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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
LSAT is not canned it's just not targeted for production yet. It's a technology program not a system program in fact in June of 2014 the Army expanded it into 7.62 mm.
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It's a Development program for ammo weight reduction through Cased Telescoped or Caseless Telescoped ammunition types. The Demonstrator for the system is the LSAT LMG. Eventually though the LSAT LMG may lead to a Production replacement for the M249SAW and M240L Infantry Medium Machine guns with the possibility of eventually moving into a Infantry carbine either through modification of a existing system like M4A1 or development of a new system like the recently shown Canadian system Which uses Cased Telescoped rounds possibly developed by LSAT. Because of the small arms Industry in the US, China, Russia, All of NATo is based on Conventional cased rounds of Copper, Brass or Steel with a few small polymer cased makers introducing LSAT would mean a total overhaul of the existing logistics system.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
LSAT is not canned it's just not targeted for production yet. It's a technology program not a system program in fact in June of 2014 the Army expanded it into 7.62 mm.
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It's a Development program for ammo weight reduction through Cased Telescoped or Caseless Telescoped ammunition types. The Demonstrator for the system is the LSAT LMG. Eventually though the LSAT LMG may lead to a Production replacement for the M249SAW and M240L Infantry Medium Machine guns with the possibility of eventually moving into a Infantry carbine either through modification of a existing system like M4A1 or development of a new system like the recently shown Canadian system Which uses Cased Telescoped rounds possibly developed by LSAT. Because of the small arms Industry in the US, China, Russia, All of NATo is based on Conventional cased rounds of Copper, Brass or Steel with a few small polymer cased makers introducing LSAT would mean a total overhaul of the existing logistics system.

It still works, and in spite of some who proclaim it lacks stopping power??? (very small caliber?), most of our troops prolly don't want to upgrade to 7.62 with its significantly more pronounced recoil, and greater weight to carry a given number of rounds??
I happen to like it, it is very easy to make good hits at long range, the key remains shot placement, not always a high priority under battle field conditions, but still necessary for one shot stops, of which the 5.56 remains very capable. It does make it easy to lay down a field of fire, which may be very effective for suppression of enemy fire??

I would add that almost every AR platform rifle I have fired is "capable" of 1 moa accuracy, but some are picky, my own rifle likes the Colt 20 round magazines and a bullet of 62+ grs, it has a 1 in 8 twist. Cheap mags and cheap ammo--- its a priss and will NOT deliver? LOL
 
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
well Brat, LSAT Is all That ... < (He-he Rhymes)
Lsat Aims to create types of rounds that have performance Greater then or Equal to the current Issue main line infantry round families but with weight reduction of 40% or better.
The a stock M249 SAW used by US Forces with a full belt tips the scales at about 22 pounds 17 pounds empty the lightest version of that the Mk46mod1 used by US Army rangers drops that down to 15.44 pounds empty. and still needs 5 pounds of ammo.
for another base line The STK Ultimax 100 with 100 round drum weighs 15 pounds
now Tested versions of LSAT LMG have produced a system the is 9.8 pounds empty ( cased telescope ammo) and has achieved as of 2008 a 33%- 40% weight reduction of Cased ammo vs current ammo ( note LSAT wants a 150 round belt) so translation. A LMG with a 150 round belt weighing in at less then 14 pounds ( That's a rough as I don't have data on the weight of 150 rounds worth of polymer links) That means Brat That the LMG gunner of a Army squad could carry more ammo and shoulder fire there weapon more comfortably leading to more accuracy. now the ammo specs I listed are based on the currently available data of LSAT from 2008 that data is spec'd for 5.56mm.
Textron systems is also contracted to develop carbines for LSAT 4 designs 2 cased telescoped 2 caseless telescoped.
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lets play some number games.
currently a 30 round loaded AR mag is lets see a .4lb magazine + 1.015 for a 30 round load of conventional nato = 1.415 pounds.
The Target Weight intended for the XM8 Program back in 2003 or so was 5.7 pounds for a 12.5 inch barrel baseline carbine. The end weight resulted was 7.5 ( I am guessing Loaded ) . a loaded M4A1 is the same weight sans any optic (XM8 had one built in). The lightest AR I know of is the
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which is 3.6 pounds (11 inch barrel) but load it with ammo and it's back up to 4.85 pounds now just for kicks image that same 3.6 pounds but using a LSAT Ammo type lets keep the magazine at .4lbs now 30 rounds of LSAT Cased Telescoped .64lbs = 1.04 pounds +3.6 pounds of rifle = 4.64 pounds. That's a lighter then the XM8's target ( even if you add a inch and a half worth of barrel) . Less then the empty weight of a MK18 (5.88 pounds empty) in fact that is less then the 6.6 pounds of a FN P90. in fact that is about half a pound heavier then the HK Mp7A1 Think about that A PDW weight Assault Rifle Carbine.
The latest known on the LSAT Carbine is that the Army is keeping it the same weight as the M4 but with a 15.5 inch barrel. Its all still developmental not prime time ready but by 2025
 
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also related to F-35:
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Pentagon leaders are pushing hard to keep up the momentum of the
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. Many in the Navy, though, still look longingly back at the Boeing-built
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, whose St. Louis production line faces closure in
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. There are two independent trends that together could save the St. Louis line and the Navy’s favorite plane.

