Anti-Aircraft Laser Unveiled
American defense firm Raytheon unveiled its anti-aircraft laser, of all places, at an airshow in England. Called the Laser Close-In Weapon System, Raytheon said the 50 kilowatt beam it produces can be used against aircraft, mortars, rockets, and small surface ships, and has already been tested against unmanned aerial vehicles.
Hello future! I wonder if George Lucas has a copyright on the idea of shooting things with lasers, he apparently has one on the word “droid”.
via Fast Company.
Rolling Thunder and a Marine’s Salute
3000 vets on motorcycles from across the USA paraded in D.C. the Sunday
before Memorial Day, while a solitary, saluting Marine greeted them out on
Constitution Avenue… the Marine stood at salute for 3 straight hours, while
the parade of roaring bikes kept on coming…. it is held in remembrance
of those who’ve fallen in the military…. the event (or the group) is
called Rolling Thunder… the camera is on the Marine a lot… watch his
struggles with his emotions, and his struggles with holding that salute…
the way he salutes is very touching… his head lowered, his eyes down,
in reverence for the fallen… it got to be overwhelming for him…
and the tears started flowing… but keeps right on holding that salute…
Dancing Israeli Soldiers
The six soldiers, dressed in full combat gear and carrying assault rifles, are show on patrol in the West Bank city of Hebron. As the soldiers come to a halt, the Muslim call to prayer is suddenly interrupted by the chorus of Ke$ha’s ‘Tik Tok’.
The soldiers immediately break into a coordinated dance routine, complete with twirls, star-jumps and more. Then, just as suddenly as they started, the soldiers immediately begin their patrol again, guns at the ready.
The YouTube video, originally titled ‘Batallion 50 Rock the Hebron Casbah’, went viral until it was taken down from the site on Monday, apparently by the soldier who uploaded the clip.
However, the Israeli army did not find the clip amusing, stating: ‘This was a joke by the soldiers and the matter is currently being investigated by the battalion commanders,” a terse statement said, with media reports saying those involved were likely to be punished for “inappropriate conduct during a military operation.’
The clip has since been re-posted on YouTube.
Boeing rolls deadly terminator drone
“Phantom Ray offers a host of options for our customers as a test bed for advanced technologies, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack and autonomous aerial refueling — the possibilities are nearly endless.”
That is some dead sexy drone action right there. Death from above indeed.
via Boeing rolls out remote-controlled stealth jet of the future | DVICE.
Future Military Space Vehicle – Today!
The prevailing theory is that it s some kind of future weapons platform and or combat spaceship. Such a thought is further cemented by the words of Colonel Andre Lovett vice commander of the Air Force s 45th Space Wing who offered the following in a statement after the launch “This launch helps ensure that our warfighters will be provided the capabilities they need in the future.”
Do you know what he means? ODSTs for real.
via Unmanned robotic space plane today, X-Wing tomorrow? | DVICE.
Iraq Collateral Damage Footage Previously Not Released
Wikileaks has obtained and decrypted this previously unreleased video footage from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a public square in Eastern Baghdad. They are apparently assumed to be insurgents. After the initial shooting, an unarmed group of adults and children in a minivan arrives on the scene and attempts to transport the wounded. They are fired upon as well. The official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the US military did not know how the deaths ocurred. Wikileaks released this video with transcripts and a package of supporting documents on April 5th 2010 on WikiLeaks will bring us more real news and no doubt they will.
Mexico Army Base Attack May Be Related To Drug War, 18 Gunmen Killed
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico — Dozens of gunmen mounted rare and apparently coordinated attacks targeting two army garrisons in northern Mexico, touching off firefights that killed 18 attackers.
yeah, cause when you want to make a statement, the best way is to go get killed at a mexican military base.
via Mexico Army Base Attack May Be Related To Drug War, 18 Gunmen Killed.
Top 10 Low Pass Flybys
These are real life flybys, not movie ones, even though they open up with the tower buzz from top gun. I do think the #1 was worthy of the title!
Cynical-C | Top 10 Low Pass Flybys.
Russian Blackjack Bombers Over Scotland
Apparently, the Russians have been doing quite a bit of this over the past year. “People may be surprised to know our crews have successfully scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009,” said RAF Wing Commander Mark Gorringe. The Russian bombers turned around just short of the coast of Ireland.
