Switzerland’s special forces, Armee Aufklaerung Detachment 10, do a capabilities show-and-tell for VIPs – including the Swiss Defence Minister.

Note that these particular operators are wearing combat clothing from Claw Gear in the Swiss national camouflage pattern.

The Arbroath-based Royal Marines are now the nation’s ‘Lead Commando Group’, ready to deploy around the globe if required, having successfully completed Exercise Scottish Lion.

Fresh from taking part in one of the biggest war games exercises in Europe this year, Joint Warrior, 45 Commando were thrust immediately into Scottish Lion, which saw the entire unit – more than 750 troops – put ashore south of Stranraer.

Scottish Lion covered ground from the ranges of West Freugh in the west to the ruins of 16th century Edingham Castle, near Dalbeattie, more than 40 miles (64km) to the east.

After being based on helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, flagship HMS Bulwark and amphibious support ship RFA Mounts Bay for Joint Warrior, the entire Commando Group was landed by helicopters and landing craft on the sands at West Freugh, a former RAF base now used as a missile test site.

Having established themselves around the old airfield, the Royal Marines moved inland, bound for Kirkcudbright, 35 miles (56km) away, to attack various objectives, before establishing themselves one more time.

As well as testing the men on the front line, Scottish Lion was a vital test of all the rearward services crucial to any operation such as logistics, transportation and casualty treatment.

Transport was provided by Commando Helicopter Force Sea Kings and RAF Chinooks, while the land vehicles clocked up more than 5,800 miles (9,300km) moving men and kit around Dumfries and Galloway.

The regimental aid post was never far behind the action and every ‘casualty’ was evacuated to it within an average of 26 minutes from the point of injury.

For added realism, more serious ‘casualties’ were even flown back to Illustrious for notional treatment within two hours of being ‘wounded’.

With Kirkcudbright secured and 45 Commando established in the small town, it was time for the final assault on Edingham Castle with all four rifle companies and supporting echelons of the Commando Group.

* referring to the placement of the logo on the back of the shorts. 

source and photographer unknown

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The days will soon be over where you see Danish soldiers wearing combat uniforms in different colors for different terrain.  The M/84 woodland camouflage uniform and the M/01 desert camouflage uniform will be replaced by a light-weight and heavy-weight M/11 combat uniform in MultiCam.

The Danish M/84 pattern was designed specifically for verdant northern European environments.

The Danish M/01 desert combat uniform seems to blend in well in Afghanistan's arid terrain - but the use of woodland colored M/84 pattern web gear illustrates one of the logistical problems of separate, distinctive, terrain-specific camouflage patterns.

The change is being made mainly due to experience in Afghanistan where Danish soldiers have been operating in several types of terrain.  According to the Danish Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO), the new uniform will be intended to be suitable for operations in many other environments besides Afghanistan though – it will be the new standard issue camouflaged combat uniform for all Danish troops everywhere.

The decision to switch from a distinctively DANISH pattern to a foreign one which is widely available and used (both commercially and by national forces) has of course generated some controversy about a loss of national identity.  However, when we put this issue to the DALO, their response was that they were not at all concerned about a loss of identity.  In fact, they believe; “This pattern will probably enhance the force protection since any adversary will not be able to differ between the different countries within an area of operation.”

Major Thomas Nico Jørgensen of the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization presents a MultiCam uniform in comparison with the current M/01 and M/84 combat uniforms. Photo copyright 2011 Danish Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization. NOTE: The MultiCam uniform featured above is an American ACU - reinforcing the assumption that the new uniform will be of a different style / cut than the current M/84 and M/01.

Camouflage in different terrain

The choice of the multi-terrain MultiCam pattern is to provide an acceptable (“80%”) level of camouflage no matter if the soldier operates in desert, rocky or mountainous terrain, heavily vegetated areas, or in build-up areas.

“The Americans, the British and the Australians have decided to switch to the MultiCam system, and the Danish Armed Forces will do the same”, said Major Thomas Nico Jørgensen, commander of the Equipment Section of the Danish Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO).

However, when we contacted the Danish DALO for further information and clarity about the decision to switch to MultiCam, they did acknowledge that MultiCam is not as good as the current Danish M/84 pattern in verdant terrain.  So, I guess the Danes are not expecting to have to fight on their home-turf (or anywhere else in northern Europe) any time in the foreseeable future…

MultiCam in a verdant northern European woodland environment...

