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Grenade gun could give Saco plant stability
Josey1
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Grenade gun could give Saco plant stability
By TUX TURKEL, Blethen Maine Newspapers
Copyright c 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
SACO - For soldiers locked in urban combat, a lightweight weapon that uses a video control system and programmable ammunition to help detect and hit targets could be a great advantage.
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This weapon could fire 40 mm grenades at the rate of more than 225 a minute and detonate them at set distances using a laser range finder, scattering deadly fragments onto enemy fighters hiding in buildings, for instance.
More than a concept, this weapon is near production here at the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products plant. Known as the Striker 40, it will usher in a new generation of grenade machine guns for the U.S. armed forces. It also represents an important business development for a 50-year-old manufacturing plant that has seen its fortunes rise and fall with changes in the military and commercial sectors.
Today, the plant has a new owner and a renewed focus on defense contracts, at a time when the Army is putting an emphasis on more mobile weapons systems that can be quickly moved to conflicts around the world. And while the Striker 40 has been under development for some time and was not conceived to help fight the war on terrorism, it's likely to play a role in that effort and the nation's changing defense mission.
Specifically, General Dynamics is consolidating its medium-caliber weapons program in Saco, a move that could give the plant a more stable future.
"This is our center of excellence for medium-caliber armament," said Clifton Bushey, the outgoing vice president for strategic planning and business integration for General Dynamics' armament division in Burlington, Vt. "If we're going to develop medium-caliber weapons, we're going to do it here."
The parent company of Bath Iron Works, General Dynamics took over here in May 2000, buying the former Saco Defense plant from New Colt Holding Corp. of Connecticut. It has invested $6 million in building renovations and is moving the assembly of its fighter jet gun systems from Vermont to Saco, adding new lines of work.
The factory has undergone four ownership changes and several product transformations since 1952. That may be one reason it isn't widely familiar to residents outside the Biddeford-Saco area.
Set far back from North Street on 140 acres of land, the factory was actually built to manufacture textile equipment. But that business went south, and planned expansions never happened. Instead, the factory began making automotive parts.
The Korean War provided a new line of work - the first machine gun contracts for the Army and Air Force. For nearly 30 years, the plant turned out a mix of military guns and barrels and automobile parts, namely shock absorbers. Roughly 700 people worked at the plant in 1989. More recently, the plant also produced commercial weapons, such as Weatherby rifles and Magnum pistols.
In its latest form, the 450,000-square-foot facility has 230 employees. Production workers, represented by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees, earn an average of $14 an hour. Walter Szumita, business agent for UNITE, says most workers seem to be satisfied with General Dynamics. And while the plant may not see the employment levels it had in the 1970s and 1980s, he says, the shift of work from Vermont is a positive trend.
The plant is a busy place today, running three shifts. General Dynamics has a $36 million, multi-year contract with the Army to produce 2,416 MK 19 grenade machine guns.
The MK 19 is a mainstay of production here. Since 1986, the factory has made 25,000 MK 19 grenade machine guns and is the sole producer of this weapon for the U.S. armed forces. The gun has also been sold by the United States government to more than 40 countries.
The MK 19 is a popular weapon that can fire 40 mm grenades at a rate of more than 300 rounds per minute. It can pierce armor up to two inches thick and send out fragments to kill or wound opponents within about 50 feet of the point of impact. The MK 19 was used in Operation Desert Storm against enemy infantry.
It takes four weeks or so to assemble an MK 19. Inside the plant, a large electric forge creates the gun barrels for the MK 19 and other weapons. Workers weld and machine steel parts, add springs and pins and other components, to create a 43-inch-long weapon that can propel an explosive up to 2,400 yards.
But for all its utility, the MK 19 is a relatively heavy weapon, weighing 72 pounds. By contrast, the Striker 40 weighs only 38 pounds. That makes it a candidate to fit onto lighter vehicles being produced for the Army, such as the Stryker armored combat vehicle, which is being jointly developed by General Dynamics and General Motors. With its advanced sensing, targeting and computer programming technology, General Dynamics is billing its new grenade gun as the first major advance in this kind of weapon since World War II.
"This is the next generation of the MK 19," Bushey said.
The Striker 40 is still undergoing engineering work, and General Dynamics declined to display it. In May, the weapon received a trial test by the U.S. Special Operations Command at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. The first small order from the Army is expected shortly, Bushey says.
"It's a great weapon," said Maj. Deac Heilig, systems acquisition manager at the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla. "It's a leap ahead of what we're using now."
The Striker 40's laser siting, computer capacity and programmable ammo will let soldiers reach opponents behind windows and on rooftops with a much greater level of accuracy. "The computer will ensure that the round flies to the target," Heilig said.
