(Part II of Weapons - From RPGs to Neutron Bombs
Section XV.
Additional Weapons for 4GW and US Strike Forces
From RPGs and Sniper Support Systems to Mini and Neutron Nukes
Weapons Of The Insurgents: RPGs and US Defense
Weeks before the invasion of Iraq, a fight developed between the Army's top general and his civilian boss.. Gen. Eric K. Shinseki told the Senate Armed Services Committee the job would take something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld believed it could be done with about half that number. Missing from the sound bites that framed the debate was the reason behind the discrepancy.
DOD expected entire Iraqi divisions to lay down their arms. Shinseki looked beyond that surrender and worried that without a sufficient force to stand guard, the Iraqi arsenal would be plundered. By the time the first statue of Hussein was pulled off its pedestal, a massive stockpile of rocket-propelled grenade launchers and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles had fallen into the hands of Islamic insurgents. In the months that followed, half the Americans who died in Iraq were killed by one type of these weapons, the RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade.
RPG-s
In every patrol in Iraq in which they recover weapons, they find RPG-7s. Cheap to buy, easy to use and nearly as rugged as a club, the RPG-7 is an old weapon that has been reborn in the hands of militants. Developed by the Bazalt State Research and Production Enterprise in Russia in the 1960s, its simplicity made it an immediate favorite among armies the Soviet bloc, China and North Korea. The Cold War’s end, RPG-7s had found their way into the inventories of 40 armies, many unfriendly to the US.
At least 1 million RPG-7s have been manufactured by Bazalt or are under license. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the flow of RPGs from military warehouses to the black market has grown from a trickle to a flood. RPG-7s can be bought for less than the price of a laptop computer. The weapon traces its origin to the Panzerfaust tank buster that Germany developed for territorial defense at the end of World War II. Never intended for use against aircraft, the RPG-7 became an effective helicopter killer. In 1994, two U.S. Army Black Hawks fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia, were shot down by RPG-7 fire. In Afghanistan, the mujahedeen used the weapons for helicopter ambushes. It has been used in a similar fashion by insurgents in Iraq. (XV. 1.)
New Warheads
The success of the RPG is Bazalt's introduction of new types of ammunition for its venerable weapon. The TBG-7V, PG-7VR and OG-7V rounds allow a soldier to accomplish an unprecedented range of missions on the battlefield. The thermobaric TBG-7V round has a lethality comparable to a 120mm artillery projectile or mortar shell. The TBG-7V round operates on the enhanced blast principle. The warhead explosion creates a high-temperature field and simultaneously generates a powerful blast wave, When fired against unprotected troops, it shreds and incinerates everyone within a 30-ft. radius. If it strikes armor, it produces a 6- to 18-in. opening. The heat and shock wave from the explosion then enters the vehicle, killing the crew.
One way to defend against this type of round is to apron a tank with reactive armor, which is essentially a coating of explosive. When the round strikes the tank, the reactive armor explodes--in effect, it pushes back against the incoming round. This prevents the focused jet of molten metal created by the impact of the shaped charge from squirting through the crew compartment. The PG-7VR overcomes reactive armor by using a 2-part, or tandem, warhead. It hits the tank with two closely timed blasts. The first punches a hole in the reactive armor. The second attacks the armor.
The OG-7V fragmentation round is designed specifically for urban warfare (targets of brick and reinforced concrete). The OG-7V accuracy is close to that of small arms allowing the round to be dropped through a relatively small opening where the enemy is firing. The Iraqi army (and now insurgents) have these advanced rounds, along with older varieties of antipersonnel and anti-armor munitions. Besides RPGs and anti-aircraft missiles over 5 million machine guns disappeared from arsenals.
