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Rocky Boots Reinforces Its Commitment to Veterans Through Annual Stand Down Events

October 12th, 2025

NELSONVILLE, OH. (October 2025) – Rocky® Boots military, tactical and public service division, reaffirms its ongoing mission to support veterans across Ohio through stand down events – 30 years partnering with the Columbus Stand Down and 10 years with the Athens Stand Down – with the most recent event taking place earlier this month.

Each Fall, Rocky donates 600 pairs of boots to the Columbus Stand Down and 100 pairs to the Athens Stand Down events, helping veterans facing homelessness or hardship stay protected and prepared for whatever comes their way. These events bring together local organizations, healthcare providers, and volunteers to provide essential services such as meals and medical screenings to housing assistance and employment support.

“We’re proud to call Ohio home, and we’re honored to stand beside the organizations that make a difference in the lives of those who’ve served,” said Sarah Williams, marketing manager for Rocky® Boots military and public service division.

“These partnerships are bigger than donations. They are about giving back to our community and sharing our gratitude for their service.”

The Columbus Stand Down and the Athens Stand Down, both took place in early October and were free for veterans and their families. Together, they serve thousands of Ohio veterans each year demonstrating Rocky’s brand heritage of hard work, resilience, and service.

For more information, visit www.rockyboots.com.

Posted in Boots, Industry, Press Release, Veterans | Comments Off on Rocky Boots Reinforces Its Commitment to Veterans Through Annual Stand Down Events

Over 600 Vintage Adventure Book Covers

October 12th, 2025

Please enjoy this video featuring Over 600 Vintage Adventure Book Covers put together by Paperback Warrior.

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Tactical Distributors 15-Year Anniversary Bash

October 11th, 2025

Tactical Distributors’s celebrating their 15th anniversary with a party!

They’re bringing the community together, raising money for SOC-F (Special Operations Care Fund), and giving away over $15,000 worth of prizes from the best brands in the industry.

Your $10 donation entry isn’t just a ticket- it’s your all-access pass to food, drinks (while supplies last), one raffle entry, and admission to see The Deloreans 80’s Band live at New Realm Brewing that night.

Additional food and drinks will be available for purchase. This is a family-friendly event, so bring the crew out for good food, live music, and a chance to win big while supporting a great cause.

There’s also a raffle with prizes worth over $15,000!

Get your tickets here.

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LMT Defense Signs License Agreement with Northrop Grumman for 7.62mm Bushmaster Chain Gun

October 11th, 2025

LMT® Defense and Northrop Grumman® Corporation enter into a license agreement for production of 7.62mm Bushmaster® Chain Gun®.

LMT® Defense and Northrop Grumman® finalized a license agreement for production and distribution of the 7.62X51mm Bushmaster® Chain Gun®. The established, long-term agreement will allow LMT Defense to manufacture the 7.62mm Chain Gun for both the US military and partner forces. Additionally, cooperative market strategy has been developed for both companies to offer the Chain Gun in various programs individually. This initiative fits LMT’s strategic objective to provide extremely reliable small-caliber systems for remotely operated and autonomous applications, which is a rapidly growing sector.

Northrop Grumman has a long, proven history with their Bushmaster Chain Gun designs. These systems have earned a reputation for reliability and combat-proven performance. Systems like the 7.62mm Chain Gun have been part of that legacy, providing trusted, battle-proven firepower for modern missions. Under this agreement, the 7.62mm Chain Gun will be produced and tested in the Eldridge, IA facility. The weapon is capable of various mounting and operation methods, 600 rpm sustained fire, automatic malfunction clearing, and electric drive for unmatched reliability. Along with the weapon, LMT will offer service, training, and remote customer support for the life of the agreement.

This partnership between LMT and Northrop Grumman is yet another milestone event to accent other notable successes in 2025. Contracts acquired this year include but are not limited to a program to deliver various weapons to the Swiss Armed Forces as well as being awarded an extensive contract from USSOCOM for a 6.5 Creedmoor version of our popular MARS®-H battle rifle known as the MRGG-A.

“We are proud to partner with Northrop Grumman on this venture. We have a long-standing professional relationship with them and know they share LMT’s core values and ethos which drives our passion to serve the US and allied warfighters, understanding Failure is Not an Option®” Karl Lewis said.

www.lmtdefense.com

Posted in Industry, Press Release, weapons | 2 Comments »

Blast Overpressure – The Hidden Enemy

October 11th, 2025

Just over a year ago, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum updating the requirements for managing brain health risks from overlooked sources of overpressure such as training with common weapon systems. It established DoD requirements and direction for the management of health risks to DoD personnel from exposures to Blast Over Pressure (BOP) and offers information on risks, ways to mitigate them, PPE suggestions, and who is likely at risk. The linked guide helps with specific techniques.

