Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
Groda
Mar 17, 2005

Hair Elf

wkarma posted:

Here's some cold war history I'd never heard before.

It’s part of a secret, nuclear-powered U.S. Army base that was built under the Greenland ice cap only 800 miles from the North Pole. The base was officially built to conduct scientific research but the real reason was apparently to test out the feasibility of burying nuclear missiles below the ice under an effort known as Project Iceworm.




http://defensetech.org/2012/04/06/inside-the-armys-secret-cold-war-ice-base/



That core grid is hilarious (and only 55 cm deep), but you can apparently do a lot when your fuel's enriched to 93 %.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

priznat
Jul 7, 2009

Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.
Han and Chewie better go deal with that imperialsoviet probe droid!

FrozenVent
May 1, 2009

The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.
I heard second hand stories about product tankers delivering Jet fuel and diesel to American bases in Greenland. Apparently they'd dug out tanks by shooting steam into the glacier or something.

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Psion posted:

Normally yes but mortar vs artillery isn't a 1:1 for shell weight. I actually cannot find a weight in a quick google for the HE version of the 105 shell used in the AC-130 (I assume most fired are HE, no idea for sure) but the M934 mortar rounds are ~30lbs each. I can't see 105 artillery rounds being THAT much lighter.

From what I understand, mortar rounds are generally a LOT more HE (or whatever else your fun-time filler is) by weight than a similar sized artillery round. Basically the forces involved in launching a mortar are much less than with an artillery shell, so they can get away with having much thinner outer bodies.

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost
I can see using a 120mm mortar from a weight perspective, but I what do I know (not much).

The 105mm ammunition used on Specters/Spookys isn't standard HE, IIRC. I think they use some high fragmentation round or VT round against infantry/enclosures, maybe standard HE against vehicles.

I could see using a 120mm mortar, if only because a 120mm can gently caress up light vehicles, light armor, and a 105mm isn't doing poo poo to a heavy armor type target like an MBT.

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS

mlmp08 posted:

I could see using a 120mm mortar, if only because a 120mm can gently caress up light vehicles, light armor, and a 105mm isn't doing poo poo to a heavy armor type target like an MBT.

As I understand it they don't even carry sabot or any other antitank round but if they did, a round right through the TC hatch would probably work.

Beardless
Aug 12, 2011

I am Centurion Titus Polonius. And the only trouble I've had is that nobody seem to realize that I'm their superior officer.

mlmp08 posted:

I could see using a 120mm mortar, if only because a 120mm can gently caress up light vehicles, light armor, and a 105mm isn't doing poo poo to a heavy armor type target like an MBT.

Similar to what Psion said, given that they're firing from above I could see a 105 having some effect. I don't know if it;s the same now, but WW2 tanks had much much thinner armor on the top.

Phanatic
Mar 13, 2007

Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

mlmp08 posted:


I could see using a 120mm mortar, if only because a 120mm can gently caress up light vehicles, light armor, and a 105mm isn't doing poo poo to a heavy armor type target like an MBT.

I can't imagine that the top armor on an MBT is going to take a 105mm round and be happy about it. The Abrams started out with a 105mm gun, and the M60 has killed plenty of MBTs using a 105. I know it's a different round with a considerably lower muzzle velocity, but I'd be very surprised if T-72s and the like can take a 105mm round to the top of the turret and live.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin
How do you figure the firing profile of the AC-130 is "down"? That makes no sense.

Phanatic
Mar 13, 2007

Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Throatwarbler posted:

How do you figure the firing profile of the AC-130 is "down"? That makes no sense.

It's obviously not vertical, but it's coming from a higher angle than any hull-down tank could fire at. An A-10 couldn't kill an MBT by shooting 30mm at the front armor, either.

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost

Phanatic posted:

I can't imagine that the top armor on an MBT is going to take a 105mm round and be happy about it. The Abrams started out with a 105mm gun, and the M60 has killed plenty of MBTs using a 105. I know it's a different round with a considerably lower muzzle velocity, but I'd be very surprised if T-72s and the like can take a 105mm round to the top of the turret and live.

