Way Better Video Of Iran’s Missile Shot and More

Plenty of interest and professional speculation regarding the recent Iranian missile shot.

Mined from the comments regarding the front end (clearly seen at the 15 second mark in the posted video) is this: “These types of reentry vehicles are typical for pre-two-point-implosion system nuclear weapons, be they simple fission bombs or themonuclear weapons.”

And as Michael Elleman points out, if the test occurred after June 9th, Iran’s test violates UN Security Council Resolution 1929.

Clearly, Iran has moved beyond etch-a-sketch missiles.

Former Students Doing Good Things

Former Air War College Space Elective alumni, Army COL Chris “Clete” Carlile has co-authored a piece at Armed Forces Journal.

Clete’s article is about the Army’s Robot Revolution and not about space or nuclear war, but trust me on this: I have seen the future and it is unmanned.

How Real Are Defense Budget Cuts In UK and France?

Desperate Acts For Desperate Nations?

Defense cuts?

“Oh, they’re real all right,” as Kramer might say.

This brings new meaning to the phrase ‘sharing is caring.’

Surveillance Nation?

Drat: AEHF-1 Will Be Late To Orbit

Bloomberg reports AEHF-1 will be at least four months late to reach its proper orbit.  The Air Force Association’s Daily Report says AEHF-1 will likely be roughly seven months late.

Spaceflight News quotes a Space and Missile Systems Center authority as saying seven to nine months late.

Sounds like AEHF will be late in reaching its final orbit, eh?

What was the problem?  The liquid apogee engine.  There are several vendors and versions of such engines, so it remains unclear who’ll get the blame on this.

While the liquid apogee engine (LAE) is sometimes described as a “100-pound engine” it is almost certainly a 10-pound engine that makes 100-pounds of thrust.  Regardless, the LAE did not do its job.

The workarounds will still allow for AEHF’s expected 14-year operational life cycle, it will just start months later than envisioned.

I’m thinking the liquid apogee engine will have a pretty serious engineering review before it flies again.