Poland’s Krab is a self-propelled artillery gun, normally an indirect-fire weapon, but can be used as a direct-fire weapon (like a main-battle-tank). The following images and videos were made during Exercise Dynamic Front, March 2023, in NATO-Denmark.
Puerto Rico Army National Guard image by Staff Sergeant Agustín Montañez, 26MAR2023.
Hawaii Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Gavin K. Ching, 26MAR2023.
Hawaii Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Theresa Gualdarama, 26MAR2023.
Hawaii Army National Guard video (by Sergeant Gavin K. Ching) of Krab direct firing on the Oksbøl range, Denmark, 26MAR2023:
Hawaii Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Theresa Gualdarama, 26MAR2023.
Hawaii Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Theresa Gualdarama, 26MAR2023.
Hawaii Army National Guard video (by Sergeant Gavin K. Ching) of Krab crawling through the mud on the Oksbøl range, Denmark, 24MAR2023:
Hawaii Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Theresa Gualdarama, 24MAR2023.
Hawaii Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Theresa Gualdarama, 24MAR2023.
The SR-71B that would become NASA 831. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Luis Ruiz-Vazquez, 15JAN1982.
SR-71B #61-7956, on the day of its delivery to NASA, 24JUL1991.
NASA photo of SR-71B #831, July 1991. The ‘B’ version of the Blackbird has ventral fins on the nacelles, like the YF-12A.
Silent take-off video from 1991:
In July 1991, NASA began using the last of two SR-71B trainers (the other SR-71B was lost in a crash in 1968), #61-7956, also known as NASA 831.
Silent refueling video from 1991:
NASA photo from 1992, showing-off the three SR-71s they got ‘on loan’ from the U.S. Air Force. NASA 831 is in the middle.
Silent take-off video from 1992:
SR-71B ‘831’, photo via NASA, 1994.
NASA photo of 831, March 1996.
831 was used for crew training and various research programs on Dryden Flight Research Center (now called Armstrong Flight Research Center, on Edwards Air Force Base), California, until October 1997.
This NASA photo was made in July 1997, just a few months before 831 was retired.
NASA photo from August 1997, in the foreground is SR-71A carrying the Linear Aerospike experiment, behind it is retiring SR-71B 831.
Same photo but I zoomed in to show the apparatus on the canopies of 831.
At the end of 2002, pieces and parts of NASA 831 were loaded onto tractor-trailers at Edwards AFB (Dryden Research Center), California, for the trip to Michigan. Photo via NASA.
To confuse things even more, some aviation blogs claim the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, has NASA 831! The museum’s own SR-71 FAQ section states they’ve had the SR-71 since 2002! They post three photos; two are NASA photos, with one being of 831, and the other being an SR-71A being configured for the Linear Aerospike experiment. The third photo is of the museum’s SR-71 and it is clearly an SR-71A, not the B or even 831.
At this point, the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum is the only location that has photographic proof that they have NASA 831. Not only does their website have lots of detailed photos of NASA 831, but they got lots of photos of other Blackbirds.
Testors SR-71 built as the ‘B’ version, NASA 831. I had to scratch build an aerial refueling door as Testors did not provide it.
After 25 years in my stash-pile, and realizing that the outrageous prices being fetched for an old Testors SR-71 might be due to Testors ceasing to exist, and the fact that the new Revell-Germany SR-71 does not include parts for the ‘B’ version, I decided it was time to build it.
NASA photo, July 1995.
The first problem I came across with the kit itself, was that Testors molded the refueling door in the open position and did not provide a door for the closed position, I wanted it closed so I had to use plastic sheet to cover the open fuel receptacle. Perhaps Testors got confused, photos of parked SR-71s do show the refueling door open, but that is because the hydraulics have relaxed, in-flight the door is closed, except when refueling.
I still have a mail-order catalog showing the MSRP of $20 back in 1996-97. I realized that the kit was not promoted as being able to build the B version.
I bought the Testors kit back in 1997, when it was a whopping $20 brand new, and I got it on discount for less than $19!
Unfortunately, the box and decals didn’t survive the test of time; the outer end opening box literally began disintegrating, and the decals were cracked beyond use (I tried, even with a coat of clear they shattered in the water), I ended up getting some Caracal-Cartograf decals.
If you follow the order of assembly you will have problems.
I learned that if you follow the instructions and attach the rudders to the nacelles first, you will have problems attaching the afterburners. Attach the afterburners before attaching the rudders. I glued the intake spike (shock cone) behind the mounting point as I was building it to represent being in-flight. The shock-cone retracts into the nacelle allowing the Blackbird to fly faster.
