Fire Engines. Part-One.

Water Carriers.

Humanity has developed because it has been able to harness fire, to make it and to use it in daily survival. But at times fire can attack us, with devastating consequences. The construction of large villages, towns and cities has lead to the development of mobile water carriers.

The river and bucket system will not work in a large city, so the concept of the first fire carts came with the invention of the pump. London, New York, Paris all developed their take on this horse drawn water tank. Each vehicle had place for water, ropes, ladders and sand. The crew sat on an open cab or hung on to the sides.

Even with the development of the engine this outlay continued, right up to the 1940's era.

From ISS to Moon Base?

Living on another world.

Many people have envisaged that in the space race humanity would eventually build a moon base to something akin to the British 1999 sci-fi take.

But it looks like that it will be Mars who gets the credit for the first other world base. This will probably happen for reality in the next fifty years. Maybe the first Martians will be human colonists, this will of course start an interesting ethical debate.

Any base that is eventually built will be modeled on those that are being constructed in Antarctica now. They will have to be small and easy to transport there in one piece, solar panels or a small nuclear reactor will probably be used as already on the International Space Station.

The last question is who will be the first to do such an venture, traditionally we would assume it to be the U.S. and Russia, with the ESA in support. But it may be China and a host of smaller developing nations such as Brazil, India and Iran that achieve this dream goal?

Bulk Carrier.

Large Cargo Vessels.

As long as humans can go to sea and there will be trade between nations, there will always be a need for large cargo vessels. Super tankers for crude oil and gas, bulk carriers for all dried goods.

These are the best means of moving 70-80,000 tonnes of coal, mineral ores, wheat, other grains and man made goods. Ships seem to be getting bigger and crews to service them lower, yet more vessels are being built every year. South-Korea and Japan seem to be the places to get the latest vessels, with their state of the art computer control systems.

Main Battle Tanks. Part-II.

Tried and tested.

You really need some sort of serious conflict, such as an outright war to test a tank's performance and vulnerability? Security conflicts, such as Afghanistan, the Balkans, Mali do not really test heavy equipment like the MBT.

There are many great claims about the German Leopard-II and the British Challenger and I am sure against a T-55/64, may be even a T-72 they would do very well. but the reality is that we do not really know. 

It is only the U.S. Abraham's that over the last twenty years, has taken the full brunt of war in Iraq.

VW Beattle.

Volks Wagon. (The Peoples Car).

What we know today as the 'Beattle' and probably one of the best ever designed automobiles, started life as a Porsche. 

Designed for the German Dictator Adolf Hitler, as his peoples car. Meanwhile this design has well stood the test of time, coming off the board in the 1930's it is mustering on.

Curved lines and simplicity are its good points. It is different from other cars, because of the small engine in the traditional boot and larger space at the front.

The car was not popular in Nazi Germany 1931-45, but after the war and the take over by the British of VW, exports around the world and especially to Mexico booted its appeal. 

Today many cars continue to survive, because of their attraction to be converted to 'hot rods.'

Drones.

Pilot less Aircraft.

The drone was chiefly developed by Israel for reconnaissance missions in hostile territory, such as South-Lebanon. IAI developed a series of drones, the Ranger and Scout which could be launched from a mobile unit using a small air strip. 

Israel also worked on the now abandoned helicopter drone Helistar. but it is the U.S. who have gone one step further and have invented a plethora of types. The Predator is probably the most well known of them, some of this is shared with the cruise missile computerization.

Drones are far cheaper and safer than risking the lives of aircrew in a hostile environment. Civilian casualties will always remain a factor in war of any kind.

High Speed Rail.

From Bullet Train to ?

Most modern countries around the world today have developed their own version of a high speed concept train. France TGV, Germany, ICE and Japan the 'bullet and newer versions of it.

The UK plans to build a high speed dedicated network from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, with much controversy. 

The question to be asked, are these projects viable for everyone? Is speed essential and what about the movement of freight? 

Meanwhile many countries will have to continue with their current express trains.