Comments for Life as a blogger is sooo much simpler...

Life as a blogger is sooo much simpler...

2005-02-08T13:28:23Z

...when readers provide content! Gives us a chance to take a break (like, maybe get those two caption contests finished!).

Since we've been in a Gatling mood of late (this one being in the National Infantry Museum), we proffer up these two gems, thoughtfully provided by readers Boquisucio and LvnCenturion.

First up, these gems from Boquisucio. Warning - the high res takes forever to load - best to save it and do other things while it's downloading. Worth the effort though, if you have the time and connectivity!

Noticing that you have been on a GAU mood lately, I don't know whether you have come across this Movie Clip of the old GAU-2. There's a group of guys in the SouthWest who somehow got themselves an old GAU-2 to play with. They go by the name of Sub Gun Videos. If you haven't done so already, you can check this clip out at:
Low Definition

High Definition

Somehow, I don't think that Louie Armstrong had a GAU in mind when he composed "What a Wonderful World"; but in a sick, twisted way, it goes perfectly well with it.

Hope that you like it,

Boquisucio

I like it - but it *does* take time to load - even on my cable connection!

I mean it - it *really* takes a long time.

Now, to finish off something from a previous thread - regarding the Phalanx gun system. One commenter somewhere in the thread talked about using Phalanx or Phalanx-like systems to do precision destruction of incoming artillery and mortar rounds. LvnCenturion, old Army buddy and fellow-contractor of mine is involved in the process the Army currently has in place to rapidly assess and procure "usable right now or very soon" tech and TTP's. And someone is already working on just that. Below is a picture of 155mm artillery rounds... shot by a Phalanx while inbound. That's pretty impressive. As the Centurion notes:

Your blog mentions the Phalanx and one of the comments refers to a little piece of work that we have been involved with � namely shooting rockets, mortars, and artillery rounds out of the sky.
The attached picture is from an unclassified source, you may do with it as you will. Shooter is the Phalanx system.

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-02-08

2005-02-09T00:53:50Z

Kinda deflates the argument the anti-SDI folks make on hit-to-kill being as "impossible as hitting one bullet in the air with another." It merely depends on the size of the bullet you're trying to hit and the number of rounds you're trying to hit it with--and it doesn't hurt to have an acquisition and tracking system like Phalanx does [*cue Louis Armstrong...*]

Comment from Barb on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T21:28:40Z

Boquisucio - You speak truth :-) Totally worth the long download time! The music does work well, doesn't it?

Comment from Boquisucio on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T21:14:37Z

Yes Barb, Good things come to those who wait. Boquisucio

Comment from Barb on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T20:47:39Z

Geez, John - you weren't kidding. The small one is huge, even! Glad I started the high-res version downloading at home before I left for work. I'm still waiting for the smaller one to download, 5 minutes down, 20 to go ...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T18:34:14Z

Hey, Zoomie-sib, negative knowledge this location.

Comment from AFSister on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T17:21:09Z

Hey, gun-boy. Check your email(well, at least I think email'd you- I was guessing at your email addy since I don't have it with me at work). I sent you my picks, but feel free to replace any of them if your fav doesn't appear.

Comment from Boquisucio on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T16:14:13Z

When on the delivering side of the equation, Low-Order Bursts are not your friend. Our Air Farce is in the process of redesigning their Mk80 Series Nuggets. Their current design relies on a welded Back Plate. This welding is failing in statistically significant numbers. When this happens, you get a beautiful fountain of conflagrating PBX projected from abaft, and little else. They are looking into a centrifugal forge process to develop a Mono-Block design on the bodies. Thus, solving this embarasing but coloful design weakness. But that's something between the guys in National Forge, Rock Island and China Lake to work out.

Comment from AFSister on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T15:21:18Z

I see, said the blind girl... I thought these were Phalanx round which shot the 155mm rounds- not the 155mm rounds themselves. Makes more sense now. Thanks for the explainations- very helpful. How big are Phalanx rounds? Nice shooting, regardless of their size, but I'm just a curious kind of girl. OK, I'll take you up on your challenge, gun-boy.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T14:41:46Z

Sis - I did too say. 155mm artillery rounds. Those are a little over six inches in diameter, roughly 3 feet long, weigh 100 pounds, traveling at somewhere in the vicinity of 800-900 meters per second. That's pretty good shooting, if you ask me. It looks like one of them (rightmost) had a 'low order' burst, meaning that it didn't function properly, but did explode into a few large chunks, the one on the far left may also have experienced a low-order burst - it looks like it got hit in the fuze well, where the supplemental charge would be, which probably initiated the burst - but since the carcase was compromised (i.e., the round had a hole in it already) the explosion was not contained properly, failing to shatter the carcase, which then went on to a tumbling, ballistic impact (following the path of the trajectory, however deflected by the hit) and got all bent up on impact. In fact, that looks like what happened to all three of them counting from the left. The two relatively intact ones look like fuze failure. 3rd from the right due to a hit on the fuze, second from the right, the base of the fuze appears to still be in the round - so either it was shot off (could have been knocked off on impact, too) or, the holes in the body so compromised the pressure vessel that the fuze didn't even blow out. Again, see my discussion above. As for "sarcastic font" I got your number, babe. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. YOU pick what you think are the four best captions from each of those groups (no more than one of yours, please) send 'em to me and I'll post 'em for a vote. Howzzat Ms. Smarty-pants?

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T14:29:20Z

Simple enough, Fred. Which would you prefer, a 98 pound chunk of inert metal coming down, probably at a location *other* than it was aimed at - or a fully-functioning 155mm round with 25 pounds of TNT or Composition B and a bursting radius of 50 meters, shattering into thousands of tiny shards (and some not so tiny) with the accompanying blast wave? Or, better yet, causing a dispensing submuntion round like a Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition from functioning and dispensing its bomblets? The point here isn't a 'perfect defense' - we already *know* there's going to be damage. What we're trying to do is reduce the damage, and prevent the shooter from hitting what he was aiming at. It's kind of like Patriot - it turns the Scud into ballistic junk - which, if you are where it lands, is going to hurt - but not as much, in military terms, as if it lands where it's aimed, and functions as intended. Howzzat?

Comment from AFSister on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T14:26:47Z

Caption contests? What caption contests? (insert sarcastic font) What did those Phalanx rounds hit? The damage to the round isn't very consistant. Some look hardly damaged at all, some look like a peeled banana, and one is more like a smashed Coke can. If you can't say, I understand.

Comment from Fred on 2005-02-08

2005-02-08T14:03:00Z

Colour me ignorant, but what happens with allt hat steel that the phalanx is ripping into the air against the incoming artillery comes back to earth in concentrated showers? Seems a little more conetrated and potentailly dense and dangerous than normal AAA fall-out.