Nor are squadies the only payload these multicopter "lift rings" can move around.
The Ukrainian “Thunder” loitering drone recce-ammunition uses the lift ring staging concept to lift it's munition and then acts as a radio relay naturasigorta.com/ukrainian-loit…
Conceptually, staged drones are a partially disposable form of air to air refueling.
This reusable multi-copter staged munition drone concept certainly makes a USS Unicorn style VTOL aircraft & drone carrier a while lot more interesting.
An 3D/AM facility on a LHD for these 200kg payload reusable but expendable multi-copter lift rings has all sorts of fascinating power projection applications.
And there is no reason these multi-copter lift ring platforms couldn't be power tethered to your ship as a sensor "crows nest."
Or in a complicated littoral high cruise missile threat war/not war environment like Lebanon or Yemen. You could have several powered Nulka but inactive sitting inside a multi-copter lift ring tethered fore & aft of your vessel for _DAYS_ in rotation
The ability of a multi-copter lift ring to support an ASW escorts simply by dropping sonar buoy's at the 2nd convergence zone plus acting as a radio relay for them to the surface ship escort can off load a whole lot of Merlin & MH-60R Seahawk flight hours prosecuting ASW contacts
This brings us back to the tethered multi-copter lift ring idea with a radio relay package to talk to sonarbuoy dropping package radio relay drone lift rings.
It will save cash compared to a 'every sonarbuoy a drone' concept.
The concept of a 21st Century naval armed guard with multi-copter lift ring UAV's has a lot of possibilities for convoy ASW sensors, weapons delivery and missile defense with tethered multi-copter lift ring Nulka decoys.
A 200 kg depth charge is -killer- in shallow waters SCS.
Ya think Bilge Pumps could chew some scenery discussing this?
This thread is another visit into the pyrrhic victory known as Operation Iceberg, the Apr 1945 invasion of Okinawa.
This thread is based on my Aug 2013 Chicagoboyz column "Technological Surprise & the Defeat of the 193rd Tank Battalion at Kakuzu Ridge" chicagoboyz.net/archives/38455… 1/
On 19 April 1945, the US Army’s 27th Inf Div launched an attack against the Kakuza Ridge position held by the 32nd Army on Okinawa with the 193rd Tank Btn's 30 tanks, S.P. assault guns, and attached armored flame throwers from the 713th Flame Tank Btn. 2/
When the battle was over, 22 of the 30 AFV had been destroyed in a coordinated ambush by Japanese AT- guns, artillery, mortars & suicide close assault teams. Among the dead was the commander of the 193rd, on whom blame was laid for attacking without infantry in close support. 3/
This is a short thread on Japanese bulldozers in WW2.
There weren't many & they were small
My copy of Rikugun. Volume 2: Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces 1937 - 1945 does not show a single Japanese bulldozer design. 1/
There are a few hints about them on the internet.
In December 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned Komatsu to produce heavy earthmovers for the purpose of building air bases.
@adam_tooze@gideonrachman The Z-20 has a 5-blade rotor system and more powerful engines as well as auxiliary wing-like hardpoints attached to it, similar to the Lightweight Armament Support Structure (LASS) and External Stores Support System (ESSS) wings on the US Blackhawks.
@adam_tooze@gideonrachman Essentially, a fleet of Z-20's with external stores can do 2 round trips from Mainland China to Taipei loaded with 11 troops per lift.
Or they can trade fuel for weapons and play assault gunship to support infantry air-landings.
Alright, since the Bilge Pumps episode 52 is up, and I really didn't get a chance to go deep with US military 3D printing as is, versus what I see coming.
I'm going to drop a background thread here to do just that.
This is a thread on Normandy/Overlord airpower, signals & invasion stripes.
There was a neat post by @militaryhistori about D-Day to D+1 airpower talking about how many aircraft sorties the Allies racked & stacked over Normandy 6-7 June 1945.