The Battle Royale Comes Down to SIG & Glock, SIG Takes the Day!

“We are not talking about nuclear subs or going to the moon here. We are talking about a pistol.”
General Mark Milley, US Army Chief of Staff, complaining to the House Armed Services Committee in 2016 about the $17 million, two-year MHS competition process.

Soon after the billowing clouds of nitrocellulose fog from a full year of grueling formal tests and soldier evaluations cleared at the end of 2016, the Army announced selection of SIG SAUER’s modified P320 as its new Modular Handgun System. The best of a reported dozen rivals hoping to replace the worn out warhorse Beretta M9, this polymer-framed, striker-fired, innovatively modular pistol emerged seemingly victorious.

Formal Announcement

“The US Army awarded the Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract on January 19, 2017 to Sig Sauer, Inc. The caliber of the weapon is 9mm, and the XM17 MHS handgun is a variant of the Sig Sauer model P320. It is ‘Coyote Brown’ in color and has interchangeable hand grips and is ambidextrous allowing the user to tailor the ergonomics to best fit their hands and optimize their performance. The contract allows the Army and other services to procure Sig Sauer’s proposed XM1152 Full Metal Jacket, XM1153 Special Purpose ammunition and training rounds; their proposed full size and compact variants of the MHS; and ancillary components. The contract ceiling is $580M which is sufficient to procure Army requirements, other service requirements, and potential Foreign Military Sales requirements.”—US Army MHS Contract Award announcement

Predictably, this sent hordes of heavily armed pistol partisans rushing to man the bulletin boards for Glock and SIG, firing off fusillades supporting or condemning the Army’s decision. While a lively debate, this had about zero chance of swaying the Army’s decision.

But what quickly emerged from Glock’s USA headquarters did. Although fresh from winning the almost equally prestigious $85 million FBI pistol contract, Glock’s executives were understandably unhappy with what they considered unfairly losing this multi-million dollar opportunity; perhaps diminishing the prestige and some of the multi-national military, law enforcement and civilian market sales the firm has long been enjoying.

Protest March

Alleging a veritable catalog of errors and slights in the highly formalized administrative and evaluation process, Glock’s detailed protest wisely zeroed in on supporting real combat soldiers. “By not completing the testing on both proposals [by SIG and Glock] on a competitive basis, the Army never determined which pistol would better meet the warfighter’s needs,” said Josh Dorsey, VP of GLOCK, Inc.

But bureaucrats and lawyers at the General Accountability Office backed the Army. “Overall, despite the evaluation errors uncovered in the course of this protest, we have no basis to conclude that Glock would have a substantial chance at an award,” wrote Susan A. Poling, General Counsel. “Even when the errors are considered together, we find no prejudice to Glock. The protest is denied in part and dismissed in part.” (Search “GAO Glock decision” for a fascinating look at the whole 17 pages of classic government legalese.)

Over and Out

Based on results of an IOT&E (Initial Operational Test and Evaluation) that had been proceeding separately from the legal fight, the Army followed-up with a public relations announcement that delivered a virtual coup de grace to Glock’s effort.

Army News Service release, 20 Jul 17: Soldiers have many reasons to be excited about the new Sig Sauer modular handguns, which the Army will begin fielding in November, said Lt. Col. Steven Power, product manager of Soldier Weapons.

Testing of the modular handgun system, or MHS, this spring by Soldiers at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, resulted in overwhelmingly positive feedback, Power said, and 100-percent concurrence that the XM17 was an upgrade over the M9.

In this case, all of the Soldiers who tested the handgun said the MHS was more comfortable to shoot, and they had better confidence with it, Power said.

Cynics may be excused for observing that most soldiers would rate most any shiny new pistol an improvement over the 30-year-old M9; its reputation sullied by the Army’s lowest bidder magazines.

Assuming SIG’s M17 makes it safely through “Production Verification” (can SIG make ‘em well enough and fast enough at the same time), that seems to be it for “Big Army,” on track to deliver the first 2,000 in November to Screaming Eagles of the legendary 101st Airborne Division. This is to be followed by some 193,000 more, Army-wide over the next several years.

With a generous $580 million ceiling on the 10-year contract award, there’s plenty of room for others to climb on the bandwagon.
Indeed, in presentations at NDIA’s 2017 Armaments Conference, representatives of all major branches of the US Armed Forces signaled they were going to replace, at some point, their current handgun inventories with new SIGs; some sooner than others. USAF wants 130,000, Navy 61,000, and a certain group of traditionally amphibious warriors might eventually buy 35,000 but has more important things to do right now with their badly wounded weapons budget.

Snake Eaters

Meanwhile, US Special Operations Command seems perfectly happy with all its various Glocks. The Army part of this–Green Berets, Rangers and Night Stalkers–has announced plans to field nearly 12,000 new Glock 19s with red-dot sights and tactical lights in its Family of Low-Visibility and Concealable Pistols for covert carry.

But not to worry, all the other SPECOPS components say they’ll likely begin integrating SIG M17 and M18 pistols a couple of years down the road. Assuming, of course, their very justifiably opinionated “users” concur with this phase-in. (Who’s gonna be make macho MARSOC operators surrender their high speed M1911 .45s or steely-eyed SEALS toss their Glock G9s overboard?)

Sighting in on SIG

So, the US Armed Forces Modular Handgun System is SIG’s M17 and M18, both in 9x19mm NATO caliber. Perpetuating this relatively puny cartridge is a bitter pill to many advocates of the venerable .45ACP cartridge, but made more palatable by the prospect of pumping out Winchester’s wickedly effective XM1153 “Special Purpose” hollow points. If the Pentagon’s notoriously liberal lawyers will allow …. (Calling Colonel Hays Parks to come out of retirement and rescue real warfighters once again).

Now, as painstakingly discovered from research in a number of authoritative sources and seen in the accompanying studio photos that SIG kindly provided, we offer some RKI observations.

Meaningful differences between the already quite nicely modular civilian 320 family–the NRA’s 2016 Handgun of the Year–and the military M17/M18 include an ambidextrous thumb safety, loaded chamber indicator, orange tritium in its metal sights, a cover plate atop the slide for later installation of a red-dot sight, dust shield in the trigger opening, anti-corrosion coating for the fire control module (SIG calls it a “frame assembly”) and an RFID chip. That’s pretty much it.

Some lesser points are overall “Coyote Brown” finish and two annoying “pin spanner” screws the Army reportedly insisted on to keep GIs from taking it apart more than allowed. (Hint: Small needle nose plier points do the trick).

If you’re curious as to why the Army wants its MHS in two sizes, the smaller M18 is slated to replace all those M11s (SIG P228) that some special type units have for concealed carry.

It’s a testament to the original 320’s excellent design and performance characteristics that this is all that was needed to meet solicitation specs and to excel in the ensuing torture tests. While the Army seemingly considers the test regimen to be Top Secret, it undoubtedly included dropping, drowning, sanding, salting, beating, baking, freezing, marathon firing and worse.

Building Blocks

“Modularity” was baked-in the borderline-absurd 350-page original solicitation. SIG has it; Glock not so much.

While the Glock entry boasts interchangeable backstraps for different sized hands, SIG includes three different sizes of grip frame modules that come with each pistol. All that’s needed to swap ‘em out (once the damnable pin spanner is defeated) is to remove the serial-numbered fire control module and install it in the desired grip module. A task about as challenging as opening an MRE.
Because their grip modules are the same Compact version, the standard SIG M17 becomes the stubbier M18 just by swapping the regular slide and barrel for the shorter ones. Need a red dot sight? A Leupold Delta Point Pro just happens to fit perfectly in that hole on top of the slide (and it may emerge the winner in a separate contracting effort). Tac light and laser? The Army’s got plenty already, and any other that grabs tight on the grip module’s Picatinny Rail is good to go.

Non-lethal force-on-force training? There’s UTM’s kit with marker rounds. Need to use a suppressor? Install a threaded barrel on either model and screw on the can. 9mm not doin’ the job even with JHP? Power up with a caliber conversion kit (not now approved by the Army but certainly available if needed).

Consolation Prize

While we weren’t able to test an XM17 for evaluation, they did send us the closest cousin; a nice little P320RX Compact, complete with blazing hot Foxtrot 1 tactical light. This allowed us and several other lucky shooters the opportunity for plenty of live fire drills under various conditions. In all, we went through about 800 rounds of various 9mm ball and JHP types including steel case, aluminum case, subsonic and even some interesting “cold tracer” loads. No problems were encountered.

P320RX COMPACT TECH SPECS

Caliber: 9 x 19mm NATO (Luger)
Action: Striker-fired, semi-automatic, recoil-operated, tipping barrel locking
Feed: Standard 15-rd. detachable steel magazine, higher-capacity available
Trigger: Double-action only, 6.5lbs. pull
Barrel: 3.9in. 6 grooves, right twist
Overall length: 7.2in
Height: 6.1in
Weight: 25.8oz
Sights: SIGLITE Tritium front and rear, co-witness with Romeo 1 holographic red dot
Materials: Polymer grip frame, stainless steel slide and trigger frame module, carbon steel barrel
Finish: Matte Black Nitron
Notes: Modular design with choice of interchangeable size grip frames, slides, barrels, caliber conversion
MSRP: $1,040 SIG SAUER, Inc., Exeter, New Hampshire, USA www.sigsauer.com

We Report, You Decide

Much has been made of the assertion that the paltry per-unit cost of pistols in SIG’s XM17 bid is approximately $207. Certainly a bargain-basement price, but will it be the best value in the long run?

Glock doesn’t think so, as evident in a press release at the time: “In fact, Sig Sauer was awarded the MHS contract prematurely based on price.”

While SIG’s M17 is roaring down the track to be US Armed Forces Standard, Glock fans have plenty of reasons for pride and optimism. As previously mentioned, they’re the handguns of choice for USSOCOM, the FBI and plenty of other LE entities, as well as mucho military worldwide.

And we may even see Glock winning the contract to arm all components of the sprawling US Department of Homeland Security. Game on!

Parting Shot

With the tantalizing likelihood of ODCMP selling US military surplus M1911 .45s, will Uncle Sam eventually hold a clearance sale for all those hundreds of thousands of now-obsolescent Beretta M9 pistols? Oh, and SIG M11s too?

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Special thanks to SIG for the loaner 320RX, all those great things seen in the studio photo setups and for providing essential pictures including the M17 and M18 MHS. sigsauer.com Also, to TTAC USA for building a perfect custom carry and competition holster for the RX with light. ttacusa.com And thanks to Blue Ridge Arsenal for Southern hospitality and generous range time. blueridgearsenal.com

A Veteran’s Report on the SIG P320RX

Talking with Range Safety Officer Colin Bruguiere

23-year-old Colin Bruguiere, our primary pistol tester for this feature, works part-time as a Range Safety Officer at Blue Ridge Arsenal’s Ashland, Virginia, location while attending a local university.

He’s a Marine Corps veteran of a combat deployment in 2013 in Afghanistan’s hotly contested Helmand Province as an MOS 0311 Infantryman in Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment; he spent most of the time as an M27 Squad Auto Rifleman with the “door kickers and trigger pullers” of the Heliborne Interdiction Force, a rapid reaction asset for a variety of critical tasks.
Following our extensive live fire test and photo session on BRA’s excellent indoor ranges, we sat down with Bruguiere to get his impressions from his first time shooting the SIG P320RX Compact.

SAR: Along with the Corps’ M9s, what handguns have you had experience with?

Colin Bruguiere: Primarily SIG’s because we sell a lot of different ones here. I’ve been carrying this 9mm 320 full size now for several months. The Beretta PX4 series, 1911 style .45s like Springfield, various Rugers, Smith M&Ps. Anything we’ve got or when somebody says, “you wanna shoot this?” I used to carry a Glock 43; nice and small. I chose the SIG over a Glock or an M&P–and I’ve seen this for other people–because out of the box it shoots like I want it to. I feel like I could go out and shoot a competition with this stock 320 and do pretty well.

SAR: How about the Army’s new M17?

CB: (Studying photos of the pistol) The thing that gives me pause about the M17 is the thumb safety. Because, like with the M9, you have to train and train to draw and take that thumb safety off as soon as it clears the holster. What’s the point of having it? I like the SIG’s double-action-only trigger. Also, the three grip sizes to fit a wider range of hands.

SAR: Overall fit and finish of the 320RX Compact we shot?

CB: Well made, looks good, shoots well, fits in the hand (medium grip installed) pretty solid. Polymer frame can still take a beating. Looking at the removable stainless steel trigger group (SIG calls it the frame assembly), they haven’t over-engineered the thing but come damn close (laughs).

SAR: How did the Compact size test pistol handle in shooting?

CB: Because it’s a relatively lightweight pistol, there’s a tendency to have to force it back in place when kicking off a triple tap, even with the full size; the best balanced because of the longer barrel and slide. But in the rapid fire drills for the test and photos, I didn’t feel like it was going everywhere. Maybe the weight of the tactical light up front helped.

SAR: How about the sights? Not only the red dot Romeo 1, but also the backup iron sights.

CB: I like the SIGLITE Tritium night sights already installed as standard on the RX version. Bright in low light. Because they’re taller, they co-witness with the red dot. And there’s probably a clear path when SIG’s new low-profile suppressor is in place.

SAR: How about iron sight shooters getting used to that red dot. Do you have to retrain your brain?

CB: I think it’s a one-magazine training exercise. You shoot a couple rounds and see “OK that’s where I’m hitting with the red dot.” You pick up on it pretty quickly. One of the things about the red dot I was really impressed with was when we were shooting through all that fog machine smoke, the red dot came through. I like the Romeo’s wide field of view, variable brightness and size of the red dot. It’s sturdy enough to hit with the web of your hand for fast cocking. Or in a one-handed scenario maybe you can push it against your gear or your boot to cock it.

SAR: Any likes or dislikes in the loading and make-ready sequence?

CB: Over the M9, the SIG’s mag release protrudes a little more, making it easier to quickly hit. Even with cold fingers or bulky gloves. You can switch it to the other side if you’re a lefty. And if a gritty magazine doesn’t want to drop, those cuts at the base of the grip are nice for pulling it out.

SAR: Stripping, cleaning, reassembly?

CB: I’d say the SIG, the Glock and the M9 are all pretty close in ease of stripping down. Simple, no issues. No hard to get to places inside to clean.

SAR: Suggestions for making it better?

CB: I haven’t had any issues slapping in a new mag, but maybe beveling inside the opening to the mag well? I think the Army version has a loaded chamber indicator. Other than that, they’ve pretty much covered the bases.

SAR: When it came down to the wire there were two M17 MHS contenders: SIG and Glock. Do you think the Army made the right choice?

CB: Absolutely, I think they made a fantastic choice.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Special thanks to the fine folks at Blue Ridge Arsenal for shutting down an entire shooting bay in their state-of-the-art facility for several hours to accommodate our live-fire test and photo session. blueridgearsenal.com

Prelude to the Panzerfaust

This final installment of the author’s research series into WWII German anti-tank weaponry is again inspired by “Men Against Tanks,” a dramatized but deadly serious German wartime training film found on YouTube (search: männer gegen panzer). Going back in time to the outbreak of War, we now turn our attention to an examination of some marginally effective, anti-tank weapons and the desperate rush for arms to counter a new generation of armored fighting vehicles that began entering the arena.

Renault R35 Tank

May–June 1940, France. An apparently pleased German soldier stands next to a “French Renault R35 tank, knocked out in a field. Lying next to the vehicle is a member of the crew who was killed” (Bundesarchiv via Waralbum.ru). With a stubby, low-velocity 37mm main gun, clad in just 43mm / 1 5/8 inches of armor at its strongest points and crawling along at no more than 12 mph, theChar leger Modele 1935 Rwas easy prey for even the little 37mm PAK 35/36 in regular service with German assault units. This was soon to change as heavier, faster tanks began entering the fray.

From Technical and Tactical Trends, No. 21, March 25, 1943

Military Intelligence Service, War Department

Since the original basic designs upon which the equipment of the present German army was produced, there has been no pause in the intensity of development which followed. As the German army gained experience, newer and more efficient designs of equipment were produced, and existing types were modified as circumstances required.

Granatbuchse 39
July 20, 1944, Saint-Mathieu-de-Treviers, France. “894th Ordnance Company Tec 3 Raymond Suen with a 7.92mm German anti-tank rifle Gr. B. 39” (Signal Corps/National Archives). When it became obvious that the original Pz. B. 39 anti-tank rifle needed more capability, it was reworked as a grenade launcher, firing high-explosive, fragmenting, anti-personnel rounds as well as small and large anti-tank grenades. The launcher threaded to the barrel is the Schiessbecher, which is also used on the Mauser Kar 98k rifle, firing the same grenades.

Lackadaisically Light Tanks

With some notable but relatively rare examples, most tanks in service with European armies in the 1930s were slow and thinly armored. Thus, practicalities of planning and equipping for War among potential adversaries dictated anti-tank weapons that were just “good enough” to take them out should the need arise.

Arise it did on the first day of September 1940, when Adolph Hitler’s Wehrmacht (armed forces) stormed across the border with Poland, a country quickly doomed from a pincer movement as Joseph Stalin’s Red Army rolled in from the East. This immediately drew France into the fight because of treaty obligations, and Britain soon followed for the same reason. Then, the Hitler–Stalin marriage of cynical convenience got an instantly nasty divorce on June 22, 1941, with “Operation Barbarossa.” Triumphant German Panzers (tanks) roared toward Moscow, and the Soviets collapsed into rapid retreat mode.

“So far, so good,” for German infantrymen as the saying goes, because the various types of anti-tank guns supporting them were brutally efficient, but not so good when no PAK—Panzer Abwehr Kanone(anti-tank cannon)—was present. What was the German Panzerjäger(tank hunter) to do?

Riding into Russia

“German infantry on the Sd.Kfz 251 Ausf. A[n] armored personnel carrier, on the road to the USSR. On the hood sits a soldier with 7.92mm Pz. B. 39 anti-tank rifle” (Bundesarchiv via Netherlands National Archive). Noting the slide-on mounting fixture just below the rear sight, the rifle’s distinctive sidesaddle 10-round cartridge hold-ers have been temporarily removed; probably for convenience in transport. Its prominent circular, side-vented muzzle brake helps tame the special cartridge’s heavy recoil.

Heavier Hitters
Although not properly classified as infantry weapons, some larger, highly effective tank-killing tools were almost always nearby, working in close coordination with frontline units. Standard-issue models were quickly augmented by others captured from Polish, French, British and Russian forces.

20cm Pz. B. 41

British units up against the German Afrika Korps in 1941 felt the fury of this diabolical 28/20mm, tapered bore anti-tank gun modeled on the “Gerlich principle” with a sizzling muzzle velocity of 4,550 fps, penetrating 2.6 inches of armor at 400 yards.

20mm Solothurn s/8-1100

February 24, 1943, Kasserine Pass, Tunisia. A captured Ger-man Solothurn 20mm anti-tank rifle. “This gun, an improved version of the Solothurn 1933 model manufactured in Switzer-land by Waffenfabrik Bern, is a magazine-fed, recoil-operated, semiautomatic shoulder weapon which can be fired from a bipod or a low-lying, pneumat-ic-wheeled carriage” (Ordnance Technical Intelligence Bulletin). Defeating 30mm / 1 1/8 inches of armor flat-on at 500 yards, it easily slaughtered American half-tracks, scout cars and other light-skinned, armored fighting vehicles in this infamous encounter with German forces.

2cm FlaK 30
October 8, 1944, Aachen, Germany. “American GIs with a captured Ger-man 20mm” (Signal Corps/National Archives). Firing both high-explosive and armor-piercing shells, it was a deadly weapon against propeller-driven aircraft and many armored vehicles, reportedly piercing 25mm / 1 inch of steel at 400 yards.

37mm PAK 35/36

“German 37mm PAK 35/36 anti-tank gun with crew, camouflaged and set for direct fire at the edge of a forest on the Eastern Front” (Bundesarchiv via Waralbum.ru). Combat weight just 700 pounds and served by a five-man crew, the little A-T cannon was relatively easy to move around and quickly put into action. Initially, Germany’s main close-support, anti-tank gun, its limited range and armor penetra-tion (49mm / 1.9 inches at 400 yards) soon proved inadequate, leading to the 3.7cm Stielgranate 41, a hollow-charge finned bomb.

8.8cm Raketenwerfer 43 (Püppchen)
August 7, 1944, Cherbourg, France. “Ordnance men with captured German anti-tank rocket gun.” It’s important to note that the electrically actuated, drum-finned rockets they’re holding are actually for the 8.8cm Panzerschreck. Whimsically nicknamed, “Püppchen” (little dolly) in official German nomenclature: “This weapon is a closed-breech rocket launcher which fires a rocket projectile. From this weapon, as limited by the sight, a maximum effective range of 765 yards is obtained” (Ordnance Techni-cal Intelligence Bulletin). An odd little paratrooper weapon, it was vastly outclassed by the very powerful ultra-light 75mm and light 105mm recoilless guns.

Schiessbecher
June 21, 1944, France. “German soldier with camouflaged helmet lying in a grassy improvised fighting position, holding a rifle with a rifle grenade launcher” (Bundesarchiv). The little 30mm “shooting cup” grenade launcher could be easily clamped to the muzzle of standard rifles, allowing the infantryman to fire a variety of munitions including anti-personnel, anti-materiel and anti-armor types. It appears the one in his launcher cup is the puny Gewehr-Sprenggranate, an anti-personnel type, weighing 9 ounces with just 1.1 ounce of explosive filler.

Panzerwurfmine (Lang)
August 6, 1944, Normandy, France. “At a captured German ammunition depot, Staff Sergeant Howard Tournier simulates throwing a Pan-zerwurfmine.” The canvas fins on this bizarre, hollow-charge, anti-tank grenade have been unfolded for apparently dramatic effect in the photo. “This is a recent type anti-tank grenade. It is of hollow-charge design and is thrown by hand at tanks from a distance of 20 to 30 yards. The explosive warhead contains 18 ½ ounces of 50/50 R.D.X./T.N.T. cast around a hollow-charge liner made of pressed steel. Weight 3 pounds, length 21 inches” (Ordnance Technical Intelligence Bulletin).

Gewehr-Panzergranate

“The head, a seamless steel tube fitted with a light ballistic cap, contains a hol-low-charge cone and an explosive filler of T.N.T. Weight 8.8 ounces, filler weight 1.75 ounces, range 50 yards” (Ordnance Techni-cal Intelligence Bulletin).

Geballte Ladung
March 31, 1945, Fritzlar, Germany. “9th Armored Division infantry found numerous examples of these Geballte Ladung (bundled charge or concentrated charge).” “The Stielhandgranate 24 contained 165 grams of explosives, more than enough for a hand grenade, but for the infantry, the need for more blast effect sometimes forced them to go for other solutions. The German manuals described how the soldiers themselves could make a convenient concentrated charge from seven heads of the Stielhandgranate 24. This somewhat heavy 7-pound ‘hand grenade’ contained 1,155 grams of explosives and could be used for demolition, anti-tank or anti-pillbox work” (Bergflak’s Lounge, bergflak.com).

“PAK” ‘Em In

While sheer numbers of medium and heavy Allied tanks too often overran German infantry units, they counted on help from some larger caliber PAK (Panzer Abwehr Kanone) guns that could still do the job. The dozen standard German PAKs were immediately joined by others acquired in combat, ranging from 50mm up to others of monstrous proportion.

7.5cm PAK 40
“75mm PAK 40 on a hill in Italy.” Far more common and nearly as effective as the fearsome and legend-ary 8.8cm FlaK “Eighty-Eight” dual-purpose, high-velocity gun, “The PAK 40, an anti-tank and antiper-sonnel weapon. … Muzzle velocity 2,525 fps, penetra-tion 154mm / 6 1/8 inches with tungsten core ammuni-tion. Effective range 1,800 meters in direct fire. Rate of fire 14 rpm” (Ordnance Technical Intelligence Bul-letin).

Kampfpistole
Infantry Anti-Armor Weapons
German infantrymen undoubtedly appre-ciated help from all those bigger tank busters, but far too often they were on their own while facing armored threats. The most common remedy was the rifle grenade of various types, their launchers and specialized ammunition liberally dis-tributed from squad level on up. There was also the Kampfpistole, firing anti-tank grenades from a modified flare gun.

Desperation

Moving now into the tragic realm of abject desperation combined with incredible courage, we encounter several anti-tank weapons that are often as dangerous to the users as to their intended targets. Taking the term close combat to the extreme, “Molotov cocktails” and other contrivances required soldiers with utmost daring and steely nerves to perform as designed. It is no wonder that most Tank Destruction Badges were award posthumously.

Hafthohlladung 3kg
Spring 1944. Ready to jump from a protective trench and rush to the attack, this undoubtedly brave German Panzerknacker (tank cracker) will attempt to fix this 8-pound, hollow-charge, anti-tank mine—held in place by three strong magnets—to the steel armor of an enemy tank. “The German magnetic, hollow-charge, anti-tank mine, designed for use by tank-hunting squads, consists of a main filling of 1 pound, 15 ½ ounces of T.N.T. in a pressed metal container of conical shape. Its standard (B.Z.E.) friction igniter has a 4.5-second delay” (Ordnance Technical Intelligence Bulletin).

Tellermine 42
Nearly invisible when emplaced and with devastating blast effect from a bursting charge of 12 pounds of cast TNT, the four Teller-mine (plate mine) types in the series were the scourge of Allied tankers. Most often, combat engineers buried them along likely avenues of approach, but tactical doctrine also called for infantry tank hunter teams to attach long drag wires to pull the mines into the path of oncoming tanks.

German “Tank Hunting” Tactics
From Tactical and Technical Trends No. 29, July 15, 1943
Military Intelligence Service, War Department

The equipment for close-in tank hunting consists of the following: incendiary bottles and Tellermines, TNT, automatic weapons (our own or captured), submachine guns, Very pistols, hand grenades, smoke bottles and camouflage material, as well as hatchets, crowbars, etc., to use as clubs for the bending of machine-gun barrels projecting from the tank. Of this equipment the useful and available weapons for blinding, stopping and destroying the tank should always be carried along.

Panzerfaust 60

March 14, 1945, Germany. “Lieutenant John Reller, 9th U.S. Army, examines a Panzerfaust 60, a single-shot, throwaway, recoilless, anti-tank rocket weapon with a warhead containing 1.6 pounds of Cyclonite/Pentolite high-explosive shaped charge filling” (U.S. Army Signal Corps/National Archives). Developed specifically to give individual German soldiers the ability to take out enemy armor at a somewhat safe distance, more than 8 million were manufactured between 1943 and 1945.

Epilogue

Because Allied assaults only grew larger, stronger and more ferocious as the War progressed, all of these des-perate anti-tank weapons remained in service right up to the fall of Berlin and the bitter end of Hitler’s “Thousand Year Reich” on May 7, 1945. But beginning in 1943, German infantrymen were fortunate to receive newly developed Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck weapons that gave at least some hope of defeating tanks at a survivable distance. In-depth examinations of these remarkable developments are chronicled by the author in Parts 1 and 2 (Small Arms Review, Vol. 25, No. 1 and No. 2).

References

Books
The author acknowledges and appreciates permission received to research the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum’s col-lection of photos and original U.S. WWII War Department, Military Intelligence publications. Excellent reprints with many entries from these are readily available with a bit of searching.
Illustrated Arsenal of the Third Reich, Donald B. McLean, Normount Technical Publications, 1975.
TM-E 30-451: Handbook On German Military Forces (1943), Military Intelligence Division, War Dept., U.S. Government Printing Office, 2020.
Video
“Männer Gegen Panzer,”
youtube.com/watch?v=3L0LffV2obA.
March 2021

By Robert Bruce –

This second installment of Robert Bruce’s research into WWII German anti-tank weaponry is again inspired by “Men Against Tanks,”a dramatized but deadly serious German wartime training film found on YouTube (search: “manner gegen panzer”). It compelled this examination of the Panzerschreck—literally “tank fright”—another extraordinary infantry anti-tank weapon used by the Third Reich.

This photo essay is intended to be a springboard to the encyclopediccontent that’s free to all at Bergflak’s Lounge (bergflak.com). The site’s creator is a Norwegian Army Captain with a decades-long near obsession for the Panzerschreck and other WWII German weapons and equipment.

He has amassed an astonishing array of primary source information, follow-up research and scores of photos. Small Arms Review hasn’t found anything in research of English language resources that can even come close.

As such, readers are urged to start with the extensive photo captions found here and then explore even more deeply by diving into Bergflak’s Lounge.

Death of a General Sherman

October 1944, Holland/Belgium border. German Fallschirmjäger (paratroop-ers) move past a derelict M4A3 Sherman, an iconic American medium tank meeting doom while in service with the Canadian Army’s 21st CAR. To the point of this feature, arms carried by the Panzer Zerstörer Truppe (tank destroyer troop) include (from left) a Panzerfaust (Pzf) 60 or 100, two MP40 submachine guns and a Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 (RPzB54). According to German specifications, the highly efficient shaped charge warheads of both of these formidable anti-tank weapons are capable of punching through more than 6 inches of armor plate, easily exploiting numerous vulnerabilities of the Sherman’s armor.

Rampaging Russian Tanks The slow and lightly armored tanks that entered service with the world’s armies in the period following “The War to End All Wars” could be neutralized rather easily with anti-tank rifles and light artillery pieces. This situation changed rapidly when Germany ignited another worldwide conflagration in September 1939 by invading Poland, steamrolling France and driving deeply into Russia. Adolph Hitler’s Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) began shorting out when confronted by a surprise tidal wave of Josef Stalin’s new T-34 tanks, which were faster and more heavily armored. While the Germans had some larger caliber PAK (Panzer Abwehr Kanone) guns that could still do the job, sheer numbers of these Russian tanks and their relative invulnerability too often decimated German infantry units.
As seen in the first installment of “Männer Gegen Panzer” (SAR Vol. 25, No. 1), this resulted in a crash program that produced the ingenious Panzerfaust in 1943, giving individual frontline soldiers the ability to knock out enemy tanks without closing to the knife-fighting range.
While hitting a 30-ton Russian monster from 30m away was a good first start, more distance from disaster was sorely needed. Ironically, the immediate solution was provided by Stalin’s minions themselves, carelessly allowing capture of some American-supplied, first-production M1 “bazookas” on the battlefield in late 1942. Other sources say the first capture took place in Tunisia in the spring of 1943, directly from the Americans themselves. Either way, these clever little launching pipes and crates of their zippy, armor zapping 2.36-inch/60mm diameter rockets were immediately flown to Berlin for close examination by Heereswaffenampt (Army Weapons Office).
In somewhat typical Teutonic manner, an “improved” Bazooka adaptation was fielded in record time, mostly because its 3.5-inch (88mm) hollow charge rocket was easily converted from existing ammo for the Raketenwerfer 43 Püppchen. Its very sturdy launch tube was just a thick steel pipe, but characteristically over-engineered at twice the weight of the American weapon while featuring a magneto ignition system that eliminated the need for the Bazooka’s problematic flashlight batteries.
Prototypes of the new Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 (RPzB54) “rocket armor rifle” were rushed to the Eastern Front in October 1943. Trial by fire in Russia’s brutal arctic winter and soon afterward in North Africa’s harsh desert conditions revealed flaws and problems that were being continually addressed right up to the bitter end in the spring of 1945.
Panzer Zerstörer Truppe—tank destroyer teams—armed with both Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck launchers now had serviceable weapons that could be fired from a somewhat safe distance with reasonable chance of a crippling or killing first-round hit.

Two “Bazookas”
April 1945, Germany. 9th U.S. Army Private First Class Harvey Clark compares the German and American rocket launchers. In his left hand is a light and handy U.S. 2.36-inch/60mm M1A1 (no foregrip) Bazooka, in regular use by GIs at this late date. Since this one is badly shot up in obvious combat action, could it have been in use on the enemy side? The other is a nice, very late production 3.5-inch/88mm Raketenpan-zerbüchse 54/1, its up-to-date modifications readily identified by the launch tube, shortened 34cm/13.4 inches at the rear section, more supports for the breech guard ring, the electrical connector box relocated to the 12 o’clock position and more elaborate rear and front MKIV sights. Note as well the standard sling, blast shield and rectangular muzzle safety guard. Interestingly, the late War addition of a small add-on shield to protect the firer’s hands may be present on this one. Looking at the firing mechanism, the cocking handle is fully rearward, held in position by the safety tab.

“Whattaya Think Dicken?”
January 1945, Schoppen, Belgium. “U.S. Army Sergeant Lionel Pender and Private Jerome Dicken take a look at a captured German bazooka and its rocket.” The standard production RPzB54 looks to be much worse for wear with scraped-up winter whitewash, muzzle safety guard knocked completely around and no sign of the essential blast shield. Because we can’t see markings on the 88mm Raketen Pan-zer Büchse Granat 4322 (R PzB Gr. 4322) rocket, it’s unclear which one of the three primary HE types it is—their propellant fill necessarily formulated to seasonal use in ambient temperature ranges.

Panzerschreck Photo Shoot

January 1944, Italy. This photo starts off a series of images we found of what is almost certainly a U.S. Army Ord-nance Technical Intelligence field team documenting one of the first freshly captured RPzB54 systems so that an info bulletin can be quickly produced for U.S. and Allied forces. To begin with, they’re showing how the rocket is loaded into this German bazooka would be instantly familiar to American infantrymen. The weapon itself shows key characteristics of an early-production model with no shield and no muzzle safety bracket. Here’s a resulting excerpt from the Army’s wartime Catalog of Enemy Ordnance: “The German Anti-tank rocket launcher (Raketenpan-zerbüchse 43), one of which was captured in Italy, is a comparatively late design, similar in appearance to the American ‘Bazooka.’” The erroneous “43” was picked up in translations from early German development documentation. Production models were always designated RPzB54

The Projectile
Unfortunately, the stenciled markings on the 88mm R PzB Gr. 4322 rocket are too indistinct to read in this photo, but we can rely on the Army’s description provided in resulting advisories, bulletins and manuals: “High Explosive Anti-tank Rocket Grenade 8.8cm R.Pz. B. Gr. 4322. This fin-stabilized rocket projectile … has a maximum effective range of 165 yards. Eight and one-half-inch armor penetration has been obtained in static tests. … The bursting charge is Cyclotol (41.2% TNT, 58.8%Cyclonite) weighing 1 lb., 7.2 ozs.” While quite efficiently developed directly from the percussion-fired 88mm (3.5-inch) rocket used in a closed breech by the odd little Raketenwerfer 43 Püppchen, the handy Panzerschreck rocket is electrically initiated.

In this closer shot the RPzB54 has its rocket properly positioned as it would be upon loading and provides some interesting details including the full-length, rectangular groove pressed into the side of the sturdy steel Rohr (pipe) launching tube. Three evenly spaced, shallow, hydraulically pressed grooves run the length of the pipe, strengthening it and allowing the rocket to slide freely down the tube despite small dents or debris inevitable in combat operations. Below the tube, the prominent cocking handle is fully rearward, held in the SAFE position by a metal tab at the bottom. This holds the steel striker rod under spring tension.

Moving in even closer for details of the arming and firing mechanism, a sturdy arrangement of protective wooden strips front and below with cheap metal stampings that are riveted or welded in place. Compared with the close-up RPzB54 photo, we see the cocking handle forward so that the striker rod is relaxed and not quite touching the shock generator (a magneto that looks like a flashlight battery).
The resulting Tech Intel Bulletin describes the firing sequence as follows: “The firing mechanism … consists of a spring-loaded rod (which is drawn forward into a compressed position when the piece is cocked) and a cylindrical component which appears to contain a magnetized rod and coil. Two wires attached to this current-product-ing component connect with the socket on the launcher and with the plunger that contacts the tail of the projectile.” Pulling the trigger releases the striker rod to spring forward, kick the magneto and send an electrical pulse to the rocket.

After the field team finished with picture taking, the actual specimens were taken back for even closer examination by highly specialized Ordnance experts. This image from a late-War technical manual shows the rocket’s component parts and a cutaway of the warhead’s interior. Here’s an abbreviated version of the accompanying text: “This fin-stabilized rocket projectile … has a maximum effective range of 165 yards. Eight and one-half inch armor penetration has been obtained in static tests. … The complete round consists of a point fuzed high explosive, hollow charge projectile assembled to a steel tube with a Venturi and stabilizer assembly attached, containing an igniter, propellant and electric primer. A late type of ammunition, the R.Pz.B.Gr 4999, is reported to give good performance up to a range of 220 yards, 25 degrees C (77 degrees F).”

U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS, NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Here’s Your New Ofenrohr
March 21, 1944, France. After enough of the first-production model Panzerschreck had been rushed to units fighting in Russia, it was time to begin introduction of this remarkable new tank killer to troops elsewhere. In this sequential pair of photos we see officers and soldiers lined up at a presumably safe distance to observe a live-fire demonstration. In preparation for firing, the Laderschütze (loader) has detached the Holzgriff mit Stecker, a small wooden protector, from the base of the rocket, and it dangles from its two electrical wires. Now he’s removing the fuze safety pin immediately before slipping the rocket into the rear of the tube. Originally designated Ofenrohr (stove or furnace pipe) because of its appearance and the large amount of smoke generated on firing, the weapon itself is clearly a very basic, early model with none of the improvements and refinements that will soon follow. For practical purposes including stability and increasing hit probability to properly impress the demonstration’s onlookers, the muzzle end rests firmly on bricks stacked at just the right height. Note the correct positioning of the Richtschütze (firer’s or gunner’s) hands, puzzlingly ungloved/unprotected from the exiting rocket’s fiery backblast.

As the loader completes his job by plugging the rocket’s “hot” wire into the electrical connection box, our brave gunner settles down into a good shooting stance with elbow braced on the lip of the foxhole. His hooded cape may be improvised protection, snugly secured around the filterless gas mask to minimize effects of the rocket’s flaming, noxious exhaust that continued some 2m (6.5 feet) from the muzzle. Additionally, the rocket’s loud report on firing mandated cotton balls stuffed into ears for hearing protection.

Same Day on the Russian Front
March 21, 1944, Ukraine
(Southern). If official caption information is accurate, on the very same day and some 800 miles away, a youthful Gefreiter (acting corporal) in a training exercise gives the photographer a good look at a rocket prepared for loading. Gripping the 88mm R PzB Gr. 4322 rocket in the prescribed position on its motor tube, he has pulled loose the adhesive tape securing the wooden wire holder/igniter protector to the fin drum. Next step will be to remove and pocket the nose fuze safety pin before sliding the rocket into the tube. In a situation where the weapon isn’t fired and must be unloaded, the safety pin absolutely must be reinserted.

Having slid the rocket into the tube and making sure it is clamped securely in place by the catch seen at top rear, our stalwart loader-in-training is ready to plug the rocket’s “hot” wire into the large, rearmost opening of the connection box. This completes the electrical firing circuit because protruding from the box and into the tube, a spring-loaded, sharp-tipped bolt contacts the rocket, serving as a ground.

Ready for Action
April–May 1944, Italy. A few weeks later and a bit closer to home, a two-man Panzerschreck team reinforcing Germany’s Fascist Italian allies shows the correct practical/tactical doctrine in a narrow
“V-”shaped trench while loading up another early model Panzerschreck. Looks like the gunner is crouching while putting on his absolutely necessary gas mask and head protection. Immediately after the rocket is securely in place and electrically connected, the loader will shout, “Granate ins rohr!” (“Grenade in tube”) and duck down in his side of the trench. This way the firer can aim in any direction without concern for the back-blast. A stick grenade (ribbed handle indicating smoke type) and MP40 submachine gun are immediately available to deal harshly with an enemy tank’s accompanying infantrymen.

New and Improved
1944, Reich Territory. “Soldier in foxhole during training with Panzerschreck with blast shield.” He’s prudently gloved but no doubt pleased to have a new, standard-production Schutzshild (protective shield), freeing him from the necessity of wearing head and face protection. Early on, shooters who understandably despised stuffy and vision-restricting gas masks to avoid getting a face full of rocket blast and debris began to fashion crude shields. In response to strong and persistent complaints, an official version made from stamped sheet metal as seen here was produced and hastily distributed beginning around September 1944, providing protection but adding another 1.5kg/3.3 pounds. Simply clamped on to the tube with a levered constriction band, it deflected not only rocket blast but debris thrown back against the shield as evidenced by what’s splattered all over it and the front sight. And that little “window” at sight height is glass that’s quickly replaceable as was quite often needed. Note also the appearance of the rectangular safety guard clamped just below the muzzle and conveniently resting on a handy wooden plank.

Tank Hunter Team
August 1944, Russia (North). “Schützen fur Panzerbüchse with rocket anti-tank rifle.” Hastily dug in and blending in somewhat with their surroundings, this team with a shield-equipped RPzB54 is ready to take on T-34 tanks. Looking at all the dry vegetation behind the launcher, there’s more than a little chance that the back-blast will start a problematic brushfire. The sturdy, rope-handled wooden crate next to the loader holds two rockets along with a spare sighting window glass. Not evident in the picture, the crate is prominently marked for their type and temperature range. With luck they’ve been issued the right ones for summer in Russia, but in an emergency any kind will do. Rockets were also carried in Aufsatgestell—unit-crafted rucksack packboards (mounting frame).

BUNDESARCHIV VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Crash and Burn
This still-smoldering Soviet T-34/76 has run into a deep, anti-tank ditch after probably being ambushed by a Panzer Zerstörer Truppe. If the tactical situation permits, their attack would have begun with smoke pots or smoke grenades obscuring the tank crew’s vision, slowing it down and likely hiding the ditch from the driver who blundered in. The immobilized tank would then be easy pickings for any of the team’s anti-tank weapons.

BUNDESARCHIV VIA WARALBUM.RU

Get the Right Sight Picture!
Diagram from the December 1944 manual D1864/6 showing the improved MKIV rear and front sights for both the RPzB54 and 54/1. The simple rear sight, closest to the firer’s eye, has a prominent “U-”center notch for accurate straight-on shots on the T-34 tank. The smaller “V” notches are for windage and properly leading moving tanks. The necessarily more complicated front sight has a movable plate that “ladders up” from 200m to 150m and 100m. Loosening the prominent wing nut allows the plate to be moved up and down. Note the index line for optimal 150m shots is set at the “O” mark for use with the latest Wintermunition 1944/45 rockets. Plus (“+”) and minus (“-”) marks show adjustments necessary for accurate shooting at warmer or colder ambient temperatures.

Moving into Position
August 1944, Russia (North). A Panzerknacker (tank cracker) pair moves out smartly into another favorable position to engage ram-paging Russian tanks. This is one frame from a series of propaganda photos staged to highlight the exploits of these remarkable tank-killing heroes, both wearing three Panzervernichtungabzeichen (tank destruction badges) on their right sleeves. The award of each badge signified that its wearer had destroyed an enemy tank using an infantry anti-tank weapon.

Awaiting the Inevitable
October 1944, Aachen, Germany. “A German soldier with a Panzerschreck RPzB54 at the entrance to a wine cellar on rue Aachen.” Noting two launchers, this is evidence that a Panzer Zerstörer Truppe anti-tank team has taken up this unusual urban defensive position. Clearly seen at the bottom of the shield is the small, rectangular box holding spare glass for the sighting window.

BUNDESARCHIV VIA WARALBUM.RU

Kampfgeist?
November 1944, Germany. “A German officer trains Volkssturm militia in the use of the Panzerschreck grenade launcher (RPzB54). One of the men in the background is holding a Panzerfaust 30.” Is that old fellow’s expression Kampfgeist (battle spirit) or understandable wariness? Intended as a propaganda photo showing patriotic civilians stepping forward for defense of the Fatherland, it actually exposes Adolf Hitler’s fanaticism in pressing the old and weak into service. That apparently battle-scarred veteran rocket launcher shows much evidence of hard use with its muzzle safety guard knocked askew, little paint left on the tube and a badly cracked sighting window glass. Note that the gunner’s firing hand is positioned over the trigger, and the cocking handle is off SAFE and forward, showing the spring-loaded firing rod is ready to strike the electrical spark generator. At the far right of the photo another militiaman holds a Haftholladung magnetic mine, perhaps the most desperately dangerous anti-tank weapon in the arsenal.

BUNDESARCHIV VIA POLISH NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Dragon Model Kit
Purveyors of highly realistic scale model kits offer a selection of Panzerschreck in different configurations and scenarios. This one is particularly interesting because it portrays soldiers of a Panzer Zerstörer Truppe (tank destroyer squad) moving up to the battle front with their four Ofenrohre and ammunition in a pair of Infanterie Karren 8 (IF8). The specialized IF8 carts—seen with improvised wooden carrier racks—are being pulled by a strong draft horse.

Get One When You Can
Reenactors and others pining for a Panzershreck can find some satisfaction in good replicas offered by Sarco, Inc., International Military Antiques (IMA-USA), U.S. Replica Gun Co. and other firms. The trick is to pay attention to detail in balancing quality vs. price, so beware of those not-always cheaper Chinese versions. The nice one seen here is from Sarco, Inc., currently filling orders as quickly as they can be built from the parts kits they have on hand.

The Good Old Days?
Interarmco’s legendary war surplus arms wheeler-dealer Samuel Cummings somehow got a major stockpile of Panzerschrecke (almost certainly from Finland) and shipped them to his sprawling complex of weapons warehouses in Alexandria, Virginia. Understandably, no live rockets that came with the deal could be imported. In the early 1960s, some popular U.S. gun magazines carried tantalizing ads from various firms offering Interarmco’s war surplus launchers. While Seaport’s “Genuine German Bazookas” could be had at the time for a paltry $19.95, this recalculates to $172 now when adjusting for inflation. Still, that’s a great price when considering the nearly $5,000 that a decent original went for recently at auction.

Old and New
1945, Berlin, Germany. Stoically marching in step through the ruins of their once proud capital city, this group of Volkssturm (People’s Storm) oldsters is on their way to take up defensive positions as the Red Army’s rapacious hordes close in. The RPzB54 slung from that grandfather’s shoulder appears to be either factory new or freshly repainted. He has wisely loosened the shield’s clamp band and slid it around into a position better suited for carrying on the march. Those rectangular riveted strips on the shield are for attaching camouflage.

BUNDESARCHIV VIA POLISH NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Why is Small Arms Review featuring cartoons? Well, while doing military weapons photo research in the National Archives, Robert Bruce stumbled across a series of decidedly comical posters with very serious messages for American GIs in WWII.

They were the work of Will Eisner, a talented young soldier/artist in the Army Ordnance Corps, whose goofy, buck-toothed main character Joe Dope showed how stupidity in too many common situations could prove fatal for himself and his fellow fighters. Will and Joe were so effective in this critical mission that the duo continued amusing and educating soldiers for nearly 30 years. A sobering reminder that Joe’s inexperienced descendants continued to find their way into the Army.

Eisner’s audience was the “Soldiers who have busted knuckles, greasy oily grimy hands, worn coveralls and scuffed boots … the Soldiers who keep the Army’s equipment ready. Rarely has art and the written word been so well blended. Will Eisner showed that content and sequential art complement one another.”

—Jonathan Pierce, the current editor (2019) of PS Magazine.

Soon after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, William Erwin Eisner, a 24-year-old artist in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, got his draft notice from Uncle Sam’s U.S. Army. In an initially perplexing but ultimately perfect example of its rare propensity for properly fitting a man’s civilian skills to his military assignment, the Army sent him to the Ordnance Corps, responsible for guns, vehicles and other machinery of war.

There, Private Eisner’s civilian reputation as the creator of The Spirit, a highly successful comic book supplement in major newspapers in 1940, landed him a position as an illustrator for what was at the time a rather bland and technical maintenance newsletter named Army Motors. Equally remarkable, Will was able to persuade the senior officer who was in charge—not to mention enough of the other old-school brass—that his well-proven comic book style would be a much better way to grab and hold the attention of the Army’s tidal wave of brand new draftees and enlistees.

The Dopiest Draftee

It wasn’t long before Eisner headed up the publication’s art department, showcasing his unique drawing style and storytelling. Soon, catching the attention of higher ups, he spent the rest of the war years plying his cartoonish training trade while on the staff of the Chief of Ordnance at the Pentagon. Interestingly, he leaped from Private to Warrant Officer by way of indispensable talent and skirting the arduous Warrant Officer Candidate School ordeal with “a written test.”

Along the way and in the company of stern, square-jawed Master Sgt Half-Mast McCanick and the pneumatically pulchritudinous Connie Rodd, Eisner’s doofus, dogface Joe Dope became the main character in posters and in Army Motors, illustrating what NOT to do in a wide variety of situations on land and in the air.

Mangling Ma Deuce

It was in the particularly unforgiving arena of aerial combat that Joe did most of his damage while assigned to bomber squadrons. Apparently incapable of following maintenance requirements as an armorer, or putting his intense training in air-to-air gunnery to good use, Joe repeatedly imperiled the lives of his fellow airmen.

Interrupting a 5-Year Leave

With unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945, Eisner was mustered out and resumed his artistic and entrepreneurial work in New York City at the top tier of the comics world. He launched American Visuals Company (AVC) in 1948 with a roster of talented artists and prestigious clients like General Motors and U.S. Steel. Then, as fate would have it, AVC was perfectly positioned when war in Korea broke out in 1950.

American soldiers were back in the thick of battle, this time fighting hordes of Communist invaders in a strange land far from home. The pressures of war and another flood of young, inexperienced Joe-Dope-type draftees now manning old and poorly maintained vehicles, weapons and equipment left over from WWII spurred the Ordnance Corps to revive Eisner’s unique cartoon method for quick, effective, basic maintenance instruction.

The “Postscript” Pamphlets

It was perhaps a combination of patriotism and persuasion backed by enough money that brought civilian Eisner back into government service to the job he clearly loved of educating GIs. PS Magazine, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, his pamphlet-sized, semi-comic magazine, sprang to life from the drawing boards of AVC’s bullpen of artists in June 1951.

PS is short for postscript, indicating that it was intended to be a useful addition and supplement to sagging shelves full of necessarily fat, fact-filled Field and Technical Manuals. In addition to short instructional features on specific subjects, it answered questions and handily included brief maintenance tips and clever “field expedients” from the “busted knuckles … scuffed boots” crowd out there in the real world.

PS Goes PC

PS Magazine came out sporadically over the first 2 years until after most shooting stopped with the Armistice Agreement in July 1953. Then, with the pressures of war somewhat relieved, Eisner began to be put upon by Pentagon  Social Justice Warriors to give Joe Dope a cosmetic and conduct makeover. The evolution began gradually but then it sped up.

The brass hats ridiculously ruled that Joe the jerk reflected badly on an idealized “American Fighting Man.” Eisner saved face—literally—in PS Magazine, No. 47, 1956, recounting how Joe blew himself up after bungling headspace adjustment on an M2. Army doctors rebuilt his ugly mug, dentists fixed his buck teeth and from then on he was always properly groomed and uniformed.

Over time, Eisner’s mean old Half-Mast mellowed and most sadly, poor Connie’s appearance, wardrobe and her soldier-stimulating situations gradually became less and less sexy. The emphasis in PS Magazine shifted to more and more detailed info with fewer examples of the wonderfully outlandish cartoon characters drawn by the master himself and his talented minions who specialized in the technical-type illustrations.

Vietnam and After

Eisner had an undeniable sense of duty, as demonstrated in some weeks-long, info-gathering visits to soldiers in the fields including battle zones in Korea as well as Cold War Germany and Japan. Around the time of the Tet Offensive (January 1968) he again made the rounds in Vietnam, gaining insights evident in contemporary issues of PS Magazine and—most notably—the iconic M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance comic book.

Eisner eventually tired of fighting the Pentagon’s PC being pushed on PS Magazine, so he gave up the publication contract in 1971, closing out his 227th consecutive issue. But the 54-year-old didn’t goldbrick, and he went on with renewed enthusiasm to write, illustrate and publish a slew of what are now known as “graphic novels.” Among these notables is the very personal A Contract with God and his bittersweet Last Day in Vietnam, with a timeline of real-life vignettes from the three wars he experienced first-hand.

The “New and Improved” PS Magazine

Today’s PS Magazine—steadily moving past issue 800 and now in digital form only—is a far cry from the rollicking, risqué days of Eisner and his team. As more and more women have poured in to the Army, the last traces of testosterone petered out. Perhaps this is understandable on some levels, but we old GIs know what Eisner-style fun the new generation is missing.

See for yourselves now that PS Magazine has gone online and accessible to anyone—friend and foe alike—logsa.army.mil/#/psmag.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

WHNT News 19 video: whnt.com/2016/04/01/defending-america-for-65-years-with-ps-magazine/

PS Magazine issues 1–229 at Virginia Commonwealth University: digital.library.vcu.edu/digital/collection/psm

PS Magazine issues 1951 to 2014 at Radionerds.com: psmag.radionerds.com/index.php/Main_Page

PS Magazine from 1999 to Present: logsa.army.mil/#/psmag

Downloadable M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance comic book: oberlandarms.com/pdf/m16a1_rifle_operation_and_preventive_maintenance_1969.pdf PS Magazine: The Best of the Preventive Maintenance Monthly, by Eddie Campbell, 2011

“The theme for this year’s exposition… captures the emphasis our Corps is placing on adaptation and innovation. It also reflects our Corps’ focused efforts toward increased naval integration. With emergent technology, pacing threats and adversary advancements in capabilities like long-range precision fires, sea control and denial will undoubtedly be crucial in future conflicts. We rely on or industry partners to conceptualize and develop the capabilities we need to ensure that our Marines never have to enter a fair fight.”

—General David H. Berger,
38th C—omGemneandral Danta ovif td Hhe. B Mearr igener, C orps

In the customary statement provided as a kickoff to the Expo, General Berger gave the essence of what’s detailed in the 26 pages of his July 2019 “Commandant’s Planning Guidance” (unclassified version available at marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/Commandant’s%20 Planning%20Guidance_2019.pdf?ver=2019-07-17-090732-937).

Deftly pivoting from decades of mostly land-based counterinsurgency toward countering the already powerful and fast-growing seaborne threat from Communist China, by 2023, the USMC will have “re-estab-lished our identity as a naval expeditionary force and enhanced our relationship with the Fleets as an extension of naval power as the FMF (Fleet Marine Force).”

This new direction—characterized by some as a return to a proven model from WWII where the Navy and Marine Corps faced enemies with land, sea and air capabilities that were almost evenly matched—was energetically supported in all aspects of this annual Expeditionary Warfare extravaganza.

Defense industry reps and Navy/Marine Corps program offices showed their wares and interacted with high-value attendees; not just generals, Pentagon leaders and allied military shoppers, but multitudes of new-generation Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and others.

New and Improved

Under guidance from Expo director Alex Hetherington, some welcomed streamlining was evident this year in both presentation of information and arrangement of the show floor.

First, Marine Corps Systems Command’s (MARCORSYSCOM) customary Advance Planning Briefing to Industry (APBI) was held a week earlier in nearby Fredericksburg. With prior clearance of corporate attendees and closing it to press snoopers, the APBIs were given in greater depth and free from distraction. But not to worry, useful overviews for all potential vendors for ground combat, logistics, support and training are readily available on MARCORSYSCOM’s website.

[Author’s Note: The website for MDM Expos is among the most comprehensive and user-friendly we’ve encountered. There’s a wealth of information for exhibitors and attendees, as well as an invaluable portal for those unable to attend in person. Links are available to the actual content of the APBIs and much more at marcorsyscom.marines.mil. For specific solicitations and contract awards see FedBizOpps.gov or fbo.gov. Also, Defense Innovation Marketplace is a comprehensive resource: defense innovation mar ketplace.mil.]

Ground combat is our focus so we zeroed in on the APBI presentation by Colonel Jeff Stower, GCE Portfolio Manager. On the weapons track, he’s looking for help from Industry with a prioritized list of 16 items including lightweight, multispectral imagers and rangefinders, improved heavy/medium machine gun systems and anti-ship-from-shore weapons.

Fully funded and in the RFP (Request for Proposal) pipeline are eight opportunities including a Squad Common Optic and more suppressors. We’re pleased to note that last year’s call for improved NVGs was answered by Harris Corporation, recently awarded the $249 million Squad Binocular Night Vision Goggle contract. And the seemingly endless quest for “Next Generation Squad Weapons” is coming closer to reality with the Army now evaluating weapon system candidates from three firms. Of particular significance is that they’re all in 6.8mm.

The usual Marksmanship Technology Demonstrations over at the Weapons Training Battalion range complex (NOT an Expo event but conveniently scheduled while MDM is underway) weren’t held this time. Our inquiry through official channels revealed that there was so much good stuff presented last year that the Corps has its hands full with follow-up evaluations. So keep an eye on FedBizOpps.gov in the coming months to see if this excellent opportunity to show and shoot will be back on in 2020.

The usual three cavernous main exhibit tents were stitched together this time to form a single, massive open display floor without those annoying walls in between. Navigation to individual exhibits was facilitated by “streets” named for iconic USMC combat actions and by overhead signs with booth group numbers.

Attendees were able to chart their targets of interest using location numbers from the printed show guide or use the clever QR code scans for their smart phones. Also, the Augmented Reality Experience show app went way beyond mere navigation; this effort, partnered with wallcrawls.com, has lots of interesting features including virtual interaction with a life-size LAV and 3D versions of WWII famous GI cartoon characters Willie and Joe.

Show, Tell, Listen

Again this year was an expanded set of formal presentations, information panels, product demonstrations and “booth briefs” both scheduled and off-the-cuff for up-close interaction.

A dozen Panels and Sessions over the 3-day event included “Marine Corps Futures” presented by Office of Naval Research and USMC Warfighting Lab, and additional sessions from proponents of non-lethal weaponry, Intel topics and harsh realities of “Amphibious Warships in Near-Peer Maritime Superiority Contests.”

Running concurrently were eight briefings from academia and foundations. Opportunities included information on the Wounded Warrior Regiment, MC Fitness, Young Marines and more. Numerous “Booth Briefs,” conducted on the show floor at scheduled times offered insights in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, future technology and harnessing the power of certain NCOs who have special skills.

Nearly 400 Exhibitors

Deadly serious information was dispensed in the Briefing Center while the gigantic main tent and the outside displays were buzzing with activity during all 3 days of the Expo as visitors ranging from youthful enlisted Marines to high level military, DoD and industry powerhouses patrolled the aisles. Discipline is required to avoid being overwhelmed by the variety of offerings on display and the sheer size of many including hulking AFVs, artillery pieces, real aircraft and the like.

Marine Zone

Freshly armed with information provided in briefings by MARCORSYSCOM and others, defense industry attendees fanned out to talk directly with key program personnel in the “Marine Zone,” centrally located in the exhibit hall on Iwo Jima Highway. This is a concentration of related displays showing what’s under development or consideration at Systems Command and allied entities like Warfighting Lab and Office of Naval Research.

The Warfighting Lab is working toward effectively combining robotics, sensors, manned/unmanned vehicles and dismounted Marines with a focus on improving Marines’ ability to sense and locate the threat, observing their speed of decision making and action as well as determining their lethality when employing traditional and surrogate equipment versus an enemy force. mcwl.marines.mil

ONR

The Navy claims ownership of the Marines, so cutting edge research and development at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) deserves respect and attention in exhibits. While this super high-tech command has lots of cutting edge projects in the works, we gun guys are most interested in things that facilitate hole-punching one way or another. Some examples are the continuing work on lightweight and caseless ammunition, as well as leap-ahead improvements in integrated day–night optics.

In addition to advancements in high energy lasers and directed energy weaponry, many of ONR’s areas of exploration are borderline science fiction. An example is Warfighter Augmentation which aims for future Marines and Sailors to benefit from “applied research investigating the design of biomaterials to augment naval warfighter performance (i.e., multifunctional, shape-shifting, self-healing, bio-hybrid adaptive materials including biosensors and bioelectronics).” onr.navy.mil

Short Bursts

Space limitations dictate just brief notes on some of the things we encountered, so follow-up information is encouraged by visiting vendor websites as noted.

Small Arms, of Course

All of the Expo’s offerings are compelling, but manportable weaponry is our stock in trade. 2019’s lineup included weapons from prominent names like American Rheinmetall, Barrett, Beretta, FN America, General Dynamics, GLOCK, HK and SIG SAUER. Right on their heels are close rivals Geissele, LaRue Tactical and Radian Weapons.

While there were plenty of good guns, we were not alone in disappointment over not finding any of the three Next Generation Squad Weapon candidate systems recently selected for the latest phase of intense evaluation by the Army. GD-OTS and SIG SAUER apologized, saying look them up next month at AUSA (Association of the U.S. Army’s annual expo).

Textron/AAI said, “You should have come by on Tuesday.” Seems the one they had on display that first day was apparently needed else-where. This author wonders whether it is time to say goodbye to legacy weapons in NATO standard 5.56 and 7.62 ammo.

Barrett. Another priority was stopping by Barrett’s booth to see Joel Miller, Director of Global Military Sales, to note the company’s victory in Special Operations Command’s Advanced Sniper Rifle competition with a .300-PRC-caliber MRAD. barrett.net

HK. HK was just a short walk from Barrett, conveniently located on “Chosin Reservoir Highway.” We congratulated them on winning the latest CSASS (Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System) contract right on top of supplying the Marine Corps with even more enormous quantities of the M27 IAR. Also, to ask about the announcement that HK would be teaming with Textron/AAI to manufacture their NGSW if selected by the Army. hk-usa.com

Radian Weapons. Long known as makers of excellent primary components and accessories for AR-type rifles, Radian Weapons has a new high-end AR called the Model 1 that can be custom-tailored in configuration, barrel length and caliber. radianweapons.com

GLOCK. GLOCK soldiers on strongly with their simple, reliable, cost-effective handguns, now including the new G45, an LE version of the G19X. Yes, they knew about the clever PDW modification kit from KPOS. us.glock.com

SAAB / Aimpoint. While a bit bigger than what’s usually defined as small arms, “The Goose” (SAAB’s 84mm Carl Gustaf shoulder cannon) is now well-positioned in the weapons mix of Marine Corps rifle squads. Its selection of special purpose rounds is unparalleled, and the Aimpoint FCS13RE Dynamic Universal Reflex Sight gives superior hit probability on static and moving targets. saabgroup.com / aimpoint.com

Taking Aim

Trijicon. The Corps’ M16s and M4s have long been enhanced by Trijicon’s fixed 4-power ACOG, but dial-up magnification is on the shopping list. Undoubtedly under consideration is Trijicon’s tank-tough 1-6×24 power Variable Combat Optical Gunsight (VCOG). trijicon.com

Photonis. We should mention the Photonis Vyper-14 upgrade. The AN/PVS-14, a Special Ops favorite, now gets 40% greater range with the new 4G image intensifier tube. photonis.com

Control Solutions. Super expensive, remotely operated weapons stations have an upstart rival in the Remote Fire Option™ System from Control Solutions. controls.com

Smart Shooter. “Smart” weapon sights are hot items, and the SMASH 2000 from Smart Shooter Ltd. is said to ensure “that each round hits its designated target, day or night, while keeping friendly forces and uninvolved population safe.” smart-shooter.com

ATN. Boasting “the most advanced optics on the market,” ATN has another hit with BinoX 4T, integrating thermal imaging with laser range-finding and dual stream video. atncorp.com

Nice to Have

Nammo Talley. Grenades and pyrotechnics are stock in trade for Nammo Talley, and U.S. Special Operations Command is an enthusiastic buyer of their Scalable Offensive Hand Gre-nade. Depending on the threat situation, these juice-can-sized fist bombs can be used individually or stack up to three for maximum effect. nammotalley.com

American Rheinmetall. We were amused to note that American Rheinmetall’s MITHRAS, the handheld rocket developed with the British Army for signaling and illumination, starred in the James Bond movie “Skyfall.” americanrheinmetall.com

QinetiQ North America. When the question is “Where did THAT shot come from?” QinetiQ’s EARS Gunshot Localization System provides the answer instantly with should-der-worn, vehicle-mounted and fixed-site versions. qinetiq-na.com

Streamlight. Light ‘em up! Streamlight’s latest TLR-7A Rail-Mounted Light is a white light illuminator with strobe function and switch options for continuous high or low intensity. streamlight.com

OSS Suppressors. There are lots of good suppressors out there, and here’s the one the Army selected as the quiet component for the new M110A1 CSASS/Squad Designated Marks-man Rifle from HK. osssuppressors.com

Otis Defense. Keep it clean. Whatever your small arms choice, there’s a specialized kit from Otis. otisdefense.com

Gerber Gear. If the M4 is your weapon, carry Gerber’s CENTER-DRIVE multi-tool with a bunch of carbine-specialized bits. gerbergear.com

Spyderco. A good blade is more than just nice to have, it should be both a last resort weapon and a “gotta-have” tool. Spyderco’s new Assist rescue/responder tool with efficient rope and webbing cutter blade. spyderco.com

Benchmade. The company’s new TRIAGE family of folding knives features a drop-point, serrated blade along with a glass breaker and webbing cutter. benchmade.com

Southern Grind. This company was new to the show this year, introducing the WASP tactical tomahawk and the Tunnel to Towers Spider Monkey Tanto. southerngrind.com

Bates Footwear. Ground pounders appreciate a good “Leather Personnel Carrier,” like the new USMC Lightweight DuraShocks Boot, complete with USMC logo of course. bates-footwear.com

Small Business. Big Ideas.

We always make it a point to visit the Small Business showcase; this time it was right there with everybody in the Big Tent, lined up against the back wall for ready access.

ATTS. First, a success story. We were very pleased to see that ATTS (Advanced Tactical Training Systems)—first encountered in MDM’s small business tent a couple of years ago—has flourished. Now with an expanded line of products and services shown in a prominent, eye-catching booth on the main floor, Jon Ford’s highly realistic “force-on-force” training simulation is winning wherever it goes. combataction.net

Arbor Arms. Unhappy with that standard issue, load carrying equipment? The tactical gear gurus at Arbor Arms have an excellent line of specialized, modular components. arborarmsusa.com

Secubit. Store and then analyze precise information on your weapon’s round count, barrel temperature, rate of fire, muzzle velocity and more with the WeaponLogic smart counter from Secubit. secubit-ltd.com

Handily, the Corps’ Small Business office was also strategically located, busily dispensing “how to” advice to eager applicants. marcorsyscom.marines.mil

Very Honorable Mentions

Laser Shot. Who can resist the chance to fire machine guns and pistols right in the middle of the show floor? Countless Marines and others tried their skills on the Mobile Marksmanship Training Simulator (MMTS) and SimRange simulators. lasershot.com

Ultimate Training Munitions / Simunition. While electronic simulators are great in many situations, using non-lethal marking rounds takes the game to a much higher level. CCMCK (close combat mission capability kit) from Ulti-mate Training Munitions and Simunition’s FX rounds were on display in all the standard calibers from pistols to machine guns. utmworld-wide.com / simunition.com

National Museum of the Marine Corps. It would be close to criminal negligence to come all the way to the Expo and fail to visit the Corps’ spectacular, state-of-the-art museum, just outside the main gate. marineheritage.org

Something for Everyone

Other firms and military entities, offering innovative weapon sights, ammo, accessories, edged weapons, hydration, chow, extreme weather clothing, rugged gear, VR worlds and more, enjoy not only our attention, but that of salty Marines of all ranks swarming the aisles. Word of particularly notable items gets around quickly, and reps are always kept busy with show-and-tell duties.

Hungry? Thirsty? Carried on the warm, gentle breeze, stimulating aromas from a tantalizing variety of delicious food wafted over the area, tempting fans with BBQ pork, beef or chicken, hamburgers, pizza, tacos, Italian sausage, gyros, Philly cheese steaks, classic doughnuts and authentic Maryland-style crab cake sandwiches.
Sponsored by Perspecta (perspecta.com), the Semper Fi mixer took place opening day right after closing time. Invited exhibitors and active duty Marines informally interacted with personnel from Marine Corps Systems Command. Complimentary beer, wine and barbeque contributed to conviviality of the mili-tary-industrial complex.

Oh, and thousands of free copies of Small Arms Review and Small Arms Defense Journal were handed out by the friendly and energetic Chipotle Publishing team. Best deal at the show. chipotlepublishing.com

A full listing of exhibitors, links to their websites and other information may be found at marinemilitaryexpos.com.

Honors and Awards

With so many high-level Marine leaders and other VIPs converging on the Expo, important ceremonial events are conveniently scheduled to coincide. Beautiful weather on Wednesday favored the Enlisted Awards Parade on Lejeune Field in front of MCB Quantico Headquarters. There, eight outstanding Marines and one Navy Hospital Corpsman were standing tall to be personally congratulated by Commandant Berger, along with the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and the Commandant of the Marine Corps League.
For us, the Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hath-cock II Award for outstanding contribution to marksmanship training is most prominent among these. 2019’s honoree was Staff Sergeant Stephen T. Ferguson, assigned to Weapons Training Battalion. Here’s an excerpt from the nomination:
“Staff Sergeant Ferguson is enthusiastically recommended for the Carlos Hatchcock Award for his outstanding contribution to the combat readiness of Marines throughout the Fleet Marine Force, his influence outside the Marine Corps by coaching junior competitors on high school and college shooting teams, and for sustained support to Weapons Training Battalion and the Marine Corps Shooting Team from December 2017 to August 2019.
Staff Sergeant Ferguson currently holds the billet of Competitor / Instructor, Marine Corps Rifle Team, Weapons Training Battalion. He is the Marine Corp’s most lethal rifleman currently serving on active duty. He is a triple distinguished shooter: Distinguished Rifleman, Distinguished Pistol Shot, Distinguished .22 Pistol, and is working towards his Distinguished Revolver badge. Since 1901 when the Marine Corps Shooting Team was formed, only fourteen Marines in the history of the Competition in Arms Program have ever become triple distinguished. He can teach and coach any Marine with below-average marksmanship skills into a lethal rifleman worthy of the title, “Every Marine a Rifleman.” As an instructor with the Rifle Team, he has directly influenced the marksmanship readiness of more than 1,600 Marines, Sailors and civilian competitors.”

“Sharing the Needs and Ideas of Future Weapon Systems”

It’s billed as “the world’s largest military exposition focusing on enhanced capabilities for expeditionary forces.” Kicked up a notch yet again under the leadership of Alex Hetherington, a veteran Marine aviator, this year’s Modern Day Marine Expo was held from September 17–19 at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico in Virginia.
Co-sponsored by the base, Marine Corps Systems Command, the Marine Corps League, Marine Corps Association and Foundation and AAFMAA, the 39th Annual MDM Expo showcased the products and services of nearly 400 entities that support U.S. and allied military land, air and sea operations.
Dennis Tobin, National Commandant of the Marine Corps League, emphasized his organization’s vision for this annual event. “The Marine Corps League is committed to the Modern Day Marine Expo as a program to share the development and awareness of the tools our future Marine Warriors will need for the next unknown conflict. This type of Expo allows the industry team to interact with the planners, general officers, Staff NCOs, NCOs and the Warriors on the ground or in the air, sharing the needs and ideas of future weapon systems that turn into requirements then tactics.”
Exhibits at this year’s exposition filled an enormous, sparkling white, climate-controlled tent, and several other tents housed the official briefings. These, and adjacent space in the outdoor display area, were packed with the latest operational equipment and technology, along with videos, models and prototypes of items soon to enter service. Exhibit booths for the Marine Corps League, Young Marines, Toys for Tots and similar programs were strategically located in the main exhibit tent, promoting the good works of their organizations and encouraging support and membership. The Marine Corps League members and volunteers cheerfully offered complimentary bags filled with information and MCL gifts to uniformed Marines and others attending the Expo.
Defense contractors from throughout the U.S. and some allied nations signed on to show their products and services, get feedback from the warfighters and respond to questions.
Much of the equipment now used by Marines and other U.S. and allied forces con-fronting adversaries in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Pacific Rim and elsewhere around the globe was first presented to military leaders, operations planners and acquisition managers at previous editions of the Expo.
As well as experiencing the latest, greatest technological advances, attendees can go face-to-face with many of the nonprofit organizations and agencies that exist to assist service members and veterans.
Crossroads of the Marine Corps
Strategically located about 30 minutes’ drive south of Washington, D.C., America’s capital city with powerful lawmakers, the Pentagon, numerous defense contractors and foreign embassies, MCB Quantico is an ideal Expo location.
It is home of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, charged with developing Marine warfighting concepts and determining the Corps’ capability requirements for doctrine, equipment, organization, training, education and support.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico is part of the Development Command and responsible for improving current and future naval expeditionary warfare capabilities for Marines and their amphibious roles and missions.
Also at Quantico is Marine Corps Systems Command, principal agency for acquisition and sustainment of systems and equipment for the Marines’ warfighting mission. Many of the personnel who staff these organizations visited the exhibit halls and discussed missions, capabilities and requirements with defense industry professionals.

Marine Military Expos 2020

Next year’s Modern Day Marine Expo is scheduled for September 22–24, once again at MCB Quantico, Virginia. This is the largest of three related shows where exhibitors meet the Marines on their own turf.
Marine West 2020 is slated for February 6–7 at Camp Pendleton, CA, and Marine South 2020 for April 2–3 at Camp Lejeune, NC. Both are held at home installations for two of the Marine Corps’ expeditionary forces, which are continually training and dispatching fighting elements to a broad spectrum of missions around the world “in the air, on land and at sea.”
Exhibitors at the Marine Military Expos meet and exchange information, face-to-face, with not only the users of their equipment but also the men and women responsible for equipping the Corps, tasked with a broad range of existing and emerging demands.
In addition to displaying products before thousands of users, Marine Military Expo exhibitors also exchange information with their target audience, listen to their needs and gain valuable insight into what works best in a wide array of combat, combat support and combat service support situations. Marines who have recently returned from wartime missions not only provide feedback but also convey suggestions and ideas that are often considered and adopted in designing or improving equipment and systems.
The decision makers and procurement experts want and need to attend the expos for up-close and personal exposure to the leading-edge equipment, systems, services and solutions their Marines need for the years ahead. At the Marine Military Expos, networking opportunities among the buyers, the users and defense industry professionals are unlimited. Take advantage of those opportunities for your company by exhibiting at the Marine Military Expos. marinemilitaryexpos.com

MCL at MDM

MDM 2020: Show Master Info

Date and Location
September 22–24, 2020
Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, USA

Website
marinemilitaryexpos.com

Contact
Marine Military Expos
1525 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1200
Arlington, VA, 22209
Tel: 760-576-6701
Email: alexander.hetherington@emeraldexpo.com

Focus
MDM is billed as “the world’s largest military exposition focusing on enhanced capabilities for expeditionary forces.”

Dress
Business casual for civilians and duty uniform for military.

Hotel Hints
Most U.S. chains have hotels and motels locally. The nearby Stafford and Fredericksburg areas have a lot of great lodging and dining options. Book early; the event is a very popular show, and the hotels fill up fast. See the Hotel and Travel link at the MDM website.

Show Food
Numerous vendors right on site featuring delicious local and regional food and beverage items.

Power and Plug Types
North American standard 110 volts AC.

Cultural Hints
General American culture in the immediate area with a tendency toward “Southern hospitality” from friendly, polite and helpful locals. The show and the base have specific USMC culture as well; pride in being courteous, straightforward and honest. Attend the show, interact with Marines, and you’ll understand.

Tipping
U.S. customs apply. Tip taxis about 10%, bellhops $1 per bag minimum and Skycaps $2 per bag. For sit-down restaurants tip 15-25%, depend-ing on service quality. Note “tip jars“ at some of the show’s food ven-dors. Toss in a dollar or two for these hard-working folks.

Currency
U.S. dollars (USD). Go to xe.com for current exchange rates.

Getting Around
Fly into Dulles International, Ronald Reagan Washington National or Stafford Regional airports.

Military Museums
The spectacular National Museum of the Marine Corps is just outside MCB Quantico. Numerous other museums are located in Virginia (Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate) and nearby Washington D.C. (Smithsonian Institution).

Tourism
Visas required for all foreign visitors. Popular attractions in the area are found in and around Washington D.C., about 30 miles from MCB Quantico. D.C.’s official travel and tourism website is washington.org.
And as noted below, tourism in Virginia is safer, with the added benefit of splendidly preserved battlefields from the Civil War. See virginia.org

D.C. Problems?

Although recent federal court rulings should have relaxed D.C.’s draconian gun prohibitions, no one other than on-duty military or authorized law enforcement personnel should take a chance by carrying firearms, magazines or even a single round of live ammunition into the District of Columbia without obtaining the most strictly controlled permits. Not surprisingly, the nation’s capital city has all of the usual big city problems. Visitors are cautioned against walking or even driving in all but the most heavily patrolled areas. The Maryland suburbs are almost as bad. Stay in Virginia, but make it south of Alexandria and near Quantico. Much more safe and sane.

“Modern Day Warfighter: Ready, Lethal, Adaptable”

“We’re going to go shopping; we’re going to put gear in the hands of Marines in order to figure out if we need it. That’s turning the world upside down … we need to get Marines—junior Marines—together with industry in a conversation way earlier than we have been comfortable with in the past.” 

—Lt. Gen. David Berger, Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC)

Speaking at the opening ceremony for the 38th MDM Expo, three-star General Berger threw the door wide open for both close-range and leap-ahead technologies and ideas, recently enabled by significant budget increases after years of what many saw as intentional starvation under the previous presidential administration. And the Corps, with a deserved reputation as the most nimble and warfighting-focused of the U.S. Armed Forces, would shake up traditionally cumbersome acquisition processes by inviting and more seriously considering ideas from Marines of all ranks as well as businesses big and small.

Berger’s forceful commitment was energetically supported in all aspects of this annual Expeditionary Warfare extravaganza, where defense industry reps and Navy/Marine Corps program offices showed their wares and interacted with high value attendees—not just generals, Pentagon potentates and allied military shoppers, but multitudes of muddy boots Marines with plenty of combat experience.

Show, Tell, Listen

This year saw an expanded set of formal presentations, information panels, product demonstrations and “Booth Briefs” both scheduled and off-the-cuff for up-close interaction.

Perhaps most useful to potential vendors came on opening day in the form of info-packed Briefs to Industry by Marine Corps Systems Command and its components. In addition to stage-setting overviews, specific needs were identified in ground combat, logistics, support and training.

Ground Combat is our focus so we zeroed in on the presentation by Colonel Mike Manning, GCE Portfolio Manager, that led off with the very welcome news that funding has increased dramatically and is projected to move steadily upward by more than $133 million by fiscal year 2020.

On the weapons track, he’s looking for help from industry with a prioritized list including variable power day optics, binocular night vision goggles, multi-spectral imagers and rangefinders, medium machine gun modernization and a “next generation squad weapons/rifle,” a noble but seemingly endless quest.

Oh, and now that the Corps is buying 15,000 more of HK’s superlative M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles, the ongoing search for a rugged, reliable, higher capacity feed device intensifies. Maybe like MAGPUL’s compact, unstoppable 40-round PMAG M3 drum?

Now, having the new hardware is one thing, but making sure it’s used most effectively by grunts and others in the fight is daunting—particularly as everything on the battlefield gets more and more high-tech.

Colonel Lois Lara, Training Systems’ Program Manager, called for emerging technologies to enhance and improve head-mounted displays and moving past serious limitations in current laser systems being used for small arms in force-on-force training.

The follow-on Brief to Small Business was a lifeline to those offering worthy products to meet identified needs but a bit short in the “how do we let the Marine Corps know what we’ve got?”

[Author’s Note: The website for MDM Expos is among the most comprehensive and user-friendly we’ve encountered. There’s a wealth of info for exhibitors and attendees, as well as an invaluable portal for those unable to attend in person. Links are available to the actual content of the Briefs to Industry from MCSC’s Commander and Portfolio Managers. Links are also available at marcorsyscom.marines.mil. For specific solicitations and contract awards see FedBizOpps.gov or fbo.gov. Also, Defense Innovation Marketplace is a comprehensive resource: defenseinnovationmarketplace.mil.]

Some additional presentations over the expo’s three days featured the “Close Combat Lethality Task Force,” “Synthetic Training Environment” and informed speculation on the “Future Operating Environment.”

New this year were concurrent presentations in the Marine Corps University’s on-site Expeditionary Seminar Facility. Attendees sampled sessions on “Expeditionary Energy,” “Cybersecurity” and a hush-hush (closed session) explaining once and for all, “Why the North Won the Civil War ….”

Regularly scheduled “Booth Briefs” were offered by a number of exhibitors, and we hastened to observe Warfighting Laboratories’ show ‘n’ tell on the tough and versatile Marathon Robotics system. These somewhat eerie, man-sized, mobile targets move around realistically and flop over “dead” when hit. MCWFL also provided on-the-spot briefings from Center for Lessons Learned, the Technology Initiative Screening Branch and RCO’s rapid development and delivery of operational prototypes to forces in the fight.

More than 360 Exhibitors

For all three days of the expo while deadly serious information was being dispensed in the Briefing Center tent, the other giant tents and the outside displays were buzzing with activity as visitors ranging from youthful enlisted Marines to high-level military, DoD and industry potentates patrolled the aisles.

Discipline is needed to avoid being overwhelmed by the variety of offerings on display and the sheer size of many including hulking AFVs, artillery pieces, real aircraft and the like.

All are certainly compelling to others, but man-portable weaponry is our stock in trade. 2018’s lineup included weapons from prominent names like American Rheinmetall, FN, General Dynamics, Glock, HK and SIG SAUER. Some of their rivals in the firearms arena included Arbor Arms, Geissele and LaRue.

Short Bursts

Space limitations dictate just brief notes on some of the things we encountered, so follow-up info is encouraged by visiting vendor websites as noted.

SIG SAUER MHS and more. Flushed with victory, of course, in winning the multi-service Modular Handgun competition, they showcased the M17 and M18 versions, along with a full selection of other pistols and long arms. Most all, by the way, were going to be made available for handling and shooting at the concurrent Marksmanship Tech Demo. sigsauer.com

FN 509 Tactical. Heavily advertised these days in most gun- and defense-related magazines, the versatile 509 Tactical drew a lot of admiring attention at their sprawling display that was dramatically dominated by the fuselage of a “Little Bird” helo. fnamerica.com

Barrett MRAD. Touting “Modularity Without Compromise,” this bolt-action tack driver offers six distinct cartridge options. barrett.net

AimLock R-M1. Augmenting battle-proven stabilized, remotely operated weapons stations with innovative automatic targeting technology, it features ruggedized computing and display modules with a gamer-style controller. aim-lock.com

LaRue Tactical BET. When a glitch kept away the weapons they planned for display, these tough Texans rallied to release a herd of 500 distinctive armadillo-configured “Beverage Entry Tools” branded with MDM 18 and the classic USMC logo. larue.com

SAAB Carl Gustaf. One of the bigger weapons we were drawn to was the latest M3E1/M4, tapped by the Marines to eventually arm every infantry squad with one of these devastating tank and bunker-busters. saab.com

Taking Aim

Aimpoint FCS13RE. The Carl Gustaf and similar launch platforms get superior hit probability on static and moving targets with this Dynamic Universal Reflex Sighting super system from Sweden. aimpoint.com

Photonis Vyper 14. The AN/PVS-14, a SPECOPS favorite, now gets 40% greater range with the new 4G image intensifier tube. photonis.com

Leupold. Well-proven in combat and competition, Leupold’s Delta Point Pro is a tough, economical, high-performance red dot for pistols, shotguns and carbines. leupold.com

Excelitas Talon. Rugged and compact, this new clip-on image intensifier/uncooled thermal imaging weapon sight gives all-weather performance. excelitas.com

Optics 1 I-CUGR. The Integrated Compact Ultralight Gun-Mounted Rangefinder gives the operator the ability to range man-sized targets out to 1500 meters. optics1.com

Trijicon VCOG. This tank-tough 1-6×24 power Variable Combat Optical Gunsight boasts an LED illuminated, first focal plane BDC reticle. trijicon.com

Nice to Have

MAGPUL Bipod. Their ever-expanding line now includes a clever bipod with distinctively configured, quick-adjusting legs. magpul.com

KF Armory Defense MIB2S. Designed for easy assembly, disassembly and extreme durability, the Modular Interlocking Ballistic Barrier System’s giant super blocks defeat .50 BMG APIT projos. kfarmory.com

Meggitt Linkless Magazines. Metallic-linked 30mm ammo is too heavy and prone to feed problems, so their linkless magazines are winners for machine-cannon systems. meggitdefense.com

Quantico Tactical LRAD. Adding to their offerings by leaps and bounds, this mega gun seller has now partnered with LRAD Corp. to offer the Long Range Acoustic Devices, including the new 450XL. quanticotactical.com

American Rheinmetall. Among its many superior quality munitions, the company’s 40mm MK281 training grenade uses unique target marking technologies, giving USMC MK19 gunners realistic day and night training. americanrheinmetall.com

Arnold Defense. Long recognized for superior launch systems for area suppression with 2.75-in. rockets, the new FLETCHER uses advanced rocket guidance technology for land-based, vehicle-mounted applications. arnolddefense.com

Laser Shot. Who can resist the chance to fire machine guns and pistols right in the middle of the show floor? Countless Marines and others tried their skills on the MMTS and SimRange simulators. lasershot.com

Revision’s additions. Perhaps best known for excellent ballistic eye protection, the company’s offerings now include the Viper Helmet System, tactical power packs and communication components. revisionmilitary.com

Spyderco. This highly respected blademaker’s pro line features the new compact Para 3 folders that offer full-service cutting performance for professional end users who want versions optimized for tactical use. Available in a variety of handle colors and blade edges in stainless and matte black. spyderco.com

Small Business, Big Ideas

We always make it a point to visit the Small Business Pavilion and again found much to recommend. We needn’t say too much about Cheata Tactical’s quick entry tee shirt for nursing military moms (cheatatactical.com), but the RHTT (Robotic Human Type Target) under development by SimIS shows promise as a potential rival to Marathon’s near lock on the smart, tough, roll-around sniper target market. simisinc.com

The Corps’ Small Biz office was strategically located right there in the tent, busily dispensing advice to eager applicants. marcorsyscom.marines.mil

Honorable Mention

Battle Challenge. Gyrene gladiators flocked to the expo’s newest and most spectacular event, to strain, sweat and shoot in an exciting and fast moving “Fire and Maneuver” contest that incorporates highly relevant military skills and fitness challenges that include precision laser M4 carbine shooting, cargo net climb, rope descent, man-down rescue and more. Participants compete against each other and the clock to earn “Best of the Best!” battlechallenge.org

National Museum of the Marine Corps. It would be close to criminal negligence to come all the way to the expo yet fail to visit the Corps’ spectacular, state-of-the-art museum, just outside the main gate. usmcmuseum.com or marineheritage.org

The Navy claims ownership of the Marines, so cutting edge research and development at Office of Naval Research (ONR) deserves respect and attention in exhibits. While this super high tech command has lots of spooky projects in the works, we gun guys are most interested in things that facilitate hole-punching one way or another. Some examples are the continuing work on lightweight and caseless ammunition, leap-ahead improvements in integrated day–night optics and lots of directed energy initiatives.

Something for Everyone

Other firms and military entities offering innovative weapon sights, ammo, accessories, edged weapons, hydration, chow, extreme weather clothing, rugged gear, VR worlds, tactical tea and more, enjoy not only our attention but that of salty Marines of all ranks swarming the aisles. Word of particularly notable items and other things of interest gets around quickly, and reps are always kept busy with show-and-tell duties.

Oh, and thousands of free copies of Small Arms Review and Small Arms Defense Journal were handed out by the friendly and energetic Chipotle Publishing team. Best deal at the show.

A full listing of exhibitors, their websites and other information may be found at marinemilitaryexpos.com.

Marine Military Expos 2019

Next year’s Modern Day Marine Expo is scheduled for September 17-19, once again aboard MCB Quantico, Virginia. This is the largest of three related shows where exhibitors meet the Marines on their own turf.

Marine West Expo 2019 is slated for February 7-8 at Camp Pendleton, CA, and Marine South Expo 2019 for April 11-12 at Camp Lejeune, NC. Both are held at home installations for two of the Marine Corps’ expeditionary forces, which are continually training and dispatching fighting elements to a broad spectrum of missions around the world “in the air, on land and at sea.”

Exhibitors at the Marine Military Expos meet and exchange information, face-to-face, with not only the users of their equipment but also the men and women responsible for equipping the Corps, tasked with a broad range of existing and emerging demands.

In addition to displaying products before thousands of users, Marine Military Expo exhibitors also exchange information with their target audience, listen to their needs and gain valuable insight into what works best in a wide array of combat, combat support and combat service support situations. Marines who have recently returned from wartime missions not only provide feedback but also convey suggestions and ideas that are often considered and adopted in designing or improving equipment and systems.

The decision-makers and procurement experts who exhibitors want and need to meet attend the expos for up-close and personal exposure to the leading-edge equipment, systems and services—solutions their Marines need for the years ahead. At the Marine Military Expos, networking opportunities among the buyers, the users and defense industry professionals are unlimited. Take advantage of those opportunities for your company by exhibiting at the Marine Military Expos: marinemilitaryexpos.com

Honors and Awards 

With so many high-level Marine leaders and other VIPs converging on the expo, important ceremonial events are conveniently scheduled to coincide. Bad weather on Wednesday moved the customary Enlisted Awards parade inside the main Briefing Center tent. There, eight outstanding Marines and one Navy Hospital Corpsman were standing tall to be personally congratulated by Commandant Neller, along with the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and the Commandant of the Marine Corps League.

For us, the Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock II Award for outstanding contribution to marksmanship training is most prominent among these. 2018’s honoree was Sergeant Kailub S. Young for his exemplary performance while serving as the Line Staff NCO, Charlie Range, Range Company, Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. His award citation notes some 4,589 recruits under his supervision and with his numerous innovations, achieved a record 98.71 percent Combat Marksmanship Initial Qualification, with 2,264 scoring “Expert.” This “undoubtedly enhanced the capabilities of the Marines obtained by Operational Forces.

I had first become aware of IRAC when I was looking for a primary provider of simulated weapons for Threat Tec, our company that provides highly realistic training to military and security clients.  During my search, I kept hearing about this company called IRAC and how they produced the best simulated weapons money could buy.  J.T. Crawford, President/CEO of IRAC, Highgate, Threat Tec and Pariri.

While some small arms purists might be tempted to dismiss replica guns as “toys for big boys,” we believe the best of these of this category have long served important roles in a wide variety of situations.  Think “Rubber Duck” M16 rifles and other weapons; realistic full size/full weight, non-firing models made from durable epoxy reinforced with steel rods.  These have proven a damn good alternative to beating up real guns (or the nightmare of losing them) in tough training like parachuting and waterborne exercises.

But they don’t go BANG. 

Or consider the cost, complexity, safety concerns, logistical hassles, and legal compliance issues of using blank-adapted versions of actual weapons by OPFOR (opposing force) elements in training scenarios.  Most often more trouble than worth.

These were among many obstacles confronting J. T. Crawford’s Threat Tec teams in carrying out highly realistic, demonstrably effective “threat emulations” under Department of Defense contracts.  He needed to find a good source for working replicas that were tough, reliable and looked and sounded right.

In the interview that follows, conducted earlier this year during a visit to the group’s headquarters in Hampton, Virginia, the 46 year old Crawford explains how he found International Replica Arms Company (IRAC).  And how he was able to make it a perfect fit in his group of closely-connected business entities.

A conversation with J. T. Crawford

SAR:  Tell us about yourself.  Where you came from and some things about what happened along the way to your highly successful group of companies. 

Crawford:  I’m from Kentucky and I grew up in the greater Cincinnati area of Ohio, right across the Ohio River where my paternal and maternal grandparents lived. 

I started shooting when I was probably 11.  I hunted from the time I was a small boy.   Probably for two years with my grandfather before I was allowed to carry a gun.  He would carry the gun and eventually I was carrying the gun with him.  We were avid outdoorsmen and loved to hunt and fish.  I have four sons.  All of my sons have been to the range multiple times.  Shot everything from the 1911 to the Barrett .50 cal. 

After high school, I enlisted in the Army for three years and served in the 101st Airborne Division;  2nd Battalion 187^th Regiment “Rakkasans” and 1^st Battalion 506^th Regiment “Currahee,” the Band of Brothers group of WWII.   I was a sniper in South Korea from 1987-88 under the 2nd Infantry Division.

Entrepreneur afterward, back to college later for an MBA, then work as a consultant to a number of companies.  I started Threat Tec in October 2013, finding early success as a DoD (Department of Defense) contractor and we started to recognize opportunities to vertically integrate some of those needs we have within Threat Tec.  ‘Vertical integration’ is bringing in things we would have to go out to third parties to bring into our mix, to provide the client with.  In this case weapon simulators from IRAC and battlefield effects from Highgate. 

SAR: How did your Army service influence development of Threat Tec?

Crawford:  In Korea there was a sort of mobile training team coming in setting up some simple sniper training for us.  Not anything like the realism of what we do today.  I don’t want to minimize the quality of the training back then because the tools they had to work with were limited. 

But now, we do work with the Army Sniper School, bringing realism into the picture for our clients.  They were able to refocus some of their existing training models and capture better complexity to their training set.  So, as opposed to having a sniper team go and observe a crossroads where maybe nothing will happen, they can now go observe a village where we have built some key vignettes that are happening in the background.  And we want to see if they pick those up. 

When you see role players go out in different exercises, lots of times there are folks on the low end of the scale for realism.  Only because they aren’t given a great deal of detail as to their mission set.  Our folks from Threat Tec receive our own internal training set to understand not just the verbal cues, non-verbal cues, body language, how different cultures will stand.  It really does give our soldiers a real chance to see a different lifestyle when they’re peering into that village.

SAR:  The evolving realities of warfare and the Rules Of Engagement have demanded that?

Crawford:  They have.  Certainly the 24 hour news cycles produce a lot of information very quickly so mistakes or mis-reads are really amplified.  I’ll tell you our service men and women do an extraordinary job of trying to understand the enemy, the enemy mindset, including identifying the enemy on the battlefield.  So it’s pretty encouraging to come back 30 years later and see these young men who are going thru the sniper program now and how dedicated they are to really learning and … becoming professional soldiers. 

SAR:  Your favorite weapons back during that time in the Army?  What was the standard sniper rifle?

Crawford:  The Remington 700 – M24 – had just come into view and the units were very protective in those days of certain sensitive items getting out because we weren’t used to employing snipers.  So more times than not I would go out with my M16A2 because what we looked at was another of the real missions of a sniper; the ability to collect and report data.  I think they called the course back then the “Scout Sniper Course.”  It was a five week long course with precision shooting, of course, but also man-tracking, hide building, and a lot of collection skills from memorization to terrain analysis. 

SAR:  A favorite gun at the time?

Crawford: From my perspective – even having been a sniper  – my favorite gun back then would have been the M249 (5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon).  So light and so much firepower that I really had a love for that one.  I didn’t carry it much at all but I loved going to the range with any of the light automatic weapons.

SAR:  Personal weapons now ?

Crawford:  I have many.  My favorite now?  I have the Barrett MRAD and I really like that but it’s really hard to pick a favorite.  I have a .300 Blackout AR15  from Daniel Defense that is just outstanding.  Probably one of the smoothest shooting guns I’ve ever owned.  Lots of them, the Barrett M82A1  .50 cal. that I really enjoy shooting.  I’ve been to the Barrett factory, met Ronnie in passing, shook his hand.  They were friendly and knew that we were a DoD contractor, bringing anti-materiel rifles to our Threat Tec side for live training.  They worked hard to make the deal great for everyone.    Barrett is incredibly supportive of the military and its mission. 

SAR:  Tell us more about how Threat Tec’s work led to purchase of IRAC.

Crawford:  The main driver for our purchase of IRAC, finalized in September 2014, was how nicely it fit with our Highgate and Threat Tec brands.  Our DoD partners had been raving fans about our products and we knew IRAC would go a long way towards strengthening our value proposition.

SAR:  What’s a “value proposition?

Crawford:  (Chuckles)  A value proposition is ‘how does this make sense to our customers?  So, why buy IRAC?’  And what is the value we bring to the marketplace that they’re not getting from others?”  That was what we were trying to do.  You could just say it was an added value to our customers that now we have these capabilities in house.  So when you’re trying to do a live event and you’re bringing out – frequently with Threat Tec – I’ll bring a full OPFOR (opposing force).  We have a number of retired Colonels, retired senior NCOs and we’ll set up an operation to fight the BLUE FORCE – the good guys.  We fight using threat tactics, techniques and procedures, along with threat weapon systems.

Let me give you a little deeper analysis. Threat Tec did need some battlefield effects to help direct movement in some of the more constricted lanes we were working in.  And we were looking for a solution that would be very realistic, that would provide some value to the soldier going down the lane as in weapons identification.  If I’m in a scout sniper mode and I can see the position and I can say there’s a ‘Dishka’ (.51 caliber DShK heavy machine gun) on the ridge, I’m able to report that back.  So we were looking for someone who could make them.  And we knew we had seen these sort of things in Hollywood movies.  We searched but couldn’t seem to find the manufacturer.  So in my despair that I couldn’t find them, I decided to do what any country boy from Kentucky does, I consulted YouTube and I said let’s build one ourselves (laughs).  And while I was going thru layers of YouTube videos I stumbled upon IRAC.  They were doing a quad or dual mount Fifty in the back of a jacked up WW2 vintage military truck.  And I said ‘that’s the guy I need.’  And at the very end of that video, it was a television show, the guy gave a plug to IRAC.  And I found ’em.  After that Steve Carter, the owner, and I became fast friends and we certainly developed a whole lot of new R&D efforts for DoD.  Things like the RPG-29 (Russian antitank rocket launcher) we started building.  According to Steve, Threat Tec became his best customer.

Threat Tec began using IRAC as the primary provider of simulated weapon systems. From the very first time we used an IRAC product, we were impressed with just how good these simulators truly were. Our teams train military personnel in some of the most demanding environments in the world. IRAC simulators not only looked the part, but they consistently performed day in and day out, which was invaluable to us.

SAR:  ‘Most demanding environments in the world.’  More demanding than Ft. Benning, Georgia?

Crawford:  Yes, we do some great training environments.  Let me be clear:  We are not training in theater (overseas).  We’ve had some opportunities to do that but we’ve made a decision as a company we’re too old for that (smiles).  We really focus on where we think we can deliver the most impact to the troops, places like Ft. Benning.  We do a tremendous amount of training simulations at places like Ft. Leavenworth (Kansas) and live OPFOR at Ft. Bliss (Texas). 

SAR:  Another catch phrase in Threat Tec promotional materials references “’high fidelity operational environments.” 

Crawford:  For us this means a really good example.  High fidelity because they are very close to the original.  So we’re talking about really honest representations of operational environments.  Right down to the food they might be making.  So the smells, the sights, the trash piles, the vehicles driven.  You can see out back one of our technical vehicles still has an Iraqi license plate.  Not something we have in the states.  A little truck driven with a three cylinder motorcycle engine.  But they’re everywhere in Asia.

SAR:  Getting back for a moment to Steve Carter and why he was open to you purchasing IRAC.

Crawford:  Steve actually brought up the idea.  I think he had been approached by a competitor to buy him out.  And we felt it was so important to have IRAC as part of our business model that we did not want to see it go to a competitor where we could possibly lose access to all the things we had developed.  So in turn we made an offer.  Several discussions.  Over a year’s time we had discussed it, toyed around it.  There was probably just a day it became, ‘that sounds like a good idea,’ and it moved very fast after that.  Steve has retained a similar set of tools that we have here so he’s able to do some things wherever he is.  He built a facility in Tennessee that will operate under a no-competition agreement. 

Through my dealings with IRAC, I had developed a very strong relationship with Steve.  As our relationship progressed, it became apparent that we had very similar perspectives of how an acquisition could improve IRAC’s position in the market. I think with Steve there were a couple of things going on.  He was thinking of moving to Tennessee from Cincinnati and he looked at this as an opportunity to have a fresh start.  Do some things differently.  Quite honestly, I think he was ready to move on to a different business or take some well-earned time off.

SAR:  IRAC was physically located in Cincinnati and your headquarters in Hampton, Virginia is quite different from Tennessee.   

Crawford:  A couple of things have changed in his life since then.  Steve remains on as one of our advisors and one of our technical guys.  He comes in when we’re doing a major run of systems and he’ll be right here with us developing.  Steve will continue on with the R and D (research and development) role.  He’s known this company and treated it like a baby.  So IRAC turns 40 years old this year.  Steve was, I think, the third owner of IRAC and I’ll be the fourth.  We want to continue to expand and see some real growth opportunities in the different systems we develop.  And I’ve got Steve geared up to help create these new models.  We have a big goal for this coming year to see some new systems rolling out on a fairly regular basis. 

The primary reason why the transition of IRAC included the relocation to Hampton, Virginia was to consolidate IRAC resources and have them under the same roof as Threat Tec HQ and Highgate HQ. As a result, collaboration among our specialists is more fluid and natural, which leads to more innovations and higher quality products, and we have greater access to our prospective markets.

SAR:  Advantages anticipated and now realized ?

Crawford: The greatest advantage, as we saw it, was the ability to innovate and rapidly develop battlefield systems quickly and accurately.  Highgate Systems has developed a number of systems that have been used to build high fidelity operational environments for DoD in the test and evaluation space. Highgate”s rapid prototyping capability and the IRAC toolset have merged nicely.

So, think of Highgate as the rental company that rents those battlefield effects, the props, and provides some subject matter expertise to non-DoD customers.  So if you’re shooting a film and looking for somebody to advise you on, for example, how was the Battle of Tikrit?   Let’s get specific into DoD capabilities.  We have 28 Colonels on staff.  Those folks are really a ‘who’s who’ among warfighters.  We have a Navy Cross recipient, lots of Silver Star and Bronze Star recipients.

SAR:  That’s a nice video on YouTube for Threat Tec with Colonel John McCarthy pointing to its location in Hampton giving “greater access to our prospective markets.” 

Crawford:  Certainly TRADOC (Army Training and Doctrine Command), only five miles away at Fort Monroe.  So we have had the opportunity to share our developmental products, some of the things that are tried and true.  MCOE (Maneuver Center of Excellence) Ft. Benning, Georgia would certainly fall in that category.

SAR:  In addition to the Army’s TRADOC, any interaction with other services?

Crawford:  We do look for opportunities because they’re so close (the Hampton Roads area is heavily military) and some other venues.  Not so much on the live side.  We do have some small watercraft – Boston Whalers with gun mounts and things like that – so we can challenge some of those riverine, ‘brown water’ forces.  We have some fantastic tools.  Our Boston Whaler is a navy ‘red dot’ hull (reinforced for rough use) so it’s really capable of doing a lot, it’s a high performance boat.  But I can’t think of anything we’ve done locally.  Perhaps some of our Navy friends will read this feature and check us out.   

Inside TRADOC we also have the opportunity to work in the Joint community.  So some of the testing and evaluation efforts will include all of the services.  We’re always looking for the opportunity to help so wherever we can throw our weight in to help with the training venue or to help develop a concept, that’s a strong suit for us.  We work on a lot of concept development, innovation of training programs and simulations. 

We’ve done some really cool things by way of Mobile Training Teams and even mobile devices as training tools.  Using iPads and iPhones with applications that allow some training to go on.  We are able to put some very cool things in those digital environments that really make a difference and save a lot of money.

Let me go back a step.  The old concept where we have to load up a mobile training team, go out and see the soldiers face to face and teach them how to do things….

SAR:  But in the digital world you can employ apps rather than live instruction?

Crawford:  That’s right.  And also on an IRAC instructional method for today’s soldiers – ‘digital natives’ — the young guys who are so accustomed to using tools like smart phones to learn.  We take things like a .50 cal. and explode the parts, show them how to assemble, disassemble, functions, and clear jams.  On a phone or pad.  You can do it on a truck while waiting to move out on a convoy.

We’re trying to find things like that to really connect with our service members so they’re getting the training they need, whenever they’re able to do it.  We’re part of a contract at MCOE ( Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Ft. Benning) that does mobile device training.  We have people in our Illinois office and MCOE who are working on that.

Let’s talk about that IRAC mobile app, called the IRAC Knowledge Vault.  What we’re doing is taking our simulated systems and providing all our buyers, customers with something powered by an app called VEZI which we own through our Parari Group.  It allows someone to take a smart device, hold it up, tap it to a tag, and it will explode to a user’s manual.  Everything from the history of the system, like an M2 machine gun. And then go to specifics of the system.  How do I set it up.  (Not as detailed as an old Technical Manual because the simulated system is simpler).  Our end users need to know what are the preventative maintenance steps and how do we service this thing.  How do we clear jams if there’s an issue in the field.  We’re simplifying that so our customers no longer feel the need to send it back, although that rarely happens.  Generally we’re able to talk someone thru it on the phone.  (like oxygen/propane mix).

SAR:  Way back in the day it was a laminated ‘cheat sheet’ and now it’s digital?

Crawford:  That’s right.  But you can hold their attention much longer than the ‘sage on the stage with the PowerPoint’ or a handout.

SAR:  What is your vision for the “new and improved” IRAC in selection of product line, manufacturing, customer service, etc. ? 

Crawford:  We started making changes right away.  Steve has built a firm foundation, and now we want to see our client offerings expand and our market presence grow.  The first big change was the new and improved website.  This gives our customers and channel partners a way to see what products are available, prices and even online ordering.  We have some big surprises to announce at the MVPA show in June.  I can tell you that they will include some mobile tools for our customers, new packaging and several new products.  We intend to offer a new replica each quarter for the next 24 months.  It’s a huge order but we have really great and dedicated people who can do just about anything.

SAR:  Who uses IRAC replicas ? 

Crawford:  Government Contractors, Hollywood, DoD, DHS, museums, and many collectors and military enthusiasts.  Our service members use IRAC systems for training and in the development of a realistic battlefield.

Many of the country’s best known war museums have an IRAC system or two.  Our systems are in use internationally and chances are you can see one at a parade near you!  We have a number of solutions and do a lot of customized systems for vintage aircraft and military vehicles.

Yesterday I took a phone call from England and the guy has a Loach, an Apache and a Huey (helicopters).  All, over the years, outfitted with IRAC systems.  He wants to outfit a (sim-fire) Minigun on the Loach.  The movie folks love the sim-fire 60s on the Huey.  When you have a conversation with Steve, he’ll frequently say, ‘oh yeah, we made those guns.  I forgot about that.’

You know that dinosaur thing that goes around to monster truck rallies?  It also has IRAC machine guns.  A company called us with a Vietnam era vehicle and said they were going to fight this fire-breathing dinosaur and we need to know if we can buy some of those.  And he bought five (sim-fire) guns; Mk19s, M2 .50s, really did a nice job on the vehicle.   

SAR:  Movies and television ?

Crawford: You can see IRAC systems on the Batmobile; the two 30mm cannons that came out of the hood.  Also guns on the Green Hornet’s car and in the Transformers movies.  Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Battle of LA, Red Dawn, Terminator Salvation, and a lot more including Dreamworks’ WWII television series The Pacific. 

Hollywood prop companies would call and say ‘I need this.’  We sell to a lot of those guys now.  They may not say for what movie for fear we might try to go direct – which we don’t do.  But they will come in and say here’s what I need.

SAR:  What’s coming up next?  Promotional materials note a goal of eight new replicas in the next two years. 

Crawford:  The first two coming on line – we already have our alpha types – are the RPG-29 and the Kornet.  Those are really for our DoD market; training aids for Russian anti-tank missile launchers that a soldier is likely to find in multiple theaters today. Kornet is a nasty tank killer and the RPG 29 has a 105mm warhead.  We had a conversation with some foreign soldiers, I think from Israel, and they were talking about some of the recent battles and the devastation that was caused from these systems.  Our replicas are MILES (laser-based hit identifier) capable.  Not only an effective simulator, but has reported MILES “kills.” 

SAR:  Do you have anything in the works for other markets along the lines of traditional small arms?

Crawford:  We sure do.  For the public market, like military vehicle collectors, we’re planning on bringing online the M240 (GPMG), unveiled at MVPA (Military Vehicle Preservation Association) in June.

For the public market, like military vehicle collectors, we’re planning on bringing online the M240 (GPMG), unveiled at MVPA (Military Vehicle Preservation Association) in June. We now have a sim-fire M60, built on one of the receivers we’ve been selling.  Part of the issue is tooling and finding the right available components when we want to add some furniture.  I think you’ll see us reconstituting a lot of the things that Steve did in the early days of IRAC that were really successful.

What we are looking for now in the development of 3D printers and the resins and things we can get our hands on allow us to replicate things that we couldn’t do easily before.  So when we think static models, that’s a huge opportunity. 

SAR:  Anything older, like from WW2, to join those existing replicas ?

Crawford:  We have a number of systems we’re looking at.  Not ready to announce a winner but I can say keep your eyes peeled.  A lot of our folks from MVPA and reenactors have some things they’ve been looking for and we’re trying to discover where that itch is the most for them.  We already have Thompson and BAR receivers, and make full replica M2 .50 cals and also .30 cal. water cooled and air cooled Brownings.  

SAR:  Why not a Tommy Gun?  Didn’t IRAC once do a full replica Thompson?

Crawford:    We already offer an M1A1 receiver and we could do a static replica. Sim-fire (simulated firing) is not so simple in a Tommy Gun.  Steve made one of the Thompsons that Tom Hanks carried in “Saving Private Ryan.”

SAR:  Do IRAC’s highly realistic replicas give rise to problems with local laws and police agencies?

Crawford:  No difficulties.  Our systems are not made for kids, we’re not making toys. They’re really a training aid or static device.    But we do send out some with the orange tips required in some jurisdictions or if that’s what the customer wants. 

SAR:  Comment in the apparent “synergy” among your three business entities.

Crawford:  Primarily, the IRAC acquisition makes sense for us. Highgate, our family of companies, has always been very focused on delivering value beyond the purchase to our clients. Because IRAC had been built on similar values, it was easy to spot how IRAC was a natural fit.  The systems are all built with a great deal of pride, care and attention to detail, which are values each of our companies share. 

Highgate is essentially three things; renting rent props, costumes, effects.  So if your police station wants to do some IED training, we have IED devices, we have explosive device simulators, we have radio controlled detonators, we can help you work with your law enforcement folks, your fire departments, your first responders.

SAR:  Some of these devices are 3D printed?

Crawford:  No 3D printing by the three companies.  There is a fourth company, Parari Group, which has some capabilities in prototyping, rapid prototyping and such.  We have a number of things we want to do.  We have machinists in Hampton and modelers out in our Illinois office who are already 3D graphic artists whose strong set is building the language for those 3D printers.   

SAR:  We note the announcement of BATFE approval for manufacturing.  Now making real guns ?

Crawford:  Not real guns, but our IED simulators are technically classified  as ‘destructive devices.’  There’s a future version of us that will probably make some small arms.  Small batches.  Maybe specific runs that could be for something like a Thompson that we would want to make a commemorative semiauto.  I can see that in our long term future.  Very small quantities.  I don’t think we’re ever taking on FN, Remington, Winchester, or Barrett.  Any of those.

SAR:  Back to the ‘destructive devices,’ are these movie style pyrotechnics ?

Crawford:  There could certainly be movie style pyrotechnics, rocket launchers.  But we have another interest in unmanned aerial vehicles.   And potential warhead development for those sorts of tools.  That’s a bit out in the distance.  We’re right here in Hampton by the NASA facility.  There’s a very large group of aerospace engineers in the area who are very interested in UAV and UAS development.

SAR:  You’re buying semiauto AKs and making them blank only, right?

Crawford:  Yes and no.  We do modify the weapons so they’re only capable of firing a blank.  We can also undo that so we don’t really lose the ability to make it a firing weapon.  We simply, through some adaptation, make it so it can’t fire a live round while we’re doing training events.  As to what’s next, when you talk to Gethyn Jones (IRAC GM) he’ll have a thousand ideas of what he’d like to do.  Gethyn would love for us to do nothing but build real weapons.  From a business perspective I see that as a real uphill battle for us.  Not because we don’t have an interest in it, not because we think it’s a bad idea, but just because its a fairly saturated market.  And prior to the election of our current president, individual weapon purchases were on the decline.  Now they’ve taken a pretty good upswing.

SAR:  Some parting thoughts ?

Crawford:  The addition of IRAC into the Highgate family has been great.  IRAC is a solid brand and is capturing some recognition internationally.  We have static systems going into some Threat Tec channel partners in June.  This will be great for IRAC and expose the brand to an even larger audience.  Our Highgate customers are  excited to have access to the IRAC products and development team.  The integration couldn’t be more positive and I see huge potential in linking the brands.

SAR:  How do you keep track of all this?

Crawford:  Great people !  It’s a busy day (laughs) .

A conversation with IRAC’s Gethyn Jones

At Crawford’s invitation, we did enjoy the opportunity to talk at some length with Gethyn Jones, IRAC’s General Manager and multi-role problem-solver.  Jones’ professional resume includes extended time as an NCO with British Land Forces to include some “specialized” assignments that he’s not free to discuss.  Critical to performance in these was a 6 month stint in the precision machinist training program conducted by British Aerospace.  Little imagination is required to speculate on how this likely fit into “specialized” small arms for certain high-stakes military applications. 

SAR:  We’re in the Threat Tec arms vault with Gethyn Jones, IRAC’s General Manager, and right now he’s showing us a Romak (Romanian) AK that started life as a semiauto.  Did you do the conversion ?

Jones:  (Holding and demonstrating the rifle)  Yes.  We put our proprietary blank fire device on the muzzle.  That’s to maintain the correct gas pressure.  So the working parts will operate to extract and feed a fresh round.  We leave in the original piston and original bolt carrier group because we’re firing cartridge blanks.  What I do inside is to upgrade the recoil spring and locking pin system because the blank actually puts a lot more strain on receiver than the live round.  Blank rounds kill live weapons like nothing else.  We try to keep the function as close to the original.  So all you’ve got to do is insert a magazine loaded with blanks, cock it a you’ve got your mechanical safety lever to place on fire.  So the weapon handles exactly as the original.

SAR:  Adaptable to MILES (standard US military Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System for realistic force-on-force training) ?

Jones:  Yes, the MILES adapter laser box on the side of the barrel and we can either use an optical sight aligned with where the laser beam strike is – this is all done in their test units – or we can adjust our mechanical sights.  Very simple collimation.  Uses the same MILES box as M240 because its closest to  the ballistics of the 7.62 x 39mm round.

(Gets Russian bolt action sniper rifle from rack)  This is the Mosin-Nagant that everybody knows of.  Jim (Crawford) asked me to convert two of them to blank fire only for when the threat emulation scenario calls for a sniper.  We’ll put on a MILES unit that equates to the strike of the 7.62 NATO round, registering as a kill or a wound.

That MILES system, now geared with these makes it extremely safe and very effective training.  You can do sniping from buildings.  You can engage in a more realistic environment.  You could hire a mall for the weekend and – provided you pick up your empty cases – you could take these systems geared with the MILES and train right in the mall.  It’s safe.

SAR:  Getting back to the AK, what keeps it from firing live ammunition?

Jones:  First of all we seriously regulate ammunition when we’re on the range or training scenario.  When we’re running any scenario in conjunction with the Army, no live ammo.  We do a physical check.  Because the standard military blank for 7.62 x 39 mm rifles is slightly shorter than the live cartridge, our second line of defense is to use magazines with a blocking spacer that make it only capable of putting a blank in. 

SAR:  What about hand feeding a single live round?

Jones:  We can’t deal with fools all the time.  Some of the regulations, they want a barrel welded up.  If you hit that with a live round I can’t tell you where the projectile will go.  But with our baffle system blank adapter the barrel is going to ‘banana.’  This is going to come off, but the projectile won’t get thru.  It’s a hardened like driving the round into a steel wall.

SAR:  Going back to make sure we understand the AK’s modifications.  First of all the BFA is a proprietary design.  You start with a military BFA but there are internal modifications to prevent a live round from exiting the barrel.  Also “tuned” in its opening diameter to ensure the right amount of gas into the piston system for reliable operation.

Jones:  Yes.  We’ve done modifications to the support pins and recoil systems.  But selector; safe and semiauto settings are the same, as are sighting, magazine release, stripping, cleaning operations the same.  I’m working on a drum magazine for the RPK.  The SVD operates on the same system as the AK, firing blanks as well.

Highgate, Threat Tec, IRAC, and Parari
34 Research Dr. Hampton, Virginia 23666 Tel: 757-240-4968

J. T. Crawford’s four companies are headquartered in a large industrial park near Langley Air Force Base and NASA Langley. Eighteen key employees work comfortably in a modern, spacious 24,000 square foot facility. Close to a hundred others – mostly Threat Tec personnel – work off site in Illinois, Georgia, and Texas.

Crawford, characterized as an “intuitive entrepreneur” in some recent business profiles, provided some specifics on his coordinated business ventures and how they compliment one another.

Highgate Systems LLC. (Props, costumes, battlefield effects, consultation)

The overarching company in our group, Highgate rents props, costumes, and battlefield effects, and also providing some subject matter expertise to non-DoD customers. So if you’re shooting a film and looking for somebody to advise you on, for example, the Battle of Tikrit, we have many retired senior military personnel on staff; really a ‘who’s who’ among warfighters. And, if your law enforcement or security agency wants to do some IED training, we have realistic IED devices, explosive devices and radio controlled detonators. We can help your work with police, fire departments and other first responders. Web: highgateco.com

Threat Tec, LLC (Learning solutions, Red Teaming, support, equipment)

Certified ‘Red Team’ exercise support and immersive training environments from Threat Tec enhance U.S. military training and rehearsal exercises, as well as wargames, experiments, and operational tests and evaluations. We closely simulate the chosen Operational Environment (OE) with realistic host nation roleplayers, clothing, weapons, and battlefield effects. Threat Tec’s pool of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Threat Emulators (TEs) are able to support simultaneous exercises at multiple locations across the country.

One of the things we have inside of Threat Tec is development of tools and solutions to the human domain in training. We have a training village down at Ft. Benning that can be tailored to a variety of operational environments. In Sniper School there, for example, students can actually observe a village and do a real life mission set where they’re trying to find out if there’s a ‘bad guy’ in there. This is high quality training using what we call ‘Threat Emulation’ – not the less-realistic ‘role play’ that others offer. Web: threattec.com

International Replica Arms Co., LLC (Design and manufacturing of BATFE-approved non-guns)

The main driver for our purchase of IRAC – celebrating its 40 year anniversary – was how nicely it fit with our Highgate and Threat Tec brands. IRAC has been a recognized leader worldwide in the design and production of the finest replica, display and simulated-fire machine guns. From receivers for combat classics like the Browning Auto Rifle, to complete, modern-era weapons like the Mark 19 Grenade Machine Gun and MILES-capable Russian Kornet tank killer, each one is made in our cutting-edge manufacturing center. Our specialists use a combination of computer-aided machines and experienced craftsmanship to make sure every part fits perfectly and performs as intended. While other companies choose to piece their guns together using cheap parts, our passionate team incorporates world class tools, materials and expertise to construct each replica machine gun and reach the highest quality possible at an affordable price. Web: iracllc.com

Parari Group (Business strategies and design)

Our fourth company is Parari, combining traditional business strategies with innovative design processes to help companies create and deliver new products and services. These strengths are applied to the other three members of our group and readily available to outside clients. Capabilities include branding, web design, video/audio, and print media. Web: pararigroup.com

I had first become aware of IRAC when I was looking for a primary provider of simulated weapons for Threat Tec, our company that provides highly realistic training to military and security clients.  During my search, I kept hearing about this company called IRAC and how they produced the best simulated weapons money could buy.  J.T. Crawford, President/CEO of IRAC, Highgate, Threat Tec and Pariri.

While some small arms purists might be tempted to dismiss replica guns as “toys for big boys,” we believe the best of these of this category have long served important roles in a wide variety of situations.  Think “Rubber Duck” M16 rifles and other weapons; realistic full size/full weight, non-firing models made from durable epoxy reinforced with steel rods.  These have proven a damn good alternative to beating up real guns (or the nightmare of losing them) in tough training like parachuting and waterborne exercises.

But they don’t go BANG. 

Or consider the cost, complexity, safety concerns, logistical hassles, and legal compliance issues of using blank-adapted versions of actual weapons by OPFOR (opposing force) elements in training scenarios.  Most often more trouble than worth.

These were among many obstacles confronting J. T. Crawford’s Threat Tec teams in carrying out highly realistic, demonstrably effective “threat emulations” under Department of Defense contracts.  He needed to find a good source for working replicas that were tough, reliable and looked and sounded right.

In the interview that follows, conducted earlier this year during a visit to the group’s headquarters in Hampton, Virginia, the 46 year old Crawford explains how he found International Replica Arms Company (IRAC).  And how he was able to make it a perfect fit in his group of closely-connected business entities.

A conversation with J. T. Crawford

SAR:  Tell us about yourself.  Where you came from and some things about what happened along the way to your highly successful group of companies. 

Crawford:  I’m from Kentucky and I grew up in the greater Cincinnati area of Ohio, right across the Ohio River where my paternal and maternal grandparents lived. 

I started shooting when I was probably 11.  I hunted from the time I was a small boy.   Probably for two years with my grandfather before I was allowed to carry a gun.  He would carry the gun and eventually I was carrying the gun with him.  We were avid outdoorsmen and loved to hunt and fish.  I have four sons.  All of my sons have been to the range multiple times.  Shot everything from the 1911 to the Barrett .50 cal. 

After high school, I enlisted in the Army for three years and served in the 101st Airborne Division;  2nd Battalion 187^th Regiment “Rakkasans” and 1^st Battalion 506^th Regiment “Currahee,” the Band of Brothers group of WWII.   I was a sniper in South Korea from 1987-88 under the 2nd Infantry Division.

Entrepreneur afterward, back to college later for an MBA, then work as a consultant to a number of companies.  I started Threat Tec in October 2013, finding early success as a DoD (Department of Defense) contractor and we started to recognize opportunities to vertically integrate some of those needs we have within Threat Tec.  ‘Vertical integration’ is bringing in things we would have to go out to third parties to bring into our mix, to provide the client with.  In this case weapon simulators from IRAC and battlefield effects from Highgate.   

SAR: How did your Army service influence development of Threat Tec?

Crawford:  In Korea there was a sort of mobile training team coming in setting up some simple sniper training for us.  Not anything like the realism of what we do today.  I don’t want to minimize the quality of the training back then because the tools they had to work with were limited. 

But now, we do work with the Army Sniper School, bringing realism into the picture for our clients.  They were able to refocus some of their existing training models and capture better complexity to their training set.  So, as opposed to having a sniper team go and observe a crossroads where maybe nothing will happen, they can now go observe a village where we have built some key vignettes that are happening in the background.  And we want to see if they pick those up. 

When you see role players go out in different exercises, lots of times there are folks on the low end of the scale for realism.  Only because they aren’t given a great deal of detail as to their mission set.  Our folks from Threat Tec receive our own internal training set to understand not just the verbal cues, non-verbal cues, body language, how different cultures will stand.  It really does give our soldiers a real chance to see a different lifestyle when they’re peering into that village.

SAR:  The evolving realities of warfare and the Rules Of Engagement have demanded that?

Crawford:  They have.  Certainly the 24 hour news cycles produce a lot of information very quickly so mistakes or mis-reads are really amplified.  I’ll tell you our service men and women do an extraordinary job of trying to understand the enemy, the enemy mindset, including identifying the enemy on the battlefield.  So it’s pretty encouraging to come back 30 years later and see these young men who are going thru the sniper program now and how dedicated they are to really learning and … becoming professional soldiers. 

SAR:  Your favorite weapons back during that time in the Army?  What was the standard sniper rifle?

Crawford:  The Remington 700 – M24 – had just come into view and the units were very protective in those days of certain sensitive items getting out because we weren’t used to employing snipers.  So more times than not I would go out with my M16A2 because what we looked at was another of the real missions of a sniper; the ability to collect and report data.  I think they called the course back then the “Scout Sniper Course.”  It was a five week long course with precision shooting, of course, but also man-tracking, hide building, and a lot of collection skills from memorization to terrain analysis. 

SAR:  A favorite gun at the time?

Crawford: From my perspective – even having been a sniper  – my favorite gun back then would have been the M249 (5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon).  So light and so much firepower that I really had a love for that one.  I didn’t carry it much at all but I loved going to the range with any of the light automatic weapons.

SAR:  Personal weapons now ?

Crawford:  I have many.  My favorite now?  I have the Barrett MRAD and I really like that but it’s really hard to pick a favorite.  I have a .300 Blackout AR15  from Daniel Defense that is just outstanding.  Probably one of the smoothest shooting guns I’ve ever owned.  Lots of them, the Barrett M82A1  .50 cal. that I really enjoy shooting.  I’ve been to the Barrett factory, met Ronnie in passing, shook his hand.  They were friendly and knew that we were a DoD contractor, bringing anti-materiel rifles to our Threat Tec side for live training.  They worked hard to make the deal great for everyone.    Barrett is incredibly supportive of the military and its mission. 

SAR:  Tell us more about how Threat Tec’s work led to purchase of IRAC.

Crawford:  The main driver for our purchase of IRAC, finalized in September 2014, was how nicely it fit with our Highgate and Threat Tec brands.  Our DoD partners had been raving fans about our products and we knew IRAC would go a long way towards strengthening our value proposition.

SAR:  What’s a “value proposition?

Crawford:  (Chuckles)  A value proposition is ‘how does this make sense to our customers?  So, why buy IRAC?’  And what is the value we bring to the marketplace that they’re not getting from others?”  That was what we were trying to do.  You could just say it was an added value to our customers that now we have these capabilities in house.  So when you’re trying to do a live event and you’re bringing out – frequently with Threat Tec – I’ll bring a full OPFOR (opposing force).  We have a number of retired Colonels, retired senior NCOs and we’ll set up an operation to fight the BLUE FORCE – the good guys.  We fight using threat tactics, techniques and procedures, along with threat weapon systems.

 Let me give you a little deeper analysis. Threat Tec did need some battlefield effects to help direct movement in some of the more constricted lanes we were working in.  And we were looking for a solution that would be very realistic, that would provide some value to the soldier going down the lane as in weapons identification.  If I’m in a scout sniper mode and I can see the position and I can say there’s a ‘Dishka’ (.51 caliber DShK heavy machine gun) on the ridge, I’m able to report that back.  So we were looking for someone who could make them.  And we knew we had seen these sort of things in Hollywood movies.  We searched but couldn’t seem to find the manufacturer.  So in my despair that I couldn’t find them, I decided to do what any country boy from Kentucky does, I consulted YouTube and I said let’s build one ourselves (laughs).  And while I was going thru layers of YouTube videos I stumbled upon IRAC.  They were doing a quad or dual mount Fifty in the back of a jacked up WW2 vintage military truck.  And I said ‘that’s the guy I need.’  And at the very end of that video, it was a television show, the guy gave a plug to IRAC.  And I found ’em.  After that Steve Carter, the owner, and I became fast friends and we certainly developed a whole lot of new R&D efforts for DoD.  Things like the RPG-29 (Russian antitank rocket launcher) we started building.  According to Steve, Threat Tec became his best customer.

Threat Tec began using IRAC as the primary provider of simulated weapon systems. From the very first time we used an IRAC product, we were impressed with just how good these simulators truly were. Our teams train military personnel in some of the most demanding environments in the world. IRAC simulators not only looked the part, but they consistently performed day in and day out, which was invaluable to us.

SAR:  ‘Most demanding environments in the world.’  More demanding than Ft. Benning, Georgia?

Crawford:  Yes, we do some great training environments.  Let me be clear:  We are not training in theater (overseas).  We’ve had some opportunities to do that but we’ve made a decision as a company we’re too old for that (smiles).  We really focus on where we think we can deliver the most impact to the troops, places like Ft. Benning.  We do a tremendous amount of training simulations at places like Ft. Leavenworth (Kansas) and live OPFOR at Ft. Bliss (Texas). 

SAR:  Another catch phrase in Threat Tec promotional materials references “’high fidelity operational environments.” 

Crawford:  For us this means a really good example.  High fidelity because they are very close to the original.  So we’re talking about really honest representations of operational environments.  Right down to the food they might be making.  So the smells, the sights, the trash piles, the vehicles driven.  You can see out back one of our technical vehicles still has an Iraqi license plate.  Not something we have in the states.  A little truck driven with a three cylinder motorcycle engine.  But they’re everywhere in Asia.

SAR:  Getting back for a moment to Steve Carter and why he was open to you purchasing IRAC.

Crawford:  Steve actually brought up the idea.  I think he had been approached by a competitor to buy him out.  And we felt it was so important to have IRAC as part of our business model that we did not want to see it go to a competitor where we could possibly lose access to all the things we had developed.  So in turn we made an offer.  Several discussions.  Over a year’s time we had discussed it, toyed around it.  There was probably just a day it became, ‘that sounds like a good idea,’ and it moved very fast after that.  Steve has retained a similar set of tools that we have here so he’s able to do some things wherever he is.  He built a facility in Tennessee that will operate under a no-competition agreement. 

Through my dealings with IRAC, I had developed a very strong relationship with Steve.  As our relationship progressed, it became apparent that we had very similar perspectives of how an acquisition could improve IRAC’s position in the market. I think with Steve there were a couple of things going on.  He was thinking of moving to Tennessee from Cincinnati and he looked at this as an opportunity to have a fresh start.  Do some things differently.  Quite honestly, I think he was ready to move on to a different business or take some well-earned time off. 

SAR:  IRAC was physically located in Cincinnati and your headquarters in Hampton, Virginia is quite different from Tennessee.   

Crawford:  A couple of things have changed in his life since then.  Steve remains on as one of our advisors and one of our technical guys.  He comes in when we’re doing a major run of systems and he’ll be right here with us developing.  Steve will continue on with the R and D (research and development) role.  He’s known this company and treated it like a baby.  So IRAC turns 40 years old this year.  Steve was, I think, the third owner of IRAC and I’ll be the fourth.  We want to continue to expand and see some real growth opportunities in the different systems we develop.  And I’ve got Steve geared up to help create these new models.  We have a big goal for this coming year to see some new systems rolling out on a fairly regular basis. 

 The primary reason why the transition of IRAC included the relocation to Hampton, Virginia was to consolidate IRAC resources and have them under the same roof as Threat Tec HQ and Highgate HQ. As a result, collaboration among our specialists is more fluid and natural, which leads to more innovations and higher quality products, and we have greater access to our prospective markets.

SAR:  Advantages anticipated and now realized ?

The greatest advantage, as we saw it, was the ability to innovate and rapidly develop battlefield systems quickly and accurately.  Highgate Systems has developed a number of systems that have been used to build high fidelity operational environments for DoD in the test and evaluation space. Highgate”s rapid prototyping capability and the IRAC toolset have merged nicely.

So, think of Highgate as the rental company that rents those battlefield effects, the props, and provides some subject matter expertise to non-DoD customers.  So if you’re shooting a film and looking for somebody to advise you on, for example, how was the Battle of Tikrit?   Let’s get specific into DoD capabilities.  We have 28 Colonels on staff.  Those folks are really a ‘who’s who’ among warfighters.  We have a Navy Cross recipient, lots of Silver Star and Bronze Star recipients.

SAR:  That’s a nice video on YouTube for Threat Tec with Colonel John McCarthy pointing to its location in Hampton giving “greater access to our prospective markets.” 

Crawford:  Certainly TRADOC (Army Training and Doctrine Command), only five miles away at Fort Monroe.  So we have had the opportunity to share our developmental products, some of the things that are tried and true.  MCOE (Maneuver Center of Excellence) Ft. Benning, Georgia would certainly fall in that category.

SAR:  In addition to the Army’s TRADOC, any interaction with other services?

Crawford:  We do look for opportunities because they’re so close (the Hampton Roads area is heavily military) and some other venues.  Not so much on the live side.  We do have some small watercraft – Boston Whalers with gun mounts and things like that – so we can challenge some of those riverine, ‘brown water’ forces.  We have some fantastic tools.  Our Boston Whaler is a navy ‘red dot’ hull (reinforced for rough use) so it’s really capable of doing a lot, it’s a high performance boat.  But I can’t think of anything we’ve done locally.  Perhaps some of our Navy friends will read this feature and check us out.   

Inside TRADOC we also have the opportunity to work in the Joint community.  So some of the testing and evaluation efforts will include all of the services.  We’re always looking for the opportunity to help so wherever we can throw our weight in to help with the training venue or to help develop a concept, that’s a strong suit for us.  We work on a lot of concept development, innovation of training programs and simulations. 

We’ve done some really cool things by way of Mobile Training Teams and even mobile devices as training tools.  Using iPads and iPhones with applications that allow some training to go on.  We are able to put some very cool things in those digital environments that really make a difference and save a lot of money.

Let me go back a step.  The old concept where we have to load up a mobile training team, go out and see the soldiers face to face and teach them how to do things….

SAR:  But in the digital world you can employ apps rather than live instruction ?

Crawford:  That’s right.  And also on an IRAC instructional method for today’s soldiers – ‘digital natives’ — the young guys who are so accustomed to using tools like smart phones to learn.  We take things like a .50 cal. and explode the parts, show them how to assemble, disassemble, functions, and clear jams.  On a phone or pad.  You can do it on a truck while waiting to move out on a convoy.

We’re trying to find things like that to really connect with our service members so they’re getting the training they need, whenever they’re able to do it.  We’re part of a contract at MCOE ( Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Ft. Benning) that does mobile device training.  We have people in our Illinois office and MCOE who are working on that.

Let’s talk about that IRAC mobile app, called the IRAC Knowledge Vault.  What we’re doing is taking our simulated systems and providing all our buyers, customers with something powered by an app called VEZI which we own through our Parari Group.  It allows someone to take a smart device, hold it up, tap it to a tag, and it will explode to a user’s manual.  Everything from the history of the system, like an M2 machine gun. And then go to specifics of the system.  How do I set it up.  (Not as detailed as an old Technical Manual because the simulated system is simpler).  Our end users need to know what are the preventative maintenance steps and how do we service this thing.  How do we clear jams if there’s an issue in the field.  We’re simplifying that so our customers no longer feel the need to send it back, although that rarely happens.  Generally we’re able to talk someone thru it on the phone.  (like oxygen/propane mix).

SAR:  Way back in the day it was a laminated ‘cheat sheet’ and now it’s digital?

Crawford:  That’s right.  But you can hold their attention much longer than the ‘sage on the stage with the PowerPoint’ or a handout.

SAR:  What is your vision for the “new and improved” IRAC in selection of product line, manufacturing, customer service, etc. ? 

Crawford:  We started making changes right away.  Steve has built a firm foundation, and now we want to see our client offerings expand and our market presence grow.  The first big change was the new and improved website.  This gives our customers and channel partners a way to see what products are available, prices and even online ordering.  We have some big surprises to announce at the MVPA show in June.  I can tell you that they will include some mobile tools for our customers, new packaging and several new products.  We intend to offer a new replica each quarter for the next 24 months.  It’s a huge order but we have really great and dedicated people who can do just about anything.

SAR:  Who uses IRAC replicas ? 

Crawford:  Government Contractors, Hollywood, DoD, DHS, museums, and many collectors and military enthusiasts.  Our service members use IRAC systems for training and in the development of a realistic battlefield.

Many of the country’s best known war museums have an IRAC system or two.  Our systems are in use internationally and chances are you can see one at a parade near you!  We have a number of solutions and do a lot of customized systems for vintage aircraft and military vehicles.

Yesterday I took a phone call from England and the guy has a Loach, an Apache and a Huey (helicopters).  All, over the years, outfitted with IRAC systems.  He wants to outfit a (sim-fire) Minigun on the Loach.  The movie folks love the sim-fire 60s on the Huey.  When you have a conversation with Steve, he’ll frequently say, ‘oh yeah, we made those guns.  I forgot about that.’

You know that dinosaur thing that goes around to monster truck rallies?  It also has IRAC machine guns.  A company called us with a Vietnam era vehicle and said they were going to fight this fire-breathing dinosaur and we need to know if we can buy some of those.  And he bought five (sim-fire) guns; Mk19s, M2 .50s, really did a nice job on the vehicle.   

SAR:  Movies and television ?

You can see IRAC systems on the Batmobile; the two 30mm cannons that came out of the hood.  Also guns on the Green Hornet’s car and in the Transformers movies.  Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Battle of LA, Red Dawn, Terminator Salvation, and a lot more including Dreamworks’ WWII television series The Pacific. 

Hollywood prop companies would call and say ‘I need this.’  We sell to a lot of those guys now.  They may not say for what movie for fear we might try to go direct – which we don’t do.  But they will come in and say here’s what I need.

SAR:  What’s coming up next?  Promotional materials note a goal of eight new replicas in the next two years. 

Crawford:  The first two coming on line – we already have our alpha types – are the RPG-29 and the Kornet.  Those are really for our DoD market; training aids for Russian anti-tank missile launchers that a soldier is likely to find in multiple theaters today. Kornet is a nasty tank killer and the RPG 29 has a 105mm warhead.  We had a conversation with some foreign soldiers, I think from Israel, and they were talking about some of the recent battles and the devastation that was caused from these systems.  Our replicas are MILES (laser-based hit identifier) capable.  Not only an effective simulator, but has reported MILES “kills.” 

SAR:  Do you have anything in the works for other markets along the lines of traditional small arms?

Crawford:  We sure do.  For the public market, like military vehicle collectors, we’re planning on bringing online the M240 (GPMG), unveiled at MVPA (Military Vehicle Preservation Association) in June.

For the public market, like military vehicle collectors, we’re planning on bringing online the M240 (GPMG), unveiled at MVPA (Military Vehicle Preservation Association) in June. We now have a sim-fire M60, built on one of the receivers we’ve been selling.  Part of the issue is tooling and finding the right available components when we want to add some furniture.  I think you’ll see us reconstituting a lot of the things that Steve did in the early days of IRAC that were really successful.

What we are looking for now in the development of 3D printers and the resins and things we can get our hands on allow us to replicate things that we couldn’t do easily before.  So when we think static models, that’s a huge opportunity. 

SAR:  Anything older, like from WW2, to join those existing replicas ?

Crawford:  We have a number of systems we’re looking at.  Not ready to announce a winner but I can say keep your eyes peeled.  A lot of our folks from MVPA and reenactors have some things they’ve been looking for and we’re trying to discover where that itch is the most for them.  We already have Thompson and BAR receivers, and make full replica M2 .50 cals and also .30 cal. water cooled and air cooled Brownings.  

SAR:  Why not a Tommy Gun?  Didn’t IRAC once do a full replica Thompson?

Crawford:    We already offer an M1A1 receiver and we could do a static replica. Sim-fire (simulated firing) is not so simple in a Tommy Gun.  Steve made one of the Thompsons that Tom Hanks carried in “Saving Private Ryan.”

SAR:  Do IRAC’s highly realistic replicas give rise to problems with local laws and police agencies?

Crawford:  No difficulties.  Our systems are not made for kids, we’re not making toys. They’re really a training aid or static device.    But we do send out some with the orange tips required in some jurisdictions or if that’s what the customer wants. 

SAR:  Comment in the apparent “synergy” among your three business entities.

Crawford:  Primarily, the IRAC acquisition makes sense for us. Highgate, our family of companies, has always been very focused on delivering value beyond the purchase to our clients. Because IRAC had been built on similar values, it was easy to spot how IRAC was a natural fit.  The systems are all built with a great deal of pride, care and attention to detail, which are values each of our companies share. 

Highgate is essentially three things; renting rent props, costumes, effects.  So if your police station wants to do some IED training, we have IED devices, we have explosive device simulators, we have radio controlled detonators, we can help you work with your law enforcement folks, your fire departments, your first responders.

SAR:  Some of these devices are 3D printed?

Crawford:  No 3D printing by the three companies.  There is a fourth company, Parari Group, which has some capabilities in prototyping, rapid prototyping and such.  We have a number of things we want to do.  We have machinists in Hampton and modelers out in our Illinois office who are already 3D graphic artists whose strong set is building the language for those 3D printers.   

SAR:  We note the announcement of BATFE approval for manufacturing.  Now making real guns ?

Crawford:  Not real guns, but our IED simulators are technically classified  as ‘destructive devices.’  There’s a future version of us that will probably make some small arms.  Small batches.  Maybe specific runs that could be for something like a Thompson that we would want to make a commemorative semiauto.  I can see that in our long term future.  Very small quantities.  I don’t think we’re ever taking on FN, Remington, Winchester, or Barrett.  Any of those.

SAR:  Back to the ‘destructive devices,’ are these movie style pyrotechnics ?

Crawford:  There could certainly be movie style pyrotechnics, rocket launchers.  But we have another interest in unmanned aerial vehicles.   And potential warhead development for those sorts of tools.  That’s a bit out in the distance.  We’re right here in Hampton by the NASA facility.  There’s a very large group of aerospace engineers in the area who are very interested in UAV and UAS development.

SAR:  You’re buying semiauto AKs and making them blank only, right?

Crawford.  Yes and no.  We do modify the weapons so they’re only capable of firing a blank.  We can also undo that so we don’t really lose the ability to make it a firing weapon.  We simply, through some adaptation, make it so it can’t fire a live round while we’re doing training events.  As to what’s next, when you talk to Gethyn Jones (IRAC GM) he’ll have a thousand ideas of what he’d like to do.  Gethyn would love for us to do nothing but build real weapons.  From a business perspective I see that as a real uphill battle for us.  Not because we don’t have an interest in it, not because we think it’s a bad idea, but just because its a fairly saturated market.  And prior to the election of our current president, individual weapon purchases were on the decline.  Now they’ve taken a pretty good upswing.

SAR:  Some parting thoughts ?

Crawford:  The addition of IRAC into the Highgate family has been great.  IRAC is a solid brand and is capturing some recognition internationally.  We have static systems going into some Threat Tec channel partners in June.  This will be great for IRAC and expose the brand to an even larger audience.  Our Highgate customers are  excited to have access to the IRAC products and development team.  The integration couldn’t be more positive and I see huge potential in linking the brands.

SAR:  How do you keep track of all this?

Crawford:  Great people !  It’s a busy day (laughs) .

A conversation with IRAC’s Gethyn Jones

At Crawford’s invitation, we did enjoy the opportunity to talk at some length with Gethyn Jones, IRAC’s General Manager and multi-role problem-solver.  Jones’ professional resume includes extended time as an NCO with British Land Forces to include some “specialized” assignments that he’s not free to discuss.  Critical to performance in these was a 6 month stint in the precision machinist training program conducted by British Aerospace.  Little imagination is required to speculate on how this likely fit into “specialized” small arms for certain high-stakes military applications. 

SAR:  We’re in the Threat Tec arms vault with Gethyn Jones, IRAC’s General Manager, and right now he’s showing us a Romak (Romanian) AK that started life as a semiauto.  Did you do the conversion ?

Jones:  (Holding and demonstrating the rifle)  Yes.  We put our proprietary blank fire device on the muzzle.  That’s to maintain the correct gas pressure.  So the working parts will operate to extract and feed a fresh round.  We leave in the original piston and original bolt carrier group because we’re firing cartridge blanks.  What I do inside is to upgrade the recoil spring and locking pin system because the blank actually puts a lot more strain on receiver than the live round.  Blank rounds kill live weapons like nothing else.  We try to keep the function as close to the original.  So all you’ve got to do is insert a magazine loaded with blanks, cock it a you’ve got your mechanical safety lever to place on fire.  So the weapon handles exactly as the original.

SAR:  Adaptable to MILES (standard US military Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System for realistic force-on-force training) ?

Jones:  Yes, the MILES adapter laser box on the side of the barrel and we can either use an optical sight aligned with where the laser beam strike is – this is all done in their test units – or we can adjust our mechanical sights.  Very simple collimation.  Uses the same MILES box as M240 because its closest to  the ballistics of the 7.62 x 39mm round.

(Gets Russian bolt action sniper rifle from rack)  This is the Mosin-Nagant that everybody knows of.  Jim (Crawford) asked me to convert two of them to blank fire only for when the threat emulation scenario calls for a sniper.  We’ll put on a MILES unit that equates to the strike of the 7.62 NATO round, registering as a kill or a wound.

That MILES system, now geared with these makes it extremely safe and very effective training.  You can do sniping from buildings.  You can engage in a more realistic environment.  You could hire a mall for the weekend and – provided you pick up your empty cases – you could take these systems geared with the MILES and train right in the mall.  It’s safe.

SAR:  Getting back to the AK, what keeps it from firing live ammunition?

Jones:  First of all we seriously regulate ammunition when we’re on the range or training scenario.  When we’re running any scenario in conjunction with the Army, no live ammo.  We do a physical check.  Because the standard military blank for 7.62 x 39 mm rifles is slightly shorter than the live cartridge, our second line of defense is to use magazines with a blocking spacer that make it only capable of putting a blank in. 

SAR:  What about hand feeding a single live round?

Jones:  We can’t deal with fools all the time.  Some of the regulations, they want a barrel welded up.  If you hit that with a live round I can’t tell you where the projectile will go.  But with our baffle system blank adapter the barrel is going to ‘banana.’  This is going to come off, but the projectile won’t get thru.  It’s a hardened like driving the round into a steel wall.

SAR:  Going back to make sure we understand the AK’s modifications.  First of all the BFA is a proprietary design.  You start with a military BFA but there are internal modifications to prevent a live round from exiting the barrel.  Also “tuned” in its opening diameter to ensure the right amount of gas into the piston system for reliable operation.

Jones:  Yes.  We’ve done modifications to the support pins and recoil systems.  But selector; safe and semiauto settings are the same, as are sighting, magazine release, stripping, cleaning operations the same.  I’m working on a drum magazine for the RPK.  The SVD operates on the same system as the AK, firing blanks as well.

“I’ve been in the defense industry for over thirty-six years and I know of no other conference offering attendees the opportunity to learn about a new technology on one day of the conference and test fire it one or two days later.” – Brian Berger, Chairman of the NDIA Small Arms Committee

This annual event is akin to a three ring circus, offering an information-packed agenda with presentations directly supporting the Armaments Division’s three committees: Small Arms; Guns, Ammunition, Rockets & Missiles; and Unconventional Emerging Technology Armament Systems.

Brian Berger, President of Wilcox Industries Corp, and bringing long experience at the helm of the Small Arms Committee, gave us his perspective on the annual gathering.

“The NDIA Armaments Division Forum provides a unique opportunity for Industry and Government personnel to meet once a year, over a three-day period,” he explained, “to learn from technical papers, attend tutorials, view short ‘poster presentations,’ and network with influential figures to exchange information on armament systems.”

Distance learning option

With nearly 120 agenda items including scholarly technical papers, historical perspectives, sobering assessments of harsh battlefield realities now and in the near future, panel discussions and more, doing justice to this firepower feast requires much more space than is available here.

Fortunately for all interested parties, NDIA has a generous policy of free access online to unclassified presentations. Actual briefing slides shown in unclassified presentations are posted online by DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center) for public access at www.dtic.mil/ndia/2016armament/2016armament.html

Or, go to NDIA’s main page www.ndia.org, click the RESOURCES tab, then Online Proceedings from the left menu.

While you’re there, take time to note the wealth of information on a myriad of other NDIA events available by date and title, an invaluable resource for the widest variety of interested parties – friend and foe alike…

Briefings big and small

Here are a few highlights to whet your appetite for online study or a resolution to be there in person at the 2017 Forum.

While the main event kicked off on Tuesday, April 26th, Monday’s early registrants were rewarded with a trio of tutorials including “Roadblocks to Success,” a cautionary tale from ARDEC’s Science and Technology office.

Ten “Poster Presentations” from subject matter experts were offered; intimate show-n-tell of subjects ranging from salty air corrosion on .50 cal ammo, to the “future of vibration testing.”

For the next three days, committee-specific sessions ran concurrently in three separate meeting rooms. While a challenge for those with a variety of interests, this arrangement gives attendees the option to move about as desired to sit in on selected topics.

The Guns, Ammunition, Rockets, and Missiles (GARM) committee offered some 40 presentations unified by the theme “New and Evolving Armaments and Subsystems for Future Conflicts.”

Among these could be found NSWC Dahlgren’s Moving Target Artillery Round and ARDEC’s remarkable work on 60 and 81mm Non-Lethal munitions. Yes, kinder, gentler mortar rounds.

On the decidedly cutting edge side under the banner of “Future Weapons: Armament Solutions in a Time of Small Wars and Limited Conflicts” came 30 presentations offered by the Unconventional and Emerging Technology Armament (UEA) Systems committee.

From the provocatively-titled Anti-Class One Drone & Multi-Purpose 66mm Launch System for the M-4 Carbine (Hint: search “Can Cannon” for one idea), to a dramatically closed-to-foreign-nationals examination of the question; Is Now the Time for a High-Energy Laser Weapon program of Record? Not surprisingly, many folks say YES !

Small Arms Systems

Of course, most of our time was well spent in the company of industry and military proponents of traditional man-portable projectile pushers. We were richly rewarded by a veritable feast of presentations for ways of “Enhancing Small Arms Weapons, Equipment and Training in Support of the Warfighter.” In a brief sampling of subjects one finds Wounds Ballistic Testing Panel, Role of MCOTEA in Testing of Small Arms, Active Stabilization of Firearms by Optical Target Tracking, Future Advanced Squad Technologies, Fatigue Life Extension of the M4A1 Carbine Bolt, MK 48 MOD 1 Machine Gun Sustained Fire Upgrade, Light Weight .338 Medium Machine Gun System Development, How to Ruin A Perfectly Good Weapon, One-Way Luminescence, and no less than five detailed papers on the Science of Firearms Suppression.

Many of the PowerPoints in this target rich environment of more than 120 panel discussions and focused papers are online at DTIC, but let’s single out a handful that we found particularly provocative.

Retired Army Major General David Grange, former 75th Ranger Regiment commander and deputy commander in US Army Special Operations Command, is now top man at Osprey Global Solutions. He pulled no punches in two related presentations.

In Tuesday’s keynote address, Soldier/Squad Overmatch, he warned that our likely enemies are well along in arming individual soldiers with new rifles firing ammunition extending the maximum effective range to 600 meters; well beyond that of America’s M16/M4 family with currently standard issue 5.56mm ammo.

Later, in America’s Foot Soldiers’ New Round, Grange presented test data indicating clear superiority of Osprey’s 6.5mm Super Z cartridge as an M4 compatible, cost and combat effective interim solution to the problem.

Expanding on this same theme in Next Generation Small Unit Weapon Systems – A Path to Overmatch, Jim Schatz, 2015 NDIA Chinn Award recipient and internationally recognized small arms subject matter expert, forcefully challenged the small arms status quo with another of his characteristically fact-packed presentations.

A perennial thorn in the side of hidebound bureaucracies as a tireless advocate for America’s grunts, he contends that continuing to leave America’s front line warfighters outgunned by adversaries while delaying at least partial replacement for M4s and 5.56mm cartridges is utterly unacceptable.

“Paradigm-changing key materials including LICC (Lightweight Intermediate Caliber Cartridge) ammo, Disturbed Reticle Carbine Sights, Blind-to-Barrier Bullets, LW Modular Weapons, and Advanced Training are available today,” Schatz said, “to counter this current threat and emerging threats.”

In a series of info-rich visuals, he presented solid evidence supporting his thesis based on recent testing of just such an innovative interim individual weapon/sight/cartridge system by a purposely unnamed official entity.

“That rifle shown at the top left of this slide is a DPMS GII modified by US Army Marksmanship Unit to fire the .264 USA (6.5x48mm) and .277 USA (7x48mm) rounds to include the polymer version made by MAC LLC” Schatz explained, providing ample test data to make the case.

“Its ‘disturbed reticle’ sight, Schatz noted, “is the Steiner Optik Intelligent Combat Sight (ICS). At the push of a button, an eye-safe laser instantly provides distance to the target, and calculates an illuminated, trajectory-compensated aiming point based on ammunition ballistics, measured distance, and angle to your target out to 800 meters.”

And never one to shy away from advocating direct action, he drove home the point that, “overmatch Individual Weapon capabilities can be ours but we must ask for it!”

“The DoD or ACOS GEN. Milley/US Army or US Marine Corps or USSOCOM should brief Congress,” he said, asking for $100 million to develop and field the next gen IW and LICC cartridge for “our most deployed/at risk weapon system; our Frontliners.”

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Schatz’ treasure map of a dissertation in the Forum’s online proceedings is strongly recommended, along with his authoritative essay, The Future of the Assault Rifle, in SADJ, Vol 7 Num 1 (http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=2941)]

Military and Government Perspectives

The enormous official armaments establishments that have grown up over the decades deserve both scrutiny and praise. The Forum provided ample time for both with numerous grouped presentations as well as targeted papers. On the Small Arms side we found much to contemplate in panels featuring top figures in PM Soldier Weapons, PM Maneuver Ammunition, Joint Services Small Arms Program, and the NATO Weapons and Sensors Working Group.

Providing the Navy perspective on the Joint Service Small Arms Synchronization Team panel, the inimitable Chuck Zeller unveiled a proposed “way ahead” to more efficiently manage the current catalog of more than 30 types of small arms from pistols to grenade launchers in current use by sailors on land, sea and air.

In an initiative sure to ignite howls of protest from old salts with their personal favorites, arms lockers will eventually hold only eight kinds: M2A1 fifties, M240 mgs, M4A1 carbines, Mossberg 500 shotguns, M203A1 grenade launchers, Mk19 Mod 3 GPMGs, and whatever might emerge from the XM17 pistol competition and the Army’s caliber study. Good luck with all that.

Oh, and what will become of the Navy’s “legacy” leftovers being metaphorically pushed overboard? Many will go to allied military forces but long gone are the days of surplus guns being sold back to the American taxpayers who bought ‘em in the first place. We’re told that inquiries have been received from firms seeking to handle the demil process. Chop-chop.

And as what many see as the most warrior-focused of America’s beleaguered Armed Forces, the USMC’s PM Infantry Weapons Panel commanded close attention. As the Leatherneck leadership struggles to keep a sharp warfighting edge despite meager funding, small arms initiatives are necessarily small.

There is a need for a concealed carry pistol for non-uniformed criminal investigators, an improved sniper rifle system, phasing in quick change barrel M2A1s, and a quick way to reduce the height of vehicle weapon mount stations to better fit inside aircraft and shipboard. Details on these and more business opportunities are linked on Marine Corps Systems Command’s website.

The Army’s Program Manager Soldier Weapons is the big dog in development and fielding of improved Small Arms for all the US military. Work continues on the decade-old XM25 airburst grenade system, upgrades to the M4A1 carbine, and an opto-electronic sight for hand held 40mm launchers.

Near future goals include lightening the M2 .50 cal. to under 70 pounds (XM806?) and the Marines are partners in Army efforts to develop tough new barrels for the M240 and 249 machine guns to minimize or eliminate the need for overloaded ground pounders to carry a spare.

Questions about progress of the XM17 Modular Handgun System competition were met with the equivalent of a no-comment: “The program is in the selection process now. And there is a lot of misinformation out there.” No wonder since just about nobody – including most manufacturers – is officially identifying the submitted pistols. Perhaps we’ll know the finalists by the time this feature appears in print.

A quick side note: Of course we asked exhibit staffers from HK, Glock, and GD about participation in the handgun trials. HK said they had no entry, Glock would not comment, GD showed their S&W but no photos allowed.

Giving hope to those of us who have watched the ups and downs of the LSAT (Lightweight Small Arms Technologies) program, ARDEC’s Kori Phillips reports in Cased Telescoped Systems: 6.5mm Carbine and 7.62mm Machine Gun, that this highly promising endeavour is alive and well; recently re-branded as CT (Cased Telescoped). Now joining the well-proven 5.56mm CT-firing SAW is a medium machine gun version in CT 7.62mm NATO, and nearing completion is an assault carbine optimized for 6.5mm, 125 grain CT ammo that “has significantly better performance than 7.62mm CT cartridge.”

In a likely nod to Jim Schatz and other authorities in the “better cartridge” chorus, Phillips gave assurances that the system’s compact ”lipstick tube” polymer cases are easily tailorable in caliber and configuration and that architecture of the new carbine can be made to accommodate advanced fire control and other enhancements.

Meanwhile, results of the official SAAC (Small Arms Ammunition Configuration Study), promised for later this year, are anxiously awaited by military and industry with a mixture of hope and fear. Oh, and we’re told that Osprey’s 6.5mm Super Z came too late to be part of the study.

WWJBD? (What Would John Browning Do?)

Carrying forward the occasional event tradition of a special look at some historical weaponry from a modern perspective, well-known firearms engineering guru George Kontis of Gun IQ International channeled a certain Utah born gunsmith/inventor from way more than a century past. In A John Browning View of the U.S. Small Arms Industry, Kontis’ alter ego barbecued a whole herd of sacred cows.

Following brief biographical highlights of this giant of firearms history, the inventor of the .30 caliber lever action rifle, the .45 caliber M1911 pistol and .50 cal. M2 machine gun cast disapproval upon today’s varmint caliber military cartridges as exactly what they are – unsuitable for big game like deer, bear and terrorists.

Then, Mr. Browning turned a critical eye on a list of subjects including seventy years of Army service rifle and ammo “improvement” programs, brass cased cartridges, combat rifles festooned with loads of ungainly add-ons, failure to adopt the metric system, continued use of wiggle-loose threaded fasteners, absurd government over-regulation, and an irrational anti-gun socio/political climate.

To the point, Kontis/Browning proposed a more efficient relationship between military and industry for a “System that Works.” This starts with military and government arsenals writing specifications, then arsenals handling solicitations, industry providing competition and production, government handling acceptance, and back to arsenals for “configuration management.”

In his conclusion, the NRA, NDIA and the National Armaments Consortium got a tip of the hat for public-private partnership in support of the essential small arms industrial base.

Exhibits and Networking Breaks

Participation by government and industry entities in the Forum’s exhibits is strong as evidenced by seventeen booths, dominated by defense giant General Dynamics.

In addition to the gunmakers Barrett, FN America, Glock, HKD, and S&W, exhibitors enticed examination of explosive energetics, projectiles , ballistic instrumentation, mechanized cannon bore maintenance, super gunsights, custom grunt gear, a robot pistol shooter, and the Chipotle Publishing team handing out hundreds of free copies of SAR and SADJ.

Well situated in the main area where regular coffee breaks, daily luncheons and happy hour networking socials were enjoyed, exhibit staffers were kept busy all day doing show ‘n tell for a steady flow of knowledgeable and engaged visitors.

