Tehran Metro!

 One of the most Interesting?

There are many great sites to see, if one ever gets to visit Iran, ancient, historical, but the Metro system in the capital is a joy to see and travel on!

Most of the line dates from the end of the Shah in 1979 and was encouraged by the Soviet Union, but Iran has gone on to do their own work and improved the lines into the city with connection to mainline rail?

One does not think that the recent bombings by both the U.S. and Israel targeted any of the structure and that they system is providing air raid cover for civilians!

Most of the stock is modern, compared to other underground systems around the world and they are well maintained and safe, signaling has been improved over the years and comfort designed for large numbers of passengers?

Venezuela!

 U.S. Invasion coming Soon?

The training videos off the Puerto-Rico look impressive, but will they be able to land without loss. one thinks that there will be casualties and loss for what, more oil and a change of government under the guise of fighting drug crime!

Meanwhile the pardoning of the Honduran president makes the whole affair hypocritical, because peace will not be achieved in any of the Presidents ventures, just the bluster of his own aged dementia, like the guy before him!

It is at this time hard to know what new tech may be deployed and how good it will work or not, the marine landings look impressive when not under fire and we cannot be sure if other nations will not step in to help or China attack Japan, Taiwan and others with N-Korea, will Iran and the Houthis attack Israel and what will Russia do, may hit the U.K. and Europe?

Trump has already told his military to prepare for the third world-war and it looks like its coming sooner than we thought!

Piracy!

 Not limited to the far and Middle-East?

Over recent years many yachts have disappeared in the Caribbean sea and off the coast of C-and S-America and it is believed that they were hijacked for various reason, kidnapping, used to smuggle drugs or just theft with the crews being murdered and dumped overboard! 

With this comes the use of drones on both sides of the criminal world more and the respective authorities in the region, since they are more pliable and cheaper to use to see what is lurking about more so at Night and are also capable of targeting?

The United States claims it wants to end the drug trade coming into the southern states, but it may also be to start another war this time with Venezuela with F-35 Jets being deployed in Puerto-Rico

Red Sea Crises?

 Fuel at the petrol pump Rises?

Another Middle-East situation that has the potential to spread through the region, because the U.S. administration will not deal with Iran in the right way wither over the situation in Israel or proxy attacks on its own forces across the region!

Ships are being sunk, up to three have already been abandoned to the elements and one has gone down, but there remains no let up in the threats by the Houthis and despite bombing raids this weekend they will not give in?

Eventually the price at the pump will go up as shortages will come to the fore if Iran directly blocks the straits of Hormuz between Oman and Itself, causing a world crises that the International community will have to go to war with!

One hundred Starships?

 Elon Musk Claims!

The space race is now moving at a very fast pace, as the world could be on the brink of a Nuclear war and mass devastation?

China, India, the U.A.E. and the U.S. have all made it to mars with their various probes, rovers and a helicopter and much has been seen that NASA do not even want to explain, perhaps life of some type over that of minerals and diamonds and many other unknown reasons why the U.S. keep going back?

Musk believes that we are now ready to build over one hundred starships to visit every corner of our Solar System, if not to get out to the fringes of the the Ort cloud, but China is also planning probe mission to the same region?

Space station activity is on the rise as Russia pulls out in 2025 of the ISS for their own new super Mir and China has sent the first component of their new station up, apart for the plans to construct a joint Chinese -Russian Moon base?

Even the U.S. is now announcing new projects on the same lines of a new Lunar base and Space station ?

Laser Cutting Machines!

 New Technology that can only be achieved with Lasers?

Many new machines, aircraft and manufacturing machines are today being created by Lasers, that could not be made in the past and so we are advancing daily to make even better things!

The problem may be in the future, after a nuclear war or a flare from the sun to knock out our computing ability, that what we have will be lost?

Lasers need a lot of tech to create them and they are complicated in their own right, without the ability to use advanced computing we could be held back over one hundred years in progression?  

Much discussion is underway to find better ways to improve what we have from industry to home printing parts?

Laser cut and print is also opening the medical world to improve on replacement bones, joints and to assist in plastic surgery and skin grafting daily new breakthroughs are being made

The Musk Dispenser?

 Starship Window!

One recently heard and interesting interview given by the billionaire Elon Musk into why he is keen to develop his Spaceship that will allow humans access to planets, The Moon and other bodies in the Solar System and return to Earth to be reused!

He said that this time was our opportunity, in case in the nest hundred years we are knocked back by a natural disaster, nuclear war or a virus of some type. This might lead to us not being able to gain the ground that we now have?

But meanwhile with all this private venturing other contracts are underway for a new Space Shuttle, that can be updated using nano technologies and it may be in a year or two before is is un vailed to the world?

