The United Kingdom’s Army is upgrading their Challenger-2 battle tanks with new armor and a new gun, the same gun used on the M1A1/2 Abrams; the German designed 120 millimeter (mm) Rheinmetall smoothbore, which launches various types of combustible cased rounds (various projectiles on a combustible plastic case with a metal base/’af-cap’).
The gun on the current Challenger-2 is also 120mm, but the British designed tube (barrel) is rifled and the ammo consists of a projectile which is loaded separately from the combustible case/bagged propellent.
A Royal Wessex Yeomanry Challenger-2 on Sennelager Training Area, Germany.
To prep the Royal Wessex Yeomanry on how to operate the Rheinmetall gun, Montana’s 1-163rd Combined Arms Battalion (part of the Idaho based 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, aka Snake River Brigade) is training the Red Coat tankers by letting them shoot-up the Montana mountains.
Montana Army National Guard’s video report (recorded 16MAY2025 on the Limestone Hills Training Facility, released 17MAY2025):
The new upgraded Challenger is called the Challenger-3.
A Royal Wessex Yeomanry Challenger-2, on the Sennelager Training Area, Germany.
Prototype XF2D-1 Banshee, possibly on its first flight on 11JAN1947.
Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).
This F2H-1 Banshee was ‘written-off’ after a crash landing on 12JUL1951.
Production Banshees were powered by two axial flow Westinghouse J34 turbines. The J34 was also known as the X24, its development was started in 1944.
Westinghouse 24C-8 (J34) with afterburner.
One aircraft was tested with afterburners, which burned the aft end of the test aircraft, hence why afterburners were not used on other Banshees.
In this photo of a -2N you can see that the 20mm guns were moved vertical of each other, to make room for a track/search radar.
The F2H-2N had a redesigned nose, longer with repositioned guns to accommodate a large radar for night fighter operations. The F2H-1/2 had a small gun aiming/ranging radar, the dialectic panel being visible on the upper tip of the nose with the 20-millimeter (mm) guns mounted horizontal to each other. The F2H-2 could also carry up to 2-thousand pounds of bombs.
Inboard bomb racks, inboard of the main landing gear wells.
The -2 Banshee had four weapons racks, outboard wing racks were for rockets only, the inboard racks were for bombs or rockets.
I edited this silent U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) film to show the use of the F2H-2 Banshee in Close Air Support (CAS) training, date and location not given:
I edited this silent film which shows USMC F2H-2 landing mishaps of VMF-122 & VMF-224 onboard the United States Ship (USS) Coral Sea (CV/CVA/CVB-43) during March 1951 (according to the info that came with the film). The first incident shows a Banshee approaching the carrier, the camera cuts out (Navy edited out?), then you see the tail of the plane sinking in the water, a helicopter rescues the pilot who ‘walks-it-off’ once on deck. The second incident shows a Banshee tangled in a barrier:
The USN says the first combat use of the Banshee was on 23AUG1951, when F2H-2s launched from USS Essex (CV/CVA/CVS-9) against Korea. The Banshee proved to have better high altitude performance than the Grumman F9F Panther, yet never had the chance to engage in dog-fights with North Korean fighters. Battle damage to Banshees was the result of ground launched anti-aircraft fire.
On 16SEP1951, a McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee crashed while attempting to land on the USS Essex (CV/CVA/CVS-9) while sailing the Sea of Japan (near Korea). It missed the arrestor barrier and plowed into four parked aircraft (two Banshees and two Grumman F9F Panthers). Seven people reported killed. This crash is blamed for the adoption of the angled flight deck on aircraft carriers. I edited this from a silent USN film, if you look close at the slo-mo scene, where the Banshee misses the cable and then hops over the barrier, you can see what appears to be battle damage to its port aileron:
Two U.S. Marine Corps photo-recon Banshees of VMJ-2. Date/location not given.
The F2H-2P photo-recon Banshee used various types of cameras, such as the Fairchild K17, K18 and K38, with various size lenses.
