Retro-Vintage Style Recruiting Posters Show off USCG’s New Tactical Jet Ski Program

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Check out these great new recruiting posters for the USCG, which show off current programs (MSRT, Blackfin MH-65Es with HITRON, etc.) in an early 1980s throwback style.

The last features a great image by Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Robertson of Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Ilima Maiava, an aviation survival technician assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Kapolei, Hawaii, during training with a Barbers Point MH-65 Dolphin June 3, 2026. The station uses rescue watercraft to assist in rescue swimmer training by providing safety watch, mitigating the use of two helicopters.

It also serves as a good Segway to the new…

USCG Tactical Personal Watercraft (PWC) Program

Earlier this year, the Coast Guard stood up a program to train maritime LE folks on high-speed watercraft to intercept human smugglers and deter unlawful migration in shallow surf zones and restrictive environments where traditional pursuit boats cannot safely go.

Based in San Diego, the program excels in using jetskis to conduct shallow water pursuits in tight spaces, narrow channels, and shallow surf zones. The training is part of the Office of Rapid Response and Prototyping (CG-RAPTOR) Coast Guard program, which identifies, tests, and deploys new technologies, including tactical personal watercraft.

Coast Guard members conduct personal watercraft interdiction training at Coronado Beach, California, Jan. 15, 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Roberto Nieves)

They are using what looks to be all-black Yamaha FX Series WaveRunners with P2P Rescue attachments while the livery includes USCG ensign flashes and white stencils, but no racing stripes.

U.S. Coast Guard personnel demonstrate the use of jet skis during a training exercise in San Diego, California, Feb. 11, 2026. The training highlights the service’s implementation of new watercraft assets to enhance rapid response, interdiction, and maritime safety operations. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by PA2 Carmen Caver)

And yes, they use Nods and blue/green lights.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Austin Ladner, a maritime enforcement specialist, maneuvers his personal watercraft during night operations training near San Diego on May 8, 2026. Ladner was one of the first qualified Coast Guard PWC operators and instructors; he initially trained with qualified U.S. Border Patrol personnel. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Gabriel Wisdom)

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Dugan, a maritime enforcement specialist, instructs his class of unqualified PWC operators during night operations training near San Diego on May 7, 2026. Dugan was one of the first qualified Coast Guard PWC operators and instructors; he initially trained with qualified U.S. Border Patrol personnel. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Gabriel Wisdom)

They can work directly alongside tactical pursuit boat crews as a combined unit and perform physically demanding interventions in dark, turbulent surf to stop smugglers from abandoning migrants in dangerous waters.

U.S. Coast Guard personal watercraft operators follow behind a Coast Guard boatcrew near Point Loma in San Diego on May 8, 2026. The unqualified PWC operators followed behind a boatcrew as part of a force package before simulating a pursuit by chasing their qualified instructors at high speeds. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Gabriel Wisdom)

Note the very sharp USCG insignia on the front cowling of the above image in the below inset:

260508-G-JO805-6513

The force was seen in New York Harbor during the recent Sail250 evolution as well.

Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Dorian Casey, assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard National Motor Lifeboat School in Ilwaco, Washington, operates a Coast Guard personal watercraft near the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) in New York Harbor during Sail 250, July 5, 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Perry Shirzad)

You gotta admit, it sells itself as far as recruiting goes.

Going Fast

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Some 52 years ago this month, a high speed formation off the coast of southern California. August 1974.

We see the front runner, the Interdiction Craft Experimental (CPIC-X), in the center, flanked closely by the experimental hydrofoil USS Flagstaff (PGH-1) at the top and the Osprey class PTF (Fast Patrol Boat) 24 at the bottom.

NHHC Catalog #: K-104584

For reference, CPIC-X was a 100-foot high-performance turbine powered prototype combatant built in 1974 by Tacoma Boatbuilding Company and used as a test bed for the Emerlec 30mm mount among other installations. She was loaned to the ROK Navy for a few years then returned.

The Grumman-built Rolls Royce turbine-powered 73-foot Flagstaff entered service in 1968, was loaned to the USCG from November 1974 to March 1977, then returned with a blown engine and abandoned, fading into history around 1999.

