From warfare to daily use, explore the astonishing journey of military innovations that have reshaped our everyday lives

Indonesia commissions first Martadinata-class guided-missile frigate Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly 10 April 2017 Key Points Indonesia has commissioned its first SIGMA 10514 guided-missile frigate Vessel will bolster the Indonesian Navy's Eastern Fleet capabilities The Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) has commissioned its first Martadinata (Sigma 10514) class guided-missile frigate, KRI Raden Eddy Martadinata. The vessel, which has been given the pennant number 331, was commissioned on 7 April at Tanjung Priok, in a ceremony officiated by Indonesian defence minister Ryamnizard Ryacudu. Raden Eddy Martadinata is the first of two 105 m frigates jointly constructed by Indonesian state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL and Damen. The vessel was handed over to the TNI-AL in January 2017. The 2,400-tonne platform features an overall length of 105.1 m, an overall beam of 14 m, and a hull draught of 3.7 m. Powered by two diesel engines with 26,820 hp, the vessel can attain a top speed of 30 kt, and a range of 4,000 n miles at 18 kt. The frigate's core mission systems have been supplied by Thales Nederland, including the TACTICOS combat management system, SMART-S Mk 2 surveillance radar, and STIR 1.2 EO Mk 2 radar/electro-optical tracking system. Weapons onboard the platform includes a Leonardo (Oto Melara) 76/62 Super Rapid gun. The vessel has also been fitted to deploy MBDA VL-MICA anti-air missiles, MM 40 Exocet anti-ship missiles, and 324 mm torpedoes for submarine prosecution. Raden Eddy Martadinata will join the TNI-AL's Eastern Fleet where it is expected to eventually assume duties that include partaking in the service's contribution to international peacekeeping operations, such as the Maritime Task Force United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (MTF UNIFIL). The second-of-class, which will be known as KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai with pennant number 332, was launched by PT PAL in September 2016 and is expected to be commissioned in the later part of the year, according to Jane's Fighting Ships. Original post: janes.com Related post: Indonesia begins sea trials of first SIGMA 10514 frigate SIGMA 10514 PKR: Details

These photos have all been retouched with the help of a photograph restoration expert.

Researchers in the US, funded by the US military and the National Science Foundation, have managed to turn air into an

A concept for an airborne laser aircraft that Beriev submitted for a patent in February. (Beriev) Russia’s Beriev seeks to patent airborne carrier for laser weapon | Jane's 360 Piotr Butowski, Gdansk - Jane's International Defence Review 10 March 2020 Russia’s Beriev has registered an industrial design patent for a “carrier aircraft for airborne laser system”. The document filed in February and viewed by Jane’s presents only illustrations of the patented aircraft and does not contain additional information. However the new aircraft is a conversion of an Il-76MD-90A heavy transport and the mirror system, by which the laser is directed on to the target, is placed inside a large drop-shaped fairing on front of the fuselage behind the crew cockpit. NPO Almaz, a developer of Russian anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, has been working on an airborne combat laser for more than 40 years, changing both the configuration and the purpose of the system several times. As part of these projects, the Beriev aircraft design bureau in Taganrog has been responsible for designing and building the A-60 laser-gun carrier itself, hosted on an Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft. In 1981 the A-60 (izdeliye 1A) was built as a balloon interceptor within the Dreyf (drift), later renamed Ladoga program, with a carbon-dioxide laser gun housed in the cargo hold. On 27 April 1984 the A-60, while flying at an altitude of 10,000 m (32,808 ft), damaged a balloon over the Volsk aerostat research centre, 700 km southeast of Moscow. In 1988 the test aircraft was burnt in an accidental fire at the Chkalovsky test airfield near Moscow. In 1991 the second experimental aircraft, A-60/2 (izdeliye 1A2), was flown; after two years, however, the trials were suspended because of a lack of funding. Dutch Aviation Photo Beriev A-60 - RussianPlanes.NET Ilyushin IL-76MD-90A / Il-78M-90A tanker: Details

The US military says the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also allow Tehran to launch longer-range weapons, possibly including nuclear warheads.

