Military FAQ Thread

[ramana]

A French paper on developing a 120mm rocket-assisted IM round.

https://imemg.org/wp-content/uploads/IM ... aper5A.pdf

Note the testing facilities.

[ramana]

Dupuy Institute study on Artillery Survivability in Modern War.

They studied the 1973 Arab-Israel war, Korea, and some WWII battles

http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/pdf/055.pdf

So doesn't deal with drones, precision strike fuzes, etc.
However, gives a baseline.

Appendix on a US Army Fire and EEffect in one WWII battle

http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/pdf/055a.pdf

a relevant statement to modern war is

It is evident from vulnerability testing of current Army self-propelled
weapons, that these weapons while offering much more protection to cannoneers,
and providinq tremendous advantages in mobility are much more vulnerable to
hostile action than are towed weapons, and that they are much more subject to
mechanical breakdowns involving either the weapons mountings or the propulsion
elements

[ramana]

US Naval War College Journal site:

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/

[ramana]

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/v ... nwc-review

US NWC Journal paper on future USN carrier.
The conclusion is 65K tonne CATOBAR with conventional power.

[ramana]

https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.co ... atgms.html

Long article on Soviet Era ATGMS and contemporary Western missiles.

Includes discussion on designs and payloads.

[ramana]

https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.co ... -guns.html
Soviet-era anti-tank guns.
Lots of details on guns, shells, and ammo and comparisons to the West.

[ramana]

The December 1943 issue of Popular Science. Note two years after Pearl Harbor.


LINK

[ramana]

A very good resource on Naval matters

http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/index_tech.php

[ramana]

Proximity Fuze history

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/l ... fuzes.html

[nachiket]

Proximity Fuze history

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/l ... fuzes.html

Short video on the importance of the development of the Proximity Fuze in WW2:

[ramana]

Group Captain Hari Nair's description of the ALH program and lessons learned.

https://www.livefistdefence.com/alh-dhr ... irst-hand/

Please read the pitfalls and triumphs of the ALH and how it segues into the HAL's helicopter designs

[ramana]

An Australian assessment of air power in Kosovo.

https://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-04.html

Lots of lessons on PGM usage and target cost-benefit analysis

[ramana]

Hypersonic Weapons

US Congress Report

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/weapons/R45811.pdf

and
Russia's Invincible Weapons

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... eapons.pdf

[ramana]

FAA Helicopter Flight Instructors Manual. A very good primer on helicopter overview.

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policie ... 8083-4.pdf

[ramana]

https://www.thedefencematrix.in/mig-21i ... of-service

[Bala Vignesh]

https://www.thedefencematrix.in/mig-21i ... of-service

Thanks, Ramana garu!! This was an interesting read!!

[ramana]

Development of the jet engine:

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4306/ch3.htm

[ramana]

German research drives jet engines:

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4306/ch4.htm

[Mollick.R]

Proximity Fuze history

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/l ... fuzes.html

Short video on the importance of the development of the Proximity Fuze in WW2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0SgC78YFPc

Saar, another one on same subject.
This one was released some 10 day ago by one of my favorite science/engineering YouTube channel. Please have look.

[ramana]

LCH Development and Requirments
https://www.key.aero/article/everything ... helicopter

[ramana]

Historic ASMs:


https://web.archive.org/web/20111211034 ... 08.html#m2

[ramana]

German Navy Torpedo crisis during WWII

The Norwegian Operation and the Torpedo Crisis

https://uboat.net/history/torpedo_crisis.htm

How second order effects dominate in war.

US Navy issues in the Pacific War

https://uboat.net/allies/technical/torpedo_problems.htm

[ramana]

French units in Algeria. The first modern counter-insurgency war.

https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en ... gerian-war

[ramana]

And French use of air force in counter-insurgency.

http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v3/v3n1/frcoin.html

[ramana]

US Army test and evaluation of French SS11 missiles from helicopters.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA030732.pdf

Very professional evaluation process.
Good to know for our keyboard warriors.