The 95-foot Osprey class PTF-24 was among the Navy’s last PT boats and was disposed of in the 1980s, although some of her sisters have been poking around in civilian hands.

Mark 37 ‘Long Threes’ Preserved

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A recent addition to Naval Station Norfolk’s Gate 2 are a pair of historic, and rare, Cold War era twin mounts: two twin 3″/70 Mark 26 guns in Mark 37 mounts.

The guns came from the old USS Norfolk (DL-1), the one-off ASW destroyer flotilla leader commissioned in 1953.

The first major warship not built to a WWII design, she was as big as a light cruiser (5,600 tons, 540-feet), carried eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, 4 twin 3″/70 Mark 37s, and Weapon Alpha/Able, the latter a gee-whiz sub-buster that could toss a dozen 525-pound ASW rockets to 800 yards

USS Norfolk (DL-1) was one of the few ships outfitted with Weapon Alpha. Two of the four mounts can be seen side-by-side forward of the bridge. Note two of her twin 3″/70s forward. She is seen here in 19 September 1957. NH 94160

While Weapon Alpha was replaced by ASROC, the rapid-fire 3″/70s were almost as quickly phased out with four mounts on the command light cruiser USS Northampton (CLC-1), four on Norfolk, and two each on the four Mitscher-class DLs for a total of about 16 or so mounts. They were fast, capable of firing as many as 100 15-pound shells per minute to 38,000 feet in an AAA role (19,500 yards range at 45 degrees).

Once Norfolk was scrapped in 1974, two remaining 3″/70 mounts were originally on display at the Recruit Training Center (RTC) Orlando. After the center closed in the mid-1990s and all recruit training consolidated at Great Lakes, they were moved to the Boca Raton Community High School in Florida and finally to Naval Station Norfolk in 2020, where they have been in storage for a bit.

Restored back in May, they arrived at Gate 2 for duty renewed.

Two if by Sea, Cam Ranh Edition

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Some 55 years ago, Southeast Asia.

Loading a 6th Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment M107 175mm self-propelled howitzers onto USNS LST-546. Photos by David D. Lozano, B Battery 6/32ed Artillery. Cam Ranh Bay for a move to the DMZ 1971. Hattip Big Guns of the Vietnam War group on FB.

The gator, a 328-foot 1,600-ton LST-542-class tank landing ship, was a war baby, built at the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company, Evansville, Indiana, and commissioned on 27 March 1944, serving in the Pacific with LST Flotilla Thirty-Seven.

In mothballs from 1946 to 1952, she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (today’s Military Sealift Command), where she served in a non-commissioned status as USNS LST-546 until 15 July 1972. With the Vietnam drawdown, she was transferred to the Philippines as BRP Surigao del Sur, first leased then sold, and served until 1988 when she was sold, presumably for breaking.

As for the 6/32ed, known as the “Proud Americans,” they constituted in July 1918 as part of the 11th Infantry Division but didn’t make it “over there” in the Great War. By 1940, as part of the 1st Infantry Division, they were back in the fray and were credited with the first artillery round fired by U.S. Artillery against an enemy in the European-African, Middle Eastern Theater in World War II: a 105mm round kicked off in Algeria at 1020 on 8 November 1942. Fighting through the rest of the war, including El Guettar and Omaha Beach, they picked up two Croix de Guerre and two Presidential Unit Citations.

The 6/32nd Artillery was deployed to Vietnam in July 1967 and provided heavy fire support throughout the conflict with its 175s and 8-inchers, earning the Meritorious Unit Citation in Vietnam while supporting 85 operations.

After returning from Vietnam in 1971, the 6th Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery was deactivated at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and remained dormant for 15 years until reactivated in 1987 when the unit converted from tubes to rocketry, equipped with the MGM-52 Lance.

In 1991, the 6-32 FA (MLRS) “Proud Americans” were the first active ATACMS-capable MLRS Battalion on the Army’s books before casing their colors in December 1993.

Bellissimo! Benelli’s Italian Plant has the Best Foyer in the Gun Industry

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On a recent trip to the Benelli factory in Urbino, Italy, we got a peek at their one-of-a-kind facility that blends Old World craftsmanship with modern manufacturing standards.

