It may be the ultimate dream come true for Republicans: the Democratic National Convention saluting the brave comrades of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. That appears to have occurred according to Navy experts who have identified the images of ships used at the convention as our Russian brothers and sisters in arms. When retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, took the podium to honor America’s veterans, it appears that someone did not bother to check the identity of the warships used as the backdrop. [Update: the DNC has now apologized for the oversight]
One former Navy vet spotted the problem immediately. Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician, quickly identified the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.
Moreover, the ship in the foreground is featuring a MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly known as a “Flat Screen” radar used by the Russians. There are other telltale signs.
There is one spin I can suggest however for the DNC. The assumption was that the tribute was to the large ships. However, if you look closely there are seven planes that fly by which appear to be F-5 jets. It could be treated as a tribute to those brave American pilots in their trainers facing off against the Black Sea Fleet.
Of course, while defending taxes on the wealthy and national health care, the image of a line of Russian warships coming toward you might not be the best visual for the DNC.
Source: Navy Times
OS,
Thanks for the tutorial! 🙂
Modern fighter designs are inherently unstable, and are fly by wire rather than with old fashioned cables, pulleys and manually activated pushrods. For one thing, at supersonic speeds, air loads on control surfaces may exceed the pilot’s muscle strength. ‘Fly by wire’ is another way of saying “computer controlled.” The controls have built in feedback so the pilot “feels” as if they are the same as old fashioned mechanical controls.
The horizontal stabilizer on the front is effective and safe. It is called a “canard” design. The Wright brothers did it that way based on their own homemade wind tunnel experiments. Burt Rutan likes the canard configuration as well. It can improve slow flight characteristics and aircraft behavior as it approaches a stall.
Doing snap rolls (or any other unusual attitude) close to the ground is an activity not likely to extend one’s life span. When inverted, the nose wants to tuck down toward the ground and obviously, the controls are reversed during the inverted portion of a maneuver. It is easy to become disoriented.
“When you get into the performance envelope of high performance airplanes, the wind tunnel is unforgiving and there are only so many shapes an airplane can be and still fly.”
I have seen one during a slow flyby at 200 meters height do a 90-degree flip in milliseconds—-and crash.
It was the second crash with that plane with the same pilot. He ejected. He was retired from test piloting. The plane got new software steering its basically unstable design. Putting the tail steering surfaces on the nose is not a stable idea.
Does it give a tighter curve? Don’t know. Why else have it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_JAS_39_Gripen
Release the Kraken!
It is difficult to tell from the embedded photo, but those may be Yak-130 fighter trainers. In a bottom view as shown here, they have a profile similar to the American F-5, the two seat version being the T-38 Talon trainer. The Russian aerobatic display team “Russ” flies the L-39 which is also similar, and that might be the team in the photo. See photo of ‘Russ’ at the link below.
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Maks2005/Highlights/RussDelta9oclock.jpg
When you get into the performance envelope of high performance airplanes, the wind tunnel is unforgiving and there are only so many shapes an airplane can be and still fly.
Funny story, but not an important one.
You can see how the military is used to whip up a docile jingoisitc people. Like Ian Welsh said, “stupid or evil, it’s not just for Republicans anymore”.
Blouise 1, September 12, 2012 at 10:40 am
I can see Russia from my … (fill in the blank)
=====================================
F-5 fighter jets … (JT: “if you look closely there are seven planes that fly by which appear to be F-5 jets”) …
I can see Russia from my … (fill in the blank)
I prefer this boo-boo to an empty chair and Clint talking to Obama sitting there. Didn’t any watcher wonder if he was sober, or totally senile?
Watcha doing for dope, Clint baby?
Do we still have such a battleship class any longer?
Commrads in arms……navy….
From Wikipedia,
Banal nationalism refers to the everyday representations of the nation
which build an imagined sense of national solidarity and belonging amongst humans. The term is derived from Michael Billig’s 1995 book of the same name. Today the term is used primarily in academic discussion of identity formation and geopolitics.
Examples of banal nationalism include the use of flags in everyday contexts, sporting events, national songs, symbols on money, popular expressions and turns of phrase, patriotic clubs, the use of implied togetherness in the national press, for example, the use of terms such as the prime minister, the weather, our team, and divisions into “domestic” and “international” news. Many of these symbols are most effective because of their constant repetition, and almost subliminal nature.
