Category Archives: War On Terror

Border Patrol Short a few Thousand Guns

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A large portion of the U.S. Border Patrol’s inventory of 16,300 Colt-made M4A1 rifles have been pulled from service after inspectors found many to be unserviceable. as I covered over at Guns.com

M4 automatic rifles that are the standard-issue long gun for Border Patrol agents.

The news came as reports surfaced of agents stationed across the Southwestern border with Mexico having to pool rifles following a series of bad inspections, or worse, go without during a time of increased tensions along the international boundary.

Over at Gun Nuts, it seems they have the inside scoop on this and its a barrel issue…kinda…

However, the rifles are being deadlined at very high rate and sometimes for the wrong reasons.  One of these wrong reasons is diagnosis of a “bent barrel.”  A bent barrel is indeed an extremely worrisome problem but to diagnose it, one must have the barrel’s bore spotlessly clean.   I spoke at length with Greg “Sully” Sullivan of Defensive Edge Training regarding this and he confirmed that even just a bit of fouling in the bore will absolutely throw off the reading and make the armorer think the barrel is bent.  Sully was kind enough to expound upon the issues common to police and (especially) military trained armorers inspecting rifles:

Testing a barrel for straightness without thoroughly cleaning the barrel ahead of time
ofttimes armorers use the wrong or an incorrect headspace gauge as Sully has found that many of these gauges are meant for both 5.56x45mm and .223 Remington.  This is incorrect as 5.56 does indeed vary slightly from the .223 headspace specifications.  This product on Amazon is a case in point regarding the widely available yet incorrect headspace gauges.  Sully and Defensive Edge uses only Pacific Tool & Gauge headspace gauges.
Border Patrol  and other armorers recommending and allowing only Breakfree CLP instead of something like Slip2000 EWL  (Sully’s favorite) which breaks down the carbon.

More here

Guard, reporting for duty

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canadian war memorial

The National Sentry Program resumed its posting of sentries at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
Photo: MCpl Patrick Blanchard, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

No word on if their C8 rifles are now loaded.

Bring your chem suits with you to Iraq

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8205095-a-man-in-a-chemical-suit-and-a-houseplant-in-the-desert

It seems that ISIS (ISIL, IS, Taliban 2.0, et al) has decided to up the ante on abominations and the rules of war. According to the WaPo, they have used chlorine gas on Iraqi police at least three times in recent weeks.

“Dizzy, vomiting and struggling to breathe, 11 Iraqi police officers were rushed to a government hospital 50 miles north of the capital last month. The diagnosis: poisoning by chlorine gas. The perpetrators, according to the officers: Islamic State extremists.

The chlorine attack appears to be the first confirmed use of chemical weapons by the Islamic State on the battlefield. An Iraqi Defense Ministry official corroborated the events, and doctors said survivors’ symptoms were consistent with chlorine poisoning.”

While its unclear whether the gas came from old Saddam-era rockets, or Syrian stockpiles, or they just brewed it up in a Winnebago in the Iraqi Western Desert Walter White style, the fact is, it looks like Chem Warfare has been added to execution of prisoners of war, suicide bombings, beheading, and other general unpleasantness.

Thank you for your service, Corporal Cirillo

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The Canadian Prime Minister is calling yesterday’s attack on the National War Memorial and Parliament by a gunman an act of terrorism. The individual was put down like a sick animal by the House of Commons Sergeant at Arms, Kevin Vickers, who set aside his ceremonial sword and mace, grabbed a pistol from a lockbox, and engaged the shooter.

However, we need to remember not the shooters name but that of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who was standing his post at the Memorial when he was gunned down.

