Thursday, March 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Cool Stuff: SHOT Show 2009
If you can make it to this show, you are really in for a treat. All the newest equipment and weapons are introduced at this show, and it is a massive event. Look for reviews of gear at a few of the forums on youtube, and especially at a few of the top equipment bloggers like Soldier Systems. The SHOT Show website has a lot of cool highlights as well.
So far, I am liking the new and old stuff from Lewis Machine and Tool. Here is a tour brought to you by Defensetech. –Matt
Edit: The Gear Scout at Military Times has a great review of new products at SHOT 09.
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About the Show
The SHOT Show is for the trade only and is not open to the general public.
The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference (SHOT Show) is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports and hunting industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, archery, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics, camping and related products and services. The SHOT Show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 75 countries. The SHOT Show is owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and is produced and managed by Reed Exhibitions.
The 2009 Show
January 15-18, 2009 – Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, FL
The 2010 Show
January 19 – 22, 2010
The 2011 Show
January 18 – 21, 2011
2009 Show Hours:
Thursday, January 15 8:30am-5:30pm
Friday, January 16 8:30am-5:30pm
Saturday, January 17 8:30am-5:30pm
Sunday, January 18 8:30am-4:00pm
Shot Show Website Here.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Crime: The ‘Real’ Lord of War, Viktor Bout
This guy is pretty interesting, and has definitely done some amazing things in the field of weapons delivery. But like most who walk the line between legal and illegal weapons delivery, you always face the potential of getting caught one day. Viktor made things happen out there, but at what price to self and others? But on the other hand, everyone has done business with the guy, because he could get things done in really crappy places. The movie Lord of War staring Nicolas Cage was about his exploits, and there are plenty of stories, books, and articles about him. And after he got caught in Thailand, the Economist wrote this recent article. –Matt
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International man of mystery
Flying anything to anybody
Dec 18th 2008
From The Economist print edition
The rise and fall of Viktor Bout, arms-dealer extraordinaire, shows a darker side of globalisation
VIKTOR BOUT knew, long before his plane lifted off from Moscow, that they meant to snatch him. For years he had hunkered down in the Russian capital, making only rare forays abroad. Western spies, the United Nations and do-gooder activists were after him. They said that he had smashed arms embargoes and struck deals with a remarkable axis of ne’er-do-wells: supplying weapons and air-transport to the Taliban, abetting despots and revolutionaries in Africa and South America, aiding Hizbullah in Lebanon and Islamists in Somalia. He also found time to supply American forces in Iraq, perhaps al-Qaeda too, and maybe even Chechen rebels.
He denied all wrongdoing and, no doubt, thought his accusers irritating and hypocritical. But until the fuss died away he knew that he was safe only in Russia, from where extradition was impossible.
Yet Mr Bout, a puzzling, amoral and intelligent man, made a poor choice in March, leaving behind his wife and daughter and flying to Bangkok. As a consequence he may end up in New York as the star of a trial that would provoke echoes of cold-war spy games, further chilling relations between the West and Russia.
A shy and plump man, for years his only public image was a grainy, Soviet-era passport photo. That shows a dumpy, youngish face, with drooping eyes peering above a thick, triangular, moustache—the sort one might buy in a joke shop. He was probably born in what is now Tajikistan but, as with the picture, details of his life are fuzzy. American prosecutors say that he uses at least half a dozen passports and more aliases, including “Butt”, “Budd”, “Boris”, “Bulakin” and “Aminov”. A gifted linguist, he slips easily between as many languages as he has names.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Weapons: The 9K132 “Grad-P” Rocket
This latest conflict in Israel has highlighted an interesting weapon. Enter the 122 mm Grad Missile, or the 9K132 Grad-P rocket. Why is this different from the Kassam rockets and other homemade stuff? The range and lethality. It can go 20 plus kilometers and it is a factory made rocket. That means more Israeli deaths, and someone outside of the country is getting these things in. It could be Hezbollah, Syria, Iran (their Arash rocket-see article below), Egypt, Russia… Who knows? But they have them, and they are using them. The most recent attacks were Grad rockets, and these longer range rockets were probably the tipping point(as well as just launching a massive amount of homemade missiles) for the recent activity. Just check out how many attacks have increased over the years.-Matt
Edit: According to news sources, these are Chinese made Grad rockets.
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9K132 “Grad-P”(Wikipedia)
Single-round man-portable launcher, which can be reloaded and used again. The rocket itself is a 122mm fin-stabilized rocket, armed with any of the warheads used on BM-21 rockets. The weapon is not often used by the Russian military, but is popular with paramilitary and guerrilla force.
Egypt(Wikipedia)
The Egyptians domestically manufacture the rockets “Sakr-36” and “Sakr-18” with a respective range of 36 and 18 km. Rather than a standard HE-Frag round, the Egyptian military prefers a 23 kilogram cluster munition, which can be extremely effective against lightly armored equipment and troop concentrations. Both rockets, as well as the original Soviet models of course, are fired by locally manufactured rocket launchers like the RL-21 (copy of BM-11) and RC-21 (copy of BM-21, similar to the Hadid HM20). The Helwan Machine Tools Company also produces portable systems with one, three, four and eight launch tubes.
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The discovery of BM-21 components indicates that the Palestinians can now buy, or build, more accurate, and longer ranged, rockets. The 150 pound, 122mm Russian designed BM-21 rocket is nine feet long and has a range of 20 kilometers and a 45 pound warhead. Developed in the late 1930s, the 122mm rocket is normally fired in large numbers from many launchers at spread-out targets.That’s because the rockets are unguided. Aim lots of them at a target and you’ll hit something. Aim a few of them at something, and you usually won’t, But the rockets are made by many countries, are relatively easy to get, and favored by terrorists for attacks that terrorize, rather than actually do any damage.
Weapons Stuff: WeaponSurvey, A Site Detailing Palestinian Weapons Capability
This website is great. It even covers the tunnel situation that I talked about yesterday. I think what struck me with this site, is the increase of rocket and mortar attacks over the years and the increasing range of these weapons. They talk about every incident, and the quality and type of weapon.
The other thing that was interesting to me, was the smuggling techniques used by Hamas and others. When we hear of breaches along the Egyptian border in Gaza, you usually see crowds protesting and overwhelming these checkpoints. These periods of disruption at the border are prime opportunities to smuggle weapons, and the cover of this chaos is used to great effect. So this latest border chaos after the Israeli strikes, could have produced some more opportunities like this. –Matt
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An objective analysis of Palestinian terrorism is essential for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict. WeaponSurvey offers readers a detailed presentation of Palestinian military capabilities by meticulously cataloging, analyzing and archiving relevant data, including: