By Jeff Gurwitch June 4, 2019 Last updated on 6/04/19. Since the mid-2000s, the US military’s been searching for the perfect close/far optic combination. Around 2005-ish, the first attempt at this I saw was a red dot (Docter sight) piggyback-mounted on top of an ACOG. Then, in 2008 with the issue of SOPMOD Block II, everyone in Special Forces was …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Photo(s) Credit: Fibrotex USA Inc. November 26, 2018 Last updated on 11/28/18. The US division of an Israeli company called Fibrotex recently won a a $480M (Million) contract for the US Army’s ULCANS (Ultra-Light Camouflage Netting System) all-weather multi-spectral camouflage netting development program. The new Fibrotex USA Inc. ULCANS multispecrral camo signature …

By Jeff Gurwitch October 21, 2018 Back in 2004, while taking part in advanced urban combat course. At the Direct Action Resource Center (DARC), just outside Little Rock AR, my Special Forces team was introduced to a method of casualty evacuation known as the ‘DARC strap’. It was essentially about 7 feet of 1inch tubular nylon weaved through the back …

By David Crane October 2, 2018 Well, this one’s interesting. Looks like Nighforce just got the USSOCOM contract for a military-modified variant of the Nightforce ATACR (Advanced TACtical Rifle) 1-8X24 F1 Riflescope, which is a first-focal-plane scope. The contract’s initially worth a little over $15M (Million), and could potentially go to $21M. Not bad. The USSOCOM-spec ATACR riflescope will sport …

By Jeff Gurwitch September 3, 2018 Last updated on 9/03/18. The internet is a great thing. Type in a few words, and a few clicks later, pages upon pages of information will be presented to you, from pictures, to the written word, to videos on whatever it is you want to know about. While the majority of information out there …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Images Credit: MIT July 10, 2018 In just the past month, articles have been published on two technologies that have peaked DefenseReview’s (DR) attention: x-ray-vision-type radar that allows one to see through walls, and artificial intelligence (AI) tech that allows one to predict human behavior/action minutes before it happens. These two technologies …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Images Credit: South China Morning Post (SCMP) July 03, 2018 Well, isn’t this a nice little gift a couple days before the 4th of July. A Chinese company called ZKZM, a “fiber laser company”, has reportedly designed and developed a laser rifle called the ZKZM-500 that can supposedly “instantly carbonize” one’s skin …

By Jeff Gurwitch June 4, 2018 I first came across the M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) during my first deployment to Afghanistan back in 2012. At the time, M855A1 was only being issued in war zones, so none of us had any experience training with it prior to the deployment. While the penetration capability of M855A1 was pretty well documented …

By Jeff Gurwitch April 22, 2018 M855A1 ammunition has been in use overseas since at least 2011, and has been in widespread service at most U.S. Army bases since 2014. I myself first saw it in 2012 in Afghanistan. Now, when M855A1 first came out, like many others, I heard the stories that due to the increased pressure the round …

By David Crane david (at) defensereview (dot) com Image(s) Credit: South China Morning Post (SCMP), Times Asi/flickr/CC-BY-2.0, EN.People.cn January 10, 2018 Last updated on 1/11/18. DefenseReview (DR) has been following Chinese and Russian military technology capabilities and advancements for quite some time now, so we weren’t surprised to read about the Chinese PLA’s (People’s Liberation Army) drive to dominate the …