SNAFU!

The most important statement about the F-35 by a defense official...

Former SecAF Deborah Lee James made this statement July 30, 2015...

“The biggest lesson I have learned from the F-35 is never again should we be flying an aircraft while we’re building it...”

She went on to say...

“people believed we could go faster, cheaper, better” by designing and building the F-35 concurrently, but that the strategy “has not worked as well as we hoped and that’s probably the understatement of the day.”
“It has taken us too long, it has cost us way more money than we ever imagined possible” over the course of its 15-year development, she added.

No matter what side of the fence you're on with regard to the F-35, this statement should chill your bones.

This is the most important statement about the plane ever made by a defense official and tell us one other thing.

Even if they're able to SOMEHOW turn shit into sugar we're still screwed. It took too long, cost too much and leadership lacked the moral courage to bail on the project when it could have saved the taxpayer untold billions of dollars and our air superiority lead.

Anything, anyone says after her statement is just window dressing.

The damage done to the US and our allies is already baked into the cake. There is no way to actually recover. Time and money has been squandered...and you just can't make that up.

Blast from the Past. Combat Reform Blog on the P6M Sea Master...

Ok. This was be a controversial blast from the past but I was looking at historic (at least in my mind meaning early to mid 90s) defense blog and magazines and one keeps showing remarkable freshness. Controversial freshness but still discussing some of the issues that are still around today.

I'm talking about Combat Reform Blog.

Love or hate the dude but the topics he covered, the documentation he provided all point to someone that had a grasp of the issues. You might not agree with the presentation or his solutions but he was in the fight of ideas.

Check out some of stuff here that he did on the P6M Sea Master.

Sailors kidnapped in Mississippi by gang bangers????

via Navy Times.

The case of a February armed kidnapping of two sailors who were vacationing in Biloxi, Mississippi, ended Monday with each of the Simon City Royals street gang members receiving lengthy prison terms.

William Stockstill, 24, and Colton Delaughter, 27, kidnapped the two Naval Air Station Pensacola men on Feb. 17 while the sailors were vacationing at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, the Sun Herald reported.

As the sailors were leaving the casino, they were confronted at gunpoint by Stockstill and Delaughter, who forced them into their rental car, taking their cellphones in the process, the report said.

Stockstill and Delaughter then made their victims drive to numerous ATMs to withdraw cash.

During one particular stop at a gas station, the kidnappers forced the sailors to purchase snacks and drinks. While at the checkout counter, one of the sailors signed the credit card receipt while discreetly inscribing “help me” and “gun” on the paper, the report said.

After another ATM stop, Stockstill and Delaughter left the men on the side of the road near Interstate 10, where the sailors quickly flagged down a good Samaritan and called the police.

The sailors’ recollection of their captors’ tattoos and the silent alert in the form of a credit card receipt were instrumental in apprehending the perpetrators, the report said, and the assailants were picked up shortly after.

“These convictions are the result of the victims’ ability to maintain their composure in this case, their ability to alert the gas station clerk and the hard work of the case detectives,” said District Attorney Joel Smith, according to the report.

Story here.

Tito’s Partisan resistance forces member Stjepan Stepo Filipović via Historical Times Tumblr Page.

Captured member of Tito’s Partisan resistance forces in Yugoslavia, Stjepan Stepo Filipović, shouts “Death to fascism, freedom to the people!” before he was hanged by German occuping forces in town of Valjevo, Serbia, 1942

The bravery we see here is unmistakable. To make that cry for freedom before death indicates balls the size of Mount Olympus.

But I've got to ask an uncomfortable question. His hands are free. Why doesn't he fight? Why doesn't he at least try and grab some bubbas gun and make them pay in blood before he goes to meet his maker?

Does something happen to the human mind when faced with execution?

I ask because I've seen this too many times for it to be a coincidence. People seemingly submit to their executioners instead of fighting to the very end.

It's weird to me but I've seen it way too many times across the centuries for it to be simply random. What happens to people that they don't struggle to the end? Why do they go meekly to their deaths?

USAF deploying new variant of GBU-57

via Alert 5.

Capt. Emily Grabowski, a U.S. Air Force spokeswoman, has confirmed to Bloomberg that the GBU-57 has gotten a fourth upgrade and the new variant is being deployed in the service.

Hmm. Wonder who they could be looking at with this thing? Who has underground bunkers that would need a Massive Ordnance Penetrator?

A new LCS concept of operations...PT Boat WW2 style?

via AOL Breaking Defense.

The Navy has again spoken up for the much-maligned platform, suggesting to Breaking Defense that the LCS could operate in the Pacific like the PT boats of World War II or cavalry units in a Napoleonic army. Rear Adm. Donald Gabrielson said that the LCSs “are like the special operators of the naval surface force.” The head of the Navy’s operational hub in Singapore added that “(t)hose ships can get in out and of places because of their speed and their shallow draft…. before other people realize what just happened.”

In essence, he was propounding a cavalry role for the LCS, where the vessel would take the fight to the enemy in hit-and-run attacks while trying to evade detection. However, this proposed Concept of Operations for the Littoral Combat Ship is problematic as it fails to consider the vessel’s suitability for such missions.

Story here.

Won't work.

The Chinese have a fast attack missile boat that is built for just this type of thing.

Maybe the LCS should be geared toward trying to hunt them down? Nope. That won't work either. The Chinese boat has missiles that greatly outdistance anything the LCS has.

The PT Boats of WW2 made high speed torpedo runs against large enemy vessels.

The LCS will be chewed up trying to do the same.

New Harpoon Block II+ missile completes operational test shot

via NAVAIR Press Release.

The Navy is closer to delivering the new Harpoon Block II+ missile to the fleet after completing a flight test Jan. 22 at Point Mugu Sea Test Range.

The test demonstrated the missile’s ability to talk with the newest F/A-18’s software upgrade as the interface becomes operational on the F/A-18 Super Hornet system.

The upgrade, known as System Configuration Set H12E, and its installation culminates years of planning, designing, engineering and testing by a team comprised of several entities across the U.S. Navy enterprise, said Harpoon Deputy Program Manager Cmdr. Jon Schiffelbein.

“We are extremely proud to deliver precision targeting to the warfighter with a flexibility to stay ahead of threats,” he said.

The Harpoon Block II+ provides a rapid-capability enhancement for the Navy that includes a new GPS guidance kit, reliability and survivability of the weapon, a new data link interface that enables in-flight updates, improved target selectivity, an abort option and enhanced resistance to electronic countermeasures. It can be launched from multiple air and surface platforms.

But is it longer ranged? Don't get me wrong. What they've done should make the missile more lethal, more precise, and probably aid in its reliability.

Good work for what was covered but we need more range!