Viper Medium Crew Served Weapon Mount.

Major league hat tip to Soldier Systems.

Northrop Grumman Medium Assault Vehicle-Light Brochure

MAV-L

Northrop Grumman Medium Assault Vehicle-Light

The Northrop Grumman Press Release...

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) unveiled its offering for the U.S. Special Forces Command Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 competition today at the Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, D.C. The Northrop Grumman vehicle is known as the Medium Assault Vehicle – Light (MAV-L).

Northrop Grumman teamed with BAE Systems and Pratt & Miller Engineering for the GMV 1.1 pursuit. The MAV-L is modular, transports up to seven operators, and is air transportable in a MH/CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The vehicle is built specifically for the special operations forces and is designed to function worldwide on any battlefield.
"Our clean-sheet approach and purpose-built solution applies innovation from across our industry team. We deliver an affordable solution that meets the warfighter's mission requirements and a great new capability," said Tom Vice, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Technical Services. "We're fully committed to providing the Special Operations Command with the most modular and agile vehicle capable of top performance in any operational environment."
BAE Systems is a leader in vehicle design, manufacturing and through-life support of military wheeled vehicles and their associated systems. The company's Sealy, Texas, facility has served as the manufacturing site for tens of thousands of tactical vehicle programs and many survivability and mobility upgrades to various tactical platforms.
Pratt & Miller Engineering is a respected industry leader in the defense, automotive, motorsports and powersports industries. Their work provides clients with innovative, high-performance engineering and manufacturing solutions.
"The capabilities of our partners combined with Northrop Grumman's decades of experience integrating C4ISR systems into land forces sustainment and military platforms, ensure that our customers receive a vehicle as capable and flexible as their mission requirements," said Frank Sturek, deputy director of land forces sustainment and MAV-L program manager, Northrop Grumman.

SOCOM has deep pockets and all the big boys are coming out to play.  I can tell the thinking is that this will lead to buys by state and federal departments all over the US and possibly overseas.  Again, BAE is taking a background role in what should be its "thing"...I wonder why.

Special Ops could have been there in 3 hours. F/A-18's in 1.

via National Review.

On September 11, at about 10 p.m. Libyan time (4 p.m. in Washington), Ambassador Chris Stevens and a small staff were inside our consulate in Benghazi when terrorists attacked. The consulate staff immediately contacted Washington and our embassy in Tripoli. The White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and numerous military headquarters monitored the entire battle in real time via the phone calls from Benghazi and video from a drone overhead.
Our diplomats fought for seven hours without any aid from outside the country. Four Americans died while the Obama national-security team and our military passively watched and listened. The administration is being criticized for ignoring security needs before the attack and for falsely attributing the assault to a mob. But the most severe failure has gone unnoticed: namely, a failure to aid the living.
By 4:30 p.m. Washington time, the main consulate building was on fire and Ambassador Stevens was missing. In response, the embassy in Tripoli launched an aircraft carrying 22 men. Benghazi was 400 miles away.
At 5 p.m., President Obama met with Vice President Biden and Secretary of Defense Panetta in the Oval Office. The U.S. military base in Sigonella, Sicily, was 480 miles away from Benghazi. Stationed at Sigonella were Special Operations Forces, transport aircraft, and attack aircraft — a much more formidable force than 22 men from the embassy.
In the past, presidents had taken immediate actions to protect Americans. In 1984, President Reagan had ordered U.S. pilots to force an airliner carrying terrorists to land at Sigonella. Reagan had acted inside a 90-minute window while the aircraft with the terrorists was in the air. The Obama national-security team had several hours in which to move forces from Sigonella to Benghazi.

Wow.

Excuse me.  I'm going to go punch walls.

Spectre Special Ops Vehicle Brochures.

NOTE:  General Dynamics Land Systems is producing a wide and narrow track version of this vehicle. 

Spectre Wtc


Spectre Ntc

First F-35 AMRAAM Release

WTF! A tracked version of the Stryker?????

