By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com April 29, 2008 On September 1, 2007 (9/01/07), DefenseReview was contacted by Sean Carroll of STRAC Technologies a.k.a. STRAC Tech via email to let us know about a product that looks on its face to have some serious tactical merit and promise. The product is a patented chest-worn modular mag carrier system …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com March 20, 2008 DefenseReview was one of the first publications to report on the results of the Fall 2007 M4 Carbine "Extreme Dust Test". We published that story on December 18, 2007. Well, on December 19, 2007, we received two email communications (below) from one of our professional contacts in U.S. Army …

By Roger Charles 02-14-2008 While investigating offers on eBay for the sale of two Dragon Skin body armor vests, DefenseWatch discovered that a congressional staffer had confirmed that there is a DOJ IBA Task Force investigating the Army’s body armor procurement program. What began as a rather routine inquiry into the commonplace sale of military equipment on the inter-net soon …

By Michael Pannone for DefenseReview ctts at live dot com All photos/images contained in this article were supplied by the author, Mike Pannone. January 9, 2008 Mark LaRue (owner of LaRue Tactical) sent out one of his 16" Stealth Upper Receivers (AR upper receiver) a year ago January while I was working on a carbine course for the DoD (U.S. …

by David Crane defrev at gmail.com December 17, 2007 This article was updated on 12/19/07 and 5/15/09. Ya’ know that Colt M4 Carbine vs. Heckler & Koch (HK) HK416 vs. FN MK16 SCAR-Light (SCAR-L) vs. HK XM8 LAR extreme dust conditions reliability test that the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Center (ATEC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Md. was conducting? …

By Roger Charles DefenseWatch 10-17-2007 UPDATE to following article: Two congressional sources report that the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (on the staff of the Secretary of Defense) caught the Army’s attempted exemption of current Interceptor vendors from independent testing, as allowed in the original solicitation. Under pressure from DOT&E, in August the Army issued a modification not listing …

By GySgt Will Falcon, USMC (res.) Tampa, Florida October 16, 2007 One of the primary challenges of MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) / Urban Warfare Operations (a.k.a. Urban Combat Ops) is how to use the urban surroundings so that the physical environment becomes an advantage rather than a handicap to our soldiers. Accomplishing this goal will provide both defensive …

by Roger Charles DefenseWatch October 15, 2007 When NBC News had a German lab conduct side-by-side, comparative tests of Pinnacle Armor’s Dragon Skin and the Army’s Interceptor Body Armor System on May 3 earlier this year, the real surprise was how well the Interceptor ESAPI (Level IV) plates performed. Yes, that’s right. The Army acquisition mafia "got lucky" in Germany, …

The following is a Robotic FX press release: Robotic FX, Inc. Awarded Contract for Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to be Used for Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Detection and Identification ALSIP, IL, September 14, 2007 — Robotic FX, Inc., has been awarded a $279.9 million contract to manufacture its Negotiator Tactical Manipulator Robot, issued by the U.S. Army. The contract is …

A Review by Air-Mech-Strike Study Group (AMS-SG). The following review is exclusive to DefenseReview. 9/27/07 Airborne Armour is a must-have book for understanding Airborne 3D maneuver operations, period. Flint is a superb researcher and writer and this book is a masterpiece. However, Keith Flint is also at times the typical whiny, turret tank dueler where every tracked tank is never …