In the mid-2000s, as the Global War on Terror escalated, U.S. Special Operations Command sought to replace the M4 carbine with a more robust weapon. The solicitation was dubbed the Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle program. SOCOM wanted a light SCAR-L and heavy SCAR-H chambered in 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm, respectively. In the end, only the MK16 SCAR-H was adopted.
The Mk17 SCAR-H has been more successful than its lighter counterpart (U.S. Army)
The SCAR competition was close, with companies like Colt and Robinson Arms submitting rifles for consideration.
Author: Michael
Military memes are the lifeblood of the modern military apparatus. How? How else is higher going to get the actual hard truth about the state of morale in their branch? Back during the first half of Global War On Terror leadership was tough but fair. They focused on mission accomplishment and troop welfare almost equally. Somewhere towards the back end of the war the hard-chargers started to retire. I saw with my very eyes the thick skinned combat Marine Corps turn paper thin in garrison years later. The recruitment boom is over and they’re feeling it.
The US Department of Defense announced on 11 May that US-based company Systems & Technology Research LLC (STR) has secured a contract worth $28m.
The agreement is a cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for the third phase of the Joint All-Domain Warfighting Software (JAWS) programme.
In the JAWS programme, part of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) effort, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a suite of tools that will support battle management with dynamic command-and-control from the theatre level.
The British Army’s Global Response Group (GRG) has conducted a simulated response to international crises on Salisbury Plain. The exercise was designed to test the integrated performance of infantry alongside other UK armed services.
The GRG brigade has gained additional artillery, engineer, and logistic sub-units to create a third battlegroup built around its existing Royal Gurkha Rifles battalion (GRB) while the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) joined as a light reconnaissance strike infantry.
The UK has expanded Operation Interflex, the UK-led multinational programme currently training thousands of new Ukrainian recruits in combat infantry skills, to include a platoon commanders’ course to teach tactical battlefield techniques.
Responding to questions in the UK House of Commons on 11 May, UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace said that the platoon commanders’ course had “just started”, with plans to train a total of 20,000 Ukrainian military recruits through Operation Interflex this year.
Are you tired of having to change all your passwords frequently? So is the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is trying to come up with a solution to the annoying problem.
Since its inception in the mid-20th century, DARPA has helped generate many of the capabilities that transformed the U.S. military and in some cases, the civilian world, including stealth tech, precision weapons, the internet and GPS, to name just a few.
The KTSSM, pictured above from a test in 2021, features a payload section carrying a small-diameter penetrator warhead filled with a high‐blast or thermobaric explosive intended to attack protected, underground artillery emplacements. (ADD)
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) conducted a quality certification shooting test (QCST) of the Korean Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile (KTSSM).
The ANAO said the country’s project to construct Hunter-class frigates – an artist’s impression of which is pictured above – faces an 18-month delay, with the first vessel now expected to be delivered in mid-2032 rather than early 2031. (Commonwealth of Australia)
The future of the AUD45 billion (USD30.2 billion) programme to build nine Hunter-class anti-submarine frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was called into question, with a report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) warning of further delays and significant cost increases.
After his first ride through the city, Capt. George McClellan remarked that “Sebastopol is knocked into a cocked hat.” The siege works outside the Crimean city had been “ploughed & reploughed up by shot & shell–exploded magazines–ruined traverses–broken guns, disabled carriages–charred timber.” Cockaded caps, bent bayonets, and bloodied blouses lay around the French, British, and […]
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A rendering of the Chinook in Luftwaffe markings. Germany has been approved to buy 60 such helicopters for an estimated USD8.5 billion. (Boeing)
The US has approved the sale of Boeing CH-47F Block 2 Chinook helicopters to Germany for an estimated USD8.5 billion.
Announced on 11 May, the US Department of State’s approval for the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) covers 60 extended-range helicopters, as well as mission equipment, spares, training, transportation, and support.
“The proposed sale will improve Germany’s heavy-lift capability.