Entwicklungen und News, ...rund um die Infanterie Einstellungen

[Praetorian]

Da es bei den Infanteristen bisher keinen Sammelthread für News gab, und sich diese in den anderen Foren ganz gut bewährt haben, bin ich mal so vermessen und mache einen auf.

Zum Einstieg:
Die Norweger testen derzeit drei Kandidaten als potentielle Nachfolger des AG3 - SIG SG551 SB, C8 IUR und Heckler&Koch G36 KV3:

Choosing the right rifle
The Norwegian Defence’s Logistics Organisation is now testing the candidates for the Armed Forces new choice of attack rifle.
The new rifle will be replacing the traditional AG-3, and representatives from all the branches of the Armed Forces are testing the different candidates.
The three candidates are the C8IUR from Canada, the G 36 KV3 from Germany and the SG 551SB from Switzerland.

Norwegisches MoD, 24. Oktober 2006

[Nite]

Wilcox aims to be third N.H. gun manufacturer

By Elizabeth Dinan, edinan@seacoastonline.com August 23, 2007 2:05 PM NEWINGTON — Jim Teetzel is finishing construction of an underground firing range, an assembly line and a 55,000-square foot addition to his Wilcox Industries plant, where within 30 days he’ll begin production as the state’s third gun manufacturer.

By then the assembly line will be manned by workers making .45 caliber Heckler & Koch (pronounced coke) handguns and rifles for U.S. military customers, primarily special forces. Newly teamed with the German gun maker, Teetzel’s company will engrave its firearms as made in New Hampshire, following the lead of Exeter’s Sigarms. A third firearms maker, Sturm Ruger & Co., also manufactures gun components in New Hampshire, from its Newport based steel investment foundry.

Teetzel expects to add 80 people to his 125-person payroll and to manufacture 40,000 .45 H&K pistols within the first year. One of the H&K rifles scheduled to come off his production line will feature real-time infrared images of targets seen and sighted around corners. He calls it the “smart weapon.”

“The potential is huge,” said Teetzel, a York, Maine resident, who moved his operations to 25 Piscataqua Road from the Pease Tradeport two years ago. “We don’t sell commercial product. It’s strictly for the defense of our county. And we don’t sell overseas.”

A mechanical engineer by trade, Teetzel named his company after his middle name and it now holds 18 patents and 30 patents pending. Wilcox military products range from breathing apparatus, life support systems and helmet mounts to gun scope mounts, lightweight air tanks and weapon video displays.

Everything is designed, manufactured and tested in his factory, which houses copy machines that produce 3D models and robotics performing non-stop job tasks.

A Q-Fog machine simulates salt fog for testing weapons in a simulated jungle environment and maritime operations. Another machine simulates temperature differences experienced by paratroopers falling through various atmospheric layers, to ensure rubber o-rings withstand the conditions.

“It’s easier said than done,” said Teetzel.

The company designs its own circuitry, writes its own code and builds its own models. Equipment for making plastic injection molds is expected to arrive Friday.

Because special forces is “not a large community,” the company is set up to support smaller orders, for instance 500 units of sniper scope supports, said Teetzel.

“We break down and set up all the time,” he said. “That’s a very important part of being competitive.”

The 125,000 square foot plant is segmented by design, manufacture, assembly, quality control and the newly added firing ranges. When range construction is complete, 25- and 100-meter lanes will be used to test fire newly made weapons, with empty casings mechanically collected into 55-gallon drums, then recycled. A parking lot will be paved over the top, “so you’ll never even know it’s there,” said Teetzel.

First rounds fired, with the targets they pierced, will be shipped to the military customers along with the arms.

“H&K is making a substantial investment,” he said while declining to specify the value of the partnership he described as “progressively growing.”

On a wall near the new firearms assembly line is the red H&K logo, with the company slogan, “no compromise.” The gun molds are on their way from Germany.

On the Wilcox side, one of the company’s products is a “mission helmet recording system camera,” a soldier-activated and helmet-mounted camera for recording incidents in the field from the wearer’s point of view. Up to eight hours of audio and video can be stored in a flash card housed in the back of the helmet and the video transmitted electronically.

Wilcox makes air tanks for the military that hold more pounds per square inch, while also weighing less. The Newington company has also designed and manufactured removable sights for rocket launchers, with tilt lasers to compensate for trajectory.

Letters of recognition line the walls of Teetzel’s plant for the company’s support of York school programs and his donations of dozens of wheelchairs to military hospitals. On Wednesday, the Governor’s Executive Council accepted his donation of three H&K UMP .45 caliber tactical weapons for use by N.H. State Police. Wilcox also recently donated those weapons to the Portsmouth and Newington police departments.

Quelle: Sea Coast Online