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cm_kruger

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Posts posted by cm_kruger

  2. Bash the F-35 thred.

    in Aviation

    Posted

    Election promises.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-to-stay-in-program-of-f-35-jet-buyers-despite-pledge-to-withdraw/article28897002/

     

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party announced during last year’s election campaign that it “no longer makes sense” to buy a fighter with the F-35’s stealth, first-strike capability, citing skyrocketing costs for a plane that has been plagued with development problems. The Liberals vowed instead to buy a “lower-priced” aircraft and funnel the money saved into the Royal Canadian Navy.

     

    This week, however, Department of National Defence spokeswoman Ashley Lemire said Canada plans to pay the latest required annual instalment to the Joint Strike Fighter program. She said the upcoming payment is estimated to be $32.9-million (U.S.)

     

    The contribution would maintain Canada’s membership in the F-35 buyers’ pool. This gives Ottawa the right to buy F-35s at a discount and allows Canadian companies to continue to bid on supply contracts for the plane.

     

    Asked why Canada remains in the Joint Strike Fighter program when the Liberals have eliminated the plane as an option, Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan said the government is still reviewing how it should proceed on replacing the country’s aging CF-18 fighters.

     

    “We can’t just make a very quick decision on something like this. We want to make a responsible decision as we move forward. We have to go through the proper requirements. Once we go through a proper process, decisions will be made at that,” he said.

     

    One procurement expert working for the federal government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it’s unclear whether Ottawa could successfully defend against legal action should it bar jet maker Lockheed Martin and its F-35 plane from a competition. “They will have to decide whether they want to run a competition or face a lawsuit.… The easiest option for a variety of reasons is to run a competition and run it fairly.”

     

  6. :German Engineering:

    in Open Discussion

    Posted

    For reference, sign reads "not interested in immigrants". I think it may be that they are associating the people who are anti-immigration with Nazis, but I don't know the specifics of the demonstration.

     

    Perhaps, but the usage of the Nordic Cross has direct implications to white nationalist/Nazi/fascist groups, and Pegida (moderate euroskeptics with shaved heads) specifically uses the red/yellow/black version.

     

    CxAOzgK.jpg

    3SRdklt.jpg

  18. The Small Arms Thread, Part 8: 2018; ICSR to be replaced by US Army with interim 15mm Revolver Cannon.

    in Infantry Tools & Tactics

    Posted

    That's also part of why combat rifles stayed as huge as they did.  You never knew when you were going to have to hang bayonets off the end, form a square and repel a cavalry charge.  There were successful cavalry actions as late as the 1921 Polish-Soviet war, so this wasn't entirely unreasonable.

     

    European armies were super into bayonets into the 1930s, arguably long after their combat utility had passed.  But, at least until the Great War, I don't think that this was simply a result of their officer class being inbred as usual.  It was the usual story of trying to gear up to fight the last war and learning exactly the wrong lessons from them.  Colonial powers actually experienced a lot of hand to hand fighting when they were putting down rebellions, mainly against people armed with dried grass and several rifles.  In particular, during the Mahdi uprising in the Sudan the British faced sword-armed warriors who actually beat them with cold steel against rifles.  They'd actually been (correctly) convinced that bayonets and swords were on the way out prior to that, but quickly re-emphasized swords and bayonets after that.  Matt Easton has more:

     

     

    There's also plenty of moronic sperging over bayonets by poet officers and armchair psychologists about the ~warrior soul~ and how it "increases aggressiveness" and "makes soldiers into better killers" and so on.

    http://regimentalrogue.tripod.com/papers/bayonet.htm

     

     

    Even the claim of bayonet enthusiasts that it is a psychological weapon of singular importance is doubtful. The charge of infantry, à la bayonet, was usually delivered at the point where the defeat of an enemy was turning to rout. The bayonet charge was not, as it is often immortalized, the singular defining act of victory, it was, however, the act ordered by the general at the turning point of that victory. The bayonet charge, therefore, became so firmly entrenched in the minds of soldiers and observers as the defining act, rather than a dictated result of triumph, that to "get in" with the bayonet was seen as a means to success. Even in 1950, an article in the US Army Infantry School Quarterly encouraged: "Let us reinstate cold steel as the symbol of final assault, even though bullets rightly do most of the killing." (30)

     

     

    A more Freudian analysis of the bayonet's continued appeal would likely perceive the bayonet as a phallic and manly symbol, (45) boldly thrust into its victim to achieve dominance. This conception is not out of line with Dixon's discussions of those personalities that are attracted to the military and dedicate themselves to maintaining traditions unchanged. As a symbol of masculinity in a predominantly male society, the bayonet has been assured of longevity beyond rationale.

