Weps

Ok guys, putting this here to keep you guys updated. Iraq----------------- Situation: Primary seen in the media as "ISIS" meaning "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria", also know by "ISIL" meaning "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant", or now simply as "IS" meaning Islamic State. Allegiance to the Sunni sect of Islam, extremely Anti-Shi'a, Anti-Western, and Anti-Israel/Anti-Semitism. ISIS/ISIL is an extremely violent offshoot of Al-Qaeda, having established a Caliph and Caliphate, destroying mosques, corralling Shi'a Muslims and others for execution, with the ultimate goal being the destruction of Mecca, claiming territories in all of the Mid-East, North Africa, and segments of Europe. To date ISIS has effective control over Iraq, having captured scores of US Military hardware and materiel; to include THREE-HUNDRED AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles, a slew of M1A1M tanks, MRAP's, Humvee's, M113's, UH60 Blackhawks, C-130's, uniforms, PVS-14/PVS-7 Night Optics, Body armor, scores of small arms including M240's, M249's, M16's, M4's, M203 40mm Grenade Launchers, AT4 AT Systems, M72 LAW. ISIS has also captured boatloads of T-55 and T-62 tanks. The possession of hardware and materiel places not only a significant threat regarding covert operations and infiltration into US bases and embassies domestically and aboard by ISIS operatives, but also places US National Defense and National Security in extreme risk. The capture of AGM-114 and M1A1 Abrams will put ISIS in a unique position on the international market. Russian and Chinese Military Forces have since the 1970's tried to garner information about the US M1A1 series of Main Battle Tank and AGM-114 Hellfire having been unsuccessful. Russia and China will undoubtedly purchase entire vehicles or parts, thus enabling them the ability to counter US communications, countermeasures, armor, and firepower. freebeacon.com/national-security/isil-moving-seized-u-s-tanks-humvees-to-syria/ ISIS is also in confirmed possession of Eighty-Eight pounds of Uranium-238, captured from a university in Northern Iraq. U-238 is not a fissile material in it's own right. But can be used to create U-235 or P-239, both of which are used in the cores of modern nuclear weapons. U-238 can also be used in the tamper/reflector on the secondary stage (fusion stage) of a modern thermonuclear device. The U-238 is bombarded with high energy, fast neutrons, thus becoming critically fissile, exponentially increasing the weapons yield. http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/10/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html Additionally, ISIS has captured some 2,500 mixed warheads containing Sarin (GB) and Mustard (O), Tabun (GA) and VX. ISIS is also in possession of the launch vehicles, SCUD-D IRBM and the road mobile TEL. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/iraq-terrorists-seize-chemical-weapons-site-24476238 Reports have also surfaced that ISIS has training various other terror organizations to include Hamas and Hezzbollah. This training is believes to be consistent with conventional specialized military operations such as Waterborne Insertion Operations, Airborne Insertion Operations, Anti-Armor Capabilities, and Tactical Small Unit Operations. US Response: The US has deployed a token force of 800 addition personnel to the already 200 in Iraq. This force will provide security at the US embassy, US barracks, and a small airfield. The DoD and DoS have issue travel warnings, removing all Non-Essential Personnel from Iraq. The US has also supplied the fledging Iraqi Army with additional 4,000 AGM-144 Hellfire to combat ISIS. Israel/Gaza------------------------------------ Situation: earlier this month three Israeli teens had been captured, tortured, and kill by Hamas agents. Israeli Forces retaliated, resulting in the death of a Palestinian teen. Since that time Hamas' military arm, Al-qassam Brigades have been launching non-stop rocket and mortar barrages against Israel city centers, with a approximate total of 2000. Hamas is said to have 10,000 small Kassam rockets, with unknown amounts of longer range Fager-3, Fager-5 and Zilzal rockets supplied by Iran. Israel, in order to protect it's citizens launched operation Protective Edge, using F15's and F16's to precision bomb launch sites and storage facilities. The Gaza death toll as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry is at 106, with 700+ wounded. Due to the use of Iron Dome and the inaccuracy of the Kassam rockets, Israeli deaths have been kept to a minimum. Hamas forces have also been firing SA-7 MANPADS at Israeli aircraft and various Anti-Tank Missile at Israel Forces along the Israel/Gaza wall. As of July 10th rockets have also been fired from Lebenon, believed to be from Hezzbollah agents. Egypt has caught Hamas agents and shipments of rockets trying to cross the Sinai. Israel has call-up 40,000 reservists and has announced it plans a ground operation into Gaza to halt the rocket fire. This is developing very, very fast, Reuters has a live feed here: http://www.livestation.com/reuters?source=redirect i24News has a feed here: http://www.i24news.tv/en/tv/live Of course Twitter is live with info about it.

