Category Archives: Technology

Technology, U.S.

Surviving the Arctic

Video

“The Arctic is more accessible than it has ever been, we want to make sure we are playing our part in meeting the Department of Defense objectives for Arctic strategy.”-Captain Eric Chan, New York Air National Guard, perhaps referencing the fact that climate change has greatly increased Russia’s activity in the Arctic

From 20FEB2020 to 07MAR2020, Army National Guard units from Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin, are taking part in Arctic Eagle-20, held in Alaska.

Also taking place about the same time is Arctic Edge-20, running from 24FEB2020 to 06MAR2020.  It includes the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian forces.

Of course there is cross-over training between all the military participants in both Arctic Eagle and Arctic Edge.  According to one press release, the wargame-ers experienced temps as low as minus 29F (-34C)!

Video report, Royal Canadian Air Force Brigadier General explains the purpose of Arctic Eagle/Edge:

Video, Alaska National Guard CH-47 Chinook sustainment operation:

Video, everybody should own the latest & greatest military issue Arctic Shelter:

See the CHINOOK ON ICE

Arctic Eagle 2018: WYOMING INVADES ALASKA!

Kit Bashing, Technology

Chinook on Ice, skis for you model CH-47 kit

Video

They’re not really on ice, but ice is on them.

From 20FEB2020 to 06MAR2020, Army National Guard units from several states, the U.S. Marines and U.S. Air Force are taking part in U.S. Northern Command’s Arctic Eagle 2020, held in Alaska.

Video, preps for dust-off:

Video CH-47 flight from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to Deadhorse, Alaska, 24FEB2020:

Video, coming in for landing:

Rotor-wash.

Video report, Army National Guard CH-47 assists U.S. Marines in TRP:

Video from 2015, removing tail assembly, note the mobile tracked ‘spider’ crane in use:

OREGON WILDFIRES: MILITIAS LOVE IT, CH-47F AIRBORNE FIREFIGHTER!

2018:  HAWAII MILITIA CHINOOKS SENT ‘STATE-SIDE’ TO HELP STRESSED GUARD UNITS!

2019: RED BANK & SOUTH FIRE HELICOPTER OPS

2012: Special Ops MH-47 spied at Pocatello Airport

1:48 scale, first issued 1961.

First issued 2006, also boxed by Revell-Germany.

1:48 scale skis by Black Dog.  Lots of other after market parts available from several companies.

1:72 scale kits issued by:  Airfix, Airmodel, Hasegawa (apparently co-issued as a Hasegawa-Monogram boxing of the Matchbox-Revell kit in the 1990s), Italeri (currently boxed by Academy), Matchbox, Revell (sometimes boxing of old Matchbox, sometimes Italeri), Trumpeter (currently issued by Monochrome).  There’s a plethora of aftermarket detailing sets and decals by several companies.

Black Dog issues resin detail parts, including skis for snow.

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: USS America LHA-6, do they make a model kit of it?

Video

USS America LHA-6 began sea trials in 2014.  LHA-6 is the lead ship of the new America class assault ships, replacing the older Tarawa class.  Do not confuse USS America LHA-6 with the scuttled aircraft carrier USS America CV-66.

22FEB2020, Laem Chabang Port, Thailand, Cobra Gold 2020.

USS America is the current home of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Video, fast roping on USS America, 18FEB2020:

Countermeasure Washdown System

Time lapse video of USS America ops, Philippine Sea, 10FEB2020:

Video,  birds-eye view of USS America, April 2016:

Time lapse silent video of launching:

Aircraft seen operating from USS America:

More info on USS America: Underway on USS America

Orange Hobby makes a 1:700 scale resin USS America LHA-6, U.S. suggested retail price $95.

VEHICLE I-D: USN’S NEW ROBOT GUN BOAT, OR CUSV

CVN-71

Technology

USN admits hi-tech military gear defeated by Mother Earth’s tiny sea creatures!

21 February 2020 / 13:47 (UTC-07 Tango 06) 02 Esfand 1398/26 Jumada t-Tania 1441/28 Wu-Yin 4718

“We have begun to set up machine learning deep neural networks to use artificial intelligence to classify the organisms, but do not have results yet.”-Brad Penta, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

A swarm of veligers, a larval stage of mollusks.

The U.S. Navy’s (USN) Naval Research Laboratory has been conducting surveys of what it calls ocean swarms.  This is when small lifeforms cluster in an area of the ocean and cause havoc with electronic devices.

Intermediate trophic level (ITL) organisms are actually determined by their place in the food chain.  Civilian biologists might differ in their definition of an ITL but the USN considers everything from copepods to jellyfish as ITLs.  When they ‘swarm’ they render USN underwater electronic devices useless because of the way they refract the electronic signals.  Some of these creatures even produce their own electronic signals.

In 2019, the USN and the University of Mississippi conducted an ITL survey off the coast of Delaware.  They used not only ocean going detection devices but airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDaR) cameras, which used lasers to scan the ocean surface.  But this LiDaR was different, instead of the monochromatic laser the scientists used a multi-color LiDaR system they call Multi-Wavelength LiDaR Environment, or MuWLE.

The MuWLE is so sensitive the scientists report that they detected clouds in the air, under the aircraft, that could not be seen with human eyes!

This is a ‘Wirewalker’, it floats with the motion of the ocean, measuring conductivity, temperature, depth, light and acoustic backscatter, and dissolved oxygen.

The researchers are now trying to collate all the data they collected.  The goal is to provide the USN with new technology that can allow its ocean going vehicles to avoid ‘ocean swarms’.

Other ocean swarm research team players include Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, University of South Alabama Dauphin Island Sea Lab, University of Southern Mississippi, Florida International University, and University of Delaware.

HI-TECH FAIL: CLIMATE CHANGE BIGGEST THREAT TO BILLION DOLLAR WEAPON SYSTEMS!

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: Kawasaki C-2, got model kit?

Video

U.S. Air Force photo by Captain Katie Mueller, Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, 13FEB2021.

Kawasaki C-2 makes a humanitarian drop on Angaur, Palau. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Ryan Brooks, 10FEB2021.

The Kawasaki C-2 was designed to replace the older and intentionally limited (by Constitutional law, which has since been amended) C-1. 

It was also designed to exceed the abilities of the C-130J Super Hercules, which the Japanese Self Defense Forces determined to be too limited for what they had in mind.

C-2 over Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 14FEB2020. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Curt Beach.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Melanie A. Hutto, Misawa Air Base, Japan, September 2019.

2019 Paris Air show video walk-around:

Kawasaki C-2,  Iruma Air Base, Japan, 10JUL2019.

A U.S. Air Force C-130J Loadmaster gets to ride a C-2.

The C-2 can be equipped with an automated loading system.

The spacious loadmaster station (compared to C-130J).

USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.

Size comparison to four engined Boeing C-17, Yokota Air Base, Japan, September 2018. USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.

USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.

EC-2 version.

Video, C-2 ELINT (EC-2) ,  Gifu Air Base, Japan, 2018:

General Electric CF6-80C2K1F turbofans are used.

XC-2 prototype, first flight 2010.  Design project began in 2001.

Video, C-1 vs XC-2:

 

Video, XC-2 first flight:

Aoshima makes a 1:144 scale plastic model kit, retailing in Japan for about U.S.$43.  However, I’ve seen U.S. sellers asking as much as U.S.$71 for it!

With interior.

VEHICLE I-D: MITSUBISHI F-2, SURE LOOKS LIKE AN F-16

 

Technology

Vehicle I-D: USN’s new Robot GunBoat, or CUSV

Video

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Grant G. Grady, 07FEB2020.

February 2020, demonstration of the latest Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV),  Norfolk, Virginia.

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Third Class Rebekah M. Rinckey, 10FEB2020.

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Third Class Rebekah M. Rinckey, 10FEB2020.

Video explains the ‘potential’ use of CUSV:

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Grant G. Grady, 10FEB2020.

USN photo by Seaman Andrenay Gorham, 12FEB2020.

USN photo by Seaman Andrenay Gorham, 12FEB2020.

CUSV control station on the dock.

USN photo by Seaman Scott Youngblood, 20JUL2011.

This is what the CUSV looked like in 2011.  Supposedly it can operate autonomously.

 

VEHICLE I-D: CVN-71

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: LC-130H à La skis, can I get skis for my model C-130 kit?

Video

A New York Air National Guard Crew Chief inspects the landing gear on a ‘Skibird’ LC-130H Hercules on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, 06MAR2020. U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Scott Fremming.

Video report from October 2019, first time LC-130H-upgrade is loaded with HIMARS:

A New York Air National Guard LC-130H arrives at the Paris Air Show, 16JUN2019.

This LC-130H has been updated with the NP2000 propellers, Paris Air Show, 19JUN2019.

Not all Skibird’s operate in snowy conditions. This upgraded LC-130H is ferrying New York Army National Guard Soldiers to Puerto Rico. New York Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Alexander Rector, 11APR2019.

New York Air Guard’s SkiBird helping Canadians build ‘SkiWay’ landing strip in the Arctic, 11APR2019.

New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing offloads cargo in Greenland, on 26APR2019.

Video, Senior Master Sergeant explains the craziness of airfield ops in Antarctica:

Video from March 2019, explaining what a LC-130 Crew Chief does:

New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing’s LC-130, McMurdo Station, Antarctica 15JAN2019.

New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing LC-130 (upgraded with evil British empire Rolls-Royce T56 series 3.5/NP2000 props), McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 17DEC2018.

Grass field take-off?  No, it’s the camera angle.  NY National Guard’s LC-130 takes off for Antarctica, 06SEP2018.

LC-130(F-H?) in Antarctica, 23JUL2017.

The Common Science Support Pod, or IcePod, houses a variety of instruments to meausure changes in the Antarctic ice sheet.

Some ‘scientist’ from Colombia University explaining how the IcePod works.  To find out more go here:  https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/icepod/

New York Air National Guard LC-130H Hercules-Skibird takes-off near the Canadian Task Force base camp on Little Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, during Operation NUNALIVUT, 10APR2016.
Canadian Armed Forces photo by Corporal Parks.

New York Air National Guard LC-130H Hercules-Skibird arrives on Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Canadian Armed Forces photo by Petty Officer Second Class Belinda Jeromchuk, 10APR2016.

2016 video report on Canadian Forces Operation Nunalivut, note the wing flex on the older LC-130H as it lands:

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, 27JUN2016.

January 2014, Pegasus Field, Antarctica, problems with landing gear being rectified.

Leaving Antarctica, 02FEB2011.

McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 2007.

Rocket assisted take-off from Greenland, 2003.  For some reason it’s officially called Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) even though it’s actually rockets.  With the new Rolls-Royce T56 series 3.5 turbine/NP2000 props JATO is no longer needed.

Several of the New York Air National Guard’s LC-130Hs were former U.S. Navy LC-130Rs from VXE-6.

Airmodel makes a 1:72 scale conversion set that includes skis for LC-130.

Max Decals #7211

Out-of-print MicroScale #72-195

SNOWBLIND: C-130 OHIO C-17 PENNSYLVANIA

KODIAK MACE 2019: USMC KC-130J VID FEST!

MODEL KIT EC-130J GETS SPECIAL HANDLING BY NATIONAL GUARD!

VEHICLE I-D: NORMANDY PAINTED C-130 HERCULES

THAT’S NOT A C-130J, IT’S STILL THE OLD C-130H!

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: CVN-71, are there model kits of this?

Video

Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt arrives in Guam, 07FEB202.

  CVN-71 on its way to Guam, 25JAN2020.

Leaving San Diego, 17JAN2020.

Scrubbing the deck in 2013.

Leaving Newport News Shipyard in 2013, after four years of overhaul.

The following pics are of CVN-71 at the end of a 39 month fuel complex overhaul, May 2011: 

2009, when CVN-71 began its overhaul.

U.S. TAXPAYERS SEND AUSSIE PRIME MINISTER A MODEL BOAT!

VEHICLE ID: ARMORED DRUG SMUGGLING BOATS

ITALERI 1:720 DEUTSCHLAND, LUTZOW, SCHEER & GRAF SPEE

1:600 MOSKVA: AURORA VS AIRFIX

1/600 USS IOWA CLASS KITS: AURORA, MONOGRAM, OTAKI, REVELL. AN APPEAL TO AIRFIX!

Weapon I-D: MARK 82

Technology

SnowBlind: C-130 Ohio C-17 Pennsylvania

Video

C-17s of the 911th Airlift Wing, Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania, 07FEB2020.

“Honey, I’m home!”

Video, C-130s of the 179th Airlift Wing, Ohio, 07FEB2020:

Video, De-icing C-130s in Ohio, 07FEB2020:

A-10C SNOWBLIND WALKAROUND IN IDAHO!

BARE METAL: C-17 STRIPPED

U.S. TAXPAYERS TO RESCUE “DONATED” C-130 (with new pics)

Technology

Weapon I-D: Mark 82, Cold War & beyond

Video

Bombing-up an S-3A Viking with Mk82s. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate First Class Michael D.P. Flynn, 01FEB1988.

The Mark 82 (aka BDU) is a 5-hundred pound/227-kilogram unguided ‘vehicle’ (practice bombs about 400lbs/181kg) designed to hit your enemy with 192 pounds/87-kilograms of Tritonal high explosive. It was first used during the U.S. occupation of Vietnam.  It’s part of the Mark 80 series of low-drag bombs, from Mk81 to Mk84, of similar shape but increasing size.

Mark 82s on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Stephen Schester, 27APR2010.

The shape and size of the standard fins have changed over the decades, and the type of fins used changes the nomenclature (the various fins/tail cones have their own nomenclatures as well).

They’ve even been fitted with nose fuse extensions.

This video is about the history of the F-4 Phantom-2, but it has a couple of scenes from Vietnam in which F-4s off-load massive amounts of Mk82s:

Most ‘live’ Mk82s are painted olive drab with yellow markings and trim.  Some are light grey with yellow trim.  Yellow indicates it is a ‘live’ bomb.