F2H-2P recon Banshee, date and location not given.
Sometimes called Operation Long Step, sometimes Exercise Long Step, North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) wargame took place in The Mediterranean Sea, near Sardinia, in November 1952. I edited silent USN film to show the F2H-2 Banshee operations onboard USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR, CVA-42) during the wargame:
F2H-2 Banshee hauling tow target, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California. USN photo, 07MAY1953.
F2H-3 (F-2C) Banshees began production in 1952.
The F2H-2B (B for bomber [nuclear]) and the F2H-3/4 (F-2C/D) were capable of carrying tactical nuclear bombs, the stronger wing allowed for a bomb load of more than 3-thousand pounds. Sometimes, when the -3 was equipped with nukes it was referred to as the -3B, but apparently that was never an official designation as the -3/4 was already nuclear bomber capable out-of-the-factory.
The so-called Thor Mark-7 (aka Mk7 Special Weapon) nuclear bomb is considered to be the first tactical nuke, but had to be delivered by ‘tossing’ it off the aircraft.
I edited a silent USN film (adding music) showing a bare-metal VX-3 F2H-3 Banshee carrying the Thor, onboard the USS Midway (CVA-41/CVB-41). The film came with no date/location, but I was able to date/locate the film according to the F2H-3 aircraft (VF-31 Tomcatters) onboard the USS Midway; CVA-41 carried -3 Banshees from January throughAugust 1954, while on a cruise of The Mediterranean Sea. View it on my Lithium Six-II channel on BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/video/vNRrd3xOZITM
F2H-3 toss launches BOAR, sometime in 1955.
The Mark-7 was radically modified with a rocket motor (among other things) to assist with ‘tossing’. A non-armed rocket powered Thor was tested by an F2H-3, over China Lake, California, in 1955. The rocket powered ‘Thor’ was officially known as the Bureau of Ordnance Atomic Rocket, or BOAR (aka Bombardment Aircraft Rocket, BoAR).
F2H-3 Banshee with BOAR. USN photo, 04NOV1953.
When in-service the BOAR was known as ‘30.5 inch rocket Mark-1’.
VX-3 dash-3 Banshee refuels somewhere over New Jersey.
To bolt on the In Flight Refueling (IFR) probe the upper port-side 20mm gun was removed. The combined IFR capabilities and increased internal fuel capacity made the Banshee-3 the longest ranged USN jet aircraft for that time.
I edit this from silent USN film (dated 28NOV1955) which demonstrates the ‘bolt-on’ IFR probe on the F2H-3 (F-2C). The ‘K’ tail code indicates a Reserve Banshee based on Naval Air Station Olathe (now the New Century AirCenter), Kansas. The fuel was provided by the North American AJ-2 Savage of VC-5/VAH-5:
In 1955, the Royal Canadian Navy began using F2H-3s. They also armed them with the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, by modifying the outboard rocket pylons. According to a Canadian government website, the F2H-3 was their only Sidewinder armed naval aircraft until the advent of the CF-18 Hornet.
In 1956, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) used the F2H-2B to test what it called hypersonic missiles.
NACA operated F2H-3.
In 1958, on MCAS Kāneʻohe Bay, Hawaii, a new emergency runway arrestor system was tested by a ‘Black Sheep’ F2H-3. The Banshee caught the cable at 60 knots (69 miles per hour).
Supposedly, there was no visual difference between the dash-3 and dash-4 Banshees. The F2H-4 (F-2D) had a better radar and more powerful turbines.
U.S. Navy photo claiming to depict a F2H-4 Banshee.
Dash-3/4 Banshees were updated with ‘horsal’ extensions on their leading edge of the horizontal stabilizers, to stop tail flutter.
