Air Force
Drone mishap
Seems that in December we lost an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Mediterranean. On Dec. 16, 2024, the MQ-9A took off within the European Command’s area of responsibility “before it experienced a sudden loss of thrust, a deterioration of air speed, and a gradual descent.” Seems likely given the circumstances. Accident Investigation Board President […]
How to draw a smiley face
Ran across an interesting anecdote: A couple of decades back, a B-2 Spirit bomber was over the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The assigned targets were shipping containers, stacked or arranged to vaguely resemble likely targets. The Spirit was loaded with a full complement of then relatively-new Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) 500 pound […]
USAF M18 case gets more spicy
We talked about the Sig P320/M18 kerfuffle as it relates to the death of an active duty USAF Airman Brayden Lovan last month, starting here. After that incident, which was reported as an uncommanded discharge when the Security Forces airman was taking his belt off, the Global Strike Command and then the whole Air Force […]
Hellfire upgrade
When you are fielding a missile already capable of taking out ‘most any conventional armored target on the planet, what do you do next? Give it a very UNconventional warhead maybe? Typically anti-armor stuff either makes a big bang, a focused bang, or has a specialized projectile that can do something spiffy like ‘blow through […]
Transgendered Airmen denied early retirement
Transgendered Airmen with 15-18 years of service requested an exception to policy in order to retire under Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA). This move was in response to the removal of transgendered service members from the military. However, their requests were denied, and they will be separated. Those who had their request approved saw these […]
Tuesday trivialities
Got a few updates for y’all today. First off, we have been reading of the allegations that service M17/18 (SIG P320s) have a bad habit of going off by themselves. According to attorneys involved, they have compiled hundreds of cases in which with no one’s finger on the trigger, the gun goes bang. SIG, on […]
70 years young and still setting records
Hard to believe that the U-2 has been part of the aerial landscape – OK, it’s up there somewhere but forget about seeing one from the ground! – for 70 years. I’d hazard cash green money that is longer than the vast majority of you DWs and DWettes have been around. Seven decades – […]
Valor Friday
Here’s a cool story I happened across. Lieutenant Crane’s B-24 Liberator gave out on him over Alaska in the winter. Somehow he managed to survive alone, for months, and walked his way to rescue. It’s a story that sounds worthy of a movie. From Military.com; How This Airman Survived 3 Months in the Alaskan Wilderness […]
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