Archive for October, 2005

Air Force testing new transparent armor

A lot of folks have noted this already, but a reader tipped me off and I finally looked into it a bit more. Of course, a lot of folks are bringing up Scotty and the transparent steel used in Star Trek IV, so I won’t even bother mentioning it here. Here’s what we’re (not) looking at:

The new armor combines the transparent ALONtm piece as a strike plate, a middle section of glass and a polymer backing. Each layer is visibly thinner than the traditional layers.

ALONtm is virtually scratch resistant, offers substantial impact resistance, and provides better durability and protection against armor piercing threats, at roughly half the weight and half the thickness of traditional glass transparent armor, said the lieutenant.

In a June 2004 demonstration, an ALONtm test pieces held up to both a .30 caliber Russian M-44 sniper rifle and a .50 caliber Browning Sniper Rifle with armor piercing bullets. While the bullets pierced the glass samples, the armor withstood the impact with no penetration.

In extensive testing, ALONtm has performed well against multiple hits of .30 caliber armor piercing rounds — typical of anti-aircraft fire, Lieutenant La Monica said. Tests focusing on multiple hits from .50 caliber rounds and improvised explosive devices are in the works.

The lieutenant is optimistic about the results because the physical properties and design of the material are intended to stop higher level threats.

“The higher the threat, the more savings you’re going to get,” he said. “With glass, to get the protection against higher threats, you have to keep building layers upon layers. But with ALONtm, the material only needs to be increased a few millimeters.”

The stuff is still very difficult to make and costs about four or five times as much a traditional glass armor. Even at that price, though, it will still be worth it for many applications. One thing that might help mitigate the high cost is the stuff’s resistance to scratching. In Iraq, for instance, windshields on armored Humvees need to be replaces when sand damage renders them unusable. If this ALONtm can outlast four or five standard windshields, it’s already worth it economically even if you discount the advantage of weight, which is substantial.

Military Moves Aircraft, Prepares Response for Hurricane Wilma

Among the forces on call are the USS Wasp, USS Trenton and USS Nashville. They had been scheduled to leave Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday for the hurricane zone.

1945: United Nations Organisation is born

Sixty years. Amazing.

And then there’s UN office doctored report on murder of Hariri. Seems that, for some reason, certain UN personalities didn’t want the names of the Syrian President’s brother or his brother’s associates in the report. The one that Kofi Annan declared would be unaltered before it was sent on to the Security Council.

At least it’s not as bad as a scandal involving, say, Oil-For-Food or something…

From Strategy Page:

Midway Island Demolished. Yorktown, destroyer sunk
Many US planes lost

June 7, 1942
The United States Navy suffered another blow in its attempt to stem the Japanese juggernaut ravaging the Pacific Ocean. Midway Island, perhaps the most vital U.S. outpost, was pummeled by Japanese Naval aviators. The defending U.S. forces, consisting primarily of antique Buffalo fighters, were completely wiped out while the Japanese attackers suffered few, if any, losses.

In a nearby naval confrontation, the Japanese successfully attacked the Yorktown which was later sunk by a Japanese submarine. A destroyer lashed to the Yorktown was also sunk.

American forces claim to have sunk four Japanese carriers and the cruiser Mogami but those claims were vehemently denied by the Emporer’s spokesman.

The American carriers lost an entire squadron of torpedo planes when they failed to link up with fighter escorts. The dive bombers had fighter escort even though they weren’t engaged by enemy fighters. The War Dept. refused to answer when asked why the fighters were assigned to the wrong attack groups. The Hornet lost a large number of planes when they couldn’t locate the enemy task force. Despite this cavalcade of errors, Admirals Fletcher and Spruance have not been removed.

Code Broken
The failure at Midway is even more disheartening because the U.S. Navy knew the Japanese were coming. Secret documents provided to the NY Times showed that “Magic” intercepts showed the Japanese planned to attack Midway, which they called “AF”.

