Vaya con Dios

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I heard this song playing on the radio during the week and thought it would be a good accompaniment to this week's blog :)

This week, work has mostly been about synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and Close Air Support (CAS).

SAR is something completely new to me and is absolutely amazing!  It provides "round the clock reconnaissance" and enables target identification regardless of weather.  Here is an example of a SAR picture:

SAR image

By using SAR, targets can be identified and then their position can be extracted for use by weapons such as...

...JDAM!  JDAM consists of a bolt-on GPS guidance kit and a mark 80 series bomb with longitudinal strakes strapped to the side.  JDAM is made by Boeing and is not entirely relevant to us - we don't have them in the UK.  But we have very similar weapons made by Raytheon, so it has been interesting learning about the differences.  The bottom line is that everything that's worth knowing about JDAM is contained within the song JDAM Blues by Dos Gringos.  

They call it "JDAM!"


Close Air Support is something that I have done lots of.  It became one of the primary roles of the Tornado, especially in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria...  In the latter years of the Tornado, there was a desire to introduce a digital communications system called Variable Message Format (VMF).  When I left, it was still a 'work in progress' project, but it is fully integrated onto the F-35 and enables forward air controllers to send target briefings to aircraft via a radio databurst.  The databurst reduces radio transmission times, reduces the possibility of introducing errors when compared to using standard voice procedures and allows for rapid processing of information by automatically updating the aircraft navigation computer with details of the assigned tasking.

Wednesday was Valentine's Day and I was expecting lots of mail; but when I woke up in the morning, I could not open my door.  I could not open my door, because I'd lost my key.  Thank you.

Trixie sent me a lovely card, but the picture scared me a little:

Argh!  Who's this...?!

And then on Friday, I made the journey over to Las Vegas once again, this time to meet Mum and Dad at the airport.  Here they are arriving in America, you can tell by the flag:


America!

On Saturday, we had a long walk up The Strip and then in the evening we went to watch the Cirque du Soleil Love show.  The show is based around remastered recordings from The Beatles and with an interpretive, circus-based artistic and athletic stage performance.  We had an absolutely wonderful evening together.

Love!

America!

Mum and Dad already have everything they sell here!

On Sunday, we took a hike in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.  We climbed up Kyle Canyon to about 8,900' above sea level which was very hard going and then went for lunch in the Mount Charleston Lodge.  Nom nom nom.


Kyle Canyon


Mary Jane Falls complete with snow

Family portrait

In the evening, we went to the top of The Stratosphere which stands 1,200' tall - that's twelve times higher than we used to fly the Tornado.  It's high!  Coupled with winds of about 40mph, it was a very uncomfortable experience.  The good news was that all of the rides on top were closed!

Stratosphere: standing at the bottom looking up


Stratosphere: standing at the top looking scared

We took a drive up to the Fremont Street experience, which is the old heart of Las Vegas and now has an amazing atmosphere with lots of music, street performers and bright flashing lights.

Howdy!

We discovered the Heart Attack Grill where anyone over 350lbs eats for free!  I need to visit this place with my old housemates Phil and Gareth; Phil so we can eat for free, Gareth to help me clean up:


Heart Attack Grill

After coming back down to Earth, we went back to the hotel for some dinner and gambling!  As part of my matched betting experiment (experiment now over, £745 total profit in one month) I studied the blackjack basic strategy to help me win extra cash when offered a free bet at an online casino.  This strategy is based on mathematical probability and brings the house advantage down to 0.64% when executed properly.  When combined with card counting and/or good luck, the advantage can tip the other way, so thanks to lady luck, I cashed out $65 from $30 of chips.  Nice.  Here's the formula for future reference:

Learn this, win big!

And that brought this week to an end.  But don't worry, there's a lot more to come in next week's exciting installment!

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