Regarding the Iron Dome's Tamir interceptor missile. Back in the day, I briefly worked on homing head design in both the anti-air and anti-ship missile development divisions of a UK defence contractor. The running joke was that the anti-air guys called their weapons "missiles" because they were all designed to detonate close to (i.e., "miss") their targets, rather than actually attempt to hit them, for the reasons you describe in your video. The anti-ship guys, on the other hand, used to argue that their missiles should be called "hitiles" because they're designed to do as much damage as possible to their targets by exploding on or in them. Thought you might be interested in that.
Is it possible to create a "stealthed missile"? It's got a heat source at the back. If it was relatively immune to radar, there would still be IR. I honestly don't know if any of this is logical or not.
That's cute. But, I hope you know that the word "missile" predates anti-aircraft weapons by centuries/millenia. It from Latin meaning an object that can be thrown. Arrows, bullets, artillery rounds, stones from a sling, all are missiles.
@@fredferd965 The short answer is that different types of missiles use different means to delay or even avoid detection and thereby improve their chances of success. When the target is a dumb rocket, the rocket has no way of knowing that it's about to be shot down, but expensive modern fighter planes and naval vessels have many ways to detect and react to threats. The following articles might help you better understand the challenges involved, but they only scratch the surface (buh-dum-tss): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_guidance en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-to-air_missile#Guidance_systems Maybe Simon would like to do a side project on the topic of missile guidance and missile defence? It's a fascinating subject.
TLDR they had a plan in the 1880s to fortify the massive mountain ranges they have in order to preserve as much territory from the Germans as possible. They likely would have held out up there for over a decade if not forever, they have a railroad system that runs through those mountains and denying the Germans that was the Key part of this plan, if the Germans couldn't take the railroad they would have zero reason to invade so far. removing the incentive for combat and basically trusting that the west and its allies would win the war for them, If shit got really bad they would just move into the friggin hills like dwarves and forget about the world lol. they are MEGA turtles. I have strong opinions on this strat but those are for those who ask
I’ve lived in Israel for 6 years and the iron dome is like 60% effective. It’s scary af when that alarm goes off because you know there’s a good chance of a rocket getting through
I hear all the time that military grade tech is usually 3-10 years ahead of whatever the general public is privy to. So I'm just imagining in my head: General Public: "ERH MEH GERD!!! 5G'S AMERZEN!!!!" Military: "Hahaha. 12G goes Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The iron dome system is so cool (apart from all the war stuff) but its so statisfying seeing it shoot down misslies, same for the CIWS system which is also super cool!
The "Woodpecker" OTH Radar were Simon is speaking about, is located in the North-East of Ukraine, in the same area that is, to some level, radioactive contemmenated because of the Chernobyl Disaster. So. you've been warned.
You laugh but I’ve literally been that person.... Toys for Tots...look it up. We never used Toys r Us because they were overpriced and we wanted to maximize the amount of toys we could give out to children but when Toys r Us went out of business and had those everything must go sales we actually went ham wild and filled multiple 7 Ton trucks full of toys because we were getting them at less then wholesale price....oh and yah we did this all in dress blues cuz our first SGT thought it would be good publicity bunch of marines buying marines buying toys for the needy while the getting was good
I remember the Russian Woodpecker well. People developed specialized noise blanking circuits to make radio a bit easier on one's ears. The U.S. Navy's over the horizon radar along the Gulf Coast sounds more like a raspberry. :-)
If you're interested in fortifications, check out the Fortress of Boden. Located in northern Sweden, it is one of the 10 biggest fortification systems in the world with over 1200 different objects. It was built during the first decade of the 20th century and consisted of 5 main and 3 minor forts and hundreds of minor bunkers, batteries etc. The forts surrounded the small town of Boden, through which the only railway in this part of the country ran. Each fort could operate autonomously for months and could easily support each other with artillery fire. The location was almost perfect with mountains, deep forests, several lakes and major river. If an army were to push south to southern Sweden, they had to go through Boden. The fortress was reinforced and upgraded throughout the 20th Century and was decommisioned in the 1990s. All forts are still there and 1 of them is open for guided tours.
An interesting feature of 'Iron Dome' is that when it detects an incoming missile or shell, it predicts where that warhead will land. If it appears to be headed to an open space with nothing in it, the 'Iron Dome' system simply lets it hit that open space and will not waste a shot on it.
@Gilga Mesh I think this exactly why Israel always return the harassment with very very powerful bombardment, usually involved civilians from opposition, simply to "cover the cost".
@@A_Human_Male just my thoughts. from israeli nationalism part, they might want to eliminate other races in the region, any extra casualty is a surplus for them. From military perspective, they could create tension in between sympathizer and state funded military, crippling the help they might provide for the 'terrorist'.
I have been watching too much of Simon Whistler. Last night I had a dream about watching a Megaprojects video on an aircraft carrier that crashed onto a beach.
Simon, I had to share with you how ridiculously, and almost indescribably pleased I was with the way you ended this video! I'm watching this, ironically, on Memorial day weekend in the States, and Sir, you deserve to be commended for the way you closed this one out. Cheers, kudos, and thanks to you, your staff, and the amount of effort you all put in for your brand. Truly, it is appreciated.
Another project you may wish to look at is the 'Metal Storm' area denial project. It had a lot of promise as a self-operating localised defence system, got very well developed, and then just seemed to die on the vine once the US military industry got interested in it.
I had expected to see the Distant Early Warning line (a string of missile detection radars stretching from Alaska to Greenland) in this video, but I'm glad you went with DUGA instead. I already know a bit about the DEW Line but had never heard of DUGA before.
