The Commandant should have flown every Armor Officer in the Marine Corps (tanks, AAVs,and LAVs) down to this event so that they could be better informed on the possibilities of a REAL mobile gun system as employed by our allies.
Even better is that it's the French! The Italians are big into it now, but the French have been the "keepers of the flame" when it comes to wheeled vehicles mounting big guns (with the exception of the Russians...but we're talking within NATO).
Doing exchanges with the US Army and how they employ the MGS Stryker just won't tell us as much.
I'd be real interested in knowing how Marine Tankers felt the French vehicle stacked up...mobility and firepower wise...and if they think a similar vehicle based on the ACV would be useful in future Marine Corps operations.
Monday’s 12-count indictment filed against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his colleague Rick Gates was stunning for a number of reasons: its breadth; the scope of the alleged criminal activity; and, of course, the fact that underpinning much of the indictment are facts demonstrating willful and knowing violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. The indictment likely means that after many years of lax enforcement, the requirements of this law will finally be taken seriously by the hundreds of law firms, lobbying shops and media relations companies that fall under its purview.
Enacted in the 1930s as a means to expose Nazi propagandists working secretly in the United States, FARA requires, broadly, that any individual or organization that undertakes “political activities” for a foreign client must register with the Department of Justice and disclose significant amounts of information about the work done for that foreign client and the money earned and expended. Registration under FARA is triggered by a broad range of activity not thought of as traditional lobbying. Strategic advice, coalition-building, grass-roots lobbying, communications advice and attempts to influence U.S. media and opinion-makers—if aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion—all require registration. Someone who undertakes those activities for a foreign principal that is not a foreign government or political party has the option to register under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which requires far less disclosure than FARA. But if, like Manafort and Gates, the U.S. advisers are working for an entity that is, or is controlled by, a foreign government or government-controlled entity, they must register under FARA. Willful and knowing violations of FARA can lead to criminal and civil penalties, including imprisonment.
Story here. , then check this one out...via Politico too...
Washington lobbyists who represent foreign powers have taken comfort for decades in the fact that the Justice Department rarely goes after them for potentially breaking the law. That all changed on Monday.
The news of Tony Podesta’s resignation from his namesake firm and indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates sent K Street scrambling, as lobbyists rushed to make sure they’re in compliance with the rules. The developments also renewed calls for Congress to pass legislation beefing up the Justice Department’s enforcement of the law, which lawmakers in both parties have derided for lacking teeth.
“Firms are going to be even more careful than they have been in the past in the foreign lobbying arena,” said Trent Lott, the former Senate majority leader who’s now a lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs, where his foreign clients have included Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Yeah. If you took the time to read both stories then you now know what the real story is when it comes to the Manafort indictment.
It's not the fact that he was working for Ukrainians and supposedly thru them the Russians.
NO!
The real story is that EVERYONE in Washington DC, after they leave the govt, is in the pocket of one entity or another....lobbying for one country, one interest group, one something or another to gain influence over our representatives.
This will affect EVERY NATION on the planet.
This will affect EVERY TRADE DEAL, AGREEMENT etc...that we have made with you name it!
For better or worse those that took out the long knives to kill the Trump agenda have instead cut their own throats in the process. In essence we're seeing the possibility of the swamp actually being cleaned out!
They want Manafort on a plate to get to Trump? They might have served up Hillary, Bill and Chelsea, along with Podesta and company on that same plate!
As the 82nd Airborne Division descends upon the earth, Pennywise will not find the fear he needs. But instead, he will learn to fear them. Happy Halloween!
Wow. The Airborne puppies are winning the social media war. They're the only people that are integrating their combat themes (more than that...their cultural identity) with the "hot" thing going on in society.
Well Done!
Hate to say it but...Airborne All The Way!
PS. Excuse me while I wash my mouth out, do about 100 hail Mary's and cleanse my body with antibacterial soap.
45 Commando Group have deployed to the USA over the last week. 650 personnel will spend the next six weeks practicing high intensity amphibious operations and urban warfare alongside the US Marine Corps, Norwegian, French, Canadian, Brazilian and Mexican Forces.
I really should take the time to learn their Commando Groups. Regardless I'm assuming they're participating in Bold Alligator. Pretty awesome. I'll be interested in hearing the lessons learned from this years exercise. I know they're pushing MEF level command and control now vs MEB that was all the hotness a couple of years ago, but what other innovations are they after (oops...didn't post on it but they're also trialing Forward Amphibious Bases or something like that).
