I was born and raised in the state of Connecticut. Even if you also were born and raised there, you may not realize Connecticut is the arsenal of America.
I grew up with gunsmiths and guns. Every major industrial city in Connecticut often had historically critical gun manufacturers on the roster of local business. Colt, Remington, Sturm Ruger, Mossberg, Charter Arms, the list goes on and on. At peak, over 20 gun manufacturers toiled in their armories.
My extended family included a few of the real deal. Including one chief gunsmith for a firm rolling out military gear as well as sporting firearms on an international scale. The straight and narrow machinists as well as alley mechanics could have been employed like the folks in this video given similar circumstances.
The “Stinger” was a field modification of the aircraft version of the Browning .30 caliber Model 1919A4 machine gun made by marines in the Pacific Theater during World War II and used on the ground as a light machine gun. These were salvaged from crashed and disabled aircraft and fitted with a bipod (spade grips still attached). Later more extensive modifications led to six being fitted with a custom trigger, M1 Garand buttstock, M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle bipod and rear sights to allow for use without a tripod or other mount. The resulting weapon was a belt-fed, 40 in (1.0 m) long, 25 lb (11 kg) gun and fired three times as fast as the M1919A6’s of the day [. The Stinger was recommended as a replacement for the BAR in squads however the war ended just six months later. Marine Corporal Tony Stein used a “Stinger” during the invasion of Iwo Jima. Stein would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1919_Browning_machine_gun#.30_AN/M2
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger has confirmed that his country has provided an S-300 air defense system to Ukraine against Russia’s aggression.
He said this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.
“I can confirm that the Slovak Republic, following Ukraine’s request for assistance in ensuring self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, as a direct consequence of armed aggression by the Russian Federation, has donated an S-300 air defense system to Ukraine,” he wrote.
He added that with this decision Bratislava hopes to save “as many innocent lives of Ukrainians as possible as a result of the aggression of the Putin regime.”
At the same time, Heger noted that the provision of the system “does not mean that the Slovak Republic is becoming part of the armed conflict in Ukraine.”
According to the Slovak newspaper Spectator, the transfer of the S-300 system took two days. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3452243-slovakia-sends-s300-air-defense-system-to-ukraine.html
Last week, Pentagon officials said not all the weaponry President Joe Biden had promised to Ukraine in mid-March, including the S-300, had been delivered yet.
Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told a congressional hearing: “We have focused on getting countries that hold Soviet legacy systems including S-300 systems, that have spare parts, missiles, different parts of that S-300 system, who are willing to send that to Ukraine.”
She added that the US was in discussions with Slovakia, which has sought to replace its S-300s with more modern US-made Patriot missile batteries.
In March, Slovakia said it would provide the defense system to Ukraine only on the condition that it receive a substitute to avoid a NATO security gap. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/8/slovakia-says-it-has-given-s-300-air-defence-system-to-ukraine