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VSS Launches Dedicated Book Website, Expands Library

Friday, December 15th, 2023

VSS has launched a new website focused on ever expanding offering of books and targets by Erik Lawrence. Lawrence published 10 new books in 2023 in the areas of preparedness and world affairs. He has 10 more books that will be released throughout 2024 on various other topics.

Other currently available titles listed on the site are:

• Soviet-Bloc weapon manuals (11 titles)

• NATO weapon manuals (15 titles)

• Owner’s manuals on common rifles (AR-15, AK-103, Bolt action rifle)

• The AR-15 Assembly Guide

• Handbooks on firearms, planning, and personal protection (8 titles)

• Paper target packs (7 versions)

The majority of the books are now available on Amazon with lower pricing and quicker shipping than before.

vssbooks.com

If you have an interest in becoming a dealer, contact support@vig-sec.com.

Posted in Guest Post, Industry | 4 Comments »

FirstSpear Friday Focus – Tiger Stripe Duffel

Friday, December 15th, 2023

From popular request, we are excited to announce the launch of our new Tiger Stripe Duffel. You asked, we delivered. These are currently short batched so if you’re one of the many folks that have been waiting for this to happen, supplies are limited — get to it!

The FS duffel features a full 500D nylon construction with 3 inch webbing that folds over into the handle for an extremely light weight design that is still incredibly strong and balanced for heavy contents. Extra large zippered opening with premium zipper hardware and FS pull tab. The top has a sewn on webbing carry strap that works great when you need to hang the bag vertically. The inside is completely open with no pockets and around 2,000 cu in. 100% Berry compliant. Made in the USA with USA Materials.

Visit FirstSpear to find American Made kit and accessories, Built For The X.

Posted in Advertiser, FS Friday Focus, Guest Post, Load Carrying, Tigerstripe | Comments Off on FirstSpear Friday Focus – Tiger Stripe Duffel

Army Leaders Chart Path to Equipping the Force

Friday, December 15th, 2023

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Senior leaders from around the Army met both virtually and in-person for the Army Modernization Equipping Conference, Dec. 4-7 at Army Materiel Command headquarters.

The AMEC, held semiannually, brought together leadership from the four major Army commands and Headquarters Department of the Army staff sections to synchronize equipment distributions and displacements in line with Army priorities and Regionally Aligned Readiness and Modernization Model phases to achieve cohesion throughout the Army.

“We’ve been busy supporting allies and partners in multiple theaters, and that’s impacting the Army’s equipping decisions and enterprise,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, AMC deputy commanding general.

He hailed the AMEC as a key Army synchronization conference and for being an important forum that provides the chance to review equipment fielding and modernization while resolving friction points.

In addition to equipping and modernization discussions, the AMEC also addressed special topics, including Second Destination Transportation, the Decision Support Tool and an update on the Rapid Removal of Excess pilot program, which wraps up Dec. 15 at Fort Liberty, North Carolina and Fort Stewart, Georgia.

“We’re here to support the Chief of Staff of the Army’s emphasis on continuing transformation and building the Army of 2030,” said Bryan Shone, Army G-8 deputy director of program analysis and evaluation.

Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy George charged Army Materiel Command to pilot a new program aimed at increasing equipment on hand readiness through focused fielding, lateral transfers and divestiture. Since October, active units at both installations have been turning in items ranging from small electronics and general supplies to military vehicles at their respective Modernization, Displacement and Repair Sites.

“Lessons learned from the R2E pilot program are being captured by AMC, Army Sustainment Command, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command and U.S. Army Forces Command, all of which have a stake in unburdening our Soldiers,” said Eric Cowan, AMC divestiture team lead.

Cowan discussed the potential expansion of the pilot program and the transfer options for collected equipment, including the potential transfer of equipment to U.S. Army Security Assistance Command for partner nation opportunities for foreign military sales.

Both Mohan and Lt. Gen. Paul Calvert, FORSCOM deputy commanding general, praised the pilot program as well as 3rd ESC and the Army Field Support Battalions at Fort Liberty and Fort Stewart for rapidly identifying and collecting thousands of pieces of equipment.

