Snake Head Cupola MK III

via Army Recognition.

At SOFEX 2018, the International Special Operations Forces Exhibition & Conference, the Jordanian Defense Company Jordan Amco presents a new version of its fully armoured turret Snake Head Cupola MK III fitted with optronics to perform combat operations during day and night conditions.

At DSEI 2017, a defense exhibition in London, Jordan AMCO has displayed its new upgraded Snake Head Cupola MK III, a fully closed armoured cupola fitted on a hybrid ring mount with 13 vision blocks, enabling the gunner to have wide surveillance angles of the perimeter around the vehicle.

The MKIIIA cupola is equipped with a front shield fitted on the weapon mount. The shield moves up and down providing the gunner full protection in the area around the gun barrel in addition to a curved vision block to enhance gunners’ vision.

At SOFEX 2018, Jordan Amco unveils a new version of its Snake Head Cupola MKIIIA fitted with day and night vision optronics and a laser range finder mounted at the front of the turret. With this new optics, Jordan Amco offers a new generation of fully armoured turret with high level of accuracy which can be used during day and night operations.

The Snake Head Cupola MK III can be easily integrated to any types of light wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles. The turret can offer ballistic protection up to Level 2 STANAG 4569. It can be armed with a variety of weapons, including machine gun up to 12.7mm caliber with manual traverse of 360° and manual elevation from -10° to +35°. According the request of customers, the turret can also be electrically powered.

I've been looking for low profile cupolas and/or turrets for awhile now.  The stuff we've been seeing is good but size and weight reductions are LONG overdue.

I don't know the tech behind this stuff but I would think they could push harder to deliver what I just described.

We need smaller.  We need lighter.  We need the capability to mount whatever weapon is desired...and we need under armor reloading, clearing and even light maintenance of the system.

Is that asking too much?

But back to this offering.  It's smaller than the offering that gained widespread use after the USAF Security guy got hit in Iraq (don't remember his name but I know the Air Force pushed out a new cupola with a quickness that was widely adopted). It provides overhead protection.  It's a step in the right direction.  Below is the version without the optics/day/night sights.  Jordan is making steps, not as big as others but steady forward progress.  I'm pleased.

Flyer-based vehicle to give 173rd Airborne troops speed on the ground

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Stripes.

 The 173rd Airborne Brigade is expecting to get new ground vehicles that can climb hills, ford streams and enable a speedy exit from a drop zone.

The brigade is one of the five airborne brigades scheduled to receive the Ground Mobility Vehicle, a high-performance, four-wheel drive vehicle based on the Flyer Advanced Light Strike Vehicle, sometime next year.

The Flyers, used in the past few years by special operations forces, have a turbocharged diesel 2-liter engine generating 195 horsepower. Their top speed is listed at 95 mph.

“What that means is we can get to our objective faster and more lethally,” said Maj. Christopher Bradley, a brigade spokesman.

Bradley said the brigade would learn more details — including when the vehicles would arrive and how many they’ll get — at the end of the year.

“We’re expecting the initial fielding next spring,” he said. “Soldiers like to hear that their long walking trips might be minimized.”

Speed is of the essence for airborne troops. The 173rd Airborne Brigade is supposed to be able to deploy within 18 hours, parachuting out of planes to do so if necessary.

“The faster we can get people in — that gives our political leaders some options,” then-U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen Ben Hodges said during a 2016 NATO exercise in Spain that culminated in a parachute drop from C-17 aircraft. “That’s the most important thing: speed gives political leaders options.”

But once paratroopers hit the ground, things slow down. “Most of the time paratroopers walk,” Bradley said. “The vast majority of the time, we move out without vehicles.”

The $271,000 Flyer, developed by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, can accommodate nine soldiers, the size of a typical infantry rifle squad. It can take them up a 60-degree grade, across water up to 30 inches deep and through a rollover.