“Bombs can be filled by conventional explosive or other explosive compositions (TNT, Tritonal, Comp B) with a wide range of fuzes (M904-M905, FMU-139, FMU-152, FBM 21, ID 260).”

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ryan Callaghan, 25JAN2017.

This live Mk82 has a nose mounted M904 fuse.

USAF photo by Master Sergeant Don Sutherland, 01FEB1981.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Zachary Heal, 05FEB2020.

Many bombs have varying shades of paint from one to the other, depending on how they were stored, exposure to sunlight, etc.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Zachary Heal, 05FEB2020.

This live Mk82 has a rear mounted M905 fuse.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Jacob M. Thompson, 27JAN2021.

Some tail cones have ‘pinwheels’ (ATU-35A/B tail mounted fuse drive assemblies) that have an arming wire connected to the bomb release mechanism.  The ATU-35 is for both the M904 nose fuse and the M905 rear mounted fuse.

Pinwheels on the tail cones of these practice bombs, denoted by the blue stripe around the nose. USAF photo by Master Sergeant Ken Hammond, 27JUN1987.

These Mk82s have the M904 nose fuse with the ATU-35 tail drive. USAF photo by Master Sergeant Ken Hammond, 27JUN1987.

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Steven Walls, 28JAN2020.

The live Mk82s (BSU-33s?) on this AV-8B Harrier are grey with yellow trim.  Note the USMC fins are the similar to the USAF fins.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal James Marchetti, 14JAN2014.

Mark 82s onboard aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Tracy Lee Didas, 01OCT1989.

Same aircraft carrier, but in 1993. Mark 82s onboard aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Hayhurst, 01OCT1993.

For those model builders who are worried that they’ve hit their Mark 82s/BDUs with a paint bomb, most U.S. Navy/USMC bombs have a thick stucco looking coating of paint.

USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Tracy Lee Didas, 04NOV1987.

Mark 82s being transferred from ship-to-ship during Desert Storm. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Charles W. Moore, 01FEB1991.

Video, 726th EABS Munitions Systems team shows you how to build a Mk82, November 2019, Djibouti:

An F-4E Phantom II off-loads a bunch of blue bombs onto the Bardenas Bombing Range in Spain. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant David Nolan, 25MAR1986.

Practice bombs are painted blue, or O-D with blue trim and fins.  Some are so old the blue paint is extremely faded.  Some practice bombs have spotting charges in the fin section to make it easier to spot where it impacts on the target field.

BDU-45 mounted on P3C Orion. USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Harry J. Rucker the Third, 25OCT2009.

The U.S. Navy calls their practice Mk82 bomb the BDU-45.  Note there is a difference between USN fins and USAF fins.

BDU-45 mounted on P3C Orion. USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Harry J. Rucker the Third, 25OCT2009.

USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Araos, 02JUL2012.

Blue bombs.

Georgia Air National Guard F-105G gets bombed-up with a cement filled Blue Bomb. Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.

Video, Davis Monthan, Arizona, Operation SnowBird 2013, Idaho National Guard bombs-up their A-10s with Maverick missiles and Mk82s:

An Iranian F-14 tomcat bombed-up with Iranian made Mk82s on Iranian designed bomb rack.

A-10A on Sembach Air Base, Germany, being bombed-up with a Mk82 Snake Eye. USAF photo by Sutherland, 22APR1982.

The Mk82 can be fitted with low-drag fins or the infamous high-drag fins called Snake Eye.  The Snake Eye, or Mark 14 Tail Retarding Device, was developed because aircraft making low-level bombing runs would get hit by the shrapnel from the low-drag Mk82s.

A-7 Corsair II releasing Mark 82 hi-drag (Snake Eye) bombs on bombing range in Florida. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Frank Garzelnick, 01MAY1980.

The Iranians love the Snake Eye, using it during low-level high-speed bombing runs against invading Iraqi forces in the 1980s and still using it today.

Iranian Thunderbolts (twin tailed F-5s) dropping snake eyes.

U.S. Navy A-6 Intruders dropping snake eyes.

Snake Eye outside the U.S. Air Force 88th Operations Support Squadron, Munitions Flight, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 03MAR2021. USAF photo by Ty Greenlees.

USAF photo by Master Sergeant Dennis L. Carlson, 07DEC1978.

GBU-12 Paveway II is a ‘smart’ Mk82 with laser guidance system.

Canadian CF188 (F-18) being bombed-up with a Paveway in Kuwait, 13JAN2015.

This Mk82 is equipped with the Air Inflatable Retarder (AIR) tail.

FB-111A off-loads Mk82-AIR bombs, USAF photo by Master Sergeant Ken Hammond, 17NOV1990.

VEHICLE I-D: F-22 RAPTOR