Bill Buppert | The Libertarian Institute

Bang for Your Buck: Breaking the Bank to Upgrade the Nuclear Arsenal (Part II)

by Bill Buppert | Aug 16, 2024 | Blog

In Part I, I discussed and critiqued an overview of the new efforts to update the US nuclear arsenal. Here, we'll chat (again) about the Sentinel which is the improved replacement for the aging Minuteman III ICBM and it is already in trouble with the schedule sliding to the right and the costs increasing (surprise). The first test flight has slipped from 2025 to 2026. It will continue to slip if history is a judge. The complexity of the Sentinel program has been emphasized by the Secretary of the Air Force, who characterized it as “struggling” with “unknown unknowns.” Acknowledged as one of...

Bang for Your Buck: Breaking the Bank to Upgrade the Nuclear Arsenal (Part I)

by Bill Buppert | Aug 15, 2024 | Blog

The United States is on track to spend the equivalent of more than two Manhattan projects per year in one of the most expensive nuclear arms races in history. The US has not done a recorded air breathing nuclear detonation since 1992 (the last US test, Julin-Divider, was on September 23, 1992). Almost 50 years and over 1000 tests in the USA alone and its nuclear warhead inventory and the energetics needed to loft them via rocket-borne means for the submarine and ground-launched missile programs is ancient and sclerotic. Although nuclear explosions have not been conducted in the USA since...

The Spirit Dissolves: Imminent B2 Retirement

by Bill Buppert | Aug 14, 2024 | Blog

Stealth is a buzzword, please keep in mind that long wave radars detects the minuscule radar cross sections of "stealth" platforms. It can still be detected by a sufficiently powerful radar or at sufficiently close ranges. Dual-band radars are more effective against stealth than disjointed sensors, being able to focus the high-frequency beam to track the blips spotted by the low-frequency one. Pardon me while I geek out: At a low enough frequency, one cannot use angled surfaces to deflect the re-radiated radio frequency (RF); even a very thin wire one half wavelength long is optimally sized...

Icebreaker Follies: The US Continues to Drive to Zero

by Bill Buppert | Aug 13, 2024 | Blog

The Navy did have 1.5 icebreakers and now they have half of one. Well, actually, the US has no operational icebreakers now. The Coast Guard’s other icebreaker, the ancient heavy Polar Star, is undergoing a service life extension program at the Mare Island Dry Dock in California [H/T to Q Captain]. The fire reportedly damaged a starboard transformer as a result of which the starboard engine remains inoperable. The Coast Guard’s other icebreaker, the 50-year old Polar Star, is not available during summer as it is undergoing a service life extension program at the Mare Island Dry Dock in...

Boeing Incompetence Continues: The Space Launch System Debacle

by Bill Buppert | Aug 12, 2024 | Blog

We all know what is happening now with the Boeing disaster in space where two astronauts are marooned and the billion dollar taxicab is not only malfunctioning but can't be undocked without a human inside piloting the capsule away. Boeing was contracted by Never Ascend to Space Again (NASA) to develop a new upper stage for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and it's seven years behind schedule and significantly over budget. The new Exploration Upper Stage, a more powerful second stage for the SLS rocket that made its debut in late 2022, is viewed by NASA as a key piece of its Artemis...

Ep 049 “Storming America: TTP to Make you Free”

by Bill Buppert | Aug 12, 2024 | Chasing Ghosts Podcast

My Storming America Series covers the gamut of what the spontaneous attack in the US will look like when terror cells launch a simultaneous attack on the US homeland. I cover it in Episodes 37, 41-43 and 49-50 of my Chasing Ghosts podcast. This is an episode to examine what you can do about the coming civil unrest in America. I discuss some of the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) the free range humans can employ to prepare and protect themselves for the coming unpleasantness. I wanted to add a great note from one of my listeners [H/T to MG] that is a great addition to the...

Doubling Down on Failure: Ford Fiasco Follies

by Bill Buppert | Aug 8, 2024 | Blog

A new updated CRS report dated 5 August 2024 is out on the USS Ford debacle. I read these reports so you don't have to. For plenty of reasons, the carrier is the crossbow and chariot of the 21st century. Yet the US insists on spending tens of billions of dollars on these obsolete and antiquated exquisite platforms that are more vulnerable now than ship at sea in the history of mankind. Of course, the US is building five of these proven failures. Let's do easy math and suspend our disbelief and price these colossal strategic blunders at 20 billion each for procurement but inflation and...

The Royal Navy Submarine Force Remains Surfaced

by Bill Buppert | Aug 7, 2024 | Blog

The Royal Navy is experiencing readiness and maintenance shortfalls in its submarine force that is similar to the throughput problems for the US nuclear submarine forces. The logistical tail for exquisite platforms like nuclear submarines is enormous and a first world nation is the only entity capable of deploying these boats. The Royal Navy is not up to the task. Here is my forecast: the Royal Navy will never be a blue water fleet action war machine again for the remainder of this century (if the UK lasts that long). Especially when you take the one third rule into account for peacetime...