DHS Grants RC 'Copter to Police Armed with Tazer, Shotgun, Grenades

MK-I

Basic UAS unit with CCD TV optics, standard semi-autonomous flight avionics package and turbine or piston power plant.

MK-II

Upgraded UAS with day CCD TV camera as well as FLIR optics package, fully autonomous avionics package and turbine or piston power-plant.

MK-III

UAS with day CCD, FLIR and thermal cameras, fully autonomous avionics and weaponized with either 40mm, 37mm grenade launcher or 12 gauge shotgun with laser designator (military/LE use only.)

MK-IV

Unavailable to non-military users.

Payload Characteristics

Optics:
Sony FCB EX-980 CCDTV, 20X Zoom FLIR Photon 320, Tau UTAM-32 Thermal Camera
Avionics:
Semi/Full autonomous system radio link, Auto Take-off/Land, Pilot Assist Module, 30 hz Laser Altimeter, DGPS system with 2cm accuracy option.
Weapons:
U.S. Military and Law Enforcement consumers have less-lethal/lethal options including single or mulitple shot 37 mm/40mm grenade launcher, 12g shotgun

Airframe Characteristics

Dry Weight: 35lbs (16 kg)
Overall Length: 96 in (243.9 cm)
Height: 29.8 in (75.7 cm)
Width: 17 in (43.2 cm)
Rotor Span: 76.5 in (194.3 cm)
Usable Load: 22 lbs (10 kg)
Cruising Speed: 35 mph (56.3 kph)
Max Speed: 70 mph (112.6 kph)
Max Range: 35 miles (56 km)
Fuel Endurance: Turbine 45 min/Piston 3.5 hrs.



Article:

Tased From Above! New Robot Copter To Begin Patrolling Our Skies

Supplemental:

Tech in development for UAV's...

FGM-148 Javelin

Javelin is a fire-and-forget missile with lock-on before launch and automatic self-guidance. The system takes a top-attack flight profile against armored vehicles (attacking the top armor which is generally thinner) but can also take a direct-attack mode for use against buildings or fortifications. This missile also has the ability to engage helicopters in the direct attack mode.[3] It can reach a peak altitude of 150 m (500 ft) in top-attack mode and 60 m in direct-fire mode and is equipped with an imaging infrared seeker. The tandem warhead is fitted with two shaped charges: a precursor warhead to detonate any explosive reactive armor and a primary warhead to penetrate base armor. The Javelin was used in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq,[3] with devastating effects on Iraqi Lion of Babylon tanks and Type 69 tanks.


The missile is ejected from the launcher so that it reaches a safe distance from the operator before the main rocket motors ignite; a "soft launch arrangement".[4] This makes it harder to identify the launcher; however, back-blast from the launch tube still poses a hazard to nearby personnel. Thanks to this "fire and forget" system, the firing team may move on as soon as the missile has been launched.[2]

The missile system is carried most often by a two man team consisting of a gunner and an ammo bearer, although it can be fired with just one person if necessary. While the gunner aims and fires the missile, the ammo bearer, scans for prospective targets, watches for threats such as enemy vehicles and troops, and ensures personnel and obstacles are clear of the missile's back blast.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGM-148_Javelin

Expose on USAF Christian-themed manual leads to cancellation of Nuc Missile Officer ethics course

Air Force Pulls Christian-Themed Ethics Training for Nuclear Missile Officers After Publication of Truthout Report

by: Jason Leopold, Truthout | Report

The Air Force, in response to an exclusive report published by Truthout earlier this week, has withdrawn materials used in a training session that relied upon passages from the New and Old Testament and a quote from an ex-Nazi SS officer to teach missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare training "has been taken out of the curriculum and is being reviewed," said David Smith, chief of public affairs of Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. "The commander reviewed it and decided we needed to have a good hard look at it and make sure it reflected views of modern society."

Smith said the ethics training has been in place for "20-plus years" and the decision to remove it was made on Wednesday after Truthout's report was published. He added that it will now be "given thorough scrutiny" and "folks will be appointed to look at what we have and determine its utility and if they think its useful to continue having an ethics course they will develop a new course."

The course was led by Air Force chaplains and took place during a missile officer's first week in training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Officers who train to be missileers were required to attend the ethics course, which included a PowerPoint presentation on St. Augustine's "Christian Just War Theory" as well as numerous examples of characters from the New and Old Testament the training materials asserted engaged in warfighting in a "righteous way."

St. Augustine's "Qualifications for Just War," according to the way the Air Force characterized it in slides used in the ethics training, are: "to avenge or to avert evil; to protect the innocent and restore moral social order (just cause)" and "to restore moral order; not expand power, not for pride or revenge (just intent)."

One of the PowerPoint slides also contained a passage from the Book of Revelation that claims Jesus Christ, as the "mighty warrior," believed some wars to be just.

