CH-53K arrives in Berlin...

Wow.

That is one big bird!  Looks good too.

Yeah I've read the reports that the schedule is slipping.  Yeah I know they still have yet to deliver on the plan to reduce the cost of the thing...

But I do know (now I do) what's happening to the current fleet of CH-53E's and it's essential that they get this thing moving and moving now.

Do I care if LM sells some to the Germans or Israelis?  No not really.  Another couple dozen won't make a difference. 

They've SOMEHOW raised the number of airframes requested from 200 (that the GAO questioned) to now 225.

I can live with even that. 

All I want is a sense of urgency from Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky to fix whatever problems is causing the delay, a vigorous push from the Deputy Commandant for Aviation and the issues that we're seeing with the Wing cleaned up ricky tick quick.

Pentagon reveals multi-year block buys for F-35's. It won't work....

via Flight Global.

As the F-35 moves towards full-rate production in three years, the US Air Force and Navy plan to transition from purchasing the aircraft in one-year blocks to multiyear procurement contracts, according to a Selected Acquisition Report released in in late March.

The USAF plans to start the first round of multiyear procurement deals with a three-year contract in 2021, followed by successive five-year procurements beginning in fiscal 2024 until the end of the programme.

The USN plans to continue one-year procurements through fiscal year 2023, followed by successive five-year procurements from fiscal year 2024 until the end of the programme.

Multiyear procurement contracts are a special mechanism that Congress permits the DOD to use for a limited number of programmes at full-rate production to reduce costs by several percent. In total, the DOD plans to purchase 2,456 F-35s: 1,763 F-35As for the USAF; 353 F-35Bs and 67 F-35Cs for the Marine Corps; and 273 F-35Cs for the USN.

Story here.

This is an ambitious plan.

Too bad it won't work.

The problem is more than the F-35.  Let's just assume that they FINALLY get all the bugs worked out and the plane starts to deliver.

They're facing two terrible problems. 

The first is the upgrade path.  By 2021 when they first start this multi-year buy they're going to be starting the first of many upgrades to get the plane to equal current top tier 4th gen airplanes...especially looking at its EOTS that is a gen behind current SNIPER pods...so money will have to be diverted to testing and implementing the system on jets they're buying.  That will add cost at an inopportune time.

The second is the budget.  Republican defense hawks have been sounding the alarm that this is the last big budget the Pentagon will receive.  Quite honestly considering our current fiscal state, we shouldn't have given the Pentagon this much money now.  In the future?  It just won't happen.

There are other issues that will take a whack at the F-35 program for the services too.

For the USAF they're looking at a MASSIVE budget trainwreck.  They're trying to put into service the F-35, the KC-46, and a replacement for several other jets that perform important roles...those low density high demand airframes the ground guys depend on...besides that you have competing interests inside the service from the B-21 for nuclear deterrence to buying a new Air Force One to even building hypersonic weapons and rebuilding weapon stocks.

The US Army will be howling from the sidelines.  They're gonna want their Next Generation Combat Vehicle, continue AMPV production, rebuild Strykers to the 30mm variant, design a Bradley II, and of course buy a shit load of JLTVs as well as working on the next gen Chinook, replacement for the BlackHawk and make a decision on which way they go for an Apache Attack replacement.

The US Marines will also be screaming.  No more banging on the Wing.  They need new rides so the CH-53K is essential AS IS getting the MV-22 to one configuration!  We need the ACV, the AAV Survivability Upgrade (along with enhanced lethality options for both) as well as JLTVs, more cannons and MLRS.

The US Navy?  They might be in the worse shape of all with regard to this plan.  They'll be getting Advanced Super Hornets for comparative pennies while being pressured to buy more F-35C's.  Meanwhile they need to sort out their new Cruiser sized Destroyers, figure out where they go with Burkes, put into service new subs, build a new set of Command Ships, figure out what they're gonna settle on with the AFSB/MLP type ships and other important things.

Oh and did I mention they're gonna be trying to do all this while undergoing the biggest social change in the military since the 1950's?

This is ambitious but they're making plans for people down the road to carry out.  The General's club is tight but if they have to bail because the politicians won't fund it then they can't start a coup and make it work.

I said that to mean this.

They better have a plan B, cause even I can see this is simply wishful thinking....

Plasan's Yagu Ultralight Special Ops Combat Vehicle...UPDATED & Reassessed!