The first is the
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in
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, a gap most easily filled with more
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, a Hornet variant and the military’s only high-performance jamming aircraft currently in production. (The F-35C, the Navy variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, has some significant jamming capability but won’t be ready for Initial Operational Capability by August 2018, and no later than February 2019.) The second is the accelerated aging of the Navy fighter fleet, a gap most easily filled by
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given recent reductions in the number of F-35Cs the Navy plans to buy.

The Navy has long been ambivalent about the F-35C. “They’re under a lot of pressure from OSD to fall in line on F-35C and they’ll certainly get some,” aviation analyst
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told me, “[but] given the price differential between
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and Super Hornets, and their reluctance to lose their only all-Navy plane, there’s a strong attraction for keeping the [St. Louis] line going as long as possible.”

Ordering either more Super Hornets or more Growlers would keep the line alive, and buying more of one would keep open the option to buy more of the other later. “It happens to be made by the same company,”
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told me. “It’s the same airframe.”

The interlinked issues are complex enough that Greenert and his press aide pulled me aside after today’s Senate Appropriations hearing to make sure I understood what he’d told the subcommittee and other reporters.

First, Deputy Defense Secretary
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is overseeing
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. Since the Growler carries the primary jammer for all four services, that study has particular significance for the Navy, which is worried it won’t have enough jamming capacity. In fact, Greenert had asked the other services to give him their jamming requirements last year, during the development of the 2016 budget request. That analysis didn’t get done in time for February’s budget release, so it got rolled into Work’s wider “strategic portfolio review.”

“That’s an OSD-led thing. It’ll go into the summer review as we build the ’17 budget,” Greenert told me. “My job will be to say, ‘Okay, guys. We didn’t do this last year. We have to get an unambiguous answer on the aircraft.'”

That is, I asked, before the Growler line goes away?

“Yes,” Greenert said emphatically.

In parallel to Work’s review is a separate, parallel Navy process to figure out how to fix the Navy’s aging fighter fleet. After all the disruptions of 2013 — “
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… a hiring freeze…
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…no overtime,” Greenert recounted — the military’s maintenance depots fell badly behind. For Navy and Marine aircraft, that backlog was compounded by the discovery that the fleet’s oldest fighters, the F-18A, B, C, and D “legacy” Hornets, had suffered more corrosion and required more repair work than the service had planned on.

Before 2013, the Navy had planned an ambitious program to keep some of the A/B/C/D Hornets flying for 10,000 hours — an impressive 67 percent increase from the 6,000 hours the aircraft were designed to last. But since the 2013 sequester, the depots just can’t fix up the old fighters fast enough. That means fewer legacy F-18A/B/C/D Hornets were available for operations and training, which means the newer F/A-18E/F Super Hornet had to fly more hours, which in turn means the Super Hornets started wearing out faster than planned. Overall, Greenert estimates, the Navy might eventually end up short as many as three fighter squadrons, about 36 aircraft.

The depots are picking up the pace (which will end if
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strikes again), but it will take until roughly May next year to figure out the full extent of the problem, Greenert told me. “15 months,” he said. “I think it’ll take me about that long to really look at the Hornet situation, to determine how’re we doing at getting these legacy Hornets — the A through D [models] — out of the depots [and] back into the fleet, so that they’re taking the pressure off the Super Hornets.”

In theory, the Navy has two options. It could retire some of the oldest legacy Hornets ahead of time and replace them with additional Super Hornets, which also would make up for existing Super Hornets that will wear out early from the current pace of operations. Or the Navy could replace legacy Hornets with
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.

The problem with the F-35 option, however, is that the program is behind schedule and the Pentagon has already slowed the pace of production in its current budget plan. The Super Hornet, by contrast, is currently in production — as is the Growler.

The Navy likes this two-pronged, two-plane approach. Unlike
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, which has bet everything on the F-35’s ability to do both physical and electronic attacks, the Navy prefers to keep building specialized fighters like the Super Hornet and specialized jammers like the Growler.

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, Greenert said, but that doesn’t mean F-35s can adequately protect other aircraft. While
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s the F-35’s combination of stealth and electronic warfare capability are superior to the Growler for the first days of a major war, the Navy thinks that such a
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is precisely where
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.

“When [F-35] goes out unto itself…they’re fine on electronic attack,” Greenert told reporters after today’s hearing. “When they gather together in a package” — that is, multiple types of aircraft, stealthy and unstealthy, operating together — and you need
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, then…
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, they can expand that beyond what an individual F-35 will do.”

