Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, June 13, 1944. D+7. First use of V-1s on London.
Tuesday, June 13, 1944. D+7. Heavy fighting in Normandy.
The first V-1 rockets were launched on London.
V-1s are, basically, a pulse jet drone, and therefore heralded an advance in weaponry which we're only now seeing the full application of in combat. One of a variety of late war German "Wunderwaffe", they were primitive in their category and while they affected terror, they stood no chance of being war altering. The same can not be said of the V-2, which was a ballistic missile and truly revolutionary.
Armed drones would be revolutionary, but it would not really be until the advent of cruise missiles that they'd become effective. With advances in targeting, they're now a massive dangerous weapon which has been one of the things which has allowed Ukraine to disproportionately take on Russia in the ongoing Russo Ukrainian War.
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 3. Spring Storms. The Su-27/MQ-9 Incident.
Russo Ukrainian War
A Russian Su-27 caused an American drone to crash in the Black Sea yesterday. The two aircraft may have collided.
Russia, which tends to be as dense as a box of rocks about the capabilities of Western equipment, lied and said the drone just suddenly veered off and fell in the sea, apparently wholly unaware that the drone photographed the SU-27 and we'd have the film footage.
D'uh.
Russia is trying to recover the drone presently.
An interesting aspect of this is the release of jet fuel by the Su-27 near the drone. It may be just me, but I'd fear that the drone's engine would ignite the fuel and send the Su-27 up in a big ball of flame, but apparently not.