Friday, July 20, 2012

MARSOC Colt Rails busting during testing. The AK-47 of pistols my ass!



John sent me this article (thanks dude!) from Soldier Systems.  As he said..."The AK-47 of pistols my ass!"

Read the article but check out this part.
These rather interesting photos come from TEST REPORT FOR THE CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE PISTOL (CQBP) BID SAMPLES, PHASE II and are of Colt test articles from the CQB Pistol solicitation which was just awarded to Colt yesterday. They depict various frame cracks.
Guns 11, 12, 14 and 15 (1-10 were not fire tested) fired 12,000 rounds before being deadlined due to visible safety-critical cracks found in the slides. Each slide had cracks in the same location, but they varied in size.
They'll put close to that many rounds through those weapons before they even head down range.  MARSOC fucked up by choosing these pistols.  Can anyone say GLOCK, SIG, FNH or Springfield?

F-35 and the Future of Power Projection.

Quote soon to be uttered by F-35 Critics...




JFQ 66-85-93 Laird Timperlake


Round out.

U.S. Marines with Golf Company, Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit launch a volley of mortars for suppression during a live-fire exercise in Shoalwater Bay, Queensland, Australia, July 13, 2012, during exercise Hamel 2012. Hamel is a combined training exercise designed to increase interoperability between the U.S. Marine Corps and the Australian Army. (DoD photo by Cpl. Jonathan Wright, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)

Fuck it. I'll say it. One armed citizen could have made a difference.



It happened again.

One madman attacked a group of his fellow citizens and no one stood up to take the rabid dog down.

The video above shows what happens when good men stand up to defend themselves and others.  Take a good look.

Evil flees in the presence of strength and determination not to be a victim.

ONE PERSON, ARMED AND READY COULD HAVE SAVED LIVES.

You talk about how we should all be disarmed...how only police should have guns?  Guess what.  The police response was excellent.  There actions on scene picture perfect.  Yet too many were killed and injured.

Its time for the pussification of America to stop.  Arm yourselves, become proficient with your weapons and take down rabid dogs where you find them.  People die.  Bad things will continue to happen but we should gird ourselves to that reality and not cry about the times in which we live.  Fight back, make a difference.

You owe YOURSELF nothing less.


UPDATE: 

As expectged the anti-gun crowd has arrived and are throwing around statistics designed to back there position.  Like I said.  As expected.  Paralus makes such a strong statement against there position that I thought it needed to be highlighted.
Pfooey. There are over 70 million gun owners in the US. We experience about 9-12k homicides a year, 15000 suicides and about 1100 accidents resulting in a death.

Taking out the suicides (firearm is the method, not the cause of those, which is mental illness), that means we have about 13k firearms homicides.

We have about 45k automobile related deaths each year in the US. One third of those involve alcohol. That means we tolerate 15k traffic deaths due to drunk driving.

We don't bat an eye at drunk driving or automobile deaths in our society, and the vast majority of simply accept it as the cost we pay for having access to alcohol and vehicles. We could easily require manufacturer's to install breathalyzer ignitions or develop technology that detects erratic driving, but we don't. Why? Drunk driving deaths are okay to our society.

But firearms? "Firearms are dangerous and should be banned".

More lives in the US have been adversely affected by alcohol-related traffic accidents than those affected by firearms deaths, but 'guns are the problem'. I bet more people have driven drunk themselves than known anyone involved in the firearms homicide.

As Malthusian population control factor, guns don't have anything on our own socially permissible vices.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

BAE and the UAE 8x8 comp.



The UAE just bought its MRAPs and is also in the market for an 8x8.

I don't know if BAE saw this coming, planned ahead of time because of a hunch or if it has some really good market intel but its RG-41 is almost designed for the UAE. 

But that brings us to the obvious question.  What are they looking for?  The answer to that question is what intrigues me.  It could give clues to the Marine Corps comp.  Are they looking for the best performer?  Will they take good enough as long as the price is right?  Will clean sheet designs be a plus or a negative?

Ya know I just stated that this would give clues to which vehicle the Marine Corps will choose but its also important to the entire industry.  Are we in a time and place where new designs are savaged and revamped models held up as whats needed?  Are we in a kind of development purgatory?

I don't know but we can bet that the RG-41, the Patria AMV (Havoc), the Piranha V (and maybe the IIIC) along with possibly the Pandur II and the Terrix could all end up competing in the desert.  Whoever wins could tell us where the armored vehicle industry is headed....and which company will live to design another day.

5th Generation STOVL Capability for the UK

Oshkosh wins big in UAE.



Big win for Oshkosh.
Oshkosh, Wis.  (July 19, 2012) — Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK) announced today that the Company’s Defense segment has been awarded a contract to provide the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces with  750 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs).  The Oshkosh M-ATVs will enhance the UAE’s ground operations by providing greater off-road mobility and crew protection to support national security, as well as critical missions related to the security of the Middle East and the broader community of nations.
The contract awarded to Oshkosh Corporation allows for additional vehicles to be ordered at the discretion of the customer.  Oshkosh is scheduled to deliver M-ATVs to the UAE between January and August 2013, pending standard regulatory requirements.
Still betting they're a takeover target but this should increase the asking price.

Law Enforcement Armored Vehicles.

Alameda County Sheriff's Grizzly MRAP.


Concord Police Dept's MAMBA MRAP.


New Orleans Metro Police LAV-25 C2 Vehicle.


Chicago Police Golan? MRAP


Doraville Police M-113A3

Lakeland Police M-113 Command Post.
I'm just trying to catalog all the different armored vehicles in the law enforcement agencies around the US. More to come as I find them on the net.