OSV-96 (Russian: ОСВ-96) is a Russian heavy semi-automatic sniper rifle chambered for the 12.7 x 108 mm round. The rifle is capable of engaging manpower at a distance of up to 1800 m and combat materiel at range up to 2500 m. As an effective anti-sniper weapon, OSV-96 keeps the firer beyond the aimed fire range of the small arms of conventional calibres. Specialized high accuracy 12.7×108 mm 7N34 59.0 gram FMJ and AP sniper cartridges have been developed for Russian .50 caliber sniper rifles suc

志翔科技有限公司 (flickr) Taiwan's new F-16s to be equipped with ad... | Taiwan News ALQ-256 system can directly interfere with enemy radars, render weapons useless By Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer 2020/06/17 TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The decision to equip Taiwan’s recently purchased F-16V fighters with an advanced electronic warfare system was finalized a few days ago. All of Taiwan's F-16 C/D block 70 (Viper) fighters will be equipped with the L3 Harris ALQ-256 electric warfare system, CNA reported. The U.S. previously agreed to sell Taiwan 66 F-16 fighters last August to boost the island nation’s air defense capabilities amid an increasing Chinese threat. Military expert Mei Fu-hsing (梅復興) on Tuesday (June 16) pointed out on Facebook that in recent years, Taiwan has often been a “trail-blazing pioneer” in terms of military technology selection and utilization — and sometimes even ahead of the U.S. For instance, Taiwan selected the ALQ-256 system before the U.S. Air Force decided which system to use, Mei stated. According to Up Media, those familiar with the matter said the ALQ-256 is an upgraded version of the AN/ALQ-211 A(V)4 system. In addition to a reduction in size and weight, this new system has improved navigation, tracking and calibration, electronic countermeasures, and other functions. It can directly interfere with enemy radars and render weapons uncontrollable. After more precision testing, the system can later be integrated with the AN/APG-83 AESA radar, which F-16Vs are already fitted with. Mei said that after selecting the ALQ-256 system for its F-16s, Taiwan has officially been involved in the technological and follow-up development of three major U.S. aerial electronic warfare systems. Taiwan eyes further U.S. arms purchases with new anti-ship missile Taiwanese F-16V procurement activated with engine contract Taiwan preparing for M1A2T tanks with help from U.S.: army Lockheed awarded $32.9M deal to upgrade Taiwan's F-16s Taiwan, USA proceed with F-16V deal Taiwan, U.S. companies to ink pact on F-16 maintenance center Taiwan says F-16 upgrade back on track, as it seeks recon pods that can watch China’s coastline Taiwan F-16 fighter jet upgrades on schedule, despite delays Taiwan calls for after-sales help with US jets, tanks F-16V funding bill passes initial review - Taiwan F-16V jetfighter can outclass China's J-20: defense minister Taiwan cabinet passes bill for F-16 fighter jets budget Taiwan refutes talk that bargain F-16s are downgraded hardware US F-16 sale to Taiwan could lead to new round of military drills, economic sanctions: analyst Bulgaria’s Defence Ministry transfers $1.2BN to US for eight F-16s Bulgarian parliament clears F-16V buy for second time Bulgaria Agrees to Buy F-16 Jets From U.S. in $1.25-Billion Deal Trump pushes forward with sale of F-16V warplanes F-16V Fighter: Details

In the final stages of World War Two, these terrifying new weapons were unleashed against Britain.

Industrialization brought massive changes to warfare during the Great War. Newly-invented killing machines begat novel defense mechanisms, which, in turn spurred the development of even deadlier technologies. Nearly every aspect of what we would consider modern warfare debuted on World War I battlefields.

Naresuan Class guided-missile frigates were built by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Shanghai, for the Royal Thai Navy. Naresuan is a modified variation of the Chinese-built Type 053 frig…

Compare this loadout to the legacy F/A-18 Hornet below... If the USAF, USMC, Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin weren't being so obvious it would be funny. They're scared shitless and are trying desperately to build momentum for the program going forward. Unfortunately for them, too many people know the truth and won't be impressed by the first pic. That is far from impressive and if I tossed in a few pics of what the Super Hornet, Rafale, Eurofighter or even SU-35 carries then it would look even worse than my comparison of the Hornet vs. F-35. But I've finally hit on why the USMC is pushing the IOC so hard for this year. Again, its all about budgets. They're trying desperately to clear the train wreck that is the Marine Corps budget and the easiest way to do it is to get items off the table. The F-35 is the most expensive so its going first. They'll take a break from the MV-22 (and that's why getting the Navy, Israeli and Japanese buys were so important...they take the Marine Corps place in line) and focus all program dollars on that airplane. That also explains why the CH-53K was again "slowed down" and the push to make the Marine Corps the seagoing 101st. Reports have already stated that (as I suspected) the JLTV is going to be canceled and with the latest from Marine Corps officials you can look for the Marine Personnel Carrier to either be slow walked so much that it should be canceled (the defense industry won't take the project seriously...I think General Dynamics senses this) or they'll bite the bullet and take the public relations hit and do it outright. This will be an interesting year. Failure on all fronts is floating from the Pentagon.