I am a subscriber to several of your RUclips channels and by and large enjoy your content and find it informative and educational. I rarely comment on any RUclips channels, but I had to here. At 8:40 in this episode you refer to amateur radio operators pejoratively as “a guy in Texas with a bootleg radio”. It is true that amateur radio operators in the US and most of the rest of the world are not paid for their radio work. Indeed, the rules of the Federal Communication Commission provide as follows: “Section 97.3, moreover, defines the term "amateur service" as "A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." (from the FCC website emphasis added). To transmit using an amateur radio you must have a license from the FCC. These licenses (there are three classes) require passing a written test on FCC rules, operating procedures, electronics, radio wave theory, and safety. “The amateur and amateur-satellite services are for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. These services present an opportunity for self-training, intercommunication, and technical investigations. Twenty-nine small frequency bands throughout the spectrum are allocated to this service internationally. Some 1,300 digital, analog, pulse, and spread-spectrum emission types may be transmitted.” (from the FCC website). My point is that we amateur radio operators are not radio pirates. We have a valid and important role to play and rules within which we must operate. We build and/or buy our own equipment and freely share what we learn and do with others. Individually we have a small footprint, but collectively the 769,328 licensed operators in the United States and 2,210,950 worldwide constitute a decentralized, distributed, valuable, resilient, and “free” communications megaproject network that help meet the communications needs of our communities in good times and bad.
Maginot Line underrated imo because of the hate it gets. It literally did what it was supposed to. I think a lot of the hate is because French heavily relied on Belgium to hold their ground until reinforcements could get up there but Belgium let Germany walk through which wasn't anticipated.
"Today I found Out" did a video about the Belgium Fort (I forget the name, sorry) that was surprise attacked by history's first airborne/glider attack by Germany. The attack completely surprised Belgium and made "walking through" that much easier. Really, it's a great story, if you look through very recent "TIFO" videos, I'm sure you'll find the video.
Yeah,except that whole invasion of France thing,it worked great. Like Trump's wall,you just go around. God bless America, her troops, and all her People. Capt.Bob, SV 27th Chance, Tampa Fl.
@@vincentas1 Well, at some point a wall ends. There could be several reasons, but I'll address just a few. 1 terrain. If you look at the Great Wall of China,you'll see its actually several smaller walls,though huge by themselves. History tells us,and I'm a History grad from a southern military college, so we studied this, the Mongols often just went around. Also,a watercourse,be it river,or sea, prevents construction of a wall,as does a particularly high mountain range,where a determined force ,could circumvent any such barrier. I live on my sailboat, so I'd just sail around any Mexican boarder wall. 2nd, No nation can man that size barrier. Just don't have enough guys,or they can be bribed to look the other way. 100 guys,looking at a Mongol hoard, would probably be wise to except the money. 3rd, it's a fence. Give me some bolt cutters,and I'm through. It may slow a force down ,but not stop it. Depending on the determination of the forces. Their,these barriers, are designed to reduce infiltration through commonly use areas,or funnel opposition forces into a manageable zone. Give a read to the "The Great Wall " by John Man,or "Hadrian's Wall", by David Devine. Hope that helps. God bless America, her troops, and all her People. Capt.Bob SV 27th Chance, Tampa Fl.
Star wars is also the nickname for en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative which talked about using lasers to destroy incoming ballistic missiles. I think he meant this, rather than the movies.
In Australia, we have the Jindalee over the horizon radar as well in outback Western Australia, but ours is a phased array radar that has a much wider angle of transmission & reception. It's supposedly able to detect the USAF's F-117 stealth plane, much to their annoyance.
Great video as always mate! I interesting note on the woodpecker, that’s the same way HF radio works. I used to love crystal clear nights in Arizona performing HF radio checks on C-130s. If conditions were perfect, I capsule talk to Washington DC, Guam, and all over just from bouncing radio waves of the ionosphere!
@@NathanDudani Atomic weaponry was not a new concept. Other countries had been researching it too, Germany was close during world war two, and if not for a norwegian resistance strike on a heavy water reactor they very very nearly could have had the nuke before we did. Hell H G Wells coined the term atomic bomb in 1914, in his novel the world set free. It was not a brand new concept invented by the scientists at the manhatten project, they were just the first ones to make it actually work.
@@ExarchGaming First, Operation Gunnerside destroyed a heavy water production plant, not a reactor. Second, the Germans were never anywhere near making a nuclear weapon. They didn't even consider a nuclear weapon to be possible so their focus was on nuclear reactors to power ships. Their nuclear research was underfunded and deliberately fragmented (the Nazis were obsessed with competition, even in areas where it made no sense) - the complete opposite of the Allied approach of pooling all their scientists together and giving them unlimited funding. And it didn't help the Nazis that their evil ideology chased away some of the brightest minds in Europe, many of whom wound up working for the Allies.
I was wondering what the Iron Dome was when all the news articles in the recent conflict kept referencing it without explaining it at all. Thank you very much for explaining it in a way I can easily understand!
Oooooh Simon! I have another suggestion! For this channel, geographics, or mega projects. It’s the MASSIVE nazi fortification that was built close to Omaha beach where the allies stormed the beach. It was found five years ago tops, and the US Army covered up its existence after taking the the area a much longer period of time than the US expected, because of this hidden strong hold. It’s also a GINORMOUS structure! It would be so interesting to learn more about that!!!
Good message at the end Simon. We are just getting better at war which is killing. We should work on getting better at finding agreements and not fighting
Suggestion for a show: Military projects who's common denominator is that they were On-schedule and On-budget (or better). I just watched the Iron Dome segment of your Manning the Walls, and was very intrigued that this new technology was developed without the typical delays and vast overruns in cost. I also understand the US's A-10 ground attack jet program was so. But it's impressive effectiveness is ignored by the many "fast-jet" lovers that keep trying to retire this plane.
