SIG MMG 338 Program Series

MF Flask

October 14th, 2020

The MF Flask from Casually Violent is a miniature Jerry Can meant to hold 5oz of your preferred fuel. Made from cerakoted stamped stainless steel.

Available as a single or 2-pack.

casuallyviolent.com/product/mf-flask

ThruDark Force Tech T-Shirt

October 14th, 2020

Made from a 4-way stretch Schoeller fabric containing ceramic particle technology for enhanced abrasion resistance, the ThruDark Force Tech T-Shirt is offered in both short and long sleeved.

It is moisture wicking, integrates a side stow pocket and features reflective insignia and trims.

Offered in sizes Small through XXLarge in Black.

thrudark.com/product/force-tech-t-shirt

Garmin HRM-Dual

October 14th, 2020

If you’re looking for a replacement heart monitor for use with your Garmin device check out the HRM-Dual. It transmits via ANT+ connectivity and BLUETOOTH Low Energy technology.

The HRM-Dual is waterproof to 1 atmosphere. The battery lasts up to 3.5 years and the soft strap is removable and washable.

buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/649059

What’s Old Is New

October 14th, 2020

When paratrooper boots were brand new, they were made from smooth, brown leather. Once again, authorized for wear with the Army Green Uniform.

You can get yours at Ranger Joe’s.

UF PRO’s New MultiCam Low Temperature Line

October 14th, 2020

The UF PRO MultiCam® Low Temperature Line consists of upgraded versions of four existing UF PRO products:

• Delta AcE Plus Gen.2 Winter Tactical Jacket
• Delta OL 3.0 Winter Tactical Jacket
• AcE Winter Combat Shirt
• Hunter FZ Gen.2 Softshell Jacket (available later this year)

Each of the four in its upgraded form is designed for use in conditions from mild to well-below zero degrees Centigrade; additionally, the new MultiCam fabric, from which the quartet is constructed, promises significant performance advantages such as greater durability and a dramatically lower noise signature, according to Armin Wagner, UF PRO’s head of product development.

“This new MultiCam fabric allows wearers to operate more comfortably and efficiently in extreme cold environments characterized by everything from icy winds to snow or drizzling rain,” said Wagner. “The material is a laminate,” he said. “The outer face-fabric is made of texturised, soft-to-the-touch, 100-percent polyamide that overlays a highly breathable inner polyurethane membrane. The outer layer is woven together by a special ripstop technique. Consequently, these garments last longer—they’re just way more durable, as seen in their greater resistance to tearing, peeling, and friction.”

The other major performance edge offered by the MultiCam Low-Temperature Line is its quietness, according to Wagner. “These upgraded garments make very little noise while the wearer is walking or running,” he said. “Normally, laminate material makes an unmistakable sound that can be easily heard. But this new MultiCam fabric, because of its composition and softness, doesn’t give off that telltale noise.”

The Delta OL 3.0 Tactical Winter Jacket is for the ultimate in cold-weather outerwear. It’s designed for scenarios where the wearer will be stationary for long periods in the worst possible weather conditions – such as high winds driving rain or snow. The elbows are also reinforced with CORDURA® nylon fabric for extra protection.

The Delta AcE Plus Gen.2 Winter Tactical Winter Jacket, meant to be worn when when engaging in strenuous activities in very cold conditions, features thermal-insulating G-Loft filling in the sleeves and 37.5™ microfleece as a lining.

The AcE Winter Combat Shirt is designed to be worn like a normal combat shirt, under a plate carrier or with a rucksack, but in the lowest of temperatures.

Later this year the company is going to add also the Hunter FZ Gen.2 Softshell Jacket to the MultiCam Low-Temperature Line-up.

UF PRO makes advanced-technology jackets, shirts, pants, hats, caps, and accessories for military and law-enforcement units worldwide. For more information about the UF PRO MultiCam Low-Temperature Line, go to ufpro.com/multicam-low-temperature-line

RM277 Next Generation Squad Weapons from General Dynamics-OTS, Manufactured by Beretta Defense Systems

October 14th, 2020

General Dynamics-OTS is competing with Textron Systems SIG SAUER in the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program which seeks to replace the current M4A1 Carbine and M249 Light Machine Gun in the close combat squads with a Rifle and Automatic Rifle designed to fire 6.8mm ammunition. The intent is to provide similar characteristics to 270 Win Short Mag. It’s important to note that the 6.8mm settled on by the Army is the equivalent of .277 in Imperial measurement.

General Dynamics-OTS is partnered with Beretta Defense Systems and True Velocity to offer their NGSW candidate system. The .277 ammunition size has influenced the naming of their rifle and ammunition, the RM277, which also makes it handy to begin marketing to other customers.

General Dynamics-OTS designed the bullpup RM277 and Beretta provides Research and Development support and future high-volume manufacturing capabilities at its new Gallatin, TN, facility.

When the Army decided on a 6.8 cartridge, they left it up to industry to develop the actual ammunition. True Velocity has named their composite cased cartridge the 277 TVCM.

The composite construction makes it 30-40% lighter than current, conventional ammunition. Additional benefits are reduced heat transfer as the composite insulates the chamber and bolt face, the production of extremely concentric and consistent case and precise powder drop which results in consistent pressure and muzzle velocities for improved accuracy, and elimination of heavy metals that produce adverse health effects on Soldiers.

TV also boasts magnetic retrieval of spent cases during training and a case which is 100% recyclable.

Unlike the weapon candidates from their competitors, GD-OTS’ M277-R and RM277-AR are extremely similar. The AR is naturally longer and heavier for sustained fire.

