History, Politics And Current Affairs

The Medium-Range workhorse of both the SAF's DA and the SNAF: the Tu-16... The Tu-16 Badger in World War III The Tupolev Tu-16 Badger was the Soviet Union's first medium jet bomber, comparable to the B-47. Unlike its Boeing counterpart, the Tu-16 enjoyed a long service life in Soviet and Soviet clie...

Photo: The USS America (CV-66) with an F-14 about to land seen through the periscope of Royal Navy's Trafalgar class HMS Trafalgar (S-107) during the liberation of Iceland, 1987. https://i.redd.it/ghauz6pdrqa91.jpg Even though it was a "friendly" sub, there are still only two types of shi...

Old habits died hard after the Armistice: USS Texas (CGN-39) and a FER intelligence ship near the Kuriles while Texas was monitoring compliance with the Armistice, 1990:

A lot of mine clearance went on during and after the campaign. Remember, some of the mines laid were ours, trying to interdict traffic going in and out of the Port of Brownsville.

Yes, after the Soviet/NK raiding force was ejected by 3rd Marine Division.

Miss Buffy on a postwar visit Down Under, 1992:

A common SPAAG in Soviet Cat III and Mobilization-only units: the ZSU-57-2. Lack of radar and more modern fire-control systems meant it was practically useless against fast movers and only marginally effective against helos. But as a ground-support weapon, it was devastating to guerillas with no ant...

The Backfires aren't just a "Force in being." They fly strikes into Florida and the Southeast with standoff weapons like the AS-4 and AS-6, along with anti-shipping strikes. By the time of Brownsville, though? They've either been shot down, destroyed on the ground, or are grounded due to m...

The Backfires were put out of business by other strike assets.

In 1988? There were still SNAF Backfires in Cuba (stuck there after the liberation of Iceland), and also SNAF Su-24s. The threat was there. So the decision to scuttle would be an easy one. Just get her into some deep water so that any kind of salvage-even a theoretical one-would be out of the questi...

Looks good, but they would want to make sure she was in deep water before pulling the plug that last time.

Not over until the three are out of Iraq.

Getting in: Soviet Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq: 1455 Hours GMT: Colonel Lychkin, the GRU Rezident, had everything prepared. The “Service Van” for a well-known office supply and business machines company in Baghdad had been readied, and for all intents and purposes, it appeared as such. However, inside th...

It lives! BZ as usual, and so to business. GDMA has been penetrated.... These two escaped a General Court-Martial, but they are now answering to a higher authority. That Spetznatz team is now cut off: staging a QRF to retake the facility is next on the agenda. Nothing like the Cavalry arriving, thou...

Dave Golen got it.

And here we go: Over North-Central Texas: 1015 Hours Central War Time: Mustang Flight was running down low, having just cleared both the Granbury Bridge and the Lake Granbury Dam, following along the east side of the Brazos. The refueling at the tanker track had gone off smoothly, with the RAF this ...

You could still use them, but say, show them as during her workups in the Black Sea. The Russian Republic Navy would have mainly submarines, including missile boats, with a few larger ships that survived WW III and the Civil War. Most of their ships would be destroyer sized or smaller, with frigates...

The Dutch Government was neutralist until the "Turnover in Government" just before the Bundeswehr decided the Greens had been around long enough. They rejoined NATO when it reformed, and fought in the 1989 campaign, but the Dutch Marines? They went to the British, fought with the Royal Mar...

Those should be Mexican ones: Texas and Louisiana platforms were off-limits to attack as they were needed for postwar reconstruction.

CIA Director Bill Casey was given two SNIEs (Special National Intelligence Estimates); one downplayed the possibility of invasion, the other predicted it. Casey felt the latter was more likely, and a White House meeting to discuss the SNIE with the National Security Council was on tap for the aftern...