Broomsticks.

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Thanks to the tip from Harry and the article as seen in the British tabloid The Telegraph more indication of relative German military unpreparedness!

The Bundeswehr evidently having fallen on exceedingly hard times. And at the worst possible moment too!

"German army used broomsticks instead of guns during training"

"A German battalion assigned to Nato's rapid response force used broomstick handles instead of guns on a joint exercise due to chronic equipment shortages"

"Soldiers resorted to painting broomsticks black and attaching them to Boxer armoured vehicles to simulate gun barrels."

Here an image of a honest-to-God Boxer armored vehicle with organic 30 mm gun. Some Boxer as in the inventory but without turret or gun but voila add a broomstick and you have an analogous weapons system? German ground forces according to the Telegraph also reputed to using: "ordinary Mercedes vans as stand-ins for armoured personnel carriers during training because of equipment shortages"

Hardly is the practice of "dummy" or "fake armored" vehicles for training purposes confined to the modern Bundeswehr. Consider the following examples:

German "tank" from the era prior to World War Two. Strictly a training device and nothing more. Image as stolen from and thanks to Getty. A contraption to be sure what useful again for training purposes.

Here a number of German "tanks" in the period prior to World War Two. Valid as a training device of a crude but nonetheless valid variety.

American "tank" as was found during the war games in Louisiana just prior to American entry into the Second World War. Click to see a larger image with critical elements of the accompanying text underlined in red.

Say it ain't so Joe but we all know it is!!

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Sukhoi.

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Here with some from a variety of sources and thanks to the tip from Dee some LESS THAN sanguine appraisals of the Russian Su-57 warplane.

"san·guine - - adjective 1. optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation."

1. "Russia's new Su-57 'stealth' fighter already looks like a disappointment"


2. "China's and Russia's stealth fighters don't stand a chance against the F-35 and F-22"


3. "Why Russia's New Su-57 Stealth Fighter Might Be a Giant Waste of Time"


4. "India Might Finally Terminate Their Stealth Fighter Program With Russia"


LESS than sanguine each and every instance. The Chinese J-20 also not a multi-role combat aircraft [MRCA] able to perform a multiplicity of missions in addition to air superiority. J-20 the primary mission will be to engage American tanker aircraft with an air-to-air missile at long range. So it is speculated.

coolbert.

Zombie.

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Place this in the strange but true category. Or is it the paranormal?

From Sputnik and possibly only from Sputnik.

"Only One Country Ready to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse, According to Scientists"

You the devoted reader to the blog need to go and read it all!

"Brazilian mathematicians considering humanity's chances of surviving a zombie uprising have calculated that to have any sort of shot, civilians would need help from a fairly large standing army. Their estimates led them to a surprising conclusion."

NOT ONLY A LARGE STANDING ARMY BUT LARGE STANDING ARMY PER CAPITA.

Soldiers as opposed to persons who merely know how to use a firearm. Soldiers functioning as part of a team, according to a plan, and comporting themselves according to and accepting discipline.

Zombies of course a creation of fictional literature but as speculated about rabies with mutant virus thought to be a possible, illness of a fatal sort spreading from animals to humans. YES!

 The very same people who will say professional wrestling is rigged and phony, or that no such person as Tarzan ever existed will also say zombies are a product of a fevered and overwrought imagination. Until it is too late!

This is all nonsense. Isn't it? Isn't it?

coolbert.

5th Gen.

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Consider not so much here the recent deployment of Russian Su-57 warplanes to Syria but rather what exactly does constitute a 5th generation multi-role combat aircraft [MRCA].

Thanks to the article by the Saker and as seen at the Ron Unz Internet web site.

"Making Sense of the Russian 5th Generation Fighters in Syria"

"Introducing the Sukhoi-57 5th generation multi-role fighter"

FIFTH GENERATION COMBAT WARPLANES TO INCLUDE FEATURES SUCH AS:

* - "a low radar cross-section ('stealth')"

* - "the capability to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners"

* - "the ability to carry weapons inside a special weapons bay"

* - "an advanced 'situational awareness' capability"

There you  have it. Just in case someone asks: "what is fifth generation?" now you know.

STEALTH RELATED TO THE ABILITY TO "CARRY WEAPONS" IN A BOMB BAY "CLEAN".