It has a range of 300 miles and Army officials touted the vehicle’s suspension for its smooth ride.

“It’s great for soldiers riding in a vehicle for a long period of time,” Bradley said. Flyers are also designed to support modern communications systems, he said.

Army photos show Flyers equipped with an M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun and an M240 7.62 mm medium machine gun.

The vehicles can be converted into lightly armored vehicles with modular panels.

The Flyer was designed to provide special operations forces with a lightweight vehicle that could be airdropped — from C-130s and larger aircraft, as well as CH-47 Chinook helicopters and Ospreys — and be configured for a variety of missions.

 Mass combat jumps, however, have been rare since World War II and the increased use of helicopters to insert troops.

The 82nd Airborne Division made its first combat jump in more than 40 years in 1989 during the U.S. invasion of Panama. The 173rd has jumped into combat twice in more than five decades — once in Vietnam and once in Iraq.

Consequently, some experts have questioned the utility of airborne troops in modern warfare, especially against opponents with sophisticated anti-aircraft defenses.

But a 2014 RAND Corp. study said that airborne forces, “unique in their ability to quickly deploy worldwide,” could be made more capable by including light armored vehicles in drops.

The study said a historical survey of airborne operations since 1989 demonstrated the value of quickly deployable forces.

The analysis concluded that dropping vehicles with airborne troops would “increase speed, mobility, and survivability.”

Where did this new meta come from?

Deep strikes...Airborne operations...long distance stuff with light vehicles?

EVERYONE is so enamored with "increased speed, mobility and SUPPOSEDLY survivability" that they've lost sight of the reality.

These vehicles won't protect against small arms fire.  A couple of primitives wearing sandals firing RPGs and machineguns can smash them beyond recognition.

Three hundred miles is good but what happens when you need to refuel?  You just added to your logistics burden in a huge way.

Yeah you have the benefit of not dropping on your objective but now you have to conduct a deliberate assault on that same fortified location not from the top down and hopefully inside out, but now from the outside in and probably against anticipated lines of attack.

All they're doing is changing the angle of the meat grinder. 

You're not dropping into it, instead you're now driving into it.

I guess my main gripe is that we're seeing a push for gear that doesn't seem to have a real application.  It's cool.  Probably fun as hell.  But does it make military sense? Is this another case of following a meme instead of actually crunching numbers and deciding if it really fits?

I'm just not sure the juice is worth the squeeze.

I guess it really doesn't matter.  If it doesn't work then there will be tons of lightly used Army/Marine Corps ATVs for sale to civilians. 

The most important news today...

USMC Armed Recon Vehicle...please don't mess this up!

via AOL Breaking Defense.

By 2023, the Marine Corps wants prototypes for a radically new scout unit they want to be the ground version of the F-35 — scouting ahead into hostile territory, killing key targets, and feeding data back to the rest of the force. Though called the Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle, the project has evolved well beyond a straightforward replacement for the aging Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) into a networked family of manned vehicles, ground robots, and drones, collectively capable of not only reconnaissance but also electronic warfare and long-range precision strikes.

Story here. 

I have been monitoring this thing and I'm a bit 'worried'.  They're talking about a tremendous amount of capability stuffed in one package, and this has the smell of being a program of emphasis.  By that I can easily see this being the lead ground program very shortly.

Concerns?

1.  Mission overload.  They're gonna be tasked with electronic warfare, operating UAVs, and engaging enemy forces (to include armored vehicles) as well as traditional recon/cav roles of scouting for the enemy, protecting flanks etc....?

2.  Networking.  I get the mantra.  I understand the desire but I am a bit worried about the vulnerability of these networks.  Time will tell if these concerns are warranted.

3.  Traditional mission set.  As soon as you start piling on missions to a particular vehicle it becomes a master of none.  What happens to the LAVs traditional mission sets?  Do they become second fiddle to UAV operations and electronic warfare?  If that's the case then why even put them in armored vehicles?  Just use a JLTV or better yet an a MTVR to give the operators of those systems a bit of room?

