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A Swedish firm has successfully tested using an American SDB smart bomb fired from a MLRS (multiple launch rocket system). Called this hybrid weapon GLSDB (Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb) the rocket propelled bomb has a range of 150 kilometers. MLRS was designed to fire a 309 kg (680 pound) 227mm rocket. The latest version is (GMLRS) is GPS guided with a max range of 85 kilometers (and the ability to land within ten meters/31 feet of its intended target). The GLSDB guidance system was able to function despite the rapid acceleration of a rocket launch. The GLSDB provides more...

The Russians have captured an American ground radar in Ukraine. In November 2014 the United States flew in the first three (of twenty) AN/TPQ-48 portable (69 kg/150 pounds) mortar spotting radars, along with American personnel to quickly train Ukrainian troops on how to use it. With a range of 6,000 meters these radars and their computers can quickly locate where the mortars firing shells are as soon as the radar spots the shells in flight. Some of these radars were in sent to eastern Ukraine by the end of 2015 where Ukrainian troops were facing Russian backed rebels as well...

Raytheon's 155mm M982 Excalibur extended-range guided artillery shell is being shrunk down to fit into the Mark 45 five inch deck guns that are deployed aboard the Navy's Cruisers and Destroyers. This miniaturized sea-going Excalibur, known as the N5, could triple the range of current five inch shells and offer pinpoint 'danger close' fire support like never before.

Second Lt. Anthony Kemp was bitten by a rattlesnake while he and two other Marines were hiking in the Wichita Mountains in southwestern Oklahoma. LAWTON — For three Marines hiking in the Wichita Mountains earlier this month, the Corps’ motto of Semper Fidelis — Latin for “always faithful” — played out in ways none of them expected when a large rattlesnake bit 2nd Lt. Anthony Kemp, 23, almost killing him. “You’re always faithful to your brother,” Kemp said Wednesday from his hospital bed at OU Medical Center, where he is recovering from the bite and the resulting above-the-knee amputation of...

Early in 1996, the Marine Corps started a new organization called the Commandant’s Warfighting Laboratory, later changed to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, which had the charter to lead the Corps in experimentation with new technologies, techniques, tactics and procedures. It was led by Colonel Tony Wood who was already established as one of the Corps’ most brilliant forward-thinkers and fuelled by a healthy science and technology budget and the full support of the Commandant, General Charles Krulak. The “Lab” quickly set out to test a broad range of emerging technologies along with advanced warfighting experiments. One of those experiments...

On Dec. 17, Poland inked a deal with South Korea to buy 120 self-propelled howitzers for $320 million. The deal is mostly for the technology and 36 chassis manufactured in South Korea. Poland will build and install the guns and turrets on the howitzers—and also make the remaining 84 chassis, too. The Poles want to add their own components and communications gear to the tracked vehicle, which is based on the South Korean K9 Thunder, and call it the AHS Krab.

This video shows a residential area on the north side of Lugansk being shelled. When it zooms in, you can see people standing in the streets, just watching the shells fall. The area is just north of the Train Station (Large building with a circular road), across the river. The video was taken from the same area where the Lugansk live traffic cams are, that I found and posted this morning.

On this date in 1776, Henry Knox reported to General George Washington that cannon he had transported from forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upstate New York had finally arrived at besieged Boston. The move had taken six weeks to accomplish, involving men and oxen moving 60 tons of cannons and other supplies approxomately 300 miles in the middle of winter. Once the cannons were deployed at Dorchester Heights, the British withdrew their fleet from Boston Harbor, ending the siege. Knox would continue to serve under Washington through the Revolutionary War, eventually becoming the United States' first Secretary of...

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division, Delta 1-321 Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, fire a 155mm Howitzer during a training mission at Forward Operating Base Andar, Afghanistan. Oct 2010.U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joseph Swafford.

Scoot and Shoot “à la Française:” Caesar SP Gun Transforms French Artillery (Source: defense-aerospace.com; published May 7, 2013) By Giovanni de Briganti DRAGUIGNAN, France --- The French army has almost completed the wholesale transformation of its artillery, a process which has seen the merger of its air-defense and field artillery units and the gradual replacement of its towed (TRF1) and self-propelled (AUF1) 155mm howitzers by the Caesar truck-mounted, air-transportable gun of the same caliber but with substantially longer range. In terms of units, the reorganization will be completed this summer with the disbandment of the 8th Artillery Regiment, the fourth...

