Archive for the ‘Military’ Category

Google Founders Offer to Save Historic Hangar One if They Can Store Private Jets Fleet There

Monday, December 12th, 2011
Google founders offer _100 percent_ funding to save Hangar One, NASA considering offer - San Jose Mercury News.jpg

As of now NASA’s historic Hangar One will be destroyed. Victim of a budget cut. One of the largest free standing structures in the world and historic landmark in the aviation history of this country will be completely demolished and lost to the sands of times.

Unless Google’s Larry Paige, Sergy Brin and Eric Schmitt are allowed to foot the full bill for refurbishment, roughly $33 million. In exchange they ask for rights to house their private jet fleet, eight in total. The government will retain the ability to lease out the rest of Hangar One for whatever they please.

As of now, NASA’s response is: maybe.

Bob Jacobs, a NASA spokesman, said in an email Saturday that “it would be premature to discuss the merits of the proposal until we have had time to review the details.

“It has not yet been completely vetted,” he added. “We understand the interest and historic nature of the facility and we have to weigh that against the reality of constrained resources and use. We are giving all options thoughtful consideration as we prepare our funding proposal for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget.”

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Hangar One was built in 1933 and occupies roughly six football fields worth of land spanning eight acres. The Navy is currently in the process of removing contaminated skin from the structure, which means reapplication would have to take place in 2012.

Page, Brin and Schmidt first submitted their proposal in September.

Below, check out a more recent use of Hangar One. The Mythbusters attempt to fold a football field sized piece of paper more than seven times. SAVE OUR BASIC CABLE HISTORY!

[Mercury News]

Torn-Out Tongue, Shattered Skull Peppers 1950’s Radioactive Russian Mystery

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

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A few friends go hiking in the Russian wilderness on an early February night in 1959. The Ural Mountain area is desolate, but not unmanageable for these nine veteran hikers.

On a larger scale, the Soviet Union continues to ascend in global power. Cuba is weeks away from succumbing to Communist revolution. Secrecy and corruption in all levels of government continue to run unchecked in an Iron Curtain system which it’s own citizens don’t dare question and the rest of the world fears.

Those nine hikers were found dead. Two of them had fractured skulls. Many of them were in various states of undress. One of them had her tongue ripped out of her mouth. All of their clothes had trace levels of radiation.

Their tent was ripped open. From the inside.

What were they trying to get away from? Were they running from something? Or someone? Did top secret chemical weapons testing cause them to go psychotic? Did a group of indigenous people brutally, torture and murder the friends?

Why was the subsequent investigation sealed under high level secrecy for decades?

The intervening 52 years haven’t provided hard answers, but there are plenty of theories ranging from UFOs to high-tech military testing.

The snow swept scenery is now called Dyatlov Pass in memory of Igor Dyatlov, the leader of those who died under such odd circumstances. Read about them AFTER THE JUMP… (more…)

Rocket Launchers, Contrails, Batman: The Best Mystery Missile Conspiracy Theories

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

It left a vapor trail as it soared into the sky but the questions have lingered far longer as we ponder “what was that California mystery missle after all?”

Predictably, conspiracy theories abound:

We launched an ICBM from a submarine while Obama was out to town to show we’re still hardcore: this comes from Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Ellsworth in the video above although he cautioned that we should wait for official confirmation from the military.

It’s a mobile launcher from the USS Ronald Reagan: Despite the defense department denying it was a scheduled launch, some are speculating that the missile came from the general area of the USS Ronald Reagan. Two problems, the size of the weapon is off from what is equipped on the ship and the USS RR was supposed to be en route to help a stranded Carnival Cruise ship.

It’s a jet contrail: According to a Harvard professor the direction and shape of the vapor looks consistent with a jet contrail illuminated by the low angel of a setting sun. This of course leaves the option for chemtrail open.

Batman has finally banished Mr. Freeze to space: On the unofficial Twitter @God_Damn_Batman, the Dark Knight offered a tacit explanation…

Not saying I had anything to do with that missile off the coast of CA. But I hope the vacuum of space is cold enough for you, Mr. Freeze.

We are down with all of these.

Military Pay $9 Million To Develop Flying Humvee

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

A flying Humvee? Don_t scoff, Pentagon wants one | Technology | Los Angeles Times.jpg

Finally, jerks of 2024, you know what car you’ll be driving. DARPA has awarded $9 million in contracts to develop a flying war time vehicle that can drop supplies and engaged in limited air to ground combat.

[LA Times]

Has The Air Force Landed Their Top Secret Space Plane?

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

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Conspiracy nuts, on your mark! The top-secret X-37B space plane has already gone missing once this year (proving the craft to be far more agile than amateur military tech experts predicted) and now it has again disappeared. Many now suggest that the plane is preparing to land or has landed already.

The Air Force is not saying anything, because after all it is a top-secret military space plane.

Our guess? Invisibility shield. But then again, we run a blog about Nazi-fighting bears.

[Fox News]

Weapon Maker Marks Successful Military Laser Test With Awesome Quote

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Military had a laser. It tried to shoot down a moving drone. It worked. Lasers are awesome.

What else is awesome? This quote:

Mike Booen of Raytheon gave USA Today the money quote for the day: “The targets came in over the ocean, and it was a good day for lasers, bad day for drones.”

You hear that drones? Eat it!

As is pointed out by our esteemed publisher, the next Chinese UFO that shuts down an airport better watch its six.

[CBS]

Can You Hear Me Now? [Weirdest Inventions]

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Everyday this week…Brett Rounsaville brings us the Weirdest Inventions ever conceived.

