Steven Zaloga

Author of military history books: tanks, missiles, US Army ETO campaign, Red Army

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@AndreiBtvt Where was the third man? Only two hatches?

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

One of the more curious Soviet tank designs of the Cold War, the Obiekt 450 (T-74), the last design of Aleksandr Morozov at the Kharkov tank plant before his retirement. External elevated 152mm gun pod, autoloader in hull beneath, two-man crew; never built. Here's it is in 1/35.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@aviationarchive Wright Patterson declassified their WWII development files at NARA several years ago. I went through them for drone and missile stuff for various book projects. Lots of fresh stuff and clarifications of old myths.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@aviationarchive Aphrodite was the codename for the missions against high-value targets as part of Operation Crossbow. The USAAF assault drone development program was Project Castor, the USN program was Project Anvil.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@aviationarchive Kennedy's aircraft was the only one. Some of its guidance features were incorporated into the USAAF Castor Project in July 1944. It never received the USAAF BQ- designation since that system wasn't authorized until 25 Aug 44, after Kennedy's aircraft blew up.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@SeaSpitfires Might be the 5cm Flak 41. Only 60 built, 24 still in service in 1944. Here's one from a battery outside Cherbourg in June 1944.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@SeaSpitfires Most people have never worked with original documents and never have done any archival research. They seem to think it is like a local public library, where you look up something in a card catalog and it gives you everything you want to find.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@CalumDouglas1 Fascinating stuff. The mention of a 47mm gun as a possible interim type between the 2 pdr and 6 pdr is most intriguing. The administrative turmoil is illuminating. Valuable adjunct to "The Business of Tanks"

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@Tunisia_1943 PzLpfw III. Here's the originalUS Army Signal Corps caption

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@FRHoffmann1 @ColbyBadhwar JDAM (all types)= 465k produced to end 2025 for DoD + 90k exported via FMS- (not accounting for combat use/training; funded since FY96). SDB-1 = 44k for DoD, 13k for FMS. SDB-2 = 7k for DoD; 1 k for FMS.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@ELuttwak Aquila was far from being the first US Army UAV. Not even counting early assault drones, the Army operated the SD-1 starting in 1959, followed by other types. The difference between the early drones and Aquila was the use of real time image transmission instead of film cameras

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@PhilLoder @museedesblindes @Burntime0101 @milmodelscene @USAS_WW1 Formerly at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@piotr_butowski @GuyPlopsky Piotr: Which book or article is this from?

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@puyokuma7 Wolf head = 716th Tank Battalion

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@yosizo Here's a modified half-track used in 1946 from US Army files.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@aviationarchive They used two Swan DUKWs at Pointe-du-Hoc on D-Day. However, the shoreline was so badly cratered, they could not get close enough to the cliffs to be used.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@Marek457843 Może!

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

The last Soviet tank, the Obiekt 477, armed with a 152mm 2A73 gun. Prototypes tested in the late 1980s. Program collapsed in the 1990s due to lack of funding in independent Ukraine.

[Steven Zaloga @ZalogaSteven]

@aviationarchive The Mistel with a normal cockpit were the trainers. The actual weapons had a large warhead on the nose with a stand-off detonator.