26 still isn't exactly a big sample size though.

Was it from that initial salvo?

Most likely. I can't find indications of a second salvo being launched.

In unrelated news, Iran has recently announced their acquisition of four second-hand Russian-manufactured cruise missiles

And the recovery team sent was caught drunk during the job because the missile had vodka for fuel.

And a vodka payload. Turns out it's just a high pressure canister full of vodka and a guidance system.

So that's why they failed then, the guidance system wasn't made of vodka.

To our new Chairman, I'd remind him of M247 DIVAD. It made the Army look foolish and lead to a lot of the "reforms" that make it difficult to get large programs through.

edited 9th Oct '15 8:38:35 AM by TairaMai

India's finally decided on a self-propelled howitzer, a variant of the South Korean K-9 Thunder. Beat out the 155mm variant of the Russian Msta-S.

With any luck, this will ring down the curtain on the Great Indian Howitzer Procurement Scandal Drama Comedy.

'Bout bloody time. Now if they can just get a similar move on with the damn fighter jets....

What, one miracle isn't enough for you?

A question for my WWII short story...yeah, it's still not finished. XP

How plausible is this scenario:

The story opens up with the American protagonist, a private in 101st Airborne, jumping up from a plane. Unfortunately for him, his unit gets dropped farther away from the original target because of strong anti-air. Also, because of his parachute not working properly and strong weather he gets separated from his unit. He finds another member from his unit, and they travel together to find their unit. Along the short journey, they encounter and kills three German soldiers, then overwhelming and capturing a small squad of German patrolling unit. The two soldiers violently argue whether if they should kill the prisoners or not, until they were found and intervened by their commanding officer.

That's the American soldier's storyline, with other half being German soldier's.

edited 9th Oct '15 6:03:21 PM by dRoy

Pretty plausible actually.

Neat.

I mean, I know that paratroopers being dropped off far away from original destination due to heavy anti-air is/was a very much real thing, but a paratrooper unit being scattered around due to heavy wind? I was worried if that might come off as being too cartoonish.

It's pretty plausible that something just like that happened on the night of June 5/6, 1944.

Or earlier, during the invasion of Sicily. (Where the antiaircraft fire in question came from American ships and troops near the beach.)

The other big airborne operations that come to mind were daylight jumps.

Wait, what? That was an allied airborne operation, right? What happened? Like, did Allied troops in the ground didn't get the memo?

edited 9th Oct '15 6:40:22 PM by dRoy

Green troops, panicky officers, known Luftwaffe/Italian Air Force presence, itchy trigger fingers.

You have to remember that the US Army in the European/North African theatre was only created in late 1942, meaning that by the time of Operation Husky in July 1943, this was still a pretty green army with only a relatively small percentage of veterans from the Tunisia campaign.

Ahhhh.

Wind can seriously screw up a drop because when you jump into the air stream you don't necessarily all catch the same space of air. Partly because weather tends to shift and cover different areas and air planes can move a fair distance in a short time possibly dropping you into a different wind and weather pattern.

edited 9th Oct '15 7:31:48 PM by TuefelHundenIV

And if the plane is flying too fast or too high/low due to evading enemy Anti-Air or fighters, that will further cause confusion and scattering of troops, especially with folks not landing where they expected to.

It's not strong winds in that case, but cloud cover. It was on June 4 and earlier that the winds were strong. And it was those winds that brought the clouds over the Normandy coast (and also caused the waves to be stronger than usual in the Channel that the invasion was postponed to June 6)...

edited 9th Oct '15 8:55:47 PM by entropy13

@To posts above - I see.

Yes, cloud cover made a mess of the Allied drop zones—that, and high command significantly underestimated how hard it would be to make accurate night drops.

Luckily the Germans were more confused than the Allies were, and by the time they'd finally figured out what's what (not easy when every single outpost is screaming about parachutists) the invasion had started in earnest.

It ended up being a blessing in disguise. Because it was dark, a single squad of paratroopers being reported in at least four different places (because they're looking for their comrades) by the Germans ended up being an entire battalion. And since there were "several battalions" within a small area at different locations, it was natural to conclude that regiments (and thus multiple divisions) were paradropped near the Normandy coast in numerous drop points.

Which is partially correct as there were indeed numerous drop points because the planes went in almost all directions to paradrop their loads, regardless of where they were exactly. lol

The events of that night included a somewhat infamous accidental landing in the centre of the village of Sainte-Mère-Église, where paratrooper John Steele got caught on the Church Tower.

edited 10th Oct '15 2:47:12 AM by Greenmantle