UF PRO presents this video on SIGMA, Latvia’s Border Guards. People, drugs and other contraband, such as tobacco and fuel are being routinely smuggled to Latvia and throughout Europe. More than 2,600 Latvian border guards keep a constant watch over domestic borders. Take a look SIGMA operates.
NEW YORK, N.Y. – May 9, 2018 – Persistent Systems, LLC (“Persistent”) announced today that it has received a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 security validation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for its MPU5 networking radio and Embedded Module products. Government agencies that require this information security validation will now be able to make wider use of Persistent products.
The MPU5 runs the Wave Relay® mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) routing protocol, allowing users to transmit and relay voice, video, text, and sensor data in a true peer-to-peer fashion. The Embedded Module delivers similar capabilities in a smaller model made for integrating into unmanned systems and sensors.
“We offer a self-forming, self-healing, scalable MANET that is robust and dynamic and can operate in austere and challenging environments that would normally disrupt other communication systems,” said Eric Stern, Director of Engineering at Persistent Systems. “This makes the MPU5 and Embedded Module very attractive for government users.”
Customers in the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and elsewhere already use the MPU5 in daily operations. However, to connect to federal enterprise networks, many agencies require a FIPS 140-2 validation, a standard for hardware and software cryptography that ensures devices can protect the security and integrity of sensitive data.
To get validated for FIPS 140-2, the MPU5 and Embedded Module were put through the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP), which are the security requirements for cryptographic modules. The CMVP is a joint initiative between the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) in Canada. Persistent has been putting its MANET radios through FIPS 140-2 validation since 2010, and the MPU5 and Embedded Module’s validation continues Persistent’s commitment to security.
“Our customers utilize our products on operations and events which are critical to national security,” said Stern. “Therefore, we design our MANET systems from inception to meet the federal cryptographic standards of the United States of America and Canada. Security is always our priority.”
A list of wireless networking products that are FIPS 140-2 validated can be found on the National Institute of Standards and Technology:
csrc.nist.gov/Projects/Cryptographic-Module-Validation-Program/Validated-Modules
Government customers should ensure that wireless networking products are on this list prior to purchase.
The latest MPU5 firmware can be obtained by Persistent customers from the product support portal.
Please visit www.persistentsystems.com to learn more.
ADS has announced that former Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Conway (USMC, Ret) is the key-note speaker for the 2018 Warrior Expo East. According to ADS, he’ll likely address leadership, teambuilding, crisis management, U.S. challenges five to ten years out, and the military’s energy sources in the field.
Beginning his military career as an infantry officer in 1970, General Conway’s postings include serving as the director of operations (J-3) on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force from 2002–2004, where he took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Operation Vigilant Resolve in Fallujah, Iraq.
Before being named commandant, General Conway’s postings included serving as the director of operations (J-3) on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force from 2002–2004, where he took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Operation Vigilant Resolve in Fallujah, Iraq.
Conway began his military career as an infantry officer in 1970, with his first assignment being command of a rifle platoon with 3rd Battalion 1st Marines out of Camp Pendleton. He later served as Marine executive officer aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. He graduated with honors from the Army’s Infantry Officers Advanced Course. As a field grade officer, he commanded two companies of students, teaching tactics at the Basic School, where marines learn the art and science of being an officer. He then served overseas in Lebanon.
Once Conway returned to the U.S. in 1984, he served two years as the senior aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He graduated from Marine Corps Command and Staff College with honors and took command of 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines during the Gulf War, fighting in Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. At the end of the war, he was promoted to colonel and assigned command of the Basic School.
In 1995, he was promoted to brigadier general and again assigned to the Joint Chiefs. There he acted as the deputy director of operations J-3 for combating terrorism. After becoming president, Marine Corps University at Quantico, Virginia, he was promoted to major general. He then served as commander of the 1st Marine Division and as deputy commanding general of Marine Forces Central. In 2002, he was promoted to lieutenant general. He led I Marine Expeditionary Force during two combat tours in Iraq, with 60,000 troops under his command.
Awards and Decorations. His personal decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with gold stars, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.
