Gaze upon this beautiful new “long hull” Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate USS Klakring (FFG 42) underway on 28 June 1983 during her builder’s trials off Maine prior to commissioning later that August.
Gotta love that “one-armed bandit” launcher on her bow.
Bath Iron Works Corp. photo via National Archives, Identifier 6405085, Navy Assigned Identifier DNSC8605676
The first naval vessel named for famed WWII submarine skipper and Yankee Wolfpack leader RADM Thomas Burton “Burt” Klakring who earned three (3) Navy Crosses and a Silver Star during WWII, the frigate herself made a bit of history, participating in Earnest Will/Prime Chance during the Iran-Iraq War, made 20 overseas deployments, was one of the first ships to vet the MQ-8 FireScout VTOL-UAV at sea, and in seizing 3,850 gallons of liquid cocaine while on JTF-South/4th Fleet tasking in 2013.
Decommissioned and stricken in 2013, she has been in mothballs for the past 13 years and, as part of Op Atlantic Thunder 2026, was expended during a SINKEX on 21 September 2026 by the U.S. and Royal Navy in deep water (+1,000 fathoms) some 150 miles off the coast of the Hebrides in Scotland.
The Flight IIA Burke-class destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) opened the engagement with an SM-6 fired at its maximum (undisclosed) anti-surface range. The 140-pound frag warhead is seen doing a good bit of damage and would probably have been an effective “mission kill” on its own against the 4,000-ton FFG.
The Type 23 (Duke) class frigate HMS Portland (F 79), fresh out of a mid-life LIFEX overhaul, fired a Naval Strike Missile (NSM). Of note, Portland is only the second RN ship to carry NSM.
A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter launched an MBDA Sea Venom/ANL, the first time the Royal Navy’s new light (275-pound) anti-ship missiles have been fired at a real warship.
USAF F-15E Strike Eagles also struck the target with undisclosed ordnance before the Virginia-class submarine USS Massachusetts (SSN 798) administered the coup de grace with a Mk 48 (or higher?) torpedo.
For this sinking, the UK Defence Journal noted, “Particular interest is placed on uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) able to perform underwater battle damage assessment after the strike.”
Of the 71 FFG-7s completed for the U.S. and allied fleets, 35 are still in service overseas (both Turkey and Taiwan, for instance, have eight apiece), with just five laid up stateside in the NISMF, awaiting disposal.
ex-USS Taylor (FFG-50)
ex-USS Elrod (FFG-55)
ex-USS Simpson (FFG-56) (The final U.S. Navy FFG-7 to decommission)
ex-USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)
ex-USS Kauffman (FFG-59)
The snuff film of Klakring being taken out, with terrible music, is below from Navy Lookout.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Polo in the Pacific, which crossed over Baja California, the Mexican Navy has dispatched a relief force to include the 2,933-strong Brigadas de Respuesta a Emergencias and the camouflaged Buque de Apoyo Logístico (Logistics Support Vessel) ARM Isla Tiburon (BAL-01), complete with an Fuerza AeroNaval Mil Mi-8 “Hip” aboard, of which the service owns 22.
Thus:
While she looks like a WWII-era LST, Isla Tiburon and her sister, ARM Isla Holbox (BAL-02), are fairly new, built in 2010-13 at ASTIMAR in Oaxaca.
At 3,600 tons and 327 feet overall, they are the largest Mexican Navy ships built domestically.
Powered by twin 1,750 BHP diesels, they can make 12 knots and remain underway for 60 days. Carrying two LCVPs in addition to a bow ramp for beach landings, they have a large central helipad for a decent-sized helo or two (see previously mentioned 12-ton Hip).
They have an 80-man crew and sufficient weight and space to carry five WWII-vintage 40mm L60 Bofors for self-defense.
Note the LCVPs alongside her stern and her bow ramp in a very shallow sand beachline, along with three helos on deck.
The country has a long history with LSTs, having acquired three LST-542/LST-491-class ships (ex-USS Park County, Clearwater County, and Megara) from the U.S. surplus in the early 1970s, which they operated for 30 years. They still run two 1970s-vintage Newport-class LSTs they picked up in 2003: ARM Rio Papaloapan (A 411), ex-USS Newport (LST-1179), and ARM Usumacinta (A 412), ex-USS Frederick (LST-1184).
Currently, the U.S. Navy is moving forward with a Dutch (Damen) design for the first of up to 35 very similarly sized LSMs to schlep Marine Littoral Regiments around the Nine-Dash Line in the near future. A program sure to be a boondoggle if NAVSEA has its way, and it historically has.
The Damen LST 100 design, which was picked last December to be the Navy LSM– coming to a shipyard near you
Perhaps a proven design from south of the border could be a better option.