By then Musk will have an fully operational star ship system to get to the Moon and Mars, since he believes that NASA is too slow with everything it has been doing?

Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle

The ARV combined Vehicle?

It is strange how in modern warfare the Main battle tanks are being replaced by a newer battlefield multirole vehicle that combines the armoured car, and armoured personnel carrier with a smaller fire power than the tank and on at least six wheels.

The U.S. LAV and the Swiss MOWAG with the Finnish SISU are the bases of a new range of ARV, they being more an APC with addons?  Experience worldwide has seen the demise of the armoured car and the APC apart from para-military security operations and some UN work.

The ARV will not fully replace the MBT as yet, but robotic and drone vehicles of various types under development and secret trials probably will?

What this new generation of armour provides is the transportation of specialised troops, light artillery and rocket power combined with speed and maneuverability and much computerised and military satellite software for more accurate aiming of moving as well as static targets! 

The Peoples Republic of China, N-Korea and Russia have also developed their own versions along side their traditional fleets and newer versions of their mobile missile sytems?

BBC 4 and Plane Spotting?

Three nights of Boredom!

One has to say thanks to my dad, who at age seven introduced me to aircraft spotting and identification, because after watching John Snow last week I would not bother taking up the hobby today!

Wither you film of photograph or just watch with binoculars and note with pencil and pad it is a great hobby to learn many things that might be one day invaluable, if we were in a war situation?

Apart from that its a worth while hobby and there is plenty to see, if you just take your time and look up? 

One was disappointed with the lack of types and no mention of the Dreamliner along with some of the new types, perhaps time was not on their side?

Getting good aircraft guides and registration books with tail colours and a good camera with easy access to You Tube, if not similar platforms is today's forte. 

There are many others aspects to this hobby and that of radio communications between the tower and the cockpit, something that can be developed as the hobby progresses since many transceivers are expensive and difficult to operate

But just sitting and looking up with binoculars is as pleasurable since not everyone is photographic?

Auxiliary Ships! Two.

Re-fitting and Updating.

The problem today with all types of weapon systems is the need to update and to refit what can be?

One was amazed at the size of these vessels, pictures in books do not do justice to seeing the real thing! What is being done today, will probably be out of date by the time these vessels return to operational duty, but waiting in the worlds politics is not a wise move?

Replenishment vessels at sea will be around for some time, but space will also need ships to do the same role as humanity moves on from the confines of this world!

The role of recovery of damaged equipment is essential outside of conflict, as much as it is in conflict, while their are others roles in humanitarian work and hospital facilitating! This means that warships and submarines, carriers can remain in the conflict zone while the auxiliary fleet returns home!

Arms Sales!

Big Business?

There has always been money in weapons from the ancient world right up to the present and the future? Many world conflicts were won through by a third party supplying the appropriate weapons system, from daggers to siege engines to ships and cavalry of one type or another?

One must not think that humans in the past were limited to the types of weapons that could be constructed, because wood was the main source of building material many strange devices were invented to get over walls and to fire pitch or rocks at fortified cities! While many ships were well capable of landing an army with horses, but some where also fitted with catapults, copies of their various land equivalents.

Today we have technology based in the invention of electricity, which powers machines to create machines of the various types land, air, sea and now Space. They say that investing in the arms industry always gives a good return, because there is always a demand for more guns, tanks, fighter aircraft and ships, if not missiles of the various types?

There are also many conflicts around the world some that the media is fixated on, while many more we ever hardly ever or never hear about?

Hollande Types.

United States and Great Britain.

The age of the submarine is a long one going back to the ancient Greeks, but we will look at its early years from the late 19th Century to the early twentyeth. France, Germany and Italy developed their own versions almost totally separately from the first Holland prototypes.

But it is these eleven or so types that has gone on to influence all modern design, up until recently when the British Royal Navy is going with an advanced copy of an early French designed hull.

All submarines in some ways have their shape based on or around the Holland original, because this fish like structure works well under the water for speed and manoeuvrability. 

But the French design which was taken on by Soviet Russia and now several other navies has more to do with the ability to dive deeper, hiding being the new game in submarine warfare.

Ten Day Civil Alerts.

Germany and France Issued Today.

What is one talking about?

During the years of the Cold war between NATO and the Eastern-Block Soviet pact nation regular alerts were sounded in both East and West-Germany. This morning one was issued in the unified Germany for the first time since the fall of the Berlin wall?

Within two hours supermarkets were cleared out of food. Civil alerts were issued in the event of a nuclear strike, but it has been announced in Germany that from tomorrow the alert will be in effect for a serious emergency situation over the next 10 days?

There is much one can do in a nuclear war situation, but just continue life and hope for the best. This may be more in connection with reports of heavy weapons fire reported in the Eastern-Ukraine and the possibility of the shutting down of both the gas and Oil pipe-lines from Russia?

