First All-ASEAN Naval Ex Wraps up

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The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently concluded its first joint naval exercises that, importantly, did not include a big outside power.

Crew Singapore’s RSS Vigour (92), a Victory-class corvette, waving their ballcaps during the sailpast to the Royal Brunei Navy’s KDB Darulehsan (left, background) and the  Sudirohusodo-class hospital ship KRI dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat of the Indonesian Navy. (Singapore Navy Photo)

The drills, focused on disaster response, took place near waters China claims as its own and are seen by some as a dress rehearsal for a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) if things ever got too tense in Taiwan, where 730,000 ASEAN nationals are working.

The exercise included ships from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, while the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and East Timor sent observers.

While ASEAN is not a military alliance per se, the group has held joint AUMX exercises with U.S. forces in the past.

The ASEAN naval ex included Singapore transferring a refurbished 500-ton Fearless-class patrol vessel, ex- RSS Dauntless (99) to Brunei as Al Faruq. (Singapore Navy Photo)

Simultaneously, the 30th edition of the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) was successfully completed over the weekend. 

RSS Stalwart, RSS Tenacious, and RSS Valour participated in a series of exercises in the southern reaches of the South China Sea within international waters alongside Indian Navy frigates INS Ranvijay and INS Kavaratti. (Singapore Navy Photo)

Also, of note, the white hull U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) has been in the region at the same time, playing well in the South China Sea with the rebooted British Pacific naval force in the area, as part of CARAT 2023 with ASEAN member Brunei.

Royal Navy vessel HMS Spey (P234) (foreground) conducts coordinated ship maneuvers with U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) on Sept. 17, 2023, in the South China Sea. Munro is deployed to the Indo-Pacific to advance relationships with ally and partner nations to build a more stable, free, open, and resilient region with unrestricted, lawful access to the maritime commons. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Brett Cote)

Geissele Wins $29 Million SOCOM Sniper Rifle Contract

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Pennsylvania’s Geissele Automatics last week picked up a fat contract from the U.S. Special Operations Command. 

The 10-year award has a maximum ceiling of $29,263,029 for what SOCOM describes as “a new sniper support weapon, designated marksman, rifle taking advantage of advances in ammunition and weapons technology to improve the intermediate range sniper rifle lethality, reliability and performance when suppressed during 50-1,500-meter engagements.”

The background on the award is part of the MRGG-S, or Mid-Range Gas Gun (Sniper) program (“Margie-Es”), which would be used primarily by the Naval Special Warfare community. The fortune cookie version of the MRGG-S requirements was a full-time suppressed 6.5 Creedmoor rifle with a 20-inch barrel, MOA accuracy, fully adjustable stock, and strict weight/dimensional requirements. Other requirements included a low-backpressure suppressor and the ability for the user to quickly swap out the 6.5CM barrel to one chambered in .7.62 NATO in under five minutes.

First kicked off in 2019, MRGG-S has seen most of the big names in precision military rifles submit variants for consideration, including FN and LMT. 

At the end of the day, however, it seems Geissele has gotten the nod for the new frogman sniper rifle. 

This thing, seen largely as the replacement for the FN SCAR 20 in use by SOCOM

More in my column at Guns.com.

Go loud, boys

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80 years ago today: Testing 40 mm anti-aircraft guns onboard PCU USS Manila Bay (CVE 61) off the Pacific Northwest between Vancouver and Astoria, 3 October 1943. Note the jackets and overcoats of the crew bracing for the cool autumnal weather.

National Archives image 80-G-372776

The brand new Casablanca-class escort carrier, of just 7,800 tons displacement, was protected by a single 5″/38 open mount, 8 Bofors, and 12 Orlekons in addition to her embarked air group. 

Rushed into service under a Maritime Commission contract by Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, originally as Bucareli Bay (ACV‑61) on 15 January 1943, our featured carrier was renamed the more warlike Manila Bay (CVE-61) just two months later.

Launched on 10 July 1943, she was commissioned on 5 October 1943 at Astoria, Oregon. In all, she went from first steel laid to joining the fleet in 263 days. Not bad.

Manila Bay received eight battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation for her wartime service and, decommissioned post-war, only left mothballs once again when headed for the breakers in 1958.

Again with the LCS shuffle…

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In addition to the rapidly falling numbers of cruisers (without replacement) and SSN-688s (with some replacement, albeit not 1:1) the Navy keeps pulling the LCS shuffle.

