Land forces news

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March 19, 2009
Stars and Stripes|by Leo Shane III

WASHINGTON -- Military officials promised to conduct more suicide prevention education and hire more psychiatrists to stem an alarming rise in the number of servicemembers who have killed themselves in recent years.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff for the Army, called the suicide figures for his service "unacceptable" and fixing them "the most difficult and critical mission" of his military career.

"The reality is, there is no simple solution," he said. "It is going to require a multi-disciplinary approach, and a team effort at every level of command."

According to the Army, there were 140 confirmed suicides last year and another seven probable suicides still under investigation. That's up from 115 in 2007, and 101 in 2006.

The other services reported similar trends, each seeing an increase in their suicide rates in the last two years. Wednesday's hearing was designed to address plans to deal with the rate of military suicides, which is above the national average.

"Despite the services best efforts, there is still a lot of work to be done," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who called the numbers "alarming."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates addressed the issue Wednesday with Pentagon reporters.

“What I am told is that one of the principle causes of suicide among our men and women in uniform is broken relationships. And it's hard not to imagine repeated deployments don't have an impacted on those relationships …

“[It] just seems to me common sense that repeated deployments have got to weight very heavily on relationships. … I will always feel that the 15-month deployments were a real strain on many of our men and women in uniform as well.”

In January, Army leaders ordered a "stand-down" so all soldiers could receive suicide prevention training.

Chiarelli said more training is on the way -- over the next four months, all soldiers will receive additional classes highlighting mental health problems and resources available to those suffering from such issues.

"I can assure members of the committee -- this is not business as usual," he said.

Marines also will receive additional suicide prevention training this month. The Air Force last month unveiled a new 11-point training program for its airmen. Naval leaders promised a review of their prevention programs as well.

Earlier this month, Rep. Michael McMahon, D-N.Y., introduced legislation mandating all returning troops have one-on-one meetings with a licensed health profession within three to six months to screen for signs of brain trauma and suicidal tendencies.

Brian Altman, acting chief operating officer for Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, said the services have made improvements on the issue in the last year.

But they still need to hire more medical professionals to handle troops suffering from depression -- a promise they've been making for several years, he said -- and to do a better job educating about signs of suicidal thoughts.

"They've done a good job with troops … but many times those who commit suicide are not in theater," he said. "So we would like to see them try and educate spouses and other family members, too, so they can identify the warning signs."

Stars and Stripes reporter Kevin Baron contributed to this report.

 

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Thursday, March 19th, 2009

REDONDO BEACH, Calif.– Reaching new heights with its scalable building block approach for compact, electric laser weapons, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has produced the most powerful light ray yet created by an electric laser, measured at more than 105 kilowatts (kW).

The company claimed ownership of this record by completing the final demonstration milestone of the U.S. military’s Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program, Phase 3. The achievements included turn-on time of less than one second and continuous operating time of five minutes, with very good efficiency and beam quality. Last year, Northrop Grumman reported reaching a JHPSSL Phase 3 power level of 15.3kW in March and a power level of 30kW in September.

“Our modular JHPSSL design makes it straightforward to scale laser weapon systems to mission-required power levels for a variety of uses, to include force protection and precision strike missions for air-, sea- and land-based platforms,” said Dan Wildt, vice president of Directed Energy Systems for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector.

“This achievement is particularly important because the 100kW threshold has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for ‘weapons grade’ power levels for high-energy lasers. In fact, many militarily useful effects can be achieved by laser weapons of 25kW or 50 kW, provided this energy is transmitted with good beam quality, as our system does. With this milestone, we have far exceeded those needs.”

Wildt continued, “Power scaling will be one of the game-changing features of high-energy lasers because it allows graduated responses by U.S. military services appropriate for whatever level of threat they may face. Threats vary, and so should the response.”

Jay Marmo, Northrop Grumman’s JHPSSL program manager, pointed out how the company’s scalable, building block approach also readily enables more challenging missions that require well above 100 kW of good beam quality laser power.

“Getting to 100 kW with replicated building blocks proves we can scale to these higher power levels if required for a given mission. This watershed development, coupled with our FIRESTRIKE(tm) laser ruggedization work, unequivocally demonstrates that Northrop Grumman is ready to bring high-power, solid state lasers to the defense of our deployed forces.”

