Readers have talked about it for a couple of days but this confirms it. The House of Saud is on the brink!

Thanks to AO for the link!

via Gulf Business.

Saudi authorities detained a billionaire global investor and the head of the National Guard as part of an anti-corruption purge that consolidates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s hold on power.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns investment firm Kingdom Holding, was among 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers detained, two senior Saudi officials told Reuters on Sunday.

A top security official, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, was detained and replaced as minister of the powerful National Guard by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf. This consolidates Prince Mohammed’s bin Salman’s control of security institutions which had previously been headed by separate branches of the ruling family.

Story here. 

Why am I saying my readers were right and I'm becoming alarmed?  Because this guy was in charge of the Saudi National Guard.  Unlike the US and other Western nations, the National Guard in Saudi Arabia is home to the most advanced and well equipped troops in that nation.

If you want to point to an "elite" or a "Praetorian Guard" then you point to the Saudi National Guard.

For this guy to put their commander under arrest means that their is a serious power play going on.  Additionally you have to think that this guy has his own resources and own group of loyalist that are still in the Guard.

That means trouble.

Between the pressures of Yemen, Iran, the huge loss in Syria, Turkey coming to the aid of a GCC country they were trying to bully and an unpredictable US president/ineffectual SecState you have the Saudis in a pressure cooker of their own making.

This might not happen fast but it will happen.  I'm calling it.  The House of Saud falls in less than 5 years.  Turmoil in the Middle East will probably continue long after I'm dead and buried.

Hillbilly mods...Captured M-ATV sporting a BTR-80 turret!

Thanks to Delta Sierra for the pic!

You can call them all the derogatory names in the book...camel jockey, goat fucker, sand nigger (I need to do a serious self check on that one...I've been around guys that I THINK would never call me that but referred to them in that way and I never checked them....have to reflect on that...probably had a bit to do with personal hatred aimed at a group instead of the individuals that committed the acts...self check definitely in order) but you have to give them credit.

They have modified vehicles in such a way that the US Army, Marine Corps and allied forces have begun to pay attention and are putting more polished examples into service (or plan to).

You do realize that this is simply the "technical" concept taken to its logical extreme don't you?

Where this ends up I don't know, but I can imagine a future battlefield where meeting engagements between light infantry riding these steeds is unusually
bloody.  Heavy guns (for the size of the vehicle) and light armor has got to result in terrible casualties.

For better or worse we've come full circle and we're reinventing the 9th Motorized Infantry Division (on a small scale).

China to launch their space plane by 2020..

via Futurism.com

Officials from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) released a statement on Tuesday saying they’ll be ready to launch the next-generation spaceplane by 2020, according to a report by state news service Xinhua. If the statement is any indication, China seems to be have made significant headway on the development of a highly-secretive advance spacecraft.

At first glance, it may not seem to be a remarkable feat: reusable space rockets have been making headlines consistently since SpaceX successfully launched a used Falcon 9 earlier this year. The company has been flying missions aboard reusable Falcon 9 rockets to the International Space Station, as well as to ferry satellites from private corporations and even several nations.

China’s new space plane — note, not space rocket — is expected to be different. CASTC researcher Chen Hongbo said that unlike traditional spacecrafts, this new spacecraft “will fly into the sky like an aircraft,” Xinhua reports. This would, then, differentiate it from rockets, hence the name spaceplane. Supposedly, the spaceplane will take off from a runway, then fire its ramjet propulsion once high in the atmosphere. At that point, the plane will shift to rocket motors in order to reach orbital space, according to reports noted by Ars Technica.

Story here. 

The Chinese have no shame and we have no cyber security.  They constantly make these splashy announcements and then we see them  building a clone of a western vehicle.

I expect the same here (hence the picture above of the Chinese copy of our X-37).

They're a threat because they can match us militarily, but when it comes to influence they will fall flat.  Their culture is unique and in many ways admirable but few will want to duplicate it.  That and their lack of innovation/vision/creativity will doom them in the end.  They'll be tough, they'll be competitive but they'll always be beatable...if we harden the fuck up!

HOT! Defense Intelligence Agency Russia/Chinese (Threat) Military Power Report

Thanks to Joe for the linK!

Reports can be found here!  Must read!  Must see!  Grab it while you can I don't expect it to stay up for long!

New Kaplan Medium Tank (FNSS & PT Pindad) Video!

Thanks to Dwi for the link!



It looks good!  But!  I have to wonder about slapping a tank turret on a tracked vehicle IFV/APC hull.  I know it cuts down on development time but I still wonder why not simply take components and build a fresh, purpose built light/medium tank hull?  Because we're talking about a light/medium tank does it negate the rationale or does it still count?

One other thing has me curious.  If you have APC/IFVs that are tagging in at 30 tons, can you really say a light tank can be any less than 40? Weight is going up and the old classification system that we've used for decades doesn't seem to apply.  We call Heavy Tanks, Main Battle Tanks these days and they range anywhere from 50 tons all the way up to almost 80.  If that's the continued benchmark then our IFVs could all be labeled as being medium weight vehicles.

New Thai Marine Infantry Fighting Vehicle Prototype...in other words the Terrex 2!

Thanks to Ogden for the linK!



Just plain wow.  The Thai military is buying a hodge podge of vehicles!  That ride you see in the background is quite simply the Terrex 2.  What has me spinning (just a little) is his description of it being ship to shore capable.  The same vehicle was offered for the Marine Corps ACV program but was redesigned to enable better swim capability.  Unless they've incorporated improvements into the orginal design then I just don't see it happening...at least not to a "Marine" standard.  Regardless this is gonna be fun to watch. How many vehicles can a relatively small force acquire anyway?

Leonardo - M60A3 Main Battle Tank Upgrade

Open Comment Post. Nov 5, 2017

Sorry for the late and spotty posting lately.  Going thru a slight health thing and trying to pursue fleeting opportunities as well.  Things should smooth out shortly.  Appreciate your patience.

A Type 16 Prototype involved simply adding a turret to a wheeled APC....

pic via Bmashina Tumblr Page.

Bmashina jumbled the caption on this one but its a great find none-the-less.  That's a Type 96 wheeled apc hull with what really looks like a Type 10 turret but I have a hard time believing that!

Doesn't matter.  When you find a guys that's good at scouring the net in Asia you have to ride with the dude till he dies in a ditch!  Never even knew this existed.  I love this guy (No homo...but who you want to fuck is your business...just talking about me...)!

So this is that new Chinese Amphibious APC...

pic via Sputnik...story here...

I'm looking forward to a few more pics of this beast.  Don't where to look on the Chinese forums but the search continues.

From what I can see it looks like the evolution continues.  It seems like we're getting a mix of Russian, Western and Chinese design aesthetic.  Yeah, I definitely need to see more pics.