We were there to get the scoop on the new gas-operated M2-G1 tactical shotgun but would be remiss if we failed to bring you at least some coverage of the factory itself. For instance, the 430,000 square feet of shotgun and rifle-making brilliance is nestled in the hills and Roman walls of the Via della Stazione, at the terminus of the region’s historic former railway station.

Benelli factory, Urbino Italy
While Benelli began as a mechanical and motorcycle company 115 years ago in nearby Pesaro, its Benelli Armi firearm factory came to Urbino in 1967. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Benelli factory, Urbino Italy
Note the old walls surrounding the plant.
Benelli factory, Urbino Italy
The influence of Raphael – whose painting style was one of harmony, balance, and grace – and Count Federico da Montefeltro, a military strategist and benefactor remembered as “the Light of Italy,” is everywhere in Urbino and still very alive at Benelli. 

Come with us as we take a closer look at the shotguns and rifles on the wall of the foyer, many of them rare and one-of-a-kind demo guns.

Benelli factory, Urbino Italy Ethos shotgun
How about this amazing Ethos?
Benelli factory, Urbino Italy Raffello
Note the clear polymer furniture on this Raffello
Benelli factory, Urbino Italy concept gun on display
This one could be right from the 2045 catalog cover. 
Benelli factory, Urbino Italy concept gun on display
The Raffellos are high-end Intertia-driven Benelli autoloaders

More in my column at Guns.com.

Hammerhead Sovereign

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The Royal Navy R-class battleship HMS Royal Sovereign (05) in 1941 was a Great War-era bruiser who was having a very busy year.

With larger German surface raiders amok in the North Atlantic, she rode shotgun on Convoys SC 16, HX 103, TC 09, HX 113, HX 114, HX 116, HX 120, and HX 124 before putting into (officially neutral) Norfolk Navy Yard at the end of May for maintenance and additional AAA guns.

Here she is seen in late June 1941 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s famous 250-ton/25-story Hammerhead crane, at the time a new feature.

Of note, the camo pattern was unofficial. It used Black over the standard light grey.

Setting back across the pond, Royal Sovereign put into Greenock, where she had her first radar fit from 17 July to 14 October: Type 284 fire control for her 15-inch guns, Type 285 for secondary armament, Type 286 aircraft warning, and Type 273 surface warning, then went on to serve in the Indian Ocean with the Far East Fleet.

She circled back to the States in 1943 to pick up 46 20mm Oerlikons (14 single and 16 twin mounts) at Philadelphia, then ended the war in Soviet service as the battleship Arkhangelsk.

HMS Royal Sovereign in Soviet service as Arkhangelsk Janes 1947 (2)

Returned in very poor (very poor) condition in 1949, she was soon after scrapped, although components and relics of her are prolific.

Navy Greenlights CHAOS maritime strike system

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CoAspire’s CHAOS (Coalition Heterogeneous Affordable Offensive Strike) system, composed of the RAACM-ER cruise missile attached to a booster and a launcher system, is billed as a sort of cheap mini-Tomahawk or JASSM, with a 500-pound warhead, a 900nm(+) range, and a well under $1m cost per round (compared to a $2.6m JASSM or a $4m TLAM).

Further, it can be surfaced or air-launched.

It has the same lineage as the uber-underreported yet combat-proven Zone 5-made AGM-188 Rusty Dagger, which was just used by Ukrainian Mig-29s and Su-27s to strike the Voronezh Semiconductor Devices Plant, which is about 200nm north of the Ukraine border/lines.

Well, it was just announced that PAE Munitions has contracted with CoAspire and Zone 5 to deliver a CHAOS maritime strike system.

A cheap ship-killer.

CoAspire’s CHAOS Surface Launched system. The system is composed of the RAACM-ER cruise missile attached to a booster and a launcher system. (Photo courtesy of CoAspire)

Managed under Program Acquisition Executive Munitions, CHAOS is designed to rapidly build and deliver low-cost, scalable precision strike weapons to allies and partners.

“As adversaries increasingly deploy advanced area denial systems, coalition and allied forces face significant challenges in maintaining credible, modern, and affordable anti-ship capabilities,” said Capt. Sarah Abbott, PMX-201 program manager.

“CHAOS closes this capability gap, by delivering a highly capable, adaptable, and exportable maritime strike solution that overcomes present day obsolescence and supply chain challenges,” she said.