Just two weeks ago, we brought you the news that the Freedom-variant (mono-hull Marinette Marine-built) littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), was decommissioned at Naval Station Mayport, with a career spanning just 7 years, 9 months, and 18 days– a record cradle-to-grave for such a vessel, the third of the class retired. The same week, the USS Marinette (LCS 25) commissioned in Menominee, Michigan, the “Lucky” 13th Freedom-variant LCS, leaving three final Freedom-class LCS fitting out, to be delivered at some future date: PCUs USS Nantucket (LCS-27), Beloit (LCS-29), and Cleveland (LCS-31).

Now, the Navy essentially pulled a repeat last weekend with two Freedom variants hitting mothballs while a new Independence variant (trimaran built by Austal in Mobile) joined the fleet.

Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two in Mayport paid off the sixth US Navy vessel to bear the name of Michigan’s largest city, USS Detroit (LCS-7) and the second to be named after the largest city in Arkansas, USS Little Rock (LCS-9), were decommissioned on September 29, 2023. They are the fourth and fifth members of that class.

USS Detroit (LCS-7) was decommissioned on September 29, 2023

Detroit was active for 6 years, 11 months, 7 days.
Little Rock was active for 5 years, 9 months, 13 days-– a new short-timer record for an LCS.

Detroit managed to deploy four times to SOUTCOM on 4th Fleet orders with CTF-45 in her career, essentially holding down missions typically completed by 50-year-old Coast Guard cutters half their size.

As noted by the Navy:

Detroit and its Sailors contributed a tremendous amount of work and time to ensure the success of the LCS program during the ship’s time in naval service. USS Detroit (LCS 7) began the year with a Light Off Assessment (LOA) on January 30. The crew performed with distinction through several major milestones including LOA, contractor sea trials, and the basic/advanced phase in preparation for her 2023 deployment. Detroit completed her most recent deployment to the Fourth Fleet in April 2023 partnered with the embarked US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, other US warships, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security. Detroit participated in two fleet experiments off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, which greatly contributed to C4F’s tactical mission set. Detroit and her embarked LEDETs seized an estimated total of 900kg of cocaine from entering the United States. Detroit provided a maritime security presence enabling the free flow of commerce in key corridors of trade.

Likewise, Little Rock also did roughly the same, deploying south three times, only recently returning from a CTF-45 tasking in April.

CARIBBEAN SEA – (Apr. 17, 2023) — The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Little Rock (LCS 9) steams in the Caribbean Sea while deployed to the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations (AOR) (U.S. Navy courtesy photo/Released) 230417-N-N3764-1000

Of interest, LCS-9 was the first warship to be commissioned while next to a former namesake, ex-USS Little Rock (CL-92/CLG-4/CG-4), which served off and on from 1945-1976 and has been a museum ship in Buffalo, New York since then.

Both Detroit and Little Rock are reportedly on hold for potential foreign military sales, presumably with a paid engineering combining gear fix (estimated at $8-10 million per hull). Only seven Freedom-class LCS (of 13 completed) remain in service, with the latter models presumably incorporating the fix.

Fast forward to Maine, where USS Augusta (LCS 34), the newest (17th) Independence-variant littoral combat ship was placed in commission. Austal only has two ships of a total of 19 to be delivered remaining under construction: the future USS Kingsville (LCS 36) and USS Pierre (LCS 38).

Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship, the future USS Augusta (LCS 34) was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 15 May 2023. Note the Battle House Hotel and the Trustmark building behind the vessel on Mobile’s skyline, the latter home to the only 600lb electric MoonPie which is dropped at midnight on New Year’s Eve. (Image: Austal USA)

She is the second naval warship named for the city of Augusta, Maine. LCS 34 continues the legacy of USS Augusta (SSN 710), a Los Angeles-class submarine that was in active service for 24 years and decommissioned on February 11, 2009.

And, just because you came this far, take a look at this great drydock shot of the USS Charleston (LCS 18) in San Diego after a 26-month rotational deployment, showing her class’s unique stern drive.

A Shorty Hi-Power Micro 9?

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Florida-based European American Armory has a new optics-ready BHP style pistol on the market with a lightweight alloy frame that gives the current micro-compact 9mm game a new darkhorse competitor. The Girsan MCP35 PI LW Match was among a series of new pistols introduced in the first week of October and I got an early look at the gun (they sent me SN 6!) to run it through its paces.

To cut through the background and get to the good stuff, Turkish gunmaker Girsan, working directly with EAA, has developed the MCP35 line over the past couple of years. Essentially starting with direct clones of the post-1980 Browning Mark II/III models (complete with the dreaded magazine-disconnect safety and hammer-bite prone beavertail), they started making more optimized Ops-series rail guns, improved Match guns, and shortened Commander-length PI models– giving the BHP-loving public new things to cheer about.

