Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman [NYSE: NOC]
Sometimes I have trouble controlling myself when it comes to some of this stuff. I have seen it before on TV, but just simply haven’t gotten around to writing about it. I’m talking about the awe-inspiring Fire Scout UAV helicopter. A remote control helicopter capable of autonomous take-off, landing, and flight, it really just makes me giddy. Not to mention that this death machine’s release was coupled with an upgrade to the Hydra 70 rockets typically fired from the rocket pods mounted on Ah-64 Apaches. Now they’re laser-guided. …

At Future Firepower we always keep the latest breaking news on the newest weaponry available to the United States Military and its allies. On top of following the technological advancements in weapons systems of the US, we also like to introduce the military capabilities of nations throughout the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China has some very advanced weapons systems. Ballistic missiles and missile defense programs are paramount in Chinese military planning with the PLA carrying a number of advanced bombs and missiles. Everything from mobile artillery howitzers, to high-tech tanks such as the Type-99 and the lighter…

Accuracy International AS50
This awesome weapons represents the British attempt at designing the worlds greatest sniper rifle. Similar in design and features to the Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle, the Accuracy International AS50 certainly exhibits the pinnacle of futuristic sniper rifle engineering. The greatest difficulty to overcome when designing a rifle of such high caliber is how to effectively and efficiently disperse the recoil, and the AS50 employs a free-floating barrel with a dual chamber muzzle brake to accomplish this feat. One important thing to note about this rifle though, is that it is truly designed…

The video below shows the multiple Launch Rocket System developed by Lockheed Martin in action in slow motion. The Guided MLRS (GMLRS) rocket is being developed under an international cooperative program with the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany. GMLRS will have a global positioning system aided inertial guidance package integrated in a rocket body. Additionally, small canards on the guided rocket nose will add basic maneuverability to further enhance the accuracy of the system.

Click here to open the video in a new Window

For more information about the MLRS or Multiple launch…

The Barrett M107 BMG .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle

Manufacturer: Barrett Firearms Company

Considering the physics behind sniper rifle technology, the rule is: the larger the projectile the greater the accuracy and destructive power. Thats why arms manufacturers have recently developed new sniper rifle designs that rapidly fire .50 caliber rounds, which are powerful enough to take out lightly armored vehicles.

A .50 caliber machine gun can typically be found mounted on top of HMMVS and armored vehicles, but Barrett has taken the concept in a different direction: long distance and stealthy destruction. Destruction is an interesting word in itself, which literally implies to…

Surface to Air Missiles or SAM’s are a crucial addition to every countries military force. Being able to defend against air attacks from ballistic missiles, bombers, and fighters, gives any military an advantage over their adversary. The Patriot surface-to-air missile is an incredible weapon that is very precise in shooting down incoming munitions or aircraft. The patriot Missile is produced by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. The patriot is in service in a number of countries including Kuwait, Germany, Greece, Israel, and of course the United States. The range of the missile is 70 Km, and…

Ever wonder how the Military tracks and defends from air threats such as mortars, artillery, and other missiles?

Within seconds, the AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar system detects and backplots adversary weapons and provides pinpoint targeting information for the counterattack. The medium range Weapon Locating Radar in the Firefinder Family. The TPQ-36 automatically locates enemy medium range mortars, artillery and rocket launchers allowing pinpoint counter fire to be brought to bear. In use by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and by nations worldwide.

The Firefinder developed by Northrop Grumman is a very technologically advanced land based radar system…

STRYKER ARMORED VEHICLE
Manufacturer: General Dynamics [NYSE: GD]
The latest production to roll out en masse from General Dynamic’s war factories is the Stryker Armored Vehicle. Since the Iraq War has evolved into the constant urban battle with the Muslim insurgency, America has since devised some innovations to armored vehicle design to increase the lethality and deployability of urban combat teams. These newer urban combat teams have been built around a doctrine described as the Brigade Combat Team, which aims to incorporate the latest in situational awareness electronics with increased firepower and protection in the urban environment. For example, the Stryker…

A division of the Future Combat Systems, The Future Force Warrior will be deployed on the battlefield in the year 2010. The headgear of the Future Force Warrior alone is a mouthful so I will leave it up to the Future Force Warrior development team who describe it as

the situational awareness hub of the system. It would include integrated tactical processing by providing maps, routes, and data with a 180° emissive visor display, high bandwidth wireless communications, microelectronic/optics combat sensor suite that provides 360° situational awareness, and integrated small arms protection.

On top of the advanced head gear,

…

Manufacturer: General Dynamics [NYSE: GD]

Some countries excel in the creation of different things. It just so happens that the US excels in the creation of the machines of war. Aside from being the richest country in the world and having the Cold War spurring the development of said military technology, the Abrams tank was truly a revolutionary design when unveiled in the 80s. Despite whatever claims that certain tank exporting countries have about their newly designed next-generation tanks, none of them, aside from a distant second with the British Challenger 2 main…