The Lobber

 history, Hmm..., nukes, rockets, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Jan 242023
 

A 1950’s film describing the “Lobber” rocket from Convair. This was a small battlefield cargo delivery system… rations, medical supplies, ammo, that sort of thing. Kind of a neat idea, but obviously it didn’t go into service. The ability to launch 50 pounds of stuff eight miles just wasn’t that spectacular when cargo planes could para-drop tons of stuff hundreds of miles away, when choppers could zip in and out in the time it would take to pack stuff into the rocket. Today i imagine drones would take on the task… not as fast, but less harsh on the cargo and much more precise.

 

Note that it is also described as a system capable of delivering *nukes.* Well, any rocket that you can swap out the payload could be a nuclear delivery system if it’s got the capability. Fifty pounds just barely covers it. It would be safer for the launch crew than a Davy Crockett with a range of only a couple miles, but 8 miles is still pretty close. The W54 warhead weighed right about 50 pounds and could yield up to about one kiloton. Eight miles would be a safe distance… so long as the fallout didn’t rain down on your head.

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 12:01 pm

That’s a weird way to “deNazify” Ukraine…

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, Gah., Hmm..., news, nukes, politics, russian empire, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 192023
 

I recently had a disturbing online conversation with a Russian aeronautical expert on the subject of Ukraine. One can reasonably expect a Russian will have a different point of view on the subject than a westerner would… but this was an *experience.* In short: It’s good and proper that Russia exterminate the Ukrainian people, because their culture, history and identity don’t exist; they’re a fiction, it’s all part of Russia and Russias destiny to retake that plot of land. “The history of Ukraine began with the betrayal in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1991 and will end in 2023.” Any who stand against the Russians goals deserve death and the nuking of western/NATO cities would be a small price to pay for Russia reclaiming it’s former empire.

 

Yeesh.

 

And of course one of the main excuses for why the “special military operation” is a wonderful thing? The need to get rid of all the Nazis in Ukraine. Ukraine, under the leadership of a democratically elected feller who I understand to be a Jew, is somehow being controlled by Nazis. Uh-huh. After years of weirdo whackaloons here in the west constantly banging on about fascists and Nazis – by which they mean anyone with politics to the right of FDR – I have no sympathy for Russians bleating on about Nazis. Especially when *this* is who the Russians are sending into battle against the Ukrainian people:

 

 

 

 

It’s bad enough that Russian leadership is clearly bugnuts, but that this has seeped out into the general populace is unnerving. I was told that Putin is felt to be too soft on the west, and: “If Kadyrov becomes president, the whole world will remember the beautiful and humane Vladimir Vladimirovich with tears.”

 

There have been more and more reports that NATO countries are running out of weapons and ammo. Again, this is both good and bad news. The bad is obvious. But the good is that the West is figuring this out *now* while our economies are still running and our factories are still standing. If the relatively tiny amount of ordnance the west is sending to Ukraine is drying up western armories… that’s a damned good sign that we need to start stocking up in a serious way.

 Posted by at 11:00 pm

It belongs in a museum

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, Crazy, dumbassery, history, Hmm..., nukes, projects, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 122023
 

Big bomb laid to rest

An article by Sandia Labs discussing the disposition of an old, old, OLD Mk 17 nuclear bomb “trainer.” Obviously this isn’t, never was, an actual thermonuclear weapon, but a training device; as such, it doubtless included a lot of the same parts as the actual bomb.

The Mk 17 was a giant of a bomb, deliverable only by the B-36; with a yield of about 15 megatons, it was delivered in 1954, withdrawn from service in 1957. Consequently, this thing is pushing seventy years in age. The article states that it was “transported to Kirtland Air Force Base for its end-of-lifecycle dismantlement and disposition.” One *hopes* that means it’ll be lovingly restored and sent to a good museum for display. One fears it means it’ll be disassembled and scrapped. That *seems* to be its fate based on the vague descriptions of what’ll happen to it.

 Posted by at 11:58 pm

The constantly evolving “Enzmann Starship”

 aircraft, blather, history, Hmm..., Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 022023
 

The “Enzmann Starship” is named after Robert Enzmann, who “designed” it decades ago. Just exactly *when* has been an issue of some confusion in recent years.

It first came to light in the late 60’s or early 70’s, with claims that he thought it up around 1964 or so. The design is unique: a giant spherical ball of frozen deuterium fuel at the front, followed by a cylindrical ship, ending with a series of Orion-style nuclear pulse engines. It was an *ok* concept for a practical starship, though relatively recent analysis presented in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society argued that it was not nearly as good as imagined. It became something of a sensation in the 70’s after appearing on the cover of “Analog” in 1973.

Nothing has ever been produced, so far as I’m aware, backing up the concept with any sort of detailed design of analysis until that JBIS paper. No reports, proposals, pages of math, from Enzmann seem to be available… just text descriptions of a few sentences and some art. And that’s fine. But in recent years the claims have become more and more expansive. Enzmann, near the end of his life, claimed that the design for a nuclear-pulse vehicle dated not from the time of the Orion program, but back to the *40’s*.

