The following is a MSA press release: MSA [Mine Safety Appliances Company] has announced it has purchased Paraclete Armor and Equipment, Inc. of St. Pauls, N.C., a rapidly growing innovator and developer of advanced ballistic body armor used by military personnel, including Special Forces units of the U.S. military. Paraclete Armor, which employs approximately 200 people and had annual revenues …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Back in February (2006), DefenseReview briefly discussed the new and improved MGI QCB (Quick Change Barrel) Upper Receiver system and MGI D-Fender "D-Ring" in our article titled DefRev Quick Hits 3 from SHOT Show 2006: And the Hits Keep Comin’. We got to handle and examine both of these items, as well as MGI’s Modular Lower …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Airborne Combat Engineer (ACE) just published a blurb on a potential future force protection technology in the form a a pager/beeper that, if fielded, would reportedly provide infantry personnel with early warning system (a.k.a. advanced warning system) against inbound/incoming rocket and mortar rounds headed their way. It’s called the "Strike Warning System" (SWS), and it’s a …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com In the last year, DefenseReview has heard rumblings in military defense and tactical circles that it’s simply a matter of when, not if, the United States will experience a nuclear detonation on her soil via either a terrorist armed with some type of portable nuclear device (i.e. bomb) or a ship with a device hidden somewhere …

by David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com July 19, 2006 There are currently a number of anti-sniper systems (a.k.a. sniper detection systems, a.k.a. gunfire detection systems) that have been designed and developed for use by military infantry personnel. DefenseReview plans on doing a review and analysis of all of these systems/technologies at some point in the not-too-distant future. In …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Armor Holdings, Inc. would appear to be on a serious ballistic armor technology acquisition mission as of late. First, on February 4th of this year (2006), they announced that they are now the exclusive licensee of shear thickening fluid (STF) technology that has been developed by the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials (UD-CCM) in partnership …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com A company called More Industries, LLC is manufacturing and marketing a remotely-operated weapons system (i.e. remote-controlled weapons system) called HAMMER for use on UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles, a.k.a. ground robots), manned ground vehicles (i.e. HMMWVs/Humvees, APCs/IFVs, and civilan vehicles like flatbed trucks and SUVs/4x4s), and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), turning the latter into UCAVs (Unmanned Combat …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com July 13, 2006 A private company called CombatBodyArmor (CBA) is currently developing a small, forearm-wearable ballistic shield, or "Battle Shield" (a.k.a. "Combat Shield"), for infantry warfighters. The CBA Mini Battle Shield (a.k.a. Mini Combat Shield) is being developed specifically to protect the warfighter against current enemy rifle-caliber threats (7.62x39mm, 5.45x39mm, and 7.62x54R) and IED (Improvised Explosive …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview first reported on the M16 Clinic AR-15/M16/M4/M4A1-platform 5.56x45mm subcarbine/SBR (Short-Barreled Rifle) weapons packages back in December, 2004. That first article discussed the select-fire/full-auto,  SOPMOD M4 CQBR (Close Quarters Battle Receiver)-style M16 Viper and M16 Viper-XRP (eXtra-Range/Perimeter) 5.56mm subcarbines/SBRs, which are built specifically for military Special Operations applications, including anti-terrorism/counterterrorism operations. These weapons would appear to …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Gunwriters David Fortier (David M. Fortier) and Ken Hackathorn have both recently written articles about the HK45 and HK45C .45 ACP combat pistols, and both articles can be viewed at the Vickers Tactical Inc. website (VickersTactical.com). The articles are in PDF format and are downloadable. Vickers Tactical, Inc. is owned by gunsmith/pistolsmith and retired U.S. Army …