Inside of BTR-80. 9th Iraqi Army Division Warrant Officer explains to U.S. troops how it works. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Mary S. Katzenberger, 27SEP2010.
Ukrainian made BTR-94, 2018.
Ukrainian made BTR-94 blocks 14th of July bridge in Baghdad, 15AUG2004. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob N. Bailey.
BTR-4 variants, the BSEM-4K ambulance and BTR-4 armored personnel carriers with 30mm gun turrets.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Kalie Jones Frantz, 06FEB2016.
A mystery modified M113 seen at Camp Taji, February 2016. It’s not a ACV or YPR765. A homegrown modification?
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Kalie Jones Frantz, 06FEB2016.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist William Lockwood, 11FEB2016.
Camp Taji, February 2016.
M113 ACAV, U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Kalie Jones Frantz, 07FEB2016.
M113, U.S. Army photo by Sergeant David Strayer, 28APR2011.
M113, Kirkush Military Training Base, April 2011.
Notice the use of wide ‘snow’ tracks. Texas Army National Guard photo by Specialist Maria Mengrone, 12MAY2005.
MTLB, May 2005.
Texas Army National Guard photo by Specialist Maria Mengrone, 06MAY2005.
This one has the standard width tracks. Texas Army National Guard photo by Specialist Maria Mengrone, 06MAY2005.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Sean Hanson.
March 2007. This tank is a Chinese Type 69 (Iraqi designation for Chinese Type 69 is T-55B), as denoted by the headlights on both fenders and the camera/laser sighting system on the mantlet.
Texas Army National Guard photo by Specialist Maria Mengrone, 12MAY2005.
May 2005, Type 69/T-55B.
Notice the U.S. antenna. Texas Army National Guard photo by Specialist Maria Mengrone, 12MAY2005.
BMP-1, October 2005:
Rebuilt BMP-1s on Camp Taji, 07OCT2005.
BMP-1, January 2007:
BMP-1, Camp Taji. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Jon Cupp, 17JAN2007.
Video Camp Taji boneyard, T-72 turret lift, 2009:
T-62, March 2010:
T-62s in the ‘Bone Yard’. Tennessee Army National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Desiree Pavlick, 17MAR2010.
Graveyard of T-62 and T-72, October 2005:
Camp Taji ‘boneyard’, 10JUL2005.
T-72, Camp Butler/Butler Gunnery Range, February 2006:
U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Brent Hunt, 16FEB2006.
Low quality video from February 2006, supposedly it was the first time Iraqis were able to fire their T-72s since the U.S. invasion:
T-72, Forward Operating Base Hammer, October 2008:
U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Evan Loyd, 31OCT2008.
U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Evan Loyd, 31OCT2008.
2008 Besmaya Range gunnery video (by U.S. Army Specialist Neil A. Stanfield):
T-72, Besmaya Range Complex, April 2010:
U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Jared Eastman, 14APR2010.
Checking out a ‘newer’ T-72, apparently donated by NATO-Czech Republic, April 2016:
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Paul Sale, 05APR2016.
Iraqis began training on U.S. M1A1 Abrams in 2008-09:
Besmaya Range Complex, 31MAR2009. U.S. Army photo by Captain Thomas Avilucea.
According to a U.S. Defense Department news release, between August 2010 and the end of 2011, 140 M1A1M Abrams tanks were delivered to Iraq as part of a 2008 military sales agreement.
According to the the U.S. Army, these were the last of the 140 Abrams delivered to Iraq:
U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Edward Daileg, 29AUG2011.
In 2016, BMP-1s were positioned for the Mosul Offensive against so-called Islamic State:
In 2008, U.S. Army officials decided to allow Iraq to refurbish several M109A1s abandoned in the ‘boneyard’ of Camp Taji: “Last fall, our brigade commander was given guidance by the 9th IA commander to pull out of the Taji boneyard roughly a battalion’s worth of M109A1 howitzers.”-Major Matthew DeLoia, Military Transition Team-Pennsylvania National Guard’s 109th Field Artillery Regiment, July 2009
One of the jobs of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is to inspect foreign grown produce coming into the United States.
The CoViD-19 (CoronaVirus Disease-2019) response has revealed just how much U.S. grocery stores rely on foreign grown food. One reason for shortages of some food items in your local grocery store is the increased inspections of food coming into the country, which impacts the speed of distribution.
These photos were taken at Penn Terminals in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, 16APR2020. There are dozens of port of entries across the U.S.
These photos were taken at the Port of Wilmington in Delaware, 16APR2020.
14APR2020 video interview, CBP San Diego Director of Field Operations Pete Flores explains inspections of all commercial items coming through Otay Mesa Port of Entry in California:
During the Cold War it was known as Mikoyan & Gurevich, hence MiG.
MiG 21, NATO reporting name Fishbed.
BULGARIA:
New Jersey Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Andrew J. Moseley, 16JUL2015.
New Jersey Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Andrew J. Moseley, 16JUL2015.
New Jersey Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Andrew J. Moseley, 17JUL2015.
New Jersey Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Andrew J. Moseley, 17JUL2015.
Apparently 2015 was the last year that Bulgaria operated the MiG-21.