RPG-7 is a reloadable, shoulder-fired, muzzle-loaded, recoilless antitank and antipersonnel rocket propelled grenade launcher that launches fin-stabilized, oversized rocket - assisted HEAT grenade (85-mm in the PG-7 version, 70-mm in the PG-7M) from a smooth bore 40mm tube. The launcher with optical sights weighs 6.9 kilograms (15.9 pounds) and has a maximum, effective range of 300 meters against moving point targets and 500 meters against stationary point targets. 500 meters is also the maximum range of rocket assisted flight, which enables a flatter trajectory and more accurate aiming. The RPG-7V is light enough to be carried and fired by a single operator. An assistant grenadier deploys with the shooter, to the left of the gunner to provide cover with his personal weapon and reload after fire. The shooter normally carries two additional rounds of ammunition, and his team member three more rounds. The use of the weapon is fairly simple. Without much practice, a user can hit a vehicle sized target most of the time at ranges of 50-100 meters. More practice enable engagement of targets at extended range, which also provide relative safety to the user. At the maximum range of 920 meters, RPGs self explodes (4.5 seconds from firing) and that's how the weapon is sometime used as a form of "artillery", spraying shrapnel over military installations, or slow, low flying or hovering helicopters. The antipersonnel grenades reach over 1100 meters. Following the conflict in Afghanistan, new anti-personnel grenades were added. A modified version, PG-7BR is also designed to defeat reactive armor. It uses a precursor charge to eliminate the reactive armor and a main charge to penetrate the main armor. Basalt, the original RPG manufacturer has also designed further advanced versions, including RPG-26 and RPG-27, with effective range of 200-250 meters for anti-tank, anti-personnel and anti-material missions. Thermobaric warheads were also adapted for RPGs with the RShG-1 and the RShG-2. Both are optimized for operations in enclosures of up to 200 cubic meters.
The current RPG-7V model can mount a telescope and both infrared and passive night sights. All RPG-7 models have optical sights which can be illuminated for night sighting.
Among the production grenades are the PG-7, PG-7M, PG-7N, The PG-7V rocket has a penetration capability of 330mm of steel armor. PG-7VL antitank grenades with armor penetrability of up to 600 mm of rolled homogeneous steel. The PG-7VR is a tandem warhead designed to penetrate explosive reactive armor and the armor underneath. The OG-7 and OG-7M are high-explosive antipersonnel grenades.
The RPG-18 is another derivative of the original RPG. It was designed as a short-range weapon, The tube-launched, disposable launcher contain a single 64mm PG-18 rocket, similar in principle to the US LAW system. The operator carries the launcher in a collapsed position and extends the inner tube to make the weapon ready to fire. The weapon has an effective range of 200 meters, with a HEAT warhead which is capable of penetrating up to 375 millimeters of steel armor. The fuse of the HEAT grenade activates 2 to 15 meters after leaving the tube and self-destructs after a flight time of 4 to 6 seconds. The folding sight at the forward end of the tube is calibrated for ranges of 50, 100, 150, and 200 meters.
Missile Attacks
Saddam Hussein's looted arsenal was brimming with SA-7 Grail anti-aircraft missiles. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), over the past 25 years the Grail and later models including the SA-14 have been responsible for attacks on 35 airliners--mostly commercial flights. Twenty-four of these attacks led to crashes, killing more than 500. In Iraq, as many as 5000 Grails are believed to have fallen into the hands of insurgents. CRS reports that between May and November 2003, 19 attacks on aircraft took place in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport. Each SA-7missile is equipped with an infrared sensor that "sees" the invisible heat trail behind a jet engine as though it were a beacon atop a lighthouse. Guidance-system circuitry reacts to changing input from the sensor by adjusting the fins of the missile. This keeps the Grail pointed toward its target as it streaks through the sky at supersonic speeds. When the missile reaches the engine, its warhead detonates 2.5 pounds of high explosives.
The Grail tracks its quarry with an infrared sensor and heat-activated batteries to power its circuitry. All have a limited shelf life. Although estimates vary, many of the Grails in illegitimate hands are believed to be too old to reliably fire. The second shortcoming has to do with the way the Grail finds its targets. The Grail is a tail-chaser, which means that it must be fired from behind an aircraft. The distance between shooter and target--as far as 6 miles--gives the aircraft crew time to defend itself. One technique is to release flares, creating a target that's "brighter" than the heat from the jet engine. Air Force One, commercial airliners operated by Israel's El Al and military aircraft have installed various types of these systems. Efforts are under way to install similar defensive systems on American airliners.
