This is the Aimpoint T1 sight mount for the M203 40mm Grenade Launcher manufactured by Spuhr AB..
Guy Cramer continues his investigation into the US Army’s Camouflage Improvement Effort in Part 6 of his series. He brings up some very compelling points. Now that the Army has indefinitely delayed the announcement of their camo findings, they rush headlong into impending legislation requiring them to adopt a common pattern and uniform with the other services. The time to assume leadership in clothing US servicemembers for combat is now.
This isn’t a performance issue like the Individual Carbine. They’ve done the research. They have the solution. All the Army has to do, is act. Otherwise, everyone may be stuck with second best; the baseline patterns that the Army’s effort was meant to replace.
Read Cramer’s report here.
This KCRF patch turned up on the Hodge Defense Systems production line as they start to roll out their first run of AU-Mod 1s. Better get one before they are gone.
Daniel Defense recently sponsored a three-day event for the firearms press that included a course by Orion Applications Training Division. You may recognize the name ODG from their camouflage patterns we’ve covered here on SSD in the past. Turns out, they apply their knowledge in other ways as well. I was the only web-based writer invited to this event so it was a great opportunity for me to meet some of the guys in the gun press, familiarize myself with different Daniel Defense firearms and get a first hand look at training from ODG.
It was just in January that we told you about the crowd funding campaign to produce the Kayrank Helmet Rank System. While it stirred quite a bit of debate among SSD readers, and although it wasn’t funded, the creator went ahead and raised the money himself. Now, it’s available for order.
Essentially, the Kayrank Helmet Rank System consists of polymer plates, sized to fit a NVG mount that are engraved with military rank insignia. Before everyone was issued NVGs we used to sew our rank on the front of our helmets just like on our patrol caps. When night vision became more common and almost every helmet now sports a VAS shroud of one sort or another, there is no place to attach the rank. This subdued device can be worn in the mount during the day and removed and stored when NODs are worn. Of course, I’m retired, so I’m not threatened in the least but by the Kayrank. But, it does have merits for folks in those units that want you to display your rank on your helmet.
Maybe they’d be more interesting if they displayed morale images rather than rank. I wonder if I could get one with the SSD logo?
Special Atomic Demolition Munitions, or SADM were a class of man portable nuclear weapons developed during the Cold War. They were intended to be hand emplaned and used to deny, block and canalize the enemy. Deployed primarily in Western Europe, the thinking was that they could be used to cut off high speed avenues of approach for Warsaw Pact forces. The US Army created an MOS 12E (SADM Specialist) that’s sole function was to employ those devices along with an associated maintenance MOS 55G. 12E which was an Engineer MOS was eliminated in 1986 and the Soldiers reclassified into new MOSs as the devices were removed from service. I attended DLI with quite a few of these NCOs.
Additionally, both Navy SEAL and Army Special Forces teams were trained in their emplacement in denied areas although particulars of these mission sets remain sensitive. However, there is this declassified film featuring NSW personnel which features Para-SCUBA operations.