Top 10 Amazing Futuristic Concept Hotels

In the fast moving world when the silhouette of life is changing dynamically,  only those will thrive who will out-power others. The designers of the hotels of tomorrow, perhaps, have kept this in mind while creating futuristic hotels to lure the global nomads. Here are 10 futuristic hi-tech hotels that will hopefully providing the luxury-est environment to their customers.

1. Death Star Lunar Hotel Complex

 Why wonder if we’ll ever check into a hotel on the moon, when if Heerim Architects have their way, lunar hotels can be built right here on Earth? Ultramodern-chic will be coming to Azerbaijani capital of Baku with two “lunar inspired” projects, one of which looks an awful lot like the Death Star from Star Wars sagas and the other, designed as its counterpoint. Facing the Caspian Sea, the buildings are named Hotel Full Moon – a disc with rounded edges and a hole in one of the top corners – and Hotel Crescent, a curving arch similar to a crescent moon – and will mark out an area appropriately named Full Moon Bay. Designed to appear drastically different from different viewing angles – from one angle Death Star and from the other Gherkin – Hotel Full Moon will be a 150 meter-high, 35 story luxury hotel with 382 large rooms.

Hotel Crescent is designed as a counterpoint to Hotel Full Moon, with its column supports being disguised by its arched façade. The two hotels will be joined by three tall residential buildings and a fourth 43 floor office building standing 203 meters tall. If Full Moon Bay can just shake off the ‘Death Star’ vibe, it’s looking to be an amazing development.

2. The Poseidon Undersea Resort

Bruce Jones who has spent much of his career designing ground-breaking submarines for the rich and famous, is now redirecting his expertise to the hotel industry on a private island in Fiji. Surrounded by 5,000-acre lagoon, the hotel’s accommodations  include luxurious 550 square feet large underwater suites.  Not only this, the Poseidon Resorts website says, ‘the first 1,000 guests will have their names permanently inscribed on two monuments one on the island, and one on the floor of the lagoon.’ Now, that’s incredible!

3. Waterworld

 No, not the Kevin Kostner’s 1995 movie! Sited in a dramatic lagoon-like quarry in Songjiang, China , this 400-bed resort hotel is uniquely created within the natural elements of its environs. Subterranean public areas and guest rooms add to its distinctiveness. This spectacular design by Atkin’s Architecture Group deservedly won the first prize award last year in an international design competition. Rock climbing and bungee jumping are unique sporting activities not usually associated with your standard hotel, but the resort also offers guests the standard fare including cafes, restaurants and sporting facilities. What more to say, the pictures are screaming bliss.

4. Voyager V1 or the Diamond Ring Hotel

Little is known about the Voyager V1 as a hotel of the future that comes in the shape of an 185 metre ferris wheel. Advance notices lack descriptive detail, but indicate it will be located in Abu Dhabi and based on its preliminary architectural renderings, it appears that it will conceptually live up to its name!

5. Hotel Pods

When the London-based Thomson Holidays released the report “2024: A Holiday Odyssey,” the prominent UK tour operator predicted that hotels of the future will be constructed on foldable pod constructed on stilts, which could be installed anywhere in the world. The foldable and fully transportable pods are for those traveling geeks who find it hard to shun all the amenities of their luxurious life. The pods would be self-sustainable, and guests could actually design their own rooms by projecting their favorite images on the walls. If and when a specific destination was no longer desirable, due a lessening in tourist demand or in the case of terrorism, you can move the pods to exotic locations around the world, the pod could simply be packed up and moved to a new location. Sort of like folding up ones’ tent for the space age! The amazing concept abodes will come with ‘Active’ walls and floors where guests can focus images of their choice and a disposable unit to care of all waste.

6. Hydropolis

The Hydropolis Underwater Hotel and Resort is a planned hotel, designed by Prof. Roland Dieterle which will be the world’s first underwater luxury resort. It’s situated 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf, just off Jumeira Beach in Dubai. Reinforced by concrete and steel, its Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings will enable guests to see fish and other sea creatures. It is basically divided into three sections: the land station, where guests will be welcomed; the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel; and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex. It will cover an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London’s Hyde Park, and will cost an estimated £300 million.[1] It is self-acclaimed to be a 10-star hotel and will be charging circa $5,000 per room per night. The hotel was scheduled to open in late 2006; however, due to the engineering and environmental difficulties of constructing an underwater hotel, the project was delayed.

