Vigilante

 aircraft, drawings, history, weapons  3 Responses »
Aug 062012
 

A drawing of the T250 Vigilante anti-aircraft gun, towed version. The T250 is fairly poorly documented, even though it was built, tested and mounted to an extended M-113 chassis. The T250 certainly looks like the M61 Vulcan gatling gun, but there was a difference: unlike the 20mm M61, the T250 was a hefty 37mm caliber.

The T250 was begun in 1956 at Springfield Armory. It had a rate of fire of 3000 rpm, and had a 192 round drum magazine. While the 37mm round hit like a freight train, apparently the problem was that the integrated system couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, so the Vigilante system was replaced with the Mauler automated anti-aircraft missile system… which was also cancelled.

 Posted by at 1:29 pm

Zaptacular Navy pt. 2

 awesomeness, blather, news, photography, science, weapons, youtube  2 Responses »
Aug 052012
 

As a followup to THIS (based on the photos HERE) a link was posted to this paper:

Navy Shipboard Lasers for Surface, Air, and Missile Defense: Background and Issues for Congress

It contains some illustrations that, while not being exactly what’s on the back of the ship, look pretty close:

This is the LaWS (Laser Weapon System), a solid-state laser which uses six commercial welding lasers to produce a 33 kilowatt laser beam. The laser is about 25% efficient meaning a projected operational version with a 100 kW beam would require 400 kW of total electrical power (and a whole lot of cooling). Compare the above image to this:

And this rear view of the LaWS from the PR video below:

Additionally, the LaWS prototype and the Thing On The Boat both have the same NAVSEA logo on ’em:

[youtube vqLkpcHavZE]

A view of the LaWS prototype from the PR video with a human in frame, compared to the Thing On The Boat photo (with a human moved a bit) shows that the devices are roughly the same size.

Further: The boxlike thing on the mount, further aft:

This bears some resemblance to the beam director of the Navy/Northrop Grumman Maritime Laser Demonstrator:

The MLD has already been tested at sea. So what we *may* have here is a comparison test between two laser systems; this would explain the two laser directors and the two Caterpillar power generators. Both lasers could presumably be fired up at once on their own power systems and tested simultaneously, providing direct comparisons of performance under various conditions. Alternatively, they may be used for different targets.  As the video below shows, the MLD has apparently been used to take out small surface vessels. So… the LaWS aims up, the MLD aims down.

[youtube awsQs4ct0c4]

 Posted by at 4:29 pm

The Zaptacular Navy?

 blather, news, science, ships, weapons  15 Responses »
Aug 042012
 

From HERE a photo of USS Dewey, DDG-105, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer with a  great big interesting thing mounted to it. Also appears to have some substantial generators. Go to the link for higher-rez images.

So what do we have here? Inside the dome there appears to be a sizable telescope. But a telescope itself would not seem to need the sort of electrical power that the Caterpillar generators would provide. There is also what appears to be a sensor system mounted further aft.

 Posted by at 3:41 pm

BLAMMO

 awesomeness, humor, photography, Utah, weapons  6 Responses »
Aug 032012
 

The back of an official government sign out near Promontory Point:

A closeup, showing that Utahns celebrate diversity:

And the front side:

EDIT: This post is almost an exact duplicate on one I posted almost three years ago. It turns out that in the three years since I originally posted photos of this sign… it looks like people have left the sign alone. It’s indistinguishable in its shotupedness.

 Posted by at 11:40 pm

Illinois Governor tramples TWO Constitutions

 Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., I'm from the government, news, politics, Utah, weapons  1 Response »
Aug 022012
 

In short, Gov. Quinn reminds me why my home state sucks politically (and why nobody should EVER trust a Chicago politician) by taking an already passed bill that permits in-state internet sales of ammunition, and completely re-wrote it to be a ban on common firearms and firearm accessories.

 Posted by at 1:49 pm

M-61 Vulcan

 aircraft, drawings, weapons  3 Responses »
Jul 312012
 

Some illustrations from a 1979 McDonnell-DouglasF-15 armament handbook illustrating the pointy end of the F-15: the M-61 20mm Vulcan Gatling gun.

The M-61 could send several different rounds downrange, including target rounds, armor piercing and high explosive incendiary.

 Posted by at 5:20 pm

Gun Control: here we go again…

 AARRRGH, I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons  6 Responses »
Jul 272012
 

Democratic senators offer gun control amendment for cybersecurity bill

The amendment was sponsored by Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Schumer and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.). S.A. 2575 would make it illegal to transfer or possess large capacity feeding devices such as gun magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums of more than 10 rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.

It never freakin’ ends with these power-mad wannabe tyrants. The sad thing is that they are firmly embedded in states where a voting majority of public has accepted sub-citizen status, so they’ll just keep getting re-elected. Gah.

Well, keep an eye on this one. Anyone who votes for this monstrosity, vote ’em out in November if you can.

Keep in mind, this ten-round limit will affect not just the mythical “assault weapons on our streets,” but the majority of *pistols* as well.

 Posted by at 5:49 pm

Colorado > New York City

 blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons  7 Responses »
Jul 242012
 

A tale of two reactions to Sideshow Bob going on a rampage in Aurora last week.

First, the citizens of Colorado:

Gun sales up since tragedy

Background checks  to buy guns in Colorado went up 41% since the shooting.

And on the other end of the reaction scale, NYC’s duly elected Mayor Bloomberg went full retard:

“I don’t understand why police officers across this country don’t stand up collectively and say we’re going to go on strike, we’re not going to protect you unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what’s required to keep us safe.”

So the people of Colorado want to defend themselves, while the people of NYC – they elected Bloomberg, after all – want a fascist police state where the cops will permit crime to go unpunished in order to force unconstitutional changes onto society.

 Posted by at 12:55 pm

Diane Feinstein calls for disarming the police

 dumbassery, news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Jul 232012
 

Huh.

Nearly two decades after gunman’s SF massacre, Dianne Feinstein’s renewed outrage over assault “weapons of war”

Feinstein is speaking out on assault weapons, calling for a national “conversation” about their dangers — though she admits that politically, any reforms are unlikely to happen.

“Weapons of war don’t belong on the streets,” she said Sunday.

OK. Well, then clearly she’s *not* talking about the sort of weapons used in the Batman Massacre, since none of them were assault weapons. For those who do not know, and do not wish to venture forth in continued ignorance, an “assault weapon” is required to have several features, one of which is a full-automatic mode. The AR-15 used in the massacre was semi-auto only, which means it is *NOT* an assault weapon. Actual assault weapons have been effectively banned for civilian ownership since the unConstitutional “National Firearms Act” of the 1930s. Since then, to own an actual assault weapon, a civilian must procure a Class 3 Federal Firearms License, with is expensive, a pain in the rear to get, and a pain in the rear to maintain (you give up your 4th Amendment rights when you get a Class 3 FFL). Nobody in their right mind would go to war with a semi-only version of a weapon that had a select fire model.

But you know what class of person *does* have actual weapons of war on the streets of America? The police. Many of whom have actual assault weapons in the trunks of their cruisers, in the form of an M-4 carbine or similar.

So, Ms. Feinstein must therefore be arguing that the solution to the problem of lone nutjobs is to take the cops guns away.There’s really no other *honest* way to interpret what she’s saying.

 Posted by at 12:23 am
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