Boeing Starliner...

What did you just watch?  The announcement that the CST-100 has been officially named Starliner...Check out the caption to this vid...

On Sept. 4, 2015, Boeing's Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, has officially been named Starliner. The Starliner is scheduled to take its first crewed spaceflight by the end of 2017, effectively resuming U.S.-based flights to space.

So what exactly is the CST-100?  Image below...

What has me scratching my head?  Well the little fact that the Boeing Starliner leads to this image on my Google search...

I think they better get a handle on the naming conventions or at least bombard the airwaves with this news.  An old concept is getting press that the new "hotness" isn't!

Saudi Arabia/GCC continue to get their asses kicked in Yemen..

Thanks to MiloMonkey for the links!

All pics via arabianofelix twitter page.

via Press TV

The Yemeni army and popular committees have reportedly destroyed two Saudi Arabian Apache helicopters in Yemen's east-central province of Ma’rib as part of the retaliatory measures over Riyadh's ongoing aggression against its impoverished southern neighbor.
The choppers were targeted with Tochka rockets in an operation, which also destroyed three Saudi missile launch platforms, Yemen's al-Masirah TV reported on Friday.
A large number of Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini forces were killed and injured in the retaliatory attack, which was undertaken as part of efforts to clear the province of al-Qaeda militants and Saudi-backed militants.
The UAE later confirmed that 22 of its soldiers had been killed in Yemen without specifying the circumstances of the highest death toll of the country in its offensive against Yemen as part of the Saudi coalition.
Missiles fired from the direction of Yemen also struck the Saudi military’s Hashed monitoring site and Saudi artillery positions in the Hamdan military site, both located in the Najran region of southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Saudi army gatherings in the Jizan region, similarly located in the kingdom’s southwest, also came under Yemeni missile fire.
Also on Friday, it was reported that several people had been killed in five Saudi airstrikes on a hospital in the Razih district of Sa'ada Province in northwestern Yemen.
Saudi fighter jets, meanwhile, launched more than 15 airstrikes on the Harad district in the southwestern Yemeni province of Hajjah, while at least eight air raids were carried out against the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

Just wow.

The Saudi's are hip deep in a quagmire.  They're getting their heads bashed and it doesn't seem like there's much they can do to stop it.

Remember the armored columns we saw heading into Yemen?  After this it looks like the plan didn't work.

Iranian advisors and Houthi rebels have just changed the face of the Middle East.  Saudi Arabia made a pitch to be the "new" leader of the Arab world and it isn't working.

Can you smell the weakness coming from that Kingdom?  Can you sense the desperation?  I can.  That means that Iran does too.  They better hope that the King of Jordan is willing to lead a unified Arab Army against the Persians or the war is already lost.

Sidenote:  Talk about combat multipliers!  Iranian SF did a better job in a shorter time frame than our guys did in Afghanistan.  Amazing what happens when you let your beasts off the leash huh?  

Blast from the past via Gruntworks...

Andrew Cutraro August 4th 2003.
I barely remember taking this photograph. Unprepared for physical and mental rigors of covering the Marines. Exhausted, disoriented to breaking point, when I saw this scene I thought I was hallucinating. The killing had picked up and the invasion force had moved from open desert to urban areas. Taken outside Baghdad before it fell. Marines were told to expect a bloody street-to-street fight for the capital and the men of Lima co. 3/7 were steeling themselves for it

No words....just look...

Suspects arrested in case of off duty Police Officer found dead in his home.

Thanks to Tony for bringing this to my attention.

via FoxZone.com

Police have arrested and charged Phillip Walter, 29, and Violetta Walter, 30, for the murder of Officer Don Allen.
The two suspects where linked to stolen property taken from Allen's home. Chief Standridge said it will be up to the Texas Rangers and the District Attorney as to whether they pursue capital murder charges.
Shortly after 6pm, the Texas Rangers and Officers of the APD arrested the couple at a south side apartment complex in the 1000 block of South Clack in Abilene under arrest warrants obtained by the Texas Rangers. They both are being charged with 1st degree felony murder which carries confinement from 5-99 years, or life. Their bond has been set at $500,000 each.
Chief Standridge said the department is confident they have taken the correct people into custody and do not believe there are other suspects.

The race baiters are going to be very disappointed with the outcome of this story.  When Tony first brought this to my attention a few days ago, I checked it out and did a little digging into the grey and dark internet.  Many fingers were pointing at BlackLivesMatter, Mexican Drug Cartels or a combination of the two (considering the warfare inside prisons that thought is crazy).

Putting all that aside.