The Chronicle Herald‘s Bruce MacKinnon pays perfect tribute:

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Thank you for your service, Corporal Cirillo. The pipes are calling

Whats $400 milly between friends

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So yeah, apparently the DoD spent $486 million for 20 Italian-made Aeritalia G.222 aircraft that had been retired from the Italian Air Force, then upgraded and refurbished them in the U.S. for the Afghan Air Force. This handy little STOL transport (which the U.S. military operates as the C-27 Spartan) is sort of a mini-C-130. Well, it turns out that spares couldn’t be found for the 16 that made it as far as Afghanistan and the entire fleet just flew something like 200 hours combined. Writing the project off, they were towed to to the other side of Kabul airport and sold to an Afghan scrapper for 6-cents on the pound, or about $32,000.

Whoops.

2cgnfux

Hammerheads in Bimini

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Click to big up

Click to big up

Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell anchored off the coast of Bimini, known as the “Gateway to the Bahamas.” U.S. Coast Guard photo

Norvell is one of a planned 58 Sentinel–class “Fast Response Cutters”, all named after USCG enlisted heroes. These 154-foot ships, built from a Dutch design, will replace the 40~ aging (and much smaller) Island-class 110-foot patrol boats, and bridge the gap on the final retirement of the 1960s era 210-foot Reliance-class cutters in coming years. They cost about 12 times as much as the smaller 87-foot Marine Protector class patrol boats, but are still a bargain at about $40 mill a pop. They can float in 10 feet of water, hit 28-knots if needed, can stay at sea for a week or 2950-nm whichever comes first, and have a much larger 24-man crew than the 110s they are replacing. This allows for more boardings and ashore details if required. The ship carries a 25mm chaingun for a hood ornament, four M2 heavy machine-guns and can mount other M2/Mk19/M240 guns as required.

Navy tests borg swarm of RHIBs

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In a move to proof of concept the idea that a transiting naval ship can be defended from potential small boat attacks, the Navy ran an excercise in which they used a baker’s dozen small craft to run interference for a surface ship on the move. While not revolutionary– it’s the concept of a carrier battle group in miniature– the fact that the small boats were all unmanned was.

From Navy Times

“The Arlington-based Office of Naval Research demonstrated the autonomous swarm boat technology over two weeks in August on the James River near Fort Eustis in Virginia — not far from one of the Navy’s largest fleet concentration areas. It said the Navy simulated a transit through a strait, just like the routine passage of U.S. warships through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

In the demonstrations, as many as 13 small unmanned patrol boats were escorting a high-value Navy ship. Then as many as eight of the self-guided vessels broke off and swarmed around a threat when a ship playing the part of an enemy vessel was detected, the office said, calling the demonstrations a success.”

An unmanned 11-meter rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) from Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock operates autonomously in Newport News, Va. John F. Williams / Navy via AP

An unmanned 11-meter rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) from Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock operates autonomously in Newport News, Va. John F. Williams / Navy via AP

 

While I cant see your typical tin can using something like this, ships with lots of deck and well space (gators, LCS, etc) could make good use of these in a deployed situation for sea control. Also, you could preposition flotillas of these floating drones in choke points and pirate held waters, with the sailors who are manning them either remotely linked in or circling above in a control aircraft (converted P-3?). Kinda neat overall.

More here.

Farewell Noble Guardian

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In the 1930s the Coast Guard began flying a series of coastal scouting type aircraft. These followed up on a number of one-off Curtis flying boats acquired after WWI. These craft included a number of Grumman amphibians including the Duck, Goose, and Widgeon. These flew from new Coast Guard Air Stations (including the one right near my childhood home in Biloxi, MS) through WWII (augmented by 53 O2U Kingfishers on loan from the Navy).

This Grumman Grumman JRF-5G Goose just screams Tales of the Golden Monkey

This Grumman Grumman JRF-5G Goose just screams Tales of the Golden Monkey

After the war, the Coast Guard replaced this hodgepodge of unsupportable aircraft with the HU-16 Albatross. The standard SAR plane of the rest of the military, these were the last seaplanes in the DoD (or Coast Guard’s) arsenal.

HU-16E Albatross from CGAS Cape Cod in flight, 1976. USCG photo

HU-16E Albatross from CGAS Cape Cod in flight, 1976. USCG photo

They proved yeoman’s service for over thirty years. However, by the Reagen years they were long in the tooth and were flying museum pieces.

