U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin could have sentenced Bout to three life terms for his conviction on four counts of conspiracy to kill Americans, to sell anti-aircraft missiles, and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

She chose instead to depart from sentencing guidelines, imposing 15-year terms on three counts and a required 25-year-minimum for a fourth, all to serve concurrently.  The judge also ordered Bout to forfeit $15 million dollars, an amount equivalent to the value of the arms he had offered to sell U.S. informants posing as rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The judge said she was imposing the lighter sentences because Bout was arrested in a U.S. sting operation in 2008 and had never before expressed any interest in harming Americans.

Before the Drug Enforcement Administration went after Bout, she said, there was no evidence that Bout had broken U.S. laws or those of any other country – although he had violated international laws in his past arms dealing, she said, and was a dangerous man.

The judge said it was not clear if Bout was even still in the arms trade for several years before he traveled to Thailand to meet with DEA confidential informants posing as FARC rebels who had offered to pay him millions for arms.

Before the sentencing, Bout addressed the judge, repeating his claims of innocence, and turned to wag his finger at the DEA agent in charge of the case, saying, “Let God forgive you and you will answer to him, not to me.”

voanews.com

Under the contract, Saab will supply 84mm recoilless rifles to help troops in effectively engaging enemy rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and machine gun team attacks at ranges of 900m or beyond. The existing weaponry, including the M141 Bunker Defeat munition, M72 light anti-tank weapon (LAW), M136 AT-4 and the shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon (SMAW) are only effective at a range of 500m.

The system can be used as a viable anti-armour weapon against larger stationary targets at a range of 700m, but the relatively low speed of the projectile restricts attacks on moving targets up to 400m or less. The Carl-Gustaf is an 84mm reusable, shoulder-fired multi-role recoilless rifle that is normally operated by a two-man crew in armour-piercing to anti-personnel operations using high explosive (HE) as well as smoke and illumination rounds.

The weapon consists of a main tube with a breech-mounted Venturi recoil damper, a shoulder mount and iron sights with the attached 3x optical sight offering a 300 mrad field of view. The iron sights are also equipped with luminous front and rear sight inserts along with an image intensification system for aiming during night or in low visibility conditions. The Carl-Gustaf can be fired from standing, kneeling, sitting or prone positions with a bipod attached in front of the shoulder piece and a Venturi lock to move the hinged breech for reloading.

Currently, more than 40 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, India, UK, Sweden, Germany and Malaysia have acquired the weapon.

army-technology.com

Image: areascarl.com

The deputy head of the military and technical cooperation agency, Konstantin Biryulin, said that the Avtobaza truck-mounted jammers are part of a larger spectrum of arms that Russia hopes to sell to Iran, despite the international community’s concerns over Tehran’s progressive nuclear arms program. ”This is a defensive system,” Biryulin was quoted as saying by the state RIA Novosti news agency. ”We are not talking about jets, submarines or even S-300 (missile) systems. We are talking about providing security for the Iranian state… We are in constant talks with Iran over that country’s purchases of military technology that does not fall under UN sanctions.” However, Biryulin did not confirm when the radar systems were delivered or how many units were sold.

Russia’s arms delivery to Iran was made public the same that a Western diplomat said that Russia and China were pressuring the U.N. atomic agency to reconsider or even hold back a report examining Iran’s suspected efforts to further develop nuclear weapons. Russia has had a history of defending its close trading partner, until it agreed in September of 2010 to to cancel a planned sale of S-300 missile systems and support stronger sanctions against Tehran. However, limited arms shipments from Russia have continued and last month Iran erected a Russian-made nuclear power plant on stream after several years of delays in Bushehr.

Emirates247.com

Image: spacedaily.com

On the tablet is a map of a hypothetical warzone in which a commander is able to direct a drone to the enemy position. Miles away in a Ground Control Station, the controller of the particular drone receives the new orders on an equivalent device. An instant message confirming that the order is understood appears on an adjacent computer monitor, back at the site of the tablet controller, and the drone above the fictional warzone is on its way to its new position.

“If you can understand icons, read a map, and know how to swipe and pinch your way across a mobile device, you can plan a war,” writes Spencer Ackerman of the new tablet. However, the one thing a commander cannot control the tablet to do is kill someone. The tablet can only tell a soldier controlling a drone what the drone’s mission is. “It is not itself a Ground Control Station.”

The Tablet is presently housed in a replica Tactical Operations Center on the floor of the Association of the United States Army convention in Washington. AAI will not discuss the cost of the tablet, probably due to the current budgetary austerity of the Army.

Wired.com

According to Saab’s North American branch, there could be a fourth option: “shoot the round down before impact.” Saab is testing a system called the LEDS, or Land Electronic Defense Systems, a missile pod mounted on a truck or tank combined with a sensor system. LEDS is designed to seek and destroy anything that wants to blow up its host vehicle. Its most important feature is a battery of laser and radar sensors which are mounted next to its weapon pod. The lasers hunt for incoming rounds, and once a threat is sensed, “the system’s computers figure out the counter-trajectory to launch a Mongoose interceptor missile about the size of a water bottle from one of six tubes per pod.” The Mongoose, produced by a Saab subsidiary in South Africa, is designed to seek out the incoming explosive and detonate over it, “ideally within 20 to 50 meters of the truck.”

