Artist rendering of a B-21 Raider concept in a hangar at Whiteman, Air Force Base, Missouri, one of the future bases to host the new airframe. (Courtesy photo by Northrop Grumman)
This is an artist rendering of a B-21 Raider concept in a hangar at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. Whiteman AFB is one of the bases expected to host the new airframe. (Courtesy graphic by Northrop Grumman)
The United States is working on developing a new ICBM to replace the Minuteman III and new Stealth bomber to replace the B-2.
1/15/21 – Air Force Magazine – Second B-21 Under Construction as Bomber Moves Toward First Flight – Northrop Grumman is building a second B-21 Raider bomber. The first is expected to roll off the production line early in 2020 and fly sometime the following summer. Goal is for the newest bar to operational in 2026 or maybe 2027.
Cost of the first 100 off the production line is expected to be around $80 billion adjusted to 2016 dollars. That is around $800 million a piece.
Hodor on left, Lonian on right, with harbor cruise ship passing between them. Provides perspective on size of the yachts. Photo by James Ulvog.
Previous posts in this series describe a luxurious 87 m yacht, the 66 m support yacht, and all the ancillary equipment carried on board, such as a personal submarine, helicopter, and five speedboats.
First post in this series described a luxury yacht and its associated support yacht. Second post made some guesses on the price tag for the two yachts along with a private jet this person owns.
Now this look at some of the auxiliary equipment, referred to as “toys” in the trade magazines, carried on the support yacht.
Helicopter
Articles above describing the Honan say it is rated for a helicopter such as an EC145. Controller website lists several EC 145 for sale with prices shown for three:
Navajo code talkers by United States Marine Corps is courtesy of the U.S. Government. These heroes from Navajo reservation were honored on 2/19/10, the 65th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima. I was unable to find a picture of Lakota code talkers.
In June 2010 America and the Lakota Sioux people lost a hero.
Clarence Wolf Guts was born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in the south-central area of South Dakota. During World War II he served as a code talker with other men from the reservation. There were about a dozen code talkers using the Sioux language.
Previous post described a huge luxury yacht and a slightly smaller yacht used his support to carry the helicopter, submarine, and five small (?) support boats.
Totally wild guesses on costs
The accountant in me is incapable of using a high-powered telescope to glimpse inside this rarefied world without wondering about the costs. So…
While on vacation recently in San Diego I saw a huge yacht parked in San Diego harbor. This one looked weird, with a helicopter and several boats on the deck. A few hours later another yacht pulled into the harbor, dropping anchor many hundred feet away.
Photo by James Ulvog.
Noticed the name on the side of the first ship was Hodor. Well, of course I did a quick check on the ole’ internet and learned it is a support yacht.
Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army.
While his clothes were on fire after an improved explosive device blew up the vehicle he was riding in, Army Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe returned to the burning vehicle, pulling out a soldier, then another, then another.
Ultimately he pulled six Americans and one national translator from the burning vehicle. Did I mention that his clothing was on fire as he removed each of the soldiers?
Sgt. Cashe is credited with saving the lives of six American soldiers. The national translator, working to free his people, died from the attack. Ten American soldiers were injured, seven seriously.
With 2nd and 3rd burns spread over 72% of his body, Sgt. Cashe died from his wounds a few weeks later.
America is so blessed that we keep finding men like Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe.
He was awarded the Silver Star. It took a while for the chain of command to fully understand the depth of his heroism. He will now finally get an even more appropriate award.
747 cargo aircraft taking off from Denver airport on 8-22-20. Photo by James Ulvog.
Background articles on:
Jumbo jet that opened up international travel to the masses reaching end of production run
Background on why B-52 has been around for 50 years and will still be in service after other heavy bombers have long since retired
New F-35C deploying to the fleet
9/8/20 – Wall Street Journal – The Jumbo Jet Was the Pinnacle of Air Luxury – Now It’s Days Are Numbered – Boeing will shut its 747 production line in 2022 when the last of the already ordered freighters is completed. Airbus will close its A380 super jumbo line in 2021 when the last dozen planes are finished. The double-decker A380 was designed as the peer-to-peer competitor to the 747.
Article has lots of fun stats on both planes. I will provide some of the fun detail:
The 747 was the revolutionary jumbo jet. It opened up international travel to the masses. It was a major part of the rapid expansion in air travel.
The 747 debuted in 1969. The A380 in 2000 with first commercial flight in 2007.
747 cargo aircraft taking off from Denver airport. Photo by James Ulvog.
Over 50 years there have been 1,556 747s produced. Forecast for the A380 had been 1,200 planes but only 242 have been delivered.
Two B-52 Stratofortresses fly over Royal Air Force Station Fairford, United Kingdom, Aug. 22, 2020. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Eugene Oliver)
More background on the U.S. bomber forces and some info on prices for new fighters. Oh, some really nice photos too, courtesy of the U.S.A.F.
Every four years each B-52 goes through a massive maintenance routine which takes 40,000 hours of labor and replaces about 3,000 parts. This extensive maintenance along with major upgrades means the B-52 fleet is likely to stay in use until the year 2050.
“Three very definite propositions were set out in its (the Declaration of Independence) preamble regarding the nature of mankind and therefore of government. These were the doctrine that
all men are created equal,
that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that
therefore the source of the just powers of government must be derived from the consent of the governed.” (emphasis added)
He explained these issues are settled, resolved, final.
We can expand on those ideas. We need to bring them into further fruition. We can dive deeper into their meaning.
Setting them aside or replacing them means we go backwards. Declaring they are no longer true is regression to the ancient past.
More eloquently than I could ever describe, the president said:
“About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.”
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. Continue reading “Text of the Declaration of Independence:”
Two hundred forty-four years ago today marked the start of this wonderful, aspirational, fantastic, heaven-blessed, messy, delightful, powerful, flawed, and glorious experiment called the United States of America which has delivered unimaginable levels of freedom to hundreds of millions of people here in the US of A and contributed massively to the freedom of hundreds and hundreds of millions more around the world.
That experiment had multiple severe flaws baked into the design which are taking a long time to correct, yet the aspirational dreams then drove and still drive that wonderful experiment to constant improvement.
Before our independence, anything resembling a democracy had been absent for so many long centuries. Apart from the ruling elite, ordinary people were merely the subjects of their ‘betters.’ Common folk only had the very few rights and freedoms that those born to power consented to give them, like crumbs thrown from the table. You and I would only have been able to do what those controlling us allowed us to do.
And then came those rabble-rousing founding fathers.
The results of this grand experiment in self-government, not tried before, has produced fabulous results.
