While things have not been quite as bad as the travails of the young lady depicted above, yesterday was a fitting cap to a particularly obnoxious work week.
more...
1
My youngest nephew had an utter fascination at an early age for flushing inappropriate things down the toilet. Plastic dinosaurs were a particular favourite. His name's Darwin, so this might have been some convoluted evolutionary experiment. But I think it was probably just toddler logic.
In about ten years he'll find this comment on Google and have to decide how my act of betrayal balances out against all the Lego...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sat Feb 14 10:13:08 2015 (PiXy!)
" an awful lot of ammunition was shipped yesterday so I'm assuming its related....which should cause some concern"
Naw. One year I bought my wife a revolver for Valentine's day. She loved it, and got me a shotgun for our anniversary. It's only natural that you'd ship ammo too as Valentine's day gifts.
Posted by: Rick C at Sat Feb 14 23:23:09 2015 (0a7VZ)
3
Late winter/early spring sales, too. Plus you want to beat President's Day, because you might want to go shooting on your three day weekend.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Sun Feb 15 15:13:22 2015 (ZJVQ5)
4
I tend to be unnerved by "solid working theories" involving plumbing lines and the gadgets attached thereto, but maybe that's just me.
Posted by: CGHill at Sun Feb 15 18:52:30 2015 (+6Y9j)
Michael Pillsbury, a Pentagon consultant and author of the recent book 100 Year Marathon, said Chinese military hawks, known as "ying pai,†told him they are ready to provide arms to Hawaiian independence activists in retaliation for U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Regards the particular little bit of cheer in that quote, I'm a little skeptical of this sentiment being a real thing, at least with regard to the politburo members who would have to approve such a risky move. However, given the outright seizure of Philippine atolls, and moving the border with India unilaterally, it bears scrutiny. In any event, it certainly continues China's policy of trolling us. Far less asinine brinkmanship can easily lead to epic miscalculations.
1
I suspect that the local independence movement (which doesn't have, as near as I can tell, the least bit of violent tendency... at least so long as haoles don't try to surf from their bit of beach!) has too much experience with the Chinese to be enticed by such an offer.
Seriously, these guys are about on the same level as the guy who says that the gold fringe on the flag in the courtroom means it isn't a legitimate court and thus he isn't obliged to pay his income tax. ;p
I don't mind admitting that the kingdom of Hawaii got a bit of a raw deal, but at the same time... in Texas, Santa Ana was legitimately elected and we didn't just secede, we actually -shot him- in the bargain. And looted his peg leg. So I don't have a whole ton of time for people complaining about the legitimacy of a monarchy...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Wed Feb 11 03:48:02 2015 (ZeBdf)
2
The question of the legality of secession was settled definitively in 1865.
3
I don't really understand claims about the "legality" of secession. I've seen it stated several times, usually without qualification. It seems like a content-less statement to me: You could as easily say that 'revolution is illegal', or 'war is illegal'. It would take a very unusual government to be okay with secession (since the de-facto constitution of most governments is that a political class owns tax-slaves and territory by force of arms - they're not going to let their livestock just leave.)
I'm not apologizing for the South in the US Civil War. I'm also not signalling approval of this particularly harebrained secession movement. On the other hand, I could easily envision circumstances where some sort of secession/and the resulting civil war would be preferable to the alternatives, and just as "illegal". (Say, some sort of genocidal communist state is ruling the country with an iron fist from some geographically well defined portion of our territory, etc.)
Posted by: eccentricorbit at Wed Feb 11 16:43:07 2015 (GtPd7)
4
I suppose you could say that if you lived under a government that allowed free secession of member territory, you wouldn't have much to worry about from them. They would possibly be the only government in the history of mankind that took the derivation of their power from the consent of their citizens seriously!
On the other end of the continuum, you have the Berlin Wall!
