Primarly designed for the LE market, the X400 is just as comfy mounted under an M4. With it’s small size, light weight and ruggedness, the light/laser combo is as bright as most carbine weapon lights at half the size and weight.

Surefire’s upgrade to the X300 weapon light has the same 110 Lumen LED light but adds a 5mW red laser to the hard-anodized aluminum body. With included rail adapters, it can be mounted on nearly anything using the included universal and Picatinny rail adapters. Runtimes are 2.4/24 hours for the light/laser on 2 123s. Out the door late in 2008 for $435.

If there’s anything funny to say about facial injuries, I can’t think of it, so just the facts on this one.  ESS has taken a logical step past their goggle line to offer more protection for one of the most vulnerable portions of your body. The Cortex is made from an NIJ IIIA rated soft armor protective stack that covers enough of your mug to make a difference when taking shrapnel.

ESS was motivated to design the Cortex after seeing an Air Force study that showed that the 3 most common procedures on 150 patients in Balad, Iraq, were for facial injuries. The mask will snap in to your ESS Profile NVG or Profile TurboFan goggles and will allow a proper cheek weld while giving the wearer far better optical clarity than a full-face shield.

The company is careful to point out that while the materials used in making the mask carry an NIJ ballistic rating, the actual mask can’t carry a rating because there isn’t a standard for facial protection.

Arcteryx hit the SOF community in the sweet spot with their rediculously comfortable and light-weight X350a climbing harness last year. It was such a hit that operators have been buying the harness and cutting off the leg loops to make gunners belts.

Arcteryx responded to the canabalization of their equipment by designing an even better belt. They made the hardware smaller, placed stiffeners at the sides to accomodate holsters or pouches when worn as a BDU belt and even thought to add a tether keeper so you won’t rip the belt loop off your pants when your snag your tether while jumping in a vehicle.

Should be under $100 when it comes out early next year in “crocodile” and black.

If you want extreme grip, it’s going to cost you about $800. That’s the price of Extreme Ratio’s new Ultramarine dive knife. Ok, now breath and listen to what that gets you. The Italian-made knife features a Nylon handle that’s hand-perforated for increased grip underwater. It also has an elastic Neoprene-like sleeve to bungie-cord the knife to your hand. This lets you handle other tools without having to resheath your knife. You can even disassemble the handle to clean off salt desposits.

Ultramarine measures 12 inches overall and features a 6 inch blade with an anti-corrosive coating. It also has serrations and a large shroud cutter on one side of the blade. The knife comes with a Cordura and molded plastic sheath and a protective carrying case.

We happened to be in front of Elbit Systems as Isreali Defense Minister Ehud Barak and SIBAT chief Yossi Ben Hanan were checking in on the Israeli industry stands.

MBDA’s CEO Antoine Bouvier talks to Vago about, you guessed it, the White Paper, missle defense and the future of the defense industry.

Say you are wandering the streets of a foreign city and you get horribly maimed by a runaway taxi. You could let someone know that you have a penicillin allergy with your trusty medical alert bracelet. Or, you could be wearing UTAG’s ICE dog tags and let them know EVERYTHING.

Unconscious, so long as your rescuers have access to a PC, they can plug the USB drive in and see, emergency contact info and whatever medical history you’ve included in the pop-up application. The software will translate all your maladies into the local lingo so you can just lay there and be unresponsive as the locals call your mom to let her know you didn’t have on clean underwear.

Beretta’s just introduced a stubby, new 9mm that’s beefy enough for larger hands. The Italian company released the PX4 Storm in Europe earlier this week at Eurosatory.

The pocket-sized pistol’s handle is very compact, but a special, fold-down lip on the butt of the 12-round magazine gives all three grip fingers a home while maintaining a low profile. It’s only available in 9mm for now, but Beretta plans to introduce a more powerful, .40 caliber version soon.

Assistant machine-gunners in the Russian Army have something to smile about these days. The replacement for the 1960’s era PKM has ditched the spare barrel concept, giving assistants one less thing to carry.

The Pecheneg LMG, made by Tsniitochmash, is chambered for 7.62mm x 54R like the PKM. But it’s the barrel that sets the Pecheneg apart from its predecessor. It has special cooling coils that prevent it from overheating — no extra barrel needed.

The 17-pound Pecheneg fires 600 rounds per minute and has an effective range of 1,500 meters.

François Lureau answers a few questions about the White Paper and offers his thoughts on a range of topics as the outgoing head of France’s DGA.