Defense Update has a really good writeup and vid of this vehicle (found here).

OK guys.  Here we go with a new assessment on this vehicle.  I've had a chance to read more and what I missed at Defense Update is the (what I believe to be) intended role of the vehicle.

My new take.

This solves the problem of the internally carried vehicle.

What are those problems.  Lack of armor/crew protection.  Exposed crew to weapons fire (individual and light crew served weapons) and absolutely NO protection against IEDs.

I said earlier that this vehicle was aimed at the new hotness which is light vehicles for Special Ops to conduct raids in and on that point I was right.

This fills a niche that has gone unnoticed, or simply too challenging for many. Plasan tackled it and in that light they've probably done as good a job as is technologically feasible with current tech.

It's still a weird puppy but I think I understand it now.

Sidenote.  I also commented on its rough ground performance.  From looking at the vid it seems able to scoot along broken ground but the low ground clearance still gives me some concern.  From what I can see of the suspension it looks like it COULD be made adjustable but I wonder how much weight that would add and if it would be considered worthwhile for a little extra performance?  Regardless the real solution is to get the stamp of combat proven with the IDF to kick off sales.

Poland Struggles With HIMARS Buy...I expected the Poles to be a bit more pragmatic...just go domestic!

via Defense News.

The Polish government is working to renegotiate an arms deal approved by the State Department last year for the U.S.-made HIMARS long-range rocket artillery system after experiencing some sticker shock when seeing the final price tag.

The $250 million package for the rocket launcher along with guided warheads and other tactical missiles was seen as a way for Poland and NATO to push back against the Russian military buildup in neighboring Kaliningrad, which gives Moscow the ability to track and knock down Polish aircraft over Polish airspace. The HIMARS, Polish officials told me, would give them the ability to hit targets at a longer range if their aircraft were unable to fly.

But almost six months on, the deal remains a work in progress even as the Trump administration has kicked off a new initiative to eliminate red tape, speed up timelines, and cut costs for sales of U.S. military equipment to allies overseas.

Maj. Gen. Cezary Wiśniewski — a former F-16 pilot now serving as Poland’s Defense Attache to the United States — told me during a recent conversation at the Polish consulate here, his government very much wants to move forward with the HIMARS deal, but can’t at the current price. The Polish government and HIMARS-maker Lockheed Martin continue to hash out possibilities for making the deal happen, but neither side would, for the moment, give much insight on how to bring costs down.

I don't get this at all.

I expected the Poles to be a bit more pragmatic...a bit more hard nosed...a bit more focused on getting gear to their troops.

If the Americans (yeah I'm talking about us, but particularly LM) can't get the price to what they can afford then simply roll on with domestic produced rocket launchers.  They already have it in service.  Will it be NATO standard? I'm not sure but it will fill the bill, give them a system that works, and will meet the requirements that they've laid out.

Lambo's are nice but if you can't afford that then there is nothing wrong with a good dependable Ford Truck...

Will you keep up with the Joneses down the street?  Maybe not but you'll be within budget and sooner or later they'll be looking at you and envy because you were physically responsible instead of dumping a ton of cash into one area when many needed to be upgraded.

Russians are jamming EC-130s over Syria?

via Defense News.

The Compass Call is supposed to be one of America’s foremost electronic warfare weapons, but the EC-130s flying near Syria are being attacked and disabled “in the most aggressive EW environment on the planet,” the head of Special Operations Command said here today.

“Right now in Syria we are operating in the most aggressive EW environment on the planet from our adversaries. They are testing us everyday, knocking our communications down, disabling our EC-130s, etcetera,” Gen. Raymond Thomas told an audience of some 2,000 intelligence professionals.

While, for obvious reasons, we don’t know many details about the nature of the attacks on the EC-130s, we do know the Russians have done what one EW expert called a “good job” in several recent conflicts using EW. And the Russians are in force in Syria and provide most of the gear used by the Syrian military.

“The Russians have redone and reengineered their entire EW fleet in the last 20 years,” notes Lori Moe Buckhout, a retired Army colonel who specializes in EW. After the Russians attacked Georgia, they concluded they needed to upgrade their EW capabilities, she says. “The Russians put in millions on upgrades after Georgia. They’ve ended up with killer capabilities, jamming in a multitude of frequencies for hundreds of kilometers.”

