By Tom Demerly.
NOTE: This story is fiction based on news accounts. It does not contain factual depictions of any events from official sources.
10:17 Local (15:17 UTC), Monday, 7 October 2013, Administrative Offices, Triple Five Group, Mall of the Americas, Bloomington, Minnesota, United States.
Bob Davis felt a chill race up his spine and down his arms. He saw his hands tremble on the desk in front of him. His ironic sense of humor kicked in when he thought, “Well, Bob, that’s why they call it terror-ism.” He looked at the two men sitting across from him, their mouths moving, but he didn’t hear the words for a second. He forced himself to tune back in to their meeting despite a feeling that this couldn’t be real. It was like walking onto the pages of a Clancy novel.
“…Possibly V-IED’s in the parking lots, ah, that means vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, a car or truck bomb, like Timothy McVeigh used on the Federal Building, if you recall… There could be some form of crude, locally produced chemical weapon; chlorine gas, something like that. Those have big shock value with the media. There definitely will be explosives and assault weapons used. They can source that equipment locally and may already have from gun shows around the Midwest. We have agents from the Bureau and the ATF at those shows. Even the NRA people have been helping us, but we can’t catch everything.”
Bob Davis manages operations for the Mall of the Americas in Bloomington, Minnesota. Over the past eight years he has seen women give birth there, the most elaborate shoplifting schemes every devised (and busted), a ring of prostitutes operating in the mall and a coyote that somehow made its way inside the giant shopping center on a busy Saturday night. This was the first time he sat across his desk from two FBI agents getting briefed on plans for a possible Al Qaeda style suicide attack on his mall during Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year in the busiest mall in the United States.
Davis was being briefed by the FBI about possible terrorist attacks at the Mall of the Americas two days after a pair of U.S. special operations raids, one in Libya, and one in Somalia. Sixteen days earlier Al Shabaab militants attacked the Westlake Mall, a U.S. style shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya. The FBI men told Davis it was a miracle only 67 people were killed in the Africa mall attack. Based on the damage to the mall, they felt the toll would have been higher. “Westlake was a test run for Al Shabaab. It was training for them, a field exercise. They won’t make the same mistakes twice.”
The two FBI agents pulled up a file on their tablet computer. “Our estimates of casualties here at Mall of the America in a Black Friday attack are between 400 and 800 killed.” Davis felt the grip of what an attack would mean. The country, the economy, Minnesota, his community, his tenants, his family, his job. He remembered the economic impact from the 9/11 attacks. He was 40 years old then, working for the Taubman Centers back in Michigan. They managed a large number of shopping malls around the U.S. The 9/11 terror attacks had gutted the company’s occupancy in the next five years when the economy tanked. And that hadn’t been a direct attack on a U.S. shopping center. What the FBI agents were describing to Davis now could sink the shopping mall industry in the United States.
“The real damage, though,” Continued the larger agent with the iPad, “will be the broader economic impact on U.S. business. Retail for the holiday season would be destroyed. Even the e-commerce guys, like Amazon.com, would take a hit since people would not only be afraid to shop at a mall, they would be afraid to shop, period, because of concern over another economic crash. This is the new 9/11. It really would be Black Friday”
Bill Davis had one question for the two FBI men, “So, what do we do to make sure this doesn’t happen?”
“Well,” The smaller of the two FBI men said, “We think we may have reduced the capabilities of the attackers to execute their previous plans, but we still need your cooperation here at Mall of the Americas, Mr. Davis.”
“I’m all ears guys.”
02:45 Local (23:45, 2 October UTC), Thursday, 3 October 2013, Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, Headquarters, Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA).
Nine men were arrested in Africa following the Kenyan mall attack. It took a few days for… the authorities… to extract information from those nine men. Taken one at a time none of them provided anything that seemed of much use. But each minor detail they provided, from how they paid for their meals to how they learned to use their weapons, began to congeal into a pattern. When that pattern was fit against the sides of other patterns, now electronically in a basement in Langley, Virginia, there was a horrific conclusion: The U.S. was next.
Once that conclusion was reached the Director of National Intelligence was briefed. He briefed the President, a man deeply embroiled with a domestic political battle when Congress refused to approve economic changes forcing a shutdown of some government offices. The President and his staff were busy with, among other things, trying to manage the first ever White House online flaming campaign via e-mail and social media. Their target was Congress and their intent was to depict them as uncompromising and unreasonable. To his credit as Commander in Chief, when the briefing materials on the Nairobi attacks reached his desk, the President did not delay. He set the wheels in motion via Admiral William H. McRaven at MacDill AFB. McRaven is the ninth man to command the United States Special Operations Command at MacDill, a unified command that coordinates the training, equipment, doctrine and employment of all U.S. special operations units.
McRaven’s units include some of the most sophisticated military intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities in the world. These operate organically to the special operations community, from the field around the world back to MacDill, largely for the purposes of mission planning. The strategic intelligence may flow upward from McRaven’s units, or downward from Langley, but flow it did, in both directions. When the intelligence McRaven’s units had collected was collated with the information garnered from the West Lake Mall attack in Kenya the picture was crystal clear.
A big part of that picture pointed back to a beach house in the Somali coastal city of Barawa.
Force Recon Marines from the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force 12 (SPMAGTF-12) at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, had been training local indigenous forces in the region. They also collected intelligence from them during training. Both special operations and CIA operatives joined the activities related to Somalia at Camp Lemonnier to help with data collection and facilitate better, more context-based interpretation of intel. SPMAGTF Recon Marines had even conducted beach reconnaissance of some areas of the Barawa, Somalia coastline. That hydrographic survey data, combined with signals intelligence, some limited HUMINT (human intelligence from operatives on the ground in the target area), satellite and drone images merged with data from the West Lake Mall detainee interviews.
Back at Camp Lemonnier, at MacDill AFB in Florida, on a ship off the coast of East Africa and in Langley, Virginia, planners held a web conference to review the final plans for a direct action mission to interdict the capability of Al Shabaab to carry out their planned U.S. mall attack.
It was Thursday night. The raid on Barawa was a “go”.
03:50 Local (12:50 UTC), Saturday, 5 October 2013, 473 meters off the coast of Baraawe, Somalia.
High tide hit the rocky beach off Baraawe, Somalia at 04:38 hours under a dim, waxing crescent moon. Just before high tide the incoming tidal current urged the twelve combat swimmers of the Naval Special Warfare Combat Interdiction Group (formerly “SEAL Team 6 or “DEVGRU”) toward the rocky outcrops that lay just off the Somali coast. Swimming along the surface was easy; the black African waters were warm. High clouds filtered what little moonlight there was.