Posted by: eccentricorbit at Wed Feb 11 16:48:16 2015 (GtPd7)
5
The basic point of the Hawaiian independence movement isn't that they want to secede - it's that the accession was invalid in the first place, because the government that agreed to it wasn't the legitimate government of Hawaii. You could argue that the whole thing was a coup engineered by the US... except that when it happened the US didn't particularly want to take Hawaii and didn't change their mind until three years later, at which point the coup government was still in power. So yeah... not likely that it went Exactly As Planned, no?
That also runs straight into Texas as an example, and the US in general for that matter - but when someone who is pushing for Hawaiian independence says "the legitimate government was overthrown!" and you respond with "I have no problem with that," you can -hear- the little pop as their mind blows...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Wed Feb 11 19:05:59 2015 (zJsIy)
6
Hawaiian succession would be an insult to The One! He once spoke of "57 states" in the US, and succession would be a step away from His ordained path...
Posted by: Siergen at Wed Feb 11 19:52:17 2015 (/CwtH)
EccentricOrbit: the EU treaty contains language which seems to permit individual nations to change their minds and to leave the union. The process as described is rather arcane, but it's there.
And that isn't a dead letter, either. There's a good chance at this point that the UK is going to use it and leave. Greece is another which may decide to dump it.
8
Hawaiian succession is inevitable. As the new island to the southeast of the Big Island rises the others are eroding away until they become atolls like Midway or ultimately guyots. This has been going on for millions of years.
Secession however, is not so clear cut. being a product of politics as opposed to geology.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Feb 11 20:50:48 2015 (ohzj1)
9
Technically, the EU is still more of an economic league of nations than a country. It might get there eventually, but nobody would have signed on without a way of backing out.
The original states in the US were pretty clear on "we can't break apart or the rest of the world will come and take us over." One of the unacknowledged causes of the Civil War was that Americans were no longer quite as sure that Europe could come take them over. (Seeing as, in the 1850's, it sure seemed like individual states had to be able to do better than those European clowns.)
Hawaii, OTOH, would seem to be pretty clear on the fact that they kinda need something comparable to the US Navy to avoid getting picked off by the Russians or the Chinese.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Thu Feb 12 10:23:12 2015 (ZJVQ5)
10
The delusion that Hawaii could gain independence but retain some kind of security relationship with the US is usually in operation there. (Some even envision charging the US rent for the bases! It's almost cute.)
The sad thing is that the native Hawaiian community (which is a lot smaller than you'd think - maybe 10% of the population, though with a good amount of "mixed" also in there) is actually missing out on stuff because of this stupidity. Currently they're not recognized as an indigenous tribe at all. The federal government has noted that they'd be happy to sign them up so that Hawaiians would be available for the same kind of benefits that native indigenous folks can get, but the community's split between "let's go for it and get some recognition" and "no, because that would be admitting that the US's rule of Hawaii is legitimate" (i.e. can't be independent if you're a dependent...)
There are enough part-Hawaiians here that if the independence movement had any traction among them, it would be something serious instead of a joke. But enthusiasm among them is essentially zero, partly because they're also members of a larger culture, partly because the US is pretty darned good, and partly because there's a lot of suspicion that if the native Hawaiians were in charge, they'd define "native Hawaiian" pretty darned narrowly. There's some flat-out racism involved too, of course...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Feb 12 17:41:03 2015 (zJsIy)
11
Haole Mackerel, I had no idea Hawaiian politics were that messed up Av.
Posted by: Mauser at Thu Feb 12 23:03:40 2015 (TJ7ih)
12
Well, don't get me wrong. Texas has its own crazy militia types, but if you talk about them it's not really "Texan government". Hawaii's actual government is full of Democrats, but kind of on the conservative side for that; they're not so much San Francisco as "virtually all of our grandparents were screwed by plantation owners", so it's kinda understandable. Also funny sitting around and watching them say "we shouldn't build anything new, damned greedy developers" and then wondering why the rent is so high and everyone's poor. Heh.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Fri Feb 13 04:47:18 2015 (ZeBdf)
As far Steven's theory the seccession is somehow magically shut because some bunch of random people killed a whole bunch of other people in the 19th Century is really precious. It's not like Soviet Constitution contained a way for Kazakhstan to seccede, but one day it just did. The trick here is to catch a moment when Washington D.C. is powerless to do anything about it, then declare seccession and occupy all of federal property in Texas. Voila. What are they going to do, nuke Dallas?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Fri Feb 13 22:50:42 2015 (RqRa5)
Pete, the state of Arkansas tried something a bit like that in 1957, and Eisenhower sent in the 101st division. No, they wouldn't nuke Dallas, but there are a lot of things less extreme than that which could be done.