A 582nd Helicopter Group MH-139 Grey Wolf takes off near Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, Feb. 19, 2026. The 582 HG supports USSTRATCOM’s strategic deterrence mission by enabling airborne security and rapid response capabilities for missile wings across Air Force Global Strike Command. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nicholas Rowe)
Air Force Global Strike Command announced that the MH-139A Grey Wolf officially achieved Initial Operational Capability on August 10, ushering in a new era of modernization for AFGSC’s nuclear security operations.
An American-made (by Boeing) Leonardo AW139, the Air Force is buying 84 of these sleek choppers at about $21M a pop (although commercial AW139s run like $11M) to replace its elderly Hueys in the three operational squadrons (37th, 40th, and 54th) of the 582nd HG for ICBM field security and convoy use, with extras flown for training/support by the 703rd HS and 413th FTS.
Not sure why $15M UH-60s or $11.5M UH-72s couldn’t do the task, but you have to admit they look sweet. Oh, and they cost a bit less than the $28M fly-away of a UH-1Y Venom as flown by the Marines.
This milestone marks the historic transition from the Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey, a platform that served the Air Force for more than five decades.
The MH-139 Grey Wolf boasts significant capability upgrades: it is nearly 50 percent faster, can carry twice as many troops, and features enhanced defensive systems. These advancements allow security forces to mobilize combat power and arrive on-site sooner than the legacy platform.
Cue that beautiful viz-modded Bell 222. You know you are already thinking it.
Fact: Tri-Lug Barrels are the oldest, easiest, and one of the best ways to quickly mount a suppressor.
However, the attachment style is also limited in what it can do and, sadly, is overlooked.
Where did Tri-Lug or 3-Lug come from?
In Oberndorf, Germany, in the early 1960s, Helmut Baureuter, Manfred Guhring, Tilo Moller, and Georg Seidl cooked up probably the most mature sub gun of the 20th Century– the Heckler & Koch MP5. Recycling a roller-locked action first used on legendary machine guns in WWII and carried over to the G3 7.62 NATO battle rifle, it proved durable enough to become legendary.
It also had a funky, albeit innovative, barrel accessory mounting system on the muzzle: three equal-sized (roughly 0.310-inch) raised external lugs, spaced equally about 120 degrees apart center-to-center around the outside of the barrel, and ramped towards the muzzle.
These lugs were not an afterthought, welded, screwed, or pinned in, but something machined directly from, or forged with, the same piece of steel as the barrel.
Tri-lug, as seen on a Springfield Armory Kuna (male) and SilencerCo Spectre 9 and 36M (female). (Photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Even back in 1966, when the HK MP5, developed from the HK54, was introduced with its slimline handguard and straight waffle-pattern 9mm magazines, it had a tri-lug barrel.
Talk about a blast from the past…
The tri-lug barrel endured through the Cold War and into the GWOT era and is still seen on classically styled MP5s and other SMG/PCCs.
Seen above with casual SF types in an Afghanistani aloha snackbar joint in 2003. (Photo: National Archives, magnification by Guns.com staff).
The funny thing was that the tri-lug barrel wasn’t meant for attaching a suppressor. The lugs were originally for affixing accessories (Zubehör) such as a flash-hider (Feuerdampfer), a blank firing adapter (Manoverpatronengerat), and a sleeve for a 22mm cup-style tear gas grenade launcher (Granatfuhrung) fired with a blank round.
Thus:
Via an early HK MP5 manual.
Over the years, the accessories fell away while the MP5’s use with suppressors skyrocketed, especially after N (Navy) model MP5s entered the market in 1986, which included both a threaded barrel and tri-lug.
By 1988, inventor Timothy Bixler, with AWC Suppressors (Dr. Phil Dater’s old company) and Knights Armament, took out a patent (US4893426A) for a rotating collar utilizing Tri-Lug, and the rest is history.
How to use Tri-Lug
First off, Tri-Lug is a left-on (clockwise), right-off (counter-clockwise) kind of thing. Remember, “Left gets tight, right takes flight.”
Align, press down, turn to the left, release. Reverse to take off
Align the lugs, push in to depress the spring of the mount, twist about a quarter turn to the left until it passes the detents and stops, release the spring by letting go, boom. You are locked in. Reverse it to remove. Easy on, easy off, but still rock solid while in use.
Example:
Plus, with the Tri-Lug, you don’t have to worry about the suppressor backing off or loosening under rapid fire as you do with more common threaded-barrel models.
Tips:
You can’t attach the can to the muzzle by twisting in the wrong direction, as the geometry won’t work, so don’t freak out about that.
Also, new mounts and/or new barrels will likely be super tight, and the spring stout, so be sure to lube up and work them in on a safe firearm before heading to the range and trying it for the first time. Nobody gets confidence from the guy tugging on his can in the corner.
