Free Republic

The Pentagon said Thursday that an expedited shipment of 2,000 lightweight shoulder-fired weapons should arrive in Iraq next week. The weapons, according to The Associated Press (AP), are intended to help the Iraqi army stop the Islamic State (ISIS) group's increasingly effective use of car bombs. The shipment is among a variety of weaponry and equipment the United States agreed to send to Iraq on an expedited basis after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Washington in April to plead for more help in fighting the extremists. Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the shipment of shoulder-fired AT-4 weapons...

To me it's treasonous to send more weapons into Iraq at this point! Just saw this on Foxnews ISIS controls way too much of Iraq to do this! ISIS WILL get their hands on these Anti-Tank Weapons. Look what just happened in Ramadi! We are supplying ISIS with weaponry! This is insanity!

How arms got into ISIS jihadists' hands--with Clinton and Obama's full knowledge The shameless lying that has formed the heart of the Obama administration’s Benghazi narrative took another turn yesterday. Documents obtained by Fox News reveal that U.S. intelligence agencies were “fully aware” weapons were being moved from Benghazi to Syria before the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, that claimed the lives of ambassador Christopher Stevens,Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, and diplomat Sean Smith. The documents also put the lie to President Obama’s assertion that the rise of ISIS caught the administration “by surprise.” “Newly released documents show...

The United States is “expediting” shipments of weapons to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in light of recent gains by the terror group. Vice President Joe Biden told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-abaci on Friday the U.S. will rush the weapons to Iraq to help them try to hold the city of Ramadi, CNN reported Friday night. ISIS raised its flag over Ramadi on Friday after capturing the city’s provincial government building and police headquarters, CNN said. The shipment reportedly includes AT-4 shoulder-held rockets and ammunition.

The Obama administration is quietly pushing Sunni Arab allies in the Persian Gulf to create an advanced missile defense system, and is preparing to ramp up sophisticated weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in an effort to ease regional fears over a potential nuclear deal with Iran. With Secretary of State John F. Kerry set to visit Saudi Arabia Wednesday and Thursday, officials privately say the administration is weighing whether to offer Riyadh — already a major buyer of American and European weaponry — GBU-28 bunker buster bombs Washington has so far only been willing to provide to Israel. The discussions...

In April 1945, an entire brigade of British special forces joined the massive effort to attack the German army until its back was against the Po River. If successful, the Wehrmacht would have no choice but escape across the river and evacuate Italy — or stay and fight, facing the prospect of heavy losses.

Navy officials: US warship heads to Yemeni waters to intercept Iranian weapons shipments.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is steaming toward the waters off Yemen to beef up security and join other American ships that are prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen. Navy officials said Monday that the Roosevelt was moving through the Arabian Sea. The U.S. Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea amid reports that a convoy of about eight Iranian ships is heading toward Yemen and possibly carrying arms for the Houthis. Navy officials said...

On Monday, Israeli officials reported that Iran has upped its delivery of weapons to the Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah in the past few weeks. Channel 2 stated that the shipments have been made to both Lebanon and the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. In addition, the report stated that Iran was sending weapons to Hamas chiefs in Gaza and arming Hamas members in Judea and Samaria. Channel 2 asserted that the ease in sanctions on Iran from the present nuclear negotiations would allow it to spend “billions of dollars” shipping weapons to Israel’s enemies. The increase in Iranian...

Perhaps no other firearm is so closely associated with the Vietnam War — or pop culture spin-offs — as the M-60 general purpose machine gun. Portrayals of the M-60 in the hands of American soldiers range from the sublime dignity expressed by the “Three Soldiers” statue in Washington D.C., to the over-the-top destruction of the fictional town of Hope, Wash., by Sylvester Stallone’s character John Rambo in the film First Blood.