On 20JAN2025, the President of the United States declared that drug cartels be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. As of 20FEB2025 eight gangs have been declared as terrorists, they are: Cartel del Golfo (aka CDG, Gulf Cartel, and Osiel cardenas-Guillen Organization),
Cartel del Noreste (aka CDN, Northeast Cartel, and Los Zetas),
Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (aka New Generation Cartel of Jalisco, CJNG, and Jalisco New Generation Cartel),
Cartel de Sinaloa (aka Sinaloa Cartel, Mexican Federation, and Guadalajara Cartel),
Carteles Unidos (aka United Cartels, Tepalcatepec Cartel, Cartel de Tepalcatepec, The Grandfather Cartel, Cartel del Abuelo, and Cartel de Los Reyes),
La Nueva Famila Michoacana (aka LNFM),
Mara Salvatrucha (aka MS-13),
Tren de Aragua (aka Aragua Train).
Here is a little bit of what the Department of Defense and the Customs and Border Protection were up to in March 2025:
Now called ‘expulsion flights’, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection DHC-8 is loaded with outbound illegals, Conroe, Texas.
Now called ‘expulsion flights’, a U.S. Coast Guard C-27J Spartan is loaded with outbound illegals, Conroe, Texas.
On 06MAR2025, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) released video of a drug boat intercept off the coast of the Dominican Republic. The intercept happened on 17FEB2025 and was recorded by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircraft. The USCG says 1-thousand-280 pounds of cocaine and five smugglers were captured:
The U.S. Army’s 101st Division Sustainment Brigade-101st Airborne Division deploys from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Texas for border operations.
3rd Infantry Division UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters arrive on Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 08MAR2025.
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) says this boat held nine illegals, captured near Point Loma, California.
On 11MAR2025, the U.S. Coast Guard captured 15 illegals off the coast of San Diego, California.
The USCG says this boat was one of four used to illegally fish off the Texas coast. Approximately 2,500 pounds of red snapper and 16 Mexicans were captured.
10th Mountain Division Soldiers, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border, train on the AN/TPQ-53 radar system near Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Deconstruction of CBP temporary migrant housing near Tucson, Arizona, due to a massive reduction in the number of illegals attempting to cross the southern border.
Alpha Company, of the 189th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, departed Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Fort Bliss, Texas.
USS Gravely (DDG 107) was assigned to assist the U.S. Coast Guard with interdiction operations.
On 18MAR2025, deploying Stryker units were issued Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) at Alpine, Texas.
On 19MAR2025, CBP released body-worn camera video of a shooting that happened near Laredo, Texas, back on 23SEP2024. Part-1:
Part-2:
On 21MAR2025, Echo Troop of the 3rd Squadron-17th Cavalry Regiment-3rd Combat Aviation Brigade-3rd Infantry Division, based on Fort Stewart-Georgia, deployed as part of the new Joint Task Force-Southern Border.
President Donald John Trump answers questions about border security, migrant gangs and deportation, I mean expulsion flights, 21MAR2025:
On 22MAR2025, USS Spruance (DDG 111, home base San Diego) began its new assignment to augment CBP along the U.S. southern border.
On 26MAR2025, a U.S. Army Stryker (from 1st Battalion-41st Infantry Regiment-2nd Stryker Brigade, Fort Bliss, Texas) patrolled the border wall near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, as part of the new Joint Task Force-Southern Border. Video via Private First Class Sean Hoch:
While the City of Pocatello, Idaho, spends tax dollars rebuilding a small park into an elaborate skate park, it rejects private efforts at creating a dedicated motorsports complex. Add to that the fact that the city is sitting on a federal land grant that has as one of its provisions that it could be used for sports, including motorsports (part of the Surplus Property Act involving Pocatello Airport, this is being administered by Bannock Development’s tax payer funded Project CREST)!
On top of this, the administrator for the Pocatello Car Club (advocating for a motorsports complex) says he is now being accused of fraud! Here is most (but not all) of the letter published by the Pocatello Car Club:
The pland-emic didn’t stop the U.S. Marine Corps from conducting ‘Gator Week’ on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 06APR2023. The event included crushing cars with an AAV7A1 (Amphibious Assault Vehicles-7A1).
U.S. Army M1A2 SEP wows the crowd on the Bemowo Piskie Training Area, in Poland.