She also notes that the Russians may not have gone head to head against the EC-130s EW attack capabilities. They may have taken the much easier route of interfering with the Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) or their communications gear, making it more difficult to fly the aircraft since crews would have had to rely on maps, line of sight and other techniques.

“The problem the EC-130s have is that, while they are jamming, the crews aren’t doing much else,” making them more vulnerable to attacks, she says. “They could have gone after the PNT or the comms.” The Russians “know all of our vulnerabilities.”

I'm not sure if we should be concerned.

I don't know the EC-130s capabilities but from casual reading about the plane and its use in the war on terror its been for mundane stuff like jamming IEDs and tracking the cell phones of terrorists.

I don't know if its even oriented to dealing with jamming from a peer opponent.

Considering that its housed in Special Ops and not what was once called TacAir (Air Combat Command now?) I don't believe it was ever intended to duke it out on that level.

Is this a bit humbling for those EC-130 drivers and technical guys?

I'm sure.

Is it worthy of concern?  I don't think so but I could easily be wrong.

Open Comment Post. April 25, 2018

British Army declares best 8x8 APC available...without competition????

via Defense News.

British Ministry of Defence officials have defended the decision to forgo a competition and instead name the Boxer wheeled armored vehicle as its preferred choice to equip new Army strike brigades.

In explaining the move to lawmakers, the officials said the German-developed machine stood out from its rivals.

“When we looked at the marketplace, the Boxer was the standout vehicle, and procuring through OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation) offers us a lot of value in the way we can acquire that vehicle,” Lt. Gen. Paul Jaques, the MoD’s chief of materiel (land) told the parliamentary Defence Committee on April 24.

Jaques said the Boxer was chosen without competition because it is the best protected vehicle available, has the best power-to-weight ratio, has the best mobility and has proven its reliability in service with the German military in Afghanistan.

Rivals had questioned the high costs of the Boxer, but to that point, Jaques said: “It offers us the best value for money, taking together performance and cost.”

The British had come to the same conclusion as the Australian Army, which recently announced it was purchasing the Boxer, Jaques noted.

“We carried out an exercise done at reasonably low cost, working with our allies and doing some very sensible interrogation of the marketplace based on what exists, and we came to a conclusion. And the Australians, running a parallel fully competed system, which cost them a lot of time and money, came to the same conclusion,” Jaques told the committee.

“The Australians last week have opened up to us all the data from their competition. What that gives us is a mine of data for us to understand what we will shape, what we will do in the demonstration phase,” he said.

He added that exactly the same vehicles considered by the Australians were looked at by the British.

Uh...wow.

So the Brits are following the Australians and basing this decision in part on their competition...even though the Aussies were looking for a RECON VEHICLE?????

This is weird....bordering on batshit crazy.

On the surface this looks like pure corruption.  They just picked the most expensive option, based on the results of a different competition for a different requirement and they want the public to believe that they're good stewards of taxpayer money.

Simply amazing.

US Army speeding development of Next Generation Combat Vehicle...did the Armata scare them that badly?

via Next Big Future.

The US army effort appears focused and appears inspired by the Russian Armata combat vehicle platform. The Armata is a common platform for tanks, armored vehicles and manned and unmanned systems. The US system will have more lasers and advanced electronics and power generation. The US systems will have proper funding. Russia does not have the funding to buy the Armata in volume.

Army officials have laid out the groundwork for developing the Next Generation Combat Vehicle, or NGCV. The NGCV will replace the M-1 Abrams main battle tank and M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFV). Both the Abrams and Bradley, while highly successful, were introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Army regularly updates both with the latest technologies, including new ammunition, anti-shaped charge reactive armor, remote-controlled weapons systems, advanced networking and communications, and ballistic shields for the crew.

The three vehicles will then be assigned to an operational combat unit around 2021. By 2023, seven manned and 14 unmanned vehicles will repeat the schedule, hopefully winnowing the process down to both manned and unmanned systems ready for mass production.

Story here. 

Wow.

Did you check out that schedule?  For the Pentagon and US industry that's breakneck speed.  I mean think about past procurement schedules and that is a blistering pace!

Did the Armata scare them that badly?

Isn't this the same Pentagon and Army that stated that the M1 Abrams could hold it's own against that Russian tank?

I guess they kinda telegraphed this with how quickly they got those APS systems out in the wild but the statements we heard indicated a normal procurement rate.

One thing you have to admit though.

