'Trons beat Stealth! UPDATE.

I know this photo is a few years old.  I know that we've never gotten details of how the EA-18G Driver and his Electronic Warfare bubba got the kill, what we do know is that this was probably one of the 'events' that cooled the Navy to the idea that stealth is a game changer and indispensable on future battlefields.

Trons beat stealth!  Payloads over Platforms!

Opposition Forces Training.... video by Senior Airman Steven Adkins

Interesting.

I found that most Europeans had a good grasp of the English language.  As a matter of fact it seems that everyone on that continent is bi-lingual.  It really makes sense that they are.  If every state in the US had a distinct culture and language then you would see more bi-lingual people here.

Regardless.  Good training...I just would have liked to see a bit of force on force action between the Abrams and the Leopard.

We should weaponize the AFSB "Chesty" Puller...

via USNI News.

The first General Dynamics NASSCO built Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) delivered to the U.S. Navy on Friday, Naval Sea Systems Command said.
USNS Lewis B. Puller (MLP-3/AFSB) — based on an Alaska-class commercial crude carrier — is designed to host special operations forces (SOF) and mine countermeasure (MCM) helicopters as part of the Navy, U.S. Military Sea Lift Command and the Marines push to more capability for amphibious forces and capacity for seabasing with less expensive ships.
“This ship represents a leap forward in flexible capability for the U.S. Navy,” said Capt. Henry Stevens, Strategic and Theater Sealift program manager in Program Executive Office, Ships said in a statement.

This is good news....but I wonder....why don't they have standard defensive weaponry?  25mm cannons, Phalanx guns and Rolling Airframe Missile systems for point defense/anti-air work and maybe even a 57mm gun to reach out a bit to support a Company Landing Team ashore (yeah its small but better than nothing).

We need to wrap our heads around the idea that any ship  that carries Marines will be shot at.  Everyone from pirates, to rebels/terrorists, to the inevitable major regional war will take a swing at these puppies.

Oh and spare me the idea that we will have the luxury of pulling them out of harms way because of our magnificent ISR systems.  Trouble comes when you're least expecting it and tech won't change Murphy's mind.

Convair Advanced F-106 Sky Scorcher

The REAL history of the F-35!

Lets learn our F-35 history boys and girls.  via JSF.mil.

Advanced Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) 1983-1994
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began a program in 1983 to begin looking at the technologies available to design and manufacture a follow-on supersonic replace for the AV-8 Harrier.
STOVL Strike Fighter (SSF) 1987-1994
In the late 1980s the Lockheed Skunk Works was involved in a classified, non-acknowledged program with NASA Ames that looked into the feasibility of designing a stealthy supersonic STOVL fighter.
Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter (CALF) 1993-1994The ASTOVL/SSF concepts were originally seen as developing a replacement for the U.S. and U.K. Harrier jump-jet. As the ASTOVL/SSF concepts became multi-service with the suggestion of multiple variants, the program was re-christened as the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter (CALF).
Multi-Role Fighter (MRF) 1990-1993
The U.S. Air Force’s MRF program began in 1991 as a relatively low-cost F-16 replacement. Similar in size to the F-16, the MRF was to have been a single-seat / single-engine aircraft, with a unit flyaway cost in the range of $35 to $50 million.
Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) 1983-1991
The U.S. Navy Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) program began in 1983 as a proposed long range, very low observable, high payload medium-attack aircraft to replace the Grumman A-6 in the carrier-based, medium-attack role
Naval Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF) 1990-1991
Due to Congressional intervention, the U.S. Navy agreed to evaluate a navalized version of the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Tactical Fighter (now the F/A-22) as a possible replacement for their F-14s. In return, the U.S. Air Force would evaluate a derivative of the ATA as a replacement for their F-111s.
Advanced-Attack/Advanced/Fighter-Attack (A-X/A/F-X) 1992-1993
In January 1991, with the cancellation of the ATA and the NATF, the Secretary of the Navy directed that planning commence for a new A-6 replacement program. This new program became the known as the A-X, an advanced, “high-end,” carrier-based multi-mission aircraft with day/night/all-weather capability, low observables, long range, two engines, two-crew, and advanced, integrated avionics and countermeasures.
JAST
However, FY95 budget legislation passed in October 1994 by the U.S. Congress directed that ASTOVL be merged into JAST immediately.

Go here to read it all.

Stop jacking up the history people.

Oh and don't blame the USMC, blame your Congressman for ordering the programs combined.

Line-up for HM The Queen’s Birthday

F-35 News. Is the Marine Air "neck down" strategy changing?

Marine Times

Marines with three squadrons aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp flew dozens of sorties a day at the stick of the F-35B, the service's next generation short-takeoff, vertical-landing fighter that will replace the AV-8B Harrier and EA-6B Prowler.

Here.

Did you notice that?  The F-35B will replace the Harrier and the Prowler.  They no longer include the F/A-18A/B/C/D.

That was once a HUGE selling point of the F-35.  It would replace legacy airplanes and allow Marine Air to neck down to one fighter jet that could perform the missions of all current fighter/attack/electronic airplanes.

This article isn't the only one that is leaving out Hornets as part of the replacement plan.

Is the Marine Air neck down strategy changing?

Why China Will Not Become the Dominant Power in Asia (Manuscript)

Many thanks to Paralus for finding this!

  Why China Will Not Become the Dominant Power in Asia

World of Tanks News. My new favorite...the M41 Walker Bulldog!

Yeah people.

Meet my new favorite World of Tanks ride...the M41 Walker Bulldog!

This thing is on steroids.  Its camo rating, speed, 10 ROUND clip, rapid turret rotation and surprisingly, its sometimes bouncy armor make this the best light tank in the game.

If you use it to passive scout in the beginning and then go on a rampage after the herds been thinned then it can DOMINATE matches.

Of course it helps to have a good team around you too.

Now if I can only figure out how to keep from getting "team killed" when I refuse to run around hazarding my tank by flying around the battlefield like some of the big Tank Destroyer drivers want you to do, I'll be sitting pretty!

French Chief calls out USAF tactics against ISIS.

Thanks to William for the link!

via Breitbart

The general said: “In Libya we went after [Libyan leader] Kadhafi’s centres of gravity… it was by attacking these centres that we managed to topple Kadhafi, not by firing at 150 pick-up trucks a day. Otherwise we would still be there.
“It is exactly the same problem in Iraq today. We are shooting at the frontline but behind that we need to concentrate on the centres of gravity.”

Here.

I don't quite know what to make of this.  First, the Libyan thing was a Brit/French initiative where we "followed" and then did most of the work.  Second, the French again are involved in this activity and allied partner relationships means that issues like this should be handled privately...they could work it out or the French could go after the targets they deem important on their own.

But that's the rub isn't it.  The French forces are light.  What this guy is actually doing is trying to tell the USAF what to do with ITS aircraft.  I even doubt that the French could actually launch the kind of strikes that he wants on their own.

Long story short.  I'm betting word is getting out that something catastrophic is about to happen and the blame game is getting warmed up.