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☆ Take a look at the workhorse C-130 cargo plane that the US Air Force is reinventing to fight like a bomber
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Elias Chavez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The first of its kindThe first C-130 Transport flying back from its early flight paces over California's Mojave Desert. Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe C-130 Hercules was created to address deficiencies in the US Air Force fleet during the Korean War. At the time, no plane could simultaneously achieve all the objectives the Air Force needed. To this day, Lockheed still makes C-130 models and their upgraded versions. The US Air Force has not stopped production of the C-130 class plane since it was invented in the 1950s, making it the longest continuous aircraft production run in history.

Persons: Hercules, Fairchild, Lockheed Martin, Jeff Rhodes, Rhodes Organizations: US Air Force, Air Force, Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed, Popular Mechanics, YC, Edwards Air Force Base Locations: Burbank , California, Kern County , California

☆ Britain suffered an embarrassing aircraft carrier malfunction just as China started showing off its new carrier
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China touted the capabilities of its latest aircraft carrier just as a British vessel suffered an embarrassing malfunction that caused it to pull out of NATO exercises. Chinese state broadcasters recently devoted considerable airtime to discussing the Fujian, the aircraft carrier it launched in 2022, Newsweek reported. It came as the Royal Navy announced that its flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, had issues with a propeller shaft, meaning it had to withdraw from NATO's upcoming exercises. It is also stretching its naval capabilities by providing protection to vessels in the Red Sea targeted by Houthi rebels . And, quite simply, the Royal Navy doesn't have enough ships, particularly destroyers and frigates, he said.

Persons: HMS, Elizabeth, —, Wu Qian, Cao Weidong, Gerald R, Ford, Lord West, Prince Organizations: NATO, Newsweek, Royal Navy, Liberation Army, Popular Mechanics, Elizabeth British Royal Navy, US Naval Institute, Business, UK's Royal Locations: China, British, Fujian, East Asia, —, Taiwan, Elizabeth British Royal Navy China, Wales

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Organizations: Kindle, Amazon, Reading, Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, Men's

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Organizations: Kindle, Amazon, Amazon Prime, Reading, Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, Men's

☆ See how SpaceX's Starship rocket design has evolved through the years, in photos
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Marianne Guenot | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementElon Musk is expecting SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket to take to the skies again, months after the ship blew up on its first-ever attempt to reach orbit. SpaceX's Starship stacked atop its Super Heavy booster near Brownsville, Texas. Originally teased under the name Mars Colonial Transporter, Starship's first rocket design was called "Interplanetary Space Transporter" as SpaceX realized its ambitions went beyond transport to Mars. 2019: Starhopper reaches 492 ft in flightSpaceX's Mars Starship prototype "Starhopper" hovers over its launchpad during a test flight in Boca Chica Trevor Mahlmann/ReutersThe first Starship prototype wasn't really a Starship at all. The first full-fledged Starship prototype to really catch some air was called Starship serial no.

Persons: Elon Musk, —, Musk, Gwynne Shotwell, BFR, Boca Chica Trevor Mahlmann, Twitter Musk, SN15, Starship's, Ashlee Vance Organizations: Elon, SpaceX, Service, Mars, Reuters, Super, Boca Chica, Raptor, Twitter, Mk1, Popular Mechanics, ambitiously, Engineers Locations: Brownsville , Texas, Starhopper, Boca Chica , Texas

☆ Russia's Lancet drone is its most effective weapon in Ukraine, and it's only getting deadlier
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( David Hambling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Rise of the lancetA Russian Lancet loitering munition shot down in the Zaporizhzhia region in July 2022. At first only a handful of Lancet strike videos were posted each month. Target setUkrainian soldiers shoot at what Ukraine said were Russian Lancet drones in a still image from a video released in May. AdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to Lost Armor, as of October 3 there are 667 Lancet strike videos. These are typically kept several miles back from the front line, but not far enough to be out of Lancet range.