The trick here is to catch a moment when Washington D.C. is powerless to do anything about it,...
You're going to be waiting a good long time, I'm afraid.
15
I've been informed that Kill Haole Day is grossly exaggerated. Certainly nobody's ever tried to kill me except through lousy driving, which is not unique to Hawaii though it certainly is widespread. (Generally if I'm driving I'm in no hurry, so I let people in, and I get a lot of "shaka" (think a Hawaiian thumbs-up) thrown my way in return...)
There's no mechanism for secession in the constitution. So you'd have to amend the constitution (possible though pretty darned unlikely; everyone would need to be happy to see you go), or manage it through force alone... or attack the legitimacy of the government's control of your territory, which is something that was easier to do to the Soviet Union than it is to the US (even in Hawaii...)
Texas secede? Hell, we like the place. Suits us just fine. Same taste in flags even. Maybe if we could trim the sideburns a little we'd like it even more...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sat Feb 14 05:50:09 2015 (zJsIy)
Handy Dandy Online Schedule
One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes takes time from her twin hobbies of astrography and gunzelling to give us a handy dandy calculator for getting the most out of an interplanetary line-bash.
The Cosmic Train Schedule has launch windows and trip times for Hohmann transfer orbits between Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter (Sorry Ceres) out to about the year 2326.
WHY one might have need for this? I'm sure that I have no idea. But it is certainly a neat resource and if one ever stumbles across enough unused Delta V laying about and decides not to listen to one's mom...
Janissaries
Via Instapundit, this article is rather hard to read without putting down the keyboard and crawling under the bed.
It seems that ISIS has made some progress in governing their state. They have established a comprehensive and rapidly expanding a program of universal and compulsory education.
Specifically, after killing all the teachers, they are sending the kids to religious and military indoctrination camps. Kids to young or not yet ready to fight are transported with assault forces and serve in rear echelon as blood donors.
There is more here, and bit of that is touched on in this video from Vice, which, while not really graphic is nevertheless high octane nightmare fuel.
On the other hand, I was not aware that Turkey had turned off the Euphrates.
Note that Boko Haram, which has had some cooperation with ISIS despite the two groups distance has been doing more of this as well of late. Previously, they had been killing boys and abducting girls but that seems to have changed in recent months.
In the 1300s the Muslims created the Jannissaries; children abducted from non moselem families on raids who were trained using Spartan methods to be shock troops that would not only have great combat prowess, but give their enemies pause due to the fear that they might be fighting their own relatives. These are no such elite force but they are a dreadful problem that is likely to linger rather unpleasantly, and will be both worse and more persistent the longer we allow these vile groups to fester .
This began as the 21st century. In some ways it is looking more like the 12th.