Pentagon Warns Of An “Increased Potential” For Nuclear Conflict In Newly Disclosed Manual - The Drive Russian Su-24 Fighter Jets ‘Disrupt’ Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez’s Briefing At A NATO Base - Eurasian Times HMS Defender: Russian jets and ships shadow British warship - BBC Putin approves new National Security Strategy preparing Russian economy for war - UA Wire

New reports on the Russian Forces massing in the Donetsk Region and Crimea; - A total of seven Russian combat brigades in the Donbas (Don River Basin) of Ukraine and Crimea. - A number of surface combat vessels from the Black Sea Fleet are also afloat outside of two Ukrainian Donbas Black Sea port cities. We known one of the brigades is the 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade; It's likely the other six brigades are Motor Rifle Brigades; Detailed breakdown of the Russian "Motostrelki" Motor Rifle Company, the primary close combat element of the Motor Rifle Battalion:

Just a heads up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed Decree No. 117/2021 "Strategy for De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol", the Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to develop an action plan to immediately implement the strategy and the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has approved. Ukraine is stating it intends to take Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Sevastopol by force and so using "diplomatic, military, economic, informational, humanitarian and other measures at restoring the territorial integrity, state sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders through the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea." Simply put, it's an indirect declaration of war. Since the signing of the decree, there has been a lot of movement of Russian equipment, vehicles and assets into Crimea, as well as as the proto-states of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine. The 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade, a VDV Airborne Brigade has been preeminently regarrisoned from Kamyshin, Russian to Feodosia inside Crimea. Twitter is hot with videos showing Russian armor and artillery being moved via rail into Crimea, which in the event of conflict is most likely be Russia's staging point for, as it affords them the greatest amount of protection that isn't within their direct borders, allows them port access via Sevastopol, and air defense via their organic AA assets like the Buk. S-300, and S-400 systems...and their ship-based systems on their guided missile frigates and corvettes, it also provides a shield against naval threats posed by NATO as the Russian's directly control both the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. For US Naval Forces to access the Black Sea, it would require they traverse the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Strait, and as has been shown by the unintentional, accidental bottlenecking of the Suez Canal via Evergreen's Even Given container ship, the Russian's could easily command both choke points with their Black Sea Fleet, as well as form a beachhead within the straits, as the Turks do not have the military means to defend against the Russians, but the wild card, as has always been intended since the Cold War are our nukes stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, but I wouldn't hold faith in the Turkish Government to not fold or possibly even double-back. Russia has had far greater success in forging relationships in the Mid-East, particularly with Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, ect... through trade, arms supplying and, technical and finical assistance. NATO has also increased surveillance of the region, as there have been hundreds of cease-fire violations committed by Russian backed forces in the region.

\\ I've managed to get the display contrast high enough most of it can be seen, albeit still highly faded, but enough to make out what characters thanks to a user on another forum. So, now, at least I have an idea of what freq it's on. Think I'm gonna take the Youtube Engineer route and see if replacing the polarizing filter like Sunstiker recommended. Wish me luck...

Long time no see guys... So, as the thread title eludes I have a Radioshack PRO-2053 scanner that has a 12x4 character LCD display that has faded to the point the characters can't be read making it kind of pointless because you can't see what frequency is displayed when traffic is picked up. He's my question, because it's outside my technical expertise, would it be possible to replace the original LCD display (which is likely anywhere from 20-10 years old) with say a newer 16x4 or 20x4 character display out right or is she just dead in the water no hopes of simply replacing the display.

Hoping everyone is enjoying their little slice of the apocalypse.

The Mandalorian and Jack Ryan Also, just finished up a second watch through of Chernobyl

