War Developing and Upcoming Military Technology - Something new at least 3 times a week.

Homersexual · Jul 8, 2020

Speaking of blinding enemy soldiers. Basil II Porphyrogenitu a.k.a. the Bulgar Slayer divided 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners of war into groups of 100 and blinded 99 of them and then sent them home. He did it because the Bulgarian scum killed his favorite friend/general. Imagine the toll on resources and manpower when taking care of 14,850 completely blind men who can contribute nothing to the society.

Too Many Catgirls · Jul 8, 2020

The story says that the US Navy is to add laser weapons to seven more ships.

The reality is that the US Navy has already had lasers on most of its ships since the mid 2000s and waving its dick in everyone's face as it outfits the last seven. A few of them probably have generation 3 lasers and AI controllers. But we won't hear about that until 2035. Cry some more.

Pocket Dragoon · Jul 8, 2020

Too Many Catgirls said:
The story says that the US Navy is to add laser weapons to seven more ships.

The reality is that the US Navy has already had lasers on most of its ships since the mid 2000s and waving its dick in everyone's face as it outfits the last seven. A few of them probably have generation 3 lasers and AI controllers. But we won't hear about that until 2035. Cry some more.

Or more specifically, to bag on China's supposed hypersonic weapon superiority; even the Chicoms are smart enough to know light is faster, and lasers can be targeted quicker.

I'm still of opinion that shit like the supercavitating VA-111 Shkval torpedo is a lot more dangerous.

Snekposter · Jul 8, 2020

HeyItsHarveyMacClout said:
Would probably be banned under the Geneva convention for the same reason gas is. It would only cause confusion and disorder on the battlefield and would be an intentional strain on the nations healthcare system than for any tactical or strategic purpose. Probably best we don’t blind humans and keep this to electronics

I’ve seen more news publications about the navy these past few weeks than I have in the past few years. If I were to hedge my bets, I’d say there’s a good chance we’re going to war with China in the next few years, and it’ll be a primarily naval war (think Pacific front instead of European front of WWII). My guess is that the US Navy is first going to move into the South China Sea and Japanese Sea first to cut off shipping, then into the straight of Ceylon, begin seizing foreign military bases and islands, and then turn it into a prolonged economic war.

I can’t see this being a large conventional war. Blowing one damn in China like we did to the Nazis could kill millions of people. Nuclear weapons are not necessary to achieve a death toll required to push threats of nuclear war, so I doubt we’ll make any incursions into the main land

Assuming the Three Gorges Dam doesn't overflow, collapse, or otherwise catastrophically fail and flood Shanghai.

Twinkletard · Jul 8, 2020

They need giant speakers to blast this at the people they blind with those

Duke Nukem · Jul 8, 2020

Now we need to get the Space Force to put one of these things on the moon so that it can be put to much better use.

ColtWalker1847 · Jul 8, 2020

Pocket Dragoon said:
Or more specifically, to bag on China's supposed hypersonic weapon superiority; even the Chicoms are smart enough to know light is faster, and lasers can be targeted quicker.

I'm still of opinion that shit like the supercavitating VA-111 Shkval torpedo is a lot more dangerous.

Well, yeah. Those have tactical nukes for warheads.

If things get to the point where they are tossing nukes around to knock out strategic assets we are all kinda fucked.

The

capability of the AShBMs was that they could be conventionally armed and hypothetically be used without starting the nuclear apocalypse.

Monolith · Jul 9, 2020

On the one hand, lasers.

On the other hand, lasers that civilians have no way of getting their hands on, and probably cost a couple dozen college tuitions each.

Titos · Jul 9, 2020

When are we getting the MAC guns though? Anyone notable with the last names of either Shaw or Fujikawa involved in R&D currently?

Fanatical Pragmatist · Jul 9, 2020

Homersexual said:
Speaking of blinding enemy soldiers. Basil II Porphyrogenitu a.k.a. the Bulgar Slayer divided 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners of war into groups of 100 and blinded 99 of them and then sent them home. He did it because the Bulgarian scum killed his favorite friend/general. Imagine the toll on resources and manpower when taking care of 14,850 completely blind men who can contribute nothing to the society.

Yeah well modern war isn't about destroying, disabling or defeating your enemy, its about bombing a few targets then helping your enemy rebuild for 15+ years while expecting them to suddenly become your ally.
At least that's what the NeoCons told me.