The assault team had left their F470 CRRC boats almost 2 miles off shore to prevent visual detection of the assault boats from land. The boats used sound suppressed motors that were extremely quiet. After dropping off the combat swimmers the rigid inflatable boats immediately turned back out to sea for recovery on a U.S. Navy ship that was even now steaming back toward the coast after the insertion.
The first element of the combat swimmer/assault team would hit the beach, remove their swim fins and floatation vests then cross inland on foot less than a kilometer south of their target, a large beachfront villa on the southern edge of Baraawe. They would turn immediately north toward the objective. This first six-man element of the team moved inland approximately 400 meters toward the concealment of low scrub. The other six-man element lay prone in the gently lapping waves of shallow water just off the beach until the flanking assault element was in place. A series of clicks on their updated, secure AN/PRC-126 radios would signal the first assault team was in place. Then the two teams would move toward the target, a two-story villa where the objective, a high value personnel target named Ahmed Abdi Godane, was supposed to be located.
The two elements of the assault team were in place. The wind was gentle coming just barely off the ocean, it was 71 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun would not rise for another hour and forty minutes. Each member of the second assault element heard the clicks in their headset when the first element got into position. They responded with a single click of the mic button. Then each team member checked right, then left, clearing his field of fire and began a low, quick advance across the beach, trending right or north to the target.
The building was surrounded by low walls on three sides and a high wall at the back. It made sense to go over the lower sections of the walls, enter the courtyard section, assault any threats that were providing security and then conduct the entry. Once the entry began, speed and violence of action was their primary tactic. They had to overwhelm what security may be in place quickly, assault the target building and secure the objective, detain Ahmed Abdi Godane or neutralize him, then exfil the target area. The primary extract route was by helo extraction near a defensible LZ south of the target area. The secondary extract was back out to sea.
Overhead surveillance by an RQ-170 Sentinel drone would provide a live video feed to the command center back at MacDill and help give the Naval Special Warfare operators on the beach a high degree of situational awareness via radio. What the Sentinel video showed now was troubling. There were more personnel between the insertion point and the objective than normal. Within the walled compound itself, no less than eight hot targets could be seen, some of them milling around from target to target as if they were spreading information. Outside, there were more than ten hot spots between the insertion point at the beach and the objective. The insertion would almost certainly involve contact earlier than they planned.
A common feature of operations in this region is that its difficult to tell who is a combatant and who is not from overhead surveillance. The hot spot on the drone feed may be a fisherman rigging his boat to go out at first light, or an insurgent walking a security perimeter armed with an automatic weapon and grenades. Until the assault team got eyes on they would not know from the drone feed. They didn’t have to wait to see to find out.
The insurgents initiated contact with one man firing a single round at one of the SEALs as he moved to a concealed position across the beach to establish the flanking position. The single round alerted every other sentry. The SEAL’s weapons were suppressed. When another assault team member put two rounds into the insurgent it didn’t make enough noise to be heard back at the compound a couple hundred meters away. Nonetheless everyone in the compound was alerted by the single shot, then the silence. Now they were coming outside the wall.
The assault team worked an “L” shaped hasty ambush on the objective, both teams directing controlled fire toward targets they could see. When the volume of returning fire began to increase the SEAL assault team leader radioed for a pair of Viper gunships from an assault ship orbiting off the coast to swing inland for fire support.
The Viper gunships, an upgraded version of the AH-1 Cobra helicopter, overflew the target from the ocean. They banked hard and attacked facing back out to sea to avoid collateral damage from their guns. When the rounds from the AH-1Z Viper ‘s 20 mm cannon hit the compound the result was like cracking open a hornet’s nest. The pilot and gunner could see personnel and vehicles scatter through their Thales Top Owl helmet imagery system. White streaks showed the path of gunfire reaching into the dark to find the assaulters.
Special operations is a fragile craft with a courageous heritage. But the reality is lightly armed men are flung against sometimes heavily fortified targets in inferior numbers. Their primary advantage is speed and violence of action. If their objective is compromised before it can be overwhelmed their chances of success evaporate by the split second. The SEAL assault force commander on the beach knew this well, having operated on both sides of this double-edged sword for a decade. He knew he had men inland a few hundred meters who risked being cut off from the sea extraction route and that securing a landing zone for extraction was, at best, an iffy proposition now.
The assault was compromised before it began. He signaled for mission abort and emergency extraction.
This contingency was well drilled. The beach fire team put 40 mm grenade fire on the target while the inland team broke contact, peeling back toward the sand and the sea. Each man covered the next in a modified version of the classic peel maneuver to break contact. The Vipers overflew the target at high speed and low altitude, this time flying inland and banking left or south, the opposite direction as before, then paralleling the beach on a gun run to cover the SEALs.
Only twenty-five minutes after the first assault element crossed the beach the team was back in the water as their assault boats raced back inland to recover them. After a twenty-minute swim to the east and south the recovery boats spotted the infrared strobes of the assault teams and the recovery was completed. The Vipers left their orbit along the beach just before the SEALs were picked up off shore and the assault force collapsed back out to sea as the sun lit the horizon an angry orange. It would be hours or even days until U.S. assets would know if the target had been compromised in the raid.
The raid on Baraawe to capture Ahmed Abdi Godane did not go as planned. It also was not a failure. While the primary objective was not achieved it may have killed or wounded Godane. If not, it sent a clear message to Godane and his men: The U.S. will cross the beach to get you before you can get us. Regardless of the results on the beach that night in Baraawe that message was sent and received loud and clear.
10:58 Local (15:58 UTC), Monday, 7 October 2013, Administrative Offices, Triple Five Group, Mall of the Americas, Bloomington, Minnesota, United States.
“We’ll have teams of agents operating undercover all the way from the parking lots to the inside of the mall itself.” The FBI agent told Bob Davis. “We need to put some of our people under cover as store employees and mall workers over the weekend too. Prior to the weekend we’ll be installing some additional surveillance equipment outside and inside the mall. We’re pretty sure we know what we’re looking for and this surveillance should prevent any operatives from gaining access to the mall.”
Davis thought he should be reassured. The thought of installing security checkpoints at the entrance and exit to the mall was unthinkable. It would ruin business and attract the wrong kind of media. This softer approach seemed much less… obtrusive. He hoped it was enough. He noticed his hand shake again.
By Tom Demerly for MILTECHREV.com
The Arleigh-Burke cruise missile frigate the USS Mahan (DDG-72).