To produce the Striker 40, General Dynamics is using some of the lightweight composite technology developed for aircraft weapons systems, where every pound counts. In another part of the plant, workers are assembling 20 mm gatling gun systems for fighter jets including the F-16, F/A-18 and F-22. The F/A-18 system, for instance, is shaped like a large cylinder. It's fitted with six rotating gun barrels and mounted in the nose of the aircraft.
General Dynamics is also working with other companies on a defense system for warships that shoots down aircraft and high-speed missles, called Goalkeeper.
Contracts for jet fighter and warship systems now account for roughly half of the plant's business, Bushey says, with the other half coming from the MK 19 and so-called legacy weapons program.
"We're now into land, air and sea," he said, "which gives us a significantly broader mix."
And by consolidating operations, General Dynamics hopes it can win more medium caliber weapons contracts at a time when there's great pressure on defense spending.
"Because we are more efficient," Bushey said, "as new systems emerge, we can be more competitive and affordable."
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/020907sacoweap.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By TUX TURKEL, Blethen Maine Newspapers
Copyright c 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
SACO - For soldiers locked in urban combat, a lightweight weapon that uses a video control system and programmable ammunition to help detect and hit targets could be a great advantage.
ADVERTISEMENT
This weapon could fire 40 mm grenades at the rate of more than 225 a minute and detonate them at set distances using a laser range finder, scattering deadly fragments onto enemy fighters hiding in buildings, for instance.
More than a concept, this weapon is near production here at the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products plant. Known as the Striker 40, it will usher in a new generation of grenade machine guns for the U.S. armed forces. It also represents an important business development for a 50-year-old manufacturing plant that has seen its fortunes rise and fall with changes in the military and commercial sectors.
Today, the plant has a new owner and a renewed focus on defense contracts, at a time when the Army is putting an emphasis on more mobile weapons systems that can be quickly moved to conflicts around the world. And while the Striker 40 has been under development for some time and was not conceived to help fight the war on terrorism, it's likely to play a role in that effort and the nation's changing defense mission.
Specifically, General Dynamics is consolidating its medium-caliber weapons program in Saco, a move that could give the plant a more stable future.
"This is our center of excellence for medium-caliber armament," said Clifton Bushey, the outgoing vice president for strategic planning and business integration for General Dynamics' armament division in Burlington, Vt. "If we're going to develop medium-caliber weapons, we're going to do it here."
The parent company of Bath Iron Works, General Dynamics took over here in May 2000, buying the former Saco Defense plant from New Colt Holding Corp. of Connecticut. It has invested $6 million in building renovations and is moving the assembly of its fighter jet gun systems from Vermont to Saco, adding new lines of work.
The factory has undergone four ownership changes and several product transformations since 1952. That may be one reason it isn't widely familiar to residents outside the Biddeford-Saco area.
Set far back from North Street on 140 acres of land, the factory was actually built to manufacture textile equipment. But that business went south, and planned expansions never happened. Instead, the factory began making automotive parts.
The Korean War provided a new line of work - the first machine gun contracts for the Army and Air Force. For nearly 30 years, the plant turned out a mix of military guns and barrels and automobile parts, namely shock absorbers. Roughly 700 people worked at the plant in 1989. More recently, the plant also produced commercial weapons, such as Weatherby rifles and Magnum pistols.
In its latest form, the 450,000-square-foot facility has 230 employees. Production workers, represented by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees, earn an average of $14 an hour. Walter Szumita, business agent for UNITE, says most workers seem to be satisfied with General Dynamics. And while the plant may not see the employment levels it had in the 1970s and 1980s, he says, the shift of work from Vermont is a positive trend.
The plant is a busy place today, running three shifts. General Dynamics has a $36 million, multi-year contract with the Army to produce 2,416 MK 19 grenade machine guns.
The MK 19 is a mainstay of production here. Since 1986, the factory has made 25,000 MK 19 grenade machine guns and is the sole producer of this weapon for the U.S. armed forces. The gun has also been sold by the United States government to more than 40 countries.
The MK 19 is a popular weapon that can fire 40 mm grenades at a rate of more than 300 rounds per minute. It can pierce armor up to two inches thick and send out fragments to kill or wound opponents within about 50 feet of the point of impact. The MK 19 was used in Operation Desert Storm against enemy infantry.
It takes four weeks or so to assemble an MK 19. Inside the plant, a large electric forge creates the gun barrels for the MK 19 and other weapons. Workers weld and machine steel parts, add springs and pins and other components, to create a 43-inch-long weapon that can propel an explosive up to 2,400 yards.