Dry fitting reveals a major problem.
Another problem is that the mounting holes in the center section are too small to allow the nacelles to fit. Even after hollowing them out, and thinning the posts on the nacelles, I still ended up with stress cracks on the center section.
Even after surgery to make the parts fit, stress cracks appeared.
Lack of mounting stubs caused the rear part of the wing to droop. Testors does not replicate the fuel dump, I tried by filing the pointy end flat and using paint.
For some reason Testors did not model the prominent fuel dump at the back of the Blackbird. I decided to flatten the pointy end and then use red paint to represent the fuel dump. Most photos of the rear-end of SR-71s show the inside of the fuel dump was painted red.
An SR-71 gate-guard on Beale AFB, California, showing the red painted fuel dump. USAF photo, 26JAN2016.
The kit does not come with pilots, using putty I modified some old Monogram pilots to look like astronauts, but then discovered the seats wouldn’t allow them to fit. I had to chop off the pilot’s feet, butts and part of their backs to get them to fit.
I modified some spare Monogram pilots. Turns out the red borders around the canopy glazing are incorrect, and the clear I used to get them to stay down fogged the canopies.
Forget those red canopy border decals, they are flat wrong. While reviewing photos (unfortunately after I applied the decals) I noticed there are no red borders. At certain angles it might look like there are, but the red that is sometimes seen around the glazing is actually the seals inside the canopy framing.
In this close-up of NASA SR-71B 831, you can see there are no red borders around the canopies. What is red are the seals inside the canopy framing. NASA photo, December 1994.
It was in the Caracal-Cartograf Blackbird Part-2 decal set that I discovered the markings for NASA 831.
You might not can see, but even a coat of clear paint failed to force the aftermarket decals to lay flat on the underside of the Blackbird.
Even expensive (almost as much as what I paid for the Testors kit back in 1997) aftermarket decals can be wrong (like the red canopy borders), and not cooperate. For some reason not known to me, the decals would not settle down on the underside of the kit. Decal solution failed to keep the decals from wrinkling. I applied clear paint and the result was no more wrinkles, instead I got blisters which hardened when the paint dried.
NASA photo of 831, sometime in 1995.
831 cruises over the Mojave Desert with a NASA F/A-18 Hornet flying safety chase. NASA photo sometime in 1996.
Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).
The Gepard (German for Cheetah) is a Cold War era self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system based on the German Leopard-1 battle tank. The Gepard uses radar guided 35mm auto-cannons. When the non-declared Cold War ended in 1991, Romania left the Warsaw Pact and eventually joined NATO. Romania acquired 43 Gepard 1A2s from the reunified Germany. Officially the Gepards were ‘donated’ to Romania, under a 1998 agreement, finally being delivered in 2004.
Ukraine Crisis: February 2014 (NATO backed coup) to present.
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven M. Colvin, 26OCT2015.
U.S. Army video by Staff Sergeant Michael Zahnow, July 2017:
U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Timothy Villareal, 15JUL2017.
Gepard shoot-em-up video, by Laurens Vermeire, July 2017:
Romanian Gepards on Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, 02FEB2021. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Elizabeth O. Bryson.
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Elizabeth O. Bryson, 02FEB2021.
USA photo by Specialist Osvaldo Fuentes, 30JUN2021.
USA photo by Sergeant First Class Adrian Patoka, 27JUL2021.
Sky Guardians fire their anti-aircraft Gepards during a live fire at Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, 27JUL2021. USA photo by Specialist Osvaldo Fuentes.
NATO promotional video (by U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Adrian Patoka), Romanian Gepards night-fire over Poland, July 2021:
NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group-Poland/Task Force Ivy (Croatia, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, United States) conducted a Combined Arms Live Fire EXercise (CALFEX) at Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, on 05AUG2023. Romania brought their German made Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, U.S. Army video by Sergeant Alex Soliday:
14 March 2023 (15:28-UTC-07 Tango 06) 23 Esfand 1401/21 Sha’ban 1444/23 Yi-Mao 4721/14 марта 2023 года
According to a White House Fact Sheet, U.S. President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior issued a bold new executive order concerning the destruction of your Second Amendment Constitutional Right!
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) video from 2015, explaining how they can track guns using something called NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistic Information Network), part of Crime Gun Intelligence (CGI), it is currently used for solving crimes:
ATF video from 2014, showing random inspection of gun store by ‘Industry Operations Investigators’:
In April2022, CCTV-10 aired a two part Innovation and Progress report, showing the development of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) cargo plane, Feihong FH-98. Part 1:
Part 2:
“The exercise met our expected objective. It is very significant for our unmanned logistics chain in future warfare.”-Bi Guangyuan, executive director in charge of recent testing, June 2019
In June 2019, China’s National Defense University of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, put to the final tests a new robot cargo aircraft.
Photo via CGTN, 23JUN2019.
The aircraft is unmistakable, it is the only type of its kind, a bi-plane cargo/agricultural aircraft, designed and built in the Soviet Union just after The Great Patriotic War (World War Two). In 1957, during the non-declared Cold War, Communist China got a license to build the Antonov An-2 Maize (NATO reporting name Colt) as the Yunshu (Yunshuji, later becoming Shifei) Y-5, but this modern version of the Maize has no crew. The new crewless version of the Maize is called Feihong-98 (FH-98).
In Zhangye, northwestern Gansu Province, the robot An-2/FH-98 had to complete three final tests; fast load 5-hundred kilograms of cargo, a short range airdrop mission, and a long range air drop mission. The tests were declared successful, and China’s PLA now has a viable robot cargo aircraft.
Another CCTV report:
CGTN video report of first test of Feihong-98 (FH-98) cargo UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), October 2018:
The very next day, WKBN went on the air to call the MyID a ‘crazy conspiracy theory’, claim that it cannot be tracked, have yet to even arrive for issue:
On 22FEB2023, a plane carrying employees of CTEH, an Arkansas based environmental consultancy firm, crashed killing everybody on the plane. In this THV11 video a reporter asks why so many government agencies from other jurisdictions showed up to the plane crash, the flimsy answer is that “it’s within a hundred yards of the city”:
Here’s eight hours (looped) of CNN-News18 video of the Cleveland explosion aftermath from 21FEB2023. The report reveals that the alloy factory had recently passed a safety inspection:
Ohio Army National Guard Military Police and Ohio State Highway Patrol (Trooper), work checkpoints around East Palestine, 08FEB2023. Ohio National Guard photo by Airman First Class Ivy Thomas.
On 24FEB2023, a cattle rancher located north of East Palestine says he had to “talk my way past the Army National Guard and the State Troopers” just to get to his property (about 1:40 into the interview), he is being followed by the local sheriff:
True life victim of disaster cover-ups, Erin Brockovich, calls it ‘gaslighting’, reveals that school drinking fountains are turned off, private water wells have been ‘locked’, 26FEB2023:
On 27FEB2023, Ohio Representative Steve Demetriou says federal and state officials are ignoring the human victims of the crash, calls for independent field hearings. Interviewer reveals that people are returning bottled water because they don’t trust the source of the bottled water:
26 February 2023 (21:05-UTC-07 Tango 06) 07 Esfand 1401/05 Sha’ban 1444/07 Jia-Yin(2nd month) 4721/26 февраля 2023 года
On 25FEB2023, the Aviation Industry Corporation (AvIC) of China reported that they sold an undisclosed number of its latest 4th/5th generation training aircraft to a U.S. ally; the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Model of L-15 trainer at the 16th IDEX in UAE. Photo via AvIC.
The deal was apparently made during the recent 16th International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi. The L-15 looks very similar to the Russian Yak-130 and NATO-Italy’s Aermacchi M-346. Apparently, the L-15 is the nomenclature assigned by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the export version of the JL-10 trainer.
JL-10, photo by Li Ning, 20JUL2020.
According to the PLA, the turbines powering the L-15/JL-10 are made in Ukraine; Ivchenko-Progress AI-222-25F turbofans!
PLA video, twin engined JL-10 flies alongside older training aircraft of the Harbin Flight Academy, April 2022:
In 2021, Chinese military sales reps said the toughest market to sell weapons in is in The Middle East (South West Asia), and that the L-15 can compete with Western systems: “After the Airshow China in Zhuhai in October, China brought it to Dubai, reflecting the importance it attaches to the Middle East arms trade market. Now, the L-15 is at the same level of the products of these developed countries, and offers more advantages in terms of price.”-Wang Yanan, aerospace science and technology analyst
PLA video of Shijiazhuang Flight Academy’s JL-10, 10FEB2021:
06AUG2018.
In 2018, the PLA Navy got a navalized version called JL-10H.
06AUG2018.
The People’s Republic of China makes the same claim about its military industrial complex that the United States does; that it is about building global peace and security.
