Jihadist meets his fate (mildly unsafe for work).

Thanks to SHTF Blog for the link!



Two things.  First.  The recognition but too late that he was about to suffer a metric ton's worth of pain and misery.  Second.  The almost inhuman cries of pain in the background.

Quite honestly it filled my heart with joy.

The Turkish shootdown of the SU-24 turns even more strange...

Thanks to Ulf Utho for the link!

via Hastings Tribune.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey, following the downing this week by Turkey of a Russian warplane.
The decree published on the Kremlin's website Saturday came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had voiced regret over the incident, saying his country was "truly saddened" by the event and wished it hadn't occurred.

Put aside the sanctions part of this article.  Sanctions are the current "hotness" when it comes to nation states expressing displeasure with each other and I feel its all an indication that the globalization scheme is breaking down.

What should catch your attention is what Erdogan said.  "Truly saddened"?  "Wished it hadn't occurred"?

Wow.

This is totally different from their initial stance.  I know many disagree but I think my cowboy pilot theory is spot on.

Want even more crazy speculation?  Turkish security/intel forces are known to work with ISIS...could the Turkish civilian leadership have lost control?  Could the swing to a quasi Islamic type govt framework finally be coming back to bite?  Could hardcore elements that they put in place suddenly be acting on their own?

Sidenote:  Syria and Iraq are covered by the most extensive electronic sensor net in the world today.  Why haven't we seen confirmation of the Turkish claims?  Additionally the recording of the Turks warning off the Russian airplane hasn't been released by another power.  Why?  We should not only have third party radar tracks but we should also have monitored communication.  There is something very wrong with this whole thing.  I can't put my finger on it but I sense shenanigans.

Blast from the past. The "Composite Air Strike Force"?

via Wikipedia.

In the aftermath of the Korean War, TAC developed the Composite Air Strike Force (CASF) concept, a mobile rapid-deployment strike concept designed to respond to "brush fire" conflicts around the world. A CASF included fighter bomber aircraft for both conventional and nuclear attack missions, as well as troop carrier, tanker, and tactical reconnaissance assets. TAC composite air strike forces were intended to augment existing combat units already in place as part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), or the Alaskan Air Command (AAC).
In addition, the new Century Series of TAC fighters were making their first flights, designed from the lessons learned in the air over Korea. As these new fighters and new transport aircraft came on line, there were problems with each one. TAC pilots risked life and limb to iron out the problems and make these aircraft fully operational. Also, with the development of air refueling, TAC could now flex its muscles and demonstrate true global mobility. Deployments to Europe and the Far East became a way of life for TAC units. When Strategic Air Command abandoned its fighter escort force in 1957, those aircraft were transferred to TAC, further augmenting its strength.
The first deployment of the Composite Air Strike Force took place in July 1958 in response to an imminent coup d'état in Lebanon. TAC scrambled forces across the Atlantic to Turkey, where their presence was intended to force an end to the crisis. A similar CASF was deployed in response to conflicts between China and Taiwan in 1958.

When did we know that the USAF was no longer serious about close air support?  When they shuttered the Tactical Air Command.  They really should bring it back.

US finally pressing Turkey to close its Syrian border.

via The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration is pressing Turkey to deploy thousands of additional troops along its border with Syria to cordon off a 60-mile stretch of frontier that U.S. officials say is used by Islamic State to move foreign fighters in and out of the war zone.
The U.S. hasn’t officially requested a specific number of soldiers. Pentagon officials estimated that it could take as many as 30,000 to seal the border on the Turkish side for a broader humanitarian mission. Cordoning off just one section alone could take 10,000 or more, one official estimated.
It’s unclear how Turkey will respond. Turkish officials said they agree that tighter border control is necessary, and have begun implementing some measures. They suggested that the Pentagon troop estimates are inflated, but declined to give a number of their own.
In return for doing more to fight Islamic State, Turkey is seeking more financial help from Europe to deal with its 2.2 million Syrian refugees, as well as support for a safe zone in Syria—an idea that has been shelved by the Obama administration as too risky and complicated.

This is big stuff people.  Europe is finally willing to deal head on with the illegal immigrant problem.  That means the border needs to be sealed and they're pressing the US to press Turkey.   I don't think for one moment that this initiative is coming from the Obama admin.  This is backdoor moves by France and the UK to get this issue settled.

Why did it take so long?  Something is brewing inside the govts of the West....

“The game has changed. Enough is enough. The border needs to be sealed,” a senior Obama administration official said of Washington’s message to Ankara. “This is an international threat, and it’s all coming out of Syria and it’s coming through Turkish territory.”

