In The News

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The great Jeff Cooper, a.k.a. "father of modern pistolcraft" has died. According to Ed Head, Operations Manager at Gunsite Academy, Inc., Col. Cooper passed away peacefully at his home on the afternoon of September 25 (2006). Col. Jeff Cooper was the progenitor of the "modern pistol technique", or "modern technique of the pistol", which utilized the …

The following is a Robotic FX, Inc. press release: Robotic FX, Inc. Announces Success of the Negotiator Robot at Recent Robotic Evaluation Excercise. Worth, IL – (September 18, 2006) Robotic FX, Inc. has announced that during a recent robot evaluation exercise held at the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Training Academy in Rockville, Maryland, the Negotiator Tactical Surveillance Robot, a low-cost, …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Greg Grant has written an interesting article for DefenseNews.com about Hizbollah’s (Hezbollah’s) "innovative" (Grant’s term) use of man-portable anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) systems. Mr. Grant cites several examples of Hezbollah’s "innovative" urban warfare/guerrilla warfare tactics with ATGMs. 1) Hizbollah guerilla fighters "swarmed" Israeli Merkava MBTs (Main Battle Tanks)–including possibly Merkava Mk4 MBTs–and fired at the sides …

by Steven Donald Smith American Forces Press Service July 13, 2006 The Missile Defense Agency successfully completed a developmental flight test of a major element of its ballistic missile defense system today at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., agency officials said. Initial indications show that the test achieved what it set out to do: test parts of the Terminal High …

by Monica Morales Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. April 05, 2006 13:46 One year after answering the Marine Corps’ call to meet an urgent need, the Force Protection Systems Squadron here is preparing to do it again. It will deploy another Tactical Automated Security System to Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq, this month. "The Marine …

by David Crane david at defensereview.com – Vltor Weapon Systems is now manufacturing Russian-type 7.62mmx54R (7.62x54mm) PKM General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) for U.S. military forces. It’s our understanding that the Vltor PKMs will be used for familiarization training, and possibly OPFOR (just seems logical). DefRev got to view and handle one of these guns at the Vltor booth, and …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Below are more DefRev "Quick Hits from SHOT Show 2006. DefenseReview will be reporting more in-depth on these technologies, later. –While we were in the outdoor tent, we ran into Frank and Chris Desomma at the Patriot Ordnance Factory (P.O.F-USA) booth. POF-USA had their new 7.62x51mm/.308 Win., 6.8mm (6.8x43mm), and 6.5 Grendel gas piston upper receivers …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This is our second installment of "Quick Hits" from SHOT Show 2006 for our readers. Again, these are quick blurbs on items that we believe to be significant. DefenseReview will be reporting more in-depth on these technologies, later. — Cobb Manufacturing Inc. displayed their BA50 .50 BMG Anti-Materiel/Sniper rifle/carbine, at their booth, and one of the …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview is going to be publishing articles (with photos and possibly even audio interviews) on a good number of technologies that interested us at SHOT Show 2006. But, just to get the ball rolling, the following are some "quick hits" on these items, just to get the ball rolling: — Vltor Weapon Systems blew a lot …

The following is an email message that was forwarded to DefenseReview by one of our contacts.  It is a request by a Lt. Chenevert, MNSTC-I, 1st Mech BDE for charitable donations for the rebuilding of Iraq and international good will, so we are reprinting it: "months down – 89 days to go. Hi everyone, I promised not to do this until the end …