Yeah, but the Abrams started with a 105mm Sabot round specifically designed for anti-tank. The 105mm rounds fired from an M102 are totally different, being either HE or VT frag rounds. Also, Spectres/Spookys are accurate, but they're no PGM, so you can go ahead and throw out the idea of a dead center hatch shot outside of just random lucky shots.

Chillbro Baggins
Oct 8, 2004
Bad Angus! Bad!

Psion posted:

As I understand it they don't even carry sabot or any other antitank round but if they did, a round right through the TC hatch would probably work.
Yeah, I've read an account by a Spectre gunner in which he described dropping a clip of 40mm on a tank to give everybody inside a headache, and then a 105 through the hatch to finish 'em off. This was in Vietnam, so a generation or three back in tank terms.

It would probably penetrate -- the top of a tank isn't very thick, because you'd have to lose some armor on the front to put more on top, and aircraft will ruin a tank's day no matter how much armor it has.

Edit: only 40mm of steel on the roof of a T-62. I can't find any penetration numbers on the M102 howitzer.

Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Apr 7, 2012

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost

Beardless posted:

Similar to what Psion said, given that they're firing from above I could see a 105 having some effect. I don't know if it;s the same now, but WW2 tanks had much much thinner armor on the top.

Maybe in a "golden BB" scenario it could pay off, but if you can safely put an AC130 in the sky above tanks, you can put half a dozen purpose built tank-killers in the air to murder armor. That's not what the AC130 or M102 Howitzer are about.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin

Phanatic posted:

It's obviously not vertical, but it's coming from a higher angle than any hull-down tank could fire at. An A-10 couldn't kill an MBT by shooting 30mm at the front armor, either.

I mean Psion's earlier post about replacing the 105mm with a mortar. He was implying that the superior range of the 105mm vs a mortar wasn't needed because the AC-130 only ever fired "down".

2ndclasscitizen
Jan 2, 2009

by Y Kant Ozma Post
An AC-130 getting an air-to-air kill would be the most :black101: thing ever.

Beardless
Aug 12, 2011

I am Centurion Titus Polonius. And the only trouble I've had is that nobody seem to realize that I'm their superior officer.

2ndclasscitizen posted:

An AC-130 getting an air-to-air kill would be the most :black101: thing ever.

At least one C-47 got one, I think when a crewman opened up on a Japanese plane with a BAR.

Chillbro Baggins
Oct 8, 2004
Bad Angus! Bad!

2ndclasscitizen posted:

An AC-130 getting an air-to-air kill would be the most :black101: thing ever.

Well, it's got the same Vulcan fighters have, and the Bofors has done a lot of AA work. Finding an enemy pilot stupid enough to pass a Spooky on the left would be the main problem, I think. Though if they thought it was a regular Herc, were coming in to get a visual and just happened to be intercepting from the left ...

I am a bit surprised they haven't got a "air-to-air" kill by putting a 105 in something just as its wheels left the ground (like that one Mudhen that shot down a Hind with a 2000-pound bomb).

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost

Delivery McGee posted:

Well, it's got the same Vulcan fighters have, and the Bofors has done a lot of AA work. Finding an enemy pilot stupid enough to pass a Spooky on the left would be the main problem, I think. Though if they thought it was a regular Herc, were coming in to get a visual and just happened to be intercepting from the left ...

I am a bit surprised they haven't got a "air-to-air" kill by putting a 105 in something just as its wheels left the ground (like that one Mudhen that shot down a Hind with a 2000-pound bomb).

Welp


Airspace coordination is a bitch.

iyaayas01
Feb 19, 2010

Perry'd

mlmp08 posted:

Welp


Airspace coordination is a bitch.

AC-130 or artillery?

e: artillery. :stare:

Space Gopher
Jul 31, 2006

BLITHERING IDIOT AND HARDCORE DURIAN APOLOGIST. LET ME TELL YOU WHY THIS SHIT DON'T STINK EVEN THOUGH WE ALL KNOW IT DOES BECAUSE I'M SUPER CULTURED.

