F-4E, April 2017, USAF photo by Senior Airman Colville McFee.
April 2017, U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Carlos Jimenez.
13APR2021, RoKAF promo video of the F-4E:
22APR2021, Kunsan Air Base, video report by Technical Sergeant Herbert-William Bracy, USAF’s Wolf Pack remembers the F-4E, still in use by Republic of Korea:
Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Jon Alderman, 06MAY2019.
A California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (Cal Fire, formerly CDF) Bronco flies at tree top level during Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) training and recertification at Grand Canyon Hills, Colorado, 06MAY2019.
An OV-10A uses smoke to ‘lead-in’ the water bombers. Cal-Fire photo.
The OV-10, and other small aircraft, serve as forward air controllers (FAC) for the larger water bombers, picking out the next target and guiding the water bombing in.
Cal-Fire photo.
23JUL2021, Action News Now report (note the reporter uses the incorrect word ‘aircrafts’ while the Cal-Fire official uses the correct word ‘aircraft’) on how smoke from fires can actually ground aircraft:
In 1993, Cal-Fire bought 15 ex-Marines OV-10As (with three blade propellers). They replaced the older O-2As. In 2009, Cal-Fire bought three OV-10Ds (with four blade props and short ‘A’ model nose). OV-10As and OV-10Ds are slowly being upgraded to meet Cal-Fire requirements.
2010 Cal-Fire video report, the Gov’na authorizes more of everything for fighting future fires, plus a new GPS flight tracking system will be used:
06 October 2021 (09:53-UTC-07 Tango 06) 14 Mehr 1400/28 Safar 1443/01 Wu-Xu (9th month) 4719
“We’re excited to be developing a fully-integrated, purpose-built HD Suburban in partnership with the U.S. Department of State.”-Steve duMont, GM Defense
While Joe Biden and his team cry about the self-imposed debt limit of the United States government being too low, his Department of State just went and paid General Motors Defense (GM Defense) $36.4-million for ten prototype armored Suburbans, and if the State Department is happy with those ten, they’ll (you’ll) pay for“a fleet of 200 HD Suburbans per year for nine years”!
All you happy taxpayers need to pay attention to news releases about government contracts, notice that they are officially described as ‘awards’, meaning the corporate world considers your future enslaving tax funded contracts (government debt financing) as prizes in some kind of contest you didn’t even authorize!
GM Defense says their ten ‘development’ up-armored Suburbans will use existing parts (“off the self”) and be completed by May 2023, after that GM Defense expects the State Department to ‘award’ a nine years long production contract for 2-hundred of these up-armored fuel wasters per year!
Taxpayers need to ask the question; why does the State Department need so many new armor-ized silly-vilian vehicles when it already has hundreds? Yes, the U.S. Department of State already operates hundreds of up-armored Suburbans! And don’t forget about all those armored Suburbans operated by other federal government agencies!
So why now, when the U.S. government is about to run out of debt financing, is the State Department/Secret Service issuing “first-of-their-kind contracts” specifically for development of a Suburban armored car?
According to a 16SEP2021 press release, the first ever contracts with GM Defense, and Ford, are intended “to ensure a viable and robust AV supply chain.”
01 October 2021 (11:58-UTC-07 Tango 06) 09 Mehr 1400/23 Safar 1443/25 Wu-Xu 4719
A recently published study blames the so called labor shortage on the dominance of artificial intelligence operated hiring systems now used by 99% of ‘Fortune 500’ corporations; these systems are deleting applications for the most mediocre reasons, partly because of incorrect job data inputs by the Human Resource personnel responsible for programing them!
The main-stream news media has been quick and persistent in blaming the pandemic fear-mongering response (which they had a major part in stoking), but the truth is that this has been coming for awhile. In 2018, during the fifth interview with the same HR manager with the same company over a 16 month period of applying for a job that was never filled, I asked the HR manager what was up with them not filling the position since they’ve been advertising it for more than a year and conducted dozens of testing and interviews for it. She explained that “about five years ago” the company switched to a third party hiring contractor that is using computers to make the hiring decisions. Prior to that she had the authority to do the testing, interviews and make the decision as to who gets hired, but now she just handles the testing and interviews, the hiring was now in the hands of a computer system operated by a contractor, and that computerized system would only hire people who met criteria that put them in a top ten list, which apparently the computerized system was not finding any of the applicants (despite their years of experience or qualifications) worthy of making the top ten! The computer’s criteria included other things besides years of experience and technical qualifications, things like criminal history, age, sex, ethnicity, education, test results, etc. (Interesting, because under U.S. employment law it is illegal to use a person’s age, sex, ethnicity and other ‘demographics’ to determine employment!)
