The Merkava 4.
I would have liked to see it using its mortar in a city environment, but it is still a fun vid.
H/t ELP Defens(c)e Blog.
Category: Weapons
I See a GAO Contract Challenge
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Picture h/t Amy Butler
Raytheon Beat Boeing for the successor contract for the small diameter bomb successor, basically a form, fit, and function identical variant with a “tri-mode seeker” to allow it to strike moving targets.
Considering that they beat the prior prime, and considering that cost was something like 3rd on the priority list, I would expect a challenge here.
The Similarities to Afghanistan Are Striking
This is not a substitute for sane or sensible policy
The army will be deploying the XM-25 Individual Airburst Weapon to Afghanistan, and many good things are expected of it.
I am not at all surprised that they have decided that a personal grenade launcher would be necessary for the conflict.
The Soviets came to the same conclusion when they were in Afghanistan, which is why the AGS-17 Plamya (Russian: Пламя) is a Soviet-designed automatic grenade launcher used in Afghanistan to such a degree that the unmounted infantry squad was largely built around the weapon in the same way that a squad is built around the LMG in US service.
The degree to which our experience in Afghanistan is a rerun of the failed Soviet script is striking.
Breaking: Former Blackwater Executives Indicted
Gary Jackson, the former president of the mercenary firm Blackwater*, the former general counsel, executive vice-president, and two other formerly employees on for crimes related to gun-running.
Here’s hoping that someone in this group sings to the prosecutors, and maybe takes Eric Prince down, and maybe he’ll sing to prosecutors.
Of course, if he has dirt, it will be on Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, and nothing will happen, because Obama and Holder don’t want to look back.
*Now Xe
How About Training the Troops to Shoot Accurately at Range?
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The EM-2, the first modern Bullpup
And going with a Bullpup, which would allow for a longer barrel in a shorter weapon would not hurt either.
A monograph by Major Thomas P. Ehrhart (PDF) is raising a bit of a stir in the blogosphere, and mostly this is used as a stopping off point for the suggestion that the 5.56mm round be replaced with something bigger and heavier.
I think that looking at the abstract gives a good picture of the problem:
Operations in Afghanistan frequently require United States ground forces to engage and destroy the enemy at ranges beyond 300 meters. While the infantryman is ideally suited for combat in Afghanistan, his current weapons, doctrine, and marksmanship training do not provide a precise, lethal fire capability to 500 meters and are therefore inappropriate. Comments from returning soldiers reveal that about fifty percent of engagements occur past 300 meters. Current equipment, training, and doctrine are optimized for engagements under 300 meters and on level terrain. This monograph reviews the small arms capability of the infantry squad from World War I to present. It then discusses current shortfalls with cartridge lethality, weapons and optics configurations, the squad designated marksman concept and finally the rifle qualification course. Potential solutions in each of these areas are discussed.
(emphasis mine)
So, the current standard weapon, the M4 is inadequate beyond 300m, and somewhat marginal at lesser distances, but the M-16 serves ably in this role:
In the table of organization for a light infantry company only the six –M240B 7.62-mm machineguns, two– 60-mm mortars and nine designated marksman armed with either 7.62-mm M14 rifles or accurized 5.56-mm M16A4’s rifles are able to effectively engage the enemy. These weapons systems represent 19 percent of the company’s firepower. This means that 81 percent of the company has little effect on the fight. This is unacceptable.
There are two reasons for this, the M4 has a 14½ inch barrel, and as velocity of the round drops, so does stopping power. The M16, with its 20 inch barrel can effectively engage at the longer distances.
The second problem is that the US Army is does not place sufficient emphasis on marksmanship:
The U.S entered World War I with a small professional Army trained in marksmanship. It filled its ranks with volunteers and conscripts and traditional marksmanship training took too much time. Between World War I and the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army was a conscript Army that relied on suppressive fire, not marksmanship, and trained accordingly. The problem is suppressive fire does not do well with a light, barely lethal bullet at the distances of engagements in Afghanistan.
Note again that the bullet is “barely lethal” when fired from a 14½ inch barrel.
Most of the other western armies have moved to Bullpup, and additionally use a gas driven piston to operate the bolt, as opposed to the gas tube system used on the AR-15 family of weapons, which is sensitive to the accumulation of grime and combustion residues.
While changing the weapon and training is a non-trivial course, it is far more straightforward than a adopting a new round, particularly when there would still be issues with accuracy under the current doctrine, particularly when it is likely that our NATO allies would be disinclined to make the change in a timely manner: It took nearly a decade for the 5.56 to be adopted as NATO standard, and a decade after that for it to become the standard round for infantry weapons.
H/t Defense Tech.
OK, Blackwater is Done
Southpark is on the case:
Background, in case you live under a rock.
Army Issues Improved M4/M16 Magazine
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The tan follower is the new magazine, and will be phased in as the older green followers are phased out. The black follower is to be removed from service immediately.
How the longer legs stabilizes feeding
Basically, it uses a more robust follower and a stronger spring to improve reliability:
The Army has begun fielding the new 5.56mm 30 round Improved Magazine that delivers a significant increase in reliability for the battle-tested M16 and M4 weapons systems. Bolstering the already high reliability ratings of the M16/M4 systems, the Improved Magazine effectively reduces the risk of magazine-related stoppages by more than 50 percent compared to the older magazine variants. Identified by a tan-colored follower, over 500,000 of the improved magazines have been fielded to units in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the U.S.
“With the improved magazines, we’re taking weapons reliability up another notch,” said LTC Chris Lehner, Product Manager Individual Weapons. “By incorporating a heavier, more corrosion resistant spring, along with a new follower design that does not tilt inside the casing, our engineers were able to develop a magazine that presents a round to the weapon with even greater stability. Increased magazine reliability results in overall improved weapon system performance.”
Note, however, that this only reduces magazine related stoppages, and does not address the issues with the M4/M16’s sensitivity to grime, etc. and issues related to its gas tube operation.
This is the Argument Room
It looks like they are looking at replacing/upgrading the M4 carbine again.
As a result of stoppages and other problems under very heavy use, they are looking at some mods:
Army weapons officials presented the proposed changes to Congress on Oct. 30. They are:
- Adding a heavier barrel for better performance during high rates of fire.
- Replacing the direct-impingement gas system with a piston gas system.
- Improving the trigger pull.
- Adding an improved rail system for increased strength.
- Adding ambidextrous controls.
- Adding a round counter to track the total number of bullets fired over the weapon’s lifetime.
I think that the gas tube operation has always been a problem, so going with a piston makes sense, and an improved trigger pull, making the weapon a bit more robust, and adding ambidextrous controls are all pretty common sense. The heavier barrel is a trade off, more weight vs better performance under heavy use, and I don’t have the data for that.
As to the round counter, it has to be designed such that if it fails, everything else works, because it add a lot of complexity.
To my mind, the real solution is to go with a Bullpup design, which would be shorter, but have a longer barrel, and you can incorporate improvements in a new weapon.
That being said, arguments over the M16 family, and 5.56mm rounds tend to be contentious.
Army Looking for Compact Weapon for Tankers Etc.
It appears that the US Army is looking for a subcompact personal weapon system for people like tankers and truck drivers.
Seeing as how this is a niche weapon, there are basically two cartridges taht make sense, 5.56 NATO, and 9mm parabellum (used in the Baretta pistol).
I would recommend the former, because if you are carrying more than a 50-100 or so, you have less weight, and even out of a short barrel, you have longer range.
I think that a Bullpup makes sense, because you start getting to absurdly short barrel lengths for the weapon (<10 in).
So, you have existing weapons like the MTAR-21 Tavor, the AUG carbine, etc,
If you want to go to a different round, then something like the FN P90, with its 5.7x 28mm cartridge (as compared to the 5.56x45mm NATO) makes more sense than a 9mm round.
Note that all the Bullpups have integral optical sites, which for someone with little experience shooting a personal in a combat situation is a real advantage.
Additionally one of the arguments against a Bullpup, that slinging a grenade launcher under the barrel become problematic, is not an issue here.
If the army is serious, they would buy something off the shelf, but I expect that there will be instead some sort of new weapon developed, so that some General can get a cushy job on retirement.
M4/M16 Problems
One of the things that I did not cover in my discussion of the firefight at Camp Keating was the performance of the weapons there.