  20. Egregious Aviation Safety Violations

    in Aviation

    Posted

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_6502

     

    While approaching Kurumoch Airport, Kliuyev made a bet with Zhirnov that he, Kliuyev, could make an instrument-only approach with curtained cockpit windows, thus having no visual contact with the ground, instead of NDB approach, suggested by the air traffic control.[1] Kliuyev further ignored the ground proximity warning at an altitude of 62–65 metres (203–213 ft) and did not make the suggested go-around.[1] The aircraft touched down at a speed of 280 kilometres per hour (170 mph)[1] and came to rest upside down. Sixty-three people died during the accident and seven more in hospitals later.[1] Among the passengers were fourteen children, all of whom survived the accident.[2] The top secret report of the Chairman of Kuibyshev oblispolkom V.A. Pogodin to the Premier of the Soviet Union Nikolai Ryzhkov gave slightly different figures: 85 passengers and 8 crew members aboard, 53 passengers and five crew members died in the crash and 11 more in hospital later.[2]

     

    Even though Zhirnov made no attempt to avert the crash, he subsequently tried to save the passengers and died of cardiac arrest en route to hospital.[3] Kliuyev was prosecuted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, later reduced to six years served.

  21. Bash the Pak-Fa thread

    in Aviation

    Posted

    Pak-Fa has a 384 m/s climb rate

     

    Thats apparently a record

     

    With the primary source looking to be Sputnik International quoting a Russian blog quoting "sources" on Facebook, and no actual time-to-altitude numbers... Somebody said something about a "a source that isn't dogshit"?

     

    (Most of the FIA time-to-altitude records for jet aircraft are currently held by two Belorussian MiG-29 pilots IIRC.)

  23. Skyking Skyking do not post: Radio and Signals stuff

    in Open Discussion

    Posted

    It's neat stuff. Here's a site on the version of the system that the Russian/Indian navies use:
    http://www.vlf.it/zevs/zevs.htm

    With a transmitted signal as low as 82 Hz or 0.000082 MHz ( equals a wavelength of 3658536.5 meter or 3658.5 km ), we are talking real longwaves.

    There's a VLF Web-SDR somebody set up in Germany but I've never heard anything on it.

     

    And on that note, SDRs are really cool too. I originally got introduced to them via ADS-B ("radar" via receiving location beacons on aircraft, how sites like Flightradar work) and ACARS (basically text messaging for aircraft) related stuff, and similar systems for ships.

    http://websdr.org/

  24. Bash the Pak-Fa thread

    in Aviation

    Posted

    rip the hopes and dreams of Shukoi
    http://www.janes.com/article/58166/singapore-airshow-2016-analysis-pak-fa-s-asian-export-hopes-stymied-by-lack-of-fifth-generation-qualities

    Previously, Russian defence think-tanks had been projecting that the T-50 would be purchased by Asian nations that were already operating some model of the Sukhoi Su-27/30 'Flanker'-series. This would include Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. China, another major operator of Sukhoi aircraft is developing its own next-generation aircraft in the Chengdu J-20 and Shenyang FC-31.

    Russian specialists familiar with the T-50 programme state that the aircraft will have trouble gaining traction in the Asian market as the on-board systems offer very little fifth-generation technologies despite what is projected to be a considerably higher price tag than the latest Su-35 'Flanker-E', ordered by China and Indonesia.

     

    http://mil.today/2016/Economy2/

    Least of all, the cost reduction will affect development and procurement of weapons for Strategic Missile Force and nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. At the same time, development programs of a mobile railway-based missile system or fifth-generation strategic bombers can be suspended.

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