BGM-109 Tomahawk Missile

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Tomahawk is an all-weather submarine or ship-launched land-attack cruise missile. After launch, a solid propellant propels the missile until a small turbofan engine takes over for the cruise portion of flight. Tomahawk is a highly survivable weapon. Radar detection is difficult because of the missile’s small cross-section, low altitude flight. Similarly, infrared detection is difficult because the turbofan engine emits little heat. Systems include Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver; an upgrade of the optical Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) system; Time of Arrival (TOA) control, and improved 402 turbo engines.

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S-300 & S-400 Missiles

The S-300 (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) is a series of initially Soviet and later Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems produced by NPO Almaz, all based on the initial S-300P version. The S-300 system was developed to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles for the Soviet Air Defence Forces. Subsequent variations were developed to intercept ballistic missiles.

The S-300 system was first deployed by the Soviet Union in 1979, designed for the air defence of large industrial and administrative facilities, military bases, and control of airspace against enemy strike aircraft. Continue reading “S-300 & S-400 Missiles”

The Buk-2M SA-17

The Buk-2M (SA-17`Grizzly’) low/high altitude surface-to-air missile system.The export version of the Buk-2M is known as Ural (after the Russianriver) and has already completed initial trials. The Buk-2M has been built in two versions: tracked and semi-trailer-mounted. When compared to the tracked version, the trailer version has greater strategic mobility and is probably cheaper to manufacture, operate and maintain. It is therefore likely to have greater export potential.
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Build a Flying Saucer

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This project started based on my desire to create my own original remote control airplane from drawing, to cutting the parts on a cnc machine that I built from a kit, assembling the parts, and then flying the finished product.  There were so many normal type airplanes out there, that I decided that I would do something different.  I decided on a saucer shaped plane.  The project was such a great challenge from the beginning.  First, I had to learn to use a CAD program.  I started with a program from Google called SketchUp.  It was a painful experience, but it’s a great program to learn CAD drawing on, and, it’s free.  After some time, I had a drawing created that included over 50 pieces.  The next step was to build the router based cnc machine called a PhlatPrinter.  Not as painful as CAD, but still very challenging.  The group that created the PhlatPrinter also included the script that would create the gcode file that the cnc machine need to actually cut the parts. Continue reading “Build a Flying Saucer”

How Apache Helicopters Work

 

Introduction to How Apache Helicopters Work

The Apache helicopter is a revolutionary development in the history of war. It is essentially a flying tank — a helicopter designed to survive heavy attack and inflict massive damage. It can zero in on specific targets, day or night, even in terrible weather. As you might expect, it is a terrifying machine to ground forces.

In this article, we’ll look at the Apache’s amazing flight systems, weapons systems, sensor systems and armor systems. Individually, these components are remarkable pieces of technology. Combined together, they make up an unbelievable fighting machine — the most lethal helicopter ever created.

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Food and mood

lebanese food

We explain what the latest research can tell us about how different food makes us feel, and why.

lebanese foodIt’s not uncommon to find yourself smacking your lips and asking out loud, “I feel like eating … something…” During colder months, we turn to ‘comfort foods’ to take away the winter blues. But how do we choose what we eat? Do we eat different food when we’re happy as opposed to when we’re sad? Or does the food we eat determine how we feel? Is it possible to eat ourselves happy? Recent research on the relationship between mood and food has tried to answer these questions and the results have been mixed.

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