More so bad so good military patches compiled by Wired like this one:
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Military
What's up with those hats that the Israeli soldiers are wearing? Are they super-chefs designed to both cook and kill just like Steven Seagal the former Navy SEAL now cook on a Navy battleship...under siege...in Under Siege? Did you also know that Under Siege was nominated for two Oscars?
Anyway, back to the chef hats of the Israeli Army. Slate's Explainer answers:
They're for camouflage. The hat—called a mitznefet in Hebrew—attaches to a regular combat helmet and obscures its rigid, round shape. As the mitznefet flops about, it takes on an irregular form that's harder to recognize in a shadow or out of the corner of your eye. The hat also protects against the sun and the moon, which might reflect off the surface of the helmet.
Now you know.
[Via]
Direct arms sales to Israel by US manufacturers in 2007.
- Firearms, Close Assault Weapons and Combat Shotguns $6,052,997
- Guns and armament $1,896,864
- Ammunition/ordnance $76,676,737
- Launch Vehicles, Guided Missiles, Ballistic Missiles, $81,530,388
- Rockets, Torpedoes, Bombs and Mines, Explosives and Energetic Materials, Propellants, Incendiary Agents and Their Constituents $15,804,875
- Vessels of War and Special Naval Equipment $33,582,587
- Tanks and Military Vehicles $39,289,393
- Aircraft and Associated Equipment $244,901,028
- Military Training Equipment and Training $2,319,174
- Protective Personnel Equipment and Shelters $6,636,510
- Military Electronics $136,327,215
- Fire Control, Range Finder, Optical and Guidance and Control Equipment $38,438,167
- Auxiliary Military Equipment $66,596,820
- Toxicological Agents, Including Chemical Agents, Biological Agents and Associated Equipment $9,616,317
- Spacecraft Systems and Associated Equipment $39,410,948
- Classified Articles, Technical Data and Defense Services Not Otherwise Enumerated $500
- Directed Energy Weapons $3000
- Miscellaneous Articles $2,890,660
- TOTAL ARTICLES $801,974,180
- Defence Services $1,835,523,029
- OVERALL TOTAL $2,637,497,209
This figure does not reflect any military aid provided by the US government. The only winners in the Middle East it seems are the arms dealer and states with an exporting military industrial complex.
Who knew Lithuanian soldiers are kind of badasses?
Americans say that the Lithuanians are sort of a weaponized version of Borat, who think nothing of sauntering around a base in nothing but flip-flops and underwear. “They look like mountain men. They never shave, sometimes don’t bathe, and often roll out the gate wearing nothing but body armor and weapons. Not even a t-shirt,” an American soldier told me. The Lithuanians may be a little bit nuts, but the Americans love to have them around because Lithuanians love to fight, and when you need backup, you can count on them.
[Via]
The Atlantis shuttle flight on November 15, 1990 also carried a couple super classified payload--including "a stealthy satellite inspection spacecraft, often referred to as “Prowler”, designed to sneak up on other satellites undetected, photographing and measuring them"--that was symbolized by the darkened mirror image of the shuttle in the official mission patch. NASA's party line was that the "bottom orbiter, a black and white mirror image, acknowledges the thousands of unheralded individuals who work behind the scenes." But there was actually another SECRET patch.
But NASA has never disclosed that there was also a secret patch designed for this mission: an emblem that had a darker border (Figure 2). Most notably, the shuttles were inverted, with the black orbiter—the classified mission—on top, and the white orbiter on the bottom. It was an inside joke by the all-military crew about the true nature of their mission.
No Golden Eye?
[Via]
The latest in the ever escalating battle of wits between the insurgent's ingenuity against the US military appears to be the increasing usage of "sticky" bombs. No, not those grenades from Halo.
The so-called "sticky" improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, can be quickly tucked under a car bumper, and held in place by magnets. Which means any vehicle in Iraq can now be turned into a car bomb, or an assassination tool. The driver often has no idea of the deadly modifications to his vehicle. Which makes stopping the bombs that much tougher.
Read more here.
The think tank Brookings Institute examines the past and current endeavors of DARPA and the US military via programs such as the now defunct "Land Warrior," "Future Force Warrior," and "Z-Man Project" among many others aimed at bringing to reality much of the technology underlying the fictional super hero Iron Man from his "superhuman strength, virtual invulnerability, the ability to fly...[to his] array of weapons." For instance:
Much like Iron Man’s powered armor, future soldiers’ protections will also be computerized. The plan is for new body armor that, instead of Kevlar, is filled with nano-materials that are connected to a computer. It would normally be as flexible as regular uniform made of fabric. But, like how a crash-bag works inside a car, it would activate whenever the system detects a bullet strike and turn as hard as steel in an instant.[...]
"When you have a uniform with this new nanotechnology, it can absorb unlimited numbers of machine-gun rounds," tells the Army’s soldier systems representative “Dutch” DeGay. The pliability could even be controlled. Gloves could turn into real-life brass knuckles, to give them a punch like Mike Tyson. Or, if the soldier gets hurt (such as from tripping on a rock while reading an email with their eyepiece), the uniform could go rigid to create a tourniquet or cast. The fabric could even be woven in with "nanomuscle fibers" that simulate real muscles, giving soldiers more an estimated “25 to 35 percent better lifting capability."
I found it interesting however that in the military's research into various exoskeleton and augmented armor, in addition to bio and chemical based enhancements (eg. anti-sleep pills), soldiers' had one priority pragmatic concern: "There was one feature that the soldiers wanted the suit to have most of all: a quick way to get out of it."
Read rest here.
I can't believe this story hasn't gotten more press or maybe it has and I've just been out of the loop? The awkwardly shaped yet menacing F-117 has been retired by the US military. Understanding the military's ability to adapt and upgrade their weapons platforms, I was a little puzzled that these successful stealth bombers, costing $45 million each, were being shut down. Although slightly tinfoil-ish in tone, this analysis provides an interesting context and theory to F-117's retirement. For one, it apparently wasn't that stealthy at all: On March 27, 1999 during our involvement in conflict in Yugoslavia, one of the F-117s was shot down. (An event that is celebrated on that day each year by the battalion responsible for the successful take down.) Was it just blind luck?
1960s tube amplifier enthusiasts will be thrilled to learn that the Yugoslavian air force attributes the shootdown of the F117A to P-12 type vacuum tube-technology Russian radars so old the U.S. considered them obsolete.
According to their account, the F117A Stealth fighter was detectable by antique radar operating at wavelengths of 2 meters—a detail that had supposedly escaped the Stealth designers, who operated on the assumption that the plane would only have to be invisible to modern centimeter and millimeter wavelength radars.
Read rest here.