Congressmen warned the Pentagon they had two years to fix things...Now the Marines are bracing for impact...

Too little time, and even with a budget that is seriously approaching a trillion dollars, too little money (or rather too much money thrown at a single project...).  Check this out via Breaking Defense.

The Marine Corps Commandant has joined the chorus of senior Pentagon officials who say they’re bracing for potential budget cuts in 2020. That’s when the 2018-2019 budget deal expires and the Budget Control Act caps on spending come back in force (sometimes called “sequestration”), unless Congress can scrape together another compromise.

Gen. Robert Neller made it clear he’s grateful for budget increases in 2018 and 2019, though he noted the ’19 appropriations haven’t passed yet. He promised to make the most of every dollar to modernize the Marine Corps to prepare for major wars against high-tech adversaries like Russia and China. But, like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis — a retired Marine general himself — and Pentagon comptroller David Norquist at a Senate hearing this morning, Neller also made it clear he isn’t counting on the good times to continue.

Story here. 

We knew this was coming.  At least the readers of this blog did.  Now?  Now it seems like the DoD has woken up and smelled the coffee.

It doesn't matter who wins control of Congress or is the next President.

You've just seen the last of the blockbuster budgets for the military.

Quantum radar to render stealth technologies ineffective

via New Atlas.

Stealth technology may not be very stealthy in the future thanks to a US$2.7-million project by the Canadian Department of National Defence to develop a new quantum radar system. The project, led by Jonathan Baugh at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), uses the phenomenon of quantum entanglement to eliminate heavy background noise, thereby defeating stealth anti-radar technologies to detect incoming aircraft and missiles with much greater accuracy.

Story here. 

Everyone, even our allies, is working overtime to crack stealth and make it a non factor going into the future.

We've heard about quantum radar before.  If I recall correctly this was a path of research that the Chinese were following (don't know about the Russians). Additionally we know about the claims being made about GaN AESA that Raytheon, SAAB and others are building at this very moment.

I put this to you dear Reader.

If the F-35 loses stealth then how in God's name will it survive the future battlefield?

It's not comparatively fast.

It's not designed to fly high.

It's endurance is nothing special.

It's basic electronics (AESA, IRST, etc...) are all nothing special....even its sensor fusion is being claimed as a feature on what is called 4th gen fighters these days.

So without stealth the F-35 becomes what it has always been.  A mediocre fighter that is outstanding in only one  model..the F-35B when compared to the Harrier.

https://www.popsci.com/china-says-it-has-quantum-radar-what-does-that-mean

https://www.wired.com/2008/05/lockheeds-spook/

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/inventions/chinas-claim-it-has-quantum-radar-may-leave-17-billion-f35-naked/news-story/207ac01ff3107d21a9f36e54b6f0fbab

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2021235/end-stealth-new-chinese-radar-capable-detecting-invisible-targets-100km

BAE Systems - CV90 Infantry Fighting Vehicle Facts

Jesus...what is this chicks problem with the cops???

 

https://tacticalsquad.tumblr.com/post/173322187790

 


Anyone have any background on this?  Been getting the vid but not the info on the "problem"....

Let's get real on Russia recovering cruise missile fragments/components.

Ok boys.

Let's get real on debris/recovered missile parts after the strike on Syria.

First a little story.  I took a course a long time ago from the FBI covering Post Bomb Blast Investigation.  No big deal, the war on terror was high and I guess they wanted bodies in case bad shit ever happened again in the US.  My thinking?  If things went south they would have us put on blue jeans, give us those Incident Response Force Jackets and we would scour the ground so the real agents could start running down the suspects.

But I digress.

What I learned from that course is that when bombs explode you don't get vaporization.  You get micro fragmentation.  In other words even with the hotness of the time, fertilizer bombs you will have evidence left behind.

Components that can be painstakingly reassembled by some geek in a lab coat in a flight hanger somewhere.

That adds up tenfold when you're talking about modern munitions.

Think about what we're talking about with a cruise missile.  We're talking about a devise that has a warhead on its nose but is designed to flying a couple hundred miles, maneuver, sometimes at high speed other times at high subsonic and hit a target precisely.

Additionally it has to be rugged enough to survive launch from ships or aircraft AND carriage/storage till its needed.

Long story short.

Munitions are tough.  Cruise missiles are tougher.  There will be fragments left behind.  There will be components that help the attacker identify it.

So while I am a supporter of trying to befriend Russia, on this they're full of shit.  A few components and fragments don't mean a thing except cruise missiles struck a target and they got some grunts to pick up the pieces.

Open Comment Post. April 26, 2018.