Throatwarbler posted:

I mean Psion's earlier post about replacing the 105mm with a mortar. He was implying that the superior range of the 105mm vs a mortar wasn't needed because the AC-130 only ever fired "down".

That's more or less true, though. If you're firing at something roughly on the same level as you, you need a lot of energy to get and keep the projectile in the air. If you're starting out at a substantially higher altitude, you don't need nearly as much energy.

Delivery McGee posted:

Well, it's got the same Vulcan fighters have, and the Bofors has done a lot of AA work. Finding an enemy pilot stupid enough to pass a Spooky on the left would be the main problem, I think. Though if they thought it was a regular Herc, were coming in to get a visual and just happened to be intercepting from the left ...

I am a bit surprised they haven't got a "air-to-air" kill by putting a 105 in something just as its wheels left the ground (like that one Mudhen that shot down a Hind with a 2000-pound bomb).

It might have the same gun as a fighter, but it doesn't have the same lead-computing hardware, and it certainly doesn't have the same maneuverability. You're talking about a one-in-a-million chance on top of a one-in-a-million chance.

As for the lack of air-to-air kills, for all the guns, the AC-130 is an easy target. It's designed for beating up on guerrillas who can't do much to shoot back; total air superiority is kind of a prerequisite. Anything on the ground that looks like it might be able to fly or otherwise present a threat will probably be taken out by other means.

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost
Yeah, facing anything other than old generations of MANPADS means the AC130 is not flying.

iyaayas01
Feb 19, 2010

Perry'd

mlmp08 posted:

Yeah, facing anything other than old generations of MANPADS means the AC130 is not flying.

Hell, even with those it's only gonna be flying at night.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin

Space Gopher posted:

That's more or less true, though. If you're firing at something roughly on the same level as you, you need a lot of energy to get and keep the projectile in the air. If you're starting out at a substantially higher altitude, you don't need nearly as much energy.


What is more or less true? That they only ever fired down? Armies haven't replaced all their field guns with mortars, why would it be any different for a plane?

I see on wiki that the 105mm has an effective range of 11 km on the ground, it must be substantially higher for the one in the plane, which means the plane could pound targets from beyond the range of most AA and cover a much wider area than if it only had mortars. Doesn't it already have lighter guns to hit closer targets?

Throatwarbler fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Apr 7, 2012

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost

iyaayas01 posted:

Hell, even with those it's only gonna be flying at night.

Holy poo poo, an SA-7 kill. Of course, now we have far better auto-flare dump systems and proper flare usage with SA-7s results in pretty hilarious SA-7 misses.

But yeah, even if all they have is dumb-fire rocket launchers, loitering above the enemy during the day is not wise in an AC130.

Chillbro Baggins
Oct 8, 2004
Bad Angus! Bad!

Space Gopher posted:

As for the lack of air-to-air kills, for all the guns, the AC-130 is an easy target. It's designed for beating up on guerrillas who can't do much to shoot back; total air superiority is kind of a prerequisite. Anything on the ground that looks like it might be able to fly or otherwise present a threat will probably be taken out by other means.

Yeah, pretty much the only scenario I can imagine a Spooky shooting down a plane is in the Q-ship role -- like there's a two-ship of Hercs, and one is a Spooky and is on the right; they get intercepted/escorted from the left, and the trash hauler dives out of the way to reveal all the guns. But A-6 Intruders have done the intercept/escort on Bears, so anything's possible. Actually that's a possible scenario, too -- the Spooky being the only thing available to nudge a Bear away, and then war were declared.

Edit: In practice the AC-130 is more a super-accurate tactical bomber/Old-Testament CAS, and is preceded by a bunch of wild weasels and supported by F-15s if the enemy is doing more than throwing rocks at it.

Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Apr 7, 2012

Invalido
Dec 28, 2005

BICHAELING

Cyrano4747 posted:

From what I understand, mortar rounds are generally a LOT more HE (or whatever else your fun-time filler is) by weight than a similar sized artillery round. Basically the forces involved in launching a mortar are much less than with an artillery shell, so they can get away with having much thinner outer bodies.

