Various Facts/Info/Notes (Specific) Deadly arsenal of the best equipped terrorists in the world - The IRA Rocket-Launched Grenades: RPG-7 The anti-tank weapon, a key element of the IRA's arsenal, made in former Soviet countries, is fired from the shoulder. It has been used against armoured carriers and Army and police bases in Ulster. Semtex: Around three tons of the Czech-made explosive were imported from Libya in the 1980's. The IRA have used it sparingly - often to boost the killing power of home-made bombs. Anti-Aircraft Missiles: SAM-7 ground-to-air launchers They also have the missiles but have apparently been unable to get the sophisticated circuitry needed to fire them. Rifles: AK-47 and Armalite AR-15's Around 1,000 in total - the bulk of them again supplied by Libya - and at least one million rounds of ammunition. Three Barrett Light 50 sniper rifles. The fearsome weapons, named 'The Manstopper', are freely available in the U.S. for around £5,000, and have been used to kill at least nine policemen and soldiers in Ulster. Handguns: Webley .455 revolvers and .357 Magnums Used in assassinations and knee-cappings to enforce 'discipline'. Up to 200 handguns were smuggled across the Atlantic from the U.S. - some hidden in children's toys posted from Florida to Ireland. Hand-Made Weapons: The IRA spent 30 years stock-piling home-made weapons, in particular, multi-barrelled mortars made from drainpipes - like the so-called 'Barrack Busters' - used to inflict serious damage on security force bases across Ulster. Machine Guns: Submachine guns, including mini UZi's The IRA also have 30-40 Soviet-made, Libyan supplied DSHK heavy weapons - capable of bringing down a helicopter. <><> IRA Shopping List AN-24 high-velocity rifles, MP5 sub-machine guns and 7.62mm RPD machine guns capable of accurate fire at ranges of more than 800m. Two types of portable missile systems - the Russian-made SA-7 'Grail', which can shoot down helicopters at 6,000ft - and the SA-14 'Gremlin', which is effective on helicopters and low-flying aircraft at 10,000ft. <><> Supersonic Flight The U.S.'s X-1, the aircraft in which the great Chuck Yeager became the first man to fly supersonic. It took Yeager no fewer than 50 test flights in the X-1, powered not by a conventional jet engine but an oxygen-alcohol fuelled rocket motor, and ferried to high altitude beneath a B-29 bomber, before he broke through the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. The X-1 was succeeded by the X-1A, in which Yeager reached a speed of Mach 2.5 - 1,650mph. And by the Sixties the Americans had built the fastest jet-powered plane that had ever existed. This was the SR-71 Blackbird, a spy plane that could reach a height of 85,000ft - 15 miles - and fly at 2,000mph. The Blackbird, now retired from service, once flew from New York to London in 110 minutes - Concorde took over three hours. Even the Blackbird's performance was exceeded by a subsequent plane, the X-15, powered by an oxygen and ammonia fuel, that could reach (in short bursts) 4,500mph and climb to 60 miles above the Earth, making it the fastest aircraft ever built. <><> The Pentagon The Pentagon, headquarters of America's Department of Defence, is said to be the world's most efficient large office building. At the time it was built, it was bounded by five roadways, dictating its outline. Its shape, containing five concentric pentagonal 'rings' and ten 'spokes', makes it possible to walk between any two points of its 17.5 miles of corridors in seven minutes. It is constructed of steel and reinforced concrete with a limestone facing. Its five floors, covering 34 acres, house about 23,000 workers - military and civilian. It's a mini-city: there is parking for 9,000 cars, the central concourse is a huge shopping centre, and underneath the building are bus and taxi terminals. <><> Source: Newspapers, magazines, books, the internet, word-of-mouth, etc. / posted by Flyboy