Simon Stevens and the FN303

Paintball aficionados will recognize both Simon Stevens (currently with KEE) and the FN303 launcher. In the video below, Simon gives us a rare look at all the components and workings of the less lethal launcher (whose development he had a hand in), which is essentially a militarized Automag.

Video originally found on Pro Paintball

Recognize the nylon rounds Simon examines? Those are the precursors to today's First Strike rounds. 

Click here if you'd like to see FN303s used in a prison riot in Iraq (Youtube embedding disabled by request). Foul language and a hilarious verbal reaming-out ahead.

Trijicon Controversy

As one of the most popular sights in use by various militaries today, it comes as a surprise to learn that every Trijicon Reflex Sight and ACOG comes with a biblical reference. The full story, as reported by BBC, reveals that Trijicon has been doing this for over two decades, but it has only become an issue now. Lines are already being drawn, with some saying that the merchandise used is too useful to worry about the political ramifications of the inscriptions, while others believe that the references send a potentially destabilizing message.

The End of ACU?

Ugly sofas and sodium vapour lamps aside, operators overseas have lodged innumerable complaints about the effectiveness of UCP. While it is still in use in both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Photosimulation Camouflage Detection Test conducted by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center has shown that it is hardly the optimal camo for the job. 

To sum up the findings of the test, I'll quote one of the conclusive statements,

"2. If Army leadership desires, for any number of reasons, to maintain a single, multi-environment camouflage pattern for combat missions, then one must first consider all possible environments that a soldier can encounter during a mission set.  For instance, in present day theaters, soldiers can manuever from desert mountainous terrain to oasis to urban terrain during a single mission. 

MultiCam® provides a readily available alternative with good overall performance across all three environments.

a. It provides a significant reduction in target detectability in all three environments as compared to the UCP. MultiCam® performed better in the woodland environment than the Desert MARPAT and Desert Brush patterns, while those two patterns performed better in the desert environment than MultiCam®. 

b. Specific woodland environment missions may still need to be supplemented with a woodland pattern."

As a result of this test and other factors, one U.S. battalion will be wearing a new pattern dubbed UCP Delta this fall, while another will be wearing Multicam.

Multicam pictured above.

UCP Delta pictured above (if it looks like UCP but with brown added, that's because that is exactly what it is).