[Times of San Diego] The U.S. Army said this week that it had selected General Dynamics and American Rheinmetall to compete to replace the Bradley fighting vehicle.
The deal could be worth more than $45 billion to the winner.
The two, narrowed from an original field of five, will get contracts to develop detailed digital designs and later prototypes for testing. The total award value for both initial contracts is approximately $1.6 billion.
A single competition winner will be given a production contract in 2027, Army officials said, with fielding of the first vehicles in 2029. The Army said it will decide by 2027 how many of the vehicles it will buy.
Replacing the Bradley is part of a broader modernization plan across the Army, including efforts to improve firing precision over long distances, upgrading missile defenses and development of a new combat vehicle and a new helicopter.
Dubbed the XM30 mechanized infantry combat vehicle, the new tracked vehicle is expected to have a hybrid-electric engine, carry up to six passengers and include a 50-millimeter turret-mounted gun, as well as other machine guns and anti-tank weapons.
Ultimately, some of the functions of the vehicle would be autonomous, Army officials said.
The Army has struggled to replace the Bradley over a number of years, with a previous attempt abandoned.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2023 06:28 ||
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The company just did its first torture test of the prototype last month. They expected some hang ups as they are still getting the bugs out with jams or software goofs.
To their surprise, it rattled off 500 rounds nonstop without a single issue.
Next up they will put it on some type of chassis and see if it works bouncing around a field.
#9
...include a 50-millimeter turret-mounted gun
WTF? The M4 Sherman had a 75mm gun because a 56mm shell just doesn't have enough volume for an effective HE charge. Besides the larger the calibre the fewer the shells that can be packed in the vehicle and remember there are still supposed to be infantry dismounts, yes? Are we reprising the movie The Pentagon Wars(1998) ??
That is currently what is needed to punch through IVF and AFV currently. The old 30mm Bushmaster just isn't enough anymore to get the job done (unless you run Russian or North Korean versions). Would you rather have 250 rounds that reach out farther and gets a kill with a couple shots, or 500 rounds that don't reach as far and are as effective as a spitball?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2023 19:35 Comments ||
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#13
There are words you can't use. Copy your comment to the clipboard and try altering words you think (should know by now if you are a regular) are the offenders.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/03/2023 19:39 Comments ||
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#14
Alternative spellings?
"That foking 50mm is too golldarn short on range and shallow on load."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/03/2023 19:43 Comments ||
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#16
Re: #11.
Infantry Fighting Vehicle vs. a mini-Tank? The 50mm cannon seems a classic road to the Program being cancelled for producing a vehicle that is too big, too heavy and too expensive for its role. Add some Javelin-like missile tubes if some longer-ranged firepower is needed and keep a smaller weapon with lots of ammunition (while leaving enough room for the dismounts).
#20
learning curve. I've been here since the start and still on it
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2023 20:15 Comments ||
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#21
I consider it a fun game when one of my comments doesn't take.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/03/2023 20:18 Comments ||
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#22
Yeah, getting around the spam filter is a fun game :)
The 50mm will be in the next version of whatever IFV/AFV and it will be the XM193 at this point. The real challenge will be to make a vehicle that can deliver more than the old Bradley can and that is where programs will die. They will have the gun, replacement to the TOW-2 and active defense systems.
The real challenge will be getting a cheap and effective drone killer in some form.
[AMUtv] A number of residents of Takhar province voiced their concerns regarding the relocation of Tehrik-e-Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... Pakistain (TTP) members and their families to the northeastern province, saying it will cause tension in their areas.
In recent weeks, the Taliban has initiated the relocation of TTP members and their families from eastern parts of Afghanistan along the Durand Line, the disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistain, to various northern regions. This transfer is part of an agreement in principle with Pakistain aimed at addressing the latter’s security concerns regarding perceived threats from Wazoomigrants colonists who have resided for years in eastern provinces such as Paktia, Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , and Kunar.
The ongoing relocation, which has raised widespread alarm and unease among residents of northern and northeastern provinces, has been underway for nearly a month. The Taliban has stated that the migrants colonists will be transferred to the north and central and other parts of the country.
"The concern extends beyond Takhar residents and affects numerous northern provinces. It is a sensitive issue that could potentially reignite crises in Afghanistan," expressed Abdul Bashir, a resident of Takhar.
Other residents of Takhar echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing their deep concern over the situation.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... the Afghanistan National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, also known as the Junbish-e-Milli party led by former vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... , has warned of escalating tensions and raised the matter with the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... in search of a solution.
"We believe that tensions will increase, especially among different ethnic groups, if this continues," stated Ihsan Nairo, a party spokesperson. "At the Junbish Milli party, we are actively working towards finding a resolution to this issue."
