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Showing posts from April, 2022

Aegis Combat System

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   Aegis Common Source Library (CSL) enables customers to rapidly integrate new capabilities across the fleet in a “build once, use many times” framework. Aegis CSL can be used across a variety of ship classes and land-based systems to perform a wide range of missions. Lockheed Martin applies its unique combat system expertise to deliver a combat system capability that supports the diverse missions of the Surface Navy while applying  a common, open architecture across the entire fleet and around the world. Today, the CSL is used on Aegis Cruisers and Destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships, Coast Guard National Security Cutters and Offshore Patrol Vessels, Aegis Ashore and is planned for Frigate, Canadian Surface Combatant, and the Saudi Multi-Mission Surface Combatant. Aegis allies have grown to include Japan, Canada, Norway, Korea, Spain, and Australia. These international partners are currently building ships that will draw from the CSL to support their mission on Frigates a...

HMS Hermes

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  HMS  Hermes   was a British   aircraft carrier   built for the   Royal Navy   and was the world's first ship to be designed as an aircraft carrier, although the   Imperial Japanese Navy 's   Hōshō   was the first to be launched and commissioned. [2]   The ship's construction began during the   First World War   but not completed until after the end of the war, delayed by multiple changes in her design after she was   laid down . After she was   launched , the   Armstrong Whitworth   shipyard which built her closed, and her fitting out was suspended. Most of the changes made were to optimise her design, in light of the results of experiments with operational carriers. Finally commissioned in 1924,  Hermes  served briefly with the  Atlantic Fleet  before spending the bulk of her career assigned to the  Mediterranean Fleet  and the  China Station . In the Mediterranean,...

Type 039A submarine

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  The  Type 039A submarine  ( NATO reporting name :  Yuan class ) is a class of  diesel-electric  submarine in China's  People's Liberation Army Navy . It is China's first  AIP  powered submarine and presumed to be one of the quietest diesel-electric submarine classes in service. This class is the successor of the  Type 039 submarine . The official Chinese designation is 039A as the ship is based on the 039 class, but as the 039A has very little resemblance to the 039 it is commonly referred to as the  Type 041 . The class is designed to replace the aging  Type 033  (Romeo class) and the older  Type 035 submarines  that previously formed the backbone of the conventional submarine force. According to an early assessment by the  US Naval Institute , the Yuan class was primarily designed as "an  anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM)  platform capable of hiding submerged for long periods of time in...

Personnel halting and stimulation response rifle

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  The  personnel halting and stimulation response rifle  ( PHASR ) is a prototype  non-lethal   laser   dazzler  developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, U.S.  Department of Defense . [1]  Its purpose is to temporarily disorient and blind a target. Blinding laser weapons have been tested in the past, but were banned under the 1995 UN  Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons , which the United States  acceded  to on 21 January 2009. [2]  The PHASR rifle, a low-intensity laser, is not prohibited under this regulation, as the blinding effect is intended to be temporary. It also uses a two-wavelength laser. [3]  The PHASR was tested at  Kirtland Air Force Base , part of the  Air Force Research Laboratory   Directed Energy Directorate  in  New Mexico . Its name is likely derived from the fictional " Phaser " of  Star Trek  lore, which is known for being dep...

AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System

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  The  AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System  or  XN-1 LaWS [1]  is a  laser weapon  developed by the  United States Navy . The weapon was installed on  USS  Ponce  for field testing in 2014. In December 2014, the United States Navy reported that the LaWS system worked perfectly against low-end  asymmetric  threats, and that the commander of  Ponce  was authorized to use the system as a defensive weapon. The LaWS is a ship-defense system that has so far publicly engaged an  unmanned aerial vehicle  (UAV or drone) and a simulated small-boat attacker. LaWS uses an infrared beam from a  solid-state laser  array which can be tuned to high output to destroy a target or low output to warn or cripple the sensors of a target. One of its advantages over projectile weapons is the low cost per shot: Each firing of the weapon requires only the minimal cost of generating the energetic pulse; by contrast, ordnance f...