Architects working on Hydropolis have had some difficulty selecting a suitable position for the complex, as concerns have been repeatedly raised about the displacement effect of building a 260-hectare underwater structure. If their calculations are incorrect, tides and sea levels off the coast of Dubai could be severely affected, rendering vast tracts of coast uninhabitable due to chaotic tides, flooding, unpredictable wave patterns and a high possibility of whale and other sea-mammal beaching.

Disney corporation are reportedly in talks with the developers of Hydropolis to bring a fully underwater production of The Little Mermaid to the hotel’s lobby. World-standard free divers are allegedly to play the lead roles and sophisticated animatronics are to be used for background / non-speaking characters.

7. The Lunatic Hotel

For those of us who have always dreamt of honeymoon on the Moon, your wish might need to be bestowed on your children or perhaps your children’s children. A hotel satellite under the self-effacing name of the Lunatic Hotel will be constructed by designers Hans-Jurgen Rombaut of the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture in the Netherlands and Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo. However their tentative completion date is scheduled for 2050. The cost of launching tons of steel and water to the Moon is still a major challenge, but according to Rombaut, a good portion of the construction materials can be manufactured right on the Moon itself, using existing minerals and ores. The ’sensation engine’, as the designer calls it, will allow tourists to indulge in low-gravity games with the help of two 160-meters high slanting towers. The towers will be equipped with teardrop-shaped ‘habitation capsules’ which will serve as spaceship like suits for tourists.However, with the cost of inflation one can only imagine the kind of deep pockets one will need to check-in to Lunatic. Rombaut is anticipating that a two-week stay in his low-gravity leisure centre will probably cost as much as a mortgage on a house (in an upscale neighborhood, of course)! Orbiting in space seems more thrilling but Moon brings in a nostalgic aura.

8. The Apeiron Hotel

Still in its design phase, this hotel would be the second (self-awarded) 7 star hotel to be built in Dubai. The Burj Al Arab Hotels is the first self-proclaimed 7 star hotel in that location. It boasts over 350 luxury apartment suites, and its décor will be jungle-themed. The hi-tech futuristic hotel exudes extensive luxury and comfort with its own private lagoon, beaches, restaurants, cinemas, retail shopping, art gallery, spas and conference facilities. Its out of the world design is mesmeric enough to deliver a spell-bound experience for all visitors. The ‘Apeiron’ island hotel would cover a total floor area of 200,000m. It is 185-m high and boasts of over 350 luxury apartment suites. The hi-tech futuristic hotel screams of luxury and comfort with its own magnificance, enough to deliver a spell-bounded experience to visitors.

9. Aeroscraft: The flying luxury hotel of tomorrow

The Aeroscraft model ML866 is a planned 400-ton hybrid airship, to be built by the Worldwide Aeros Corporation. A scaled-down prototype was made in 2008, and a full scale passenger craft is expected in 2010. The ‘Aeroscraft’ is a gigantic 400-ton blimp designed to carry passengers in its spacious luxury cosmos onboard. The flying hotel with an area equal to two football fields hangs in air with 14 million cubic feet of helium, huge electric and hydrogen fuel cell powered propellers and six turbofan jet engines. The hotel can accommodate 250 passengers driving them at a speed of 174 miles per hour up to 6, 000 miles.

Flying 8,000 feet above in the air, the 165×244×647 feet airship will provide tourists hi-tech amenities including casino, restaurants and staterooms. Another use of an Aeroscraft could be for sightseeing and long-distance cruises—much like a cruise on a luxury ocean liner or cruise ship. This is made possible by the fact that Aeroscraft can land on any terrain (see above) and fly at low and comfortable altitudes.

10. The Inflatable Space Hotel

Inflatable habitats are pressurised modules for use in an outer space environment to support human life. They have frequently been proposed for use in space applications to provide a greater volume of living space for a given mass.  The Commercial Space Station Skywalker , designed by Bigelow Aerospace, Las Vegas is an inflatable space hotel. With a preliminary phase launched in 2007 from Russia and an anticipated completion date of 2015, the hotel will be positioned 515-kms above Earth. Not only is the hotel inflatable, so is the cost of a room. While the anticipated price tag of the project is only a paltry $500 million, the room rates are expected to run as high as $1 million per night. Business men, try to claim that cost on your next expense report! Solar cells will power the inhabitable complex made of various sections that will inflate to take their real form in space. The sections or rooms of the CSS will allow rockets to dock. In future, the modules will be used as basis for space yachts and moon cruisers.