Check this out from Defense News.

Donald Kotchman, vice president for Heavy Brigade Combat Team at GD Land Systems, said the company has developed a tracked version of the Stryker that builds upon the company’s decades of work producing the Abrams tank, as well as the more recent double-V-hulled Stryker. While the tracked version is not aimed specifically at the AMPV program, Kotchman said that “depending on how the requirements flow for the AMPV, then it would be finalized to be in that competition.”
The “Stryker TR” was designed to fill a gap in the company’s combat vehicle line, Kotchman said, since it had not offered a medium tracked vehicle up to this point.

Go to DN to read the entire article but that's crazy!  I can't even begin to imagine what they've worked up but it sounds...interesting.

The armor market is really going to be worth watching for the rest of this year and next.

CTA 40mm Cannon.

Thanks for the brochure THINK DEFENCE.

I still don't know about the US Army going with a 40mm cannon on their Bradley's but the mockup of it shown inside the brochure does seem "right." 

CTAI Brochure

A chilling video.

If this vid doesn't chill your blood then nothing will...

Nexter XP2 at AUSA.

Thanks for the link Jonathan.

via DefenseNews.

PARIS — Nexter is sending its XP2 armored vehicle technology demonstrator and CTA International 40mm cannon to this week’s Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) show, both bearing the French company’s hopes of winning orders from the U.S. Army and other forces, a company executive said.The target for the XP2 is the U.S. Army’s Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program, intended to replace the M113 troop carrier, said Patrick Lier, Nexter vice president for international affairs.The M113 saw service in the Vietnam War.The XP2 is a six-wheel-drive vehicle in the 20-ton class, designed to show “capability for innovation and know-how in armored vehicles,” Lier said.The French vehicle is designed to provide a high level of protection up to the NATO Standard Agreement 4 level, offer high mobility and be equipped with advanced onboard electronics and 360-degree camera vision, Lier said. The vehicle can carry nine soldiers and rations for two days, and its motor can be changed in an hour, he said.Nexter faces stiff competition.General Dynamics is expected to pitch its Stryker, while BAE Systems has said it will offer a modified Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.Navistar has said it is interested in competing with a partner.The U.S. Army, which could buy up to 3,800 units, has said it would likely opt for a vehicle already in service and has set a cost target of $2.4 million per vehicle.Another potential buyer of the XP2 is the Australian Army, with a requirement for about 1,500 armored vehicles under its Land 400 program, Lier said.The Australian planners have not yet said whether the new vehicle will be tracked or wheeled, Lier said.Nexter developed the XP2 as a contender for the French Army’s Véhicule Blindé Multi-Role (VBMR), a multirole armored vehicle, for which the previous Army chief of staff set a price cap of 1 million euros ($1.3 million) for the planned 1,000 armored personnel carrier units of the VBMR program.The cased telescoped CTA 40mm gun is aimed at arming the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), Lier said.Army procurement is looking to buy more than 1,800 GCVs that will be armed with a 25mm gun, but that choice of caliber has sparked comments of “not enough,” Lier said.Nexter hopes to spark interest with its CTA 40mm, built under the CTA International joint venture with BAE.Nexter also hopes to sell the CTA 40mm to Australia, which is looking for a gun for its infantry fighting vehicle, Lier said.“The 40mm could be a serious contender,” he said.The GCV is intended as replacement for the Bradley.Nexter sent its Véhicule Blindé Combat d’Infanterie (VBCI) to AUSA two years ago, and the Caesar 155mm artillery piece last year.The French company had hoped the VBCI might be picked for the Ground Combat Vehicle, but the requirement for a tracked unit left the wheeled infantry fighting vehicle out in the cold.

Hmm.

I really see the XP2 as having a snowballs chance in hell for winning this.  Who then?  BAE.  Don't call me a fanboy, just calling it like I see it... if they can get the Army to buy into using Bradley's that are in storage and rebuilding them to cover the AMPV mission set, then Congress would probably fund it.  New build vehicles though?  Not likely.

