The B2 will carry a pair of these, right. I wonder how it would do against something built like the NORAD complex under Cheyenne Mountain? Would it even make a dent?:confused:

Looking out my den window now at Cheyenne Mountain. I guess it really depends where it hits, but you have a good 2000 feet of rock (granite: lots of hard quartz and feldspar) above most of the complex. Hitting lower on the sides at an angle, and you’re sacrificing kinetic energy for penetration. I’d assume this thing comes down more or less vertically.

The shaped charges cut the casing and ignite the propellant along the whole booster, so it all burns off pretty tamely. I think if they put it on the stand and just lit them off, you’d have a really small risk of the booster ending up in the next county. That risk assesment probably took 15 years.

AIM-9X wasn’t even a paper design in GW1 :rolleyes:

Yes I’m awarew of that. The Warthog probably was armed with AIM-9L or something similar.

I guess what I was inferring, and what wasn’t picked up on, is that some of the issues with low flying/slow moving targets weren’t resolves with the X evolution of the AIM-9 family.

If reports are accurate, the Python 5 has already been certified on the F-16.. it shot down a Hizbollah UAV a couple of months ago.. my guess is the USAF wants to get to evaluate the weapon to better know how to beat it

http://www.f-16.net/news_article1983.html

Almost exactly what I was thinking. I’m certain that the UAV kills got the USAF’s attention. Perhaps the evaluation is not on how to beat it, but perhaps to see if it is more effective against UAV type targets than AIM-9 series weapons.

Heck, it could even be an attempt to integrate it on USAF UAVs, robots hunting robots!

There’s something fishy about this picture here:

It’s in cruise with the main gear door open. There is obvious photoshop marks in front and behind the left wing, and above and to the rear of the cockpit (look at the mountain gullies… perfectly repeated)

Did they photoshop out the landing gear and stores.. What is the original photograph lke before alteration. Something isn’t right.

Most systems actually tend to use HE to engage targets. The intention is to set off the incoming missiles warhead rather than punch holes in it. The Soviets, whom arguably have the most experience with highly supersonic Anti Ship missiles use a mix of 30mm in HE-Frag and light guided missiles. Muzzle velocities are not huge… in fact range between 860 and 960m/s, compared to the Phalanx at something like 1,200m/s.

Phalanx system actually uses a 20mm sabot round, where the projectile is substantially smaller than the calibre of the cannon. This is needed as many current anti-ship missiles have an armored bulkhead in the forward part of the missile. Though doubtful that the sabot projectile can punch through it at long ranges, penetration is likely at medium and shorter ranges (high projectile velocity plus missile closing velocity).

Oooh, finally something I might be able to give useful advice on!

I use air abrasion units at work all the time. They’re essential for cleaning dinosaur bones. A bit older than this part, but the same concept. A few notes:

DO NOT USE aluminum oxide on Al parts. It will chew right on through any soft material. For basic/general use, Bicarb is fine (we use Armex electronics formula, 35 pound bucket). Dolomite is the next step up in hardness, though I doubt you’d ever need anything besides bicarb. Don’t ever use glass beads on Al either.

As for the blaster, we use a Comco brand blaster with a pressure control (bicarb behaves differently at 30psi vs 140psi) and a powder control. Crystal Mark also makes a unit. You can set them to be as gentle or as aggresive as you want. On large saurpopd bones (5 foot long femora) we have even used the blasters that normally strip paint from bridges and buildings (with bicarb as the blast medium). Saves a lot of work, but only on a VERY solid surface. In our case, everything important was secured with cyannoacrylate adhesives and polyvinyl acetate.

A quick example:

Working on a plesiosaur recently. The bones are encrusted in selenite, a gypsum crystal. This won’t be too far off from your situation, as basically we’re dealing with a matrix that is softer than the substrate, so no significant problems.
Befire air abrasion:

And after the process. We cover them in Vinac (polyvinyl acetate beads dissolved in acetone) but you can use whatever is best for metal.

There is no way a B-61 nuclear bunker buster weapon use in Iran would go well with the internatioal community.

I completely agree with you on that one.