Polish Leopard 2A5(?) and United Kingdom Challenger-2 battle-tanks do damage to puny little European cars, on Grafenwöhr Training Area, Germany. I edited together videos via Kevin S. Abel and Daniela Vestal (recorded between 04-06JUN2018):
Swedish Stridsvagn (Strv) 122 Leopard crushing cars during Strong Europe Tank Challenge-2018.
Austrian and German Leopard battle-tanks smash PT Cruiser, and more! I edited from videos (recorded from 05-07JUN2018) via Emily Houdershieldt & Markus Rauchenberger:
They created a pile of crushed European cars.
United States M1A2 Abrams crushing cars on Grafenwöhr Training Area, 06JUN2018. Video via Kevin S. Able:
Here is some more car crushing courtesy the M1A2 Abrams, video via Emily Houdershieldt:
Austrian Leopard 2A4(?) and German Leo 2A6(?) attempt to smash puny VW cars on Grafenwöhr Training Area, MAY 2017.
I edited this from videos via the U.S. 7th Army Training Command:
HERCULES stands for Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lifting Extraction System, only ‘A2’ version is called HERCULES.
U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) video of their M88A2 crushing a car on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 24APR2014:
The use of crop-duster aircraft as combat aircraft is nothing new, and it seems the United States is simply following a global trend, because the agricultural aircraft are relatively cheap and easy to maintain.
U.S. Air Force (USAF) Special Operations Command (SOC) loves its latest crop-duster, the OA-1K, which is actually based on the Air Tractor (based in Olney, Texas) crop-duster and fire-fighting aircraft. The USAF boasts that its new Skyraider-2 is “cost effective”. Air Tractor calls their combat crop-duster the AT-802U Sky Warden (the AT-802 first flew in 1990).
In January 2025, the finalized version of the crop-duster on steroids arrived on Hurlburt Field, Florida. In February, USAF-SOC christened the OA-1K the “Skyraider-2”.
On 03APR2025, the USAF-SOC officially accepted its first OA-1K during a ceremony on Hurlburt Field: “Skyraider-2 represents not just a new platform, but a modular solution to our national security needs. It will redefine how we approach joint campaigning, crisis response and the evolving landscape of modern warfare.”-Lieutenant General Michael Conley, SOC commander.
I edited this together from two USAF promotional videos:
The Skyraider-2 is already being offered for sale to Central American and Caribbean countries. On 27AUG2024, the OA-1K was flown to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, being presented during the Industry Day/Air Chiefs conference for the air forces of those countries.
Actually, most A-10C units are turning in their Thunderbolt-2s for the F-35 Lightning-2. The OA-1K Skyraider-2 is specifically a ‘special operations’ aircraft, the crew are known as Air Commandos.
This is the AT-802U trainer version.
Training on the OA-1K will officially take place on Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, in Oklahoma. Interestingly, the training version has been arriving on Will Rogers Air National Guard Base since July 2024, months before the official acceptance of the OA-1K.
Development of the M88A2 was started in 1991, after it was realized the A1 version could not tow the M1 Abrams by itself; it required two M88A1s to tow the 70-ton battle-tank. The first M88A2 went into service in July 1997. Only the A2 is called the HERCULES, which stands for Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lifting Extraction System.
U.S. Marine Corps HERCULES near Al-Karmah, Iraq.
In May 2010, the U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was on the National Training Center (Fort Irwin, California) preparing for deployment to Iraq. Here’s a quick explanation of what the M88A2 can do:
U.S. Marine Corps HERCULES lifts a battle damaged French Mirage 2000D, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
From 1961 to 1994 the M88 was built by a company originally called Bowen & McLaughlin. Here is some confusion; Bowen & McLaughlin supposedly started in Phoenix, Arizona, during World War Two. However, by 1950 Bowen & McLaughlin apparently setup shop in York, Pennsylvania, changing their name to Bowen McLaughlin York (BMY). BMY became a division of U.S. based Harsco Corporation, which ‘went public’ in 1956. In 1994, Harsco and FMC (Food Machinery Corporation) joined forces and created United Defense. Harsco still exists today, but changed its name to Enviri Corporation.