“Good enough for government work.”
Now that’s funny.
Otteray has it right, it is certainly prudent to check the images before they are displayed. The other edge of the sword of the convenience the internet provides. I would also point out this is one example of a situation where great amounts of planning and preparation are afforded to a project but one single point of failure causes an error that overcasts all the other work.
I don’t believe this was terribly disruptive or indicitive of anything other than an error however. Yet, its effect was larger than what was expected.
The Libya killing of our ambassador on 9/11/12 was not because of some kid’s stupid video on youtube that dissed Mohammed.
Remember that Libya before the invasion had a happy citizenship:
(Oil’s Well That Ends Well). The invasion of Libya, it is well documented, was about broccoli.
Who would care about details when celebrating so much killing? What’s not to like when confronted with such beautiful pictures of US might?
Democrats are celebrating great leader! Manly killer!!! YEAH!!! USA!!! And now for manful imprisonment of the innocent in Gitmo–oh we lied, he died! USA!! USA!!! I love Obama, vote Obama!
“The Guantanamo detainee found dead in his prison cell last weekend had been cleared for release three years ago by an Obama administration task force that concluded that his detention was no longer necessary, NBC News has learned.
The disclosure that the detainee, Adnan Farham Abdul Latif, a 32-year-old Yemeni citizen, had been approved for repatriation could raise new questions about the handling of his case and those of scores of others held in Gitmo who also have been cleared for release. Instead, the detainees remain stuck in legal limbo in the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists with no prospect for getting out any time soon.
A special Obama administration task force review found in 2009 that Latif, who had been held at Gitmo since early 2002 and had waged a long legal battle for his freedom, could be released, a conclusion that could only be reached by a unanimous vote of all U.S. intelligence agencies.
That finding was buttressed a year later when U.S. Judge Henry Kennedy ruled that the U.S. government’s initial evidence that Latif had links to al-Qaida and the Taliban was “unconvincing.” Despite both findings, the Obama administration appealed the ruling…
That stance provoked criticism from human rights groups. At the time of Latif’s death, Amnesty International was about to launch an international campaign calling for his freedom, according to David Remes, who headed a legal team that represented Latif.
“Adnan spent more than ten years in Guantanamo– nearly a third of his life — but like most Guantanamo detainees, he was never charged with a crime or accused of violating any law,” Remes said in a statement released Tuesday.
He “endured great suffering at Guantanamo — physical and spiritual — and lived in constant torment” but “could see no end to his confinement,” it said. “However he died, Adman’s death is a reminder of the injustice of Guantanamo and the urgency of closing the prison.”
Remes told NBC News Tuesday that Latif had been “in despair” over his plight and had told him he would take any opportunity he could to commit suicide. He also said that Latif had been heavily sedated by guards there.
In a statement on its website Tuesday, Amnesty International USA called Latif’s death, “a tragic reminder of the numbing cruelty of the USA’s indefinite detention regime at its Guantánamo Bay detention facility, and the urgent need to resolve the detentions.”
USA–the great Obama, imprisonment of the innocent–a proud choice of Democrats across the nation! YEAH, USA!
I would never have caught that if it had not been pointed out. That is the danger of scavenging photos from the Internet or using file photos that may not be captioned. I don’t know much about ships, but if they had shown a bunch of airplanes as a backdrop, I would have noticed the make and models immediately.
I guess it is whatever floats your boat that gets your attention. I daresay that only a small handful of people in the audience even noticed. Or cared.
The Democratic party is proud of militarism wherever it occurs! It is the well connected war contractors who provided the pictures and the amazing visual altar for worship of killing! Look what we have become. We put on displays just like the mega churches. We have united with them in our love of war, death, torture and destruction! We are so proud of our party and its leaders. We salute our military overlords! All hail the new party!!!
Funny.
Our planes, their ships … gotta watch those paralegals.
The embassy attacks today that killed our ambassador indicate that Russia is not our greatest problem.
A new brand is in town.
Russia has all the oil it needs in country and in the pipe, we don’t.
We are getting ours from people who are angry at us simply because our oil ended up under their soil.
Go figure for heaven’s sake.