Saturday Shorts. Happy Birthday, Army? Ya don’t look a day over 150!
Gonna jump right in.
Ft. Banning Moore Whatever that fort off of Victory Dive in Columbus is doing some upgrading.
The Army is updating its sniper training range at Fort Benning, Georgia to accommodate its newest sniper rifle, which can accurately hit targets nearly a mile away.
The MK22 Precision Sniper Rifle is a multi-caliber bolt-action sniper rifle that was designed to replace the Army’s M2010, M110 and M107 rifles, according to the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, which is in charge of new weapon development.
The Army’s current generation of sniper rifles have “an effective range” of nearly 1,000 meters, but the new MK22 can reach targets between 1,500 to 1,800 meters away, said Shane Duncanson, Fort Benning range planner, in an Army release. As a result, he said, the sniper rifle “requires a whole different range design.” Task & Purpose
Beside the classic 7.62×51, the new rifle can be chambered in .30 Norma Magnum and .338 Norma Magnum. To sorta quote Beetlejuice: “Mmmmhh…I’m gettin’ kinda…anxious.”
Forget AT&T… this is really being able to ‘reach out and touch someone.’
Also in the Army’s AO… the M10 Booker light tanks which we have already spent a billion (yes, with a B) dollars on – is canceled.
“In response to current world events and in support of the strategic objectives outlined in the Army Transformation Initiative, the U.S. Army has issued a termination for convenience of the current low-rate initial production of the M10 Booker combat vehicle and will not enter into full-rate production as originally planned,” the Army said in a statement. DefenseNews
Blame mission creep – originally a small, light, fast, air-dropped-from-a-C130 armored vehicle. Then it got tracked, more-terrain capable, heavier…and won’t work with C-130s any more. Oh, and the program cost ballooned from $1 billion to $4 billion.
No, THIS Constellation. The ugly sister.
Well, despite its (and the President’s) birthday, the Army doesn’t get all the attention today. You might remember the Constellation class frigates – original design was Italian, and the US version of the ship was supposed to have 85% parts compatibility with the existing parts and deliver next year. Well… not happenin’ like that.
The Navy currently expects to take delivery of the first-in-class USS Constellation in 2029, three years behind schedule. The service has, to date, awarded Marinette Marine contracts to build six Constellation class frigates.
And, per the GAO:
“We previously reported that unplanned weight growth during ship construction can compromise ship capabilities, as the fleet seeks to alter and improve initial capabilities over the planned decades-long service life of the ship. Such alterations may leave frigates less combat capable, limit the ability to add capabilities to address evolving threats, and reduce planned service lives.”
So extra weight is bad? Well, turns out that the ship is also…13% heavier than planned.
The U.S. Navy’s future Constellation class frigates are set to be at least 759 metric tons (close to 867 U.S. tons) heavier than expected, a 13 percent increase over earlier estimates. The War Zone (emphasis added – ed.)
Worth noting that this, too, is over budget. And, like the famous Littoral Combat ship, even though the design is not yet finalized… production has started.
The Georgia Guard activated the 111th Electromagnetic Warfare company under its 221st Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion. So far it’s called the 11thg EW company. If you are confused as which EW is which, join the crowd. They may have to come up with a different acronym, or maybe do some reorganizing like they did in ’77 when they merged MI and ASA into INSCOM.
The new formation will provide capabilities to detect, recognize, locate and identify signals of interest —supporting combatant commanders. Army Times
How this differs from the mission of the other EW units floating around, who knows. I suspect we will see some anti-drone toys, though. H/T to Jeff LPH for this one.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army, Navy, Trump!
D-DAY 1944
Looks kinda like DC, so my first thought was TOG Soldiers riding to Twilight Tattoo somewhere. Then I remembered the pandering that has taken place for decades, and which I was pretty vocal about when I first served up there.
Twilight Tattoo tells the history of the Army, and TOG Soldiers are selected as tab actors and go to the Flag Shop on Fort Myer to draw period uniforms. I represented the Corps of Discovery (Lewis and Clark) in 2005, looking more like a pirate (to the point where my CO gave me an inflatable parrot and eyepatch to wear en route to the events), and getting a coin from the SMA and MDW CG. Between 2005 and 2008, WWII had three different units represented: WACs, Tuskegee Airmen, and 442nd. Despite the vast majority of the war being fought by other units, there was no room for even the much vaunted 101st (Band of Brothers was still pretty new then) in the event.
I volunteered to be a Buffalo Soldier each year but was always denied. Damned racist leadership. We could do historical firing demonstrations at Mount Vernon and Yorktown with Black NCOs leading the charge of Continental Soldiers, but I couldn’t represent my Army’s history as part of the 10th Cav.
But yeah, Happy Birthday to the Army! I’m proud to have served, but glad to be retired now. Of course, a milestone like 250 years is nothing remarkable, and the fact it’s also Flag Day is just trivial nonsense to too many irrational beings. Why? Because it’s Evil Orange Man Drumpf’s birthday, and any celebration of our flag or Army is actually a veiled celebration of our new “king” and Dick Tater 4 Lyfe Donald J. “45/47/∞” Trump.
Any pictures of you with the parrot and pirate gear?
For our Army brethren.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1JFqc8ZMns/
Happy Birthday US (GO) Army! “This We’ll Defend”! And while we’re at it…Happy Birthday to Old Glory and to President Donald J. Trump. There will be cake, ice cream, and refreshing beverages for all hands @ Fire Base Magnolia after today’s festivities this afternoon.
“They couldn’t hit a flock of barns at this distance…” “Uncle” John Sedgwick (IYKYK)
Is the dumbing down of the past few generations why we can’t build anything at all on time, within the budget, that works as it is supposed to? Or is it the built in overhead of payola and a packed Board of Directors made up of former ossifers that steered military contracts to companies they wanted to work for? Whatever the reason(s) we better get our defecation in some sort of sequence because our foreign enemies are building mass quantities of weapons that are cheap and seem to work. We also need to get away from the mindset that the weapons and tactics of the last war will be used in the next war.
Next question…Will we be wasting American Blood and treasure in the ‘kraine or in the Mid-east first? Or both?
Prepare
I was shocked, SHOCKED when I heard they canceled the M10……well not really. Someone in the MIC got a fat payday over the last 20 years off of the M10 program.
Seems like the Army has had issues, either in trying to adopt them or use them, with the light tank concept going back to the M-551 Sheridan (Yes, I know it was supposed to be an ‘Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle’.)
Army, army, army!
I don’t understand why the Mk22 needs .300 Norma Mag when they have 7.62×51 for medium range and .338 NM for long distance calls
And here I was thinking the 2010 was a tad too much…
USASS article references tracks for moving targets at Burroughs range?
Maybe a million and a half years ago unless they were put in after ’09. (There were WW2 tracks on concrete base that made moving targets or working out there less than optimal)
There’s plenty of land at that range to go further back. IIrc, the tank is at 1050 or so. Glad the GA-NG is getting some heavy equipment reps in too!
Hopefully they do another UXO sweep on the dove field directly to the south while they’re at it (presuming it’s still there). Almost bumped into a 120 by that old APC heading toward the impact area. And yes, it was still intact and fused. Pulled it out with 550 cord and not nearly enough stand off distance.
What’s the point of SGLI if no one gets to use it?
I am thrilled that my military alma mater has had its true name restored. Hurrah for the Benning School for Wayward Boys.