Desu Vult · Jul 9, 2020

Monolith said:
On the one hand, lasers.

On the other hand, lasers that civilians have no way of getting their hands on, and probably cost a couple dozen college tuitions each.

>laser diode from an old DVD-R drive
>few bucks worth of electronics
>a cheap laser pointer to fit the diode in

Works against CCTV and Mk. 1 eyeballs. Permanently.

Slightly defocus the optics on laser pointer for temporary effect.

BONE_Buddy · Jul 9, 2020

Under Senate’s Eye, NRO, NGA Stress Commercial Imagery Plans

"NGA expects unclassified space-based geospatial data to become ubiquitous and widely available," says NGA's David Gauthier.

breakingdefense.com

WASHINGTON: Both the NRO and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) are pushing forward with plans to bolster access to commercial GEOINT data — even as the Senate casts a beady eye on their acquisition plans.

Neither agency would speak directly about new language included in the Senate version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require them to first consider commercial solutions before developing their own bespoke capabilities. However, in response to questions from Breaking D, officials were eager to reiterate both their respective interest in, and definitive plans for, acquiring commercial imagery and data analytics.

NGA To Study USG Requirements For New Commercial Content, Services

“I cannot comment specifically on pending legislation, but I can provide some additional information on our commercial GEOINT strategy and NGA’s role in commercial acquisition efforts,” Dave Gauthier, director of NGA’s Commercial and Business Operations Group, said in an email.

“Our long-term vision is to curate a robust catalog of commercial suppliers who can deliver critical mission data and analytic services with the speed, precision, and accuracy that NGA requires and our users demand,” he said. “We also plan to conduct a community-wide requirements study for new commercial content and services in FY21 to inform future budget requests.”

The NGA coordinates all government requirements for GEOINT data, and sets requirements for the National Reconnaissance Office’s satellite imagery acquisition authorities. Until 2017, NGA also was responsible for buying all commercial geospatial intelligence-related imagery and data to augment that provided by the NRO’s highly classified space systems and other data sources from other intelligence agencies. That changed in 2017 with a Trump administration decision to shift authorities between the two agencies. Under that decision, NGA retained authority over acquisition of all non-satellite GEOINT imagery sources and the responsibility to ensure that everything fits together; whereas NRO holds the reins for buying commercial satellite imagery and creating a new military-intelligence satellite imagery architecture.

“We have a close working relationship with NRO. They stood up the Commercial Systems Program Office to address their new role in procuring commercial satellite imagery for the IC,” Gauthier explained. “However, NGA retained its operational responsibilities for gathering and prioritizing all community needs for geospatial intelligence, tasking various sources for collection to meet those needs, and assuring data and product delivery whenever and wherever our customers require it.”

It also has retained responsibility for acquiring software and technologies to enable data analysis, including from commercial satellite firms.

“Many ‘non-pixel’ geospatial data sets and analytic services are still relatively new in the commercial market. Therefore, NGA continues to experiment with and evaluate these emerging categories of geospatial data and services to discover those with high mission utility and an ability to integrate into operational architectures and workflows,” Gauthier writes. “We will continue to use the GSA IT Schedule 70 to procure products and services for evaluation.” (GSA IT Schedule 70 is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract vehicle for buying IT products and services.)

As Breaking D readers may recall, Gauthier has been advocating for NGA to embrace a “hybrid” data pool that seamlessly integrates commercial and IC source material.

“NGA expects unclassified space-based geospatial data to become ubiquitous and widely available to add value to many commercial industries, academic institutions, military services, government organizations, and NGOs,” he says in yesterday’s email. “The commercial geospatial market is booming; especially in remote sensing. The opportunity for GEOINT to improve decision-making in near real-time is massive. Increasing our active partnerships across government and industry both domestically and internationally is critical.”

New NRO RFP Coming By Year’s End For Multiple Commercial Imagery Contracts

Likewise, an NRO official tells Breaking D in an email that the agency couldn’t comment on the NDAA language, authored by Sen. Ted Cruz who long has been a strong supporter of the US commercial satellite industry.

However, the official said, NRO has a dual-pronged strategy for taking advantage of the expanding commercial remote sensing satellite market that involves new contracts and revamped end-user licenses to facilitate data sharing. (As I reported in April, NRO is seeking to open its doors to multiple commercial imagery vendors, after decades of Intelligence Community reliance on a single source, the former Digital Globe satellite constellation now owned by Maxar Technologies.)

