Airborne Combat Engineer

Airborne carrier

Wired reports:

DAPRA plans to have a prototype "tri-phibian" (air, land, sea) zeppelin with a range of 6,000 nautical miles, ready to go aloft by 2008.

The huge airship, about the size of an aicraft carrier, could transport a unit of action (1800 troops, along with their armor and air support) anywhere in the world, without infrastructure, in four days.

The C-130 Hercules cargo plane, holds about 22 tons. Darpa's hoping for a Walrus [the project name]  that will someday lug 500 to 1,000 tons.

An earlier A-C-E post (and comment thread) explored a related idea: an airborne-carrier for support aircraft for traditional airborne drops.

See tommorrow's A-C-E post re. efforts of a British firm to build a Sky Cat (as noted by a commenter to this post).

Remember Them

If you are able,
save for them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam

He would lose his own life in an heroic action just months later.

His remains are buried in a group grave at Arlington.

This poem is shown at the end of the move "Hamburger Hill."

A flag on every veteran's grave

See the images at Smash.

The military gravesites ACE has seen in Europe are very moving.

We owe them all, wherever they are buried.  Take a moment at 3PM your time to honor them in the way you consider best.

Memorial Day links

John @ Argghhh! has a moving Memorial Day post, and links to other blog posts re. the day.

You will be moved, if you have any red-blooded American blood in you at all (and I know you do, or you wouldn't be here).

DHS testing airliner missile defense

The NY TImes (via AJC) reports:

The Boeing 767 --- the same type of plane that terrorists flew into the World Trade Center --- is one of three planes that, by the end of this year, will be used to test the infrared laser-based systems designed to find and disable shoulder-fired missiles. The missiles have long been popular among terrorists and rebel groups in war zones around the world; the concern now is that they could become a domestic threat.

The tests are being financed by the Department of Homeland Security, which has been directed by Congress to move rapidly to take technology designed for military aircraft and adapt it so it can protect the nation's 6,800 commercial jets. The department has so far invested $120 million in the testing effort, which is expected to last through next year.

Waste of money, or good idea?

If the bad guys hijack another one, will we be able to shoot it down before they fly it into something?

Should minimum age for airborne training be raised?

This young lady looks a bit too young:

Short-Range Assault Weapon-Multiple Purpose Variant

catchy name, and easy to pronounce

DefenseTalk.com (via Murdoc Online) reports:

Responding to an urgent request from warfighters, Lockheed Martin expanded the capabilities of its Predator anti-tank weapon and delivered 400 rounds to the U.S. Marine Corps.

The U.S. Marine Corps requested Lockheed Martin to modify the shoulder- fired, short-range Predator anti-tank weapon into a direct-attack urban assault weapon. Renamed the Short-Range Assault Weapon-Multiple Purpose Variant (SRAW-MPV), the new urban assault missile has a multiple-purpose blast warhead, enabling it to defeat a variety of targets such as buildings and bunkers, as well as light-armored vehicles.

The flight tests included two rounds that successfully breached a triple-brick target, leaving a gap wide enough for troop entry, and another round that disabled an armored personnel carrier. All shots were at a range of 200 meters.

Where would you like a door?

During the invasion, ACE saw a shoulder try to fire one, and it was a dud. He just put it aside. I'd be putting some distance between it and myself, one way or another.

The history of Memorial Day

The History Channel educates us.

3PM Monday (local time, not all at the same time) has been designated for a National Moment of Remembrance.

Virtual Markets has compiled an index of many interesting links.

Is this Iraq, or Arizona?

Georigia's 48th Guard rolled north into Iraq this morning.

Read about the trip in a blog by Dave Hirschman, an embedded AJC reporter.

At least some of the soldiers are maintaining their sense of humor:

Ever since he arrived in the Middle East, Sgt. Timothy Hass, 33, of Kennesaw, a Cobb County police officer, has stubbornly clung to the amusing premise that the 48th Brigade is really in Arizona. Affecting his most convincing country bumpkin manner, he dismisses the subject of Iraq every time the subject comes up.

“Hey man,” he said pleadingly to a fellow soldier. “Let’s just hop in a car and go to Las Vegas. You ever seen Wayne Newton? I’ve got a friend in Yuma. I bet if we go out the gate and hop on Interstate 10, we can be there in time to catch a movie.”

Southern Iraqi convenience store
(showing the influence of American capitalism)

82nd pilot dies in Iraq chopper crash

FtBraggNC.com reports:

An 82nd Airborne Division soldier was among two Americans killed when their [Kiowa] helicopter was shot down Thursday night near Baghdad, Iraq.

It was the second tour in Iraq for Chief Warrant Officer Matt Lourey, 41, a helicopter pilot.

RIP, Sir, and thanks for serving! (Same to the other man lost -- don't know his name)