“We’re going to take a pause to capture what we learned and apply it to the next iteration of the pilot program,” Calvert said. “But ultimately, we’re seeing that we’ve met the intent of unburdening the Soldier.”

The Army is using data and analytics to not only capture the amount of excess equipment in the field, but also to extend the predictability of logistics into the future for combatant commands in the European and Indo-Pacific theaters. By having better visibility of equipment and the condition it is in, AMC can predict MDRS and Organic Industrial Base operations one to two years ahead of time.

As the AMEC concluded, the resounding sentiment from participants was one of commitment to modernization and strategic alignment, underscoring the Army’s dedication to staying at the forefront of military sustainment.

“As we continue to synchronize with other big Army-wide conferences, the AMEC is only going to get better,” Mohan said. “It will continue to be the driving force behind senior leader decisions.”

Story and one photo by Lindsay Grant

With one photo by SGT Vincent Levelev

Posted in Army, Guest Post | 1 Comment »

First Army Taps AI to Enhance Command and Control

Thursday, December 14th, 2023

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. — First Army is leveraging the potential of artificial intelligence during large scale mobilization exercises and other missions.

Lt. Col. Melissa Sayers, First Army operations research systems analyst, or ORSA, said the first use will come during the 2024 iteration of Pershing Strike, First Army’s annual exercise to validate the Army’s ability to mobilize forces in support of large-scale combat operations.

The use will be limited but by the following year, the plan is for it be an integral part of the exercise and other First Army operations. It is forecasted to eventually be a routine part of how First Army does business. The hope, Sayers said, is that, “not only do will we have a simulation that we can run a million scenarios on but it’s part of our everyday operations, helping us get to decisions faster.”

Artificial intelligence is the use of computer systems to perform tasks that traditionally require human input and do them much faster. For First Army, faster information would lead to a boost in efficiency during operations that move a multitude of Soldiers and equipment to an assortment of locations across the country for training and mobilization.

“The machine can’t do it without the human,” Sayers noted. “Say we had a large-scale mobilization operation and we had all these units ready to head out the door and the medical unit shows up at 50 percent strength. With AI, we have the ability to pre-calculate solutions. We estimate what is going to happen if you make this decision, and we can go ahead and run it and calculate all those different decisions and have the best three or four recommended to the commander. The commander still makes the decisions but we can get there a lot faster if we have it pre-calculated and ready to run when something happens.”

AI is used in all manner of situations, from customer service to medical diagnoses to traffic patterns. At First Army, the plan is for it to create more efficient operations in exercises and mobilizations, including a large-scale mobilization operation if such an event arises.

“That’s what First Army cares about,” Sayers said. “We want to be able to push out the Reserve Component in a timely manner in event of a large-scale conflict. Once you have the model created, you can start playing with it. It helps leaders at very high levels figure out what levers to pull and what resources to apply to maximize what’s happening on the ground.”

Sayers noted the positive impact this can have for units of any size and the individual Soldiers.

“We have units full of people that need to be processed,” she said. “They need to arrive at their home station, they need to make sure they have all their equipment. What does it take to get the equipment fully maintained? What does the shipping network look like? How many observer coach/trainers should we have and of what flavor — do we need aviation, medical, infantry? How many medical stations? What if one of those stations goes down? What if one shows up at only half-strength? What happens at that location and what are our options to react to that problem. We can plot all this out.”

Partially due to the value of AI, First Army added an ORSA this year. “Anytime First Army has needed to do advanced analytics, it’s had to outsource it,” Sayers said. “They’ve never had anyone inhouse to advise the command and do the work.”

It’s a microcosm of what’s talking place across the Army.

”The ORSA role has exploded in the last couple of years,” Sayers said. “We’ve been limited on what we’re able to provide to the commands because the amount of data was not there to do deep qualitative analysis. Suddenly all this data is able to be collected because we have the hardware to be able to store it and we have the hardware to be able to collect it.”

Because of that, First Army and its partners will be better equipped to provide combatant commanders with trained and ready Reserve Component Soldiers.

