What kind of weapons, gear are being shown to special operation forces
AUTRYVILLE —The latest in military weapon support and tactical gear was on display Thursday at The Range Complex, a privately owned shooting range in Cumberland County.
Demonstrations of the gear were part of Modern Warfare Week, held locally by the nonprofit Global SOF Foundation.
From suppressors to thermal gear to a virtual missile training system, here’s a look at what was on display.
Suppressors
Sig Sauer Inc. was awarded a five-year contract to supply the U.S. Special Operations Command with an upper suppressor for the M4A1 rifle, and Surefire has provided the command with suppressors since 2011.
Also referred to as silencers or mufflers, suppressors help reduce the sound and flash from firearms.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab started experimenting with suppressors in 2016. By December 2020, the Marines started fielding suppressors for its infantry, reconnaissance and special operation units to use on M27, M4 and M4A1 rifles.
At Thursday’s demonstration, Michael Windfeldt, president and CEO of Maxim Suppressors, displayed a few of his company’s suppressors.
“The next wave of all weapons are going to be suppressed in the military in the future, just like all cars have mufflers,” Windfeldt said.
Windfeldt said the equipment, which attaches to rifles and helmets, helps cut down on the noise of gunfire, which has led to hearing loss for some service members.
Virtual Stinger
BlueHalo has supplied Army air defense artillery units with its virtual Stinger trainers.
Justin Litko, a 3rd Special Forces Group veteran and BlueHalo vice president of special operation forces relations, was at Thursday’s demonstration with the virtual trainer.
Litko said some physical missile systems can cost up to $60,000 per shot, and the virtual system eliminates cost while providing training.
The system, he said, is also used in the Special Forces weapons sergeant course.
Jimmy Sneed, BlueHalo’s program manager for defense, said about 110 of the systems are fielded in the Army and Marines.
“It saves on their training time and then they can reevaluate and recertify without using a real missile and (it) simulates real live fire,” Sneed said.
Modular munition system
While not yet used by service members because of being recently developed, MMS Products Inc.'s modular munition system called Mjölnir has multi-functions, said Tim Dunnigan, a retired Army infantry officer and CEO of MMS Products.
Dunnigan said the system was created after multiple trips to Ukraine.
“It’s used for de-mining from a humanitarian perspective in cooperation with drones, but it also has warfighting applications,” he said.
The system, he said, is drone agnostic, meaning it can attach to any drone system.
It is able to burst 3 meters above the ground or detonate on impact.
Dunnigan said the system doesn’t come with explosives, allowing users to choose plastic, general purpose or liquid explosives, and its canister could also be used for medical supplies.
A version of the system that resembles a Nerf football can also be used for dropping underground sensors, he said.
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Thermal optics
Thermal weapon sights, which allow soldiers to detect targets during all weather or obscured conditions by using uncooled, forward-looking infrared technology, aren’t new to the Army
Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced last year that it received a $579 million, five-year contract to produce the Army’s next-generation thermal weapon sights.
At Thursday’s demonstration, Travis Mitchell, a Marine veteran and vice president of development at Pixels on Target, showed the company's VooDoo multi-mission thermal sights, which have been awarded subcontracts for the Defense Logistics Agency.
Mitchell said the thermal sights “picks up all the heat down range,” and can be used day or night and don’t need a laser.
“ A lot of the night vision if don’t have enough light, they have to illuminate it, so now bad guys can see them,” he said. “The Army is slowly getting away from using lasers on the battlefield because it’s giving them away.”
Mitchell said the VooDoo thermal can be used on weapons or put on helmet mounts and also has zoom capabilities to detect 2,500 meters out.
Small aerial munition launcher
Nammo Defense Systems Inc. was awarded a nearly $500 million contract in 2021 to provide the Army with M72 light anti-armor weapons and components for shoulder-launched munitions training systems.
The M72 was on display Thursday attached to an Alare Tech BLADE small unmanned aircraft system.
Carlos Miralles, president of Alare Tech, said attaching the weapon to the aircraft creates a “rocket launcher” effect.
BLADE is designed for long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions while allowing for precision fires, Miralles said.
Miralles said it can be used with any radio system that is 6-9 miles away and can fly for 40 minutes with weapons or 80 minutes for missions
“The operator actually doesn’t have to aim it at all,” he said. “They can just point up at what they want to hit.”
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Top 5 tactical gear items shown during Modern Warfare Week
