HK M320 on M4

Top 10 invention winner; 18,000 ordered. (July 5/11)

Sometimes, 5.56mm just isn’t going to get the job done – and neither will any other standard rifle caliber. Shoulder fired rockets are heavy, which limits carrying capacity, and can’t fill all needs with their warheads. That’s why most militaries use reloadable 40mm grenade launchers as key supplemental firepower for their infantry squads, while leveraging the round’s array of special-purpose ammunition types.

HK’s M320 seems set to become the US Army’s new under-weapon/ hand-held 40mm grenade launcher. The M320A1 fits on the Army’s M4 or HK’s HK416, while the M320 fits M16 rifles. They appear to be the M203’s successor in the US Army and associated Reserve or Guard units, and like their predecessor, M320s attach or detach from a rifle with no special tools required. Unlike their slightly lighter predecessors, the double-action M320s include a side-loading breach for longer 40mm grenade types, instead of the M203’s slide-forward-to-load operation. An optional day/night sight, and a handheld laser rangefinder for the grenadier, make the system more accurate, as do mechanical sights that maintain their zero via direct mounting on the launcher, instead of the rifle. If required, a detachable sliding buttstock quickly converts the M320 from an under-weapon addition to a single-purpose “bloop tube.”

• Aero India 2011 exhibition takes flight.

• The USA OKs its next-generation SSBN-X nuclear missile submarines for Milestone A studies, to accompany missile compartment contracts already underway.

• Even as reports gather that China has tested Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles of its own.

• How did Northrop Grumman do in the fourth quarter? Depends who you talk to: Reuters | Wall Street Journal.

• Pentagon backs mergers and acquisitions among smaller defense suppliers, but not for the heavy hitters.

• DoD is requesting $7 billion less in FY 2012 than was forecast last year, according to a Bloomberg report.

• US Army wants more “Punisher” XM25 semi-automatic high-explosive airburst weapons for Afghanistan.

• US SOCOM forces stretched to the limit in Afghanistan, commander warns.

• Defense electronics contracts totaled in excess of a billion dollars in January 2011, according to Strategy Analytics.

• Greenbelt, MD-based Gryphon Technologies is adding 60 jobs and office space in Bloomington, IN, to accommodate its $26.6 million logistics services contract with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.

• Harris snags $9 million order to supply Falcon II 400-watt AN/PRC-150-C radios for the US Army’s Joint Biological Point Detection System [PDF] designed to identify biological threats on the battlefield.

Kandahar PRT

BAE’s PAS-13 thermal sight to be part of the fire control system. (Jan 25/10)

The infantry soldier is the center of gravity in current wars, and improvements to the individual soldier’s equipment and firepower overmatch often provide most bang for the buck to militaries wishing to make a difference on the ground. They’re not high profile purchases, however, which often creates neglect and delays. 40mm grenade weapons are an obvious choice, given their area suppression abilities and versatile ammunition. Grenade Machine Guns go beyond 1-shot rifle attachments and even beyond multi-shot weapons like the M-32/MSGL, providing medium-range, area effect firepower that decisively beats other infantry weapons within its reach.

The Americans have deployed 40mm GMGs from the outset of conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, mostly General Dynamics’ Mk19. That inventory is modernizing, as the USA has begun buying General Dynamics’ new STRIKER 40, with programmed airburst features. Others have been slower. Britain addressed this gap back in 2006, when it began ordering Heckler & Koch GMG systems to equip its Royal Marines. Canada has been much slower to react, but 8 years after its troops entered Afghanistan, the Close Area Suppression Weapon (CASW) project aims to give Canadians the same options that other militaries already enjoy…

• The CASW Cock-Up
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

• US defense secretary Gates calls for military to focus on reducing overhead costs, which are over 40% of the budget. TRICARE medical costs are one element of that.

• South Korea finds RDX, a chemical substance used in torpedoes, on sunken ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772), a Pohang-class patrol combat corvette.