Range Time

Year after year at these events, Sal Fanelli, a senior engineer in the USMC’s PM Infantry Weapons office, has bravely volunteered to shoulder the often-thorny burden of coordinating what used to be known as the Firepower Demonstrations. But this time, emphasizing inclusion of items that optimize effective projectile pushing, he’s now “Chairman, Technology Demonstration Session.”

“This portion is a unique opportunity that allows vendors to showcase their latest designs and gives attendees hands-on experience with the latest developments,” Fanelli noted. “It’s the only venue of its type and the main draw for each year’s event. The paper presentations along with private talks with each of the vendors culminate each year at the end of the conference where the weapons, sights and ammo do the talking.”

In what many see as saving the best for last, more than a hundred attendees boarded chartered buses on Thursday for a short ride from Fredericksburg to nearby Fort A.P. Hill’s Multi-Purpose Range 33 and a few hours of nitrocellulose-perfumed pleasure with spirits undampened by scattered showers and persistent drizzle. “Any day on the range beats a day in the office,” goes the old military saying.

Graciously hosted by Captain Joseph Fyfe of the Army’s elite Asymetric Warfare Group, and sternly overseen by NDIA volunteer Range Safety Officer Jim Schatz and crew, demonstrators included Barrett, FN America, Glock, Heckler & Koch, LaRue, U.S. Optics with Wilcox Industries, and a big team from US Army’s PM Soldier Weapons, down from ARDEC’s home base at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.

Attendees lined up behind their weapons of choice, getting bragging rights and selfies from trigger time with free ammo (much of it generously donated by Orbital ATK), behind a remarkable selection of the latest in pistols and PDWs, assault rifles, sniper weapons, and machine guns.

SADJ’s Perspective

Dan Shea, General Director of Phoenix Defence, woke up Wednesday morning’s Small Arms session with a catalog of observations on some of the latest developments worldwide in arms and ammunition.

Adding to criticism of America’s warfighters being demonstrably outgunned, Shea, Editor-in-Chief of SMALL ARMS DEFENSE JOURNAL and SMALL ARMS REVIEW, noted increasing use by adversaries of more powerful cartridges including the hard-hitting and long-ranging classic 7.62 x 54R cartridges in legacy and developmental firearms, now including North Korea’s fascinating new Minigun with necessarily unusual push-thru links that eliminate the need for a de-linker.

Also, Shea has run both lab and field tests on Russia’s remarkable silica-embedded armor piercing projectile for the integrally-suppressed 9 x 39mm VSS Vintorez, a Spetsnaz favorite. “Subsonic – less than a thousand fps – it cuts thru a Level III plate like butter,” he said, “and destroys the integrity of Level IV.”

Another notable Russian development is a new, soldier-friendly quadrant iron sight for the RPG-7D3 launcher, much simpler than the standard optical sight, requiring far less training for effective use.

In his role as a long-time member of NDIA’s Small Arms Steering Committee, Shea also provided his perspective on recent iterations of the event and what might be likely in the near future:

“The NDIA Small Arms Group is one of the most important and influential meetings every year, and with its sister Symposia at Shrivenham in the UK, provides platforms for the small arms community that are irreplaceable and we feel strongly must be maintained and grown.

After the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan, budget cuts in the military, lack of support from some of the civilian leadership in the US, and some unwelcome attention to government ‘Conventions’ by a high profile and out-of-control budget on a GSA convention in Las Vegas, attendance at many military shows has been cut drastically.

Event organizers of these essential events have had to resort to many cost-cutting and location changing tools to keep operating. NDIA has been no exception, and the Small Arms Group has seen some attendance drop from the highs of 800-1000 to a low of several hundred.

This year’s event marked a major uptick- 400 plus attendees and exhibitors appear to be related to the excellent location choice of Fredericksburg, VA. It’s near to the DC/Northern Virginia heartbeat of the military, close to Quantico so the USMC can attend in force, and close enough to Picatinny so that attendees can drive down. The 2016 event was a major step forward and the positive energy was evident.

Many of the board members and attendees suggested using this venue and its nearby firing range for the next several events while we built momentum back up for the group, then move out to various other areas as leadership sees fit. While future locations remain to be seen, SADJ is off the “Come back to Las Vegas where it’s cheap and gets heavy attendance” soapbox, and putting our vote in for more Fredericksburg.

Wherever NDIA Small Arms Group and any associated groups choose to go, we’ll be supportive and attending of course- but we were won over by this year’s location and hope to see several future shows there.”

NDIA’s Armaments Division

The Division’s activity is directed through three very active committees: the Small Arms Committee; the Guns, Ammunition, Rockets & Missiles Committee, and Unconventional Emerging Technology Armament Systems.

Our mission is to provide focus on integrated armament systems including those used by individual soldiers, utilized on crew served systems, and integrated into land, sea, and air platforms. The purpose is to provide the forum for industry, military, and government personnel to address issues which are necessary to ensure a superior armament system capability today and
in the future.

The Division addresses many issues, such as: Armament Operational Needs and Requirements; Approaches and Concepts, System Integration, Weapons, Munitions, Fire Control, and other ancillary equipment, and logistic support. Attention is given to total systems and to technology application and state-of-the-art technology advancements. Through these topics, sections within the division provide assessment of current armaments and a vision of emerging military equipment and operational capability applying advanced technology in total armament systems.

The division’s goal is to ensure a forum for all types of armaments systems within the existing committees or through expanded activity of additional committees of the Armament Division.

Connect for success

NDIA is your source for networking, knowledge exchange, and business development opportunities with government and the defense industry. NDIA can connect you for success through association events, policy, and local chapters. Select your membership category and join online www.ndia.org

2017 Armaments Forum

As this issue goes to press the dates and location for NDIA’s 2017 Armaments Forum have not been finalized but will be announced at ndia.org.

Photo Gallery

[EDITOR’S NOTE: What accompanies the in-print version of this feature is a necessarily short photo essay zeroing in on some notable highlights from the Forum and its live fire range component. For a close look and lots of information on these weapons, and sights, as well as Forum activities and exhibits, check out Robert Bruce’s online slide show with 181 photos from this event, posted on www.smallarmsreview.com/archive/reference.07-2016.cfm#07192016.

24 September 2012, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During the 2012 Annual Special Agent Training exercise, law enforcement personnel react to gunfire and escort a VIP during a scenario at Gryphon Group’s Combat Training Center. Delays and restrictions on certain civilian police and contract security entities in acquiring military-grade M4 series carbines for special tactical missions drove development of the Joint Project Rifle series at Freedom Forge Armory. Credit: US Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Carlos J. Lazo

By Robert Bruce

(Editor’s note: There are a lot of start-ups making rifles, and quite a few of them are led by veterans of the recent Afghan and Iraq wars. We don’t have the space to cover every product, but we chose the Joint Rifle Project because it was a real requirement from a real end user, and a veteran owned company took a chance on building their concept and are beyond prototype and are marketing the end result now. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the changes in the abilities in the firearms community today- Dan)

“The original customer was local law enforcement, looking for an M4 type carbine for tactical and high risk work. But standard military and commercial versions just didn’t fit their application, would have required extensive modification and were nearly impossible to get at the time in the post-Newtown industry meltdown.” Brandon Pritchard, owner of Freedom Forge Armory

Also known as Sergeant Pritchard in his career as a full time administrator with an aviation battalion of the Virginia Army National Guard, he has double duties as a UH-72 Lakota helo crew chief. He carried an issue M4 Carbine in a decidedly hazardous tour of duty deployment to Iraq crewing a UH-60 Black Hawk, noting firsthand the weapon’s strengths and weaknesses.

A skilled gunsmith and competitive shooter, Pritchard was approached in 2013 by a respected LE entity (anonymity required by contract) with an interesting request.

“They wanted a version of a well-recognized manufacturer’s special purpose rifle, modified with ambidextrous controls, different barrel lengths for specialized tasks, quick-disconnect suppressor attachment, and nickel boron bolt and carrier,” Pritchard told SAR.

“I suggested that — instead of waiting months for the basic SPR and then having me modify it — I could build rifles to their specs, right out of the box.”

Armed with the customer’s specifications and following in-depth conversations on how the various versions including Designated Marksman Rifle and compact Carbine would be employed, Pritchard set to work designing, building and testing.

“The AR15 is the ‘Mister Potato Head’ of the firearms world,” he is not alone in noting. “You can change it any way you want it. Kits with the proper tools to change everything from barrels to buttstocks are affordable, and aftermarket parts of all kinds are plentiful.”

The process moved forward through several design changes and the third version – the E1 Carbine seen in this feature – was the one that was accepted.

The practical adaptability of Pritchard’s improvements on the AR’s basic mechanism to Freedom Forge’s efficient versions from long to short gave rise to what has become known as the Joint Rifle Project.

Anatomy of the Joint Rifle AR-15 E1

We visited Freedom Forge in rural Quinton, Virginia, amicably and efficiently sharing a colorful old west themed storefront with Sodan Armament. Together, their customers enjoy one-stop shopping for new and used firearms including Class 3 weaponry, ammunition, accessories, militaria, and full service gunsmithing.

As Pritchard field stripped one of the original E1 SBRs we recorded his observations on its inner secrets, presented here in necessarily
abbreviated form:

This early prototype uses a Spike’s Tactical lower receiver. The lowers on the production model are made by Aero Precision with Freedom Forge Armory markings.

Inside the JR is very different from inside the standard semi auto AR15 or even M16. We use a Geissele SDE Enhanced Trigger group for crisp and consistent touchoff. In this version it’s their flat faced trigger for best semiauto performance.

The ambidextrous Battery Assist Device for locking the bolt open or letting it run forward is accessible with either hand’s trigger finger without having to break your firing grip. Ambi fire selector and ambi sling attachment at the rear of the lower.

Standard carbine spring and buffer. If the customer wants to run the gun suppressed I recommend upgrading those components to a heavy buffer and spring combo along with a gas buster charging handle.

The upper receiver is a Cerro Forge Red X A3 AR15 or M4. It has the M4 style feed ramps for reliable feeding and function. And standard forward assist just like most any other AR15.

The bolt and carrier assembly in this E1 is from Spike’s Tactical. It‘s nickel boron coated which is incredibly hard yet very slick so it doesn’t need to be lubed or cleaned as frequently and much less temperamental to sand and dust. It’s also been lightened with these machined cuts to make lockup times faster. Even in semi auto it’s a pretty quick firing rifle. The later production versions don’t have these cuts but they do have a Ni-Bor surface on the carrier and bolt.

The barrel is one of the best, most accurate mid length types on the market; a Spike’s Tactical 14 ½ inch with a 1-in-7 inch twist for heavier bullets. They’re hammer forged for Spike’s by FN Manufacturing and are chrome lined and finished to M-249 specs for durability. They’re MPI (magnetic particle inspected) and high pressure tested.

It’s important to note that this one is not technically an SBR (Short Barrel Rifle with need for BATFE approval) because its flash hider is permanently pinned and welded, giving it the required 16 inch minimum length. While not an issue for the LE client, most civilian customers appreciate being able to avoid the government paperwork and approval time.

It has a hybrid contour that offers the best weight savings and accuracy. It has a mid-length gas system as opposed to carbine length, tapping the gas closer to the muzzle. This was driven by reliability and balance. Mid lengths tend to be the most reliable. Carbine length (closer to chamber) cycles strongly but very violently. In rifle lengths the gas has longer to travel so it cycles more smoothly but not quite as strong for positive function in adverse conditions. The mid-length kind of gives you the best of both worlds.

Our standard version rifles and carbines are equipped with AAC’s T51 flash hider for compatibility with the AAC M4-2000 and Mini4 suppressors. They can be set up by special order for the Gemtech HALO or others.

The barrel is free-floated for accuracy so we have a Yankee Hill Machine, twelve inch, free-floated hand guard with M1913 Picatinny rails all the way up for multiple accessory mounting.

There’s a big free-float barrel nut back here at the barrel junction with the receiver. It has threads on the inside that lock the barrel to the upper receiver and threads on the outside to attach the tubular steel hand guard. So the only thing touching the barrel is the barrel nut. The fore end is held in place on the barrel nut by two capture screws and a lock ring, so you have friction and tension for exceptional rigidity.

This is a lot of what allows the gun to achieve the accuracy it does, even with a shortened 14 inch barrel.

The ‘perforated doughnut’ at the muzzle end of hand guard is Yankee Hill Machine’s ‘End Cap Protector,’ a request from the prototype customer to protect the gas system. It’s optional on production carbines.

Our Joint Rifles have Troy Industries or Magpul back up iron sights that fold down out of the way. We can supply customers with an Aimpoint red dot, Trijicon ACOG, or EOTECH Holo sight at competitive prices.

Production versions have a black oxide finish with DuraCoat as an option. It’s applied with an HPV gun to the individual parts prior to assembly of the rifle. As tough as any finish I’ve found.

It comes in many different colors so the rifle could be any one of, or a combination of colors, and camo patterns. The primary DuraCoat finish options will be MAGPUL Flat Dark Earth — the version you fired and photographed — OD Green, and Tactical Grey.

On the range

We spent a pleasant afternoon at a private range for a hands-on evaluation of one of Freedom Forge’s original Joint Rifle AR-15 E1s.

While showing plenty of evidence of a hard life with lots of range time (both the carbine and the shooters), the test subject proved flawlessly efficient in the able hands of its proud creator and the somewhat less distinguished evaluator.

Ammo consisted of several hundred rounds of mixed type 5.56 x 45 mm, including US military 55 and 62 grain ball, with Russian steel case stuff and some soft point hunting loads tossed in for good measure. All fed and fired without fail from a selection of ordinary standard aluminum GI magazines as well as Magpul’s superlative P Mags that Freedom Forge recommends.

Function firing was done from a verity of positions from prone supported to moving CQC. The first style underscoring remarkable accuracy from the crisp Geissele trigger and the free floated, hammer forged 14 inch barrel. The other end validating a ruthless tactical tool for urban SWAT operatives and high stakes security situations.

Of course it’s this kind of “move close and shoot fast” scenario where this SBR takes a starring role. With a quick handling profile and excellent balance. It is uncannily right for quick reaction shooting from any stance and while on the move.

With these characteristics and a decidedly competitive price, it’s a great choice for Three Gun matches, enhanced police patrol carbine, SWAT, and no-compromise home defense.

And, we’re told, the latest E1s and Designated Marksman version have attracted attention for certain serious contract security duties in arenas way beyond their initial LE fielding….

Economical S1

Derived from the E1 for LE and security, Freedom Forge’s Joint Rifle AR-15 S1 with Mil-Spec trigger, bolt group and furniture, delivers comparable accuracy and durability for more budget conscious shooters. Notably, its tough and accurate 16 inch hammer forged barrel and detachable A2 flash hider requires no special paperwork. List price for the basic model is $1115. Add-ons and upgrades are available for custom tailoring to client preferences.

Joint Rifle AR-15 S1

Manufacturer: Freedom Forge Armory, Quinton, VA
Caliber: 5.56mm NATO
Operation: Stoner system direct gas,
semiauto only
Barrel: Spikes Tactical 16 inch, rifling twist 1 in 7, tipped by M16A2 flash hider (QD for Gemtech HALO suppressor)

Note: Available as SBR to qualifying agencies and individuals

Future Developments

As Freedom Forge Armory enjoys steady growth in its Joint Rifle Program, Pritchard is hard at work on the design testing phase of the Joint Rifle PD5 and PD9, a short barreled version (10”) of the JR in 9mm and 5.56 for use as a PDW (personal defense weapon) or security detail weapon.

Contact

Freedom Forge Armory, 3300A New Kent Highway, Quinton, Virginia 23141.
Telephone 804-869-8960
Email freedomforgearmory@comcast.net
Web www.freedomforgearmory.com

The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex’s Expo†Hall†provided generous space for the show’s nearly 1000 tables and more than 200 vendors, as well as†remarkable “walk up museum” displays of exotic vintage†armaments. Closest to the camera, filling some 18 black-draped tables and†supplemented by a lineup of tripod and†wheel mounted†weaponry, Robert Starer’s Historic Arms Corp. provided visitors with an up close and personal look at his extraordinary collection, brought all the way from Virginia Beach, Virginia. HistoricArms@Verizon.net

By Robert Bruce

SAR’s formula for its sponsored shows – combining regular weapons with machine guns and much more – has long been an enormous success for dealers and attendees of the SAR West mega-shows. This concept has traveled quite well to the East Coast as seen in Robert Bruce’s look at some highlights from our Harrisburg, Pennsylvania event.

“The Harrisburg location is ideal and well known to the Class III and ‘Black Rifle’ community, so we think that this will give both sponsors of the show a chance to grow, just like we did with SAR West in Phoenix.” Dan Shea- Editor-in-Chief, Small Arms Review

Ideal indeed, not only for enthusiasts of exotic weaponry, but most everyone with an interest in firearms, the newly-activated SAR East show both promised and delivered the goods.

For three days beginning on the afternoon of June 19th, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s most strategically-located city, was ground zero for a multi-state tribal gathering of aficionados of vintage and modern weaponry including machine guns, mortars, silencers, black rifles, and plenty more.

The enormous Expo Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex became both a “walk right up museum” and a 950 table shopping bazaar for more than 4,000 customers buying everything from A(mmo) to Z(ombie targets) offered by 225 vendors.

Noting how it was patterned on the enormously successful fifteen year run of the annual SAR West shows in Phoenix, Arizona, Debbie Shea, General Manager of Chipotle Publishing LLC, said that all the essential elements for a successful launch came together.

“We get so many requests for an SAR East show,” she said, “and we have really wanted to do it, but we needed the right partner to ensure that the show would be a success from the start. Steve and Annette Elliott (C&E Gun Shows/Showmasters) finally had an opening in a venue we all thought could allow for the growth.”

Echoing the optimism of both Sheas, show partner Steve Elliott offered his insight into how both personal and professional relationships can drive good business decisions.

“I’ve been long time friends with Dan and Debbie as well as Bob Templeton at Crossroads of the West who runs the SAR West event,” Elliott said. “They’ve had a great success with that so I approached them about doing a show on the East coast.”

Chipotle Publishing, the parent company of Small Arms Review as well as Small Arms Defense Journal, handled the Class III and ‘Black Rifle’ section, while East coast partner C&E Gun Shows/Showmasters brought in vendors from near and far selling “regular firearms,” parts, accessories, ammo, gun books, militaria, and more.

(Author’s Note to Gun Haters reading this feature article for hysteria-mongering purposes: Everything offered for viewing and for sale at the show is fully legal. All dealers/displayers/vendors have the necessary papers and permits and all buyers have to comply with all local, state and federal legal requirements. Not only is this strictly enforced by the show’s promoters, but BATFE was there with an informational booth and – of course – discreet walk arounds).

Slide Show

Take a virtual tour of highlights from the 2015 SAR East show by viewing the slide show linked on the SAR website www.smallarmsreview.com: Click “https://www.smallarmsreview.com/archive/reference.10-2015.cfm#10202015” for 167 images of many of the specific products mentioned below, along with notes including contact info for their purveyors, as well as some amusing odds and ends.

Guns, of course

Projectile pumpers large and small were offered aplenty, ranging from wickedly powerful and whisper-quiet airguns to grenade type launchers, machine guns, and even mortars and cannon.

Black rifles? All the well-known ones were there for sale at very favorable prices, along with interesting entries from HM Defense and Rev Arms. Shy? Get a no-paperwork 80% finished AR receiver for a measly $79.99. Oh, and for that ultimate AR to star in your collection, don’t miss Dennis Todd’s battle-scarred “contractor bring-back” suppressed SR-25/Mk11 Mod 0.

Pistols? Pick ‘em up and get a feel for most everything from derringers to hand cannons. And if you want to win your bar bet every time, pull out proof that there really is a double barrel M1911 .45. Merely $6000 from Neil Smith.

Entertainment

YouTube novelty gun video sensation “FPS Russia” was a human star at the show, on hand all three days schmoozing his many fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs. And if your boudoir needs a bit of help on the romantic side, one of his comely young assistants was selling plenty of “napalm and bacon” scented candles.

While certainly entertaining, the UTM show team’s innovative Civilian Target Ammunition and Portable Training Facility was definitely on the more serious side, providing free, hands-on, highly realistic marksmanship training to attendees.

Museum quality

Extensive displays by collectors and dealers of historical machine guns, artillery pieces and other exotica were also a big draw, giving show attendees two important benefits in contrast to traditional museum settings. First, no rope barriers and no annoying glass cases. Then, the opportunity to have questions expertly answered by owners or their RKI staffers.

Most folks are appreciative, but don’t give much of a thought to the expense and logistical hassles of bringing in a temporary ordnance museum populated by vintage classic guns with iconic names like Gatling, Hotchkiss, Lewis, Vickers, Maxim, Browning, and many more.

But the reality is that Curt Wolf of US Armament, Robert Starer of Historic Arms and others needed a small fleet of trucks and plenty of help to bring it all in and then take it all back home. On their own dime.

Prominent among too many treasures on display to note here was a crown jewel in Robert Starer’s already astonishing collection. His one of a kind “Midas Thompson” is a Model 1921A that’s beautifully engraved and inlaid with 24 karat gold, and has been a famous NFA collector’s piece for half a century.

Ammo

Without ammo, your firearm’s not much better than a dead pitbull, and this was the place to get the feed you need to keep it alive. Elusive .22 LR was readily available, and most everything else you want that’s ready-made or roll-your-own through .50 BMG caliber, 37mm and bigger. How much bigger? How about a 120mm tank projo from Bob Omsted….

If you are with us in counting fireworks as ammo then you’re in the right place. In addition to Doctor Tom’s Leather selling traditional 4th of July celebratory items, there were lots of spectacular pyrotechnic loads for 12 gauge shotguns and 37mm flare/grenade launchers, as well as Tannerite targets and quick-light tracers.

More, more, more

SAR’s shows offer a full-immersion experience in the gun culture, featuring all kinds of directly related things like a bounteous array of holsters, day and night sights, lasers and lights, targets, spare parts and accessories including nifty items like bump-fire stocks.

Ancillary offerings include rare militaria, knives and knife sharpening devices, tactical clothing, gear and body armor, eye and ear pro, reference books, and survival essentials.

Also, just as important to the happiness and well-being of attendees including wives and kids, there are some interesting and amusing things ranging from practical to whimsical and even weird. Like jewelry, “Kalashnikitty” tee shirts, make-fun-of-liberals posters, and music CDs with all the WW2 German marching songs you ever wanted.

Hungry? In addition to the venue’s fast-food concession, individual vendors offered the obligatory jerky, and also nuts, deli meats, cheeses, and even an astonishing variety of pickles! Bon apetit!

2016

Next year’s SAR East show promises to be even bigger and better. Once again in the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, it will kick off a bit earlier; March 18 – 20. So visitors; mark your calendars and vendors; make your space reservations now.