Wednesday motivation via Gruntworks....

The Chinese People's Liberation Army in 2025

Thanks to UtahBob62 for finding this!



Finally!

The military institution is slowly but surely recognizing that "outreach" and "partnerships" is nothing but meaningless drivel.  Society can play those games, a professional military CANNOT!

China still has its straw out to drink our milkshake but it seems like we're at last moving the glass away (I'm particularly fond of the different trajectories that this can take...from them being Hercules to an insignificant force...I'm seeing some good work here...no rosey scenarios just covering the possibilities).

Read it all.

Royal Australian Navy's Canberra LHD...

Just a few new pics that the RAN posted to their facebook page....

Jade Helm 15 soldiers fired upon. Predictable, stupidity brought on by secrecy...

via Heavy.com

Authorities say shots were fired at a group of soldiers training at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, where a large-scale training exercise is being held as part of Jade Helm 15.
No one was injured, WDAM-TV reports. The incident was reported at about 12:15 p.m., about 45 minutes after the shots were fired.
Police say they are searching for two men who fired from a two-door red Ford Ranger pickup truck with “broken arrow” written across the top, WLOX-TV reports.
The gunmen were reported to be two white males.
The soldiers were at a checkpoint on a county-owned road on the outskirts of Camp Shelby, Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said.

Read the entire article here.

This was predictable.  Not because of so called conspiracy theorists but because SOCOM played the "secret", "trust us" and "fuck you if you don't believe us" line.

There are waaaaaay too many people in the South with military training and experience.  Too many people are aware of the CRAZY amount of training areas that the US military has access to.  Too many know about the elaborate combat towns that are at most large military bases.

Too many are aware of the fact that the excuse of training in civilian areas to be prepared for operations overseas is an outright lie.

Quite honestly I expected to see alot more of this than we've seen.  We'll see how this plays out but SOCOM is tossing away all the good will they've bought thru the work of those that came before.

I'm waiting for the truth behind the Jade Helm 15 exercise but preparation for overseas contingencies is pure bullshit.

US Navy taking the Chinese "Carrier Killer" Ballistic Missile threat seriously after all!

Read the entire article (here...via Breaking Defense) but the operative statement is below...

As a result, Clark went on, “SM-3 can defend a large area against ballistic missiles, but can’t defeat a large number of missiles”: We simply can’t afford enough of them to stop a Chinese Second Artillery-style “salvo.” On the other hand, he said, SM-3 is perfect when you have relatively few incoming missiles to worry about but a large area to protect — say, defending Japan against North Korea.
SM-6 is shorter-ranged but cheaper and more versatile, Clark continued. It can’t defend a wide area, but you can afford enough of them to deal with a major attack on a point target: a crucial base or an aircraft carrier, for example. And once you’ve stocked up on SM-6s, he said, you can use them for a wide range of missiles: ballistic missile defense, cruise missile defense, anti-aircraft, or — “since the Navy is equipping SM-6 with GPS” — strike missions against surface targets.

This boys and girls is reason for cheer.

I guess in the backrooms out of earshot, leadership is taking the threat from China seriously.  Good to know.  So they're working on checkmating the Carrier Killer.  Awesome.

Now if someone from HQMC can explain to me how the Company Landing Team will survive a an assault from a Chinese Mechanized Infantry Battalion I might be able to chill out...at least for a few minutes.

Sidenote:  So I guess its true.  The SM-6 can be used in the strike role.  Again, awesome...but why would you?

Blast from the past. The "other" Lightning...

via retrowar...

Amazing.

Many years later and the same is being said about the F-35.  Tech might change but marketing?  NEVER!

Royal Irish Regiment (Light Mechanized Battalion) at Exercise Wessex Storm...

The Royal Irish Regiment is leading a major international exercise in Europe in their new role as a Light Mechanized Battalion.

Exercise Wessex Storm sees the Royal Irish working alongside American, Canadian, Czech and other nations as they get to grips with tactics and skills for close combat with their range of military vehicles, including the Foxhound, RWMIK, Wolfhound, Husky and Ridgback.

The Royal Irish Battlegroup, including a number of Army Reservists from 2 Royal Irish, are being put through their paces in Germany. Ranger Stephen Tan from Belfast says the terrain is challenging not only for the soldiers but for the vehicles. “This is a tough and realistic environment pushing us hard,” he said, “but when the adrenalin kicks in we really get going. It is what we joined the army for.”

Interesting.  As far as I know the Brits and Aussies are the only western militaries that have taken MRAPs and made them an actual part of their "regular" maneuver forces.  I believe the Foxhound is more suited to the role than the Bushmaster but time will tell.  This is another one of those exercises that I've never heard of before.  The caption says that they're working out with Americans, Canadians, Czech and other nations.  If this is force on force I'd love to hear how the Royals Irish Regiment did.

Happy 225th Birthday to the U.S. Coast Guard!

Happy birthday boys.

Just cause I don't cover ya doesn't mean I don't respect ya.  It means you're doing your damn job!  Again.  Happy birthday.

Chinese ZBD-08 IFV. What is that mast?

Note:  The pics below are from Defense Blog.  He identified the pictured vehicles as new Recon variants.  I'm not so sure about that.

What you see above are two identical pics from Defense Blog.  In the below pics I highlighted the mast.  What is that?  It doesn't look like a sight system.  I don't think its some type of anti-missile setup.  Any ideas?

Different subject....  I'm assuming these are Chinese Infantry (Army, Marines...doesn't matter....no indication that they're special ops and they're not equipped like a Sniper Platoon).   So what's the deal with the ghillie suits?  Is that standard issue?  Are they working on ways to reduce their IR signature?  Yeah.  Time to start watching infantry developments to see if this is a one off or a trend.  Additionally I need to find specs on those suits.  They're taking this seriously folks.  We need to get hard or they will DRINK OUR MILKSHAKE!

The Human Condition in pictures...

All pics via Viralands...more here....

Note:  I picked these at random, they're all worth a look if you haven't seen them before.

Two people found in a collapsed building...

Man's best friend showing loyalty even after death....

A young boy trying to get his pathetic drunk ass father to get up (my description)...

An old vet besides the tank he rode into war....