At least it’s on Wednesday today!
Books
- Parvusimperator is up to volume two of Shelby Foote’s three-volume Civil War set, which means I’m now on Volume 1. Foote’s narrative is, so far, excellent and comprehensive.
Defense
- Revisiting the Russo-Georgian War
- A fuller account of the Russo-Georgian War
- Russian performance in the Syrian War – notable for its brief treatment of Russian precision munitions, which aren’t so much precision munitions, generally, as precision attack systems in the aircraft delivering them. Per War on the Rocks above, this has changed somewhat, with greater numbers of actual guided weapons now in Russian stocks.
- Boeing wins the MQ-25 contract – good job, Boeing. You’ve had a bit of a tough go of it with contracts lately, but between the KC-46 and the MQ-25, you’re now the acknowledged leader in air-to-air refueling worldwide. Also, way to go, Navy, for finally realizing that a dedicated tanker is important. It remains to be seen whether a drone tanker is a good idea, but buddy refueling definitely has its limits. Speaking of…
- Navy F-35C and F/A-18F involved in air-to-air refueling accident – oops. Apparently, the F-35 managed to ingest the end of the drogue. No details on the actual extent of the damage, but the Navy said it’s a Class A Mishap, which means damage exceeded $2 million. Now we’ll get to see how good the LockMart repair manuals are.
Guns
- The Last Enfield – my favorite bolt-action battle rifle, in its ultimate form.
Football Is Pretty Much Here, So Educate Yourself
- Via parvusimperator, a long list of American Football 101 articles from Bleacher Report. Buckle up.
- Your hometown Pittsburgh Steelers may have scored with current backup and last year’s draft pick Josh Dobbs. I don’t know if I believe that.
Miscellaneous
- My wife and I started doing some miniature painting, and only came across Larry Correia’s tutorials (#1, #2) afterward, but they seem pretty good.
- NPR with honest reporting on a gun issue? Weird.