Military thread

[Xavo]

Haha classic

[taters]

Originally Posted by Bammo

Nope. SASR enlist sympathetic bricks in the wall using a combination of cash and favours and convince the wall to go over itself.

Hahahaha "sympathetic", so the bricks pretty much do that thing that the wall does in Harry Potter 1?

[VisOne]

THALES DEBUTS 'NEW' RIFLE:
Thales debuted its new F90 assault rifle at this year’s Eurosatory exhibition in Paris, France.
The F90 is an innovative and lightweight weapon that is a direct product of modern day soldier requirements on today’s battlefields.
Building on the company’s extensive Australian expertise in small arms, the F90 is evolved from a battle-proven weapon that has been in service in Australia and 30 other countries for over two decades.
Features include a rifle variant weight of 3.25kg with high levels of reliability and rapid target acquisition time. The bullpup design enables a longer barrel and associated higher muzzle velocity for greater stopping power within a compact overall length.
The weapon’s open architecture incorporates a NATO tri-rail system and optional NATO magazines, while a growth path allows for the fitting of centralised power, as well as data and powered rails. The F90 also includes an integrated side-loading 40mm grenade launcher that can be attached in just a few seconds by the soldier.
Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said: “The F90 is a weapon ideally suited to the modern battlefield. Light, compact and adaptable, it offers armed forces a cost-effective upgrade with a substantial degree of future-proofing. It is evolved from a tried and tested platform that has been proven again and again on operations, and is backed up by 100 years of weapons engineering, as well as leading design expertise, at our facility in Lithgow, Australia.”
The F90 is identical to the EF88-designated weapon currently being developed by the company for Australia’s LAND 125 program, and is based on the F88 platform that has been in service and evolved in Australia since the late 1980s. The weapon will be available in five variants: F90; F90(G) (grenade launcher variant); F90M (’Marksman’ variant with a longer barrel); F90M(G) and F90CQB (Close Quarters Battle – a carbine). The Marksman variant is the same length as Australia’s in-service F88SA2, but is over 0.5kg lighter, while the equivalent grenadier variant is over 1.6kg lighter.
Thales is in cooperation with Austrian company Steyr Mannlicher to pursue specific opportunities, such as the French DGA FAMAS replacement project, utilising Steyr Mannlicher’s manufacturing experience and facilities.

Technical specifications

F90
· Calibre: 5.56mm
· Weight: 3.25kg
· Barrel length : 407mm
· Overall length: 700mm

F90(G)
· Calibre: 5.56mm
· Calibre grenade launcher: 40x46mm
· System weight: 4.10kg
· Overall length: 700mm

F90M
· Calibre: 5.56mm
· Weight: 3.39kg
· Barrel length: 508mm
· Overall length: 802mm

F90M(G)
· Calibre: 5.56mm
· Calibre grenade launcher: 40x46mm
· System weight: 4.34kg
· Overall length: 802mm

F90CQB
· Calibre: 5.56mm
· Weight: 3.15kg
· Barrel length: 360mm
· Overall length: 653mm

[Sandy_Beret]

Virtual reality provides relief from soldiers' trauma

• 15:44 17 May 2012 by Peter Aldhous
• For similar stories, visit the Mental Health and The Human Brain Topic Guides

Virtual reality simulations of combat are helping soldiers with post-traumatic
stress disorder find relief from their symptoms.


Robert McLay of the US Naval Medical Center in San Diego has preliminary

results from a clinical trial comparing virtual reality with standard exposure

therapy – which helps patients relearn their responses to stressful

situations by focusing on the traumatic event in a controlled environment.


Soldiers with PTSD either discussed their most traumatic experience over

and over while looking at computer-presented images of similar scenes, or

were immersed in virtual reality simulations, in which sights, sounds,

vibrations and even smells could be tailored to their most traumatic

memory.


After nine weeks of treatment involving up to 18 sessions (each 90 minutes

long), both groups showed similar reductions in their symptoms. But clear

differences emerged when McLay examined them again three months later.

