Free Republic

China readies new missile corvette LATEST TYPE:Defense analysts believe that the new missile boats will be perfectly suited to meet the challenges that China is facing in its South China Sea disputes A new type of Chinese missile corvette, the principal role for which might be to project power in the South China Sea, could be launched “within days,” military watchers said on the weekend. Talk of a Type 056 class first emerged in late 2010. So far, little technical information has been released about the corvettes, which are believed to lie in the 1,400-to-1,700-tonne category. Two shipyards, Hudong Shipyard...

Turkey capable of building own navy ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News Turkey has the capacity to produce 70 to 80 percent of all of its own naval needs and parts, expect for submarines, says a senior procurement official Turkey’s shipbuilding industry has come to a level where it can produce all of its navy needs or parts – with the exception of submarines and engines – one senior procurement official said at the weekend. “Among our armed forces, probably the most developed is the navy,” the official said. “We can produce 70 or 80 percent of all [naval] needs. The...

It didn’t go to the Moon, but it sure looks like it did. A 1967 Chevrolet Corvette once owned by Neil Armstrong is being auctioned on eBay. The blue coupe sat unused in a garage since 1981, before being purchased by its current owner in February of this year. It’s in barely running condition, but is mostly original. Aside from a new carburetor, water pump, muffler and wheels, the only major modification is a set of poorly done fender flares. The fully-documented ‘Vette has a 390 hp 427 cubic-inch V8 running through a four-speed manual transmission and, fitting of a...

South Korean Ships Instead of Trainer Aircraft Representatives from the South Korean government and Hyundai shipyards recently visited Israel and offered to construct new surface vessels for the navy Despite South Korea’s loss in the competition for supplying an advanced trainer aircraft to the Israeli Air Force, which caused considerable disappointment in Seoul, South Korea is offering to procure new surface vessels for the Israeli Navy via Hyundai shipyards. South Korean representatives have already visited Israel and met with the Ministry of Defense to discuss a possible deal. While there is no budget to construct the vessels, the Israeli Navy...

Abu Dhabi plans to build stealth ships Haseeb Haider 7 March 2012 ABU DHABI - A new joint venture shipyard in Abu Dhabi will construct stealth vessels and in the future plans to build upgraded marine engines in collaboration with Italy’s Fincantieri, which builds naval and merchant ships. Etihad Ship Building (ESB), in a joint venture deal with Abu Dhabi’s Al Fattan Ship Industries, weapons suppliers Melara Middle East of Dubai and Italy’s Fincantieri, will construct, refit and carry out maintenance of stealth vessels for the UAE Navy and regional navies. Initially, the joint venture shipyard will install the Rolled...

Poland Scraps ‘Wasteful’ Warship Project The Polish government has terminated a warship building project seen as a drain on the nation’s resources, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday. “Vast amounts of money are still being spent on the Polish military that simply have nothing to do with defense,” Polish Radio External Service quoted him as saying. The prime minister said the project will be terminated “despite opposition from the navy” as it was “senseless” to maintain an enterprise that costs 30 million zloty a year (7.2 million euro). Poland launched the project in 2001, under Prime Minister Leszek Miller....

Warships made in Abu Dhabi to be sold abroad Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) is in advanced talks to secure orders for its new Baynunah class of multipurpose missile corvettes from other regional navies. "The Baynunah class is a unique and very sophisticated warship and it has attracted the attention of a number of navies in the region and around the world," Mohamed Salem Al Junaibi, the ADSB chief executive, said after the launch of the Mezyad, the fourth ship in the class at ADSB's yard yesterday. He declined to name the interested navies, but it is already known that...

The Russian Navy Grows from Bottom up While the nation’s leaders work at overhauling the Navy organization, the Navy itself continues to order new ships. Last year’s persistent scandals over nuclear submarine contracts proved a hard nut to crack when assigning government contracts in 2011. For a time, the submarine scandals confused the process for ordering surface ships. Meanwhile the focus there is being shifted to the production of time tested projects built around today’s armaments. “Due to the lack of funding, the Navy has come close to a numerical minimum required to fulfill its mission,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry...

