Feral Jundi

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Aviation: Air Power On The Cheap

In aerial combat, then, low tech may be the new high tech. And there is one other advantage that the turboprop has over the jet, at least according to Mr Read—who flew turboprops on combat missions in Cambodia during the 1970s. It is that you can use a loudspeaker to talk to potential targets before deciding whether to attack them. As Winston Churchill so memorably put it: “When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” 

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     Warfare on the cheap is all the rage these days and this is an excellent little article from the Economist on the subject of cheap air power.  I just talked about Colombia’s use of these types of aircraft in their war against the FARC and I thought I would add further information behind the concept. I should also note that PMC’s like Executive Outcomes had their own air assets for operations, and that too could be classified as ‘air power on the cheap’.  If it gets the job done and you are dealing with an enemy that has no air power, then these ideas make sense.

     The one thing I keep thinking about though, is that I like cheap air power that has a high probability of survival. Or better yet, is cheap and unmanned. I think as soon as we can put robotics into these cheap propeller type aircraft, then we are effectively creating cheaper drones with built in supply and maintenance systems. Imagine an unmanned Cessna Caravan doing these types of military missions?

     Or an unmanned cargo carrier like a 747 with a payload of JDAM type munitions that could be dropped from extreme heights? There are plenty of these old, yet still working aircraft that could be outfitted with robotics. Cheap drones produced from such aircraft could be a market all by itself, and especially as smaller nations join the larger nations in their desire to have this capability– for a fraction of the price.

     Not to take away from the value of having a human in the cockpit, which to me is still the smartest computer out there. I think there will always be a need for this man and machine relationship, and especially if future small wars will require extreme discipline and precision, along with common sense and a feel for the battle field. Only a guy in the plane can really get that feel for their little patch of war and how to dominate the enemy and work with other forces. We might get there one day with UAVs, but I still think humans will have a place. –Matt

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Super Tucano

The Super Tucano, made by Embraer.

Air power on the cheap

Small, slow and inexpensive propeller-driven planes are starting to displace fighter jets

Sep 20th 2010

JET fighters may be sexy in a Tom Cruise-ish sort of way, but for guerilla warefare—in which the enemy rarely has an air force of his own with which to dogfight—they are often not the tool for the job. Pilotless drones can help fill the gap. Sometimes there is no substitute for having a pilot on the scene, however, so modern air forces are starting to turn to a technology from the yesteryear of flying: the turboprop.

So-called light-attack turboprops are cheap both to build and to fly. A fighter jet can cost $80m. By contrast the 208B Caravan, a light-attack turboprop made by Cessna, costs barely $2m. It also costs as little as $500 a hour to run when it is in the air, compared with $10,000 or more for a fighter jet. And, unlike jets, turboprops can use roads and fields for takeoff and landing.

(more…)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Funny Stuff: Blackwater Recruits Rambo, Boba Fett, Predator, and Yosemite Sam For Duty in Iraq

Filed under: Funny Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 5:18 AM

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Funny Stuff: Predator and Politics, Here Comes Billy Bear!

Filed under: Funny Stuff,Kentucky — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:13 AM

 

   It just doesn’t get any funnier than this.  What is it about the movie Predator and politics?  And get this, Sonny was a porn star at one point in his career and also served some time in federal prison, on top of being an eighties action star! LOL  If you check out his website, you will get quite shock, and also see the multitude of cheesy action films he was in.  Enjoy.  –Head Jundi 

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Actor runs for U.S. Senate in Kentucky as Libertarian

June 26th, 2008 

In a story that is getting picked up by many newspapers and websites, the AP reports Sonny Landham, who “played Billy Bear in ‘48 Hours’ and was killed by an alien in ‘Predator,’” is running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky as a Libertarian. Landham, “known for his powerful physique, booming voice and his American Indian heritage,” says he is “serious about his longshot bid, because too many politicians are indifferent to voters’ problems.”

Landham “must collect at least 5,000 valid petition signatures by August 12,” and Kentucky LP Chairman Ken Moellman “believes Landham will make it.” However, the AP says Landham’s appearance in adult films could haunt his campaign. Additionally, Landham “served more than 2 1/2 years in federal prison after being convicted of making threatening and obscene phone calls to his ex-wife. The conviction was thrown out by a federal appeals court that found he committed no crime.”

If Landham scores an upset victory, he would be the third member of the cast of “Predator” elected to major public office, following Govs. Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Story Link

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Be sure to check out his website. It is beyond funny. Next, will be an onslaught of Billy Bear porn.

http://www.sonnylandham.com/

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