A piece of artwork from the Bell archives showing a minimally-modified X-22 as a ground attack vehicle. The X-22 was surprisingly small, and if armed probably would have been capable of carrying much the same ordnance as the AH-1 Cobra.
It’s shown here with two trainable gun pods, an offset underside turret (looking not unlike the turret used on early Cobras) and a single deployable rocket pod.
That is the Awesomest Thing EVAR!
Or as they said on Fark:
An illustration showing the innards of the Halibut guided missile launching sub of the 1950’s. It uses both line drawings and photos of scale models to illustrate the scructure of the sub and the storage systems for the Regulas I and Regulas II cruise missiles. Subs like the Halibut would quickly be rendered obsolete with the successful development of the Polaris sea launched ballistic missile, which required far fewer monkeymotions to launch.
The diagram in higher rez:
Included in this video is film of the test flight of an early electric VTOL recon RPV. In order to look over trees and terrain, this vehicle would be launched from an armored personell carrier and would fly up with a TV camera. However, the technology simply wasn’t quite there for a free-flight vehicle… so it could only fly as far as the extension cord and TV coax cable would allow it to.
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Come for the promise of interesting weapons concepts… stay for the stilted acting and shots of clearly unhappy scientists and technicians. Oh, and the bongos. Don’t forget the bongos. When you see “Produced by the US Army,” you of course immediately think “I’m gonna hear some beatnik banging on bongos.”
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A lot of interestingness here. Early on are some artists concepts of “weapons of the future” including a true “hover tank.” It looks vaguely realistic, as such things go… the bulk of the vehicle is consumed by the lift system, and the weapons load is pathetically small for the overall size of the vehicle.
The video as a whole discusses the U.S. Army Combat Development Experimentation Center, which ran simulations to determine the proper uses of and tactics for “weapons of the future.” What makes this interesting is that the “simulation” is not some computer analysis, but actual field “battles” between Friendlies and Aggressors, using actual hardware. But since the Army didn’t want their soldiers blowing each other to flinders, the simulated weapons were often… interesting. Compare the technologies used then to those used today.
And given the date (a bit vague… early 1960’s it seems), it is suprisingly racially diverse. it’s liek a black and white Bennetton ad with weaponry. Apparently this video was intended to be broadcast on TV.
Power Down: Senate Zaps Navy’s Superlaser, Railgun
The one undisputed role of the US FedGuv is to provide for the common defence of the nation. To do this, the US Military needs to be well equipped. In an era when backwards nations like Iran can orbit satellites, this means maintaining a high level of advanced weaponry. Which means *developing* advanced weaponry. And in recent years, considerable strides have been made in developing practical laser and railgun weapons. Strides sufficient enough that planners have been able to foresee actual deployment dates. Both systems would be invaluable in the defense of ships against the next generation of anti-ship missiles. Faster than ever, the new missiles are becoming increasingly difficult to intercept with missiles or traditional guns. Far higher velocities are required of the interceptors… and both the railgun and the laser promise just that.
But the Senate sees the future otherwise, and has slashed funding for both.
So if the Chinese field hypersonic anti-ship missiles and start taking out US carrier battle groups… you know who to thank.
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From this presentation comes an image (probably scanned from amagazine of the early 1960’s) showing a Thiokol concept for using a 260″ diameter solid rocket motor as the first stage of either a space launch vehicle or an ICBM. As a space launcher, it’s nothing special… 90,000 pounds into orbit. But as an ICBM with a range of 8000 nautical miles, the payload is an impressive 110,000 pounds. Which means either one truly hugenormous warhead, or a whole bunch of little ones. Like… a *hundred* little ones.
Now available: Justo Miranda & Paula Mercado present Reichdreams Dossier No. 21: “FW190 Extreme.” This issue includes advanced versions of the WWII German Focke-Wulf FW190 fighter. Includes engine studies (piston, turbojet and ramjet), armament studies (guns, cannon, upward-firing weapons, a range of guided and unguided air-to-surface and air-to-air missiles, glide bombs, cruise missiles), alternate wing planforms, ejector seats, avionics and even parasite fighters!
This issue contains more than 80 pages of technical diagrams, many in 1/72 or 1/48 scale. Yours to download for only $20! You can also buy it in printed form through MagCloud. Check out the MagCloud page for a higher-resolution “preview” of the issue and to buy a high-qaulity printed and bound edition for $30.60.
Be sure to check out the other issues in the Reichdreams Dossiers series.
And on the opposite end of the scale from the Liberator, here’s a pistol presented to Hitler. With enough blingtastic mother-of-pearl and gold plating to satisfy your average pimp or rapper, this .32 caliber “Lilliput” Model 1 semi-automatic wandered out of Europe at the end of WWII in the posession of an average GI. It’s now on display at the West Point museum
On display at the West Point museum is an example of the “Liberator” pistol mass produced during WWII. Little more than a stamped-metal “zip gun,” the idea was to produce at minimal cost the minimal firearm capable of putting down an enemy soldier. It was a one-shot weapon (with storage in the grip for a few extra rounds), not intended for combat use. Instead, the idea was that it would be airdropped to partisans across Europe, who would use it to cap Axis soldiers… and then take *their* guns. Relatively few of the millions produced still exist; fewer still were actually used. They came packaged in a carboard box with a cartoon instruction sheet. A wooden dowel rod was also included to help the shooter eject a spent cartrige.
Given its limited practical value, they are really rather pricy, and if you find a boxload of ’em, scrapping them for the steel would be a really, really bad idea.
