We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
A tribute to the memory and legacy of Abraham Lincoln as we remember his birth on February 12, 1809.
The Gettysburg Address, presented at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, California on February 8, 2020.
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There is an astounding amount of information on U.S. nuclear forces found in Nuclear Notebook – United States nuclear forces, 2020, published by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Not having dived deep into the nuke world for a long time, I’m amazed how much info is available.
Previous posts have gone into a lot of detail on U.S. nukes. This discussion will cover a few interesting tidbits in no particular order with no particular theme.
New START is the name of the current treaty which limits U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. It went into effect back in February 2011 and will expire in February 2021 unless it is extended for five years by mutual agreement of the U.S. and Russia. The article is skeptical that it will be extended based on what the articles describes as the “demonstrated disdain” of the current administration for any arms control agreements.
On-site inspections are a feature of this treaty. Article says through the end of 2019 there have been a combined total of 321 on-site inspections.
Watched the uplifting and depressing movie Harriet last night. Second time I’ve seen it. Fabulous tale about the efforts of Harriet Tubman in liberating herself from slavery, then liberating most of her family, eventually freeing about 70 people from slavery.
(Cross post from Ancient Finances.)
After watching the movie again, wanted to pull together a recap of the posts discussing slavery on my other blog. Most of this discussion is based on Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero, by Kate Clifford Larson, which is the first adult biography of Harriet Tubman published since 1943.
A thin sliver of highlights from the book, primarily about the pricing of slaves:
Continue reading “Prices of slaves on the eastern shore of Maryland before the Civil War.”
The U.S. has deployed a low-yield nuclear weapon on our Ohio-class submarines. The new warhead is categorized as the W76-2. Its estimated yield is usually described as 5 kilotons (kt). One report says it is in the range of 5 kt to 7 kt.
There have been a lot of articles on the W76-2 recently.
Federation of American Scientists – 1/29/20 – US Deploys New Low-Yield Nuclear Submarine Warhead – Report says the US Tennessee deployed in late December 2019 armed with 1 or 2 of its 20 Tridents carrying the new low-yield warhead. Estimated yield is 5 kilotons.
Continue reading “New U.S. submarine launched low-yield weapon, the W76-2.”
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists publishes their Nuclear Notebook which provides extensive detail on the nuclear forces of the world’s nuclear powers.
As I read through some of their publications, some of the highlights and details will be mentioned.
Up first is the Nuclear Notebook – United States nuclear forces, 2020. The document is about 16 pages long including four pages of references.
Want to make one thing clear at the beginning of this discussion. Everything discussed here and the two follow-on posts is based on open source information described in the above cited article. I don’t have any knowledge about any of the information in this article. Even if I did (and I don’t), anything I knew would be completely invisible in this discussion.
Total inventory
The US inventory of nuclear weapons is estimated by the authors at:
This will be my last post clearing out old articles on military topics, particularly on nukes. Will have a few more posts on new articles found will writing this series. Articles mentioned here:
Utopia, you are standing in it! – 4/12/15 – Who’s Got Nukes
Article provides a graph with data from 2014 of which countries have how many nukes, and when they tested their first one. Source cited is the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
A few articles I bookmarked a while back describe a shift in nuclear strategy by the U.S.
Some discussion if you are interested:
Free Beacon – 2/7/18 – Mattis Defends Plan to Deploy Small-Nuclear Arms
While browsing the U.S. Air Force’s website of official photos, came across some pix too good to pass up. So, without any particular connecting theme other than I like the views, here are four nice photos of various airplanes, current and old.
Unclassified, open public source info on nuclear weapons is of interest to me. Here are articles with interesting tidbits I’ve noticed over the last year or two.
One amusing thing I’ve noticed is a range of methods to abbreviate kiloton. I’ve seen kT and Kt, in print articles. On-line dictionary says kt. So, guess that means I can use whichever format I want, right?
Popular Mechanics – 8/10/18 – The Air Force Wants Helicopters to Help Defend Nuclear Missiles. USAF is looking for a new helicopter for use in the missile field. Currently the old UH-1N Hueys are in use. Those are the last Hueys in the Air Force inventory. Four contestants are under consideration.
Article also mentions there are 400 Minuteman IIIs deployed, spread out at Warren, Minot, and Malmstrom. Although capable of carrying three RVs, based on articles I’ve read in the past and articles below, the current configuration is one RV with 300 kt warhead, according to the article.
Business Insider – 9/23/18 – Here’s what it would look like if Britain launched an attack with nuclear weapons.
Continue reading “More tidbits on nuclear weapons, particularly ICBMs and SLBMs.”
In pulling together posts in this series, I found a treasure trove of photos on Flickr by Greg Goebel. He has a photo album of Guided Missiles. He has accumulated views of a large number of air-to-air, surface-to-air, and ground-to-ground missiles.
Very cool.
Here are a few of my favorites, all shared under Creative Common’s Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license.
Up first, strategic missiles:
Some articles I’ve bookmarked recently provide some background on nuclear weaponry: the B-52 no longer carries gravity nukes; recap of the capabilities of countries with sea-launched nukes, and losing the nuclear launch codes.
The War Zone – 1/13/20 – The Air Force’s B-52H Bomber Force Has Said Goodbye To Its Nuclear Bombs.
A 2019 update to technical document for strategic bombers says that the B-52H is no longer authorized to carry gravity nuclear bombs. The only weapon it is allowed to carry is the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile with a W80-1 warhead. The only nuclear loads for the B-2A are the B61-7 and B83-1 gravity bombs, which previously were authorized for the B-52H.
Congress has approved and the president has signed legislation to create the United States Space Force.
This sixth branch will start out as a department of the U.S. Air Force in the way that the U.S. Marine Corps is a department of the U.S. Navy.
We are about to get a sixth branch of the U.S. military. There are currently five branches:
And most people forget to include the:
The soon to be approved sixth branch?
Yes, the Congress is just about to approve moving space missions out of the Air Force and into a new branch.
10/10/19 – Behind the Black – Congress approves establishment of Space Force – Continue reading “A sixth branch of the United States military?”
Just checked on the status of the players in the Silk Road dark web bazaar.
Updated previous post for the location and release date for Andrew Michael Jones. Release date and location for Gary Davis is now listed. Release date for Carl Mark Force has been shorted one month.
I won’t repost all the details. Check out the status at:
It is fascinating to see the cost of large projects. Check out the price tag for new football stadiums in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Los Angeles
The new stadium under construction in Los Angeles which, will be the home of the Rams and Chargers, will run a cool $5 billion.
Continue reading “Cost of Los Angeles and Las Vegas football stadiums”