The Norwegian Air Force's F-35 buy is consuming the rest of their forces....

Thanks to IronPalms for convincing me to link this story!

via ELP Blog...

Norway has accepted its first F-35. The aircraft is under-developed, under-tested is likely to lose fights against emerging and current threats and will cost well over $50,000 (USD) per flight hour.
Now, a day after this event, Norway's NRK reports (Google Translate Norwegian to English) that the country's defence establishment will cut their order of 52 F-35s by 10 because of an inability to afford the aircraft.
This is a bit odd as during the acceptance ceremony, the Norwegian Defence Minister stated no one was cutting F-35 orders. Awkward.
Also,the Defence chief has warned that unless defence spending is increased by 9 billion (Norwegian krone,NOK) a year, Norway, will "lose the ability to defend against an armed attack."

But wait...there's more!

These are some of the most important consequences of the cheapest of the two models to the Chief of Defence. This proposal is based on a continuation of the current defense budget in 20 years - adjusted for inflation and higher personnel expenses:
The army is cut to two battle-ready battalions - the lowest level since Norway became independent in 1905. And most dramatically - we must rid ourselves of all heavy tanks and artillery everything. The two battalions will not get antiaircraft defense against air attack.
Navy will lose all their submarines and corvettes. The Coast Guard will be reduced by two vessels from 15 to 13. The only vessels that are left in the Navy are the five new frigates that have just been put into service, plus a logistics vessels and container based demining equipment.
Air Force gets only 38 new fighter jets of the type F-35 - in addition to four trainers. There are 10 fewer than the one ordered. Surveillance and anti submarine aircraft P-3 Orion is gone and it will not be acquired long-range anti-aircraft artillery.
His Majesty the King's Guard, as we know it today, will be cut to a small force to concentrate on guarding the castle, parades and marching band activities.
Home Guard is cut by 12,000 soldiers. One Home Guard district and the Naval Home Guard shut down.
A large number of smaller departments and camps will also disappear in this proposal.

By this reckoning I should be applauding HQMC...at least we have a bit of ground forces left (not good enough by far but it looks like they're at least trying to hold the line....a little bit anyway).

But Norway?

They're getting RAPED.

At a time of most threat they're placing all their eggs in the F-35 basket...and they're destroying the rest of their armed forces to get it. 



That beautiful music at the rollout of the F-35 for Norway was a funeral dirge in disguise.  They're simply trumpeting the end of an effective military.

The Bubble Gut Phenomenon! Yeah, its the abuse of Growth Hormones...

First.  This post isn't gonna be for everyone...its for the gym guys.  Having said that  I've come to the sad conclusion that "traditional" body building isn't anything but a beauty contest for men.  The thing that most guys really chase is physical fitness and strength.  Watching coverage of the recent Mr. Olympia illustrates that there is a problem with all the steroid abuse...and now Growth Hormone abuse in that sport (still wonder if we should call professional body building a sport).

Check out the above video and even google the "bubble gut phenomena".  I really lay the blame on GH.

Its been used by the bodybuilding insiders for almost a decade now and its finally making inroads into the rest of society.

I really think guys should be extremely careful if they decide to use it and I personally would avoid the stuff like a plague (unless under the supervision of a doctor).  The muscle crowd uses it for muscle growth, the average guy uses it as a fountain of youth but the reality is that it affect ALL body organs...that includes the heart.

I finally found a muscle building supplement (besides Tren) that I consider too dangerous to even consider.

F-35 News. Stop listening to Air Force propaganda...start watching the budget.

I told you that in order to beat the F-35 you had to deal with reality.  You can't beat Pentagon visionaries (that are lying their asses off) and what they say the plane will do...too many are dazzled by stars and ribbons.  You have to focus on the budget.  Check this out from The Hill Blog...its taking an Army centric view of the budget but it applies triple time to the F-35 buys in the near term (2015-2017)...

The Department of Defense is bracing for the possibility of operating under an emergency spending measure for the next fiscal year, something it has never before been asked to do.
While lawmakers only intend for their stopgap funding measure — known as a continuing resolution (CR) — to last through mid-December, the Army is bracing preparing for the possibility that funding is eventually put on auto-pilot for a whole year, according to official documents obtained by The Hill.