By Warren Marlow

Posted in AI / ML, Army, Guest Post | Comments Off on First Army Taps AI to Enhance Command and Control

Tactical Resupply UAS Ready for the Fleet

Wednesday, December 13th, 2023

Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

—

The Navy and Marine Corps announced Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the TRV-150C Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (TRUAS) Oct. 27 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

The first six production systems arrived last week at the Marines Third Littoral Logistics Battalion (LLB-3) in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, which means that LLB-3 is sufficiently manned, trained and ready to deploy with the TRV-150C.

“This achievement means the fleet is ready and fully capable of deploying and using this game-changing system, which will enable Marines to perform forward deployed contested logistics missions,” said Gregg Skinner, Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems program manager (PMA-263), whose Unmanned Logistics Systems-Air (ULS-A) team oversees the TRUAS program.

Prior to declaring IOC, support staff from the Air Test and Evaluations Squadron Two Four (UX-24) from Naval Air Warfare Center Webster Outlying Field in Maryland arrived at MCB Hawaii along with an instructor from the Training and Logistics Support Activity Pacific, to conduct final operator qualification with LLB-3. After reviewing the differences between prototype and production systems, the trainers and operators successfully completed 36 training flights to ensure that the unit was ready to deploy.

PMA-263 awarded the production contract for the TRV-150C in April 2023 following a rapid prototyping initiative that brought the system from inception to the fleet in less than four years.

“This was a total team effort in accomplishing this milestone in record time,” Skinner said. “Special thanks to the PMA263 Team, Training and Logistics Support Activity Pacific, Air Test and Evaluations Squadron Two Four (UX-24), and the Survice Engineering Company (TRUAS prime contractor) for their hard work and dedication aimed at getting this much needed Force Design 2023 capability in the hands of the Warfighter.”

TRUAS is a land based, autonomous UAS that provides organic logistics to Marine squads through automated launch, waypoint navigation, and automated landing and payload drop. The system provides battlefield logistics capability to distribute critical supplies at Expeditionary Advanced Bases, where the risk to manned aircraft would deny manned aviation resupply operations out to the last tactical mile.

“The contested logistics environment challenges the ability of our Marines to distribute necessary supplies to the right place at the time of need,” said Col. Aaron Angell, Logistics Combat Element Division director. “TRUAS gives a logistics unit the organic ability to immediately respond with a precision ground launched air delivery system. This is leap-ahead technology that we will learn to continue to shape future unmanned aerial logistics platforms.”

-NAVAIR News

Posted in Guest Post, UAS, USMC | 7 Comments »

See Ocean State Innovations at SHOT Show Suppliers Showcase

Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

Ocean State Innovations is excited to welcome you to our SHOT Show Suppliers Showcase Booth 52240, at The Venetian 5th Floor, Palazzo Ballroom, Las Vegas, Nevada on January 22 – 23, 2024. We have the following products to review with you and your production team:

• CORDURA® TrueLock™ Solution Dyed Fabrics – 500D & 1000D.
• Curv® Tactical – Innovative Curv® Thermoplastic Composite Technology
• ITW® Military Products & Hardware
• Velcro® Brand Hook 89 & Loop 1100
• Velcro® Brand Loop in MultiCam®
• OSI Printing Services – Woven Fabrics & Velcro® Brand Loop
• Innovative Textile Developments

Stop by and say hello to the OSI Team members or reach out to make an appointment:

Peter Raneri – peter@osinnovate.com

Geoff Senko – geoff@osinnovate.com

Nick Boulis – nick@osinnovate.com

Posted in Advertiser, Guest Post, Materials, SHOT Show | Comments Off on See Ocean State Innovations at SHOT Show Suppliers Showcase

AFSOC Commander Directs CV-22 Operational Standdown

Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) —

Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, AFSOC commander, directed an operational standdown of the Air Force CV-22 fleet Dec. 6, 2023, to mitigate risk while the investigation continues on the Nov. 29, 2023, CV-22 mishap near Yakushima, Japan.

Preliminary investigation information indicates a potential materiel failure caused the mishap, but the underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time. The standdown will provide time and space for a thorough investigation to determine causal factors and recommendations to ensure the Air Force CV-22 fleet returns to flight operations.