Thanks for the mention, @Sunstriker7 Steerage on tanks has drastically changed over the decades, but you're not far off on how steerage worked for pre-1950's tanks, the lever system was borrowed from tractors of the era. The Ford 3-Ton 1918 was essentially an armored tractor operating two Model-T engines and an M1919 .30Cal, however the French really were at the forefront of armor development with the purpose built Renault FT, sporting a modern turret with a mounted gun...which isn't mean to detract from the British armor development effort, they just have a very unique, but inefficient and costly design with the Mark series landships. Now, my "expertise" is in post-WWI, western armor, particularly US, so that's what I'll reference mostly here; The M47 was really the first tank design to see a departure from the lever steerage system, implementing a joystick-type of system nicked-named the "wobble stick", which was abandoned with the M48 and replaced with an oval-shaped steering-wheel, but with the development of the M60A1 the steering wheel was dropped in favor of a simplified yolk-bar which was standard on the M60A1 RISE, M60A2, and M60A3 TTS, but with the M1 Abrams an advanced yolk-bar with an integrated gear-shift and reverse-function was utilized and has just been regularly updated as time has moved forward. M47 steerage control: https://postimg.cc/dLmVKPpL M48, M103 & M60 steerage control: https://postimg.cc/4n1xDRrn M60A1/A2/A3 steerage control: https://postimg.cc/N953GVDh M1/M1A2/A3 steerage control: https://postimg.cc/9wHL3NNY You'll also notice a drastic increase in gauges and electronic control surfacing surrounding the driver as time progresses in tank design. Now, fire control on tanks has maintained a similar overall design since the M47; multi-axis powered traverse yolk system that controls elevation and traverse simultaneously; M47 Gunner's yolk vs M1 Gunners' yolk: https://postimg.cc/8fBQxvws Maingun power-traverse stabilization had been around since the M4A1, but was wildly unpopular with crews until the M26, due to the arduous task of co-sighting and the lack of a turret bustle. The M48 was a leap froward in stabilization using a stereoscopic rangefinding system, with the M60A3 TTS being the next leap with a ruby-red lensed laser rangefinder, and the Abrams using a much more advanced ELRF laser rangefinder and gaining the ability to fire while moving due to the advanced fire control system computers capable of doing immediate fire controls ballistic solutions. Sorry to kind of just dump all that on you. If something doesn't make sense or comes across as confusing feel free to ask away, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

