NATO Vehicle I-D: Tarcza Polski PT-91

Just a few years before the official end to the unofficial Cold War, Poland’s military decided to modify its license built T-72M1s.  The idea was to incorporate as many locally produced upgrades as possible.  So many items were changed that the PT-91 Twardy (tough, strong) is almost a  totally different tank from the T-72; […] Continue Reading…

TaCaMO: E-6B Mercury

“This plane was built for the Cold War. It serves as the link between the national decision makers and the nuclear triad.”-Chief Petty Officer Jeffrey Penington, Task Force 124, July 2007

U.S. Air Force photo by Greg L. Davis, 23AUG2019.

U.S. Navy E-6B from Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma, flies over […] Continue Reading…

Technology Fail? USAF uses WW2 aircraft to develop modern Drone tech!

USAF photo.

In reality ‘drone’ technology is not new, it can be traced back to before the Second World War.  So it’s not really a surprise to learn that the U.S. Air Force used a WW2 C-47/DC-3 Skytrain/Dakota to test the latest stuff for its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle.

Continue Reading…

Vehicle I-D: C-54 Skymaster, an airborne Willy Wonka?

The C-54 was the militarized version of the DC-4 airliner, developed during the Second World War.

Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.

C-54s at the Douglas factory in Oklahoma, sometime in the 1940s.

Notice, three and four bladed propellers. Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.

Continue Reading…

Vehicle I-D: The Spartan that refuses to die!

U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Carolyn Herrick.

Two short lived C-27J Spartans sit mummified on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, 02JUN2016.  Spartans were being interned at Davis-Monthan in 2013.

Video by Airman First Class Kelly Greenwell, Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMaRG) personnel mummifying an Ohio Air National Guard […] Continue Reading…

Vehicle I-D: C2 MEXAS Armor (I mean, Armour?) Afghanistan

The C2 reportedly combines a C1 (Leopard 1A3) hull with Leopard 1A5 turret, then up-armouring with German designed Modular Expandable Armor System (MEXAS, by IBD Deisenroth Engineering, which was taken over by Rheinmetall in 2019. IBD Deisenroth ceased MEXAS production in 2006 in favor of AMAP.).

Canadian Forces photo by Sergeant […] Continue Reading…

Vehicle I-D: Canuck’s Colorful Cormorant

Photo by Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Region.

In the land of the Canucks, a colorful Cormorant with rotary wings has refused to fly south for the Winter, and was recently seen flying the skies over Newfoundland and Labrador.

Photo by Can-NorAD-R. Photo by Can-NorAD-R.

Continue Reading…

Final Flight: OH-58D Kiowa Warriors

Video by Sergeant Chloe Barns, C Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division’s OH-58D final flight, Afghanistan, 22NOV2014:

Video report of last flight of OH-58D over Hawaii, January 2015:

By the end of November 2015, the Tennessee Army National Guard became the last state militia to operate […] Continue Reading…

Vehicle I-D: CH-53K King Stallion update

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Yuritzy Gomez.

Video by Lance Corporal Elias E. Pimentel the Third, CH-53K crew shows off for some Commandant of the Marine Corps guy during his visit to Camp Davis, North Carolina, 17MAR2021:

USMC photo by Sergeant Kathryn Adams.

Commandant […] Continue Reading…

Vehicle I-D: Iraqi Greyhound السلوقي العراقي

Photo by Captain Bill Hinman.

The above photo was reportedly taken in April 2005, at a former Iraqi Republican Guard base called Taji.

U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Lyndsey Prax.

However, in 2008 personnel with the Combat Repair Team, Bravo Company, 225th Brigade Support Battalion, claimed they […] Continue Reading…

News you didn't know mattered