Best RPG Defense: FCLAS
The most promising plan for defending troops against insurgents' rocket and missile attacks is called FCLAS. The abbreviated acronym stands for "full spectrum active protection close-in layered shield," which in itself is an explanation of how it works. FCLAS is an antimissile missile in a tube. Strategically placed around a vehicle, boat, building or helicopter, these missiles create a sort of invisible shield that detects and then demolishes incoming threats. The idea behind FCLAS is simple in concept but difficult in execution. The forward section of the FCLAS projectile houses two radar systems. The radar at the front looks forward for objects whose speed is consistent with an RPG-7 round or missile. When this threat is detected, a black powder charge, like that used to launch smoke grenades, ignites, propelling the FCLAS out of its storage tube. The second radar system looks up, down and to both sides.
The launch is timed so that it and the incoming target will pass each other when they are about 15 ft. from the vehicle being protected. At this precise moment, the side-looking radar senses the passing threat and ignites the explosive material that fills the middle of the projectile. The force fractures the explosive's metal sheath. Scored lines in the sheathing cause it to shatter into tiny square-shaped shards that radiate outward. Anything in the path of this doughnut-shaped wall of fast-moving metal is shredded into confetti. (XV. 2.)
SENSORS, DRONES (UAV) & What Trillions ($) Will Buy!
New generations of sensors will improve the ability of U.S. forces to detect and monitor the activities of small groups of enemy combatants. The Air Force is developing a new synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that operates simultaneously in the ultra high frequency (UHF) and very high frequency (VHF) bands and can detect stationary targets under foliage or camouflage. These sensors will not provide the resolution required for identifying (or perhaps even detecting) individuals, but they can be used to detect facilities and equipment (including weapons) that might be associated with terrorist groups and activities.
Improving assessment capabilities is also important. Most of the images and other data collected by U.S. intelligence sensors are never looked at or are given only a cursory examination. To better exploit the burgeoning take of these sensors, efforts are under way to develop new automated assessment tools that will include computer algorithms designed to detect specific activities by people or vehicles and to detect anomalous events or activities against an established baseline.
Technical surveillance systems, such as electro-optical sensors on UAVs, may be useful for this purpose. The problem of emphasizing force-protection measures is that such concerns can begin to compete with the overall mission of neutralizing terrorist groups. To reduce this competition, the DoD will need to develop and field affordable systems appropriate for monitoring activities around friendly bases. Simple, low-cost systems could be adequate to this task. Small, low-speed UAVs with a time-on-station of a few hours have proven suitable for base-protection missions and are less expensive than a Predator UAV. Unattended ground sensors (UGSs) may be useful for these tasks as well. They tend to have a smaller field of regard than sensors on airborne platforms, but they are relatively inexpensive and are on station 24 hours a day. Scanning lasers can be used to detect rifle scopes and other optics pointed at a base, and infrared backtracking systems can identify the source of sniper fire. (XV. 3.)
UAVs: Unmanned Drones
Top of the Line Armed PREDATOR B - MQ-9 HUNTER/KILLER
In May 1998 General Atomics was awarded a Block 1 Upgrade contract to expand the capabilities of the Predator system. System upgrades include development of an improved relief-on-station (ROS) system which allows continuous coverage over areas of interest without any loss of time on station, secure air traffic control voice relay, Ku-band satellite tuning and implementation of an Air Force Mission Support System (AFMSS). The upgrade also covers a more powerful turbocharged engine and wing de-icing systems to enable year-round operations. The upgraded Predator, the MQ-9 Hunter/Killer, has been operational in the Balkans since April 2001.