However, LEDS won’t be ready to market to the U.S. Army until 2013, when the pull-out of Afghanistan will be well underway. Also, with eminent budget cuts to the U.S. military, the Army may not be able to afford LEDS when the time comes. Saab predicts the system will cost between $200,000 and $500,000 per truck.

Wired.com

So what is CHAMP exactly? Defensetech.org reported that it is a missile that contains a “microwave emitter that’s powerful enough to scramble electronic systems that it is aimed at. The ultimate goal of the program is to test the feasibility of installing the system – which would fire of microwave beams of various intensity at specific targets – on a larger vehicle.” Boeing mentioned that the recent CHAMP test “sets the stage for a new breed of nonlethal but highly effective weapon systems.”

CHAMP’s program manager for Boeing Phantom Works Keith Coleman said, “It was as close to the real thing as we could get for this test. This demonstration, which brings together the Air Force Research Laboratory’s directed energy technology and Boeing’s missile design, sets the stage for a new breed of nonlethal but highly effective weapon systems.”

CHAMP doesn’t come cheaply. The three year joint capability tech demonstration programs includes ground and flight demonstrations that costs $38 million.

Interesting to get more updates as this develops between the two alliances as more tests will be conducted throughout the year.

DefenseTech.org

This new round is nearly identical to the M33 ball round currently used, except for one major component: the casing. Instead of being made of traditional brass, the new round’s casing is made of a clear polymer with a standard brass head fused to it at the bottom. The biggest advantage to this is weight, or the lack thereof in this case, which means soldiers could carry up to 40% more ammunition. Another plus is that this polymer cased ammunition works in conventional weapon systems, meaning that it could be fielded quite quickly, as opposed to something that would need modifications or entirely new weapons systems to be utilized.

Maybe the most exciting part about this new ammunition is the fact that the military has actually type classified it as the MK 323 MOD 0. What this means is that the ammunition has been tested and proven itself enough to be viable and capable of being fielded to the point that the military gave it a non-prototype designation. At this point however, it is unclear if or when the MK 323 will be fielded in large quantities in combat zones, or whether it will be used for training. Either way, it will be interesting to see if this type of round takes off and possibly leads to the expansion of this type of ammunition to other calibers.

KitUp

Image: desktopart.org

The lightning guns, also known as “Joint Improvised Explosive Device Neutralizers” (or JINs) were purchased  by Cody Oliver, who hoped to use them in an art installment for Burning Man. The JINs were shaped like golf carts and were meant to use short-pulse lasers to carve conductive channels in the air to send electricity down.

Upon receiving the parts, he discovered they were third-rate commercial electronics and that the JINs could be controlled by open Wi-Fi signals. If the JINs had worked, they could have been easily controlled by insurgents as well.

It seemed like a feasible project at first, but after testing on the field, the JINs did not work out. During a test in Afghanistan, the killswitch on one of the JINs failed and it continued firing lightning bolts. They also found that they could not handle different terrain when one JIN rolled downhill and flipped over.

Oliver eventually decided not to use the equipment for Burning Man, saying, “I just don’t trust it.”

Wired.com

Fort Sill patrol officer Edward Tracey said, “We just got it in Monday. And this is the first time we get to shoot it. For me it was like opening Christmas presents. It was still in the bag, it was like ‘wow, we’re getting a brand new weapon.” Wait till you hear about the awesome features about the weapon.

Berberea wrote, “Like getting fitted with a new pair of glasses, the new sniper equipment allows them to see up to 1,000 yards away, giving each sniper a new look at the enemy.”

Tank Automotive and Armaments Command, New Equipment Training team member, Brett Little said that it’s about time the team receives new weapons. He said, “The Army is coming out with a lot of new weapons. The weapon this one is replacing was getting old. Snipers still love it but this one is semi-automatic so they don’t have to cycle the bolt every time.”

The new M110 is a great system for soldiers as they are better suited for the “needs of the modern urban combat zone”, yet has the same feel as a traditional sniper system. The three day training however was not all fun, laughter and giggles.

Little said, “They learn the capabilities of the weapon and all the characteristics. As far as shooting it they should already know.”

The Fort Sill Special Reaction Team will continue to push hard on their training with the new systems and getting ready to enter the national sniper competition in October.

Army.mil

Currently customers of the JS 9 are mostly segmented to security and police forces in the world. Designed by the Jianshe Industry Corporation, the gun also has a suppressor and standard armor-piercing round. The design and mechanism does resemble that of the QCW-05 where the feed and magazine are “located behind the pistol grip and internal firing mechanism.”

For the more gun-savvy readers out there, here’s a review and report of the gun’s specification via MilitaryFactory.com:

“The JS 9 is chambered for the locally-designed and produced 9x19mm DAP92-9 armor piercing cartridge but can also accept the universal 9×19 Parabellum round. The JS 9 typically accepts a 20 – or 30 – round detachable box magazine. The firing action is of conventional blowback from an open bolt, consistent with other successful submachine gun designs.

“There is a fire selector that allows for semi-automatic fire and full-automatic fire while a squeeze safety is fitted to the rear of the pistol grip and must be pressed for the weapon to fire…A sound suppressor can be affixed to the muzzle while optics, night-vision and laser aimers can be fitted to the top-mounted universal Picatinny rail system.”

MilitaryFactory.com