“First, the NRO is committed to using commercial imagery to the maximum extent practical in support of both defense and national security missions, and we are executing a commercial imagery acquisition strategy through our NRO Commercial Systems Program Office (CSPO) that will result in the late 2020 award of the multiple operational commercial imagery contracts to support defense, security, and many other U.S. government and partner missions,” the official writes. “This acquisition strategy is driven by validated requirements from the ” Functional Manager [i.e. NGA] that can be satisfied by commercial-class systems.

Because “no single supplier can satisfy” all USG requirements, NRO’s upcoming commercial contracts “will include multiple suppliers with diverse capabilities,” the official says. The agency will release an RFP later this year focused on electro-optical remote sensing requirements that “include, but are not limited to, the capability to task, collect, process, and deliver electro optical imagery today and into the 2025-era. While the RFP will outline specific requirements, in general, commercial imagery will support foundation GEOINT, intelligence analysis, global discovery and monitoring, and other applications.”

Further, NRO “remains committed to ensuring that our next generation of commercial imagery contracts afford broad levels of shareability and user-friending license conditions that enable greater access to and use of commercial imagery.” That is the reason for the effort to develop “a common family of End User License Agreements (EULAs) and associated processes that will facilitate procurement of commercial imagery using a standardized approach to imagery dissemination and sharing.”

In the past, the CSPO licensing agreements were issued on a case-by-case basis to commercial contractors. Currently, NRO has study contracts with NRO has contracts with electro-optical imagery providers BlackSky Global, HySpecIQ, Maxar Technologies and Planet. It also has issued study contracts to Capella Space, which operates synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, and HawkEye 360, which operates satellites that conduct remote sensing of radio frequency (RF) transmissions.

NRO on June 16 issued a Request for Information how how the new-model EULAs should be crafted to elicit industry advice on how to ensure that the licenses “enable greater access to and use of commercial imagery,” the official said.

“Overall, we envision a proliferated overhead architecture comprised of national and commercial satellites, large and small constellations, EO and other phenomenologies–all of which will result in greater capacity and capability. This hybrid overhead system will be integrated with a scalable cloud-based dissemination architecture capable of supporting multiple suppliers and diverse phenomenologies, across multiple security domains,” the NRO official summed up.

_______________
TL;DR: Hey, private industry is putting up a lot of remote sensing stuff these days, perhaps we should work with them.

BONE_Buddy · Jul 9, 2020

https://defence-blog.com/news/army/u-s-army-begins-testing-new-self-propelled-mortar-system.html

The U.S. Army is testing the new 120mm self-propelled mortar system at the Yuma Proving Ground.

During a test period at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in the desert of Arizona, research teams operated the new self-propelled mortar system while conduct indirect, semi-direct and direct fire.

The new self-propelled mortar system is based on the chassis of 8×8 armoured vehicle. The rear section of its all-welded steel hull houses a large Nemo remote-controlled 120 mm mortar system with both direct and indirect fire capability. The system is manned by a crew of three including a driver, a commander and a gunner.

View attachment 2.webp

The U.S. Army seeks new solutions to provide Armored and Stryker Brigade Combat Teams with rapid, precise indirect and direct fire capability where the operating crew is well protected, and their physical burden is significantly reduced.

In September 2019, the U.S. Army already conducted a test of the newest Nemo mortar system based on AMV chassis manufactured by the Finnish Patria company.

The live-fire demonstration, which took place at Fort Benning Red Cloud Range on Sept. 11, was held during Fort Benning Expo that features exhibits from Industry Contractors supporting the mission of the U.S. Army and the programs at Fort Benning. Its goal is to provide specialized and refresher training, tactical information exchange, networking, and education.

The Patria’s officials said that Nemo mortar system showed excellent results and successfully demonstrated capability in rapid engagement, direct fire and Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact (MRSI).

Last month, U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center and Patria have signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to determine feasibility of incorporating a turreted, breech-loaded 120 mm mortar weapon system in U.S. mortar carriers. The scope of the agreement is to assess the capabilities of Patria Nemo mortar system, its compatibility with U.S. mortar carrier weapon platforms and fire control systems as well as to evaluate the use of current U.S. 120 mm mortar ammunition in a breech-loaded mortar, such as Patria Nemo.

