Franck3E

I don’t know if this is orange deposition from ablated material upstream, or if most belly tiles were stripped off, but FWIW, on the Space Shuttle program we used to worry about a “zipper effect”, where — in theory — losing one tile could result in the hot plasma getting under the next one behind it, pulling it off, and so on until all the tiles get pulled off in sequence like a zipper. We were worried this could result in loss of vehicle/loss of life (a “Crit 1 failure”). We were happy to find that losing just one tile didn’t automatically result in a zipper effect. Many missions we lost one tile here or there, while the neighbor tiles remained in place. So if this was a zipper effect — hypothetically speaking since it might’ve just been ablated material deposited on the tiles — then it is interesting because the vehicle survived and completed the mission despite the zipper. Either way, it looks like the stress test of Starship was completely successful. They pushed its limits, it survived, and the buoy-cam got imagery of the results so they can better estimate vehicle margins.

Footage from the Hamas attack on an IDF encampment in southern Gaza's Khan Younis this morning shows a tank of the 74th Armored Battalion ramming into a RPG-wielding operative.

horsdoeuvresofbattle.blog/2025/07/22/the… I may have written 12K words on the war, Iran's missile performance, and where we go from here. I hope it is illuminating.

La Roumanie envisage l’achat de systèmes antiaériens auprès de l’israélien Rafael pour 2 milliards d’euros opex360.com/2025/06/30/la-…

Romania to spend 5 billion on acquiring spider and Iron Dome air defence systems from Israel.

The US fire a 15-kiloton Nuclear artillery shell, 1953

@MosabHasanYOSEF No as they'll turn this territory into a terror hub next door to Israel and destabilize Egypt further. Ideally their sponsors Qatar, Turkey and Iran should take them. Alternatively non-arab muslim states like Somalia, Indonesia, Malaysia could absorb them for quiproquo deals w/🇺🇸

Do you support establishing a Palestinian state in Sinai?

NOTE: CNN did not disclose in its report that the DIA intel assessment was low-confidence and based on satellite imagery freebeacon.com/national-secur…

JUST IN: Iranian Nuke Program Decimated by US-Israeli Strikes, Uranium Entombed Beneath Rubble, Intel Analysts Say -- "They don't have the scientists, and they don't have the centrifuges, and they don't have the infrastructure' freebeacon.com/national-secur…

@IsraelRadar_com Yes but use the remaining time window to unleash the whole IAF firepower in order to finish what is still standing in Arak, Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.

Are you in favor of the Israel-Iran ceasefire? Feel free to explain why. I'm really curious to see the results of this poll.

Meme of the day.

Reports that John Mearsheimer has fled Tehran.

Q: Your intelligence community says they have no evidence that Iran is building a nuke TRUMP: Then my intelligence community is wrong. Who said that? Q: You director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard TRUMP: She's wrong

@ajaltamimi That what an iranian official would say.

Just spoke to friend in Qom (originally from Syria, in Iran since 2012). He supports an Iranian military response to Israel's strikes but just hopes that some agreement is eventually reached on the nuclear program and that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.