A yearlong CR would be unprecedented for the Department of Defense, but is one of two likely scenarios for fiscal 2016, budget experts say.
Pentagon budget officials are "starting to realize that a full year CR is a real possibility," said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It's a real possibility this year because we've got a budget stalemate in Congress and between Congress and the administration, and both camps are pretty firmly dug into their trenches," he said.

Republicans can't do the deals necessary to plus up the Pentagon budget because conservatives back home will rebel.  The Democrats are holding the Pentagon budget hostage to increase domestic spending.

Neither side can relent or their base voters will go crazy.

This is the KEY vulnerability of the program.  THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO INCREASE PRODUCTION, which means that the price will not decrease but instead INCREASE (death spiral bitches!!!)!

Now is the time to focus like a laser on the REAL cost of the F-35 and what its doing to the ground combat element.

We're winning and the F-35 fanboys know it. 

Blast from the Past...XP-67 Bat...

The XP-67 Bat, an absolute beauty in my opinion but poor timing (the jet age) meant that it never saw service.  Wiki-page is here.

India's new Destroyer the "Kochi" via LiveFist...

Story here.

One thing I will never understand is why the State Dept and Pentagon aren't working harder to bring India into our orbit.  If recent history is any indication then they're not only capable of handling China on an equal footing but they also seem poised to match their capabilities and in some cases exceed them.

The China vs. India "potential fight" is the most interesting issue that's being ignored.  We've seen the seeds of conflict in border skirmishes already and its inevitably going to end in blood.

25th Infantry Division Trains Jungle Experts...

FORT BENNING, Ga., (Sept. 23, 2015) - The Jungle Operations Training Course in Hawaii trains Soldiers on survival, communication, navigation, waterborne operations, traversing, knots, evasion, marksmanship and patrol base operations. (Photo by 25th Infantry Division)

When I first saw this picture I cheered.

My thinking immediately went to the fact that the Army is making a move to reclaim lost capability.  Then I read the caption and it dawned on me.  Is this a Ranger School (-) with an emphasis on the Florida phase?

If it is then it wouldn't be the first.  Sapper Leaders Course seems like its a mini Ranger School and I'm sure there are others.

Maybe the Army should just bite the bullet and open up a second Ranger Training Battalion on the West coast.  Perhaps in Washington state.  God knows it has some crazy terrain.

SAIC reveals a bit more on the Terrex 2 Advanced...

The product sheet is here.

Wow.  After checking out these pics I would now have to say that the BAE SuperAV is getting pushed on its swim advantage.  This is an EXTENSIVE reworking of the skin of this vehicle.  Obviously the engineering team over at Singapore Kinetics worked overtime on this.

From what I can see it looks like the BAE/Iveco SuperAV and the SAIC/Singapore Kinetics are the favorites to win the downselect....Lockheed needs to do a bit more refining of the concept in my opinion (and also hope that Patria doesn't sue).

The question that everyone is asking but no one has the answer to is this.  Where the fuck is General Dynamics?

Marines fast roping from MV-22 (Vid)...fix this Assistant Commandant for Aviation!

I'm gonna beat on this drum for awhile so just deal with it.  These Marines are either the bravest, craziest or just ran out of fucks to give men I've ever seen.

Watch this vid carefully. Then follow the bouncing ball with me...

1.  Note how the rope is flying around like a drunk sailor on shore leave in Thailand.

2.  Watch how some Marines that aren't part of the stick (they're on the ground) run up to anchor the rope so that this training evolution can actually occur.  I HAVE NOTHING BUT PRAISE FOR THE PERSON WHO DECIDED TO DO THIS!

3.  Watch the Marines as they exit the airplane.  Notice the ropers.  Not one of them had "proper" form.  I don't blame them one bit for that.  How can you when the prop blast is so powerful and you're hanging on for life?

This is unsat.  Vanity should not be policy.  The above vid illustrates beyond doubt that fast roping from MV-22 is unnecessarily dangerous and should be dropped from the playbook.

I find it disturbing that Marine leadership hasn't addressed this issue.

F-35 News. The USAF is losing the public perception war.

via Defense Aerospace from War is Boring.

