FNSS Kaplan and other surprises again.

via Land Warfare International.

Turkish manufacturer FNSS Savunma Sistemleri has publicly unveiled a new armoured vehicle concept it is pitching to the Turkish Armed Forces and export customers.
The design is in response to a proposed Turkish Army requirement for a new armoured reconnaissance vehicle, but the company also sees prospective sales among its traditional customer base in the Middle East and South East Asia.
The Kaplan light tracked armoured vehicle is being exhibited at IDEF 2013 in the STA-Px anti-tank configuration.
Under development for the past six to eight months, the prototype 10-tonne vehicle on display features rubber tracks, Rocketsan OMTaS missiles and a 12.7mm calibre heavy machine gun.
The Kaplan is powered by a four-stroke, 350hp diesel engine, which is located at the rear of the vehicle allowing the commander and driver to sit side-by-side in the front section. The crew enter and exit via a door at the rear.
‘Under the normal configuration, the commander would be situated behind the driver, restricting his view. This configuration includes eight periscopes, providing more than 180 degrees field of view for both the driver and commander,’ a company spokesman toldShephard.
He said the rubber tracks lowered the vehicle’s noise signature, allowing it to be used in the reconnaissance role, while the positioning of the engine at the rear lowered its thermal signature.
The Kaplan can be equipped with either ballistic steel or ceramic armour and provides protection to NATO STANAG 4569 Level 4. The company is offering two engine options for the vehicle while the STA-Px anti-tank configuration can carry a maximum of five crew members.

A rear engined, side by side crewed armored recon vehicle?  I want more info before making a judgement.

But besides this vehicle, if you go to FNSS' Turkish language site you'll see that they're also offering the AAV as part of their product lineup and they appear to be making a huge push into the upgrading of M113's.

Are they partnered with BAE now?  It would make sense but I haven't read anything about it.  Yeah.  I definitely want more info.

Royal Marine Recruits do the Mud Run...

Thanks for the link Jonathan!  Hat tip to these guys.  That looks brutal...via the Daily Mail...

India to upgrade its IFVs to BMP-2M standard.

via IDRW.org

Based on operational requirement, the entire Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) fleet of the Indian Army is being modernized to enhance their capability.
In the ICV fleet, armament and firepower capability are being upgraded with the latest generation Fire Control System, Twin Missile Launchers and Commander`s Thermal Imaging Panoramic sights. These ICVs will also be equipped with the latest generation Anti Tank Guided Missiles and Automatic Grenade Launchers.

The ICV proposal for the Armament upgrade of BMP-2/2K to BMP-2M and New Power Pack for BMP-2/2K will cost an estimated Rs. 8000 crore.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Dr. Sanjeev Ganesh Naik and Shri Sanjay Dina Patil in Lok Sabha today.

Interesting news but a little disappointing.  The images above are from the Kurganmashzav website and part of their improvement package is to uparmor the vehicle.

The entire purpose for the Bradley getting a 25mm cannon was that it could defeat threat IFV frontal armor at distance.  Few know it but the BMPs front armor could be defeated by 50 caliber armor piercing bullets.

Increasing the vehicles lethality seems like a secondary concern to glaring protection issues.

How do you stop a drug dealer in a car in Brazil? Helicopter Gunships!

Wow.  Just plain wow.

Brazil's Police Special Operations don't play!  I MUST get more info on the BOPE.

X-47 arrested landing photo release.

Colion Noir for NRA News: Episode 8---You must hear this!

Special Forces WAS ready to go.

via Free Beacon.
Gregory Hicks, the deputy to the late Ambassador Christopher Stevens, told congressional investigators in April that a Special Forces team was ordered not to fly to Benghazi by the U.S. Special Operations Command South Africa, reports CBS News:

According to excerpts released Monday, Hicks told investigators that SOCAFRICA commander Lt. Col. Gibson and his team were on their way to board a C-130 from Tripoli for Benghazi prior to an attack on a second U.S. compound “when [Col. Gibson] got a phone call from SOCAFRICA which said, ‘you can’t go now, you don’t have the authority to go now.’ And so they missed the flight … They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it.” […]
Hicks told congressional investigators that if the U.S. had quickly sent a military aircraft over Benghazi, it might have saved American lives. The U.S. Souda Bay Naval Base is an hour’s flight from Libya.

Hicks will be the first “ground-level eyewitness” to speak publicly about the Benghazi attacks at Wednesday’s congressional hearing.

This is going to blow the lid off the Obama Administration.

It wasn't the fact that assets weren't available.  It was because the power that be couldn't come to a decision to act.

Men died, they lied and it was all because when the moment of truth came, they vacillated and failed to act.

Quite honestly the entire Joint Chiefs should be forced into retirement.  Not only did they participate in the lie, but they also perpetrated a falsehood in the establishment of a new unit that has no military value...it only helps further the impression that units were not in the area to respond.

A Boss vs. A Leader.

via Rogue American Apparel.

1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion practice loading/unloading C-17

NAVAIR: X-47B Completes First Shore-Based Arrested Landing

Warrior Ethos. Native American Edition.

Turkish Armor Industry Projects....

Consider this a quick and dirty look at what the Turkish Defense Industry has been up to when it comes to armored vehicles.  It is by no means complete but just notes a few vehicles and systems that caught my attention.