Admit that I was right.  Admit that I was spot on when I stated that we had fallen behind in the armor race and that the focus from all services on aviation to the detriment of our ground forces had put us in a bad position.

I repeat.

All the enemy has to do is to deny us air superiority...once they achieve that then the current way of war for the US (and many of our allies) breaks down.

We saw a glimmer of this in Syria.  Special Ops troops had to rely heavily on artillery to provide air strikes because calling in close air got to a point of being damn near impossible because the Russians had air up.  Helicopters were no better as we saw numerous Turk Attack Helos get shot out the sky.

In a peer vs peer battle it'll be even worse.

If the enemy can deny us air superiority then the script is flipped...and certain potential foes outrange, outgun us when it comes to ground based fire support.

THIS IS THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE!

The F-35 will not guarantee air superiority.  The Army and Marines are woefully lacking when it comes to anti-air systems.  The Army and Marines are in a hurt locker when it comes to keeping up with advances in armor tech.  The ground forces are facing a pain train when it comes to ground based fire support.

We have to move fast to correct things (good on you Army..don't screw it up with an emphasis on mega city fights).  The Army delivered the message with this procurement decision.  I hope everyone is paying attention.

BMC wins contract to build the Altay Main Battle Tank...Turkey does it right!

via Hurriyet

BMC, a Turkish-Qatari armored vehicles manufacturer, has won a key contract on the road to developing and producing the country’s main battle tank, dubbed “Altay,” defense sources told state-run Anadolu Agency on April 24.

It was decided to start contract talks with BMC for the mass production of Altay and the development of its engine, according to sources.

Any financial or production details were not yet released.

In the Altay mass production race BMC was competing with FNSS and Koç Holding’s Otokar, the maker of Altay’s prototypes.

The companies, including the public engine maker Tümosan as well as BMC, Figes Fizik, Istanbul Denizcilik and Tusaş Motor, were last year invited to start work on the engine development.

I can't stand the Turkish president.  In my mind he's a baby Hitler in the making and has ambitions of conquer/conquest that MUST be blunted.

But you have to admire the way the Turks approached this procurement...they're just doing it right.

Otokar built the prototypes but doesn't get to build the production models?

That is just too awesome.  If BMC charges too much (theoretically...I've heard many stories of cronyism/fraud/corruption with that company with regard to the govt) then Otokar or FNSS can be called on.

If something terrible happens and they need many more then all three companies can be called on.

Imagine if Lockheed Martin built the prototype F-35 and then it was bid on with BAE, Boeing, SAAB etc...all trying to get the contract. 

Imagine what we could have done when things went south...ok LM, you tried and failed, you want to try at this SAAB?

This should be our model.

The Turks might have relearned something we knew in WW2 but for some reason got away from it.  Expand this a bit further and we could see dynamic new partnerships.  BAE N. America and Ford to build the ACV at an affordable price and so on.

I like it.

Dallas PD takes another hit...Two officer seriously injured in shooting...

Note:  Thanks to Kali for correcting me on an image I posted.  No disrespect intended just a lack of knowledge on paying respect to those injured in the line of duty.

via Caller.com

Two Dallas police officers and a civilian were shot Tuesday after responding to a Home Depot. A manhunt is underway for the shooter.

A tweet from the Dallas Police Department asked for prayers for the officers, who were critically wounded, and their families.

The shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. in Lake Highlands near U.S. Highway 75, according to reports. 

Wow.  Dallas PD keeps getting gut punched...is that city becoming the Chicago of the south?  I don't recall any city in this region suffering this many officers being shot.

Not banging on those guys at all.

Not one bit.

But they need to get a bit more tactical and a bit less community policing if this is the reality.

Why do I say that?

Because if society gets to a point where killing cops becomes a passing fancy then we are on the verge of losing our civilization...that means anyone can be shot at anytime for any reason....that would mean bastards like me would switch to Glock 17 open carried with two mags on the belt.

If cops are being shot then that means we're close to anarchy.  It was ok during the Wild West because population levels were low.  In today's world that would be messy.

I know about bad cop shootings.  I know about cops being used to generate money for municipalities.  I know  the controversy.

But name a more visible enforcer of social norms and behavior.  You can't.  For better or worse they're the gate keepers for a peaceful society.

God bless in Dallas.  Hope those LEO's get well quick...and I hope they get to the bottom of why they're suffering a rash of these incidents.