Niggernerd · Jul 9, 2020

God i love this country

LUNEKO · Jul 9, 2020

The legend of Gustav carries on, born under the rule of cool, unpractical as hell but nobody ever gave a fuck about that

BONE_Buddy · Jul 9, 2020

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/latvia-wants-us-troops-and-is-ready-to-pay-for-them/

WASHINGTON: Latvia’s defense minister announced today his country is willing to house American troops if the Trump administration follows through on its decision to pull thousands of troops out of Germany, becoming the second NATO ally to ask for those troops to be housed within its borders.

“We are ready — and this is an official announcement — we are ready to invest to receive a certain amount of American troops on Latvian soil,” minister of defense and deputy prime minister, Artis Pabriks, said during a virtual event hosted by the Brookings Institution. The desired deployment would be the first large US basing effort in the Baltic nation.

“We are not trying to punish the Germans. We don’t want to compete [with them], but if it’s really inevitable then we are ready to receive you,” he added.

When asked what kind of US presence the Baltic nation wants, a Latvian official told me the country is open to either rotational or a permanent American presence in the country, noting there are already 1,500 NATO troops stationed at the Adazi military base. The official noted that the country also has a string of training areas that could be used for basing.

A Pentagon official said they had “nothing to offer” about the possibility of US basing in Latvia.

The Latvian offer comes just after Poland said it would happily take some of the 9,500 troops President Trump wants pulled out of Germany. Late last month, US officials said Washington and Warsaw have already agreed on a location to base a rotational US Army armored brigade combat team. An administration official speaking with reporters on the condition of anonymity added the two sides “are in discussions regarding additional infrastructure to support the ABCT, as well as the combat aviation brigade and combat support sustainment battalion.”

The proposed reduction of American forces from Germany would bring the number of troops stationed there from 34,500 to 25,000. There is still no timeline for the withdrawal, and Pentagon officials haven’t divulged which troops would leave or where they might be reassigned. President Trump’s pledges to withdraw troops have not always come to pass, as evidenced most recently in Syria. The president has also mused about pulling some troops from South Korea.

The 1,500-strong NATO enhanced foreign presence unit in the country is led by 500 Canadian forces, along with hundreds more from Spain, Poland, Italy and Slovakia, among others. The US Army also sends an aviation unit to the country on a rotational basis, with another rotation planned for later this month.

In October, the US moved 500 troops to neighboring Lithuania in October for a six-month deployment, in a sign that Washington recognizes the importance of the Baltic region as a stopgap to potential Russian adventurism in the region.

Pabriks was careful to say Germany is a close ally of Latvia, and remains an irreplaceable member of the NATO alliance. He also is concerned about any American pivot away from the continent. “We think that American military presence in Europe should be increased and not decreased,” he said, “we understand that there must be a push for Germany to do more, but a presence in Germany is vital for global security, not only European and Baltic security.”

While Germany has yet to achieve the NATO goal of spending 2% of its GDP on the military, Latvia hit the target in 2018, along with its Baltic neighbors Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland.

soy_king · Jul 9, 2020

Bad idea. Do we really want to risk WWIII and escalate Russo-American tensions over some geostrategically insignificant nation in the ass-end of Europe? America's zone of interest should end at the Polish border.

LUNEKO · Jul 9, 2020

soy_king said:
Bad idea. Do we really want to risk WWIII and escalate Russo-American tensions over some geostrategically insignificant nation in the ass-end of Europe? America's zone of interest should end at the Polish border.

I mean they're bank rolling Israel, another little base near their enemies isn't gonna change much

tehpope · Jul 9, 2020

Trump is probably going to tell them to fuck off. He hasn't been big on military intervention during his first term.

soy_king · Jul 9, 2020

Nejo said:
I mean they're bank rolling Israel, another little base near their enemies isn't gonna change much

Israel's not 15 minutes by plane away from the second-largest Russian city, and is economically and strategically more valuable than Latvia.

Deployed Ships Underway	Non-deployed Ships Underway	Total Ships Underway
46	33	79

Fleet Forces	3rd Fleet	4th Fleet	5th Fleet	6th Fleet	7th Fleet	Total
3	1	2	23	15	56	100

War Developing and Upcoming Military Technology - Something new at least 3 times a week.

with guns in their hands

Инициатива трахает инициатора

Operation: Desert Snek

room temperature shrimp

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