We extend sincere gratitude to the Joint Force and Government of Japan’s Self-Defense Force, Coast Guard, law enforcement and civilian volunteers for their tireless assistance in the search and rescue operations for our Air Commandos.

By Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs

Posted in Air Force, Aviation, Guest Post, SOF | 1 Comment »

Next Generation Squad Weapons Tested by Ft Campbell Infantry, Rangers

Monday, December 11th, 2023

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Screaming Eagle Division Soldiers here just completed training and testing the Army’s 6.8mm family of Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle (NGSW-R), NGSW-Automatic Rifle (AR) and the NGSW-Fire Control (FC) systems.

Troops of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and members of 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, undertook New Equipment Training on the NGSW.

“The New Equipment Training gave the Soldiers a good base before coming out and using the NGSWs,” said Infantryman Sgt. Jack Scott, a team leader in Alpha Company.

Their training covered the similarities and differences between the new weapons and the legacy 5.56mm M4A1 Carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon systems, focusing on enhanced lethality.

“We did a lot of training with both static and maneuver ranges, so the product of Soldier you get now, during the live fire, is high quality due to all of that training,” added Scott.

Once complete with new equipment training, Soldiers tested the NGSW in a Limited User Test, or LUT, in a crawl-walk-run method to ensure all operational data is collected on the weapon, as well as user integration with the new equipment.

Alpha Company and 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment initially conducted static qualification and variable distance ranges with legacy weapon systems and NGSW, to compare performance of both and give Soldiers repetitions and familiarity with the NGSW.

Alpha Company 1st Sgt. Justin Babb appreciated the benefits of participating in an operational test and the opportunity for his junior Soldier’s feedback to contribute and impact Army modernization.

“The candid feedback that the Soldiers and NCOs provided during focus groups and surveys will provide the Army with perspective from the lowest level of user that will actually use the system,” said Babb.

Major differences between the legacy M4, M249 systems and the NGSWs were immediately noticeable by the Soldiers.

Spec. Maximiliano Arguindegui, an automatic rifleman with 1/75th Ranger Regiment, said, “Overall, I feel faster with the M249, but I prefer the NGSW-AR because it makes me more lethal.”

Scott added, “Stopping power with the 6.8 round is a big improvement compared to the M4 and M249 and having the ability to use with or without the suppressor is a huge feature for the support by fire element.”

Leaders of Alpha Company also said participating in a test with the Operational Test Command enabled them to get after their internal readiness.

Alpha Company Commander, Capt. Jordan Mares, said, “Being a part of the NGSW test absolutely supported our company readiness. The LUT gave us opportunities to hone our craft, practice lessons learned with feedback from subject-matter experts, and the ability to conduct a lot of repetitions to practice small unit tactics.”

Staff Sgt. Ivan Alvarez, a Squad Leader with Alpha Company, was initially skeptical of the NGSW.

“When we first started the LUT, I was very against the NGSW-R,” he said. “I’m used to the M4 — it’s lighter — I’m used to the recoil, the engagements, everything the M4 has to offer. But, as we went through the LUT with the NGSW-R, I can see the capabilities that it brings to an infantryman, especially at a longer distance.”

Alvarez also said testing the new weapons gave his squad added training opportunities.

“We got after a lot of training that we would normally have to wait months to set up and accomplish,” he said. “We were able to get more marksmanship time, more range time, and were able to train under various environmental conditions.”

Another squad leader with the Rangers provided his observations on the training benefit while participating in an operational test.

“We were able to get reps in on a new weapon system as well as our legacy equipment,” said Sgt. Joseph Martin. “We were able to train on many basic things that we want to train on every year, but condensed to get more repetitions, as well as live fire iterations for our younger, inexperienced Soldiers.”

Story by Maj. Rodrick A. Polk, test officer, Maneuver Test Directorate, U.S. Army Operational Test Command

Photos by Mr. Mark Scovell, Visual Information Specialist, U.S. Army Operational Test Command

Posted in Army, Guest Post, weapons | 31 Comments »