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Vocapedia > War > Air

 

Aircraft, Fighters, Pilots,

Air power, Airstrikes, Missiles, Rockets

 

 

 

 

Spirit Soars

A B-2 Spirit bomber soars

during a deployment

to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam,

April 5, 2005.

 

The bomber deployed as part of a rotation

that has provided U.S. Pacific Command officials

a continuous bomber presence in the Asia-Pacific region,

enhancing regional security

and the U.S. commitment to the Western Pacific.

 

It is from the 509th Bomber Wing

at Whiteman AFB, Mo.

 

U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Val Gempis

United States Department of Defense

Transformation        Photo Archive        04/06/2005

http://www.defense.gov/transformation/images/photos/photo_archive/index_2005-04.html

http://www.defense.gov/transformation/images/photos/2005-04/Hi-Res/050404-F-1740G-005.jpg

added 28 August 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kittyhawk IIIs of the 112 squadron

preparing to take off at a desert airstrip

in Tunisia in April 1943

 

Photograph: Imperial War Museum

PA

 

The second world war in colour – pictures

An Imperial War Museum book showcases rare colour photographs,

which highlight the key role that aerial battles played
 

G

Mon 25 Feb 2019    06.00 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

air power        UK

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/05/
guardian-view-special-forces-air-power-isis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

air power        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/08/13/
the-strengths-and-limits-of-air-power-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Colorado > elite military institution > U.S. Air Force Academy

 

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/
special-report/usa-race-academy/ - March 30, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Air Force    RAF        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/11/
zelenskiy-steps-up-jets-lobbying-but-are-raf-typhoons-what-ukraine-needs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aerial warfare        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/us/
gen-william-w-momyer-celebrated-pilot-dies-at-95.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aerial battles        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-
pictures - Guardian pictures gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

air raid aimed at N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hit        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/02/
1228132782/us-biden-iran-drone-response-strike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

strike        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/
1223238786/us-strikes-houthis-yemen

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/
world/middleeast/iraq.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

airstrike        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/
1223238786/us-strikes-houthis-yemen

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/26/
1221586450/up-first-briefing-u-s-conducts-airstrikes-on-militants-in-iraq-
2023-u-s-union-wi

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/2022-
pulitzer-airstrikes-gone-wrong

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/19/
magazine/victims-airstrikes-middle-east-civilians.html

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/22/
538725504/u-s-airstrike-kills-afghan-police-members-
local-officials-say-16-died

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/01/
488238013/u-s-launches-airstrikes-against-islamic-state-targets-in-libya

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/world/asia/afghanistan-
doctors-without-borders-hospital-strike.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/world/middleeast/aleppo-syria-
strikes.html

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/
obama-weighs-military-strikes-to-aid-trapped-iraqis-officials-say.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

conduct airstrikes        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/26/
1221586450/up-first-briefing-
u-s-conducts-airstrikes-on-militants-in-iraq-2023-u-s-union-wi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mount a series of air and missile strikes

against Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/02/
1228132782/us-biden-iran-drone-response-strike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

respond with retaliatory airstrikes        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/26/
1221586450/up-first-briefing-
u-s-conducts-airstrikes-on-militants-in-iraq-2023-u-s-union-wi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

attack        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/
world/middleeast/iraq.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

target        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/01/
488238013/u-s-launches-airstrikes-against-islamic-state-targets-in-libya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

target        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/
1223238786/us-strikes-houthis-yemen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vietnam war > movies > 1979 > USA > Apocalypse Now >

airstrike > helicopters > motto > "Death from Above"    USA

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Death_from_Above

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pilot        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/
us/bob-pardo-dead.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/
us/gen-william-w-momyer-celebrated-pilot-dies-at-95.html 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fighter pilot        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/us/
dean-hess-preacher-and-fighter-pilot-dies-at-97.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > ace fighter pilot        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/
us/bud-anderson-dead.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/
us/robinson-risner-ace-fighter-pilot-dies-at-88.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

ace        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/us/
jeremiah-okeefe-ace-in-his-first-world-war-ii-battle-dies-at-93.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > dogfights        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/
us/bud-anderson-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

shoot down        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/
us/bud-anderson-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

be shot down    (passive)        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/us/
robinson-risner-ace-fighter-pilot-dies-at-88.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs        USA