For building blocks, the company utilizes “laser amplifier chains,” each producing approximately15kW of power in a high-quality beam. Seven laser chains were combined to produce a single beam of 105.5 kW. The seven-chain JHPSSL laser demonstrator ran for more than five minutes, achieved electro-optical efficiency of 19.3 percent, reaching full power in less than 0.6 seconds, all with beam quality of better than 3.0.

The laser already has been operated at above 100kW for a total duration of more than 85 minutes. A government team reviewed results of the demonstration during a System Test Data Review held Feb. 10 at Northrop Grumman’s Directed Energy Production Facility in Redondo Beach, Calif.

“It is notable that we were able to meet the power demonstration goal with only seven laser chains, rather than the full eight chains we can accommodate. This shows the robustness of our industry-unique approach and the ability of our lasers to deliver predicted performance,” Marmo emphasized. “Adding the eighth chain will increase laser power to 120kW.”

Source: Tactical-Life.com Most Powerful Electric Light Ray Exceeds ‘Weapons Grade’ Threshold

 

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American Institute of Physics

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND, 12 March 2009 —A group of researchers in Tennessee and Denmark has discovered a way to sensitively detect explosives based on the physical properties of their vapors. Their technology, which is currently being developed into prototype devices for field testing, is described in the latest issue of the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, which is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

“Certain classes of explosives have unique thermal characteristics that help to identify explosive vapors in presence of other vapors,” says Thomas Thundat, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee who conducted the research with his colleagues at ORNL and the Technical University of Denmark.

In their paper, the scientists show that their technology is capable of trace detection of explosives. They also show that it is capable of distinguishing between explosive and non-explosive chemicals and of differentiating between individual explosives, such as TNT, PETN, and RDX.

Thundat and others have been working on explosive sensors for years. Typical sensors use ion mobility spectrometers, which ionize tiny amounts of chemicals and measure how fast they move through an electric field. While these instruments are fast, sensitive, and reliable, they are also expensive and bulky, leading many researchers in the last few years to try to find a cheaper, more portable device for detecting explosives.

Much of this research focuses on “micromechanical” devices — tiny sensors that have microscopic probes on which airborne chemical vapors deposit. When the right chemicals find the surface of the sensors, they induce tiny mechanical motions, and those motions create electronic signals that can be measured.

These devices are relatively inexpensive to make and can sensitively detect explosives, but they often have the drawback that they cannot discriminate between similar chemicals — the dangerous and the benign. They may detect a trace amount of TNT, for instance, but they may not be able to distinguish that from a trace amount of gasoline.

Seeking to make a better micromechanical sensor, Thundat and his colleagues realized they could detect explosives selectively and with extremely high sensitivity by building sensors that probed the thermal signatures of chemical vapors.

They started with standard micromechanical sensors — devices with microscopic cantilevers beams supported at one end. They modified the cantilevers so that they could be electronically heated by passing a current through them. Next they allowed air to flow over the sensors. If explosive vapors were present in the air, they could be detected when molecules in the vapor clung to the cantilevers.

Then by heating the cantilevers in a fraction of a second, they could discriminate between explosives and non-explosives. All the explosives they tested responded with unique and reproducible thermal response patterns within a split second of heating. In their paper, Thundat and his colleagues demonstrate that they could detect very small amounts of adsorbed explosives — with a limit of 600 picograms (a picogram is a trillionth of a gram). They are now improving the sensitivity and making a prototype device, which they expect to be ready for field testing later this year.

Source: Tactical-Life.com New Method for Detecting Explosives

 

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When I was offered the assignment of writing this article, I saw a great opportunity to clarify a lot of misconceptions and myths that have surrounded the MK211. Many armies field the Nammo Multi-Purpose (MP) ammunition in various denominations, such as MK211 or NM140. This is due to the ammunition being assembled with various components at various locations, but always with the same Nammo bullet, manufactured at their factory at Raufoss, Norway.

In this article I will outline the general performance and specifications of the MP round without giving precise data about its maximum capabilities. With the U.S. military and allies in Harm’s Way, I have decided not to give away those data that would fully describe the MP round effects and could help our enemies. The Multi-Purpose ammunition was born in the late 70´s when the Norwegian Army Material Command demanded thenew requirements for the 12.7mm weapon family. The requirements included increased kill probability, accuracy, portability of the weapon in the field and improved mean point of impact on target.

