A long one this week, courtesy primarily of the Association of the United States Army and the plans to replace the Bradley.

AUSA 2018

• A Bradley replacement is top priority
• Raytheon and Rheinmetall offer the Lynx – And a video thereof
• BAE showcases the CV90 Mark IV – Parvusimperator notes that it has a modular turret, lots of range, and 8 dismounts.
• 1000 horsepower out of a four-cylinder opposed pistol engine – And the press release
• General Dynamics throws a hat into the ring – And video
• A new 50mm gun! – Not, it should be noted, the 50mm Supershot parvusimperator has written on in the past, however.
• The Stryker Command Vehicle, photos of
• A 1000-mile cannon is on the Army’s list – If you launch an IRBM from a gun barrel, is it a gun or a missile?

Other Defense

• Japan’s ‘helicopter carrying destroyers’ could be used to carry F_35s? – What? Perish the thought! That’s absolutely impossible, and definitely not something we’ve predicted multiple times.
• F-35-cued HIMARS rocket shot – Now that is cool.
• Shot: the French are causing problems with the Australian sub program – The country which took its ball, kicked sand in the Eurofighter’s face, then went home and built its own fighter is hard to work with? C’est pas vrai!
• Chaser: Japan’s latest Soryu-class has lithium-ion batteries – Are you paying attention, Australia?
• Boomer: RealClearDefense asks whether Australia develop a nuclear deterrent – Yes, but only because we like Australia, is our answer.
• Russia preparing an undersea Atlantic battlespace – Western institutions may have forgotten how far ahead they were during the Cold War, but the Russians haven’t forgotten how far they had to catch up.
• New hovercraft to enter service – Bougainville, third in the America-class, has a well deck, conveniently.
• MiG-31 ASAT? – Maybe, but I suspect Russia, like presumably the US and China, is focusing more on having its satellite-killing capabilities already in orbit. Sidebar: in a war where satellite-killing is a thing, SpaceX (or more generally reusable boosters) could be a decisive strategic advantage.

Guns

• Weekly Weaponsman: the rise and decline of .25 Browning
• SiG presents some drop-dead gorgeous guns to The Old Guard

Football

• An average Steelers team
• The jet sweep and other outside running plays are doing well this year; here’s how they work

Technology and Other

• Don’t bother buying an RTX2080 or 2080Ti – Paying a huge premium for the first version of next-generation technology is not generally smart. (Sounds like a procurement maxim, too.)
• The Soapbox congratulates Mike Goulian, Red Bull Air Race Indy winner – And the first American to win a US air race in ten years. Take that, rest of the world. We invented airplanes, we can take you all on.
• Bloomberg reported on a hardware hack which allegedly hit a number of US companies – I’m still not 100% sure if I believe it. Bloomberg stands by it, and Motherboard has a good roundup of further reporting and investigation into the story.