 

a first-of-its-kind Army unit

made up of women who flew planes

and trained men to do the same

during World War II.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/us/arlington-
female-pilot-elaine-harmon-buried-at-arlington.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

test pilot        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/
us/bud-anderson-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aircraft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. aircraft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

antiaircraft fire > hit        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/
us/bob-pardo-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Air Force's X-37B unmanned space plane        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/28/
774010986/secret-air-force-space-plane-lands-
after-more-than-2-years-in-orbit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Air Force (RAF) > fighters > Typhoons        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/11/
zelenskiy-steps-up-jets-lobbying-
but-are-raf-typhoons-what-ukraine-needs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F-35s fighter jet        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/12/
656807686/following-crash-all-f-35s-temporarily-grounded-for-inspections

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MV-22 Osprey        USA

 

combination aircraft

(...)

with helicopter-like rotors

allowing it to hover;

once airborne, it can convert

to a fixed-wing plan

capable of high speeds

and altitudes.

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/05/
541786114/search-and-rescue-underway-for-u-s-marines-in-mishap-off-australian-coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/27/
1196215256/3-people-are-injured-1-critically-in-a-us-military-aircraft-crash-in-australia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aircraft fighter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

anti-aircraft weapon        UK

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/05/
iraq.topstories3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fighter jet > Tornado        UK

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/27/
britain-launches-fighter-jets-against-isis-iraq

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

air base        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/world/asia/
taliban-bombers-attack-air-base-in-afghanistan.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

plane        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F-4 Phantom plane        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/
us/bob-pardo-dead.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/29/
402642421/40-years-after-the-vietnam-war-families-still-search-for-answers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in an F-4 Phantom        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/
us/bob-pardo-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 1967 > North Vietnam > John R. "Bob" Pardo (1934–2023) >

maneuver > Pardo's push        USA

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Pardo's_Push

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/
us/bob-pardo-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vietnam war > American sprayer planes >

spray defoliants

like Agent Orange and prepared napalm        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/
opinion/vietnam-the-chemical-war.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

reconnaissance plane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U-2 spy plane        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/
opinion/07Espinoza.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/
business/22plane.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/03/21/
business/0321-PLANE_3.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 C-17 military cargo plane        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/24/
1088480292/ukraine-russia-war-simon-shuster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F-35 Documentary: Runaway Plane

NYT    26 January 2016

 

 

 

 

F-35 Documentary: Runaway Plane

Video        Retro Report        The New York Times        26 January 2016

 

For decades the United States has been

on a quest to perfect stealth technology,

but development of the F-35 fighter jet

shows just how complicated dreams can become.

 

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaKK1fEHMC8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > US Air Force's new B-21 Raider "flying wing"

 

long-range nuclear-capable stealth bombers

built by Northrop Grumman

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/
us-air-forces-new-b-21-raider-flying-wing-bomber-takes-first-flight-reuters-2023-11-10/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stealth fighter > F-35        USA

 

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=RaKK1fEHMC8 - NYT - 26 January 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B-2 stealth bomber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stealth bomber > Spirit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B-1 supersonic stealth bomber        USA

 

The B-1 contract,

with Rockwell International for $20.5 billion

(more than $50 billion in today’s dollars),

was a cornerstone of Reagan’s strategy

to end the Cold War

by engaging the Soviets in a costly

— critics said profligate —

arms race that would threaten them

with bankruptcy.

 

It worked,

according to what Russian generals

and astronauts later told Robert Cattoi,

the former chief engineer for Rockwell,

in large part because of the B-1.

 

“One of them asked me,

‘Do you know Sam Iacobellis?’”

Mr. Cattoi told The Los Angeles Times.

“‘If you see him,

tell him he was far more responsible

for ending the Cold War than he might realize

We didn’t have the resources to match it.