I'm really curious as to what this was all about.  We may never get the whole story on this one.  But even a burglary gone bad wouldn't make me think that someone would tie up a homeowner, scrawl anti-police statements on the wall and then make off with gear.

Yeah its happened, but once you discover the person is a police officer?  A charge of 1st degree murder instead of capital murder?

Something is off here.

Bundeswehr's view of Swift Response 2015 (pics)

All pics via Offizieller Auftritt der Bundeswehr 

Note:  Name the vehicle/airplane that you would expect to see all over exercise Swift Response but it has yet to make an appearance.  Give up?  Ok well how about the A400 and/or the NH90!  From what I've seen, they haven't come out to play.  

Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015 is underway...pics by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Vladimir Ramos

An amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion prepares to exit the well deck during a ship to shore exercise movement aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25). Somerset is currently participating in Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015 (DB-15). Exercise DB-15 is a multinational training conducted by Expeditionary Strike Group 3 (ESG-3) and 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade (1 MEB) to build U.S., Japan, Mexico, and New Zealand’s amphibious and command and control capabilities through live, simulated, and constructive military training activities off the coast and ashore at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center 29 Palms, California. Somerset is the ninth San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.

Curious.

I can see New Zealand participating in Pacific Rim exercises.  I definitely can see their Special Ops personnel working out with SOCOM on a continuous basis but an amphibious assault/sea base exercise?  They're hardly equipped to contribute much of anything.  Mexico?  Their Marine Corps is so busy fighting Narco-Terrorists that I don't see how they have the time.  Additionally their Navy is in the same shape as New Zealand's....they're not equipped to contribute to an amphibious assault/sea base ex.

So what gives?

Joint/Multi-national for the sake of calling it Joint/Multi-national is silly.  This partnership bug needs to die.

Ok Sol, we heard you bitch, what would you like to see?  How about making Dawn Blitz the premier joint forcible entry exercise....How about instead of inviting countries with little capability we redesign it.  Year One (yeah I'm talking about resetting the whole thing) we invite the 82nd Airborne and do a joint amphibious/parachute assault on mythical country X.  Year Two we expand that to include a Stryker Brigade, SOCOM and workout a full bore MPS squadron.  Year Three we sit back and watch the people begging to participate.

I think that would be a better model than what we're seeing.  Too many exercise with too scattered a focus is just busy work.

The immigration issue could threaten the EU?

Just heard on CNBC.

Germany has supposedly said to immigrants that once they're in they won't be forced back out.  That is what's leading to the craziness with the trains.  Meanwhile Ms. Merkel is saying that each nation must take hundreds of thousands of immigrants and they're getting pushback.

The analyst on CNBC is saying that this could be the biggest threat to the EU since its birth.  He went on to say that difficulties with integration into European society would see generations of tension.

Sounds like the EU is in for a rough ride.  Popcorn please!

Norwegian CV90 Hi-Rez Presentation Pics...

All pics via the Norwegian Ministry of Defense...

Breaking! Trump signed the pledge?

Wow.

Didn't see this coming, but it seems that the "establishment" Republican party pressured him to do this.

Does this mean that they're taking him seriously?  Does this mean that FoxNews is going to back off?

I would never vote for the guy.  Jeb either.  The most "talented" field in history is pretty weak in my opinion.

There are no good choices in this election and its going from being a comedy without serious discussion of serious issues to a tragedy.  The American public is so easily distracted and partitioned by stupidity that it boggles the mind.

This nation is screwed.

Question. Who was China's military parade aimed at?

Who did the Chinese want to be the main audience of their military parade?  I'm thinking it goes a bit like this....

1.  The Chinese people...
Leadership there wants the people to have pride in the force that they have built and how their strength must now be respected.  Nationalism is not to be underestimated.

2.  The Japanese...
Think racism is an issue in the states?  Try a little time in Asia.  Add to that the people in the region have a long memory when it comes to history (you have a cluster of civilizations in the region that advanced more rapidly than the West) and you have hurt feelings, hatred and bitterness that date back BEFORE WW2...and WW2 was bad.

3.  The United States...
I think the message is that we're here, we're to be respected, we will act in our own interests and you should stay out of our affairs.

The Chinese put on a good show.  If I was Japanese Defense Official I would be more than a little concerned.  On this blog we look at this issue from a US perspective.  If I glanced at that weaponry from a Japanese view I'd be concerned about national survival.  Not only can the Chinese overwhelm them one v. one but if the US doesn't act quickly those gains will be irreversible.

Long story short.  The Chinese own the 1st Island Chain and outside of a massive military buildup by Japan and the US there is little we can do about it.  Even worse?  We can contest the 2nd Chain, but they're rapidly approaching the ability to dominate there too.  We're losing the war before it even starts.