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Most Beautiful Buildings in The World

These are the world’s most beautiful buildings? Are you kidding?

A hundred years ago, naming the world’s most beautiful buildings was easy: the Parthenon. Sure. The Taj Mahal. Absolutely. Hagia Sophia. No argument. But now, in part because the whole notion was chewed up and spit out by those troublemaking Modernists, we’re just learning to think about architecture in terms of beauty again. It’s open season.

Certain themes are evident in our choices of the world’s most beautiful buildings. We love buildings surrounded by water; the interaction between water and daylight is always magical. (Why do you think the Lincoln Memorial has a reflecting pool at its doorstep?) And we are head over heels for flamboyant uses of pattern and color. The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, for example, is positively psychedelic.

So are we consistent? Nope. But however capricious our choices may seem, we don’t take beauty lightly. After all, the ongoing search for beauty is what travel is all about. It’s certainly the best reason we know to leave the house.

ICMC at Brandenburg Technical University
Cottbus, Germany

While many architects prefer the smoothest, clearest glass, Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron specializes in texture. This technologically sophisticated university library, in an obscure corner of Eastern Germany, is clad in frosted glass—and embossed with letters from the world’s alphabets. Shaped like an amoeba, with its central spiral staircase in bright magenta and green, the seven-story building looks like a carnival ride.
Relativity Theory: The free-form building looks especially impressive because it’s surrounded by long, dull, rectilinear buildings of the sort the East Germans were known for.

Sagrada Família
Barcelona

Visionary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí spent more than 40 years of his life on this glorious, chaotically complex, and still unfinished Gothic-Art Nouveau cathedral. After his untimely death in 1926 (he was hit by a streetcar), his associates continued his sculptural masterwork, and despite the fact that the original drawings were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, construction continues today. Completion is scheduled for sometime between 2017 and 2026.

Authenticity Alert: The east-facing Nativity façade was the only one completed by Gaudí himself.

Burj Al Arab
Dubai, UAE

 This 60-story sail-shaped hotel, which sits on its own private island, was designed to be a national icon. But the interior is where the beauty lies: a nearly 600-foot-tall atrium—the world’s tallest. The undersides of tier after tier of semicircular balconies reveal a spectrum of colors. And the tower’s powerful diagonal braces, like the flying buttresses of the past, inspire awe.
Insider Tip: Non-guests can gain access to the Burj Al Arab’s private island by booking a meal at one of its restaurants; try afternoon tea at the Skyview Bar or a buffet lunch at Junsui.

Institute for Sound and Vision
Hilversum, The Netherlands

The work of Jaap Drupsteen, the graphic artist responsible for the building-size media collage, used to be everywhere in the Netherlands. This building is his comeback. Along with architecture firm Neutelings Riedijk, he covered the façade of the massive media archive and museum with images from Dutch television, abstracted into a giant four-sided mural and baked directly onto cast glass. The effect is stunning inside and out.
Experiential Beauty: Tour the history of Dutch broadcasting, or simply gaze up at the stained glass from a table at the atrium’s Grand Café.

The Golden Temple
Amritsar, India

This most sacred Sikh shrine sits in the middle of what was once a wooded lake. The Buddha came here to meditate, and so did Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, some 2,000 years later. The Harimandir, or “Temple of God,” was built and destroyed many times before the current version was erected in the late 1700s. The radiance of this gilded building, a mixture of Hindu and Muslim architectural styles, is amplified by reflections in the surrounding water and the devotional music that emanates from the temple day and night.
Night Owls Welcome: The temple is open 20 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, and is illuminated (and especially lovely) at night.

National Congress Hall
Brasilia, Brazil

Brasilia probably works better as a Modernist sculpture garden than as a city, but if there is one piece of it that best represents the whole, it’s Congress Hall. Architect Oscar Niemeyer’s colonnaded marvel, with its grand sci-fi entrance ramp, skinny twin towers, and two bowl-shaped meeting halls (one for the Chamber of Deputies and one for the Federal Senate), treats the business of government as a monumental work of art.

Not Just Skin Deep: Go inside and check out the Green Hall (named for the color of the carpet and the Brazilian flag), with its collection of paintings, sculptures, and decorative screens by renowned Brazilian artists.

