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GBU-43
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB , colloquially known as the "Mother of All Bombs") is a large-yield bomb, developed for the United States military by Albert L. Weimorts, Jr. of the Air Force Research Laboratory. It was first tested in 2003. At the time of development, it was said to be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the American arsenal. The bomb is designed to be delivered by a C-130 Hercules, primarily the MC-130E Combat Talon I or MC-130H Combat Talon II variants. The MOAB was first deployed in combat in the 13 April 2017 airstrike against an Islamic State – Khorasan Province tunnel complex in Achin District, Afghanistan. Design and development The basic principle resembles that of the BLU-82 ''Daisy Cutter'', which was used to clear heavily wooded areas in the Vietnam War. Decades later, the BLU-82 was used in Afghanistan in November 2001 against the Taliban. Its success as a weapon of intimidation led to the decision to develop the MOAB. Pen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Force Armament Museum
The Air Force Armament Museum is a military aviation museum adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, dedicated to the display of Air Force armament. It is supported by the private, non-profit Air Force Armament Museum Foundation. History The museum opened to the public on 22 June 1974 in a converted 1940s era chapel. Two years later, the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation was established with the goal of constructing a new building. The foundation faced significant public opposition in its early years driven by a referendum to appropriate county funding for the new building. After the referendum failed, the original building was condemned and the museum was forced to close in 1981. A new square foot building located outside the base's west gate was eventually funded entirely through private donations. The new museum building opened on 15 November 1985. Shortly thereafter, an exhibit on prisoners of war was inaugurated. Starting in 1990, a number of aircraft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2017 Nangarhar Airstrike
The 2017 Nangarhar airstrike refers to the American bombing of the Achin District located in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. On 13 April 2017, the United States conducted an airstrike and used the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), with the goal of destroying tunnel complexes used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP or ISIS-K), a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The bomb was dropped from the rear cargo door of a United States Air Force Lockheed MC-130. On 15 April 2017, Afghan officials reported that 96 ISIL-KP militants, including four commanders, were killed in the strike. Background The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced the establishment of its Khorasan branch in January 2015, which was the first time the group had officially spread outside the Arab world. A few days before the airstrike, U.S. Army S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medevac, and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in other roles, including as a gunship ( AC-130), for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refueling, maritime patrol, and aerial firefighting. It is now the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. More than 40 variants of the Hercules, including civilian versions marketed as the Lockheed L-100, operate in more than 60 nations. The C-130 entered service with the U.S. in 1956, followed by Australia and many other nations. During its years of service, the Hercules has participated in numerous military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. In 2007, the C-130 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Force Research Laboratory
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, planning and executing the Air Force science and technology program, and providing warfighting capabilities to United States air, space, and cyberspace forces. It controls the entire Air Force science and technology research budget which was $2.4 billion in 2006. The Laboratory was formed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, on 31 October 1997 as a consolidation of four Air Force laboratory facilities (Wright, Phillips, Rome, and Armstrong) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under a unified command. The Laboratory is composed of eight technical directorates, one wing, and the Office of Scientific Research. Each technical directorate emphasizes a particular area of research within the AFRL mission which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BLU-82
The BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, known under program "Commando Vault" and nicknamed " Daisy Cutter" in Vietnam for its ability to flatten a section of forest into a helicopter landing zone, is an American conventional bomb, delivered from either a C-130 or MC-130 transport aircraft or a CH-54 heavy-lift "Skycrane" helicopter from the 1st Air Cavalry. A total of 225 were constructed. It was successfully used during military operations in Vietnam, the Gulf War and Afghanistan. The BLU-82 was retired in 2008 and replaced with the more powerful GBU-43/B MOAB. Overview The designation "BLU" stands for Bomb Live Unit, as opposed to "BDU" (Bomb Dummy Units) used for practice. Originally designed to create an instant clearing in the jungles of Vietnam, the BLU-82B/C-130 was test-dropped there from a CH-54 Tarhe "Flying crane" helicopter. Later it was used in Afghanistan as an anti-personnel weapon and as an intimidation weapon because of its very large blast radius (variously re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grid Fin
