U.S. Army Sgt. James R. Moore of Portland, Ore., a logitstics NCO with the 642nd Regional Support Group, shoots at the Fort Pickett rifle range as part of the Mortuary Affairs Exercise Aug. 15, 2018. (U.S. Army/Sgt. 1st Class Gary A. Witte, 642nd Regional Support Group)
Editor's Note: This article by Matthew Cox originally appeared onMilitary.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
The head of Army Materiel Command said recently that he is putting a high priority on munitions readiness to make sure Army units are prepared for the next war.
The Department of Defense has faced some serious obstacles with regards to keeping track of all of the U.S. military equipment transferred to the Afghan government (let alone the security forces ostensibly wielding them), since efforts to reconstitute the country’s standing national army began in earnest in 2002. But according to a new report, the command tasked training the Afghan national security forces can’t even keep count of its bullets.
The future is here, and with it comes a potential replacement for combat troops: badass unmanned aerial vehicles that drop ordnance and take out enemy targets with a delightful arsenal of built-in armaments. Now, one company wants to to eliminate the need for boots on the ground altogether
The Army plans to field a 6.5mm intermediate caliber rifle around 2020 — but in the meantime, some riflemen feel the service’s current standard 5.56mm rifle cartridge isn’t giving them enough bang in the field. “The troops feel like they’re in a street fight with a guy with longer arms,” according to Soldier Systems.
It’s not everyday you meet a hardened warfighter with a green thumb. Service members are mostly trained to crater enemy training camps, not plant daffodils. But that could change soon.
