by Bob Taubert Like the SHOT Show, the annual Modern Day Marine Military Expo gets bigger and better each year. However, unlike SHOT some of the toys for Uncle Sam’s boys that are on display cost millions of dollars a pop. Aircraft, particularly the unmanned variety, unmanned and manned waterborne patrol and attack platforms, wheeled and tracked robots, people and weapons …

by David Crane defrev@gmail.com In the movie Predator (1987), an alien hunter visits earth to bag armed human warriors (military Special Operations personnel) as trophies, and engages in this recreational endeavor very methodically and efficiently. By the time the movie ends, the alien predator has killed off two complete (elite) and highly-experienced U.S. Special Operations teams, save for one survivor …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com On January 11th (2006), DefenseWatch/Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) published an article by DW/SFTT editor Nat Helms about a critical/damaging U.S. Marine Corps forensic study on Interceptor OTV body armor, titled Interceptor OTV Body Armor Costs Lives, An Internal USMC Report Shows.Two days later, on January 13th (2006), DefenseReview reported on the current Pinnacle Armor Dragon …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com September 06, 2005 What do you get when you cross a gas pump nozzle with a Thompson submachine gun? No, it’s not a joke. It’s a new and rather unconventional .45-caliber (.45 ACP) subgun that attenuates/mitigates felt recoil and muzzle rise/climb–thus increasing controllability–on full-auto by putting the bore axis at or slightly below the centerline of …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview received the email message below from Bill Berry, who heads up the 5.11 Challenge, which was created by 5.11 Tactical Series. Not too long ago, DefenseReview wrote about the very cool 5.11 H.R.T. Watch, which was designed for snipers. The watch sports a titanium case and incorporates a ballistic computer that calculates all of the …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com On April 27th (2005), Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK) issued a press release on their semi-auto XM25 25mm "advanced airbursting" MGL (multiple grenade launcher) through PR Newswire. ATK calls it the XM25 "Air-Burst Assault Weapon". DefenseReview has known about the XM25 development program for awhile, now, but we never quite got around to writing about it. So …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com A 16-round Metal Storm prototype 40mm grenade launcher system attached to/mounted on a Foster-Miller Talon Robot/UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) apparently successfully completed a series of live-fire tests in front of approx. 100 senior scientific and technical personnel from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and selected military defense industry representatives at a U.S. Army’s firing range …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The following Sources Sought Notice looks like it’s essentially the same solicitation as that covered in the previous article, just in alternate form (a previous version, if you will): "General Information Document Type: Sources Sought Notice Solicitation Number: W15QKN-05-X-0427 Posted Date: Nov 05, 2004 Original Response Date: Dec 07, 2004 Current Response Date: Dec 07, 2004 …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview just received a message from one of our U.S. Army sources regarding the solicitation below for an "Objective Individual Combat Weapon, Increment One, Family of Weapons". The OICW project, apparently, has been resurrected, albeit in different form. To put it another way, IT LIVES (if you can believe it). DefRev will most likely be doing …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This article contains the first digital photo of a camouflaged/combat-ready/field-ready Foster-Miller Armed/Weaponized Talon Robot/UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), a.k.a. SWORDS robot of which DefenseReview is aware. The weapon attached to the Talon Robot/SWORDS robot in the pic would appear to be an AT4 anti-armor/anti-tank weapon (ATW) (i.e. rocket launcher), which is produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics, Weapon …