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

High speed bullet explosions

 awesomeness, Hmm..., science, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Jan 212023
 

Filming pistol rounds hitting a steel plate at 250,000 frames per second. Interesting detail: almost all impacts generate a flash. Since the bullets are lead or lead and copper and the steel plate is almost undamaged, it seems the flash is probably air being compressed to incandescence between hammer and anvil rather than superheated bits of metal sparking.

 

 Posted by at 7:46 pm

More disturbishment out of Russia

 aircraft, Crazy, Hmm..., news, politics, rockets, russian empire, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 212023
 

Below, a twitter thread discussing a recent increase in the appearance of air defense systems in and around Moscow, including Vlad Putin;s digs. The optimistic way of looking at this: every missile placed near Russia is a missile not placed near Ukraine. The pessimistic outlook: you generally don;t go to this kind of bother and expense to take weapons systems *away* from an ongoing conflict unless you have a reason to. It seems the Russians seem to think that the conflict is going to expand to aircraft attacking Moscow. Do they think the Ukrainians are going to do that? Or are they expecting NATO to do that? if so, keep in mind that the excuses being used include “it was a pre-emptive strike against Ukraine because they were going to attack *us.*”

 

Another possibility is they’re afraid of elements of the Russian Air Force deciding to go a wee bit off mission.

 Posted by at 5:44 am

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

Alec Baldwin back in the news

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Hmm..., news, weapons, wisdom  No Responses »
Jan 192023
 

Couldn’t happen to a nicer fella:

Alec Baldwin to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in ‘Rust’ film shooting

The argument seems to be that Baldwin was screwing around and negligently fired the weapon. However, it also seems to be the case that he was given a gun and told by the armorer that it was not loaded. Assuming those, I’m dubious that a solid legal case can be made against him. The prop master is in serious trouble (and is also charged), no doubt, but Baldwin was told it was safe. That said: I’m never, EVER trusting a weapon to be unloaded and safe until such time as I have personally inspected it. Do I trust the person handing me the weapon? Quite possible. But “trust” has a hell of a time stacking up against “oops, I accidentally shot myself/someone else.”

 

So jail time for Baldwin? I’m uncertain. A massive fortune-thinning lawsuit? Oh yeah. Kind of a given.

 Posted by at 9:14 pm

Barrett now belongs to gun-banners

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 162023
 

This should prove interesting and quite possibly terribly sad: famed manufacturer of .50 caliber rifles Barrett has sold out to an Australian defense contractor, meaning it is now a company run by a government that does not allow it’s subjects to own such things. Will production remain in Tennessee? Will they continue to sell to the US civilian market?

 

All management and staff at the Murfreesboro manufacturing facility in Tennessee have been retained and production will continue as normal. Over time it is expected that manufacturing activities in Murfreesboro will be further expanded.

Uh-oh. If history has taught me anything, an official statement that “all is well” results in “everybody panic.” It may be that this is part of the strategy t make the deal profitable: a *lot* of people are going to believe, and not without cause, that Barretts for the US civvie market are going to dry up, and will therefore panic-buy. This will lead to an infusion of cash pretty quickly. It will then be up to the Aussies, from the same Australia that went full Big Brother the first chance it got when the Commie Cough hit, to decide whether to keep the golden goose alive, or to slaughter it.

 

NIOA acquires US manufacturer Barrett Firearms

 

Barretts are, of course, a particular favorite firearm to hate for the gun grabbers… not because they are actually used in crimes, but because these people are scared of big things they don’t understand (along with little things they don’t understand). Yanking them from the civilian market is something these authoritarian tyrants would love to do. One straightforward way to do it is simply buy the company and stop selling them to peons like us.

 Posted by at 11:10 pm

You and what army?

 awesomeness, blather, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 142023
 

Attorney General says if sheriffs won’t enforce gun ban ‘there are other people there to do the job’

The attorney general of the state of Illinois is annoyed that the great majority of the county sheriffs – elected officials who do not report to the Governor, nor can he remove them from office – have told the Governor to get bent over the issue of arresting several million citizens for the crime of owning semi-automatic rifles and standard capacity magazines. The AG believes that other police forces than county sheriffs can do the job, such as the State Police. Perhaps he thinks the Governor can call up the National Guard for this task. But for those sheriffs who take their jobs seriously, they may well arrest State Police who attempt to arrest citizens. And the sheriffs would be right to do so: their oaths tend to include words to the effect of “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” and banning magazines and firearms is, especially in light of recent Supreme Court decisions, monumentally and obviously unconstitutional.

 

This would not be unprecedented. Recall the ATF agent who got himself arrested a couple years ago. This was an arrest and tazing that didn’t need to happen; it followed the same script as so many other arrests: someone high on drugs or entitlement refuses to comply even a little bit with simple orders of the police, and things go badly for them. in this case, the ATF agent was high on his sense of overwhelming power… which it turned out he didn’t actually have.

 

I imagine if State Police or some such start actually arresting the law abiding, various resistance movements will start up that will keep them under surveillance and sic Sheriffs and vigilance committees on them. Real-time monitoring of anyone suspected of trying to enforce the unconstitutional law would seem entirely feasible in this day and age.

 

Also: virtually all police enjoy “qualified immunity,” which protects them from getting sued when they behave badly. But as I understand it, that immunity goes away if they are doing something unconstitutional. So, ummm… if you are a State Police officer who really doesn’t want to lose his house, his saving and his kids college fund, maybe think twice before violating someones Constitutional rights. Just a thought.

 Posted by at 10:29 am

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
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