http://www.combatreform.org/c130.htm Aviation has not lived up to its full potential by a long shot. The air cushion landing system (ACLS) has yet to be exploited by military forces for eXtreme short take-off and landing (eSTOL) capabilities because airmen tend to be pampered pussies who want to fly from comfortable air base-to-air base where enemy guided high explosive (HE) munitions can concentrate and give them 2000 degree fiery "comfort": http://www.geocities.com/usarmyaviationdigest/fighterinabox.htm It may well be up to ARMY or "Special" Air Force Commando operations units to advance the state of military aviation away from vulnerable air bases and empower ground maneuver units to land anywhere to include on the water--- http://www.combatreform.org/seaplanetransports.htm ...by incorporating ACLS on small tactical transports like the C-27J Spartan since they are willing to get their fingers dirty to win non-linear wars. http://www.geocities.com/airbornemuseum/nlmb.htm ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTeiHP2XVt0

UPDATE: U.S. Army Needs Russian Weapons & Ammo: Do We Get Stripper/Magfed SKSes as Logistics Failure Back-Ups? https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/crazy-army-wants-make-russian-weapons-and-ammo-its-allies-66712 Detachable SKS Mags that Work! https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/archangel-lvx-magazine-for-sks-rifles-35-rounds-black-polymer-708279013195.do?sortby=ourPicks https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/archangel-lvx-magazine-with-lever-release-for-sks-rifles-762x39mm-20-round-black-polymer-708279013898.do Just like we told you all along that Stryker, JLTV, MRAPs and other wheeled trucks are road-bound crap--BEFORE THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS WERE MURDERED AND MAIMED---we informed the general public that we need ALL of our Soldiers able to fire enemy weapons and use their own ammo against them--just like Major Jim Tierney proposes in this month's Armed Forces Journal magazine. http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/03/9563722 Once we establish foreign weapons Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in every Army unit, we will next need WEAPONS (dedicated model like a stripper clip and AKM magazine-fed SKS or a snap-on M16A5 upper receiver) to train on and be our back-ups in time of non-linear war--where resupply is not a given. http://www.combatreform.org/ARMORHISTORY/thunderrun.htm T.J. Mullin writes in "Special Operations: Weapons & Tactics", Chapter 3, page 33: "This training should include both familiarization for safety purposes as well as training in shooting of the weapons. This is a tall order: a U.S. Special Operator in the military should be able to operate, fire and maintain all Soviet-patterned standard weapons in use since 1941and be familiar to the same level with US/Allied patterns in use over the same period of time. Civilian teams need to be similarly familiar, if only at the safety level rather than firing or maintenance (although that would be useful also and help to keep up interest), so that if they encounter a weapon at a scene, they will not pick it up and accidentally shoot themselves. Don't laugh - it has happened and was once so common with officers encountering MAC-10 open-bolt SMG in Miami that a ballistic bag to place them in to make them safe to handle, since they were incapable of unloading them safely, was developed by Richard Davis of Second Chance Safety Vest fame. Not only are such classes quite useful in the event the operator encounters odd weapons, whether they become stranded and need to use them for actual fighting purposes or merely to render them safe to handle (as souvenirs or evidence) but also they are interesting to most people who are attracted to Special Operation groups and gives them a feeling that they are special. This is always a useful thing as it keeps morale up which will help get such people through the hard tirnes which are sure to come in any Special Operations group. Throughout all of the training it is essential that the training must be relatively interesting and, I believe, fun. People will not spend time doing things that are not fun. If it is fun, they will took forward to the training and do well at it. If they view it as a drudgery, they will attempt to avoid it, do as little as possible, and have a poor attitude towards the entire situation. When I was in the Army originally, I looked forward to going shooting, for I came to the Army as someone who was very interested in shooting and weapons. To my shock, I soon found out that no one in the Army liked to go shooting and I soon found out why - it was not fun!" http://english.iremember.ru/tankers/27-vladimir-vostrov.html?q=%2Ftankers%2F27-vladimir-vostrov.html&start=2 "G.K. -- What personal weapons did assault gun crews carry? V.V. -- We were all issued a revolver. Each assault gun always had 20 grenades and 1-2 PPSh submachine guns for the crew. Everyone also usually stuffed two-three grenades into their coat pockets, some of us had German SMGs. You could salvage a whole arsenal from the battlefield, no-one really ever paid attention to what we were carrying around in our vehicle. By the end of the war, we were driving around with captured Panzerfausts." G.K. -- Were the German "Panzerfausters" especially bothersome? V.V. -- The German Panzerfaust detachments were very active against us from February to April of 1945. These were mainly put together from German penal units and Vlasov's men [Russian defectors who fought on the German side under General Andrei Vlasov, who had been captured in 1942 -- Transl.]. One time, they destroyed an IS-2 tank standing a few dozen meters away right before my eyes. Our regiment was lucky enough to enter Berlin from the Potsdam side, and we never had to fight through the center of the city, where the Panzerfausters were just running wild... ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LJMvaggKZI

