Feral Jundi

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Weapons Stuff: Major Revamp Possible for M4 Carbine

Filed under: Afghanistan,Weapons,Weapons Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 4:29 AM

   Cool, I guess.  My choice would be to just switch to a higher caliber rifle, as opposed to dressing up this varmint shooter we call the M4.

     If I was to add one more little addition to this list, that would be to make the Mk 262 round the standard round. Sure it would be expensive, and tough to make enough of them, but it could it be done. That 77 grn. bullet is awesome for this weapon, and truly juices every last drop of effectiveness out of the weapon called the M4. (just as long as you have the barrel to support that kind of ammunition)

     In my opinion, for the cross canyon fire fights in Afghanistan, you need something with reach and with knock-down power.  That little 5.56 round just doesn’t do it for me. Hell, I wouldn’t even use that round for hunting deer.  Any way…. –Matt

Edit: I want to point the readership to a voice of reason about these recent so-called ‘weapon failures’ in the war.  Paul Howe has a running newsletter, and he discussed this issue and his thoughts.  His focus was how to properly maintain your weapon and shooting accurately.  If a soldier goes through thirty magazines in a fight, then there should be a ton of dead enemy soldiers surrounding him. The M4 should not be used as a noise maker to scare the enemy to death. Anyway, check out what Paul had to say here.

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Major revamp possible for M4 carbine

Army wants new barrel, faster fire and 4 other improvements

By Matthew Cox – Staff writer

Sunday Nov 22, 2009

The Army is considering a major redesign of the M4 aimed at making the weapon shoot cleaner and longer — at high rates of fire.

As the Army awaits Defense Department approval of a competition to find a new carbine, weapons officials have identified six fixes intended to address shortcomings in reliability, durability and handling of the Army’s inventory of more than 400,000 M4s.

Army weapons officials presented the proposed changes to Congress on Oct. 30. They are:

• Adding a heavier barrel for better performance during high rates of fire.

• Replacing the direct-impingement gas system with a piston gas system.

• Improving the trigger pull.

• Adding an improved rail system for increased strength.

• Adding ambidextrous controls.

• Adding a round counter to track the total number of bullets fired over the weapon’s lifetime.

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Industry Talk: Somalia Jumps on Private Security Bandwagon

Filed under: Industry Talk,Somalia — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 3:01 AM

    This is cool.  Jody has written a deal on CSS Global, and put up a few FJ quotes. So for any readers coming over from this article, feel free to ask away in the comments section.  Or if you have some commentary on the subject, feel free to put it here as well.

    On my older post on CSS Global, my readership had some interesting things to say. Like the Somali government reaction to this whole deal is to say that it never happened.  That Gulaid was operating on his own, and they had no idea about a contract with CSS Global.  How convenient?

   My feelings is that the Somali government is already allowing Bancroft Global Development to perform services in their country or even DynCorp’s activities, so there is precedent for relationships with American companies.  Maybe what has happened is that they have re-evaluated contracting with CSS Global and decided to go shopping again?  Who knows, and the only way for the real deal to come out, is for someone at CSS Global to set the record straight, or for the Somali government to set the record straight. I personally want to see the Somali government get the best service and contract possible, if in fact they want to go down this path.

   Another idea is that maybe some war planners and strategists were listening, and played some diplomatic kung fu to get the Somali government on the right track with a better company or forces donor.  The EU has just committed forces for training Somali police and military, and for working with Amisom. There might be an agreement to provide services to directly protect and/or train a protective detail for the Somalis? Or not. I guess where ever the money comes from, will decide what will be done with it.

   I should also remind the readership that private companies protecting government officials of other countries is not new.  The Steele Foundation was made famous for protecting Haiti’s Aristide. PSC’s and PMC’s have been tasked with protecting Iraqi and Afghani government officials in the past as well, so this privatized protection is nothing new.