OTOKAR ALTAY Main Battle Tank..

FNSS PENCE Unmanned Turret...

FNSS PARS 8x8 (just sold to Malaysia as the AV-8)

OTOKAR ARMA...

OTOKAR TULPAR

FNSS Sharpshooter One Man Turret...this was developed years ago with BAE but I include it because the Marine Corps will probably forgo vehicle modernization and go with an upgrade to the AAV.  A large caliber 25mm cannon will be appealing and this is an offering that might get a look.

We keep edging toward a Harpers Ferry moment.

John Brown (known to comic book fans like myself as someone who displays "chaotic good" characteristics) led a raid on Harpers Ferry that helped set the fuse to the first Civil War.  I'm not a Civil War buff but its noteworthy because US Marines led by Col Robert E. Lee participated in the battle with another notch in the win book for the "Greatest Fighting Organization The World Has Ever Known."

That's history.  The present is something a bit different and its forcing me to start reading more about the run up to the first civil war.  Check this out from BlackFive.

Libertarian activist and radio host Adam Kokesh is hoping to get 1,000 people to march on Washington on July 4 — armed with loaded rifles. The plan, launched with a Facebook group today, is to gather on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where gun laws are lax, and then march across the bridge with loaded rifles slung over their shoulders into the District, where openly carrying weapons is generally prohibited.

Yeah.

1000 people with AR-15's.

Marching on Washington DC.

What could go wrong?

How about everything.

The funny thing is this.  Someone, somewhere wants it to kick off. This march would be the perfect tool to get that done.

One idiot on either side that lets a round off could start a small scale war.  If this does happen someone will video tape it....me?  I wouldn't want to be within 5 miles of the event....too easy to get swept up in the ebb and flow of things...besides if it does go nasty it will be a free fire zone.   1000 unpermitted protesters?  10,000 gunned up cops.

Someone is going to die.

26th MEU armor...

M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks, AAVP7 RAM/RS amphibious assault vehicles, and an M88A1 Hercules from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) train during an exercise in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility, April 23, 2013. The 26th MEU is currently deployed as part of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group to the 5th Fleet area of responsibility. The 26th MEU operates continuously across the globe, providing the president and unified combatant commanders with a forward-deployed, sea-based quick reaction force. The MEU is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force capable of conducting amphibious operations, crisis response, and limited contingency operations.  (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Edward Guevara/Released

TULPAR IFV...the video...

Thanks go to Armut Atar!  I appreciate the link to the video~!


Tulpar görücüye çıktı by AnadoluAjansi

Did you notice a few things in the vid?  OTOKAR is definitely a player in the industry now...touch screens, blast seats, a world class remote weapons system that matches the best on the market.  I'm impressed.

Otokar's new TULPAR Tracked IFV

Thanks for the pics DWI!  
Note:  E-mail has already been sent to Otokar requesting additional information on this vehicle.  Hopefully more to come.

UK Brigade Reconnaissance Force Troops Close Quarters Marksmanship Training.

Staff Sergeant Ian Arnott sounds crusty in a British sorta way.  Seems like a good instructor. 

A Mastiff MRAP has been penetrated.

via NBC News.

A bomb attack on allied forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday marked the first time the Taliban has been able to effectively strike the heavily armored Mastiff personnel carrier, British officials said.
“It’s the first time personnel inside a Mastiff have been killed by an IED [improvised explosive device],” a Ministry of Defense official said.
Based on the Cougar mine-resistant vehicle made by U.S. defense giant General Dynamics, the Mastiff is designed specifically to protect soldiers from improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades, the firm says on its website.
The company says the 21-ton Cougar vehicle has “withstood literally thousands of IED/landmine attacks” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A General Dynamics spokesman in the U.S. declined to comment, saying he would defer to Britain's defense ministry.
The ministry declined to give details of the incident, though it said in a statement that the three British soldiers who were killed were inside the vehicle and that they "received immediate medical attention" and were airlifted to a military hospital "but could not be saved."

You might nod your head and state that any vehicle can be penetrated if the bomb is big enough but if you do then you're missing the point.

The Brits took a standard Cougar MRAP and added even MORE armor to it.  Short of the enormous Buffalo, this is probably the most heavily armored MRAP ever to see action.  Additionally it kept ever hallmark of the MRAP in its up armoring ..high ground clearance, a vee shaped hull and of course all the jamming devices known to the free world.

It still didn't work.

This leads to the next question.  If its practically impossible to achieve a balanced iron triangle...one in which you still maintain mobility but still have heavy armor protection to defeat the average IED, then is it even worth attempting?

I say no.  Gain cross country mobility to be where they ain't and get aggressive in the maneuver again.  Its really the only solution.  

Lima Company, Battalion Landing Team 3/2, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, conduct a squad assault exercise

Warrior Ethos. Roman Detachment.

A detachment of Romans was cut off in a waterless place. The enemy commander demanded their surrender. The Romans refused.

"You are surrounded," declared the enemy captain in exasperation. "You have neither food nor water. You have no choice but to surrender!"

The Roman commander replied, "No choice? Then have you taken away as well the option to die with honor?"

— The Warrior Ethos (USMC)