Not HK-only anymore
Besides assorted Heckler & Koch MP5/SP5 models and the myriad of clones such as the Century/MKE AP5 and SDS MAC-5, you have offerings from PSA like the AR-V and variants of the B&T APC9, GHM9, and SPC9 that sport in-spec Tri-Lug direct from the factory. Plus, you can get adapters from folks like SilencerCo that convert standard threaded muzzles to Tri-Lug.
SilencerCo’s Tri-Lug male muzzle adapter. As long as you are 1/2x28TPI, you are good to go. Other companies such as Angstadt, Griffin, and Rugged also make such adapters.
As far as making your suppressor Tri-Lug ready, there are adapters for that as well from Banish, Dead Air, SilencerCo, and others, so that’s not a problem.
SilencerCo’s Alpha Tri-lug coupler.
A new model to the market introduced earlier in the month is a dedicated Tri-Lug barrel version of the Kuna, a dependable roller-action that is fast becoming one of the most popular large-format 9mm pistols on the market.
The new Tri-Lug barrel Kuna, right, compared to the standard model.
The Springfield Kuna Tri-Lug in its natural environment, with a SilencerCo Spectre 9 attached.
MSRP for the unbraced model is set at $1,179, and the FSA-braced model’s MSRP is set at $1,330. Low-capacity 10-round options will also be available for those unfortunates living in restrictive states.
So, is Tri-Lug Perfect?
No.
As the design doesn’t support boosters (Nielsen devices), Tri-lug is tied to its original platform type: pistol caliber SMGs, PCCs, and large format pistols with fixed barrels. While primarily a 9mm offering, you also see Tri-Lug adapters for .45ACP (reverse to .578×28, 5/8×24, 9/16×24, and M16x1 LH threads), but that is about it. Plus, since the mounts are spring-based, they can wear out with extensive use, requiring new springs at some point in the distant future.
Still, for those classic MP5 styles and new offerings from folks like B&T and Springfield, the old standard can be a king when it comes to quick-detach.
This is the world-famous and instantly recognizable Household Cavalry Regiment, a unit which dates back to 1660, if not earlier.
The HCR is made up of The Life Guards and The Blues & Royals, divided into the Household Cavalry Regiment and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
For reference, the last time the HCR rode horses during wartime was when patrolling British Palestine in 1940, just prior to becoming mechanized.
Their last horse-mounted cavalry charge was the famed “Moonlight Charge” at Kassassin in the Anglo-Egyptian War in August 1882, “just” 144 short years ago.
The Moonlight Charge of Kassassin by the Household Cavalry, 1882 by G. W. Bacon. The outcome of the battle was in the balance until the arrival of British reinforcements just as darkness began to fall. The Household Cavalry composite regiment charged the Egyptian infantry, who soon abandoned their guns. The composite regiment consisted of a squadron from each of the 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards, Royal Horse Guards and 7th Dragoon Guards with four guns of the Royal Horse Artillery.
This is also the HCR, who, when they aren’t on public service duties with the London Garrison, run around in Ajax and Warrior AFVs performing an armored recon role in the British 3rd Deep Strike (Armored) Brigade.
The horse barracks is in Hyde Park, while the Ajaxes run out of Bulford Camp (Ward Barracks), about 75 miles to the west of London.
In recent memory, the HCR served in the Falklands, Bosnia, and the Sandbox.
FV101 Scorpion light tank, of the HCR’s Blues and Royals, at San Carlos during the Falklands War, May 1982.
However, this is also the HCR recently, running about the Longmoor Training Area in Hampshire and in the woods beside Sandhurst, where they have been exploring mounted reconnaissance, concealment, and moving through tough terrain where horses can outperform armored vehicles.
With the rapid expansion of IR optics down to the individual soldier level and drones over every treetop, it turns out that good old-fashioned tech like horse cavalry and towed field guns are now back in fashion.
“The infrared thermal imaging is now pretty ubiquitous,” HCR Lieutenant-Colonel Ben McNeil told the Times. “A horse can move in a more natural profile than any armoured vehicle can.” It might be mistaken for wildlife. In woodland, with drones patrolling overhead, “there’s a better chance of you getting from A to B with a horse than … with a Challenger 2 tank,” he said.
The Brits are just taking cues from the rest of Europe right now.
Besides reports that the Russians are using horse-mounted infantry in assaults on Ukrainian outposts and the fact that countries like Austria, Poland and Switzerland still have specialized tactical units using horses.
Check out these images of Swiss Militärpolizeischule patrols, complete with horses in multi-spectral camo netting, designed especially to defeat NV and IR.
The Lockheed L-188 Electra airliner made its first flight on 6 December 1957, and within two years, a variant pitched to the Navy as an armed maritime patrol aircraft joined it. Soon to be accepted as the P-3 Orion, the first of 757 production models rolled off the assembly line in April 1961. Ironically, just 170 Electras were made, with its military sister much more prolific.
