U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma crew members conduct interdiction operations in the Gulf of America, May 8, 2026. Tahoma’s crew, alongside a deployed Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron aircrew, stopped three suspected smuggling vessels carrying narcotics during a maritime patrol approximately 90 miles off Cartagena, Colombia. (U.S. Coast Guard photo 260508-G-G0107-1002)
Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma’s crew simultaneously interdicted three suspected smuggling vessels carrying approximately 6,085 pounds of cocaine worth nearly $45.8 million, May 8, approximately 90 miles off Cartagena, Colombia. This seizure represents 2.3 million potentially lethal doses of cocaine that will not reach American streets.
Tahoma’s crew launched their two small boats and their deployed Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron aircrew, stopping all three vessels.
One vessel was non-compliant and required aerial use of force tactics, including precision sniper fire directed at the engines, to compel the vessel to stop, resulting in the suspected smugglers on the vessel jumping overboard. The aircrew released multiple personal flotation devices, and the people were rescued with no reported injuries. The other two vessels stopped when directed by Coast Guard crews.
Commissioned in 1988, the Mighty T is some 38 years young and is homeported in Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, under U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command.
She is one of just a handful of American warships still sporting the MK 75 OTO Melara 76mm gun and carries forward the legacy earned by the previous USCGC Tahoma (WPG-80) during World War II.
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey (OCS) is currently utilizing fully uncrewed contract USVs for an offshore hydrographic survey mission along the Florida Gulf Coast.
Operated by Woolpert, the mission is being conducted by Chance Maritime’s Chance MC29 and larger MC40 platforms.
The Chance MC40
Chance MC40
Over the multi-month project, Woolpert will survey approximately 11,000 linear nautical miles. Woolpert hydrographers, positioned across multiple time zones, will remotely conduct hydrographic surveys around the clock. Survey data is uploaded to a cloud server via Starlink satellite communications, where it is ingested into Woolpert’s Automatic Survey Production Environment (ASPEN) and made ready for further postprocessing by Woolpert’s hydrographic processing team.
In an expansion of the concept, NOAA just awarded Chance a $21.6 million contract for up to eight Chance LR30 platforms, equipping NOAA with a fleet of long-endurance USVs purpose-built for hydrographic and fisheries surveys.
Coupled with what the USCG is doing with Saildrones, this is all some very good vetting of programs with some serious 21st-century military applications, without which Big Navy can surely piggyback off of.
I hope people are paying attention.
Chance LR30 Uncrewed Surface Vessel
Chance LR30 Uncrewed Surface Vessel
Meanwhile, CTF 66 and CTF 68 are operating robotic and autonomous systems alongside our Norwegian Allies to strengthen our collective ability to conduct operations in the Arctic. (Photos by MC1 Brandie Nuzzi).
RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and Lightfish Unmanned Surface Vessel, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operate in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Cla
RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and Lightfish Unmanned Surface Vessel, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operate in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Cla
RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operates in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brandie Nuzzi)
RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron Three (USVRON 3) Division 32, Black Sea and technical support personnel pose for a photo during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1
USS Gerald R. Ford and her two companion destroyers, USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and USS Mahan (DDG 72), left port on 24 June 2025 for six months of scheduled deployment and exercises.
They arrived back home last week, some 322 days later.
Ford and company bested every post-Vietnam carrier deployment record, saw combat and combat support operations under both 4th and 5th Fleet, surviving a fire at sea and a myriad of persistent teething issues, earning a Presidential Unit Citation in the process, the first time a carrier did so since 1973 when USS Midway picked up one after a 332-day Vietnam tour.
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) arrives to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, May 16, 2026. The Ford carrier strike group recently concluded a historic deployment, providing maritime security across four areas of operation, solidifying the Ford-class carrier’s role as the premier centerpiece of American naval power and global stability. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
From left to right, Congressman John McGuire, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Carrier Strike Group 12 Commander Rear Adm. David Duff, Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Capt. David Skarosi and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle pose for a photo with the Presidential Unit Citation award and pennant aboard the Ford on Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, May 16, 2026.