Former Pak prime minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... , in an interview with Radio Azadi, stated that the number of TTP members and their families in Afghanistan ranges from 30,000 to 40,000. He suggested that the best solution would be to repatriate them to Pakistain to resume a normal life.
Questions however, have been raised as to what consequences might such resettlement and movements have for Afghanistan in the long run?
"Given the current circumstances, any type of movement can carry security implications. If there are any hidden agendas behind these actions, it could lead the country toward further tensions," cautioned Qadam Amin, a university lecturer.
TTP, formed in 2007 as an anti-Pakistain government movement, is known to maintain close ties with the Taliban. In recent months, the Taliban has made efforts to mediate between the TTP and the Pak government, highlighting their interconnectedness.
[Garowe] At least six imported muscle attached to the IS-Somalia group have surrendered to authorities in Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... state of Somalia, officials have confirmed, adding that six local fighters also downed their tools as the crackdown against the violent mostly peacefulturbans intensify across Somalia..
The ISIS Death Eaters, officials said, surrendered in mountains of Bari region in northern Puntland. Among those arrested, authorities said, were four Æthiopians and two Sudanese, yet another indication that the group has been going after imported muscle in recent days.
Cases of imported muscle especially from Æthiopia joining fighters in Somalia have become so rampant, with the neighboring country increasing surveillance along the border. Those arrested, authorities said, did so in Balidhidhin village within Bari region.
In an interview, defectors insisted they were victims of manipulation by fighters who took advantage of their unemployment. According to they have been part of the ISISholy warriors for thr last one year after undergoing rigorous training in the country.
Of the defectors, two of them insisted that they arrived in the commercial city of Bosaso where they were employee briefly before being taken to mountains of Bari for training. It is in Bari that the holy warriors have been training recruits, forcing local troops and those from the national government to initiate operations.
The commander of Bari regional police, Major General abdiqadir Dirir, warned job seekers in the region against being tricked from joining terror groups. He urged the youth to seek gainful economic activities rather than joining violent mostly peaceful hard boy groups.
A week ago, authorities in Puntland arrested imported muscle belonging to IS-Somalia in Amamo and Balidhidhin within Bari region. One of those apprehended was identified as Mohammed Ibrahim Daha whose country of origin is Sudan.
Multiple businesses in Bosaso, the commercial hub of Puntland have been forced to close due to threats from the terrorist group ISIS while political intrigue unfolds at the state level.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/03/2023 01:51 ||
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Police from today will have tough new powers to 'clamp down' on 'disruptive' protestors - including the environmental campaigners who build tunnels underground.
The new laws make 'tunnelling' illegal, meaning protestors who build tunnels at HS2 construction sites including the one outside Euston Station could now be jailed for up to three years.
Powers to move on static protests have now also been extended to the British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police, meaning they will no longer be forced to rely on local forces.
The Home Office said the powers will free up capacity in police forces across the country, as it claimed protests are swallowing 150 Metropolitan Police officers each day who will now be able to patrol London's streets.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the powers will let police 'act fast and clamp down' on protestors as she hit out at those causing 'mayhem' on Britain's streets.
They’re Black Bloc, sometimes known as Antifa. Mayhem is what they’ve done since the Red vs Brown street fights in Weimar Germany.
Ministers have repeatedly sought to use enhanced public order powers to target the tactics used by environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.
The new powers follow the introduction of the Public Order Act in May which expanded police abilities to tackle 'guerilla' protest tactics, by making it illegal to 'lock-on' to buildings or disrupt 'key national infrastructure'.
Under the powers that came into force today, protestors found guilty of tunnelling or 'being present in a tunnel to cause serious disruption' could be jailed for up to three years.
Those found guilty of taking equipment to tunnel will also face a maximum penalty of six months in prison, while anyone guilty of obstructing a major transport works could face the same punishment.
#2
The new laws make 'tunnelling' illegal, meaning protestors who build tunnels at HS2 construction sites including the one outside Euston Station could now be jailed for up to three years.
What? Don't they have Zoning, inspection, construction and OSHA requirements that this people are ignoring making these 'tunnels' illegal for a whole basket of regulations? Oh, right, we need a "new law", gotcha.
A second bus carrying 41 migrants migrants including 11 children from a Texas border city has arrived at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles
Mayor of LA was not officially notified but was aware of the bus's departure from Brownsville, Texas - they were welcomed by faith and immigrant rights groups
Texas last sent a bus carrying 42 migrants on LA on June 14 - the state has transported more than 21,600 migrants out of the state since last spring
[Dawn] The first half of the current year has witnessed a steady and alarming rise in terror and suicide kabooms claiming the lives of 389 people across the country, according to a report released by think tank Pakistain Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).
The report reveals that a total of 271 attacks occurred during the period under review, claiming 389 lives and injuring 656 others. The same period last year witnessed 151 attacks, causing 293 deaths and 487 injuries. The figures represent a staggering 79 per cent increase in holy warrior attacks during the first half of 2023 compared to the corresponding period last year.
The second half of 2022 recorded 228 attacks, resulting in 246 fatalities and 349 injuries. Thus, the first six months of 2023 witnessed an 18pc rise in attacks compared to the second half of 2022, accompanied by a 58pc increase in fatalities and 88pc in injuries.
Security forces have also stepped up their response to terrorism, killing at least 236 holy warriors.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa emerged as the most affected province during the first half of this year with 174 reported holy warrior attacks, claiming 266 lives and injuring 463 others.
That’s Tehrik i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) territory, all the various subgroups of it.
The PICSS data shows a 51pc rise in terror attacks in tribal districts of KP during the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, though there was a 10pc and 15pc decline in fatalities compared to the first and second half of last year, respectively.
Mainland KP experienced a striking 108pc rise in terror incidents during the first six months of 2023 compared to the corresponding period last year and a 25pc increase compared to the second half of 2022.
Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... reported 75 terror incidents in the first half of 2023, resulting in 100 deaths and 163 injuries. The data reveals a 103pc increase in terror attacks compared to the same period in the previous year, and a 14pc rise compared to the last six months of 2022. Fatalities in Balochistan rose by 61pc and 64pc in the first six months of the current year compared to the first and second half of 2022, respectively.
Sindh experienced a slight decline in terror incidents, with 13 reported attacks in the first six months of 2023, resulting in 19 deaths and the same number of injuries.
Fatalities in Sindh rose by 27pc compared to the first half of the previous year, while a 171pc increase was observed compared to the last six months of 2022.
Punjab has witnessed a significant rise in terror-related incidents during the first six months of 2023, with eight reported attacks, resulting in six deaths and 10 injuries.
A concerning surge in suicide attacks has also been observed during the first half of 2023, with 13 such attacks resulting in 142 deaths and 309 injuries. In comparison, only five suicide attacks were reported during the corresponding period of the previous year, causing 77 deaths and 225 injuries.
[Dawn] Only a week after successfully dodging his arrest, Maulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... on Thursday managed to lead Eid prayers at Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... despite a ban as the police and the capital administration remained a silent spectator.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/03/2023 01:33 ||
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[GEO.TV] The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has denounced the desecration of the Holy Koran in Sweden and called for taking collective measures to stop the recurrence of Islamophobic incidents in the future.
The statement by the OIC, a bloc of 57 Moslem countries, was issued after an extraordinary meeting in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's Jeddah called to discuss Wednesday's incident.
The Islamic body said measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration of the holy book and international law should be used to stop religious hatred after the holy book was burned in a protest in Sweden.
"We must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred," OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2023 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] The Israeli Defense Ministry noted that the total value of the deal to buy 25 F-35 aircraft is approximately $3 billion financed by US aid funds
Sure, but Israel provided beta testing and all sorts of improvements gratis. Remember the early reports that the F-35 was not flyable?
[An Nahar] Two young men who hail from the northern region of Bsharri have been killed in the Qornet al-Sawda area, which is disputed by residents of Bsharri and Dinniyeh, triggering sectarian tensions and an intervention by the army.
The two men have been identified as Haitham Tawk and Malek Tawk.
An army statement said one of the young man was killed in a shooting in the area. It added that the second man was later killed in a separate shooting, while noting that it had warned citizens against nearing one of its training sites in Qornet al-Sawda to "avoid similar incidents," which suggests that the second man was killed by army fire.
Annahar newspaper said the first young man was killed by "sniper fire" from a long distance as a "clash" erupted later between an army force and young men from Bsharri who had refused to leave the area, which resulted in "the death of Malek Tawek and the wounding of two others, including the soldier Mansour Sekkar."
Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... meanwhile called MP Faisal Karami and called for "wisdom in dealing with the tragic incident."
Caretaker PM Najib Mikati for his part held a series of phone calls with the army commander and the relevant security and judicial authorities, stressing that "the perpetrators will be pursued and arrested."
He also called MP Sethrida Geagea and called for avoiding any retaliation.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan also called Karami, urging him to help pacify the situation and warning that "there is a fifth column seeking to stir strife."
Several other political and religious officials have also condemned the incident and called for calm.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Times of San Diego] The U.S. Army said this week that it had selected General Dynamics and American Rheinmetall to compete to replace the Bradley fighting vehicle.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
[Breitbart]
...literally the 
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