The last HU-16 was retired in 1983, replaced by a modified business jet.

But it was one heck of a nice jet

(HU-25 2131 out of ATC Mobile)

(HU-25 2131 out of ATC Mobile)

In 1965 Dassault Aviation (the guys who built the Mirage) came up with the Falcon 20 business jet. A zippy sub-Mach jet with twin engines (always nice to have over water), it had a long range of over 1800NM with a low-impact support program.

The Coast Guard picked up some 41 of these jets, dubbed the HU-25 in service, starting in 1982 and it was used in search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, pollution response, and logistics missions. Over the years the USCG fielded at least four variants of these planes including some equipped with the APG-66 radar of the F-16 fighter.

Well its been a good run, but it is now come to an end after 32 years.

Did you note the FLIR pod and surface search radar on the belly as well as the observation window in the fuselage? Not your typical business jet anymore.

Did you note the FLIR pod and surface search radar on the belly as well as the observation window in the fuselage? Not your typical business jet anymore.

The Unites States Coast Guard retired its last operational HU-25 Guardian fixed-wing surveillance aircraft. Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi was the last unit to operate the HU-25 with the last Guardian in the Coast Guard’s inventory.

It conducted its final flyby Sept. 23, 2014 at 12:30. The type will now haunt the boneyards in Arizona with the exception of a few that NOAA and NASA are picking up.

Capt. Samuel Creech, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi salutes Rear Adm. John Korn, the 24th Coast Guard Ancient Albatross in a ceremony retiring the last operational HU-25 Falcon, Sept. 23, 2014. The ceremony marked the end of the Falcon's 32 years of service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Manda M. Emery)

Capt. Samuel Creech, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi salutes Rear Adm. John Korn, the 24th Coast Guard Ancient Albatross in a ceremony retiring the last operational HU-25 Falcon, Sept. 23, 2014. The ceremony marked the end of the Falcon’s 32 years of service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Manda M. Emery)

 

These craft are being replaced by the CASA HC-144A Ocean Sentry as well as possibly the C-27 Spartan, shifted over from the USAF. As both Ocean Sentry and Spartan are prop-driven, the Guardian’s retirement will leave the Coast Guard with just two jets– the Gulfstream Vs used in transportation of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary and the Commandant of the Coast Guard.

MOUT in a city of 20 million? Plan on it

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The U.S. Army is shitting its pants over the prospect of future wars in a city that looks like something out of Blade Runner.

Paging Phillip K Dick...

Paging Phillip K Dick…

“When the Army looks to the future, it sees cities. Dense, sprawling, congested cities where criminal and extremist groups flourish almost undetected by authorities, but who can influence the lives of the population while undermining the authority of the state.

And the service is convinced that these “megacities” of 20 million or more people will be the battleground of the future.

The problem from a military strategists’ point of view, however, is that no army has ever fought it out in a city of this size. So in thinking through the issue of what to do about the coming age of the megacity, the Army’s Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) got together with US Army Special Operations Command, the chief of staff’s Strategic Studies Group and the UK’s Ministry of Defence in February to explore these types of urban operations.

“There is no historical precedent” for these kinds of operations, Brig. Gen. Christopher McPadden, ARCIC’s director of concept development and learning directorate, said on Aug. 28. “We really have to figure out the scope and scale of the kind of operations we’ll have to participate in.”

The rest here at Army Times  (including feedback from H.R. McMaster)

Hey, anyone seen a tanker?

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Apparently a tanker full of about a million barrels of Kurdish crude oil, the  United Kalavyrta, is missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

1409318508776_wps_4_TANKER_JPG

It seems the ship tried to offload at Galveston last month but was turned away due to political issues. The tanker then anchored offshore until recently deciding to turn off its location transmitter and pull a disappearing act.

The USCG is searching the Gulf for her.

Likewise, if you are looking for a good deal on a million barrels of crude, no questions asked, odds are there is a ship out there with your name on it.

Signal boost

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