Either way I consider this a steadying move. Corps leadership was in a bad place and seemed to be off course. Looks like they've regained their bearings and are moving forward.
You've heard about it but to be honest I have no rage, no anger and no answers.
We can try and mitigate the threat but it seems like we're at a new normal. Mass attacks we seem able to prevent. These lone wolf, low casualty (don't take that wrong...for every victim's family this is a high casualty event) attacks just appear to be something we have to live with.
Sierra-Nevada Corporation (SNC) has joined Boeing and Lockheed Martin in pitching a solution for the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) UH-1N Huey Replacement Program, the company confirmed to Jane’s on 28 October.
The Nevada-based is to pitch upgraded surplus UH-60 Black Hawks for the competition to replace the USAF’s current 62 UH-1N Huey's helicopters with up to 84 new platforms. Boeing has already revealed its MH-139 offering with Leonardo, while Lockheed Martin is pitching new-build UH-60s built by its subsidiary company Sikorsky
This is a rather boring program for what should be a simple replacement. The USAF needs a helicopter for its Security Force to conduct missions safeguarding our nuclear missiles.
It's turned into a dogfight because everyone is scrambling for defense dollars.
But that's not why I'm watching it.
What has me a bit confused is that this is so simple that I don't understand why the USAF didn't simply do a sourcing deal with the Army and buy the latest BlackHawk under their acquisition program.
So what we're left with is the USAF doing a program to replace the Huey and a service that says its short of money and has three big ticket aircraft (F-35, B-21, KC-46) coming down the pike while also having to throw money at maintainers and pilots to remain in the service.
That's why SNC can offer their helicopter. The USAF is facing a money crunch.
The days after the Trump election of the DoD and certain Congressman thinking that they would be able to dramatically plus up defense spending is over.
How the Air Force goes with this will be telling.
Either they see an "event" that will bolster defense spending or they'll go into a hole trying to save as much money as possible. I can't wait to see which way they go, but it'll be telling.
Two members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 are under investigation after the suspicious death of a U.S. Army Green Beret in Mali, the New York Times reports.
Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar, 34, was found dead June 4 in embassy housing in the Malian capital of Bamako and agents with the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) are working to determine whether he was strangled by the unnamed SEALs, the Times reports.
Many details about the case remain a mystery and military officials have kept quiet about Melgar’s death.
People are going batshit stupid over this story but I can only sit back and wonder.
Why are you fools acting like boots!
You know the deal and you know the further up the food chain you get with SOCOM the crazier the mentality gets. On a personal level I only would hang around Rangers or Recon. Once you start dealing with Tier One clowns you better have a K-Bar and rounds chambered cause I've heard too many stories of people getting disappeared by them.
But even leaving aside those sea stories and warnings from the old skool Marines to keep your distance you can look at the IDIOCY that happens anytime a US unit deploys to out of area locations.
I'm not talking about to Europe or Asia but when you get deployed to some boonies far away from civilization.
The military has NCIS for a reason and its not to spawn a TV show.
Craziness happens all the time.
Unfortunately murders, rapes, sodomy, theft and everything in between does too. Its the human condition and you can't escape it unless everything becomes automated. Add in the testerone filled atmosphere of the military, mix in the attitude that we might die tomorrow so let's go crazy today and finally stir in sex, greed and corruption and you have a recipe that's built for disaster.
The real question should be how this became news.
My guess is that you have some pissed off Special Forces troops.
THAT SHOULD BE THE NEWS!
If this goes south you could have SF shooting at SEALs! My guess is that both units have been separated with one probably taken out of country. But the problem will be that both units will be tainted and won't be able to work together. Another issue is that SEAL Team 6 gets another black eye as an out of control unit that operates on the edge of legality.
They really need to take those guys off the line for a couple of years and rebuild it from the ground up. McRaven really did more damage during his time as SOCOM chief than is commonly realized.
Ok folks, this one has me scratching my head. Alert 5 Blog put this out...
A report from Izvestia says Russia is researching on a new ekranoplan – aka ground effect vehicle – that can perform rescue missions and resupply remote bases in Arctic and Pacific.
The project is given the code-name Rescuer and will be handled by Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau, which in the past produce ground effect vehicles such as Lun and Orlenok. The vehicle is expected to weigh 600 tons with a length of 93 meters and wing span of 71 meters. It will be able to operate on land as well. Top speed is 550 km/h. Scaled models have completed wind tunnel testing and the timeline to complete the project is 2025.
Alert 5 didn't provide any links so I did a quick Google search and came across numerous articles from THIS year talking about the new Russian project (how did we miss that?????).
