Military Technology - PETMAN

Ohmylord its the Terminator. OK, no it is not. No, not IG-88 either. This is PETMAN from Boston Dynamics, the group that developed BIGDOG- the unmanned, cargo-carrying, four legged robot. It was not developed to infiltrate and destroy the remaining pockets of human resistance to the machines, but rather to test military protective clothing like the suits designed to protect the wearer from Nuclear, Chemical or Biological threats. PETMAN was designed to improve on earlier testing by making a robot that moves like a real person. It is six feet tall and weighs 180 pounds, like the average of soldiers. It also simulates heavy breathing and sweat when it is given long workouts (also like the Terminator, hmmm) Currently it still walks on a tether, but it will almost certainly be freed from that constraint soon. To help make it really creepy, it also glows from the chest and has no head, although plans are in place to add one, as seen below.
PETMAN is scheduled to be delivered to the Army some time next year.

Military Technology - M992 40mm IR Cartridge

Here we have one of the winners from US Army's Greatest Inventions of 2011 competition. It is called the M992 40mm IR cartridge. And it is pretty cool. The M992 was approved for use in October 2010 and can be fired from the M230, M320 and the older (but still in service) M79 40mm grenade launchers. I don't know if it would be able to be fired from the Mk.19 automatic grenade launcher, but I am guessing not. It can be used for illumination or for signalling- I imagine it is visible for miles when at its apogee and being viewed from Gen.3 or 4 Nightvision goggles by a helicopter pilot.


We have been using parachute flares launched from flare guns and mortars for a very long time, at least since WWI and possibly before. They were great in that they provide a great deal of light for soldiers to be able to see, navigate and fight at night. But of course they also provided the same benefits to the enemy, free of charge. In contrast:

"IR illumination burns longer, significantly increases the area of battlefield illumination and its performance is less sensitive to temperature and firing conditions compared to the standard visible light illumination,"
---James L. Wejsa, Chief of ARDEC's Pyrotechnic Tech and Prototyping Division.



The M992 solves that by releasing light that is (mostly) in the infrared spectrum. Hmm... Science class is now in, kids.


Pay no attention to the microbicidal region, unless you want to kill some bacteria. As you see, infrared light is beyond the wavelength of what the human eye can see. But Nightvision devices are designed to see it very well and translate it into an image that we can see. If you would like to know a little more about nightvision systems you can check out an earlier post by that most well informed and erudite author, me.

http://homemadedefense.blogspot.com/2009/08/military-technology-
nightvision.html

Back on topic, IR light can be seen by nightvision scopes but not the naked eye. And nightvision systems have a limited range, enter the M992. Let me use a photo to show you its effects.



As you can see, the outcome is striking. And it could make a huge difference to troops in harm's way. Of course, if the enemy possesses nightvision equipment, than the IR flare will benefit them as well, but that is not too much of a problem at the moment.
This is not the first IR illumination round though, they also exist for all US mortars, artillery, and I believe there is a 70mm rocket version.




From the Picatinny Arsenal:

"The M992 provides a capability not previously available to the Soldier that takes advantage of U.S. Armed Forces technology to improve night-time operation success," said Gregory Bubniak, Project Officer for 40mm Ammunition, Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM-MAS). "It enhances night operation capabilities of troops equipped with night vision equipment, while producing minimal visual signature outside of the infrared spectrum. This will allow users to access the approximately 90,000 cartridges available in inventory. "

MISSION: Satisfy the Soldier Enhancement Program requirement set forth in support of development of a 40mm Infrared Illuminant Cartridge. To satisfy the immediate need for a round which will enhance detection and recognition of targets, as well as, extend maximum range for currently fielded night vision equipment. Visible light output will be minimum, thus reducing probabilities of location disclosure. To provide a 40mm Infrared Illuminant Cartridge to all units currently equipped with M203 Grenade Launchers and supporting night vision devices. Contractor: Thiokol TYPE: FFP License Agreement Required

Airship drones

Awhile ago, I posted about the "Beast of Kandahar" in The Giant Blimp of Kandahar, which was suspected to be a long endurance, reconnaissance UAV. I found this pic a few days ago, and it seems to be the same aircraft. They both have a triple tail fin and similar overall shape. At the time, I guessed that it was a prototype or scale model of the Lockheed Martin LEMV. The caption just named it as the Persistent Surveillance System.

The earlier photo had no sense of scale, so I was pleased to get a closer look at "the Beast". As we can see, it is a pretty large maybe 40 feet or more, but that is much less than the reported 200 feet of the LEMV. Lockheed has understandably not released very much info on the LEMV, but they have hinted that it will be a UAV capable of staying aloft and using multiple technology to find and identify enemies. We can certainly assume it has powerful daylight, Nightvision and thermal cameras. It also might mount a magnetic anomaly detector for looking for IEDs or submarines or so forth, but that is just a blind guess on my part. It could also be used for things such as intercepting radio and satellite phone signals, or as a booster to send friendly communications. The one thing I am pretty sure of is that we will see more like it in the future.
Well, I don't really have any more info. I just thought it was a neat picture.