Specifically, it appears that the M4s carbines and M249 “Minimi” SAWs started to fail over the course of the fight.
There are a number of links, but this release a draft report from the Combat Studies Institute seems to be the most definitive. (you can see other accounts , here, here, here, and here.
The big issue here is that there are reports of both the M4 and M249 failing as the engagement went forward.
Since both weapons were failing, with one (M4) having a short stroke gas-tube operation, and the other (M249) having a long stroke piston, it’s pretty clear that the method of operation of these weapons are directly responsible for these failures.
Here is what I think is the pertinent quote:
Stafford crawled back up to the protection of the southern post of the OP, where he watched Specialist Bogar put up a heroic defense, nearly single-handedly, with his SAW. Bogar placed it on top of the sandbags, notwithstanding as Stafford noted, “I’m just watching that boulder pop with rounds coming in.” Stafford was badly wounded and drifting in and out of consciousness, but he distinctly remembered, “Bogar had just set his SAW on top of the sandbags and he was just kind of spraying, going through SAW rounds pretty quick. I remember him, loading and spraying, loading and spraying.” At the Crow’s Nest, Specialist Ayers was also going cyclic with the M-240. Stafford also remembered being impressed at the volume of fire that Ayers was pouring out, “I could also hear the 240 going off above me in the Crow’s Nest, because Ayers was just ripping them apart. I could hear Rainey screaming at Ayers not to melt the barrel on the 240 and to control his fires.”
Specialist Bogar fired approximately six hundred rounds at a cyclic rate of fire from his SAW when that weapon became overheated, and eventually jammed the bolt forward. Specialist Stafford noted, “Bogar was still in our hole firing quite a bit. Then Bogar’s SAW jammed. Basically it just got way overheated, because he opened the feed tray cover and I remember him trying to get it open and it just looked like the bolt had welded itself inside the chamber. His barrel was just white hot.”
(emphasis mine)
While I think that “White Hot” is probably an exaggeration, I would think that weapons would fail with the barrel still “cherry” hot, but it appears that there was a lot of shooting going on and the weapons were getting very hot as a result, at which point things like cook-off of rounds, expansion of parts, etc. begin to be a factor.
I will note that the M249 is a weapon that fires from an open bolt, which means that you have to be pumping a lot of rounds down range to get it that hot, so fire discipline, as alluded to in exchange above regarding the M240, a 7.62mm belt machine gun that is essentially the M249’s big brother.
This may have been a situation where the weapons were simply fired beyond their design capabilities.
Part of the reason for this is that the weapons used by both had similar effective ranges.
The AK-47, because of its relative lack of accuracy, is really not effective beyond 200m, particularly in the hands of a typical insurgent, and the M4, with its short (14½”) barrel and relatively light round, lacks lethality beyond that range.
The M16, by contrast, with its longer barrel, would be able to place effective fire on the enemy at more than 300m.
Had the soldiers been using the M16, they would have been able to engage the enemy before the enemy could engage them, and it is not entirely clear to me (please, someone educate me) why the troops were issued a carbine in a non-urban area where engagement distances would likely be longer.
Additionally, it appears that the position was located primarily due to non-combat considerations, which made it less defensible than it should have been.
All of these contributed to a very intense firefight, and it appears that the intensity of the combat was a significant cause as to the failures of these weapons.
Simply put, a personal weapon, or a squad automatic weapon, are not designed to throw that many rounds down range in that short a time.
One question that is not addressed in this report, at least not in this early draft of the report, is whether fire discipline was maintained, or if the troops were reverting to “spray and pray”.
My guess is that fire discipline was maintained, at least to the degree that discipline is possible when you are being attacked by a heavily armed force that outnumbers you, but I have no direct military or combat experience to evaluate this.
That being said, I think that the M4 should be replaced. Most of the other modern western armies, the Germans excepted, have switched to a Bullpup design, and as such, they have longer barrels, and shorter overall lengths than the M4.
See the table below for a comparison:
| Weapon | Barrel Length | Overall Length |
| M4 | 14.5 in | 29.8 in (stock retracted) |
| Tavor T.A.R-21 | 18.1 in | 28.5 in |
Additionally, while there are advantages to gas tube operation, generally lighter weight and better accuracy because there are fewer moving parts, one consistent complaint about the AR-15 and its children is that the weapons require meticulous, almost obsessive cleaning.
