Huh. Who woulda thought…

 blather, dumbassery, Hmm..., I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  3 Responses »
Dec 062012
 

From the Senator Donne E Trotter Biography:

Senator Trotter ushered in Illinois’ first comprehensive law banning assault weapons.

From the Donne Trotter Wikipedia page:

Senator Trotter is an vocal advocate of gun control laws having cosponsored 31 bills on the issue.

Trotter on a 1995 effort in Illinois to introduce the right to carry concealed firearms:

There’s a lot of individuals out here who do look at this as an opportunity to be that vigilante, to be that support person to the police officer who isn’t there, which is one of the things we addressed just yesterday when we voted for– for — in arming and also in empowering part-time police officers. What you’re doing here just basically creating part-time police officers who have not gone through the extensive training, who have not had the psychological evaluations, who will be getting out there who feel now that they’re–they are stronger, they are badder, they are tougher because they have this nine-shooter on their hip.

And from todays news:

State senator had gun in garment bag at O’Hare, police say

He had a .25 caliber Beretta and ammo in his carryon. Did he have a good excuse for this? Yes. *He* needed the gun for protection, and simply forgot it was there. Why did he need the protection? Because he works as a security guard for Allpoints Security and Detective Inc. You know… a “part-time police officer.” He’s currently earning 84 grand a year in his role as part-time state senator.

You will, I’m sure, be shocked and amazed to read that this corrupt Illinois politician is a Democrat. But then there’s also this from 2000:

“Barack is viewed in part to be the white man in blackface in our community,” says Donne Trotter, who detests Obama. “You just have to look at his supporters. Who pushed him to get where he is so fast? It’s these individuals in Hyde Park, who don’t always have the best interests of the community in mind.” …  On the way there, he was asked whether he and his wife would move to Washington if he wins, as Obama would do.

“Aw, heck no!” he exploded. “That’d be suicide. You serving these people. How you gonna know what they need?”

So I have a few doubts about Eric Holder riding to Trotters rescue.

 Posted by at 9:07 am

A-Bomb blast effects

 awesomeness, blather, history, nukes, weapons, youtube  3 Responses »
Dec 042012
 

Silent footage of an A-bomb test with the added bonus of troops nearby. So unlike most a-bomb films, here you get figures in the frame that help to humanize just what’s going on. The end result is about a minute and a half of pure amazement, from about the 3:00 to about the 4:40 marks as soldiers in trenches watch the mushroom cloud grow… and then walk *towards* it.

[youtube 9_vDro76t58]

 Posted by at 10:57 pm

Lockheed “Cuda”

 blather, Hmm..., news, rockets, weapons  12 Responses »
Nov 302012
 

Some information is starting to emerge about the Lockheed “Cuda” missile previously discussed. “The Aviationist” has a brief article describing this as a radar guided hit-to-kill missile with no warhead… it destroys the target by actually whacking into it. While this is just dandy for taking out warheads, missiles and perhaps even fighters, it would seem minimally useful for taking out large aircraft such as transports of bombers. Sure, having something twice the size of a man ram into your plane at Mach 2 is sure going to mess up the paint job and you might need some Bondo to patch up the hole, it probably wouldn’t be as effective as a few pounds of C-4 and a bunch of nails.

The illustration shows a missile laid out much like the Harpoon anti-ship missile, but clearly meant for higher speed. The most interest aspect of the design is the cylindrical region near the nose, covered with a multitude of dots. What is this? My guess would be that this might be a large number of small solid rocket divert motors designed to help pitch the missile hard over in order to nail incoming jinking missiles head-on.

 Posted by at 9:22 pm

WTF are these?

 aircraft, art, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, spacecraft, weapons  13 Responses »
Nov 272012
 

Some images posted on the San Diego Air & Space Museum Flickr account are a bit of a mystery. They are *probably* all General Dynamics/Convair images, though that ‘s not certain.

First: Some sort of bus-borne interceptors? Space-based anti-satellite systems?

Second: Some sorta…. somethings. Space based weapons seems likely, but which is the business end? Are these nuclear-pumped X-Ray lasers in that picosecond before they’re blown to bits, shooting at something off to the lower left, with the upper-right satellite being the radar guidance system for the squadron? Are they more conventional interceptors with a single small and rather unusual thruster in a mysteriously long tail, aimed at the upper-right satellite? Phased plasma rifles in the 40-watt range?

