*MIGRANTS OVERRUN POLICE AT BORDER CROSSING TO ENTER HUNGARY:AFPEurope is going to be forced to use their military on home soil against "refugees".
2015-09-16 16:04:38.311 GMT
--ADAM CATALDO
-0- Sep/16/2015 16:04 GMT
BFW 09/16 15:33 *US SPECIAL OPS. FORCES ARE ON GROUND IN SYRIA: CNBC1. This is in response to the mass immigration to Europe. The reality though? You're seeing economic migration, these people aren't refugees fleeing a fight.
CNBC: RT @CNBCnow: BREAKING: Defense officials tell NBC News that US special ops. forces are on ground in Syria assisting
2015-09-16 15:32:24.247 GMT
RT @CNBCnow: BREAKING: Defense officials
tell NBC News that US special ops. forces
are on ground in Syria assisting Kurdish
forces in fight against ISIS
CNBC @CNBC
Boeing has unveiled an up-gunned version of its supersonic F-15C air superiority jet designed to keep the aging fleet operationally relevant through 2040.Interesting isn't it.
Called 2040C, the upgrade package includes “quad pack” munitions racks designed to double the aircraft’s air-to-air missile payload to 16 and conformal fuel tanks for extended-range flights.
For communications, Boeing is naturally offering “Talon HATE” – the air force’s programme of record for connecting the F-15 with Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor.
In terms of survivability, Boeing’s package includes Raytheon’s APG-63(v)3 active synthetically scanned array (AESA) radar and a long-range infrared search and track (IRST) sensor for “first sight, first shot, first kill” air-to-air combat.
Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics showcased a new and improved version of the 8x8 Terrex infantry carrier vehicle, the Terrex 2, at the DSEI exhibition in London.Interesting.
Weighing 30 tonnes, the Terrex 2 is bigger than its predecessor and it has a capacity for one extra passenger – totaling 12 soldiers and two crewmen. The heavier body allows installation of a wider range of weaponry, armour and a payload of up to 9 tonnes.
A distinctive feature applied for the first time in such a vehicle is its ‘V-over-V’ lower-hull design for enhanced blast protection. The driver’s compartment also utilises customisable touchscreen interfaces with a surveillance system that provides the crew with a panoramic camera view.
An ST Kinetics spokesman told Shephard, ‘The Terrex 2 is our response to address the growing global demand for an advanced 8x8, which has to be effective in not only urban operations but land and littoral missions too.’
The Terrex 2 is able to integrate a variety of weapon systems, including a 30mm Bushmaster cannon or 12.7mm machine gun.
ST Kinetics, in partnership with US-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), is in the running for the USMC Amphibious Combat Vehicle Phase 1 Increment 1 (ACV 1.1) programme.
Requirements listed in the ACV project are a ‘particular emphasis on water speed and reserve buoyancy’ so it can operate in 3-foot waves.
‘The Terrex for ACV Phase 1 is essentially a Terrex 2 configured for the specific requirements of the USMC. However, we are not able to share more details as this is an ongoing programme,’ ST Kinetics told Shephard.
The Terrex 2 is designed to perform better in the water for ship-to-shore operations. A distinctive feature is a larger trim vane on the front hull, as well as a better swimming speed of 6 knots with improved amphibious systems.
The Singapore Army currently utilises three known Terrex variants in their two infantry regiments: Infantry Carrier Vehicle, Pioneer and Ambulance. Other variants offered by ST Kinetics include an anti-tank missile carrier and 120mm SRAMS mortar carriage.
India will carry out maiden tests of its air-launched BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from specially-modified Sukhoi-30 fighter planes from November, BrahMos Aerospace CEO Sudhir Mishra told HT.Payloads over platforms.
Four flight tests will be conducted over a period of six months before the missile is declared ready for deployment on the fighter planes towards mid-2016. The actual missile will be tested in April 2016 following three dummy tests.
The Nasik division of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has modified two Su-30 fighters to carry the 2.5-tonne missile, the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile. The second aircraft is expected to be delivered to BrahMos Aerospace by September-end.
The BrahMos missile, an Indo-Russian joint venture, provides India the capability to hit targets 290km away at nearly three times the speed of sound. The missile’s land and naval variants — 500kg heavier than the air version — are already in service.
“The missile will give the IAF extended range capability. No other Air Force has such a powerful cruise missile in its inventory,” Mishra said. The BrahMos missile has three existing variants: Block-I (anti-ship), Block-II (land to land) and Block-III (with steep dive capabilities for mountain warfare).
With more than three months to go before the year-end deadline, the Navy Secretary made it clear on Monday: he will not be requesting any exceptions to the Pentagon edict that all U.S. military jobs be opened to women.To Haynie and her band of zealots over at the USNI Blog. You won. Congrats. You're wrong as fuck but you won.
“Nobody’s asking for an exemption in the Navy,” Mabus told an audience at the the City Club of Cleveland. “And I’ve been pretty clear about this for a while – I’m not going to ask for an exemption for the Marines.”
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| NOTE: RMT often uses file pics....not from the actual exercise. |
September 16 - A group of Russian Northern Fleet warships practised an amphibious Arctic landing exercise on Tuesday, the fleet press office told.Are you locking onto this? As far as I know, the US is struggling to deploy modern icebreakers and the Army only has a notional force for combat in the Arctic. Meanwhile the Russians have formed an Arctic Brigade and are mechanizing it. If you're a NATO fan the only dedicated force that has proven capability to operate in the Far North to my knowledge are the Royal Marines. Even the USMC has de-emphasized Arctic operations in the modern era (amazingly enough during the 50's the USMC regularly trained to operate in extreme cold...oh and before you go high and to the right, the Winter package at Bridgeport is a great course, but from what I've read "different" than actual Arctic ops).
