Weapons
V–1 Missile and V–2 Rocket
V1 Cruise Missile V2 Rocket The well-known German vergeltungswaffen (vengeance or retaliation or revenge weapons) were a last-ditch stand to stave off defeat in 1944–1945 by means of pilotless bombs that could be launched against London and other Allied targets. They reflected an interservice rivalry, with the later Luftwaffe V-1 missile project being launched out of concern over the V-2…
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USA Hypersonic Weapon
Hypersonic Glide Body Today, with modern air power operating inside the atmosphere, we can impose kinetic effects at the speed of sound. With the maturing of hypersonic weapons, we will be able to do that at multiples of the speed of sound. The March 19 test of a hypersonic glide…
TERROR FROM THE SKYÂ I
In their early years at PeenemĂĽnde, the German rocket researchers had no difficulty in attracting the funds they needed. Money was printed in large amounts and military expenditure for the Army now seemed to have no limits. Von Braun was in his element at PeenemĂĽnde, and the design of the…
TERROR FROM THE SKYÂ II
Further substantiation came in June 1943, when a resourceful Luxembourger named Schwaben sent a sketch of the PeenemĂĽnde establishment to London in a microfilm through a network of agents known as the Famille Martin. This fitted well with the other reports that had been arriving, including eye-witness accounts and notes…
Early USA Nuclear Power
Mark 3 – “Fat Man” plutonium implosion weapon (used against Nagasaki), effectively the same as the “Gadget” device used in the Trinity (nuclear test) with minor design differences. (21 kilotons, 1945–1950) Mark 4 – Post-war “Fat Man” redesign. Bomb designed with weapon characteristics as the foremost criteria. (1949–1953) Mark 5…
Ship to Shore Connector
August 2014 the US Navy awarded the contract to build the first production Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC). The LCAC 101 is the first of 72 operational craft to be delivered from August 2017, with a targeted initial operational capability in 2020. The test and training craft is expected to start construction…
IED War
On May 26, 2003, Private First Class Jeremiah D. Smith, a twenty-five-year-old soldier from Missouri, was driving in an Army vehicle outside Baghdad when the convoy he was traveling in came upon a canvas bag lying in the road. It was Memorial Day, which meant that back in the United…