Persons: —, Samuel Bendett, 19FortyFive, Yuriy Sak, Dmytro Smoliyenko, Crews, Bendett, Zala, David Hambling Organizations: Service, Russia, Strategic Communications, Ukrainian Armed Forces, REUTERS, Zala Aero Group, Special Operations Forces, CNA, CNAS, Lancet, Reuters, Ukraine Defense Ministry, Analysts, Publishing, Getty, Artillery, Oryx, Russia's RIA, Telegram, Vostok, Volunteer, Aviation, Forbes, The, New, Popular Mechanics, WIRED Locations: Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia, Syria, Russia, Russian, Ukrainian, German, Kyiv, Lancets, London

☆ Moscow has been surrounded by air defenses for a century, but they were never designed to stop the drones Ukraine is using now
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( David Hambling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In recent months, Moscow has seen high-profile drone attacks thought to be launched by Ukraine. Moscow has had air defenses for a century, but they haven't been designed for what Ukraine is doing. This is actually the inner defensive ring: The A135 system originally had an outer ring of 51T6 Gorgon missiles with megaton-class warheads. STR/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAs far back as this January, Russian planners realized that Moscow was wide open to drone attacks. AP PhotoThe first drones hit Moscow in May, with waves of subsequent attacks continuing through July, August and September.

Persons: Yuriy Shipilov, Sefa, David Hambling Organizations: Ukraine, Service, UK's Ministry of Defense, Central Press, Kremlin, Ballistic, US Safeguard, Sprint, Spartan, Anadolu Agency, Getty, 1st Air Defense Army, National Security, Russian Federation, Aerospace Defense, Ministry of Defense, SA, Defense Ministry, Arsenal, Fatherland, Moscow Investigators, AP, Aviation, Forbes, The, New, Popular Mechanics, WIRED Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Filatov Lug, Lug, American, North Dakota, Soviet, Crimea, Syria, Libya, Russian, London

☆ Ukraine is fielding new $3,500 'cardboard' drones against Russia — they're flat-packed and could prove deadly
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine has received hundreds of so-called "cardboard drones" from Australia. The Corvo PPDS is cheap, comes flat-packed, and can be built in an hour, its maker says. SYPAQ's Corvo PPDS drone. Although it's known as the "cardboard drone," there's conflicting information as to what its main framework is actually made of. Per the pro-Russian Telegram channel @fighter_bomber, Ukraine used a swarm-like formation of several unarmed Corvo PPDSs amidst drones packed with bombs, helping the swarm evade radar.

Persons: It's, SYPAQ, Michael Partridge, Australia's, Partridge, it's, coyly, Jamey Jacob, Jacob, Corvo, Mick Ryan, Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko Organizations: Service, IKEA, Oklahoma State University, Popular Mechanics, Russian Telegram, News Australia Locations: Ukraine, Australia, Wall, Silicon, Russian, Australian

☆ Pictures show the afterlife of Ukraine's Mriya-225, the biggest plane in the world, whose ruined parts could yet fly again
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New images have emerged of Ukraine's legendary Mriya-225 cargo plane 18 months after it was destroyed. Aircraft company Antonov has said parts from the original may be used in a brand new version. According to Popular Mechanics, a sister craft to the Mriya-225 was in construction prior to the full-scale invasion but never finished. Gavrylov said both new parts and parts recovered from the original craft would be added to the uncompleted sister plane. Remaking the plane would involve parts and construction facilities that no longer exist in Ukraine, Popular Mechanics reported.

Persons: Antonov, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vadim Ghirda, Vasily Koba, Maxym, Eugene Gavrylov, Gavrylov Organizations: . Aircraft, Antonov, Service, Interfax, Getty, Popular Mechanics, CNN Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Soviet, Kyiv, Interfax Ukraine, Hostomel, Gostomel

☆ Russia has lost more than 2,200 tanks in Ukraine, and it may be reaching the limit of its ability to 'rebuild' older ones
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( David Hambling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Russia has lost more than 2,200 main battle tanks since invading Ukraine in February last year. Russian storage depots are deep, but they don't have an unlimited supply of armor to throw into a new fight. In fact, Russia is rebuilding tanks rather than building them, and their capacity to do so may be reaching its limit. Russia has vast stockpiles of old tanks, from T-90s barely 20 years old to rusting T-62s from the 1960s. More importantly, Russia's supply of old tanks for rebuilding is showing signs of running down.