Joseph B. Fuller ’79, M.B.A. ’81, co-chair of the Managing the Future of Work project at Harvard Business School, stated that most studies about unemployment/job seekers (supply side) do not look at the employers (demand side) as the potential cause of people not getting hired. And government data only looks at numbers, not cause and effect.
Fuller explained that today’s hiring systems first throw out applicants with criminal records, and people with no college education. Military veterans are thrown out because of an age old problem of translating military skills to silly-vilian (civilian) job skills. Next to be thrown out are people who have large gaps in employment history (my problem apparently). Fuller also explained that there are a lot of people who fit several of those categories, such as being a veteran, and long term unemployed, and no college education.
Another problem is how job descriptions are being inputted into the computer system: “…as the report points out, is that the creation of job descriptions and their curation over time is very haphazard. Most job descriptions are not updated that often; they’re updated by recruiters with [little] input from the [relevant] supervisors…”-Joseph B. Fuller, Harvard Gazette interview
On 04SEP2021, The Wall Street Journal published and article called Companies Need More Workers. Why Do They Reject Millions of Résumés? The article is not just about automated hiring systems that are rejecting millions of applications, but how existing employees are being blocked from having any say in how their jobs are done or how the company is operated. It sounds like these A-I systems that corporations are using are looking to employ robots, not humans.
29SEP2021: The small city of Yuma, Arizona, lost the 8th most workers in the U.S., to 2020 pandemic fear mongering!
On 11AUG2021, National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) published its study on the ‘labor shortage’, which included these conclusions;
Since the late 1990s, the imperialist Japanese army (Japan is a Constitutional Monarchy) has been training for war on the U.S. Army’s (USA) Yakima Training Center (YTC), in the state of Washington. It is officially called Exercise/Operation Rising Thunder.
Yakima Training Center, Washington, 2017. Photo via U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division.
Japan Ground Self Defense Forces (JGSDF) use many different armored vehicles during the war games, including the Cold War era Type 74 (supposedly to be retired in 2024).
33rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division, Type-74 on YTC, September 2015. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider.
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider, September 2015.
I stitched together this video, recorded by Sergeant Vanessa Atchley, of Type 74 action on Yakima Training Center in September 2015:
Low-Rider tank of the 33rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division, YTC, August 2015. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider.
The Type 74 uses a modified 105 millimeter gun which can use NATO ammunition. It also has a collapsible suspension.
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider.
16th Regimental Combat Team, JGSDF, at Yakima Training Center during Operation Rising Thunder, September 2013. USA photo by Sergeant Bryan Spradlin.
USA video interview-explainer by Sergeant Bryan Spradlin, which includes Type 74 live fire, September 2013:
Type 74 live fire on YTC, September 2013. USA photo by Sergeant Austan R. Owen.
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 22SEP2021.
On 22SEP2021, because of a new ‘rule’ the Iowa Air National Guard (IANG) relieved 60 years old F-100 code named Shillelagh from its duty as gate guard, in front of the 185th Air Refueling Wing HQ, on Sioux Gateway Airport/Colonel Bud Day Field in Sioux City.
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 22SEP2021.
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 22SEP2021.
IANG video by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, with an interview of Technical Sergeant Kevin Brown explaining that under new rules gate guards can not longer be painted on-site, they must be painted in designated paint shops:
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 22SEP2021.
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 22SEP2021.
Shillelagh is going to be thoroughly cleaned and painted, and returned to gate guard duty by Spring of 2022.
Iowa Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 22SEP2021.
IANG time lapse video by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot:
Massachusetts Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Melanie J. Casineau.
04MAY2013, annual re-dedication of F-100 memorial on Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts.
MANG photo by Master Sergeant Sandra Niedzwiecki.
In November 2010, an F-100 Super Sabre was relieved of gate guard duty on Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts. It was shipped to Robbins Air Force Base, Georgia, for restoration.
New York National Guard photo by Captain Mark Getman.
The Spirit of Long Island (#0222, aka Triple Deuce) served in the New York Air National Guard from 1966 until 2019. On 18AUG2021, after several days of moving and assembly, Triple Deuce began a new job as gate guardian for F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base.
New York National Guard photo by Captain Mark Getman.
The 106th Maintenance Group spent two years going through red tape, and Air Force Museum demilitarization training, to get the HC-130 rescue Hercules qualified as a gate guard.
New York National Guard photo by Captain Mark Getman.
New York National Guard photo by Captain Mark Getman.
New York National Guard ‘engine mount’ video by Warrant Officer-1 Edward Shevlin:
New York National Guard photo by Captain Mark Getman.
New York National Guard photo by Captain Mark Getman.
