The Colt XM148 40mm Grenade Launcher: Still Serving

Source: Air Defense Regiment, Air Force Command

     Soldiers of the Air Defense Regiment, Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) Command training in 2018 with two vintage pieces of equipment. The first is the well worn Colt M16A1 rifle which entered U.S. Army service in February 1967 and remained in production until 1982. The second is the Colt XM148 under-barrel 40mm grenade launcher. The XM148 was accepted for U.S. Army service in July 1966 and by mid-1967, the entire order of 20,000 examples was delivered. The XM148 was not a success and was replaced in 1969 by the M203 under-barrel 40mm grenade launcher though some lingered on in U.S. Air Force service as training weapons until the early 1990s. Thus, it is a interesting parallel that RTAF personnel are using the XM148 for training while RTAF security units utilize the M203. The XM148 was still listed as being in active RTAF service in 2019.

     The photograph shows to good effect the special handguard required by the XM148. The soldier's left hand is on the small pistol grip which is used to slide the breech cover open and closed. The instructor's fingers are on the sear cover which, when in place, prevents accidental firing. Above the instructor's hand is the firing pin button (according to the patent US3279114). The soldier's right hand finger is resting on the actual trigger to fire the XM148.

     As a note, visible near the left sleeve of the soldier is a M203 mounted on a M16A1.

For further information on the XM148, visit:

https://photosofmilitaryhistory.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-colt-40mm-xm148-first-service-under.html

Waifus with Raifus: The SIG Sauer MCX-Rattler

Source: @rukalee on X™.

     It is probably a bad idea to leave a poor tip at the local maid café when the wait staff have access to firearms. This “meido” (メイド) is sighting in on a cheap customer with a 6mm airsoft version of the SIG Sauer MCX-Rattler chambered for the .300 AAC Blackout (300 BLK) cartridge. There are several airsoft manufacturers of the MCX-Rattler to include Cybergun, PROW, and Salvo Precision. This particular airsoft is a custom build as it is using a SIG Air low-profile retractable stock along with a dummy suppressor styled after SIG Sauer's SRD762 series suppressor. The frame hardware is also custom as it features a foregrip which the real MCX-Rattler doesn't come with as standard. Her weapon is using a Unity high-profile, fast micro-mount upon which is an Aimpoint T2 micro red dot sight.

     As for the actual MCX-Rattler, the model shown is the pistol version that uses a 5.5” barrel. The barrel is made of cold hammer forged steel while the forend uses metal alloy to keep weight down. Empty, the weapon has a weight of 5.1 pounds and a overall length of 1.9 feet (without the suppressor). The civilian version is semi-automatic and uses a gas-operated, short-stroke piston action. The gas system is adjustable. The trigger is a flat, SIG blade match style while a top Picatinny rail is standard. The weapon is fed using a 30-round box magazine.

     The .300 AAC Blackout round, produced by the Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC), has a caliber of 7.62x35mm and can be used in any 5.56mm NATO compatible box magazine. The cartridge is designed as a intermediate round that falls between the standard 5.56x45mm round and the 9x19mm Parabellum pistol round. Its primary use is in shorter barreled weapons (such as the M4 Carbine) where it delivers improved muzzle velocity similar to the Russian 7.62x39mm round and while the 300 BLK round's accuracy drops off faster than the 5.56mm cartridge, the 300 BLK has the same energy at 700 meters as the 5.56mm round does at 500 meters. The 300 BLK subsonic round variant permits usage of silencers and suppressors. Out of a 9 inch barrel, the effective range of the 300 BLK cartridge is 440 meters with a muzzle velocity of 2,050 feet per second.

     Since 2022, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has utilized the SIG Sauer MCX Rattler chambered for both 5.56mm and 300 BLK as PDWs (Personal Defense Weapons). Other countries that utilize the 300 BLK cartridge include the Netherlands (used by the Dutch Maritime Special Operations Force), Germany (by the Schleswig-Holstein state police and the Kommando Spezialkräfte [Special Forces Command]), and the United Kingdom.

Maschinengewehrschütze (369. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division)

Source: Author's Collection

    A machine-gunner belonging to the 369. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division (369th. (Croatian) Infantry Division). This is identified by the pin he is wearing on his feldbluse’s pocket. The pin, called the Croatian Legion 1941 Linden Leaf, was awarded to those who served in the original unit, the Verstärktes Kroatisches Infanterie-Regiment 369 (369th. Reinforced Croatian Infantry Regiment), and had survived the Battle of Stalingrad. This battle effectively marked the end of the original regiment with only a little over 1,000 soldiers having been evacuated out. These men formed the core of the new 369. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division. 

