Articles by Herschel Smith

AF.mil.

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. —  The 422nd and 59th Test and Evaluation Squadrons proved that modern-day armored vehicles equipped with Explosive Reactive Armor are vulnerable to the A-10C Thunderbolt II’s GAU-8 Avenger. This first-ever test was conducted at the Nevada Test and Training Range, February 14-25, 2022.

Each test mission included a two-ship of A-10Cs employing armor piercing incendiary rounds against two surrogate main battle tanks equipped with ERA. The pilots varied attack parameters and direction in order to evaluate weapons effects against the up-armored targets.

Through post-shot analysis of video, photo imagery, and visual inspection of the targets, analysts were able to ascertain the battle damage inflicted upon the tanks and determine that the tanks were rendered inoperative.

“A typical A-10 gun employment uses 120 rounds, which means an A-10 is capable of employing fires on nine to ten targets before exhausting its gun munitions,” said Maj. Kyle Adkison, 422nd TES A-10C division commander. “Against large fielded forces, A-10 formations are capable of engaging nearly 40 armored vehicles with 30 millimeter munitions. That’s a significant amount of firepower.”

In addition to 30mm gun rounds, the test also collected data on AGM-65L Maverick and AGR-20E Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System effectiveness against armored vehicles.

“This has been an ongoing test effort since the idea originated in 2020,” said 1st Lt. Christopher Earle, 59th TES A-10C operations test analyst. “Now that it’s come to fruition and proven successful, we will work towards testing other types of anti-armor munitions in the Air Force inventory against ERA and collect more data.”

The A-10 is well suited for Agile Combat Employment roles, and this test proves the A-10 can continue to deliver massive rapid firepower with devastating effects on enemy vehicles in a contested environment.

For all the folks who say that sexy-jet so-and-so is better, there is no jet in the USAF that can do what the A-10 does.  For its purposes, it rules the skies.

Via WiscoDave.

And in high winds.

At Outdoor Life.

The only one that holds any interest for me is the CZ.

It was more accurate than a number of rifles costing twice as much (or more). The average 5-shot group from the Alpha measured .814 inches, with a number of groups measuring less than .75 inches.

The best part is the price point: $749.

Tell me this isn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever seen. In another life and another possible world I might have been an A-10 pilot.

Oh, and by the way, only fools want to retire the A-10. It’s the coolest aircraft flown by the USAF. I would request this job over any other.

Our buddy Andy at Practical Accuracy has some thoughts on the M4 replacement (Next Gen Squad Weapon) we’ve recently discussed.

Make sure to watch it all, and some of the comments are interesting too.

David Petzal has some thoughts on the use of backup iron sights for the user of optics.

This is a breezy read-through on a number of related things like how to mount scopes in order to get them off quickly if you really want to be able to use iron sights, various types of iron sights and how to protect them in the field, and so on.

I think being flip-up sights on an AR style rifle suits that particular need very well.

I found it informative.

Military.com.

The new guns and ammunition the Army just married and is expected to issue to combat arms units within the next decade will require soldiers to carry an even heavier load.

But information on how those weapons should outperform the guns they’re replacing — the justification for troops to shoulder extra weight on top of mountains of gear already injuring soldiers — is classified.

In April, the Army announced that Sig Sauer will produce replacements for the M4 rifle and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW, starting with a trial run of about 40 new guns late next year. Production is expected to ramp up when the Army opens a new ammo plant to produce the new 6.8mm rounds for those weapons around 2026.

Army officials have touted that the new XM5, the M4’s replacement, and XM250, set to replace the SAW, pack a much harder punch and will improve the combat performance of ground troops. But thus far, the service has declined to disclose evidence that those weapons outperform the M4 and SAW, including how far they can shoot accurately. And it’s unclear whether the Army has verified the ranges at which those new weapons can engage an enemy before committing to a multimillion-dollar contract.

[ … ]

The M4, the Army’s current standard-issue rifle used in the post-9/11 wars, can effectively engage targets at 500 meters. The SAW can suppress targets at around 800 meters.

For comparison, the standard-issue rifle for the Chinese military is the QBZ-95, which has a maximum effective range of 400 meters for a target.

Carrying weightier ammunition and less of it is a defeater for the notion of an area suppression weapon to begin with.  It verges on having another medium machine gun (the M240 as opposed to the light machine gun, the M249).