The huge importance that Pentagon leadership places on the F-35, however, makes it politically difficult for the Navy to fund what’s seen as competing aircraft. Air Force leaders argue the F-35 is able to provide directed cyber and electronic warfare capabilities the Growler’s pods cannot match; in fact, they say, the Growlers’ pods are too powerful and unsubtle in some situations. But it is the Super Hornet that really is going head-to-head with the F-35, since both are fighters.

“In terms of military need, the Navy has so far made a reasonable case that additional EA-18Gs could prove useful in the future,” one Hill staffer said. “[But] restarting the F/A-18E/F line would likely be seen as putting Navy F-35C production rates at risk, so I would expect that to be a major fight inside the Pentagon.”
etc., from:
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Brumby

Major
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The planned approach of using cost plus for the LRS-B program is not a good idea in my view. There is no incentive nor penalty to keep within budget. The target of $550 million per plane looks to be at risk before the program has even started. The main reason for not using fixed price contract is that there is no good handle on cost given that the program is dealing with cutting edge technology. Both statements are rather contradictory and delusional when read to its conclusion - unfortunately.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
also related to F-35:
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etc., from:
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It seems obvious that Admiral Greenert is NOT a firm believer in stealth, but does like "burning down" the other guys signals with that Growler. Me thinks he is conflicted, actually I think he's missing it, one of the reasons the sec-def and joint chiefs blew the F-22 off, they just don't get-it??? Ground-pounders????
 

Brumby

Major
It seems obvious that Admiral Greenert is NOT a firm believer in stealth, but does like "burning down" the other guys signals with that Growler. Me thinks he is conflicted, actually I think he's missing it, one of the reasons the sec-def and joint chiefs blew the F-22 off, they just don't get-it??? Ground-pounders????

My reading of the article suggest to me that the CNO is a firmer believer in full spectrum electronic warfare because of the likely task that they will be assigned. Given that their strike packages are likely a mix of F-18/F-35, it is their belief that being able to dominate the full spectrum will enhance their mission effectiveness. I think both sides have their own compelling reasons.
 

Bernard

Junior Member
Coast Guard Working With Canadians, Finns on Future Icebreaker Design
By:
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March 6, 2015 7:30 AM • Updated: March 5, 2015 9:47 PM
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U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea

The Coast Guard is in consultation with the Canadians and Finnish ship designers on technology that could end up in a future U.S. icebreaker, the service’s assistant commandant for acquisitions said on Thursday.
“We’re working very closely with the Canadians and the Finns because there’s a small technological base of real ice breaking experts in the world,” Rear Adm. Bruce Baffer said at the .
“We’re trying to keep from recreating the wheel whenever we can.”

Last month, commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft said an independent analysis commissioned by the service determined that the service needed 6 icebreakers to meet the needs of the Coast Guard — three medium and three heavy.

Though the service has vocalized the need , how the Coast Guard reaches the goal is still an open question.

“It’s going to be more difficult. The acquisition strategy — we’re thinking though that strategy and how can we make it as affordable as possible,” he said.
“But the icebreaker is going to be a real acquisition challenge for us on how we do that.”

The service’s current top acquisition priority is the 25-ship offshore patrol cutter (OPC) — a potential $11 billion program.

“The problem is with the icebreakers it doesn’t fit into the capital investment plan with OPCs,” Baffer said.
“It’s a lower priority for the commandant than OPCs and getting that offshore capability.”

Baffer said the affordability challenges were two-fold — “just because of the number of ships [and the] industrial base,” he said.
“We haven’t built a heavy icebreaker since 1975.”

Russia, in comparison, has almost 40 icebreakers and up to 12 under construction.

Currently the Coast Guard has two operational icebreakers — heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) and medium icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB-20). The National Science Foundation also leases a research icebreaker — Nathaniel B. Palmer.

The Coast Guard will evaluate in the next year if laid up USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB-11) could be affordably reactivated.

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My question is the U.S just doesn't want to spend the money on a new Ice breaker? Like the article said, why don't they bring in all the nations that are around the arctic circle? (except Russia ofc). And all build the same set of ships for each country to bring costs down. A heavy, medium, light, design. And each order how many they deem their country needs.
 
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Silvestre said:
How much cost all Apache in US Military? Maybe under 900 st nowadays. How bring down to 240 it's writes in another forum. The future plannes just over Japan, China and Russia set of attack helicopters.
Sivestre, your comment in response to Benard's question/comment about Ice Breakers...had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what he said!

You talked about Apache helicopters when responding to Ice Breakers.

It makes no sense...so I deleted it.

This is a US Military NEWS Thread. Comment on US Military News articles that are posted...or post your own breaking US Military News articles.

It is not a place to make inane comments to other people that have nothing to do with what they posted.

Thanks.

DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MODERATION.
 
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