Open Comment Post 24 Apr 2020

FNSS River Crossing Vehicles...

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SAMUR, Türk Kara Savunma Sanayi’nin sözleşmeye bağlanmış ilk özgün tasarım ve geliştirme projesidir. SAMUR Sistemi Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri’nin taktik harekat ihtiyaçlarına uygun olarak, muharebe sahasında sulu açıklıklardan süratle ve emniyetle geçişini sağlayacak bir nakliye takımı ve köprü sistemidir.

A post shared by FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.Ş. (@fnss_savunma) on Apr 24, 2020 at 2:12am PDT

Note.  Kinda rushed so don't have time to dig into the vehicle name (hopefully someone has it) but I find this fascinating.

River crossings are a complex military maneuver and they're a natural danger area.

Being quick is always a plus. 

Unless you have a force that can swim this seems like the best option possible.

The Swiss Army just tested and approved their new 12 cm mortar (Mörser 16).

Thanks to Le Mangeur Vasqué for the pics!

My  wish list keeps expanding but I believe the Marine Corps also needs some HIGHLY mobile, amphibious, indirect firepower that can maneuver on the battlefield AND provide robust fire support.

This fits the bill more than missiles!

General Dynamics MPF/IFV being shown to the SecArmy...

Thanks to Dragon for the pics!

My God that's a sweet looking vehicle!

Hey Marine Corps how about we build combined mech battalions with a modernized direct fire capability based on this vehicle, coupled with ACVs (with 30mm cannons) along with JLTVs for the wars you don't see coming?

3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) were presented with 4 ceremonial M17 pistols.

“SIG SAUER is incredibly honored to have a place in a deeply humbling historical event yesterday at the Arlington National Cemetery, where the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) were presented with 4 ceremonial M17 pistols. This ceremony marks the first use of the M17, which will accompany the Sentinels of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers they stand guard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

(U.S. Army photos by Spc. Gabriel Silva)

Wow.  Can you imagine being assigned to this unit just out of bootcamp? Ok private, your job for the next two years of your life will be spending eight hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty five days a year polishing these pistols!

Good God that would have to suck.

But they sure are pretty!

Sidenote.  Is it possible for that SSgt to be any leaner?  I'm guessing he eats maybe once every two days!

United States and Norway join forces to develop new hypersonic missiles

Thanks to Bjørnar for the link!

via .tu.no

In this arms race, the United States has several times publicly admitted that they are behind. One of the tools to get back on the offensive is a new development project together with Norway.

It is the US Department of Defense that on Monday announced the bilateral cooperation called THOR-ER ("Tactical High-Speed ​​Offensive Ramjet for Extended Range").

FFI and Nammo

The Pentagon report states that the goal of Thor-ER is to develop missile prototypes with ramjet engines where they keep costs down while achieving high speeds and wide ranges. This should culminate in flight testing of the air breathing missiles in operationally relevant conditions.

The project is part of the "Allied Prototyping Initiative", launched last year, which paves the way for the United States to work with its closest allies on research and development to develop cutting-edge weapons technology in a fast and efficient way.

In this case, it has thus resulted in the special that they team up with an ally to develop new engine technology.

Among the players we find on the US side the US Navy's Naval Air Warfare Center, the Weapons Division China Lake in California and on the Norwegian side the Defense Research Institute (FFI) and the industrial partner Nammo. Not many missiles have been developed in China Lake over the years, such as Tomahawk and Sidewinder.

"Together with our Norwegian partners, this is an important step in developing the technologies needed to ensure that we and our allies are militarily superior in hypersonic systems," said Dr. Michael Griffin, Under Secretary for Research and Engineering , would say a kind of technology manager in the US Department of Defense.

Material Director Morten Tiller of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense said in the same report that he has great faith in this agreement. Both because the result can be pioneering capabilities for the Armed Forces, but also because the bilateral cooperation itself is pioneering.

Here. 

Crazy thought. Either the petro-dollar is dead or we're headed back to oil wars in a decade...