FWIW I was once conscripted to crew a Leopard 2 tank :sweden:. In a war we were supposed to shoot tungsten APFSDS as well as a HE round that IIRC was just a regular 120mm mortar stuck in the appropriate cartridge (- we trained with cheaper steel rod APFSDS and non-exploding "HE" practice ammo almost exclusively). I am (perhaps falsely) assuming these rounds were moving at least almost "artillery fast" just judging by the amount of propellant involved. I can't recall muzzle velocity for the HE, but they sure arched very high compared to the flat-shooting sabot rounds, which IIRC left the gun at about 1800 m/s.

The gun being smooth bore couldn't have that much to do with less launch stress experienced by a mortar, right?

Styles Bitchley
Nov 13, 2004

FOR THE WIN FOR THE WIN FOR THE WIN
Per the 2005 solicitation regarding the 120mm mortar being added to the AC-130:

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), on behalf of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) posted:

The 120mm mortar concept would offer benefits to the AC-130 fleet through:

-Employment flexibility through use of munitions currently available;
-Greater lethality through more fragmentation weight and greater blast damage;
-Precision strike capability;
-Increased standoff range and attack altitude while maintaining responsiveness;
-Reduction in collateral damage;
-Reduction in danger close distance when supporting troops in contact.


It seems that being able to field guided munitions is the biggest benefit, as one would imagine. Knowing procurement of such things a new demand(especially with SOC funds) may help push the development for such a round along as well. I've wondered why they haven't already put Hellfires or Griffins on the gunship, with a mortar firing guided rounds you wouldn't need that capability. Additionally, there appear to be significant weight savings and recoil advantages:

Global Security posted:

For the existing 105mm gun, 100 rounds of ammunition weighed 4,200 pounds. The recoil load was about 10,900 pounds, with a gun recoiling weight of 1,465 pounds. The muzzle pressure was 3,560 pounds per square inch. It was a legacy system being phased out of the US Army inventory. There was little guided technology ongoing at the time the sources sought notice was issued. For the 120mm mortar, 100 rounds weighed 3,200 pounds. This weapon had a recoil Load of approximately 5,600 pounds with a gun weight of 1,315 pounds. The muzzle pressure was 1,620 pounds per square inch. This was the leading FCS fire support weapon and the Stryker Brigade Combat Team fire support weapon. There was a lot of guided munition development work ongoing for the system at the time of the sources sought notice was issued.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

Throatwarbler posted:

What is more or less true? That they only ever fired down? Armies haven't replaced all their field guns with mortars, why would it be any different for a plane?

I see on wiki that the 105mm has an effective range of 11 km on the ground, it must be substantially higher for the one in the plane, which means the plane could pound targets from beyond the range of most AA and cover a much wider area than if it only had mortars. Doesn't it already have lighter guns to hit closer targets?

This isn't typical practice for the gunships though - tight banked orbits are the norm, and anyway the accuracy of the 105 isn't that outstanding, especially when being fired from an aerial platform.

Something like the AMOS has a maximum effective range of 6-10km so I don't see the lower weight and the higher amount of explosives delivered being worth a marginal degradation in range.

Also, many armies are looking to replace a lot of their field guns with mortars, since the primary knock on mortars is no direct fire capability (antitank missiles and man-portable rockets take care of this) and accuracy (LASER GUIDANCE and spin stabilized shells take care of this), and in return you get extremely rapid rates of fire and improved mobility.

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS

Throatwarbler posted:

What is more or less true? That they only ever fired down? Armies haven't replaced all their field guns with mortars, why would it be any different for a plane?

I see on wiki that the 105mm has an effective range of 11 km on the ground, it must be substantially higher for the one in the plane, which means the plane could pound targets from beyond the range of most AA and cover a much wider area than if it only had mortars. Doesn't it already have lighter guns to hit closer targets?

I think what you're missing here is that the 105's range on the ground involves a significant ballistic arc. Spookys, so far as I know, fire in direct LOS. Basically straight shots from the plane down to the ground. In order for your range comparison to work, they'd have to bank the plane 45 degrees up to loft the shell out. They don't.

