Keir Starmer and our toy armed Forces!

 Pocket remote boats and drones for the Forces?

When working alongside what we already have this may be of great help, but what is not clear what are the Army and Air-force getting in this limited budget, that defeats the purpose of NATO and any further cooperation with the United States!

During the 1930's after the Great war, Britain chose to go light and we were caught out by Adolf Hitler in the second world war, but things had to be adapted quickly, the Spitfire was a success, but the Churchill MBT only really arrived in later 1944-45?

Without the United States and clever intelligence work and many brave men and woman, we would have been crushed and this will happen again more so with Iran, China and various proxies, maybe not tomorrow, but it will come!

New fuel for Shipping!

 Cheaper than the Electric engines for the New Year?

It is amazing that this has now been discovered and that battery powered tramps working on a loop keep steady power, something that could be adapted in the U.K. for the London Underground Circle line and also the clockwork orange in Glasgow in Scotland!

If investment could open the Hirwaun loop in south-Wales it would be an eye opener for travel and business, with many other applications in Cardiff and elsewhere?

Military drones are becoming more effective in the Ukraine and its security situation with Russia, but this is not same in the Middle-East, so one has to wonder is it really true or just British/European propaganda!

Despite all the advances, it looks like the U.S. will start mining coal again and the fossil fuel issues is not going away with the piracy of the high seas, driving prices up for all?

Happy New Year and a peaceful Eastern-Christmas!

More A.I. for the Police!

 Robotic K-9's and Robotic assisted car drivers?

Tech is now moving very fast across the globe in relation to security, military and the police and within the next twenty-five years we will see the introduction of the robot K9 and the police robot driver, as well as a host of tech in the vehicles that is connected to drones and other flying devices!

This is to be a revolution in its own right, as the helicopter may become obsolete over the next 75 years for a drone and robotic model? 

With the expansion into Mars and other mining colonies across our solar system the helicopter may be an essential craft, for transporting people and machinery, if not rescue and the possibilities are to be endless with A.I!

Gliders!

 They were at their hey day during World War-II (1939-45).

During the D-Day landings these enginless birds, if they made it safely down were a God send to the operations to crush the Nazis in Northern France, carrying in weapons, men and essential equipment?

Both the American Jeep and the British Bren carrier with light artillery were the importance of the day, allowing troops to move fast ahead of the main divisions and their heavier armor

But many did fail and many lives were lost, but after all is said they did have their respective successes, as in comparison today the glider is more of a sporting craft, towed up and glides back down again allowing many people to experience real flight!

It is unlikely that the transport gliders will ever be used again, technology has moved to helicopters and now to drones and their aircraft equivalents?

Liaison Aircraft.

 Developed in 1945.

The four seat aircraft came too late at the end of world war-II, since the helicopter would replace it as was then thought, but this was proved untrue, when in the 1950's many nations developed their own and Cessna came to the fore with a series of types that met the role required.

Today the survivor of the class lays in the Cessna 172 and its variants around the world that fulfills many roles both military and civil and despite it being replaced by drones pr the larger Cessna Caravan-II it remains very popular?

Many poorer or small nations have maintained the type for civilian usage, police and training before moving on to more complicated aircraft.

No more Sci-Fi!

 Drone Warfare?

We are living in the age of drone warfare and ways to counter them, since they come in all sizes from a small aircraft to something that can be hand held and from firing a bullet to a large stand-off missile, rocket pods or bombs, right down to a grenade!

Israel is facing an onslaught from Yemen, Lebanon and now Iraq, while NATO is encouraging the Ukraine to use the basic ones on the Russians and the Iranian supplied ones on the Ukraine?

But as with all military type weapons, it will only be time before criminals and terrorists deploy them against the police and civilian targets in the U.K., U.S.A. and others, the scorpion always has a sting in its tail, and one cannot have a snake as a friend?

7/10/23.

 A new kind of warfare inspired by the U.S.Backed Ukraine.

How the scorpion always has a sting in its tail and this was proved on the morning of October 7th, when three thousand Hamas fighters and their affiliates poured in across the Gaza border fence into southern-Israel, deploying a armed flight wing of two man motorized para-gliders with their militants dressed in Israeli army uniforms.

Drones were also deployed and later backed up with mortar, short and long range rocket firing in to C-Israel, all of what happened on this Saturday morning was an almost U.S. copy book of what the Ukrainians were taught to do to the Russian in the eastern Ukraine?

900 Israeli civilians and 300 IDF soldiers were killed, it is unknown how many foreign workers died or were among the 300+ kidnapped!

Terrorism has moved on now to a new level of Para-gliding, speedboats and drones, apart from home-made rockets and the simple use of light weapons and more of this is to come, unless there are more restrictions on the use of these technologies!

Meanwhile the Arab Media is playing the same baby-children propaganda as in the Ukraine too to win the heart strings of the naive?

Tecnam P2012T Traveller.

 Electric powered testing Halted.

This new Italian and U.S. based innovation P-Volt technical aircraft based on the successful P2012T, traveller has been halted after the power capability of the two new electro engines has run in to issues of loss of power or cut off in mid-flight with not being enabled to control the aircraft.