Quite an accomplishment.
Especially for the DDGs. A supercarrier is a floating city, and you would be hard pressed to visit every compartment aboard on a cruise, even one of 322 days. On the other hand, a DDG, even a big one like a Burke, is more like a floating apartment building with guns on the roof. Those tin can guys earned their sea pay on this one, for sure.
What next?
Ford is now set to begin at least a 12-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) that, with repairs to her berthing areas and her undoubtably huge maintenance backlog from her 322 days underway, may stretch to 24 months as there could be some serious rebuilding to be done.
Speaking of the rest of the other 10 carriers in commission:
Nimitz (CVN-68) is underway, completing her final cruise, and is scheduled to begin deactivation as soon as she arrives in Norfolk. While her official decommissioning date is March 2027, don’t count on seeing her underway on her own power again once this current Latin American hearts and minds cruise is over.
Stennis (CVN-74) has been on her four-year mid-life ROCH since May 2021 and won’t emerge until at least October 2026, and will then require months of availability and shakedowns to be ready to deploy.
Truman (CVN-75) is set to begin her four-year RCOH in June 2026– if Stennis gets out of Dry Dock 12 in time for that start date. Once the overhaul is started, Truman will not deploy again until 2031 at the earliest.
Reagan (CVN-76) has been in a DPIA overhaul since August 2024 and isn’t set to emerge until at least August 2026.
That gives the fleet six carriers that are actually able to get underway– and most of them are.
Lincoln and Bush are deployed to the Arabian Sea. The venerable, nearly half-century-old Eisenhower is being rumored to be rushed overseas after emerging from her 15-month overhaul (supposedly her last) to backfill Ford. Vinson is in San Diego, still getting over an extended nine-month deployment that ended last August. Washington is forward deployed to Japan (yes, just a single carrier in the West Pac) while TR is in the East Pac on workups.
That’s it.
JFK (CVN-79) isn’t set to deliver until May 2027 (replacing Nimitz) for her first deployment, not likely until 2029. Enterprise (CVN-80) is supposed to come online in 2029 to replace Eisenhower. Et. al.
First Lady Nancy Reagan christening the future USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) at Litton Ingalls’ West Bank Yard, Pascagoula, on Saturday, 16 May 1981. The lead ship of her class and the first warship designed to use the Aegis system from the keel up, was sponsored by Mrs. Reagan at a weekend event attended by approximately 9,000 people, including several former crewmen of the aircraft carrier to carry the same name. .
National Archives Identifier 6368659, Agency-Assigned Identifier DNSC8305355, Local Identifier 330-CFD-DN-SC-83-05355
She would commission 20 months later and give 21 years of hard service.
At 9,800 tons displacement and 567 feet overall length, she compared well to the Omaha-class light cruisers (9,500 tons, 555 feet oal) of 60 years prior, although with a much smaller crew and much more advanced armament and sensors unthought of in 1921.
The future Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) underway on sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, 6 May 1982 DN-SC-83-10258
The future Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) underway on sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, 6 May 1982 DN-SC-83-10257
The future Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) underway on sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, 6 May 1982 DN-SC-83-09476
The future Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) underway on sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, 6 May 1982 DN-SC-83-10255
The future Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) underway on sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, 6 May 1982 DN-SC-83-09477
Tico was the first of the country’s final class of cruisers and, although she was decommissioned in 2004 and kept mothballed as a source of spare parts for 16 years before scrapping, seven of her Flight II sisters endure, with USS Lake Erie (CG-70) being the first U.S. Navy warship to successfully shoot down an in-orbit satellite on February 20, 2008.
Meanwhile, the Aegis system, as further installed on the Burke class DDGs that followed, is afloat in 78 hulls today, with another 21 on the schedule. Arguably, the most capable surface combatants afloat.
I love a third-gen Smith & Wesson Wondernine. I mean, have you ever seen one? They look great and shoot like they look.
Thus:
My circa 1993 S&W 5906. A functional work of art
Canada’s federal law enforcement agencies, the famed Mounties of the RCMP/GRC and the fish cops of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), have used the S&W 5946 since the early 1990s, adopting it to replace the older K-frame .38 revolvers (such as the S&W Model 10) that had been in use since 1952.
The DAO RCMP S&W 5946 has the silhouette of a horse-mounted Mountie lancer on the slide. Would be great if these made it to the surplus market
Going even further back, they carried the Colt New Service from 1905, which replaced assorted Adams and Enfield wheel guns used in the North West Mounted Police days as far back as 1873.
With the 5946 out of production since 1999 and generally not supported for the past 15 years, Ottawa has been looking to get something newer.
That search has cumulated with a $28,457,482.08 ($38,976,365.69 CAD) contract awarded to Canadian distributor Rampart Corporation to supply Canadian federal police with a new duty pistol system.
The new system includes the Glock 45 MOS 7 pistol with Ameriglo suppressor-height night sights, a 725-lumen Streamlight TLR-7X white light, an Aimpoint Acro P-2 enclosed red dot sight, a NANUK 910 storage case, and a Safariland 6360RDS duty holster. The contract also included blue training guns, spare parts, at least three mags per pistol, lanyards, etc.
The choice came as zero surprise to me.
I wrote a series of articles for the Glock Annual between 2020 and 2024, primarily profiles of LE agencies that recently went Glock, and by far the most popular combo for the departments I interviewed was the G45 with an ACRO.
It has quickly become the gold standard for LE use.
So much so that Glock released a G45 MOS with a factory-direct mounted Aimpoint Acro P-2 already installed to the consumer market in February 2024.
Further, while I like a 650-lumen/66,000 candela Surefire X300T for heavy lifting with a duty pistol, the TLR-7 series flush fits on G19/45s and makes an easy and flush-nosed holster fit, and its 725-lumen/9,500 candela throw is surely better than nothing.
Retail per outfitted gun is around $1,800, not counting spare parts and training guns, with wholesale closer to $1,400, so you can imagine between 15,000-20,000 equipped pistols will be acquired. This tracks as the RCMP has 19,000 sworn officers while the FO/DFO has about 600.
The Canadians made a good choice.
Would be nice to see those old 5946s on the surplus market, however.
“The Flag, Albuera, 16 May 1811.” Painted by William Barns Wollen. In the collection of the British National Army Museum.
NAM Accession Number NAM. 2001-04-325-1
The scene depicts the destruction of Col. John Colborne’s British 1st Brigade (part of the 2nd Infantry Division) by the Polish Vistula Lancers, supported by the French 3rd Hussars (d’Hubert’s outfit), during the battle of Albuera in the Peninsula Campaign.
The 1/3rd Foot entered the battle with 755 men and had only 112 men left standing at the end of the day, with at least 216 killed, a loss of some 85 percent.
As one says, “It was a bad day for the regiment.”
The four British regiments of Colborne’s brigade, the Buffs, 2nd/48th (Northamptonshire) Foot, 2nd/31st (Huntingdonshire) Foot, and 2nd/66th (Berkshire) Foot, were struck from the flank and rear, and were all but destroyed, with the 2/48th suffering 75 percent casualties, the 2nd/66th Regiment 62 percent, and the 2nd/31st 38 percent.
The Poles captured five British standards and five cannons from the KGL battery that day, in an action now all but forgotten.
In March 1961, after 389 years of service, the Buffs merged with The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment to form The Queen’s Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment. Then further amalgamated with The Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment, The Royal Sussex Regiment, and The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) in 1966 to form The Queen’s Regiment, which in turn was merged with The Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1996 to form The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires), the senior English line regiment of the British Army.
Aurora 26 just wrapped up in the Baltic, with 18,000 soldiers from 13 countries participating in the Swedish-led NATO exercise. It notably included some Ukrainian drone operators to serve as, among other things, a very capable and modern OPFOR.
Images released by the Swedes are stirring, highlighting two battalions (2.amfibiebataljonen and 5.amfibiebataljonen) of the Swedish Navy’s Amphibious Corps, are great.