Never underestimate ham radio operators. Especially since many have personal labs full of electronics and a great understanding of electrons.... engineering,... and all of the knowledge in time to master their equipment.
Simon you should do one on the "Iron Horse" surveillance system and the 'Flair 9' antenna system. I worked on one in Germany in the 1980s. It was an amazing (world-spanning) system and considering the time it was built, an extremely successful system.
The Iron Dome is LITERALLY the Atari game Missile Command... PS > Looking forward to seeing the game Moon Patrol in real life a few decades from now once countries start colonizing (and fighting over) the Moon.
fyi: "Missile Command" is one of the video games John Conner is shown to be playing at the arcade in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Also, "Missile Command's" ending is used to end the final sequence of the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." :-)
I use to operate the Patriot missile defense system. The Pac2 and Pac3 missiles are kinetic kill munitions. They actually impact an incoming missile head on.
Paraphrasing my high school history teacher: "Someone should have told France that 'Maginot Line' actually translates to, 'speed bump' in German". Yep, definitely won the teacher lottery that year.
I can remember listening to the woodpecker radar on my transistor radio. As a child I was fascinated by the many world radio stations and would fine tune my way through the airwaves. Sometimes though, that woodpecker would come thundering in. It was obviously being aimed at locations such as the UK. It was loud and would interrupt many stations.
You should cover the northern DEW line and clear AFB Alaska. They have a missile listening station there. Also check out the SOSUS program where the USA could follow the Soviet’s subs anywhere for years by listening to noises on the sea floor. Great side project material.
Worked 35 years ago on the GE OTH or backscatter radar system for the eastern seaboard of the US. Their system deployed two radar arrays transmitter and receiver placed one in front of the other, but miles apart.
The idea that Toys R Us parts being used in military weapons sounds crazy, until you realize that Mattel, a Toy making company actually is a plastic making company and they make gun stocks for some carbine weapons as well. Most Toys are made out of base materials that are used in other things. The companies that make toys are not always toy manufacturing companies, but rather a company that manufactures the material that is shaped into toys and thus are perfectly capable of making other items such as weapons for war in real life.
Seeing the Russian Woodpecker brings to mind another Side Project you should do; the massive Sterba Curtain antenna that played host to the Voice of America, broadcasting into Eastern Europe from North Carolina. Another massive Cold War piece of infrastructure that was not cheap given that it consisted of 128 structural steel towers.
here's the rub. VOA and its three sites meant that my city would have been wiped off the map with the first nuke blast. VOA was huge - consisted of three sites in a triangle roughly equidistant from the center of Greenville. Between ft Brag, Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune & the VOA installation all of Eastern NC would have been turned to glass. ITs crazy when you start looking at it analytically.
I love this dude. I am working towards a doctorate in war history and this man is inspiring. War, as it is, has shaped our sciences more than anything else in history. That fact is true. However, it should end! Countries having just deterrents is necessary, also showing how much we don't want it. I hope to one day teach young adults that you need to know where you came from so that you and your children can do better...
Fun fact about the duga radar. Its the basis for how to see stealth planes really well. Also not mentioning Swedens total war defense during the cold war here one of the main reasons the Soviet union was held in check. An artillery piece per Km of coastline some of the biggest fortifications built an entire naval base inside a mountain and so on.
The Rheinmetall Oerlikon Air Defense system is basically like the Iron dome. Except that it uses supersonic explosive ammunition with a programmable time fuse as well as lasers. This system is modular and can be deployed even in urban environments in large scale.
The Brits appear to have an over the horizon radar on Cyprus. Australia has them too. Of course, the US highway network and the internet started out as military systems.
Historically the French were pretty good historically... most of the reason they sucked in ww2 was because of dunkirk... think 1066... napoleon... the legendary exploits of the foriegn legion.
@@thekeytoairpower As near as I can tell, all the best warriors left France in 1066. Napoleon was a Corsican, and there are no French citizens in the foreign legion.
@@barlotardy iirc officer in ffl are French. Also, though napolean may be corsican it was the French army that took the combined efforts of most of Europe to defeat. Bear in mind here that I am British and a veteran of the US military so giving credit to the French is genetically difficult :)
A good follow-up to this would be a video about some of the _failed_ defense systems that have been tried. Things like the Star Wars Defense Program or the 4 Minute Warning comes to mind.
This has a place on my bucket list to visit for a long while. That is as long as you are talking about the wall close to Chernobyl since that is the one I’m wanting to visit.
North America had the Distant Early Warning (DEW) system through most of the Cold War. It was VAST...stretching from Alaska to Greenland through Canada's far north in 3 lines of interconnected radar installations. All if this was connected to the joint central command centre at Cheyeene Mountain, Wyoming. Canada even built the arctic town of Alert, North West Territories (now Nunavut).
Iron Dome was actually a related development to the Patriot missile battery famously used to modest effect against Scud attacks during Desert Storm in 1991. These were donated to Israel to keep them from entering the war and causing political difficulties for the Saudis. The Israelis' key innovation with Iron Dome was a radar system that predicted where the very inaccurate mortars and rockets would land. If they weren't going to hit something valuable, or a populated area, they didn't waste an expensive missile on it. That's where the 90% effective number comes from. They don't count those they let through.
The Maginot Line was also supposed to extend into Belgium, to the Military Canal, Belgium backed out of this idea, causing the line to remain incomplete.
The Maginot line did at least force the Germans to be delayed. In theory it meant time to mobilise French army divisions. They didn't not have time due to the blitzkrieg which it was not built for.