New York National Guard ‘end result’ video by Warrant Officer-1 Edward Shevlin:
Firtina = Tempest (most often loosely translated as storm, but a Tempest is an English word for a particularly violent storm, which artillery bombardments certainly are)
Also, note the large vent on the front left of the turret, to keep all those new electronics cool.
Photo via ASELSAN.
Photo via ASELSAN.
T-155 in the town of Binnish in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, 12FEB2020. Photo by Omar Haj Kadour, Agence France-Presse.
T-155 pounds targets in Northern Syria, October 2019.
Firtina pounding targets in Syria, January 2019.
Ammo-supply vehicle for T-155.
The T-155 has its ammunition delivered by the POYRAZ Ammunition Resupply Vehicle.
Photo via ASELSAN.
This 2018 Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri (Turkish Armed Forces) promotional video has scenes of T-155:
2017 Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri video mainly of the T-155:
In 2016, Turkish taxpayer owned MKEK (Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu, Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation) patented two new systems for controlling and loading of the main gun.
T-155 destroyed by Kurdish-YPG Russian made Konkurs anti-tank missile, somewhere in Syria. However, Islamic State has also been taking credit for destroying Turkish tanks inside Syria.
This 2015 Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri promo-video has scenes of T-155, about 41 seconds in:
T-155s fire upon YPG targets north of Aleppo, Syria.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Michael S. Murphy.
US-2 gets fueled on Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, 20FEB2020.
Photo via ShinMaywa Industries.
First flight of the prototype PX-S was in October 1967. The production Patrol Seaplane-1 (PS-1, aka SS-2) flying boat is a anti-ship combat aircraft which does not have conventional landing gear, it is not amphibious as the ‘landing gear’ is actually beaching gear (with each main gear leg having one wheel/tire) and cannot withstand the impact of landing on a runway.
Photo via ShinMaywa Industries.
ShinMaywa flying boats incorporate a ‘spray suppressor’ around the forward hull, to allow rough seas handling.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Todd F. Michalek.
In October 1974, the prototype US-1 first flew.
Photo via ShinMaywa Industries.
The US-1A (aka PS-1 Kai, aka SS-2A) is a Search And Rescue (SAR) plane that has conventional landing gear (with each main gear leg having two wheels/tires) which allows the flying boat to land on a paved runway, making it a true amphibious aircraft. The visual difference between a PS-1 and US-1 is the bulge housing the conventional type landing gear on the US-1, the PS-1 has no side fuselage bulge.
Short USMC video, by Corporal Waiyan Tin, of US-1A taking off from U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, 2017:
Cockpit of US-2 (US-1A Kai). USMC photo by Lance Corporal Todd F. Michalek.
Typical interior of PS-1/US-1A. Photo via ShinMaywa Industries.
In the 1980s, Japan replaced its PS-1s with Lockheed designed P-3 Orions (Kawasaki began licensed building of P-3Cs in 1978).
USMC photo by Sergeant Chase Tillett, MCAS Iwakuni, 05MAY2017.
The US-1As were retired in 2017, replaced by the updated US-2 (prototype US-1A Kai which first flew in December 2003, and began operations as US-2 in March 2007).
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Todd F. Michalek.
The visual identifier of the upgraded US-2 (US-1A Kai) are the propellers.
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Harrison Rakhshani.
US-2 (US-1A Kai), MCAS Iwakuni, May 2019. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Kenny Nunez.
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Kenny Nunez. US-2 (US-1A Kai), MCAS Iwakuni, May 2019.
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Nathan J. Maysonet. US-2 (US-1A Kai), MCAS Iwakuni, 2018.
MCAS Iwakuni, 09AUG2017. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Gabriela Garcia-Herrera.
MCAS Iwakuni, July 2017. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Jacob A. Farbo.
USMC video by Lance Corporal Cory Schubert, US-2 (US-1A Kai), January 2015:
Shin-Meiwa US-2 lifts off, 07JAN2015. USMC photo by Private First Class Carlos Cruz Jr.
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Todd F. Michalek.
Warming up the modern engines of the US-2, U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, 08JAN2013.
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Todd F. Michalek.
Starting the old-skool three-prop engines of the US-1A, U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, 08JAN2013.
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Todd F. Michalek.
ShinMaywa Industries reports that as of 2020: PS-1 ASW Flying Boat 23 aircraft in total (Completed production)
US-1A SAR Flying Boat 20 aircraft in total (Completed production)
US-2 SAR Flying Boat 7 aircraft in total (in production)
ShinMaywa video documentary, history of the company:
KOREAN 대한민국 M48
‘RESTORED’ F-4C GETS NEW HOME