1
I worry that this situation is inherently unstable. Like other abhorrent forms of warfare that ended up practiced by one side in a conflict, it may only be a matter of time before we too embrace the idea of war between non-state parties. And as was done with unrestricted submarine warfare, as was done with bombing of civilians in cities, when we pick up these tools we work a fearful slaughter.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Mon Feb 9 05:17:19 2015 (ZeBdf)
2
The Janissaries were merely the Ottoman variant on the centuries-old Muslim practice of marmluk employment, which, as you can see from that link, goes back to the late 9th century. It was aimed internally, rather than externally, and the fact that it saw its hey-day after the expansionist years says a lot about the priorities of the rulers of the dar-es-salaam. Basically, the Muslim warriors, absent a reliable source of external plunder in the form of jihad, had very little loyalty to the heads of state, and their primary sentiments were aligned with tribal loyalties. They made terrible supports for the tyrants of the Muslim world, who were absolutists and thus wanted absolutely loyal troops. Slaves without any of the rights and privileges of freeborn Muslim men, and no tie to existing tribal or community power-centers was exactly what the Emir ordered. You couldn't enslave a Muslim, so importing pagans and kidnapping Christians to be battle-slaves was the solution.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Feb 9 17:03:25 2015 (jwKxK)
Secret Files and Origins BRICKMUPPET
The new blog-game that all the cool kids are playing right now is this homage to the inventor of the blog* Brian Williams.
Sound Like a Badass Without Committing Yourself to a Lie
My Walter Mitty lifestyle is somewhat non-conducive to this challenge but sacred honor says I have to give it a go.
So, what to write about?
The barracudas? No. anyone who dives regularly knows that barracudas aren't that big a deal.
Changing the bilge punp hanging upside down in the bilge of a fishing boat taking on water during the storm off Hatteras while seasick? No. No one wants to read about me aspirating my own vomit.
Stepping on the Alligator? No That's not badassery, that's clumsiness.
The bear under the trailer? No. Does not qualify. The bear and I achieved a nonviolent resolution to the situation.
The other bear, when the bear cub was behind me? No. See above.
That time in junior high when we built the raft and left the paddles on the island and the cops got called and the missing persons report was filed but we had come ashore in a completely different city? Nope not badassery...but might qualify as a failed Darwin award.
That time, at the babysitters with the bees, the baby and the wild pigs?Nope. No one would believe that.
How I became Tidewaters only LIVING comic book supervillain? That's not badass...that's just pathetic.
So I'll go with the origin of my nom de plume....
Everything in this story is true, though some descriptive phrase choices might be debatable.
It was a dark and stormy night. We get those in Virginia sometimes.
Several weeks or months after the storm, this happened.....
1
Damn, 95 different Anthony Phillips tracks on YouTube, and NONE of them are "We're all as we lie", which had famous philosophers duking it out via golf, and at the final hole...
"There they stood incredulous
The Distance really nebulous
and "Best of luck, Buzz Aldrin beat you there.""
Posted by: Mauser at Sat Feb 7 07:16:01 2015 (TJ7ih)
Another One Taken Too YoungOriga, whose haunting voice graced such productions as Turn A Gundam, Final Fantasty XIII-2Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society, Fantastic Children, and Princess Arete. passed away from heart failure in Kanagawa on the 17th. She was only 44.
Monty Oum (June 22, 1981 – February 1, 2015)
Monty Oum has passed away. The creator of RWBY and Dead Fantasydied yesterday of a severe allergic reaction he had during a routine surgery. He was only 33.
Oum, who became a renowned 3d animator, was entirely self taught. He got his start doing you tube videos initially using sprites hacked from Final Fantasy and DOA, he quickly improved his skills and began rendering his own characters. After stints at both Midway and Namco, doing combat choreography, he moved to Rooster Teeth where he worked on Red V Blue and put together RWBY, which was an ambitious concept for a staff of 15 people. Oum pulled it off! RWBY was one of Crunchyroll's top rated series when it premiered and this little show developed a solid fan following in the US as well as (perhaps surprisingly) Japan.
Monty and his team learned the quirks of their medium as they went along. In some ways, their experience was like the early filmmakers and they continuously improved their craft through the first two seasons despite having their production disrupted at one point by floods.
Monty Oum broke considerable ground in proving that a tiny group of creators can use the internet and CGI to bypass the usual entertainment gatekeepers and produce a real hit. His series was not without faults, but it remained engaging, fun and entertaining. Many of us were eagerly looking forward to the next season.
Monty Oum, leaves behind a wife and family, but also a legacy of innovation and art. He accomplished more in 33 years than most of us do in a lifetime, and he did it with style. The world is a bit darker today for his passing, but remains more enjoyable for his having lived.