Until then, the 12.7mm had been “just” medium calibre round. It packed a lot of punch and it was the biggest rifle caliber available, but it was nothing more than a kinetic energy round. The 650gr+ bullet had API and AP capability with or without tracer compound, and in the most common configuration—the M33 ball—it was just a big bullet with a lot of energy. The requirements filed by the Norwegian Army and the development of the MP concept gave the “fifty” a new life and has converted it into the undisputed king of the infantry arsenal.

This set of requirements was supposed to increase the 12.7mm weapon system from an effect level just above 7.62mm to one closer to that of a 20mm cannon. The answer to these requirements was the 12.7mm Nammo Multi-Purpose cartridge and the Barrett M82 rifle.

Based on the principles from the 20mm NM75 developed 10 years earlier, the load had similar terminal by delivering fragments, blast and incendiary effect after penetrating light targets. It was optimized for an anti-vehicle role with a secondary role against light armor and area suppression. That “area suppression effect” is the one that has induced most erroneous perceptions about the MP bullet, helped by various combat videos, in which the fragmentation cone effect of the MP round is described.

THE MULTI PURPOSE ‘GREEN TIP’
The 12.7mm multipurpose concept was introduced in 1981 with a design focused on penetration, fragmentation, incendiary and blast effect.

In the photo above, we can see the jacket covering the projectile. In the front we have the incendiary RS41; we have the steel shell body containing the high explosive, incendiary and tungsten carbide penetrator. The projectile contains no fuse or sensitive high explosives (primary explosives).

Now you know what’s inside a MK211 bullet, but how does it work? Chronologically, the MP will penetrate, delay, function, fragment, blast and incendiary effect, until beyond 25 cm in the back of the target. We will have approximately 40 fragments of which 20 of them are effective and also incendiary compound fragments for more than 10m.

The incendiary effect is the first one we analyzed. We could see x-ray flash photos of a 12.7mm projectile in flight before and after hitting a 2mm dural plate. We could see that the deformation of the jacket was in the area of 3mm, which is necessary to ignite the incendiary. When fired against a 2mm dural plate at 200m, the projectile shall produce an incendiary flash, according to the NATO requirement, within 60cm behind target plate.

The MK211 will fail to ignite thin metal jerry cans. If the target is not capable of deforming the nose of the bullet and igniting the incendiary and effectively, you will only have a ball bullet.

To illustrate the fragmentation effect and pattern, ammunition makers often use a sandwich target. The MP projectile produces about 20 fragments and delivers them in a 25–30 degree cone inside the target. These fragments have the energy to penetrate a 1.25mm steel plate 2 meters behind the impact plate. The fragments will have an increase in velocity of about 10–15 percent, due to the blast pressure.

The projectile will ignite after hitting a 2mm dural plate in angles of impact between 0 to 85 degrees NATO. In angles between 45 and 85 degrees the projectile will ignite dural plates with thickness down to 1mm. When firing at the ground the projectile will ignite if the soil is reasonably compact. At short range, the projectile will function after impact in most kinds of soil, and this application of fragmentation when hitting a hard surface or the soil leads to the MP effect that has attracted most attention in the past years, mostly due to the videos that have appeared on the web.

THE DEADLY SUPPRESSION EFFECT
The suppression effect is significant for the MP rounds compared to API rounds. Blast, flash, projectile fragments and debris from the ground are delivered in the target area. When hitting in the front of targets, the hit probability will be several meters behind the point of impact due to the fragmentation cone. The suppression effect from the MP rounds is significant and deadly. There are numerous combat reports and combat videos that demonstrate the use of M107/MK211 against barricaded insurgents. The damage to the barriers and the targets are severe and bears witness to the effectiveness of the MP suppression capability.

The probability of being hit by lethal fragments is quite high several meters behind the point of impact and when we take in consideration that the fragments will spread out in a cone we can see that it covers a quite large area, see photo below. In a comparison with an API projectile we see that the MP projectile provides a much higher probability of hit.

Due to the tungsten carbide penetrator, the MP projectile has a considerable penetration capability. It is nearly as effective as the best AP rounds, plus delivers the MP effect which greatly increases its terminal ballistics. The penetrator has a weight of 14 grams and is designed to have the best possible penetration capability in oblique angle targets.

In the heavy-armor bullet hole we can observe what happens when the projectile hits the armor plate. The jacket and steel shell body are stripped off the penetrator, which continues into and through the armor. In this kind of target nearly all of the blast, fragmentation and incendiary effect stays in front of the target. The penetrator goes through the armor
without eroding.