All ship with Mec-Gar’s excellent 15-round flush-fit BHP mags.

Now, EAA has shifted gears with the MCP35PILW series, an acronym that just rolls off the tongue. Breaking it down, the “PI” references the fact that the new guns have a shorter 3.88-inch barrel and corresponding top end, while the “LW” means it uses a lightweight alloy frame. The weight savings are about a half-pound off the standard-length MCP35 and a quarter pound less than the standard steel-framed PI. It will be available in both an Ops (railed frame) and Match model, offered in either an all-black or two-tone black and tungsten finish.

Length on the MCP35PILW Match is 7.25 inches overall (with almost an inch of that being the beavertail), and we found ours to hit the scales at 23.2 ounces, unloaded. Carry weight, with 15+1 rounds of Federal 124-grain Punch, is 32 ounces flat. Add a second mag for really bad days, and you got a serious carry with some class. 

In terms of comparison, the MCP35PILW Match is a very close match to the Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro in terms of length, height, width, weight, and flush-fit magazine capacity. Note the extra length on the shorty Hi-Power is in the beavertail.

Plus, did I mention that it is optics-ready?

More in my column at Guns.com.

Backpacking through Italy, with a PIAT

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80 years ago today: Canadian Army Corporal Earl Harold Pruner, 19, of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, carries both a PIAT anti-tank weapon and an M1 Thompson sub-machine gun through war-torn Motta, Italy, 2 October 1943.

Library and Archives Canada LAC 3229941

The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, known affectionately as the “Hasty P’s” traces its lineage to seven assorted local militia units dating to 1863 and was only stood up for active campaigning as a regiment in 1939. It went on to be awarded more Battle Honours (31) during WWII than any other Canadian Infantry Regiment, only earning its first in the Husky Landings in Sicily in July 1943– showing just how grueling and nonstop the combat was that the Hastys saw before VE Day.

Illustrating this, the above good Corporal Pruner would have just over two months to live as he was killed in action on 7 December 1943 during the two-day assault over the Moro River. He had lied about his age, dropping out of school and joining up in 1940 at age 16, following in the footsteps of his dad, who had served on the Western Front in the Great War. 

During WWII, one of the unit’s officers, future author and environmentalist Capt. Farley Mowat took detailed notes and made the unit the subject of his historical book, The Regiment, which makes great reading.

The unit endures as an understrength three-company infantry battalion within the Army Reserve’s 33 Canadian Brigade Group, stationed across Ontario.

Pollywogs on watch

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75 Years ago today: Pith helmet-clad junior officer Pollywogs stand watch atop 6″/47 cal gun turret Number Two of the Fargo-class light cruiser USS Huntington (CL-107), during the Crossing the Line Equator ceremonies in East African waters, 30 September 1948.

Collection of Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 93201

Note the array of radar antennas on the ship’s foremast and superstructure, including (from top): Zenith search radar; air search radar; Mk. 13 fire control radar atop an Mk. 34 main battery gun director; and Mk. 25 fire control radar atop an Mk. 37 gun director.

The Fargos were the last class built to carry the Mark 16 6″/47, using a slightly heavier and larger turret with more protection than the ones used for the earlier Brooklyn and St. Louis classes. Capable of firing a 130-pound shell to 26,118 yards, each gun could fire as many as 10 shells per minute, draining the ship’s magazine in just 20 minutes of sustained fire. However, as the Fargos could smother a target with 120 shells every 60 seconds, you didn’t need a lot of minutes.

Commissioned in 1946, Huntington was too late for WWII, was in the wrong fleet to lend her broadside to support UN troops in Korea, and, an all-gun cruiser in a missile era, was struck from the Navy List 1 September 1961 after being in reserve, and was subsequently scrapped.

Cobra Color Four-Pack

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How about this great period Kodachrome of a quartet of USAAF P-39 Airacobras flying over Dale Mabry Army Air Field in Tallahassee, Florida, likely in mid-late 1942.

Signal Corps Photo in the National Archives NARA 342FH-4A-21151-K-2491

Note the mottled well-worn appearance of these training birds with large white cowling numbers painted over existing smaller yellow numbers and white-dusted sides where exhaust has been scrubbed off. The two closest birds, White 253 and White 255, have visible tail numbers 138276 (41-38276) and 128360 (SN 41-28360), which points to them being Bell P-39D-BE models manufactured in 1941.

Mabry, which only stood up in May 1941, was a major fighter pilot training base during World War II, with some 8,000 Allied aviators learning their trade there including British, Free French, and Chinese KMT flyers.