We’ve long known about the dangers of BOP resulting from Improvised Explosives Devices and other high order explosive events. The sudden onset of a pressure wave and associated above normal atmospheric pressure has led to physical injuries such as Traumatic Brain Injuries as well as hearing and vision loss. The damage to our troops is widespread. In 2020, there were 1.3 million Veterans receiving benefits for hearing loss while studies show that close to half-a-million Veterans have sustained TBIs.

What we’ve learned is that our troops have also been exposed to BOP in training for combat, just like they are when bullets are flying in both directions.

In particular, the policy focuses on exposures to BOP above 4 pounds per square inch (psi) which studies have shown can result in adverse effects on brain health and cognitive performance ( e.g., headache, decreased reaction time, attention difficulty, memory loss) resulting from acute (e.g., single or short-term) and chronic (e.g., repetitive or continuous) exposure to BOP.

In addition to damaging the personnel that wield those weapons, they can also affect any platforms they are mounted to such as light vehicles and aircraft as well as sensors and other weapons mounted to those platforms. This could include guided munitions, proximity fuzed warheads, and ISR gear. Now, we are facing a drone threat and have just begun fielding sensors and fire direction systems for the CUAS fight. Damaged equipment results in increased costs and down time for maintenance and in some cases, it can result in fatalities.

The policy memo does not preclude or unreasonably restrict commanders from conducting mission-essential weapons training. Rather, it establishes requirements for practical risk management actions to mitigate and track BOP exposures across the military.

My main issue with the memo itself is that it named specific careerfields as those likely to be exposed to BOP and overlooks some combat related specialties (enlisted AFSW) as well as those enablers assigned to close combat forces who often man crew served weapons in both training and defense of their formations. More appropriate would have been a more broad approach which included personnel assigned to certain types of units.

This matters for two reasons. First, some leaders may overlook personnel during risk management and second, the Veterans Administration will assuredly use this memo to deny services and compensation to those not specifically listed in the memo.

Regardless of who the memo includes, the reality is that anyone who uses or is in close proximity to these weapon systems during firing is exposed to the same overpressure forces. Fortunately, the military is beginning to take measures to limit unnecessary exposure and mitigate the effects where possible. Over the next couple of weeks we are going to examine how industry is working with government to create blast reduction standards and apply them to weapon systems in the form of Unconventional Personal Protective Equipment such as suppressors.

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Air Force Experiments with AI, Boosts Battle Management Speed, Accuracy

October 11th, 2025

LAS VEGAS (AFNS) —

The Air Force wrapped up the second Decision Advantage Sprint for Human-Machine Teaming, known as DASH 2, a fast-paced experiment exploring how artificial intelligence can help operators make faster, smarter decisions in complex battlespaces.

DASH 2 took place at the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis’ unclassified location in downtown Las Vegas and was led by the Advanced Battle Management System Cross-Functional Team.The effort was conducted in partnership with the Air Force Research Lab’s 711th Human Performance Wing, the Integrated Capabilities Command and the 805th Combat Training Squadron, also known as the ShOC-N.

“DASH 2 proved human-machine teaming is no longer theoretical,” said Col. Jonathan Zall, ABMS Capability Integration chief. “By fusing operator judgment with AI speed, the Air Force is shaping the future of decision advantage in joint and coalition operations.”

AI Speeds Decision Advantage

Initial results showed that machines produced recommendations in less than ten seconds and generated 30 times more options than human-only teams. Two vendors each produced more than 6,000 solutions for roughly 20 problems in just one hour. The software’s accuracy was on par with human performance, despite only two weeks of development. In one case, a single algorithm adjustment would have raised recommendation validity from 70 percent to more than 90 percent.

“This level of output gives commanders options to execute multiple kill chains simultaneously and we’re excited about our next experiment to generate the courses of action with the machines to help illuminate risk, opportunity gain/loss, material gain/loss, among others,” said Col. John Ohlund, ABMS CFT director.

Inside DASH 2

The DASH series is part of the Air Force’s campaign to modernize command and control and gain decision advantage through human-machine teaming. Each sprint refines a specific decision function and informs future Department of the Air Force C2 development. The series also supports the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative.

“Human-machine teaming is critical to accelerating the speed and quality of decisions across the joint force, and DASH 2 provides the insights we need to make that a reality,” Zall said.

Human-Machine Teaming in Action

Seven teams participated in DASH 2, including six industry teams and one ShOC-N innovation team. Their challenge was to design AI-enabled microservices capable of assisting operators with the “match effectors” function, which determines the best available weapon system to destroy an identified target.

