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Tu-160 has a lift-generating airframe, which is mostly made of aluminum alloys. Titanium alloys make up to 20% of the airframe mass. The bomber’s airframe has a distinctive appearance, with the wing and fuselage gradually integrated into a single-piece configuration. The variable geometry wings (the sweep angle can be varied from 20 to 65) allow the aircraft to use complex flight profiles from low subsonic speeds to mach 2. Photo: UAC/Tupolev design Bureau The first Tupolev Tu-160M Blackjack has completed its maiden flight after an avionic modernization that revamped the bombers’ radar and avionic systems in the past two years....

No one is quite sure yet if a grand jury will indict Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown. But one thing is almost for sure: If they don’t, Ferguson and surrounding St. Louis, Missouri, areas will face widespread protests and looting once again. Local businesses have been bracing themselves for the possible fallout, many of which have called in armed forces to help them out. More than 300 private military contractors have been hired by Ferguson-area locals in anticipation of more looting, reported Vice News. Jared Ogden, director of operations for Asymmetric Solutions, a private military contractor...

Democrats scrambled Wednesday to tamp down anger among veterans groups who objected to the party’s choice of Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Compounding the anger was the Democratic leadership’s treatment of the sole veteran among the panel’s Democrats, who was briefly ousted from the committee on a technicality and thus made ineligible to seek to become ranking member. As a result, Rep. Brown was the only Democrat seeking to serve as party leader on the committee that has been a watchdog for the Veterans Affairs Department’s wait-time scandal and the implementation...

Everybody loves the Beatles. That's the first thought that came to Slidell artist Lori Gomez's mind as she tried to come up with a theme to transform a century-old, donated piano into a work of art. The piano would be auctioned to help raise money to build veterans' homes in east St Tammany Parish, and so Gomez set about refurbishing and then painting the colorful Beatles artwork onto it.But two final touches have made the upright, antique piano more rare and valuable than anyone involved in the upcoming auction ever imagined: personal autographs by both Ringo Starr and Sir Paul...

Columbia, Missouri---A New York couple whose son died in Operation Desert Storm say Boone County’s decision to cover a Christian symbol on a war memorial dishonored veterans. The Boone County Commission decided earlier this year to cover the ichthus, commonly called the “Jesus fish” but it has only recently caused public controversy. Only two names appear on the Courthouse Plaza memorial. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the parents of one of those sailors, U.S. Navy Lt. Patrick Connor, learned of the decision last week. They said the covering of the symbol was an affront to fundamental American beliefs. The commission...

It looks like what we have here is a classic case of when “keeping it real” goes wrong. On Veterans Day, while most Americans were thanking members of the U.S. armed forces for their service and enjoying their community’s holiday festivities, Michael Schuette of Anniston, Alabama took to Facebook to explain that veterans are not American heroes. In fact, he believes they “kill for profit,” “terrorize” other countries, have “never sacrificed for this country” and do “nothing for the American citizens.”

Richard Overton, America's oldest living veteran, participated in the Veterans Day parade in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, posing for selfies from the passenger seat of a slow-moving car along the parade route. Chances are, the 108-year-old World War II veteran began the day like any other: on the porch, smoking a cigar, sipping a cup of coffee stiffened with whiskey.

Memories of his own service in Vietnam and the destructive nature of combat are never far from the mind of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the first former enlisted man to lead the Pentagon. "Every Vietnam veteran understands," Hagel told CNN's Barbara Starr during an interview outside his office in the Pentagon. "Any veteran who has ever served in a war understands that, and I think we should never forget the consequences of war." Decades after the U.S. conflict in Vietnam, Hagel is using the power of his office to help some of the most troubled veterans of that war get...

Individuals turned to Twitter following Eminem’s performance on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to both defend and express outrage over the rapper’s flagrant use of the F-bomb at The Concert for Valor. The Michigan-born rapper riddled his HBO-streamed performance with curse words at the concert aimed at supporting U.S. servicemen and women. “Happy motherf***ing Veterans Day,” Eminem shouted into the microphone. Users on Twitter were quick to react, with some defending the rapper’s use of profanity and others criticizing his word choice.

Rare Bugs Bunny Featuring Hitler.

Veterans Day was initially called Armistice Day to celebrate the end of World War I and recognize the soldiers who died. Today it’s a day in the United States to recognize all veterans in all wars—not just those who died or were wounded or even served in a war at all. It’s designed to heap praise and adulation on all things military. In doing so, in the name of patriotism, it therefore endorses all of our war policies, right or wrong. Every veteran becomes a hero and no questions are to be asked of the wisdom, morality, or constitutionality of...

The poisonous progressive agenda has oozed into a school district in Wisconsin which has caused the cancellation of a traditional Veterans Day ceremony that has been held since the 1930′s. Part of the time-honored tradition, which is the main reason the anti-Second Amendment rights leftists have banned the annual event, is because a 21-gun salute is conducted as part of the ceremony, and the controlist educators are worried that some people may feel an “uneasiness,” even though blanks, not real bullets are used in the rifles. “There are just some conditions that we have to adhere to and the shooting...

The poisonous progressive agenda has oozed into a school district in Wisconsin which has caused the cancellation of a traditional Veterans Day ceremony that has been held since the 1930′s. Part of the time-honored tradition, which is the main reason the anti-Second Amendment rights leftists have banned the annual event, is because a 21-gun salute is conducted as part of the ceremony, and the controlist educators are worried that some people may feel an “uneasiness,” even though blanks, not real bullets are used in the rifles. “There are just some conditions that we have to adhere to and the shooting...

The American soldier is the backbone of our liberties; the rock upon which tyranny must break. Without their sacrifice, their unwavering commitment to this nation and the ideals it espouses, this republic not only would have fallen but its beacon of hope would have been extinguished long ago beneath the smoke-ridden battlefields of Lexington, Bunker Hill, or Yorktown. Tragically, despite the fact millions of Americans bask in the opportunity and affluence of their God-given rights, those procured by the unassuming few, the struggles of our veterans often goes unappreciated or unnoticed; especially by those who have the most blessings or...

Robert McDonald, the new head of the VA, has announced his proposed changes/improvements to the current VA system. I've been in the VA system for a number of years here in Atlanta where there have been reports of poor care. I must say that, without exception, I have experienced very good and courteous care in the Atlanta facilities. The bulk of the problems appear to be in other facilities and, to his credit, McDonald – a West Point graduate and airborne vet himself – has dug down into the situation and concluded that his list of those who need to...

"I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." - Joshua 1:5 http://youtu.be/a6yA76fOIwo

The red tape nightmare of firing those responsible for putting our nation’s heroes on death lists In a long-overdue effort, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald announced yesterday that the scandal-plagued agency would undergo the “largest reorganization of the Department of Veterans Affairs since its establishment,” as he told CNN. McDonald took charge of the VA three months ago following the resignation of his predecessor, Eric Shinseki. Shinseki’s tenure at the VA lasted over five years, longer than any previous Secretary, and under his watch an enormous backlog of claims reached a peak of 900,000 in March 2013. Even as...

Saint Michael the Archangel: "Defend us in battle" and "be our protection" against wickedness It’s Veterans Day in America, yet there are progressively fewer to venerate. Most of the World War II generation is gone and even the older Vietnam vets are reaching average life expectancy. Relatively few Americans have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and most of them never saw battle. Yet even as explaining combat to a civilian is like describing the sky to somebody blind from birth, we “brave few,” as Shakespeare famously put it in Henry V, feel compelled to try anyway. Ask a veteran what...

Interesting that Google the front page shows all the military men in the background and the woman out front on the Veteran's Day page.