Wing/PAs offices should support the objectives of this guidance by sharing F-35 information, anecdotes and success stories as they occur, both locally and up the chain through their MAJCOM up to SAF/PA. Wing PA offices will write internal stories for posting to their websites, engage their community leaders and support local, national and international media engagements in coordination with their MAJCOM and SAF/PA. Wings will also identify pilots and maintainers who are proficient at telling the F-35 story and are willing to lend their name and image to the effort. Names of identified Airmen will be provided to their MAJCOM and in turn toSAF/PA.

Read the story but my take is simple.  The USAF is losing the public perception battle over the F-35.  They're so desperate and leadership is so untrusted on this issue that they need fresh faces to step forward and talk up the airplane.

This is what we can see.

I wonder what we can't.  Its all coming back to the budget.  The focus is on planned parenthood and a possible govt shutdown.  The real action is in the defense sector.  Bad things are happening that could be prevented if we didn't shovel all this money into the F-35.

Pro-tip?  Keep an eye on the shipbuilding sector.  The death spiral for the F-35 is here.  Unfortunately military leadership is so wedded to the plane the my meme..."everything must die so that the F-35 can live" is coming true.

The Centurion MBT, and possibly the greatest one tank "stand against many" in history...

Thanks to Mordechai for the link!

Think about some of the greatest tanks in history.  If you didn't include the Centurion then you're not serious about armored warfare.  The Centurion didn't earn its fame in British service; it was the Israelis that made it famous and one battle in particular ensured that it would be immortalized.  via The Jerusalem Post.

The two tanks would infamously later be known as the Zvika Force.
“I gave the company commander, Hagai Tzur, the better tank, and went into the more damaged tank [as the tank commander],” Greengold said. “That’s how I headed out.” With shells loaded, the tanks drove along the Petroleum Road [which stretches from the Golan Heights to the Syrian border]. We headed out, southbound, to scan the Heights.”
“It was very dark. We were at the Kudna Road. As we drove, I ran into a Syrian tank. I immediately opened fire, and the tank burned.”
Following the encounter, Greengold’s Centurion tank broke down, from the force of its own attack.
“I took Hagai’s tank, and he drove the other tank back to base,” Greengold recalled.
Greengold was sure there were other Syrian tanks that had broken through into Israeli territory.
He headed off the road and drove on. “I was determined to continue the mission,” he said.
Greengold reached the village of Huseiniya, deserted by its Syrian residents during the Six Day War. From there, he saw “many vehicle lights shining. There were trucks and tanks there. The whole of the Syrian army had arrived.”
Greengold reported the alarming discovery to his superior officer. “He had a conceptual problem. He could not grasp this information suddenly. He asked me how many forces I saw. I said, four times as many as you have. I’m too small for them.”
“How many of there are you?” Greengold’s commander asked. “I could not say I was just one tank. They were listening to our broadcasts. So I said, ‘We are not enough.’” Greengold concluded that his superiors were too involved in the range of developing battles to understand the significance of his radio warning.
In his lone tank, Greengold and his crew opened fire on the Syrians, changing positions frequently to dodge return fire.
“I’m giving open-fire orders. Then I instruct the driver to go up [a mount] and descend – to avoid exposure. My sense was of responsibility. I stood there, facing the Syrian army, which was about to conquer the State of Israel. What kept going through my head was: I cannot fail.”
In subsequent years, Greengold said, that moment became part of a wider sense that the Jewish people’s back is “against the wall. We have no other option. We have nowhere to run to.”
Returning to his inconceivable one-tank battle against advancing Syrian armor, Greengold said, “I was not scared of dying. I was scared of failing. On the contrary, sometimes I thought that night, let them hit me already.” But Greengold kept fighting, striking Syrian tanks, and doing his best to stop the Syrians from overtaking the strategic Nafah base.
Towards midnight, Greengold’s superiors became aware of the scale of the threat to Nafah, and sent an initial backup force of eight tanks.
“They came straight from the armament warehouses,” Greengold said.
In the battles that raged, five Israeli tanks were destroyed, and just three remained.

I don't think people realize how close the Arab Army was to victory in the Yom Kippur War.

Just one or two different decisions by the attacking forces....Just one Company or Battalion Commander that didn't pause and continued the assault would have seen the end of the Jewish nation....or one tank commander deciding that the odds didn't favor him so he would abandon his position.

One man (or crew) actually can change the course of history.