This post is also available in: English (אנגלית)רוב גלאי המוקשים הקונבנציונליים מבוססים על איתור החתימה האלקטרומגנטית של המוקש עצמו. אבל הדבר יוצר בלבול עם עצמים מתכתיים אחרים שקבורים באדמה, מגנטים ועוד. פרויקט במימון צבא ארה"ב פיתח שיטה חדשה לזיהוי מוקשים שיצמצם בצורה משמעותית את שיעור אזעקות השווא. הטכנולוגיה החדשה לא מצריכה חפירה באדמה לצורך איתור […]

The choice of weapons used by armies has often been determined as much by politics, the machinations of the arms industry and a race to innovate, as it has by military expediency.

Guided bullets, laser weapons, and flying trucks are all on DARPA's radar.

TOS-1 multiple-launch rocket system mounted on T-72 tank platform 21.07.2011, Sputnik International

iBuyWorldWar2.com - Buyer & Seller of German SS daggers, Heer Army daggers, Luftwaffe daggers, Navy daggers, and other WW2 military collectibles.

Though Microsoft has had trouble keeping up with the demand for HoloLens 2, the company has been able to supply modified headsets to the US Army. Now, newly revealed images from the US Army show exactly how the HoloLens 2 is being used during training exercises as the military puts the headset through its paces.

Fleets of small, low-cost amphibious warships are absolutely critical to how the Marine Corps' plans to fight in the coming years.

IAF IDF, US to hold air exercise with F-35 jets and no physical contact | The Times of Israel: Despite general ban on international exercises in light of coronavirus crisis, drill gets go-ahead because participants never meet By JUDAH ARI GROSS 24 March 2020, 10:53 am The Israel and US militaries were set to launch a joint aerial exercise in southern Israel on Tuesday in which F-35 fighter jets will take part, the Israel Defense Forces said. The drill was permitted to take place, despite a general ban on international exercises during the coronavirus crisis, because it will be held solely in the air, with no person-to-person contact on the ground, the IDF said Tuesday morning. The F-35 exercise comes weeks after the US and Israeli militaries called off two separate exercises due to the coronavirus pandemic, including one of their largest joint drills, the biennial Juniper Cobra. The military said the F-35 exercise would begin Tuesday afternoon and last through Thursday afternoon. During that time, residents of the area would likely notice fighter jets flying overhead, the IDF said. The military said the exercise was not in response to any specific threat but was part of its general 2020 training schedule. Earlier this month, the IDF called off the Juniper Cobra exercise — one of its largest international drills — in which thousands of American and Israeli soldiers were due to take part around the world. The Israeli military also preemptively called off an exercise between American paratroopers stationed out of Italy — one of the countries that has been hardest hit by the disease — and IDF Ground Forces. Israel may buy Boeing F-15I fighters to replace the Lockheed's F-35s Lockheed Presses For Sale Of 75 F-35s To Israel; Boeing Touts F-15s IAI delivers 100th F-35 wing to Lockheed Martin Israeli Air Force Prepares To Induct Second F-35I “Adir” Squadron Israel Air Force selects F-15 IA over the F-35I as the new fighter jet to be acquired over the next decade Israel Keeps Eyes On F-35Bs; Lockheed-Boeing Battle It Out For Fighters, Choppers Israeli Air Force will decide between purchasing a squadron of F-35 jets or Boeing’s latest F-15I Israel poised to ink $11 billion aircraft deal with Boeing Israel to purchase 25 Advanced F-15s and upgrade existing fleet Will Israeli Air Force Buy More F-15s Or F-35s; Intel May Tip Balance No, Israel's Interest In Buying New F-15s Isn't A Referendum On The F-35 Israeli Air Force likely to opt for Advance F-15 Over F-35 for Next Fighter Jet Acquisition Israel negotiating for up to 25 Advanced F-15 (2040c) F-35 Lightning II: Details

The H225M (previously known as EC 725) medium-sized (11t), twin-engine helicopter is a member of the Cougar helicopter family developed by Eurocopter. The helicopter has been developed in the milit…

When this blog first started, we talked about the accuracy (or rather, inaccuracy) of old firearms, especially those of the muzzle-loading variety. Back in the day, military commanders would line up their troops and tell them to shoot at the enemy at close range, with the hope that at least some of the shots would hit their enemies. However, trials on weapons of the day showed they seemed to be more accurate during controlled tests, but not so accurate under battlefield conditions. So what is the cause of this inaccuracy, when used in the field?? Was it because of the limitations of the weapons technologies? Was is because of the training of the soldiers? We will study the causes in the next couple of posts. For the purposes of today's discussion, we will consider two early firearm types today: the arquebus and the musket. These were generally muzzle-loading weapons using matchlock technologies. Examples of arquebuses. Click on the image to enlarge. Public domain image. The arquebus is one of the oldest types of firearm used in Europe. The first use of arquebuses in large numbers was in Hungary in the late 1400s by King Matthias Corvinus. The idea spread westwards, and soon, Italian troops and then, Spanish and Portuguese troops started using arquebuses in the early 1500s, followed by the French around 1560. Typically, the weapon weighed about 5 kg. (11 pounds) and fired a ball about 12 - 20 mm. (about 0.5-0.75 inches) diameter. The musket was simply a larger version of the arquebus, with a longer and heavier barrel. Since the barrel was heavier, a typical musketeer would also carry a couple of sticks to rest the end of the barrel on. A musket also has more recoil than an arquebus, therefore its user needed to be correspondingly stronger to withstand this recoil. Specialized troops, such as the Turkish Janissaries, Russian Streltsy and the French Musketeers, were formed to use this weapon. These soldiers were paid more than ordinary soldiers. We will also consider early handguns in our study today. During 1988 to 1989, staff members of Steiermärkisches Landeszeughaus (Steyr Provincial Armory) in Graz, Austria, conducted tests using 16 firearms dating from 1571 to post-1750, with equal numbers of specimens from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The guns were mostly mass-produced specimens, such as might be typically issued to infantry troops. Three of the weapons had rifling, the others were smoothbore guns. A couple of the guns were rejected after early inspection revealed that they had potentially dangerous weaknesses in the metal. The remaining 14 weapons were test fired 325 times under controlled conditions, in a testing range operated by the Austrian Army. The results were summarized in a paper by Dr. Peter Krenn (Steiermärkisches Landeszeughaus) , Colonel Paul Kalaus (Austrian Army), and Dr. Bert Hall (University of Toronto), in a paper titled "Material Culture and Military History: Test-Firing Early Modern Small Arms". Dr. Krenn and Col. Kalaus conducted the firing tests and did the original study and Professor Hall edited and translated their work and added his own conclusions to the end of the paper. The guns were mounted on rigid frames (to absorb recoil consistently), sighted on to the target, fired using electrical means (bypassing their original firing mechanisms) and velocities measured carefully using modern electronic chronographs. Modern black powder ("Koln-Rottweil Number 0" grain 0.3-0.6 mm.) was used for these tests. The exact weight of powder charge was determined to be approximately one-third of the ball weight, but this varied from piece to piece, so they determined the optimum charge of each one experimentally and reported results with that charge. As part of the tests, they also brought two modern production assault rifles and a modern pistol used by the Austrian military, so that they could compare the results against modern firearms. The modern firearms used for this test were: Austrian Army Assault Rifle model 1958 (basically, a licensed version of the FN FAL rifle using the 7.62x51 mm. NATO cartridge). Austrian Army Assault Rifle model 1977 (Steyr AUG A1 rifle using 5.56x45 mm. NATO cartridge). Austrian Army Semi-Automatic Pistol model 1980 (Glock model 17 pistol using the 9x19 mm. cartridge) Targets were shot at distances of 30 meters (about 100 feet) for pistols and 100 meters (330 feet) for the muskets, arquebuses and rifles. Target size was 167 cm. tall and 30 cm. wide (about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 1 foot wide), basically the frontal area of an average standing human soldier. Accuracy tests were done by measuring the scatter pattern of the bullet holes in paper targets. For penetration testing, the targets were generally made of spruce