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Bunker-busting behemoth: Pentagon upgrades bomb with Iranian nukes in mind | Fox News
The Pentagon’s biggest bunker-busting bomb has been upgraded with one task in mind: taking out suspected Iranian nuclear facilities built deep under the mountains of the Islamic Republic’s northern region.
At 30,000 pounds, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator packs brute force and advanced features meant to enable it to destroy Iran’s most fortified nuclear site. The bomb is nearly a third bigger than the MOAB, or so-called “Mother of all Bombs,” the 22,000-pound previous generation of bunker busters first built in 2003 but never used outside of tests. Officials are confident the newest bunker-buster can dismantle even the deepest and most fortified nuclear facility.
via Bunker-busting behemoth: Pentagon upgrades bomb with Iranian nukes in mind | Fox News.
It’s a tad interesting that the Pentagon is touting the updates to the MOP as the supposed “deal” with Iran about their nuclear facilities is being touted as such a success.
One interesting tidbit they mention is the improved MOPs ability to penetrate defenses. One wonders how that works. The obvious launch platform is the B-2 Stealth bomber. Anything worth burying in a deep bunker is worth heavily defending with surface to air missiles. And so you need the B-2 just to get the bomb in range of the target.
But the bomb isn’t (likely) very stealthy. As soon as it is released, it is liable to being tracked and engaged. Mind you, the bomb casing itself is probably immune to virtually anything less than a direct kinetic impact. Even then, it could plausibly shrug off the hit. But the bomb also has some delicate features, such as its guidance vanes and GPS receiver.
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Ted Cruz shoots an M249.
I mentioned the other day that I liked shooting the M249. It’s almost like shooting a real machine gun.
H/T: Bearing Arms
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Touchdown!
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A Quick History of US Navy Flight Deck Tractors
Aircraft carriers have limited deck space in which to position and move aircraft on the flight deck. This is where a rather unsung workhorse of US Naval Aviation come into its own. To move these aircraft around, the Navy uses flight deck tractors.
Flight deck tractors first started to make an appearance on flight decks during the intense Pacific campaigns of World War 2. It was discovered that man-handling aircraft to position them for flight operations took too much time. The first integration of the flight deck tractor was actually just a plain old US Army Willy Jeep:
Here’s a Willy’s Jeep towing a Grumman Avenger during World War 2. The tow tractors also became necessary because of the increased weight of aircraft like the SBDs, Grumman Avenger and Hellcat. Willy’s Jeeps served as aircraft tractors on fleet carriers (Yorktown and Essex classes) as well as on smaller ships (Independence, Bogue, Sangamon, Casablanca classes) till the end of the war.
At the same time the US Navy adopted the Clarktor 6 Tractor which was already in use with the USAAF. The Clarktor 6 was based on a pre-war commercial tractor design. These tractors were in use on Lexington, Essex and Midway class carriers till the mid-1950s:
Here’s a Clarktor 6 towing a newly built F2H-1 Banshee at the McDonnell factory in St. Louis, MO. The BNO-40 flight deck tractor was also based on a pre-war commercial design that entered US Navy service in 1943. These tractors served on most USN carriers, including veterans like USS Enterprise (CV-6), Essex and Midway class attack carriers, Independence class light carriers and even the smaller Bogue, Sangamon, Casablanca and Commencement Bay class escort ships. By the mid-1950S these tractors also service with the French Navy aboard the R96 La Fayette (ex USS Langley) and R97 Bois Belleau (ex USS Belleau Wood):
BNO-40 flight deck tractors aboard the USS Ticonderoga CV-14 during Okinawa operations. The introduction of jet aircraft to US Navy flight decks in the 1950s posed a whole new set of problems with flight deck tractors. The US Navy introduced the MD-1 flight deck tractor which was the first equipped with a gas turbine unit to assist in starting the modern jet powered aircraft. For this reason they become known by the name “huffer.” Huffers served on the served on Essex / Oriskany, Midway and Forrestal / Kitty Hawk class carriers of the U.S. Navy until mid 1960s. They were also used by the Royal Canadian Navy aboard the HMCS Bonaventure:
