Tuesday follow-ups
As predicted, Ellsworth AFB is going to suffer in the aftermath of the damning report on the B-1 bomber crash we talked about last week.
Col. Mark Kimball, the 28th Operations Group commander, was relieved of command Friday “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command, based on the findings of an Accident Investigation Board report into the Jan. 4 crash of a B-1B bomber at Ellsworth,” according to a press release from Air Force Global Strike Command. A permanent replacement has not yet been named.
One injured crew member was not wearing proper flight equipment, and another, weighing in at nearly 260 pounds, was over the Air Force’s weight limit for the ejection seat, something that “likely contributed to the severity of the injuries noted from the mishap,” the report said. Military.com
I’m glad Petunia was unscathed, despite Porky being injured. It does sound like the Air Force feels much of the chain of command has been fornicating Fido, though.
The Army is moving ahead with its own tilt-rotor design to replace some of its Blackhawk inventory.
The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program, or FLRAA, is estimated to be worth approximately $70 billion across its lifespan, including foreign military sales, and is set to replace roughly 2,000 Black Hawk utility helicopters.
The Army’s current fleet of helicopters will be incapable of meeting future distance requirements in places like the Indo-Pacific theater. The service wants the FLRAA to be capable of traveling roughly 2,440 nautical miles — or 2,810 miles — without refueling, but also be agile enough to maneuver troops into dangerous hot spots. Defense News
I lode lose track of zeroes too heavily to figure out how many million that is apiece, but it’s ‘way more than one. Glad to see they kept the specs reasonable – thought they were going to add “breather fire and kill dragons” onto that wish list. That is impressive if it stacks up… as long as it doesn’t reach 0 meters altitude like the Osprey.
H/t to Jeff LPH for this one
A border tunnel between Gaza and Egypt came to light Sunday.
You know how you tend to think of tunnels as “Great Escape”-ish Charles Bronson-dug jobs? This one is far from it – large enough to drive a Hummer through. One wonders how much material was brought in from Egypt through this thing – no wonder they didn’t want Israel going onto some parts of Gaza if they are permeated with holes like this.
The network is believed to stretch for 310 miles with up to 5,700 shafts, a far higher estimate than Israel expected before Oct 7.
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is believed to still be alive “10 storeys underground”, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has said. The Telegraph
Makes you think there is an economic windfall in Hamas’s future – maybe digging the next Chunnel?
I’m curious about this statement.
Just what weren’t they wearing?
Flip flops and a Hawaiian shirt…
Suitable attire for flight or a casual stroll through Death Valley.
Read of a German tourist who tried taking a 120+ degree stroll in flight flops which literally melted off his feet, leaving him barefoot. Feet basically cooked to the bone.
wings?
It occurred in January at a Northern tier Base. I logged a little over 5100 hours in my career and I wasn’t perfect about having all my stuff on occasion. The damn reflective belt was the most repetitive offender.
Was he wearing his leather flight jacket instead of his winter nomex flight jacket? Summer weight boots vice winter? Was he not wearing his nomex long johns?
Did he not bring his helmet/oxygen mask? depending instead on the aircraft quickdons?
So the Gaza border is just a secure as the US border.
The Egyptians have built a massive, fortified and armed wall to keep fellow muslims out.
No one wants “Palestinians” in their country.
I still say that the IDF needs to NOT destroy tunnels, but booby trap them with a persistent nerve and/or delayed action bio agent. Refill and repeat as necessary.
A couple of songs to fit the situation, “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor”, and “It’s Raining Men”.
And that’s why Hamas took hostages, so they could hide some in the tunnels with them, or at least give the IDF reason the think there were living hostages in the tunnels.
Failing that, guard posts or cameras, maybe.
Keep hunting the rats.
And there are bombs and tech for that.
And plenty of volunteers.
“Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is believed to still be alive “10 storeys underground”, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has said. The Telegraph”
There are some very nasty gases which are heavier than air and settle at the lowest point.ihht be hard on the remaining hostages, though.
Do they have a toll plaza half way through?
It’s either the old Sumner or the Callahan tunnel in Boston that
had a toll booth half way through. Imagine working under
Boston harbor all day.
Probably a really hard toll booth to evade too.
I say find every tunnel entrance they can and start pumping seawater into them until the tunnels start overflowing or the Mediterranean runs out of water, whichever happens first.
Damn shame about the broken “Bone”, we don’t have that many of them left. Shoulda built more of them…AND the F22. To me, the B1B is the sexiest bomber…EVAH! YMMV The Wing Wiping Full Bird that stepped on his “boner”? Not so much.
Do hope that Big Army learned some lessons from the Osprey program that will make this newest, greatest whirly bird work like it needs to. For some reason, I don’t think they have. I personally would rather we concern ourselves with equipment that we need to defend America instead of fighting someone else’s war halfway around the world.
A few pounds of serious putty placed at the tunnel exists should seal the rats in. Again, I’m more concerned about tunnels coming under our border than I am over there. Oh…wait…they don’t need a tunnel any more, they can just walk across our border, be welcomed with open arms, and given FREE SH*T!
How many gallons of water would it take to flood that tunnel complex? Let’s find out, using crappy sewage water from Gaza’s beach front. Now that Shapiro didn’t make that cut for VO for being too Jewish, I guess he could go back to supporting the IDF and call for this.
Instead of spending five or twenty billion buying a better Osprey, just give the Air Force (or the Marines) 100 million to fix theirs and let the Army copy theirs. That should be good enough. Then get some housing for the troops that doesn’t grow mold on the inside.
70,000,000,000.00 divided by 2,000 equals 35,000,000.00 per unit in today’s dollars.
Those bastards tunnel like Arachnids from Heinlein’s Starship Troopers novel.