I can't tell, but I think this is not the same aircraft. Seems the nose and fins are shaped differently. But I felt bad for such a bare bones post, so I figured I would treat you, my beloved readers, to the fruit of a 3 second Bing image search. You are welcome.

ACU

Military Technology- Razzle Dazzle Camouflage

In an effort to better protect ships from attack, especially from the threat of submarines, British artist and Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Norman Wilkinson devised a camouflage scheme for warships at sea. The idea was to use a pattern of angular, geometric shapes and lines in bold, contrasting colors. The scheme became known variously as Razzle Dazzle, Dazzle camouflage or Dazzle painting. It was used a great deal on the ships of the Royal Navy and others in WWI. It was used as late as the end of WWII on some American Navy ships.




About this time, after viewing the above picture, you may be thinking that artist/camouflage designer Norman Wilkinson perhaps became confused and drank a glass of turpentine while he was working. That might explain trying to conceal a 600 foot long, 11,000 ton ship by painting it in purple star bursts. But the point was never really to hide the ships from view. Rather, the aim was to make ships trying to fire on the ship confused about the direction, speed, size, and range of their target. So the point was really to confuse the rangefinders and gunners of the enemy, not to hide from their lookouts and scouts. The hope was the Dazzle camo would make the enemy unable to identify the ship, or to tell whether they were looking at the bow or stern, or even if it was approaching or sailing away. Rangefinders of the early 20th Century operated on the co-incidence principal. The idea is that the ship is targeted with the rangefinder and the operator sees two half-images of the ship. He adjusts the knobs until the images meet up and finds the range based on tables and such. The camouflage was supposed to hinder this by making a pattern that seemed to not match up correctly at any range. Also, the dazzle patterns usually had a false bow wave to throw off accurate estimation of the ships' speed.

In a 1919 lecture, Norman Wilkinson explained:

The primary object of this scheme was not so much to cause the enemy to miss his shot when actually in firing position, but to mislead him, when the ship was first sighted, as to the correct position to take up. [Dazzle was a] method to produce an effect by paint in such a way that all accepted forms of a ship are broken up by masses of strongly contrasted colour, consequently making it a matter of difficulty for a submarine to decide on the exact course of the vessel to be attacked.... The colours mostly in use were black, white, blue and green.... When making a design for a vessel, vertical lines were largely avoided. Sloping lines, curves and stripes are by far the best and give greater distortion.

RMS Empress of Russia, painted with Dazzle camo as troopship in WWI

The British painted over two thousand ships with Dazzle camo in WWI, much of the work was supervised by artist Edward Wadsworth. The patterns and colors were different for each ship, and each pattern was tested in miniature before being used. The small wooden models were viewed through a periscope and the patterns evaluated by Naval personnel before being scaled up. Most of the models were constructed and painted by women from the London Royal Academy of Arts.

Man, that is just nauseating

Razzle dazzle was evaluated and selected by the US Navy in 1918 and the Navy continued to use it to varying degrees through the end of WWII. All of the Essex-class carriers and Tennessee-class battleships were painted with Razzle Dazzle camouflage. Rather than the unique designs of the Royal Navy, the US Navy decided to standardize the process and paint the various ships with tested and approved designs.

Was Razzle Dazzle effective? Well, your guess is as good as mine. It is very possible that the protection was negligible. Even if if worked well for a little while, it is certainly possible that the Germans could have found technology and tactics to work around it. In post war reports, the British Admiralty decided that it had no effect on the success of submarine attacks. They did however, feel that the bold and brightly colored ships inspired higher morale in both the ship's crews and the public. So I guess that was nice.

Whether or not the idea working in WWI, by the end of WWII it was close to completely obsolete. The amazing jump in effectiveness of naval based reconnaissance planes made many of its features useless, and the technology of visual rangefinders got better as well. With the advent of radar and radar range finders, Dazzle camouflage was done. There are however, some people who stated that it was still effective against submarines, which at the time usually needed to stalk their prey from underwater and their only view of the target was from tiny periscopes just inches off the surface.

HMS Belfast with the camouflaged paint scheme it had during WWII

Military Technology: Gunshot Detectors

Here is the thing. Very few people enjoy being shot at. Sniper fire, especially, is said to be one of the most morale destroying things that soldiers can face. To make it even less fun, it can be very difficult to tell where gunshots are coming from. Difficulty goes up exponentially if the person firing the gun takes any kind of care to avoid detection. Laying down, using camouflage or concealment, firing only one shot from a location, or using a suppressor can make the task of locating a gunman very difficult to impossible. Enter the gunshot detector. They have been in use in the wonderful streets of nice communities like West Baltimore, South Chicago, East Orange, NJ and other third world communities within America for a few years. In combat, they have been mounted on vehicles such as Humvees, MRAPs, and Strykers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and have received pretty good reviews from the troops that have used them.