Photos: Bezav Mahmod and Hampus Andersson/Försvarsmakten
They also include shots of a couple of massed CB90 (Stridsbåt 90H) waves, with each of the highly maneuverable 52-foot shallow-draft (31 inches) jet boats capable of toting 20 troops at 40 knots.
Sure, they would usually move in much smaller groups, at night, but the photo op is amazing, and sends a bit of a point.
Genom styrka håller vi kriget borta (Through strength we keep war away). Indeed.
Spanish-American War, 1898. The prize crew going to take possession of the Spanish Colon after she was run aground after the Battle of Santiago, Cuba, July 1898. From Journal of Naval Cadet C.R. Miller, USN. 1898. Description: NH 2201
As the war in the Hormuz and the resulting blockade stretch into their 10th and fifth weeks respectively, and following up to yesterday’s Warship Wednesday on the blockade-enforcing lighthouse tender Mangrove, here is a closer look at the prizes from the Spanish-American War.
The first Spanish ships, the steamers Buena Ventura and Pedro, were captured on 22 April 1898 by the battleship USS New York and her accompanying escorts, with the gunboat Nashville claiming the prior.
The USS Nashville (Gunboat No. 7) fired the first shots of the war across the bow of the Spanish steamer Buena Ventura, outbound with a cargo of Mississippi pine lumber from Pascagoula to Rotterdam, to bring her to a stop on 22 April 1898, nine miles from Sand Key Light.
The capture took place just before the formal declaration of war, while the U.S. was establishing a blockade of Cuba, and the seizure was later upheld by the Supreme Court, 175 U.S. 384 (1899). Her cargo was released, as it was headed to the Netherlands, while Buena Ventura was sold at auction for $12,200, with a portion of that divided by the crew of Nashville and her squadron.
On the 23rd, the schooners Matilda and Condita were impounded. The 24th brought the steamer Miguel Jover and the schooners Sofia and Catalina.
This snowballed to 18 ships by the end of April, another 14 collected in May, just four in June, 19 in July, and one in August, with a total of at least 56 large commercial vessels impounded and sent to the court for adjudication.
All but four impounded vessels were “condemned with cargo” by the courts and sold, with 10 owners pushing the outcome to the Supreme Court.
The outliers that escaped sale included the British steamer Restormel Barry, which was released after her cargo was impounded. The British sloop Pilgrim was ordered released with cargo intact, as was the Mexican steamer Tabasqueno. The Spanish tug Humberto Rodriguez, seized off Nuevitas just two weeks before the end of the war by the auxiliary cruiser USS Badger, was ordered released by a New York Court as the tug carried red cross markings.
Some $701,034.36 was realized after auctions, deposited into the U.S. Treasury– with portions of said prizes paid to the crews of the vessels that captured them, an American tradition going back to 1798 and carried over from the British.
From the government records:
The above doesn’t include small coastwise vessels, of which an untold armada was collected, and were sold locally without being towed back to the U.S.
A prime example given is the auxiliary cruiser USS Dixie,which alone captured 89 lighters and sailing vessels at Ponce, considered a “good haul.”
Carrying 10 6-inch guns, the auxiliary cruiser USS Dixie, under CDR Charles H. Davis, had a very good war in 1898, entered the harbor at Ponce, Puerto Rico, on July 27, forcing the town to surrender and securing a landing place for the U.S. Army forces, claiming 89 of 91 small vessels in the harbor for her trouble. Post-war, she became the Navy’s first destroyer tender, AD-1, and continued to serve until 1922.
It should also be noted that this is above and beyond claims for Bounty filed by U.S. warships for destroyed and/or captured Spanish naval vessels, with the monies distributed to the crews, with squadron commanders included at a larger share.
For reference, Dewey was awarded $28,070 in bounty and prize money for the Battle of Manila Bay (his “cut” of $244,400) while Sampson pocketed a more paltry $8,335 (out of $166,700) for the destruction of the Spanish squadron off Santiago. Keep in mind that the base rate for rear admirals of the era was $4,675 per annum.
