If I hark back to the days of the Wild Wild West, during the heydays of American machismo otherwise known as Manifest Destiny, I can only think of the ever popular shoot out.  The quick and dead, the fast draws, the lawlessness, and the cowboys.  Don’t be misled about the speed of the draw though, the quickest isn’t always the victor, one must be on target to be left standing alive.  What a timeless lesson we’ve learned.

Today on the battlefield, many people are killed by rifles of various design.  Fortunately, most people are killed by the well-designed weapons employed by the US Military. …

The omnipresent adjudicator hovering over the skies of Iraq can deliver heinous death at any waking instant.  You are taking a stroll down the street, plotting some terrorist attacks in your imagination, and suddenly, without ever feeling a thing, you are reduced to a full sized human splatter pattern.  The reality is, only you know for sure what you were really wanting, thinking, taking, doing…better shape up for the eyes in the sky.These dealings in death, the fine line between reality and the ability to play god with the lives of lesser men, are made possible by the ubiquitous ATK M230 Chain…

The Carbon 15 pistol is a firearm similar in design to an ArmaLite AR-15 or the Colt M4 Carbine. The main differences between the Carbon 15 “pistol” and actual M4 is the absence of the shoulder stock and the fully automatic option. You don’t really want or need full auto though, because the Carbon 15 is not designed for suppressive fire, likewise, the red dot sight fitted on the accessory rail optimizes this weapon for close quarter personal defense-ideal for confined spaces.

We got the chance to let off some rounds with one of these bad boys not too…

“We need some options on the table!” Yells a military commander sitting in the Pentagon.

“How about the option to hit them with stealth cruise missiles, sir?”  Says a lowly defense analyst in the back. 

“What did you say!?” Screams the general.

“Well sir, we can just have our jets launch these JASSM cruise missisles from about 230 miles out sir.  No one is put at risk but them, and they cost $300,000 less than Tomohawk missiles.  We’ll save some money and take out the targets.”

“Brilliant! Order the strikes.  What did you say your name was?  How would you like me to take…

V22 Osprey

Manufacturer: Boeing [NYSE: BA]

Obviously, getting troops to the battlefield as quickly as possible is a paramount concern for military planners. Choppers can carry many troops, but really can’t fly very far or fast. Planes can get troops there quickly, but where can you launch transport planes without a runway? Aircraft carriers are too small, nevermind the deck of an amphibious assault ship. Clearly, a solution is needed for high speed troop transport in a scenario of limited runway space. Necessity is the mother of all…

The LCAC, short for Landing Craft Air-Cushioned, is the beastly hovercraft used by the United States Marine Corps.  This ship is designed to transport supplies, vehicles, and troops to the shore from a Wasp class assault ship or other dock-landing/amphibious cargo ships participating in an amphibious assault.  These huge hovercraft can travel at up to 40 knots (46 mph), and have 2 machine gun emplacements and additionaly weapon mounts that can support additional machine guns or 40 mm grenade launchers.  There really isn’t a huge demand for armaments on this ship, as it will hit the shores after the

Northrop Grumman’s integrated collaboration environment featuring TouchTable technology, creates a high-definition interactive display to facilitate viewing and manipulation of complex geo-spatial data for a wide range of applications including national security. TouchTable responds to intuitive gestures made by the user, sensing the location of points that are touched. Moving a hand across the surface of the screen pans the display, moving hands apart or together zooms the image.

Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle

Manufacturer: Boeing [NYSE: BA]

In support of the Marine Corps’ beyond the horizon approach for amphibious assaults of the future, many different assets must come together to get the job done. First up was the Wasp Class Amphibious Assualt Ship, which is the launch-platform for many different crafts to get troops, supplies, and firepower to the shores of the enemy. Emerging from the belly of the Wasp: I will introduce the Marine Corps’ Expiditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), a burly upgrade to the dated Amphibious Assualt Vessel (AAV) of times past. The EFV has…

The SU-47 is an amazing looking aircraft, especially while in flight. Nicknamed the Golden Eagle, the SU-47 has a reduced radar signature, thrust vectoring, advanced fly-by-wire technology, and most notably a very unique forward swept wing design. The Sukhoi SU-47 is extremely maneuverable at subsonic speeds and has a maximum speed of mach 1.6. The SU-47 can carry a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions.

Many sources try to compare the SU-47 to the F-22 Raptor. In reality, the F-22 Raptor is in a class of its own. Check out a video of the…

If you are a regular here at Future Firepower then I am sure you have heard of the MOAB or Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, coined the Mother of All Bombs. The MOAB is an eight ton non-nuclear weapon with a 450 foot blast radius. What you might not have heard is that Russia has recently unveiled the “Father of All Bombs” which is said to have a 900 foot blast radius, double what the MOAB boasts. Until the Russian military unveiled the FOAB the MOAB was the…