Timeframe for introduction

The current manufacturer of the M/84 and M/01 uniforms has to change the colors of webbing, buttons, thread, Velcro, etc. – so it will take at least 12 months to deliver the new uniforms.  Also, we assume that the M/11 combat uniform will feature a modified or different style than the current types – but we don’t have any further details at this time.

Therefore, the M/11 uniform will probably be first available for ISAF 15 and 16 in 2013.  After that, the Danish Armed Forces will replace the current uniforms over time after first using up the existing stocks.

How a multi-terrain version of M/84 might have looked...

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* Strike-Hold! would like to recognize and thank the assistance of Henrik Clausen, world-renowned camouflage collector, and Major Susanne Bjørcklund of the Danish Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization for their assistance with additional information and materials in the creation of this article.

To kick things off, we’re going to look at a special urban / CQB tailored version of a Classic Army CA53A3 built by our founder, Lawrence “Maple-Leaf” Holsworth, a few years ago in the UK.

It was a pretty quick and straight-forward build, but the end result was a practical, nice handling and easy-shooting weapon optimized for indoor / urbanized CQB skirmishing.  It was also a unique-looking piece too.

The build consisted of 2 phases; an internal upgrade and an external parts package.

The internal upgrade was a simple spring swap to boost the velocity to 328 feet-per-second from the standard 280 FPS.  The additional velocity kept the power within UK site limits, but gave enough extra speed-to-target to gain a bit of a tactical advantage.

The external parts package included an MP5-style tac-light handguard, low-profile rail, electronic red dot / green dot sight with a QD mount, and a UMP-style folding synthetic stock for a G3 – cut to fit the receiver end of the CA53.  The stock was a great improvement over the standard CA53 slider stock, by offering a more robust, stable and practical shooting platform with a better cheek-weld and shoulder-fit.

All in all it was a winning combination that definitely improved the CA53A3 as a shooting platform – and as I understand it, the gun went on to serve well in the hands of the owner of a large indoor CQB skirmish site in London.

So, that’s the first of our’s – let’s see what you’ve got!  Send us an email outlining your project along with some good quality photos to: CONTACT-”dot”-STRIKEHOLD-”at”GMAIL-”dot”-COM.

The fine print:

Submissions must be your own work, or work done on your behalf, and you must hold the copyright on any submitted photos (or have the permission of the photographer).  To be suitable for inclusion, the project needs to be special in some way that makes it unique and newsworthy.  In other words, simple sticking a red dot sight and a vertical foregrip on a standard M4 isn’t going to pass muster. 

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me.

My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my brethren.

I will love my rifle as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other.

So be it, until victory is our’s!

Together with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment OPFOR, the aircrews of B Company, 2916th Aviation Battalion provide the U.S. Army (and sometimes allied and other U.S. forces) with a credible enemy threat on the simulated battlegrounds of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin.

Thanks to the Wings Over Iraq blog I came across an interesting article on the VERTICLE magazine website today about the OPFOR helicopter force at Fort Irwin, California, and their transition from the venerable old UH-1H Iroquois (aka, “Huey”) to the new UH-72A Lakota.

VISMOD (Visual Modification) Hueys had been used for many years by Ft. Irwin’s OPFOR units but were officially retired in December of 2011.

Interestingly, although the US Army had a few Sikorsky S-55 helicopter converted to more realistic VISMODs of the Soviet Mi-24, these only saw limited use as target drones and were not part of the Ft. Irwin OPFOR wing.

Meanwhile, vaguely convincing VISMODs of the Soviet Mi-24 were also “made by Hollywood”, based on Aérospatiale Puma helicopters and used in several movies; including Red Dawn, Rambo II and Rambo III.

Meanwhile down on the ground, you might be wondering about that tracked vehicle pictured in the photo at the top of this article…  Its a VISMOD M113 OSV (OPFOR Surrogate Vehicle).  In other words, its an M113 which has been treated with some visual modifications to enable it to appear as a surrogate for a Soviet BMP armored personnel carrier / infantry fighting vehicle.

But, now, without further adieu – enjoy the article…