Third: Probably a supersonic bomber (perhaps a B-70 competitor). But maybe an aerospaceplane.

 Posted by at 6:32 pm

C-RAM

 awesomeness, blather, weapons, youtube  6 Responses »
Nov 212012
 

When you need to shoot down small rockets and mortars, C-RAM is there:

[youtube V2004nrHxa0]

The Counter Rocket And Mortar Protection System is a modification of the naval Phalanx Close In Weapons System. Both use basically the same 20mm M-61 Vulcan gatling gun and turret to shoot about 6,000 rounds per minute of depleted uranium or tungsten sabot rounds. in the case of the C-RAM, since it’s shooting over ground and over the heads of friendlies and civilians, the rounds detonate in flight if they miss the target, turning themselves into little bits that will not hit the ground nearly as fast as an intact projectile.

[youtube euwf6TA9dIc]

A 20mm round is  of course quite sufficient to take out virtually any projectile likely to be lobbed at you. But when you want to send a message, you use the Goalkeeper. Same basic idea as CIWS/C-RAM, but with the 30mm GAU-8a  gun used on the A-10 Warthog.

[youtube SGrJnxdDbO8]

WANT.

 Posted by at 12:33 pm

Mine clearing

 awesomeness, blather, weapons, youtube  2 Responses »
Nov 202012
 

How to clear a minefield in just a few seconds: blow it to hell.

[youtube a52-rOC8_Zk]

This is the M58 MICLIC (mine-clearing line charge) in action. Put simply, it’s  a rocket on a string. Put less simply, a 5-inch rocket is launched from a carrier vehicle and tows behind it a string, which gets laid down over a mine field. This is a string with a bit of a difference, though… it’s 350 feet long and carries with it five pounds of C4 plastic explosives. That’s five pounds of C4 PER FOOT. When the line is laid down, the C4 is set off, and 350 feet of terrain gets a mighty whoopin’. Most (but not all) types of mines and IEDS will sympathetically detonate if they are anywhere nearby. This would, I imagine, also be handy for dealing with small buildings, guys in spiderholes, trenches, etc.

 Posted by at 12:19 pm

Nuke ’em

 Hmm..., nukes, weapons  1 Response »
Nov 192012
 

Here’s a site that uses Google Maps and some sorta computer magic to overlay nuclear weapons effects over the target of your choice:

Ground Zero II

You have to choose from a limited selection of nukes, rather that imputing the parameters yourself. They range from a 1 kton suitcase nuke, to the 50 mton Tsar bomb… to the K-T impactor.

 Posted by at 8:24 pm

Helmet cams

 awesomeness, blather, Crazy, history, science fiction, weapons  7 Responses »
Nov 192012
 

If you remember the movie Aliens – and if you read this blog, it’s a safe bet you do – one of the sci-fi elements you’ll recall is that all the soldiers had little video cameras on their helmets. In the mid 1980’s, this was of course a bit fanciful… any decent video camera would weigh several *pounds.* But those days are over; cameras you can mount to a helmet are now *smaller* than the ones in Aliens. And as it turns out, American soldiers & Marines are, in fact, going into combat with helmet cams.

Note: these are actual fighting men in actual combat. That means there’s some NSFW language. So if you’re at the office, crank it up, man!

A firefight with danger-close support from A-10s. The A-10 opening up with that monster GAU-8A gatling gun adds a certain special something to the proceedings.

[youtube llEWrL9ghyg]

In this one, the solider gets shot. The description says that the round didn’t penetrate his body armor… another feature that Aliens got right, and that American soldiers in prior wars might have done well to have had.

[youtube rLHU-_OhT8g]

A firefight from the viewpoint of a machinegunner. You can occasionally also  hear one of his buddies light lighting the Taliban up with a shotgun… kind of the quintessential American combat firearm. Note that, as in many/most firefights in reality (rather than Hollywood), the bulk of the firing is suppressive firing… shooting not at individual enemies, but just in their general direction to make them keep their heads down. That’s why it takes tens and even hundreds of thousands of rounds, statistically, to kill a single enemy.

[youtube uZ2SWWDt8Wg]

[youtube 4_GZzjFyeaM]

And a firefight in what sure looks like a giant patch of weed (with the ultimate combat commentary at about the 0:40 mark):

[youtube yRPCNUzkqXk]

 Posted by at 12:14 pm
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