eBullet Brings Richer Realism To Army Training; No More Laser Tag

eBullet Brings Richer Realism To Army Training; No More Laser Tag
eBullet Brings Richer Realism To Army Training; No More Laser Tag

A new training network will simulate the effects of weapons — from mortars and grenades to, potentially, germ warfare — and tell troops if they’re “killed” or “wounded,” then play the whole exercise back for AI analysis. One Army engineer told us: “We’ve never been able to train this stuff, never.”

COVID-19 Won’t Slow New Army Weapons: McCarthy, Murray, Jette

COVID-19 Won’t Slow New Army Weapons: McCarthy, Murray, Jette
COVID-19 Won’t Slow New Army Weapons: McCarthy, Murray, Jette

While some prototype deliveries and field tests are being delayed, Army leaders said, there’s enough slack in the schedule that combat units will still get the new tech on time.

Soldiers Test Israeli Tech To Stop Friendly Fire

Soldiers Test Israeli Tech To Stop Friendly Fire
Soldiers Test Israeli Tech To Stop Friendly Fire

US and UK soldiers tried out the Israeli-made Safe Shoot in field exercise at Fort Benning. The results were… mixed.

Israeli Gunmaker IWI Targets US Special Ops Contract

Israeli Gunmaker IWI Targets US Special Ops Contract
Israeli Gunmaker IWI Targets US Special Ops Contract

The Negev can fire over 700 rounds a minute in full-auto — a bit less than the M249 — or, it can be switched to semi-auto for highly accurate single shots. It already comes in 5.56mm and 7.62mm variants, and IWI says it could be easily reconfigured to take different calibers.

Army Issues Next-Gen Targeting Goggles

Army Issues Next-Gen Targeting Goggles
Army Issues Next-Gen Targeting Goggles

A week from today, the first combat unit will get new ENVG-B goggles, which combine binocular night vision with computer-assisted cross-hairs linked wirelessly to the rifle. It’s a test case for the Army’s new high-speed approach to modernization.

Textron Preps For Mass Production Of New Army Rifle

Textron Preps For Mass Production Of New Army Rifle
Textron Preps For Mass Production Of New Army Rifle

Textron is not just betting it will win the Next Generation Squad Weapons contract: It’s betting the Army will want to start buying in bulk ASAP. That’s not a bad bet.

Mattis’s Infantry Task Force: Righting ‘A Generational Wrong’

Mattis’s Infantry Task Force: Righting ‘A Generational Wrong’
Mattis’s Infantry Task Force: Righting ‘A Generational Wrong’

Retired Maj. Gen. Bob Scales is the former commandant of the Army War College, a Vietnam veteran (and recipient of the Silver Star for valor) turned military historian and futurist. He’s also one of the fathers of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s Close Combat Lethality Task Force to reform the infantry. In this op-ed, Scales goes…

Army Moves $25B To Big Six, From New Tanks To 6.8mm Rifle

Army Moves $25B To Big Six, From New Tanks To 6.8mm Rifle
Army Moves $25B To Big Six, From New Tanks To 6.8mm Rifle

The Army plans to move at least $25 billion over the next five years from low-priority programs to preparing for major war. That includes developing a wide variety of new weapons, from high-speed aircraft, to partially-robotic armored vehicles, to a long-ranged 6.8 millimeter rifle to replace the venerable M16/M4 family and its controversial 5.56 mm round.

Smart Rifles For Foot Soldiers: Army NGSW Prototype Contracts Out In June

Smart Rifles For Foot Soldiers: Army NGSW Prototype Contracts Out In June
Smart Rifles For Foot Soldiers: Army NGSW Prototype Contracts Out In June

The Army is just weeks away from awarding contracts to begin buying prototypes of new infantry weapons, with live-fire tests next year.

Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution

Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution
Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution

The catch, of course, is that the Army’s tried to field all these things before — and failed. Why would things go any better this time around? Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue has an answer for that.

Batteries, Bullets, & Drones: Commandant’s Wishlist For Infantry Task Force

Batteries, Bullets, & Drones: Commandant’s Wishlist For Infantry Task Force
Batteries, Bullets, & Drones: Commandant’s Wishlist For Infantry Task Force

What’s the one technology the Marine Corps Commandant wants more than any other for his riflemen? It wasn’t an amphibious vehicle, more JLTVs, a new rifle or friggin’ lasers. It is “a smart way to recharge batteries,” Gen. Robert Neller told reporters.

Mattis Upguns Infantry: Task Force To Invest Over $1B

Mattis Upguns Infantry: Task Force To Invest Over $1B
Mattis Upguns Infantry: Task Force To Invest Over $1B

PENTAGON: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a former Marine Corps rifle platoon leader, wants better technology and training to keep frontline foot troops alive. He sent a Feb. 8 memo (below) to the Joint Chiefs, service chiefs, combatant commanders, and other top officials to create a Close Combat Lethality Task Force, applying the kind of top-level…

Army Hopes For $6.8B From FY18 Budget Deal: 70% For Modernization

Army Hopes For $6.8B From FY18 Budget Deal: 70% For Modernization
Army Hopes For $6.8B From FY18 Budget Deal: 70% For Modernization

UPDATED: Adds SecArmy Esper Roundtable PENTAGON: The figures aren’t final, but the Army hopes to get about $6.8 billion in additional funding for fiscal year 2018 thanks to the recently concluded budget deal, Army Secretary Mark Esper said this morning. The service’s new plan would start delivering a Next Generation Squad Weapon to the infantry…

CSA MiIley Bets On ‘Radical’ Tech, Promises No More FCS

CSA MiIley Bets On ‘Radical’ Tech, Promises No More FCS
CSA MiIley Bets On ‘Radical’ Tech, Promises No More FCS

CRYSTAL CITY: The Army needs revolutionary technologies from robot tanks to a long-range super-rifle, the Chief of Staff said today — and it can get them without repeating the mistakes that doomed high-tech programs in the past. By reforming the acquisition bureaucracy, embracing commercial technology and rigorously prototyping new tech to work out bugs, Gen. Mark…