or mild steel, and additional penetration tests were also done to blocks of soap, gelatine, modern steel plate and 16th century armor plate. First, most of the older weapons had velocities measured at between 400 to 500 meters/sec (or about 1300 to 1640 feet/sec). Compared to this, the two modern rifles clocked in at 835 meters/sec (approximately 2740 feet/sec) and 990 meters/sec (approximately 3250 feet/sec), and the modern pistol fired at around 360 meters/sec (approximately 1180 feet/sec). Moreover, the round balls of the older weapons tended to lose velocities much more rapidly. A spherical ball loses speed about three times faster than modern bullets do on average. Therefore, the effective range of these older weapons were much less than modern weapons, as they lose penetrative power much more quickly. This is one reason why historical commanders told their soldiers to shoot at closer ranges. Now what about accuracy of these weapons? The Graz tests showed that the smoothbore muskets were pretty inaccurate at 100 meters, with most showing about 50% chance of hitting the target at 100 meters. Only one rifled musket (an Austrian rifled musket from the second half of the 18th century) showed a "better than random chance" probability of hitting the target. The other two rifled muskets showed much poorer results. The scatter area of four out of fourteen guns tested was larger than the target area and two more had a scatter area nearly as large as the target. By comparison, the modern rifles (the FN-FAL and the Steyr AUG) both had a 100% chance of hitting the target at the same distance. The ancient pistols fared much better in the tests: they were much more accurate at 30 meters, scoring hits with 85% and 99% probability (by comparison, the modern Glock pistol scored at 99.5%). Of course, bear in mind that these tests were done at 30 meters, rather than 100 meters, so the accuracy of older weapons seems to depend on the distance to the target. It is interesting to note that these tests show that the accuracy of these firearms did not significantly improve between the 16th to the 18th centuries. Note that human error was completely eliminated in these tests, as the guns were all fitted to rigid frames and sighted into the target and the ignition was done by electrical means. Also, the gunpowder used for testing was made with modern methods, so it was much more stable and consistent than the gunpowder used in the 16th to 18th centuries. So what was the cause of this inaccuracy over longer distances then? Well, one of the primary causes is the Magnus effect, named after Gustav Magnus, a German physicist who studied it in 1852. The Magnus effect, on a backspinning ball in an airstream. Image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license The Magnus effect causes the round spinning sphere to experience an aerodynamic lift, which changes the direction of travel of the sphere. Anyone who has watched or played ball sports such as tennis, golf, baseball, paintball etc. has observed this effect. For instance, any time a tennis player or golfer hooks or slices a shot, the ball will start curving in some direction. Baseball pitchers use this same effect to throw curve balls. The effect becomes more apparent, the further the sphere moves. For a smoothbore weapon, nothing can be done to eliminate the Magnus effect. Other features in the gun can make it more inaccurate, but even the best quality smoothbore weapon cannot overcome this fundamental problem. The inherent ballistic qualities of such smoothbore weapons meant that they were only effective when used in mass formations and at close ranges. In our next post, we will also study the results of the penetration tests conducted for the same weapons. As it happens, the penetration tests also have a factor in determining the effectiveness of a weapon.

Banned for a decade, the AR-15 and other military-style assault weapons are fast becoming America's favorite firearms. Here's everything you need to know.

One of the tool used by the military in behavior modification and mind-control is the remotely operated electromagnetic frequency weapons. These weapons use microwave, ELF (Extremely Low Frequencie…

The first repeating revolver type weapons and predecessors of modern revolvers are called pepper-box revolvers. The name has to do with the ...

Syrian rebels acquire U.S. made antitank missiles Syria’s opposition fighters have been supplied with U.S.-made, tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) antitank missiles. This is the...

This is the first time we have seen the AbramsX concept, which is representative of a future American main battle tank, outside of artwork.

It’s not every day you get the privilege to write about a new rifle from Heckler & Koch, but we have the honor to present the brand new HK433. It was shown to a very selected number of people at SHOT Show and Heckler & Koch just ran an ad in the German magazine “Europäische … Read More …