By that time, the improvements in the group given traditional exposure

therapy had largely disappeared. "But in the virtual reality therapy group

the gains continued," McLay says.


Greg Reger of the US Department of Defense's National Center for

Telehealth and Technology at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington

state says that some soldiers "unplug emotionally" to deal with repeated

trauma. Virtual reality may help by reactivating the emotional engagement

needed for exposure therapy to be effective.


Reger, who is running a similar trial, adds that virtual therapy may also be

attractive to soldiers who are reluctant to discuss their feelings, but are

comfortable playing video games. "This may well be a more acceptable form

of treatment," he says.


McLay described his results this month at the annual meeting of the

American Psychiatric Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[Elfraddor]

Originally Posted by VisOne

That looks sexy..
More info


EF88


Seems that the F90 is essentially an export version of the EF88. Go Lithgow

[Sgt-JoeKickAss]

Plenty more pictures on the ABC website I found this morning...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-2...e-2012/4086268

[Sandy_Beret]

Syria shoots down Turkish reconnaissance jet over Syrian airspace.

Uh-oh. Just what that particular crisis really didn't need.

[SamEEE]

F-4 Phantom? Bloody hell I thought we were using old gear when we had the Skyhawk Kahus.

[Sapper28]

Anyone know of a single on-line reference for all in-game vehicle identification? I struggle to accurately identify vehicles when queried in-game.

[Xavo]

Yep, the downside is it's not 100% complete (almost though) and it's in German.
But the main parts are in English.

http://www.wargamer-project.de/wgpwiki/PR

[McDethWivFries]

Originally Posted by SamEEE

F-4 Phantom? Bloody hell I thought we were using old gear when we had the Skyhawk Kahus.

iirc the Turks had the Israelis (IAI) update their F-4 Phantom IIs to something like Phantom 2000 or something...

Ah wikipedia, here you go

Turkey
The Turkish Air Force received 40 F-4Es in 1974, with a further 32 F-4Es and 8 RF-4Es in 1977–78 under the "Peace Diamond III" program, followed by 40 ex-USAF aircraft in "Peace Diamond IV" in 1987, and a further 40 ex-U.S. Air National Guard Aircraft in 1991.[92] A further 32 RF-4Es were transferred to Turkey after being retired by the Luftwaffe between 1992 and 1994.[92] In 1995, IAI of Israel implemented an upgrade similar to Kurnass 2000 on 54 Turkish F-4Es which were dubbed the F-4E 2020 Terminator.[19] Turkish F-4s, and more modern F-16s have been used to strike Kurdish PKK terrorists in ongoing military operations in Northern Iraq.[93] On 22 June 2012, a Turkish F-4 was shot down by Syrian air-defenses while on a reconnaissance flight on the Syrian coast.[94]

[edit] - yeah been reading Kathy's updates on the ABC website, not bad.

[Santa]

I believe quite a few of you here dislike us buying European equipment because of issues with the Tiger and NH90, but you do have to admit the Spanish are pumping these ships out. Hopefully the Australian stages of fitting them out go just as smoothly.

[McDethWivFries]

Originally Posted by Santa

I believe quite a few of you here dislike us buying European equipment because of issues with the Tiger and NH90, but you do have to admit the Spanish are pumping these ships out. Hopefully the Australian stages of fitting them out go just as smoothly.

Main issue with the Tiger from what my mate in Army Aviation tells me is more the helmet mounted sight system more than anything else. It use to loose calibration very easily and had to be sent back to Europe for recalibration which was a big reason they were restricted from night ops. Believe they now have a calibration facility in Aus which has reduced the turn around time on the helmets plus they are working on/have fixed the calibration issue. Use to cause major eye strain & headaches among the pilots.

As for MRT, again my mate who is a Blackhawk pilot (and fan) admits that once they've sorted out the issues with it, it will be a very capable platform.

Main difference between the MRT and Blackhawk upgrade was the MRT was a totally new design whereas the BH was more an 'evolution' on a proven design. You always have issues with new designs, (look at Wedgetail (US), MRTT (EU) etc).