More here.

Czech You Later: CZ 75 B, CZ 75 BD, and CZ 75 Compact Discontinued

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Cue the funeral dirge for a few classic CZ models that are being escorted out of the company’s pistol catalog this year. 

CZ announced on Thursday that 2026 will “mark the conclusion of production for three CZ 75 models: the CZ 75 B, CZ 75 BD, and CZ 75 Compact.”

CZ 75 B
The all-steel firing pin block-equipped CZ 75 B was introduced in 1993 as an updated, second-generation version of the original Cold War “Pre-B” CZ 75 model and was the standard for the company for the past three decades. (Photo: CZ)
CZ 75 BD
The CZ 75 BD variant features a decocker (hence the “D”) in addition to the firing pin block and arrived on scene in 1997. (Photos: CZ)
CZ 75 compact
Meanwhile, the CZ 75 Compact debuted in 1992 and chopped about an inch off the slide and frame and a half-inch off the grip to trim the pistol down for concealment while still keeping a 16+1 magazine capacity.  (Photos: CZ)

The move will close out several of the classic era CZ 75 models, save for the new CZ 75 Legend, introduced as a 50th anniversary product for the series. Also still in production will be the assorted SP/P-01 series CZ 75s, the alloy-framed CZ 75 D PCR and the CZC A-01 line, the latter being a CZ Customs-tuned model.

The company noted in a release that the discontinued pistols “have each played an important role in carrying the CZ 75 design forward,” and “have been valued by shooters for their balance, craftsmanship and proven design, becoming lasting parts of the CZ lineup and of the shooting experiences of generations of customers.”

Of course, new old-stock models are still circulating around, at least for now, but will probably start commanding a premium as CZ collectors move to round out the holes in their gun safes.

How Copy?

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Happy National Radio Day!

And, as the grandson of a Vietnam-era Fort Gordon Regular Army Signals Corps instructor (MOS 31Z5H, 31W50) with two tours in Vietnam and the two Bronze Stars and 7-starred-VSM on his DD-214 to show for it, big salute to those unsung RTOs with the PRC-25s and PRC-77s on their back, up to their chins in the rice paddies and river marsh, who were still able to smile about it.

Radio…check

I’ve known about the new Benelli M2-G1 for a bit…

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While the original circa 2004 Benelli M2 was a linear development of the M1/Super 90 line of semi-automatic shotguns, which were first introduced in 1986, the line has always used the Inertia style recoil-operation system as its heart.

There have been few complaints about the classic Benelli M2 Tactical that we have heard. I had one from about 2005 through 2016 and ran case after case through it without notable issues. I put it through several courses and loaned it out to others going to schools, all with good feedback.

classic Benelli M2 Tactical
Ol’ Papa Eger’s Benelli M2 of yesteryear with an aftermarket mag tube, at rest on a Navajo saddle pad sometime around 2015. No M-LOK. No optics. No lights. No Pic rails. Super rubbery furniture. Man, we used to be wild, didn’t we? 

While a classic that delivers a clean, reliable, and adjustment-free system, Inertia takes a back seat to gas-operated piston systems such as the Benelli M4’s ARGO (Auto-Regulating Gas-Operated) system.

Gas guns provide a softer “push” for the user by significantly reducing felt recoil, while also reliably cycling a much wider variety of loads. Plus, gas guns hold up better to high-volume shooting such as in extended military and duty use.

So why not take an M2, give it a gas system upgrade very similar to what is seen on the vaunted “bombproof” M4, and add other upgrades? All purposely engineered to run cleaner, require less maintenance, and stay ready when it matters most.

Well, then you get the new M2-G1.

I recently traveled to the land of spaghetti and preserved meats to get the scoop on it.

The Benelli M2-G1
The Benelli M2-G1 is the company’s first gas-operated M2 autoloading tactical shotgun. Designed and built for hard use. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The Benelli M2-G1
We saw the new M2-G1 begin to feed through the line at Urbino from raw materials to components…
The Benelli M2-G1
…to final assembly and proofing.  
The Benelli M2-G1
A new face headed from Italy to shelves across the U.S., with availability starting this week. 

Read the full review in my column at Guns.com. 

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