Chinese Astronaut floats cooperation with NASA...

via CNN

China wants greater cooperation with other nations in space, particularly the United States, the country's most experienced astronaut has told CNN in an exclusive interview.
Fifteen nations including the United States, Russia and Japan cooperate on International Space Station missions, but China's involvement has always been a non-starter because of longstanding resistance from U.S. legislators.
"As an astronaut, I have a strong desire to fly with astronauts from other countries. I also look forward to going to the International Space Station," Commander Nie Haisheng told CNN.

This is the first whiff I've gotten from the Chinese that they feel behind the curve in a technology issue.

Make no mistake about it.  A Chinese Astronaut would not make such a statement without approval from leadership.

They're behind and they know it.

Awesome.

Funny though.  The ISS is Space Shuttle era tech.  NASA for all their warts (and boy they have a bunch of them...I'm still chafing at the former Marine, Director of NASA's talk of Muslim outreach being one of their missions) the idea to abandon the dream of a shuttle and return to a capsule configuration for space travel seems to have been spot on.  Additionally the boost given by commercial space corporations is doing the good work of pushing the govt --- and by doing so is aiding in the revitalisation of space exploration in the US.

Long story short?  Looks like US legislators finally got something right.  Keep China out of our space program.

F-35 News. This sounds fishy.

via AOL

He announced a “bulk buy” program for the U.S. and Joint Strike Fighter program international partners to procure up to 450 F-35s over three years, with 150 bought each year. This is not a multi-year purchase, which is subject to explicit congressional approval. It still needs an OK from the Hill, but this is similar to the purchases made by the Navy of the Virginia-class submarines. If appropriators OK the money, and authorizers do not oppose it, it can go through.
Finally, Davis said that the Thermion deck coating applied to the USS Wasp deck successfully handled the incredible beating from the 40,000 pounds of thrust from the F-35B engine. The coating, though there were visible scorch marks, “performed to standard,” Davis said. “But,” he went on to note, “there’s more work to do.”

This program has gone from criminal incompetence to baffling stupidity.

How is Kendall going to commit to bulk buys of an airplane that is still in development?  So much still doesn't work...ALIS...software still needs to be written....weapons tested, that this has entered the realm of fantasy and malfeasance.

They have officially lost their fucking minds. 

Note:  Will an aviation guy tell me how sensor fusion (they no longer claim that stealth is the key) will enable the F-35 to kill enemy aircraft that fly faster, higher, carry a bigger AESA, have more missiles and will probably outnumber it?

Note 1:  Spudman pointed out (correctly) that this group of military and civilian leaders are making plans that another administration will either have to carry out or cancel...the first bulk buy is in 2018!  They're writing checks that future military and civilian leaders will have to pay for!  Why do I suddenly get the feeling that this is more a "human terrain" exercise to get critics like myself to shut up and accept that the F-35 is going forward?  Well guess what!  BRING THE TROLLING!  I still want this bastard of a program to die.  No, I want this program taken down to the river, have its hands tied behind its back and held underwater till it's feet stop kicking....then we chop it up and feed it to the alligators.

Infographic of Russian military orders via TASS

And it begins. US recon reveals China is weaponizing the artificial islands.

via Market Watch

U.S. surveillance imagery shows China has positioned weaponry on one of the artificial islands it is developing in the South China Sea, American officials said, supporting their suspicions that Beijing has been building up reefs for military purposes.
The U.S. imagery detected two Chinese motorized artillery pieces on one of the artificial islands built by China about one month ago. While the artillery wouldn’t pose a threat to U.S. planes or ships, U.S. officials said it could reach neighboring islands and that its presence was at odds with China’s public statements that the reclaimed islands are mainly for civilian use.
“There is no military threat,” a U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. “But it is about the symbolism.”
While posing no military threat to the U.S., the motorized artillery was within range of an island claimed by Vietnam that Hanoi has armed with various weaponry for some time, the American officials said. Vietnamese officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington wouldn’t comment specifically on the weaponry, but said its development work within the Spratly Islands—known by the Chinese as the Nansha Islands—was primarily civilian.

