Demise of the MBT?

 A New Kind of Warfare!

The battlefield is a developing place in tactics and technology, ever since Cain killed his brother Able out of jealousy and ever since then most wars stem from bitterness and hatred of each other and at the cost of human life soldiers and civilians?

Enemies come and go, so do causes, but also criminal cartels, dictatorships and maniacs wanting to rule the world. The origins of the Main battle tank stem from World War I (1914-18) and was invented by the British with everyone following to this present day, but not all nations use this type of vehicle opting more for the personnel carrier or armored recon vehicles.

These first tanks were clumsy, but one has to start somewhere and by World War-11 very little had changed, since it was believed that the last war would be the one to end all? The Soviet Union developed a light machine known as the T-34 to outrun the Nazi-German heavy tanks, which were better in pack operations but not isolated in the open steppe!

It was after 1945 that what we understand in shape and design of these vehicles came to the fore, the U.S. Sherman and successive designs up to the present Abrahams, Israel Merkava, Russian t-90 and their electronic countermeasures or deflection equipment. 

But the last few wars in Iraq proved that the days of this type of armor were really coming to and end, missile guided and drones can be very effective now in most weather conditions and the role of helicopters and lighter vehicles equally.

Norways Determination?

To be all electric Soon!

One nation is now so determined to go all electric within the next few years, will be the worlds first! It has started with a Lithium powered light aircraft and believes that within less than ten years world aviation will be on the brink of this new revolution?

This is not actually any longer far fetched since most vehicles can be converted, small shipping is in the progress and soon Diesel is to be defunct, so all other fossil fuels may be cut back seriously?

One has to wonder will there be any side effects of electricity such as static and other problems, that some people say that they suffer from living near overhead power lines? Will nature be effected by the vibration and static from electricity in our machines, such as shipping and aviation?

BAE Jetstream 31 and 41.

Military to Civil Turbo-Prop.

One of the most successful British designs to hit the world markets. This aircraft as the 31 series was developed by Handley Page, before passing over to Scottish Aviation where it was operated by the British RAF and Royal Navy as T1 and T2.

These first thirty early examples where powered by the Astazou power plants, but later when Scottish Aviation became part of Aerospace, the series 31 was more modified as we know it today. The new power plant for this twin engined nineteen-seater is the Garret Turboprop, over 252 Jetstreams had been sold by 1989 aimed at the commuter and light business markets.

The Jetstream 41 is a Super version of the 31, powered by the TPE 331 engine and capable of carrying 29 passengers. Today Links Air of Humberside operate three British Aerospace  Jetstream 31s, G-GAVA, which is stored and G-JIBO, G-LNKS which are both operational. 

Meanwhile Eastern Airways also based in Humberside operates seventeen of the Jetstream 41.

Registrations G-MAJA-L, G-MAJT-U, W, Y-Z.

Easter Eggs.

The appliance of Science.

Eggs are a unique object in nature, as much as the snowflake! They are shaped to survive being knocked about, while the Snowflake to be able to interconnect with others to form snow.

Much research has been done from the transportation of eggs to using its structure in machines, basically in metal tolerance to impact at certain angles. Even our chocolate Easter eggs some times require a hammer to crack them and I expect their will be a few tears this season in relation to size and quantity, since they have been getting smaller over the years?

Perhaps its my hands that have been getting bigger?

Many light structures from racing cars to aviation have encompassed what has been learned from the humble egg in relation to stress on impact and safety being the priority. So remember this Easter the humble egg and what it has played in improving our world?

Cessna C-172/C-41.

Most prolific aircraft Everbuilt.

The Cessna aviation company in the United States is one of the most prolific and successful for design and durability. Here we are going to look at this little light aircrat, which can be used for various multi-roles from Liason to Utility. From Training to Light Attack, and the there are hosts of other applications for this four seater.

Concieved in the 1950's this aircraft remains in production and is licence built in France by Reims, it is cheap to buy and to operate and is used by nearly every airforce, police and border security across the globe. It has enormous success in the civil market from pleasure flying to photographic observation and many more business and government uses.