Scary to think that everyone’s put Russian Military operations into that ‘not too serious’ category. Just think, 20 years ago, this would have been front page news.
U.S. Soldier ‘Waterboarded His Own Daughter, 4, Because She Couldn’t Recite Alphabet’
A soldier waterboarded his four-year-old daughter because she was unable to recite her alphabet.
Joshua Tabor admitted to police he had used the CIA torture technique because he was so angry.
As his daughter ‘squirmed’ to get away, Tabor said he submerged her face three or four times until the water was lapping around her forehead and jawline.
Tabor, 27, who had won custody of his daughter only four weeks earlier, admitted choosing the punishment because the girl was terrified of water.
The practice of waterboarding was used by the CIA to break Al Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Detainees had water poured over their face until they feared they would drown. President Barack Obama has since outlawed the practice.
Tabor, a soldier at the Lewis-McChord base in Tacoma, Washington, was arrested after being seen walking around his neighbourhood wearing a Kevlar military helmet and threatening to break windows.
Police discovered the alleged waterboarding when they went to his home in the Tacoma suburb of Yelm and spoke to his girlfriend.
She told them about the alleged torture and the terrified girl was found hiding in a closet, with bruising on her back and scratch marks on her neck and throat.
Asked how she got the bruises, the girl is said to have replied: ‘Daddy did it.’
During a police interview Tabor allegedly admitted grabbing his daughter, placing her on the kitchen counter and submerging her face into a bowl of water.
Sergeant Rob Carlson said the punishment was carried out because the girl would not recite the alphabet.
Police have not revealed Tabor’s military service, but his base is home to units that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tabor has been charged with assault and ordered to remain on his base and have no contact with his daughter or girlfriend, who has not been named. He is due to appear in court this week.
The girl has been taken into care. Her natural mother lives in Kansas but Tabor had been granted custody by a court.
All this money and we can’t even get our soldiers the psychological help they need? Or are they simply going on too many tours of duty? WTF!
The most dangerous thing in the Iraq War: Bomb Detectors
In the shadow of the bombed-out al Hamra hotel, there stands a familiar sight before the car-choked traffic of Baghdad’s Jadiriyah Street – a uniformed police officer, his ADE-651 in hand.
Small, plastic, and deemed useless by the US military, the British government and many ordinary Iraqis, this hand-held device remains the primary way vehicles are screened for explosives at checkpoints in the Iraqi capital. One by one, vehicles are waved forward and told to wait while security forces walk parallel, waiting for their antenna to twitch.
End of the Humvee Era
It’s with great sadness that I report to you that Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale just said at his briefing that 2010 would be the last year that the Pentagon would buy the venerable High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
Budget documents released today show that the the Pentagon is devoting about $1 million to replace war losses of Humvees, but will buy none over and above the current numbers. The Pentagon budgeted for about 8,000 Humvees in FY 2010 to the tune of $1.3 billion.
This really does break my heart, I remember the classic HUMVEE as the epitomy of cool military ground vehicles, and I even had one of them for my GI Joes when I was a kid.
Want to see what they’re replacement will look like?
Bible Verses Inscribed into US Military Rifle Scopes Used in Iraq and Afghanistan
Are they just retarded? How do they not see the problems this could cause? It may be even worse, they believe it.
Snipers Use iPhone App to Target Terrorists
BulletFlight helps sharpshooters work out how the wind and the rotation of the Earth will affect their bullet – and even predicts the wounds the enemy will suffer if it hits him. Snipers are using the ballistics program downloaded on to their iPhones to target the enemy over long distances.
Allied forces already use adapted Xbox 360 video game controllers to pilot robotic vehicles.
They are also making cheap supercomputers using chips from PS3 consoles to develop new kinds of radar. And British experts at BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Airbus and the Williams Formula 1 motor racing team are working on a joint project using computer games consoles to test new gadgets.
Stuart McDougall of BAE, which is developing 3D graphics technology from the PS2 to power the next wave of military engineering designs, said: “Historically the military have invested in developing technology to meet their specific requirements.
“This technology has then filtered down to everyone else.
“But, increasingly, modern consumer gadgets are so powerful and so highly competitive that they’re often ahead of the game – and much cheaper to buy in and adapt.” Anyone can download BulletFlight, which was developed from games software for military use. It costs £2.49 for a basic version or £18.78 for the full program.