There are three likely options for a U.S. punitive strike on Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons:
Option 1 is the predictable Tomahawk cruise missile strike. It would likely be launched from the specially equipped USS Stout (DDG-55), the USS Mahan (DDG-72), the USS Ramage (DDG-61), the USS Gravely (DDG-107) and the USS Barry (DDG-933) as they cruise the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast. They would strike the confirmed chemical weapon storage sites with some of their 300+ precision guided UGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV Land Attack Missiles once accurate targeting coordinates (supplied by the Israelis among other assets) are uploaded to the missiles. The destruction will likely be complete and, from a U.S. casualty exposure perspective, antiseptic.
Option 2 is a precision air strike carried out by B-2 Spirit bombers launched (possibly) from Whiteman AFB in the U.S. and supported by French aircraft and assets. This is a complex option for a number of logistical and perceptive reasons. It exposes the expensive B-2’s and their crews to a long flight from Missouri. The mission would require multiple mid-air refuelings along with exposure to risk over the target area.
The B-2 Spirits of the 509th Bomb Wing may be forward deployed closer to the region, at Diego Garcia for instance, as they were to the Philippines during the recent North Korean crisis. That said, B-2’s launched from Whiteman AFB were recently used for precision strikes against Libya. On March 19, 2011, three B-2s of the 509th Bomb Wing struck 45 targets including the airfield at Ghardabiya, Libya. Bomb damage assessment photos showed hardened aircraft shelters at that base were precisely targeted and destroyed by the B-2’s.
The concern with using B-2’s isn’t so much that the Syrians could shoot one down, although their Soviet style integrated air defense network is formidable, it is the complexity of a B-2 raid. A B-2 raid on Syria from Whiteman AFB would likely be over 25 hours in duration. It would cover 12,000+ non-stop flying miles. A benefit of a cruise missile strike compared to B-2’s is, if a Tomahawk missile crashes, no one gets a visit from a chaplain. If a B-2 and its crew are lost that is two terrible messages to deliver and billions in lost technology and training.
Option 3 is the wild card.
A combined French/U.S. special operations team would use intelligence gathered in the previous months by a number of nations, including Israel. The combined task force would infiltrate Syria from the north via land- likely using trucks. They would assault and capture the chemical weapons storage facility with tactical and rotary wing air support, collecting video of the weapons cache- the “smoking gun”for later distribution to news networks . The world would see the verification. The team would perform a match of the stored chemical weapons against those used in the attacks on the Syrian rebels and civilians. There would be minimal exposure to Syrian casualties, good guys and bad, an intact “smoking gun” of captured chemical weapons and a gold star for an administration already renowned for its creativity.
There is no perfect option. Option 1 seems politically antiseptic except for the problem that attacking a chemical weapons cache with cruise missiles risks disbursing the very weapons they are sent to destroy. The US could unwittingly create its own chemical attack. There is also the issue of verification. Tomahawks would make deep, smoking, contaminated craters that could be spun in any number of ways; that there was nothing there, that the strikes spread the weapons even further, that it was, in fact, a pharmaceutical research facility or even that the Tomahawks had carried the gas residue into the target area themselves.
Option 2 is so close to option 1 the line between them is blurred. There is the additional exposure of US aircraft being over Syria. Not that there is much concern over Assad’s forces shooting down a B-2, but more that one may have an in- flight emergency and go down anywhere in the region. Messy. Complex. Same problems as Option 1.
Then there is option 3.
There is a saying that if your favorite tool is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. The President has used this hammer before, and hit the nail on the head. The Bin Laden raid was a similar affair. It wasn’t enough to antiseptically dispatch the target with drones or stealth bombers Bill Clinton style. There needed to be a “body”, a “smoking gun”, although hopefully not literally smoking in this instance. Like the Bin Laden raid, there needs to be an airtight case that the chemical weapons seized are the ones used to kill hundreds s of Syrian rebels and civilians. There needs to be irrefutable proof.
The hypothetical play out:
In a three-hour meeting on Friday evening at the White House, Option 3 won. A ninety-minute phone call between the U.S. President and British Prime Minister David Cameron put the requisite parties in touch, and the required wheels turning. Parliament voted the British out, the French were still in.
Planning for Option 3 began at Headquarters; United States Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. Directives were issued. The units involved were sent into isolation for planning. The U.S. Army and the Navy had maintained a WMD special operations response capability since 9/11. They had deployed operationally several times, mostly in Iraq for WMD recovery. Their commanders brainstormed ideas using existing mission templates for this contingency. It only took an hour to flush out a viable plan by comparing templates to intel. Thirty hours later the assets were in motion. A key part of the plan was to strike while the news cycle still carried the photos of dead Syrian children on their front pages. In the Internet age the public has a short memory for horror.
The U.S. special operations team inserted into Turkey under various covers as journalists, aid workers and weapons inspectors before launching their raid into Syria.
The U.S. special operations component of the mission would remain entirely classified, as it usually did except in the case of Operation Neptune Spear, which made for darn good Hollywood and bookstore fodder. No one would ever know the details of U.S. ground involvement in this operation, now internally dubbed “Operation Specific Scalpel”. As far as the media was concerned this was a joint operation between a hastily assembled coalition, the Syrian rebels and with “assistance and support” from the U.S. and France.
Israeli intelligence said the missiles used in the mass attack came from the Adra Industrial City complex to the Northeast of Damascus. In an attempt to maintain maximum unattributability Assad’s special chemical strike units had used an indigenously developed short-range attack missile. The Israelis estimated its maximum range to be no more than 30 kilometers.
The mysterious missiles that delivered the chemical weapons were nearly impossible to identify suggesting local production adding to their unattributable nature.
The plan was simple. The U.S. and French Counter WMD Special Operations team would covertly infiltrate Syria using trucks from Turkey. They would drive south toward the target in Adra where they would dismount and begin the assault. The objective was not to destroy the chemical weapon storage facility in Adra but to capture it intact and turn it over to a joint Free Syrian security team who would then grant access to chief chemical weapons inspector Ake Sellstrom’s team via UN disarmament chief Angela Kane.
“Special Operations” are called that because there is always a creative element to them. They don’t fit molds or mission templates exactly. This operation had a lot of sharp edges. Any op involving chemical weapons had an ominous aspect to it.
The assault team decided it would not use protective chemical suits. The suits would not facilitate the need to appear as indigenous personnel. The intelligence suggested they were attacking a storage facility, and that the chemical weapons would be “safed” or not assembled in their delivery state yet since it was dangerous even to store them in that state.