• Was Greece wrestled into buying German submarines, French FREMM frigates, and other equipment, as a quiet condition of its bailout package?

• Pakistan test fires 2 nuclear-capable missiles – the Ghaznavi with a range of 180 miles and the Shaheen with a range of 400 miles.

• IISS study: Iran makes “robust strides” in developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

• Meet Inbal Kreis, the woman in charge of Israel’s Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile development program.

• Remaining B-61 American nuclear bombs in Europe stirring controversy, security concerns at Belgium’s Kleine Brogel air base, Dutch Volkel, Germany’s Buechel, Italy’s Ghedi Torre and Aviano, and Incirlik in Turkey.

• Afghan National Army soldiers get NATO training on the M-9 pistol, M-16 rifle, M203 grenade launcher, M-249 squad automatic weapon, M-240B machine gun, and .50-caliber machine gun.

• Sock it to them: Swiss defense ministry tests high-tech sweat-absorbing socks for soldiers.

• STG gets $19 million order to help with the BRAC-mandated relocation of US Army’s TRADOC headquarters from Fort Monroe to Fort Eustis, both in Virginia.

• US Senate is unlikely to take up the House-passed IMPROVE Act, which would reform the US defense acquisition process.

• USAF C-130Hs dispatched to spray dispensants on the growing Gulf of Mexico oil slick, as it approaches critical shorelines. Too little, too late?

• A US federal grand jury indicts 6 people and 3 companies with conspiring to defraud the US government of $40 million by supplying aircraft countermeasure flares that included banned Chinese magnesium. US DoJ release | Associated Press | Buffalo News

• From the “yeah, we’ve noticed” department: Chinese defense industrial ramp-up, penchant for unauthorized knock-offs, turning it from major Russian arms client to minor/non-client and competitor.

• Can computer aggregated probability modeling help US Intelligence agencies to avoid ther long history of filtering out dissenting opinions, and blowing big calls?

• Clould computing, biometrics, and major network programs are featured in the US Army’s 2010 modernization plan.

• Shock and Awe: General Dynamics, ATK get USMC contract to demonstrate Medusa 66mm flash-bang grenade and launcher.

• Having 20% of its Eisenhower-era KC-135 aerial tankers in depot at any one time makes it hard to meet 2 of 3 USAF MCRS scenarios.

• Back to the Future: Canadian Navy reinstates 1910 “executive curl” on naval officers’ rank insignia.

• UK parliamentary panel says defense budget gap could reach GBP 36 billion, 6 times the MoD’s estimate. Defense programs could be slashed. Panel report | Reuters | Bloomberg | Telegraph | Daily Mail

• World Trade Organization hands down ruling on Airbus subsidies from 2004 case. Airbus plans to continue launch subsidy practices for the post-case A350, however, lengthening EADS’ odds in any KC-X tanker bid.

• US House of Representatives approves Rep. Skelton’s [D-MO] TRICARE Affirmation Act (H.R. 4887) 403 – 0. The bill explicitly deems that TRICARE and nonappropriated fund (NAF) health plans meet all of the minimum requirements under Obama’s new health care laws, and will not force military families to buy extra coverage or face fines.

• US Missile Defense Agency chief takes contractors to task over quality control, even as review confirms the growing need for ABM/BMD capabilities.

• Israelis finally lift the lid on their G550 Eitam AWE&C/ Shavit ELINT fleet, may have an eye on potential orders from India.

• Lockheed employee says General Atomics has a customer for its “Predator C/ Avenger” jet-powered, high-altitude UAV.

• Israelis going slower on the AirMule ducted-fan vertical take-off and landing cargo and medical evacuation UAV.

• Pakistan tells US it wants more military aid for war on terror. Christian Science Monitor | Reuters | Wall Street Journal | New York Times | AFP | See also “US GAO Criticizes Aid to Pakistan”

• The human element: USAF, Chilean medics learning from each other in EMEDS facility post-quake. US DSCA director is also in town.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers: India’s chili grenade delivers deep kick if dosed. Future versions may offer one hot minute to one big mob.