[ramana]

PNE Smiling Buddha:

https://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/ ... iling.html

[ramana]

British Artillery in World War II

https://nigelef.tripod.com/directory.htm

[ramana]

Centre for Air Power Studies Issue Briefs.

https://capsindia.org/issue-brief/

[ramana]

Zorawar The Snow Leopard

https://raksha-anirveda.com/zorawar-the-snow-leopard/

[ramana]

Old IDSA article on a USAF study on Air wing readiness evaluation

Assessing Unit Readiness of an Air Force Fighter Wing
By R.V. Phadke *

https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa ... phr01.html

Summary of Relevant Issues

1. It will be evident that the problems highlighted in the document are of a universal nature and that a number of lessons can be learnt without experiencing the problems at first hand.

2. Operational training and operational readiness are intimately connected and ad hoc deployments for exercises, inspections or indeed for meeting contingency situations can and do have serious long-term implications for the health of the air force.

3. Maintaining a healthy experience mix of pilots and technicians is often neglected at the altar of expediency. If USAF, which is the biggest and the most powerful air force in the world, faces such serious problems of operational preparedness, one can imagine the conditions in a smaller air force with even more limited funding and resources. We in India are quite familiar with the difficulties faced by the Indian Army due to its frequent deployments in Internal Security and Counter-Insurgency Operations. Frequent alerts and actual deployments to operational areas or stations naturally disrupt routine flying training activities and also adversely affect operational readiness of the air force. Going by the USAF experience such imbalances in training and experience mix of fighter squadrons require a long time and concerted effort to correct.

4. Problems of retention, motivation, morale, boredom with routine sorties like Combat Air Patrols among pilots and repeated cannibalisations among the technicians, need to be addressed. Frequent separations from families when deployed in areas and for causes without a visible and easily understood national stake or interest are apparently eroding the will of the American combatants involved.

5. It is interesting to note that if a larger wing like the 388th with as many as fifty-four F-16 aircraft (three squadrons) faces such serious difficulties, a smaller wing operating two or more types is bound to be much worse off. Not only would dissimilar aircraft demand different and additional supervisory staff to oversee flying training activities but there would also be an attendant increase in maintenance manpower. Difficulties of Logistics and Spares availability would also be considerable.

6. Retention of fighter (as indeed other) pilots continues to be a serious problem in almost all the air forces. In addition to the well-known reasons such as huge disparity in pay packages, there are many others. These include a relatively short span of active flying since most fighter pilots are under-employed after completing their command assignments at the level of the Squadron Commander. There is a need to modify our organisational structure to utilise them for much longer periods in active flying jobs. Chief Operational Officers (COOs), Station Flight Safety and Inspection Officers, (SFSIOs) could be given more senior pilots to augment the supervisory pool at Stations. But these would require some difficult decisions that would be painful in a hierarchical organisation. As brought out above, skill oriented exercises such as air-to-ground and air-to-air armament delivery need to be given more importance in planning the personnel mix of a squadron. Larger squadrons would certainly help. In the final analysis, the raison d’etre of an air force is to deter a war or to successfully fight it when deterrence fails. It is axiomatic therefore that each pilot is given the opportunity to continuously hone his basic and advanced skills to remain fighting fit at all times. Station Commanders are usually so engrossed in routine administrative functions such as ensuring adequate water and electricity supply, schooling, medical, transportation, local purchase, housing and the like; that the more important function of maintaining the operational preparedness of the combatants gets less attention. Finally, there is no alternative to regular and vigorous flying training and to achieve that goal, aircraft need to be maintained at the highest level of serviceability, reliability and availability possible.

[ramana]

https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa ... sik01.html


Air-Power Strategy and Ground Support Operations in High Altitude
By K.R. Singh

https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa ... klh01.html

Force Structure for the Army and Higher Decision-Making
By Col HPS Klair

[ramana]

RUSI London evaluation of Russian hypersonic missiles
https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-resear ... ssile-pose