Developers observed battle management crews operating without machine assistance, then iteratively designed and tested tools to augment human decision-making. Final demonstrations compared human-only performance against human-machine performance, measuring speed, quantity and quality.

“Being part of DASH 2 showed us how human-machine teaming can enhance performance without losing operator judgment,” said Capt. Steven Mohan III, 726th Air Control Squadron chief of standards and evaluations.

Industry and Air Force Collaboration

Evaluation focused on whether these tools helped operators make more effective decisions, not just process more data.

DASH 2 also reaffirmed the value of co-development with both industry and Air Force developers. Companies retained intellectual property rights while the Air Force gained insight into integration and functional requirements for future C2 software.

“At the ShOC-N, our mission is to put new capabilities into operators’ hands and test them under conditions that resemble real-world battle management,” said Lt. Col. Shawn Finney, 805th CTS/ShOC-N commander. “DASH 2 demonstrated how the battle lab enables rigorous testing while maintaining operational fidelity, bridging the gap between concept and capability.”

Early Results and Lessons Learned

The 711th HPW collected data on operator performance, workload and teaming dynamics. Findings confirmed that AI can accelerate decision-making while keeping humans at the center of the process.

“Collaboration with AFRL, the ABMS program office and industry allowed us to rapidly experiment, refine requirements and accelerate the path from concept to capability delivery,” Ohlund said.

Shaping the Future of C2

The DASH series is a key step in modernizing Air Force command and control. By combining human judgment with AI, the service is preparing operators to make faster, more informed decisions in future contested environments.

“DASH 2 proved human-machine teaming is no longer theoretical,” Zall said. “By fusing operator judgment with AI speed, the Air Force is shaping the future of decision advantage in joint and coalition operations.”

By Deb Henley, 505th Command and Control Wing Public Affairs

805th Combat Training Squadron, also known as the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis

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Leupold Adds Shawn Hughes as Military & Law Enforcement Sales Manager

October 10th, 2025

BEAVERTON, Ore. — Leupold & Stevens, Inc., provider of the world’s most rugged, lightweight, and clear sport optics, is pleased to announce that Shawn Hughes has joined the optics manufacturer as its Military & Law Enforcement Sales Manager.

Hughes will drive the growth of Leupold’s product line with military and law enforcement partners in the United States. He will identify, develop, and maintain strong relationships with U.S. military and law enforcement personnel, while managing theentire sales cycle.

“We are excited to add Shawn to our Military and Law Enforcement Sales team,” said Thomas Veley, Director of Military Sales for Leupold & Stevens, Inc. “He brings with him a diverse resume and an incredible amount of first-hand experience to address the needs of the military and law enforcement communities. He will be instrumental in helping increase Leupold’s market share for the tactical consumer, making sure our warfighters and law enforcement professionals have access to the best performance optics available.

Recently retiring as a Master Gunnery Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, Hughes held numerous roles throughout his established career, serving as a Scout Sniper from team leader to platoon commander, Scout Sniper Instructor, Chief Instructor and Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge at Camp Pendleton, Company Operations Chief, Battalion Operations Chief, and Marine Air-Ground Task Force Operations Chief.

“I’m proud to join Leupold,” Hughes said. “During my career I put numerous optics to work in the field, and Leupold has always been the most rugged and reliable. I look forward to putting more of them in the hands of our service members.”

For more information on Leupold products, please visit us at Leupold.com.

Join the discussion on Facebook at Facebook.com/LeupoldOptics, on X (Twitter) at X.com/LeupoldOptics, or on Instagram at Instagram.com/LeupoldOptics.

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INVISIO Signs Framework Agreement Worth Up to SEK 365 Million with Netherlands MoD

October 10th, 2025

INVISIO has signed a framework agreement with the Netherlands Ministry of Defense that could be worth up to SEK 365 million. The agreement will run initially for five years, with an option for two one-year extensions. Orders are expected to start this year.

The agreement covers INVISIO’s personal communication systems for mobile users in the field and includes a wide range of products, including the new T30 and X7 headsets and several different control unit models and intelligent cables.

The customer estimates the value of the agreement for the first five years at approximately SEK 260 million, rising to SEK 365 million in the event of a two-year extension. The agreement includes no guarantees regarding volumes.

Lars Højgård Hansen, INVISIO CEO, said: “We are proud that the defence forces in the Netherlands have chosen INVISIO. This is a clear sign of the confidence placed in our solutions and proof that our significant investments in the product portfolio and organization in recent years are now yielding results.”