Read an interesting article on the problem with design of modern transport aircraft/helicopters/armoured vehicles was the use of out of date models for soldiers. I believe they were still referencing data from the 70-80s which was a totally different set of data to the current gen soldiers, suppose to be taller and carrier much heavier loads than the average 70-80s soldier so while they say "can carry 24 fully equiped combat troops", they would be meaning from the 70-80s era which may translate to 18 or so current troops. One of the things most manufactures are working on is getting 3d body scans of troops with/without equipment so they can design their gear better.

[edit] - yeah has been great to see the speed on which the two LHDs have been put together, echo your sentiments regarding the Aus fitout...

[Xavo]

Just remembered I still have videos and pictures of our trip to 5th Aviation in 2009. Got a good little play with the MFD's in the MRH90's cockpit. The noise from the computer cooling system was incredible, we all had to wear earplugs.

[Santa]

Originally Posted by McDethWivFries

Main issue with the Tiger from what my mate in Army Aviation tells me is more the helmet mounted sight system more than anything else. It use to loose calibration very easily and had to be sent back to Europe for recalibration which was a big reason they were restricted from night ops. Believe they now have a calibration facility in Aus which has reduced the turn around time on the helmets plus they are working on/have fixed the calibration issue. Use to cause major eye strain & headaches among the pilots.

Do you know if the French/Germans use a different helemt or sight system? Or just because they could quickly get them calibrated again that they got them in service so fast? They've certainly been put to good use in Afghanistan and Libya

Originally Posted by McDethWivFries

As for MRT, again my mate who is a Blackhawk pilot (and fan) admits that once they've sorted out the issues with it, it will be a very capable platform.

Indeed, I'm a personal fan of the MRH. Just reading the Wiki article on it again and one of the references was http://www.aviationweek.com /Articl...-02-412554.xml

One of the problems being;

and the floor of the helicopter has proved to be too weak to withstand the impacts of soldiers’ boots — a surprising fault for a battlefield transport.

Obviously due to them designing the floor for as you said, soldiers of the 70-80s and the difference between the weight of the gear they carry these days.

It still makes you wonder how they can spend months (or even years) designing the helicopter and still overlook something so simple.

[McDethWivFries]

Originally Posted by Santa

Do you know if the French/Germans use a different helemt or sight system? Or just because they could quickly get them calibrated again that they got them in service so fast? They've certainly been put to good use in Afghanistan and Libya

iirc they use the same system, but as they are already in the EU its allowed either quicker turn around times or they haven't had the same issues as we have had (dont really know on that last one). Either way, that was a big factor in ours being delayed as they couldn't clear if to night ops so they wouldn't clear it totally.

[Santa]

http://www.smh.com.au/national/navy-...708-21pgb.html

Decent video.

[Xavo]

[snowman777a]

Originally Posted by Santa

I believe quite a few of you here dislike us buying European equipment because of issues with the Tiger and NH90, but you do have to admit the Spanish are pumping these ships out. Hopefully the Australian stages of fitting them out go just as smoothly.

In all honesty, we need that 4th Hobart class destroyer. It's disgusting reducing a class of 6 ships to 3, there's a big discussion over at the defencetalk board for those interested.

Latest HMAS Canberra photo's (LHD) http://www.fotosdebarcos.or g/viewt...63 1&start=40

Latest HMAS Adelaide (LHD) http://www.fotosdebarcos.or g/viewt...10 6&start=20

Latest of the Juan Carlos (LHD)http://www.fotosdebarcos.or g/viewt...=asc&start=140

[McDethWivFries]

I find it highly retarded that we reduced 100 MBTs down to 59(?) MBTs, sure the 'new' ones are more capable, we'd prolly never deploy them but reducing your force by nearly 50% is a bit naff.

Oh and cancelling the SPA project, we only had two to choose from and one was at one stage a swap for what we wanted for 100 Bushmasters (Phz2000)