorporating this into a standard carbine or rifle is, I thin, a losing proposition. You add weight and complexity when only one person on the fire team really needs to have the weapon under most scenarios.

As such I favor a solution analogous to the M203, which can be installed on the weapon as needed.

There are two issues with the M4 and one with the M-16, they both require a lot of care and cleaning, and the M4 has lethality issues beyond about 50 or so meters.

As to the former, much of the issue is the gas tube system, in which the gas which it tapped to drive the bolt directly, and there is a drop in kit, basically a new upper receiver assembly, which adds a piston, the H&K 416.

While people talk about going with a heavier round, the real problem with lethality with the M4 is that its barrel, at 14-1/2 inches is just too short, and so velocity, and hence energy, suffers. Seeing as how bullpup rifles are shorter with a barrel typically about 4 inches longer, that solves the problem.

As an interim solution, going with the upper receiver replacement makes sense, while one looks at something more extensive.

BTW, good article on the H&K G11, which used a 4.85mm caseless round, which would have been a world beater.

My understanding is that they fixed the cookoff issues, but the rounds, and the weapon, were too fracking expensive.

Here is some gun pr0n, with the pictures from here:


NLOS-C Prototype Fires First Round

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They have validated the concept with mockups and breadboards (It’s why you see the cables running out of the back of those vehicles) but this does represent a step forward for the howitzer variant of the Future Combat System:

The mobile cannon, which is crewed by two soldiers, has a fully automated ammunition loading system and on-board projectile tracking. Lieutenant Colonel Robert McVay, Army Product Manager for NLOS-C said in a statement that “This marks the first 155mm round fired from a fully automated howitzer mounted on an FCS hybrid-electric chassis and remotely commanded through its on-board computers and controls.”

You will note in the picture that this is not the full up model firing, but one of the breadboard models, note the cables out the rear.

Boo Yah!!!!

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I was reading this article about the spate of aerial encounters between Russian bombers and NATO aircraft, and it appears that it gets pilots pumped up on both sides.

Regardless of the political fallout of the situation, pilots on both sides just love this stuff.

In any case, a commenter at this article, after noting that the Russian pilots get only about $800/month, said something very wise:

[R]ather than build JSF or Raptors, why not just take that money, and recruit Russian pilots away? We can move them into foreclosed condo’s down in So Beach, pay them twice what they make, and I think save the American Taxpayer a ton of money.

Very wise.

US Air Force Looking at Another Way to Be Unhelpful in Afghanistan and Iraq

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Because the USAF just canceled the Common Battlefield Airmen Training(CBAT), a program to train airmen for conducting operations outside the airfield perimeter.

We have seen a greater involvement of USAF personnel in ground combat operations, particularly in areas such as EOD, and this will decision is profoundly unhelpful to the needs of the soldier on the ground, but it’s always been the policy of the USAF top be profoundly unhelpful to the needs of the soldier on the ground.

Tanker Fracas Erratta

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Well, if Boeing was hoping the cancellation/delay of the tanker competition to give them a chance to deliver products on time and schedule, the continuing problems with deliveries to the Italians, where they have delayed initial deliveries from this year to next year on a program that was supposed to deliver tankers in 2005 ain’t gonna help.

In the world of pork, Airbus has canceled plans to move A330F freighter final production to Alabama, which is to be expected.

Even with the relatively low dollar, the move does not make sense without the DoD contract for tankers.

One thing that sees apparent is the it won’t only be Boeing that will be rejiggering its bid now that it’s been put off, as Airbus is already announcing a 5 ton increase in gross weight for its A300-200, which would doubtless be applied to any new bid on the tanker contract.

Weapons-Grade Electrically Powered Lasers Seem Near

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The dividing line is 100 KW, and it looks like we will be seeing this in the next year or so.

Basically, they are focusing together multiple “strings of solid state lasers in order to boost the power of the beam.

This is far more useful, and much less expensive, than the chemical lasers that have been tested by the military previously, which typically involve the use of exotic, expensive, and highly toxic chemicals to achieve the necessary results.

Northrop-Grumman is claiming that they achieved 30 KW for 5 minutes continuously recently.

One other technology that might benefit from this is advanced capacitor technology, as to get the desired 100 KW, you are looking at putting in at least 500 KW (about 670 hp), and when one considers the power required for cooling and other issues, you could see the total power requirements during firing be in the 1000 KW range, which is a big generator, but storing the energy in capacitors would eliminate much of that problem.

I would expect the the first military application to be something like a laser to intercept things like mortar rounds and Katyusha rockets.

NATO Conducts Raid Inside Pakistan

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Way to piss off an essential ally against terrorism in the region, by sending in a helicopter based infantry assault, and killing some number of civilians.

I’m not sure if this is the start of a new policy, a statement of displeasure regarding Pakistan’s Ramadan cease fire, or some attempt to gin up something for the us elections, but in either case, the consequences, in terms of destabilizing a nuclear armed Pakistan, are very concerning.

Note that this was not the NATO force that did this, as, “American troops in Afghanistan operate under a NATO chain of command, the Special Operations forces who carried out this attack answer only to American commanders.”

In any case, this does not bode well for US-Pakistani relations.

Maliki Says Hard and Fast Deadline in Iraq

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And it appears that there will be no “they aren’t permanent, the US will leave before the sun dies” superbases” either:

“It is not possible for any agreement to conclude unless it is on the basis of full sovereignty and the national interest, and that no foreign soldiers remain in Iraqi soil after a defined time ceiling,” Mr. Maliki said in a speech to Shiite tribal leaders in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

George W. Bush, you are completely Pwn3d.

And the Wild Blue Yonder Boys Screw Up in Afghanistan

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Karzai just condemned a USAF led airstrike in Afghanistan and fired two commanders in the region.

A representative of the Karzai administration nails it:

“This puts us in a very difficult position,” said a government official, who asked not to be identified because of the delicacy of the matter. “It provides propaganda to the Taliban, and if they don’t take responsibility, it actually helps the Taliban.”

Of course, even when coalition troops engaging in a training exercise are targeted by pilots hopped up on amphetamines, or a pilot joy riding below altitude minimums kills 20 people in a cable car, there is at best a slap on the wrist (note that the latter were Marines, not USAF).

The three US air services need to stop behaving in a way that aids the insurgents.