A topic like this, sometimes you owe it to the world to pay lip service to the big clichés. Case in point, I think we can all agree that if there’s one group of people we know we can count on to come up with one of the weirdest inventions we’ve ever seen…oh yeah…okay…I forgot already…it’s the Japanese. BUT, if there are TWO groups of people then the second one is DEFINITELY the military!

Have you seen this contraption? I thought I had. Knowing that it came from the breeding ground of weird that is the military-industrial complex, I was pretty sure it was the lecherous King of the Isle of Jazz’s artillery, until I remembered my Dad had assured me at some point that cartoons aren’t real. (Heartbreaking.)

Back to square one. Turns out this thing isn’t designed to go to battle with the Land of Symphony, it’s supposed to be a little like a giant tinhorn. You know, those metal horns old people stick in their ears to hear better in cartoons. (Hmm…somehow it already came back to cartoons.) Except this particular phalanx of inverse instruments is meant to alert the old man on the other end to incoming enemy aircraft. (At which point SOP states he must shake his cane, mumble unintelligibly for 10-20 seconds, then suddenly shout, “…OR I’LL SHOVE THIS WALKIN’ STICK UP YOUR @$$!!!)

Unfortunately, I’m not sure how well this fancy little listening device worked. Can anyone tell me what country those soldiers in the foreground are from? If it’s Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, or the Ottoman Empire my guess would be, “not as well as they had hoped.”

Regardless, eventually the old men were replaced with radar operators…

Military history is rife with weird inventions. See if you can’t find me a few more that out weird this one. I dare you.

Nick Fury’s Dreams Come True, Army Building Real SHIELD Helicarrier

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

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All the best tech comes from Sci Fi and comic books, fact.

The United States Army has ordered a huge hybrid airship longer than a football field to watch over battlefields in Afghanistan by the end of 2011, according to the airship’s builder Northrop Grumman Corporation.

The company has received a $517 million Army contract to build up to three of the huge military airships, called the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles (LEMV). Such airships would serve as surveillance stations at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) above sea level and could stay on watch for as long as three weeks at a time.

A LEMV would also have the capability to carry a 2,500-pound (1,113 kg) payload, and still zip along at 92 mph (148 kph) if necessary. The 302-foot (92-meter) airship would typically have a cruising speed of just 34 mph (54.7 kph).

How else are we supposed to launch our Howling Commandos from an airborne position?

[SPACE]

Pentagon Releases Details On LSD, Mind Control Experiments

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

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Not exactly Men Who Stare At Goats, but here is some recently FOIA’d info about how the Pentagon oversaw experiments into forced narcotics dosing and mind control, all in an effort to get an edge on the godless communists in the Cold War.

Initially funded by the Navy, the project set out to study the effects of brain concussion. Soon after, scientists noted that a blow to the head prompted amnesia, leading to the pursuit of a drug-based technique to “induce brain concussion…without physical trauma.” Shortly thereafter, the project was transferred entirely to the CIA, because it involved “human experiments…not easily justifiable on medical-therapeutic grounds.”

Other programs, described briefly focused on mind-control. MK-NAOMI was after “severely incapacitating and lethal materials… [and] gadgetry for their dissemination,” and MK-CHICKWIT was designed to “identify new drug developments in Europe and Asia,” and then “obtain samples.”

Edgewood Laboratories, where many of the programs were carried out, is also identified as having tested an incapacitating chemical on prisoners and military personnel without the agency’s approval. The drug, EA#3167, was “appl[ied] to the skin” of subjects using an adhesive tape.

Read way more at the Danger Room blog.

[Wired]

Top Secret Hypersonic Air Force Glider Goes Missing Minutes After First Test Flight

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
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In case you were tired of running down all the conspiracy angles for the Air Forces’ new X-37B shuttle, here is a fresh new piece of AF intrigue for you to chew on.

The Air Force’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2—designed to attack global targets at Mach 20—has disappeared nine minutes into its first test flight, just after separating from its booster. Contact was lost, and it hasn’t been found yet.

The Falcon was supposed to splash down in the Pacific Ocean after a 30-minute, 4,100-nautical-mile test flight. Not to be confused with the unmanned X-37B space shuttle—which launched on April 22—the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 blasted off last week from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Minotaur IV rocket.

The Falcon is designed to launch conventional weapons at any point on the globe in under one hour, Gizmodo continues.

[Gizmodo]

Military Throws Hat Over The Wall For Flying Car

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Want to know one way to not get blown up by Improvised Explosive Devices? Fly around in a totally sweet flying car!

The Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) has cleared the Transformer (TX) program for takeoff. If it flies, by 2015 U.S. soldiers will be able to ride into battle aboard a four-person flying car that can cruise in the air like an airplane, drive on the ground like an SUV, rove 250 miles on one tank of fuel and not require a runway to get airborne.

DARPA, the Department of Defense office that is tasked with exploring futuristic technologies that may have military applications, held an industry day workshop for companies earlier this year to solicit proposals for developing a prototype vehicle. Proposals are due May 27.

The budget for the project? $54 million with a projection of four years before a prototype is expected.

[Live Science]

Top Secret Air Force Space Plane Launches, Conspiracy Theorists Start Your Engines!

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

A space plane designed to demonstrate the sustainability of a reusable, military-operated vehicle designed to orbit the earth will launch soon from Cape Canaveral, Florida. What happens after that is not of your GD business.

But whether the X-37 space plane is merely showing off nearly two decades of research and development or is actually a precursor to militarizing the final frontier, is far from clear since the vehicle’s payload is classified. An Air Force official won’t even say when it will return to California or where it will land. But it can “loiter” over the globe for more than nine months.

“In all honesty, we don’t know when it’s coming back,” said Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary for the Air Force’s space programs, in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Is there anyone conspiracy-prone enough to craft an idea of what this launch means?.

[Yahoo]