What happened to these missing nuclear weapons?
Losing a weapon is never a good thing, but when that weapon is military, the stakes are even higher. Yet that’s exactly the case for many missing nuclear weapons that…
This is how American pilots used drop tanks as bombs during WWII
If you pay attention, you might sometimes see long, cigar-shaped pods firmly attached to the undersides of classic fighter and attack aircraft, sometimes with unit markings on them.
Known as “drop tanks,” these simple devices extend the rang…
5 new weapons Ukraine is using against Russia that could change the tide of the war
One of the unintended consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been the insane development of cheap but effective weapons that have been decimating Russia’s invasion force. The Ukrainian battlefields…
Today in military history: Germans launch last V-2s
On March 27, 1945, Germans launched their remaining V-2 missiles in a last-ditch attack against the Allies. German scientists had been developing a long-range missile since the 1930s. At that…
Bats carried bombs during this WWII plot
In yet one more way where the government did something wild during World War II, we discuss the option of “bat bombs,” where bats quite literally had bombs strapped to…
This bomb is heavier than the MOAB
The GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Burst (also known as the Mother of All Bombs) that took out a lot of members of ISIS’s Afghanistan franchise, is considered the largest conventional …
That time Uncle Sam brought the Vietnamese bombs for Christmas
By 1972, American efforts in Vietnam were being drawn down. In Paris, North Vietnamese negotiators were unwilling to settle for peace as they felt victory was within their grasp. President Nixon had other ideas.
The Air Force was going to…
Watch what happens when aircraft are almost hit by their own bombs
It happens so often, it is almost routine. An aircraft is trying to take out a ground target, and moves in to drop its bombs. The bombs then leave the plane, head down to the ground, and blow the target into smithereens. That’s how it’s supposed t…
A rare look beyond the gates at Ellsworth AFB
Ellsworth Air Force Base just northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota includes a section called the Munitions Storage Area. You’re probably picturing your average weapons depot, right? Turns out, the…
This is how early World War II cluster bombs worked
The Joint Direct Attack Munition gets a lot of attention for its ability to strike within 30 feet of a target, no matter what the weather is like. But with all that attention, other bombs get short shrift it seems. Take, for instance, the…