Crossing the Line. The boisterous ceremonies of “crossing the line” are ancient and their derivation is lost. It is well known that ceremonies took place long ago when the ship crossed the thirtieth parallel, and also when going through the Straits of Gibraltar. Early ceremonies were rough and to a great extent supposed to try…
From an MDA press release earlier today: The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile. The experiment, conducted at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off the central California coast, serves as…
…though you might need a little more exotic kit than walking shoes and sunscreen to visit. (full story here) For those of short memory, the story of the USS Macon and her brood was the subject of an earlier Flightdeck Friday: “Gasbags and Hookers”
Votkinsk Machine Building Plant. Located about 8.5 km to the east of the birthplace of Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky, in the Russian Federation Republic of Udmurtia, is an industrial facility whose name, in typical Soviet fashion, obscures the products made there. It is a name unfamiliar to most outside of the arms control, intelligence or…
Feb. 10 Strong winds and steady snowfall impede visibility on the National Mall and throughout the Washington region. Ricky Carioti-The Washington Post The winter of 1898-99 – that’s the last time the area saw this much snow. 54.4″ was the talley then – as of 1800 EDT today, we had accumulated 55.4″ (with more still…
Our deployed correspondent, AT1 Charles Berleman, checks in from the latest liberty port: SJS, Okay to start with I am currently in Malaysia, but last week I had a chance to visit the island of Phuket (pronounced Foo-Ket) in the Indian Ocean side of Thailand. An interesting place historically. It is one of the few…
…And, we’re back. Didn’t lose power or satellite TV, but the internet went lights out about 5 hours into this weekend’s storm. Some metrics from the storm: 32″ at the homestead vs. 18″ at Reagan National (it always skews low there – must be all the hot air from up river…) 14,180 ft3 of snow…
 We are about one-third of the way through Iran’s annual “Ten Days of Dawn†observation which celebrates the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The occasion serves as a platform for Iran to boast about progress under the Islamic Republic and demonstrate military, scientific…
“245 PM EST WED FEB 3 2010 .WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRI MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN STERLING VA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH.WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM FRI MORNING THROUGH SAT EVENING. * PRECIPITATION TYPE.SNOW. * ACCUMULATIONS.THIS STORM IS LIKELY TO PRODUCE 12 OR MORE INCHES OF…
Gulf BMD Deployments Lots in the news today – let’s start in the Gulf: US officials have let it be known that it now has Patriot batteries in four Gulf states – Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. US anti-missile ships are also being stationed in the Gulf. All this comes as the…