That's what I mean: The AC-130 is a direct fire support aircraft, so it shoots "down" -- from plane to ground, clear line of sight. Hence the whole potential upgrades for stand-off capability (Viper Strike, et al) because right now the AC-130 doesn't have it.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin

Psion posted:

I think what you're missing here is that the 105's range on the ground involves a significant ballistic arc. Spookys, so far as I know, fire in direct LOS. Basically straight shots from the plane down to the ground. In order for your range comparison to work, they'd have to bank the plane 45 degrees up to loft the shell out. They don't.

That's what I mean: The AC-130 is a direct fire support aircraft, so it shoots "down" -- from plane to ground, clear line of sight. Hence the whole potential upgrades for stand-off capability (Viper Strike, et al) because right now the AC-130 doesn't have it.

That's no different for a mortar though. The gun is still going to have more range and be able to cover a wider area.

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS

Throatwarbler posted:

That's no different for a mortar though. The gun is still going to have more range and be able to cover a wider area.

"Range" isn't really relevant when you're starting four miles up. The only range you need is "gravity."

For any "range" beyond direct LOS this is why there have been multiple proposed PGM stand-off munitions for the AC-130, including guided mortar shells. The 105 doesn't provide it.

kill me now
Sep 14, 2003

Why's Hank crying?

'CUZ HE JUST GOT DUNKED ON!

Psion posted:

"Range" isn't really relevant when you're starting four miles up. The only range you need is "gravity."

AC130's are in no way shape or form executing attacks from 20,000ft and above... More like 3,500-9,000ft AGL

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS
You know, I had 10,000 feet written in that post, decided to reword it, and then I changed it to miles and somehow forgot miles are not in fact 2500 feet.

Anyway, my failure at mathematics aside, the point is: that 105 in the AC-130 is covering no more "ground." IIRC it's close to a fixed mount, among other reasons. Want to hit something over there? You just move the plane :v:

BrainGlitch
Jan 14, 2007

Good sir, you can't pay me enough to go to France while our countries are at war!

Invalido posted:

FWIW I was once conscripted to crew a Leopard 2 tank :sweden:.

I want to hear all about this. I love me some NATO MBTs.

Groda
Mar 17, 2005

Hair Elf

BrainGlitch posted:

I want to hear all about this. I love me some NATO MBTs.

In everything but name!

Invalido
Dec 28, 2005

BICHAELING

BrainGlitch posted:

I want to hear all about this. I love me some NATO MBTs.

They're big and and heavy and get poor mileage - though from what I've heard the biggest reason Sweden bought the Leopard rather than the Abrams was significantly better fuel economy. A major drawback of pistons over a turbine is that the diesel is ROARING LOUD, having almost 50 liters of displacement and no mufflers - you won't sneak up on anyone who's not entirely deaf.

They have the same gun and tracks as the Abrams, and apart from not having DU armor I think the biggest difference is the Leopard having ammunition stored in the very front of the chassis tub, right next to the driver. I have to believe this affects survivability negatively compared to the M1's all-turret storage.

The gun laying computer is very much a cold war relic, being entirely analog. It worked well enough, so the actual shooting part is easy, though I and many others would get motion sickness from riding in the gunner's seat. The gun is slaved to either the gunner's or the commander's gyro-stabilized sights, and is laid by massive DC motors trying to hold it where the sight tells it to be. For a hit at any real distance the gunner is tasked with giving the analog computer the range (measured with a laser) as well as any sideways movement of the target by pressing a button and following the target for a second or two. When the tank is moving it may be necessary to hold the trigger down for a little while before the shot goes off, since the gun is rarely in exactly the right place necessary for a hit.