Boomerang System mounted on a Humvee

The first really effective gunshot detector to be used by US Forces in combat was the Boomerang, manufactured by BBN Technologies. The Boomerang gunshot detection system is a device that looks like a flower arrangement of microphones mounted on a pole. Which is what it is, really. The system uses seven linked microphones and a computer to detect and measure both the muzzle report of the weapon and the supersonic shock wave of a bullet flying through the air. As such, the Boomerang cannot reliably detect subsonic bullets, but it can ignore things that sound like a gunshot, like fireworks or even squib guns designed to imitate the sound of firearms. Each microphone detects the sound a few microseconds apart. The system then uses algorithms to determine a flight path for the bullet and extrapolate from that the origin of the shot. It takes less than one second. The system has a voice identification of the shot, giving the direction, range and distance above ground. The Boomerang also has a visual display that is like a clock surrounded by LED lights. When a shot is detected, the system will state, "Shot, 9 o'clock" and the display lights up the LED at the 9 o'clock position. The computer then visually and vocally states the range, elevation and azimuth to the target. The Boomerang system is powered by the vehicle it is attached to, and can be used while static or driving at speeds up to 50 MPH. False shot declarations are stated to be less than one per thousand hours of operation. The Boomerang system won the 2005 DARPA award for Significant Technical Achievement and the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX) "Technology Influencer of the Year Award."

Boomerang Sensor Module

By late 2003, it was clear that their was a growing insurgency in Iraq and that the US forces were in danger from asymmetric warfare. In the urban warfare encountered there, many troops could not tell they were being fired on until the rounds started hitting the vehicles and personnel. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield tasked DARPA to provide a near term solution. The Boomerang program was developed out of a US DoD program. The Army and SOCOM had tested some PILAR gunshot detectors from France in early 2003, but their cost, at more than $65,000 per unit, were far too high for them to be issued in any large numbers. DARPA managers looked at the available technology and selected BBN Technologies based on their previously developed counter sniper system named "Bullet Ears" from 1997.

A new set of requirements was out together, including:

• Shooter localization to plus or minus 15 degree accuracy, and within one second of the shot
• Reliability for shot miss distances of one to 30 meters
• Ability to detect and localize fire from AK-47s and other small arms at ranges from 50 to 150 meters
• Reliable performance in urban environments with low buildings
• Operable when mounted on a vehicle moving up to 60 miles per hour on either rough terrain or highways
• Ability to withstand sand, pebbles, rain, and light foliage impacts
• Ability to deliver alert information in both a voice announcement and on an LED display
• Microphone array and electronics box must be replaceable in the field

The first prototype was developed in 65 days. Field tests in combat led to the improvement of the system into the Boomerang II and III. In 2008, the DoD completed a $73.8 million firm fixed price contract was awarded by the U.S. Army to BBN for 8,131 Boomerang Systems, spares and training services.

Since the Boomerang in particular and the whole idea of gunshot detectors was going pretty well, the Department of Defense has continued to fund and research the technology with the hopes of integrating it into the soldier of the future concepts that they have been working on since the 1980s.

The Soldier-Wearable Acoustic Targeting System (SWATS) can reportedly function as well as its larger, vehicle and building mounted systems.

Produced by QinetiQ, the SWATS is a part of the Ears Gunshot Localization System family. It weighs only 6.4-ounces and is worn on the shoulder of the soldier or Marine. It works in a 360-degree radius, isn't confused by ambient noise and can be used in a moving vehicle. The success of the system has prompted the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force to place a $9.9 million order for the soldier-wearable model. The deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to be complete by 2012.

Gunshot detectors are not completely foolproof though, and knowing the direction that the shot(s) came from will not always lead to the enemy being killed or captured. In an ambush the nice computerized female British voice telling you that you are being shot at from multiple areas probably is not particularly helpful either. But the Boomerang and other systems like it are filling a gap that has never been filled and any warning is better than none.

Of course, whether or not the system is truly effective depends on more than if it simply does what it is supposed to. It also needs to be robust enough to continue to function in the dirty and austere battlefield conditions, it needs to be cheap enough to be fielded the right number of troops. But gunshot detectors are another technology that might very well change the way wars are fought over the next 10-25 years as technology matures and use is expanded and modified.

A good idea - USB Swiss Army knife

Here is a new take on an old favorite. A Swiss Army knife from Victorinox with a detachable USB flash drive (1, 2, or 4 GB capacity), LED light and ballpoint pen. That is seriously one of the most useful things you could think of. The drive is USB powered, it comes with a 1 meter USB cable and the light takes a CR1025 battery (one included) It also has scissors, file with screwdriver, and a keyring. If this was mounted on a larger, more capable locking knife with one hand opening, it would already be in my pocket. Price is somewhere around $60.00.