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.’”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/
business/sam-iacobellis-dead.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/
business/sam-iacobellis-dead.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/
technology/arms-control-groups-urge-human-control-of-robot-weaponry.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > 1943 Dambusters raids >

617 Squadron Lancaster bomber        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/
a-mighty-man-tributes-to-last-surviving-dambusters-pilot-les-munro 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P-47D Thunderbolt Shirley Jane III in 1944        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > Martin B-26 Marauders

of the 441st squadron, 320th bombardment group

in 1945        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > Avro Lancasters

of the 44 (Rhodesia) squadron in September 1942        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > Lancaster R5868 (S-Sugar)

reaching 100 missions while serving with 467 squadron in May 1944        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > Kittyhawk IIIs of the 112 squadron in April 1943        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > Royal Navy > Supermarine Seafire Mk

of 736 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton in September 1943        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > North American Harvard Mk IIAs in 1943        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > British fighter planes > Hurricanes        UK

 

The Hurricanes,

which shot down more than half of all German aircraft

during the Battle of Britain,

were part of a package of about 3,000 fighter planes

delivered to the USSR

between 1941 and 1944

to support the Soviet war effort.
 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/02/
second-world-war-british-fighter-planes-unearthed-in-ukraine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > Hurricane Mk IIDs,

known as ‘flying tin openers’ in April 1943        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wellington GR Mk XIII

of 221 squadron in March 1945        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/25/
the-second-world-war-in-colour-pictures#img-7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > RAF Lancaster        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/apr/23/
allied-bombs-still-threaten-hamburg-ww2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > B-17 bomber "Memphis Belle"        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/22/
525106154/at-75-a-world-war-ii-legend-gets-a-full-makeover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members of the American Volunteer Group

flew Curtiss P-40 planes, pictured.

 

By performing certain maneuvers,

they were able to exploit

some weaknesses in the Japanese aircraft.

 

Photograph: Three Lions/Getty Images

 

The Flying Tigers:

How a group of Americans ended up fighting for China in WW II

December 19, 2021    7:01 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/19/
1062091832/flying-tigers-americans-china-world-war-ii-history-japan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > American-made

Curtiss P-40 fighter planes / P-40 airplanes        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/19/
1062091832/flying-tigers-americans-china-world-war-ii-history-japan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

helicopter        UK / USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/
13marja.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/cartoon/2009/jul/17/
steve-bell-guardian-cartoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

helicopter fleet        2009        UK

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/
evealed-scandal-of-uks-grounded-helicopter-fleet-1750094.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Apache helicopter        UK / USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/28/
1172725134/alaska-army-helicopters-crash-deaths

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2012/sep/07/
prince-harry-afghanistan-in-pictures

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/28/
british-pilots-afghanistan-thermobaric-weapons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA >  Medevac helicopter        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/sep/08/
sixmonthsinafghanistan.afghanistan

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2008/sep/04/
sixmonthsinafghanistan.afghanistan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinook helicopter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Hawk helicopter        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2013/10/05/
229561805/what-a-downed-black-hawk-in-somalia-taught-america

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

chopper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

co-pilot gunner        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2012/sep/07/
prince-harry-afghanistan-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a military transport helicopter

with nine coalition personnel aboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

crewmember

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

military reconnaissance helicopter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

helicopter gunship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

warship        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/jul/26/
military.immigrationpolicy  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW2 > USA > the USS Intrepid,

the historic aircraft carrier

 

USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11),

also known as The Fighting "I",

is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers

built during World War II

for the United States Navy.

 

She is the fourth US Navy ship

to bear the name.

 

Commissioned in August 1943,

Intrepid participated in several campaigns

in the Pacific Theater of Operations,

including the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
USS_Intrepid_(CV-11)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aircraft carrier        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/jul/26/
military.immigrationpolicy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aircraft carrier        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/
world/middleeast/iraq.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

flight deck        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/
world/middleeast/iraq.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

weapon handlers        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/08/13/
the-strengths-and-limits-of-air-power-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fighter jet missile        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/08/13/
the-strengths-and-limits-of-air-power-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

warplane        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/
world/middleeast/iraq.html 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/nyregion/
an-old-warplanes-do-over-flight-to-france.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F/A-18C Hornet        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/
world/middleeast/iraq.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B 52        USA

 

The B-52,

laden with nuclear warheads,

was a forbidding-looking mainstay

of American air defense

during the cold war

and a strategic deterrent

to a nuclear attack.

 

It saw substantial duty

in Vietnam and the Iraq wars

and is still in use.

 

And its fundamental design

— novel wings with engine “pods”

positioned underneath —

became the standard

for almost all commercial jet carriers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/
us/holden-withington-last-living-b-52-designer-dies-at-94.html

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/23/
475388706/over-60-years-in-the-b-52-bomber-is-still-kicking

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/us/
holden-withington-last-living-b-52-designer-dies-at-94.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stealth plane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F-16 fighter aircraft        USA

 

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/
UKRAINE-CRISIS/FIGHTER-JETS/jnvwwqyylvw/ - Published Dec. 14, 2023

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/
world/europe/ukraine-f-16-biden-netherlands-britain.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fighter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

radar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guardian    p. 4    24 February 2007

 

Can we join the Star Wars club?