All awards of prize money and bounty money to U.S. Navy personnel were abolished by Congress via the Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1121), with later much-hyped instances, such as the capture of the German cargo ship Odenwald in 1941 by the USS Omaha and Somers, being paid under salvage rights granted under maritime law, not as “head” money.
A Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel operates with the fast response Coast Guard cutter Robert Goldman in the Arabian Gulf during Exercise Phantom Scope, Oct. 7, 2022. During the bilateral exercise between the United States and the United Kingdom, USVs operated in conjunction with crewed ships and naval command centers in Bahrain. Credit: Navy Chief Petty Officer Roland Franklin VIRIN: 221007-N-NS602-1218
“Leveraging a contract awarded by the Coast Guard to enhance maritime domain awareness, the Great Lakes District will deploy autonomous drones to support Coast Guard missions on the Great Lakes from May to October.”
The drones will be 16 Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 USVs under a $15.5 million contract. The SD-2050 is 33 feet long, draws just over six feet under its fin keel, and has an almost 20-foot-tall wing (sail). All electric with solar panels in the wing (sail), it has a 3.5 kW peak draw, uses an electric motor for cruising at 5 knots, and is good for 100 days between service stops.
Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 deploys on Lake Erie as it begins its border security and MDA mission for the US Coast Guard in the Great Lakes. Equipped with radar, cameras, AI collision avoidance, and sensors scanning 300 meters deep, they monitor vessel traffic, illegal activity, and support emergency response. Via Saildrone
From USCG PAO:
The drones are wind- and solar-powered vessels the Coast Guard will use to monitor the Great Lakes, gather critical weather data for emergency response planning, track illicit activity, and keep maritime borders safe.
The autonomous vessels are highly visible, equipped with radar, cameras, and collision-avoidance artificial intelligence, and monitored continuously by human operators who can take manual control if needed.
Sail drones are equipped with sensors focused solely on maritime domain awareness, providing critical information on vessel activities, including vessels in distress or engaged in illegal operations.
A sizzle reel of Saildrone operations from last year, when the company’s USVs sailed 383,674nm in 10,217 drone days on the water, and identified 2.5 million surface contacts.
The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes (District 9), headquartered in Cleveland, manages operations across all five Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and 6,700 miles of shoreline and 1,500 miles of Canadian border with roughly 6,000 personnel
Jayhawk snow games
The MH-60T det from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka recently worked on an avalanche training exercise with the Alaska National Guard and local first responders. In doing so, some incredible shots were captured by AUX Don Kluting, PA2 John Hightower, and AST2 Grooms.
Of note, a Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak flew nearly 620 miles to rescue two stranded hikers from Makushin Volcano on the remote Unalaska Island. To put that in perspective, that’s the same distance from Massachusetts to North Carolina!
The USCG has been flying the ’60 since 1989, first with the HH-60J and now as the MH-60T– which includes converted surplus USN SH-60Fs.
Moving forward, the service aims to have an all-Jayhawk heli fleet with 127 aircraft replacing the smaller MH-65 Dolphin.
Special Missions Command
The Coast Guard is standing up a new Special Missions Command to oversee its deployable specialized forces.
Slated to form at the start of FY27 (1 October 2026), the SMC will be based at Coast Guard C5I Service Center facility in Kearneysville, West Virginia, about 70 miles as the crow flies from D.C.
Members from the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East (MSRT) patrol the East River during the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Boardman)
It will fold in the current two Maritime Security Response Teams (MSRT-East, Chesapeake; MSRT-West San Diego), two Tactical Law Enforcement Teams (PACTACLET in San Diego and TACLET South in Opa Locka), seven Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST Seattle (91101), MSST Kings Bay (91108), MSST Miami (91114), MSST New York (91106), MSST Houston (91104), MSST New Orleans (91112), MSST Cape Cod (91110)), three Regional Dive Lockers (RDLE Portsmouth, RDLW San Diego, and RDLP Honolulu) and the National Strike Force (CBRN) team along with the eight USCGR Port Security Units.