Obsolete Equipment
Some critics blamed the failure at Midway on the use of obsolete aircraft. The inappropriately named Devastator torpedo planes proved no match for the Japanese fighters. Even the Avengers, its scheduled replacements, were riddled with bullets and rendered unflyable. Secretary of War Stimson dodged the question saying simply: “You go to war with the Navy you have, not the Navy you want or would like to have“. Critics immediately called for his resignation.

New Cavalry to Assist Transformation of Stryker Brigade

Hawaii’s Stryker brigade, set to become operational in 2007, got its cavalry squadron, the 5th Squadron of the 14th Cavalry Regiment:

The 5th squadron is the first of its kind. There has never been a 5th Sqdn. with the 14th Cavalry Regiment in the 104 years of the regiment’s history.

The squadron will combine an intelligence asset that was only used before in the division headquarters, by using the abilities to maneuver “the lethality, protection and digitalcon activity,” said said Col. Stefan J. Banach, 2nd Brigade commander.

I’m curious why create a brand-new squadron when there are probably a lot of deactivated squadrons available. Wouldn’t that be the better way to do it?

Or does having all Stryker cav as part of the 14th Cavalry Regiment streamline the regimental HQ and so on? Since these squadrons are always deployed piecemeal with their brigades, I’m not sure how much upper-level structure there is to cavalry regiments.

Am I just an armchair 2nd Lieutenant speaking out of line?

Stealthy, but no secret

The F/A-22s are on their first-ever deployment. They’re at Hill Air Force Base in Layton, Utah continuing the process of becoming fully-active in the USAF.

All week, the Raptor was the talk of the town. From Monday through Thursday, military and civilian workers poured from hangars alongside the runway at Hill to watch the Raptor take off.

All over Layton, the plane prompted curious conversations like this:

“Where you from?”

“Virginia.”

“You must be here with the Raptor.”

The squadron is based in Langley, Viginia and is spending two weeks in Utah.

[Lt. Col. Jim Hecker, commander of the 27th Frighter Squadron] said the F-16s of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill were expected to provide opposition for the Raptor during the week, along with a few Raptor-versus-Raptor duels.

Whether the F-16s will see the Raptors anywhere but on the ground before and after takeoff is difficult to figure.

Probably not, if Capt. Charlie Middleton is right. “A unit of us didn’t know what to expect,” said Middleton, who flies for the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill and went against the Raptor at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida during the summer. “Well, we found out what everybody has been talking about.”

Middleton flew his F-16 against the Raptor on six sorties over six weeks. “I was killed every time,” he said, “usually more than one time a day.”

That’s reassuring. Hopefully it’s the honest truth and not some sort of publicity campaign or propaganda. I don’t doubt it’s the real story.

Of course, if someone wants to overpay, drop me a note. (via Stryker)

Ace at the Politburo is putting together a blog family tree of sorts. He wants to know who you consider to be your blogfather, when you started blogging, and if you have any blog offspring.

Three different times in the late 1990s I started opinion-type efforts, two of them websites built using free space at my MSN account and once a weekly email. But it wasn’t until I discovered blogs that Murdoc found his calling. In March of 2003 I posted my first entry.

If I had to pick one site as my inspiration, it would be Steven Den Beste’s USS Clueless. Others that I consider to be my top-tier models are the Instapundit, Strategy Page, Defense Tech, and Sgt. Stryker. There were others, too. But these were the keys.

As for blogchildren, the only one I’m aware of is Sgt. Meengs, who is currently on hiatus.

Stop by the Politburo and let Ace know your lineage.

When it absolutely, positively has to be on the front overnight

Minister Buckethead takes an idea left by James on the recent V-22 post and runs with with. Go read.

A reader sends in the latest view of Hurricane Wilma:

I’ve got a Grandma Wilma and I’ve been trying to think up a good crack. But I’m afraid she’ll read it…

UPDATE: She used to chase us around with a broken-off yardstick when we got out of line. Which was quite often.

UPDATE 2: To spank us, not to spear us. She was tough but come on. Sheesh.