The Predator B has an operational ceiling of 50,000ft and maximum internal payload of 800lb and external payload over 3,000lb. Predator B has been flight tested with Hellfire II anti-armour missiles and can carry up to 14 missiles. Flight trials have also taken place with the General Atomics Lynx SAR (synthetic aperture radar) payload. Lynx also features ground moving target indicator technology. The USAF has also ordered two versions of Predator B with turbofan jet engines. The Predator was flight tested with a L-3 Communications Tactical Common Datalink (TCDL). A Northrop Grumman Bat submunition was successfully dropped and a FINDER mini-UAV was launched from a Predator UAV in 2002. Refueling capabilities are also being examined. (XV. 4.)
Surveillance Drones: Hermes UAV (Israeli)
This is a large endurance UAV that can be mistaken for a twin-engine passenger aircraft. It is a well-appointed UAV for long-range surveillance and tactical reconnaissance. These aircraft were bought by Israeli allies and business interests (South Africans, Argentines, and Singapore), as well as some civilian scientific agencies for land survey and mapmaking. This UAV was chosen to serve as the backbone system for the development of UAV system applications/ missions. Produced by Israel's Elbit Systems and Silver Arrow, hese workhorse UAVs are in service with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and have accumulated extensive operational experience as the main tactical UAV.
Hermes 450 is an upper range tactical UAV system with advanced composite structure and optimised aerodynamics. Advanced avionics enable autonomous flight and precise GPS navigation. Fully redundant systems significantly increase reliability. Target detection and recognition are performed by gimbaled, electro-optical, state-of-the-art payloads. The UAV is equipped with sophisticated communication systems transferring imagery in real time to ground control stations. The Hermes 450 maximum payload weight is 150kg, its operational altitude is 18,000 feet and its maximum endurance is 20 hours.
July 2003, Elbit Systems Ltd. announced that its subsidiary EFW Inc, Fort Worth, Texas, had been awarded a contract by SENTEL Corporation to operate its Hermes 450 UAV system in support of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Director of Test and Evaluation, Joint UAV Joint Test and Evaluation (JUAV-JT&E), at NAS Fallon, Nevada. Elbit/Silver Arrow is working on its twin-engined Hermes 1500 and IAI/MALAT, the Heron 1. The contract was awarded after a validation programme which demonstrated the Hermes 450's capabilities and versatility. Under the contract, the Hermes 450 will provide a reliable turnkey system for seamless integration of UAVs with other operational military elements. The effort, which is to run through July 2004, will encompass operations with forces from all US Military Services. The system had already conducted more than a dozen highly successful missions in support of US Navy carrier air wing training and JUAV test and evaluation exercises.
The contract to supply and operate its Hermes 450 is a breakthrough for the company into the largest market in the world. Elbit/Silver Arrow also offer the smaller Hermes 150 and the larger, High Altitude Long Endurance Hermes 1500 in the US market as an important, cross-Service role. Versions of the Hermes are used by the US Border patrol to monitor activity on the Mexican border. (XV. 5.)
Mini UAVs
Desert Hawk is constructed of mold-injected expanded polypropylene - a Styrofoam-like material which is flexible, damage-resistant type of foam. Kevlar skids are used on the nose and tail to improve durability. The sensors are carried in the middle of the fuselage, peeking down at the surface through a notch opened in the lower fuselage. Both color CCD or infrared cameras can be used. The GPS antennae and communications links are mounted on the wings. It uses an electric motor and therefore maintains a quiet operation. The vehicle weighs 3.5 kilograms and is only 13 centimeters long.
Launched into the air by two people using a bungee cord as a slingshot, the mini UAV flies its mission fully autonomously, at speeds of 40 to 80 km/h, following a flight path that has been plotted out beforehand on a laptop using GPS coordinates. The plane can be directed to circle over an area of interest, or the operator can alter its flight path while the plane is in the air during its 75 minutes aloft. Its payloads comprise of interchangeable systems, including an infrared thermal imaging system for night use, or a set of three color cameras for daylight.