ABM systems weren't considered a waste of money so much as were forbidden by several nuclear weapon treaties between the USSR and the USA, before these treaties the US was all in on ABM systems, including the absolutely nuts Nike Sprint.
I've been to Duga Radar station while on a tour of Chernobyl. It was very James Bond, lots of old Soviet stars and outposts, statues of Lenin etc. Then you walk up to the radar itself and it stupidly large, youre stood under it looking up and not really seeing the top and it seem to stretch for ages.
The US military has had weaponized lasers since the 1960's. They aren't new. It just took a while to make them practical enough to be deployable, primarily due to the amount of power they need.
Simon is correct standing next to that radar system in astounding. I had no idea it existed and when we came out of the woods to see it after touring nearby Chernobyl it was a 'wow moment ' for sure.
Honestly, my cousin was in Iraq and he said there was a huge stink about the defense missles not intercepting 60% of the time even though the brass claimed it was 95% efficient. Im sure they have got better now, but if everyone knew it wasn't working well back when it started, the whole multi-million $ project would have been scrapped and we wouldn't be moving to starwars ones now.
I wonder if you've heard of the Kuwait sea city or Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City, originally designed for 100k people has since been upgraded , I think you might enjoy this mega/side project. Good ol heavy machinery and moving of lots of earth. Enjoy
Iron Dome is only one layer of missile defense system, and not the most advanced one. And yes it is true, during development, Daniel Gold used parts from his sons Fisher Price rc car to build a prototype. Most amazing part is that he started the project with no goverment approval, and had the project failed, he would have ended up in jail for misapproproating air force funds. He was head of air force R&D, fascinating guy, they should make a movie about the project. He fought the defense ministry, nobody believed it could be done...
Simon on the Iron Dome: "It . . . was quick, on schedule, and actually under budget."
Me: "Oh, so those are the reasons why it's not a MegaProject."
"So, where are we gonna put the unused budget money?"
"I dunno."
"..."
"..."
"No, seriously: I don't know."
Not hard when it’s financially paid for by Uncle Sam.
@@zeitgeistx5239 exactly. I'd like to see whether the publicly released statistics include American funding or not
Regarding the Iron Dome's Tamir interceptor missile. Back in the day, I briefly worked on homing head design in both the anti-air and anti-ship missile development divisions of a UK defence contractor. The running joke was that the anti-air guys called their weapons "missiles" because they were all designed to detonate close to (i.e., "miss") their targets, rather than actually attempt to hit them, for the reasons you describe in your video. The anti-ship guys, on the other hand, used to argue that their missiles should be called "hitiles" because they're designed to do as much damage as possible to their targets by exploding on or in them. Thought you might be interested in that.
Heard this before. Love the banter between the different groups 😂
Is it possible to create a "stealthed missile"? It's got a heat source at the back. If it was relatively immune to radar, there would still be IR. I honestly don't know if any of this is logical or not.
That's cute. But, I hope you know that the word "missile" predates anti-aircraft weapons by centuries/millenia. It from Latin meaning an object that can be thrown. Arrows, bullets, artillery rounds, stones from a sling, all are missiles.
@@fredferd965 The short answer is that different types of missiles use different means to delay or even avoid detection and thereby improve their chances of success. When the target is a dumb rocket, the rocket has no way of knowing that it's about to be shot down, but expensive modern fighter planes and naval vessels have many ways to detect and react to threats. The following articles might help you better understand the challenges involved, but they only scratch the surface (buh-dum-tss):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_guidance
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-to-air_missile#Guidance_systems
Maybe Simon would like to do a side project on the topic of missile guidance and missile defence? It's a fascinating subject.
@@Markle2k You are quite correct sir! The Latin word is missilis and your definition is on the money.
more about Switzerland being a giant bunker please.
Yes plz
Google 'National Redoubt Switzerland'. It's an interesting look into how Switzerland views itself and its neighbors.
TLDR they had a plan in the 1880s to fortify the massive mountain ranges they have in order to preserve as much territory from the Germans as possible. They likely would have held out up there for over a decade if not forever, they have a railroad system that runs through those mountains and denying the Germans that was the Key part of this plan, if the Germans couldn't take the railroad they would have zero reason to invade so far. removing the incentive for combat and basically trusting that the west and its allies would win the war for them, If shit got really bad they would just move into the friggin hills like dwarves and forget about the world lol. they are MEGA turtles. I have strong opinions on this strat but those are for those who ask
@@FeedMeSalt im curious about your opinions
@@FeedMeSalt tell me more about "MEGA Turtles"
I'd like to see a full video on the Iron Dome.
Same here!
Nah, pencils and popcorn.
Yes please!
Doesn’t work on real missile barrage by real countries. Only cheap hamas rockets.
I’ve lived in Israel for 6 years and the iron dome is like 60% effective. It’s scary af when that alarm goes off because you know there’s a good chance of a rocket getting through
New science: *exists*
Military: "Is for me?👉🏻🥺👈🏻"
I hear all the time that military grade tech is usually 3-10 years ahead of whatever the general public is privy to. So I'm just imagining in my head:
General Public: "ERH MEH GERD!!! 5G'S AMERZEN!!!!"
Military: "Hahaha. 12G goes Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
@@steeljawX xd
Fous maybe ?
The iron dome system is so cool (apart from all the war stuff) but its so statisfying seeing it shoot down misslies, same for the CIWS system which is also super cool!
being a "ham radio operator" for over 50 years would love to see an in depth look at the "Russian" side of the "Wood Pecker" OTH Radar.
you mean the Brain Scorcher?
The "Woodpecker" OTH Radar were Simon is speaking about, is located in the North-East of Ukraine, in the same area that is, to some level, radioactive contemmenated because of the Chernobyl Disaster. So. you've been warned.
