December 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Public-private team in Turkey unveils drone with laser gun
The Eren was on display at the Konya Science Festival this month.
June 13, 2019 | International, Other Defence
SOCOM wants a new armor piercing sniper bullet. Here’s one option engineers are developing
As the U.S. military shifts its focus back to fighting more traditional, near-peer adversaries like Russian or Chinese troops, the services are building out plans to revamp their gear to deal with better-equipped forces backed by money and technology from world powers.
That extends all the way down to the clothing and equipment each of these adversaries could be wearing into battle, including sophisticated body armor.
That's why SOCOM is reportedly looking at replacing its decades-old armor piercing small arms round.
“Snipers in USSOCOM units have a capability gap in their ability to penetrate enemy body armor, small boat engines and concrete barriers,” Crane researchers said in a slide presentation at this year's National Defense Industries Association Armaments Symposium.
The current round uses a discarding sabot the shields a sharpened tungsten penetrator that'll beat most armor and hard targets.
But that round is expensive at more than $10 per cartridge, can damage modern small arms accessories like suppressors and muzzle brakes and doesn't hold zero when switching from a traditional jacketed round to the AP round. That makes it difficult for snipers to go from one round to another and hit their target in the heat of battle.
So researchers at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana, are looking at a new way to make the rounds cheaper, easier on snipers' guns and more ballistically consistent with common, jacketed bullets.
Dubbed “aeroshell” projectiles, the Crane engineers want to build and test bullets with a tungsten penetrator jacketed in a polymer shell. Federal Ammunition, a civilian ammo company, makes rounds with similar characteristics dubbed “Syntech."
These rounds are typically used by competitive shooters who shoot many rounds in practice and at matches and want to preserve barrel life and diminish spawl from hitting steel targets.
Crane researchers want to take the same thought process and apply it to a new AP round. The actual penetrator could have a slightly different shape than the current rounds, with more of a traditional bullet profile than today's needle-like AP round penetrator.
Researchers plan to create about 150 rounds of this new aeroshell AP round in .338 Norma Mag, 300 Norma Mag and 6.5 Creedmoor. They plan to test the rounds against representative body armor at 100, 400, 800 and 1,000 meters.
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November 17, 2021 | International, C4ISR
Thales dévoile un radar de surveillance aérienne aux capacités de traitement cinq fois plus élevées
Thales a dévoilé un nouveau radar aux performances significativement accrues par rapport à celles affichées par ses précédents modèles de la gamme GM400. Le radar Ground Master 400 Alpha dispose d'une puissance de traitement cinq fois plus élevée et d'algorithmes d'intelligence artificielles « avancés ». Radar 3D à longue portée, le GM400 Alpha pourra constituer pour les forces armées un « outil précieux pour obtenir un avantage tactique, en détectant tous les types de menaces de manière précoce, offrant ainsi de précieuses minutes pour la prise de décision et l'action », assure l'industriel. Le fonctionnement de ce GM400 Alpha repose sur la technologie numérique à faisceaux superposés, ce qui lui permet de détecter des cibles « allant des jets et missiles rapides aux hélicoptères et drones en vol stationnaire ». Surtout, Thales insiste sur sa capacité à détecter et à poursuive la menace des « drones tactiques volant près du sol », tout en faisant de même, simultanément, pour les chasseurs-bombardiers évoluant à plus haute altitude. Opex360 du 15 novembre
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December 11, 2020 | International, Land
KMW renews Dutch FENNEK fleet
Munich/The Hague, December 9, 2020 – Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and the Dutch procurement agency DMO (Defence Materiel Organisation) have signed a contract for the upgrading of 322 FENNEK vehicles. The MLU (Mid Life Update) order has a volume of over EUR 300 million and includes among others the integration of new observation and reconnaissance systems (BAA II NDL) and the integration of the C4I command and control system. The work is to be carried out at KMW in Germany as well as in the Netherlands, at the partner companies Van Halteren Defence and Nedinsco in cooperation with the army's Material Stock Logistic Command (MatLogCo). Delivery of the upgraded FENNEK systems will begin in 2021 and is expected to be completed in 2027. The FENNEK is a binational project between Germany and the Netherlands. There are other variants in addition to the FENNEK recon vehicles, ranging from an engineering vehicle to an anti-tank version and even one for high-mobility anti-aircraft defence. What they all have in common is a high off-road ability thanks to the special drive concept and robust chassis design. Downloadlink: https://www.kmweg.com/news-media/photos/press-kits/detail/kmw-renews-dutch-fennek-fleet/ Press contact Should you have any further questions, please contact: Christian Budde External Communications View source version on KMW: https://www.kmweg.com/news-media/press/detail/kmw-erneuert-niederlaendische-fennek-flotte/