I spoke to Enzmann on the phone a few times over the years. He was enthusiastic, verbose… and baffling. He made lots and lots of claims about having worked on this or that amazing program, but when asked for verifiable details… it was classified. Those who have picked up his mantle and are trying to carry his torch seem to be following in his footsteps there, continuing his claims without much apparent criticism. I’ve recently engaged their twitter contact to get some sort of verification of his claims… but we have now reached the point where not only am I convinced that no such evidence will be produced, I feel no reason to assume anything remarkable is true at all. Behold:

Claiming that nuclear powered aircraft were actually built in the fifties and then buried in a mountain? Yeah… no. I’m out.

 

Where the thread started:

 Posted by at 11:06 pm

Biden sure knows how to pick ’em

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, nukes, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Dec 092022
 

Non-binary Biden nuclear official Sam Brinton accused in second luggage heist

Here’s a thought: if someone projects an image of being a weirdo… take them at their word. They’re a weirdo. Avoid.

Details about the alleged theft are scarce, but 8 News Now stated that Brinton, 35, was charged with grand larceny with a value between $1,200 and $5,000.

Stealing *anything* should be a career-ended for someone like this. Consequently, basic games theorizing should tell you that if you are going to put your future at risk for theft… make it worthwhile. Do like the Bidens or the Clintons and go after those multi-million dollar jobs. Then if you get caught, you can simply blow it off, because for some reason those sort of crimes get a pass. But stealing *luggage?* That’s just *stupid.*

Imagine being an expert in your field. Your field is nuclear fuel, processing, waste treatment, etc. And now imagine showing up for work and being told you have to report to THIS guy.

 

This is how you get underlings selling secrets to the Russians or the Chinese, because you are clearly disrespecting them directly to their faces. I would feel monumentally insulted if I was told that someone so clearly insane was just installed as my boss. Pretty sure I wouldn’t sell out the country, but I’m pretty sure my work ethic would suffer.

 Posted by at 10:26 pm

Some uplifting documentaries about getting nuked by commies

 history, Hmm..., nukes, politics, russian empire, Worldwreckers, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 262022
 

Oddly, the PBS special “In The Event of Catastrophe” from 1978 is age restricted. Click on it, it’ll take you to YouTube directly. Shrug.

 

“First Strike” from the RAND Corporation. A docu-drama depicting a Soviet first strike that effectively wipes out America’s nuclear retaliatory capability and leads to the capitulation of the USA. Bits of this were used in “The Day After” a few years later.

 

This one from the National Film Board of Canada runs kinda light on pointing out that the Commies are setting off the nukes. Instead, the nuclear explosions just sorta happen, some vague result of American actions.

 

And just for fun, here’s a German 1998 alternate history show (“Der Dritte Weltkrieg”) where 1990 goes a little differently:

 

 Posted by at 11:31 pm

Extended (early) ALCM

 aircraft, drawings, history, nukes, projects, weapons  No Responses »
Nov 072022
 

The model AGM-86 Air Launch Cruise Missile began life as a decoy missile, sort of an updated “Quail.” it was decided that the decoy could carry a nuclear warhead, and thus provide a lot more service; this began its development as a cruise missile. As originally envisaged, it had to fit in the some bays that could hold the AGM-69 SRAM missile; this made sense in a lot of ways but strictly limited its capabilities due to the short length. Efforts to increase the range of the missile included adding a droppable belly tank and stretching the fuselage for more internal fuel volume. The latter route was chose, along with making the nose much blunter and more voluminous.Both the external tank and the fuselage stretch meant that it could not long fit in internal SRAM bays, a tradeoff that was deemed worthwhile.

The illustration below dates from mid 1976 at the latest.

The full rez scan has been uploaded to the 2022-11 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for $4 and up APR Patrons/subscribers.

 

 Posted by at 6:17 am

Small ICBM Art

 art, history, nukes, rockets  No Responses »
Nov 032022
 

An Aerojet rendering, unfortunately not in color, of the Small ICBM (MGM-134 “Midgetman”) from the 80’s. This was a single-warhead missile meant specifically to be carried by and launched from an off-road truck/trailer capable of withstanding a reasonably nearby nuclear blast. The image hear focuses on the second stage; like all post-Minuteman US ICBM’s, the SICBM was solid fueled. The USSR gave up the ghost and as a consequence the SICBM program was cancelled in 1992.

 Posted by at 7:54 pm

Orion Battleship

 APR, awesomeness, history, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Oct 302022
 

The YouTube channel “Found and Explained” just released a video on the 4,000 ton Orion Battleship, with the model used based on my reconstruction from issue V2N2 of “Aerospace Projects Review.” The video was sponsored by a “Star Trek” video game, so there are a *lot* of Star Trek references in the video.

For more information on the project, including blueprints, be sure to check out issue v2N2.

 Posted by at 6:21 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries