Octopus Overlords

The printed grenade launcher, named RAMBO (Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordnance), was the culmination of six months of collaborative effort by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), the U.S. Army Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program and America Makes, the national accelerator for additive manufacturing and 3-D printing.

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Every component in the M203A1 grenade launcher, except springs and fasteners, was produced using AM techniques and processes. The barrel and receiver were fabricated in aluminum using a direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process. This process uses high-powered precision lasers to heat the particles of powder below their melting point, essentially welding the fine metal powder layer by layer until a finished object is formed. Other components, like the trigger and firing pin, were printed in 4340 alloy steel, which matches the material of the traditional production parts.

A Patriot missile - usually priced at about $3m (£2.5m) - was used to shoot down a small quadcopter drone, according to a US general.

The strike was made by a US ally, Gen David Perkins told a military symposium.

"That quadcopter that cost 200 bucks from Amazon.com did not stand a chance against a Patriot," he said.

Patriots are radar-targeted weapons more commonly used to shoot down enemy aircraft and ballistic missiles.

"Now, that worked, they got it, OK, and we love Patriot missiles," the general said.

Recently, there have been reports that some groups, for example in Iraq, have taken to attaching weapons to small, commercial drones and using them against security forces.

However, Gen Perkins suggested deploying large surface-to-air missiles as a defence was probably not economically wise.

"I'm not sure that's a good economic exchange ratio," he told an audience at the Association of the United States Army's Global Force symposium in Alabama.

"In fact, if I'm the enemy, I'm thinking, 'Hey, I'm just gonna get on eBay and buy as many of these $300 quadcopters as I can and expend all the Patriot missiles out there'."

Holman wrote:It shouldn't be that hard to program Patriots to ignore targets of a certain size and speed. Modern tanks have active protection systems programmed to shoot down incoming ATGM's while ignoring incoming pigeons.

Drones would seem to be natural targets for AAA guns.

Paingod wrote:I still think it's pretty damn cool that the Presidential Motorcade has a SUV with a built-in pop-up minigun turret.

Daehawk wrote:Or 9mm pistols and shotguns.

Grifman wrote:Not bad:

https://warisboring.com/four-f-22s-and- ... ck-combat/

This is what I've heard the US plans to do (since the number of Raptors is so low) - use the superior stealth and EW and targeting capability of the Raptor to supply the Eagle's with data to make them more effective. The Raptors find the targets, the Eagles are missile carriers and take them out.

xwraith wrote:US tritium production problem threatens deterrent

Bakhtosh wrote:An AWACS with a crew of 1, it's hard to find, and can bite back if targeted.
An E-3 has 4 flight crew, 18 AWACS officers and crew, is a huge radar target, and a high priority target for any enemy force - making it very risky to deploy near contested airspace.

Grifman wrote:Not bad:

https://warisboring.com/four-f-22s-and- ... ck-combat/

This is what I've heard the US plans to do (since the number of Raptors is so low) - use the superior stealth and EW and targeting capability of the Raptor to supply the Eagle's with data to make them more effective. The Raptors find the targets, the Eagles are missile carriers and take them out.

Bakhtosh wrote:

Daehawk wrote:Or 9mm pistols and shotguns.

Definitely think there's a happy medium. If you're shooting at a drone with a shotgun, if it has an explosive payload, it's probably coming down within range of you. Need something that can reach out and hit it that's low cost and low speed (for a rocket). The slower the counter attack munition is going, the less complex its tracking mechanism needs to be.

I have to believe we have lasers that could drop drones left and right. No munitions cost, and a single installation can neutralize a dozen every minute.

Sepiche wrote:

Grifman wrote:Not bad:

https://warisboring.com/four-f-22s-and- ... ck-combat/

This is what I've heard the US plans to do (since the number of Raptors is so low) - use the superior stealth and EW and targeting capability of the Raptor to supply the Eagle's with data to make them more effective. The Raptors find the targets, the Eagles are missile carriers and take them out.

Making the F-22 the most expensive AWACS in history.

The Norfolk, Virginia-based George H. W. Bush and the San Diego-based carrier Carl Vinson both deployed in January with air wings equipped with a developmental technology that allows them to better control lift, making landings safer and more precise.

How much more precise? So much, pilots attached to the ship told Military.com, that it’s causing their arresting cables to wear unevenly.

The system, formerly known as Maritime Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies, or MAGIC CARPET, is now called Precision Landing Modes. It uses what’s called dynamic lift control to take some of the burden of last-minute, high-stakes adjustments off pilots, who can focus on their flight path in and let the aircraft adjust accordingly.
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With PLM flight control logic, the descending F/A-18 Hornet or E/A-18 Growler will use its flaps to help control rate of descent, allowing for a more consistent throttle speed and fewer manual corrections.
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One pilot assigned to the wing’s Strike Fighter Squadron 87, the Golden Warriors, which flies the F/A-18E Super Hornet, said the use of the new technology had caused accuracy rates to skyrocket — so much so that the target arresting cable, usually the second of three on the Bush, was wearing out faster than the others and had to be rotated.

“We were statistically too accurate,” said “JoJo,” the training officer for VFA-87, who asked to be identified by his callsign.

Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, head of Naval Air Forces, said something similar last August about the carrier-variant F-35C, which was designed with native PLM technology, known in that platform as Delta Flight Path.

“They were landing in the same spot on the runway every time, tearing up where the hook touches down,” he told a Washington, D.C. audience about field testing of the capability. “So we quickly realized, we needed to either fix the runway or adjust, put some variants in the system. So that’s how precise this new system is.”
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PLM doesn’t guarantee a perfect landing or take the pilot out of the game, however. During observation of daytime carrier landings May 3 and 4, Military.com saw at least one bolter, when an aircraft fails to snag an arresting hook, and multiple wave-offs, in which planes weren’t correctly aligned in their approach and were told to circle and try again.

Nor does it take the fun out of flying, JoJo said. Only one pilot in the entire air wing didn’t love the system, he said, and that pilot did not have much experience on it. Nostalgia for the old way of landing was essentially nonexistent, he said.

The Air Force will have its new expeditionary radars made by Raytheon Co., after legal wrangling over the contract.

The service announced Thursday it has awarded the Massachusetts-based company a $52.6 million contract for the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar system. The fixed-price-incentive-firm contract covers engineering and manufacturing development.

Known as 3DELRR, Raytheon’s proposed system for the mobile system for expeditionary missions is a C-band Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based radar, according to the company. Raytheon uses GaN for various systems it designs for higher power functions.

“GaN-based components are more than five times more powerful than semiconductors presently used in radars and other types of sensors resulting in lighter, more capable electronics,” the company said on its website.

The 3DELRR system will replace the aging AN/TPS-75, or Tipsy 75, as the principal Air Force ground-based sensor for long-range surveillance, detection and tracking of aerial targets in support of theater commanders, the service said.
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Raytheon was selected to replace the radars in October 2014. However, both Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin Corp. quickly filed protests over the selection with the Government Accountability Office. The Air Force in 2015 said it would re-evaluate its choice, which prompted Raytheon to file suit in U.S. Federal Claims Court.

The court rejected Raytheon’s motion. Then, the Air Force amended its solicitation in 2016 to include full-rate production options.
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Full replacement of the Tipsy 75 systems is expected by 2029, the release said.

The 3DELRR will enhance “battlespace awareness through detection and reporting of highly maneuverable, small radar cross-section targets,” the service said.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated a mixed formation of manned and unmanned F-16s in a simulated combat environment.

The Have Raider demonstration at Edwards Air Force Base in California included two phases, Lockheed announced on April 10, 2017. The first phase, Have Raider I, focused on formation-flying. Have Raider II sent the pilotless F-16 on a mock bombing run through “dynamic” enemy defenses.

“This demonstration is an important milestone in AFRL’s maturation of technologies needed to integrate manned and unmanned aircraft in a strike package,” Capt. Andrew Petry, an AFRL engineer, said in a Lockheed press release.

“We’ve not only shown how an unmanned combat air vehicle can perform its mission when things go as planned, but also how it will react and adapt to unforeseen obstacles along the way.”

The Pentagon is fast-tracking new orders of laser-guided precision rockets needed to attack Islamic State as U.S. aircraft maintain an extremely high tempo of offensive operations in Iraq and Syria.

A-10 Warthog attack planes, and other aircraft, have been attacking Islamic State fighters with Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System rockets—laser-guided Hydra 70 2.75-inch rockets fired from helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. The weapon, first developed more than a decade ago, attaches a guidance section to unguided rockets, giving them the ability to pinpoint targets on the move with laser precision.

In response to the fast-growing demand for weapons to attack Islamic State, the U.S. Navy has awarded BAE Systems a $180.5 million contract to continue producing the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. The Navy deal is part of a broader effort to, in many instances, arm U.S. allies with APKWS.
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Consisting of a rocket motor, seeker, warhead and fuze, APKWS rockets can attack targets at ranges up to three miles, according to manufacturer BAE Systems. BAE developers also report that the weapon has a 90-percent probability of hitting a target within two meters per single shot.

Upon launching strikes, wing-mounted seeker optics receive the reflected laser energy from the target, BAE officials explained.
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Unlike 100-pound, tank-killing Hellfire missiles, APKWS rockets are well suited to attack smaller targets, such as groups of I.S. fighters. It is well documented that Islamic State often deliberately blends in with civilians to thwart U.S. and coalition attacks. Such a phenomenon underscores the merits of smaller, precision weaponry which can isolate enemy targets while avoiding damage to nearby civilians or surrounding infrastructure.

More than 5,000 APKWS rockets were produced by 2015. Over the years, the weapon has been fired from AH-64 Apaches, V-22 Ospreys, Navy Fire Scout drones, Marine Corps UH-1Ys, A-10s, MH-60s Navy helicopters and Air Force F-16s, among others.

The Marine Corps is now advancing requirements to arm its fleet of Osprey helicopters with new weapons, including the possibility of APKWS.

Kasey Chang wrote:The guided rocket is also good in take out single vehicle out of a convoy if one gets the impact angle right. Hypothetically one can load various types of rockets into the pod and use the right one for the right situation, but it's probably too complex to implement.