Daily Archives: Jun 30, 2026

The reputation of a gun is developed in the unglamourful times: loading, cycling, clearing a stoppage, and a repeat on the same until the weak point of the design reveals. When a launch fails, the issue is not necessarily an abstract notion of innovations in general, it is the...

A hunting cartridge will only have enough gun when it can accurately deliver a big bullet into the vitals repeatedly working up on realistic field position. That standard is increasingly difficult to achieve due to increased weight in the animal, increased steepness in angles, and reduced shot windows. Even the...

The heavy ICBMs have an awkward place in engineering: they have been designed to sit quietly during years, then perform flawlessly when it is needed, within a few minutes, and never again. That is why development failures are not embarrassing, they are a design margin shock test, a discipline...