Members from the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East (MSRT) patrol the East River during the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Boardman)
Part of the SMC’s buildout will be an $80 million investment to add more than 650 personnel to the service in addition to those being merged. When fully constituted, the SMC should have somewhere around 3,000 personnel, counting reserves and support elements.
The move is a return to the Deployable Operations Group, or DOG, concept that existed from 2007 to 2013, with operational control returning to regional commands once it was disestablished and replaced with the more loosely formed Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF) moniker. From what I gather, DOG wasn’t stood down because it didn’t work, but rather as a money-saving measure and so that local area commanders could keep more control over their shiny local counter-T/high-risk/high-profile units.
In other words, you can look at this as more of a USCG version of NSWC, which is probably a good thing.
A Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) East patch is shown August 7, 2025, aboard the USCGC Richard Synder (WPC 1127) in Portsmouth, Virginia. The MSRT is a deployable specialized forces unit that conducts counterterrorism and direct-action missions, such as high-risk law enforcement boarding procedures and CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive) threats. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christine Bills)
The storied gunmaker released its one-off Titan rifle this week as the Beretta NARP platform was featured at the head of Army celebrations in Italy.
The Titan is a semiautomatic sporting rifle using a short-stroke gas piston system and chambered in 6.5 Grendel. As such, it takes cues from the company’s select-fire NARP series carbine, which has been under development since 2018.
Using an enhanced two-stage trigger for a crisp, predictable break, the Titan is a bespoke release for sure, using a titanium upper receiver, a magnesium lower receiver, a carbon‑fiber stock and forend, and a forged‑carbon pistol grip.
The Titan is unlike anything Beretta has ever released as a rifle. (Photos: Beretta)
It incorporates magnesium, titanium, and carbon fiber in its construction.
The exclusive grey camo pattern applied to the receiver subtly incorporates the date 1526, the year of the earliest verified Beretta firearms contact.
The Titan is shown with Steiner optics, including an MPS enclosed micro red dot atop a M7Xi series 2.9-20×50 riflescope.
Its custom-fitted case is built with a carbon‑fiber shell and a refined Alcantara interior.
We profiled how the iconic Italian gunmaker produces such one-of-a-kind firearms via the company’s Pietro Beretta Custom Atelier, where dreams come true.
With semi-auto NARPs in the form of the Titan at least conceptually in existence, a production model for the U.S. market seems very possible in the coming months.
NARP marches at the head of the parade
Released in 2023, the NARP has been a hit at arms expos worldwide, and we had a chance to go loud with one on Beretta’s range in Italy in 2024. Offered in 5.56 NATO, .300 BLK, and 6.5 Grendel, a large-action 7.62 variant is also under development.
We had a chance to fire the NARP on full-auto in 2024 and found it very controllable. The mag shown is for a Beretta 93R that we were also shooting that day. Sigh. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Compare the 6.5 version of the NARP, the Praetorian, below, with the Titan in the first part of this post.
Beretta NARP Praetorian configuration 6.5 at Milol Paris
It has been short-listed for Project Grayburn, the replacement program for the British Army’s SA80 rifle, and earlier this month was seen in the hands of elite Italian Army units.
Folgore brigade paratroopers with the Beretta NARP at the 165th anniversary celebration of the Italian Army in L’Aquila in May 2026. (Photo: Italian Army)
Alpini mountain troops seen with the Beretta NARP in L’Aquila in May 2026. (Photo: Italian Army).
Beretta Defense Technologies confirmed to Jane’s Defense earlier this year that the Italian Army ordered 7,000 NARP rifles chambered in 5.56 NATO with 14.5-inch barrels.
It is believed the rifle will replace Beretta ARX-160s as part of the modernization plan of the Italian Armed Forces. Speaking of which, the same troops shown with the NARP this month were wearing the new Altimetrico F-based Mimetismo multi-terreno modello 2025 (Multi-terrain Camouflage Model 2025), camouflage pattern, which was developed by the Italian Army in collaboration with Beretta.
For comparison, check out the image below of Italian troops with the current Vegetato camo pattern and Beretta ARX-160s seen in Rome last week by Guns.com staff.
What were we doing in Italy? You will find out soon enough!