The Northern Fleet's Georgy Pobedonosets and Kondopoga large amphibious assault ships reaching Russia’s New Siberian archipelago on Monday, landed marines on Kotelny Island on Tuesday. Arctic brigade units took part in an amphibious operation of this kind for the first time.
"The exercise in amphibious landing onto rough terrain started with the support ofshipborne aircraft. Two Kamov Ka-27 [NATO reporting name: Helix] shipborne helicopters took off from the large antisubmarine ship Severomorsk to transport advance parties to the western shore of Kotelny Island," the press office said.
Then the Georgy Pobedonosets started to land amphibious troops. The ship arrived at the landing site and offloaded vehicles, equipment and personnel. The Kondopoga was the second to land marines on Kotelny Island.
More than 230 servicemen from the Arctic brigade and 30 pieces of wheeled and tracked vehicles, including articulated tracked amphibious snow and swamp-going vehicles with high cross-country ability and MT-LBV multipurpose tractors, were carried to Kotelny Island during the exercise.
Quad bikes recently fielded with the Arctic brigade will be tested in harsh conditions of the Arctic Ocean islands for the first time.
After fighting for amphibious landing and securing positions on the shore, the Arctic brigade’s units moved inland towards the base camp.
During the ships’ stay off the New Siberian archipelago, they will have to conduct all-arms forces’ exercise to protect the archipelago and the Russian Arctic coast, the press office said.
The F-35's “ability, stealth-wise, to penetrate contested airspace unobserved gives it an advantage over everybody else,” said Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle at the Air Force Association’s 2015 Air and Space Conference.Seems like Axe's article about the F-35 getting curb stomped by a two seat F-16 with wing tanks isn't such garbage after all.
The aircraft is not a maneuverability airplane. That’s not what it was designed for, he said. “It’s a multi-role airplane that has an incredibly comprehensive, powerful, integrated avionics and sensor suite. It has incredible electronic warfare in both [electronic countermeasure] and [electronic counter-countermeasure] capability.”
The secret Rand report for the Pentagon wrote, “Inferior acceleration, inferior climb, inferior sustained turn capability. Also has lower top speed. Can’t turn, can’t climb, can’t run.” The military analysts explained that the F-35 would function better as a long-range, mobile missile platform rather than a fighter. The computer models showed that once the jets had lost their element of surprise and launched all their missiles, remaining enemy fighters had no problem clearing them from the sky. The result was the loss of the battle and China’s successful invasion of Taiwan.So we've known that the F-35 is garbage as an air superiority fighter for almost two decades now. The only problem is that since the Pentagon didn't acknowledge it and defense reporters didn't dig into the story, the public has been fooled into believing the talking points that the plane is as maneuverable as the F-16/18.
In terms of close-air support, Carlisle said the F-35 will be highly capable once it finishes its Block 4 software update, and the next-generation electro-optical targeting system has been fully fleshed out. “When you look at what Block 4 is going to be when we get to that in the F-35, then we’re getting to a no kidding CAS platform.”He's talking in terms of close air support. He's talking in terms of having to provide that close air support in an environment where the US doesn't have air superiority.
During the Red Flag exercise this summer at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, the service tested the plane in a close-air support role. “It did exceedingly well in that it could penetrate airspace that other airplanes couldn’t, and it could use electronic warfare to defeat adversaries and defeat surface-to-air capability while at the same time protecting its own sensor suite,” Carlisle said.
A few things.Delivery of the first batch of Freccia 8x8 armoured fighting vehicles will be completed by the end of the year, with the exception of 26 vehicles.
So far 160 have been delivered – 126 of which are of the Infantry Fighting Vehicle, 36 anti-tank variants and eight mortar carriers.According to Iveco-Oto Melara all 160 are operational with the Italian Army’s 82nd Reginment Torino, based in Apulia. The total order for 248 vehicles including: 172 IFVs, 36 anti-tank, 20 C2 and 21 mortar carrying vehicles, was placed with CIO – an consortium of Iveco and Oto Melara – in December 2007.
That leaves 88 remaining, however the company also told Shephard that eight of the mortar carrier and 18 C2 variant vehicles will not be delivered this year, so 52 units are expected to handed over by the end of 2015.A second batch of 381 vehicles was ordered by Italy in 2014. Iveco-Oto Melara said in a statement: ‘Parliament approved the 2nd Brigade but we are still waiting for the complete funding. We expect a first order for 30 IFV, to be delivered within the year end.’
The breakdown of vehicles includes: 163 IFV, 120 explorer (reconnaissance), 40 recovery, 36 anti-tank, 14 mortar carrier and eight C2.
The IFV variant is fitted with a HITFIST Plus turret armed with an Oerlikon 25mm dual-feed KBA cannon and 7.62mm co-axial MG.The Explorer reconnaissance vehicles, also called VBM (Veicolo Blindato Medio), still have the HITFIST but are equipped with enhanced ISTAR payload. One type is configured to control UAVs and the other UGVs.
Meanwhile, the anti-tank version is equipped with the Rafael Spike long-range ATGM mounted on the side of the turret.
The company added that they are still ‘waiting for funding’ for an order for the SuperAV vehicle that will replace the existing tracked amphibious vehicles in the Italian Army and Navy. A contract for 72 vehicles for the army and 72 vehicles for the navy is expected.
