Military Thread: Humanity Hanging from a Cross of Iron

[Gfted1 6,062]

@ShadySands: I cant wait to see how much SMASH costs per unit.

[Gorgon 1,791]

They might make the cost up in bullets.

 

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/us-forced-to-import-bullets-from-israel-as-troops-use-250000-for-every-rebel-killed-28580666.html

 That's a ... lot.  How do you force an enemy seek cover with a rifle that is designed for the opposite though ?

[Gfted1 6,062]

Maybe our accuracy went up in the last 9 years.

I find the caliber change, 5.56mm --> 6.88mm, to be interesting. Better penetration? Range?

[Azdeus 1,858]

27 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Maybe our accuracy went up in the last 9 years.

I find the caliber change, 5.56mm --> 6.88mm, to be interesting. Better penetration? Range?

Better everything from what I've read; more energy at greater range, better aerodynamics, less deflection from soft cover because of more kinetic energy and heavier projectile.

 

Well, weight would be the exception, though the round is slightly lighter than 7.62Nato

Edited January 31, 2020 by Azdeus

[ShadySands 7,781]

I'd assume that they'd still include a suppression weapon in the fire team/squad makeups

The 250k bullet thing is also very misleading since it implies that's how many times we fire at an enemy to get a kill. The article itself even mentions that most of them are used in training in a throwaway line.

[Guard Dog 9,504]

35 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Maybe our accuracy went up in the last 9 years.

I find the caliber change, 5.56mm --> 6.88mm, to be interesting. Better penetration? Range?

Knockdown power. A heavier projectile, depending on the propellant charge & weapon barrel length, at roughly equal velocity will have better stopping power. It will likely come at a cost in range. The M-16/M-4 using 5.56mm has a max effective range of 800m. The 7.62mm used by the AK variants has a max effective of 300M. But in truth hitting a man sized target with a M-16 at 800m is more luck than skill. With an M-4 with it's short barrel it's just not happening.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Guard Dog

[Guard Dog 9,504]

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2020/01/30/staff-ncos-required-to-earn-college-degrees-the-top-enlisted-marine-could-see-it-coming/

Sounds like some REMF BS to me

[Gfted1 6,062]

US submarine armed with 'low-yield' nuclear weapon, Pentagon says.

[Gromnir 7,730]

tactical nukes launched from stealthy submarines. am feeling safer already.

perhaps not the most creative response to the growing list o' asymmetric threats the US faces, but at least it's worse than nothing.

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog 9,504]

Please... PLEASE.... somebody make this stop....

https://www.stripes.com/news/space-force/spacemen-and-space-cadets-are-out-as-pentagon-officials-wrangle-with-what-to-call-space-force-members-1.617719

Space Cadets! 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Guard Dog

[Gfted1 6,062]

Space Fleet and Mobile Infantry / Marines. Yes, that will do nicely.  

[ShadySands 7,781]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

Snip

 

Spacies, Forcers, SFers, I can't believe we are sticking with these dumb ugly pajama costumes, Macho Moon Men - The Randy Savages, Forgotten Towels, Section 42, Skroobs, Los Spoopies

[Malcador 7,568]

Satellite-sitters

[Gfted1 6,062]

Speaking of which: Russian Satellite Alters Orbit to Shadow US Spy Satellite.

[Gromnir 7,730]

ok, so space force is kinda silly and unnecessary, but that don't mean we oppose it.

*sigh*

is the kinda transactional badness we recent derided in the politics thread, so am gonna do our mea culpas right from the start recognizing is wrong to indulge a wrong just to get what you want. the thing is, nasa and government investment in civilian space applications has benefited most when there has been a military driven raison d'être for the US space program. during space race with the soviet union, there were a couple years where nasa budget were ~4.5% o' total US gdp. steady drop since moon landing and functional soviet capitulation o' the race. the US current total defense budget is less than 3.5% o' total gdp. current nasa budget languishes under .5% total gdp.

every President who cuts nasa budget gets our complaints and criticisms. 

space force is cartoony and stoopid, but if it means nasa benefits, then our deal with the devil is struck. isn't enough for us to keep trump in office, but we won't complain 'bout space force.

nevertheless recognize how the self-aware hypocrite is perhaps worst kind. 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited February 6, 2020 by Gromnir
auto spell correct transformed "languishes" into "languages."

[Gorth 3,314]

Not sure if coffee ever had any military application (other than helping sentries staying awake), but the microwave oven is one of my favourite pieces of military hardware spin-offs

 

Edit: I know the internet is also a by-product of arms race and military technologies, but you could argue whether or not it's really beneficial for humanity. At least it gives a place to worship cats if nothing else.