Gif of the Day: Tank Skeet Shooting

20 cannons were manufactured from 1951 to 1953. The cannon fired a W9 or W19 nuclear artillery shell with a maximum range of 24-29 miles. 5 Field Artillery Battalions were deployed to the 7th Army in West Germany between October 1953 and April 1954. The units were hosted by the 42nd Field Artillery Group. Each battalion had 3 280mm guns, 30 officers, 7 warrant officers and 401 enlisted men. All of the cannons were retired in December 1963.

The U.S. Marine Corps successfully fired two Raytheon Company (RTN) Excalibur 155mm precision-guided artillery projectiles from a range of 36 kilometers (22.3 statute miles) in theater. These shots mark the longest distance the Excalibur round has been fired in combat since its fielding in 2007. Successfully fielded in 2007, the Excalibur 155mm precision-guided, extended-range projectile is the revolutionary artillery round used in theater today by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Using GPS precision guidance technology, Excalibur provides accurate, first round, fire-for-effect capability in an urban setting. Excalibur is considered a true precision weapon, impacting at a radial miss distance...

10 Largest Caliber Weapons Ever Most weapons, from .45 automatics to 155-mm howitzers, are described in terms of caliber—the diameter of their projectile. These are the biggest of the big. Some are impractical showpieces built to satisfy the outsize egos of dictators such as Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Others are pure demonstrations of extreme gunsmithing. All of them pack a punch. Largest Muzzle-Loading Cannon The Tsar Cannon was cast in bronze in 1586 and weighs 40 tons. Its 35-inch bore and could fire about 1800 pounds of stone grapeshot, earning it the nickname the Russian Shotgun. It was never...

The G6 - Still Outgunning the Competition 15:38 GMT, March 15, 2012 Twenty five years after it astonished the global defence community, South Africa’s G6 self-propelled Gun-Howitzer still sets the standards against which all long-distance artillery are being measured. “The G6 was ahead of its time when it was first launched in 1987,” says Stephan Burger, the CEO of Denel Land Systems. “Through our continuous research and investment in the gun we have ensured it remains ahead of the pack as the most versatile and reliable artillery system in its class.” “We are still outgunning all our global competitors by...

During a recent trip to Yuma Proving Ground, in Arizona, I passed a unique looking artillery piece in a remote area of the installation. It has an extremely long barrel and appeared to be anchored in a concrete abutment. Having more than a passing interest in ordnance I made some inquiries as to origins and purpose of the gun. What I had stumbled across, on that hot desert day, was one of three unique guns that had been part of a very ambitious undertaking called the “High Altitude Research Project,” or HARP. The brainchild of Jerry Bull (of “Iranian Super...

'a game-changer' British multinational BAE Systems has developed a functioning prototype of a new artillery piece for the US Navy's testing purposes, and what it does is propel a specially-designed shell to high supersonic velocities (cca 5600 mph) via powerful magnetic rails. At Mach 7, the projectile arrives almost three times as fast as the Navy's current big guns can deliver one, and at an astonishing range of 50-100 nautical miles (!) The new technology is now undergoing testing in Virginia. Considering that today's naval artillery can reach only about 15 mi -and that long-range cruise missiles poke-along at...

So the Syrian government, has been unable to break the back of a populist uprising using snipers, RPGs, tanks and aircraft has turned to lobbing massive 240 mm mortars into the city of Homs, killing dozens. This sounds like an old fashioned leave no one alive siege. In case there were any doubts, this shows that the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al Assad is at war with his own people. Syrian troops are firing Soviet-made M240 breech loading mortars into the city. These fire the largest mortar rounds in the world, according to the Christian Science Monitor. To put things...

N.K. develops rocket that can reach Pyeongtaek 2012-02-22 20:07 North Korea has developed a multiple launch rocket system with a maximum range of 200 kilometers, which can reach U.S. bases slated to be moved to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, from Yongsang, Seoul when they are fired near the Demilitarized Zone, a local daily reported Wednesday. According to reports citing unnamed government officials, North Korea has recently developed the long-range MLRS using Chinese technology. The new MLRS fires 300-millimeter rockets, and is fitted with the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS. Until now Pyongyang’s military was known to possess only a 240-millimeter multiple...

N.Korea warns of retaliation for S.Korea drill (AFP) – 1 hour ago SEOUL — North Korea's military warned it could bombard islands near the disputed Yellow Sea border with South Korea, accusing Seoul of planning a naval live-fire drill in the area. The North's Western Sector Command warned residents of five islands to "evacuate to safe areas" before what it said was the scheduled start time of the exercise on Monday morning. Pyongyang has taken a hostile tone towards Seoul since Kim Jong-Un, the youngest son of the late leader Kim Jong-Il, took over following the death of his father...