For those curious, 41-28360 was written off on 25 October 1942 at Townsend, Florida, likely after suffering some sort of damage (hard to handle by novices, 21 P-39s crashed near Mabry Field during training in 1942 alone) while the fate of 41-38276 is lost to history. Sadly, there are no P-39Ds on display in the U.S. today even though over 400 were produced. 

Today, the land that Mabry is on is now the Florida Highway Patrol Training Academy– where I have had the joy of attending armorer’s classes– and the campus of the Tallahassee Community College.

Upsizing Bushmaster

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Of interest to small boat naval gun guys is this notice from Thursday’s and Friday’s DOD Contracts announcements (emphasis mine):

MSI Defence Systems US LLC, Rock Hill, South Carolina, is awarded a $23,463,149 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 15 MK88 MOD4 Gun Mounts, associated hardware, and spares. Work will be performed in the United Kingdom (90%) and Rock Hill, South Carolina (10%) and is expected to be completed by March 2025. Fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,621,453 (50%); fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,991,450 (38%); and fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Coast Guard) funds in the amount of $2,850,246 (12%), will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.) Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00174-23-C-0015).

MSI-Defence Systems US LLC,* Rock Hill, South Carolina, is awarded a $29,263,267 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of the MK 48 Mod 2 Electro-Optical Sight (EOS), EOS spare parts and transportation cases, and evaluation and repair of EOS subassemblies in support of the MK 38 Mod 4 Machine Gun System for the Navy, Coast Guard, and Military Sealift Command. Work will be performed in Norwich, United Kingdom (56%); and Rock Hill, South Carolina (44%), and is expected to be completed by September 2026. Fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,601,246 (57%); and fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,700,936 (43%), will be obligated at time of award; the funding will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the sam.gov website, with one offer received. This is a sole source action in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, only one responsible source. MSI-Defence Systems US LLC is the original equipment manufacturer of the systems and the only company who can provide the systems and perform the required evaluation and repairs. No other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016423DJQ13).

MSI makes the MK38 Mod 4 on a standard M88 mount, perhaps the best version of the Bushmaster. Whereas the first version was crew-manned, this one is a “fully integrated Naval Gun controlled via a Combat Management System (CMS) or Electro-Optic Fire Control System (FCS) using a remote independent Electro-Optical Sight System (EOSS)” which really ups the hit factor.

Plus, rather than just a M242 25mm cannon, the Mod 4 carries the MK44S 30mm cannon with the option to coaxially mount the 12.7mm M2HB Heavy Machine Gun to the main gun, providing additional engagement capability.

The 30mm MK44S has 70% of the same parts as the M242 while increasing the firepower by as much as 50% with the 20% increase in caliber size, making it a much more powerful option with a 4,000m range versus the 25mm’s 2,000m range.

The Mk 48 Mod 2 MSI-DS Electro-Optical Sight System (EOSS) includes long-range Day/Night All Weather sensors, has an auto-tracking mode for long endurance surveillance of targets, can be mounted on superstructure or mast positions, and interfaces with the ship’s Combat Management System or Integrated Bridge via existing common consoles or a standalone Remote Operator Console and HD display monitor. Plus, since it is not on the gun mount itself, it doesn’t spook those it observes. Meanwhile, as it is all-optical/IR it doesn’t light up a radar warning receiver/ECM set, which could be a nice benefit in ambush attacks

As for where they are going, the USCG has gone on record as saying they plan on mounting one or two of these on each of the new icebreakers (Polar Security Cutter) but, as these mounts are only negligibly heavier and fit the same footprint as earlier MK38s, there is a definite logic in mounting these on the 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class Fast Response Cutters operating in the Persian Gulf and Western Pacific, swapping out the MK38 Mod 2s currently fitted on the bow. 

As 15 mounts are on order, maybe that is the plan…plus the MSC notation is very interesting.

Visiting the largest (and oldest) after-market trigger maker in the country

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If you’ve never tried an aftermarket trigger in your favorite rifle, shotgun, or handgun, you’re missing out on one of the best upgrades you can make to your favorite firearm.

Since Harry Truman was in office, Timney Triggers has been producing easy-to-install, single-stage triggers for shooting enthusiasts. At first, the company focused on bolt action rifles, but it currently offers more than 170 models of triggers for all types of rifles, shotguns, and handguns. The company employs 65 employees in their home in Phoenix, Arizona. Today, Timney is the oldest and largest trigger company in the country.

Timney Triggers has been building the world’s finest triggers since 1946 and they recently opened their doors to me and my crew from Guns.com for a factory tour.

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