    The unit was used almost exclusively for anti-partisan warfare in the territory of the Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien (Independent State of Croatia; NDH)). The unit was nicknamed the “Teufels Division” (Devil’s Division) and took it from a Croatian WW1 unit, the 42. Domobranska Pješačka Divizija (42. Home Guard Infantry Division) which was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Army. During 1943 to 1945, the unit was involved in numerous operations against the various partisan forces within the NDH, chiefly Chetnik partisan units. However, the combat record of the 369. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division was mediocre at best, desertion was a constant problem and the unit was more known for its brutality rather than its prowess in battle. By April 1945, the 369. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division was a shell of itself and when the unit was captured in Slovenia, the Germans remaining were allowed to retreat into Austria but the Croatians became prisoners of the partisans which was a near certain death sentence. 

    This enlisted man, evident by his lack of tresse (braid) along his collar edges and schulterklappen (shoulder boards), is armed with the 7.92mm Maschinengewehr 34 select fire machinegun and tucked into his belt is a Model 1924 Stielhandgranate (M24 stick grenade). There is a lanyard looped around his shoulder and tucked into the feldbluse pocket but what is on the end of it isn’t identifiable.

Russo-Ukrainian War: The M14 Battle Rifle

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

     A soldier from the 169th. Territorial Defense Battalion, 120th. Territorial Defense Brigade (TDB) trains with a M14 battle rifle sometime in 2025. M14 rifles first appeared in the hands of Ukraine's TDB units in 2022 and they came from Estonian and Latvian stocks of which Estonia provided up to 35,000 rifles. The M14 was accepted for U.S. Army service in 1957 with production commencing in 1959. The M14 was phased out of U.S. Army service starting in 1964 and by 1967, it was wholly replaced by the M16 assault rifle as the Army's main infantry weapon. Today, variants of the M14 are in limited use by some U.S. forces and the rifle remains in active service within the military forces over over twenty countries.

     The M14 is chambered for the 7.62x51mm cartridge and uses a gas-operated, rotating bolt action. The total length of the M14 is 3.7 feet with an empty weight of 9.2 pounds. The M14 is fed from a 20-round box magazine and with a full magazine, the M14 has a weight of 10.7 pounds. If need be, the M14 has guides for stripper clips, allowing the magazine to be reloaded without detaching it. 

     Stock, the M14 uses a rear mounted aperture sight and a barleycorn front sight. Also known as a pyramid sight, it consists of a triangular shaped sight rather than the more common post sight. Using the standard sights, the effective range is a little over 450 meters when firing the M80 ball cartridge. The maximum range of the M14 is 2.1 miles. Here, the M14 is fitted with a M1A SOCOM 16-style scope mount and the scope itself appears to be made by Athlon Optics but this isn't able to be confirmed with any certainty. The M14 has a rate of fire between 700 to 750 rounds per minute.

     Attached to the front of the weapon is a M1A Harris bipod while on the end of the scope is a micro-prism anti-reflection device (ARD). The purpose of the ARD is to cut down on sun glare as well as hide light reflection off the scope glass. The sling is not M14 issue as the operator has it looped around the stock's neck rather than connected to a metal loop on the underside of the buttstock (which could also be missing, hence how he has it secured). The soldier has also made a cheek pad by putting strips of material along the top of the buttstock and wrapping it with silver duct tape. Finally, the camouflage paint applied to the M14 is not standard and is one that has appeared on Ukrainian weapons on occasion. It is variation of “snake” style custom weapon camouflage patterns.

     As a note, the 169th. Territorial Defense Battalion has been renamed the 2nd. Territorial Defense Battalion and has a new unit patch. It is still part of the 120th. TDB.

Operation Epic Fury: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Flying Carpet

Source: voidstomper on Instagram

     Somewhere over Iran, an Iranian fighter (likely from the Basij Militia) engages a U.S. Navy Lockheed-Martin F-35C Lightning II in a low-level dogfight. The Iranian Air Force was already an aging fleet of aircraft that included Grumman F-14A Tomcats and McDonnell-Douglas F-4D and F-4E Phantom II fighters and so far, some 30 aircraft of various makes have been destroyed. In order to make good on the promise of “American soldiers and their equipment will be destroyed...” made by Iranian military spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed a heretofore unknown aerial vehicle in their arsenal; the flying carpet. Commonly associated with Middle Eastern tales, the flying carpet also appears in Chinese and Russian folk tales. However, until now, it was believed flying carpets remained confined to the pages of story books.