Blair lobbies for UK to be launching pad for defence system

· Downing Street confirms talks have taken place

· Backbenchers fear PM trying to cement US ties

The Guardian

Saturday February 24, 2007

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/feb/24/
usa.foreignpolicy 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

missile

 

 

 

 

 

 

Army Tactical Missile Systems / ATACMS missiles

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/
us-quietly-shipped-long-range-atacms-missiles-ukraine-2024-04-24/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hellfire missile        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/
world/middleeast/us-sends-arms-to-aid-iraq-fight-with-extremists.html 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fire missiles into N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

interceptor missile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

missile interceptor system        UK

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/23/
usa.foreignpolicy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. missile defense system >

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/13/
us/politics/us-missile-defense-iran-israel.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

intercontinental ballistic missiles    ICBM        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/13/
1169878514/north-korea-missile-test-solid-fuel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval for Space Arms

NYT

May 18, 2005

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/
business/air-force-seeks-bushs-approval-for-space-weapons-programs.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

space arms        UK / USA

 

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/may/19/
spaceexploration.usnews 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/
business/18space.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hunter-killer satellites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

orbiting weapons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Rods from God"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

surveillance satellite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corpus of news articles

 

War > Arms / Weapons >

 

Aircraft, Fighters, Pilots, Air power, Airstrikes,

 

Missiles, Rockets

 

 

 

U.S. Faces Choice

on New Weapons

for Fast Strikes

 

April 22, 2010

The New York Times

By DAVID E. SANGER

and THOM SHANKER

 

WASHINGTON — In coming years, President Obama will decide whether to deploy a new class of weapons capable of reaching any corner of the earth from the United States in under an hour and with such accuracy and force that they would greatly diminish America’s reliance on its nuclear arsenal.

Yet even now, concerns about the technology are so strong that the Obama administration has acceded to a demand by Russia that the United States decommission one nuclear missile for every one of these conventional weapons fielded by the Pentagon. That provision, the White House said, is buried deep inside the New Start treaty that Mr. Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed in Prague two weeks ago.

Called Prompt Global Strike, the new weapon is designed to carry out tasks like picking off Osama bin Laden in a cave, if the right one could be found; taking out a North Korean missile while it is being rolled to the launch pad; or destroying an Iranian nuclear site — all without crossing the nuclear threshold. In theory, the weapon will hurl a conventional warhead of enormous weight at high speed and with pinpoint accuracy, generating the localized destructive power of a nuclear warhead.

The idea is not new: President George W. Bush and his staff promoted the technology, imagining that this new generation of conventional weapons would replace nuclear warheads on submarines.

In face-to-face meetings with President Bush, Russian leaders complained that the technology could increase the risk of a nuclear war, because Russia would not know if the missiles carried nuclear warheads or conventional ones. Mr. Bush and his aides concluded that the Russians were right.

Partly as a result, the idea “really hadn’t gone anywhere in the Bush administration,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has served both presidents, said recently on ABC’s “This Week.” But he added that it was “embraced by the new administration.”

Mr. Obama himself alluded to the concept in a recent interview with The New York Times, saying it was part of an effort “to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons” while insuring “that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances.”

The Obama national security team scrapped the idea of putting the new conventional weapon on submarines. Instead, the White House has asked Congress for about $250 million next year to explore a new alternative, one that uses some of the most advanced technology in the military today as well as some not yet even invented.

The final price of the system remains unknown. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing on Thursday that Prompt Global Strike would be “essential and critical, but also costly.”

It would be based, at least initially, on the West Coast, probably at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Under the Obama plan, the Prompt Global Strike warhead would be mounted on a long-range missile to start its journey toward a target. It would travel through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, generating so much heat that it would have to be shielded with special materials to avoid melting. (In that regard, it is akin to the problem that confronted designers of the space shuttle decades ago.)

But since the vehicle would remain within the atmosphere rather than going into space, it would be far more maneuverable than a ballistic missile, capable of avoiding the airspace of neutral countries, for example, or steering clear of hostile territory. Its designers note that it could fly straight up the middle of the Persian Gulf before making a sharp turn toward a target.

