Agiel

The spirit of your words aren't an entirely inaccurate assessment from my point of view, however...

A tiny bit late, but very poignant nonetheless: I can only imagine that someone uninitiated in WWII history who witnesses such an event is left flabbergasted by the display.

Post every other piece of photography or artwork that isn't necessarily funny or sexy* here: To get it started: Scrapping of the Seawise Giant "The Invisible Man." I'm suddenly reminded of this cinematic from the first Shogun. This one just speaks to you. If you know not what it is of, merely look at my "Location." ----------- *Okay, it can be a little funny or sexy as long as it is also thought-provoking and emotionally stimulating as well.

I had to double-check the foil and plastic wrap in our kitchen cupboard and... I don't know if I should be happy I learned something new, or ashamed that I only realised this just now. I suppose the next time my roommates have to cover up some leftovers, they will accuse me of witchcraft.

Littoral Combat Ship to test Naval Strike Missile by Kongsberg: http://www.janes.com/article/41233/rimpac-2014-us-pacific-fleet-commander-eyes-norway-s-naval-strike-missile-capability I suppose at that point they can go ahead and call the things what they are: "Frigates."

How unfortunate that rational politicians have allowed the inertia of public blood-raving to trump practical politics and have dumped onto their mlitaries the problems they do not wish to solve. I hope it eventually occurs to the Israeli government that "mowing the lawn" as it were doesn't constitute sound military strategy.

Going retro once more; remembering the liberation of Paris in honour of the upcoming 70th anniversary: http://golem13.fr/70-ans-liberation-de-paris/

I'm saying that's precisely it, one of the finest illustrations of this paradigm being the T-34 (which I mentioned earlier on this thread in fact): http://www.operationbarbarossa.net/the-t-34-in-wwii-the-legend-vs-the-performance/ If the "big" points of protection and mobility and numbers truly decisively mattered, which the T-34 was advantaged in against nearly every other tank in the world at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, then it did not explain how crews and vehicles were lost in *droves* against woefully inadequate weapons. Poor visibility (and thus, situational awareness), poor inter-vehicle communications (until Lend-lease radios arrived, only platoon commanders had radios, and had to communicate with his subordinates using signal flags), and poor fire-control efficiency led to crews taking much, much longer to process their OODA loops as compared to their German counterparts. Communications is key. Efficiency is key. Situational and tactical awareness is ESPECIALLY key. A point in which current F-35 pilots agree: http://www.sldinfo.com/the-fifth-generation-experience-updated-the-f-35-is-a-situational-awareness-machine/

The famous USAF theorist and "Godfather" of the "Fighter Mafia" John Boyd had noticed that in spite of the MiG-15 being superior in several key respects of flight performance to the F-86 Sabre, F-86 pilots were able to achieve, by conservative estimates, near 2:1 exchange ratios against the MiG-15. Boyd concluded that this was due to two factors: 1. The F-86 used hydraulic controls where the MiG-15 had manual controls. That meant that the MiG-15 pilot had to exert considerably more effort to "yank and bank" than his counterpart in the F-86, which was especially counter-productive in prolonged engagements. 2. Most pertinently to the above article, the F-86 boasted superior out of ****pit visibility. At least seven times out of ten in air combat the reason a given pilot died was because he never knew the threat was there, as was iterated in the Ault Report (AKA Project RED BARON) conducted after the Vietnam War, which is also why Antoine de Saint Exupéry, himself a pilot, remarked that air combat was not necessarily the "knightly, chivalrous combat" as some might believe so much as it was murder. The lesson: Success lay in being able to process your OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) loop faster than your opponent and using it to interfere with his.

For those of you who are waiting on this game, might I suggest trying out Steel Beasts? The "game" nominally costs $125 USD, but there is a 64bit open beta that is free to try until December 31st. To enter, first download and install the v3.011 client here: http://www.esimgames.com/?page_id=1390 Then request a beta license here: http://www.esimgames.com/?p=1714 You will have at your disposal the Leopard 2 series from the 2A4 to the 2A6 (as well as local flavours of the Danish, Swedish, and Spanish armies), the M1 from the old 105mm version to the M1A2 SEP, the Challenger 2 (albeit in a somewhat undermodeled form), and much, much more. And before you enjoy, remember: "Klotzen, nicht Kleckern."

120 degrees azimuth is far from an insignificant amount of airspace to be able to scan. Also, I can guarantee that if the rebels had one, there's at least 180 degrees bearing it isn't pointed in.

@Raithe An English friend who has emigrated here has relayed to me that he has grown the urge to stick a letter-opener into the temple of every person he sees that has a shirt with some variation of: "Keep Calm..." on it.

You'll forgive me if it seems tasteless of me to illustrate the tragedy using a computer game. Modeling the scenario using Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations, which has an extremely exhaustive database. Start of the scenario. MH-17 (using a Boeing 767 as a stand-in for a 777, as for whatever odd reason the 777 isn't in the database). It is on a roughly south-west-west course overflying the SA-11 platoon. Note that the associated Snow Drift radar is completely absent. Proving that the TELAR is using just its own Fire Dome radar: SA-11 platoon detects MH-17. Without an advanced TV camera, the crew must use its Mark I Eyeballs to visually identify the target. Tough if it a track is 40 nautical miles away. MH-17 enters SA-11 missile range. The battery launches two missiles. In AAW operations, it is prudent to ripple fire two missiles to ensure maximum probability of a kill. As the missiles enter the end-game guidance phase, the SA-11 TELAR activates terminal illuminators: As it turns out, in this instance the second missile was unnecessary. The SA-11 had been designed for short-medium range engagements against maneuverable strike-craft like the F-16 and the F-15E Strike Eagle. Against a lumbering, cargo-plane sized jet, it may seem like overkill:

http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Engagement-Fire-Control.html#mozTocId926428 9S35 "Fire Dome" SA-11 TELAR radar detection range 100km. Track and illumination range 95km. And I've yet to see anything that disproves the notion that the rebels had a "Snow Drift" search radar, either from Ukrainian or Russian stocks.

If the rebels for some reason decided not to use radar-guided SAMs so as not to somehow repeat the MH-17 incident or to discredit claims that they had an SA-11, and used infrared or SACLOS-guided MANPADS or other SHORAD instead, then it would be a bit difficult since anti-radiation missiles are dependent on the threat having a radiating emitter in order to guide to the target. It is possible to geolocate the launch if non-radar based systems are used using advanced IRST and targeting pods, though that does require *someone* with the balls to fly low and troll for fire (hence the old motto of the "Wild Weasels" of yore, "YGBSM." You gotta be s***ing me."

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43630_Misleading_AP_Headline_of_the_Day-_No_Link_to_Russian_Govt_in_Plane_Downing

Try dropping a non-fire based enemy in lava.

As far as "Man" films go that cause tears to well up, I found the ending of Heat far more moving and nuanced: http://youtu.be/wmpxIc1KB9I?t=57s

A Nautical Mile is also slightly above 6000ft, as opposed to 5280ft for a terrestrial mile. So take that into account for your conversions.

Shouldn't at all be that surprising: http://20committee.com/2014/04/07/putinism-and-the-anti-weird-coalition/ https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-kremlin-builds-an-unholy-alliance-with-americas-christian-right-5de35250066b

Real-time Apollo 11 on this 45th anniversary of the mission, if you're reading this just now: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#.U8yLkrFZCME Replica of the lunar plaque from the Apollo 11 mission. Humanity has yet to live up to its words, and we may not for a very long time, but it doesn't make it any less worthy to aspire to.

John Schindler, aka 20committee on Twitter: https://twitter.com/20committee/status/490876305488224258