The Guggenheim
Bilbao, Spain

The Frank Gehry–designed, titanium-clad phenomenon that upstaged the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright transformed the way the world understands architecture, art museums, and the strategies for reviving depressed industrial cities. Today, the shiny undulating museum doesn’t look as shocking as it once did, but it does embody a certain kind of late 20th-century thinking—the thrill of formal complexity and high art.

Small Is Beautiful: Alternatively, we could make a case for Frank Gehry’s first major building, the diminutive white Vitra Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany.

The Chrysler Building
New York City

Designed by architect William van Alen, the Chrysler’s shiny, filigreed Art Deco spire is the most indispensable piece of the New York City skyline, perfectly balancing the primal thrust of the classic American skyscraper with the desire for a little bling. (It was the world’s tallest for less than a year in 1931 before that zeppelin-masted tower eight blocks south took the spotlight.) Day or night, its stainless-steel crown still dazzles like nothing else.

Icon Alert: This is possibly the only building in the world that is decorated with automotive hood ornaments: the big eagles on the 61st floor were copied from a 1929 Chrysler.

Mont St. Michel
Normandy, France

Though not as lavish as some landlocked cathedrals, this abbey is certainly the most dramatically situated, enjoying prime real estate just off the coast of Normandy. The first abbey was built in 709, with construction continuing for hundreds of years. Spurning the safety of the causeway (built in 1879 and currently being reconstructed), pilgrims still scamper across the sands at low tide to reach the Mont, and risk being overtaken by fast-moving waters.

Dining Tip: Try the agneau de pré-salé, a local specialty made from meat from the lambs that graze on the nearby salt meadows.

Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Bloch Building
Kansas City, MO

Unlike many modern additions to historic museums, Steven Holl’s 21st-century companion doesn’t overwhelm the 1933 Beaux Arts original. His string of iridescent frosted-glass boxes pop out of the grassy lawn—they are absolutely magical at dusk when they begin to glow—and filter sunlight into a series of dramatic underground galleries.

Special Attraction: Check out the Noguchi Sculpture Court, a minimalist space created by the famed Japanese-American artist that cleverly blurs the line between indoors and out.

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World's Scariest Bridges

From sky-high suspension bridges to dilapidated rope bridges, these crossings aren’t for the meek.

All bridges serve a purpose, whether utilitarian or inspirational. And some of them add a distinct element of fear. But you don’t have to be in a remote part of the world: scary bridges exist everywhere, in all shapes, sizes, and heights. And crossing over them can be the ultimate in adventure travel.


Many courageous (or foolhardy) travelers seek out hair-raising bridges just for the thrill. The bridges along the route to Colombia’s National Archaeological Park of Tierradentro are a good example. Though there are safer routes via bus from La Plata, some thrill-seekers choose to ride motorcycles over slippery bamboo crossings deep in the mountains, where one wrong move could mean plunging into a turbulent river.

So get ready to face your fears—or maybe find your next adventure—with our list of the world’s most petrifying bridges.

Aiguille du Midi Bridge
France

Don’t look down. At this height, you’ll want to keep your eyes locked on the panorama of the craggy French Alps. Fortunately, the bridge itself is short, making for an easy escape if acrophobia sets in. But those truly afraid of heights probably won’t even see the bridge; getting here requires taking a cable car that climbs 9,200 vertical feet in just 20 minutes.

Where: The summit of Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif near Chamonix.

Stats: 12,605 feet above sea level.

Royal Gorge Bridge
Colorado

America’s highest suspension bridge may be breathtaking for some, but those scared of heights may be left gasping for air as they stare straight down nearly 90 stories at the Arkansas River below. Completed in 1929, the bridge didn’t have stabilizing wind cables until 1982.

Where: Royal Gorge, Colorado, over the Arkansas River.

Stats: 969 feet above the gorge; 1,260 feet long.

Trift Suspension Bridge
Switzerland

 One of the Alps’ longest and highest pedestrian suspension bridges, Trift was built in 2004 to reconnect hikers to a hut made inaccessible by a retreating glacier. A replacement in 2009 gave this bridge higher handrails and stabilizing cables to prevent it from swinging violently in the wind. But it still provides an adrenaline rush.

Where: Trift Glacier, near the town of Gadmen in the Swiss Alps.

Stats: 328 feet high; 558 feet long.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
Northern Ireland

First things first: nobody has fallen off this bridge. However, many visitors who walk across simply can’t handle the return and have to go by boat. It used to be even scarier. Erected by fishermen who went to the island to catch salmon, the original bridge had only a single handrail. The rope bridge eventually became popular with tourists seeking a thrill, and the National Trust replaced it with a sturdier structure with two handrails.