Durarara!!
I just watched the first episode of Durarara!! season 2 which has been running for a month on Crunchyroll. It seems to be every bit as is every bit as delightfully wackadoodle as its predecessor.
I highly recommend that you watch the first series if you haven't already. Crunchyroll is also running the dub of the first season (which aired on Cartoon Network some years ago). The dub is quite good and is actually a benefit in this show as the story switches maniacally from one focus to another.
For those who are unfamiliar with the shows premise, it is set in Tokyo's Ikebukaro district and is basically a quiet slice of life show that follows several groups of apparently unconnected people as they carry on their day to day activities which are COMPLETELY NORMAL . That is their story and they are sticking to it...as best they can...which isn't well at all actually.
The first series was all kinds of off-beat fun, and I enjoyed it immensely. It's based on a series of light novels by Ryogo Narita who did such a good job with Baccano some years ago and has the same quirky style and mile a minute pacing, reminiscent of a Howard Hawks film or a '40s comedy. If you adored Baccano and never once winced while watching it, you may be deeply disappointed at the jarringly lower amounts of blood in Durrarara!!* However, for the rest of us, this was a feature and not a bug.
Here is a brief look at the characters from season one, minus any spoilers.
Right Way / Wrong Way
Over at Next Big Future, Brian Wang has been following a story about how the Chinese stole a vast amount of data on the F-35. He has concluded that the Chinese did indeed do so, but when using the data to assemble their own plane they judiciously omitted the design flaws and built a substantially better set of planes. The Chinese are developing the J-20 , and the J-31 amongst others and the Russians are developing the Sukoi T-50.
The F-35 is actually an exceedingly effective money disposal system. The utility of that accomplishment is debatable.
Pierre Sprey is the designer of the F-16 and A-10, which gives him a bit of credibility in the area of military aerospace engineering. He has some thoughts on the F-35.
Note too that because of the vast amounts of data regarding the plane's signature reduction that the Chinese have pilfered, the the stealth of the F-35 is probably useless. This is critical since the performance of the plane is far less than other US fighters, stealth was supposed to make up for that. The plane isn't really even a fighter, with a 6-g limit on the marine version, it's a strike aircraft.
Instead of Lightning, they should have named it Devastator.
1The plane isn't really even a fighter, with a 6-g limit on the marine version, it's a strike aircraft.
...because that's what the F-35B is supposed to be, a CAS/strike fighter, with a 7-g limit.
The USAAF version, the -35A, is stressed for 9-g. as is the carrier capable -35C.
And farbeit from me to cast aspersions upon Mr Sprey, but he was NOT the designer of the F-16 and the A-10. He was a member of the design teams for the planes the F-35 is supposed to replace. He's a generation of planes behind the times, which is probably why he's now a music producer.
I mean, this is a guy who says the F-15's electronics suite is "a bunch of junk with no relevance in combat." Oh, and that stealth doesn't work, and a MiG-21 can outmaneuver a F-35.
He may very well be correct that the F-35 is a dog. But I'd be incredibly reluctant to take his word for it based on the raw idiocy of a number of the things he says in this video.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Feb 1 21:57:23 2015 (jGQR+)
2
The thing that has always worried me about the F-35 program was that the idea behind the program was more important than the product of the program. There was a massive info war between military bureaucracy and military dogma over military doctrine, and bureaucracy won.
The general purpose fighter was the easy, effective and cheap option; as opposed to special-purpose, high-tech, ridiculously expensive fighters. Of course, the F-35 is none of things now; it's an inferior version of fighters it beat out in this ideology war.
However, it does appear that the F-35 we have now is a much better plane than the F-35 we were supposed to get.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Mon Feb 2 11:49:56 2015 (RqRa5)
4
Honestly, I'm fairly sure that the next "generation" of fighter aircraft won't have a pilot involved. Why centralize all the functions in a single expensive airframe when you can lift a LOT of semi-autonomous, relatively inexpensive drones, tailored to the mission profile and largely without limitation to the load limits of a single airframe?