At the conclusion of the ethics training session, missile officers were asked to sign a legal document stating they will not hesitate to launch the nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) "if lawfully ordered to do so by the President of the United States or his lawful successor."

The documents' blatant use of religious imagery and its numerous references to the New and Old Testament would appear to constitute a violation of the First Amendment establishing a wall of separation between church and state.

The 43-page PowerPoint was included with more than 500 pages of other documents pertaining to a missile officer's first week in training that was released by the Air Force under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and provided to Truthout by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a civil rights organization.

Another PowerPoint slide quoted Wernher Von Braun, a former member of the Nazi Party and SS officer who is regarded as the father of the US space program. Von Braun was not cited in the PowerPoint as a scientific expert, rather, he was specifically being referenced as a moral authority, which is remarkable considering that the Nazi scientist used Jews imprisoned in concentration camps, captured French anti-Nazi partisans, civilians, and others to help build the V-2, a weapon responsible for the death of thousands of British civilians.

MRFF President Mikey Weinstein said more than 30 missile officers contacted his organization over the past week to complain about the Christian imagery and biblical passages in the ethics training. He said the decision by the Air Force to pull the ethics course material is a "great victory for the constitution." [Full disclosure: Weinstein is a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.]

"We are not going to commend the Air Force for doing something they should have done a quarter-century ago," Weinstein said. "It's an outrage and a deliberate attempt to torture and distort our constitution when the US Air Force mandatorily teaches its nuclear missile launch officers that fundamentalist Christian theology is inextricably intertwined with the 'correct' decision to launch nukes."

http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-pulls-christian-themed-ethics-training-missile-officers/1311972789

Air Force Cites New Testament, Ex-Nazi, to Train Officers on Ethics of Launching Nuclear Weapons

Future Weapons/Tech

Caught these two articles from Cracked magazine about some badass weapons/tech of the future, actually in development today. Put your tinfoil hats on people...


5 Projects You Won't Believe the US Government Is Working On

6 New Weapons That Are Making War Look Like a Cartoon

Heavy Ordinance Detonation in Iraq

In the first video you will see the detonation of what is equivalent to 30 tons of TNT quickly followed by a 429-ton detonation, from a range of several miles away.

For some perspective there, the larger blast is less than half of the explosive force of a one-kiloton nuclear detonation. A one-kiloton device is believed to be the world's smallest nuclear bomb today, the so-called "suitcase nuke" in the armory of Russian commandos. For more perspective, consider that the bombs dropped on Japan at the end of WWII were 15 and 21-kiloton blasts, or about 30 and 42 times the size of the blast you will see here in the second detonation. For even greater perspective, the world's largest nuclear bomb, also a Russian device, created a blast more than 100,000 times as large as the one you are about to see.

After you have seen these vids, be sure to check out the "Nuke Your City" page, and see how different nuclear bombs might affect your hometown.





In the following videos you will see the Camp Falcon ammo dump detonate ordinance uncontrollably after an attack by insurgents. Some people believed that a tactical nuclear device had been detonated, but it was clearly conventional ordinance for a number of reasons, including the fact that the blasts we see are less than a kiloton.

First, a long-range shot broadcast by al_Jazeera, followed up by some inline links of footage filmed by US personnel...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR0EZyaHrBw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF0tAOkrxY4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIO3xk5-tXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-QLTp1DruI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisEJXL3YbM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ZvWJXoWXM

Atomic Artillery Cannon (in HD)

Reds rise again: Military menace of China?

Hope ya like eggrolls!

In this first video we will see confirmation of China's next-generation fighter, the Chengdu J-20. Though information is limited, it is believed to be superior to our F-22 Raptor in many ways. Though the raptor has the edge in maneuverability, in today's aerial battlefield that really only comes down to the very last line of defense for a pilot. The J-20 appears to have the edge in speed, range, and payload. The payload advantage means not only that it can hold more munitions, but also more sophisticated weapons, and even superior electronics options that will increase the survivability of the platform. Range would also be a distinct advantage in an engagement such as over the Strait of Taiwan, as our refueling tankers are not stealth. Feast your eyes now upon the "Black Dragon..."



Yeah, but that's just one weapon system right? Now granted, air power is the key to any modern military campaign, but it still comes down to boots on the ground right? Especially if China ever planned to beat the US in an outright brawl. Well, let's see how China rolls...



Hmmm, not too cool China. I'm not liking General Tso's chicken so much now. As if that weren't enough to ruffle your western Eagle feathers. Try this on for size. China doesn't even have to send men to win a war with the United States. Their women alone could kick our asses.

Population of the United States: 307,006,550, Chinese Women's army: 350,991,416



Maybe they will sing for us, and serve us watermelon...