Shooting the main gun is very undramatic. You experience a muted "whump" rather than a "boom" from inside the tank, and a slight motion from the recoil. For fun I stuck my head out the hatch once or twice - this was almost breathtaking!
Firing the machine guns sucked by comparison. MG3's are really, really loud and can smell quite bad when hot enough. The co-axial MG fed from a box with 2x500 round belts. We were told to swap barrels after 250 rounds max, but due to safety regulations this was such a chore we'd more often let loose all 500 and swapped out a faintly glowing barrel when reloading. On live fire days we'd spend hours waiting our turn at the range belting 7.62 until we got blisters, and additional, often very late hours cleaning all the nooks and crannies of incredibly dirty MG parts. Cleaning the main gun was very easy by comparison - you don't need to run many patches through a chrome-lined smooth-bore before it's clean, even if the patches are ridiculous amounts of paper towel and the cleaning rod itself assembles to several meters in length. Barrel wear happened fast - the chrome would start eroding at the bottom of the muzzle first and the exposed patch of steel grew with every shot. IIRC they'd swap barrels after only 200 rounds or something like that. "My" tank was brand new when i got it and fired no more than ~50 rounds, so I wouldn't know for sure.

Driving is easy enough (though doing it well from a tactical standpoint is hard), it feels much like driving a sluggish car with soft suspension and a weird steering wheel. The limited visibility is the biggest challenge, during darkness much more so since the night vision device gives you monochrome two-dimensional tunnel vision and the reverse camera couldn't see in the dark. We'd hit big trees, they'd go flying, sometimes breaking little sensitive bits of tank sticking out in the process.
The best way I know to really mess up a leopard is to ride fast over a large rock (usually hidden in deep snow) which will invariably bulge in the bottom plate of the chassis tub, leading to all kinds of problems and being really difficult to repair.
I once got the opportunity to drive a tank with turret problems quite a ways back to the garage, head out the hatch, on a twisting, compacted winter road and with no witnesses. Tanks drift around corners quite well, albeit slowly. I fondly recall this particular drive as one of those (few and far between) good experiences that made all the drudgery of army life seem a little more worthwhile :)

edit: tank drifting (not me!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5aWAW2hea4&feature=related

Invalido fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Apr 8, 2012

NosmoKing
Nov 12, 2004

I have a rifle and a frying pan and I know how to use them

Psion posted:

You know, I had 10,000 feet written in that post, decided to reword it, and then I changed it to miles and somehow forgot miles are not in fact 2500 feet.

Anyway, my failure at mathematics aside, the point is: that 105 in the AC-130 is covering no more "ground." IIRC it's close to a fixed mount, among other reasons. Want to hit something over there? You just move the plane :v:

I don't know poo poo about ac130's other than they are really neato and there's a cool free iPhone game where you get to waste the undead from an orbiting gun platform.

Still, the ability to shoot some type of PGM sounds appealing.

Pimpmust
Oct 1, 2008

Invalido posted:

They're big and and heavy and get poor mileage - though from what I've heard the biggest reason Sweden bought the Leopard rather than the Abrams was significantly better fuel economy. A major drawback of pistons over a turbine is that the diesel is ROARING LOUD, having almost 50 liters of displacement and no mufflers - you won't sneak up on anyone who's not entirely deaf.

They have the same gun and tracks as the Abrams, and apart from not having DU armor I think the biggest difference is the Leopard having ammunition stored in the very front of the chassis tub, right next to the driver. I have to believe this affects survivability negatively compared to the M1's all-turret storage.

I think I saw a youtube clip of a Leopard 2 up in Boden with a wooden "Abrams" nailed to it, saw any of that? :v:

Speaking of Swedish cold war stuff, I just remembered a certain book I got from the apartment of my departed grandmother. It belonged to her dead husband, a rather highly positioned county administrative board boss in his time (never met the man).

It got some old rear end pictures of everything to do with Östergötland, the province which happens to house a certain SAAB aircraft factory which also means there's a few pages out of it related to aircraft in it (and a surprising number of pages on runic script and the history of the region since the stone age, but I didn't see any jet fighters there so :dawkins101:).

Seeing as you guys probably don't know much Swedish I'll take a shot at translating the accompanying text. My notes will be [ like this ]

First page:


close up on the second page text:

Translation:
SAAB, Svenska Aeroplan AB, has under it's 20-year existance grown from relative insignificance to one of the country's larger companies with nearly 7 000 employed, of which a large portion in Linköping. 60 million [SEK, probably not inflation adjusted] was invested in buildings and equipment during the five year period of 1950-55.