'The crisis won’t end. Instead, it will transform as we move from the unsustainable model of cheap-credit-fueled globalism to a new localism based on Hard Money like Gold and Bitcoin.'

- @maxkeiserhttps://t.co/tTONgPjglS

— RT (@RT_com) April 23, 2020

Wow.

Think about it.  We're probably in the midst of a recession that rivals the great depression (unemployment is estimated at 20% and since so many of my fellow countrymen/governors want to see the lockdown continue we'll probably hit 30%) so oil will be down for at least the next two years.

So for now the countries that depend on oil for their survival are in a hurt locker.

That probably means de-stabilization for a whole host of them.

That means bad things especially for the Middle East/North Africa.

But can the global community hold it off?  I'm thinking yeah.  For maybe a few years at the outside (MAYBE).  But sooner or later the top is gonna come off and desperation will lead to even more bad things.

Saudi Arabia is already teetering.  Iran is also in a hurtlocker.  Many others aren't much better.

How long before they haul out their shiny new toys and decide to make a few land grabs to boost their economy and occupy the minds of their citizens.  Even the rumor of war will raise oil prices.  What will an actual war between oil producers do?

Why didn't hydrofoils catch on with the military?

Hydrofoil technology allowing this boat to effortlessly float above the water pic.twitter.com/Wx9HZne09B

— Science is Amazing (@AMAZlNGSCIENCE) April 23, 2020

Do you see how fast and smooth that ship is zooming across the sea?  Simply amazing!  Why didn't this catch on with a military force?  Seems like the old fast attack concepts would make this a no brainer especially in the 1st island chain.

Forget LCS.

Get a small ship with an even smaller crew, load up about four to eight medium to long range anti-ship missiles and have them zoom out to attrit an enemy fleet.

This is old tech.  Why ain't it being used?

EOS Successfully Fires Multiple Weapons from Remote Weapon Station

via Press Release.

EOS Defense Systems USA, Inc. (ASX: EOS) successfully fired anti-tank missiles and a 30mm cannon from an EOS remote weapon station mounted on a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). The firings, conducted at the Redstone Test Center, Ala., utilized U.S. Army-supplied Javelin missiles and the Northrop Grumman M230LF Bushmaster gun.

During the test, the team launched two Javelin missiles in between M230LF Bushmaster gun 30mm cannon fire volleys. Both systems were mounted on an EOS R400S Mk2 Remote Weapon Station and validated that neither weapons’ employment adversely affected the other’s performance. EOS and the Javelin Joint Venture, a partnership of Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), worked together to fully integrate Javelin with the EOS remote weapon station within 10 months.

“This was an exceptional opportunity to fire one of the most lethal anti-tank missiles in the world in conjunction with a 30mm chain gun to validate that they are completely interoperable.” said BG (Retired) Phil Coker, CEO for EOS Defense Systems USA. “The ability to effectively counter any maneuver threat on the modern battlefield is a significant advantage to an Army that has to deploy to any fight.  At the same time, the capacity that the R400 offers to clearly identify friend-from-foe at the Javelin’s max range is an advantage that few other systems offer.”

The R400S is in full-rate production and is currently in use by six allied nations. The system can be mounted on a broad range of fighting and support vehicles, both wheeled and tracked.

Javelin was first deployed in 1996, and has been involved in more than 5,000 engagements by U.S. and coalition forces.

About EOS Defense Systems USA: EOS Defense Systems USA, Inc. is a US company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.  EOS' parent company, Electro Optic Systems PTY Limited is an Australian company that has been at the forefront of the development of remote weapon stations since 1993.  EOS is an industry leader in Remote Weapon Station technology and continuously invests to improve currently fielded and developing stations.

Two things.

1.  Hey Marine Corps.  Since you killed tanks and are killing the number of ACVs (possibly...still hoping not) how about you slap one of these on every ACV/JLTV, hell even a few MTVRs so we can have a bit of ground based organic tank killing capability as well as a kick ass cannon to take on enemy technicals, APCs and IFVs?

