US hypersonic missile test

Well, not really.  More like a test of the carriage of the missile.  It wasn’t armed and it didn’t launch, but you would not know that from the headline.

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Blue Steel

I’d considered buying an Airfix Victor B.1 to get the Blue Steel missile that comes with the kit.  It turns out that Air Graphics is going to produce a Blue Steel in resin.  Yea.

Oh, good

Looks like the Chinese are doing some missile testing.  Possibly a sub launched missile.  Possibly hypersonic?  The US defense establishment needs to make sure that it doesn’t relax in its own technological development.

Frikkin’ laser beams

Interesting story.  I am doubtful that they can get these on fighter-sized aircraft by 2021, but there is no doubt in my mind that this type of thing is coming.

Turkey

Does Turkey want out of NATO?  It seems that way from this type of behavior.  Frankly, though it has a strategic location useful to the US for Mideast operations, I am not sure they are worth the trouble.  Not sure the Russians are thinking this one through either, as adding another majority Islamic nation to their orbit might not be wise given their internal troubles in the south of Russia.

S-300

Looks like the US has at least one S-300 Russian SAM system in a US training range.  I don’t find this surprising.  My questions is, do they have an S-400?

Whizz bang

Looks like the US military has developed the small version of Jerry Pournelle’s “Rods from God“.  I’ve been watching this particular area with interest.  With private space companies bringing the cost per pound to launch items into orbit way down, I have thought for some time that within 7 years we’d have actual heavy inert rods in orbit.  Combined with precision guidance, this will make for an awesome non-nuclear capability.

Hypersonic vehicles

The US is on track to test two hypersonic vehicles this year according to this report.  If you haven’t been paying attention, one of the big fears being pushed is that the Chinese are “way ahead” in developing a hypersonic vehicle or warhead.  Frankly, I can’t tell how much of this is “missile gap” hype (get it? Hype.  Sometimes I amuse myself) and how much is real.  It certainly does appear that hypersonic vehicles and lasers are going to be two important areas of weapons development in the near future.

Latest F-35 news

Looks like they are getting even cheaper.

Also, they are getting more weapons carriage capability.

Things are coming up roses all over for the F-35.

Frikin’ laser beams

As the Professor says, “Faster please”.