The bottom of the (inverted) pyramid

I was updating myself on MRAP news today and ran across a USA-Today story on manufacturers' efforts to develop armor protections against Explosively Formed Penetrators, the type of IED most lethal to U.S. vehicles.

Most of story was no surprise, as it stayed line with the narrative that MRAPs are unprotected against EFPs. Near the bottom of the story, where the traditional print-media story form stuffs the less-interesting and least-critical detail, I discovered something I didn't know.

"We have a solution that is made up of standard and new materials in a configuration that will defeat a number of the EFP devices," said Jim Tuten, director of research development and armor programs at Protected Vehicles, which is based in North Charleston, S.C. "We have tested it against a number of them at several different government facilities successfully."

Force Protection, a major Pentagon MRAP contractor, has anti-EFP armor in a vehicle called the Mastiff, which it has sold the British military.

(USA Today)

One of my favorite blogs, the delightful across-the-pond EU Referendum, had criticized the Mastiff version of the Force Protection Cougar because it lacked windows with which soldiers could make themselves aware of their surroundings before disembarking at the rear of the vehicle. Apparently, the EFP protections designed by Force Protection resulted in the elimination of the windows.

Linking back to EU Referendum helped me stumble across a blog entry from 2006 that I had missed, on IEDs, EFPs, and military vehicles. Pay them a visit.

The new Air Force? Smaller, slower planes may offer some advantages

clipped from www.airforce-technology.com

The photo shows three "Super Tucano" aircraft. Brazil uses them for counter-insurgency operations.

What am I doing posting about prop planes in a modern air force? One of the blogs on my regular visit rotation is EU Referendum. They posted about the small planes a number of times, most recently in a story concerned with friendly-fire incidents. The smaller planes may allow safer coordination with ground forces. I can't speak to the vulnerability of such planes to surface-to-air weapons. I imagine that heat-seeking missiles would be at a disadvantage in tracking the Tucano (toucan).

It would be interesting, given the advances in fighter-plane maneuverability and speed, if a propeller-driven plane turned into the weapon of choice for air support of troops engaged against insurgents.

New PM Brown affirms importance of ties with the United States

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday gave the surest sign yet there will be no move to distance London from Washington under his watch, even suggesting ties could get stronger.

Ahead of his first meeting as prime minister with George W. Bush, Brown gave no relief to critics in his centre-left Labour Party unhappy at the close ties his predecessor Tony Blair forged with the right-wing Republican president.

"It is in the British national interest that the relationship with the United States is our single most important bilateral relationship," Brown said in a statement.
(The News)

That's about the first good thing that the new British Prime Minister has done, by my reckoning. Jedi blogrollers EU Referendum have been relentlessly critical of Brown's treatment of the European Union issue.

They certainly keep a closer watch on UK events than I do.

Inflationary public policy?

Basic economics provides a number of clues that weaning from fossil fuel energy production in favor of less efficient ($) fuel source will harm an economy.

EU Referendum has been sounding the alarms across the pond regarding a marked increase in grain prices associated with an accelerated interest in agro-fuels.

Europe has apparently over-committed to biofuels.

In the United States, corn prices have surged, and the price of foods associated with corn production (including milk and meat products) have kept pace.

It's summer and ice cream season in Florida, but the price of milk is rising as much as the temperature.And milk is not the only commodity that is increasing in cost.Recently, the price of corn has increased because it is used to make the biofuel ethanol.

(WESH, Florida)

EU Referendum added to Jedi blog roll

I've enjoyed reading EU Referendum for months, now, ever since their expose last year about the staged news reporting in the Middle East. Their blog posts are varied and informative, largely because of the point-of-view. The view is from across the pond, and intersects the interest of American conservatives while essentially dealing with European politics.

Obviously the European Union and the challenges it presents to the national sovereignty of its member states lies behind the name.

The political observations are astute, as I see it. And I enjoy the posts regarding military moves and hardware.

EU Referendum has some of the coolest posts on military tech

Check this stuff out.