Military Technology: Chili Grenade

Here is a new one. A scientist named R.B. Srivastava developed a new less lethal grenade for the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization. It gets its power from the amazingly hot bhut jolokia chili pepper. This pepper, grown in the northern Indian state of Assam, is like the vegetable world's little chemical weapon. To give you an idea of its power, we can use the Scoville scale, usually used to judge the heat of hot sauces and the like. An average jalapeno pepper measures about 10,000 Scoville units. Previously, the scale topped out at 577,000 with the Mexican red savina pepper. The bhut jolokia pepper is rated at 1,001,304 Scoville units. That makes me want to throw up.

The red death of the vegetable world

The seeds are ground into a fine pepper and would be dispersed over an area about 5 meters square. Mr. Srivastava states:

"The chili grenade is a non-toxic weapon and when used would force a terrorist to come out of his hideout. "The effect is so pungent that it would literally choke them."

Personally, I hope this does not make it to our shores so that the police could use it on college students who are acting stupid. Because, in my mind, this thing certainly constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. They are also thinking of using the bhut jolokia for some other uses like a personal defense spray for women. I've always thought that they should make a spray based on wasabi. But it is my idea, and if you make one, I will sue the shit out of you.

"The chili paste could also act as a major repellent against wild elephants."

OK, folks. That makes it official. Anything that hurts an elephant, you want no part of.

Military Technology: Less Lethal Weapons

Since military forces around the world are forced into peacekeeping and anti-riot duties more each year, there has been a surge of interest in Less Lethal weapon technology. Notice that I did not mention anything about non lethal weapons. That is because any weapon, be it a pistol, nightstick, Taser, beer bottle or stick has the potential to cause a fatal injury. To think otherwise is to have a very imperfect understanding of human anatomy, weapons, or both.
OK. Now that we have that out of the way, We can continue.



First up, we have an update on an old favorite of law enforcement. For years police have used "bean bag" shotgun rounds to subdue dangerous suspects without risking the officers' life. These bean bags are 2"x2" bags full of steel shot. I imagine that their impact on ones torso would be quite uncomfortable. However, there are some limitations of the classic bean bag round. After firing, the bag unfolds and flies through the air face-on, making it rather inaccurate and limiting its range to less than 30 feet or so. One solution to this is the new Home Defender Superstar ammunition from Lightfield Less Lethal. The projectile most resembles a small kush ball. Since it is more or less round, it cuts through the air much better, giving it some additional range, up to 15 yards. The projectiles weigh 75 grains, which by the way is heavier than most 5.56mm bullets. Muzzle velocity is 650 FPS, which is well below just about firearm, but not by too much. Many .45ACP loads top out at about 850 FPS. So this thing would, in all likelihood, knock the living shit out of you. Lightfield does state that the user must only target large muscle groups in the abdomen and below and that the minimum engagement distance with this load is 2 yards, so obviously the star is able to cause significant injuries if used incorrectly.








Next up we have the newest offering from Taser. This is the Taser X3 , which offers 3 shots of CO2-fired darts capable of delivering a shock that completely overrides the target's nerve system to force them to cease resistance. The Taser also features a conventional contact stun gun, and has a Warning Arc feature designed to increase compliance. Another way to say that is to let the subject know that if he doesn't stop whatever he is doing, he is going to get tased.(bro) The X3 also has a focused beam flashlight and dual sighting laser, adjustable for standard or long range rounds. In addition to its features that mostly enable the user to have an easier time of shocking the crap out of someone, the X3 also has a log that records every time the weapon is activated and therefore gives (legal) protection to the firer and the target. The last of the safety systems is a anti-felon system, designed to deter misuse by criminals. The AFID includes bar-coded serialization of each cartridge and disperses confetti-like ID tags upon firing. There is also a colored visual display to indicate the mode, battery level and so forth.




Last on today's list is the FN 303 Less Lethal Launcher. It was developed from a paintball gun to fire a variety of munitions. It fires from a 15 round rotary magazine and is powered by a removable tank of CO2.


The 303 can be mounted under an assault rifle like the M16 or be used with its own butt stock and sights. The idea is to give the police officer or soldier the ability to use a less lethal system but have the protection of a conventional firearm as well. there are four main types of ammunition for the 303. The most common is the training load which is a .68 caliber, bismuth weighted, non-toxic glycol ball that weighs about 8.5 grains. The OC or Oleoresin capsicum load is an orange dyed, glycol base mixed with 10% OC. This is pretty much the same as most pepper sprays and can be used in a riot or armed suspect arrest. there are also two marking loads, one with permanent paint and the other with a washable dye, that is used in riot and demonstration situations to mark violent protesters and such for law enforcement to apprehend or keep an eye on. The muzzle velocity of all loads is about 280 FPS, which makes it a lot safer than firearm based weapons. The 303 has a longer range than most other less lethal systems, but the effectiveness of it is somewhat lower. While is is probably much safer than any "rubber bullet" or other old-style anti-riot weapons, it has already caused a death when a passerby was hit in the eye and killed in Boston in 2004.