It is indeed a multifaceted problem, but it's a problem that will never truly be solved due to an underlying agenda. The crux isn't ease of access, video games, the NRA, or any of the other agenda-driven "explanations" politicians, media or activists claim it to be. This problem is the result of a broken system that is led by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats; A system where the mentally unwell are left to worsen because of lethargic law enforcement, social services, schools, ect... a system where people are forced to live in squalor, eking out an existence in poverty where violence and crime are a way-of-life and survival, a failing system that is then worsened by media hype and sensationalist journalism that deals in false information and agenda-driven reporting. The political outrage and sensationalist reporting surrounding mass shootings is driving a push to "fix" and "do something" that will do nothing at all to solve the problem of violence. Below I've copied and pasted a section out of the Wikipage on Nicholas Cruz, the Parkland Florida Shooter and Devin Kelley the Sutherland Springs, Texas shooter. Cruz's past is rife with run-ins with law enforcement, mental health treatments, requests for help, repeated school transfers (six schools in three years) and repeated suspensions due behavioral issues, as well as threats against faculty and fellow students, repeated online postings and threats on his willingness and intent to shoot up a school, he was investigate by the Florida State Department of Children and Families for posts on Snapchat of him cutting his arms and plans to buy a gun (as well as posts on YouTube expressing his desire to become a school shooter). He was recommended for an involuntary psychiatric examination under the Baker Act by a school resource officer and agreeing two school counselors, but a local mental health center claimed Cruz "did not meet criteria" and state investigators concluded he was "at low risk of harming himself or others". Twice, the FBI was anonymously tipped by people close to Cruz about his erratic behavior, desire to kill people, his firearm ownership, disturbing online posting and threats, and his potential to shoot up a school. This individual should have never been able to buy a firearm, let alone allowed to keep one after repeated tips to the FBI and run-ins with the Broward Sheriff's Department. However, his slip into instability was allowed to persist, even as he expressed a willingness to kill and commit mass murder. Cruz passed a background check...why? Because none of the information concerning his psychiatric treatments, criminal history, police run-ins, school suspensions, ect... was ever fed into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database. Not a single person in authority that had an interaction with Cruz practiced due diligence to update or transmit his violent or unstable behavior. Identifying Prohibited Persons - BATFE Now, Cruz's story isn't the only one like this, they're all like this, histories of violence, instability, rage, ect... all ignored, all passed over, all push down the line for someone else to deal with..until they lashed out and killed innocent people. Devin Kelley, the individual that shot up the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Talk about an individual that should have never been able to purchase a firearm, let alone allowed to keep one. Kelley had a well documented history of violence. He'd been charged with assaulting his wife and fracturing his son' skull, he'd threatened fellow airmen and his superiors, he'd been caught sneaking firearms onto the base he was stationed at, made threats of self-harm, and had been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility and escaped. In 2012 he was given an Article 22 Court Martial, was charged with assault on his wife, aggravated assault on his stepson, two charges of pointing a loaded gun at his wife, and two counts of threatening his wife with an unloaded gun, was sentenced to twelve months confinement and given a Bad Conduct Discharge. Any discharge other than General or Honorable makes an individual a prohibited person, (heck, Kelley's commitance to a mental health facility made him one as well) yet Kelley passed a background check and was able to purchase multiple firearms. How did that happen? The DoD failed to submit Kelley's criminal history to the FBI and had failed to do so with 40,000 other individuals records over the past 25 years. Identifying  Prohibited Persons - BATFE Report of Investigation into the United States Air Force’s Failure to Submit Devin Kelley’s Criminal History Information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation - DoD Inspector General DoD Agents Complained of Failure to Share Records with FBI Decades Ago, Were Ignored - Washington Free Beacon As I said, this isn't unique to Nicholas Cruz or Devin Kelley, authorities across the board have failed to preform due diligence and ensure the public safety in nearly all these cases. Omar Mateen, the Pulse Nightclub Shooter had been on an FBI watch list, his father had been an FBI informant, and a gun store that Mateen had tried to be purchase body armor, a firearm, and ammunition but was denied had contacted the FBI concerned over Mateen's request and attempt to purchase. Mateen had also been in the employ of G4S, a security contractor that provides armed security to various clients. Mateen was suppose to have been given a psychiatric evaluation to certify him to carry a firearm, but the company lie and only had the results of an administered test reviewed by non-approved psychologists. The list goes on, but fortunately mass shootings are rare, and I mean actual mass shootings, not other types of crimes or altered data being purposely mislabeled and misreported as "mass shootings". US Mass Shootings, 1982-2019: Data From Mother Jones’ Investigation The School Shootings That Weren't - NPR Race, Discipline, and Safety At U.S. Schools - ACLU Quick Look: 250 Active Shooter Incidents in the United States From 2000 to 2017 - FBI A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013 - FBI Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017 - FBI Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2018 - FBI The School Shooter: A THREAT ASSESSMENT PERSPECTIVE - FBI This purposeful misrepresentation has and is causing other crimes to be all, but ignored. FBI Uniform Crime Report, Table 20, Homicide CDC National Vital Statics Report, Deaths: Final data for 2017 Annually, around 14,000 firearms homicides occur. Now fortunately, firearm homicides have been on a national trending decline, primarily due to various factors such as increased standard of living, improved socioeconomic levels, educational standards improvement, ect... However, major cities aren't seeing a significant reduction in firearms crime, to include firearm homicides. How is this problem solved? Well, the City of Boston asked the same question in the summer of 1994 and devised Operation Ceasefire, which yielded surprising results; Reducing Gun Violence: The Boston Gun Project's Operation Ceasefire - National Institute of Justice Now, this isn't a one off case where the city was lucky, a similar plan was enacted by a Harris Rosen in the Tangelo Park in Orange County, Florida One Man’s Millions Turn a Community in Florida Around - NYT This problem isn't solved by arbitrarily banning or regulating guns, accessories, video games, ect... or enacting ERPO's that are ripe for abuse and WILL result in further needless loss of life. It's solved by holding politicians and authorities accountable, by making positive and effective change in areas with negative economic, educational, vocational, and employment opportunities. By providing better assistance to those in need, be it mental health support, educational, vocational, or economic support. We solve this problem by taking care of each other, keeping an eye out for friends, family, neighbors, ect... that are showing signs of mental health needs and helping and encouraging them to seek out that help. We solve this issue by removing the stigma that surrounds mental health assistance. As cheesy as it sounds, we are what solves this problem, we have to pro-active in helping others and supporting programs, groups, organizations, and plans that do. Want to help educate youth on the dangers of gang violence, education them on firearms, and show them a productive, meaningful way to achieve a better way of life? Support guys like Maj Toure and his group Black Guns Matter. Want to help those in need? Volunteer your time, find you local United Way and help them inform your community that help and resources are only a phone call away. 2-1-1 can put someone to contact with damn near any help they may need, from mental health assistance, to education, employment, rent assistance, healthcare, ect...

