Bring The HEAT

ICBM Intercept test on Tuesday

For the first time, the US will test an intercept on an ICBM type target, as opposed to  shorter ranged, slower targets. The Ground Based Midcourse Defense system has been deployed for several years now, but has never been fully tested. We’ll see how it goes.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Preparing for North Korea's growing threat, the Pentagon will try to shoot down an intercontinental-range missile for the first time in a test next week. The goal is to more closely simulate a North Korean ICBM aimed at the U.S. homeland, officials said Friday

The American interceptor has a spotty track record, succeeding in nine of 17 attempts against missiles of less-than-intercontinental range since 1999. The most recent test, in June 2014, was a success, but that followed three straight failures. The system has evolved from the multibillion-dollar effort triggered by President Ronald Reagan's 1983 push for a "Star Wars" solution to ballistic missile threats during the Cold War - when the Soviet Union was the only major worry.

We Ride in JLTV, the Humvee's Successor

Keep your hands loose on the wheel. I remind myself of this as we fly across a section of foot-deep ruts at 20 mph. You want to let the independent suspension do the work and give the steering wheel freedom to move. In almost any other vehicle, I'd have lost steering control, plowed the front end, and possibly rolled over.

As one of the first civilians allowed behind the wheel of the military's new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle from Oshkosh Defense, I'm a little nervous. I'm driving a 14,000-pound armored truck that costs $399,000, and I'm doing it in front of the engineers who designed it.

via www.popularmechanics.com

The Humvee is going to be around for a long time, but for many urban missions, the JLTV will be a welcome upgrade.

World of Warships- At long last, Grump's Kamikaze Kraken video.

It's taken me two months to get around to producing and narrating this one. I mean, this game was patch 0.6.3, and we're currently on patch 0.6.5.

Thunderbolt!

Bob Hoover rolls a Sabreliner- At Age 93!

This is actually from three years ago. Bob retired from flying around the turn of the century, but went up in the copilot’s seat one last time to show folks how it’s done.

Sabreliner-60 with R.A. "Bob" Hoover over Edwards dry lake bed, shot with GoPro's from Cory Lovell on Vimeo.

Coulson Group buys Southwest jets to make first-ever Boeing 737 firefighting tankers - Puget Sound Business Journal

A Northwest aerospace company has bought six Boeing Co. 737 passenger jets from Southwest Airlines to convert them into aerial firefighting tankers.

It appears to be the first time that Boeing's single-aisle workhorse will be enlisted to fight wildfires from above, dumping 4,000 gallons of fire retardant chemicals at low speed and low altitude.

via www.bizjournals.com

Southwest is getting rid of it's 737-300 fleet, so Coulson probably got them for a steal.

And Now, Manchester.

At least one bomb at a crowded concert in Manchester, UK, has taken the lives of more innocents.  Nineteen confirmed dead so far, with more than fifty injured.   Officials are commenting that injuries are consistent with a nail-encased device, a technique designed to cause maximum damage to flesh and eyes.   

We don't know the perpetrator(s) of this latest massacre, but can guess the persuasion and motivation of the terrorist(s).   

Thoughts and prayers with the victims and their loved ones, again.  Yet again.  And if it is determined the attackers are/were muhammedan, then damnation on the souls of those who would put someone else's loved ones in jeopardy in order to not be considered "Islamophobic".  Telling us all, again, the same desperate lie about vetting and assimilation.   URR here.

The Fighting Lady

I had a chance to spend some time with LT Rusty recently, and among other topics was the proper education of his progeny. In addition to films such as In Harm’s Way, one that came up was The Fighting Lady. And lo and behold, look what popped up in my YouTube feed?

World of Warships- Hits and Cits

What was supposed to be a two week road trip turned into a five week journey, and a right costly one at that.  Hopefully things will settle down for a few weeks.

Here’s a collection of some of my best salvos from the past couple months.

Free Beacon: "Net Neutrality" Supporters All About Silencing Free Speech

Gee, what a surprise.  The far left wants to ban ideas they disagree with.  (URR here.)

Protesters covering their faces held signs that read "Ban Drudge," with a no symbol over the Drudge Report, the highly trafficked news website run by Matt Drudge. Other protesters held signs to ban other news websites, including Breitbart and InfoWars.

Can't say you weren't warned.  It was all about the power to REGULATE, which is an enumerated power of the Legislative Branch, and not the frigging FCC.  Ever wonder why "net neutrality" is championed by the most fascist of "liberals"? Including whiny little shits from the Far East?