Fake Stealth Helicopter of The Abbottabad Raid 2011

On 2nd May 2011, a heli-borne force raided a compound in the Abbottabad city of Pakistan for the capture of Osama Bin Laden. After the raid, media showed some pictures of the tail unit of a crashed stealth helicopter (supposedly). Without any solid reason, it was stated that the crashed aircraft was a stealth version of the MH-60 BlackHawk helicopter. Two elements were readily evident from the photos. Firstly a shrouded tail rotor and secondly a forward-swept elevator (use google for images).

 

The 1971 India-Pakistan War : Betrayal or Blunders

If we study the military history of the India (Pre-1947), it would become evident that when faced with failure in war, we have always blamed betrayal and conspiracy instead of learning the right lessons. Be it the defeat of Siraj-Ud-dollah of Bengal (1757), the fall of Sultan Tipu (1799) or the Independence War (1857), we have always blamed triators instead of battleplans, strategy and bad Generalship. A good General should succeed in achieving his minimum objectives despite the risk of betrayal.

Agents, spies and informers are present on both sides and it is so since the time immemorial. From the engineering background, I would say that a General should have a "factor of safety" in his planning. Factor of safety is the extra protection against unforseen factors. To give an example, General Wellington can be quoted, who fought against the French Imperial Army during the Peninsular Wars (1807-1814). Despite the activity of embedded french informers, he succeeded in giving surprise to the French on several occasions.

Frequently-Mentioned Causes of Debacle

Automobile Maintenance: Engine Vacuum Leaks

When a road-going naturally-aspirated gasoline engine is idling, there is vacuum in the intake manifold. Vacuum is any pressure that is less than the ambient atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure is expressed in different units and it varies with altitude. Therefore we usually reference it at sea level. At room temperature (20-25°C), atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi or 760 mm Hg or 29.9 Inches of Mercury or 760 torr etc. Vacuum at engine idle exists due to the fact that the throttle is fully closed and the little air that gets past the throttle is sucked in by the cylinders. When the throttle is gradually opened, the pressure inside the intake manifold increases and nears the ambient atmospheric value.

In the start of the above paragraph, I used the term road-going vehicle because in some race engines, there may not be enough vacuum even at idle. The race engines use long-duration camshafts and the amount of vacuum in an engine depends on the design details of the camshaft(s) like the valve overlap angle.

Nuclear Testing in the South Asia

The five declared nuclear powers, i.e., USA, Russia, UK, France and China are also the only permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. This elite nuclear club also has the the privilege of veto. These powers have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), forbidding any technical assistance related to nuclear weapons to the non-nuclear states. 

India was a vast country with a big economy, huge population and a powerful military but without the nuclear power status. Also India had border disputes with China and it could not really confront China without becoming a nuclear power. The move for getting nuclear power status and possibly a permanent seat at UNSC was undertaken in May 1998 by doing a series of nuclear weapon tests. In turn, Pakistan replied with its own tests. The earlier Indian test of 1974 was declared as “peaceful nuclear test” and hence new tests were needed for demonstrating nuclear weapons capability. 

Automobile Maintenance: Engine Cooling System (Update)

This is an update to the former article on the engine cooling system : http://syed-imran-shah.blogspot.fr/2015/08/automobile-maintenance-engine-cooling.html

Coolant Expansion Tank

To make things clear, a schematic diagram of the expansion tank is given here. The internal tube is shown as a dashed line. Real pictures of this tube are also added. This tube has a bubble flare on one side to facilitate the entry of coolant and a bevel on the other side to facilitate the exit of the coolant. A rubber seal is also mounted on the tube for sealing of coolant and vapours.

Automobile Maintenance: Testing of Electrical Relays

This write-up concerns the general-purpose electrical relays. The specialized ones like timer relays etc are not discussed here.


For testing of electrical relays, one must first understand their function and working principle. Fucntion of a relay is to allow the use of a low-amperes circuit to control a high-amperes circuit. By control is implied switching on and switching off operation. The low-Amps circuit is the control side and high-Amps circuit is the feed side of the relay.


Many online videos suggest that if a relay clicks, then it is working. Clicks are an audio test at best and does not confirm if a relay is actually working. A click confirms that the control side of the relay is good but nothing can be said definitely about the feed side based on a clicking sound.

Automobile Maintenance: Identification of Electrical Relays

Here I am discussing a topic which is very important for automotive safety and yet is rarely discussed. This write-up concerns the general-purpose automotive electrical relays. The specialized ones like timer relays etc are not discussed here.

Electrical relays allow the use of a low-amperes circuit to control a high-amperes circuit. They can have either five or four terminals but mostly four of them are used. Ignoring the fifth terminal, a relay has two ground and two power connections. The low-Amps circuit is the control side and high-Amps circuit is the feed side of the relay. Looking at the specific positioning of the terminals, one would think that plugging-in of the relays is fool-proof and that they can only be inserted one way but in reality it is not the case.

Intelligence Failures and Escape to Tibet : 1971 India-Pakistan War

Failures of intelligence contributed in large part to the surrender of Pakistan's Military in Dec 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. From the chronology of the events, it would seem that there was an acute shortage of "strategic intelligence". Strategic intelligence would only focus on the bigger picture, the overall scenario. Intelligence failed in providing the high command with the real intentions of India, the imminence of a war and whether the decisive battles would be fought in the east or the west. The importance of strategic intelligence can be judged from the fact that force deployments are done based on it.

Here, however, we would consider a case of tactical intelligence failure (with strategic consequences in this case).   

Pakistan-Iran Petroleum Pipeline

A few thoughts on the Pakistan-Iran Gas Pipline.

During the previous years, there was talk of Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline. Several articles appeared in the national press regarding the impracticality and unfeasiblity of this project. I do not agree with such opinions and would try to explain the need for such a pipeline.

First of all, I was amazed to know that this gigantic project is only meant to transport natural gas to Pakistan from Iran. What about liquid petroleum products like diesel, petrol and kerosene? Tanks, aeroplanes, helicopters, trucks, vehicles, ships, submarines etc need diesel, petrol and kerosene. They do not run on gas.

Fuel is part of the military logistics and it directly affects the war waging or defence capability of a country. Its importance can be judged from many historical examples. Before the Normady Landings during Second World War (1939-1945), Allies had established oil pipelines across the English Channel to transport petroleum from UK to main Europe (France). This gigantic work was called Operation Pluto (Piplelines Under the Ocean).

Theoretical and Experimental Science

From the reactions of readers, I feel that first of all I need to explain what experimental approach in science means. Some people start imagining it in the same light as doing medical experiments on mice, pigs or monkeys. Its not about that. Here by the experimental approach I mean practical or hands-on approach using tools, equipment, machinery etc (more of applied science).

Industrial application of science or say technology has never waited for a perfect scientific theory to explain its working. When the automobiles were made, it was thought that electricity flows from the positive terminal to the negative and all electrical wiring was designed with this wrong theory but it worked and till now the same wiring is being used. Now we know that electricity always flows from negative to positive terminal.