Raithe Posted July 10, 2017 Posted July 10, 2017 Kind of amused me.. Is this a case of "stay out of the bushes" ? "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Gfted1 Posted July 11, 2017 Posted July 11, 2017 U.S. missile hits test target. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Agiel Posted July 13, 2017 Author Posted July 13, 2017 (edited) Rather interesting slide from a PLAAF seminar. It would seem that even they're not convinced of the tactical viability of the Herbst Manuever and Pugachev's Cobra. Translated: Instructor: Why do you dogfight? Cadet: Because I have super-maneuverability Instructor: No, because you're silly I suppose their philosophy is to avoid a dogfight in the first place? More that if your strategy for coming out on top is based solely on air show acrobatics rather than things like numerical factors, support assets (i.e. AWACS, tankers, electronic warfare, etc.), and operational readiness (high-g maneuvers exact a great deal of stress on airframes; the rule of thumb is that if an aircraft pulls more than nine-Gs in the course of a flight then the aircraft is in need of a serious stand-down for deep maintenance by the ground crews) you're doing something wrong. In addition, departure of controlled flight manuevers, while flashy, actually have fairly little usefulness in furballs. The resulting loss of energy just to get on the six of a bandit means one is easy meat for his wingman (plus there's a high probability that the bandit can disengage quite easily since he has a major speed advantage, and as the pilot's adage goes: "Speed is life"). This video also demonstrates how counterproductive the Pugachev's Cobra is in reality: Edited July 13, 2017 by Agiel Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Raithe Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 As we've brought up Dunkirk in the movie thread, here's a minor historical gem from the same period. During the Crete campaign in 1941, one of the junior Naval officers sent a signal listing all the various ships that had been sunk or put out of action during the evacuation to that point. He then suggested that the losses were unsupportable and efforts should be stopped. Admiral Cunningham sent this signal back: "It takes three years to build a battleship. It takes three hundred years to build a tradition. Operations will continue." They were able to evacuate a little under 20,000 men from Crete before the Germans took control. The remainder went to ground and joined the Cretan Resistance. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
SonicMage117 Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 https://youtu.be/2UX1fYyT_NY Just what do you think you're doing?! You dare to come between me and my prey? Is it a habit of yours to scurry about, getting in the way and causing bother? What are you still bothering me for? I'm a Knight. I'm not interested in your childish games. I need my rest. Begone! Lest I draw my nail...
Zoraptor Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 Admiral Cunningham sent this signal back: "It takes three years to build a battleship. It takes three hundred years to build a tradition. Operations will continue." To be technical, they didn't actually lose a single battleship in the Crete operations though a couple were damaged; just cruisers and especially destroyers. There also would have been near open insurrection here if Churchill had sent the NZ Division off to fight in a stupid unwinnable Greek situation, which also lead to disaster on the denuded North African front, and then just abandoned them a few weeks later on Crete. They were able to evacuate a little under 20,000 men from Crete before the Germans took control. The remainder went to ground and joined the Cretan Resistance. Yeah, nah. Nothing technical about that, only a few hundred ended up in the Cretan Resistance. Most of the rest (10k+) went off to summer camp somewhere in the beautiful German or Greek countryside. 1
Wrath of Dagon Posted July 19, 2017 Posted July 19, 2017 World's first operational laser weapon deployed by the US navy: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-18/navy-unveils-worlds-first-active-laser-weapon-persian-gulf "Moral indignation is a standard strategy for endowing the idiot with dignity." Marshall McLuhan
Gfted1 Posted July 19, 2017 Posted July 19, 2017 Afaik, LaWS has been operational on USS Ponce since 2014. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Malcador Posted July 19, 2017 Posted July 19, 2017 That is an unfortunately named ship if they ever visit the UK Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Agiel Posted July 19, 2017 Author Posted July 19, 2017 Could be worse. At least the US Navy doesn't name ships for their mother-in-law. Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Raithe Posted July 20, 2017 Posted July 20, 2017 I was trying to decide if this was more the funny things side, but eh, I'll throw it in here for the military social aspect... 2 "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Gfted1 Posted July 21, 2017 Posted July 21, 2017 Tomorrow the world’s largest Naval ship will officially begin leading the US Navy. Good ole' USS Enterprise (CVN-65) can be seen in the background of a few of the pictures. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Agiel Posted July 23, 2017 Author Posted July 23, 2017 (edited) A debate on the F-35. On one side is a former F-16, F/A-18, F-22, and F-35 driver, Marine Corps FAC, and TOPGUN instructor. On the other is an over the hill music producer*. Results are what you might expect: Part 1 Part 2 *Okay, maybe that's a bit unfair given that he used to work at the Pentagon, but he did suggest things as absurd as to produce the F-16 without a radar and was rather dismissive of the computer revolution in the '80s which produced JTIDS, JSTARS, and modern PGMs, Edited July 23, 2017 by Agiel Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Agiel Posted July 26, 2017 Author Posted July 26, 2017 Fascinating video on Chinese military uniforms over the decades: I'd also like to point out that for some odd reason the original post of this thread keeps getting liked by low-post count users with tags consisting of random letters. NSA marking the topic as a communication of interest? Russian troll bots being sicked on me in some misguided attempt of gathering sensitive military documents? Who knows, but if this keeps up my like count will be in the five figures in no time. 1 Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Agiel Posted August 11, 2017 Author Posted August 11, 2017 1 Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Malcador Posted August 21, 2017 Posted August 21, 2017 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40995829 US Navy looking good. Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Zoraptor Posted August 21, 2017 Posted August 21, 2017 How do US warships keep hitting massive slow moving oil tankers and the like? Even if your radar was down you can literally just look around (if they don't still post lookouts I will eat my keyboard and post video of it too), and even if... dunno, Russian agents were hacking the freighters and trying to get them to ram the warships the warships are an order of magnitude more manoevrable and far quicker so should easily be able to evade.
