Straits, Monster, and ammo

Opening with the Straits of Hormuz. They are a) open b) closed or c) some weird combination of the above. Depends who you talk to.

Now, the Iranians say they are open to civilian ships who pay their “toll” but not military ships. The US says we are reclosing them (which makes us different from Iran how?) and says anyone paying the Iran toll is doing so illegally, and we’ll back that up with military ships! which the Iranians say are not allowed in the Straits at all (well, the foreign ones.) The US needs to have minesweepers because the Iranians were busing sowing mines before we sank all their minelayers, which considering they were using boats like fishing boats makes the claim a bit of a stretch. Oh, and those fishing boat folks did not properly record where they PUT the mines, so not only are there maybe-there-is/maybe-there-ain’t military ships there may or may not be mines and no one is really sure where they are.  DPA  The Hill

I sincerely hope this clarified everything for you.

Jeff LPH sent my favorite story of the day. Seems some sailor in search of a caffeine buzz killed off a Monster, and then discovered the rotting body of a rat in the can he had just killed off.

He is unhappy.

Attempting to achieve energy levels considered necessary to unleash the beast, John Witt, 29, instead discovered an actual rotting beast after finishing the drink, according to local CBS affiliate WTKR News.

Witt, who said he purchased a pack of the drinks from a 7-Eleven in Norfolk, Virginia, promptly vomited several times, “naturally,” he told WTKR, which shared video of the canned corpse.

“It’s a full-size rat,” he said, “and it’s a big rat.”

His chain of command suggested a visit to the ER was in order… where he was told:

Witt then checked into Portsmouth Naval Hospital, where he said medical personnel informed him that it was more than likely, “with the chemicals that are in Monster, that it should be OK.”

Oh, hell yes. THAT’s the medical advice I’D be seeking.

“I’m never going to be able to drink anything that I can’t see again,” the new open-container advocate told the outlet.  Military Times

Remember we mentioned anti-drone fragging rounds under development a while back?  Russia seems to think they are a great idea, too.

Russia is looking to go big in the anti-drone ammo game, with a new 5.45mm rifle round.

Kalashnikov Concern said it plans to mass-produce bullets that split into fragments to kill drones.

Ukraine is already developing similar bullets, as such designs creep into the global defense industry.

The armsmaker said the 30-round magazine is built for the AK-12 gas-operated assault rifle, with each bullet releasing a “multi-element projectile that significantly increases the probability of hitting UAVs.”

Kalashnikov Concern said the round can be used in burst and single-fire modes and was tested against a drone hovering in the air and another drone flying along a preset path.

Sounds like they will be issuing the rounds already magged up. Nothing like multiple types of ammo to confuse in the middle of a fight. As mentioned, Ukraine is also on the game.

Ukraine has been making its own anti-drone rifle rounds, with a bullet called the “Horoshok,” or “Little Pea,” that splits into multiple fragments to widen the area of impact. Kyiv said in December that it plans to produce 400,000 of these rounds a month.

The Ukrainian 5.56mm round, however, sees the bullet traveling some distance before it fragments — extending the range of the shot.  Business Insider

So the Russian round fragments immediately, and the Ukraine round waits a bit for added range. Wonder how they manage that. Based on RPMs maybe?

Friday the 13th comes on Monday this month!

Category: Iran, Navy, None, Russia, Science and Technology, Ukraine