A couple of things.

Chinese diplomats speak carefully, but I haven't heard an outright lie yet. Did you catch the phrasing?  Primarily civilian!

Second, the US military can spin this anyway they want but it should be obvious to all.  Sooner or later we're going to see advanced radars and anti-aircraft/ship missiles on these islands.

Yep.  I'm gonna say it again.  We're gearing up for the COIN fight and they're gearing up for full scale warfare.

I'm still waiting for an answer (they stopped talking to me) but will someone tell me how the notional Company Landing Team will stand up to the firepower of a mechanized brigade? 

I don't know what to make of this...via Sgt Grit....

via Sgt Grit.

Mike's platoon was in the Quang Tri province of Vietnam, as far north as you can get while still being in South Vietnam. More ordnance and agent orange was dropped there than anyplace else in the entire war. That's where the most vicious firefights took place. During one such firefight, he watched over half of his platoon get killed and his best friend earn the Medal of Honor posthumously. Mike was shot in the foot. It was some time before they were able to medivac him out because of the firefighting. After triage in a military hospital in Germany, they sent him back to the states for some convalescent leave. He never went back. Between the time he returned from Germany until the day he ended up at the nursing home, Mike lived on the streets. When he got to the nursing home he was half dead from alcohol.

I've heard the stories and read the official history of combat in that region during the Vietnam War.

Wild and wooly doesn't describe it.

They absolutely did the right thing.... I can see the arguments against, but in the end I agree with it.

Read the whole story here. 

Launch of the CMN Ocean Eagle Interceptor-Trimaran (pics)

Thanks to Dwi for the link!

NOTE:  What Navy is about to receive this high tech interceptor?  Would you believe Mozambique?  Yeah.  Ain't that a kick in the pants?

KAAVs beach assault..

Russia to Buy as Many T-50 PAK-FA Fighters as Manufacturers Can Produce

via Sputnik

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said in March that the ministry could reduce the purchases of PAK-FA fighters, due to "new economic circumstances." The initial plan stipulated the acquisition of 10 fighters to be sent to the army for testing and subsequent acquisition, based on performance satisfaction, of another 60 T-50s.
"The aircraft will enter mass production in 2017. We will order as many [fighter jets] as the industry can provide," Bondarev told reporters.

Hmmm.

Does anyone else wonder why the Russian Defense Minister would make a statement that on the surface looks like it does nothing but boost sales of the F-35....this is curious.

Is this a case of religious freedom, a substandard Marine or both? PART 2. The trial transcript...

Thanks to Kyle for digging this up!  I would have never thought to track this down...

  Sterling 201400150 Unpub

Wow.

I did a quick read on this (I'll dig deeper later tonight) and something becomes painful obvious.

This Marine's command gave her many off ramps that she ignored and she charged straight ahead into the land of pain, misery and a Big Chicken Dinner over nonsense.

Any possibility of sympathy has evaporated like spilled liquid on the surface of the sun.

She brought this pain on herself.

Capt James Fanell is the person that started me on the path of watching China...

You ever wonder why I focus like a laser on China's military advancement/buildup?  Its because I watched the above video.  Let me save you some grief.  Skip all of it except the presentation by Capt James Fanell.

Why am I doing this?  I got this comment from Dirt McGirt

Oh no! The Chinese make me so fraid, so scared! They kick our butt so quickk with imaginary drone that can do many good things and US knockoff radar that can see steatch everything from 1241215 miles away!
Stalin and Mao would like you Solomon, you believe enemy propaganda very easily.

I'm not picking on McGirt, simply using him as a training aid to inform my readers.

Capt Fanell gave a no nonsense, actual and factual brief on the threat posed by a rapidly arming China.  Unfortunately the Chinese weren't pleased and they were successful in having a US Naval Officer, at the time the Director of Intelligence and Information Operations in the Pacific, removed from office.

Capt Fanell paid the price for informing the public of the threat.

Moral courage of the highest order.

So yeah McGirt and all my other readers that think like him....I'm focused on China and while I only have access to open source material, I'll continue to try and inform anyone who'll listen about a potential threat.