offtaskagain

The first round of SAPIs were rated to 7.62x39 ball, not AP. The ESAPIs were fielded due to an incident in Al Qaim of several Marines being shot through the chest by 7.62x39 AP. If you've ever seen the documentary about the Marines of Lima Company this event is covered in there. ESAPIs, as those who have worn them know too well, are a good deal thicker and heavier and are rated to .30-06 AP. They do provide a pretty good deal of blunt force protection as well. A bit of late night jackassery by my friends and I revealed someone wearing them can take a full speed impact of an aluminum baseball bat to the chest without so much as flinching. I guess the impact just gets spread out over such a large area it doesn't affect them. I'll leave that energy equation to someone else.

DID thinks its a front for an Iranian purchase.

A mix of both. It's really spectacular seeing an M2 firing Armor Piercing Incindiary rounds at a solid target, like a tank hulk. It's like a roman candle from hell.

There's also a number of pictures taken in the 1991 Camp Doha, Kuwait fire. The one at 1:03 is an obvious one. I also spotted at least one training accident in there. Most of the rest are of "Cojone Eh" in various stages of it's destruction. There are a few that are of IEDs like the one with its turret blown off but overall it's just a few tanks depicted.

While we're on the subject... Marines are getting an entirely new vest

The Buffalo is a huge vehicle. It's damned near school bus size. I really wouldn't consider it a realistic replacement for the HMMWV. It's certainly got it's uses but it's not a utility vehicle like the HMMWV.

My bad. I guess that shows how well your brain functions after a 24 hour day.

[ [ December 30, 2006, 08:11 AM: Message edited by: offtaskagain ]

Yeah for sure. Some people may be suprised by this, but we also plan ahead and bring spare batteries. NVGs last a long time on their AAs, certainly longer than a single night. Radios don't last as long, but everybody with a man pack radio will carry a spare or two.

While your on the subject, are you planning giving the M1114 the option of smoke launchers?

I have to wonder how effective mounting a .50 on the back of a pickup really is. The recoil rocks a 12000 lb M1114 UAH pretty hard. I'd be suprised if a pickup homebrew mount could hold up to the stress for very long. Well I suppose a Jeep could mount it. But that at least had a purpouse built pedestal.

I certainly wouldn't describe the MK 19 as useless. In a serious firefight it would have a chance to shine. Or a long distance engagement like Afghanistan tends to have. Another problem I forgot to mention is the arming distance of the grenades, and the fragmentation of course can be a problem if you fire it too close to yourself. The MK 47 that has been field to Army SF appears to address a great deal of the MK 19s shortcomings. It's smaller and lighter, operates on a closed bolt recoil operated design. and has one hell of an optical/NVG sight. If they replaced the MK 19 entirely with that, even minus the sighting system it would probably be much better regarded. Another link

The 25mm has seen good use over here. If you dig around YouTube for Operation Al Fajr clips theres some of it action there. Still the vast majority of all fires by vehicles, M1 and M2 included, are coax or top mounted MGs. Anything that goes boom has very tight restrictions on its use. The MK 19 is definitely not the most liked weapon in the armory. It's not reliable, it produces duds, and it's heavy to manipulate in a turret. The ammo is a major bitch too. I don't think I've heard of anybody bothering to fire one in quite some time. In fact all the units I've been with usually just leave them in their armory. The M249 is a good enough weapon, but it's round has trouble with the brick and conrete structures that are prevelant in the cities. It's also avoided if possible on turret mounts because it's perceived as not being as effective against a vehicle as an M240. I personally am quite sure it will shred any civilian vehicle. [ December 06, 2006, 06:06 AM: Message edited by: offtaskagain ]

The answer to reinforced concrete is the delay fuse and large caliber. 60mm and 81mm mortar systems are not much use in an urban environment due to their low penetrating power and small explosive filler. 120mm systems on the other hand have been found to be capable of causing all kinds of problems for brick and low quality concrete buildings. Anything above that with a delay fuse should eat up smaller reinforced concrete structures. Bigger buildings like the Stalingrad mill or a hardened bunker would require aerial ordnance. The building destroyed by the GMLRS was most likely one of the shoddily built cinderblockish structures common to this part of the world. They might be able to stop 5.56 rounds but I wouldnt rate them any better than that. I've got another example video that I just posted on Youtube from my time in Haditha with 3/3. I didn't take it but I got it from one of the guys who was there and confirmed the ordnance amounts with the battalion air shop. The building was a large 3 story reinforced concrete hotel that was destroyed by 4 2000lb JDAMS and 4 500lb JDAMS. There was also a pair of M1A1s firing on it. You can see one round impact in the video. You can also see the Marines involved are well within danger close for a 500lb munition, much less the 2000lb ones. I guess it shows we have alot of confidence in the pilots and weapons these days. I suppose I should put the link in here somewhere. [ November 30, 2006, 05:20 AM: Message edited by: offtaskagain ]

I would assume they have always been that way, since Iraq doesn't really have a highway maintenance department anymore. If I can manage to get my video editor working, I will make a still of the one right outside my FOB that shows "Syria 1km".