Here’s an MD-1 with an A-4 Skyhawk. Introduced in the early 1960s, the MD-3 tow tractor was the first purpose-built flight deck tractor. Introduced in the 1960’s the MD-3 featured a low profile to fit under the nose of modern naval aircraft. To cope with the larger size of aircraft at the time, the MD-3 was also larger and heavier than its predecessors. The MD-3 also featured a gas-turbine starter but also space of a fire extinguisher. The MD-3 served on all US Navy carriers (all classes included the CVN-68 class) and amphibious assault ships of the era:
Here an MD-3A tows an S-3A Viking from VS-28 aboard the USS Forrestal (CV-59). The current flight deck tractor found on all aircraft carriers and amphibs is the A/S-32A-31A. Introduced in the 1990’s, the -31a looks like the MD-3 but is longer as it has a new starter unit and contains a place to stow equipment. The -31A is powered by a 3 stroke diesel engine, an automatic transmission. Although rear wheel driven the -31A has power assisted steering up front:
Here’s an A/S32A-31A tow tracor on the aircraft carrier flight deck. The newer SD-2 is a version of the A/S32A-32A designed specifically for use in the aircraft hangar deck. Due to the even more restricted space below the SD-2 has a castoring wheel that enables to fit aircraft into the tighter spaces found on the hangar deck. The SD-2 also does not need to tow bar as the aircraft are handled by an attached brace on the tractor that fits into the nosegear:
SD-2 tow tracor on the flight deck. Tow tractors enable carriers and other aircraft operating ships to rapidly reposition aircraft to facilitate a rapid tempo of flight operations. Keeping in mind, IYAOYAS, tow tractors and their aviation bosun mates enable that ordinance to be on target in a timely manner. As with other member of the Naval Aviation team, They give creditibilty to US Naval power.
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NAVAIR Details Changes in Navy V-22 Osprey Variant – USNI News
deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). US Navy Photo
The Navy is in the early stages of planning its carrier onboard delivery (COD) replacement platform, which will be a baseline MV-22 Osprey plus an extended range fuel system, high-frequency radio and public address system, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) officials told USNI News this week.
Navy and Marine Corps leadership in January signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) stating that the Navy would begin buying a variant of the Marines’ tiltrotor platform beginning in Fiscal Year 2018. Since then, spokesman Billy Ray Brown said, NAVAIR has been preparing for an anticipated FY 2016 engineering change proposal (ECP) by conducting an analysis of options for the development of the three changes needed to create the Navy variant.
via NAVAIR Details Changes in Navy V-22 Osprey Variant – USNI News.
With a full bag of gas, they’ll be lucky to have enough payload to bring back a bag of mail.
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Power… WAVE OFF!
Yeepers!
The uploader tells us the rest of the wing diverted to shore after this. But in the bad old days of the Cold War, when blue water operations were routine, sometimes there simply was no option to divert ashore. It was land… or swim.
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Muslims Murdering Christians in Kenya
Or, as this Administration would couch it, this is either another tragic college campus shooting that highlights the need for stricter gun laws, or just some folks shooting at other folks, in which no one religion is responsible. NBC News has the story.
Al Shabab, an al Qaeda-linked terror group based in neighboring Somalia, claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn attack. Sheik Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military operations spokesman, said many Christians were being held by the militants. “We sorted people out and released the Muslims,” he told Reuters.
Witnesses corroborated the Al-Shabab claims:
When the gunmen arrived at his dorm he could hear them opening doors and asking if the people who had hidden inside whether they were Muslims or Christians. “If you were a Christian, you were shot on the spot,” Wetangula told The Associated Press. “With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.”