I admire the breakthroughs that Eugene Stoner made when he created the weapon, and many of those innovations, the use of plastics and high-strength lightweight alloys, continue today, but I think that the use of the gas tube has been shown to be problematic.
That being said, I would favor moving to a new weapon, as opposed to something like the gas piston retrofit, as the existing weapon has problems that are inherent in the design (i.e. barrel length and overall length).
In my perfect world, the Army and Marines would purchase one of the Bullpups already in service, as opposed to developing a new weapon itself, but given the nature of defense procurement in the US, particularly the Army Ordinance’s rather parochial view towards foreign weapons, I think that this unlikely.
Note: I have never served, and I’ve never shot anything more substantial than a .22 short rifle for in a riflery class in summer camp, so if I am wrong, please tell me in the comments.
All I ask is some detail. Don’t tell me I’m an idiot, show me that I’m an idiot.
U.S. Looking at Israeli Iron Fist APS
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From Wiki
It looks like the US military is far less sanguine over Raytheon’s Active Protection System (APS), Quick Kill, because the military folks at the AUSA convention were all over the Israeli Iron Fist APS, made by Rafael.
It is similar to, but appears to be a somewhat more capable system than the other Israeli APS, IMI’s Trophy system, in that it can engage KE rounds as well as ATGMs and RPGs.
The concept is somewhat different than both Raytheon’s and IMI’s, with the blast intended to take out incoming missiles and sabot darts, as opposed to shot, which means that the sabot is not actually destroyed, but made to yaw prior to impact, which would reduce penetration.
When one considers that the Israeli standard infantry fighting vehicle is the Namer, which is based on the Merkava chassis, and weighs in at 60T, as versus 40T for the Bradley, the 20T Stryker, and the 20-30T FCS replacement, it may be of somewhat more limited utility.
A sabot yawing 15° or so off the normal may not prevent penetration of the thinner armor, but on the plus side, using of a non-fragmenting charge means that the potential to injure troops operating closely to the vehicle is significantly reduced.
You Know the Downturn is Severe When
The manufacturer of the AK-47, OAO Izhmash, is filing for bankruptcy.
If there was anything out there that I thought would be a growth industry……
The Gun Market Likes Obama
2009 Sales (not shown) Even BiggerBut not in the way that you thing.
There has been much written about how Barack Obama inspired paranoia is boosting gun sales.
Well, we are now seeing some indications that this string is playing out in the handgun market. On June 22, Smith and Wesson was talking about a huge backlog:
Our firearms backlog continued to increase dramatically during the quarter, and reached its peak at $268 million dollars by the end of April. That level is $218 million dollars higher than the same quarter one year ago.
(emphasis mine)
That’s a 436% increase in backlog.
But on September 9, the news is not quite so rosy:
Our firearms backlog was $177.5 million at the end of the first quarter. Cancellations reduced backlog by approximately 10% during the quarter. It is important to note that our backlog always represents product that has been ordered but not yet shipped. As a result, it is possible that portions of the backlog could be canceled if demand should suddenly drop.
(emphasis mine)
As John Hempton notes, speaking from an investors perspective:
The backlog dropped from $268 million to $178 million – a drop of 90 million. Ten percent of that (say $27 million) was order cancellation – but a net $63 million of sales came from the backlog. Total sales were 102 million – and less than 100 million in firearms. The rate at which Americans are placing orders for new Smith and Wesson handguns is collapsing.
The company did not tell us the current forward order book. At that rate of collapse what they are facing is a disaster.
(emphasis original)
It appears that the right wing is running out of hate.
I’m shocked, I thought that it was an inexhaustible commodity.
Great Googly Moogly!
That man is an Afghan policeman.
What he is holding in his hand is an unexploded and fully armed “Bouncing Betty” mine, or perhaps a bomblet from a cluster bomb, that he found on a rooftop.
I do not work around munitions, and I know how f*&^ing dangerous doing this is.
