modern military conflict | laststandonzombieisland

Category Archives: modern military conflict

Is that a banana torpedo in your shed, or are you just happy to see me?

Posted on November 23, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland One comment

One funny looking crab pot

A Kongsberg Remus model UUV operated by Boeing conducting ‘sonar tests’ for the Big Blue popped up by a waterman’s boat in the Chesapeake so guess what he did…

From the Baltimore Sun:

“It was super foggy the day they discovered this thing,” Laurie Haas said. “They almost hit it with the boat.

“They didn’t know what it was because it was such a bright color yellow.”

Figuring the object was valuable, the crew pulled it onto their boat to see if they could reunite it with its owner. Davis Haas stashed the drone in his shed back home.

“I couldn’t wait to see it when I got home,” Laurie Haas said. “This was the catch of a lifetime.”

Of course Boeing chopped chopped over to them when they found out.

Here’s pictures of a Slocum Glider and a Sea Lion that I came in contact with a couple years back. They are marked up pretty good with ‘If found’ labels.

SPMAGTF-SC, its a wrap

Posted on November 20, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland One comment

U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Southern Command stood up in March and deployed to Central America in June. Built around just 250 Marines and a quartet of four CH-53E Super Stallion Helicopters, they deployed to Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize.

Now, after six months downrange in a very interesting deployment, they are coming home.

The more things change

Posted on November 20, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Breach, Bang, Clear has an interesting photo piece matching up WWII era airborne photos with that of today’s Joes. Interestingly enough, the modern ones are of the Texas Army National Guard’s 143rd Airborne Battalion of the 36th Infantry Div (ARNG).

The 143rd is not the stereotypical National Guard unit. The battalion is full of combat veterans and Rangers, including many 75th Regiment veterans.

The rest here

Pharewell robo-Phantoms

Posted on November 19, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Flight Global reports the last 22 QF-4 Phantom aerial targets, currently part of the 53rd Wing’s Detachment 1, 82 Aerial Targets Sqn, based at Holloman AFB will be out of service by the end of 2016.

When they are expended, they will end the U.S. military’s 58 year love affair with the big smoky J79-engined F-4 whose first flight was 27 May 1958.

Which in the end is rather poetic.

If it ain’t broke

Posted on November 19, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

U.S. Army Cpl. Brittany Montana fires an M2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun on Camp Atterbury. Montana is a Reservist assigned to the 354th Military Police Company. U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Michel Sauret.

Earlier this year Anniston Army Depot, which is upgrading all the service’s legacy M2 Browning heavy machine guns to the new M2A1 standard which allows faster barrel changes without having to headspace (laws yes), had a vintage 1921 production model Ma Deuce come through. The gun, serial number 324, has somehow remained in service for 94 years and still works just fine.

From the Army’s presser:

“Looking at the receiver, for its age, it looks good as new and it gauges better than most of the other weapons,” said John Clark, a small arms repair leader.

Despite the fact that the weapon still meets most specifications, it may be destined for the scrap yard.

Modifications made to the weapon in the field mean part of the receiver would have to be removed through welding and replaced with new metal, a process which usually means the receiver is scrap.

“I’d rather put this one on display than send it to the scrap yard,” said Clark, adding the weapon’s age makes it appealing as a historical artifact.

Here’s to hoping the gun stays on extended retirement rather than goes to the torch. After almost a century on the sharp end of the spear, the old soldier deserves it.

Work that M4 the AMU way

Posted on November 17, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Fort Benning’s PAO has put out a good series of “Shooter’s Corner” safety and manipulation drills for the M4 series as explained by the Army Marksmanship Unit in the past few weeks. Its a tad dry, but really good stuff.

Little Blue Men

Posted on November 10, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

No, not smurfs or the Blue Man Group, we are talking about Chinese naval auxiliaries akin to the old Soviet “Fishing Trawlers” of the Cold War days.

Defense News has an interesting article on these curious fellows of the China Sea:

“China is trying to use these government-controlled fisherman below the radar to get the bonus without the onus to support its South China Sea claims,” Andrew Erickson, an associate professor at the US Naval War College and well-known authority on Chinese naval and maritime affairs said. “It’s a phenomenon little-known or understood in the US.

“While Russia’s little green men in Crimea are widely known, insufficient attention has been paid to China’s little blue men in the South China Sea,” he said. “It’s so different from what the US does. People aren’t familiar with it, it’s hard to wrap their heads around it.”

More here

Swedish meatballs pressed into PCF use

Posted on October 30, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

ARABIAN GULF (Oct. 26 2015) Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 802, assigned to Commander, Task Group (CTG) 56.7, conducts patrol operations in the Arabian Gulf. RCBs were originally used in shallow-water and tropic environments. In the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility these boats have been repurposed for open-sea patrol. CTG 56.7 conducts maritime security operations to ensure freedom of movement for strategic shipping and naval vessels operating in the inshore and coastal areas of the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Torrey W. Lee/Released)

The RCB is the U.S. variant of the Swedish Combat Boat 90 (CB90) / Stridsbat 90H

All along the watchtower…

Posted on October 26, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

An M60 “pig” hanging out over a slick somewhere in Southeast Asia, 1969? Nope, try a Colombian Air Force
(Fuerza Aerea Colombiana) door-mounted M60 on a UH-60A Black Hawk, 2014.

Hey, if it ain’t broke.

Combat Gallery Sunday: The Martial Art of Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau

Posted on October 25, 2015 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sundays (when I feel like working), I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, and the like that produced them.

Combat Gallery Sunday: The Martial Art of Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau

Born in Barcelona in 1964, Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto is a hyper-realist painter whose work is haunting. Completing his national service with the Spanish Army in 1984, he has been a painter to the Spanish Ministry of Defense in recent years as well as a well-known military illustrator.