Of course that's a massive doctrinal challenge to the air force, not least of which because it absolutely subverts the air force's primary mission - to have lots of officers so that they will need lots of senior officers to supervise them and thus put lots of generals in the Pentagon.
There was an era where planes needed people to be in direct control as they maneuvered against each other, like some kind of modern-day knighthood. But the development of long-range air-to-air missiles has left dogfighting an outdated relic; planes have been capable of killing each other from beyond visual distance for quite some time now...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Mon Feb 2 15:30:11 2015 (zJsIy)
However, it does appear that the F-35 we have now is a much better plane than the F-35 we were supposed to get.
Well a lightweight fighter cheap enough to build in mass quantities and inexpensive enough to give the pilots lots of flight time seems to be what they were initially gunning for, then they started adding stuff. I'm not sure the extraordinarily expensive F-35 is really better than 5 -10 times the number of Gripens, the proposed Makos or even the old F-5s. All of these would probably be individually inferior, but could be afforded in quantity and would be cheaper to operate. In any event I think Avatar is on theright track when he says...
Honestly, I'm fairly sure that the next "generation" of fighter aircraft won't have a pilot involved.
I'm not quite sold on UAVs because basically anything can be hacked and RF links can be jammed, but with lasers and railguns coming online and missiles quite mature, I don't think that manned aircraft, particularly fighters are going to be viable much longer except in permissive environments or for certain niche duties like the A-10 does...and even then 8th Airforce casualty rates are to be expected against anything like a first world military.
It might be better to buy some lower end thing off the shelf to fill the rapidly dwindling niche where planes are survivable (pounding terrorists like ISIS and Boko Haram, for which the F-35 is rather overbuilt.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Feb 2 19:22:09 2015 (ohzj1)
What in particular do you base that on Pete?
I'm genuinely curious. This isn't my bailiwick at all, whereas you are an aviator and might know more about the guy. I've heard him spoken highly of by people I generally respect (Jerry Pournelle for instance) but that and a cursory web search are the extent of my knowledge about him.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Feb 2 19:33:02 2015 (ohzj1)
7
Your T-50 link is borked, unless the plane really is supposed to have "twin fusion turbines" for propulsion.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Mon Feb 2 21:25:58 2015 (jGQR+)
8
Huh...I remember that coming up and laughing at it...not sure how the link got pasted in though. (Thanks. Link Fixed. )
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Feb 2 21:37:48 2015 (ohzj1)
The Answer is Sarmat
The question is : "What is Russia's new ICBM called?"
Wow. There had been reports that Russia was developing a new heavy ICBM to replace the old R-36 (NATO reporting name SATAN). However, it was assumed that the new heavyweight missile would be a bit smaller than the massive old cold war relic, perhaps something with a payload along the lines of the MX-Peacekeeper.
SARMAT, the replacement has a declared throw weight of 10 tonnes and can hit targets in the US while firing over the south pole. That is the opposite direction most US early warning radars point.
R-36 (SS-18 SATAN) being launched (via the Military today article)
22,046 pounds is an awful lot of ordinance. Keep in mind that the R-36, is, by a WIDE margin the most powerful ICBM in the world. It has a "throw weight" (as reported to comply with the START treaty), of 8.5 tonnes. There was an improved version with a payload of 9.5 tonnes that was cancelled. Reportedly, this was cancelled in order to comply with arms limitation talks. Wikipedia lists some payload options that were cancelled to comply with the 10 warhead treaty limit.
Three of these versions would carry regular warheads—38 × 250 kt yield, 24 × 500 kt yield, or 15–17 × 1 Mt yield. Two modifications were supposed to carry guided warheads ("upravlyaemaya golovnaya chast")—28 × 250 kt or 19 × 500 kt.