Mikoyan PAK DP

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  The  Mikoyan PAK DP  ( Russian :  ПАК ДП , short for:  Перспективный авиационный комплекс дальнего перехвата ,  romanized :  Perspektivny aviatsionny kompleks dal'nego perekhvata ,  lit.   ''Prospective air complex for long-range interception'') is a Russian programme to develop a  stealth   interceptor aircraft /heavy fighter under development by  Mikoyan [2] [3] [4] [5]  to replace the  Mikoyan MiG-31  in the  Russian Air Force  in mid-2020s or mid-2030s. [6] [7] [8]  It is often referenced as  Mikoyan MiG-41 , because its project code is izd.41, but its official designation has never been given, as Russian planes only get their official designation when they are about to enter service. [9]  According to the Russian defence analyst Vasily Kashin, the MiG-41 would be considered as a 5++ or  6th generation  project. In an interview for Russia Today, the Director General of RSK MiG,...

Flintlock Gun 17th–18th century

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This long, dramatically shaped gun is one of only five highly decorated Sinhalese long arms ( bondikula thuwakkuwa ) known to survive from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Measuring more than seven feet in length it features a bifurcated butt––a characteristic unique to Sinhalese guns, thought to be in use since as early as the sixteenth century––and is distinguished by its remarkable ornamentation. Pierced ivory panels, sensitively carved with scrolling foliate designs ( liya vela  and  liya pata ) that emanate from and around two central flowers ( sīna-mala ), are inset into the stock, which itself is carved with scrolling foliate ornament ( liya pata ). Silver plates embossed with screwpine flowers ( vetakeyiya mala ) frame the lock, which is positioned on the left side of the gun, as was standard on Sinhalese firearms of the period. The two-stage barrel, with brass-inlaid transverse bands at its transition, is silver-damascened with an undulating vegetal motif ( l...

RS-28 Sarmat

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  The  RS-28 Sarmat  (Russian:  РС-28 Сармат , [5]  named after the  Sarmatians ; [6]   NATO reporting name :  SS-X-29 [7]  or  SS-X-30 [8] ), sometimes colloquially known in the West as the "Satan II", is a Russian  liquid-fueled ,  MIRV -equipped  super-heavy   intercontinental ballistic missile  (ICBM) under development by the  Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau  since 2009. [5] [9]  It is intended to replace the  R-36M  ICBM (SS-18 'Satan') in Russia's  arsenal . [10] [11] The  Sarmat  is one of the six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian president  Vladimir Putin  on 1 March 2018. [12]  The RS-28 Sarmat made its first test flight on 20 April 2022, [13]  and the Russian government expects the missile to enter service later in the year. The RS-28 Sarmat will be capable of carrying about 10  tonnes  of payload for either up to 10 heav...

R-360 Neptune

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  R-360 Neptune  ( Ukrainian :  Р-360 «Нептун» ,  romanized :  R-360 "Neptun" ) is a Ukrainian  anti-ship   cruise missile  developed by the  Luch Design Bureau . Neptune's design is based on the Soviet  Kh-35  anti-ship missile, with substantially improved range and electronics. The system is designed to defeat surface warships and transport vessels with a displacement of up to 5,000 tons, either in convoys or moving individually, though it has been able to destroy vessels up to 12,000 tons in displacement. The system entered service with the  Ukrainian Navy  in March 2021. The missile was first revealed at the 2015  Arms and Security  [ uk ]  international exhibition in Kyiv. [5] According to information from open sources, the first flight samples of the cruise missile were manufactured in the second quarter of 2016. Production of advanced missile systems took place in cooperation with other Ukrainian...

Russian cruiser Moskva

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  Moskva  [ˈmɒsk.və] ( Russian :  Москва ,  lit.   ' Moscow '- ), formerly  Slava  ( Russian :  Слава ,  lit.   'Glory'), was a  guided missile cruiser  of the  Russian Navy . The ship was the  lead ship  of the  Project 1164  Atlant  class  and was named after the city of  Moscow . She was the  flagship  of the Russian  Black Sea Fleet  and helped lead the naval assault during the  2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . The cruiser had previously been deployed in several military conflicts, including in  Georgia (2008) ,  Crimea (2014) , and  Syria (2015) . With a crew of 510, she was the most powerful surface vessel in the Black Sea region. She sank on 14 April 2022 in the  Black Sea , 100 km from the coast of  Odessa . Ukrainian officials and the  US Department of Defense  said Ukraine attacked the cruiser with two  R-360 Nep...