Destroyed warehouses allegedly stockpiled weapons purchased by Iran for Hamas An Israeli air force jet allegedly bombed warehouses in Libya placed in a small airfield in the south of the country, according to Arab media citing unnamed Libyan security sources. According to the reports, the warehouses, which were completely destroyed, stockpiled weaponry purchased by Iran from Africa and were intended to be smuggled to Hamas in Gaza.

Arab news sources reported at week's end that an unidentified jet believed to be Israeli destroyed warehouses in southern Libya that held weapons bought by Iran for Hamas. According to the reports in Al Watan and other news outlets, the warehouses were completely destroyed. The weapons that were inside them had allegedly been purchased by Iran, by means of weapons dealers in Sudan and Chad, and were supposed to be smuggled to Hamas through Egypt, by means of the smuggling tunnels between Sinai ands Gaza.

Maj. Andrei Durnovtsev, a Soviet air force pilot and commander of a Tu-95 Bear bomber, holds a dubious honor in the history of the Cold War. Durnovtsev flew the aircraft that dropped the most powerful nuclear bomb ever. It had an explosive force of 50 megatons, or more than 3,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima weapon. Over the years, historians identified many names for the test bomb.

Normally when somebody wants something from somebody else, they show their best behavior toward the person they want it from. Even a child knows this and will do what its parents want in order to get that ice cream cone or trip to Disneyland. Why is it we never see this normal human reaction from the Palestinians with regards to USAID and the President of the United States in order to get their “Palestinian state”? Machmoud Abbas continually praises terrorists who murder Jews, declaring memorials and naming streets after them. Abbas makes daily threats to the long term existence of...

Some five years ago Russia marketed a disturbing new missile product; the modularized "klub" missile in 3 variants; anti-ship, anti-sub and land attack. Fair enough, but the scary part was the innovative packaging --they were presented in the form of ready-to-fire units fully integrated into common shipping containers, complete with vertical launch system, booster unit with thrust vectoring, etc. Conceivably a totally innocuous-looking transport ship could be packing Armageddon, or close, and make it's hostile intentions detectable only at the last possible moment as it approached an unwitting target --the dream scenario of any bad actor. The Russians appear to...

The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials. With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering apart, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of U.S.-donated small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers. In...

Running around the battlefield with a rapid-firing, grenade-lobbing machine gun sounds like something Arnold Schwarzenegger would do in a movie. But in the 1960s, the U.S. Army experimented with one such weapon. After introducing the crude but functional M-79 in the late 1950s, the ground combat branch saw fully automatic, 40-millimeter grenade launchers as the next logical step.

In 1945, Wilbur “Bill” Brunger was an engineer with the U.S. Army, and it was his job to break things. Namely, three underpasses on the Autobahn near Dortmund, Germany. He had to break the underpasses, so the rubble would block the road from any attacking enemy vehicles. But as Brunger and a squad of soldiers attempted to take control of the underpasses, they spotted German armored half-tracks coming their way. Fortunately, he had the right tool for the job at hand—an M-9 Recoilless Rocket Launcher—better known as a “bazooka.” Brunger fired a round at one of the half-tracks.

On March 8, the Iranian defense ministry revealed a new strategic cruise missile—the Soumar. New for Iran, that is. Named after a city destroyed during the Iran-Iraq War, the Soumar is a reverse-engineered copy of the Soviet-made Kh-55 cruise missile. But it’s one of the longest-range weapons Iran has—and comes with a fairly sophisticated guidance system. Iranian state television recently aired footage from its unveiling ceremony, which depicted a mobile launcher capable of carrying five Soumar missiles.

With a range of almost two miles and four tubes attached to a loader, these are the homemade cannon being built by rebel fighters in Syria. The ‘Borkan’ ('Volcano') weapons are built from gas canisters before being placed inside the loader, which can fire four shells at a time. Photos revealed al-Shamiyah Front fighters in Aleppo launching the missiles towards forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad yesterday. The Front was formed more than two months ago after rebel groups fighting in Syria's northern Aleppo province agreed to form an alliance. The images emerged as a group monitoring the war reported...