Archive for the ‘International’ Category
Seems to be a pretty decent solution, considering who they’re using it against. First noted here.
Homemade Bulldozer Battleship Joins Libya Fight
Land Battleship: An anti-Gaddafi fighter flashes victory signs on an armored bulldozer during violent clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces at the frontline in center Sirte.
Onto a battlefield littered with bizarre homemade weaponry, Libya’s ruling militia fighters have rolled out their weirdest contraption yet: a concrete and steel behemoth that’s a cross between a bulldozer and a battleship.
The towering monster, which appeared Wednesday in Sirte to help capture Muammar Qaddafi’s home town, has a battleship’s pointed prow and portholes along its sides with steel covers that can be pulled down…
The vehicle is also manned by four gunners who have five heavy machine guns to fire and a tank gun mounted on top.
The driver cannot see out. There had been a video camera set up to provide a view, but it was shot away.
The Libyan navy finally has a ship that no one can sink.
Gotta say that don’t look all that impressive:
U.S. special operations forces (SOF) and Afghan National Army commandos conduct a patrol during a clearing operation in Chak district, Wardak province, Afghanistan, Oct. 9, 2011. SOF team members and Afghan commandos conducted the operation in order to disrupt insurgent activity in the area. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Kaily Brown, U.S. Army/Released)
The guy with the M240 looks pretty much gassed.
Murdoc didn’t intend to take any time off at all, let alone this lengthy span of near radio silence.
So here’s a tidbit:
Cuba legalizes general purchase and sale of cars
The new law will allow the sale of cars from all models and years, and it legalizes ownership of more than one car, although tax rates go up slightly.
This is a great move by Cuba. At this rate they’ll join the 20th century sometime around 2035.
A pair of Russian air force Su-27 Flanker fighter aircraft escort a simulated hijacked airliner during the second day of flight operations for exercise Vigilant Eagle Aug. 9, 2011, over the Pacific Ocean. The Russian fighters followed and monitored the aircraft while it was in Russian airspace, handing it over to U.S. F-15 Eagle fighters from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, when it entered U.S. airspace. Vigilant Eagle is an annual joint anti-terrorism exercise between the Russian air force, the Federal Aviation Administration and the North American Aerospace Defense Command that trains personnel to respond to an air terrorism threat that crosses international boundaries. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher, U.S. Air Force/Released)
U.S. Weapons Now in Somali Terrorists’ Hands
David Axe:
Half of the U.S.-supplied weaponry that enables cash-strapped Ugandan and Burundian troops to fight Somalia’s al-Shabab terror group is winding up in al-Shabab’s hands.
The kicker: It’s the cash-strapped Ugandans who are selling the weapons to the insurgents.
Two Chinese Su-27 fighters penetrated Taiwan’s airspace June 29 and were turned back by Taiwan Air Force fighters. The incident is believed to be the first serious Chinese fighter incursion into Taiwan airspace since 1999.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed the incursion in a news release on Monday, but would not verify local Chinese-language media reports that the Su-27s were chasing a U.S. surveillance aircraft.
The report claims it was a U-2 the fighters were pursuing, but others are skeptical. Could have been a different surveillance plane, though.
Two U.S. Air National Guard F-16 aircraft, left, fly in formation with two Ukraine SU-27 aircraft over Mirgorod Air Base, Ukraine, July 22, 2011, during Safe Skies 2011. Safe Skies is a joint U.S., Ukraine and Polish exercise during which Air National Guard pilots fly engagements with Ukrainian SU-27, Mig-29s and Polish F-16s in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics and 2012 EUROCup and 2014 Winter Games in Europe. (DoD photo by Master Sgt. James D. Berg, U.S. Army/Released)
IDF considering replacements for heavy Merkava tank
Note this bit:
The thinking in the defense establishment is that tanks may no longer require thick layers of armor, which slow down the vehicle, and raise fuel and production costs and could suffice with less armor and more systems like Trophy.
The IDF is also looking at replacing its M109 self-propelled howitzers.
Iran says it shot down a US spy plane over nuclear site
“An unmanned US spy plane flying over the holy city of Qom near the uranium enrichment Fordu site was shot down by the Revolutionary Guards’ air defense units,” MP Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari was quoted as saying by the Youth Journalists Club, affiliated to Iran’s state TV.
If they really did shoot something down, it was probably one of their own drones. No one over there ever seems to know what anyone else is doing. I hope our unmanned spy plane got pictures of them doing it. It will give the CIA types something to chuckle about.