Specifications:

• Weight: 5lbs (Stand Alone), 4.9 (Undercarriage)
• Length: 29" (Stand Alone), 17.7" (Undercarriage)
• Projectile Weight: 8.5gr
• Mag Capacity: 15 round
• Propulsion Method: Compressed Air (canister contained)
• Effective Range: 100 Meters

www.fnhusa.com
www.taser.com
http://www.lightfieldlesslethal.com/law_superstar.html

Earthquake machine -Deep Injection Well- Rocky Mountain Arsenal

OK, Check this out, So yesterday I heard from our kind and wise socialist uncle, the leader of the Bolivaran Revolution, Hugo Chavez himself, that the Haiti earthquake was caused by an "earthquake Machine" owned by the evil yankee imperialists. So, naturally, I'm looking around on the Internet, trying to find plans for an earthquake machine so I can build one and devastate third world countries all by myself, you know, for fun. But all I find is info on the first "earthquake machine" the military made way back in the 60's. And, like champagne, it was an accident the first time.

So the short version is that the Army used what is called a Deep well injection to get rid of liquid waste. The idea is that you dig a REALLY deep hole, and then another one at the bottom of the first. And then just pour whatever you want down it. It will just end up in China anyway, right? Right?

So here is the info straight from their website.

Deep well injection for liquid waste has been safely used for many years at sites throughout the United States without documented damage to human health or the environment. After an extensive study of deep injection wells across the country by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it was concluded that this procedure is effective and protective of the environment.

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal deep injection well was constructed in 1961, and was drilled to a depth of 12,045 feet. The well was cased and sealed to a depth of 11,975 feet, with the remaining 70 feet left as an open hole for the injection of Basin F liquids. For testing purposes, the well was injected with approximately 568,000 gallons of city water prior to injecting any waste. However, when the Basin F liquids were actually introduced, the process required more time than anticipated to complete because of the impermeability of the rock. The end result was approximately 165 million gallons of Basin F liquid waste being injected into the well during the period from 1962 through 1966.

The waste fluid chemistry is not known precisely. However, the Army estimates that the waste was a more dilute version of the Basin F liquid which is now being incinerated. Current Basin F liquid consists of very salty water that includes some metals, chlorides, wastewater and toxic organics. From 1962 -- 1963, the fluids were pumped from Basin F into the well. From 1964 -- 1966, waste was removed from an isolated section of Basin F and was combined with waste from a pre-treatment plant, located near Basin F, and then pumped into the well. The waste from the pre-treatment plant was generally a solution containing 13,000 parts per million sodium chloride (salt), with a pH ranging from 3.5 to 11.5. The organic content of the solution was high but is largely unknown.

The injected fluids had very little potential for reaching the surface or useable groundwater supply since the injection point had 11,900 feet of rock above it and was sealed at the opening. The Army discontinued use of the well in Feb. 1966 because of the possibility that the fluid injection was triggering earthquakes in the area. (emphasis mine) The well remained unused for nearly 20 years.

In 1985 the Army permanently sealed the disposal well in stages. First, the well casing was tested to evaluate its integrity. Any detected voids behind the casing were cemented to prevent possible contamination of other formations. Next, the injection zone at the bottom 70 feet of the well was closed by plugging with cement. Additional cement barriers were placed inside the casing across zones that could access water-bearing formations (aquifers). The final step was adding Bentonite, a heavy clay mud that later solidified, to close the rest of the hole up to the ground surface.

So there you go, just dig a hole 12,000 feet deep and pour 156 million gallons of unknown composition, horrible, toxic waste down it and Presto! earthquakes. You heard it here first.

In case you are reading this after having sustained a head injury and have not realized it, a great deal of this is quite sarcastic. Chavez did say the US caused the earthquake, though. And we did pour all that horrible liquid waste into a big hole.

Tesla's Earthquake Machine

Military Technology- TourniCath

One of the highest causes of death in military operations is bleeding to death. The distance in time and miles from trauma care and the types of wounds incurred are the primary factors influencing this. Of course the US military is the best in the world in getting injured servicemen and women to the care they need as soon as possible. The medics and corpsman are likely the bravest and most dedicated of all our military. Technology has also advanced to help injured soldiers. From the simple tourniquet to pressure bandages to QuikClot, a clotting compound designed to stop high volume bleeding, even from arteries.(I carry a trauma kit in my car with Quikclot, a pressure bandage and other supplies. If you are EVER around guns, make a $50 investment in not bleeding to death)

From Cardio Command, we now have the TourniCath.
As they state on their website, this device is not yet approved by the FDA, so it is not as of now available for sale in the U.S.

One problem posed by gunshot wounds is that they penetrate deep into the body and as a result, applying surface pressure to the wound may be insufficient to stop bleeding as the bullet is likely to damage blood vessels and organs deep inside the body, especially with wounds to groin or shoulder area, which are mostly uncovered by modern body armor.