Last year many believed we were on the beginning of a electric revolution. but now we know that much of what was thought possible is not going to work, as well as land and sea and so conventional power will be staying for some time yet.

Helicopters may see that possibility and many concepts are coming to the fore, but the reality is that the drone is to replace the need for some helicopters since they are more versatile in how they can be deployed.

N.A.T.O. Testing new Hypersonic!

 Aurora is now Operational?

While we are all locked up due to the PANDEMIC, the military is testing their own version of the hypersonic engine at full power, possibly all those strange booms around London?

By the way the BAE Hawk training Jets cannot break the sound barrier and those aircraft that can leave the sound of rumbling thunder!

Russia and China are ten years ahead of us in the production and development of this new type of fighter jet, that can take two hours to cross thousands of miles from any point on the planet.

Britain and Sweden are working on more than vaccines at the moment, but have found a successor to their existing platforms with a multi-role jet, manned, un-manned and drone variants are all to be developed and deployed by 2040 

A happier New Year 2021.

 What did you get in your Sock?

Christmas has proved through for model making and the traditional boys toys, but it has also included drones and cameras as gifts with new state of the art features that sometimes us oldies cannot keep up with?

Lockdown isolation does not have to be depressing with model railways, war gaming and interactive platforms. Looking out the window offers many different opportunities to observe nature, the skyline, vehicles and transport or something totally different?

We have to know that you cannot use a drone at a certain height and distance from any airport or field and one is not sure what the regulations say in relation to railway lines or yards or ports, marinas at that!

We are all hoping for a happier New Year, but with the warning from WHO, it may be getting worse?

Father Christmas not effected by COVID-19!

 What will Christmas Bring in our Socks?

For many children it may mean little or nothing, since poverty in western society is on the rise and one can measure this by the price of rents in the private sector and so called unsocial housing?

But there is a plethora of toys out there and many of us will get something despite the continuing Pandemic?

New announcements in technology will also come to the fore at this time of the year with more emphasis on both electric and gas powered machines, but also the rise of the drone and more effective uses for them from Internet shopping providers to even the postal services?

Drones may initially work well in isolated places, saving delivery and driver times and some may even be deployed from vehicles rather than distribution centers? 

One main problem with drone flights is that they could collide with light aircraft or obstacles such as power lines, transmitters and other communication towers!

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.

Warships? Part-Two.

Aircraft Carriers, Helicopter cruisers and Other.

The world of war shipping is very extensive in the last one hundred years we have moved from big guns to missiles defence systems and the role to mine the seas and have torpedo tubes have all been incorporated into several designs large and small!

The aircraft carrier one would like to think came with the arrival of the aeroplane, but new data has revealed that ships fitted with hot air balloons though limited were prevalent in the 19th Century.

Today there has been a need to save money and to multitask war ships with helicopters, jump jets and now drones both aircraft and rotor and as we move on this is much cheaper and safer in the long term with the microchip and satellite communications?

The U.S. perhaps leads the world in nuclear powered vessels followed by Russia, the U.K., France, China, Japan, Australia, India, Thailand, Italy, Spain and Brazil?

EASTER is still On!

More Air Freighters?

Most of the aircraft now flying across Europe and the Atlantic are air freighters, carrying essential equipment to combat COVID-19 which is a new plague for the 21st Century! Compared to one hundred and one years ago air travel is now far more complicated than those flimsy light bi-planes that could only carry two people and a bag of mail?

The jet engine in commercial airlines from the 1950's revolutionised air travel world-wide and with various military conversions, such as the Boeing 707 made dedicated air freight big business until the arrival of the of the 747 Jumbo in 1967-71!

Today a whole host of older aircraft fly postal and for Amazon supplies, some airlines as mentioned last time are civilian contractors for the U.S. military or Israel/N.A.T.O! Russia has its own dedicated fleets too built up from the now defunct TU-154M that had a chequered history and the newer Ilyushin Il-76 and its many newer developments!

Meanwhile many smaller propeller air craft are deployed daily, both civil and military to carry medications, sick people and other essential supplies. Helicopters are now an essential in rescue, air ambulance and police work, some may be replaced by drones and despite much promises we are not quite yet there with the big stuff?

Easter blessings to one and all!

Helicopters 75 Years! Part-Two.

U.S. Catching up to the Russian Kamov KA-52 Alligator?

It is only now that the U.S. is finding a place for the Russian Alligator helicopter concept, which is the fastest in the world!

The idea of the helicopter gunship has been around from the 1960's and there early deployment in the Vietnam war, machines such as the Cobra are well established, while Europe developed the Tiger and the U.S. upgraded to the Sikorsky AH-64 Apache. 

Many other countries have just put rocket pods and machine guns on helicopters with a crew of two and use them in a similar role, but these are not dedicated machines for ground support combat and anti-tank or MBT-Killers?

Meanwhile the Soviets lead the way initially in the development of the Mil Mi-24/35 combination special forces and gunship, nothing like it has yet been attempted and sales of it continue to flourish world-wide.

