Wednesday, January 10, 2018

WTF happened to Russian warplanes at the Hmeymim airbase? What is the truth?


Yeah I wasn't ignoring the story.  Just waiting for clarification.

Think about what we allegedly saw here.  A swarm attack by commercially available drones on a major installation that supposedly caused destruction to frontline Russian aircraft?

If I have to hit you with all the questions this raises then you're not paying attention.

But the biggest of them is how were terrorists able to conduct such a strike? How were they able to coordinate their activities beyond line of sight?

And of course there is the really big question.

How were they able to do this without help?

The question remains.  What the Fuck happened to Russian warplanes at Hmeymim airbase!

Y-20 is in service with Western Theater Command.

via Defense Aerospace.

China has announced that a batch of at least five Y-20 jet transport aircraft have been put into service by the Western Theater Command. While the Y-20 officially entered service in 2016, this is first time so many were seen together.

Ya know what annoys?  We could use that jet for our operations.

You know what annoys more?  The Chinese would probably sell us a few too.

Some are happy with this statement by Neller....I still think we need a Ground Combat Advocate wearing stars....

Thanks to Mark A. for the link!


via Military.com
But with major Marine Corps investments for new rotary-wing and fixed-wing aviation platforms well underway, cost may not be the obstacle it once was for the service. The commandant signaled his plan to invest heavily in the infantry when speaking with deployed Marines during his yearly Christmas tour.

The Marines' new 5th-generation fighter, the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, costs roughly $100 million per copy, Neller told troops at one of a dozen town hall-style addresses he gave in the span of seven days in late December.

"I could kit out every grunt in the Marine Corps with the coolest s*** head-to-toe for $100 million," he said. "And I intend to do that."
For what else may be coming for the infantry, look to the "Über Squad," an experiment started this year by Wade.

This summer, the 13-Marine unit from 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, was kitted out with M27s, suppressors, and high-tech Ops-Core helmets borrowed from Marine Corps Special Operations Command that feature built-in hearing protection, but also magnify other sounds to improve situational awareness.

The Marines used light MARSOC body armor and advanced AN/PVS-31A night vision devices. They also got 60-round Magpul drums, allowing them to increase the amount of ammunition they carried.

Wade said that the high-end night vision equipment had proved its worth recently during a nighttime exercise at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, California.
"That rifle squad moved faster at night than the live fire-safety chaperones," he said. "[The Über Squad moved too fast for them to keep up because they had better night vision goggles."
Story here. 

Ok.  Full disclosure.  The M27 is cool but the M16A5 would have been much cooler still.

Additionally do you get the force of connection with this announcement?

It was made days after it was announced that the Assaultman was being done away with.

I consider this a cleansing statement...an attempt to refurbish his reputation, after making a horrendous decision to back a concept that no one understands and apparently no one can explain (taking away Infantry boatspaces to give to cyber).

The fact remains.  The Ground Combat Element has no advocate.  Every Marine General is now an aviation advocate and the spending inside the Corps reflects that.

In essence there is no balance.  No one making a pitch for the ground force.

Aviation has the Commandant and the Deputy Commandant.  Logistics has the same.

But there is no one to speak for the GCE, and this little pitch done at town halls don't change that fact.

I remain unimpressed.

DF-16 puts the US Marine Corps Base on Okinawa within striking distance


via Sputnik
The DF-16, first unveiled to the public in 2015, can travel about 625 miles and has been reported to be as accurate as a cruise missile, Chinese military observers have said. The mobile-launched ballistic missiles could theoretically be launched from anywhere on China's mainland, one of China's missile shelters in the South China Sea, or even an aircraft carrier.

The DF-16, which can carry up to three nuclear warheads, puts the US Marine Corps Base on Okinawa within striking distance, as well as Japanese islands, Taiwan and the Philippines. Just last month, a minister with the Chinese Embassy to the US said the PLA would initiate Taiwan's reunification with mainland China through "military force" if the US follows through with plans to send an aircraft carrier to Taiwan to make a port call.
Story here. 

Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Open Comment Post. Jan 9, 2018


Navy tests new joint-air-to-ground missile on AH-1Z helicopter



NAVAIR Press Release.
Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md. – The Navy successfully completed its first Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) flight test on the AH-1Z helicopter Dec.5 at Patuxent River.

During the flight, aircrew aboard the AH-1Z navigated the missile through various operational modes and exercised its active seeker to search and/or acquire targets, demonstrating its compatibility with the aircraft.

"Initial results from the flight indicate the missile performed as planned,” said Liam Cosgrove, JAGM flight test lead. “We will continue to conduct a series of tests to prepare for live fire testing of the JAGM off the AH-1Z scheduled for early this year.”

JAGM, a joint program with the Army, is a precision-guided munition for use against high value stationary, moving, and relocatable land and maritime targets. It utilizes a multi-mode seeker to provide targeting day or night in adverse weather, battlefield obscured conditions and against a variety of countermeasures.

“This missile will provide increased lethality and better targeting capabilities, beyond the Hellfire’s laser point designating capability that the AH-1Z currently has in theater today,” said Capt. Mitch Commerford, Direct and Time Sensitive Strike (PMA-242) program manager.

JAGM is managed by the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. It will initially be employed on the  AH-64 Apache and Marine Corps’ AH-1Z helicopters and is compatible with any aircraft that can carry Hellfire missiles. The Army will will complete a 48 shot test matrix by May 2018 on AH-64 Apache aircraft in support of Milestone C.

Chinese barbarity that supporters. 5th columnist in the US and the business community loves to ignore...

via Cdr Salamander Blog.
"Students understood they were given one hour to leave square but after five minutes [armored personnel carriers] APCs attacked," the cable said. "Students linked arms but were mown down, including soldiers."

"APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make "pie" and remains collected by bulldozer. Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains," it said.

The cable, which described the 27th Army as illiterate "primitives" from the northern province of Shanxi, commanded by the nephew of then Chinese President Yang Shangkun, said the heavily armed troops were kept without news for 10 days and told they were to take part in a military exercise.
----------
 At Muxidi, "the enraged masses followed ignoring machine-gun fire to next battle at Liubukou," the description reads, in a reference to a district of Beijing just west of Tiananmen Square.

"APCs ran over troops and civilians at 65 kilometers/hour in same manner," it said. "One APC crashed and driver (a captain) got out and was taken by crowd to hospital. He is now deranged and demands death for his atrocities."

It said the 27th Army was ordered to spare no-one, and "shot wounded Shenyang soldiers."

In Liubukou, "four wounded girl students begged for their lives but were bayoneted," it said.
...
"1,000 survivors were told they could escape via Zhengyi Lu but were then mown down by specially prepared machine-gun positions," it says, adding that any ambulances trying to rescue the wounded were also attacked and their crews killed.

"With medical crew dead, wounded driver attempted to ram attackers but was blown to pieces with anti-tank weapon," it says. "In further attack APCs caught up with Shenyang military straggler trucks, rammed and overturned them and ran over troops."

It said a 27th Army officer was shot dead by his own troops, "apparently because he faltered."
Read the whole thing at Cdr Salamander's house.

Rant Time!

Do you not get the force of connection?  Do you not see the real and present danger here?

Chinese troops used APCs and Tanks to run down its citizens until they turned into paste.

Chinese troops setup machinegun positions to attack medical personnel that rushed to aid the wounded.

Chinese troops used anti-tank weapons to destroy ambulances that rushed to aid the injured.

Finally.....

Chinese troops SHOT AND KILLED THEIR COMMANDER.  Not because he was a fuck wit and led into kill box after kill box, but because he faltered when witnessing the slaughter that his men were engaged in!

RUSSIA IS NOT THE THREAT!

You think the Islamic Radicals are hard?

You think that they are filled with a fervor that defies logic and understanding?

Take another look at the Chinese military!

I did a blog post where the Chinese President called for his men to embrace hardship and to do whatever necessary to win (paraphrasing). In the US in front of most troops that would be shrugged off.  Another politician urging troops to do the hard thing while they sit back in luxury.

In China?

They believe that shit.

Even worse?

The population believes that shit and so do the 5th columnist inside the US that we welcome with open arms.  They might carry the badge of US citizen but their hearts belong to the Red Dragon...Communist China.

Now to my fear.

A Company Landing Team is deployed in a position at the far end of a short limb and they're found, fixed and destroyed in place by a Chinese Mech Infantry Combined Arms Battalion.

After seeing what they did to their own citizens do you believe that they would be treated more humanely than if the same happened in the Middle East?  The only difference is that there would be no video evidence.  They would be savaged, murdered and left in shallow graves with a few hundred white phosphorous grenades thrown in to destroy the evidence.

I say again and you need to wrap your mind around it.

China is the threat.  Russia?  We can work with them.  China wants to creep into our house and kill us in our sleep.

Monday, January 08, 2018

You have my permission to read USNI Blog for this ONE article by SgtMajor Burke

Not gonna lie to you.

USNI Blog makes me want to punch walls, commit violence and to ensure that the grass is fertilized with the blood of my enemies.

They engaged in what I consider REPREHENSIBLE activity a couple of years ago and I will never ever fucking forgive them.  My fantasy about rampaging thru the building and laying waste to it is just that a fantasy.

I'll let those that came before them to settle accounts for their treachery.

But every once in a while, much to my amazement, you can have wayward organization TRY and get their bearings back.

I don't believe that's happening for even ONE SECOND at USNI Blog, but nevertheless YOU MUST READ THIS ARTICLE by SgtMajor Burke.

It's pretty damn inspiring and what I expect from a Marine Corps leader.  Check it out here.

Saudi F-15 downed in Yemen...

Thanks to Drinas for the link!




Just plain wow.

This fight deserves some major league study and should send shock waves thru HQ Marine Corps and Special Operations Command.

The ISIS effect is spreading.  We're seeing groups adopting to successfully fight nation states.

The days of the SEAL or Special Forces Team are over.  The future?  You better be willing to send REINFORCED Ranger or MARSOC Company (probably a couple of companies if not the Battalion) along with sufficient air and artillery support to do a raid, much less a stand up fight.



Marine Air in Okinawa is in turmoil!! Now an AH-1Z makes an emergency landing....


via Minneapolis Star.
A U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing Monday in Japan's Okinawa islands, the second such incident in three days.

A Marine Corps AH-1 attack helicopter with two people aboard landed in a field at a waste disposal site in the town of Yomitan on Okinawa's main island, according to Japanese media reports. No injuries were reported.

Photos showed an apparently intact helicopter parked in a grassy area.

The U.S. side told police that a warning light had indicated a problem with the aircraft, public broadcaster NHK said.

The Marines said in a statement that the helicopter had been repaired and would return to base as quickly as possible.

"We remain committed to both the safety of our neighbors in the communities in which we live and the safety of the Marines who fly on our aircraft," it said.
Story here. 

An air centric Marine Corps is JUST NOT DOABLE!  They will continue to wear out men and machines in the push to make the impossible happen.

It's past time to return to a balanced force.  Stop chasing dreams laid out by Think Tanks and start doing the work of protecting the nation!