By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com August 14, 2008 A couple of brothers—twins, actually—out of North Brunswick, Maine, Geoffrey and Michael Howe of Howe and Howe Technologies Inc., have developed a relatively large tracked tactical UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) for military applications called the Ripsaw Military Spec 1 UGV (a.k.a. Ripsaw MS1 UGV a.k.a. Rip Saw MS1 UGV). …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com August 11, 2008 An outfit called 57 Center is making an interesting patent-pending 5.7x28mm upper receiver for AR-15/M16 lower receivers called the AR Five Seven (AR-57) that utilizes 50-round FN P90/PS90 PDW magazines. The magazines are top-loaded and horizontal-mounted, just like on the P90/PS90. It would appear that that an emptied-out standard …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com July 31, 2008 MIT materials science and engineering researchers are studying the flexible biological scalar armor system a.k.a. flexible dermal armor system utilized by Polypterus senegalus a.k.a. Senegal bichir a.k.a. Gray bichir a.k.a. "dinosaur eel", a "living fossil" fish, for its potential applicability for developing more advanced military body armor, vehicle armor …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com at SHOT Show 2008, and they are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. July 27, 2008 DefenseReview has been been writing about 6.8mm cartridges, lately, so it’s only appropriate that we mention Charlie Cutshaw’s article …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com July 26, 2008 For the last few years, DefenseReview has received some pretty glowing feedback on the Springfield Armory XD45 (eXtreme Duty 45) .45 ACP pistol. One of the primary aspects of the XD45 pistol that the professionals we’ve interviewed appreciate is its fully-supported chamber which allows them to fire high-pressure +P …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com July 17, 2008 Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT) and Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) announced on July 09, 2008 that they’ll be teaming up on the development of a laser-guided 2.75"/70mm Hydra rocket called the Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket-Laser (GATR-L). GATR-L is being designed and developed to provide an affordable and cost-effective precision-strike/precision-kill …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com July 05, 2008 DefenseReview got the chance to test-fire two Israeli combat weapons during the firing demonstration portion of NDIA International Infantry & Joint Services Small Arms Systems Symposium 2008, which was held at the Tac-Pro Shooting Center. The two weapons we fired were the IMI-developed select-fire Negev Commando Version LMG/SAW 5.56mm …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com We here at DefenseReview are big fans of Aimpoint products, particularly the CompM2 – M68/CCO (Close Combat Optic), CompM4 and Micro T-1 red dot combat sights, and the 3XMag magnifying optic. Aimpoint combat optics (optical sights) are combat proven and highly trusted by professional trigger pullers the world over, and for good …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com DefenseReview has been contacted by a number of journalists (reporters and writers) to get our take on the Northrop Grumman/EADS (Airbus) aerial refueling tanker aircraft contract award and subsequent Boeing protest situation. This is a big-deal situation, since our current fleet of KC-135 tanker aircraft are getting quite long in the tooth, …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com Perhaps the single most exciting thing that happened at NDIA International Infantry & Joint Services Small Arms Systems Symposium 2008–away from the firing range, of course–was a confrontation between Jim Battaglini (Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. James R. Battaglini) of Colt Defense and U.S. Air Force Col. Robert Mattes, the director of …