H/T Danger Room
One Solution to Piracy
There is s conflict between merchant ships being generally forbidden under international maritime law from carrying weapons, and how to deal with the the upsurge of pirates.
One interesting solution is the electronically controlled water cannon, which comes with a remote control joystick, so that the operator can be away from the turret, and the returned fire, an automatic system to track small boats, the ability to also shoot pepper spray, and, at 5000 liters a minute, it can, “send an 85 kg barrel flying end over end at 75 meters”, which is well probably at the accurate fire limit for someone shooting you at a small boat.
Best of all, it’s not a weapon, it’s “fire fighting equipment,” and so is not subject to things like port restrictions.
Terrorist Training Camp Found in Imperial, California
It appears that the Explorer Scouts are training their members in weapons use and military tactics.
OK, they are not. It’s training for law enforcement, and to my mind, probably very bad training for law enforcement, because, with its emphasis on military style assaults for for things like simulated bus hijackings, it contributes to an increasingly militarized mind set for what should be peace officers.
Additionally, if this were not run by the Explorer Scouts, a Co-Ed division of the Boy Scouts, but instead by the Islamic Community Center of Imperial California (Where the story is reported from), how long would before an ambitious prosecutor would charge them all with running a “terrorist training camp.”
What’s more, he would probably win the case.
Israel Has Sunk Multiple Iranian Ships
I missed the reports, but it appears that Israeli aircraft sank a ship carrying arms to Hamas in Gaza in late March, and that an Israeli missile boat sank another ship just a few days ago, both off the coast of Sudan.
Both of the above links are the Jerusalem Post, but we have confirmation from Haaretz, which means that it probably happened.
France, U.K. To Qualify New Cannon – Defense News
France and the UK are set to qualify a new 40mm case telescoped ammunition cannon for their armored vehicles, and they are looking to be at System Readiness Level 8 (“Actual System Completed and Qualified Through Test and Demonstration”) by year’s end, with the cannon and ammunition qualified some time in 2012.
When I looked at this system last year, it looked promising, with a much simplified ammunition feed, no need to eject cases, and more punch in the same volume.
CTA International (CTAI), a “joint venture of BAE Systems and Nexter” say that this is compact enough to be a drop in replacement for the Bradley’s 25mm Bushmaster cannon, but that it will pack the punch of a 50mm cannon.
Alkali Laser?
It looks like General Atomics has snagged a $667,000 contract to develop a high power alkali laser. (paid subscription required)
As I noted last week, they are already working with the USAF on solid state lasers (HELLADS), but this is a different technology, a “diode-pumped alkali-vapor laser” (DPAL), which may be more efficient, and would likely be easier to cool, as the alkali-vapor could just be conveyed to a heat exchanger.
Solid-State Laser Programs Advance to High-Power Tests
HELLADS
Textron “ThinZag”
Hellads In B-1 Bay
Aviation Week had a cover story, and 3 articles on lasers, and it looks like the signs are in that chemical lasers, which has been the next big thing for battlefield applications are on the way out, because they rely on toxic and expensive chemicals that are remarkably unfriendly to battlefield conditions.
One of the issues for solid state lasers has always been that when you have a high power ceramic generating the laser, the cooling tends create thermal shock that can break the material.
The Joint High-Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) program is looking to demonstrate proof of concept models in the next year or so, with outputs in the 100kW, and DARPA is looking at the High-Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (Hellads).
For JHPSSL, there are two contractors and technologies, Northrop Grumman, which gangs the output of 8 or more laser modules, and Textron which uses a single module, and boosts the output with “gain modules”. (Textron’s “ThinZag” concept is the 2nd picture)
The goals of both programs now is efficiency, both in terms of gross power-in/power out ratios, and beam quality, which effects beam quality at a distance.
DARPA appears to be ahead in terms of developing a modestly sized laser that can fitted to existing platforms. (bottom picture is a theoretical system in a B-1 Weapons bay)
HELLADS is being developed by General Atomics, and the concept is described as a “liquid laser”, where the amplification disks are immersed in a coolant to avoid thermal shock issues.
Further, the DARPA is developing with Raytheon a electronically scanned optical array under a separate program, where they are electronically steering the fiber optic inputs from multiple lasers (7 lasers are shown being combined in the top picture).