 

[Agiel 1,806]

What often goes underappreciated is the extent civilian developments affect military R&D. Take for instance the plastics industry of the West; key binders used for making childrens toys had applications in holding together solid fuel rockets for missiles, which in part explains the significant lag the Soviets had in SLBMs (the contemporary Soviet equivalent to the American Trident was the SS-N-20 Sturgeon that was by all accounts unnecessarily huge and consequently much more expensive to build and maintain, leading to its swift retirement after the Cold War ended). Another more obvious example is the civilian aviation industry. A strong civil aviation industry calls for safe and relatively inexpensive air travel, which creates demand for aircraft engines that are more reliable, more fuel-efficient, and less maintenance intensive, expertise that was invaluable for developing similarly robust and reliable engines for fighter jets (for Russian ground crews the MTBO for western jet engines are simply eye-watering).

Edited February 7, 2020 by Agiel

[rjshae 9,657]

On 2/5/2020 at 5:37 AM, Gfted1 said:

US submarine armed with 'low-yield' nuclear weapon, Pentagon says.

Could be useful in clearing away the milfoil...

[Gfted1 6,062]

Google tells me thats a fresh water plant.  

5 kilotons didnt sound like a lot to me so I wanted to compare it to the largest convention munition, the FOAB, and thats only 44 tons! *gets out calculator* 5000/44 = 113.63 FOAB's to equal one W76-2! Wow.

[kanisatha 515]

52 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Google tells me thats a fresh water plant.  

5 kilotons didnt sound like a lot to me so I wanted to compare it to the largest convention munition, the FOAB, and thats only 44 tons! *gets out calculator* 5000/44 = 113.63 FOAB's to equal one W76-2! Wow.

Well you have to keep in mind that the Lance battlefield missile system we had during the Cold War, which was about the smallest of our tac nukes, had a 70kt warhead. So, progress.

Bottom line, we dumped all our tac nukes after the end of the Cold War but the Russians retained many of theirs. In recent years they have fielded a new generation of tac nukes and in particular the highly capable Iskender-M system. Given budget realities, our only option for a response was modifying existing strategic nukes for tactical use as from-scratch new systems are just not going to get through Congress.

[Gorth 3,314]

Reminds me of the time the Soviets went in the opposite direction... not smaller, but bigger is better. Most stuff around the Tzar Bomba is scary reading, except the one comforting factor that it was too big for any practical application, literally too big. No Soviet plane at the time could reliably deliver it, even if finding suicidal pilots (at full yield, no out flying the explosion). The one and only actual test was with a "gimped" version, which limited it's yield to "only" 50 megatons (edit: and a parachute to slow its descent so the airplane crew could get more time to get away). Without the dampeners it would have yielded 100 megatons.

Basically, screw precision, just turn everything into glass.

Edit2: They just don't make nukes the way they used to...
 

 

[Zoraptor 3,620]

Somewhat bizarre situation ongoing in Syria where 13/14 Turkish troops have been killed over the last week. Turkish government claims are that about 150 Syrian troops have been killed in response except... no one else you'd expect to is reporting it at all*. Two separate reprisals days apart killing ~50 and ~100 people about the only response from anyone- including a lot of Turks it has to be said- is mockery of the claims; and near literally no evidence of anything at all happening, no damage information, no death information, no videos, no shouting about murderous neo ottomans and even very little triumphant celebration from the rebel side. While it seems likely that the Turkish deaths took place the reprisals for them simply don't seem to have happened at all.

*well, some media are reporting the claim, many of those as if it's true by default, but there isn't any independent verification at all.

[kanisatha 515]

19 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Somewhat bizarre situation ongoing in Syria where 13/14 Turkish troops have been killed over the last week. Turkish government claims are that about 150 Syrian troops have been killed in response except... no one else you'd expect to is reporting it at all*. Two separate reprisals days apart killing ~50 and ~100 people about the only response from anyone- including a lot of Turks it has to be said- is mockery of the claims; and near literally no evidence of anything at all happening, no damage information, no death information, no videos, no shouting about murderous neo ottomans and even very little triumphant celebration from the rebel side. While it seems likely that the Turkish deaths took place the reprisals for them simply don't seem to have happened at all.

*well, some media are reporting the claim, many of those as if it's true by default, but there isn't any independent verification at all.

I saw a report in a mainstream source a few days ago (I think it was a Reuters story) that Turkish and Syrian troops had exchanged fire with Russian troops caught in the middle. Not a surprise at all, something I fully expected and predicted would happen.

[Guard Dog 9,504]

Possible replacement for the Aegis in the works: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/02/13/the-us-navy-is-looking-to-get-serious-about-a-next-generation-large-surface-combatant/

[kanisatha 515]

6 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Possible replacement for the Aegis in the works: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/02/13/the-us-navy-is-looking-to-get-serious-about-a-next-generation-large-surface-combatant/

Yup, complete with enough power output to power a HEL.