M61A1 20mm Cannon

The current version of the M61, the M61A1, remains relatively unchanged from past models History Soon after the end of the Second World War the newly formed United States Air Force identified a need for an improved gun system for its aircraft. While adequate as an air combat / ground attack weapon during World War Two, the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun had been rendered obsolete by jet aircraft and needed to be replaced by a weapon with increased...

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M-252 Mortar

Provides field artillery fire support for all Marine Corps Air Ground Task Force organizations. History This mortar replaced the previous Marine Corps 81mm mortar in 1986. The M252 is an adaptation of the standard British 81mm mortar developed in the 1970s. It is mostly commonly found in the mortar platoon of an infantry battalion. A Blast Attenuation Device (BAD) is attached to the muzzle of the weapon to reduce the blast effects on the mortar...

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AN/PVS-5 Goggles

AN/PVS-5 Night Vision Goggles allow the operator to perform tasks at night or under low light level conditions. History The AN/PVS-5 individual night vision goggles (NVG) were procured in the early 1980s. A general purpose goggle, they are found in a variety of applications, such as for vehicle drivers, riflemen, and unit leaders. There are differences in each model that require separate model support packages. The bulk of the Marine Corps assets...

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M-240B Machine Gun General purpose 7.62mm machine gun.

HistoryEntered Army Service: 1997 DescriptionThe M240B is a general-purpose machine gun. It can be mounted on a bipod, tripod, aircraft, or vehicle. The M240B is a belt-fed, air-cooled, gas-operated, fully automatic machine gun that fires from the open bolt position. This reliable 7.62mm machine gun delivers more energy to the target than the smaller caliber M-249 SAW. It is being issued to infantry, armor, combat engineer, special force/rangers,...

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New Russian Uniforms Get Troops Sick

Russia’s sharp new military uniforms, created by a top fashion designer, have landed hundreds in hospital after proving too thin to withstand the ferocious winter cold, a state daily said Wednesday. Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that between 60 and 250 servicemen have been laid up with everything from flu to pneumonia as Arctic chills sweep through the country’s northern reaches. “They literally felt naked outside,” the paper quoted the mother of...

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Marines Want Tanks for Route Security

Last month we reported that the Marine Corps was set to send over a company of M1 Abrams tanks to Helmand to help in its fight against Taliban insurgents there. In an interview about a week ago with the former commander of RCT-7 in Afghanistan, we got another look at how the Marines plan to use the multi-ton behemoths and how successful they’ve been in the past. According to Col. Randy Newman, the tanks help in blowing up hardened positions. From...

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US Missiles Kill 54 Militants in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Three American missile attacks killed 54 alleged militants Friday close to the Afghan border, an unusually high number of victims that included commanders of a Taliban-allied group that were holding a meeting, Pakistani officials said.The attacks took place in the Khyber tribal region, which has been rarely struck by American missiles before over the last three years. That could indicate a possible expansion of the CIA-led covert...

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Meet Sal Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor winner since Vietnam

On Oct. 25, 2007, on a remote hilltop in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta repeatedly ran directly into fire from Taliban insurgents to save the lives of some of his fellow soldiers. In recognition of Giunta's bravery, President Obama on Tuesdays is presenting him with the country's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, making Giunta the first living soldier since the Vietnam War to receive the award given for...

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N. Korea Touts Nuclear Clout as China Urges Talks

SEOUL - North Korea boasted Nov. 20 of running "thousands" of nuclear centrifuges, a week after launching a deadly artillery attack on South Korea, as China pressed for six-nation crisis talks.State media in the North, which has already tested two atomic bombs made from plutonium, said "many thousands of centrifuges" are operating to enrich uranium at a new plant that it claims is for peaceful energy purposes.The country first disclosed the new...

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Top Chinese Leader Meets With N. Korea Official

BEIJING - China's top legislator held talks with his North Korean counterpart on Dec. 1 and said Beijing would maintain friendly ties with Pyongyang, state media said, amid high tensions in the region. The meeting, broadcast on China's state television, is the first reported contact between senior Chinese and North Korean leaders since Pyongyang stunned the world last week with a deadly artillery strike on a South Korean island. "To continuously...

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Obama Pledges to Defend South Korea

Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Tuesday pledged the United States would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with South Korea after what the White House branded a provocative, outrageous attack by North Korea on its neighbor. Its options limited, the U.S. sought a diplomatic rather a military response to one of the most ominous clashes between the Koreas in decades. South Korea found the burned bodies Wednesday of two islanders killed...

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