Rather than introducing a box-fed rifle and belt-fed automatic rifle like the others, the bullpup design called for both weapons to be box-fed. The bullpup also allows for longer barrels for both increased velocity and accuracy.

They are gas and recoil operated and impulse averaged with short recoil to offer controllable, accurate automatic fire. They also incorporate dual firing modes, closed bolt in semi-automatic mode and open bolt in automatic mode. Naturally, the weapons feature ambidextrous controls. The suppressor is 3D printed and provided by Delta-P.

Having participated in Soldier Touch Points and reliability and performance testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, next up for General Dynamics-OTS is to incorporate feedback from Prototype Testing #1 into their design and produce the Prototype Testing #2 samples of weapons and ammunition.

Images supplied Beretta.

For some more background on how the Army ended up with NGSW, read this. Admittedly, I was quite skeptical at first, particularly after the Army had just a failed to select a replacement for the M4 just a few years before with the Individual Carbine program and then the start-stop fiasco of the 7.62mm Carbine effort. But, after watching industry rise to the challenge, I quickly went through the stages of grief to acceptance and am now quite optimistic that the Army will field a new capability.

Brigantes Presents – Expeditionary Command Tents – The Revolutionary Alternative  

October 14th, 2020

Hilleberg the Tentmaker is a family owned company with over 45 years of experience in manufacturing lightweight, all-season tents of the highest quality. Brigantes have worked in partnership with Hilleberg in advising and adapting these tents, making them a relevant to the military user.

They offer a solution that blows the traditional, command tents (that were organised using big, heavy canvas tents) out of the water! Using this alternative, no vehicle would be needed to act as transport, these tents when packed away can be carried on foot. A complete game changer when forces need to respond in a rapid reaction or expeditionary way. The Atlas MIL and Stalon XL MIL are two tents that can be used effectively as a command station.

The Atlas’ Geodesic design allows it to be a freestanding structure that holds up against all weather conditions. It is one of the strongest free-standing tents in the world. Regardless of location, whether in a hanger/warehouse or outside, it does not need to be pegged down.

The Stalon XL MIL is a very large, robust tunnel tent and can be erected by one person in good weather. The Stalon XL can be configured in nearly endless ways, not just as a command centre but a classroom, a mobile medical station, staging/briefing room, for search and rescue teams or as a field dormitory for any large group. 

Both these tents offer all weather protection and are modular. Each module of the tent can be zipped on or off to accommodate the needs of the user, and multiple modules can be easily connected or disconnected as necessary. So, it is possible for the structures to grow as the unit/operation grows. With the addition of Hilleberg’s light blocking fabric, and using foldaway furniture by Big Anges, this ground-breaking alternative has the ability radicalise to how the military view command tent construction, making a much more lightweight, vehicle free solution.

For more information contact:

(For UK sales) tribe@brigantes.com

(International enquiries) international@brigantes.com

Or visit Brigantes.com and set up an account to view the range.

Are you looking to make a government purchase? Procurement accounts are now available.

Army, Air Force Form Partnership, Lay Foundation for CJADC2 Interoperability

October 14th, 2020

WASHINGTON — Unity among military branches and a combined, all-domain effort could be the difference in winning large-scale, multi-domain battles the Army expects to fight in the future.

To help achieve that goal, the Army and Air Force signed a two-year collaboration agreement in the development of Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or CJADC2, which will impact units in both branches, leaders announced Tuesday.

During the daylong meeting at the Pentagon, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. discussed how to best combine each service’s assets to achieve greater synchronization. It also marked the first Army-Air Force talks since Brown took on his new role in August.

Both service chiefs agreed to establish CJADC2 at the most “basic levels” by defining mutual standards for data sharing and service interfacing in an agreement that will run until the end of fiscal year 2022.

Army Futures Command and the Air Force’s office of strategy, integration and requirements, A-5, will lead the effort, designed by the Defense Department to deliver CJADC2 capabilities to the warfighter quicker and to promote “shared’ understanding of concepts and capabilities.

In the CJADC2 concept, each of the military’s six branches would connect sensors, shooters, and command nodes in a “mesh network” that will allow commanders more options and the ability to act faster. Each branch, including the newly-formed Space Force, must learn to interface with each other and successfully access data, reconnaissance and intelligence collected from across joint networks.

“The core challenges of the future fight are speed and scale,” said Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, Army deputy chief of staff, G-3/5/7. “The future fight will be much faster, and the joint force will have more sensors and more shooters. [It will] be more widely distributed than ever before.”

The initiative will combine the Army’s Project Convergence with the Air Force and Space Force’s Advanced Battlefield Management System, or ABMS, and will impact the joint forces’ training as well as exercises and demonstrations.

Project Convergence is the Army’s plan to merge its joint force capabilities and keep pace with technological change. On Sept. 18, the Army completed its five-week Project Convergence 20 exercise at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, where it tested artificial intelligence capabilities along with its abilities to transmit information from sensors in the air, space and on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Air Force developed ABMS to enable the joint force to quickly collect, analyze and transmit data at machine speeds. Both projects are designed to help make informed battlefield decisions faster.

“ABMS is the Internet-of-Things for the military — it’s ‘IoT.mil.’ Imagine the level of situational awareness typically relegated to traditional brick-and-mortar centers being provided to those who need it most on the edge,” said Preston Dunlap, the Air and Space Force’s chief architect. “Imagine allowing operators to choose what data feeds are important to them and for others to be able to subscribe to get the information they need. The power of this architecture is unlocked by services, allies and partners working together to connect networks and share information at machine speed. That’s all-domain superiority. And today’s event took us one step closer to realizing that future.”

By Joe Lacdan, Army News Service