In a message to the Force, Chief of Staff Gen Goldfein and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Wright announced the transition from the Digital Tigerstripe Airman Battle Uniform to the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) uniform. While the Air Force refers to it as OCP, they are actually describing the paint job on the Army Combat Uniform. This is the same camouflage pattern adopted several years ago by the US Army for the ACU and is already worn by all Airmen while deployed and by many at home station.
Along with the adoption of the new uniform, comes the long hoped for return of squadron patches.
For Airmen who already have them, wear guidance is forthcoming to allow their wear beginning 1 Oct 18.
Fellow Airmen –
After careful consideration, we’ve made the decision to transition from the Airmen Battle Uniform (ABU) to the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) uniform. The following factors influenced this important decision for our service:
OCPs have been part of our Air Force uniform inventory since 2012. Over 100K Airmen have been issued OCPs for deployed use in CENTCOM, 100% of our AFSOC Airmen wear it as their standard, and all of AFGSC’s Security Forces members are authorized OCP wear. We are not adopting a new uniform, we are choosing the best of what is already in our inventory and in use.
Surveys of the force indicated that Airmen overwhelmingly prefer OCPs over ABUs for functionality, fit, and wear; specifically:
OCPs work in all climates and across the spectrum of our mission sets. It is equally suitable on a flight line, in a launch control facility, and on a JTAC calling in fires.
OCPs are a better fit for both men and women. We heard loud and clear that the ABU has not been functional or sized correctly for women.
Already in our inventory and in use, the OCP 2-piece flight suit has overwhelming support from aircrew. This uniform will be authorized for all non-ejection seat wear and made available for purchase/issue. In addition, it will be tested for use in ejection seats for those who may prefer it over the one-piece flight suit.
OCPs will become the joint combat uniform for Airmen and Soldiers while patches and nametapes will identify our respective services. Service distinction will be maintained in our Blues, Service Dress, Mess Dress and PT uniforms.
OCPs allow us to bring back squadron patches and heraldry which is central to our culture as Airmen. While we will no longer allow squadron colored T-Shirts with OCPs, we will celebrate unit integrity with appropriate patches and insignia.
OCP guidance and timelines are available for review on MyPers. In order to allow squadrons to develop patches and ensure the correct accoutrements are available, we have set 1 Oct 18 to begin wearing OCPs for those who have them. Transition details can be found in the guidance.
Thank you for your active engagement and your patience as we made this important decision for our service. We remain committed to listening to you, Airmen in the fight and command teams on point.
We’re proud to serve with you –
DAVID L. GOLDFEIN
General, USAF Chief of Staff
KALETH O. WRIGHT
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
Last week, Army Contracting Command Warren (ACC-WRN) issued a notice they were planning to modify a contract with Colt’s Manufacturing Company, LLC per FAR 6.302-1 that will result in an increase in the maximum contract quantity under the Firm Fixed Price, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract W56HZV-15-D-0038 for the following items in support of Foreign Military Sales:
NSN: 1005-01-231-0973
Noun: M4 Carbine 5.56mm
PN: 9390000
NSN: 1005-01-382-0953
Noun: M4A1 Carbine 5.56mm
PN: 12972700
Specifically, the action will increase from the current number by 10,000 from 55,500 each to 65,500 each, of any combination of M4 and M4A1 Carbine Rifles.
Last week’s NDIA Armaments Forum ended with a briefing by Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane, of what is this year’s most applicable topic, for both the US military as well as manufacturers of commercial AR variants. Last year Crane unveiled their findings regarding KeyMod vs M-Lok. This year it’s the performance of a mid-gas system on an M4 carbine.
NSWC-Crane, or Crane as it is commonly known, is located in rural Indiana. In addition to providing a wide range of acquisition services for the US Navy, they are also responsible for the test, evaluation, procurement and life-cycle management of SOF weapons. It’s in this role that they evaluated the mid-length gas system for United States Army Special Operations Command M4A1 carbines.