   And for the record, my intention with CSS Global and this Somalia deal, is to just get the story straight and try to protect the industry from any more embarrassments. I mean no harm to CSS Global and their reputation, but the reputation of the industry, and the overall strategy in this war takes priority in my view. The US and this industry does not need any more incidents that hurt the war effort, and we need our varsity teams playing ball, if you know what I mean. I look forward to any input from the readership, company, or Somalis, and please correct the record if you feel so inclined. –Matt

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Somalia Jumps on Private Security Bandwagon

23 Nov 2009

By Jody Ray Bennett for ISN Security Watch

An American private military and security company deploys to Somalia as the first US presence in the country since the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Jody Ray Bennett writes for ISN Security Watch.

Tensions rose in Somalia in the final weeks of October 2009 as the president of the country’s UN-backed transitional government, Sharif Sheik Ahmed, became the target of an insurgent attack while attempting to depart from an airport to Uganda to attend an African Union (AU) summit on refugees and internally displaced people.

According to news reports, al-Shabaab militants “lobbed mortars at the airport, prompting peacekeepers of the AU mission in Somalia known as AMISOM, to fire back.”

At least 24 people were killed and as many as 60 wounded when peacekeepers returned fire in the direction of the crowded Bakara marketplace, causing many to question AMISOM’s effectiveness in Somalia, according to Voice of America.

One Bakara storekeeper told VOA that while “Islamist insurgents cause problems by attacking the peacekeepers, AMISOM’s harsh response is doing far more harm than good [and that] people may no longer tolerate [AMISOM’s] presence in Somalia if it continues shelling residential areas.”

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Funny Stuff: ‘Take Off Your Burqas, Come Out and Fight Us Like Men’, by Capt. Peterson

Filed under: Afghanistan,Funny Stuff,Quotes,Strategy — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 12:19 AM

     I love it.  If these miscreants lack the discipline to fall for such a simple thing, then we should be trash talking all over the country.  If these guys are so proud and idiotic as to break their silence and cover to answer to something like this, then we should be implementing Operation Trash Talk on the highest order.  Hell, the DoD could start a blog or wiki called ‘Combat Trash Talk’, and it would be filled with daily insults that guys could use to draw out the enemy for a fight.  We could even implement a rating system for what insult was the most effective, or resulted in the most enemy contacts. Too funny. –Matt

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In Afghanistan, Apache Troop makes the battle come to them

By Jon R. Anderson, Stars and StripesTuesday, August 3, 2004

FORWARD OPERATING BASE TIGER, Afghanistan — Frustrated that Taliban fighters were making themselves scarce, cavalry commander Capt. Brian Peterson ordered his psychological operations detachment to find a way to get the enemy onto the battlefield.

Their solution: shame. The soldiers drove into the mountainous region of southern Afghanistan near Tarin Kowt, a known Taliban stronghold, and blared through Humvee-mounted loudspeakers a simple message.

“Take off your burqas,” Afghan interpreters shouted, referring to the head-to-toe powder blue shrouds Taliban leaders once forced all women in the country to wear. “Come out and fight us like men.”

Peterson, commander of the 25th Infantry Division’s Hawaii-based 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment’s Apache Troop, had heard of Special Forces units using similar schoolyard tactics to dishonor local insurgents into a fight and figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

He knew Taliban fighters were out there. Local villagers were being threatened to stay away from U.N. voter registration efforts for the country’s Oct. 9 presidential elections.

It didn’t take long to get an answer to Peterson’s cantankerous call to arms. Within hours, an angry ambush was unleashed, a heavy fusillade of automatic weapons fire raining down from two sides as his patrol moved through a steep valley.

“The bullets were zinging within a few inches of my head, I could actually feel their heat,” said .50-caliber machine gunner Spc. Michael Plummer, 25, from Klamath Falls, Ore.

He was astounded. After four months in Afghanistan, this was Apache Troop’s first contact with the enemy.

“I couldn’t believe they were actually shooting at us,” said Plummer.

Pushing his patrol of Humvees through the ambush kill zone, Peterson turned his men around and charged back into the fray.

“We weren’t going to run from those punks,” said Peterson. “We chased them up the mountain.”

After a 45-minute gunfight, four Afghan guerrillas lay dead and another four were captured.

None of Peterson’s men were injured.