As one writer wrote, one or two ground vehicle programs are going to go away...its Ground Combat Vehicle vs. Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle vs. Marine Personnel Carrier vs. Amphibious Combat Vehicle vs. AAV Upgrade vs. Double Hull Stryker.  

Blast from the past. M113 Fire Support Vehicle.

Transport Infantry to the area of the objective.  Allow them to assault on foot.  Use armor to provide supporting fires while the grunts assault the objective.That is the real function of armored personnel carriers.  

Infantry fighting vehicles, with the idea of allowing the infantry to ride to the objective while assaulting it from inside vehicles is as dead as disco.  The very idea is a remnant of cold war, atomic war thinking.   Check out the pics below of the  M-113 FSV.  One of the first vehicles to get it right (the others were the LVT-(A)4 and later the LVTH-6).

They were killed and wounded by a domestic enemy

Textron Commando Family of Vehicles.

Green Blade 2012

F-35A weapons release pics...

First F-35A Weapons Release

And the gun sales go crazy today.

Well you can bet body parts that gun sales are going to spike.

Starting today.  Probably last night.

No one is talking about it outside of the gun community but that was the biggest mistake made by the President during the debate.

He called for gun control.  Again.

It killed the Democrats once and it might not again but I can guarantee that every gun owner in the US will vote in this election, every fear of those that believe that the government is too big and intrusive is being confirmed and this minor issue to some might be the thing that causes them the election.  We'll see what happens but this was a serious miscalculation in my mind.

Glock Grip Length Reduction Project. The next hot thing?

I don't quite know what to make of this.  I carry both the 26 and the 19.  The 26 during the summer months and the 19 during the winter...or I use a mag extension adapter on the 26 so that it accommodates 19 mags.

I've seen grip reductions that Lone Wolf and others specialize in but this is the first grip length I've seen.

I didn't even know they were being offered.

What I do know is that Ayoob preaches against modifying any weapon that you might use for self defense because of legal issues.  He also states that the non-shooting public will view you as a gunslinger looking for a fight if you have too many of these mods.

One other thing.  I also know that you're killing the value of your investment and reducing a family heirloom with too many modifications to your weapons.

In the end I guess its interesting but just not for me.

I hope this guys fitrep takes hit update.

Steve stated that my response to a comment was better than the post itself so here goes....

well think about it another way. this celebrity just got an invitation from a service member ... everyone wants to support service members but a date? its like abusing a position of trust for personal gain. its not good press, its childish, its selfish, its taking advantage of the publics good will, its misusing the uniform for personal gain and its putting another individual in a terrible position.

its almost blackmail.

And it is almost like blackmail.

Remember when the first flurry of these things hit?  Everyone was thinking cute but I could almost see the stars cringe.

They were thinking about this on a couple of levels.  How would you react if someone that you didn't know that could be from anywhere asked you out on a "date"?  How would you feel if you realized that the ramifications of improperly handling this situation could affect your CAREER!

Wouldn't you feel a bit bitter?

Trapped?

Put in an almost no win situation?  What about the celebrities schedule?  Just cause the Marine is having a good time at the ball doesn't mean that its something that the celebrity wants to do!

Its just bad form and no one seems to be taking the view of the celebrity...Everyone is being so childish and hip and thinking that its cute.

In reality its anything but.  I usually don't feel anything for celebrities but in this instance I do.

NOTE:
For all you clowns that think that this is simple fun need to seriously check yourself.  This is creepy at best.  And I repeat my earlier stance.  The Service Chiefs and their Enlisted Advisers have lost direction if they can't see this and have lost perspective if they don't see a need to stop it. 

F-35B BF-20 First Flight

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew F-35B BF-20 (US Navy Bureau Number 168718) on its inaugural flight on 14 October 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas.

Lockheed Martin test pilot Paul Hattendorf flew F-35A AF-22 (USAF serial number 10-5010) on its inaugural flight on 14 October 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas.