Scientific War Machine

The ‘Leopard 2′ is a German main battle tank built by the German company Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann, developed in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979, replacing the earlier Leopard 1 as the foremost MBT in the Bundeswehr. Its different versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and ten other European countries, as well as non-European countries. More than 3,200 Leopard 2s have been manufactured.

There are two main development batches of the tank, the original models up to Leopard 2A4 which have vertically faced turret armour, and the “Improved” batch, namely Leopard 2A5 and newer, which have angled arrow-shaped turret add-on armour together with a number of other improvements. (more…)

A ‘laser range-finder’ is a device which uses a laser beam in order to determine the distance to a reflective object. The most common form of laser range-finder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in a narrow beam towards the object and measuring the time taken by the pulse to be reflected off the target and returned to the sender. Due to the high speed of light, this technique is not appropriate for high precision sub-millimeter measurements, where triangulation and other techniques are often used.
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In 1947, the first FN FAL prototype was completed. It was designed to fire the intermediate 7.92×33mm Kurz cartridge developed and used by the forces of Nazi Germany during World War II (see StG44 assault rifle). After testing this prototype in 1948, the British Army urged FN to build additional prototypes, including one in bullpup configuration, chambered for their new .280 British calibre intermediate cartridge. After evaluating the single bullpup prototype, FN decided to return instead to their original, conventional design for future production.

In 1950, the United Kingdom presented the redesigned FN rifle and the British EM-2, both in .280 British calibre, to the United States for comparison testing against the favored United States Army design of the time – Earle Harvey’s T25. It was hoped that a common cartridge and rifle could be standardized for issue to the armies of all NATO member countries. After this testing was completed, U.S. Army officials suggested that FN should redesign their rifle to fire the U.S. prototype ‘.30 Light Rifle’ cartridge. FN decided to hedge their bets and cast their lot with the U.S., given that the UK appeared to be favoring their own EM-2.
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Fighter aircraft are fast and maneuverable military warplanes designed to destroy other enemy combat aircraft as well as military and civilian targets. Fighter aircraft are the fastest warplanes employed for combat operations. Their velocity is over twice the speed of sound or mach two (2,450 kilometers per hour; 1540 miles per hour).

They launch their attacks from land airbases and aircraft carrier warships. Fighters are generally small in size relative to other military warplanes, such as long range strategic bomber aircraft. Fighters are armed with bombs, missiles, and machine guns or cannons and they are built with high structural strength to withstand the tremendous gravitational forces they undergo while fighting enemy warplanes. Since the 1950s, many fighter aircraft were built primarily out of titanium and aluminum metals.
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‘High explosive anti-tank’ (‘HEAT’) rounds are made of an explosive shaped charge that uses the Neumann effect (a development of the Munroe effect) to create a very high-velocity jet of metal in a state of superplasticity that can punch through solid armor.

The jet moves at hypersonic speeds (up to 25 times the speed of sound) in solid material and therefore erodes exclusively in the contact area of jet and armor material. Spacing is critical, as the jet disintegrates and disperses after a relatively short distance, usually well under 2 metres. The jet material is formed by a cone of metal foil lining, usually copper, though tin foil was common during the Second World War.
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