Each Desert Hawk system, which consists of six aircraft, a ground station, and spare parts, costs $300,000. An improved version of the desert Hawk is currently in development. Most of the improvements will focus on system integration, including cooperative target engagement, with UAVs automatically assigned to locate and track targets detected by ground surveillance radars. Of the 48 systems ordered, four have been delivered to the British Army and more are planned for delivery to special forces units. (XV. 6.)
Viper Strike - Laser Guided Weapon for UAVs
http://www.defense-update.com/directory/viper-strike.htm
Viper Strike uses a semi-active laser seeker to find its designated target. The weapon was developed as a derivative of the autonomous Brilliant Attack Munitions (BAT) Submunitions during a quick reaction, nine-week program at Northrop Grumman's Land Combat Systems facility at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala.
The weapon is intended for operations that require top-down attack, particularly in built-up areas where strict rules of engagement are in force. It requires a "man in the loop" to lase the target, either from the ground in sight of the target or from the Hunter's ground station, which ensures the greatest possible accuracy and minimizes the chances of collateral damage. The Viper Strike's warhead is smaller than the hellfire's, which is used with the US Air Force armed Predator UAVs, containing only four pounds of Anti-Tank High Explosive (HEAT) charge, for reduced collateral damage in an urban built-up area. It also has a self-destruct mechanism, to eliminate post-strike hazards. The final version of Viper Strike could be equipped with optional blast fragmentation and thermobaric warheads. (XV. 7.)
Sniper Coordination Systems (SCS)
Much of the work done on these systems comes from the Israelis. They provide improved planning and employment of snipers, as well as more effective monitoring of these assets. The system offers image transfer capability in real time, to monitor the line of sights of multiple snipers and verify individual targets for each shooter. Advanced systems also enable effective monitoring of targets around the corners, and actually firing around the corner, using the weapon's mounted camera, coupled via wireless link to an eyepiece or wrist mounted display.
The SCS utilizes a lightweight image splitter attached to the sniper rifle's sight, and a wireless transmitter which sends the sight image in real time to the command post, where up to six different snipers can be supervised simultaneously. The images can also be sent to other elements in the field, viewed on wrist mounted display or on PDAs carried by the troops. Some of these tools are being tied into general urban warfighting strategies and monitoring systems- C4.
C4: Tactical C4ISR (RTC) RAFAEL (Israel)
The RAFAEL system provides tactical units with independent support for mission planning, navigation, situational awareness and target acquisition and engagement. Employed with mobile and dismounted forces, including Special Forces, the system can also interface with other systems in a wide area to establish large scale networking. The RTC links to standard combat net radios to access the network and transfer data between the network's units. RTC provides battle management support including target acquisition, allocation and management of all firing assets under the commander's control, as well as fire management and control of individual firing units such as anti-tank missiles. This application was formerly known as Spike C4I and was tested with Spike equipped units where it demonstrated how it can simplify the communications between different element in the group, increases the agility and precision of the supported forces, and accelerate the sensor-to-shooter cycle between reconnaissance and assault forces while minimizing the risk from fratricide "friendly fire". The system can also integrate various sensor platforms including individual sights of the anti-tank weapons, UAVs and other airborne sensors, acoustic sensors and observation posts. (XV. 8.)
NUETRON BOMBS
Tactical neutron bombs are primarily intended to kill soldiers who are protected by armor. Armored vehicles are very resistant to blast and heat produced by nuclear weapons, but steel armor can reduce neutron radiation only by a modest amount so the lethal range from neutrons greatly exceeds that of other weapon effects. The lethal range for tactical neutron bombs can exceed the lethal range for blast and heat even for unprotected troops. (XV. 9.)
