Battelle to Build Armored Vehicles for Special Operations Forces

via Wall Street Journal...

Battelle to Build Armored Vehicles for Special Operations Forces
General Services Administration Has Awarded a Blanket Purchase Agreement With an Estimated Value of $58 Million Over Three Years
COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwired - May 9, 2013) - Battelle's Tactical Systems business will begin transforming standard pickup trucks into Special Operations vehicles for the Department of Defense. For the past year, Battelle has steadily built its specialty automotive manufacturing capabilities in a non-descript west side industrial park that is about to start humming with activity.
The General Services Administration recently awarded Battelle a Blanket Purchase Agreement to modify trucks as required by SOF for the coming year with an option to extend the Blanket Purchase Agreement for two additional years. Work begins immediately to fulfill the initial requirements -- valued at up to $2 million.
"Battelle has a proven track record of performing sophisticated systems integration for military and commercial applications. Under this contract, our vehicle systems team will execute on its custom designs and integrate complex systems to meet mission requirements -- at a competitive cost," said retired Air Force Major General John Folkerts, Vice President for Battelle's Special Operations Market Group.
Battelle takes existing vehicles, reengineers them with protective armor and adds other durability features, such as stronger suspensions for operations in rugged terrain and enhanced alternators to withstand extreme climates.
"Increasingly, Battelle has looked to advanced manufacturing capabilities to help customers solve complex problems in the aerospace, maritime and automotive industries," said Steve Kelly, President of Battelle National Security.
Battelle is the prime contractor and draws upon the skills and expertise of seven different sub-contractors, including small businesses that are disabled veteran-owned, and Native-American owned companies. Battelle's teammates include: Action Group of Blacklick; Hollingsworth Logistics in southwest Columbus; Defense Logistics Services; Gryphon Group; GS Engineering; Triad Services; and UPI Manufacturing.

I'm not sure I understand what Special Operations Command is doing here.  They already have a competition for a Special Ops vehicle and now they're doing a blanket contract to have some built from standard vehicles???

One day someone is going to take a serious look at SOCOM's budget and it will be hell in a handbasket.

Terrorism is moving to a law enforcement function, and only Special Forces seems ready to roll into a mission set that is outside of the raid, raid and more raids routine.

Once they get finished bashing big Army, it'll be SOCOM's turn....and they won't have a JCS that's at their beck and call to defend them.

Top Ten Piston Engine Fighters?

HushKit has a list of the top ten piston engine fighters.  While I disagree somewhat (how could you not include the F-4U Corsair??) its a must read...additionally you might want to subscribe, its a different look at aviation but a great look all the same.

T-129 to enter service soon.

via Rotorhub.

The Turkish Land Forces is on the verge of taking delivery of their first T-129 ATAK attack helicopters as the production of the aircraft gathers momentum.
Speaking at the IDEF exhibition in 2013, company representatives stated that the army is expected to take delivery of its first aircraft in the coming weeks.
Four T-129A aircraft are now ready to be formally handed over to the army and will be used to train the initial batch of pilots and maintenance staff. In addition to these first four, three production aircraft are currently undergoing factory acceptance tests.
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), the programme’s prime contractor that is assembling the aircraft, has increased production to one aircraft per month, which will be the ongoing rate through until deliveries of the 59 aircraft are completed in 2018.

Interesting news. I'll never understand the selection of this helicopter.  Its lighter and less powerful than the AH-64, AH-1Z and KA-52 that were offered but I imagine that the driving force behind the selection was the production offsets.

I look forward to seeing how it performs in combat.

Thursday's people are idiots edition.

via Bolted Media....

Valdeci Sobrino Picanto (pictured) is a Brazilian Evangelical Pastor who has been arrested for convincing his followers that his penis contains HOLY MILK.
If you’re like me, you are in disbelief and totally disgusted by this, but let me give you more details on this horrible situation…
Picanto told his followers that the Holy Spirit would secrete from his penis in the form of “sacred milk“. This pastor said that his penis was blessed and that “the Lord had consecrated him with divine milk of the “Holy Spirit,” reports Vatican Crimes.
One of Picanto’s followers stated, “He convinced us that only God could come into our lives through our mouth and that’s why he would do what he did. Often, after worship, pastor Valdeci would take us to the where the funds were kept at the back of the Church and asked us to have oral sex with him until the Holy Spirit would come through ejaculation.“
The good news to this story is that Valdeci Sobrino Picanto is in jail!
According to the Vatican Crimes, Picanto said he intends to continue watering his cellmates with his sacred milk.