The trucks would deploy the assault team around the perimeter of the storage compound. The assault would open with precision shooters neutralizing guards, vehicles and even attempting to breech locks with their .50 caliber sniper rifles.
Under the cover of the sniper/spotters, four assault teams would approach the facility, one from each side. To prevent a “Mexican firing squad” of deadly crossfire only one assault element would push through the target, from the high ground to the north, breeching the fence line with bolt cutters and breeching charges and then fanning out into the rows of storage buildings while the surrounding snipers provided what overwatch they could. Once the facility was seized the supporting international units would insert via helicopter. Included in their charges would be weapons investigators to verify the presence of the weapons and “fingerprint” the chemicals. They would also take possession of the unique delivery rockets from the U.S. commandos who seized the target.
As news of the seizure by the United Nations forces hit the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and MSNBC the U.S. team would already be extracting back to Lebanon and back to the ships they deployed from.
By Tom Demerly for MILTECHREV.com
The F-35 was unveiled to the media like a new car model or an up and coming pop star. And subjected to similar public vitriol.
You’ve seen posts on Facebook about the new F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter contending it’s a “failure”, “a waste”, “damaging to the environment” and even that “F-35 Basing is a Racial Injustice: New Americans and people of color are disproportionately harmed.” The public vitriol surrounding the F-35 program eclipses any previous defense program.
The discussion begs the question, is the F-35:
A. A costly boondoggle spun as a super plane by the Pentagon “old boy network”?
B. The next ultra-weapons system that will render nation-users invincible?
C. A combat aircraft at the beginning of a typically difficult development program?
The reality is “C”.
Another reality is the F-35 is the first major weapons system to do combat on the battlefield of social media. Social media is a great equalizer among combatants. All you need is a laptop and “friends” to fight a battle with the biggest defense contractors on earth. Whether you are Lockheed or Larry Smith the anti-F-35 activist, every opinion on social media is 800 x 600.
The F-35 in its low-rate initial production phase at Lockheed-Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas assembly facility.
If you add some historical context to the development of military aircraft you see daunting realities. Firstly, the F-35 is actually doing quite well for such an ambitious project. In fact, some of the criticism for what has been described as “delays” may actually be the F-35 program’s primary drawback: too much caution. Partially because the magnifying glass of public opinion has focused so much heat on the F-35 the program has ground slowly ahead with more than the typical degree of caution.
Let’s look at some previous military aircraft development programs and think about how they would fare under “trial by Facebook”.
An early model B-17 Flying Fortress breaks up over Germany in WWII. More airmen died in the first versions of the celebrated bomber than any combat aircraft in WWII.
In WWII my father was a draftsmen for Boeing Aircraft in Seattle, Washington at “Plant 2” near the Duwamish River. His first project was drawing a quickly conceived update to the B-17 Flying Fortress: a chin turret with two forward facing .50 caliber guns. The first eight versions of the B-17 lacked adequate guns to defend themselves from a frontal attack. German pilots quickly learned to attack the B-17 from high and head-on, or “Twelve O’clock High”. The results were catastrophic. Early B-17 crews attacking Germany had better odds of dying than surviving before completing their required 25 missions. In fact, more aircrews from the Allied 8th Air Force died over Europe than all of the Marines killed in the Pacific in WWII. Today the B-17 is remembered as a “great aircraft”. How would Facebook pundits have treated the first eight versions of the B-17 with a record like that?
A B-29 Superfortress crashed into a meat packing plant in Seattle during its secret testing phase. The program was so classified that firefighters and first responders were initially prohibited from entering the crash scene.
My dad was transferred to a top secret project working on a super bomber that would fly too high to shoot down and carry a larger bomb load than the B-17. It was the B-29 Superfortress, a project so secret he wasn’t allowed to tell my mom what he was working on. The B-29 delivered the only nuclear weapons used in combat. It is largely credited with ending the war in the Pacific. But the B-29 was a difficult and dangerous aircraft to operate. It used four Wright R-3350 engines that were prone to overheating, and catching fire. With a full bomb load while straining to get to altitude it was common for the B-29 to have engine fires. The B-29 killed a lot of U.S. flight crews. The engine problem, combined with navigation and bombing accuracy problems encountered from an undiscovered high altitude wind phenomenon called the “jet stream” forced Maj. General Curtis LeMay to order B-29’s to attack Japan from low altitude, well within range of Japanese anti-aircraft guns. To carry more bombs LeMay told his bomber crews to remove their defensive guns and leave their gunners behind, a request some crews ignored according to the definitive account of B-29 operations, Mission to Tokyo by author Robert F. Dorr. What would people have said about the B-29 program on Facebook?
The General Dynamics F-111 was originally intended as a multi-role, do everything aircraft for both the Navy and the Air Force. The Navy dropped it in early development, opting for the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. It ended its largely undistinguished career in service with the Australian Air Force.
More recently, and in an oddly similar program to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, in 1961 former Defense Secretary Robert MacNamara asked for a feasibility study on the development of one aircraft that could perform low-level, supersonic penetration bombing missions into the former Soviet Union and also serve as a fleet defense interceptor launching from aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy. The result was the General Dynamics F-111. The F-111 was never adopted by the navy and served with mixed results in the Air Force. Initial F-111 operations in Vietnam were a catastrophe, with 50% of the aircraft being lost and the Vietnam deployment being halted. The one shining moment for the F-111 came during Operation El Dorado Canyon under the Reagan administration, when F-111’s attacked Libyan airfields in retaliation for Libyan sponsored terrorist attacks on U.S. servicemen. A version of the F-111 never initially envisioned, the EF-111 Raven electronic warfare aircraft, did serve successfully in the early Gulf war but, in general, the entire F-111 program fell well short of its original multi-role, multi-service concept.
These are three examples of aircraft that had major problems eclipsing anything the F-35 faces. But that was a long time ago. We’re not in a major air war with a similarly equipped air force. Technology has come a long way. Engineering tools exist today that were unheard of even in the 1970’s when the current generation of operational combat aircraft were first conceived. And those are some of the reasons the F-35 has been treated unfairly.
The development and production costs of the F-35 are to be shared between a host of nation-users, but the Eurozone crisis and global recession has placed more economic pressure on the program.
When cost estimates for the F-35 were originally drafted much of the development program included the new generation of virtual prototyping and testing. Computational Fluid Dynamics replaced early prototype flight-testing. Finite Elemental Analysis replaced actual strain gauge developmental analysis. The business model for the F-35 included development in the virtual space spread over international economies of many user-nations. Each of these factors left opportunities for a host of variables to act on the program and drive costs up. Some of those variables, such as the European economic crisis, have become a reality.