Where: Near Ballintoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Stats: 65 feet long; nearly 100 feet above the rocks below.

Capilano Suspension Bridge
Canada

Originally built in 1889, this simple suspension footbridge surrounded by an evergreen forest is very high, fairly narrow, and extremely shaky—the cedar planks bounce on their steel cables as you walk across them. If the bridge doesn’t scare you, wait until the spring of 2011; the Cliffhanger attraction will allow visitors to climb across a series of suspended walkways attached to a cliff.

Where: North Vancouver, British Columbia, across the Capilano River.

Stats: 450 feet long; 230 feet high.

Mackinac Bridge
Michigan

Some drivers get so nervous about crossing this five-mile-long bridge that they don’t even go. And this happens so often that the Mackinac Bridge Authority will drive your car or motorcycle for you (and for free). The biggest fear is the wind, which often exceeds 30 miles per hour on the bridge.

Where: Between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

Stats: 5 miles long; 199 feet above the water.

Puente de Ojuela
Mexico

This bridge leads to a ghost town, but it’s the squeaky wood floor that makes it scary. Fortunately, steel cables suspended from two towers bring a greater feeling of safety. Still, steel is a relatively recent addition: when German engineer Santiago Minhguin built this bridge in the 19th century, those towers were made of wood.

Where: The ghost town of Ojuela, an old mining settlement in the northern state of Durango, Mexico.

Stats: 1,043 feet long; 2 feet wide; 360 feet above a gorge.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Maryland

Drivers are notoriously afraid of this bridge, as it’s subjected to frequent—and often violent—storms. And when the bad weather hits, forget about visibility: get to the middle of this five-mile-long bridge and you can barely see land.

Where: Spanning the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland’s eastern and western shores.

Stats: Nearly 5 miles long; 186 feet high at its highest point.

Monkey Bridges
Vietnam

It may seem that only monkeys could make it across traditional monkey bridges—after all, they’re typically made of a single bamboo log and one handrail. However, the name comes from the stooped monkey-like posture you have to maintain when crossing, so as not to plunge into the river below.

Where: Various points across the Mekong Delta at the southern tip of Vietnam.

Stats: These bridges are built by hand by local residents and vary from town to town. Newer ones are made of concrete.

Hussaini Hanging Bridge
Pakistan

Massive gaps between the planks, a wild side-to-side swing: there are reasons this is considered one of the world’s most harrowing suspension bridges. While rickety cable and wood bridges are common in this area, crossing this bridge over the rapidly flowing Hunza River is particularly frightening, as the tattered remains of the previous bridge hang by threads next to the one currently in use.

Where: In the village of Hussaini in Northern Pakistan, crossing the Hunza River.

Stats: Floodwaters reportedly submerged the bridge in May 2010. However, due to its draw as a popular adventure-travel activity, the bridge is likely to be rebuilt.

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Top Ten Fighter Aircraft of All Time.

Over the past century, dozens of aircraft have been designed and built to fight in the sky. But now based on expert opinion, audience polls and technical comparison, we've constructed a five-point matrix, that will rank the Top Ten Fighter aircraft of all time.

No. 10:F/A-22 Raptor

  No. 10: F/A-22 Raptor
Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin
Power Plant: Pratt & Whitney F-119 PW-100
Top Speed: Mach 2.5
Armament: One 20mm cannon, six AMRAAM and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles

Because it is almost invisible to radar and carries an awesome array of weaponry the F-22 Raptor, America's fourth-generation fighter, gets superb innovation and fear factor ratings. However, the aircraft's prowess is compromised by its astronomical production costs and the fact it has some way to go to match the combat records of the F-15 and F-16. Therefore, in the kill ratio, production and service length categories, the Raptor scores zip, placing it firmly in 10th place on our list.

No. 9: Sea Harrier FA2

Manufacturer: British Aerospace
Power Plant: Rolls Royce Pegasus mk 104 or 106 turbofan
Top Speed: 736 mph
Armament: Two 30-mm Aden cannon, plus two AMRAAM and four Sidewinder missiles, two Harpoon or Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles

With its unrivaled ability to maneuver, hover and pop up from unexpected places, the Sea Harrier earns a solid fear factor rating. Its unique design and simple-to-produce airframe score well. Despite achieving a high kill ratio in the Falklands, the "jump jet's" slow speed makes it vulnerable to ground fire, which reduces its overall score. Though the aircraft is being phased out of frontline operations it still earns a respectable ninth place in our top 10 league. 