The Pentagon hopes to deploy an early version of the system by 2014 or 2015. But even under optimistic timetables, a complete array of missiles, warheads, sensors and control systems is not expected to enter the arsenal until 2017 to 2020, long after Mr. Obama will have left office, even if he is elected to a second term.

The planning for Prompt Global Strike is being headed by Gen. Kevin P. Chilton of the Air Force, the top officer of the military’s Strategic Command and the man in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal. In the Obama era — where every administration discussion of nuclear weapons takes note of Mr. Obama’s commitment to moving toward “Global Zero,” the elimination of the nuclear arsenal — the new part of General Chilton’s job is to talk about conventional alternatives.

In an interview at his headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, General Chilton described how the conventional capability offered by the proposed system would give the president more choices.

“Today, we can present some conventional options to the president to strike a target anywhere on the globe that range from 96 hours, to several hours maybe, 4, 5, 6 hours,” General Chilton said.

That would simply not be fast enough, he noted, if intelligence arrived about a movement by Al Qaeda terrorists or the imminent launching of a missile. “If the president wants to act on a particular target faster than that, the only thing we have that goes faster is a nuclear response,” he said.

But the key to filling that gap is to make sure that Russia and China, among other nuclear powers, understand that the missile launching they see on their radar screens does not signal the start of a nuclear attack, officials said.

Under the administration’s new concept, Russia or other nations would regularly inspect the Prompt Global Strike silos to assure themselves that the weapons were nonnuclear. And they would be placed in locations far from the strategic nuclear force.

“Who knows if we would ever deploy it?” Gary Samore, Mr. Obama’s top adviser on unconventional weapons, said at a conference in Washington on Wednesday. But he noted that Russia was already so focused on the possibility that it insisted that any conventional weapon mounted on a missile that could reach it counted against the new limit on the American arsenal in the treaty.

In a follow-on treaty, he said, the Russians would certainly want to negotiate on Prompt Global Strike and ballistic missile defenses.

If Mr. Obama does decide to deploy the system, Mr. Samore said, the number of weapons would be small enough that Russia and China would not fear that they could take out their nuclear arsenals.

U.S. Faces Choice on New Weapons for Fast Strikes,
NYT,
22.4.2010,
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/
world/europe/23strike.html

 

 

 

 

 

From The Times Archive

 

On This Day - July 12, 1957

The RAF retired the last three
of its 20,351 Spitfires from service

 

APART from the very occasional “benefit” performance, which brings all the best old-timers out of their retirement for a brief spell, the three remaining Spitfires in the Royal Air Force today made a “positively last appearance”.

They were flown to Biggin Hill to join Fighter Command’s only Hurricane aircraft at this Battle of Britain station. Air Marshall Sir Thomas Pike was present to welcome these famous aircraft, which, he said, would be maintained in airworthy condition to take part in the annual Battle of Britain fly-past and other ceremonial occasions.

The Spitfires have been making daily high-altitude weather observation flights for the Meteorological Office. The first Spitfires were delivered to No 19 Squadron at Duxford, Cambridge, in September, 1938; the last operational machines left No 81 Squadron at Seletar, Singapore, in 1954. This record of front-line service was unequalled by any other Allied fighter aircraft. During the war Spitfires flew about 935,000 sorties.

The fighter descended from a long line of racing seaplanes designed by the late R. J. Mitchell. The prototype Spitfire first flew on March 5, 1936, and early types had a speed of 362 miles an hour. By the end of the war a top speed of 452mph had been achieved.

Today, Group Captain J. Rankin and Wing Commander P. Thompson piloted two of the Spitfires; the leading aircraft was flown by Group Captain J. E. (“Jonnie”) Johnson, the RAF’s top-scoring fighter pilot of the war, credited with the destruction of 38 enemy aircraft.

From The Times Archives > On This Day - July 12, 1957,
The Times, 12.7.2005,
http://www.newsint-archive.co.uk/pages/main.asp
- broken link

 

 

 

 

 

June 29, 1945

 

Hitler's deadly secret weapons

come to light

 

From the Guardian archive

 

Friday June 29, 1945

Guardian

 

The more that is learnt of German preparations and progress with new weapons, the more apparent it is that the Allies ended the war with Germany only just in time.

