Yup, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) needs to be harder, according to anonymous Pentagon sources cited in a Wall Street Journal article. A series of recent tests found that the Air Force’s 30,000-pound tool for penetrating 32 stories of reinforced concrete might not have enough penetrating power to take out Iran’s most heavily protected nuclear […]
Ammo and Munitions
Could this be the secret new strike weapons Boeing executives told a bunch of us reporters the company was working on during the Farnborough air show in 2010? I spotted the mystery weapon in Boeing’s booth at the Surface Navy Association’s annual conference here in Washington. I’d never seen the design or the name before so I […]
I the start of a new trend in drone warfare, the Navy is going to launch a version of the Army’s Switchblade kamikaze UAV from a submarine during its annual RIMPAC exercise next year. Basically, a Switchblade will be fired out of a sub’s, wait for it, trash disposal chute at periscope depth whiile encased in a […]
So, Finnish Authorities yesterday found 69 Patriot air-defense missiles and another 160 tons of explosives on a ship bound for China. What!? The British-flagged merchant ship Thor Liberty apparently left Emden, Germany with the missiles and stopped in Finland to pick up anchor chains when Finnish customs inspectors found the weapons — in crates marked as fireworks […]
Here’s an interesting photo of Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers aboard the USS Makin Island in the Pacific Ocean about to be armed with AIM-120 AMRAAMs. Yup, Harriers armed with the U.S.’ premiere air-to-air weapon. This marks the first time that USMC Harriers have carried AMRAAMs on an operational deployment. Pretty interesting considering that one typically […]