@@Kirovets7011 See Dutchsinse channels last upload on 4/22 .. Secret Super Weapons by Lt. Thomas Bearden
I like to imagine there's just a couple guys in military uniforms buying 50,000 hot wheels cars from various toys r Us stores
You laugh but I’ve literally been that person.... Toys for Tots...look it up. We never used Toys r Us because they were overpriced and we wanted to maximize the amount of toys we could give out to children but when Toys r Us went out of business and had those everything must go sales we actually went ham wild and filled multiple 7 Ton trucks full of toys because we were getting them at less then wholesale price....oh and yah we did this all in dress blues cuz our first SGT thought it would be good publicity bunch of marines buying marines buying toys for the needy while the getting was good
@@imafuturecorpse2443 That's really nice but it's also a long shot away from going into a Toys R Us to by missile components.
Rip
@@imafuturecorpse2443 every year! Fill the box up
I remember hearing the "woodpecker" from time to time on the radio back in the day.
Funny, but Iron Dome sounds a lot like the Aegis defense system on some US Navy ships.
ETA: I was also reminded of the Arcade game "Missile Defense".
Aegis took down a commercial Iranian plane
I remember the Russian Woodpecker well. People developed specialized noise blanking circuits to make radio a bit easier on one's ears. The U.S. Navy's over the horizon radar along the Gulf Coast sounds more like a raspberry. :-)
Only one man would DARE give me the raspberry.
@@dongiovanni4331
Lonestar
If you're interested in fortifications, check out the Fortress of Boden.
Located in northern Sweden, it is one of the 10 biggest fortification systems in the world with over 1200 different objects. It was built during the first decade of the 20th century and consisted of 5 main and 3 minor forts and hundreds of minor bunkers, batteries etc.
The forts surrounded the small town of Boden, through which the only railway in this part of the country ran. Each fort could operate autonomously for months and could easily support each other with artillery fire.
The location was almost perfect with mountains, deep forests, several lakes and major river.
If an army were to push south to southern Sweden, they had to go through Boden.
The fortress was reinforced and upgraded throughout the 20th Century and was decommisioned in the 1990s.
All forts are still there and 1 of them is open for guided tours.
An interesting feature of 'Iron Dome' is that when it detects an incoming missile or shell, it predicts where that warhead will land. If it appears to be headed to an open space with nothing in it, the 'Iron Dome' system simply lets it hit that open space and will not waste a shot on it.
@Gilga Mesh I think this exactly why Israel always return the harassment with very very powerful bombardment, usually involved civilians from opposition, simply to "cover the cost".
@@A_Human_Male just my thoughts. from israeli nationalism part, they might want to eliminate other races in the region, any extra casualty is a surplus for them. From military perspective, they could create tension in between sympathizer and state funded military, crippling the help they might provide for the 'terrorist'.
Nice! But also, what happens with drone swarms? How can the position be defended?
@@GarfieldRex targeting computer priorizes by trajectory and the system has many many many extra missile pods.
I have been watching too much of Simon Whistler.
Last night I had a dream about watching a Megaprojects video on an aircraft carrier that crashed onto a beach.
That carrier was loaded with cocaine and everyone involved got sued for copyrigt infringement.
Business Blaaaaaaaaze!
@@ClaymooreEOC Allegedly
Simon, I had to share with you how ridiculously, and almost indescribably pleased I was with the way you ended this video! I'm watching this, ironically, on Memorial day weekend in the States, and Sir, you deserve to be commended for the way you closed this one out. Cheers, kudos, and thanks to you, your staff, and the amount of effort you all put in for your brand. Truly, it is appreciated.
The Dutch New Water Defense line was also a very advanced national defense system........ outdated on completion!
not really outdated, but our Eastern friends just treatened to bomb civillian population targets
Another project you may wish to look at is the 'Metal Storm' area denial project. It had a lot of promise as a self-operating localised defence system, got very well developed, and then just seemed to die on the vine once the US military industry got interested in it.
I love the idea of Jeff, Richard and their beer buddies pissing off the entire soviet union.
I had expected to see the Distant Early Warning line (a string of missile detection radars stretching from Alaska to Greenland) in this video, but I'm glad you went with DUGA instead. I already know a bit about the DEW Line but had never heard of DUGA before.
I visited the woodpecker radar thing and it was so impressive in person. One of my favorite experience while traveling around Europe.
How many channels do you have? You do a great job, so I’m not surprised. Keep it going!
1:20 - Chapter 1 - The maginot line
4:35 - Chapter 2 - The duga radar
8:45 - Chapter 3 - The iron dome
I am a subscriber to several of your RUclips channels and by and large enjoy your content and find it informative and educational. I rarely comment on any RUclips channels, but I had to here.
At 8:40 in this episode you refer to amateur radio operators pejoratively as “a guy in Texas with a bootleg radio”. It is true that amateur radio operators in the US and most of the rest of the world are not paid for their radio work. Indeed, the rules of the Federal Communication Commission provide as follows: “Section 97.3, moreover, defines the term "amateur service" as "A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." (from the FCC website emphasis added).
To transmit using an amateur radio you must have a license from the FCC. These licenses (there are three classes) require passing a written test on FCC rules, operating procedures, electronics, radio wave theory, and safety. “The amateur and amateur-satellite services are for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. These services present an opportunity for self-training, intercommunication, and technical investigations. Twenty-nine small frequency bands throughout the spectrum are allocated to this service internationally. Some 1,300 digital, analog, pulse, and spread-spectrum emission types may be transmitted.” (from the FCC website).