People are idiots.

General Dynamics LAV Seats cause the death of a US Marine, Injuries to others....

Thanks for the article Jonathan...

via Marine Times.

Lance Cpl. John Cagle had returned from a mounted combat patrol in Afghanistan when he and his fellow Marines began something entirely routine: a post-operation check of their Light Armored Vehicle.
He didn’t survive it.
Cagle, 19, was killed Sept. 28, 2011, on a base in Helmand province’s Reg-e Khanashin district after a hydraulically operated seat rose rapidly, squashing his throat between the seat-back and the roof of the vehicle, a Marine Corps investigation found.
Other Marines found Cagle with a “deep indentation, one inch by one inch, on the back of his neck,”according to documents released to Marine Corps Times through the Freedom of Information Act. His airway appeared crushed or broken, the documents said.
Although the investigation concluded about a month after Cagle’s death, the findings weren’t released to media until recently. After Cagle’s accident, 21 other Marines with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., told investigators they had seen LAV seats rise quickly and unexpectedly. In some cases, trapped Marines could reach a lever to disengage the seat; in others they had to yell for help, according to witness statements released with the report.
One lance corporal with Charlie Company, 2nd LAR, described an incident prior to Cagle’s death in which he was trapped by the neck between the back of a seat and the roof of a vehicle.
“I knew I was in danger of getting caught in the rapidly rising seat, so I jumped back to get out of the way,” the Marine told investigators. “Unfortunately, I was too slow and my neck was caught against the ceiling by the seat-back.”
The Marine was freed by a sergeant in his unit.
Another lance corporal was trapped by a driver’s seat during predeployment training early in 2011 at Twentynine Palms, Calif. The seat elevated when he put weight on it while crawling through the vehicle, he said.
“My torso became pinned between the roof of the vehicle and the seat-back around my stomach,” he told investigators.
His breathing was unaffected, and he could reach the seat control, but knew the incident could have been more serious.
“If I had been a few inches further back,” he said, “I would have been trapped by the chest or neck.”

Wow.

To be killed by your own vehicle.

I don't even know what to say about this.  Read it all at Marine Times. 

LAV II Tech Demonstrator becomes LAV II H.

My contact insists that the vehicle they're building for the Marine Personnel Carrier on is based on the LAV. I still find that hard to believe but a quick glance at the website reveals that the LAV II High Tech Demonstrator is now called the LAV II H.  Is this part of the puzzle to explain what they're putting forward for the MPC?  Don't know.  Is it significant?  Don't know.  Was it the vehicle we saw in the video yesterday?  Doubtful.  Back to square one.

  laviih

General Dynamics...I think they're playing games with us....

A few observations about the General Dynamic vehicle...

I hope you can make it out...if you can't then check out the video again and watch it carefully.  That guy walked up with a full sized ladder...If he is anywhere near 6 feet tall then we're talking about a vehicle that's about 12 feet in height.  Taller than the rim on a basketball court. 

Again.  I know its hard to make out and I hope you go back to the video but if you check out this portion of the vehicle it looks like it has some type of "add on" ... like I said, its more clearly seen in the video but this should help highlight it...this extends from the rear of the vehicle over to the sides.  I assumed that it was some type of flotation aid earlier, but now I'm not so sure.  What I do know is that it doesn't appear to be part of the actual hull.

Highlighting areas where its obvious that we see some type of add on to the vehicle...

One thing I can't shake is how tall it is.  I would pay good money to know what the writing is on the sides of the vehicle too.  I think thats going to keep me up tonight....

Lockheed Martin Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV)

You have to wonder how wedded the Marine Corps and Army is to the JLTV program in light of budget pressures.  If its a choice for the Army between the GCV or AMPV will the JLTV live?  How about the AAV or MPC for the Marines?

This will be interesting...especially with SOCOM set to select a new vehicle this month.

The state of the Marine Personnel Carrier contest.

 So the testing at the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch is all completed and what do we know?

That things in my opinion stand where they did 6 months ago.  The leaders are still the leaders and it still looks like a two vehicle race.

The BAE SuperAV versus the Lockheed Martin Havoc.

The major fly in the ointment is tossed in courtesy of the US Marine Corps and continued vacillation when it comes to the Amphibious Vehicle/AAV Upgrade programs.  My suspicion is that the Marine Corps is tempted by the thought of getting a 'good enough' upgrade of the AAV that will supposedly solve the lift problem.  No matter how good it might be my mind will always flash to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.  Truck bound Marines struggling to keep up with mechanized Army divisions is nothing that I would want future Marines saddled with.  The idea of a good enough upgraded AAV might tickle the accountants fancy but the idea of Marines being killed in the back of MTVRs should chill them at the same time.

