The grenade machine gun was invented to provide area-effect infantry firepower that could decimate enemy infantry with fragmentation bursts from multiple 40mm grenades. The Saco/GD Mk19 is one of the world’s most common GMGs, and events in Afghanistan et. al. are making these weapons very popular. No weapon can be effective without proper training, however – which leads to the question of how one does live training involving a GMG? Glad you asked…
Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH, doing business as Niederlassung NICO Trittau in Trittau, Germany, just received $39 million for delivery order #0003 under a previously awarded firm-fixed indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (M67854-06-D-1027) for the production of 1,496,000 40mm MK281 Mod 0 Practice Cartridges, plus accompanying non-recurring costs. The MK 281 is a training cartridge consisting of 32 rounds linked together in a belt for use in the Mk19 Grenade Machine Gun. Upon impact with the ground, the cartridges expel a non-toxic orange dye that is visible up to a minimum of 1,200 meters in normal daylight conditions, and a chemiluminescent insert that is visible up to 500 meters in darkness (especially with night vision goggles).
That ought to remove the old “I hit you… Did not… Did too…” discussions we all remember so well. Work will be performed Trittau, Germany, is work is expected to be completed by September 2008. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Program Manager for Ammunition in Quantico, VA issued the contract.
As mechanical things get more complex, the difficulty of testing them increases. Think about the testing set-ups you see in today’s auto shops, for instance, vs. the equipment you would have seen 40 years ago. The same dynamic is at work with respect to the devices found in military vehicles and aircraft – and even the weapons they carry.
DME Corp. in Orlando, FL won a $31.9 million for delivery order #0005 under previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (M67854-05-D-3011) for VIPER/T Third Echelon Test Set (TETS) and related equipment. TETS is a weapon system field portable, automated, diagnostic fault isolation mechanism. It is currently used to test components of weapons systems (e.g. Avenger air defense system, TOW 2 Missile, LAV-25 vehicle, LAV-AD vehicle), radar systems (TPS-59, TPS-63, TPQ-46A), and communications gear (TRC-170, Unit Level Circuit Switch). It is also being used to test items from the Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) and will be used to test components of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV, formerly AAAV).
TETS has 3 variants; Radio Frequency (RF), Electro-Optical (EO), and RF/EO. This order covers 32 EO variants, 6 RF/EO variants, 38 Stand Alone Instrument Fixtures, and 38 Calibration Interface Devices. Work will be performed in Orlando, FL, Santa Barbara, CA, and Austin, TX, and is expected to be complete in September 2009. This contract was competitively awarded through full and open competition, with 2 offers received by the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA.
