Created by celebrity international designer Gok Heston-Cumquat McKeith, their new range Eyepro has something for the enlisted ranks as well as toff officers. Did we mention they are on sale?
Archive for April, 2011
UTE Unleashes New Eyepro
Thursday, April 21st, 2011The Last Day to Make Your Vote Count
Thursday, April 21st, 2011AR15.com Billet Lower Recievers
Thursday, April 21st, 2011You, me, and probably every one you know missed out on the Magpul billet lowers released a few years back. AR15.com bought the rights to the design and after a couple of years of development hell, they have begun to roll off the line.
FEATURES
• Magazine well – aggressively flared for easier loading, and with a textured front
• Markings – Bolt Face Logo is milled rather than outlined, and other than the company name below it, all text is on the right side of the magazine well. We chose to mark these 5.56mm vs. ‘multi’ to differentiate the 5.56 platform vs. the 7.62 platform to come later. Also, FIRE selector pictograms on both sides are at 68 degrees vs. 90 degrees to support both 45 and 90 degree selectors.
• Trigger guard – integral “Magpul” style vs. the often seen ’round’ version to maintain the clean lines
• Roll Pins – there are no roll pins required in the assembly of this lower; the trigger guard is built in, and the bolt catch/release assemblies both use a threaded pin
• Takedown pin – comes with a threaded takedown pin detent spring channel so your takedown pin detent and spring remain in place when the stock is removed
• Ambi-Bolt release – receiver features a bolt release on the right hand side, and this lever includes the AR15.com name
• Trigger – Geissele Automatics Super 3 Gun trigger with a slightly heavier spring and a laser etched BFL on the hammer
• Selector – Battle Arms Development Short Throw ambi selector
• Stock – Magpul CTR, UBR, PRS
• Grip – Magpul MIAD
• Mag Release – Norgon Ambi
The lower assemblies are currently restricted to AR15.com Lifetime members but eventually, they expect to keep them in production as a general release item.
New Patterns from Tiger Stripe Products
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Ever since my days as a kid, I’ve always liked the Tiger pattern. Maybe the old versions were more art than science, but they were definitely distinctive. Over the ensuing years, Tiger Stripe Products started to produce recreations of the Viet Nam advisor pattern and then began to develop new, unique patterns culminating with the initial modern USAF blue tigerstripe pattern. While the Air Force chose to go a slightly different direction, TSP hasn’t stopped their work. In addition to a couple of patterns developed for specific clients they have just released images of their newly reworked All Terrain Tiger patterns. In addition to the version above, they have also produced “digital” variants. You will notice that the colorway is very familiar as it is proving the be the most effective for use with transitional patterns based on the 2009 camo testing.
Check the entire line out at www.tigerstripeproducts.com.
Harris Introduces Tactical 3G Cellular Network-in-a-Box for Warfighters
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011Finally, we are beginning to see the development of the requisite mobile telecommunications infrastructure required to fully leverage commercial smart phones for military applications. You constantly read articles in the main stream media about how the military is going to adopt this phone or that phone. The problem is that, while they might work great in garrison where there is a well established backbone to facilitate their use, once you get to the field they become so many bricks; deadweight that is incapable of talking to one another let alone linking to the outside world. Now, companies like Harris Corporation are developing deployable 3G networks.
From the Harris press release:
Jointly developed by Harris and Battleground Telecommunications Systems (BTSâ„¢), KnightHawk 3G is a customizable cellular Network In a Box (NIB) compatible with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment, including smartphones and tablets. Each KnightHawk 3G is installed with BTS Praefectusâ„¢ Mission Management Software, which automates configuration and management of the cellular network, and enables each KnightHawk to operate autonomously or as a scalable network with hundreds of nodes for increased range. This compatibility allows users in the battlefield to leverage existing applications, thereby enabling them to track a team’s location, automatically translate foreign languages, and conduct remote training using existing advanced programs.
