Posts Tagged ‘Garland’

Is The Army Finally Ready To Pull The Trigger On 6.8mm TVCM?

Saturday, April 2nd, 2022

The light recoil of the 5.56 NATO round has helped make AR-pattern rifles a favorite of the civilian market, but the military has been looking for a rifle round with more punch for a while. Now they’re evidently moving forward with the replacement:

Buried deep within the DoD FY23 budget request by weapon system, the US Army has officially chosen the contractor(s) for the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program.

NGSW is a prototyping effort by the Army that consists of a new rifle (NGSW-R) and automatic rifle (NGSW-AR), chambered in a new high tech 6.8mm cartridge, set to replace the aging M16, M4A1 Carbines and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, chambered in a 5.56 NATO round.

The NGSW has been in competitive prototyping testing with three defense firms, including SIG Sauer, General Dynamics – OTS, and Textron Systems.

On page 53/106 of the budget request, the Army expects to procure 29,046 NGSWs in 2023.

“Starts funding for the procurement and fielding of 1,704 NGSW-AR, which is the planned replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) within the Close Combat Force; Procurement and fielding of 15,348 NGSW-R which is the planned replacement for the M4A1 Carbine within the Close Combat Force; and procurement and fielding of 11,994 Next Generation Squad Weapons Fire Controls,” the document read.

If I’m reading that correctly, the “new high tech 6.8mm cartridge” would be the 6.8mm TVCM, which uses a polymer case rather than brass.

Supposedly the round is compatible with a wide range of current weapon platforms with just a barrel swap.

The hybrid polymer-cased cartridge, developed by Texas-based True Velocity as part of the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program, is compatible with legacy firearms as well.

The 6.8mm TVCM composite case design, coupled with the Army’s 6.8mm (.277-caliber) common cartridge projectile, was originally developed and optimized for use in the NGSW-Rifle and NGSW-Automatic Rifle submissions submitted to that military program by General Dynamics-OTS.

However, using what True Velocity characterizes as a “switch barrel” capability, they have demonstrated it can work with much of the Army’s currently fielded small arms including the M240B belt-fed machine gun, the M110 semi-automatic sniper system, and the M134 minigun.

Here’s a video of test-firing the ammo in an Assault Machine Gun.

Next Generation Squad Weapon will also be using an on-weapon ballistic computer integrated into the optics:

“The new optic has a integrated laser range finder, wind sensor, temperature gauge, elevation sensor, and ballistic computer all rolled into one.” That is likely to be a huge boost to troop capabilities, assuming it works as planned. Like any piece of technology, expect a shakedown phase where they work out all the bugs.

True Velocity hails from Garland, so mark that down as another win for Texas.

If there’s a downside for the civilian market, I’m pretty sure polymer ammo is not reloadable, and certainly not with current reloading presses. On the plus side, if the army makes a big move to 6.8mm TVCM, maybe 5.56 NATO ammo will come down in price…

Garland Jihad Shooting Conspirator Convicted

Saturday, March 19th, 2016

A jury on Thursday convicted an Arizona man of conspiring to support Islamic State in one of the first trials in the U.S. involving charges related to the terrorist group.

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem also was found guilty on other counts stemming from an attack last spring at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas. Kareem was stoic when the verdict was read.

Authorities said Kareem bankrolled and motivated two Islamic State followers who were killed in a shootout with police while trying to carry out a rampage at the anti-Islam event in suburban Dallas.

Kareem also was convicted of providing guns used in the May 3 attack. Authorities say he and the two gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, had researched travel to the Middle East to join Islamic State fighters.

I wouldn’t say the event was anti-Islam per se, but rather pro-freedom of speech.

Abdul Squared had previously “abandoned his birth name of Decarus Lowell Thomas and legally became Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem in 2013.”

So what’s the over/under for when “Free Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem” t-shirts start showing up at left-wing rallies?

Garland Jihadi Got Gun Through Fast and Furious

Sunday, August 2nd, 2015

Well, isn’t this special:

A gunman killed during his attack on an Islamic prophet Muhammad art show in Garland, Texas, reportedly bought a pistol through a botched federal firearm sting.