What's not being said?  That Turkey should cut off support of ISIS.  I don't know what's prompting this but things are changing.  More to come I'm sure.

Have we ever seen major combat in a modern big city?

I use the "initiation" cutscene from the Call of Duty:Advanced Warfare as a primer for the subject I'd like opinions on.

In this video game, the N. Koreans have invaded S. Korea and are hookin' and jabbin' with the good guys (the US) inside the city of Seoul.

Have we ever seen major combat in a modern big city?  Urban combat is well known as  a meat grinder for infantry.  We all know about the heavy fighting in Fallujah.  We know about the battles that took place so long ago in Stalingrad.  But how would a fight in New York, Tokyo, Moscow...or perhaps more likely in Manila, Nairobi, Alexandria or Cairo look like?

We have never seen fighting in a major city in this age.  In the past, entire divisions could be sent into cities and after a few hours or days they would cease to exist.  How would a much smaller Army or Marine Corps fare?

Note:  For all those that would like to point to Hue City, Seoul, Aleppo, Beirut, Panama City, Grozny or Mogadishu I counter by saying that those cities were not developed to the point that we see today.

The BAE/IVECO SuperAV will be the new Landing Vehicle Wheeled (LVW-1) for the USMC.

You know by now that SAIC/Singapore Kinetics Terrex 2 and BAE/Iveco SuperAV were downselected in the USMC's ACV competition.

What you might not realize is "how right" the Marines finally got things.  Check this out from USNI News (March 2015).

Increment 1.1 was meant to have the ground protection Marines needed and would go ashore via surface connectors. Increment 1.2 would have a self-deploying capability at least equal to the 40-year-old Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs) used today. And the third increment, if ever exercised, would add the high water speed capability that would allow it to plane over the top of the water instead of swimming through it.

What has me cheering for once is the fact that the ACV is turning out to be more than the old Marine Personnel Carrier Concept.  It is indeed shaping up as a real replacement for the AAV.  Even better?  We're not going to have to wait till 2020-something to start a new competition to fulfill the requirement to swim from ship to shore.

The BAE/Iveco model has been designed with the AAV replacement in mind from the start and it looks like the SAIC/Singapore Kinetics reskinned the Terrex to provide that same ability.

That's why BAE and SAIC got downselected while the Lockheed and General Dynamics models are on the outside looking in.

Those companies appear to have focused more on the MPC part...more on the wheeled IFV part of things instead of remembering that their customer was the United States Marine Corps and swim would be important too.

But I want to point out one part of this old USNI News article that actually tells us  who the ultimate winner will be...

Many of the competitors, “instead of [focusing] on just putting 10 seats for the 1.1, most of them are focused on ending up with 12 to 13 seats, for example. The swim quality, instead of focusing on the lower threshold requirement of, say, a level of 2 feet significant wave height, they’re actually focusing on building the vehicle to be able [to swim] at three [feet],” he said.

The SAIC vehicle has 11 seats.  The BAE has 13.  Swim ability will be equal to the AAV for both vehicles as will blast protection.  BAE will NOT be beat on price and they're ready to roll into full rate production now.

That's why I can call it today.  The BAE/Iveco SuperAV will be selected as the new Landing Vehicle Wheeled (LVW-1) for the USMC.

Erik Prince is recruiting S. American Mercenaries for the fight in Yemen...

via Fox News Latino.

In a program launched by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and now run by the Emirati military, the force of 450 Latin American troops – mostly made up of Colombian fighters, but also including Chileans, Panamanians and Salvadorans – adds a new and surprising element to the already chaotic mix of forces from foreign governments, armed tribes, terrorist networks and Yemeni militias that are currently embroiled in the Middle Eastern nation.
It is also an insight into how many wealthy Arab nations could wage their wars in the near future – especially in places like Yemen, Libya and Syria – as they deal with standing militaries unused to long-term, sustained warfare and populations that for the most part have little interest in military service.
"Mercenaries are an attractive option for rich countries that wish to wage war yet whose citizens may not want to fight," Sean McFate, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of "The Modern Mercenary," told the New York Times.
He added: "The private military industry is global now," adding that the U.S. "legitimized" the industry with its heavy reliance on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan over more than a decade of war in those countries. "Latin American mercenaries are a sign of what’s to come."

This has been talked about for the longest by my readers on this page but quite honestly I didn't believe it for one minute.  I guess I was wrong.  This might work but I doubt it...especially in Yemen.  Why?   I have yet to see any of the PMC companies (at least the ones that I monitor) address the evolving fights we're seeing.

Once it was possible to simply "buy" Ex SOCOM personnel and recreate teams that the US govt operates.

