Saturday, May 12, 2018
Weird but cool...
A tribute to lab mice sacrificed to discover breakthroughs in science? Weird but cool.
Turkey getting F-35s? They better be detuned, bugged and have kill switches!
via AA.com
Turkey will take its first delivery of U.S.-made F-35 warplanes on June 21, according to defense sources.Story here.
Two fighter pilots from the Turkish Air Forces are getting special training in the U.S., where the delivery of the first plane to Turkey is planned to be done with a ceremony, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
After the training is completed, and another warplane is delivered, the F-35 jets are planned to be brought to Turkey in September of 2019. The trained pilots will fly the two F-35s from the U.S., accompanied by a refueling plane.
The Turkish people are not a problem. They're cool. The Turk govt? Huge problem. They're batshit crazy.
I had hoped that commonsense would prevail and that this sale wouldn't go thru. They defied NATO and bought S-400's and now we're selling them the F-35?
We have greedy leadership...both civilian and military...and the thought that they could openly defy us only serves to make us weaker.
Sometimes you have to look crazy in the eye and punch it in the face.
Having said that, if they do decide to sell these planes to Turkey I hope they're detuned, bugged and have hidden kill switches so they stop flying midair if they're headed to ATTEMPT to inflict damage to either US or REAL allies.
Side note. Turk readers! Bring it! I know this post will piss you off but I don't care. Your govt has brought this pain to you ... I'm just reacting logically to the idiocy. This sale makes no sense!
First CH-53K King Stallion being delivered to U.S. Marines
via DVIDS
The first CH-53K King Stallion is scheduled to be delivered to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, N.C., early next week. This will mark another on-time milestone for the U.S. Marine Corps' future heavy-lift helicopter program.Ok this one has been weird.
The helicopter's arrival to New River enters it into the Supportability Test Plan where U.S. Marines will conduct a logistics assessment on the maintenance, sustainment and overall aviation logistics support of the King Stallion.
The CH-53K is a new build aircraft with the same logistical footprint as the current CH-53E Super Stallion, but is fly-by-wire, software driven and it can lift three times more. Modernization is already built into the aircraft.
I got a news blurb about this and turned to, trying to find information. I got several alerts that the CH-53K had ALREADY been delivered and I was scouring the web looking for info.
I even got alerts from the official USMC website about it.
Then today as I'm doing a bit of casual surfing while watching morning news I see this.
I don't mind one bit.
Yeah it's gonna be a dog and pony but they're pushing hard to get it into service and considering it's mission set and the state of the CH-53E force, I'm more than good with a little chest thumping.
I just hope they keep the party short cause there is much work to do.
Let's be real.
The price is still a concern.
It's being touted as having the potential to be a penetrator airplane so I hope those avionics work as advertised, the lift potential has to get up to speed (it was missing target but SLIGHTLY exceeding threshold goals) and again...the freaking price of the thing.
But still...good job and get back to work once the party is done!
Iron Curtain on Stryker...
Breaking Defense has an article discussing Iron Curtain APS (read it here).
What I want to point out is how big and bulky these armored protection systems are. I know the Stryker with cage armor is just as bulky but I really hoped that APS would provide a more streamlined solution.
I guess I'm also looking at this from a Marine Corps perspective. You're adding a whole bunch of volume to vehicles that are getting heavier.
Talking to a few logistics experts we have that frequent the blog the issue of "cubing out" before bulk out is gonna rear its ugly head even more with these systems on our rigs.
I don't know if these can be considered 1st gen systems but we've got to get something more compact into the future if this is gonna work for US forces.
Deployability is important for our guys and the Army will face the same issues whether by deployment by air or even sea.
Friday, May 11, 2018
End of Active Fucks (EAF) date...Terminal Lance does it again!
Too awesome.
Gotta meet that dude someday. Terminal Lance is hilarious...must get him drunk!
Armor Porn. My favored ground mobility vehicle for the Marines and Airborne Forces, the Oshkosh S-ATV...
I've looked at them all and this is my favorite for the ground mobility vehicle for Marines and Airborne Forces. It's light, mobile, provides adequate armor and when coupled with the right operating concept should be more than adequate...the thing should rock. Internal carriage by V-22's? Don't know but quite honestly don't care. If we're doing it right then you're gonna sling this under CH-53's or CH-47's, move them in along with artillery...zip in, hit hard and zip out...with a huge dose of Marine/Navy Air in overwatch in the skies above (USAF can play too...even the Army if they want to send along some AH-64E's)....
Kill and/or capture is just not working in the war on terror....
via Military Times.
U.S. and Somali commandos seized three men thought to be commanders with the al-Shabab extremist group during a deadly raid in a village in Lower Shabelle region, Somali intelligence officials said Thursday.Story here.
Five people thought to be banana farmers were killed in the raid late Wednesday and several others were captured, Moalim Ahmed Nur, a traditional elder in the village, told The Associated Press.
A Somali intelligence official said the forces targeted a key hideout and coordination center for the Somalia-based al-Shabab. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The U.S. Africa Command did not immediately comment on the raid. The U.S. has stepped up military efforts against al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in sub-Saharan Africa, under the Trump administration.
Amazing.
Want to see theories/concepts that don't work? This should be at the top of the list when it comes to our war on terror.
How long have we been killing and/or capturing terror leaders?
How many high risk missions have we mounted to do the same?
Do you see a degrading of terror capability with all this effort?
I'm sorry to say I can't. I've said they're starting to operate like nation state armies and we're seeing a conventional approach on their part when leadership is killed.
The next man steps up.
Five terrorists were captured in either Iraq or Afghanistan, I can't remember. Awesome. We hear about this raid. Good.
But is this helping us get to our desired end state? I just don't think so.
I don't even know what this chunky Saab plane is but I like it!
Damn! I might be turning into a Saab fanboy or more accurately I'm seriously falling in love with the old skool jets.
Something about them just looks so right to me! Much more to come from other manufacturers soon.
That plane is chunky and funky but cool as FUCK!
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