We are not as advanced as we deceive ourselves to be. The thousands of burned-up dead people who died needlessly in flimsy tube & wing airliners would scream out in outrage at our BS if they could. The Can-Do, WW2 "Greatest Generation" thought correctly about life's physical forces and created smart designs like Burnelli blended wing body and Northrop flying wings but as the threats of war faded, narcissism (ego) and bureaucratic greed ($) took over the defense and civilian industries alike with losers creating rackets like the unsafe gasoline-powered automobile and highways (40, 000 dead each year ever since the 1950s) that wrongly squeeze safe train travel out as our main transportation means. http://www.combatreform.org/thebraveamerican.htm This video shows how in 1949 visionary men like Northrop had the right idea--and reminds us to our shame that we haven't done "jack shit" to advance aviation ever since. Interestingly enough, if you watch the Cary Grant movie, "The Bishop's Wife" in the opening scenes, there's a model of a YB-49 Flying wing hanging from a shop you can see through the window. The classic sci-fi 1952 movie, "The War of the Worlds" features the YB-49 dropping a nuclear bomb to stop the aliens. The knowledge that flying bodies and blended wings are best was there--we just wimped out when control difficulties arose so we reverted back to BS tube & wing planes to keep the cash $$$ flowing. Burnelli BWB planes would have full tails and control surfaces--so there's no excuse. http://www.aircrash.org The question to you, CITIZEN, is...are you going to continue to fly in deathtrap tube & wing airliners like schmucks or are you going to boycott air travel and demand safer planes before you give the corporations your hard-earned dollars? Sometimes just saying "NO!" is the best thing for you, our nation and mankind. Take a train. Watch the high speed train the Europeans use featured in the 2006 James Bond, 007 movie "Casino Royale"--that's how Americans should travel from coast-to-coast. Want to build a 1/144 scale model of the YB-49? http://www.anigrand.com/AA4009_YB-49.htm ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub6U9CL0K_A

http://www.diggerhistory.info Let me set the scene; it is a stinking, non-descript rubber plantation in a place that no one was much interested in, the rain is pouring down as only Asian monsoonal rain can, 108 Australians are fighting for their lives against an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 NVA troops who are on their way to wipe out the whole Australian base at Nui Dat. It is Delta Company of 6 RAR and they are in "deep shit". They have already lost a section and more. Their ammo has run out once and only an emergency resupply from a RAAF chopper has allowed them to keep firing. Supporting artillery is firing "continuous fire" (24 guns firing 3 rounds per gun per minute) and will drop a total of 2,639 rounds of 105mm and 155 rounds of 155mm (from the Yanks). There are already about 15% of the Australian unit KIA. More are wounded. Some are missing. All are desperate. The NVA/VC are massing for the last attack. The Australian Company Commander has already told his base "If you don't come for us in half an hour, don't bother coming at all". Then through the murk, the rain and the bullets . . .a dull roar, like a couple of bulldozers, no one knew what it was. Then it struck them. The tracks had arrived. Out of the gloom, lights blazing, .50 cal machine guns going full bore, having already swum a flooded river, with another Company of 6RAR aboard the M113s of the RAAC came roaring in almost Western movie timing to break up the NVA/VC attack and relieve the situation. The NVA/VC withdrew leaving 245 bodies that they could not retrieve. They call the place LONG TAN. Sgt Buick and the remnant of 11 Platoon "jumped up, yelled and waved to identify our position, just like in the movies. I felt like one of those Yankees saved from the Indians" (from the book by Lex McAulay). THE M113 GAVIN....SAVES THE DAY YET AGAIN.... http://www.combatreform.com/m113combat.htm A Digger M113 Gavin officer writes: Dear sir, Thank you for the slideshows posted on YouTube. You don't need to sing the praises of the M113 to me, you are preaching to the converted. I operated an M113A1 in the reconnaissance role as part of 1/15 RNSWL. It was very difficult to sneak and peak in such a large, square, noisy vehicle but we became quite good with practice and tracked mobility meant we could traverse swamps and climb mountains and surprise the enemy by being places we were least expected. When our sister unit 2nd Cavalry Regiment were equipped with ASLAVs (Canadian-built LAV-2 in Australian specification) we were jealous that they had new vehicles whilst we wrestled with Vietnam-era equipment but soon discovered ASLAVs can't operate off-road because each vehicle would loose at least one tyre per day on off-road operations. http://www.defence.gov.au/army/2cav/oldgear.html ASLAVs were also enormous, fine for peace-keeping duties but difficult for sneak and peak activities. Now 1/15 RNSWL has also (temporarily) lost the M113, replaced with (unarmoured) LandRovers! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st/15th_Royal_New_South_Wales_Lancers The M113 has been withdrawn from service in Australia so as to be rebuilt to M113AS4 standard, that is, stretched to accommodate an extra roadwheel. All my years operating an M113 I never once heard anyone say "I wish this vehicle was larger". http://www.defence.gov.au/dmo/lsd/land106/MII3AS4_images.cfm ******** High-Technology Gavins reduced in size into "Mini-Gavins" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddnntGA8vEs with hybrid-electric drive and band tracks will answer the glitches the Digger officer had to work around.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbWbkOkTydk Want to know more about 3D Airborne Maneuver Warfare? Our book, "Air-Mech-Strike: Asymmetric Maneuver Warfare for the 21st Century" is ONLINE for FREE skyjacked by Google! http://books.google.com/books?id=RCWtHnYZ0LMC&pg ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7NoV3QmAqk