It can be lightly armed with a 7.62mm gun pod and two to four rocket pods, some aircraft have been converted to operate with floats, while others as air ambulances or flying doctors. Developed from the O-1 Bird Dog a World-War-II design which came to fruitition in the late 1940's it is one of several designs that continue to operate such as the 152, Stationair, Caravan-I/II and the 337/0-2.

Trams for Wales.

Cardiff Proposed.

The return of trams to the capital Cardiff is under consideration, wither it will happen or not who knows? But trams for Swansea and many other large towns with hills would be a viable transport need worth looking into.

Since it was Swansea where the concept of the first tram and tramway were born! Today the re-introduction of light rail across the United Kingdom and the British isles has been very profitable as has world wide. 

Simple to run and attractive to the eye, they fill the gap between buses and mainline trains or metro/tube systems.

Light Rail.

Metro to Docklands.

If you ever pop up or are on a visit to London, please make to effort to ride the DLR from Bank to Greenwich. It will be worth your while and an interesting experience.

Light rail is that sort of in between railway, it is neither a tram or a train, but it fills a needed gap in urban transportation requirements. The movement of people, especially in rush hours is a vital aset to ones transport system and is a alternative. 

The Dublin DART, Liverpool and Newcastle METRO perhaps are the best examples of this system along with the east-London DLR.

I hope to cover this subject in closer detail in the next few months.

Time Machines.

Travelling into the Future.

The Science-fiction writer H.G. Wells was the first to propose the idea of 'a time machine' and since then the idea has spread into many other sci-fi books and films. Wells machine went forward to see a bleak future for humanity, with machines taking over from man. 

Meanwhile in the Star Trek series time is played with to a point where it becomes ridiculous. Back to the Future, is more of a comedy and several other film concepts have off-shot from this one.

 In the Stargate SG-1 world we are dealing with dimensional universes and ancient technologies and again there has been various off-shoots, such as the short lived Atlantis. These are then part of the perhaps best known.

But is it possible in reality, the answer in current science is No. Time is continuous and we only can see the past events in our universe, because of the time it has taken light to travel to us.

Perhaps one day in say' 500 years from now, if we are still here and can go faster than light we might find a planet, where we could observe light coming from our own sun???

Jet Trainers.

From Training to Counter-Insurgency.

We will always need aircraft of differing types to train our pilots, from simple basics to advanced flight. One of the most versatile aircraft that is available to a host of nations for both training and light attack is the Jet trainer.

The British Royal Air force and Royal Navy have the long and well tested BAE Hawk-200 Jet, this aircraft has also been adopted by the United States of America and is known as theT-45A Goshawk. France and Germany developed their own Alpha Jet, which today is newly operated by the Nigerian Air force.

Spain and Italy have also designed the Casa C-101 Avio jet and the Aermacchi MB-339. Argentina FMA IA-63 Pampa, Taiwan the AIDC AT-3, the Czech Republic Aero L-39 Albatros

Many smaller nations cannot afford the millions that a fully fledged combat jet such as the F-16 costs, so they opt for light-attack and Counter-Insurgency. What seems a mid-level machine, still has the potential to do substantial damage combined with speed. These aircraft can be fitted with a host of rockets and missiles, some can carry a 20-30mm cannon and a variety of bombs and all sorts of combinations.

Having the ability to go from a two-seat trainer to a combat role saves time and money, but of course they have their disadvantages up against the dedicated fighter combat jets.

The Automobile, Car. Part-Two.

The Basics.

Up until recently, say the last five years the car was a basic machine made up of many components. But the one thing that all of them had, was they could be repaired or restored by anyone with a bit of mechanical engineering knowledge?

Today the car has changed greatly in that you now need a computer to diagnose a fault, particularly the locking systems and the starter. The car started life as wood and metal and then in the 1950-60's it was the chrome craze. From 1970 to the mid eighties design focused on economical driving, this was because of the Saudi and Gulf price wars.

Today cars are light and plasticated or fibre glassed. They are made for both speed, interesting design concepts and comforts. Many claims have been made in relation to safety, but if you notice car collisions they are usually mangled wrecks. This might be that people drive to fast, than they did say 50 years ago.

Don't worry next week we will going on to another subject.