I came across this vid posted by the Russian Embassy in the UK...
Welcome to the world of tomorrow. Field testing of ground effect vehicle in Russia. pic.twitter.com/bGCWdnJ3uE
But even that doesn't explain things because I found an article from The Register stating that China was buying the vehicle you see at the top of the page and indicating that they (Russia) was heading in a different direction.
I've speculated that we would be seeing the next generation of Chinese armor soon. You'd expect me to gloat and shout I was right but I don't think this is it.
I'm expecting new generations of their MBT, IFV and amphibious IFV soon. When that hits is when we need to do a careful reassessment of Chinese mechanized warfare and the direction its headed.
As things stand I view this as simply busy work for their defense industry.
China's heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China's Shaanxi Province Thursday. The AT200 drone, jointly developed by several research institutes and companies, made a successful 26-minute maiden flight, according the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics. With a maximum take-off weight of around 3.4 tonnes and a payload of 1.5 tonnes, the AT200 could be one of the world's most powerful civilian UAVs, according to the institute. Developed on a P750XL utility aircraft, the UAV has a maximum flying speed of 313 km per hour, a flight range of 2,183 kilometers and a 6,098-meter service ceiling. Taking off and landing can be automatically completed within 200 meters. It could be used to conduct freight transport in mountainous regions and on islands, according to the institute.
Interesting.
The Marine Corps is all over UAVs for close air support, fleet defense, refueling and ISR but logistics seem to be a blind spot. The K-MAX was developed and appeared to be a very useful piece of gear but it looks to have been left by the wayside as the Marine Corps moves forward.
What makes this Chinese effort so stunning is because its a simple yet elegant solution to the problem. If you are pushing a concept that has small, widely dispersed units then "on time" resupply could be the difference between life and death.
Even if the K-MAX has continued its doubtful that it would have the raw speed that this plane does. It probably lacks the range too.
Small Rant.
Being a critic of Marine Corps/Pentagon concepts is getting old. I really want to understand what these people are thinking. The people on this blog can't be the only ones that can see the problems we point out on a daily basis. What is the debate like inside the Marine Corps? Is there a debate or are these ideas simply pushed down the food chain and Marines are simply accepting it? I hope not. Critical thinking is part of being a Marine. That hasn't changed has it?
After demonstrating its ability to fire artillery rockets from decks of U.S. Navy ships, the U.S. Marine Corps now says it is interested in a similar, but super-compact mobile weapon system small enough to fit inside its MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotors or its future CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopters. Such a vehicle would greatly increase the capabilities of Marine expeditionary elements, but even the service itself acknowledges it might just not be physically possible.
U.S. Marine Corps Major General David Coffman, presently serving as the U.S. Navy’s director for expeditionary warfare, explained the basic requirements to Military.com on the sidelines of the National Defense Industry Association’s (NDIA) annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference, which ended on Oct. 26, 2017. The officer described a weapon that would have a “competitive” range and capability compared to the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and its GPS-guided 227mm rockets, but on a vehicle smaller than a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), or Humvee, all of which could fit within the main cabin of an MV-22 or CH-53K.
I love reading about old concepts in the Marine Corps because leadership was so dynamic, so bold, so willing to try and if it didn't work they were quick to abandon it without regret, remorse or embarrassment.
Flash back to the 1950's. The US military was in the middle of the atomic scare (civilians too). After seeing the tremendous power of the atom bomb over Japanese cities, the common belief was that future battlegrounds would see the wide spread use of atomic weapons.
The US Army developed Pentomic Divisions to deal with the threat. The USAF was born and inaugurated the Strategic Air Command and put bombers on 24/7 alert while putting several different types into service. The Navy was having to revalidate aircraft carriers and sought aircraft that could deliver weapons from the sea....and the USMC sought to use helicopters to deliver Marines from ship to shore because it was thought that closing to the beach would be impossible in this new age.
Vertical envelopment was born and the Marine Corps fully embraced heliborne forces.
So how did we decide to keep battlefield mobility if we were being deployed by helicopter? We needed unique vehicles that could be delivered by them! This birthed the Mighty Mite Jeep you see in the vid above.
My issue with the move toward various iterations of Internally Carried Vehicles for the MV-22?
We're repeating the mistakes of those that came before. The Drive speculates on what could work to meet the Marine Corps requirements or rather "ask fors" and they seem to be pretty neat vehicles but not delivering what the Marine Corps says they need.