Another reality is the need for all combat aircraft to evolve significantly over their life span. The F-16, FA-18, AH-1 Cobra and AH-64 Apache are just a few legacy aircraft flying today that have undergone such sweeping updates they only vaguely resemble their original versions. The F-16 now has conformal fuel pallets, different control surfaces and improved sensors installed. One version of the FA-18 has gotten larger wings, new intakes, improved avionics and become an entirely new aircraft called the EF-18 Growler. And then there is the B-52 bomber, the plane that just won’t die. The B-52’s in operation now are older than their flight crews. They were based on lessons Boeing learned from- you guessed it- the B-17 and B-29 development programs my dad worked on in WWII. And the B-52 is still flying. People post photos of them on Facebook now, talking about how amazing an aircraft it is. Social media wasn’t around for the bumpy development years.
U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Russ Clift performed the first F-35B night-time vertical landing aboard the USS Wasp off the Maryland coast last Tuesday, August 13, 2013. The F-35B replaces the aging AV-8B Harrier for the U.S. Marines and the Royal Navy.
The F-35 wasn’t developed in the middle of a world war, but it is being fielded in one of the most volatile periods in history, when enemies use airliners as attack aircraft and superpowers are fielding a new generation of combat aircraft like the Russian T-50 and the Chinese J-20. While it’s unlikely Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad and their radical splinter organizations will field a new- or any- combat aircraft the ability to command the airspace over insurgent controlled territory has kept their doctrine in the Stone Age. It has also helped prevent another 9/11.
The F-35 won’t bring peace to the world. It isn’t the final answer- no single combat aircraft is. It’s likely not even the best combat aircraft ever. But it is a viable next generation multi-role combat aircraft with a degree of information sharing and mission flexibility that can’t be retrofitted to aging current aircraft systems. It is also designed to fight a war we don’t know everything about yet: the next one. And while uncertainty, at a minimum, swirls around the F-35 on the vaunted spaces of social media the one thing that is certain is, that next war will come.
In an official Lockheed-Martin photo, the V-STOL variant of the Lightening II, the F-35B, performs an early vertical landing. Test pilots report that vertical take-off and landing in the F-35B is “extremely easy” compared to the previous AV-8B Harrier it replaces.
By Tom Demerly for MILTECHREV.com.
NSW Publications has released a comprehensive new reference book on all aspects of United States Navy Special Operations titled United States Naval Special Warfare by Greg F. Mathieson Sr. and David Gatley. The book is a large wardroom-table size 13.5 X 10 inch (35.5 cm X 25.5 cm) and is 403 pages long, weighing a hulking 8 pounds. It contains hundreds of new, never published, photos in addition to the original text.
Both an entertaining visual experience and a valuable reference, “Naval Special Warfare” contains accurate insights into SEAL and SWCC equipment from the past, current and even into the future.
The Navy SEAL book category is a crowded one with Amazon.com returning 4,389 results for a search on the book topic “Navy SEALs”. What sets United States Naval Special Warfare apart is its freshness, accuracy and scope. Previous large format photo books on Naval Special Warfare have contained generic, public release official U.S. Navy photos usually seen in numerous publications. United States Naval Special Warfare uses photography we’ve never seen in previous books or publications. Even the photos of historical, older SEAL training and operations in United States Naval Special Warfare are original.
Authors Greg E. Mathieson Sr., (left) and David Gatley (R).
Co-Author/Photographer Greg E. Mathieson Sr. served over a decade in the U.S. Army prior to becoming an expert in defense photography. He is the founder of MAI Photo News Agency, a journalistic resource that specializes in military and tactical photojournalism. Mathieson has published photos in every major, mainstream news publication. His relationship with each branch of the military and his experience as a member of the U.S. Army provide him with a degree of technical insight that, arguably, no other photojournalist currently enjoys. Mathieson’s photos bring this book to life as an engaging and fascinating insight that serves as a strong visual reference.
Co-author David Gatley owns three Pulitzer Prize nominations and has 35 years experience as a professional photographer. He is also a former RAND Corporation analyst for military weapons systems. Gatley owns six tours in the Middle East with deployed combat units. He has also done commercial photography for General Dynamics, Lockheed, ITT Defense and has provided imagery of sensitive material to his clients.
A big part of the appeal of United States Naval Special Warfare is the scope of the subject matter. Topics given short-shift in previous books are examined in detail in Mathieson and Gatley’s book. Of special note are new photos and detailed insights into submersible operations and SEAL delivery vehicles past and present.
We’ve never seen this level of detail and insight into the (previously) secret SEAL Delivery Vehicles.
The book also devotes considerable photography and insights into the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) branch of Naval Special warfare with new insights into their littoral boat technology, operations and the training and history of their crews. While much has been written about the SEAL teams themselves, there is very little available reference material on the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman units.
Mathieson and Gatley’s photography is fresh and original, even in depictions of Naval Special Warfare team operations from a number of years ago.
Most gallery style military books are primarily photo references but Naval Special Warfare backs up the great, original photography with accurate, detailed and in some cases, previously unavailable insights into Naval Special Warfare. Additionally, the text is well written and engaging. Nailing both the photography and the writing in a book that reports on a secretive society is a high bar to clear, and Naval Special Warfare sets the new standard for books on this subject.
Significant attention is given to the special operations “brown water” navy, the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen units in “Naval Special Warfare”.
Finally, if you enjoy well made and archival, library quality paper books the construction of Naval Special Warfare is impressive. The giant book uses a real “case binding” with beautiful quality case cloth on the board outer of the binding with nicely done shoulders on the signatures of the book binding. This is a historical grade binding and printing that can serve as an empirical research resource in libraries.
The cover on our review copy had no paper slip cover, likely because of the elaborate, deeply embossed Naval Special Warfare Insignia.
The cover of the book features a deeply and intricately embossed insignia of the Naval Special Warfare Command and the SEAL qualification badge, the Trident. It looks like something you’d see on a flag pole outside the Phil H. Bucklew Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California.
The book is built with a library quality “case binding” with heavy cloth board cover.
Every aspect of Naval Special Warfare is covered in detail and with currency and authority in Naval Special Warfare. This book is the start point for any literary survey of Naval Special Operations and will be an important title in any collection of books on Naval Special Warfare.
The book is currently sold directly from NSW Publications LLC for a “Printers Promotional Price” of $65.00 with an advertised “List Price” of $98.00.
