The key figures in the January 3 U.S. airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani have been identified, most notably Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and commander of Kataeb Hezbollah. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was listed as a terrorist in the United Arab Emirates and the United States. Some security experts are divided on whether Muhandis was specifically targeted or if he was a bonus kill. Iranian and Iraqi officials have so far confirmed the U.S. attack killed ten people in addition to Soleimani. Rikar Hussein and Mehdi Jedinia of Voice of … [Read more...]
MQ-9 Reaper: The Drone that Killed Soleimani
By now many Americans, including those on Wall Street, have heard the news of a major escalation in tensions with Iran that occurred yesterday. In a drone strike ordered by President Trump, Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad. The drone used for the mission was the MQ-9 Reaper. The drone was proposed by the Air Force in 2003. Here's a description of the drone and its mission from the Air Force: Mission The MQ-9 Reaper is an armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft that is employed primarily against dynamic execution targets and … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy’s 10 Most Popular Advanced Weapons Systems of 2019
You’ve read Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Survival Posts of 2019, and Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Money Posts of 2019. Here are Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Advanced Weapons Systems of 2019. Secretly Closing the Gap in the Air-to-Air Missile Race New Secret Weapon is Like Dropping Anvils on Terrorists Heads The IRS is Coming after Your IRA with this Hidden Tax The Rich and Famous: How to Invest Like Jay Leno Russia’s Next Generation Stealth Bomber May Never Take Flight CHAMP: The Microwave Bomb that can Win a Battle With No Casualties What Happens … [Read more...]
New Secret Weapon is Like Dropping Anvils on Terrorists Heads
UPDATE: After Steve Schneider brought you this information on the Hellfire R9X back in May, the CIA ramped up its usage of these bombs developed to avoid civilian casualties. Since then it has taken on the nickname, the "Flying Ginsu." According to Popular Mechanics, the bomb has been used at least 8 times. The most recent known use was against members of Ahrar al-Sham in the first week of December. - E.J. Smith This is a variant of the Hellfire missile called the R9X. The secret missile has no warhead and is used by the U.S. to reduce civilian casualties by using kinetic energy. A regular … [Read more...]
U.S. Looks to Address its Rare Earth Mineral Choke Point
The U.S. once dominated rare-earth mining and production during what is known as the “Mountain Pass era” from 1960-1980. In recent decades China has become the largest producer, now controlling 90% to 95% of the world’s rare-earth mineral mining and production. Rare earth elements are crucial to modern U.S. military aerospace technology. They are used in everything from high-powered lasers to missile guidance systems, radars, sonar systems, and more. China has the ability and has shown its willingness to manipulate the supply of materials and technologies deemed strategic … [Read more...]
DARPA’s New Urban Warfare Program Takes Flight
In a recent test, DARPA’s experimental Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program, teams practiced complex urban warfare missions while the autonomous air and ground robots of the OFFSET program maintained situational awareness of the surrounding area. As more conflicts have been fought in cities and densely populated areas like Mosul, Aleppo, Mogadishu, Gaza, Basra, and Sadr City, hard lessons have been learned by the U.S. military about urban warfare. DARPA hopes its OFFSET program will give military units the upper hand with real time overall situational awareness. During the … [Read more...]
F-35 Performance Falling Short of Warfighter Requirements
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II is expected to fall short of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ year-end 80% mission-capable rate. Lee Hudson of Aerospace & Defense Report tells readers that the main contributor to the delay is supply shortages for the F-35’s, most notably the transparency canopy. And it’s only going to get worse as worldwide fleet growth is expected to more than double by 2023. Lee Hudson goes on to write (abridged): The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is not expected to meet the Pentagon’s goal of an 80% mission-capable rate by the end of the fiscal year due to … [Read more...]
S-97 Raider Shows off its Maneuverability in Flight Test
Test pilots pushed Sikorsky’s S-97 Raider to the limits as it performed moves no ordinary helicopter could. The S-97 Raider flew sideways, nose-down, backwards, and even in stealth mode. The flight test proves that a software problem blamed for a setback in 2017 has been fixed. Eric Adams of Vertical details how the S-97 handled like a sports car (abridged): During a 20-minute test flight of the prototype S-97 Raider at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Florida, facility — conducted in front of four journalists in the first such public demonstration — the unconventional coaxial-rotor aircraft … [Read more...]
Remote Controlled Terror
Houthi rebel drone attacks are on the rise, and they’re getting more sophisticated. United Nations investigators have said the rebels, with their newest UAV-X planes, can travel 150mph and just over 900 miles. They are also using remote-controlled boats to target ships off the coast of Yemen. According to the U.N., these unmanned threats put much of the Gulf, including Saudi and Emirates capitals, and one of the busiest shipping routes, the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb within range. Dion Nissenbaum and Warren Strobel of The WSJ write (abridged). Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched armed drone … [Read more...]
Driving into Gun Hell without Your Survival Pistol of Choice
In speaking with a client recently, he revealed to me his go-to survival pistol, which I’ll tell you about it in a minute. But first, he told me the story about driving from his home state of Arizona, where he owns over 200 pistols, to what he referred to as “gun hell.” He was none too pleased about being without his sidearm. “Welcome to Massachusetts.” He was bringing some things to his daughter who lives in Massachusetts, and knowing it’s a felony to have a handgun in your car—unless you’re driving directly through and into another state (interstate) or have a MA CCL—he felt exposed on … [Read more...]