Anyone disagree with this definition of 5th generation fighter warplane?

More on the Su-57 and the Syrian deployment to follow.

coolbert.

Pluto.

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MORE RUSSIAN BOASTING!

The nuclear-powered cruise missile. A weapon system with more or less unlimited range and flight duration.

According to President Putin such a weapon now exists in the Russian military arsenal! A threat awesome so we are told.

OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO NOW THAT ATOMIC POWERED CRUISE MISSILE AS IN DEVELOPMENT WAS PLUTO!

Pluto! Circa early 1960's. Early American development of an atomic-powered cruise missile.

An aviation project that literally never got off the ground!

"Project Pluto was a United States government program to develop nuclear powered ramjet engines for use in cruise missiles."

Image courtesy of Leicht modifiziert. Merely the engine for the proposed American nuclear-powered cruise missile. Man on top shown for purposes of scale. Gigantic!

"The principle behind the nuclear ramjet was relatively simple: motion of the vehicle pushed air in through the front of the vehicle (ram effect), a nuclear reactor heated the air, and then the hot air expanded at high speed out through a nozzle at the back, providing thrust."

"The notion of using a nuclear reactor to heat the air was fundamentally new . . . The nuclear engine could, in principle, operate for months, so a Pluto cruise missile could be left airborne for a prolonged time before being directed to carry out its attack."

PLUTO EVEN AFTER DELIVERING CONVENTIONAL ORDNANCE ON A TARGET STILL A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION [WMD]. PLUTO SENDING FOR A DEADLY CONTAMINATION OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS SPREAD FAR AND WIDE WITH DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES FOR ALL COMING IN CONTACT!

coolbert.

 

After.

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I recommend this You Tube video highly without reservation or qualification.

Devoted readers to the blog should consider this to be a MUST see!

"Life After People" an entire series of You Tube videos. speculative but informative and entertaining at the same time.

WHAT WOULD OCCUR IF ALL HUMANS FOR WHATEVER REASON WERE TO INSTANTANEOUSLY DISAPPEAR, NEVER AGAIN TO REAPPEAR!

Episode S01E08 having a military dimension. Consider: "Life After People Armed and Defenseless".

Artifacts of war how well will they withstand the elements over an extended period? Days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennium and even beyond that! Machines of war and structures seemingly so robust but is that so?

Indeed, even now in areas of the world such as the Demilitarized Zone [DMZ] in Korea or the Falkland Islands can we see a landscape returning to the natural state, and doing so in a surprisingly fast manner.

Rain, wind, bird droppings, rust can take a toll and fast. NO denying that.

coolbert.

Block 9.

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"We say at every opportunity we have that Syria, Iraq and other places in the geography in our hearts are no different from our own homeland. We are struggling so that a foreign flag will not be waved anywhere where adhan [Islamic call to prayer] is recited." - - Erdogan.

Where adhan is recited and where it has been recited!

The Turk moves south [Cyprus]? The Turk moves west [Greece]? Where else does the Turk move to? NATO versus NATO? From several sources including Breitbart the tip from Freeper:

1. "Turkey Threatens to Invade Greece and Seize Aegean Islands"

"Officials in Turkey’s ruling party threatened this week to invade Greece to take control of disputed islands in the Aegean Sea."

2. "Turkey Threatens to Sink Italian Oil Vessel Off Cyprus"

"The government of Cyprus has accused the Turkish military of threatening to sink an oil and natural gas exploration vessel doing exploratory work off the Cypriot coast."

Drilling in the Mediterranean well south of Cyprus in what is perhaps an EEZ [Economic-Exclusion-Zone]. Cyprus for decades divided between Turkish north and Greek south. Originally I had thought the drilling was perhaps occurring in the channel between Cyprus and the Anatolian mainland. but this is not so. Click on image to see an enlarged view.

3. "Report: Eni moving drillship to Morocco after Turkish navy 'threatens force' in Cyprus" 

"Turkish navy on Friday reportedly threatened to use force against Eni-operated Saipem 12000 drillship, after the rig’s captain tried to move the drillship to the Block 3 offshore Cyprus."

Some damn fool thing in the Mediterranean? As it is now and has been in the days of yore and always will be? Power politics the result is often war! I am afraid so.

coolbert.