By A Web Design
The News
Small UAV's are killers now...
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- Created on Thursday, 06 September 2012 20:32
UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have been proven in Afghanistan as armed and deadly surveillance aircraft. Up till now, though, only the bigger ones carried any ordnance to speak of, and these consisted primarily of 500 lb bombs or Hellfire missiles. The guys in the field operate many more smaller drones, and while they can see insurgents planting IED's in the road, they can't do anything about it other than calling home for some firepower.
The American Industrial Complex has stepped up to the plate to remedy this situation. Raytheon has just finished testing it's prototype small munition called Pyros, intended to be installed on smaller UAV's. Weighing in at only 11 to 13 lbs., it's a small munition without any propellant, more like a laser guided gravity bomblet. Tests so far have the bomb being detonated within a few feet of it's intended target. It has a sensor package that also will detonate the bomb at a prescribed height above the ground, which is really devastating. The target of these small munitions are presumed to be insurgents, say a group of three, planting an IED in the road. The Pyros bomb can detonate close to them, and the small charge will definitely take them out, containing collateral damage.
Whether you agree with this sort of strategy or not will not stop it from being developed. The US at the moment is the majority holder of these technologies, but they will spread to other countries, some we wouldn't want to have them. I think we can't even imagine yet what future wars will look like, but you can bet autonomous robots will be part of them. And as the bombs get smaller and smaller, and the robots get smaller too, I can envisage nano bombs being carried by insect sized robots, creeping up, and not being noticed or deadly till enough of them are around you.
Bobbitt Cemetery Veterans... Lynchburg, Ohio
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- Created on Monday, 03 September 2012 15:53
I ran across this cemetery wandering around Ohio back in 2006. Back then it was overgrown with weeds and had no access except across a field full of briars. Since then, the town of Lynchburg had taken great pains to clean it up, and are working on access from a nearby highway. Once forgotten, this cemetery is guarded by a WW2 75mm pack howitzer, a common theme for Ohio cemeteries.
The newest grave is at least a hundred years old, but there seems to be a few veterans here from the Civil War. The dedication stone mentions a battle site close by, involving Simon Kenton and his pals against their nemesis, Tecumseh. Indian/Settler battle sites abound in Southern Ohio, and a few pack howitzers would have come in handy in 1792.
Mark I tanks in action...
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- Created on Saturday, 01 September 2012 12:41
Ran across this video on philthydirtyanimal's channel. In a serious contrast to the latest military news involving drones and whatnot, we go back to 1915 and the latest military technology of the time. No remote operators here, these guys get down and dirty (really dirty). Some good shots of tank maintenance and gun cleaning. Majestic beasts!
Munich WW2 bomb detonated
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- Created on Friday, 31 August 2012 23:32
The City of Munich is no stranger to bombing. Many of it's citizens were evacuated to deal with an American 550 lb bomb. In the video below, the bomb is shown being detonated. Reasons given were the fuse was a chemical type which the bomb guys weren't eager to tackle. Some WW2 bombs had anti-tampering fuses which were intended to slow down or possibly defeat the men who dealt with unexploded bombs, creating more havoc after a bombing raid and further demoralizing the populace. Or maybe they were thinking about the 1000 lb bomb the Germans tried to defuse in Goettingen in 2010 that exploded, killing the bomb disposal crew.
The grim reality is many people every day walk over, around or close to bombs or otherwise explosive ordnance that has been buried and forgotton. This is true for wherever you live, as long as there was a war there in the last 200 years. Those wars won't be over till the last bomb goes off
The Drug War and Semi-Submersibles
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- Created on Friday, 17 August 2012 20:09
The US is a giant vacuum, sucking up all the drugs in our hemisphere and others. Drug Lords have made quite a tidy profit from running drugs to our shores, but it is getting increasingly tough to cross open water with big boatloads of contraband. It is now going under water.
The first self propelled semi submersible craft carrying drugs was captured in the eastern Pacific in 2006. These craft are a lot harder to spot in the open ocean, and it's not apparent how many there have been. At least 32 have been captured since then, and this year they have shown up in the Caribbean, and 2 of those were captured. These ships have a low profile with not much showing above the water line, and can carry up to 10 ton payloads.
The drug trade isn't changing over wholesale to these boats yet, as they cost about a million apiece. Their favorite transports are still go fast boats, which can be had for under $150k, although they can't haul as much. The big worry for Homeland Security is what else is being hauled in these half subs. The North Koreans use a sort of half go fast half submersible to sneak guerrillas into South Korea, but so far nothing but drugs have been turning up here.