Gas System History
The M16 Rifle and variants use a 20” barrel and gas system. This rifle length gas system uses a gas tube 15” in length with gas port at 13”. The well distance is approximately 7”.
When the M4 was developed, research concluded the Army should utilize a 14.5” barrel for the M4 & M4A1 carbines
This necessitated redesign of the M16 gas system because a 14.5” barrel with a rifle length gas system had only 1.3” dwell distance. Consequently, they gas port was moved to 7.8” from bolt face on M4 offering 6.7” dwell distance.
This decrease in distance from the bolt face to the gas port resulted in an increased port pressure in the M4 carbine when compared to M16 rifle. The port pressure of the M4 at 7.8” from the bolt face is 17,000 psi, while port pressure at 13” from bolt face of the M16 is 10,000 psi.
Mid-Gas Testing included:
– Endurance
– Reliability
– Precision
– Muzzle Velocity
– Terminal Velocity (@100 yards)
– Bolt Speed
– Low Temperature (-60F)
– High Temperature (160F)
– Barrel Erosion
However, the briefing did not address every area of testing.
Endurance & Reliability
So far, Crane has put 30,400 rounds of M855A1 through three M4A1s equipped with 14.5″ cold hammer forged barrels and a mid-gas system with a gas block approximately 9.8″ from the bolt face.
They stated SOF M4A1s normally start to see accuracy degradation at around 6,000 rounds. But during testing of the mid-gas system, they’d hit 12,600 and still hadn’t seen any changes.
They also have only broken one bolt so far in testing, although I don’t think they’re ready to attribute the improved bolt performance to the mid-gas system.
The Crane team will finish testing up with 34,000 rounds per upper. It’s not that they don’t think the barrels can’t take more, but rather that they had to use the same lot of M855A1 to satisfy the accuracy portions of testing.
USSOCOM Accuracy Testing & Protocol
With this mid-gas system they are getting 5 MOA groups while the standard is 7 MOA. One of the three uppers was shooting 1 MOA, except for the tenth round which was still within limits.
Interestingly, USSOCOM tests accuracy differently than most others. They fire 10 rounds suppressed and another 10 rounds unsuppressed. They measure the extremes of the spread of impacts, rather than their closest points. Then, they do it again two more times and average the results to determine accuracy.
Muzzle Velocity
These measurements are averaged and validate what we know about the use of suppressors increasing muzzle velocity.
Terminal Velocity
The velocity at 100 yards for mid-length weapons is 32.6 fps or 1.2%, higher for suppressed fire and 41.7 fps or 1.6%, higher for unsuppressed fire.
Cyclic Rate
Mid-length cyclic rate of automatic fire was 62.7 rounds per minute (rpm), or 7%, lower than carbine-length for suppressed fire and 127.2 rpm, or 16%, lower for unsuppressed fire.
Temperature High & Low
960 rounds were fired at 160F for Reliability at High Temp and another at -60F for Reliability at Low Temp.
For carbine-length weapons, 5 out of 65 malfunctions occurred during high temperature testing. For mid-length weapons, 1 out of 30 malfunctions occurred during high temperature testing. For high temperature testing, carbine-length weapons had 576.0 mean rounds between failures (MRBF) compared to 836.1 MRBF for ambient temperature testing and mid-length weapons had 2800 MRBF compared to 1993.8 MRBF for ambient temperature testing.
For carbine-length weapons, 27 out of 65 malfunctions occurred during low temperature testing. For mid-length weapons, 16 out of 30 malfunctions occurred during low temperature testing. For low temperature testing, carbine-length weapons had 333.3 mean rounds between failures (MRBF) compared to 836.1 MRBF for ambient temperature testing and mid-length weapons had 562.5 MRBF compared to 1993.8 MRBF for ambient temperature testing. Approximately half of the total malfunctions recorded for both carbine-length and mid-length weapons occurred during low temperature testing, so the relative rate of malfunctions between carbine-length and mid-length remained similar to that of ambient temperature testing.
Conclusion
Although testing to 34,000 rounds isn’t yet complete, the conclusion is simple. Use of a mid-gas system significantly extends the life of the overall weapon system. It also offers increased performance over a carbine-length gas system.