• General Dynamics gets $37 million contract to beef up M-1 Abrams tank design.

MK13 flash-bang grenade

American Rheinmetall Munitions (ARM), a Stafford, VA-based subsidiary of Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence, received a $28.8 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract from the US Navy for an improved flash-bang grenade.

ARM currently supplies the MK13 Mod 0 BTV-EL flash-bang grenade to US special ops forces and other US military customers. The MK13 is a stun grenade that produces a blinding flash and deafening noise levels sufficient to daze and disorient the target, without causing permanent injury, the company explains.

The MK13 uses a delay fuze that detonates the grenade 1.5 seconds after the fly-off lever is released…

No worse enemy….

While high-tech weapons items get a lot of billing, the Global War on Terror is very much an infantry war. Firepower overmatch matters in those situations, which explains the corresponding popularity of 40mm grenade systems on the modern battlefield. Enter, then, the US Marine Corps’ M-32 six-shot 40mm grenade launcher.

During an annual symposium several years ago, Marine gunners decided that they needed an option that was more powerful than the ubiquitous M203 one-shot launchers that mount under their M4 or M16 rifles. The M-32 won out as an experimental weapon for each marine battalion – and now a variant appears to have won a larger formal competition.

66mm Smoke Grenade

American Rheinmetall Munitions (ARM) in Stafford, VA received an $8.2 million order from the Program Manager for Ammunition, Marine Corps Systems Command, in Quantico, VA, to deliver vehicle-launched 66mm visual and infrared screening smoke grenades. The Marines chose the ARM’s red phosphorous smoke MK 1 MOD 0 grenade over the brass flakes-based M76 grenade.

Both the MK 1 MOD 0 and the M76 are armored-vehicle-launched grenades that provide masking for armored vehicles in the visible and thermal infrared wavebands, so-called bispectral obscurants. The obscurants make it difficult for the enemy to detect the vehicles by blocking the electromagnetic spectrum. However, the grenades provide masking in different ways. The MK 1 MOD 0 grenade uses red phosphorous pellets and wafers that, when burned, generate a thick smoke the blocks detection of the vehicle in the visible and infrared spectrum. The M76 grenade uses micropulverized flakes of brass that when dispersed by the grenade also block the infrared and visible spectrum.

MK47 Striker40

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products recently announced a $12 million contract from the U.S. government for production of the MK47 STRIKER40 lightweight grenade machine gun.

40mm grenade machine guns like the Mk19 are extremely effective weapons against lightly protected opponents, offering fast firepower overmatch against superior numbers. The STRIKER40 updates the standard GMG by dropping the gun’s weight from 77 pounds/ 35 kg without the tripod mount (Mk19 MOD 3) to 39.6 pounds/ 18kg (Mk47 MOD 0). That change, in and of itself, has helped spur early use by US special operations forces, and led to scrutiny of interesting new technologies like Vinghog AS’ low-recoil “soft mounts”. When assembled with its own tripod and sight for carriage on foot, however, the Mk47’s weight rises to 90 pounds/ 41 kg.

The AN/PVG-1 Lightweight Video Sight (LVS) offers Striker40 operators 3X magnification, a laser range finder and ballistic computer, and interface connectors for an optional thermal night sight attachment. LVS is installed on the right side of the weapon, and is controlled by buttons and 4-position “joystick” located at the rear of the receiver, between and above the spade grips. These additions allow the gunner to fire programmed airbursts that detonate at precise distances specified by the LVS’ laser rangefinder. Opponents hiding behind a wall or in a trench can no longer depend on their protection, which is very useful in urban fights and counterinsurgency campaigns. The flip side is an increase in the cost of each weapon, and in the associated maintenance burdens.