My point is that we amateur radio operators are not radio pirates. We have a valid and important role to play and rules within which we must operate. We build and/or buy our own equipment and freely share what we learn and do with others. Individually we have a small footprint, but collectively the 769,328 licensed operators in the United States and 2,210,950 worldwide constitute a decentralized, distributed, valuable, resilient, and “free” communications megaproject network that help meet the communications needs of our communities in good times and bad.
Simon, can you do a full video on the Iron Dome?!
Maginot Line underrated imo because of the hate it gets. It literally did what it was supposed to. I think a lot of the hate is because French heavily relied on Belgium to hold their ground until reinforcements could get up there but Belgium let Germany walk through which wasn't anticipated.
"Today I found Out" did a video about the Belgium Fort (I forget the name, sorry) that was surprise attacked by history's first airborne/glider attack by Germany. The attack completely surprised Belgium and made "walking through" that much easier. Really, it's a great story, if you look through very recent "TIFO" videos, I'm sure you'll find the video.
Yeah,except that whole invasion of France thing,it worked great. Like Trump's wall,you just go around. God bless America, her troops, and all her People. Capt.Bob, SV 27th Chance, Tampa Fl.
@@sailinbob11 how does one walk around a wall from coast to coast
@@vincentas1 Well, at some point a wall ends. There could be several reasons, but I'll address just a few. 1 terrain. If you look at the Great Wall of China,you'll see its actually several smaller walls,though huge by themselves. History tells us,and I'm a History grad from a southern military college, so we studied this, the Mongols often just went around. Also,a watercourse,be it river,or sea, prevents construction of a wall,as does a particularly high mountain range,where a determined force ,could circumvent any such barrier. I live on my sailboat, so I'd just sail around any Mexican boarder wall. 2nd, No nation can man that size barrier. Just don't have enough guys,or they can be bribed to look the other way. 100 guys,looking at a Mongol hoard, would probably be wise to except the money. 3rd, it's a fence. Give me some bolt cutters,and I'm through. It may slow a force down ,but not stop it. Depending on the determination of the forces. Their,these barriers, are designed to reduce infiltration through commonly use areas,or funnel opposition forces into a manageable zone. Give a read to the "The Great Wall " by John Man,or "Hadrian's Wall", by David Devine. Hope that helps. God bless America, her troops, and all her People. Capt.Bob SV 27th Chance, Tampa Fl.
@@vincentas1 one does not simply " walk around" the walls of Mordor.
Simon, don't say sorry to flat earthers. its okay :)
But he said it with very obvious sarcasm... Soooo...
🤦
Once I layed down and didnt roll! It's flat I tells ya!
Its definitely flat. The earth eats the sun every evening and poops out a new one every morning.
@@Chris-adams-rc-journey That's a new theory. It would interesting to see what sort of reception it would get at a flat earther conference.
It’s funny to hear Simon make a Star Wars reference, then pop over to business blaze where he doesn’t understand some Star Wars references
I see a fellow legend
@@JosephBKora Allegedly.
I guess even the ultimate legend will know they use lasers in Star Wars - even though he doesn't care at all - allegendly ;)
@@MrMcGreed ba dum bum da chhhhhh
Star wars is also the nickname for en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative which talked about using lasers to destroy incoming ballistic missiles. I think he meant this, rather than the movies.
6:05 Sooooo nobody is gonna mention how the Duga radar looks a lot like the barrier wall in Divergent? 😂
No, it's the Brain Scorcher from S.T.A.L.K.E.R, obviously
Your radar goes backwards just FYI. The gradient should be going away from the leading line, not forward of it.
In Australia, we have the Jindalee over the horizon radar as well in outback Western Australia, but ours is a phased array radar that has a much wider angle of transmission & reception. It's supposedly able to detect the USAF's F-117 stealth plane, much to their annoyance.
Great video as always mate! I interesting note on the woodpecker, that’s the same way HF radio works. I used to love crystal clear nights in Arizona performing HF radio checks on C-130s. If conditions were perfect, I capsule talk to Washington DC, Guam, and all over just from bouncing radio waves of the ionosphere!
Actually. The nuke fulfilled Gatling's old promise. It actually was powerful enough to scare us away from total war between great powers.
Desire not promise, he was long dead by world war two and wasn't involved with the Manhattan Project, obviously
@@NathanDudani Atomic weaponry was not a new concept. Other countries had been researching it too, Germany was close during world war two, and if not for a norwegian resistance strike on a heavy water reactor they very very nearly could have had the nuke before we did. Hell H G Wells coined the term atomic bomb in 1914, in his novel the world set free.
It was not a brand new concept invented by the scientists at the manhatten project, they were just the first ones to make it actually work.
Some of us - there's also that insane fate slob in north korea, and India and Pakistan seem tense.
@@ExarchGaming First, Operation Gunnerside destroyed a heavy water production plant, not a reactor. Second, the Germans were never anywhere near making a nuclear weapon. They didn't even consider a nuclear weapon to be possible so their focus was on nuclear reactors to power ships. Their nuclear research was underfunded and deliberately fragmented (the Nazis were obsessed with competition, even in areas where it made no sense) - the complete opposite of the Allied approach of pooling all their scientists together and giving them unlimited funding. And it didn't help the Nazis that their evil ideology chased away some of the brightest minds in Europe, many of whom wound up working for the Allies.
Note from the future; Putin has threatened to use nukes during the invasion of Ukraine February 2022.
Simon, can you do a full Iron dome video in Mega project
I was wondering what the Iron Dome was when all the news articles in the recent conflict kept referencing it without explaining it at all. Thank you very much for explaining it in a way I can easily understand!