The TourniCath is designed to prevent exsangnuinating hemorrhage (bleeding to goddamn death) by internal wound track compression. The idea is that you insert a cylindrical inflatable balloon into the wound either at the entrance or exit. The inflated balloon provides pressure to the entire internal wound area and hopefully, speeds the clotting process and decreases the amount of blood loss. The maximum size of the balloon is about 8" in length by 2" in diameter, which would hopefully be large enough to achieve successful hemostasis of most wound tracks in the specified anatomical regions of the body. TourniCath is not indicated for abdominal or thoracic wounds. It is mostly intended for deep penetrating trauma in the groin/pelvis or the shoulder area. They state that it is easy to use due to the
smooth rounded tip and a smooth outer sheath covering the rolled balloon. This is good because it becomes much harder to accomplish any task when the stress level increases. For soldiers under fire, with their friends seriously wounded, stress levels are pretty much beyond what most people can imagine.

For some time, soldiers have carried tampons to do a similar job of blocking a wound, providing pressure and preventing blood loss. TourniCath uses this same mode of action as do the currently approved devices: the Foley catheter (not designed for wound track tamponade but often used), the Liver Balloon, the Zimmon gastroesophageal catheter, and the Kaye nephrostomy catheter.

Any device to help save lives is always welcome, so good work, people at Cardio Command. FDA administrators (I know you all read my blog) get crackin' on testing and if appropriate, approving this system. We need it.

For more information, please contact Cardio Command Customer Service by phone at 1-800-231-6370 or by email at info@cardiocommand.com.

http://www.cardiocommand.com/hemorrhage.html

COIN Aircraft

A-1 Skyraider

COIN is the military acronym for Counter Insurgency. Counter insurgency warfare has been, in a lot of ways, the main type of warfare we have been involved in since the end WWII. Certainly most of the Vietnam War, Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan are counter insurgency campaigns.

Many of the tasks that I am going to discuss here can and have been accomplished by other aircraft. F-16s and F-18s are very good at hitting ground targets and carry weapons that can utterly destroy most anything. But they often can only stay above the battle for very short period of time, sometimes as little as 30 minutes. A savvy enemy can realize that if they lay low for a little while, the aircraft will have to leave the area to refuel. Aeriel refueling and stacking aircraft to come on station in sequence can help solve this problem. Advanced jets are also difficult or impossible to operate from small, primitive airfields, forcing commanders to fly them to their targets from further away.

Helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Cobra are very useful in attacking ground targets, but also have limitations. They are in general much easier to shoot down than planes as they fly lower and are very much slower. They also may be unsuitable for certain types of time sensitive air support as they can't respond with the same speed as fixed wing craft.

Some of you might be thinking, man, this guy has completely forgotten about the best close air support plane in the air, the A-10 Thunderbolt II/ Warthog. No, I didn't. And the A-10 is probably the best close air support plane in our inventory (Sorry Harrier, you are cool too). But even the A-10 is not perfectly suited to supporting troops on the ground. The A-10 was mostly intended to destroy hordes of Soviet tanks on a open, plains-type environment.
The A-10 is in the process of being upgraded to allow it to use more precision weapons and that will increase its usefulness.


For an aircraft to be successful and useful in a counter insurgency situation, it must have a balance of several attributes.

1. Endurance: The aircraft must be able to loiter over the battlefield for extended periods of time to provide support for troops on the ground.

2. Slow speed maneuverability: To accurately hit small and camouflaged ground targets, the aircraft must be able to fly low and slow to be able to see. Higher speed aircraft like the F-16 have difficulty moving slow enough to spot targets like small bunkers, and even if they see them, they usually will have to come around for another pass, because they have flown a few thousand feet by the time they can recognize and confirm the target.

3. Survivability: Since the aircraft has to hang around a long time, flying low and slow, it is certainly going to receive ground fire from small arms, AA guns, rockets, and surface to air missiles. The aircraft has be designed to meet these threats as well as possible. Part of this is making the aircraft as tough as possible with extra armor for the pilots and redundant systems. Another is making sure the aircraft has systems like chaff and flares to increase its resistance to advance anti-air weapons.

So where does this leave us? What is the solution? Well, the simplest thing may be to buy and field more helicopter gunships, A-10s and even armed UAVs.
Another approach is to look backward. The US military has flown many excellent propeller driven aircraft in the past that would, with some modification, make excellent COIN aircraft.
Why propellers? Well, for starters, they are easier to operate in austere environments, they also are much harder to target with Infrared guided missiles as they do not generate anywhere near the heat of a jet engine.


This one is an outside possibility, but has a solid a combat record as can be wished.
This is the A-1 Skyraider, a plane designed for WWII that was so good, it was used all the way into Vietnam, well into the jet age. The Skyraider was very tough and had excellent low speed handling due to a large, low, straight wing. Notice the large speed brake beneath the fuselage. This allows the pilot to very quickly drop his airspeed, like letting the air out of a sail. That means they can approach a target quickly, slow down, bomb the crap out of it, and then throttle up and get out of there. While the A-1 is a wonderful plane and could be useful, it is extremely doubtful that the Pentagon would bring back a plane of this age.