    From appearances, the militiaman is using a Tabriz style Persian rug configured as a flying carpet. Size is difficult to determine with any accuracy but a good estimate is 9 feet long and 6 feet wide. The carpet is likely made up of high quality wool or silk with a cotton foundation and hand woven and knotted. The carpet is piloted by a crew of one who uses vocal commands for the carpet start sequence and to maintain flight control and direction. The carpet can be remotely piloted though the operator has to be within 2.5 feet of the carpet at all times due to being vocal controlled. 

     The average flying carpet can attain a maximum speed of 55 miles per hour with only the pilot while larger flying carpets can only muster 20 miles per hour. Here, the IRGC flying carpet is clearly capable of keeping up with a F-35C which has a maximum speed of 806 miles per hour at sea level. It remains unknown what system(s) permit the pilot to remain upright at such speeds.

     The IRGC flying carpet carries no armor protection for either itself, the pilot, nor any passengers the carpet may be carrying. At high speeds, as evidenced here, risk of injury from bird strikes and debris is very high and it can be assumed that flying at high speed through dust and sand choked airspace would not be pleasant. Speaking of passengers, a flying carpet of the estimated size given above has a total carry capacity of 800 pounds. It is believed that the system(s) which permit the pilot to remain on the carpet during flight, also keep cargo or passengers from being ejected off the carpet at speed.

     In addition to supporting no armor, the IRGC flying carpet is also completely unarmed outside of weapons carried by the pilot and/or passengers. In this instance, the pilot is armed with a 7.62x39mm AK-47 assault rifle. Assuming the standard 57-N-231 steel-core bullet (designed for personnel and unarmored weapon systems), the round has a 2,356 feet per second muzzle velocity and at 300 meters, a competent shooter can land at least half of the shots fired in a 75mm circumference circle. At 300 meters, the round can penetrate 6mm of steel plate. This is likely not enough to get through the F-35C's aluminum and titanium alloy skinning. In addition, the Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 turbofan engine is protected by armor plating and the F-35C is equipped with redundant systems to account for any amazingly lucky shot that actually hits a system. As the 57-N-231 round's accuracy falls off after 300 meters, the pilot would need to close to within at least 300 meters in order to land any hits but this makes the flying carpet susceptible to wing tipping in which the F-35C slips a wing underneath the carpet then effects a roll, flipping the carpet over and ejecting the pilot. The F-35C pilot could also pull in front of the flying carpet, creating a significant volume of local turbulence and if combined with usage of the F135-PW-100 engine's afterburner, then maintaining control of the flying carpet would become extremely difficult (let alone the intense thermal increase that would easily overwhelm the pilot's natural layers of dermis protection).

     In a dogfight, the IRGC flying carpet is vulnerable to the F-35C's GAU-22/A 25mm 4-barrel rotary cannon in which a successful hit to the pilot would result in catastrophic damage and the carpet would lose control and drift to the ground. Hits to the carpet itself would not immediately cause any degradation in capability as the rounds would simply cause a hole in the material. Only a concentrated burst beneath the pilot that rapidly compromises the material has the potential to bring down the carpet when the pilot has to shift focus to prevent himself from falling through. The F-35C could engage the IRGC flying carpet with a AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile as the pilot's infrared signature is enough for the missile's imaging infrared seeker head to lock on to but at a cost of around $400,000 per missile, it is an expensive method for a kill in comparison to using the cannon.

     To date, there have been no verified shoot-downs of U.S. military aircraft by IRGC flying carpets though IRGC propaganda has released AI generated content showing flying carpets successfully shooting down U.S. fighters.

Russo-Ukrainian War: The T-72 Ural-1 obr. 1984

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

     A rather rare tank, still operational in 2026, is shown here in service with the tank battalion of the 10th. Mountain Assault Brigade “Edelweiss”. The tank is a T-72 Ural-1 and it represents the third model of the T-72 tank series which remains in active service in more modern versions around the world. Production began in 1976 as the Obiekt 172M1 (Object 172M1) and represented a modernization of the T-72 Ural and T-72 obr. 1975. In Ukrainian active service at the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War in February 2022, the T-72 Ural-1 was non-existent and was only found in storage depots in various states of disrepair. However, the need for armor saw these tanks withdrawn from storage and brought up to operational service.

     Power for the 41-ton T-72 Ural-1 comes from a ChTZ V-46-6 12-cylinder, supercharged, liquid cooled multi-fuel engine generating 780 horsepower which is mated to a hydraulically assisted synchromesh transmission with a 7-speed planetary gearbox (6 forward, 1 reverse). On roads, the T-72 Ural-1 can attain a top speed of 37 miles per hour. Off-road, and terrain depending, the top speed is 22 miles per hour while in reverse, the T-72 Ural-1 can reach 3 miles per hour. With an onboard fuel capacity of 317 gallons, the maximum road range is 280 miles. With the addition of 105 gallons of external fuel in rear mounted drums, the road range is increased to 341 miles. Radio equipment includes the R-123M station and the crew utilizes the R-124 intercom system.