It is one of dozens of iPod Touch and iPhone “apps” – or software applications – endorsed by the US military for use in Iraq and Afghanistan, including maps, survival books and tactics guides.
Pretty cool! Amazing how many multi uses technology has nowadays. BANG! HEADSHOT!
Here is further reading on the BulletFlight iPhone Program.
Chinook helicopter water rescue
The British Special Boat Service (water-based version of the SAS) landing an inflatable launch inside a Chinook helicopter. The pilot lowers the helicopter halfway into the water so the seals can come in.
Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones
WASHINGTON — Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.
Oh noes, the bad guys can see themselves being bombed! In reality though, it means that our drones don’t encrypt the video feeds, which is something that can be fixed over night, with off the shelf parts and software.
The Frame: Marines in Afghanistan
A United States Marine from the 4th Light Armored Recon walks toward a LAV fighting vehicle in Khan Nashin, in the volatile Helmand Province of Southern Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 3. AP / Kevin Frayer
An Iraqi Field Of US Taxpayer-Bought Trucks Stretching To The Horizon – military vehicles
An anonymous military officer shot this photograph at Camp Taji National Depot in Iraq to illustrate the mind-blowing investment the US taxpayer is footing for Iraqi reconstruction.
via An Iraqi Field Of US Taxpayer-Bought Trucks Stretching To The Horizon – military vehicles – Jalopnik.
Video games finally pay off: Air Force needs more virtual flyers than real pilots
There was once a great Far Side cartoon that had ‘hopeful parents’ imagining a newspaper full of Help Wanted ads for skilled video game players. Well, it looks like Gary Larson might have been more prescient than he imagined. The US Air Force has just revealed that, this year, it will train more ‘pilots’ to remotely operate unmanned aircraft than pilots to fly fighters and bombers.
via Video games finally pay off: Air Force needs more virtual flyers than real pilots.
Back when I was a kid I was sure that this day would come. The robots are now just a couple steps away from taking over! My only hope is that somewhere between the slave mines and the fight pits, we’ll be able to still drink our whiskey.
snopes.com: F/A-18 Hornet Fly-By
Origins: The startling picture displayed above was taken by Detroit News
photographer Steve Perez on 12 July 2009. On that date, a Navy F/A-18 Hornet from Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia made a scheduled flyover above Detroit to entertain crowds gathered along the Detroit River to watch the American Power Boat Association Gold Cup powerboat races. Just as the jet turned sideways and zoomed past a high-rise apartment complex, Perez snapped the remarkable photo shown here.
Perspective always confuses me. How could it look so close but not be close at all? I’ve seen these jets in person, they’re not all that huge.
Tactical-Life.com » Basics of the One-Mile Shot
Twenty years ago or so, the idea of hitting a man-sized target at a mile 1760 yards was the stuff of legend. Yes, there were historical precedents, such as Union sniper Captain John T. Metcalf, US Army Corps of Engineers, who in 1864, reputedly shot a Confederate officer at a range of 1666 meters previously measured with a surveyor’s transit using a heavy .50-caliber scoped muzzleloading rifle, and Carlos Hathcock’s 2000-yard plus kill during the Vietnam conflict with a single shot from a .50BMG M2, but these were considered rare events done by almost superhuman marksmen and perhaps assisted by a bit of luck. Today, however, guns, cartridges, scopes and more have enabled consistently accurate riflery at 1500 yards and much more. In Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, American soldiers with the .50BMG Barrett M107 have made more shots of that type than can be recorded.
Interest in such shooting is not just academic, or limited only to combat environments overseas. Maximizing the security of American airports, seaports, power plants, stateside military bases, strategic industrial installations, border areas and more, involves expanding the perimeter of protection as much as possible. A rifle capable of engaging and nullifying vehicle-borne threats at distances out to 2000 yards and beyond is, thus, an increasingly important tool in dealing with potential terrorist attacks in the homeland.
Although the one-mile shot is no longer a once-in-a-lifetime event, it’s not something that one can do with a factory .30-06 hunting rifle and a 3-9x scope. Consistently hitting a man-size target at 1700 yards or more requires a special combination of cartridge, rifle, optics and accessories.
Imagine being so far away from the shot that you don’t’ even hear it, just ::twack:: brain matter all over the floor.