Also called ENHANCED RADIATION WARHEAD, these specialized type of small thermonuclear weapons that produce minimal blast and heat release large amounts of lethal radiation. The neutron bomb delivers blast and heat effects that are confined to an area of only a few hundred yards in radius. But within a somewhat larger area it throws off a massive wave of neutron and gamma radiation, which can penetrate armour or several feet of earth. This radiation is extremely destructive to living tissue. Because of its short-range destructiveness and the absence of long-range effect, the neutron bomb would be highly effective against tank and infantry formations on the battlefield but would not endanger cities or other population centres only a few miles away. It can be carried in a Lance missile or delivered by an 8-inch (200-millimetre) howitzer, or possibly by attack aircraft.
The neutron bomb is another generation beyond a thermonuclear device. It has the same core of a fusion bomb, but the blanket of heavy U-238 isotopes is removed, so only the energy released from the fusion core comprises the total explosive yield. This energy is in the form of a massive flux of neutrons, combined with some gamma radiation. Neutrons are highly lethal to humans and animals, and the N-bomb instantly kills everything in its radius of lethality. Any living creatures that receive non-lethal doses of the neutrons will be dead within a day or two from radiation sickness. Neutron radiation literally vaporizes the soft flesh of humans at close range, and Zechariah’s remarkable prophecy, regardless of what he was really prophesying, is an extraordinary description of the effects of a neutron bomb on human beings.
Neutron bombs are also much cleaner than conventional nukes. A neutron blast only kills living things, leaving all buildings and weapons intact. It is the ultimate weapon to use against massed troops and armor, as all the enemies die instantly, no structures or vehicles are damaged, and, most importantly, no radioactive fallout is left behind. Unlike fission or fusion nukes, neutron bombsites are safe to walk into immediately after the explosion. Neutron technology has been developed to such a level that these devices can be produced in as small a package as the size of a common baseball! They can be used in field artillery and small rockets, and even soldiers dug in behind several feet of earth are not safe from a neutron blast. Until the Clinton/Gore Administration, only two nations wielded this fearful weapon, the United States and Israel. Thanks to the DNC/Chinagate scandal, however, China is now known to possess neutron devices, and several other countries are rumored to be actively pursuing this technology. (XV. 10.)
Mini-Nuclear Weapons -- Bunker Busters
Possible targets
The budget is busted; American soldiers need more armor; they're running out of supplies. Yet the Department of Energy is spending an astonishing $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year, and President Bush is requesting $6.8 billion more for next year and a total of $30 billion over the following four years. This does not include his much-cherished missile-defense program, by the way. This is simply for the maintenance, modernization, development, and production of nuclear bombs and warheads. (XV. 11.)
Seven countries -- China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria -- are listed as targets of U.S weapons in the classified Nuclear Posture Review, a 2001 Pentagon document describing Bush administration policy. (XV. 12.)
The design contest between Livermore and Los Alamos is expected to last two to three years and cost about $15 million per year. The winning lab will then shift to an engineering phase, a move that would require congressional approval and funding. The U.S. arsenal already contains a nuclear bunker-buster -- known as the B61-11 -- but it was built to penetrate only soil and will not survive attacks against rock. A nuclear penetrator is built in the shape of a thin cylinder with a pointed nose. Dropped from an airplane, its weight and speed allow it to smash through the surface of the ground or puncture rock or concrete and buries itself 20 to 30 feet deep before exploding. The power of the explosion couples with the earth to send shock waves down toward buried targets. The shock waves from a penetrator loaded with conventional high explosives `would probably struggle to destroy a target 100 feet deep. But a nuclear weapon could reach much deeper.
Both sides of the bunker-buster debate agree that intelligence -- knowing where the bunkers are -- is vital, as has been demonstrated by the difficulty encountered by the CIA and military in finding Saddam. Deep targets with imprecise coordinate would require a larger nuclear explosion. In several policy documents, the Pentagon has called for a responsive' nuclear force to meet changing situations. Foreign leaders who are not deterred by the current U.S. nuclear weapons -- because they do not believe President Bush will use them -- might be deterred by a nuclear bunker-buster specifically designed to put them personally at risk in their underground quarters.
A retired Sandia official, opposes the drive for more nuclear weapons calling it: Outlandish and stupid. It is an effort to maintain a payroll at the weapons labs.