When confronted with heavy armor such as hardened steel of more than an inch, the effect is as follows: The jacket and shell body material has melted together with and into the armor and form a ring round the hole from the penetrator. The diameter of the hole is the same as the penetrator itself, 7mm.

The penetrator will, in most cases, break up in the moment it passes the armor, and together with fragments from the armor itself, give significant post armor effect. The velocity on these fragments behind a 22mm armor plate at a distance of 100 meters will be between 200 and 400 meters per second, and some of the fragments have the energy to penetrate a 1,5mm steel plate. This means that after the tungsten carbide penetrator passes though the barrier, you still have several supersonic fragments capable of considerable ricochet if going into enclosed areas.

THE MYTH HEARD MOST OFTEN
One of the most widespread myths about the MK211 is that it can ignite if hit with force or if subjected to a great shock such as being in a vehicle blasted by an IED. The rounds are operational in any of nature’s MET conditions, around +/- 55°C, and will survive even more extreme temperatures. The rounds are safe against: Dropping, rough handling, vibration, temperature, shocks, electronic pulsing and long storage. As an example of the safety of the rounds in standard Browning M2 heavy barrels, 300 rounds may be fired in one burst without giving a cook-off of the projectile if the last round remains in the barrel.

After drop-testing, these rounds and projectiles are safe to handle; they can be fired and will function against heavier targets. Due to damage in the nose, they are less sensitive to thin target plates like 2mm dural and the reduction in the ballistic coefficient will affect the trajectory, too.

ACCURACY PERFORMANCE
When we talk about any ammunition and its use on a sniper rifle or on a SASR, one of the most important features of a rifle round is accuracy. The MP NM140 round has excelled in accuracy, exhibiting a mean radius of 40 - 70 mm at 550m with most of the lots around 55mm. This translates around 1 MOA if we rate the round with civilian specs, which is fairly good when considering all the other specs the bullet has to comply with.

Nammo has decided to certify lower accuracy performances on its MP rounds. They should rate the ammo with the accuracy that it is capable of achieving. Assembly of ammunition outside the Raufoss factory makes may effect some quality, but I still think that the NM140—and on the same line the U.S. made MK-211—should be rated around 100mm MR. The ammunition assembled in the U.S. has demonstrated to be up to these specs and with the MK-211 you can expect around 1.5 MOA accuracy out of the box.

When compared to the API round, the MP exhibits an effectiveness factor more than three times better. The probability of incapacitation (PK) is 2.8 : 1 and the probability of hit (PH) is > 5 : 1. In regards to target incapacitation and enemy suppression, there is no contender to the Nammo MK-211 and NM140.

NEW NAMMO SPECIAL GRADE BALL
There are some times in which the explosive or incendiary effect makes the use of the MK211 inapplicable. Be it for the possible collateral damage to civilians or simply because of possible range fires, the use of MK211 during summer sniper practice is not possible in many regions. For example, in Spain, due to environmental concerns, the use of incendiary or explosive ammo is forbidden during the dry summer months.

Nammo recognized this situation and started a program to offer the MK-211 users an inert bullet option with the same external ballistics of the MP round. All snipers know that the M33 has a different trajectory and also different group spread characteristics, which make the range practice during those summer months very frustrating.

After years of R&D, the new Nammo 12,7mm (.50 cal) Special Grade (SG) Ammunition (snipers call it Sniper Grade) is here. The design objective for this type of ammunition is to obtain long-range accuracy from Anti Material Rifles (AMR) with the same inner and outer ballistics as MK-211 (NM140) MP, MP-T & AP-S. SG ammunition will replace Standard Ball M33 and M17 that exhibit a much larger dispersion. SG ammo is the corporate name for the ammo, but most snipers call it Sniper Grade. It has the same basic form and dimensions as MK-211. It is lead-free, has an inert filling for support, and the weight is 45 grams (651 grains), the same as the MK-211. The Special Grade Tracer (SG-T) has a bullet with a tracer element and the same tracer requirements as the MP-T. Qualified according to all relevant paragraphs in STANAG 4383 by FMV Sweden, it is in use by Swedish and Spanish forces, while Norwegians, Germans and some other NATO countries are in process of qualification. I have personally run the qualification tests for the Spanish Army, and in them the new SG ammo demonstrated to be the most accurate commercial ammo ever tested by this author and by the Army, too. It passed the comparison with the IMI M33 and even with the NM140 with flying colors, and it exhibited an accuracy improvement over the M33, in every one of the 21 ten-shot groups fired. In some, the difference was so great that we could hardly believe it. The same tendency was obtained with both the new M95SP and two Accuracy International (AI) AW50s used for testing the ammo in two different platforms. In those tests, the M95SP outperformed the AI in accuracy and also in every other aspect, except ergonomy. The AI proved to be a very capable rifle, having the adjustability of a target rifle, but hindered by excessive weight and size.