Next up, the OV-1 Mohawk, a joint Marine/Army project from the Vietnam era. This was a light twin prop aircraft, designed for observation and reconnaissance as well as air strikes. It satisfies the requirements of a rugged plane, able to operate from small, unimproved fields. It also has a good loiter time and can be easily modified to accomplish different missions. The Mohawk was fitted with pods to drop supplies to troops from its under wing hardpoints. This is a wonderful addition, because sometimes a couple of hundred rounds and a few gallons of water can make the difference between life and death for besieged ground pounders. It has a side by side cockpit arrangement that increases the situational awareness of the pilots. The Mohawk was in inventory until the 1990's and was replaced by aircraft such as the DH-7 and the E-8 J-STARS. The OV-1 was primarily an aircraft dedicated to seeking out the enemy, rather than destroying it, and inter service squabbles between the Army and the Air Force doomed the further use of armed fixed wing planes for Army use. That is a shame, because there have been some in the Air Force that have been less than enthusiastic about flying the types of missions the Army needs them to, but they don't want the Army flying them either.


One of the best candidates is the OV-10 Bronco, another Vietnam era observation plane. It can loiter for up to three hours and was specifically designed for CAS and COIN. This aircraft was developed during the infancy of combat helicopters and was intended to be used for Forward Air Control (FAC). The Bronco was designed to be extremely versatile. It could take off from roads and fields, met the short takeoff and landing criteria of 800 feet, it could be launched from a aircraft carrier. The original specifications stated that it should be convertible to an amphibian, but I don't know it that ever panned out. It could be armed with 7.62mm machineguns, a 20mm cannon, Sidewinder missiles and carry 500 lb. bombs on its wings. With the second seat removed, it can carry 3,200 pounds of cargo, five paratroopers or two litter patients and an attendant. Normal operating fueled weight, with two crew was 9,910 lb. Maximum takeoff weight was 14,446 pounds.

One interesting feature is that the Bronco was originally developed to strafe weapons with self-loading recoilless rifles, which could deliver aimed explosive shells with less recoil than cannons, and a lower per-round weight than rockets. The airframe would thereby avoid the back blast. The Bronco performed observation, forward air control, helicopter escort, armed reconnaissance, gunfire spotting, utility light air transport and limited ground attack. The Bronco has also performed aerial radiological reconnaissance, tactical air observation, artillery and naval gunfire spotting and airborne control of tactical air support operations, and front line, low-level aerial photography.

A newer version of the Bronco, known as the OV-10X is under development by Boeing and it would feature the ability to use precision weapons, advanced sensors and avionics, but still retain the robust and simple construction of the original.


This is the Ayres Vigilante, a militarized version of the Thrush, which is the most popular agricultural plane ever. The government has several modified aircraft of this type that were used to destroy Colombian coco crops. These aircraft are a special anti-narcotics crop-spraying version of the Turbo-Thrush and were bought for for the US State Department. This version, known as the Narcotics Eradication Delivery System (NEDS) featured an armoured cockpit and engine to protect against hostile ground fire. Attempts were made to find military buyers in the mid eighties, but the Air Force was not interested.


My favorite of the bunch, this Piper PA-48 Enforcer. It is a more modern take on the greatest fighter of WWII, the P-51 Mustang. It has been fitted with wing mounted fuel tanks and what I believe is a spar for aerial refueling. Notice the 10 (!) under wing hardpoints. This would allow the Enforcer to carry a large and varied load of ordinance. It could easily be fitted with laser guided 70mm folding fin rockets, 250 and 500 pound bombs, etc. It also was tested with 6 .50 caliber machine guns, although a 20mm cannon or two would probably be more useful. Like the rest of the aircraft here, it is a robust plane, capable of operating almost anywhere.Unfortunately, the Air Force never showed much interest in the Enforcer, despite years of development and the best pedigree a prop plane could ask for. Only four were ever made.

Military Technology- GLARE LA-9/P

This is a new item being tested and evaluated by the USMC. It is called the GLARE LA-9/P. it is apparently classified as a "ocular interruption device". The GLARE is visible and effective up to 2.5 miles. It is classified as a less than lethal weapon, although personally, I wouldn't be surprised if this thing would give you eye-cancer. The LA-9/P is listed as a 250 milliwatt laser and is made by BE Myers. My quite insufficient wikipedia research tells me that it would likely fall into the Class IIIb/3B lasers which can cause immediate severe eye damage upon exposure. These are usually lasers up to 500 mW, such as those in CD and DVD writers. Note that it seems the housing states that the laser is eyesafe at 62.9 meters. According to the manufacturer, there is a safety that automatically deactivates the laser if a target is within the danger zone (the nominal ocular hazard distance or NOHD). So that is nice.

Above it is mounted on a folding stock for a Ruger. That's also nice, because those are about $85.00, and if we let the "military-industrial complex" make one, it would probably cost at least $450.00. I'm all about keeping costs down. It is powered by AA and 123 batteries, which are pretty easy to acquire anywhere, although the 123s can be expensive little bastards.