Other Weapons: (XV. 14.)
Footnotes: Section XV. :
1. A. Black market rockets and missiles are killing American soldiers. Here is how we'll fight back. Captain Scott C. Jansen. "The Story of the Rocket Propelled Grenade." RED THRUST STAR. April 1997.
B. Jane's Infantry Weapons. Terry J. Gander and Ian V. Hogg, editors. Surrey: Jane's Information Group, 1995, p. 303-305.
C. http://www.defense-update.com/products/r/rpg.htm
D.
2.
3. A.
B. For more on concepts for countering snipers, see Alan Vick et al., Aerospace
Operations in Urban Environments: Exploring New Concepts, RAND, MR-1187-AF,
2000, pp. 131–138.
4. PREDATOR B - MQ-9 HUNTER/KILLER
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/predator/
5. http://www.defense-update.com/events/2004/summary/defexpo04uav.htm
6.
7.
8.
9. http://www.manuelsweb.com/neutronbomb.htm
reference: http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Outlaws/faq1
10. http://www.zealllc.com/commentary/neutron.htm
11. Our Hidden WMD Program: http://slate.msn.com/id/2099425/
http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/week/020408.htm
12. Bush Nuclear Policy
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/dod/npr.htm
13.
14. A. NEW US WEAPONS SYTEMS
http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1481&StartRow=11&ListRows=10&&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=23&typeID=(4,5)&from_page=relateditems.cfm
The United States is the world’s largest small arms producer. The United States is home to the largest number of companies of any single arms producing country. It is also a major exporter of small arms, and has one of the world’s largest domestic markets for firearms. The United States is estimated to export approximately 400,000 small arms, including military firearms, every year. This is one more reason why United States has the responsibility to lead, not merely comply with existing international agreements.
B. http://www.cdi.org/program/issue/index.cfm?ProgramID=39&issueid=49
C. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/links.htm
http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/7-98/F798_2.htm#REF4h4
D.http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1635&StartRow=11&ListRows=10&&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=39&typeID=(8)&from_page=relateditems.cfm
E. Advanced 120mm Mortar Munition - Under development by Talley Defense Systems
XM984 Extended Range Mortar Cartridge (ERMC) is currently under development for the US Army 120 mm M120/M121 mortar system. Compared to a conventional M934 bomb fired from this system will reach a maximum range of 7,200 metres, the XM984 is expected to almost double the range, to reach 12,000 m'. The range extension being produced by a nose-mounted rocket motor that cuts in at a pre-determined point during the bomb's trajectory. The rocket will fire 12 seconds after the launch, and burn for a period of four seconds. After a predestinated delay, 54 M80 grenades will be released from the bomb, effecting a target are 233 percent larger than an HE bomb.
F. Ceramic Armor Materials
Current design trends indicate wider use of ceramics, for vehicle armoring as they lower the overall weight, while enhancing abilities to defeat ballistic threats. Composite ceramics can be used in layered formations, matrixes of different materials or monolithic elements. Typical materials used for this application are Alumina, silicon carbide (SiC), boron carbide (B4C) and titanium carbide and titanium diboride, these are lighter than most metals, including titanium, by a factor of 2 -- 3. While monolithic ceramic elements can be used, most vehicle protection applications are utilizing composites of several materials, which offer improved endurance tenacity, imperative for advanced protection and survivability.
The physical properties of ceramic materials have been recognized for many years. However, manufacturing techniques limited their utilization to relatively small parts and simple shapes. Recent advances in manufacturing process offer lower cost production techniques of larger, more complex structures. Some of these cutting edge procedures are also employing exotic technologies which dramatically improve the physical characteristics of the end product. Among these are the Fibrous Monoliths (FM) and Displacive Compensation of Porosity (DCP) ceramic materials manufacturing technologies, the use of nanoparticles in raw material powders and coating, and new concepts for treatments of metallic structures -- such as metal matrix composites (MMC), and liquidmetal.