As I mentioned next week in my talk on reversible time... (07/31/90)
From: "As I mentioned next week in my talk on reversible time..." : Then there was the time we fed the exercise tape into the live system... : Ron Wanttaja : (ssc-vax!wanttaja) Do tell. I'm all ears! :-) :William December Starr <wdstarr@athena.mit.edu> : When they were supposed to ram us with the guns, they either : swam away or put their snouts on our shoulders, very : affectionately. They were the worst at taking orders. : -- Richard Trout, former mammal trainer for the U.S. Navy, : on attempts to train dolphins to perform underwater : guard duty with snout-mounted .45-caliber guns. I guess this goes to show you that the only mammals that give a darn about the art of war are humans. We used to have a "guard dog" that would lick intruders to death and show them where the china cabinet was. :-)
explorer@rpi.edu (James C Krok) (02/12/91)
From: James C Krok <explorer@rpi.edu>
Just a few comments on old threads:
(1): The C-130 was in fact the largest aircraft to ever take off from
a carrier. (source: a book on the C-130, title escapes me...)
There was no mention of load, JATO use, etc. I think it's safe to
assume that the cat's weren't used!
(2): The word "ballistic" in "ballistic missile" refers only to the warhead
itself. The launch vehicle, of course, has guidance. Its job is to
get the warhead to just the right altitude, speed, and direction, after
which the warhead is just released and allowed to impact. ICBM's
function the same way. (except maybe for MIRV's). There seemed to
be some confusion about this issue. Recall that any free falling object
is following a ballistic trajectory.
(3): On the subject of dodging IR-guided missiles (i.e. 'winder): The seeker
heads can be tuned to detect a certain wavelength (or range thereof) of
IR radiation. They are usually tuned to the wavelengths emitted by
exhaust gasses or hot metal parts, like exhaust nozzles. This makes it
more difficult to use flares or the sun to dodge these missiles.
(4): There has been a lot of comparison of fuel-air explosives to regular
explosives on an energy-to-weight basis (in the local papers, anyway).
Everyone on the net seems to be aware that the fuel in the FAE must be
mixed with oxygen before it can be detonated. This greatly reduces
its effectiveness on an energy/weight basis, and brings it down to the
level of any solid explosive. Recall that the atmosphere is approx. 80%
nitrogen, and this, too, is mixed with the fuel. 4/5 of the oxidizer is
therefore inert anyway. FAE's are still a good way to bring a lot of
explosive potential in a small package, though.
Someone asked if solids were better because the oxidizer was mixed
into the compound. Actually, the oxidizer is contained in the individual
molecules! Each molecule is a miniature bomb. When the explosive is
detonated, these molecules decompose, generating energy. This makes
solid explosives more powerful, in my opinion.
Thanks...
J. C. Krok Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NYlenochs%drcoa1.decnet@drcvax.af.mil (DRCOA1::LENOCHS) (02/20/91)
From: "DRCOA1::LENOCHS" <lenochs%drcoa1.decnet@drcvax.af.mil>
I thought I'd consolidate my responses to 2 postings from the 18 Feb 91
issue of sci.military.
Lee Eu-Ming sez:
>are to be believed, there is a wire attached to the airplane that runs
>through the propeller mechanism that prevents the thing from rotating.
>When the bomb is dropped from the airplane, the wire slips out,
>allowing the propeller to spin......I thought that most bombs
>(certainly the 500 lb unguided and perhaps the laser guided Paveway)
>were impact fused or carried enough juice to not need a propeller...
Pure gravity weapons, such as the MK-82 and MK-84 iron bombs, have *no*
juice at all. The propeller on the front of the fuse is designed to
arm the fuse during freefall (as well as *not* allowing the bomb to arm
on the runway or on the way to the target). In order to ensure
detonation, these bombs have a tail fuse with its own propeller.
I never worked on PAVEWAYs so I have no direct knowledge.
As an aside, when I was stationed in Germany, we had a couple of the
15K iron bombs. They are *very* impressive in size.
Daniel Mocsny sez:
>2. I am aware of air-to-air refueling as a way to increase combat
>range, but do the air services use it as a way to increase payload?
>I.e., do planes ever take off with a full bombload and partial
>fuel load, and then rendezvous with a tanker to top their tanks
>once aloft?
MAC airlifters routinely lift off with a full payload and partial fuel
load. This is done to extend payload in flight.
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|| There is no problem in the gamut of human experience which can't ||
|| be adequately solved by the appropriate application of ||
|| sufficient quantities of explosives. ||
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Loyd M. Enochs - Dynamics Research Corporation - Andover, MA
served 1975-1980 as a 461X0 (Munitions Maintenance Specialist), USAF