But the Kamov design team cam up with the first jet powered helicopter in the late 1990's and the west did everything to knock it down boasting that the faulty British Lynx was far superior, now demised while down on the south pole the Kamov KA-32/34 transport helicopters are an essential tool to cope with the coldest weather conditions on the planet.

Various new concepts are coming to the fore in the U.S. and many drone versions too, since this is now being seen as another invaluable tool in warfare and many civil adaptions in the years to come?

Helicopters 75 Years! Part-One.

Come a long Way!

The day of the helicopter is not yet over, despite many new drones are cheaper than keeping an helicopter in the sky? The helicopter derived from gyro-dynamics in aircraft to act like an early form of the Boeing-Vertol Osprey BV-22, which still occupies U.S. military research into the development and deployment of much newer and stable platform, which is changing the battlefield from science-fiction to reality!

Today nearly anyone can go up in a helicopter from pleasure flying to search and rescue? The small machines are in the Robinson family, while Bell and Sikorsky have held both the military and commercial market, go to any horse racing event and there are more helicopters between the tracks now parked up since riders cover more than one meeting a day?

The largest machines are still dominated by the Russians and Ukrainians with the Mil Mi-26 capable of carrying three tracked vehicles and one hundred and twenty-five combat troops! This helicopter was a development of the Mi-6 well known is Russia as the Cow because it was slow and vulnerable to ground rocket fire?

Mid range giants are the Chinook, Boeing-Vertol CH-47, which has been around since the Vietnam wars of the 1960s and the Sikorsky CH-53 Super stallion, S-92 SAR after that is the successful Westland-Leonardo EH-101 and the various derivatives of the Puma SA-330 to the H332 Super Puma that dominates the North Sea oil and gas supply rigs and wind turbines.

Europe has also taken the lead of the world market with the H-135/145 helicopter in Air Ambulance and police, electric line work along with several other smaller types?

More Drones?

For Now!

It would seem that there are limitless roles for all the new high flying drones and glider types that are available on the market, over that of conventional propeller types?

These new aircraft are unmanned, agile, light and can stay up now for days rather than hours and with the various sensors and optics provide 24/7 coverage!

This does not mean that we are done with conventional commercial aviation, since people still need to get from A to Z and so does cargo! Despite the much protest world-wide one does not think that aviation will slacken off since we are now comfortable with it?

Mid-sized and small airlines may be the short future, but the long haul will continue, despite the demise of the giant Airbus A380, the ageing Boeing 747 Jumbo and the problematic 737-MAX?

Many new types are coming to the fore from Japan, China and Russia, along with Brazil, while others are being maintained to extend their operational lives!

Modern Military Armour?

Since 2001 Decline of Information!

The worlds armour of today has become more technical than it ever was before, many new developments for the U.S./British Abrams/Challenger MBT (Main battle Tank) is now standard in all new armour and the world of the robotic drone is coming to the fore on the battlefield as much as in air power?

Automated drones will save the lives of soldiers in difficult places, but to what extent these vehicles are being deployed is not known! 

Most wars being fought today against militants in the Middle-East and C-Asia are light pick-ups known as ''Technicals'' and these are so light that aerial drones can pick them off the field!

Armour protection with Kevlar and many new materials are being deployed, but upgraded vehicles are nearly always based on existing system's !

African Technology. Two.

Licence building and improvisation?

These already exist and they will continue, but their are many lesser known homegrown models of adapted vehicles? While Nigeria, RSA and Kenya have developed their own drones for field reconnaissance work and helicopters play a key role in anti-terrorism, pouching and other criminal activities!

Money remains an issue and many continue to try to do their best with what they have, keeping it flying for as long as possible or buying second hand! China is todays largest supplier of trucks, trains and other equipment and it has so many mining interest that this looks like it will continue for some time yet?

Technology is now all over the continent of Africa, through computing, solar panels and mobile telephones! So it will not be hard to improve avionics on all types of aircraft and helicopters with night-vision and other? Many nations have also developed their own missiles and rockets, but from all this has come some good ideas to improve living standards, transport, road and rail!

African Technology. One.

Arms, civilian and Space!

Republic of South-Africa is the leading military industry complex on the continent of Africa and has a well established arms industry in aviation and vehicles as well as small arms! Atlas was responsible for the conversion and adaption of many aircraft and helicopters to meet local conditions and requirements in the long wars in Namibia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and Botswana.

French Mirage jets to an Israeli co-opt development programme, Aloutte-II/III conversions for bush operations. Many trucks and jeeps along with former British armour went under prolonged development to meet the local requirement from ANC resistance to full out war.

Today BAE Systems has an extensive military component in the RSA with a huge range of vehicles on offer.

Kenya and Nigeria meantime have extensive experience in rocketry and the launching of western satellites, which has encouraged them to develop their own ideas about going into space. 

Meanwhile both have also over the years developed their own drones for battlefield operation, perhaps more so Nigeria than any other.

Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia also have their own successful similar industries and with the advent of more and more computer technology a bright future to move away from small fire arms and artillery?