“We’re pretty sure we got more, but they carry their dead away,” said Peterson.

It’s hard to tell how many escaped, he said, adding “they can run, but they’ll only die tired.”

Story here.

 

Monday, November 23, 2009

Podcasts: The Pirates of ’76’–NPR Interviews Robert Patton, Author of Patriot Pirates

Filed under: History,Maritime Security,Podcasts — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:13 AM

     Check it out. It is a little old, but still a pretty cool little show about Robert Patton’s book. Probably the most interesting parts are the comparisons between today’s Somali pirates or security contractors in the war, and yesteryear’s privateers.  

   The one thing they did touch on that I thought was particularly interesting, and might be a future Building Snowmobiles topic, is the privateer versus privateer concept.  I guess the British got so fed up with the American pirates, that they started issuing letters of marque to their own privateers to go after these American privateers.  They even were able to get some Loyalist privateers out of New York to go after these guys, and according to Patton, these privateer vs. privateer battles were some of the most bloodiest and most desperate battles.  The fear of being captured by one side or the other, plus the fight over hard gained loot, all contributed to a fierce desire to win the fight. Interesting stuff.-Matt

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Patriot Pirate

The Pirates of ‘76

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Originally broadcast: May 11, 2009

When Americans think of the Revolutionary War, the War for Independence, they think fife and drum, Minute Men, tri-cornered hats, George Washington on horseback.

When the British of 1776 — and ‘77 and ‘78 — thought of the American Revolution, many thought “pirates.” Cannon and cutlass and brigands on the high seas.

Washington and the Continental Congress unleashed thousands of American vessels — patriots and fortune seekers — to go after British shipping. And they did it with a vengeance.

This hour, On Point: Privateers, private booty, and the American Revolution.

Listen to Podcast here. 

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Military News: Questions Raised About Royal Navy–Did They Stand By as Pirates Snatched British Yacht Couple?

Filed under: Kidnap And Ransom,Maritime Security,Military News — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 2:33 AM

     Boy, thats a pretty heavy charge, and I wonder what the Royal Navy has to say about this?  Thanks to David for sending me this one by the way, and we will see if there is any kind of a backlash from the public on this.  Especially if the pirates execute the Chandlers because the ransom was not paid.

   On a side note, the tactics and strategy that the pirates used in this particular case is interesting.  They captured one boat, used that as the new mother ship, and went after other vessels in the process.  This could potentially be expanded to be even more profitable, because they are able to stay out longer, cruise around as if a harmless merchant vessel, and collect any number of boats in the process.  If unknowing vessels are traveling near a recently captured vessel, how are they to know if pirates are on board?  So it is absolutely feasible that pirates could use these boats as ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ in order to grab even more sheep.  In the history of naval warfare and piracy, this is nothing new, but we must recognize the tactics and strategies and constantly re-evaluate our own strategies and tactics to deal with this. –Matt

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How the Royal Navy Stood and Watched as Pirates Snatched British Yacht Couple

BY RICHARD PENDLEBURY

November 20, 2009

MID-OCEAN, a degree or two shy of the equator, two ships are steaming south, apparently in convoy.

One is a Singaporean flagged container vessel of 25,000 tonnes, the Kota Wajar. The other is a British military tanker, flying the blue ensign of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service. Neither was built for battle. Nor in normal circumstances would they be foes.

But a whiff of gunpowder is palpably in the air. Aboard the tanker, RFA Wave Knight, Royal Navy gun crews have closed up for action, their 30mm cannon and machine guns primed and ready.

A few hundred yards away on the Kota Wajar, Somali pirates, who had recently hijacked the vessel, possess a variety of small arms including rocket-propelled grenades.

These are high stakes, indeed, because both ships are on course to rendezvous with a British yacht drifting helplessly in the Indian Ocean.

Aboard this 38ft yacht, and held at gunpoint by a pirate advance party, are Paul and Rachel Chandler, a retired couple from Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

The Kota Wajar, in its new role as a pirate ‘mother ship’, is to scoop them up and carry them back to captivity and a multi-million-pound ransom in Somalia more than 200 miles to the north-west.

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