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Two FA-18 Jets are displayed in front of the Wall of Fire during the Marine Corps Community Services sponsored 2015 Air Show aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, Calif., Oct. 3, 2015. The air show showcases civilian performances and the aerial prowess of the armed forces and their appreciation of the civilian community’s support and dedication to the troops. (U.S. Marine Corps Combat Camera photo by Cpl. Trever A. Statz/Released)
General Atomics has unveiled a new capability for its MQ-9B Guardian maritime UAV (a navalized 9B Reaper), presenting a sonobuoy capability along with other modifications to the Royal Navy in a bid to market the Guardian as an unmanned maritime patrol aircraft to supplement the likely procurement of a manned maritime patrol aircraft.
“What we’re really looking at is a Predator B carrying sonobuoys, controlling them, and sending sonobuoy information back to the ground station over a SATCOM link,” King says.
“The work has seen us put the system together in a lab and carry out ground testing and prove it end to end. We were ready to go flying in 2015, but the aircraft were diverted to more urgent work. So we will be flying this early in the new year to prove the system.”
Russian firearms expert and historian Maxim Popenker has a fascinating piece over at Weapons Man about Russian Internally Suppressed, Captive Piston Quiet Weapons. And it is well worth the read
From the piece:
PSS internally suppressed pistol with action open and magazine of ready rounds.
“Kanarejka” (Canary) system, mounted below the AKS-74U assault rifle.
The green service uniform, often derided as “the bus driver uniform” has finally been laid to rest after 61 years of approved wear, the vast majority of that stretch as the service uniform that defined the Army. As of Oct. 1, the “Green Class As” are no longer permitted for wear.
In this file photo from Sept. 13, 2014, a rainbow is seen above the guided-missile frigate USS Simpson after an underway replenishment in the Atlantic Ocean.
Jorge Delgado/U.S. Navy
Also this week, the U.S. Navy decommissioned its last Perry-class frigate, reducing the Navy’s number of active ships that have sunk an enemy vessel to just one (Constitution). The end of the Navy’s frigates marks a new era of naval warfare where ships are less likely to go to battle in the open sea. The USS Simpson removed its weapons, covered its windows, and on Tuesday, it lowered its flags.
On 17 April 1988, Simpson took part in Operation Praying Mantis, the U.S. response to the mining of the frigate Samuel B. Roberts, which hit an Iranian M-08 mine on 14 April 1988.
On 18 April, Simpson, along with USS Wainwright and USS Bagley, destroyed Iranian naval and intelligence facilities on the oil platform Sirri in the Persian Gulf. Later that day, the ships encountered the Iranian Kaman-class (French Combatte II type) missile patrol boat Joshan, which launched a Harpoon missile. Simpson immediately returned missile fire, striking Joshan in her superstructure. Joshan was then sunk by combined gunfire.
Now, the ship will travel to Philadelphia until a foreign nation buys it.
A multipurpose canine with Marine Raider Regiment, prepares to participate in special patrol insertion/extraction training at Stone Bay, Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sept. 23, 2015. Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 Marines flew from Marine Corps Air Station New River to assist MARSOC with the training. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Austin A. Lewis/Released)
Mad respect for these guys.
Also, parts of India (Himalayas etc, look super inhospitable)
040303-N-6842R-025 Key West, Fla. (Mar. 3, 2004) Ð Lt. Allen Karlson, a student pilot assigned to the Tigers of Training Squadron Nine (VT-9), with instructor Cdr. Joe Kerstiens (USNR) sits ÒshotgunÓ(rear seat) evaluating Lt. Allen Karlson before his solo formation training. 1st Lt. Tim Miller flies his T-2C Buckeye down to cross under the lead, on his first formation solo, during a formation training mission over Key West, Fla. VT-9 came to Key West to teach Navy and Marine Corps student pilots formation flying and gunnery techniques. The instructors are part of Squadron Augment Unit Nine (SAU-9), the Reserve component for Training Squadron Nine (VT-9), one of two training squadrons that operate from Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., under Training Wing One (TW-1). U.S. Navy photo by Ens Darin K. Russell. (RELEASED)
The North American T-2 Buckeye has been used by the Navy (and Marines) as an intermediate training aircraft since 1959 (which explains its styling). Some 529 of these stubby (400~ knot/4-ton) twin turbojets have provided yeoman service over the past half-decade until nominally replaced by the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, the Americanized version of the BAE Hawk.
A small handful of Buckeyes soldiered on for test duties, including executing chase flights and supporting weapons trials. Seven years after its retirement from training students, the Navy is now finally saying goodbye once and for all to the Buckeye.
September 25, 2015 will mark its final operational flight with the Navy. VX-20, which has operated a trio of Buckeyes in recent years, will fly the last sortie, with the Buckeyes being replaced by C-38 Courier business jets.
Vale, Buck.
PS. They do still live on in Greek service!
During WWII, the Kriegsmarine’s U-boat fleet used about 200~ Focke-Achgelis FA 330 Bachstelze (English: Wagtail) aircraft. The FA330 was a type of rotary-wing kite that weighed about 150-pounds and, using an unpowered 24-foot three-bladed rotor for lift, was winched out into the air behind a U-boat on a 500-foot cable, allowing the adventuresome sailor in its single seat to have the best view on the boote.
A simple idea, they were complicated in use as they took a long time (20-30 minutes to assemble) and, if the kiteman saw an enemy warship, slowed the dive of the submarine far too long than was safe.
Well, the ONR and DARPA have teamed up to do the same thing but in an updated (and unmanned) version that swaps out the rotating kite wing for a much safer parafoil.
Yup, parasailing meets UAVs…
DARPA’s Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems (TALONS) research effort recently demonstrated a prototype of a low-cost, fully automated parafoil system designed to extend maritime vessels’ long-distance communications and improve their domain awareness. Towed behind boats or ships, TALONS could carry intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and communications payloads of up to 150 pounds between 500 and 1,500 feet in altitude—many times higher than current ships’ masts—and greatly extend the equipment’s range and effectiveness.
Ever since their beginnings in 1948, the Israeli Defense Force has had to think outside the box to come up with weapon’s systems, therefore it shouldn’t surprise you that for the past 20 years the Israelis have used a (much-modified) 10/22 for use in both special operations and in security operations.
Why?
Going back to 1987, the IDF purchased a quantity of Ruger 10/22s for use by security forces in the Palestinian Intifada, a violent uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that led to a number of deaths on both sides. Hallmarked by rock throwing, molotov cocktails, and slingshots by the Palestinians (backed by the PLO, Fatah, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front and the Palestine Communist Party), no less than 60 Israeli military and police were killed by 1993.
This led the Israelis to go a bit harder from rubber bullets and tear gas– the traditional less-lethal tools of the age, and use .22LR rifle fire aimed at the legs of armed intifada participants, as a next step. It seems it’s hard to keep your motivation to throw rocks with a 40-grain round in your shin.
The guns used by the IDF at the time were standard wooden-stocked 10/22s modified by the Italian firm of Sabatti with a heavy bull barrel encased by an integral suppressor that looks all the world like a 6 D-Cell Maglite. Drilled and tapped for a full-sized Weaver base, the gun was given a 4x optic of various manufacture and a Harris-style adjustable bipod forward.
And they have been much-modified and kept in steady use since then, being dubbed simply as the “Two-Two” by those who use them.
An Israeli border guard (of the Mishmar HaGvul) aims his 10/22 during clashes with Palestinian protesters following an anti-Israeli protest after the weekly Friday prayers on September 18, 2015 in the Israeli-controlled area called H2, in the West Bank town of Hebron. Note the BX-25, well-worn stock and receiver, and improvised cheek pad. Image by Hazem Bader/AFP
The shoulder-launched surfaced to air missile or man-portable missile has been the go-to way for foot soldiers to swat down pesky low-flying aircraft since the late 1950s when Redeye and the Soviet SA-7 popped on the scene. Since the 1980s, the FIM-92 Stinger has been the weapon of choice for U.S. forces, but how do you get that just-shot missile feeling on the cheap?
Its called the “Stinger Launcher Simulator” or STLS. The STLS is a simulated round designed to mirror the Stinger missile except the STLS travels approximately 50 yards then drops to the ground.
Needless to say, the STLS has no warhead.
Below you have Marines assigned to Alpha Battery 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense (LAAD), 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, fire some STLS at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, Sept. 24, 2015