By Tom Demerly for MILTECHREV.com
- The Multicam Man: Caleb Crye, innovator of Multicam and Crye Precision products made an appearance in his booth and shared a smile. The Crye Precision booth hosted the darling Hot Shots calendar girls making it a popular stop.
Quiet, shy and unassuming, Caleb Crye is like many great innovators. It was a pleasure to meet him in person, and a little tricky to get him to smile for our cameras.
Guy Cramer's innovative camouflage designs include this unusual urban concept that he claimed made it difficult to visually acquire a soldier in an urban setting.
Cramer's visual stealth schemes include the interesting digital pattern on their rep (left) and samples of the proposed new U.S. Army combat uniform scheme on the hangers in the background.
Among the many interesting units we met at 2012 SHOT were these officers from the Royal Dutch Army (left) and a pair of operators from NASA's elite SWAT team that secures our nation's space operations.
Beej Cronin, Mastermind Designer of Kitanica shows us their new 2-Zip Fleece (left) of heavy Polartec 300 Thermalpro and the impressive Kitanica Winter Softshell jacket in windproof and water repellant Polartec Powersheild.
The second tactical apparel innovator we were so impressed by is Vertx. Vertx discreet tactical operator pants are the very best low profile tactical pants we’ve used. The fit, fabric, pattern, pockets and overall features are superb. It’s the tactical pant you can wear without looking… too tactical.
The gem in Vertx’s booth was their new Vertx Multicam Smock. This new version of the classic parachutist’s smock uses new patterning, fabrics and design details to reinvent the tactical smock category. This completely replaces the conventional field jacket, merging an active insulation layer with a shell garment that spans a wide range of temperatures and climates. The Vertx Multicam Smock packs so much technology and design innovation into one garment we are devoting an article to its review (coming soon).
Vertx showed us their discreet tactical pants (left) and their new softshell tactical smock, a great update on this design theme that redefines the category.
We have one final update in our SHOT show 2012 Series here on MILTECHREV.com.
Surefire showed their new Wristlight combined watch and flashlight, an innovative direction in tactical lighting.
Surefire's new G2X Nitrolon LED tactical light brings high performance lighting to the sub-$100 price point for 2012.
Surefire's new Wristlight is 200 lumens of bright light where you need it. The combined Traser watch/Wristlight may... or may not live to see the consumer market. We'd buy it!
SOG Specialty Knives and Tools showed their new DarkEnergy 214 and 247 lights with super high output, 6061T6 aluminum alloy body and multi-function on/off switch.
Streamlight's Sidewinder Compact tactical multi purpose light packs a lot of lighting versatility into a compact, value oriented system.
Three of Princeton Tec's lights include the new triple LED unit on the right of the helmet above.
ExtremeBeam showed a wide variety of nice quality, value priced lights with double sealed alloy bodies, shatter resistant lenses and nice feeling switches.
ExtremeBeam's SX21R was bright, light weight and inexpensive with an MSRP of less than $80 USD.
The evolution in tactical footwear was never more evident than at SHOT 2012. Danner’s impressive booth featured this beautiful U.S. made, Berry compliant boot for 2012 called the Rivot TFX.
In our first round of SHOT Show 2012 coverage for MILTECHREV.com we look at new footwear innovations and some proven styles shown at the SHOT show in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 17-20th, 2012 at the Sands Convention Center.
Danner's new DFA is an update to the tactical boot harkening back to the original Adidas GSG-9 but in a more durable platform with fast-rope specific features and a stealth sole.
Danner's new ICH tactical mountaineering boot in two colors with a full Gore-Tex sock liner.
We got spy shots of prototype Danner boots in the new A-TACS FG woodland pattern. Note that this prototype boot has a new A-TACS FG color upper but the previous A-TACS (non-FG) sole.
A new low-quarter version of Danner's Melee in Canteen color with a 1000 denier nylon upper makes for a lightweight, comfortable and durable everyday low profile shoe.
One of the most impressive boots in Danner’s 2012 line-up is the Rivot TFX. Rivot TFX is designed for the U.S. Marine Corps as well as other military unit, law enforcement and tactical outdoor use. The Rivot TFX is U.S. made and features a full Gore-Tex sock liner. The upper is 1000 denier nylon with Space Frame Webbing reinforcement built-in that is reminiscent of traditional jungle boot design. The lower portion of the boot is waterpoof rough-out leather that is durable and non-reflective.
The Danner Rivot TFX is intended for the U.S. Marine Corps market along with other military end users.
There is an additional non Gore-Tex version of the Danner Rivot TFX sold in men’s and women’s sizes. Both the Gore-Tex and non Gore-Tex boots are built on the successful Danner Terra Force-X platform in the midsole over a Vibram Rivot TFX outsole with a unique tread pattern that allows “increased pivotal movements”. The boot meets AR 670-1 uniform requirements for “Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia”
The welt construction, double reinforced toe, rough-out leather lower, drain holes (reminiscent of jungle boots) and Space Frame Webbing reinforcement on the Danner Rivot TFX.
Lowa's successful Task Force line has been expanded with more colors including an Air Force uniform color option.
The new sage green Zephyr GTX Mid TF and the black high-top GSG Revo with Gore-Tex sock liner.
The Magnum Spider 5.1 HPi Multicam boot is a low quarter, lightweight boot with plenty of ventilation and super maneuverable feel. We love this boot for non-garrison wear.
- Magnum Boots long awaited Multicam Sidewinder HPi has arrived- and was entirely worth the wait.
By MILTECHREV Editor Tom Demerly.
Magnum Boots has released their new Sidewinder Combat Desert Multcam HPi boot after initial changes in the delivery schedule. This outstanding boot is worth the wait. The Sidewinder Combat Desert HPi is not an entirely new boot for Magnum Boots. A previous version in solid desert tan has been available and evaluated by over 1456 “testers” in 192 countries according to Magnum Boot’s website.
The primary difference with the latest version of the Sidewinder Combat Desert HPi is the Multicam pattern that covers the entire boot, including the sole. This concept of camouflage boots to provide better concealment for the soldier is relatively new but already proving to be effective and popular. This trend in tactical uniforms marks another functional step away from uniforms that were initially designed for garrison wear such as black or solid color boots.
The Magnum Boots Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi is packed with technical details that work together to make this an exceptional tactical boot. The features and benefits range from subtle changes in fabric and design philosophy to more conspicuous changes in the outer design of the boot such as the overall camouflage scheme and the unique fast rope panel on the medial instep area.
Three testers wore this boot in size 9.5 US including wear tests while carrying a pack, on technical, rocky desert trails and for long road marches on pavement at speed. We even had the opportunity to do some PT running in this boot.
The packaging and the "Magnum Challenge" 60-Day wear guarantee nomenclature when we received production boots. This is the consumer packaging.
Ion-Mask: Better Boot Performance in the Real World.
A key feature in the Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi is ion-mask technology. The ion-mask protective layer on the Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi is an ultra-thin coating layer over a thousand times thinner than a human hair. This coating does not wash or rinse off and is as durable as the material it is applied to. Ion-mask treatment repels water, grit and dust at the fiber level, allowing the fabric to remain breathable and quick drying. It is not a waterproof treatment, but rather, a means of making individual fibers less permiable, more durable and actually improving the breathability and drying speed of the overall fabric made up of the individual ion-mask fibers. Ion-mask even makes stitching on the boot water repellant, making it stronger since it will not soak up water or stretch.
Side views of the boot inside and outside. Notice the fast rope device above the instep on the left.
The ion-mask treatment on the Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi effectively moderates overall boot comfort, function and performance in the real world. Ion-mask does not fight the losing battle of trying to keep your feet entirely dry in a wet environment. Instead the design of the Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi works effectively with the environment to protect feet from blisters, moisture and injury. Your feet can get wet in these boots, but they will dry out faster and remain more comfortable than an entirely waterproof boot. If this idea sounds familiar think back to the original jungle boot from the 1960’s. These boots did not fight the losing battle of keeping water out, but rather, took a more pragmatic approach of controlling ventilation and moisture with boot design.
A comparison of relative boot heights for the Lowa Zephyr Desert Boot (left), the Magnum Sidewinder Desert Multicam HPi (center) and the Danner TFX Hot Boot, A-TACS (right).
A drawback to waterproof boots is ventilation and breathability. While most waterproof boots use a waterproof/breathable microporous sock liner to prevent water from getting in they tend to be long on water repellancy but short on breathabiltity. Even the best designed waterproof/breathable boots are noticeably warmer than a similar non-waterproof design. The result is, while your feet may not get wet from external moisture like rain or stepping in water, your skin does get moist from perspiration inside the waterproof sockliner of the boot. As your foot perspires your skin become vulnerable to blisters from being wet. Your footwear system is more reliant on your socks and frequent sock changes, not always possible in the tactical environment. The ion-mask treatment on the Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi prevents the fibers from soaking up water, allowing them to dry faster, provide better ventilation and prevent soaking.
The Multicam color scheme is even executed on the lacing eyelets, a nice detail.
Another benefit of the ion-mask treatment is the boot stays cleaner since foreign matter does not stick easily and what may stick cleans off much more easily than non- ion-mask boots.
No More Stink: Agion Silver-Based Treatment.
Another proven technology built into the Magnum Boots Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi is the use of Agion anti-microbial treatment to reduce odor. Agion relies on silver ions to reduce the accumulation of smell from the boots. The boots don’t gather bad smells from perspiration. This silver-molecular impregnation has been used successfully in athletic apparel by endurance sports brands like Pearl Izumi (they make bicycling, running and triathlon apparel). For tactical applications it means you can wear your boots on a week long patrol, pack them in your deployment bag and put them on a C-141, fly home, open the bag and not be gassed by the smell of your own boots.
The unique design of the heel and toe of the new Vibram outsole improves traction and handling when climbing and when walking downhill.
SuperFabric: Making Fabric Boots that Wear Longer.
Wear of the boots, especially the fabric sections, is enhanced by using HDM Inc.’s SuperFabric. SuperFabric is a plating technology for increasing fabric abrasion and tear resistance. The earliest versions of fabric boots had the advantages of being cool, lighteweight, quick to break in and functional but they also wore very quickly. SuperFabric armor makes fibers more resistant to abrasion while retaining breathability.
Ortholite Insoles: Aftermarket Athletic Shoe Performance.
Another fabric/material/design feature on the Magnum Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi is the use of Ortholite insoles right out of the box- the boots come with them. Ortholite is a brand partner with Nike, Merrell, Timberland, Adidas and New Balance. They do insole/orthotic manufacturing for many of these brands and sell their own line of aftermarket orthotics. The advantage to an Ortholite brand insole is materials, engineering, performance and durability. This is a thicker, more anatomically correct and more durable insole than the generic Cambrelle type insole.
The mesh ventilated lining with the Ortholite insole installed (left) and removed (center) and the Ortholite insole removed.
The Boot Design.
Great fabric technologies are no good without good basic footwear design. The Magnum Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi uses a number of solid design cues to optimize the fabric technologies.
Firstly, the boot is an in-between 8.5″ (21.5 cm) height. I’ll argue this is an optimal height for most purposes. It can be donned easily, provides good ankle stability (along with the outsole- more on that in a moment) and retains reasonably light weight. The boot has a padded and scalloped upper collar. The lacing on this boot is superb. Good boots are a matter of details and this boot has attended to the details. Firstly, the laces: These laces mimmick the feel and weave of .550 parachute cord. The weave of the laces is dense, making them slide through the eyelets more easily and last longer. Before you discount the importance of decent laces consider the awful cotton laces one high end tactical boot supplies their boots with. You have to replace them right out of the box or suffer the consequences in the field. That brand’s boots are great- but the laces are awful. Speaking of lacing, the eyelets on the Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi also show attention to detail. They are Multicam color keyed and the fourth eyelet from the top is a locking eyelet that helps secure the adjustment of the boot tightness when donning.
At 787 grams (27.7 ounces) The Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi is a relatively lightweight boot.
The boot lining is perforated and padded adding to both breathability and out-of-the-box comfort. Tongue design integrates with the rest of the upper to prevent debris from entering and folds easily when donning and lacing. We wore several different weight socks during our wear testing and all worked well, even a very light sock-liner worn by itself.
Toward the bottom of the boot there is a hefty fast rope panel on the medial instep to help dissipate heat and get a grip on the rope. It also helps with rope climbing. The mid sole is described as dual density molded construction. Given the relatively cushioned feel this technical hiking boot/trail running shoe technology seems right at home on this tactical boot.
A thoughtful detail on the lacing system is this locking eyelet that allows intermediate adjustment of how tight the boot is.
A particularly nice feature for steep terrain is the radiused-grip heel on the molded Vibram sole. The heel of the boot is partially rounded with a series of grippers molded in. The grippers are angled downward to provide some purchase on the back of the boot if your weight shifts rearward. This is especially important when walking down hill wearing a big ruck. You should already know to keep your weight over the ball of your foot when descending with a ruck on, but this feature is extra insurance if you start to slip or have to descend fast. This technology is borrowed from Vibram’s successful S2V outsoles. These molded, integrated outsoles represent a new direction for Vibram.