One possible use for a weapon of this type, is that of a long range warning device. The HBO miniseries Generation Kill showed that the Marines had a difficult time warning civilians and refugees to stop at roadblocks, sometimes with unfortunately fatal results. A device like this is clearly visible for long ranges and could be used to force a car to stop well short of the range where they could injure friendlies. Of course, it also might cause you to drive into a ditch.

As seen below, it could also be used for signaling and hailing, especially for ship to ship or airborne overwatch needs.


GLARE LA-9/P > Model No. 532C-LA-9/P

NSN Number: 5860-01-544-7175
Output Power (Visible): 250 mW
Wavelength: 532 nm (green)
Visible Beam Diverg. (Degrees): .29°
Power Supply: 4 AA & 1 Type 123
Dimensions: 10.25 x 1.75 x 2.25 in
Weight (With Batteries): 20.5 oz
NOHD: 63m (10 s exposure)
Effective Range (Hail & Warning): 300m (Day) - 4 km (Night)
1913 Rail Mount Available: Yes

Military Technology- Simon Breaching Munition

One problem faced by soldiers in urban combat is doors. They are everywhere, and you have to get through them. Most are locked and many are heavy enough to stand up to repeated kicks and hammer blows. And that doesn't even touch on the fact that they may be booby trapped.

Enter the Simon from from Rafael in Israel. It is a rifle grenade designed to blow doors clean off their hinges. It has a range of 30 meters and weighs a pound and a half and is about 2.5 feet long. Unlike many other rifle grenades, the Simon can be fired with a regular bullet. Most rifle grenades from years past had to be fired with a special blank cartridge. This meant the user had to keep loose blanks or an extra magazine loaded with blanks. Then, when the grenade was needed he would have to clear the chamber and load the blank, mount the grenade and fire. It would be easy under stress to forget to clear the live round from the chamber. And you do not want that to happen. It could ruin the rifle, the grenade, your day, and maybe your face.


The Simon has a standoff rod that, when fired at the door, causes the impact fuse to detonate. The blast wave of the Simon is large and powerful enough to knock the door inside the room and unlike some other breaching methods, it is not necessary to aim for hinges or locks. The Simon is also in service with the US Army as the M100 Rifle Grenade Entry Munition and was awarded as one of the top 10 best inventions of 2005.

X2 Advanced Technology Helicopter

X2 prototype

Now that the Marines have fielded the revolutionary MV-22 Osprey Tilt Rotor aircraft, they have some problems. The one we will deal with today is that the usual gunship escort of the Marines, the AH-1 Cobra, is not really fast enough to keep up with the Osprey.

The Department of Defense has been trying to make a faster and more capable helicopter for many years now. The Osprey Tilt Rotor is one of the ways that they were able to make an aircraft with the vertical take off and landing capabilities of a helicopter and the fast flight of a fixed wing aircraft.
Although the Osprey has had its share of problems, we won't go into that today.

X2 in testing

So that brings us to the Sikorsky X2. The X2 is a technology demonstrator from helicopter pioneers Sikorsky and is still in testing. It differs from most traditional helicopters in that it has two blades on top of each other that spin in opposite directions. This design has been used on other helicopters, notably the Russian Ka-50 Black Shark attack helicopter. However the X2 also incorporates an auxiliary propeller on the tail to increase its speed in forward flight. The rear propeller is not a new idea either and had been a feature on the AH-56 Cheyenne helicopter. In addition to the obvious changes, it also makes use of technologies gleaned from the canceled Comanche Helicopter project such as the composite rotor blades and an advanced transmission. The X2 also uses of improved set of fly by wire controls developed for the Cypher VTOL UAV.

AH-56 Cheyenne

Russian Ka-50 Black Shark

AH-66 Comanche

The X2 is said to have a cruising speed of 287 miles per hour which is comparable to the Osprey's cruising speed of 277 mph. In comparison, the AH-1F "Modernized"Cobra's maximum speed is listed as 172 mph, and its normal cruising speed would likely be somewhat lower. An additional benefit of the new design is that the aircraft is not completely dependent on the tail rotor to maintain control and stability. The elimination of the tail rotor is a major advantage because the torque-countering tail rotor can use up to 30% of engine power. Furthermore, the vulnerable boom and rear gearbox are fairly common causes of helicopter losses in combat. The tail rotor is one of the more vulnerable areas of helicopters and all you need to do is watch Tru TV or Blackhawk Down to see what happens when they break. Since the speed of the advancing rotor tip is the main limitation to the maximum speed of a helicopter, the twin rotor allows for a higher maximum speed than other helicopters.

Artist's concepts of X2 attack helicopters

The X2 will likely not see any military service for some time though. The Osprey first flew in 1985, and was not really used until this year. Hopefully the X2 will have an easier time working out its bugs. When it does enter service, it will bring capabilities that no one in the world can match. (For now)