I suppose I should modify the statements above with the observation that the light machine gun is usually used by a single infantry fighter regardless of the fact that it is considered a “crew served weapon,” and the medium machine gun is in actual fact a crew served weapon.

I predict this won’t change a thing regarding the lethality of the armed forces, and that they should have focused on military and physical training rather than diversity.

They’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

If they really wanted to return to increased lethality, perhaps they should consider a legitimate role for grenadier in each squad again using the M79 rather than the shorter under-the-barrel design.

Via WiscoDave.

I could probably watch him dig a ditch and make it interesting.  On top of that, I learned something.

Via PJM.

See also Townhall.

See also Daily Wire.

I suspect the leak was from a clerk of one of the communist justices, and perhaps by a clerk for Roberts.  I also expect Roberts to side with the communists.

The intent, of course, is to pressure the court to change, and/or to pressure Congress for a law in order to render the decision moot.

If the Congress becomes involved, I expect some states will ignore Congress and do what they want.  Then I expect Congress to withhold funds for all sorts of things, after which those states will further separate from FedGov.

Some states will keep it, of course, and some states will legalize worship services to Baal on the steps of their capitols while they kill babies in vats of boiling oil.

The Balkanization of America will continue apace, and issues such as gun rights, abortion and taxes will continue to render decisions made in Washington less relevant.  You get to pick your state.

If the majority stands strong, this isn’t a huge win on the national level, but it is for states who will now determine what sort of society they want to live in.

The difficulty here is that a Balkanized America isn’t separated by geography so much. The admixture is ready-made and tailored for conflict, I’m afraid, with neighbors and cities right down the road from each other finding themselves on far different sides of all of these issues.

Be careful. This is a setup for the country to tire of the conflict and demand for a strong man (or a stronger centralized government) to step in and bring peace on earth and global income for all men.

News your betters aren’t even trying to hide any more.

Many people are still blissfully unaware of what has happened, but the global food supply has been largely taken over by the oligarchs, including financial giants BlackRock and Vanguard.

It turns out that BlackRock and Vanguard have been gradually gobbling up ownership of the means of production, and now intend to lord it over the masses by centralizing all food production technologies in the United States and enslaving everyone under their control.

The top three shareholders of CD Industries Holdings, the world’s largest fertilizer company, include both BlackRock and Vanguard. BlackRock and Vanguard are also the top shareholders in Union Pacific, the railroad giant that moves fertilizer and other agriculture inputs all across the country.

The world’s top 10 food companies are also largely owned by both BlackRock and Vanguard. These include Nestlé, PepsiCo, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Associated British Foods, Mondel?z, Mars, Danone, Unilever, and Coca-Cola.

“What happens when they control all of the seeds, produce, and meat too?” asks Corey’s Digs.

“What happens when produce and meat are all grown inside secured facilities after a gene splice or inside a petri dish, and farmland becomes dormant due to overreaching regulations, lack of supplies, and manufactured inflation?”

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says “it’s time to force people’s behavior to change.”

BlackRock and Vanguard’s influence over CF Industries Holdings and T. Rowe Price Associates is having a major and direct impact on farming in the Midwest. It is also important to note that Union Pacific recently began mandating railroad shipping reductions of 20 percent, further impacting American agriculture.

“This will directly impact key agricultural areas such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and California,” Corey’s Digs adds. “This will ultimately affect food supply and pricing. CF Industries is only one of 30 companies dealing with these restrictions.”

That isn’t all.  They’re after homes as well.

Blackrock is buying every single family house they can find, paying 20-50% above asking price and outbidding normal home buyers. Why are corporations, pension funds and property investment groups buying entire neighborhoods out from under the middle class? Lets take a look. Homes are popping up on MLS and going under contract within a few hours. Blackrock, among others, are buying up thousands of new homes and entire neighborhoods.

Read the entire thread.  We already knew this because of friends in the real estate market.  Don’t believe for a second that housing prices are simply this high because of natural demand.  The demand is artificial, created by gigantic corporations out to destroy the middle class.

You see, when the middle class can no longer afford homes, they must rent.  If they rent, they don’t improve their property.  No one spends money to improve property they don’t own.

This turns large swathes of middle class neighborhoods into middle class ghettos.

They want people to live where they tell them to, never own, and eat what they tell them to.

This is all by design.  This is warfare as surely as artillery strikes.