Grid fins (or lattice fins) are a type of flight control surface used on rockets and bombs, sometimes in place of more conventional control surfaces, such as planar fins. They were developed in the 1950s by a team led by and used since the 1970s in various Soviet ballistic missile designs such as the SS-12 ''Scaleboard'', SS-20 ''Saber'', SS-21 ''Scarab'', SS-23 ''Spider'', and SS-25 ''Sickle'', as well as the N-1 (the intended rocket for the Soviet moon program). In Russia, they are thus often referred to as ' grid fins. Grid fins have also been used on conventional missiles and bombs such as the Vympel R-77 air-to-air missile; the 3M-54 Klub (SS-N-27 Sizzler) family of cruise missiles; and the American Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) large-yield conventional bomb, and on specialized devices such as the Quick-MEDS delivery system and as part of the launch escape system for the Soyuz spacecraft. In 2014, SpaceX tested grid fins on a first-stage demonstration test veh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TNT Equivalent
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of TNT. In other words, for each gram of TNT exploded, (or 4184 joules) of energy is released. This convention intends to compare the destructiveness of an event with that of conventional explosive materials, of which TNT is a typical example, although other conventional explosives such as dynamite contain more energy. Kiloton and megaton The "kiloton (of TNT)" is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 terajoules (). The "megaton (of TNT)" is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 petajoules (). The kiloton and megaton of TNT have traditionally been used to describe the energy output, and hence the destructive power, of a nuclear weapon. The TNT equivalent appears in various nuclear weapon control treaties, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MC-130
The Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the Air Force Reserve Command. Based on the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport, the MC-130s' missions are the infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces, and the air refueling of (primarily) special operations helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft. The first of the variants, the MC-130E, was developed to support clandestine special operations missions during the Vietnam War. Eighteen were created by modifying C-130E transports, and four lost through attrition, but the remainder served more than four decades after their initial modification. An update, the MC-130H Combat Talon II, was developed in the 1980s from the C-130H and went into service in the 1990s. Four of the original 24 H-series aircraft have been lost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic State – Khorasan Province
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (; ISKP) is an affiliate of the Islamic State militant group active in South Asia and Central Asia. Some media sources also use the terms ISK (or IS–K), ISISK (or ISIS–K), IS–KP, Daesh–Khorasan or Daesh–K in referring to the group. ISKP has been active in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, where they claimed attacks. The ISKP and Taliban consider each other enemies. The group was created in January 2015 by disaffected Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, although its membership includes individuals from various countries notably Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. Its initial leaders, Hafiz Saeed Khan and Abdul Rauf Aliza, were killed by US forces in July 2016 and February 2015, respectively. Subsequent leaders have also been killed; its leader Abdullah Orokzai was captured in April 2020 by Afghanistan's intelligence service. ISKP has conducted numerous high-profile attacks against civilians mostly in Afghanistan and Pakist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drogue Parachute
A drogue parachute is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly-moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute. Vehicles that have used drogue parachutes include multi-stage parachutes, aircraft, and spacecraft recovery systems. The drogue parachute was invented by the Russian professor and parachute specialist Gleb Kotelnikov in 1912, who also invented the knapsack parachute. The Soviet Union introduced its first aircraft fitted with drogue parachutes during the mid 1930s; use of the technology expanded during and after the Second World War. A large number of jet-powered aircraft have been furnished with drogue parachutes, including the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole aircraft; they were also commonly used within crewed space vehicle recovery programmes, including Project Mercury and Project Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Review Online
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich Lowry, while the editor is Ramesh Ponnuru. Since its founding, the magazine has played a significant role in the development of conservatism in the United States, helping to define its boundaries and promoting fusionism while establishing itself as a leading voice on the American right. The online version, ''National Review Online'', is edited by Philip Klein and includes free content and articles separate from the print edition. The free content is limited, but National Review Plus allows ad-free and unlimited access to both online and print articles. History Background Before ''National Review''s founding in 1955, the American right was a largely unorganized collection of people who shared intertwining philosophies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