The systems they describe from Fletcher are pretty darn interesting (above). So is the rig that Lockheed Martin displayed a couple of years ago (below).
My issue isn't with the "want". It's with the "what are we doing" part of this story.
I have yet to understand or to hear a rationale for how these lightweight forces are suppose to be survivable on a modern battlefield with even the weapon systems that are being proposed.
The thinking in my mind is unclear. The desired endstate wishful thinking.
Rocket artillery that can fit inside an MV-22? Sorry but that's batshit crazy on the surface. I guess to sum this up (because I know I'm once again all over the place) is that the Marine Corps is trying so hard to be innovative that its becoming silly season.
How many of you guys remember this? via Popular Science.
The proposal, part of the Corps's push toward greater speed and flexibility, is called Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion, or Sustain. Using a suborbital transport-that is, a vehicle that flies into space to achieve high travel speeds but doesn't actually enter orbit-the Corps will be able, in effect, to instantaneously deliver Marine squads anywhere on Earth. The effort is led by Roosevelt Lafontant, a former Marine lieutenant colonel now employed by the Schafer Corporation, a military-technology consulting firm working with the Marines. Insertion from space, Lafontant explains, makes it possible for the Marines-typically the first military branch called on for emergency missions-to avoid all the usual complications that can delay or end key missions. No waiting for permission from an allied nation, no dangerous rendezvous in the desert, no slow helicopter flights over mountainous terrain. Instead, Marines could someday have an unmatched element of surprise, allowing them to do everything from reinforce Special Forces to rescue hostages thousands of miles away. "Sustain is simply an ability to move Marines very rapidly from one place to another," says Marine colonel Jack Wassink, director of the Corps's Space Integration Branch in Arlington, Virginia, where the program is based. "Space lends itself to that role."
My refrain is that we don't have time for wishful thinking. America's enemies are gunning up, working out, getting harder everyday while our planners are in fantasyland trying to come up with an easy way to do the hard thing.
There are no easy ways.
Neller himself has said that the future battlefield will be beyond chaotic and bloody beyond belief. I agree. If we're right then its time to do the hard work of prepping physically, mentally and morally to face our fate.
The time to dream is over. It's time to get to work...and that means putting away foolish ideas and getting the gear we need now...not hoped for some time in 2030.
Hey all. I see a new meme developing among the F-35 fanbase that needs to be curb stomped ricky ticky quick. What the fuck am I talking about? Well check this article out from Foxtrot Alpha...
Another bad sign? For the second year in a row, Lockheed Martin is expected to deliver fewer F-35s than it had planned. The company had planned to produce 66 jets this year but acknowledged in its third quarter earnings this week that it seems very unlikely to reach that number. Only 44 of the fighters have made it off the production lines through the end of September.
While the F-35 is currently assembled in Texas, Italy and Japan, major components for the aircraft are made in places scattered across the world, including Turkey and Australia. Still, over 3,000 F-35s are expected to be built, with 2,456 planned for purchase by the Pentagon. Lockheed and the Air Force will do everything they can to support the deployment, with the jets getting as much flying time as the pilots can handle.
No matter what happens, of course, there will be many interested parties watching the deployment, including America’s allies and enemies. Both will be hoping for different outcomes.
As usual Tyler wrote a very balanced article that pointed out the good and the bad with the F-35. But that ending left me cold and I've been seeing that talking point pop up more and more on F-16.net and other F-35 fan sites.
The basic claim is that critics of the F-35 want the same thing that America's enemies want. That is to see the F-35 fail.
That's wrong!
I am speaking for myself but also believe that I speak for many of the other critics out there. We don't want to see the plane fail. We would love for the F-35 to deliver on what's being promised. WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!
But the problem is that it isn't and it won't.
We are simply the canaries in the coal mine that's warning of the obvious danger of continuing to place all our eggs in the F-35 basket. Speaking again for the critics, we've seen enough to make a determination about this program. We've seen enough evidence to prove beyond a doubt that this plane will be harmful to the defense structures of the West.
In short we aren't giving aid to the enemy, we're giving a warning to our brothers and sisters. That's why the ending paragraph of Tyler's article is so problematic.
No matter what happens, of course, there will be many interested parties watching the deployment, including America’s allies and enemies. Both will be hoping for different outcomes.
I am an interested party.
I am hoping for a different outcome than the enemies of America...and at the same time I want the USMC to change direction on the F-35.
Loyalty without question is servitude. Reasoned opposition is patriotic.
The Harvey Weinstein drama is turning into a weird mess that could alter men-women relationships forever. By that I mean that Weinstein was undoubtedly a freak and a bastard.