The dangers faced, above all by Britain, were many and terrible.

Radio and optical equipment. A fabulous ray was to deal with tanks. This proved to be only infra-red searchlights to blind tanks and was used in conjunction with the 88mm gun. It was more humdrum than the fable. But it was deadly against tanks moving at night, as ours did.

Guns. There were unpleasant novelties, such as the rocket-assisted shells. At a certain point in the shell's progress, the rocket took over and provided further propulsion. There was at least a scheme in the pre-development stage to provide the V2 rocket with wings, which had great possibilities.

Chemical warfare. The Germans had a new gas in great quantity with certain qualities more deadly than any yet used. It could have been mastered, but would have given trouble and caused much loss, especially as anti-gas discipline in England was naturally not as good as at the outset of the war. It is known that Hitler was the man who prevented its use, not through altruism but because he did not believe it would pay.

The Germans were experimenting with a piloted VI flying-bomb with a retarded take-off and an obvious increase of accuracy. They had also made considerable progress with controlled projectiles directed either from an aircraft to a ground target or to aircraft.

Naval construction. There was a torpedo with a range of 80 miles and an acoustic head which "listened" to its target. There were controlled torpedoes that would follow a zigzag course with deadly possibilities.

There was a jet-propelled submarine going into production with an underwater speed of 25 knots. These were made possible by a new fuel.

The inventions mentioned were in all stages, from pre-development to full production. When it is realised that full preparation was made by the Germans to carry out all essential production in underground factories impervious to bombing, the full extent of the peril becomes apparent.

It is not too much to say that the Germans were in the act of switching from one kind of war to another and that many developments of the kind I have enumerated would have been as deadly as those already disclosed in, for example, the VI and V2.

Allied bombing had delayed the switchover and would have hampered development, especially by attacks on communications, but could not have stopped it.

From the Guardian archive > June 29, 1945 >
Hitler's deadly secret weapons come to light,
G,
Republished 29.6.2006,
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1945/jun/29/
mainsection.fromthearchive

 

 

 

 

 

April 21, 1944

 

Skyscapes of bombers

and wild geese

 

From the Guardian Archive

 

Friday April 21, 1944
Guardian
NM Roberts

 

The bombers come over as I am going home at dusk, flying high and lonely, the lights at their wing-tips glowing richly like the red and green jujubes we used to suck as children.

Standing back against the wall to watch them, the day still heavy upon me, I am teased by the memory of another time when I have stood like this. It comes back as one cruciform shape follows another against the cool, dimly blue evening. The wild geese driving in a great wedge across the sky, their exulting clangour and rhythmic, proud wings, the cold of the wind-scoured marsh aching in one's finger-tips, and a boy's half-broken voice beside one saying: "They look like aircraft flying in formation, don't they?"

For us on the coast the wild geese, every year, brought in the winter. The iron weather, in our minds, began with the October morning or twilight when the first trumpeting battalions passed over the town, just as spring was confirmed by the chiffchaff. Now it is the Lancasters that remind one of the wildfowl and one's spring song is the throb of their engines.

How can spring be both this and that other, one asks, and logic has no answer. Once "the drunkenness of things being various" [from Louis MacNeice's poem Snow] brought exhilaration; now there is only weariness and bewilderment.

One cannot find the synthesis that will make an orderly whole of the Juggernaut tanks roaring along the bypass and the horses reeking and straining ahead of the jangling plough chains, of the women who protest in print at the sending of vitamins and powdered milk to Occupied Countries while their own children are growing up without knowing the taste of milk chocolate.

The irreconcilables are crowded on one another - the striking apprentices: the pilots and their pin-up girls in their smart bars, impossibly young and heroic; the distorting mirrors of propaganda, the justice and felicity of a Mozart quartet on the radio; the narcissi and almond blossom massed before the Easter altar, and the VD advertisements in the press. The April sunshine is ironic and impartial on them all: there is no synthesis, no formula for integration, only panic edging closer.

Still the Lancasters, the iron geese who bring winter in our spring, are passing overhead, ascending into hell through a huge, serene sky, pricked with the first stars, faint and sparse. One will not hear them coming back: the droning will be no more than a menacing pedal in the troubled fantasia of dream whose cadences are never resolved, a ground bass to the melody of this, our sweet season.