Even little details like more durable, tighter weave laces (bottom) are included on the Magnum Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam.
The toe portion of the sole wraps upward for better traction. This will also make the boot last longer since a lot of boots die when the toe section of the sole delaminates from upper.
Overall our test boots in size 9.5 US weighed 787 grams or 27.7 ounces (1.73 pounds). Volume in the forefoot and instep/saddle area were spot on for a 9.5 slightly wide foot with average arches. The boots fit well directly from the box. No break in was required.
How Did They Work?
We have been looking forward to this boot for so long that when we finally got them we absolutely beat them. Three testers tag teamed these boots over 2 weeks. They were almost constantly on someone’s feet, almost constantly in motion. When they weren’t marching on pavement they were rucking in the mountains. We hammered them, likely putting 2 months of normal wear for one owner into 2 weeks with three testers sharing one pair.
I put 8.5 hard miles on these boots wearing very thin, low socks directly out of the box. No blisters, no hot spots. The boots felt light and agile and provide good shock absoption. My first impression wearing these is the boots ride “high”. The midsole, insole and outsole are thick. I am taller with these on. There is a lot of “cush” to the soles.
A visual comparison of the Magnum Sidewinder combat Desert Multicam HPi (left) and the Danner TFX Hot Boot, A-TACS (right).
Wear testing them in lose terrain on an 8 mile up, 8 mile down technical trail that climbed to 9,000 feet while wearing 25 pounds at the start (got lighter as the tester ate and drank from their hydration reservoir) was equally impressive: no blisters, great stability, handling and excellent traction, especially descending. No hot spots at the ankle or ball of the foot. Laces stayed tied and adjusted.
We didn’t get the boots soaking wet or swim with them but we did one rope descent on a static trainer- the grippers on the inside are sticky and grip the rope well if you are light and not wearing a pack. We did pull a pair of swim fins over them and they work well with the little Force Fins. I installed a pair of Grivel Air Tech Light semi-rigid adjustable crampons on these boots and, once adjusted, they worked fine. Clearly there is a lot of versatility with the design of these boots.
No review is complete without some criticism and, although any complaint with a boot this nice is about impossible to find we did miss a heel loop to help with donning. Beyond that, we couldn’t find a thing to change.
A close look at the Multicam colored outsole. The soles are slightly lighter since soil will cause them to darken slightly with field use.
It took a while for the Magnum Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi to reach the market but they are absolutely worth the wait. Magnum did well to delay the release of the boot until everything- including reasonable supply- was ready for the consumer market. This boot has been extensively tested around the world in several versions and is absolutely proven now. The new Multicam color scheme adds another layer of function and appeal. The Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi comes with Magnum’s “Magnum Challenge” 60-Day Guarantee: According to the hang tag in the boot box from Magnum, if you are U.S. customer you can return the boots within 60 days for a full refund if they do not work for you. That suggests Magnum has a high degree of confidence in the performance of this boot.
Our tests also reinforce a high degree of confidence in this boot. They have excellent out-of-the-box comfort and show almost no wear after hard use. Each of us found the boots comfortable, maneuverable and lightweight. None of us developed blisters or hot spots even on varied terrain across wide temperature ranges using different socks and carrying a load. It’s hard to not be impressed by this boot. They were truly worth the wait.
Magnum's new Sidewinder Combat Desert Multicam HPi took some time to hit the market but is absolutely worth the wait.
County Comm Government Products Group has made a limited number of their lightweight 6061 T-6 Aluminum Alloy and heavyweight Stainless Steel Embassy Pens in the "REV 2" versions available to the non-government market.
The heaviest of the County Comm pens we tested, the Stainless Steel version (silver, 3rd from left), is nearly ten times more substantial than a standard Parker T-Ball Jotter retractable pen. You can read the weights on these pens for comparison by clicking on this photo to enlarge it.
The threaded cap and surface knurling on the County Comm Stainless Steel Embassy Elite Pen (REV 2) is beautifully precise and well done.
Handling and feel on these pens is very nice. The Fisher Space Pen pressurized cartridge produces good quality, dependable print even upside down, like this sample was made.
The size and heft of the County Comm pens give them some "weapons capability" in the most desperate circumstances. Because of this the TSA may not let you carry these on a commercial flight.
The top of the pen unthreads once opened to insert the Fisher Space Pen pressurized cartridge.
Pen sizes for comparison: Bottom, Fisher Space Pen. 2nd from Bottom, Parker T-Ball Jotter, Top two, County Comm stainless steel and anodized 6061 T6 aluminum.
The nice machining and functional shape give these pens durable, functional appeal. These are the threads inside the removable pen cap.
Disassembly of the pens is easy, simply unthreading the cap and the top of the pen exposes the Fisher Space Pen cartridge which fits precisely inside the housing.
The County Comm pens on top of a Spec Ops Brand check book holder.
The evolution of the boonie hat started in the early 1960's in popular U.S. military culture and has continued to evolve for five decades.
The original Vietnamese boonie hat in tiger stripe camouflage. Notice the missing camouflage loops and the pointed top. This example was purchased in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam.
The boonie hat was popularized in U.S. military culture by Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) Teams such as this one in Vietnam in 1968.
This boonie hat is reversible from desert tan to olive drab with the olive drab side having loops to insert foliage for camouflage. These were never issued but used by intelligence organizations and private contractors and are seen everywhere as casual wear from beach tourists to Abercrombie alterna-teens.
The U.S. Marine Corp issue boonie hat had a large brim, four vents, the Globe and Anchor embroidered logo and a built-in sweat band inside the front of the cover.
5.11 Tactical's boonie hat is inexpensive, lightweight, has a nice brim width and a unique hidden pocket in the top. The camouflage mimmicks (but is not an exact match of) USMC desert camo.
Well conceived details like a drawstring around the crown of the hat, large integrated vents along the side and a Velcro IFF patch holder on top set the Crye Precision Multicam boonie hat apart.
Crye Precision's Multicam boonie hat is packed with features like a drawstring crown, large discreet side vents, Velcro pile IFF patch on top and a nicely sized brim.
Tactical Performance Corporation of California has continued the development of their evolved A-TACS uniforms with the introduction of two A-TACS patterned boonie hats.
The Tactical Performance Corporation Sniper Boonie in A-TACS is difficult to manufacture but effective in breaking up the wearer's outline.
Tactical Performance Corporation's C-2000AT A-TACS Boonie Hat has a perfect brim size and uses ripstop 50/50 NYCO fabric.
MILTECHREV 