I’ve always wondered if putting the M-61 Vulcan Gatling gun right directly in front of the pilot might be a little distracting at night. Turns out…
I saw this billboard today. I’m not absolutely certain, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about it seems a little… amiss.
I haven’t posted much on the “American Nuclear Explosive Devices” project lately. For those interested, don’t worry, work continues; just that since a lot of it is converting photos into CAD diagrams, then erasing a days work and starting over, then going at it again, and so on, it hasn’t been terribly interesting. But there is progress.
NOTE: I have in most cases high confidence in the accuracy of the external configurations of the nuclear weapons. The internal configuration, however, is rather less trustworthy. Most of the diagrams won’t go into the innards, as that would require pure guesswork on my part; but some do have internal arrangements available to some degree of reliability or another. None, with the possible exception of Fat Man, are detailed enough to build a functioning nuke off of, so no worries there.
If you are in the market for a firearm and you have just a whole lot of money, perhaps you should consider the .950 JDJ:
As its name implies, rifles chambered for the cartridge have a bore diameter of 0.950 in (24.1 mm), which would normally classify them as Destructive Devices in the United States under the 1968 (1934) National Firearms Act. However, SSK sought and received a “Sporting Use Exception” to de-regulate the rifles, meaning they can be purchased like any other Title I rifle by a person over age 18 with no felonies on their criminal record.[citation needed] The rifles themselves, of which only a handful have been made, use McMillan stocks and extraordinarily thick Krieger barrels bearing an 18 lb (8.2 kg) muzzle brake. Overall, depending on options, the rifles weigh from 85 to 110 pounds (39 to 50 kg) and are therefore only useful for shooting from a bench rest or heavy bipod.[3] Despite the weight, recoil is significant, and shooters must be sure to choose components (i.e., scopes and bipods) that can handle the abuse. The sheer size and weight of these weapons makes them impractical for hunting use, as they cannot be carried afield. Thus, they are largely “range queens”—rifles that are brought to the range for a fun time, but not usually used for hunting or other “more practical” uses. Additionally, the cost of owning and operating such a firearm is beyond most shooters
The cartridge propels its 3,600 gr (230 g) bullet at approximately 2,200 ft/s (670 m/s). This yields a muzzle energy of 38,685 ft·lbf (52,450 J)[1] and a momentum of 154.1 Newton-seconds, about the same as a 20×102mm Vulcan round.[citation needed]
By comparison, the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge, used in the M16 rifle, produces between 1,200–1,300 ft·lbf (1,600–1,800 J), while the .308 Winchester, a favorite for hunters and medium-range police/military sniping, produces between 2,000–3,000 ft·lbf (2,700–4,100 J) depending on the load used. The ballistics of the .950 JDJ are more similar to that of the 20mm autocannon round, which delivers approximately 39,500 ft·lbf (53,600 J). The muzzle energy of the .950 JDJ is comparable to the kinetic energy of a 2,800 lb (1,300 kg) automobile traveling at 20 mph (32 km/h).
Found this photo on Wikipedia, thought it might be of interest to some. Why? Because it’s cool. Note that at extreme left you can see a few blurs… presumably a penetrator round and sabot.
The full-rez version is HERE.
So, the Israelis and “Palestinains” are at it again. The Gazans are launching the better part of a hundred rocket a day into Israel; the Israelis are doing their best to blow them out of the sky with the “Iron Dome” system, and then trying to smash the launch sites. With the exception of the Iron Dome system, it’s the same old, sad, boring story, once again.
But how about if the Israelis switched it up? Here’s my proposal:
1) Pump up Iron Dome. Add lasers and CIWS as necessary. Do whatever feasible to destroy every single Gazan rocket.
2) Do *not* otherwise respond. No blowing up the houses, no artillery, no sending in troops. Just close the border, cut off all supplies and utilities to Gaza.
3) Count the incoming Gazan rockets. Keep a running tab.
4) Let this go on for, oh, two months or so. And then total up all the Gazan rockets… and return them. Not over the span of two months, but over the span of two minutes. If the Gazans launch 50 rockets a day for 60 days, you launch 3000 rockets in two minutes.
Use rockets as similar as possible to the Gazan rockets. Same basic weight, performance and warhead. Same lack of guidance and minimally precise aiming.
Who could *honestly* object to this, unless they have first objected to the Gazan rocketing of Israel?
A while back I took a stab at printing cyanotype blueprints on canvas (the kind used by artists for painting on). After a rough start, I managed to get the process to work pretty well. It’s more complex and substantially more expensive than cyanotype printing on vellum paper, so I don’t know if I’ll make canvas blueprints available for regular sale like the paper versions. Still, I’ve put the first three successes on ebay if anyone is interested:
By a Russian “Buk” missile, reportedly. Fingers being pointed at the pro-Russian separatists. Plane had 295 souls on board, all dead now.
The “Buk” missile is a substantial weapon, launched from an armored vehicle. Somewhat akin to the Patriot missile the Buk is capable of reaching aircraft at an altitude of 25 km… well above the 33,000 foot cruising altitude of the jetliner.
UPDATE: Below is a twitter feed showing a number of photos of wreckage on the ground. Be warned, though… some of the wreckage used to be alive. The fall from 33,000 feet, and especially that sudden stop at the end, does the human body no favors. So if Ogrish and Rotten were your websites of choice back in the day, here ya go (not directly linking because, well, if ya want it, what, are your fingers broke?)
https://twitter.com/MatevzNovak
This one might prove to be a bit heartbreaking for a few hundred families:
UPDATED update: Another interesting Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/StateOfUkraine
Oh, it’s on now:
This is the hoard of firearms – including a missile – which were found at a home in Tameside.
Ummmm… firearms? Missile?
What I see here are a whole bunch of old, rusty, empty (and in some cases, sawed in half) artillery shells, some brass cases, what appear to be two fake missiles and a bunch of… well, crap. So, my questions:
1) How is any of this “firearms?”
2) How is any of this illegal?
Assuming that the artillery shells are indeed demilitarized, they are no more weapons than any other inert chunk of steel or brass. So are these things nevertheless illegal in Ol’ Blightedly?
Gene Simmons to the white courtesy phone, please…
The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) system seeks to improve sniper effectiveness and enhance troop safety by allowing greater shooter standoff range and reduction in target engagement timelines. The objective of the EXACTO program is to revolutionize rifle accuracy and range by developing the first ever guided small-caliber bullet. The EXACTO 50- caliber round and optical sighting technology expects to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems. The system combines a maneuverable bullet and a real-time guidance system to track and deliver the projectile to the target, allowing the bullet to change path during flight to compensate for any unexpected factors that may drive it off course.
It would seem that this is a laser-guided bullet. Likely a two-man team… a spotter with a nice powerful optical system with a built-in laser designator, and a sniper with a nice big rifle. The spotter need not be especially close to the shooter, so that the BANG doesn’t rattle the aim of the laser.
The neat thing would be if the system works well enough to track and nail a moving target.
[youtube vX8Z2MDYX3g]