When you are subbed to simons channels you unlock the perk of not having to look for a video to watch when eatin
Oooooh Simon! I have another suggestion! For this channel, geographics, or mega projects. It’s the MASSIVE nazi fortification that was built close to Omaha beach where the allies stormed the beach. It was found five years ago tops, and the US Army covered up its existence after taking the the area a much longer period of time than the US expected, because of this hidden strong hold. It’s also a GINORMOUS structure! It would be so interesting to learn more about that!!!
Simon: the Duga Radar...
Stalker Fans: You mean the Brain Scorcher?
Good message at the end Simon. We are just getting better at war which is killing. We should work on getting better at finding agreements and not fighting
Suggestion for a show: Military projects who's common denominator is that they were On-schedule and On-budget (or better). I just watched the Iron Dome segment of your Manning the Walls, and was very intrigued that this new technology was developed without the typical delays and vast overruns in cost. I also understand the US's A-10 ground attack jet program was so. But it's impressive effectiveness is ignored by the many "fast-jet" lovers that keep trying to retire this plane.
Your videos are more and more fun. Thank you keep killing It
Simon's next short-lived page, "Under Budget Projects".
Honestly its impressive that you have so many channels and I love them all
Never underestimate ham radio operators. Especially since many have personal labs full of electronics and a great understanding of electrons.... engineering,... and all of the knowledge in time to master their equipment.
Simon you should do one on the "Iron Horse" surveillance system and the 'Flair 9' antenna system. I worked on one in Germany in the 1980s. It was an amazing (world-spanning) system and considering the time it was built, an extremely successful system.
Excellent as always
The Iron Dome is LITERALLY the Atari game Missile Command...
PS > Looking forward to seeing the game Moon Patrol in real life a few decades from now once countries start colonizing (and fighting over) the Moon.
My parents said I was wasting my life... Apparently I was just practicing for ww3/moon war1, oh the horror.
fyi: "Missile Command" is one of the video games John Conner is shown to be playing at the arcade in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Also, "Missile Command's" ending is used to end the final sequence of the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." :-)
oh, also, "Moon Patrol" ….. Nice!
Under budget?
I use to operate the Patriot missile defense system. The Pac2 and Pac3 missiles are kinetic kill munitions. They actually impact an incoming missile head on.
Paraphrasing my high school history teacher: "Someone should have told France that 'Maginot Line' actually translates to, 'speed bump' in German".
Yep, definitely won the teacher lottery that year.
What? No advertisements before, during and/or after a Simon Whistler video? This is indeed a surprise! This is nice.
I can remember listening to the woodpecker radar on my transistor radio. As a child I was fascinated by the many world radio stations and would fine tune my way through the airwaves. Sometimes though, that woodpecker would come thundering in. It was obviously being aimed at locations such as the UK. It was loud and would interrupt many stations.
You should cover the northern DEW line and clear AFB Alaska. They have a missile listening station there.
Also check out the SOSUS program where the USA could follow the Soviet’s subs anywhere for years by listening to noises on the sea floor.
Great side project material.
The color overlays, such as the purple one at 2:32 detract from the actual photo. I respectfully request that they not be continued.
We really should hear more about Iron Dome.
Worked 35 years ago on the GE OTH or backscatter radar system for the eastern seaboard of the US. Their system deployed two radar arrays transmitter and receiver placed one in front of the other, but miles apart.
The idea that Toys R Us parts being used in military weapons sounds crazy, until you realize that Mattel, a Toy making company actually is a plastic making company and they make gun stocks for some carbine weapons as well. Most Toys are made out of base materials that are used in other things. The companies that make toys are not always toy manufacturing companies, but rather a company that manufactures the material that is shaped into toys and thus are perfectly capable of making other items such as weapons for war in real life.
I'm a Technician Class HAM operator & love'd your comment of jamming the Woodpecker!
I’ve seen the radar array outside of Pripyat it was the last thing on the tour and very impressive.
I would love a full MegaProjects video on the Iron Dome. Sounds like an extremely interesting project
Seeing the Russian Woodpecker brings to mind another Side Project you should do; the massive Sterba Curtain antenna that played host to the Voice of America, broadcasting into Eastern Europe from North Carolina. Another massive Cold War piece of infrastructure that was not cheap given that it consisted of 128 structural steel towers.
here's the rub. VOA and its three sites meant that my city would have been wiped off the map with the first nuke blast. VOA was huge - consisted of three sites in a triangle roughly equidistant from the center of Greenville.
Between ft Brag, Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune & the VOA installation all of Eastern NC would have been turned to glass. ITs crazy when you start looking at it analytically.
I love this dude. I am working towards a doctorate in war history and this man is inspiring. War, as it is, has shaped our sciences more than anything else in history. That fact is true. However, it should end! Countries having just deterrents is necessary, also showing how much we don't want it. I hope to one day teach young adults that you need to know where you came from so that you and your children can do better...
Fun fact about the duga radar. Its the basis for how to see stealth planes really well. Also not mentioning Swedens total war defense during the cold war here one of the main reasons the Soviet union was held in check. An artillery piece per Km of coastline some of the biggest fortifications built an entire naval base inside a mountain and so on.
Lovin the new channel!
The Rheinmetall Oerlikon Air Defense system is basically like the Iron dome. Except that it uses supersonic explosive ammunition with a programmable time fuse as well as lasers.
This system is modular and can be deployed even in urban environments in large scale.
The Brits appear to have an over the horizon radar on Cyprus. Australia has them too. Of course, the US highway network and the internet started out as military systems.
I'm impressed that Simon managed to say "best French divisions" with a straight face...
Historically the French were pretty good historically... most of the reason they sucked in ww2 was because of dunkirk... think 1066... napoleon... the legendary exploits of the foriegn legion.