On Thursday, we paused to give thanks. Many of us probably offered up a prayer for our family, friends, and good food to eat. The guys in this video might have offered one up that had something to do with being alive. That’s because an observant Texas motorist noticed that, while stopped at a red light, there were two nearly identical Corvettes waiting to race. He turned on his camera in anticipation of something bad happening. As you’re about to see, he was right

Turkey introduces first self-produced warship amidst East Med tension 27 September 2011, Tuesday / TODAYSZAMAN.COM, Turkey on Tuesday announced that its first domestically produced warship, the Heybeliada, is operational in a ceremony held at the Ä°stanbul Naval Shipyard Command amidst ongoing tension over a Greek Cypriot drive to explore gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean. Speaking during the ceremony, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan proudly said Turkey has taken its place among 10 countries that can design and construct warships, as he introduced the warship. Recalling that the Heybeliada, a patrol and anti-submarine warship produced by the Ä°stanbul Naval Shipyard...

Betty Skelton Erde, an aviator and auto racing pioneer who became the fastest woman on Earth in 1965, has died. She was 85. Erde set female speed records at Daytona Beach and Utah's Bonneville salt flats more than half a century ago. In 2008, she was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in suburban Detroit. Dozens of firsts are attached to her name: the auto industry's first female test driver in 1954; the first to set a female world land speed record in 1956 (145 mph at Daytona Beach); and the world land speed record for women...

Russia to build two Tiger corvettes for Algerian navy ST. PETERSBURG, June 30 (RIA Novosti) Russia's United Shipbuiding Corporation and state arms exporter Rosoboronexport have signed a deal with Algeria to build two new Tiger class corvettes, the corporation said on Thursday. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing International Maritime Defense Show, IMDS-2011, in St. Petersburg. The biennial naval show offers exhibits from 300 companies, including 30 foreign ones. "We have signed two agreements together with Rosoboronexport to sell two corvettes to Algeria and three light [Molniya missile] corvettes to a former Soviet republic," said Roman...

East/West Divide Grows In the International Navy Shipbuilding Business June 2011 By Stew Magnuson The United Arab Emirates’ new corvette-class ship sat along the dock at a recent trade show. Its manufacturer, Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding, wanted to show off its indigenously built vessel and it was the main attraction at the first ever NAVDEX exhibition, a new section to the Middle East’s largest arms show, IDEX, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. But little of what the company featured came from the UAE. The design of the planned fleet of six Baynunah-class ships originated at Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie of...

Taiwan to build new 'stealth' warship TAIPEI - TAIWAN plans to build a new 'stealth' warship armed with guided-missiles next year in response to China's naval build-up, a top military officer and a lawmaker said on Monday. Construction of the prototype of the 500-tonne corvette is due to start in 2012 for completion in 2014, deputy defence minister Lin Yu-pao said in answer to a question by Kuomintang party legislator Lin Yu-fang at parliament. The warship, which the navy says is harder to detect on radar, is expected to emerge after China puts into service its first battle carrier group,...

Russia floats out 3rd stealth corvette St. Petersburg's Severnaya Verf shipyard floated out a new corvette for the Russian Navy featuring stealth technology on Friday. The Boiky is the third Steregushchy class (Project 20380) corvette designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau. The first Project 20380 corvette, the Steregushchy, was put into service with Russia's Baltic Fleet in October 2008, and the second ship in the series, the Soobrazitelny, is expected to join the Russian Navy in 2011. The Project 20380 corvette can be deployed to destroy enemy surface ships, submarines and aircraft, and to provide artillery support for...

IDF to decide on what type of Navy it wants By YAAKOV KATZ 14/04/2011 IDF has yet to progress with procuring missile ships due to rising costs. The IDF is considering canceling plans to purchase two new missile ships for the Israel Navy, amid a new debate within the General Staff about the future of the navy, and its purpose within a changing Middle East. The Defense Ministry set aside about $330 million in 2007 to purchase two new large missile ships. The navy originally planned to purchase littoral combat ships, under development by Lockheed Martin – but abandoned those...

Ukraine Navy to Receive Four Corvettes by 2021 17 March 2011 The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has plans to spend $2bn on four indigenous corvettes by 2021, Ukraine Defence Minister Mikhail Yesel said. The lead ship is expected to be constructed in 2016 in the Mykolaiv-based Black Sea Shipyard. In order to minimise costs, the project will involve designing and constructing the ships in Ukraine with foreign ship weapons and equipment to eliminate foreign policy risk. The Ukrainian Government had approved a defence programme for building ten ships-class corvettes in March 2009, however, due to budget limits the project has been...

UAE-built ship launched First to be made in the region By Samia Badih, Staff Reporter Published: 00:00 February 21, 2011 Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), the UAE's naval and commercial vessels supplier, launched its second naval ship Baynunah at Idex yesterday, the second of a series of six naval ships, in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. "It's the first ship ever to be built in this region," Mohammad Salem Al Junaibi, CEO of ADSB, told Gulf News yesterday. "This ship is...

First domestically produced warship to be exhibited at defense fair 10 February 2011, Thursday / ERKAN ACAR, İSTANBUL Turkey’s first domestically produced warship, the Heybeliada, will be exhibited at Turkey’s 10th biennial International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2011), which will be held on May 10-13. Previous IDEFs, which are organized by TÜYAP Fair and Exhibition Organization Inc., were held in Ankara, preventing the exhibition of naval defense products. IDEF 2009 was held in İstanbul and this year the fair will be held in İstanbul’s coastal Büyükçekmece district, allowing for the exhibition of such products. This year’s fair will mark the...

US Sought to Discourage Bulgaria from Buying Brand-New Fighter Jets, French Corvettes Back in Oct 2009 Bulgarian PM Borisov (right) claimed to have gotten French President Sarkozy to cancel the EUR 1 B deal for French corvettes. A US diplomatic cable reveals Bulgaria was under pressure from France for this deal. EPA/BGNES The US Embassy in Sofia sought to discourage Bulgaria from going for costly armament procurement deals over concerns with the latter's limited funds, a newly released US diplomatic cable provided by Wikileaks shows. The document entitled "Strategy to Shape Bulgaria's Military Modernization" is a US diplomatic cable sent...

New Sea Power For Brunei Last Updated on Saturday, 08 January 2011 09:15 Written by Waleed PD Mahdini MinDef accepts 2 Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessels Bandar Seri Begawan - In a significant bid to realise the goals that were stated in the Defence White Paper 2004, the Ministry of Defence yesterday officially accepted two new Darussalam class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN). According to a press release, issued yesterday, the construction and acceptance of these two new OPVs, bearing the names `KDB Darussalam' and `KDB Darulehsan', "manifested the commitment of His Majesty's government in further...

Videos of speeding spur OKC man's arrestThe YouTube postings show a Corvette driver zooming down freeways at nearly 200 mph. By MICHAEL KIMBALL NewsOK.com Last Modified: 12/23/2010 7:08 AM OKLAHOMA CITY - Dee Albert "Cody" Replogle posted YouTube videos of himself speeding down Oklahoma City-area freeways in his high-powered Chevrolet Corvette, reportedly in excess of 195 mph. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol used the videos to find him and arrest him, Patrol Capt. Chris West said Wednesday. Replogle, 30, of Oklahoma City was arrested Monday on two complaints of reckless driving in connection with the pair of YouTube videos, West said.

Swedish corvette is engineered for stealth By Edward Lundquist The Swedish corvette Visby is stealthily to the core, right down to the all-composite shaft. From the carbon fiber hull and radar absor­bent coating to the enclosed gun mount, flush antennas and telescoping mast, this ship has extremely low signatures. The camouflaged appearance is hard to see, and the engine exhaust being ducted into the water jets reduces the infrared signature (the engine exhaust mixed with the water does create a visible vapor “exhaust”). The machinery sits on vibration isolation mounts, and non-magnetic materials are used throughout. Despite this unique approach...

Oman Corvette Heads to Sea for the First Time (Source: BAE Systems; issued December 20, 2010) PORTSMOUTH, United Kingdom --- Al Shamikh, the first of three ships being built by BAE Systems for the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO), has embarked on her first sea trials in the Solent. Departing from the Company’s Portsmouth facility, a combined BAE Systems and RNO crew is putting the ship through her paces, undertaking extensive platform testing for speed, propulsion and manoeuvrability in the first demonstration of the ship’s capability at sea. Scott Jamieson, International Programmes Director at BAE Systems’ Surface Ships division, said:...

Navy asked to explain apparent ship plan delay BLAST FROM THE PAST:：A KMT legislator wondered whether an apparent lack of determination to complete a project was the result of the Lafayette frigate scandal By Rich Chang / Staff Reporter Tue, Dec 14, 2010 - Page 3 The navy yesterday was asked to justify an apparent decision to delay plans to launch a program to build submarine chasers to increase the nation’s coastal defense capabilities. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林�方) told a Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting at the legislature that while the navy had assigned budgets...

Netherlands Threatened by Dutch Weapons? (Source: Radio Netherlands; issued Nov. 23, 2010) Four Italian-made frigates set out from the Venezuelan port city of Puerto Cabello in the middle of the night. They lead a fleet including amphibious landing craft and service ships, on their way to invade Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, three Caribbean islands forming part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A Dutch 'Falklands war' has begun. This is a nightmare scenario that Dutch military planners must nonetheless take into account, given Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez's repeated threats over the last two years. Political leaders on the three islands...

Equato Guinea seeks South Korean corvettes: report Written by defenceWeb Thursday, 18 November 2010 13:34 The government of oil rich but authoritarian Equatorial Guinea is reportedly negotiating the purchase of up to three corvettes worth an estimated price of $90 million from South Korea. The Defence Professionals website, defpro.com quotes the Yonhap news agency as saying a South Korean official confirmed Equatorial Guinea’s interest in buying three corvettes. According to Yonhap, negotiations began after Equatorial Guinea's President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, met his counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, in mid-August during a visit to Seoul. Park Young-june, a vice minister in South...

Photos provide clues for Chinese Type 056 corvette design By Ted Parsons and Mrityunjoy Mazumdar 18 November 2010 The first images of a probable new corvette design for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have emerged following a visit by the deputy commander of the Hong Kong military garrison to a local college. Photographs published on the Hong Kong University website showed Major General Wang Junli presenting a model of the vessel, which has an estimated displacement of between 1,000 tons and 1,800 tons and bears the pennant number 056, to the institution's vice chancellor during the visit on 4...

Turkey's first self-made warship under trial November 13, 2010 Turkey's first self-made warship has been undergoing sea trials, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported Friday. Trial operation of the corvette F-511 TCG Heybeliada, the first warship completely built in Turkey and developed under the National Ship Project (MILGEM), has been going on as of Nov. 2, the agency quoted the Turkish Naval Forces as saying. Construction of the corvette began in 2005 and the ship is expected to enter service in early 2011, the agency reported. The MILGEM project aims to build a modern littoral combat warship with indigenous anti-submarine...

Have you always wanted to assemble a car engine? If so you may want to consider buying a Corvette Z06 or ZR1, this is because there is a new build-your-own engine option available. This option will set you back $5,800 extra, don’t worry if you are worried that you will end up with an engine that does not run, as a General Motors technician will supervise you throughout the build.

General Motors Corvette ad at YouTube here.GM's new ad for the Corvette makes a not-so-veiled swipe at the Obama administration, implying Chevy will keep building manned rockets even if — thanks to the President's budget cuts — NASA won't. It's brilliantly Amerigasmic. The new ad for the 2011 Chevy Corvette line-up is the product of their new firm Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and features the awesome Corvette ZR1 along with nostalgic video of NASA's Saturn V program from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It also features a knock at the current space policy with this line: "While time has marched...

Israeli Navy Wants Stealth Corvettes May 18, 2010 By David Eshel Israel wants to acquire two corvettes that would permit missions beyond the Mediterranean and extend its fleet air defense capabilities. The navy was planning to purchase a variant of Lockheed Martin’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), but after an evaluation decided the vessel was too costly. The navy is now interested in the Meko A-100 multimission corvette, built by Blohm and Voss, part of Germany’s Thyssen-Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) Group. For such a vessel to outperform the current Eilat class, Israel will probably opt for the latest stealth version known...

"Four ships of this class are under construction at GRSE, Kolkata. The first ship is expected to be commissioned by mid-2012 and will be closely followed by the other three ships with the last expected to be commissioned by early 2015," a naval official said. The corvette, a small fast-moving ship, was ordered in 2003 and the production is delayed by two years. The official said the 3,100-tonnage ship would be fitted with the latest indigenously developed sonars to detect submarines. "The torpedo tubes, and scutter (torpedo decoys) launchers contribute to its anti-submarine punch. In addition, the ship will also...

Proposed Taiwan warship makes low-key debut TOKYO (Kyodo) -- An image of a proposed warship equipped with stealth technology and advanced weaponry published in Taiwan on Monday may have been released to gauge public opinion ahead of further development, a government source told Kyodo News on Tuesday. The computer-generated image, which appeared in the Taiwan edition of the Apple Daily newspaper, is available for public viewing at the Armed Forces Museum in Taipei, as well as in a booklet accompanying the museum's naval exhibition, which opened April 1. The newspaper said the vessel would pose a substantial threat to China's...

German shipyard building subs for Israel sold to UAE group By YAAKOV KATZ 11/04/2010 05:26 Defense officials concerned deal could impact on future procurement of new missile ships from the company. The sale of a German shipyard which is currently building two new Dolphin-class submarines for Israel to a business group from the United Arab Emirates could impact talks on the navy’s possible procurement of new missile ships from the company. ThyseenKrupp Marine Systems announced in late March that it had finalized a strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi MAR group, based in the UAE, under which the company will...

Taiwan has unveiled the first images of a high-tech missile corvette specifically designed to counter the threat of China acquiring an aircraft carrier, officials and media said on Monday. A computerised graphic of the 1,000-tonne 'carrier killer', which has so far been kept secret from the public, has gone on display at Taipei's military museum, run by the defence ministry. The vessel will be capable of cruising at speeds of up to 55 kilometres (34 miles) an hour and boast technologies helping it to evade radar detection, the Taipei-based Apple Daily reported, citing military officials. The navy hopes to arm...

ABOARD THE USNS SALVOR, Yellow Sea — Clear skies and a billowing sea Saturday were not telling of what was beneath the surface: brutally strong currents, frigid temperatures, and water so murky that divers would barely be able see in front of them if they had to go in. Those conditions, U.S. Navy divers and officials aboard this rescue and salvage ship said, are expected to persist and will make salvaging the wreckage of the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan that mysteriously sank more than a week ago unusually difficult. “This is a very challenging dive scene,” said Capt. Charlie...

Why Russia needs new corvettes On March 31, 2010, another Russian warship set sail in St. Petersburg: the corvette Soobrazitelny, the second ship to be produced under Project 20380. The vessel's name follows the old Soviet or Russian tradition of using adjectives to name small warships. "Soobrazitelny" means "smart" in Russian. A Soviet Project 61 destroyer previously held this name and, before it, a legendary World War II destroyer. Unfortunately, new additions to the Russian Navy are a rare occurrence these days, and the launch of the new corvette has become quite an event. In any case the ship is...

Russia set to float out 2nd stealth corvette St. Petersburg's Severnaya Verf shipyard will float out on Wednesday a new corvette featuring stealth technology, a Russian Navy spokesman said. The Soobrazitelny is the second Project 20380 corvette designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau. "The corvette features innovative solutions regarding hull design, armament, communications and electronics," the spokesman said. The first Project 20380 corvette, the Steregushchy, was put into service with Russia's Baltic Fleet in October 2008, and two other ships of the same series, the Boyky and the Stoyky, are under construction. The Project 20380 corvette can be...

SPECIALIST frogmen are to dive to the wreck of a South Korean frigate sunk by a mysterious explosion as the country’s rattled government tries to find out why the vessel was lost. The 1,200-tonne warship Cheonan went down amid a string of islands in waters bitterly contested by North Korea. But security officials in Seoul, the South Korean capital, said there was no evidence that the North was to blame. Financial markets shook when the news first reached the United States, which deploys more than 70,000 military personnel plus large air and sea forces to protect South Korea and Japan...

As introduced in 1953, the Corvette was mostly a thrown together experiment. Production was limited to 300 units total, so sales of the entirely new model was not a problem. Right: The first Corvette reaches the end of the assembly line on June 30, 1953. The first 15 cars were built, all by hand, in the back of a customer delivery garage in Flint Michigan. The rest came from a new facility devoted to Corvettes in St. Louis which had a capacity to build 10,000 cars a year. The first two were engineering test cars and according to official...

In January 2003, Iranian authorities announced the planned construction of at least one Mowj [62,900 attestations] Class frigate, a indigenously developed version of the Alvand Class. This word, meaning wave in Farsi, is also translated as Moudge [ 7,670 attestations ]Mowaj [ 3,370 attestations ] or Mowdge [ 624 attestations]. The first Mowj Class frigate was initially planned to be launched by 2005. Ultimately the Mowj was actually launched in February of 2007. At that time, the second ship in the class, reported to be named the Jamarran, was to be launched in November of 2007. Jamaran [ 238,000 attestations]...

Iran navy launches domestically made destroyer (AFP) – 3 hours ago TEHRAN — Iran's navy on Friday has launched in the Gulf its first domestically made destroyer in a ceremony attend by the supreme leader and the commander-in-chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the media reported. "Iran's navy on Friday took the delivery of the first indigenously designed and developed guided missile destroyer "Jamaran" in the Persian Gulf," Iran's English-language Press TV reported. The vessel has a displacement of around 14,000 tonnes and is equipped with modern radars and electronic warfare capabilities, the report said. "Jamaran, a multi-mission destroyer, can carry 120-140...

After a decade of development, testing and extended sea trials, Sweden has finally put two of its Visby class "stealth" corvettes (HMS Helsingborg and HMS Härnösand) into service. This finally happened on December 16th. With a hull made of carbon fiber material, and topside surfaces shaped to deflect radar, the Visby is hard to spot electronically. Travelling at less than 22 kilometers an hour (13 in rough seas), the Visby is practically invisible to radar. The 650 ton ships are armed with a 57mm gun, plus eight RBS-15 anti-ship missiles (max range of 70 kilometers), as well as anti-submarine torpedoes,...

Israel, Germany to discuss missile ships By YAAKOV KATZ A German defense delegation will arrive in Israel next month for high-level talks to focus on an Israeli request to purchase two Meko-class missile ships. The delegation will be led by senior officials from the German Defense Ministry and the German Navy. Talks on the Israeli side will be led by Defense Ministry director-general Pinhas Buchris and Navy commander Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom. While the Navy has yet to finalize its order, it is working on a concept under which the 2,000-ton ship would be designed by the German company Blohm...

Israeli urgently orders two stealth corvettes from Germany DEBKAfile Special Report October 27, 2009, 5:55 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile's military sources report that the two corvettes are needed to meet the build-up of Iranian submarines and Syria warships in the Mediterranean Sea and defend coastal infrastructure facilities such as power stations and naval bases which Israel intelligence fears will be at risk in a regional war. The order placed during Israeli chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi's three-day visit to Berlin this week as guest of the German high command surprised the defense ministry. Germany is contributing 500 million euros...

Since GM's 60-day money-back return policy started, there've been around 150,000 retail sales and only one confirmed return. A manual transmission Corvette was returned after the driver tired of rowing gears. What'd he get instead? An automatic model.

I am not a big car buff. I can certainly appreciate all manner of vintage models, high-end machines, and cool designs, but it is not in my blood. But like anything people are passionate about, incidents that seem to be no-big-deal to ordinary folks are positively painful for aficionados. And while we thoroughly shredded the economically perverted and ridiculous Cash for Clunkers program in an earlier post, and showed a video on how they kill these cars, I came across this one and had to post it.

Russia Increasing Surface Warship Fleet Aug 4, 2009 By Maxim Pyadushkin St. Petersburg, Russia The Russian navy plans to boost rearmament efforts by acquiring new classes of surface ships. The service is due to receive more than 40% of the defense budget this year, according to government officials, though most of the money will be spent on nuclear submarines. At the International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS) here, June 24-28, navy commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said the service is increasing the construction of new classes of warships. The first results of these efforts will be seen at the next IMDS in...

RALEIGH, N.C. - At least one sheriff's deputy in North Carolina won't have any trouble catching speeders. Multiple media outlets reported Wednesday that the Wake County Sheriff's Department has a Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Chevrolet said the car has a top track speed of 198 mph, with a base sticker price of $74,875. Its V8 racing engine generates 505 horsepower. Sheriff's spokeswoman Phyllis Stevens said the car didn't cost the county any money since it was seized from a drug dealer.