FMA IA 58 Pucara

An Argentine Winner.

Argentina had until recently a well established, but limited aviation industry. It has over the years built many successful types and made various adaptions of others from light aircraft to combat jets and civil airliners. In fact in the 1950's it developed probably the best aviation jet fighter of the day and if they had developed it to today, they would of won the Falklands war.

The Pucara is one of those interesting oddities in the aviation world, developed in 1969 for counter-insurgency operations (COIN). This twin-engined Astazou turboprop aircraft looks like a Beech King Air, in its layout. But it can operate from very short rough airfields and is was known for its amazing manoeuvrability, it was used extensively during the Falklands war in 1982.

The FMA IA 58 is armed with one 20mm cannon and four other machine guns, was capable of carrying 1,500Kg bombs of three pylons. Maximum speed is 500Km/h (300Mph) and a range of 3,042 Km (1,925 miles). Size. Span 14.5m, Length 14.5m. 

One aircraft was captured by the British RAF and remains in the U.K. as a victory capture. I have filmed this aircraft seen flying over Swansea, S-Wales. U.K.

Tugboats. Part-Two.

A different kind of Life.

It takes a certain kind of person to work on the tugboat, 'Hours and hours of boredom, interrupted by moments of sheer terror.' It is not a job for the faint hearted, crews are expected to go out in all weathers and work on the outside of the boat with the chains even in very rough seas.

The tugboat is designed with a glass tower for the crew to see all around them at all times. In 1900 two classes of tugboats were introduced and improved paddle and a steamer and these were no real changes until 1950. In the war years 1939-45 there were some adaptions made to handle larger warships and older boats started to be withdrawn.

In 1950 boats went from steam to the diesel and so ended the 'days of the 'Puffing Billy.' With post war shipping and the introduction of the Super Tankers new designs had to made to handle these huge sea vessels. It has been a slow history for the tugboat, because there were no big changes in the shipping world until the late 1950s.

Under Water. Part-One.

The Submarine.

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of World War-I (1914-18), when the advancement on the Irish inventor Holland was deployed by the British Royal navy against their Imperial German equivalents. Britain, America. Japan and Italy where some of the first to have this new 'warship of the deep.'

Compared to all that has been learnt with two World Wars and the 'Cold War,' they were really basic and very much death traps, but at the time very secret and state of the art. 

These early submarines was very effective in taking out merchant shipping and if not detected naval ones also. It was believed for some time that Imperial Germany may have sunk the RMS Titanic, meaning that they were operational from 1910.

These first subs really operated just below the water line or sea surface and were not the real divers of the 'Cold war and present day.

Blue Sky M.

Abandoned Ships.

This has now been under way for some time with various boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy or to the Island of Lampadusa. These migrants were generally from Libya, Somalia, Eritrea and various other north-African countries, were life is not really worth living.

Now it seems that the phenomena has moved to the Adriatic Sea and these are mostly Iraqis and Syrians. This form of purchasing cheap vessels is nothing new, enough money can be made from the extortion of desperate people to buy more and more ships, fishing boats and other rickety vessels for the one way trips.

The sad fact about the whole world of the shipping industry as we are starting to see, is that it can sometimes be very hard to find who actually owns a vessel. The flags of registration do not really tell us much about the origin of the vessel and who makes up the syndicates that share the profits. Meanwhile many of the crews of these ships are paid pittance or never paid at that.

Invisible Bombers. Part-One.

From the B1 to the F35.

Being invisible is a fantastic advantage over enemy radar and it would seem that the U.S has lead the way in the development of black ops and ghost radar or dark aircraft. Despite having sinister names for the types and the projects, many by know may be out of date.

The B1 strategic long-range supersonic bomber is the first line defence for the U.S, backed up by the B2. The F117 was a state of the art fighter up to the Yugoslavian war of collapse, but this has now been replaced by advanced fighters such as the F35.

Perhaps in the forthcoming war with Russia we will see how these types really operate against the TU-160 Blackjack and Sukhoi Su-50, Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-35.

Rockets. Part-One.

Rockets and Missiles.

Here in the British Isles 'Halloween and Guy Fawkes nights are almost upon us and it is a traditional time for the buying and firing of Fireworks. Millions of pounds will be spent for that moment of joy and fun. The origins of the rocket as a firework goes back thousands of years to ancient China, were they were used for entertainment, but we now know that they were also used as a weapon.

Modern rocketry is associated today with Space launches and military missiles, rockets have become an engine driving a payload up and over.

There is much more to the rocket and the concept of the projectile, which today combines the weapons of the past. Such as the Spear, Javelin and Arrow. Next year (2014), I will cover this in more detail, with the relationship to Artillery and the weapons such as the Bazooka and Rocket Propelled Grenade.