fire4effect

Top Pakistan Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan roadside attack (msn.com) Maybe "something" fell off a Reaper landing at the side of the road. "Now that would be shear artistry"

If you want a good read on the risk and how to mitigate it talk to any AG Flying company out there. Out in East Arkansas a company many years ago used to give a "check ride" that consisted of watching someone do high speed ground runs up and down the strip (to see how they handled the aircraft on the runway) with some take offs and landings thrown in. Most of the AG strips were asphalt parallel to grass. Take off heavily loaded from the asphalt and land on the grass. Grass was more forgiving on landings and WAY better mitigating tire wear given the number of take offs and landing inherent in that business.

Here's my shocked face. 😲

I hope this raises the collective paranoia of all those animals. Always wondering if the guy standing next to them is gonna drop the proverbial dime. Plenty of people were and continue to be brutalized after the Taliban took over and carry a trusty Roshan phone. Some media reports say it was the RX9 "Flying Ginsu".

Love a good turret throwing contest

I always wonder what would have happened if we bagged Bin Laden in Tora Bora early in the game and if we would have gotten so far down the rabbit hole.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/18/politics/afghanistan-watchdog-report/index.html No surprise here.

RKG-3 Grenade Near Miss on Stryker | Military.com These were used at times by the insurgents in Iraq. 2-3 could pop out of an alleyway and lob them at a Humvee. Small parachute in the tail. Fortunately it didn't seem to be a common occurrence. Unfortunately this looks like something a few saavy terrorists could do over a large open air stadium on a random Saturday in October.

Commercial will always win out on sheer volume. On the engine side the Air Force has gotten a little smarter when they push commercial derivative engines like for the B-52/TF-33 replacement. Especially smaller sub-vendors have little desire to make 10-20 widgets for the Air Force given how PITA the source approval process is. I actually know a couple of really smart types who were in the government but are making good money now helping the commercial world put together source approval packages to submit for government contracts. Back to the TF-33. Any platform that gets away from that train wreck of an engine can't get here soon enough. One upside to the Wedgie is it uses the very reliable CFM-56 which has a good availability of parts worldwide and will for a long time. Best airframe in the world isn't very effective sitting on the ramp.

Damn. Interesting how this plays is Mother Russia.

Documents reveal bin Laden's bid for American support - 60 Minutes - CBS News This was a good piece on what came out of the SSE of Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. I could have put this in the Afghanistan thread but I think its relevant to how another megalomaniac completely misjudged a country and world reaction to his attack.

I have no idea what kind of system they have in place to control their nukes but I hope the people in that chain aren't insane enough to launch no matter what the inner circle decides.

Good breakdown on a very head scratching investigation

I have a relative who served in Vietnam flying EB-66s (actual tail he flew is supposed to be the one in the museum at Wright Pat) out of Thailand. For reference the EB-66 is the central airframe in the movie Bat-21. He had many stories of his time over North Viet Nam/Hanoi and I have no doubt he earned his DFC and 2 AMs. Especially real missiles fired by real Migs at his aircraft. Not to mention the SAMs. He also flew B-52s for SAC in its heady days. Sadly, late stages of dementia have brought the stories to a stop.

McCarthy says Ukraine invasion should serve as ‘lesson’ for arming Taiwan (msn.com) Timely article. Hope we see concrete actions from those who can actually make it happen. He touches on an interesting point that had we done more arming Ukraine earlier it might have prevented the invasion in the first place. Clearly no way to know in hindsight. Of course, no one ever remembers the attack, mishap or crash for that matter that is prevented or otherwise never occurs.

I hope Taiwan is paying attention. If I were them, I would stack the whole island with as many top end air defense and anti ship systems I could get my hands on.

Completely agree. She should but I doubt she will. Unfortunately, her perception is based on what she's seen in her media and the trauma of losing a close family member. I can only imagine what it would be like to lose any of my children and the rage I would feel. To paraphrase as I do occasionally from a movie Quantum of Solace "I think you are so blinded by inconsolable rage you don't care who you hurt" kind of sums it up. Who is easier for the family to blame us or them? Right or wrong doesn't come into it. This is where I see it getting really dangerous.

Overall I agree stacking up Russians should convince them to back off. But as is often the case Putin doesn't appear to feel the pain of their sacrifice. I thought I saw a quote (no way to ascertain veracity) from a Russian Mom who lost a son in Ukraine and blamed the US. for supplying the weapons used. She supposedly said Russia should send us a nuke to get us to back off in Ukraine. If thats the sentiment on their side this could really get ugly. At a minimum I hope they have good control of the people actually minding the button.

Happened more than once on all sides in WW2. One of the more high profile examples Ronald Speirs - Wikipedia Right or wrong Normandy really really was for all the marbles and anything that slowed or prevented mission accomplishment was not taken very lightly. Thankfully I never had to face their dilemma. I can't imagine. Disarmed Enemy Forces - Wikipedia was a designation given to German POWs after Germany's surrender in 1945 for the simple practical expediency of not having to provide a care and feeding at a level commensurate for POWs under the Geneva Convention.

To those who toil in anonymity especially the NCOs. What you do matters.

Looks like they were escorting a fuel truck and that had them pretty trigger happy. Also BIG IF the Ukrainians are using civilian vehicles with Javelins in the trunk to pop off at the Russians (I have no way to know if that's true or not so I can't say) it puts everyone on the road at risk. Still is a damn tragedy and the Russians to blame for starting this whole thing in the first place.

Strategic E-4. This SOB put a target on all our backs. One low ranking soldier can have strategic level effects. Mahmudiyah rape and killings - Wikipedia

Wow how many and how long for the Ukrainians to set that up? I can't believe the Russians haven't figured out that if you don't have ISR/surveillance watching the routes the other side will leave all kinds of little presents. The only other option is cross country.

And "she" has a manicure. Article in Cosmo "How I shoot vile Russian invaders and never break a nail" Hopefully after noticing that detail I can still keep my man card.

Still just as funny as the first time I saw it.