The last RC-26B made its final flight on 16FEB2023. For more than 30 years, beginning in 1991 (tail end of the Cold War), the RC-26B Condor not only worked anti-drug missions, but international warzone counter-insurgency flights, domestic homeland security missions, wild-fire fighting and disaster relief efforts: “This aircraft is kind of like a chameleon. It could morph in to just about anything you could imagine, as far as hurricane support, counter-drug, the border or wildfire support. It was like a Swiss Air National Guard Knife.”-Major Luis Flores, RC-26 pilot, Texas Air National Guard
The RC-26B is a modified C-26B, which began service in the last decade of the non-declared Cold War as the C-26A. At one point it was known as the ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance).
National Guard report about combat use of RC-26B, somewhere in South West Asia (Middle East), 18JUL2013:
During those 30 plus years the Condor (modified Fairchild Metro 23) was flown by units in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington.
CALIFORNIA:
California Air National Guard photo, 30JUL2014.
FLORIDA:
Florida Air National Guard photo by Sergeant Lalita Laksbergs, 22FEB2011.
Florida Air National Guard photo by Sergeant Lalita Laksbergs, 22FEB2011.
Florida Air National Guard photo by Sergeant Lalita Laksbergs, 22FEB2011.
Video by Master Sergeant Megan Hunter, 22FEB2011:
IOWA:
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Robert Shepherd, 27JAN2023.
On 27JAN2023, the Iowa Air National Guard conducted its final flight of the RC-26B. The Condor began operations at the Des Moines Airbase only recently, in 2015, providing counter-narcotics, and domestic natural disaster support, for law enforcement and emergency management.
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Robert Shepherd, 27JAN2023.
MISSISSIPPI: USAF video (by Staff Sergeant Aaron Richardson) RC-26B during exercise Southern Strike, October 2015:
TEXAS:
RC-26 cockpit view of New York City, on its way to its final resting place in Maryland. Texas Air National Guard photo by Sean Cowher, 16FEB2023.
Delivering the 147th Attack Wing’s RC-26 to Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Maryland. Texas Air National Guard photo by Sean Cowher, 16FEB2023.
On 15FEB2023, the 147th Attack Wing of the Texas Air National Guard retired its RC-26 Condor, but the final flight was when the aircraft was put out to pasture at the Hagerstown Aviation Museum, in Maryland, on 16FEB2023.
An early Condor of the Texas Air National Guard, with a surveillance pod, 13SEP2005. Photo by Staff Sergeant Cheryl Hackley.
The first Texas Air National Guard RC-26 crew, in 1991!
WEST VIRGINIA:
West Virginia National Guard photo by Edwin L. Wriston, 06JAN2023.
On 06JAN2023, the West Virginia National Guard retired their RC-26 Condor (# 94-0260). RC-26 #94-0260 was one of the last of 11 such aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force and National Guard.
Final crew for the Final Flight. West Virginia National Guard photo by Edwin L. Wriston, 06JAN2023.
WASHINGTON:
Final start-up of an RC-26, for its final flight from Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, 06JAN2023. Washington Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Kayleigh Phillips.
On 06JAN2023, Washington joined West Virginia in retiring its Condor. Evergreen State C-26B operations began from Fairchild Air Force Base in 1991, then in 1995 the Condor was reconfigured as an RC-26B.
Washington Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Kayleigh Phillips, 06JAN2023.
“We provide the necessary information to the USDA FS and NWICC, such as, where is the fire? In one instance with the Crescent Mountain fire, the fire behavior and visibility had been erratic. We showed up at 0700, had the RC-26 overhead at 0800, and by 0930 evacuation orders were sent out based on the video feed provided to the incident commander.”-Lieutenant Colonel Rich Cullen, October 2018
Washington National Guard video, RC-26B surveillance of wildfire in Oregon, August 2018:
Inside an RC-26 assigned to the141st Operations Group, Washington Air National Guard, mapping the Chetco Bar fire in southern Oregon 02SEP2017. USAF photo by Senior Airman Sean Campbell.
WISCONSIN: The RC-26B began service with the Air National Guard in January 1992, assigned anti-drugs duty in 1996, final flight 28DEC2022.
Wisconsin Air National Guard’s RC-26B reconnaissance aircraft after its final flight 28DEC2022. Wisconsin Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Paul Gorman.
Wisconsin Air National Guard’s RC-26B reconnaissance aircraft after its final flight 28DEC2022. Wisconsin Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Paul Gorman.
Type 96A, People’s Liberation Army 77th Group Army photo, 04DEC2022.
Sometimes a fuel/oil tank is carried on the top of the left rear hull/fender. It can also carry long range fuel drums on its rear.
Type 96A, PLA 77th Group Army photo, 04DEC2022.
Type 96A, PLA 77th Group Army photo, 04DEC2022.
The tow hooks are mounted on the lower front slope, inboard of the headlights.
Type 96A with manually operated 12.7mm machine gun mounted on turret. Photo by Liu Zhiyong, 13SEP2022.
Type 96B, with remote controlled 12.7mm on turret roof. Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Junior, 27AUG2022.
Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Junior, 21AUG2022.
In August 2022, China took second place in the Tank Biathlon and Masters of Armored Vehicles, during Russia’s International Army Games, using their Type 96B. The International Army Games were held on the territories of 12 countries, including China, Russia and Iran, with more than 270 teams from 37 countries competing.
Photo by Yu Ziheng, 14AUG2022.
The Type 96B has a remote controlled 12.7mm heavy machine gun on top of the turret, which is not always mounted. The Type 96A is up-armored with armor blocks, and upgraded gun sights. The Type 96 series uses a 125mm main gun. The ‘skirt’ gets shorter with each new generation of Type 96, the Type 96B being the shortest (sometimes they go ‘naked’).
Type 96Bs leaving China controlled Inner Mongolia for the International Army Games in Russia, July 2022. Photo via CCTV-7.
CGTN video, first round of Tank Biathlon, 15AUG2022, revealing that the remote controlled 12.7mm can also be fired manually:
The Type 96A/B has a turret very similar to the VT4, VT5, and Type 99 tanks. The hull evolved from the Soviet/Russian T-54/55. The roadwheels are uniquely Chinese, and unlike the T-54/55 the track is supported. The Type 96B has more streamlined looking fenders, than the Type 96A, the two exhaust ports are closer together as well and not as obvious as on the Type 96A.
From U.S. Army Graphic Training Aid, Armored Vehicle Recognition, 1987.
From a distance the Type 96A/B looks much like the old Cold War era NATO-West German Leopard 1A4.
People’s Liberation Army 77th Group Army video showing Type 96A during live-fire training, May 2022:
PLA 73rd Group Army photo by Liu Zhiyong, 27APR2022.
PLA 73rd Group Army photo by Liu Zhiyong, 27APR2022.
PLA 73rd Group Army photo by Liu Zhiyong, 27APR2022.
PLA 71st Group Army photo by Bai Junfeng, 15APR2022.
The Type 96 has two exhaust holes on the same side of the hull, the right side, as opposed to the T-54/55 or T-72 single exhaust on the left side.
PLA 71st Group Army photo by Bai Junfeng, 15APR2022.
PLA 71st Group Army photo by Bai Junfeng, 15APR2022.
PLA 73rd Group Army photo by Liu Zhiyong, 15JAN2021.
The Type 96A appears to be connected to a generator on the ground. PLA 81st Group Army photo by Yang Jian, November 2020.
The front of the Type 96A/B turret is different from the older Type 96, also, the bustle racks have armor(?) plates attached.
PLA 72nd Group Army photo by Xiao Yuxuan, 11MAY2020.
CGTN video, January 2020, female tank commander explain why she likes the Type 96A/B (because it makes her look “most beautiful”, typical!):
CGTN video, Type 96B during 2019 International Army Games:
CGTN video of Type 96 driver showing-off, December 2017 (I did the same thing in an M1 Abrams, it is actually easy to get a tank to drift or slide, if it has a powerful motor):
Type 96:
The older Type 96 has a splash guard on the front slope, and the turret bustle racks do not have armor plate covering them.
Skirtless Type 96. PLA 71st Group Army photo by Yao Zongkai, 17SEP2022.
PLA 82nd Group Army video from May 2022, Type 96 live-fire:
The Type 96 is also known as ZTZ-96.
PLA 71st Group Army photo by Zhu Baolong, 21MAY2022.
The Chinese started with the T-54/55 hull, then got radical by replacing the unsupported track system with a supported track (the track-links themselves are the same), and replacing the manually loaded main gun with the auto-loading 125mm from a T-72.
PLA 71st Group Army photo by Zhu Baolong, 21MAY2022.
The wire cage on the top rear of the turret is for catching the spent 125mm casings as they are ejected from the turret. PLA 71st Group Army photo by Yao Zongkai, 21MAY2022
The turret of the Type 96 is shaped different from that on the Type 96A/B, especially on the front.
PLA 71st Group Army photo by Lin Min, February 2022.
The Type 96 inherited the butt of the T-54/55.
Notice the spent 125mm casings on the ground behind the Type 96. PLA 71st Group Army photo by Lin Min, February 2022.
POLAND’S KRAB (HALF BRITISH, HALF KOREAN?)
