Corinthian

As KV7 said, they may have had substantial work underway prior to making the program public. And/or, having experienced building and maintaining the B-2, and being a major subcontractor in the F-35 program, plus experience in the YF-23, all of those lessons plus continuing R&D may have contributed to the quick progress. I have a feeling that they made the program public to put near-peer competitors in check, sort of like Star Wars/SDI program, and that the B-2 replacement has been going on for years prior to the B-21 revelation.

The government has (tacitly) abandoned self-sufficiency in food as a program, and largely reliant on trade deals on food with neighbors such as Vietnam, Thailand, China, and India. ChiCom produce has flooded even the small provincial markets. While we still grow rice, we import a lot to keep the price of rice down in the market. As for fertilizer, I think most of that comes from China.

Re: Philippines as it was mentioned earlier... Official government policy statement is that it recognizes the current unpleasantness in the West as an invasion, and implores for a peaceful resolution to the matter. https://www.rappler.com/nation/philippines-condemns-russia-invasion-ukraine/ The Philippines bought some Hip helicopters from Russia, with our SecDef saying it has made initial payment already despite CAATSA. Now that purchase is more problematic because of the war. The Philippines is one of the countries that stands to lose in this conflict due to rising petroleum costs, that helicopter deal, and others (e.g., Filipinos working abroad are affected, inflation driven by petrol price, etc). A bike buddy's cousin was onboard the Japanese cargo ship that was hit by Russian ordnance during the early days of the conflict. He and the rest of the crew are ok. We are in an election season, with the son of dictator Marcos who leads the surveys having changed his position on the war (from pro-Russia, to condemning the invasion). Robredo, his main rival, and who is backed by the Catholic Church, has also condemned the invasion. Not that their opinions really matter in the greater scheme of things as the Philippines really does not have any real influence on whatever happens in that part of the world. That's all I have to contribute in this discussion.

I am set to receive my iOptron CEM26 telescope mount! It's already at the US warehouse. I'll have it shipped next week. It'll arrive sometime first half of September hopefully. I pre-ordered it on 31 December 2020 and after more than six months delay it is finally coming. So excited!!!!!!

FB Groups and Pages have killed internet forums like TN. Just look at FB and see how many pages there are on tanks in general, specific tanks, specific tank units, etc etc etc. It's also easier to access these FB pages and groups unlike internet forums where one has to register. On FB, it's a simple hitting of the Join button and in some cases answering some questions before admission. Plus, it's much much easier to contact people who know the subject on social media, especially if these people actively use socmed to spread their knowledge. Why go to an internet forum when you can ask a question directly to Steve Zaloga or Cookie Sewell etc etc on something on their posts or socmed pages.... I also think that model-centric internet forums have helped keep people from and away TN. Some likely went here, saw that they couldn't get the answer to their model question, and left for other forums that were focused on the hobby. FWIW, I tend to avoid such sites because the walt-iness and cringe are strong there. Personally, I am not so keen in seeing an influx of new members here who for the most part won't contribute anything to the knowledge base, and instead pollute the threads with stupidity. Then again, I don't visit this forum as much as I did years ago.

Well, I better get to it then, find several women, make kids with them, and expose them to TN while they're still in their wombs. For The TN Species.TM 😆

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-people-philippines-denisovan-dna.html?fbclid=IwAR1W8XzQ8ihzAvZ-Wit5DXW7YBN_cOdC4BlUU-h9JeN79XN3H13HY7DCEto The aeta mentioned here are located at the Bataan peninsula. There are many aeta groups scattered around the Philippines.

Awesome! thanks!

Anyone have a photo of the M60 tank with the M37 periscope installed through the loader's hatch? How often was the periscope installed? So far, I have seen technical diagrams from M60 manuals but they do not clearly show just how high the periscope is above the hatch. Thanks in advance.

Thank you!

Nobu: Yes steel feels different vs typical aluminium bikes. Less body aches. Although I read a recent study that says there's no difference, and that aluminium is even better. Still, a steel hard tail feels supple on the trails compared to the aluminium version. It's pretty subtle. Yes, the mountain biking scene is evolving here. More people are riding what is called All Mountain and its race format Enduro. Lots more are jumping their bikes than ten years ago, largely thanks to the enduro racing scene. The Philippines doesn't have much bike parks like Whistler. Bongabon Bike Park is one of the few places like this. That said, we have a lot of mountain/countryside trails in the less developed parts of the country which can be ridden with a mountain bike. Few riders at the bike park in the video, and in that second hit (the video), I went up alone and had the trail all to myself. More popular, more accessible areas can get crowded, but it's still fun. MiloMorai: Damn! That bike looks heavy. Yes, fat bikes are descendants of the Iditarod races when people laced two wheels together so they can bike on the snow. From there, fat bikes were born. Wide, non-fat bike tires are making more of an appearance because of the traction benefits, with 27.5+ being popular.

Hi all. Does anyone have hi-res photos of Leopard 1A5DK1s with the mine plow and dozer blade? I am specifically looking for the control/junction box (?) each has. It's basically a thingamajig that connects the cables from the mine plow or dozer blade and to the driver. Each kit seems to have a separate box/thingamajig. I have seen some photos in a book on the Leo1A5DK1 but these are small photos and does not clearly show the shape, let alone the details. Thank you.

Guys, the reason why the Philippine military is so woefully equipped is because of its reliance on the USA for external defense thanks to Clark and Subic. This gave Marcos the reason to turn the military and police as his stick, focusing on COIN/internal suppression vs opposition. Coupled with the massive corruption endemic in island nation states exacerbated by Marcos' plunder and decades of incompetence by succeeding administrations, the real fault for the Philippines' defense situation lies on the Philippines itself. It is really best that there be no US or any foreign power's bases in the Philippines, so as to force the government to properly fund the military's modernization program. While the Philippine military has got some new toys, these are too few (FFS, only two ASW helos WTF), with not much money budgeted for maintenance and training. The truth of the matter is is that while Philippine defense budgets have been bigger than in the past, most of the money goes to personnel and pensions. Not a lot goes to actual acquisition, operation, and maintenance. Because money spent on personnel and generals' pensions = votes and influence for politicians.

It would have been too expensive for the USA to keep Clark after Pinatubo eruption. They essentially abandoned it, and cleanup by USA was IIRC mainly for the toxic stuff left in the base. It was the Philippines that rehabilitated Clark and turned it into an operating international airport. Subic is arguably better off now. USN often visits there especially during Balikatan exercises. The Hanjin shipyard will be operated by a USA company and may be used to service USN ships. US better off just visiting and sailing around instead of having big bases in the Philippines that are very vulnerable to cruise and ballistic missile strikes by China. Moving targets harder to defeat vs large fixed bases filled with expensive assets.

O, and Dutertard's decision to abrogate the VFA has been withdrawn after meeting with US SecDEF a few days ago. There may be deals WRT excess defense articles, etc. I still doubt the F-16 will be purchased considering how expensive it is even with USA funding assistance. Instead, we might see some USA GBAD jointly operated by Filipinos and Americans (read: operated by USians only) here.