#UsAirForce

Winter is coming in this Photo Of The Day, and I’m sure the making of these photos – in the little sunlight given each day – took a lot of freezing. We see Air Force Special Operators from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, as they learn how to survive and fight at the Swedish Subarctic Warfare Center in Grubbnäsudden. The location is near Sweden’s northern border with Finland and a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle.

A new day and a new collection of images to discover in our Photo Of The Day. Above we see U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Rachel DeMeis, a 354th Air Expeditionary Wing security response team member (left) and Staff Sgt. Stephen Stipp, 354th AEW security forces flight sergeant. They’re posing in front of an F-35A Lightning II during the Agile Combat Employment training in Japan. The picture was taken on 06.30.2022, in Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Yamaguchi, Japan.

The US Air Force has announced that it has begun fielding the first of approximately 125,000 new SIG Sauer M18 Modular Handgun System 9x19mm pistols. The Air Force announced that it has opted for the more compact M18 over the M17, selected by the US Army, in May 2018. The very first pistols began reaching Air Force Security Forces in March 2019.

Back in June 2018, we reported on the US Air Force’s new survival/self-defence weapon – the GAU-5A. The GAU-5A is an upgrade to the M4 which allows it to be stowed in the survival kit of US Air Force fighter jets. The Aircrew Self Defense Weapons (ASDW) is fitted with a takedown system that allows the rifle’s barrel to be detached from the receiver and it is also fitted with a folding pistol grip.

The United States Air Force has officially begun to retire their remaining inventories of Smith & Wesson Model 15 (M15) service revolvers.  TFB reported in early March that the new Sig Sauer M18 service pistol would be phasing out all previous service pistols, which include the M15’s, Beretta M9’s and Sig M11’s.

The US Air Force has begun to issue the new M18 Modular Handgun System to Air Force Security Forces. The new compact M18 will replace both the Beretta M9 and the older SIG Sauer M11A1 pistols with Air Force security personnel.

At the 2018 NDIA Armaments Forum the US Air Force detailed some of their current major small arms programmes. One of these was for a new ultra compact Aircrew Self Defense Weapon. This is a compact conversion of standard M4 carbines into a package small enough to be stowed aboard USAF combat aircraft.

The US Navy and Air Force have confirmed their adoption of the compact variant of the US Army’s new pistol, the Modular Handgun System.

With the termination of the Interim Combat Service Rifle, the CSASS program on hold, and the XM25 CDTE dead and buried, many are wondering: When will the Army get its act together on small arms? Given the long history of Army program failures, though, maybe a better question would be: If the Army can’t take the lead on small arms development, who can?