     The main armament is a thermal-sleeved 125mm 2A46 (D-81TM) smoothbore gun which is fitted to a gun mount that uses a 2E28 stabilizer. The mount permits 14 degrees of maximum elevation and 5 degrees of gun depression while the turret provides 360 degrees of traverse. The total ammunition load is 39 rounds of which 22 of them are kept in the hull floor mounted cassette autoloader. This permits the T-72 Ural-1 to have a rate of fire of between 7 to 8 rounds per minute. The gunner is provided with a TPD-2-49 gun sight that features TPD-K1 laser rangefinder (that replaced the TPD-2-49 coincidence rangefinder originally used with the gun sight, hence the same designation) along with a TPN-1-49-23 night sight, the latter allowing engagements out to .5 of a mile. Targeting is assisted with an analog FCS (Fire Control System). Secondary armament consists of a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machine-gun with 250 rounds of ready ammunition and 1,750 rounds of additional ammunition. The commander is provided with a 12.7mm NSVT heavy machine-gun on a ZU-72 pintle mount behind his cupola. Ready ammunition is 50 rounds with another 250 rounds available. Unlike the coaxial machine-gun that benefits from the main gun's stabilizer, the NSVT is not stabilized though it does have a K10-T collimator sight. 

     The 2A46 can fire a fairly wide array of 125mm round types. A typical APFSDS (Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot) round is the 3BM15 which can penetrate 400mm of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) at a 0 degree angle at 1.2 miles. At a 60 degree, slope, the penetration is 150mm of RHA. The 3BK14 HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) can go through 200mm of RHA at a 60 degree slope to a range of 1.9 miles. The 3OF19 HE (High-Explosive) round contains 11 pounds of explosive and can be fired out to a range of 2.5 miles. The T-72 Ural-1 (nor the T-72 Ural) is not outfitted to fire tube-launched ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) such as the 9K119 Refleks (NATO reporting name AT-11 Sniper) and 9K120 Svir (a variant of the Refleks) or the older 9K112 Kobra (NATO reporting name AT-8 Songster). 

     For armor, the T-72 Ural-1 has a welded steel hull and a cast steel turret. Frontally, the upper glacis plate supports the equivalent of 205mm thick armor with a slope of 68 degrees. The turret front is heavily protected with 410mm of armor at the thickest point and tapering down to 310mm on the cheeks while the turret sides are 290mm thick. The hull sides are 80mm thick with no sloping while the hull roof and bottom are protected by 20mm of armor respectively.

     In 1984, the Ukrainians upgraded the T-72 Ural-1 (as well as the earlier T-72 Ural) by outfitting them with Kontakt-1 explosive reactive armor (ERA) in an effort to improve survivability. Usage of the Kontakt-1 blocks required the smoke dischargers to be located on the left side of the turret rather than on the front of the turret. How many were modified isn't known and most ended up in storage, often stripped of Kontakt-1 blocks. The port for the TPD-2-49 rangefinder, located on the right side of the turret in front of the commander's cupola, is plugged as the equipment was removed. In at least one online source, this upgrade was called the T-72 Ural-1 obr. 1984. It is likely the T-72 Ural-1 shown in the photograph is one of these tanks and this is because it retains the Luna-2A infrared spotlight and does not have any slat armor panels (see below). The camouflage pattern on the tank is actually a colorful decoration that was done by the tank crew in celebration of Easter.

     In the summer of 2023, a new upgrade of T-72 Ural-1 tank appeared in service with the tank battalion of the 22nd. Mechanized Brigade “Mykolaiv”. The T-72 Ural-1 obr. 2023 (again, not an official designation) can be externally differentiated from the T-72 Ural-1 obr. 1984 in that the Luna-2A spotlight is removed and slat armor panels are added to the aft sides of the tank and to the rear of the tank. Another curious difference is that four of the tank's road wheels are taken from either T-55 or T-62 tanks and it is suggested this is because replacement components are scarce. It is believed that the TPN-1-49-23 night sight has been replaced with a more modern equivalent as well as the R-123M radio being replaced with a Libid-K-2RB digital radio set. Another addition believed to be incorporated into the new upgrade is a Basalt navigation system which can use both the Russian GLONASS navigation network as well as GPS.