What he did was wrong.
But I also get the sense that we're seeing some piling on. Additionally I'm kinda concerned when an old guy in a wheelchair that's as deceit as Bush Sr could be perceived as committing sexual assault with his WIFE right next to him.
And that's the rub.
I would bet body parts that Bush Sr wasn't seeking sexual gratification at the time of the incident. I would bet body parts that his wife saw the behavior and saw no harassment.
My guess is that he treated his accuser as he would his own daughters and it was taken/perceived in a way that he did not intend.
But that's the rub isn't it.
Sexual harassment is in the eyes of the women you're interacting with. From what I've seen and heard in classes is that if accused you're wrong. No if's and's or but's unless you have cameras with microphones or several other witnesses with you.
So the end result of all this could be detrimental to women advancing in society.
If a man views women as a career obstacle that must be maneuvered around, or carefully navigated if avoidance isn't possible then how is that good for women in the workplace?
I'm not being clear at all and hopefully you guys can read between the lines but this could have HUGE ramifications that no one is actually looking at.
Women have been able to make great strides in non traditional roles because of the aid of Hollywood and the media. Now it seems that they're going even after those people.
The point is that we're living in a telling moment between men and women with regard to relationships and no one is paying attention (yeah its redundant...I hope another blogger picks this up because it needs to be talked about but I'm an extremely poor messenger).
The first of a batch of upgraded M1A2 Abrams tanks has hit the Army, with more improvements coming in the next few years.
Earlier this month, the first of six M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version 3 Abrams tanks rolled off initial production at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio, the Army announced.
These are the first upgrades to the Army’s 1,500-tank fleet. They fall in line with overall Army plans to enhance lethality and improve its ground combat systems, preparing them for potential fights with near-peer adversaries.
Another such improvement was the recent addition of a 30 mm cannon to many of the Army’s Strykers, which began deliveries last year.
“This version is the most modernized configuration of the Abrams tank, having improved force protection and system survivability enhancements and increased lethality over the M1A1 and previous M1A2 variants,” said Lt. Col. Justin Shell, the Army’s product manager for Abrams.
The version three enhancements address on-board power, electronics, computing, weapons, force protection and sensors. They are primarily a bridge to the version four variant planned for the 2020s, Program Executive Office-Ground Combat Systems spokeswoman Ashley Givens told the media.
I'm of the opinion that this is a common sense approach to our armored force. If you look around the globe you're not seeing any breakthrough in performance, just evolution. As awesome as the Armata might be its still a variation on the theme, nothing revolutionary.
Macgregor thinks otherwise. Check this out from his blog, FUTURE DEFENSE VISIONS...
A cautionary tale worth remembering: HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1920, Hood had design limitations, though her design was revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction. Despite the appearance of new and more modern ship designs over time, Hood remained the largest and most powerful warship in the world for twenty years after her commissioning. On 24 May 1941, 8 minutes after the first shot was fired in the Battle of the Denmark Strait with the German Battleship Bismarck, Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded and sank. Due to Hood’s perceived invincibility, the loss affected British morale. It’s time for new warfighting equipment, not upgrades of old designs. The Army is sinking money and resources into old solutions designed in the 1970s. The handwriting is on the wall. Our soldiers will man the land equivalent of Hoods.
I'm not looking to cross swords with ole boy, but I wonder if his complaints are valid. Quite honestly I think they're overblown.
Could he have fallen into the trap of having made his name with innovative thinking and because of that "rep" he's always having to push the envelope in order to remain relevant?
I wonder.
I consider that a cautionary tale for all "innovators" (and I can fall prey to it too). You have to honestly look at the landscape, the current state of the art, near term breakthroughs and threat weapons to properly determine whether a weapon system is viable.
I think the upgrade path of the M1A2 SEPV3 and later SEPV4 will keep the US Army's armored force in the lead or at worst equal to the threats they may face.
I keep forgetting the full scale of US Army Aviation.
We're looking at one aviation brigade's worth of helicopters. Just one.
That's more helicopters than most nations have in their entire armed forces!
I have mixed emotions about this. We have this tremendous combat power and yet we were slow to deploy forces to help with hurricane relief efforts? We have this many helicopters but we're still told that we should be worried about Russia?
Quite honestly after looking at this I have to wonder if I might be overstating the threat of China.
When it comes to protecting the US we are beyond set. Covering allies is an issue but when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of our own nation I can confidently say that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines pretty much have that covered in spades.
