Intense, excitement and fun are most of the words that start to describe the way in which two parachute riggers from the 101st Sustainment Brigade “Task Force Lifeliner,” 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), feel as they prepare for sling load operations. Spc. Vonza Abney, a local of Hinesville, Ga., and Pfc. Hanook M. Chi, a local of Seoul, South Korea, arrive every morning prepared to stand the wild and chaotic rotor-wash as a way to sustain Soldiers through sling load operations. As the aircraft hovers above these two riggers able to pick up the cargo, the warriors brace themselves against... Read More »

The primary Lockheed Martin HC-130J Combat King II to be assigned to Air Combat Command’s (ACC) 347th Rescue Group at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., was ferried from the company’s Aeronautics facility located here. Maj. Gen. H. D. Polumbo, Jr., commander, Ninth Air Force, Air Combat Command, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., flew the Super Hercules (Lockheed Martin aircraft serial number 5725) to Moody AFB. The Lockheed Martin HC-130J Combat King II is the U.S. Air Force’s only dedicated fixed-wing personnel recovery platform and is flown by ACC and Air Education and coaching Command. This C-130J variant, which replaces existing... Read More »

A Russian company is developing nanotechnology that could allow production of sunshine-weight ceramic armor for the army and police as early as by the tip of 2015, the Izvestia newspaper said Tuesday. Ceramic armor plates manufactured with using boron carbide powder might be used to make bulletproof vests, armor protection for combat vehicles or even for combat aircraft as they might be four times lighter than the prevailing armor plates. “The effectiveness of protection…will be 5-6 times higher than that of existing armor while the worth will drop by as much as 25 percent when compared with existing models,” Izvestia... Read More »

The Usa has delayed plans to produce Egypt with another four F-16 fighter jets because of unrest gripping the rustic, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. “Given the present situation in Egypt we don’t believe it’s appropriate to maneuver forward at the moment with the delivery of F-16s,” spokesman George Little told reporters. “We remain committed to the u. s. -Egypt defense relationship because it remains a foundation of our broader strategic partnership with Egypt and serves as a pillar of regional stability,” he said. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel informed Egypt’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of the verdict in... Read More »

The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement weapon system is now in development. But by this time next year, the system might have moved into low-rate initial production and if this is the case, will lose the experimental “X” prefix. Lt. Col. Shawn Lucas, the PEO Soldier program manager for individual weapons at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., said the XM25 is currently within the “engineering and manufacturing development phase,” not yet ready for fielding. “That’s where we’re developing the subsystems, which might be the weapon, the hearth control, and the programmable ammunition,” he said. “[We’re] integrating all of it to interact on... Read More »