Now, an extremely respectable 65 years later, one of the last of the Navy’s handful of operational Orions, BuNo 158912, the sole NP-3C of the “Warlocks” of Scientific Development Squadron ONE (VXS-1) out of Pax River, tasked with supporting the Naval Research Laboratory, has flown into the sunset.
She was the last Atlantic Orion, with the service’s final trio of birds flying with the VX-30 “Bloodhounds” at NBVC Point Mugu. VQ-1 got out of the Orion game last year.
Lockheed Orion BuNo 158912 (MSN 285A-5584) was born as a P-3C-145-LO and accepted by the Navy on June 28, 1973, serving with the NATC. She was later converted to the P-3C-III standard in July 1991 with VX-1, then re-rated as a NP-3C in May 2013 with VXS-1.
As noted by VXS-1 on social media:
While most know the P-3 for hunting submarines during the Cold War, VXS-1’s own NP-3C flew a different but equally demanding mission set. Outfitted with specialized equipment for the Naval Research Laboratory, she supported Project Perseus in Iraq with Task Force ODIN hunting IEDs, conducted aerogeophysical mapping in Afghanistan, performed critical “Red Force” testing with PMA-226, and flew into hurricanes Idalia and Francine to track their fury.
Born from the Lockheed Electra airliner, this rugged, loud, and tireless bird became the backbone of Navy maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare. Its unmistakable MAD boom, long endurance, and the distinct sound of those four Allison engines (and that screaming APU) will be missed by everyone who ever flew, fixed, or supported her.
And as that familiar whine of the APU finally falls silent, we send our Orion off with this final poem:
There once was a mighty P-3, Whose props spun for decades at sea. Now the sun’s going down On this old sub-hunter’s crown, As the Orion flies off into history. Fair winds and following seas, old girl. You’ve earned your rest.
Who’s left?
This just leaves three with VX-30 in the Navy’s inventory: BuNos 150521 (a 1963 vintage NP-3D, originally a P-3A), 162999 (1987 vintage P-3C AIP+), and 163291 (1989 vintage P-3C AIP+ ARTR).
NOAA also has two 50-year-old WP-3D Orions, the famed N42RF (BuNo 159773) “Kermit” and N43RF (BuNo 159875) “Miss Piggy” hurricane hunters.
NASA has a sole P-3B (BuNo 152735, N426NA) airborne laboratory based out of Wallops, while DHS has its own fleet of 16 assorted P-3 LRTs and P-3 AEWs, which have been very busy in interdiction work in the Eastern Pacific.
Air Spray and Buffalo Airways are still operating a baker’s dozen L-188 Electra cargo and firefighting planes in Canada and the U.S.
Then, of course, there are over 150 P-3s in operation (and probably at least that many in storage) with a dozen militaries around the world, a flexible figure depending on how you count the airframes with the IRIAF left over from the Shah’s era.
While the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion by 1,400 Brigade 2506 Cuban exiles in April 1961 is a well-known Cold War fiasco, the much more recent February 2026 shootout between 10 Floridamen on a 24-foot boat and Cuba’s Border Guards is much murkier.
At least until now.
The story, from The Belly of the Beast, includes being recruited on TikTok (welcome to 2026), coordination on WhatsApp, training on a 13-acre farm in South Florida, and packing 25 guns and 13,000 rounds of ammo (none of it loaded into said firearms!) into a 24-foot Pro-Line and blundering right into a Cuban Border post at Cayo Bahía de Cádiz just after dawn, then firing first on said Cuban Border toughs.
Mike B recently did a ballistic test on a historic WWII-era Brodie-style British Mark II steel helmet, and it is fairly surprising.
Don’t freak out too much about destroying a collectible, as the helmet is a high-use specimen that had gone to Pakistan and been reimported for sale to reenactors. Plus, the Allies made something like 12 million of these helmets between 1938 and 1944, so they aren’t that rare (you can find them for like $50).
Still, it surprised me how resistant it was to pistol rounds.
I was today old when I found out that Harrington & Richardson (H&R) was the U.S. importer for Heckler & Koch from around 1965 to 1973.
This included the HK33-derived T223submitted for U.S. Navy trials for use with the SEALs, the caliber-fluid HK4 pistol, and early MP5s, HK11 MGs, and G3s for mil/LE use.
SEAL Team Two, with Rudy Boesch noted to the left, gave the H&T T223 (HK33) a whirl in Southeast Asia back in the Tiger Stripe and DDT breath freshener days.
After that, SACO in Arlington, Virginia, did it for a couple of years; then, by 1977, HK took control and established its own U.S.-based subsidiary.
I knew HK had been in the states as early as the mid-1960s, but didn’t know it was because of H&R.
