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Boing
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This is what they are using now.
Or is it?
Over the weekend Navy SEALs under the cover of darkness to take down a key Shabaab militant, a man that goes by the name of “Ikrima”.
The SEALs came ashore near the southern town of Barawe and made their way towards the seaside compound where Ikrima was thought to be located. The SEALs entered the compound and took up positions based upon intelligence gathered prior to the raid.
A single Shabaab fighter stood guard outside of the building where Ikrima was hiding. The man calmly smoked a cigarette as he walked deliberately back inside the structure giving no indication he had spotted the SEALs lurking in the darkness outside. Suddenly, the man came back through the doorway firing an AK-47 at the SEALs — the fight was on.
Very quickly the SEALs were overwhelmed with heavy fire, something they weren’t expecting given intelligence reports. Through a window the SEALs could see their target. However, try as they might, they couldn’t find an angle to breech the building and gain access to him. The operators could also see children intermingling with the fighters as the battle heated up, which concerned them greatly.
As heavy fire continued to rain down on their position, the SEAL team leader made the decision to pull back to prevent unintentional collateral damage to the civilian population. The mission was a wash, but luckily none of the SEALs, who numbered less than a dozen, were injured or killed.
The terror organization, Shabaab, released images showing some of the gear dropped by the SEALs during the heat of battle. This gives us a rare glimpse into the gear America’s elite warriors are using these days.
Starting at the upper left-center of the image we see an magazine. The little 4.6x30mm caliber SMG is one of HK’s latest offerings. HK considers the MP7A1 to be a Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) and it’s designed to give near rifle like penetration with minimal recoil. The polymer magazine pictured could hold either 30 or 40 rounds of ammo, we could tell which if the end of the magazine were visible in the image.
Laying just to the right of the MP7 magazine is a Magpul windowed EMAG. From what we know, this is standard kit for DEVGRU operators, who are formerly known as SEAL Team 6.
In the middle, just below the two magazines, we see what appears to be a flash-bang diversionary device (expended).
To the right of the grenade a Garmin satellite navigation device can be seen. Of all the gear left behind, this has the potential to be the most damaging as it likely contains waypoints used by the SEALs.
Then we have the ammo which creates a half-circle around the bottom of the image. The 5.56x45mm ammo on the left side of the picture is the relatively new M855 replacement known as the SOST (Special Operations Science and Technology) round, or the . To the right we can see what appears to be 7.62×51 SOST ammo as well, or the MK319.
The distinctive brown painted tips of the ammo gives it away as being of the SOST variety.
In the case of the MK318 Mod 0 ammo, it’s designed to improve accuracy and barrier penetration as well as lethality. It features an open-tip 62gr bullet and has a claimed effective range of 600 yards.
The MK319 Mod 0 has the same key benefits as its smaller .22 caliber sibling, however it has an increased effective range. More information on the MK319 Mod 0 ammo can be .
As for the other miscellaneous bits and pieces
seen in the picture, I’m not sure what they are. If you know, please tell us in the comments below.
I’m thankful our warriors made it home from the mission unscathed with the only US casualties being a few lost items. Better luck next time, fellas.
***UPDATE***
Thanks to our readers, I have more info on the gear seen in this image.
The small packet at the upper left is a Revision anti-fog wipe used on protective eyewear.
It’s also been stated that the ammo to the left is 4.6x30mm, which I suppose it could be. That would make the ammo to the right MK318 (5.56mm) and not MK319 (.308) ammo. I’ve done a simple size analysis and the ammo to the left appears to be too long to fit into the MP7 magazine. You can see the measurements I’ve taken in the image below.
The red line over the round in the center represents the width of the MP7 magazine in the image. I drew the line over the magazine then moved it over the round to see if it were possible that the cartridge would fit into the magazine, which it appears that it wouldn’t. This isn’t scientific of course, and due to lens distortion the measurement could be off.
Or is it?
Over the weekend Navy SEALs under the cover of darkness to take down a key Shabaab militant, a man that goes by the name of “Ikrima”.
The SEALs came ashore near the southern town of Barawe and made their way towards the seaside compound where Ikrima was thought to be located. The SEALs entered the compound and took up positions based upon intelligence gathered prior to the raid.
A single Shabaab fighter stood guard outside of the building where Ikrima was hiding. The man calmly smoked a cigarette as he walked deliberately back inside the structure giving no indication he had spotted the SEALs lurking in the darkness outside. Suddenly, the man came back through the doorway firing an AK-47 at the SEALs — the fight was on.
Very quickly the SEALs were overwhelmed with heavy fire, something they weren’t expecting given intelligence reports. Through a window the SEALs could see their target. However, try as they might, they couldn’t find an angle to breech the building and gain access to him. The operators could also see children intermingling with the fighters as the battle heated up, which concerned them greatly.
As heavy fire continued to rain down on their position, the SEAL team leader made the decision to pull back to prevent unintentional collateral damage to the civilian population. The mission was a wash, but luckily none of the SEALs, who numbered less than a dozen, were injured or killed.
The terror organization, Shabaab, released images showing some of the gear dropped by the SEALs during the heat of battle. This gives us a rare glimpse into the gear America’s elite warriors are using these days.
Starting at the upper left-center of the image we see an magazine. The little 4.6x30mm caliber SMG is one of HK’s latest offerings. HK considers the MP7A1 to be a Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) and it’s designed to give near rifle like penetration with minimal recoil. The polymer magazine pictured could hold either 30 or 40 rounds of ammo, we could tell which if the end of the magazine were visible in the image.
Laying just to the right of the MP7 magazine is a Magpul windowed EMAG. From what we know, this is standard kit for DEVGRU operators, who are formerly known as SEAL Team 6.
In the middle, just below the two magazines, we see what appears to be a flash-bang diversionary device (expended).
To the right of the grenade a Garmin satellite navigation device can be seen. Of all the gear left behind, this has the potential to be the most damaging as it likely contains waypoints used by the SEALs.
Then we have the ammo which creates a half-circle around the bottom of the image. The 5.56x45mm ammo on the left side of the picture is the relatively new M855 replacement known as the SOST (Special Operations Science and Technology) round, or the . To the right we can see what appears to be 7.62×51 SOST ammo as well, or the MK319.
The distinctive brown painted tips of the ammo gives it away as being of the SOST variety.
In the case of the MK318 Mod 0 ammo, it’s designed to improve accuracy and barrier penetration as well as lethality. It features an open-tip 62gr bullet and has a claimed effective range of 600 yards.
The MK319 Mod 0 has the same key benefits as its smaller .22 caliber sibling, however it has an increased effective range. More information on the MK319 Mod 0 ammo can be .
As for the other miscellaneous bits and pieces
seen in the picture, I’m not sure what they are. If you know, please tell us in the comments below.
I’m thankful our warriors made it home from the mission unscathed with the only US casualties being a few lost items. Better luck next time, fellas.
***UPDATE***
Thanks to our readers, I have more info on the gear seen in this image.
The small packet at the upper left is a Revision anti-fog wipe used on protective eyewear.
It’s also been stated that the ammo to the left is 4.6x30mm, which I suppose it could be. That would make the ammo to the right MK318 (5.56mm) and not MK319 (.308) ammo. I’ve done a simple size analysis and the ammo to the left appears to be too long to fit into the MP7 magazine. You can see the measurements I’ve taken in the image below.
The red line over the round in the center represents the width of the MP7 magazine in the image. I drew the line over the magazine then moved it over the round to see if it were possible that the cartridge would fit into the magazine, which it appears that it wouldn’t. This isn’t scientific of course, and due to lens distortion the measurement could be off.