This conundrum goes beyond simply spying on average people, reliance on Chinese manufactured and produced goods threatens a wide array of issues, ranging from national security to the global economy; An excellent example can bee seen by the power Gazprom has wielded with it's stranglehold; the repeated gas-disputes with Ukraine, the acquisition of Chornomornaftogaz through the annexation of Crimea and now with the European Commission having accepted Gazprom's offer last year ending the antitrust case Grazprom will faced no fines, the concessions offer by Gazprom were already planned as Gazprom was moving to change it's marketing and sales strategy. What is stopping China from utilizing it's same stranglehold on REE from making demands or utilizing it to cause economic destabilization in other parts of the world? We've already seen this play out on a smaller scale in 2010 when China banned all exports of REE to Japan over territorial disputes. In terms of national security pertaining to the US & NATO; it would affect our ability to repair and produce newer combat platforms as nearly all our weapons systems laser range finders and designators utilize Nd:YAG lasers, which requires Yttrium and Neodymium, which historically has come from Mountain Pass Mine...which has been operating at minimal capacity and Leshan Shenghe Rare Earth Co. Mining has a minority, non-voting interest in the mine. That's just skimming over a minute potential of economic impact and national security implications, this would impact healthcare, industrial services, the scientific community, ect...

Today, Raspberry Pi is introducing a new version of its popular line of single-board computer. The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is the fastest Raspberry Pi ever, with the company promising "desktop performance comparable to entry-level x86 PC systems." Source

Yeah, that'd do it. I'm curious to know if the collision was head-on or parallel. Based on the second pilot's body condition, I'd assume a parallel strike, having ejected into a debris cloud or hitting the other Typhoon.

"We're predicting a really brutal consolidation of the small-launch-vehicle market." Welcome to Edition 2.04 of the Rocket Report! We've got some up-to-the-minute news this week, with updated launch dates for NASA's commercial crew missions, BE-7 rocket engine tests, and a Falcon Heavy flight early next week. Thanks to everyone for their great contributions—nearly all of this week's content came from your tips. Source

Neural networks are on the path toward explainable intelligence, which may help speed the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Source

I for one welcome our new overlords.

Not a surprising occurrence, it's a strategic move in the on-going cyber war; The NY Times published an article on the 15th outlining the escalation of US attacks against the Russian power grid, which is a response to increased attacks and intrusions by Russian assets against US energy and industrial infrastructure. The FBI and DHS have issued multiple reports since 2015 concerning the discovery of attacks and intrusions against industrial control systems (ICS) of US energy and industrial infrastructure. Alert (TA18-074A) Russian Government Cyber Activity Targeting Energy and Other Critical Infrastructure Sectors (March 15th, 2018)

I know a few of us here are into Amateur Radio/DXing/Telco/FTA so I figured I'd post a thread where we can discuss our shack/setup, finds, share with others, talk shop, and maybe even help those who are interested in the hobby. I've included some links for folks that might be interested, but want to get a feel without dropping serious cash. Any other resources you guys find, post em' and I'll add em' to the list.

Any headway on this project? Very interested to hear what you've got so far.

I tend to stay away from politics around this time of year and have been making an effort to reduce my involvement concerning politics in general; however this case in particular has been taken widely out of context and being purposefully misreported. The NRA itself is not the subject of the fine, but an administrator that was issuing coverage for the NRA's "Carry Guard" program, New York State fined Lockton Cos., LLC $7M, which the NYS DFS claims was providing insurance coverage for "acts of wrongdoing", meaning the insurance and the package itself wasn't unlawful, but it's coverage of certain "wrongful" acts is. However, NYS DFS never goes on to explain or define what those unlawful acts are... The NRA's case is a preemptive action to bring attention to what clearly appears to be a legal witch hunt by the Governor's Office, which Gov. Coumo clearly established with his comments of willingness "to put the NRA out of business 20 years ago" and that one of the oldest civil rights organizations is an "extremist organization".

Ok, so I moved over to Wordpress, MUCH better. I've also started my compiled list of resources one can use in their OSINT research. Commodore-Euphrates OSINT

Thanks, It's something I've considered writing on for a while. Unfortunately it was a bit quick and dirty due to time restraints, I had wanted to go into more detail on the varying sects a bit more and have the overall piece more grammatically refined, hopefully I'll have time to clean it up and add more detail in the future. One of my many complaints with Blogger, they do have a section to adjust the column's width, but it just shows a message stating it's not applicable. I've been thinking about moving to a more updated site that has better support, most likely WordPress.

If anyone is interested, I'm curating a open source intelligence blog centered around defense and civil emergencies/global weather impacts. Commodore-Euphrates OSINT Blog