Despite the uncovering of threats to U.S. weapons programs from overseas suppliers, the American military still is working with foreigners on “improvements’ to the nation’s arsenal, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
A public affairs officer for the U.S. Army has revealed that the M3 recoilless rifle, “also known as the multi-role anti-armor anti-personnel weapon system,” has a new shot counter and is six pounds lighter thanks to changes recommended by Swedish manufacturer Saab Bofors Dynamics.
Renee Bober, the product manager for the M3E1 at U.S. Army Project Manager Soldier Weapons, said, “The weapons system is incorporating modern materials to achieve input provided by U.S. Special Operations Command and other services’ users.”
The Army said after testing next year, the system will be available for procurement to all Department of Defense services.
“The M3E1 fires a high-explosive round to engage light-armored vehicles, bunkers and soft structures,” the report said.
The weapons team “turned to the Army Foreign Comparative Testing Program,” project manager William Everett said.
For the rest of this report, and more, go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
The goal is to find solutions to issues “regardless of the origin of the technology.”
“Army engineers and weapons experts from Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; Watervliet Arsenal, New York; and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, began working with the Swedish manufacturer, Saab Bofors Dynamics, for testing and qualifying the next-generation weapon, known as the M3A1,” the Army said.
“The team combined an improved weapons system with cost savings,” Everett said. “They traveled to Sweden so they could observe and validate the vendor’s testing instead of duplicating it back in the U.S. It was an innovative solution that saved more than $300,000.”
The results include a new weapon-based shot counter.
“This will give soldiers better use of the system,” the military explained. “Right now the soldier is manually recording the number of rounds fired in a notebook provided with each weapon. [The shot counter] will make everything easier and provide traceability. The system will last longer when we know how many rounds go through each weapon.”
According to investigators, as reported only a few years ago, a Senate panel tracked some 1,800 cases of suspected counterfeit parts through the supply chain. It found that U.S. defense contractors had purchased many of the critical components from U.S. companies who, in turn, obtained them from Chinese firms but never subjected them to testing before handing them over to the U.S. military as part of their contract.
The Senate unit, whose investigators were denied access to Chinese firms by Chinese authorities, said the evidence “consistently point(s) to China as the epicenter of the global trade in counterfeits.”
To put the growing problem into perspective, Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said, “We do not want a $12 million missile defense interceptor’s reliability compromised by a $2 counterfeit part.”
For the rest of this report, and more, go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