But the fight has evolved.  Yeah...I'm gonna beat this drum again.  We're seeing "terrorists"...whatever you want to call them...evolve into combined arms teams.

We're seeing these forces defeat nation state armies in the field operating the most high tech gear we have.

Until PMCs starting developing true combined arms teams...and hiring the personnel to man them then they will lose in the field.  Special Ops forces are vulnerable to conventional forces and what we're seeing in Yemen and Iraq are hybrid terrorist forces that are behaving more like conventional forces.

Regardless, this bears watching.  Looks like Prince is back in the game.

Was the shootdown of the Russian SU-24 the result of a cowboy pilot and not pre-planned?

via The Wall Street Journal.

The Kremlin on Friday confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin had received Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request to meet on Nov. 30 in Paris, but declined to say whether the Russian leader would agree.
Mr. Erdogan’s invitation comes days after a Turkish jet fighter shot down a Russian bomber along the Syrian border, killing one of the two aviators on board, and marking the first time a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member downed a Russian warplane since 1952.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr. Erdogan’s request had been submitted to Mr. Putin. “That’s all I can say,” Mr. Peskov told Russian journalists Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.
Both leaders are due to travel to Paris to participate in a United Nations climate change summit.

Bear with me for a minute.  Consider what we heard shortly after news of the Turks shooting down the Russian SU-24...via YourNewsWire (but reported everywhere)...

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu revealed on Wednesday that he personally gave the orders to shoot down the Russian Su-24 jet on Tuesday.

“Despite all the warnings, we had had to destroy the aircraft” Davutoğlu told his AK party. “The Turkish Armed Forces carried out orders given by me personally”.

Now we hear that Erdogan's asking to meet with Putin?  Something is off here. What if.  What if this shoot down was not ordered?  What if we simply have a case of a cowboy pilot that went off script and Turkish leadership was/is attempting to respond in a way to save face...provide justification for the move...AND to preserve their relationship with Russia? 

It sound far fetched I know but can you provide a better explanation for Turkish actions up to this point? There is no way that this was a pre-planned event or the Turks are even worse military planners than I ever dreamed possible.  Think about their moves right after the shootdown.

*Right after it happens they call for a NATO emergency meeting?

*They they appeared shocked at Russian economic sanctions?

*Erdogan appears on CNN failing to provide a credible answer for the reasoning behind the shootdown.

They're lurching about searching for a proper response and failing miserably.  This morning I read that Turkish warplanes would no longer fly in Syria...meaning that the excuse given, to protect Turkmen, is another lie (or they're willing to abandon them).

As crazy as it sounds I'm really beginning to think that my cowboy pilot theory is right.

UPDATE:  Consider the course of events.  You all have the tick tock that the Turks have given us.  Now consider that the Turkish PM is saying that he ordered the shootdown.  Obviously a lie.  No way he could have had enough time (even monitoring the radar) to make such a monumental decision.  Additionally Turkish aircraft had been straying into Syrian air space during this event without being fired on.  I still think you had a pilot that was maneuvering hard, got his fangs out, nailed them to the floorboard (meaning he wasn't about to pull them back in) and pulled the trigger.

Australia's Senate to conduct inquiry of F-35 purchase? Could they be next?

 Thanks to Peter @ Air Power Australia for the link!



via Sydney Morning Herald...

A push to examine the wisdom of Australia's planned $24 billion fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters - ranking as the nation's largest ever defence purchase - is underway in the Senate.
Greens defence spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson on Friday has urged the Senate's standing committee on foreign affairs and trade to inquire into the suitability of the stealth jet for Australia's strategic interests.
The move comes after the election last month of new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a promise to abandon plans to purchase the troubled fighter.

Well we know what Lockheed Martin lobbyist were doing over the Thanksgiving holiday.

They were working overtime to block the effort by the Senate to take a look at the F-35...a real look.

On a sidenote.  No one has fully explained why Japan, S. Korea and Turkey are developing their own stealth fighters.  No one is looking at the plan to keep the Typhoon in service till 2050 (or so).  The F-35 is supposedly only second to the F-22 in air to air combat and in some ways (according to the program office) superior.  If that's true then why the "backup" planning by partners that "know" how good the airplane is? 

S-400 arrives at Russia's Syrian Airbase (vid)..via Alert 5.

Uh...I don't think this is the short range version...and I do believe its being paired with the "stealth detecting" radar.

Yeah.  As of this moment, Russia can protect its airstrikes against Turkmen forces (as if they need to do airstrikes...they're well within Grad range) without putting one fighter in the air.

The battlespace in Syria just got MUCH more complex.  Lets hope that our military forces are more professional than our political leadership and will work with Russia to deconflict this battlespace.