rune

Bah and Humbug on the lot of you. My primary training was on a T-34C Mentor. No, it wasn't the russian tank with wings. Nothing like a Model PT6A-25 turbo-prop engine to get you in the right frame of mind. Alas, like my beloved F-14, the T-34 is phased out. Its replacement is the T-6 Texan II. Blergh.... anything named after Texas can't be that good. Rune

Oh forgot this one... Israeli and Syrian artillery systems are broken down by caliber in Figure 11. In theory, the weapons in Syrian hands should have a range advantage over those in Israeli forces. In practice, Syria has badly lagged behind Israel in long range targeting capability, the ability to shift and rapidly retarget fires, other artillery battlement systems, the use of counterbattery and other radars, the use... The entire document, a military study, can be found here: http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/081125_arab-israeli-syrian_conv_mil_bal.pdf Note, for fairness, it is the same author as the first book I mentioned. Rune

Guys, First, do NOT compare Russian and Syrian units. Second, i have now read 2 seperate books that state the Syrian artillery has a very hard time in adjusting fire. http://books.google.com/books?id=5jyzSpqg_QMC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=syrian+artillery+reaction+times&source=bl&ots=W1gGU8gTd-&sig=y0vIkNbKgMVOSXiopCtDvSXwfU4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA212,M1 Read from page 212 down. Also note they talk about the night vision on the t-72 and how bad it performed. "...and its sensors and fire control systems proved inadequant for night and poor visibility combat...". make sure you read the entire passage. The secondary source is Arabs at war, and if i remember correctly, read from page 512 on. The isreali comment that the Syrian Artillery could NOT adjust to the changing tactical situation is an interesting read. Now, you can go on gut feeling, or you can go with Noted Middle East military expert Anthony H. Cordesman, and the author of Arabs at War. Rune

Wildman forgot one in his list of delivery systems, that of the tv-guided or optically guided bomb, something like the gbu-15, or from my day, the walleye [out of service] Rune

Steve, Don't forget the Bradley book by Hunnicutt that I gave ya. An excellent resource. Rune

6321, i am right, ain't i? Rune

Sergi, Sergei, Sergei, have i taught you nothing? The greatest tank of all time is this: http://www.jedsite.info/tanks-bravo/bravo/misc/bob-semple/bobsemple-intro.htm Rune

No, no, no, they are the minions for the Space lobsters. The grunts as it were... Rune

Very frequently? Not at all. Barkmann had a single incident in what, 5 years of fighting? To top it off, the incident caused very little damage to his tank? As for the Russian, none other then David Glantz said this: "Most of the stories about ramming comes from the fighting during the first few days of the war, when many of the Soviet tanks (particularly KVs and T-34s) had yet to be bore-sighted or lacked ammunition. For example, the 2nd Tank Division issued such orders to its new tanks when it engaged the 6th Panzer Division just east of naseinai, Lithuania--and was winning the fight until it ran out of fuel--after whuch the tanks became imobile pillboxes. It this instance the new Soviet tanks were a match for the lighter German or Czeck tanks even when they could only ram. You can probably find similar instances even later in the war, but only after the tanks ran out of ammunition or could not fire for some other reason. All the best, David" It did not happen frequently. Rune

*ahem* End of June? June 12th, June 13 17th SS pzgndr fought the 506th at Caretan. The battle of the bloody gulch was going badly for the Americans til CCA of 2nd Armor arrived to help the outgunned paratroops. Rune

LOL, it was one of mine in a moment of sick of hearing about historical battles. Are you sure you want another one like it? Rune

The last time Lars went Ice Fishing, he brought home 300 pounds of ice. He tried cooking it, and nearly drowned. Perhaps next time he can succeed? Rune

Cricket...you know.. the thing where players get together for three days and rub their legs together to make a sound like crickets? It is not like you have any real sports down there. http://bowral.yourguide.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/end-of-an-era-for-australian-cricket/1356514.aspx Rune

*Ahem* For those of the mutha beautiful thread coming from down under... was just wondering.. how did the Aussies do against India this past weekend in the cricket test? Rune

Remember there is no love lost between the goernment of Syria and AQ. Syria is non-secular, a fact AQ has brought up before. Why allow the US to do it? IF it was done, to keep ties with iran and hezbollah <sp?> alive and taking out an enemy of the government. Also who know what quid pro quo was offered behind the scenes. If there was an arrangement, we won't know about it. Just pointing out Saudi Arabia supports one thing and says another all the time. {akistan also. Rune

There is also the possibility that Syria did green light this and gave information to the US, while playing the injured party for show. Don't want to upset their allies, the Iranians. Before this happened there was talk of some back channel contacts between the US and Syria. No proof, just another possibility, the Saudi Arabians do it all the time. Rune

That correspondence course in how to camoflauge yourself in 10 easy lessons has really paid off... Rune

In IE8, but 32 and 64 bit versions, nothing shows beneath the picture. IE8 is only in beta 2, may not be a thing to be worried about. Rune

Actually they are sending one of the hospital ships, which is obviously a navy asset. Rune

For Mace's viewing pleasure, Rune http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/07/15/kachroo.uk.pet.sheep.itn

Speaking of which, How is Joebob ? I work with a pack of hooting, feces flinging Gibbons! Your karma must suck about as much as mine does. </font>

Oh yeah, in comparison, lets look at the jdam. The JDAM bombs can be released in day/night and adverse weather at up to 15 miles away from the selected target. The Pentagon claims that JDAM bomb accuracy is about 13 meters CEP (Circular Error Probable), but according to Boeing sources JDAM accuracy is 9.6 meters CEP. Without the GPS guidance system using only the INS guidance system JDAM accuracy is 30 meters. 9 meters for a guided weapon. Rune

Speaking as an ex-Navy flier, 5 meter accuracy is damn good for non-guidance weapons. For the F-15E, low level the accuracy averages about 25 meters. Here, i will quote: All of the coefficients meet the standard test of statistical significance (p-values less than 0.05 for their individual statistics), but what does this regression analysis say about the practical impact of instructor status and recent practice on average visual bomb miss distance? First, the constant can be interpreted as the average bomb miss distance – in meters – for a non-instructor who has not dropped any practice bombs in the past 30 days. In this case it is approximately 25 meters. This also does NOT factor in things like crew fatigue, mechanical malfunctions, or other errors. This article deals with crews that were assigned to Saudi Arabia. http://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD147/RGSD147.chap5.pdf For other aircraft, the zones varied. Rune

No Problem, one of the strange quirks of Vista. Rune

Just adding one and only one example that occurred during GW II, a ZSU-23 took out a M1 Abrams temporary by a lucky shot that hit the gun barrel and dented it. obviously they could not fire the main gun after that, it occured right before the thunder run and was mentioned int he book of the same name. Talk about your one in a million lucky shots. Rune