There is of course another factor that should be taken into account.  A vehicle neckdown strategy.  If the Marine Corps could neckdown to one combat vehicle that was able to fulfill a variety of roles then training, maintenance and logistics should be simplified enough to make a huge difference.

I'll ask again.  Should the Marine Corps consider an all wheeled force based off the MPC winner?

The real issue with Benghazi that no one will state out loud.

The real issue with Benghazi is that the US Ambassador for that nation was under attack.

An attempt to kill or capture him was under way and the people at AFRICOM, the State Department or the White House refused to send assistance to him.

Its bad enough if you're talking about a PFC in the Marine Corps but in this instance you're talking about a FLAG Ranked Official that was in danger.

No one is saying it out loud but that is the real issue.  Imagine if the Taliban actually made a concerted effort to kill General Amos during a visit to Afghanistan.

Imagine that assistance to aid him was refused.

That is the scandal in a nutshell but the thinking heads in DC lack the knowledge to pursue it.

NOTE:  If this incident went another way...if the attackers were smart enough to realize that an Ambassador as a hostage was more valuable...image the mess then!  Thank goodness that we have ruthless enemies instead of smart ones!

Screen Capture of the General Dynamics MPC...

This is the best screen capture that I could get of the General Dynamics MPC.

I didn't even bother to clean it up because it showed everything I needed to see.  From the front I'm seeing some design cues from the Piranha III....

What threw me off and had me scratching my head in confusion was the raised body.

Its definitely alot "thicker" in the mid section than the current Piranha's that we see fulfilling the MPC roles for other Marine Corps.  It really looks like they combined the Piranha III with the LAV II High Tech Demonstrator and then added a dash of command/ambulance variants to the mix to help them get the right vehicle height to meet the fitting of 95th percentile Marines inside.  Everyone overlooks that part of it but in some ways that is one of the tougher requirements.  I also wonder what the devices are on the sides of the vehicle.  Flotation aids?  If so then that indicates trouble right off the bat.  I can't wait to learn more.

General Dynamics MPC spotted at Sullivan Island. UPDATED!!!

They made a Stryker float.  An amphibious Stryker.  I'll wait before passing judgement.....

I've watched this vid about 25 times now and I come to one conclusion.  Ain't no way this is the vehicle that General Dynamics is placing in the competition.  THE ENTIRE DESIGN TEAM WOULD HAVE TO BE SMOKING SOME OF THAT STUFF THEY LEGALIZED IN COLORADO IF IT IS!  Either that or its disguised beyond recognition.  Maybe thats it but we're not seeing the real deal here.  Something is fishy.

BAE SuperAV 8x8. The swim test video.

Uh.  Wow.  It can handle surf...

BAE SuperAV Pics/Press Release.

(BAE Press Release) Marine Personnel Carrier Proves Superior Amphibious Capabilities                                                                 
ARLINGTON, Virginia — BAE Systems and Iveco Defence Vehicles successfully completed 12 days of rigorous wheeled amphibious vehicle evaluations as part of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC) Continued Systems Demonstration and Studies contract. The successful evaluation of the team’s 8x8 MPC, which is derived from Iveco’s SUPERAV, included a series of Water Performance Demonstrations in various sea conditions, as well as an evaluation of Human Factors and Stowage Capacity.
“The highly experienced team of BAE Systems and IVECO presented an impressive 26-ton, open-ocean, swim-capable vehicle that exceeded all projected vehicle requirements,” said John Swift, BAE Systems’ MPC program director. “Despite a demanding program, our MPC was completed on schedule and on budget. It will provide our Marine Corps customer with a highly maneuverable solution both in water and on land, with excellent amphibious capabilities and a high level of survivability.”
During testing, the Marine Corps required demonstrations of the vehicle’s maneuverability on land and at sea, as well as the vehicle’s load capacity – the ability to accommodate a reinforced Marine rifle squad and allow for a quick and efficient personnel exit. BAE Systems’ MPC exceeded all vehicle requirements, performing personnel exit drills in less than 17 seconds and showcasing an advance interior layout and compartmentalization that allows for the stowage of more than three days of supplies without jeopardizing the survivability of the vehicle and personnel.
The testing took place at the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch (AVTB), in Camp Pendleton, California. All demonstrations highlighted the MPC’s agility and unique ability to navigate within an open ocean environment, and reinforced similar testing conducted on the SUPERAV by Iveco Defence Vehicles that included ship launch and recovery and surf zone transitions. The joint BAE Systems and Iveco Defence Vehicles team is now preparing for survivability demonstrations planned for this summer at the Nevada Automotive Test Center.