CROATIA:
Minnesota Air National Guard Photo by Technical Sergeant Lynette Hoke, 05APR2019.
Minnesota Air National Guard Photo by Technical Sergeant Lynette Hoke, 05APR2019.
It is smaller than an F-16
Minnesota Air National Guard Photo by Technical Sergeant Lynette Hoke, 05APR2019.
Minnesota Air National Guard Photo by Technical Sergeant Lynette Hoke, 06APR2019.
Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia video of MiG 21s flying with French Rafales, 15MAR2022:
Croat MiG 21s with USAF Aviano Air Base F-16s on the Pleso/Zagreb Airport, 27MAR2022. Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia by T. Brandt.
Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia, on 17MAY2022 a MiG 21 was assigned ‘Gate Guard’ duty for the 30th Anniversary of a flight by Colonel Ivica Ivandić. This is a controversy in Croatia because there were other MiG 21s involved in that flight and those pilots were seemingly ignored:
ROMANIA, ‘Lancer’:
2014
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant R.J. Biermann, 17APR2014.
2015
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Armando A. Schwier-Morales, 17MAR2015.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Joe W. McFadden, 16APR2015.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant William A. Tanner, 22MAY2015.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant William A. Tanner, 26MAY2015.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Bruch, 23OCT2015.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Bruch, 23OCT2015.
2016
18MAR2016, Canadian Forces photo by Master Seaman (Master Sailor) Steeve Picard.
2017
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Jonathan Snyder, 29JUL2017.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Jonathan Snyder, 29JUL2017.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Jonathan Snyder, 29JUL2017.
26SEP2017, Canadian Forces photo by Sergeant Daren Kraus.
2019
Romanian MiG 21s visited Serbia in October 2019. Photo via Ministry of Defence Republic of Serbia.
Ministry of Defence Republic of Serbia, 01OCT2019.
Ministry of Defence Republic of Serbia video, Romanian MiG 21s at the October 2019 International Air Exercise Air Solution meet:
28NOV2019. Canadian Forces photo by Leading Seaman (Sailor First Class) Erica Seymour.
28NOV2019. Canadian Forces photo by Leading Seaman (Sailor First Class) Erica Seymour.
NATO Channel video MiG-21 operations, cockpit view:
2022:
Romanian Ministry of National Defense video report from 04SEP2022, a pilot’s last flight in a MiG 21UB:
This F4U-1 ‘Birdcage’ served with NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), for 1:1 scale wind tunnel testing, before being transferred to the U.S. Navy.
NACA photo, 18JUL1951.
Photograph from July 1951, F4U-4B with NACA tail band. The retired Corsair was put to use by NACA to research ‘control rates’.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Chris Fahey, 10NOV2009.
In 2009, this F4U-4 was barged from Naval Air Station North Island, California, to the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego.
Photo via A and T Recovery, November 2010.
In 2010, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District, approved the recovery of a F4U-1, with birdcage style canopy, from Lake Michigan.
Photo via A and T Recovery, November 2010.
As normal, the government red tape caused the permitting process to take several years, but in this case the reviewers of the permit admitted they enjoyed the process: “It was the most entertaining and historically interesting application review and permit issuance project I’ve had the pleasure to work on. My father delves into the world of warbirds – vintage military aircraft now mostly operated by civilian organizations and individuals – so I had some background knowledge of single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft flown during World War Two.”-Kathleen Chernich, East Section of Regulatory Branch’s Permits and Enforcement Section, and eventually the recovery project manager
Photo via A and T Recovery, November 2010.
Video montage of news reports about A & T Recovery’s efforts to recover not just the F4U, but F4F, F6F and a Dauntless, and the Red Tape nightmare A&T Recovery had to go through to get them done:
Video from 2012, Honduran air force personnel volunteer to wash one of their F4U ‘gate guards’:
Video from 2012, F4U Corsair flies with AV8B Harrier, MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina:
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Christopher Johns, 26APR2014.
Korean conflict era F4U on display during the 70th anniversary celebration of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, April 2014.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Eric Lockwood, 22MAR2016.
In 2016, the remains of a F4U Corsair were presented to the Naval History and Heritage Command, in Washington DC. It was one of two Corsairs that failed to return from a ground attack mission on a Japanese military base on northern Kyushu. The wreckage was discovered by a fisherman.
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class David R. Krigbaum, 06MAR2016.
Officials with Saiki City, and Oita Prefecture, gave the remains a respectful ceremony before handing them over to the U.S. Navy.
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class David R. Krigbaum, 06MAR2016.
Video, F4U Corsair arrives at Edwards AFB Air Show, September 2017, unfortunately no audio:
Michigan Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Dan Heaton, 07JUN2019.
Here volunteers work on an F4U wing at the Selfridge Military Air Museum at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, June 2019.
Video interview with volunteer at Selfridge Military Air Museum, explains why it’s his dream job:
Note that the U.S. CDC has stop issuing weekly influenza numbers, instead reporting confusing graphs and percentages. However, as of 17APR2020, the U.S. CDC’s daily CoViD-19 numbers say more than 33-thousand people in the U.S. have died, that includes 4-thousand “probable” but not confirmed cases.