They talked about this possibly being a repeat of the F-35 or FCS projects and I think they might have a point.

Keep an eye on this one tribe!

But to be honest I just have doubts and really nothing to base it on, so all I have to say to the bubbas at HQMC is this.  Please don't mess this up!

Open Comment Post. May 10, 2018

3 US Dollars in Venezuelan Money....Democracy might suck but Socialism sucks way worse!

I'm not gonna list the tumblr page cause I don't want to get the guy banned because he mostly posts on military topics and the long knives are out for military related information on that site.

But!

He did post the above pic and stated that the money you see in that wheelbarrow equals 3 US dollars.

Simply amazing.

The only saving grace..the only hope that the Venezuelan people have lies on two fronts.  The first that they can kick their pathetic leadership to the side and the second is that oil prices keep rising.

So yeah.

They're praying to God every night that oil prices rise.

Democracy might suck but Socialism sucks way worse...hopefully you get my meaning...

Side note.  I've been waiting for that country to pop for awhile now but somehow it keeps rolling on. I don't know if we should praise the people for tremendous fortitude or bash them for putting up with utter bullshit but while it's raggedy as fuck it remains intact.

Blast from the past. Operation Meetinghouse...more deadly than the firebombing of Dresden or the atomic blasts at Hiroshima & Nagasaki...

The charred remains of Japanese civilians pile up on the streets of Tokyo, the day after U.S. firebombing on March 9, 1945 — “Operation Meetinghouse” stands as the single most deadly air attack in the history of war, killing more people than either Dresden, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki.

Wikipedia entry here.

Read up on the bombing of Tokyo.  Everyone cringes at the horror of Hiroshima.  Everyone is alarmed at the suffering in Dresden, but no one knows or seems to care about the TREMENDOUS firepower unleashed on Tokyo.

From my chair this incident and the threat of follow on raids of this magnitude did as much OR MORE to end the war than the two atomic bomb blasts.

Remember this.  No one knew that the US had a new weapon when those two cities were assaulted.  From the position of the Japanese they reckoned that they simply faced another Tokyo, just new cities were picked.

The power of the atom thrilled and chilled the public.

Military people were in awe of the massed bombers wrecking cities.

That promise was realized. Which is another reason why the Strategic Air Command was disbanded.  They became a weapon too powerful to be allowed to go forward. They amassed too much power and were on the verge of becoming the "only service" when it came to nation state warfare (imagine if SAC was still existence today with a resurgent Russia and a looming China...no one else would get a dime especially with the tilt in the West toward airpower as the main element of power).  Air Combat Command is simply a fig leaf to keep the "bomber boys" from ruling the roost again...Tactical Air Command won the internal service battle...the neckerchief, sunglass and big watch crowd beat the guys that win wars....

Back on task though.

This is what concerns.  We have NEVER been on the receiving end of raids on our cities.  Our ground forces have NEVER been on the receiving end of the kind of massed artillery strikes that the Russians plowed on the Germans.

In essence, we have never been on the receiving end of the horrific, modern day blasts that most other countries have faced.

Considering the mental, physical and moral fortitude of many Americans I don't know how it would play out.  We would either become unbelievably savage (hopefully) or we would find ourselves in the fetal position.

I leave it to you to decide which one, but I will say this....I look around and see nothing but weakness.

Jesus! This is insane....Is this the SEAL culture or am I jumping to conclusions?

Thanks to Gerard for the link!

via Newsweek.

“This is Mako Three Zero Charlie.... This is Mako Three Zero Charlie….” The same six words, over and over, each time dissipating before Jay could hear anything else.