KnightHawk 3G features UMTS High Speed Packet Access, providing extremely fast connectivity of 14.4 mbps for downloads and up to 5.76 mbps for uploads. It also offers the benefits of small size, weight and power (SWaP), making it ideal for mobile, multi-mission requirements in challenging environments.
My biggest concern is that the system includes phone and tablets. This is kind of like having to purchase your phone from AT&T to use it on their network. Open architecture would be much better. On the plus side, a data network is drastically needed to leverage the Soldier-as-a-sensor concept. The idea is simple. Look at every Soldier deployed as a multimode sensor. He carries a variety of devices that could constantly be collecting data which is of interest simply because of where he is located. Now, if we could provide a data bus on the Soldier and his weapon and network all of his sensor heads, process the data on him to send back the tasty bits so as not to clog up the network with spam and then take all of that data and process it and then feed it back to the Soldier as a usable product we are on to something. The networks haven’t really exited to do this. Now that they are emerging, the difficult work of expanding the TPED capacity begins.
PPI Files Suit Against RESET
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011In the case of this article, PPI is not the armor company but rather something altogether different. Apparently, ERGO Falcon (Hines) who actually holds patent #7,627,925 for the “Electrified Handguard”, has licensed their design to Prototype Productions, Inc. who further assigned rights to a company with the inspiring name of PPI Ventures Two (we didn’t make this up).
Last week, PPI filed suit in US District Court of Eastern Virginia against RESET Inc for patent infringement for their RIPR. When you absolutely want to get someone into court quickly for Intellectual Property issues, file in the US District Court of Eastern Virginia.
We wrote last year about RESET’s Rifle Integrated Power Rail (RIPR). RESET is working with ATK on the design but we haven’t heard much about the project since we mentioned that it would be at the Infantry Warfighter Conference at Fort Benning.
As you can see from this extract from a marketing brochure, despite its name, the RIPR is not an actual rail but rather an adapter that attaches on top of a weapon’s Mil Std 1913 railed fore end and upper receiver. This is a little bit problematic as it will only fit a rail and upper receiver that are exactly the same height. As we know, this isn’t always the case. I’m still not sure why they call it a rail, as it isn’t. Unfortunately, that the RIPR is an actual rail seems to be central to PPI’s claims against RESET.
For full details of the suit please refer to the court filings obtained by SSD.
The real issue at hand here is that while the lawyers representing PPI have been very diligent in spelling out exactly what damages they want awarded by the court, they haven’t specified exactly what RESET is alleged to have done other than a very broad, “RESET has infringed and is infringing the Hines patent.” But how? In addition to the Hines patent, the exhibits submitted to the court by PPI seem to want to show how successful RESET has been in their endeavor. Perhaps that is the crux of the suit?
Furthermore, neither ERGO Falcon nor RESET are exactly pioneers in the powered rail market. Wilcox has had prototypes for years and we have seen European efforts as well. I haven’t seen the PPI model but I have seen the RIPR and it actually works. On the other hand, Falcon ERGO developed the initial IP and is a pretty popular brand that produces small arms accessories. PPI used the Hines (Falcon ERGO) patent to develop their powered rail under an Army tech development contract called a Small Business Innovative Research award. Based on this fact, some might make the argument that the US Government might own a stake in the IP rights for the Electrified Handguard which, by the way, is an awful name for something you want Soldiers to carry.
Generally, these things seem to work themselves out and the ensuing agreements keep both parties mum on the subject so we may never know how exactly RESET violated the Hines patent.
Get Out The Vote! Only 48 Hours Left
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011Merrell Sponsors “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011“POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is the ultimate sellout movie. Detailing how product placement in media and entertainment actually works, this documentary by Morgan Spurlock opens this Friday (April 22, 2011). As you can see, POM get the above the title spot, but what we found most interesting was that Director Morgan Spurlock is running the streets wearing sponsor Merrell, footwear. For once, it’s cool to sell out.