@TuckerCarlson Too long diarrea to read

Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran. To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it. We need to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, he and likeminded ideologues in Washington are now arguing. They’re just weeks away. If this sounds familiar, it's because the same people have been making the same claim since at least the 1990s. It’s a lie. In fact, there is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None. Anyone who claims otherwise is ignorant or dishonest. If the US government knew Iran was weeks from possessing a nuclear weapon, we’d be at war already. Iran knows this, which is why they aren’t building one. Iran also knows it’s unwise to give up its weapons program entirely. Muammar Gaddafi tried that and wound up sodomized with a bayonet. As soon as Gaddafi disarmed, NATO killed him. Iran’s leaders saw that happen. They learned the obvious lesson. So why is Mark Levin once again hyperventilating about weapons of mass destruction? To distract you from the real goal, which is regime change — young Americans heading back to the Middle East to topple yet another government. Virtually no one will say this out loud. America’s record of overthrowing foreign leaders is so embarrassingly counterproductive that regime change has become a synonym for disaster. Officially, no one supports it. So instead of telling the truth about their motives, they manufacture hysteria: “A country like Iran can never have the bomb! They’ll nuke Los Angeles! We have to act now!” They don’t really mean this, and you can tell they don’t by what they omit. At least two of Iran’s neighbors — both Islamic nations — already have nuclear weapons. That fact should scare the hell out of Mark Levin. Yet for some reason he never mentions it. How come? Because it’s not the weapons he hates. It’s the ideology of the Iranian government, which is why he’s lobbying to overthrow it. It goes without saying that there are very few Trump voters who’d support a regime change war in Iran. Donald Trump has argued loudly against reckless lunacy like this. Trump ran for president as a peace candidate. That’s what made him different from conventional Republicans. It’s why he won. A war with Iran would amount to a profound betrayal of his supporters. It would end his presidency. That may explain why so many of Trump’s enemies are advocating for it. And then there’s the question of the war itself. Iran may not have nukes, but it has a fearsome arsenal of ballistic missiles, many of which are aimed at US military installations in the Gulf, as well as at our allies and at critical energy infrastructure. The first week of a war with Iran could easily kill thousands of Americans. It could also collapse our economy, as surging oil prices trigger unmanageable inflation. Consider the effects of $30 gasoline. But the second week of the war could be even worse. Iran isn’t Iraq or Libya, or even North Korea. While it’s often described as a rogue state, Iran has powerful allies. It’s now part of a global bloc called BRICS, which represents the majority of the world’s landmass, population, economy and military power. Iran has extensive military ties with Russia. It sells the overwhelming majority of its oil exports to China. Iran isn’t alone. An attack on Iran could very easily become a world war. We’d lose. None of these are far fetched predictions. Most of them comport with the Pentagon’s own estimates: many Americans would die during a war with Iran. People like Mark Levin don’t seem to care about this. It’s not relevant to them. Instead they insist that Iran give up all uranium enrichment, regardless of its purpose. They know perfectly well that Iran will never accept that demand. They’ll fight first. And of course that’s the whole point of pushing for it: to box the Trump administration into a regime change war in Iran. The one thing that people like Mark Levin don’t want is a peaceful solution to the problem of Iran, despite the obvious benefits to the United States. They denounce anyone who advocates for a deal as a traitor and a bigot. They tell us with a straight face that Long Island native Steve Witkoff is a secret tool of Islamic monarchies. They’ll say or do whatever it takes. They have no limits. These are scary people. Pray that Donald Trump ignores them.

@JewishWarrior13 Obama's sunset clauses were supposed to end this decade. If Trump can add one or two decades, why not? Moreover, the deal will only become a treaty if 2/3 of Congress vote for it.

🔴IMHO, Trump has decided to do a deal with Iran and will not change his mind. This deal will not be good for Israel, regardless of his spin that it will be a “Good deal.” it will be more or less like the Obama deal. Very disappointing

@Malbrunot On parle de discussions sur une potentielle révision. La révision c'est 27 pays sur les 27 en consensus.

L'Union européenne va lancer un réexamen de son accord d'association avec Israël, en vigueur depuis 2000, a annoncé sa cheffe de la diplomatie, Kaja Kallas. Cette révision a été soutenue par 17 Etats membres sur 27, selon Paris. Le Royaume-Uni a lui dit suspendre les négociations avec Israël sur un accord de libre échange.

@ColbyBadhwar @John_A_Ridge Could a niet spark the development of Israel's own stealthy long-range ALCM program?

🇺🇸🇮🇱 Israel's Ministry of Defense is in "advanced talks" with the Trump Admin regarding a possible Foreign Military Sale of AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER). Would give the IAF a ~1000km range stand-off weapon. H/T @John_A_Ridge

@ArielZuk1 @ColbyBadhwar @John_A_Ridge Maybe a quid pro quo with the US in exchange for preserving Israel qualitative military edge? The Popeye Turbo's turbofan engine probably came from BSEL but interestingly there is no turbofan offering on their website catalogue. Long range 🇮🇱 ALBMs are still classified btw.

@ColbyBadhwar @John_A_Ridge It always puzzled me why Israeli cruise missiles always had such short declared range. Delilah 250km. Ice Breaker and Gabriel V 300km. Wind Demon 200km. I figured there's some classified long range variant, but apparently not. ALBMs - no problem far exceeding that though.