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Kailuaboy
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The Air Force's Massive Gunships Are Getting Their Own Drones







Unmanned aerial vehicles would act as the eyes in the sky for high-flying AC-130 gunships


By Kyle Mizokami
April 18, 2016

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The U.S. Air Force is putting drones on some of its most deadly warplanes. The service's AC-130 gunships will be able to launch their own
flying scouts that could fly where the gunship can't, keeping the aircraft out of danger while still blasting targets on the ground.

The AC-130 gunship is a C-130 Hercules transport converted into a close-air support gunship. Bristling with guns—including a side-firing
105-millimeter cannon—the AC-130 can loiter over battlefields, providing accurate, devastating firepower for troops on the ground.


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A U.S. Navy Carrier Group Is Sailing on Beef Fat







The "Great Green Fleet" is promoting the use of biofuels. Do I detect the smell of french fries?​


By Kyle Mizokami
May 4, 2016

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The United States Navy is powering an entire carrier battle group on a blended biofuel mixture. The so-called "Great Green Fleet" is meant
to promote the use of alternatives to fossil fuels—in this case, beef fat. The initiative is named after the Great White Fleet, a flotilla of
16 white-painted battleships President Theodore Roosevelt sent on a round the world trip in 1907, putting the world on notice that American
naval power had arrived.

American and allied ships typically run on F-76 naval fuel. But for this operation, the Stennis Carrier Strike Group, consisting of the aircraft carrier
John C. Stennis, cruiser Mobile Bay, destroyers Chung Hoon, Stockdale, and William P. Lawrence, and the fast combat support ship Rainier are all
running on a blended fuel consisting of 10 percent beef fat and 90 percent petroleum.


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The Best Radio Antenna Is One That's a Tank







University of Wisconsin engineers have done it, devising a new and better way for military vehicles to communicate.​


By Eric Tegler
April 27, 2016

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"Whip" antennas—those long metal rods that used to extend from our cars—look pretty cool in a Smokey and the Bandit kind of way. But for
military vehicles, they're not such a great solution.

Troops in the field communicate using relatively low frequency radio signals. The upside is that they don't require much power and can travel
long distances. But to operate efficiently, antennas need to be at least one-quarter the length of the radio waves they transmit. Since military
comms use the HF band where radio waves can range from 10 to 100 yards in length, big antennas are better. But putting huge antennas on a
Humvee or an armored personnel carrier or a tank just isn't practical. Short antennas, meanwhile, are inefficient, operating in a narrow
bandwidth and dissipating as much as 90 percent of input power as useless heat instead of useful broadcast radio signals.


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The US Nuclear Force Is Still Using 8-Inch Floppy Disks







It plans to phase them out soon. ​


By Conor Allison
May 26, 2016

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George Chernilevsky


Remember floppy disks? The Pentagon and other US agencies never forgot about them. In fact, they're still being used to this day for the
not-so-small tasks of coordinating intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and tanker support aircraft.

That's right—a Department of Defense that, according to recent research, spends more than the next seven countries combined ($596 billon),
is still rocking 1970s-era computers and 8-inch disks.


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What China Learned from America's Biggest World War Two Naval Victory







The Battle of Midway: The PLA Navy uses American strategies as a blueprint for future success.


By Lyle J. Goldstein
June 3, 2016

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China’s aircraft carrier program is maturing. The first photos have now emerged that show Liaoning operating with a decent clutch of
J-15 fighters, as well as helicopters on deck. The aircraft are now painted in telltale battle gray, rather than the yellow used with the
initial prototype aircraft. It is difficult to tell for sure, but one may assume that the testing and training regimen has been intense.
True enough, the Liaoning was bought from Ukraine and it is, unlike American “big decks,” conventionally powered rather than relying
on nuclear power. It also has a ski-jump bow to assist with take-off rather than catapults, which are one of the most critical technologies
for efficient carrier operations since they allow aircraft to extend their range with increased weapons payloads.


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These Full-Color Photos of the Invasion of Normandy Show a Whole New Look at D-Day







Today is the 72nd anniversary. ​


By John Wenz
June 6, 2016

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On June 6, 1944, the course of world history changed while most Americans slept soundly in their beds thousands of miles away. Dubbed
"Operation Neptune" then, but forever-since known as simply "D-Day," Allied troops on this day launched the largest sea invasion ever
undertaken before or since on the beaches of Normandy, France.


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The US Navy beefed up a ship's weapons for 'Blue Water' combat







By Kris Osborn, Scout Warrior
June 10, 2016

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The littoral combat ship Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Milwaukee (LCS 5) slides into Lake Michigan during a christening ceremony at the Marinette
Marine Corporation shipyard on December 18, 2013. US Navy



The Navy is now finalizing the weapons, sensors and technologies it plans to engineer into a new, more survivable and lethal Littoral Combat
Ship variant designed to perform anti-submarine and surface warfare functions at the same time, service officials said.

"You will be able to employ both of those mission areas simultaneously," Capt. Dan Brintzinghoffer, Frigate Program Manager, told Scout Warrior
in an interview. "This provides the fleet with flexibility because you can employ those ships in multiple ways and multiple venues."


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Air Show Photographers Made This Video Tribute to a Fallen Blue Angel







Two professional photographers honor Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss.​​


By Eric Tegler
June 24, 2016

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Mike Killian


The photo shoot was Killian's first with the Blue Angels, one he hadn't even planned. "When I woke up that morning I wasn't expecting
to do that," Killian tells PM. "I was working with [airshow performer] Sean Tucker on another shoot. Sean just told me, 'Hey, we've got
time to do a shoot with the Blues, come on, let's go!' It happened that fast."

Two months earlier, aviation photographer Glenn Watson did his own shoot with the two Blue Angel solos and air show performer
Rob Holland at a ahow at NAS Kingsville, Texas. Watson had photographed the team several times previously and knew Capt. Kuss
from working with him in 2015, when Kuss was the Blue Angel's narrator and pilot of the #7 jet. "I spent time with him last year when
he was the narrator and showed up early [at air show sites]," Watson remembers. "He was quiet, confident, and a very nice guy."


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B-1, B-2 and B-52 Bombers All Descend on Guam in a Massive Show of Force







By Joseph Trevithick
August 14, 2016

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Talk about unusual. On Aug. 10, the U.S. Air Force announced it had sent its B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to join older, non-stealthy
B-52 Stratofortresses and B-1 Lancers on Guam.

It’s an extraordinary show of force in the Pacific region, because for the first time ever, America has based all three heavy bomber
types on the island at once.

Deborah Lee James, the Air Force secretary, described the deployments as providing a “valuable opportunity for our bomber crews
to integrate and train together, as well as with our allies and partners through the region in a variety of missions.”


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