U.S. Marine Corps HERCULES pulls the ‘power pack’ (turbine-transmission combo) of an M1 Abrams, on Combat Outpost Shir Gazay, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
More confusion; from 1994-2005, M88 production was done by United Defense and Anniston Army Depot. In 2005, BAE Systems took-over United Defense. BAE Systems was created in 1999 when the Italian Marconi Electronic Systems merged with the United Kingdom’s British Aerospace. Since 2005 production is officially done by BAE Systems. The estimated cost of each M88A2 HERCULES is a little more than $2-million (as of the year 2000).
U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) video of their M88A2 crushing a car on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 24APR2014:
The ‘A2’ is larger and heavier than the previous versions. A more powerful Diesel piston motor, and efficient transmission, allows the use of only one recovery vehicle to tow the M1 Abrams.
U.S. Army HERCULES about to lift a Cold War era M47 range target on Hohenfels, Germany.
In 2017, the U.S. Army requested that eleven M88A2s be modified with even more powerful power-packs (engine/transmission combo), a hydro-pneumatic suspension and a seventh roadwheel (per side), for a cost of $28-million.
USMC HERCULES lifts a bulldozer onto a trailer, on Twentynine Palms, California.
Although the first official United States Army (USA) Airborne unit was created in 1943 (82nd Airborne Division), the USA had been experimenting with the idea of having Soldiers jump out of perfectly good aircraft since the end of World War One.
Most of the early Airborne training took place on Fort Benning (recently called Fort Moore, previously known as Fort Benning [a different Benning than the current Benning]), Georgia, with the Airborne Test Platoon (ATP) becoming the first to drop on Lawson Field, 16AUG1940. The ATP consisted of 48 ‘volunteers’. The 16th of August is now officially National Airborne Day in the U.S.
I edited together this video, taken from 1941 U.S. Army Air Corps/Forces (USAAC/USAAF) newsreels about the U.S. Army’s paratroop training:
Here are some more USAAC/USAAF Airborne newsreels from 1941:
The federal U.S. Army Reserve is having a new training center built on the Utah Army National Guard’s Camp Williams. Army Reserve training personnel will be redeploying from their home on Fort Douglas, Utah, to Camp Williams.
Fort Douglas was one of many locations, during World War One, where German prisoners of war (PoW) were held. This photo purports to show German PoWs building model ships.
Fort Douglas was established during The War Between the States, in 1862.
In the 1960s, the Army deployed a mobile recruiting post out of Fort Douglas. The photo was made by J. Hargreaves in Murray, Utah, 12OCT1965.
The Civil War era base was officially shutdown in 1991, at least for active duty (Regular Army) use as the federal Army Reserve continued to conduct their training on the now historic site.
The project would not be possible without direct help from the University of Utah and the people of Utah: According to the Army Reserve’s 358th Public Affairs Detachment, the taxpayers of Utah will spend “…$17 million to purchase the land and an additional $100 million to build the new Army Reserve Center and a maintenance facility.”
Construction is being done by a contractor (Jacobsen Construction) who builds/renovates temples for the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Video report via Specialist Ronald D. Bell, 06MAR2025:
The Army Reserve expects to move onto Camp Williams by Spring 2026.
Soldiers on Fort Douglas taking a University of Utah carpentry course in 1917, during World War One.
The University of Utah has a long history of cooperation with Fort Douglas and will takeover the remaining 50 acres of the historic site.
To boost lagging recruitment (and apparent lack of desire to deploy to Japan), the U.S. Air Force is promoting its Auto Hobby Shop on Yokota Air Base. It is open seven days per week, with six self-service lift bays, an oil-change pit, and they provide the tools!
U.S. Armed Forces Network video report released 17MAR2025:
Challenger, a child of Serendipity? (from the Iranian Shir-2 to the Challenger-3)