Eurofighter "Mudhen" Version versus the F-35...They say it's 90% Better....

I use the above images for a reason.  The decision in Germany is what to replace the Tornado Strike Fighter with...the F-35 or the Typhoon.  The weapons carriage you see is going to be critical in this decision I believe...especially the version carry Brimstone and a couple of Paveways along with a pod.  Why?  Because the plane can perform precision strikes retains its fantastic maneuverability and blistering speed, especially in comparison to the F-35.

But enough of my words.  Check this out via Defense News.

“Stealth is only 10 percent of the capability mix,” Eurofighter marketing chief Raffael Klaschke told Defense News on Wednesday. “We’re still better at the other 90 percent,” he argued, referring to the aircraft’s combat capabilities.

While the company could rest easy with the German Defence Ministry’s recent proclamation that the Eurofighter is the preferred path for the upcoming multibillion-dollar Tornado-replacement program, Lockheed Martin’s massive showing at the air show may have some officials nervous.

Eurofighter CEO Volker Paltzo doubled down on the argument that the Typhoon would guarantee continued vibrancy in the European military aircraft market. “I want to underscore that every euro spent on Eurofighter within Europe stays in Europe,” he told reporters.

Executives also stressed that the European aircraft would come free of any “black boxes,” a reference to the expectation that all technological and operational details would be owned by Europeans, which may not be the case with the F-35

Story here. 

Interesting isn't it?

We already knew about the pushback against stealth...we've seen that even in the US Navy.

What I discounted (and shouldn't have) was the brewing issue of ALIS.  I have yet to see any real benefit to operating forces with regard to that system.  It seems error prone form my seat and needlessly grounds aircraft and has the potential to not only "spy" on allies but also render them helpless when aircraft are needed the most.

What challenges does the Typhoon face?

The Europeans didn't modernize it on a realistic timeline.  They didn't make the move to AESA radar and other advanced electronics as quickly as they should have.

From what I can tell they haven't worked as quickly as they should on next gen engines to keep the plane relevant.

That was then, this is now.

If Germany chooses to change course they could lead the rest of the Eurofighter consortium into a new age while the Europeans work on a 6th gen (skipping 5th gen) fighter.

I don't for one minute believe the F-35 will be in service till 2070.  That would mean that fighter tech has stagnated...that would mean that human technology would stagnate for the next 50 years.  The very idea is insane.

So in reality we're looking at the Europeans being able to take a beat, build an Uber Eurofighter and start work on their 6th gen.

It's doable if they're willing to rise to the challenge.  Even more it makes sense if they can build a proper roadmap.

Four Meteors, Two Bombs, Six Brimstones and Two ASRAAMs....

This is a pretty flexible bomb loadout for a dual role mission.  I know other aircraft can carry the same but its still nice to see.

Deputy killed, his cruiser stolen and an armed robbery committed...Sovereign Citizens have to be targeted...

via Washington Post.

 A Maine man killed a sheriff’s deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, triggering an intensive manhunt in a heavily wooded rural town in Maine, officials said.

Somerset County Cpl. Sheriff Eugene Cole was killed at about 1:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Bangor, state police said. His cruiser was driven to a Cumberland Farms store, which was robbed.

Aircraft and armored vehicles were seen around Norridgewock and schools were locked down as federal, state and local law enforcement officials searched for 29-year-old John Williams, of Madison, Maine, who remained on the loose after abandoning the stolen cruiser, state police said Wednesday.

“Many times we’re able to say that there is not an ongoing threat, but that’s not the case today,” said State Police Lt. Col. John Cote at a news conference. “There certainly is an ongoing public threat. He’s considered armed and dangerous.”

Story here. 

I'm about to piss a great many of you but fuck it.  We've gone round and round about Black Lives Matter.  I said they're a protest group.  You guys said they were much more.  I said ANTIFA was simply anti-fascists and you guys supported the people on the other side (yeah....some of you supported Nazis).

Ok.  So be it.

But ya know what you've missed?  These Sovereign Citizens.  Out of all the groups that worry me, from infiltration of terrorists groups into America, to Nazis/KKK, the only ones that cause me pause because I'm absolutely convinced they're batshit crazy are the Sovereign Citizens.

Unbeknownst to most they've been on a rampage over the past couple of years and I'd bet that 90% of the police shootings are either members or sympathizers to their positions.

You want to know what group needs to be focused on because they're a real threat? 

Sovereign Citizens.

The FBI should get out of doing the public relations non-sense of targeting protest groups and get after the guys gunning for cops.

Side note.  This dude might be some whacked out Meth Head (and not a Sovereign Citizen) but it doesn't change any of the above.  

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.