@@thekeytoairpower As near as I can tell, all the best warriors left France in 1066. Napoleon was a Corsican, and there are no French citizens in the foreign legion.
@@barlotardy iirc officer in ffl are French. Also, though napolean may be corsican it was the French army that took the combined efforts of most of Europe to defeat.
Bear in mind here that I am British and a veteran of the US military so giving credit to the French is genetically difficult :)
Advertisement for a surplus french rifle:
Never fired, dropped once!
@@glasstuna Classic. :D
Man another channel you must be raking in the money and honestly why not if its successful i do find your videos great
A good follow-up to this would be a video about some of the _failed_ defense systems that have been tried. Things like the Star Wars Defense Program or the 4 Minute Warning comes to mind.
I would adore an in depth look at Duga-1 and 2
The S-400 and upcoming S-500 and A-235 sound pretty amazing, they might even take out F-22 and F-35!
Simon: Not included here: The Pittsburgh Steelers. (My American friends told me this joke was funny.)
Me: No. No it really wasn't.
Gritty tho
Gritty is the embodiment of "fuck around and find out".
I found that funny...and I don't like the Steelers.
really nothing "funny" about sports in general.. stupid maybe but not "funny".
It's a good joke, just landed on the wrong audience.
This has a place on my bucket list to visit for a long while. That is as long as you are talking about the wall close to Chernobyl since that is the one I’m wanting to visit.
North America had the Distant Early Warning (DEW) system through most of the Cold War. It was VAST...stretching from Alaska to Greenland through Canada's far north in 3 lines of interconnected radar installations. All if this was connected to the joint central command centre at Cheyeene Mountain, Wyoming. Canada even built the arctic town of Alert, North West Territories (now Nunavut).
Best description of Switzerland lol. Love the channel Simon.
Iron Dome deserves it's full video. it's truly the superhero defending Israel.
No reference to the Duga radar system in Ukraine being within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone? Awesome video!
I'd have picked Chain Home over Duga. The former played a part in defending a nation from actual invasion, where as the latter just pissed people off.
I'd have picked Chain Home over Duga. What does this mean in English??
@@Lazy_Tim oh come on Tim, Google's your friend ;)
My friend was chilling on the beach in Tel Aviv last summer and saw the Iron Dome intercept a rocket.
Iron Dome was actually a related development to the Patriot missile battery famously used to modest effect against Scud attacks during Desert Storm in 1991. These were donated to Israel to keep them from entering the war and causing political difficulties for the Saudis. The Israelis' key innovation with Iron Dome was a radar system that predicted where the very inaccurate mortars and rockets would land. If they weren't going to hit something valuable, or a populated area, they didn't waste an expensive missile on it. That's where the 90% effective number comes from. They don't count those they let through.
The Maginot Line was also supposed to extend into Belgium, to the Military Canal, Belgium backed out of this idea, causing the line to remain incomplete.
The Maginot line did at least force the Germans to be delayed. In theory it meant time to mobilise French army divisions. They didn't not have time due to the blitzkrieg which it was not built for.
ABM systems weren't considered a waste of money so much as were forbidden by several nuclear weapon treaties between the USSR and the USA, before these treaties the US was all in on ABM systems, including the absolutely nuts Nike Sprint.
I've been to Duga Radar station while on a tour of Chernobyl.
It was very James Bond, lots of old Soviet stars and outposts, statues of Lenin etc. Then you walk up to the radar itself and it stupidly large, youre stood under it looking up and not really seeing the top and it seem to stretch for ages.
Project considered best at what they did: first point, a line of defenses the enemy just walked around
The US military has had weaponized lasers since the 1960's. They aren't new. It just took a while to make them practical enough to be deployable, primarily due to the amount of power they need.
The Swiss are the IRL equivalent of Dwarves and I'm living for it.
Simon is correct standing next to that radar system in astounding. I had no idea it existed and when we came out of the woods to see it after touring nearby Chernobyl it was a 'wow moment ' for sure.
Good video 👍
Checks out. Uploaded 2 minutes
When talking about the Iron Dome, you should have mentioned the A-135 anti ballistic missile system that's stationed around Moscow
I've driven by the radar installation in Central Oregon many times. It has been recently dismantled. It was very large.
The Saunders & Roe SR 177 could be and interesting side project along with the British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2
Just found your channels and love the videos! Lots of information about interesting stuff in a short time. Keep it up.
Correction, my out of office email is the most impenetrable defense system on earth
MTHEL is by far my favorite military technology. Favorite variant: YAL-1
Switzerland being a giant bunker really wet my appetite.
Honestly, my cousin was in Iraq and he said there was a huge stink about the defense missles not intercepting 60% of the time even though the brass claimed it was 95% efficient. Im sure they have got better now, but if everyone knew it wasn't working well back when it started, the whole multi-million $ project would have been scrapped and we wouldn't be moving to starwars ones now.
I wonder if you've heard of the Kuwait sea city or Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City, originally designed for 100k people has since been upgraded , I think you might enjoy this mega/side project. Good ol heavy machinery and moving of lots of earth. Enjoy
You should do the Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as the Star Wars program
Simon you should also look at Jindalee Operational Radar Network
Iron Dome is only one layer of missile defense system, and not the most advanced one. And yes it is true, during development, Daniel Gold used parts from his sons Fisher Price rc car to build a prototype. Most amazing part is that he started the project with no goverment approval, and had the project failed, he would have ended up in jail for misapproproating air force funds. He was head of air force R&D, fascinating guy, they should make a movie about the project. He fought the defense ministry, nobody believed it could be done...
You missed jindalee (JORN). Look it up. The Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) is an over-the-horizon radar ( OTHR)