smjjames Posted August 21, 2017 Posted August 21, 2017 How do US warships keep hitting massive slow moving oil tankers and the like? Even if your radar was down you can literally just look around (if they don't still post lookouts I will eat my keyboard and post video of it too), and even if... dunno, Russian agents were hacking the freighters and trying to get them to ram the warships the warships are an order of magnitude more manoevrable and far quicker so should easily be able to evade. Well, it was the oil tanker (that, thankfully, wasn't actually carrying cargo at the time) that struck it, not the other way around. And yes, I too, am wondering what the heck is going on. This is barely two months after the USS Fitzgerald, and 10 sailors are missing this time.
Zoraptor Posted August 21, 2017 Posted August 21, 2017 In theory it was the freighter that hit the Fitzgerald as well, given the position of the damage to it. Who hit whom is not the sole determinant in blame though, if someone turns across a railway crossing and is hit by a train then the train definitely does the hitting, but it isn't the train's fault unless it could stop in time but chose not to.
Agiel Posted August 21, 2017 Author Posted August 21, 2017 This is the Strait of Malacca we're talking about. The waterway in which the third largest economy in the world has its energy needs shipped through and how its connected to the world's second biggest economy. Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Malcador Posted August 21, 2017 Posted August 21, 2017 Maybe crew tiredness is to blame as well. Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
smjjames Posted August 21, 2017 Posted August 21, 2017 It's possible crew tiredness is a factor, yeah, given that combat readiness is an issue that lawmakers and others are concerned about. Given that it it's restricted to the region, they're saying it could be a problem with training standards and operational procedures.
Gromnir Posted August 22, 2017 Posted August 22, 2017 image This is the Strait of Malacca we're talking about. The waterway in which the third largest economy in the world has its energy needs shipped through and how its connected to the world's second biggest economy. however, one should note how if the icons on the linked map were drawn to scale, the map would not look near (at all) crowded... which would be equal misleading. after all, those ships don't handle like an audi on the 101. also, based on the map presented, one might also consider the possibility o' there being a navy-wide problem (human error or technical), but 'cause o' the traffic in the straits, the failure has simple not been realized elsewhere 'cause o' lack o' traffic. regardless, the strait, and the waters off the shores o' japan, has not sudden become crowded. the number o' accidents in a relative short span o' time should be a cause for concern. correlation is not causation, but to ignore makes one look kinda obtuse. is sorta like all the dead bodies o' putin political opponents. our resident reflexive russia defenders happily find explanations other than state-sponsored infamy for putin opponents being poisoned with rare toxins... multiple times. sure, having an outspoken opponent o' putin gunned down within sight o' the kremlin can be explained away if one tries hard enough. 'course the more such curious events accumulate, the more a reasonable person becomes suspicious o' putin, yes? if the common factor in all the strange deaths is putin, then one need be obtuse to not at least consider putin as a cause, no? multiple US warships has suffered collisions in a relative short period o' time. the number o' collisions is disproportionate to past history o' collisions. not be concerned, not be suspicious, would be irresponsible. even so, correlation is not same as causation. bunch o' people get cancer and they all live near ________. is easy to blame ________ for the cancers, yes? toxic river. abandoned nuclear power plant. pesticide manufacturer. whatever. turns out the river never actually were toxic, but yearly algae bloom made people believe it were polluted. the nuclear plant never actual were operational so it never housed radioactive material. the pesticide manufacturer makes a syrup from oranges and kumquats which is highly effective at killing japanese beetles, and the syrup actual goes great with ice cream. yeah, such stuff happens, but am thinking in the present situation, there is enough reason for the navy to be concerned, and absence o' investigation would be irresponsible. HA! Good Fun! "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
Gfted1 Posted August 22, 2017 Posted August 22, 2017 Another example of why we need to handoff control of our weapons platforms to AI. Never tired, never emotional, never limited to human physicality. Just sit a couple of people next to a big red dead man switch in case the AI goes loco. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
smjjames Posted August 22, 2017 Posted August 22, 2017 Well yeah, nobody's saying that we shouldn't be concerned, and nobody other than the conspiracy theorists are trying to spin conspiracy over it. Also, apparently the USS John S. McCain had lost steering and weren't able to use their backup for some reason (maybe they need a backup to the backup?). Not sure why they couldn't have raised speed to get themselves out of the collision zone.
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