Persons: Alexander Zemlianichenko, Stalin, UVZ, Sergio Miller, Abrams, ANATOLII STEPANOV, Shoigu, Putin's, Dmitry Medvedev, OLGA MALTSEVA, Jakub Janovsky, Medvedev, Nobody, Putin, David Hambling Organizations: Service, Russia, Victory Day, AP, Stalin Ural Tank, British Army, Sierra Army, Omsk Transport Machine Factory, —, Getty, Defence, Moscow Times, Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, Aviation, Forbes, The, New, Popular Mechanics, WIRED Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, AP Russia, Nizhny Tagil, Moscow, Stalin Ural, Doyle , California, Omsk, St Petersburg, Siberia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Russian, Rostov, Izyum, AFP, OmskTransMash, Laos, St . Petersburg, Buryatia, Mongolia, Urals, USSR, Germany, Kremlin, London

☆ How a US government program advocated using nuclear explosions for construction, farming radioactive crops, and blasting holes in the moon
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Most focused on the potential for nuclear explosions to quickly excavate areas for construction projects at lower costs than conventional explosives. (Hamblin is the author of the book "The Wretched Atom: America's Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology.") Fly the radioactive skiesUS officials also hoped nuclear energy could be used for transportation. Nicknamed the "pan-atomic canal," nuclear explosions would have carved a sea-level waterway through Nicaragua, Panama, or Colombia, per Forbes. Corbis via Getty ImagesFor Hamblin, the concept of "peaceful nuclear explosions" fell out of favor in the mid-70s.

Persons: Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, Jacob Hamblin, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Alex Wellerstein, Hamblin, you've, Dr Leonard Reiffel, Alaska's Cape Thompson, Edward Teller, detonations, Rio, Iran —, —, Corbis, Wellerstein, Marshall, we're Organizations: Service, White, Nevada . U.S . Department of Energy Office, Scientific, Atomic Energy, UN, United Nations, IAEA Imagebank, United, US Atomic Energy Commission, Technology, Institute of Radiation, Google, NASA, Sputnik, Air Force, U.S . Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, AEC, of Energy, Popular Mechanics, New York Times, Carryall, US Department of Energy, Forbes, Atomic Energy Commission, Getty, IAEA Locations: Wall, Silicon, Suez, Nevada ., United Nations, New York, Hitachiomiya, Japan, Soviet Union, Nevada, Alaska's Cape, inconveniently, Israel, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Pacific, Farmington , New Mexico, Rulison , Colorado, Rio Blanco, , Colorado, Iran, Mercury , Nevada, USA, Cuba, Vietnam, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada —, Marshall

☆ The US military once detonated a nuclear bomb directly above the heads of 5 officers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On July 19, 1957, the Nevada Test Site conducted a test of an unguided nuclear air-to-air rocket. "My only regrets right now," Col. Bruce says, "are that everybody couldn't have been out here at ground zero with us." "I had a call saying they needed me out for a special test," Yoshitake said, according to The Rafu Shimpo, a bilingual Japanese-English newspaper. "I found out when I got to Nevada that I was going to be standing at Ground Zero. Yoshitake developed stomach cancer.

Persons: Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, —, John, Sidney Bruce, Frank Ball, Bodie, Bodinger, John Hughes, Don Luttrell — weren't, it's, George Yoshitake, Col, Bruce, couldn't, Yoshitake, hadn't, videographers Organizations: Five Air Force, Service, Soviet Union, Popular, US Air Force, NPR, Popular Mechanics, Genie, Fox News, Air Force, New York Times Locations: Wall, Silicon, Nevada, Soviet

☆ Opinion: In Ukraine, the Russian military response to the counteroffensive shows how it’s improved – and how it hasn’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Opinion Sébastien Roblin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The beginning of the much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia seems not to have been a resounding success for Kyiv. But they don’t mean that all is lost for Ukraine – or even that Ukraine is now losing. Russia’s artillery ammunition, missile stockpiles and most-modern ground combat vehicles were gravely depleted, so 60-year-old tanks have been withdrawn from storage. It was while attempting to breach a path through one such fortified minefield that the 47th Brigade’s vehicles bogged down last week. Notably, a parallel drive toward Mariupol at the same time as the 47th’s failed attack last week has made fast gains, compelling Russian forces to withdraw from several settlements.