Implications
This information is particularly important for the US Air Force’s Improved Modular Rifle – Blue program which templates off of upper receiver group improvements adopted by USASOC (Brownells is offering a similar package for reference). While USASOC will upgrade up to 15,000 carbines, the AF wants to modify around 50,000 guns. That could be enough to force a major Technical Data Package update applicable to all services and creation of a GOTS upgrade for all M4s, regardless of service.
This government testing also validates what many commercial vendors have been offering for years.
Once again, it’s all you can eat wings p, entertainment, and silent auction, this July 14th from 12-4 PM, at Lenny’s Cafe, 1581 General Booth Blvd, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454. Proceeds benefit the All In All the Time Foundation.
Get your tickets at www.aiatt.org.
WESTFIELD, Massachusetts – May 10, 2018 –Savage unleashed a flurry of new high-performance firearms at the 2018 NRA Meetings and Exhibits Show in Dallas, Texas. The new models unveiled include the MSR 15 Long Range and MSR 15 300 Blackout Pistol, along with the Rascal FV-SR, Rascal Target and Rascal Target XP.
The MSR 15 Long Range is built to with a 22-inch stainless steel barrel deliver pinpoint precision at any distance. Savage engineers tuned barrel length specifically for the 224 Valkyrie cartridge to achieve peak accuracy at extreme range. The MSR 15 Long Range barrel is also topped with a two-port muzzle brake mounted with Savage’s proprietary taper-lock interface. The brake allows shooters to adjust recoil impulse and stabilize the muzzle for faster, more accurate follow-up shots.
The MSR 15 Long Range also features a custom-length gas system, paired with a low-profile adjustable gas block, that is enclosed by a true free-float handguard. The gas block can be adjusted for optimum cycling of the full range of bullet weights and tuned for use with a suppressor.
For its part, the MSR 15 Blackout Pistol, equipped with KAK Shockwave Brace, takes full advantage of the 300 Blackout’s adaptability to a wide range of hunting, self-defense and tactical situations. The AR Pistol uses a pistol-length gas system so shooters can utilize suppressors and reliably cycle subsonic ammunition without adding length and weight. Plus, its 10.5-inch melonite QPQ coated barrel’s 5R button rifling provides both accuracy and maneuverability, while a full suite of accessory upgrades make it easier and more comfortable to shoot.
Savage’s new Rascals are pint-sized powerhouses designed to take the industry’s safest micro rimfire to new heights. The new rifles can shoot 22 Short, 22 Long or 22 Long Rifle ammunition. These single-shot rifles feature Savage’s user-adjustable Accu-Trigger system. Like the original Rascal, they cock by lifting the bolt and unload easily—without pulling the trigger. The design also builds superior shooting skills thanks to full-size rifle features.
The Rascal FV-SR enhances accuracy with a heavy barrel with a threaded (1/2-28) muzzle and sports a tough synthetic stock. The Rascal Target features a precision hardwood stock, heavy 16 1/8-inch barrel, one-piece Picatinny rail and is also threaded muzzle for accuracy and adaptability.
The Rascal Target XP offers all the Rascal Target amenities in a ready-to-shoot package that comes with a mounted and bore-sighted 4x32mm scope, as well as a bipod sling swivel stud mount.
Part No. / Description / MSRP
22947 / MSR 15 Long Range, 224 Valkyrie, 22-inch barrel / $1,849
22933 / MSR 15 Blackout, 300 Blackout, 10.5-inch barrel / $1,099
13834 / Rascal FV-SR Black, 22 S, L, LR, 16.125-inch barrel / $219
13835 / Rascal FV-SR Pink, 22 S, L, LR, 16.125-inch barrel / $219
13823 / Rascal Target, 22 S, L, LR, 16.125-inch barrel / $314
13824 / Rascal Target XP, 22 S, L, LR, 16.125-inch barrel / $399
13836 / Rascal Target XP LH, 22 S, L, LR, 16.125-inch barrel / $399
To learn more about Savage, visit www.savagearms.com.