In the same upscale, match-quality, ammunition line as the SG, Nammo is studying the market feasibility of new .50-caliber products that will offer true 2000m+ supersonic capability and sub-MOA precision but on a completely new design that does not need to follow the MK-211 trajectory. Hopefully Nammo will decide to market it. This will be a dream come true for the extreme range snipers. I truly believe that no NATO 12.7mm rifle should be without its MK-211 ammo and with Nammo SG ball, for practice and counterpersonnel use.

Source: Tactical-Life.com Terminal Effect Ammo

 

[qsaark]

Mods, could you please move this thread to 'Military Forum' section?

Thanks.

 

[qsaark]

March 27, 2009 A new fleet of tracked armoured earthmoving engineer vehicles, which will give the Royal Engineers a powerful and versatile route-clearing and earthmoving capability, are to be built at BAE Systems' Newcastle factory.
An air-portable Terrier vehicle

Under a £300m contract, the Royal Engineers are getting 60 air-portable Terrier vehicles which will become one of the most important engineering tools in their inventory.

Terrier will support infantry troops by removing obstacles and opening routes, providing useful assistance on operations including peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support Quentin Davies said: "Terrier will be a hugely powerful and versatile machine, like a cross between an armoured vehicle, an excavator and a loader, and I am pleased to confirm this order for our highly skilled Royal Engineers who provide vital battlefield support to the infantry and front line troops.

"Designed in Leicester and integrated by BAE Systems in Newcastle, the order is also good news for British industry as over 90 per cent of the manufacture will be supported by companies from across the country, demonstrating the great level of skills and workmanship we have in the UK."

Terrier, which weighs in at 30 tonnes, has a crew of two who sit in a state-of-the-art crew compartment. The vehicle's armoured chassis will allow it to safely operate in a combat environment and, when required, remote-control operation can be used.

As a powerful tracked vehicle Terrier will be able to negotiate almost any terrain, and its earthmoving bucket and side-mounted excavator arm will make short work of digging and obstacle clearance tasks. The bucket can be quickly replaced with a surface mine clearance device which, combined with a route-marking system, can be used to clear routes of surface-laid munitions

Based on recent operational experience MOD has made changes to the vehicle design to provide additional protection against mine attacks and vehicles will be equipped with extra armour to prepare them for operations when they now enter service in 2013.

Construction work will begin on the production line at BAE Systems' Newcastle site in 2010, supported by its sub-contractors who span the breadth of the UK.

The Terriers will be equipped to fulfill a variety of military tasks. The bucket at the front and the side-mounted excavator arm will enable the two-man crew to carry out a variety of digging and carrying operations, predominantly to clear routes for other vehicles and deny routes to opposition forces.

Its quick-hitch mechanism means the bucket can be rapidly dropped and replaced with other front-mounted equipment including a device for clearing mines from road surfaces. Similarly, the vehicle is designed so that different tools can be fitted to the side excavator arm enabling it to be used to dig holes, lift objects, drill into the ground or shatter concrete.

The vehicle will also be able to tow the 18-tonne fully-loaded engineer trailer and deploy fascines (pipe bundles for filling ditches) and trackway (rolled metallic sheets to create temporary road surfaces) to assist other vehicles in moving around the battlefield.

The vehicle's environmental control system will allow the crew to work comfortably in all conditions from desert to arctic, and thermal imaging cameras permit both day and night operation.

Most tasks can also be conducted by remote-control from over one kilometre away, with onboard camera systems providing the operator with a close-up view. The vehicle is also equipped with advanced diagnostic analysis software enabling the crew to keep the vehicle working to its optimum capacity.

The combination of transmission, suspension and track provide impressive agility allowing Terrier to keep up with both Warrior and Challenger, whilst the vehicle's armoured hull and general purpose machine gun provide protection for the crew.

Despite being over eight metres long and 30 tonnes in weight Terriers can still be transported in either the C17 Globemaster or the future Airbus A400M military transport aircraft.

Source: defence.professionals | defpro.com