Amongst other things the SAAB airfield in Linköping have been expanded to one of the country's largest, expanded the largest assembly hall with 10 000 m2, obtained a [readriven, misspelling of remdriven? (Belt driven)] wind tunnel and a new test flight hangar of 3 000 m2. Finally a million have been invested in an electronic calculating machine, capable of solving the most complicated problems. ["räknemaskin", probably something with the power of a pocket calculator of today :v:]

All this have been necessary to keep and expand SAAB:s production. The expansion have strangely enough been stronger after the war, and this is mainly due to the serial production of the J29, Den flygande Tunnan [the Flying Barrel, or simply Barrel], in it's variants. The SAAB-32 Lansen [The Lance] have now replaced the Barrel in serial production, and after the Lansen comes the Dragon [Kite might be the more correct translation of Draken in this case, I'm pretty sure "Viggen" means Thunderbolt, but it could also be the Tufted Duck which is funnier].

Second page:

This spread: Serial production of the attack aircraft Lansen in the large assembly hall. The development of Lansen, the first Swedish aircraft that in a dive passed the sound barrier, have cost more than 2 million engineering hours, 1 000 shelf meters of blueprints and 23 000 different specialized tools. A single Lans [Lans is another way of writing "Lansen", roughly the difference between "A Lance" and "The Lance"] includes among other things, 325 000 nails, 19 000 screws and bolts and 6,5km of electrical wiring.


Third page:

Next spread, left side: Four J 29 (Tunnor) carries out an advanced maneuver, in a so called square formation [Square/Box is probably not the right word for it, but I'm no expert on formations].

Fourth page:

Right page: Smoke trails after the Barrels attack rockets paints diagonals over the summer sky.

[Fun fact:
J29 armament:
4x Hispano Mark V 20 mm cannons
75 mm (3 in) unguided rockets
Rb 24 air-to-air missiles (License built early Sidewinders)
145 mm (5.8 in) anti-armor rockets, 150 mm (6 in) HE (high-explosive) rockets, 180 mm (7.2 in) HE antiship rockets
Which came with between 8 and 10 hardpoints, but I might be mistaken.

No less than 661 were built, and I think something like 25%+ were lost to accidents (many in mock combat furballs above Gotland).

The "J" as far as I know stands for Jakt (Hunt) and is used by Interceptors/Air Supremacy fighters while "A" stands for Attack and is used by CAS aircraft, these can be combined as in "JA"-37 Viggen or the "JAS"-39 Gripen "Jakt, Attack, Spaning" (Spaning = Recon)]

I'll crop and translate the rest later if there's any interest. There's some Draken in here, together with one of the most hilarious piloting suits I've seen.

Pimpmust fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Apr 8, 2012

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS

NosmoKing posted:

I don't know poo poo about ac130's other than they are really neato and there's a cool free iPhone game where you get to waste the undead from an orbiting gun platform.

Still, the ability to shoot some type of PGM sounds appealing.

what's the iphone game called? :v:

And yeah, I'm sure iyaayas could come in here and school us all but as I understand it they're 100% direct fire platforms and indirect/standoff PGM capability is high up on the want list.

http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2006psa_apr/borden.pdf - re: AC-130 and Viper Strike, but it's from 2006 so there may have been some changes.

There's one constant about .mil Powerpoints: they are awful. This violates close to every possible rule about Powerpoint design. I mean that.

seriously, solve the powerpoint, solve the war? More like solve powerpoint design.

Pimpmust posted:

I'll crop and translate the rest later if there's any interest. There's some Draken in here, together with one of the most hilarious piloting suits I've seen.

Yes.

Psion fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Apr 8, 2012

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

grover
Jan 23, 2002

PEW PEW PEW
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:

Psion posted:

what's the iphone game called? :v:
There's a game "AC130 Beta" on Google Play for android that uses the camera to track the location of a dollar bill to overlay a 3D landscape to shoot at. It's not all that great, but the camera tracking works surprisingly well for control, and it's free.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5