Matter: 
       - The big dog (science/tech) - Felin - (science/tech) - The Kalashnikov (history) - M16 (riffle) - M249 (Tech)

 The Big Dog

 
  wow

In the future, warfighters tasked with long patrol missions will also be able to pack their loads on four-legged robots, such as the Boston Dynamics Big Dog, developed with DARPA funding. The current version of this 'robotic pack mule' uses hydraulically powered articulated legs designed with shock absorption mechanism, coordination and balancing, facilitating complex movement. The four legged robot measures 1 m' long, 0.7 meters tall and weigh 75 kg. It already demonstrated negotiating rough terrain at a speed of 3.3 mph, climbing a 35 degree slope, carrying 120 lb loads. Big Dog is driven by a two-stroke single-cylinder petrol engine. The robot can follow a simple path on its own, or can be remotely controlled.

FELIN

 The French FELIN is one of the most successful European programmes of its kind. It was launched in 2001 and the French Armaments Procurement Agency (DGA) awarded the FELIN contract to the French company SAGEM (of the SAFRAN group, created in 2006) on 1 March 2004. This contract is very different to those in other participating states, as it includes "the development, industrialisation and mass production of 31 445 individual FELIN systems, as well as operational maintenance for two years". It is the size of the contract that makes the difference, as well as the amount of funds committed, over 800 million euros (or over a billion euros should there be an overrun) for the period 2004 to 2007/2008.

The first sets of equipment were fielded for eight weeks of trials from January to March 2007. The DGA plans to introduce FELIN into army units from 2008 and hopes to equip at least two thirds of infantry units by the end of 2008. An improved FELIN system is also being studied (FELIN V2) for the medium term, from 2010 to 2015 and beyond. The FELIN system is part of a system of systems known as Bulle Opérationnelle Aéroterrestre (BOA, Air/land Operational Bubble), a network-enabled warfare system which includes network-integrated C2 land and air components. Like its European counterparts, FELIN is also integrated into the land vehicles that will form part of the BOA (in particular the infantry combat vehicle, VBCI, of which the first models, produced by GIAT Industries in cooperation with the Renault car company, are being tested).
                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                        defense.

The KALASHNIKOV

Kalashnikov was conscripted into the Red Army in 1938, and became a tank driver-mechanic, achieving the rank of senior sergeant (tank commander) serving on the T-34s of the 24th Tank Regiment, 12th Tank Division[1] stationed in Stryi[2] before the regiment retreated after the failed counterattack at Brody. He was wounded in combat during the defence of Bryansk and released for six months recuperation due to illness. While in the hospital, he overheard some soldiers complaining about the Soviet rifles of the time.

He also had bad experiences with the standard infantry weapons at the time, so he was inspired to start constructing a new rifle for the Soviet military. During this time Kalashnikov began designing a submachine gun while in the hospital after being wounded in the Battle of Bryansk[3] . Although his first submachine gun design was not accepted to service, his talents as a designer were noticed. From 1942 onwards Kalashnikov was assigned to the Central Scientific-developmental Firing Range for Rifle Firearms of the Chief Artillery Directorate of RKKA.

In 1944, he designed a gas-operated carbine for the new 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge; this weapon, influenced by the Garand self-loading rifle, lost out to the new Simonov carbine which would be eventually adopted as the SKS; but it became a basis for his entry in an assault rifle competition in 1946[4]. His winning entry, the "Mikhtim" (so named by taking the first letters of his name and patronymic Mikhail Timofeyevich) became the prototype for the development of a family of prototype rifles[5].

This process culminated in 1947, when he designed the AK-47 (standing for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947). In 1949, the AK-47 assault rifle became the Soviet Army's standard issue rifle; after that, the design became Kalashnikov's most famous invention.

AK MAG 100             "the master"

  
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M-16

 

The AR-15 was first adopted in 1962 by the United States Air Force (USAF), ultimately receiving the designation M16. The U.S. Army began to field the XM16E1 en masse in 1965 with most of them going to the Republic of South Vietnam, and the newly organized & experimental Airmobile Divisions, the 1st Air Cavalry Division in particular. The U.S. Marine Corps in South Vietnam also experimented with the M16 rifle in combat during this period. The XM16E1 was standardized as the M16A1 in 1967. This version remained the primary infantry rifle of US forces in South Vietnam until the end of the war in 1975, and remained with all US military ground forces after it had replaced the M14 service rifle in 1970 in CONUS (Continental US), Europe (Germany), and South Korea; when it was supplemented by the M16A2. During the early 1980s a roughly standardized load for this ammunition was adopted throughout NATO (see: 5.56x45mm NATO).

The M16A3 is a fully-automatic variant of the M16A2, issued primarily within the United States Navy. The M16A2, in turn, is currently being supplemented by the M16A4, which incorporates the flattop receiver unit developed for the M4 carbine, and Picatinny rail system. M16A2 are still in stock with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, but are used primarily by reserve and National Guard units as well as by the U.S. Air Force.

Project SALVO

In 1948, the Army organized the civilian Operations Research Office (ORO), mirroring similar operations research organizations in the United Kingdom. One of their first efforts, Project ALCLAD, studied body armor and the conclusion was that they would need to know more about battlefield injuries in order to make reasonable suggestions.[9] Over 3 million battlefield reports from WWI and WWII were analyzed and over the next few years they released a series of reports on their findings.[9]

The conclusion was that most combat takes place at short range. In a highly mobile war, combat teams ran into each other largely by surprise; and the team with the higher firepower tended to win. They also found that the chance of being hit in combat was essentially random; accurate "aiming" made little difference because the targets no longer sat still. The number one predictor of casualties was the total number of bullets fired.[9] Other studies of behavior in battle revealed that many U.S. infantrymen (as many as 2/3) never actually fired their rifles in combat. By contrast, soldiers armed with rapid fire weapons (such as submachine guns) were much more likely to have fired their weapons in battle.[10] These conclusions suggested that infantry should be equipped with a fully-automatic rifle of some sort in order to increase the actual firepower of regular soldiers. It was also clear, however, that such weapons dramatically increased ammunition use and in order for a rifleman to be able to carry enough ammunition for a firefight they would have to carry something much lighter.

Existing rifles were poorly suited to real-world combat for both of these reasons. Although it appeared the new 7.62 mm T44 (precursor to the M14) would increase the rate of fire, its heavy 7.62 mm NATO cartridge made carrying significant quantities of ammunition difficult. Moreover, the length and weight of the weapon made it unsuitable for short range combat situations often found in jungle and urban combat or mechanized warfare, where a smaller and lighter weapon could be brought to bear faster.

M16A1

These efforts were noticed by Colonel René Studler, U.S. Army Ordnance's Chief of Small Arms Research and Development. Col. Studler asked the Aberdeen Proving Ground to submit a report on the smaller caliber weapons. A team led by Donald Hall, director of program development at Aberdeen, reported that a .22 inch (5.56 mm) round fired at a higher velocity would have performance equal to larger rounds in most combat.[11] With the higher rate of fire possible due to lower recoil it was likely such a weapon would inflict more casualties on the enemy. His team members, notably William C. Davis, Jr. and Gerald A. Gustafson, started development of a series of experimental .22 (5.56 mm) cartridges. In 1955, their request for further funding was denied.

A new study, Project SALVO, was set up to try to find a weapon design suited to real-world combat. Running between 1953 and 1957 in two phases, SALVO eventually suggested that a weapon firing four rounds into a 20-inch (508 mm) area would double the hit probability of existing semi-automatic weapons.

In the second phase, SALVO II, several experimental weapons concepts were tested. Irwin Barr of AAI Corporation introduced a series of flechette weapons, starting with a shotgun shell containing 32 darts and ending with single-round flechette "rifles". Winchester and Springfield offered multi-barrel weapons, while ORO's own design used two .22, .25 or .27 caliber bullets loaded into a single .308 Winchester or .30-06 cartridge.

A U.S. soldier with M16A2 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The United States Army did not place a large order for the A2 model until 1986.

Meanwhile testing of the 7.62 mm T44 continued, and Fabrique Nationale also submitted their new FN FAL via the American firm Harrington & Richardson as the T48. However, the results of the testing were apparently already a forgone conclusion; the T44 was selected as the new battle rifle for the U.S. Army (rechristened the M14) despite a strong showing by the T48.

Acceptance of the M14 did not occur before a newcomer entered the contest. In 1954, Eugene Stoner of the newly-formed ArmaLite helped develop the 7.62 mm AR-10. Springfield's T44 and similar entries were conventional rifles using wood for the "furniture" and otherwise built entirely of steel using mostly forged and machined parts. ArmaLite was founded specifically to bring the latest in designs and alloys to firearms design, and Stoner felt he could easily beat the other offerings.

Stoner's AR-10 was radical for its day. The receiver was made of forged and milled aluminum alloy instead of steel. The barrel was mated to the receiver by a separate hardened steel extension to which the bolt locked. This allowed a lightweight aluminum receiver to be used while still maintaining a steel-on-steel lockup. The bolt was operated by high-pressure combustion gases taken from a hole in the middle of the barrel directly through a tube above the barrel to a cylinder created in the bolt carrier with the bolt carrier itself acting as a piston. Traditional rifles located this cylinder and piston close to the gas vent. The stock and grips were made of a glass-reinforced plastic shell over a rigid foam plastic core. The muzzle brake was fabricated from titanium. Over Stoner's objections, various experimental composite and 'Sullaloy' aluminum barrels were fitted to some AR-10 prototypes by ArmaLite's president, George Sullivan. The Sullaloy barrel was made entirely of heat-treated aluminum, while the composite barrels used aluminum extruded over a thin stainless steel liner.

Meanwhile the layout of the weapon itself was also somewhat different. Previous designs generally placed the sights directly on the barrel, using a bend in the stock to align the sights at eye level while transferring the recoil down to the shoulder. This meant that the weapon tended to rise when fired making it very difficult to control during fully-automatic fire. The ArmaLite team used a solution previously used on weapons such as the German FG 42 and Johnson light machine gun; they located the barrel in line with the stock, well below eye level, and raised the sights to eye level. The rear sight was built into a carrying handle over the receiver.

The AR-10 was a very advanced design for its time. Despite being over 2 lb (0.9 kg) lighter than the competition, it offered significantly greater accuracy and recoil control. Two prototype rifles were delivered to the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for testing late in 1956. At this time, the U.S. armed forces were already two years into a service rifle evaluation program, and the AR-10 was a newcomer with respect to older, more fully-developed designs. Over Stoner's continued objections, George Sullivan had insisted that both prototypes be fitted with composite aluminum/steel barrels. Shortly after a composite barrel burst on one prototype in 1957, the AR-10 was rejected. The AR-10 was later produced by a Dutch firm, Artillerie Inrichtingen, and saw limited but successful military service with several foreign nations such as Sudan, Guatemala, and Portugal. Portugal deployed a number of AR-10s for use by its airborne (Caçadores Pára-quedista) battalions, and the rifle saw considerable combat service in Portugal's counter-insurgency campaigns in Angola and Mozambique.[12] Some AR-10 rifles were still in service with airborne forces serving during the withdrawal from Portuguese Timor in 1975

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