Russia s Newest AK Designs are Knocking Off the M4
The next generation of Russian military arms (AK-12, AK-15, Kord 5.45 and SVC) incorporates Picatinny rails in the factory configuration, totally ditching the old Soviet dovetail rail.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The Western rail system, superior in several ways to the old Soviet design, has been widely adopted on the newest Soviet weapons.
If one compares the rifle of an average American soldier from the 1990s to one of a soldier today, the biggest outward change is the attachment rails.
Gone are the fixed iron sights of old; nowadays almost every American weapon has the distinctive chunky blocks of an M1913 “Picatinny” rail somewhere on top.
Type 88 and 85: Check Out China s Two Precision Rifles
While the Type 88 and Type 85 are the most common rifles in use, there also are a myriad of other rifles for precision shooting and special purposes.
Here s What You Need To Remember: Perhaps the biggest drawback for the two rifles is the lack of suitable ammunition for it, given the odd caliber of the weapon.
While the U.S. Army is concerned about next-generation Russian precision rifles and tactics, China has also been making significant advances in the field. In the 1980s, the Chinese used practically the same equipment as the Soviet Union. Nowadays, they use fairly different sets of equipment, including some rifles chambered in NATO calibers. The diverging development of Chinese precision rifles from the same base is an interesting parable of small-arms development driven by doctrine.
A Russian Gunship Was Shot Down Over Armenia. What Happened?
The aircraft was approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border of Nagorno-Karabakh when it downed “in a gorge” near Yeraskh.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The Hind has a long operational service history - notably in Afghanistan, where it was used extensively against mujahideen insurgents during the Soviet-Afghan War.
It was reported recentlyly that a missile downed a Russian Mi-24 Hind military helicopter over Armenia, near the border with Azerbaijan. Two of the crew members were killed while a third was injured in the crash. The Russian aircraft was reportedly downed by a man-portable surface-to-air missile (MANPADS).
Turkey s Drone Boats are a Signal to Greece: Don t Mess With Us
Ankara is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to Turkish interests in the Mediterranean.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The unmanned boat is small, but heavily armed. It forms part of Turkey s planned Blue Homeland defense strategy against Greece; the two nations have steadily become more hostile over the past year.
A pair of Turkish defense companies, METEKSAN and Ares, revealed a jointly built unmanned boat, named ULAQ. The small vessel is the first of what is planned to be a line of at least several unmanned surface ships of varying sizes and capabilities.
Boeing s F-15EX: The Newest, Best F-15s Out There
One interesting question would be to see how an F-15EX performs in wargames or mock combat exercises against a Russian or Chinese-like 5th-Gen aircraft.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The F-15EX isn t a fifth-generation fighter. Nor is it trying to be one - it s an affordable fourth-generation fighter with reliable technology and a (comparatively) lower price tag.
Firing Hypersonic weapons, flying at supersonic speeds of Mach 2.5, jamming enemy fighter communications, flying semi-autonomously and performing 87 billion computer functions per second are all attributes reported to be achievable by the emerging U.S. Air Force F-15EX plane, built by Boeing.