Note that one of the two latest versions of the R-36 is a single warhead version as well, carrying a huge 20 megaton warhead that was, in part developed to maximize EMP effects. These huge warheads were removed and stored in 2009 as the Russians sought to maximize the number of warheads given the 10 warhead limit and the dwindling number of serviceable missiles. The R-36 was manufactured and serviced in Ukraine and recent events....well...the replacement program is a rather high priority. It need not, however be a challenging one. The Russians are quite capable at rocketry and the characteristics are a modest improvement on 1970's technology, but without parts made in Ukraine. Indeed, it appears that testing will begin this year. There is more on this (in Russian) here (google translate version behind spoiler tag)
Test an intercontinental ballistic missile "Sarmat", which will replace the IDB "Voivod" ("Satan"), to be held in this year, said on air, "Russian news service" Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Yuri Borisov.
"This year we have planned so-called throwing test. We are moving the paper stage stage in the implementation stage. Already made some fragments of the design, all goes according to plan, and I think that we will finish the ROC in strict compliance with contractual obligations and start rapidly, methodically replace "voivode" new missile system, thereby increasing the capacity and capabilities of our strategic nuclear forces, "- he said.
Borisov said that, according to the contract, "Sarmat" entered service in 2020 the Strategic Missile Forces.
According to Borisov, the new ICBM can deliver cargo weighing 10 tons and "easy to fly" through the North and South Poles.
"Specifications, the opportunity for the rise of the payload, a breakthrough anti-missile defense is still at the" Governor "unique. And the fact that we have laid in the "Sarmatian" is even more superior to them ", - said the deputy minister.
The development of new missiles produced at the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant (JSC "Krasmash"). There you will mass-produce them.
Wrong?
This rocket is fearsome, but it is not a huge advance over the missile it replaces. However, it may itself represent a further rejection of the arms limitation treaties. and it drives home the fact that the Russians are very serious about relying on their nuclear forces.
1
From the extimations that I heard, Sarmat is clearly busting its lift-off weight targets.
Personally I do not understand what the point of the whole excercise is. They already have Yars (and Topol-M) that cover all imaginable scenarios. Some people said that Russia is having issues with getting critical stocks to make large solid motors, in particular so-called "white cellulose". It was made by a plant on Lake Baikal that enviros shut down. Sarmat is a significant step back in technology. Still, wouldn't it be more useful for the industry to develop new technologies?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sat Jan 31 22:38:38 2015 (RqRa5)
2
I dunno, I agree with you that Yars and its kin would seem adequate.
Two possible reasons come to mind. One, obvious given the fact that the R-36 is now a Ukranian project:, they need a weapon quick...the stats for this monstrosity hint that it might just be a warmed over R-36 upgrade beneffiting from 30 years of materials science.
The other possibility is entirely speculative and that is that the Russians feel they need a really big rocket for some reason. It may be that they are looking at something like launching powered hypersonic gliders that will follow a much lower trajectory than an actual ballistic path. This would be heavy, but they've looked at it as a way to get by ABM systems.
It could also be that the big 20 megaton warhead, which requires a huge rocket (and is one of their newer warheads, being developed in 1991) is something that they consider to be a real asset. It would have obvious advantages against hard targets, but in general a 20 megaton bomb is less useful than 10x1 megaton bombs.However, that weapon is described in the Wikipedia arsenal and elsewhere as being optimized for EMP. This might explain why it's so much heavier (9000kg) than the B-41, (a slightly more powerful American equivalent designed back in the '50s).
There is also the possibility that they need scads of mid-sized warheads on each missile to guarantee that if a few missiles escape a first strike they can do terrible damage, even using the treaty limits of 10 warheads per missile 3 missiles = 30 cities. However, I'd think that the RS-24 Yars and the RS-26 Rubez would be more survivable by virtue of their mobility. The "great scud hunt" of the second Gulf war was no cakewalk and was ultimately unsuccessful.
I dunno, it's big, it's scary and it's nuclear...the only thing for certain is war.
War never changes....
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Jan 31 23:37:18 2015 (ohzj1)
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