Persons: Sébastien Roblin, Bradley, ” Sebastien Roblin, Sebastien Roblin, Putin, Biden, —, Jens Stoltenberg, ” Organizations: Popular Mechanics, NBC, Forbes.com, Georgetown University, Peace Corps, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine’s 47th Brigade, Ukraine, Red Army, 47th Brigade, NATO, Twitter, Facebook Locations: China, Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Kursk, Kherson, Normandy, Berdyansk, Crimea

☆ How Ukraine's artillery is doing more damage than Russia's, even with fewer rounds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Hambling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

While Ukraine has fewer guns firing fewer shells, it appear to be doing more damage than Russia. But while Ukraine has fewer guns firing fewer shells, they appear to be doing more damage even though, with some notable exceptions, they are using the same weapons as their Russian opponents. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated in February that Russia was firing around four times as many shells as Ukraine. This suggests an improvement of a factor of 7-10, which is roughly what we see in the ratios of artillery shells: casualties above. A vast number of Ukrainian drone videos show this process in operation.

☆ The worst Pentagon leak in years may have started in a gamer chatroom, where people weirdly keep posting classified documents trying to win arguments on the internet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The leaked Pentagon documents may have started in an online chatroom for gamers. It's not the first time users have leaked classified or sensitive information to the internet to settle a debate. "Here, have some leaked documents," the user wrote in response to the discussion. In recent years, players of "War Thunder" — a combat video game — have shared highly sensitive information to various chatrooms on multiple occasions, including content about tanks, fighter jets, and missiles. In one case, a user posted information from the manual of an F-16 fighter jet, as well as content about the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.

☆ The US saw Russia moving to possibly test Putin's nuclear-powered 'doomsday' torpedo, but it looks like something went wrong: CNN
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia may be preparing a test of its nuclear-powered Poseidon torpedo, CNN reported Thursday. The Poseidon torpedo was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018. Russia's claims to use nuclear power to propel Poseidon potentially solve this in an unprecedented way — if it actually works. There are no yet signs that it does, however, and a US official told CNN it appears Russia is having trouble even trying to see if it does. Some are skeptical the Poseidon torpedo will ever work, believing it impossible to reliably fit a working nuclear reactor into something the size of a cruise missile.

☆ Ukraine's troops have been highly effective with the M777 howitzer, but US troops can turn it into a 'giant sniper rifle'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Alex Hollings | Sandboxx News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

US troops also have a new targeting system that makes the M777 even more precise. LCpl Samantha L. Jones/USMCIn 1979, the M198 155mm medium-towed howitzer entered service for the United States. While it would take two C-130s to deliver an M198 artillery system to the battlefield, the entire M777 setup could arrive in just one. That's more than all of the 155mm artillery rounds fired by the entire US military in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. US soldiers with the Joint Effects Targeting System Target Laser Designation System at Fort Greely in Alaska.

☆ США пожаловались на серьезную нагрузку на авиацию из-за российских Ту-95
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-05 | by ( Mld Media Srl | Степанов Георгий | ) noi.md time to read: +1 min

Подразделения Военно-воздушных сил (ВВС) США испытывают серьезную нагрузку из-за участившихся полетов российских Ту-95 у берегов Аляски. Так, по данным газеты, за пять лет число перехватов российских самолетов близ побережья Аляски выросло в шесть раз: с 10 в 2015 году до 60 в 2020-м. В настоящее время командование ВВС США уже рассматривает несколько вариантов того, как можно облегчить работу своих пилотов на Аляске. В апреле глава Северного командования США (NORTHCOM), генерал ВВС Глен Ван Херк рассказал о том, что российские военные самолеты часами кружат в воздушном пространстве близ границ американского штата Аляска. Он отмечал, что российские военные обычно используют сразу несколько видов самолетов в опознавательной зоне ПВО Аляски и совершают несколько заходов.

Persons: Дэвид Крамм, Глен Ван Херк Organizations: Popular Mechanics, Подразделения Военновоздушных сил (ВВС), Воздушнокосмические силы (ВКС), ВВС, Северное командование, ПВО Locations: США, Аляска, Россия, США ()

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