But for all its utility, the MK 19 is a relatively heavy weapon, weighing 72 pounds. By contrast, the Striker 40 weighs only 38 pounds. That makes it a candidate to fit onto lighter vehicles being produced for the Army, such as the Stryker armored combat vehicle, which is being jointly developed by General Dynamics and General Motors. With its advanced sensing, targeting and computer programming technology, General Dynamics is billing its new grenade gun as the first major advance in this kind of weapon since World War II.
"This is the next generation of the MK 19," Bushey said.
The Striker 40 is still undergoing engineering work, and General Dynamics declined to display it. In May, the weapon received a trial test by the U.S. Special Operations Command at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. The first small order from the Army is expected shortly, Bushey says.
"It's a great weapon," said Maj. Deac Heilig, systems acquisition manager at the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla. "It's a leap ahead of what we're using now."
The Striker 40's laser siting, computer capacity and programmable ammo will let soldiers reach opponents behind windows and on rooftops with a much greater level of accuracy. "The computer will ensure that the round flies to the target," Heilig said.
To produce the Striker 40, General Dynamics is using some of the lightweight composite technology developed for aircraft weapons systems, where every pound counts. In another part of the plant, workers are assembling 20 mm gatling gun systems for fighter jets including the F-16, F/A-18 and F-22. The F/A-18 system, for instance, is shaped like a large cylinder. It's fitted with six rotating gun barrels and mounted in the nose of the aircraft.
General Dynamics is also working with other companies on a defense system for warships that shoots down aircraft and high-speed missles, called Goalkeeper.
Contracts for jet fighter and warship systems now account for roughly half of the plant's business, Bushey says, with the other half coming from the MK 19 and so-called legacy weapons program.
"We're now into land, air and sea," he said, "which gives us a significantly broader mix."
And by consolidating operations, General Dynamics hopes it can win more medium caliber weapons contracts at a time when there's great pressure on defense spending.
"Because we are more efficient," Bushey said, "as new systems emerge, we can be more competitive and affordable."
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/020907sacoweap.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
09:36 08 September 02
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
Eye specialists say a laser weapon designed to dazzle soldiers could permanently damage eyesight, despite being dubbed "eye-safe".
Since 1996 the Geneva Convention has prohibited weapons designed to cause permanent blindness. But lasers that dazzle or cause temporary "flash" blindness are permitted.
The Pentagon has already exploited this loophole with laser weapons called illuminators. These red-laser weapons illuminate an aggressor, who will then hide or flee after realising they are in someone's rifle sights. But while illuminators do not work well in bright daylight they are powerful enough to damage vision.
The Veiling Glare Laser, under development at the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) in Quantico, Virginia, and at the directed energy bioeffects division of the Air Force Research Lab in San Antonio, Texas, is meant to solve both these problems.
The VGL obscures a wide field of view by creating a dazzling wall of light that swamps your vision. It is rather like looking through a dusty windscreen illuminated by bright sunlight. And since the laser is only visible as a band of glare, the operator's position is not given away. But not everyone agrees on its effectiveness and safety.
Lens fluorescence
The VGL exploits a rather unsettling phenomenon called lens fluorescence. The lens of the human eye is transparent to visible light, but certain violet or ultraviolet wavelengths can make it fluoresce, or glow. When your lens fluoresces, all you can see is glare.
Tom van den Berg of the Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute says that in order to produce sufficient fluorescence to "veil" someone's sight, the weapon could require a dangerously powerful beam.
Others are simply sceptical. "It's likely this [weapon] would not work," says Bill Stark, a biologist specialising in the effects of UV light on visual receptors at Saint Louis University in Missouri. "My experience suggests that such fluorescence does not cause significant amounts of glare."
Snow blindness
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Weblinks
Geneva Convention Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (pdf)
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Laser Glare Studies (Naval Health Research Center)
But light at violet and UV wavelengths has known risks, namely snow blindness among mountaineers and arc blindness in welders. Both are caused by excessive UV light damaging the cornea.
Although the effects are usually temporary, cumulative exposure can lead to long-term effects. Cataracts, for example, can occur when proteins in the lens clump together, turning it opaque.
Stark believes the VGL poses a risk to the human eye. "It would be difficult to make a legal case that such a laser was harmless," he says.
That contradicts JNLWD's aim of a weapon that produces an "eye-safe veiling glare". And even if a laser was harmless when viewed normally, field binoculars would increase the user's exposure by the square of the magnifying power. For example, at a common magnifying power of x10, the laser intensity level increases a hundredfold.
David Hambling
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992756
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
if your going to be a savage, be a headhunter