 No. 8: Sopwith Camel

Manufacturer: Sopwith Aviation Company
Power Plant: Clerget rotary engine
Top Speed: 112 mph
Armament: Two Vickers .303 machine guns

Credited with destroying at least 1,200 enemy aircraft, the Sopwith Camel rightly deserves to be called one of the best fighters of all time. Its solid, if unspectacular, scoring across the board ensures its standing in eighth place on the list of the greatest fighters of all time. 

 No. 7: Me 262 Schwalbe

Manufacturer: Messerschmitt
Power Plant: Two Junkers Juno 004s
Top Speed: 540 mph
Armament: Four 30mm MK-108 cannons

For innovation the "Swallow" scores maximum points. As the first of its kind, the Me 262 inspired equal measures of fear and admiration, so it also scores at the top of the scales in the fear factor category. However, because the aircraft was difficult to build and it had notoriously unreliable engines, the aircraft's production rating is low - so too is its service record, having only been active for a little over two years. Nevertheless, the Me 262 will forever be in the record books as being the world's first fully operational jet fighter - a legend of the skies and the seventh greatest fighter of all time.

 No. 6: Supermarine Spitfire

Manufacturer: Supermarine Aviation Works
Power Plant: Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 piston engine
Top Speed: 369 mph
Armament: Eight Browning .303 machine guns; later version, four 20mm cannon

Used in all British theaters of conflict throughout the Second World War the Spitfire remains the unrivaled symbol of victory and Britain's finest hour. But the Spitfire is also famous for giving Field Marshall Erwin Rommel the scare of his life. On July 17, 1944, in the north of France, a Canadian pilot named Charlie Fox shot at the car carrying the German military mastermind and knocked it off the road, putting Germany's "Desert Fox" out of commission.

No. 4 - A Tie! 

MiG 15
Manufacturer: Mikoyan Gurevich Design Bureau
Power Plant: Klimov VK-1 turbojet
Top Speed: 668 mph
Armament: One 37mm N-37 cannon and two 23mm NR-23 cannon

AND

F-86 Sabre
Manufacturer: North American
Power Plant: General Electric J47 engine
Top Speed: 685 mph
Armament: Six .50-caliber machine guns and eight 5-inch rockets

Compared to today's fighters both these jets are underpowered and primitive but few aircraft have done so well at the job they were designed to do. Both the F-86 Sabre and MiG 15 were the right aircraft at the right time and each richly deserve a prominent place in aviation history. Both designs relied heavily on captured German swept-wing technology and British engine design, so for innovation the MiG and Sabre are equally matched. Both fighters were produced in large numbers, but the MiG edges in front of the Sabre in the production category because of its renowned simplicity. Both jets have similar service records. The result? They are inseparable in the rankings: the MiG 15 and F-86 Sabre tie for fourth place. 

No. 3: F-4 Phantom

Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglass
Power Plant: Two J79 Spey turbojet afterburning engines
Top Speed: 1,485 mph
Armament: Four AIM 7 Sparrow and four AIM 9 Sidewinder missiles.

Produced in large numbers the F-4 Phantom has an unrivaled service history. But the aircraft really earns its third place ranking for being fast, durable and deadly. Phantoms were the test bed for missile technology - and the aircraft held five speed records for an impressive 13 years before being beaten by the aircraft featured in the No. 2 spot on our list of the top 10 fighters of all time.

No. 2: F-15C Eagle

Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglass
Power Plant: Two Pratt & Whitney F-100-PW-100 afterburning turbofans
Top Speed: Mach 2.5
Armament: One 20-mm cannon, four AIM-7F Sparrow and four AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles

No other fighter in the history of aerial combat has a record that even comes close to the Eagle's. The F-15 is far superior to most of its brethren - way better than the F-4 - accelerating better, turning better, handling better.

In fact, such is the reputation of the F-15 that during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Saddam Hussein's air force simply refused to get in the air. They knew the F-15 would just knock them out of the sky.

