by David Crane david@defensereview.com Click on the digital images of the 5.11 H.R.T. Tactical Watch/Ballistic Computer (below) to view them full-size. All photos are the property of DefenseReview.com. This product is, hands down, one of the coolest new tactical products DefenseReview got to view and handle at SHOT Show 2005, and it’s not even a weapon system. Rather, it’s what …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com February 07, 2005 In our very recently published article on the new Accuracy International (AI) AS50 Semi-Automatic .50 BMG Anti-Materiel Rifle, titled "Accuracy International AS50 Semi-Auto .50 BMG Rifle for U.S. Navy SEALs, and featuring AS50 brochure pics (including weapon specs), we promised our readers some digital pics of the AS50 at SHOT Show 2005, taken …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com February 05, 2005 Looks like the U.S. Navy SEALs just got a brand new tool for the War on Terror. The boys at NSWC Crane (Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana) have apparently been busy little beavers over there. One of the projects they’ve been working on is this little .50 BMG badboy. It’s …

by David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com January 17, 2005 In the future, our infantry forces might employ non-lethal "laser dazzlers" to blind and disorient enemy soldiers, insurgents, and terrorists in order to capture them alive and preclude the need to kill them, so we can interrogate them. Or, the high-tech weapons can be used as a precursor to …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Remington recently introduced a new take on an old shotgun, the venerable Remington 870 pump-action shotgun. The new incarnation is called the 870 MCS, which stands for "Modular Shotgun System". The key word in that phrase is "modular". The Remington 870 MCS pump-action shotgun can be configured for an operator’s specific mission requirements. Military and law …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com For those not already aware, there’s an exciting new tactical illumination tool (i.e. tactical white light/weapons light) that will be introduced at SHOT Show 2005 in a few days by a company called Night-Ops. It’s called the Gladius High-Intensity LED (Light-Emitting Diode) Multi-Purpose Illumination Tool, and it’s the product of a partnership between Ken Good (a.k.a. …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Just a quick heads-up for our readers. DSA, Inc. is offering a new short-stroke gas piston-driven AR-15/M16-based 5.56x45mm carbine called the Z4-GTC (Gas Trap Carbine). David Fortier has written an excellent and very informative article about it in January 31, 2005 issue of "Shotgun News". It’s the cover story. Mr. Fortier’s article is the first one …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com While we’re on the subject of Russian firearms, we should perhaps also mention a pistol that looks really intriguing. It’s manufactured by KBP (Equipment manufacturing Design Bureau) in Tula, Russia, and it’s called the GSh-18. The KBP GSh-18 pistol basically appears to be a polymer-framed hybrid pistol that incorporates design and material aspects of previous pistols …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Urban warfare operations may become just a little less dangerous for our Marines in the near future. Why? Because a bunch of researchers at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania have teamed up with the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) in Quantico Virginia to create a small, lightweight little Mighty Mouse of …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com USSOCOM’s Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR) program appears to be very healthy, at the moment, and the FN Herstal/FNH USA "S.O.F. Capable Assault Rifle" (FN SCAR Light 5.56x45mm carbine/subcarbine and FN SCAR Heavy 7.62x51mm carbine/subcarbine) functional/competition prototypes look interesting. DefenseReview received a spec sheet via email on the FNH USA "S.O.F. Capable Assault Rifle" …