Prayers for the lives of the Christians who are hostages to these muhammedan monsters. And for the souls who died because of their faith. It is likely too late to pray that our Islamist sympathizer of a Chief Executive would have a pang of conscience about the massacres perpetrated by the radical Islamists whom he refuses to name as America’s enemies. Reverend Wright got his wish. God did damn America, with lazy, media-brainwashed voters who twice elected the empty-suit charlatan whose “hope and change” has eroded liberty, alienated our allies, and emboldened our enemies.
By all means, however, let’s avoid calling these filthy animals what they are. Let’s instead make a deal with Iran to facilitate their nuclear weapons efforts. Understanding that some things are not negotiable.
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Morning Links
Here’s a bunch of stuff I meant to post yesterday, but got busy with real life, and didn’t have time to write up.
Chinese Great Wall of Sand illegal, says senior US officer.
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Bergdahl’s defense is slinging stuff at the wall, hoping something will stick.
The bit about the Good Conduct Medal is priceless. Of course he was awarded it, with the same verbiage as every GCM awarded. It’s automatically awarded absent UCMJ action, which, guess what? Bergdahl hasn’t faced any UCMJ yet.
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Creepy #UrbEx video inside the Costa Concordia
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The M113 will be 70 years old by the time the Army gets around to replacing the last of them.
I left this comment over at CDR Salamander’s.
I was rather undecided on whether UCLASS should concentrate on strike or ISR until McCain weighed in. That sold me on the ISR argument.
On the utter FUBAR’dness of DoD procurement, let’s take a look at the Army’s Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program. The Army has long, long wanted to replace the old M113 APC and its variants in its many support roles. The obvious vehicle has always been a turretless M2 Bradley chassis. It’s powerful enough, and would share commonality with about 75% of the combat vehicle fleet of the Armored BCTs. But because the Army can’t simply buy what it wants, and what makes sense, it has to run an entire acquisition program, and competition and all the dog and pony shows, and carefully tailor the RFP, just to buy what everyone knows it should buy. And it still catches heat from Congress for not buying a Stryker variant for the role, in spite of the Stryker not being a good fit for that particular role.
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As bad as our ROEs are, and how scrutinized our troops are on the battlefield, it’s nothing compared to the Brits. They literally find themselves being sued by the families of the enemy they kill.
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Looks like the Russians aren’t quite done with their slow motion invasion of Ukraine.
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US Navy: Blue Angels Will Transition to Unmanned Aircraft for 2018 Season | AirshowStuff
In a surprise announcement today, the US Navy announced that the Blue Angels will transition from their current F-18 Hornets to unmanned F-47 aircraft for their 2018 airshow season. The team will still fly a full ‘delta’ aerobatic routine, including tight formations, using six of the cutting edge drones. The only difference is that the pilots will never leave the ground and will instead monitor the pre-programmed flight routines from special trailers set up at each show site. Since the aircraft are unmanned, the team will no longer offer media rides but will allow selected media representatives to ‘sit in’ on practice demonstrations using a virtual reality headset that will be known as Blue Angel 7, the same callsign as the team’s current two-seat media jet. The pilots will also be expected to post to social media during the routine to increase their interaction with fans.
via US Navy: Blue Angels Will Transition to Unmanned Aircraft for 2018 Season | AirshowStuff.
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Confessions Of A US Navy EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare Officer
Electronic warfare is one of the most important yet misunderstood components of modern air combat. Today, US Navy and Marine electronic attack squadrons are the masters of this shadowy domain. One of their most experienced Electronic Warfare Officers is here to tell you about this critical mission, their new EA-18G Growler jet and future of electronic attack.
via Confessions Of A US Navy EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare Officer.
It’s a pretty interesting interview with an ECMO. Spill and I were just discussing some of these issues, and some of the issues of EW, particularly in support of ground operations.
It’s kind of hard to write about the topic sometimes. The last time I started asking specific questions about ground based EW, I was politely told to MYOB. The basics of AEA, as performed by the Prowler and Growler are pretty well known. But the exact capabilities and techniques, not so much.
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