Nadir Soofi bought a 9-mm pistol at a Phoenix gun shop in 2010, one report said, that sold illegal firearms through ATF’s heavily criticized Operation Fast and Furious to track firearms back to Mexican drug cartels.

See, that’s the problem with the Obama Administration. You can pick something out of The Crazy Rightwing Conspiracy Book of Madlibs and have it turn out to be true…

LinkSwarm for May 5, 2015

Tuesday, May 5th, 2015

Happy Cinco de Mayo! My efforts to move the LinkSwarm back to it’s usual Friday position by posting early have failed, so I’m trying to get it there by letting it drift back one day later each time…

  • “Canadian Partnership Shielded Identities of Donors to Clinton Foundation.” Just in case you missed that. Because trying to keep up with all the sleazy bribery angles of the Clinton Foundation is like trying to drink from the firehose…
  • Speaking of which:

  • “Hillary may want to talk about inequality, but is there any better example of a couple who gorged at the trough of Wall Street and foreign autocrats, chose not to follow the rules, never could stop chasing more and more money and (in Hillary Clinton’s case) went to extraordinary lengths to destroy “personal” e-mails that might have pulled back the curtain on all that?” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • Hillary hires Scott Hogan, an organizer of the failed “Everytown” gun-grabber astroturf to run her “Grassroots” campaign. Hopefully he’ll bring Hillary the same outstanding success he brought to gun control…
  • Russian stooges in Ukraine: “Soviet terror famine? No, that was all just a big misunderstanding!” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Islamic State murders 600 more Yezidis. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)
  • The Islamic State also claimed post facto credit for the Garland attack.
  • Speaking of which, here’s an interview with Bosch Fawstin, the winner of the Draw Mohammed contest. (Hat tip: Legal Insurrection.)
  • Emergency room visits up under ObamaCare.
  • Lefty lawyer Laurence Tribe calls Obama’s “force everyone to use green energy without congressional approval” plan unconstitutional. “After studying the only legal basis offered for the EPA’s proposed rule, I concluded that the agency is asserting executive power far beyond its lawful authority.”
  • Drug cartel violence heats up in Mexico: “Gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter Friday in the western state of Jalisco, killing three soldiers, and set fire to buses, blocked roads, and attacked banks and gas stations in a sharp escalation of violence against the government.” This is evidently the handiwork of the New Generation drug cartel.
  • Minimum wage hike hits San Francisco Comic Store.
  • When the Social Justice Warriors started attacking the company Protein World over their “Beach Ready” ad campaign, Protein World didn’t cave, they fought back. Result: They earned an additional $1 million in four days.
  • Not understanding that the Presidency is not an entry level job, and that the Republican field was already packed, Ben Carson joins the Presidential race.
  • Ditto Carly Fiorina, whose tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard was not an unqualified success, and whose 2010 California Senate race lost to Barbara Boxer by 16 points.
  • And evidently Mike Huckabee is going to run as well.
  • Texas Democrats are furious that a new ethics bill might keep them from scratching each other’s backs. (Hat tip: Push Junction.)
  • The Austin American Statesman is moving printing and packing operations to San Antonio and Houston, resulting in about a 100 jobs lost in Austin. Previously. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Social Justice Warriors can’t even win elections at UCLA.
  • Austin’s Highland Mall closed on April 30th.
  • Garland Terror Attack Update 2

    Monday, May 4th, 2015

    The name of the second dead terrorist in the Garland attack has been released. “A federal law enforcement official is confirming the identity of the second gunman in the shooting outside a contest for Prophet Muhammad cartoons as Nadir Soofi, according to AP reporter Eric Tucker in Washington.”

    Oh, and the lawyer for Elton Simpson, the first terrorist identified, says that he’s “a devout Muslim.”

    Try to contain your shock.

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also gets it right the second time, calling the attack a “heinous crime” and stating “We live in a country where the First Amendment is one of the paramount promises of this nation,” Abbott said. “That provides people the ability to speak out to say what they want. Just as people draw cartoons mocking the governor, people may draw cartoons mocking others.”