 No. 1: P-51D Mustang

Manufacturer: North American Aviation
Power Plant: 1600 hp Packard-built Merlin 61 piston engine
Top Speed: 437 mph
Armament: Six wing-mounted .50-caliber machine guns

Fitted with external drop-tanks the Mustang's range was extended to almost 2,000 miles, making it the only Allied fighter capable of protecting the Allied bombers on long-range, deep-penetration raids. The Mustang performed its job so well that after its introduction in 1944, casualty rates for bomber crews were reduced by 75 percent. In fact, American P51s destroyed almost 5,000 enemy aircraft in Europe - making it the highest scoring U. S. fighter in the European theater of operations.

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Top Ten Most Secured Buildings In The World

Now-a-days buildings are not known only for their aesthetics and strength but also the security it provides its inhabitants. When one hears about bombings, hijacks, robberies; it is important that the building offers maximum protection. Here are 10 buildings which will make you feel that the world is a better place to be in!

1. Pentagon, Washington

 

Headquarters of the US Department of Defense, the ‘Pentagon’ is considered as the one of the highly secured buildings in the world. The security of the 280 acre building is under the Pentagon Force Protection Agency which comprises federal police officers, Untied States Pentagon Police, expert technicians and anti-terrorism investigative and security personnel. The security is very tight with various identification and references required to enter the building. The Defense for Public Affairs department conducts tours giving insight into this industry.

2. Jewel House, Tower of London

The Jewel House in the Tower of London houses priceless treasures of England’s past and present rulers. Its collection includes crowns and scepters of Queen Victoria, Elizabeth etc. A Major General controls the security of the Jewel House. A dedicated control room provides constant monitoring of the Jewel House, while additional £4.5 million has been spent on fire safety and security. The jewels are encased in 2-inch thick shatter-proof glass and there is constant security provided by the Tower Guard and the Yeoman Warders and is regarded as one of the most secure buildings in the world.

3. AT&T Long Lines Building, New York

This 167.95 m building has been built with the sole purpose to protect its sensitive and expensive telephone equipment. It is ‘windowless’ and its exterior walls are constructed of granite-faced precast concrete panels. This brutalist style of architecture was utilized so that it’s self-sufficient and protected from nuclear fallout for up to two weeks after a nuclear blast.

4. Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, Los Angeles

A literal case in point is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, which is constructed using the base isolation tool in earthquake engineering, which is one of the most powerful and cost-effective technologies till date. This Church can house 3,000 worshippers at a time thus protecting them against any earthquake threats.

5. Empire State Building, New York

The Empire State building is an office building which proves to be very safe for its inhabitants. This 102 storied building is the 15^th tallest building in the world is built in a steel frame and is clad in Indiana limestone and granite. It has been constructed to withstand high intensity winds and earthquakes to make it safer for the 21,000 employees that work in the building. Strict security measures are enforced for the safety of all the people in the building. Security checks are a must, while visitors can only enter with a valid ticket, every visitor must pass walk-through scanners.

6. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty building, Czech Republic

The building in existence since May 2009 is considered as one of the most secure buildings in the world. Radio Liberty provides free press to people in countries where free press is banned, thus making its journalists and freelancers vulnerable to threats their lives. They are also favorite targets of terrorists. These concerns have been taken into consideration when constructing the state-of-the-art building. It also has elaborate security measures in place to provide safety to its employees.

7. Buckingham Palace, England

The Buckingham Palace is the home of the Royal family of England and is also a highly secured palace. The Royal Family have their own armed guards at all times and the famous sentries guard the palace at all times. The palace also has its own police station. The Foot Guards Battalion at Wellington Barracks and Chelsea Barracks units and Hyde Park Barrack units are on the stand-by and minutes away if required in case of emergency.

8. The White House, Washington D.C

The White House is the official residence of the President of the United States of America, the White House is under constant surveillance against threats, nuisances, crowd management etc. The security of the White House is under the United States Secret Service and United States Park Police. The White House is not open to visitors for added security.

9. Guantanamo Bay Prison Camp, Cuba

A parody to the title but well, it keeps prisoners locked in; this prison is the most isolated and heavily fortified prison in the world. It was built to house terrorists from the Al-Qaeda network. This prison is constantly guarded by heavily armed military guards and marines. It is also surrounded by 70,000 minefields, swamps and the ocean making escape virtually impossible. However, due to its unpopularity in treatment of its prisoners, the prison will be closed.

10. Headquarters Joint Operational Command (HQJOC), Australia

The HQJOC is a 28,000sq.m area building that houses the strategic and operational staff from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Forces. The facility is built in such a way so that it is self-sufficient in times of emergency without compromising the operations of the employees.

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