Jay was part of an elite reconnaissance team operating behind enemy lines, and he immediately recognized the call sign and voice. They belonged to his counterpart on another team: Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman. From his hidden perch, Jay responded again and again on his powerful satellite-capable radio. But he received no reply. The voice continued for about 40 minutes, he says, like a plaintive mantra—“This is Mako Three Zero Charlie…. This is Mako Three Zero Charlie….” Then it fell silent. It wasn’t until the next evening that Jay learned Chapman had died, that he was the last American to hear him alive.

Today, some 16 years after Chapman’s tragic death, fierce disagreement over what happened on that snowy peak threatens to overshadow two Medal of Honor recommendations that—as of publication—await White House approval. The bitter dispute pits members of the Navy SEALs against Air Force special operators and Army Rangers. It has entangled numerous senior military leaders, several of whom had personal links to the desperate fight on Takur Ghar mountain.

Story here.

Full disclosure this is from the cheap seats but from what I can tell...US Army Rangers stay as far away from SEALs as possible, Green Berets work with them when necessary and the SEALs avoid working with MARSOC cause they see a threat to their mission sets.

Long story short.

SEALs rep has taken a beating since McRaven and Rummy talked them up as super studs to push the war effort when it was floundering.

All those books and movies that the SEALs were pumping out?  In hindsight it was greenlighted to help support for the war.  The memes and patriotic demonstrations (mostly at football games and NASCAR events) were meant to do the same.

But shit like this.

Is it me or does SEAL culture look broken? 

I wasn't there so I don't know but we've had enough incidents to piece together that something wicked is going on inside that particular part of the Navy.

What is the answer?

My guess is it got too big, too fast and standards slipped.

But that can't be it.

We're talking about SEAL Team 6.  Unless there is another SEAL Team that is so top secret its never spoken of then this is the cream of the crop.

Additionally this incident happened at the start of the war on terror.  This was when they were still somewhat small and still EXTREMELY choosey when assessing personnel.

If this is true then the culture is broken and they need to fix it.  The answer?  It'll take some clear eyed, high speed operators to figure that one.  I haven't a clue.   

SU-57 is designed not for stealth but to hunt stealth aircraft?

via Business Insider.

As the scientist said, Russia didn't even appear to seriously try to make a stealth aircraft. The Su-57 takes certain measures, like storing weapons internally, that improve the stealth, but it's leaps and bounds from a US or even Chinese effort.

This highlights the true purpose of Russia's new fighter — not to evade radar itself, but to kill US stealth jets like the F-35 and F-22.

The Su-57 will feature side mounted radars along its nose, an infrared search-and-track radar up front, and additional radars in front and back, as well as on the wings.

As The Drive's Tyler Rogoway writes, the side-mounted radars on the Su-57 allow it to excel at a tactic called "beaming" that can trick the radars on US stealth jets. Beaming entails flying perpendicular to a fighter's radar in a way that makes the fighter dismiss the signature of the jet as a non-target.

Any fighter can "beam" by flying sideways, but the Su-57, with sideways-mounted radars, can actually guide missiles and score kills from that direction.

Russia has long taken a different approach to fighter aircraft than the US, but the Su-57 shows that even without the fancy percision-machined stealth of an F-22, Moscow's jets can remain dangerous and relevant.

Haven't heard the theory that the SU-57 is simply a stealth killer and nothing else but it kinda makes sense.

Additionally I've never heard much about this side mounted radar arrays except from the Airpower Australia boys, but if this is right then we have to consider something else too.

The entire SU-30+ family has this type of radar or can accommodate it.  That means that there are tons of currently flying airplanes that can employ this technique.

But what about the Chinese you say?

They're looking to play the game we do.  They're looking to conduct offensive operations.  Additionally it is as I've always said.  For better or worse and in defiance of conventional wisdom, the Russians are BUILDING A DEFENSIVE force.  You can look across their entire defense industry and for the most part they're building for the defense with limited offensive capability tossed in (and even that is found in the use of weapon systems in that role, not purpose built stealth attack aircraft).

Open Comment Post. May 9, 2018