    And here’s the cartoon that won the Draw Mohammed contest:

    Garland Terror Attack Follow-Up (With News Conference Information)

    Monday, May 4th, 2015

    More details are trickling out about the failed Islamist terror attack on a Mohammed art exhibit being held in Garland:

  • “A senior FBI official has identified one of the men as Elton Simpson, who was previously the subject of a terror investigation.”
  • “FBI agents and a bomb squad swarmed Simpson’s apartment in north Phoenix, Arizona and used a robot to carry out the first sweep of his home, the channel reported. Investigators are reviewing computer records from materials found at the home.”
  • Bruce Joiner, the security guard and Garland ISD officer shot in the incident, has already been released from the hospital.
  • “A jihadist named as Abu Hussain AlBritani, which SITE said was British IS fighter Junaid Hussain, claimed that ‘2 of our brothers just opened fire’ at the Prophet Muhammad exhibition in Texas.”
  • “Other ISIS supporters claimed on Twitter that one of the gunmen was a man calling himself Shariah Is Light on the social media site, using the now-suspended account name @atawaakul, according to New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi. He had posted a message earlier that said ‘the bro with me and myself have given bay’ah [oath] to Amirul Mu’mineen [ISIS leader Al Baghdadi]. May Allah accept us as mujahideen #texasattack’.”
  • Despite some saying “ISIS has claimed responsibility,” I’m not seeing proof that any official ISIS account has claimed responsibility.
  • From a 10 AM conference by Garland police officer Joe Harn:

  • There were concerns about security for the Mohammed art event from the very beginning.
  • Garland police officers worked the event as private security officers (which is quite common), and the event paid an additional $10,000 for security.
  • Both suspects drove up, got out of their car with assault rifles, and started shooting at police officers outside. The officers returned fire and killed the suspects.
  • Suspects were evidently wearing body armor.
  • The first officer who fired put down both suspects, using his duty pistol.
  • Sounds like the bomb squad used explosives to breach the trunk of the suspects car, but did not find any bombs.
  • Because of the security plan and perimeter, no one else was hurt in the incident.
  • Says while others have released the names of suspects, Garland police hasn’t.
  • They’re working with the FBI.
  • It will not be a quick investigation.
  • Some people attending the event were put up in hotels, and still haven’t been able to return to their cars, which are part of the crime scene.
  • Nothing about motives or terror organization affiliation, which is probably beyond the scope of Garland police.
  • No forensic results yet, but they may have them by the end of thee day.
  • Another conference scheduled for 3:30 PM today.
  • Officer Harn did a good job conveying just what he knew, and refusing to speculate on what he didn’t know.

    Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued the following statement: “Texas officials are actively investigating to determine the cause and scope of the senseless attack in Garland, Texas. This is a crime that was quickly ended thanks to the swift action by Garland law enforcement. Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected tonight.”

    With all due respect for the governor, this was not a “senseless attack,” it was a premeditated act of Islamic terrorism.

    Breaking News: Cop Shot, Two Suspects Killed Outside Mohammed Art Exhibit in Garland

    Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

    Evidently the suspects had explosives on them.

    Organizer Pamela Geller is live-tweeting:

    Details as the come out.

    I’m going to go out on a limb and guess they weren’t Unitarians…

    Update 1: SWAT team is evidently evacuating the conference center and taking people over to a local high school. Ambulances on scene.

    Update 2: Two Twitter feeds to follow for the story are Pamela Geller and WFAA reporter Jobin Panicker.

    Panicker conveys rumor the two dead suspects were carrying AK-47s. That rumor almost invariably pops up during these types of incidents, but 98% of the time its wrong. But they may have had other MSRs.

    Update 3: A nearby Wal-Mart has been closed, and another suspect is reortedly inside with a hand grenade.

    Update 4 Evidently SWAT team members were already on site for the exhibit before the shooting started, which shows considerable forward thinking on someone’s part.

    Update 4: Reports of Garland ISD policeman also being treated for a non-life threatening gunshot wound:

    Unclear whether this is an additional policeman, or if this is the policeman who was initially shot.

    Update 5:

    Update 6:

    Update 7:

    Probably more likely than the “third suspect with a grenade” scenario.

    Update 8: Not seeing reports of an additional cop shot besides the Garland ISD officer, so I believe that is the only law enforcement officer hit.

    Update 9:

    Garland’s Twitter feed is here.