From the Guardian Archive > April 21, 1944 >
Skyscapes of bombers and wild geese,
G,
Republished 21.4.2006,
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1944/apr/21/
mainsection.fromthearchive

 

 

 

 

 

September 6, 1916

 

How the Zeppelin was destroyed

 

From the Guardian archive

 

Wednesday September 6, 1916

Guardian

 

The military authorities announced yesterday that the destruction of the Zeppelin that came down early on Sunday morning at Cuffley, a few miles north of London, was mainly due to an army airman, Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson, Worcestershire Regiment and Royal Flying Corps.

The king has awarded Lieutenant Robinson the Victoria Cross. To the official announcement of this in last night's "Gazette" is added the following note:- "For most conspicuous bravery. He attacked an enemy airship under circumstances of great difficulty and danger, and sent it crashing to the ground as a flaming wreck. He had been in the air for more than two hours, and had previously attacked another airship during his flight."

Viscount French, Commander in Chief, Home Forces, in a statement says, "The airship ... passed through heavy and accurate gunfire, but it is established beyond doubt that the main factor in its destruction was an aeroplane of the R.F.C., which attacked with the utmost gallantry and judgment and brought it down."

Several other army aviators were on the track of or engaging the Zeppelin, and one of these who witnessed the end from a height of 10,000ft. describes how Lieutenant Robinson, anticipating the raider's movements, was able to dash in on the airship as the latter rose to about 12,000ft.

A flying officer, at the inquest on the German crew on Monday, expressed the opinion that the airship was not crippled by gunfire before the aviator's attack, but in other quarters this claim was made for the anti-aircraft guns.

An officer of the Royal Flying Corps who took part in the pursuit of the destroyed Zeppelin told a press representative that two other aeroplanes were endeavouring to engage the air ship, which was making frantic efforts to get away, firing with its machine guns, first diving and then ascending.

An east coast correspondent says Lieutenant Robinson was one of several British aviators who pursued a Zeppelin several months ago, but had the misfortune to meet with engine trouble. After cursing his luck he registered a vow that he would bring down a Zeppelin or die in the attempt.

Lord French stated yesterday:- "An important part of one of the enemy's airships which raided England on September 2-3 has been picked up in the eastern counties. There is no doubt that the ship suffered severe damage from gunfire."

It was reported on Monday that part of a Zeppelin gondola, with a great length of wire and a telephone installation, had been picked up in a village on the East Anglian coast.

From the Guardian archive,
September 6, 1916,
How the Zeppelin was destroyed,
G,
Republished 6.9.2006,
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1916/sep/06/
mainsection.fromthearchive

 

 

 

 

 

On This Day - March 31, 1913

 

From the Times Archive

 

The threat posed by the Zeppelin

proved to be exaggerated.

Although there were bombing raids

in the early years of the First World War,

the damage was limited, casualties light

and the Zeppelin’s vulnerability to attack

was soon exposed

 

WE NOW know the best and the worst of the Government policy concerning aerial warfare, and are in a position to realise the full effects of the neglect of the King’s Ministers in this branch of defence.

We are aided in this unpleasant task by the news which we publish from Berlin today showing that the Germans propose to allocate nearly four millions more to their aerial fleet, bringing up the total sum available to for this purpose to between six and seven millions sterling.

It is the Government as a whole on whom the responsibility rests for their inability to understand the importance of this new branch of warfare, and for their failure to take the measures necessary for our security.

It was obvious to every looker-on that when M. Blériot crossed the Channel a new chapter was opened in the military history of the British Isles, and it was obvious many years ago that the Germans had built dirigibles which were bound to exercise a most important influence upon warfare by sea and land.

At present Germany possesses a fleet of useful dirigibles, to be formed into two squadrons, each of five airships, while we possess not a single airship. The Zeppelins now travel 56 miles an hour, have a good armament, and a range of 1,200 to 1,500 miles. Germany has also built, or is building, eight dirigible stations. The stations on the Rhine are some 250 miles from Chatham, which can be reached in five hours, given favourable weather.

Does Mr Churchill or Colonel Seely seriously think that the Germans are so obtuse that they cannot realize the advantages gained by their audacity and perseverance?

From the Times Archives >
In This Day - March 31, 1913,
Times, 31.3.2005,
http://www.newsint-archive.co.uk/
pages/main.asp - broken link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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