The BAE Systems MPC is purpose built to provide Marines with an outstanding balance of protection, performance and payload. The vehicle is designed to fill the medium-armor ground vehicle gap and complements the capabilities of the Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV), the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The MPC will be a flexible and highly mobile asset for the Marines that will be well protected, sustainable, networked and include a strong swim capability. As mobile as the lightest and as protected as the heaviest comparable solutions, the MPC offers a true, no-compromise 8x8 amphibious platform.

I have to ask the question.  Is it time for the Marine Corps to consider going to an all wheeled force?  A friend of mine said that the Yat-Yas Community would kill for thinking such a thing but I wonder.....

Blast from the past. F-4N on the cat...

A F-4N from VF-111, "Sundowners" launches from the deck of the USS Franklin D Roosevelt, CV-42.

Military Tech's coverage of IDEF 2013.

Once again we have a major arms expo occurring with very little coverage by the big names in the defense media.  IDEF 2013 is happening now and FNSS & OTOKAR are the stars of the armored portion of the show.  All photos are via Military Tech Magazine.

I didn't notice it before but FNSS has cleaned up and modernized their one man turret.  That's a 25mm cannon with a 7.62 coax...pretty impressive and alot of forces still like the commander to be heads up in the turret for situational awareness.  It might make its way to the MPC or AAV upgrade or even the ACV...especially if they can cram a 30mm bushmaster in there.

I'm still a little fuzzy on what this unmanned turret is called.  I think the vehicle is the Pence and the turret the CLAW...I need to get this figured out....

This is an unusual vehicle design.  Commander and driver are seated side by side in front with the engine in back.  It reminds me of the old M-114 I read about that was suppose to perform the same function...a recon vehicle.  I find it interesting that so many of the world's forces still insist on armored recon instead of depending on the attached UAVs to perform the mission.  The US Army is about to have the world's biggest UAV force and yet still believe in the Armored Cav mission...

I have no idea what this turret system is called on this Arma 6x6.  It looks manned but I can't quite make it out.

So they put missiles on the Mizrak turret.  BIG MISTAKE!  IFVs that have the capability to kill tanks will always seek to engage tanks.  That puts the vehicle and the infantry in unnecessary danger.  That's a flawed concept that even the Russians are moving away from.

Anyone have any idea what the ALTAY weighs?  For some reason it looks light to me...almost in the same class as the AMX-40.  If it is then I'm becoming alot more interested...

Its a trap....

Its a trap....a TRAP DOOR SPIDER!

FNSS Korkut Self Propelled Anti-Air Gun System.

Thanks Armut Atar for the link to the photo...

I have absolutely no info on this vehicle.  The obvious...M-113 chassis or variant...35, maybe 40mm cannons....some type of electro optical observation/tracking system with some type of radar....

Hopefully details will emerge soon.

Philippines negotiating for 12 A-50A Fighters...

KAI is currently conducting final negotiations with the Philippines for the sale of 12 FA-50 aircraft at a cost of PHP18.9bn ($463.3m), to help the country's air force to counter airborne threats and also train its pilots on supersonic high-performance weapons platforms.

Whoever the salesman is for the Super Tucano needs to be fired.  This should have been an easy sale for them.  I realize that the Philippines have an eye on China but the bigger threat is from the terrorist they're fighting in the hills around Manilla.

In defense of Brazil Police Helicopter shooting at fleeing car...

In 2009, Brazilian Police in Rio De Janiero had one of their helicopters shot down by drug dealers.

Fast forward to the video I posted yesterday and you find Brazilian  Police shooting at a fleeing car.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but the police in that country are dealing with a threat that we (meaning those of us in the United States) cannot begin to comprehend.  Think about it.  When Brazilian Police buy armored cars its because they ACTUALLY NEED armored cars.  They wear helmets and body armor because they face foes that are equipped with real deal, 100 percent actual and factual assault rifles...battle field level assault rifles.

We have SWAT teams in major cities that might get called out for questionable raids against mom and pop just so that those SWAT teams can justify their existence.

Brazil has Police Special Operations Battalions because they go up against gangs of drug dealers that number in the 100's if not 1000's in built up areas surrounding their major cities.

I still want to know more but this one time I'm willing to cut the police slack.