The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program was born out of a 1993 requirement by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The requirement established the launch of Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter (CALF) program that put forth a proposition for DoD aircraft to unify airframes across all branches. This was hardly unprecedented,Continue Reading
It’s a typical pattern of evolution. Each generation recognizes something that was absurd or incredible in the past as ordinary in the present. As time passes, evolution takes hold again, and we are left in awe of something new and truly amazing once again. Mankind is full of such advancementsContinue Reading
Everyone is familiar with the concept of cause and effect. For every action, there is a reaction of the same or lesser magnitude. Sometimes the resulting reaction is just the first in a chain of events that leads up to something else. A chain reaction, that’s what one might callContinue Reading
Large caliber artillery is not unique to the modern era, nor is it unique to the Cold War where many large artillery pieces were engineered and produced. The largest artillery pieces can trace themselves back well before World War I. However, it was during World War I and the deploymentContinue Reading
This is one of those ideas that you read about and it just makes you scratch your head. There are many different versions of ideas like this: the “is that really a good idea?”; the “no way”; and the “oh God, I gotta see this.” Fortunately, the Davy Crockett fulfillsContinue Reading
The Cold War exhibited some the greatest inventions that mankind had to offer and provided the springboard that propelled technology and innovation ultimately to where we find ourselves today. The Atomic Age, confined within the Cold War era, not only embodied the advancement of nuclear technology, but it also includedContinue Reading
Over the course of the Cold War, world powers found themselves constantly at odds with each other. Nuclear testing was rampant. Atomic research was unchecked. Safety procedures were limited. The name of the game was espionage, spying, and various other forms of information gathering. After all, this was the definitionContinue Reading
The Boeing Model 299 – that was the moniker that was the center of Boeing’s manufacturing and development centers in the early and mid 1930s. The United States Army was beginning to see an increased need for the coverage of the skies and airpower. Rallied by a court-martialed officer inContinue Reading
One would certainly hope that we have always had a lock down on nuclear weapons, right? After all, the most powerful nations in the world wield these destructive weapons. However, the nature of these weapons wasn’t exactly well understood on the birth of the technology. That’s evident enough in theContinue Reading
Deep in the northern Ural mountains in Russia lies a mountain known as Kholat Syakhl. The name literally translates to the phrase “Dead Mountain.” For nine members of the Ural Polytechnical Institute in Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk in February of 1959, that would prove to be absolutely true. Taking place during an eraContinue Reading