...One flesh one bone

One true religion

One voice one hope

One real decision

Gimme one light, yeah

Gimme one hope, hey

Just gimme, ah

One man one man

One bar one night

One day hey hey

Just gimme gimme gimme gimme

Fried chicken

-Queen

GUN PORN:'Saiga 12' as never seen before

The Saiga-12 is a Kalashnikov-pattern 12 gauge combat shotgun available in a wide range of configurations. Like the Kalashnikov rifle variants, it is a rotating bolt, gas-operated gun that feeds from a box magazine. All Saiga-12 configurations are recognizable as Kalashnikov-pattern guns by the large lever-safety on the right side of the receiver, the optic mounting rail on the left side of the receiver and the large top-mounted dust cover held in place by the rear of the recoil spring assembly.

The looser clearances offered in an AK style design result in high reliability—an enormous boon on a semi-automatic shotgun, as this class of weapon had previously tended towards unreliability.

...

Legal status

In Russia this shotgun can be relatively simply obtained, requiring only a "smoothbore-gun license" (which is relatively easy to obtain, compared to a "rifle license" that requires a five-year period of owning a smoothbore gun and/or a hunting permit).[2]

In the US state of California, as configured from the factory, it can be classified as an "assault weapon", as it is a semiautomatic shotgun with the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has a pistol grip installed. However, if a magazine lock that only allows the magazine to be removed by use of a tool is installed, it is no longer classified as such, as its previously detachable magazine is then rendered a fixed magazine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiga-12

Additional links:

http://www.izhmash.ru/eng/product/saiga12.shtml

http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/rus/saiga-12-e.html

http://www.raacfirearms.com/Saiga_12.htm

The biggest bomb ever - Tsar Bomba

Car Wars: Roadmaps to Libya's Ground Conflict

This article is a bit of a solicitation for much more Western intervention on the ground, but it does give some good insight into history and military tactics.

Car wars: Roadmaps to Libya's ground conflict

Almost exactly one hundred years ago on November 1, 1911, air war was invented in the Italian invasion of Libya when army pilot Lt Giulio Gavotti dropped four grenades on Ottoman positions in the oasis of 'Ain Zara just outside Tripoli.

In the century since, the air campaign has become the spectacular centrepiece of western warfare, but the failure of NATO's intervention to tip the balance against Gaddafi is a reminder that it's hard to win a war from 10,000 feet.

The horrifying siege of Misurata, whose only relief comes from the sea, not the air, and the back and forth movement on the road that links Benghazi to Sirte by way of Ajdabia, Brega and Ras Lanuf suggest that this war will be played out on the ground.

In the last weeks the alliance between NATO and the Libyan rebels has begun to fray. NATO airstrikes decimated a convoy of rebel tanks and a bus full of fighters between Brega and Ajdabiya on April 7, and NATO refused to apologise. The rebels have found that close air support without sufficient ground resources is not the magic bullet that many supporters of intervention imagined.

With only few paramilitary intelligence officers on the ground in Libya, tactical attacks on Gaddafi's mobile forces are severely limited and isolated in their scope.

Full story at link:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/04/2011421122738383699.html

Top secret X-37B space craft makes launch

The launch was made today, successfully. Here is a background story...

Little is known about the US Air Force’s X-37B which ended its first mission three months ago. However, the craft is set to fly again on an unknown mission for unknown reasons.

Pending weather, the X-37B orbiter will launch March 4 on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. The Air Force has waited no time at all following the first successful launch. Successful being relative, since no one outside the program knows what the mission entailed.

More at link:

http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-x37b-space-craft-air-force/

The M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle

The changing nature of the war in Afghanistan led to the re-issue of the 7.62x51 mm NATO M14 rifle.

Not long after U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies came to realize that America’s 5.56x45 mm NATO infantry rifles lost most of their lethality beyond 500 meters. Demonstrating their adaptability, the insurgents exploited Afghanistan’s sprawling valleys and distant mountainsides to seek engagements beyond the M16’s and M4’s effective ranges.

This is borne out by U.S. Army data, which reveals that more than half of the war’s small arms engagements are now beyond 500 meters, with the enemy employing heavier weapons and then withdrawing before air support or artillery fire can arrive.

More info at link:

http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/m14-enhanced-battle-rifle/

Missile defense multiple kill vehicle hover test

US Missile Defense Agency video of the 2 December 2008 free-flight hover test of Lockheed Martin's Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV-L). The MKV is designed to allow a single interceptor to destroy a ballistic missile equipped with multiple warheads or countermeasures. In Lockheed's design, a seeker-equipped carrier vehicle maneuvers into the path of the ballistic missile then dispenses and guides small kill vehicles to their targets. In its first test, the MKV-L hovered for 20 seconds in a special facility at Edwards AFB, California, while recognizing and tracking a simulated target.

Now imagine this fuckin thing coming after you...