2.  EOS must be pissed cause I usually get a heads up on these announcements.  Not this time.  I don't do facebook so unless they put me back on the list news is gonna be slow from these bubbas.

Sidenote.  I wonder if they can give us a double javelin launcher...Maybe even a triple or quad pack?

UAE appears to have ordered Wahash IFVs

via Janes

A Finnish export approval indicates that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has placed an order for the Wahash 8×8 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) developed by the local company Calidus.

Official documentation shows that, during a 12 March session, the Finnish government gave Sisu Axles and Katsa licenses to export axles and transmissions that Calidus would use in its own products. The Wahash is the only land vehicle promoted by Calidus.

Both companies produce similar parts for the Patria AMV 8×8 IFV, 40 of which were delivered to the UAE in 2016 as an urgent requirement while it continued to develop an indigenous counterpart.

A version of the Turkish company Otokar's Arma 8×8 called the Rabdan appeared to have won the contest when it was announced during the IDEX show held in Abu Dhabi in February 2017 that the Emirati military had ordered 400 from a joint venture called Al-Jasoor (now part of the UAE's Edge defence conglomerate).

Otokar said it would produce the first 100 Rabdans in Turkey and some of these were delivered in time for the IDEX show held in February 2019. However, the Wahash was unveiled by the leaders of Abu Dhabi and Dubai during the same show, prompting speculation that the competition might still be open.

At the time, Calidus had no known manufacturing capability. Nevertheless, it was announced during the Dubai Air Show in November 2019 that the UAE's air force had ordered 24 of the B-250 light attack aircraft developed by the company.

Meanwhile, a member of the Wahash engineering team uploaded a photograph of an industrial building to Google Maps that he identified as the location of the Calidus Land Systems facility in Abu Dhabi's Al-Wathbah suburb. Satellite imagery shows construction of the facility began in 2018 and there is also a new runway and hangar nearby there that were completed in 2019.

Wow.

Alot of secret squirrel going on in this article.  That's why JANES is so good. I couldn't put that together with the directions!

Anyway this is an interesting vehicle.  Can't wait to see it in the wild.

Armor P*rn. Chinese VT4 MBT is now equipped with the heavy FY-4 ERA (EXPORT version)...

Pics via China Defense Blog.

Yep.  That front armor has gone from a "B" cup to "DD".  If the Chinese are exporting this armor (CDB says this is for Thailand) then I wonder what they have cooked up for their domestic forces.

Boomerang 8x8 amphibious combat vehicle to be sold on the export market....

via Defense Aerospace.

MOSCOW --- Russia has started to promote the export of armored vehicles based on the latest Bumerang combat platform, with their sales estimated at about $1 billion, the press office of Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport reported on Thursday.

"Rosoboronexport (part of Rostec) has started to promote the latest Bumerang standardized combat platform developed and produced by the Military Industrial Company on foreign markets," the press office said in a statement.

As Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev said, countries of Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the CIS have already displayed their interest in the Bumerang combat vehicle.

"We estimate the export of this platform at about $1 billion in the foreseeable future," the press office quoted the Rosoboronexport chief as saying.

Here. 

This.

This is my concern. 

The USMC is getting light.  So light that it should almost be reclassified as a coastal defense force and no longer a Marine Corps, but the threat is only increasing.

Outside of that limited role in the Pacific, the future Marine Corps (as planned) will be useless.

Hybrid forces are meching up.

Nation state forces are doing the same...and you can bet that Russia will be selling these beasts at cost...maybe at a loss if they can gain influence/bases/or a loyal govt to push their agenda.

Penny packets of Marines in these mythical Company Landing Teams will be found, fixed and destroyed.  The last thing we'll hear is the XO screaming into the radio that "6" is dead, he's taken command and he requests immediate firesupport.  Then the blast from a 30mm chain gun, 120mm cannon fire or the screech of missiles and the radio goes dead.

Change course Berger.

China is the pacing threat but its a big big world with tons of enemies and hotspots that have yet to show up on the radar screen.