Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Monday, February 27, 2023
US Treasury Sec visits Ukraine?
Something don't feel right about this. Can't put my finger on it but it feels suspect.JUST IN - Yellen makes a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/2N581i9rFG
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 27, 2023
Did Berger just kill USMC Scout-Snipers? If true then the tribe will go crazy!
I'm gonna ask some of the Officers/SNCOs that inhabit Twitter that I follow for some clarification on this thing, but if Berger killed Scout-Snipers the howl from around the Corps will be huge!Good God! I didn't even know about this. Let me ask some of Berger's boys (doubt they'll talk) about this. Scout Sniper is gone? I can't even fathom the thought. This might be a breaking point if true. The tribe will go crazy! https://t.co/Ru7LwlacdN
— Solomon (@SnafuBlogspot) February 27, 2023
SECNAV ‘Excited’ About New Landing Ship Mediums
via USNI.News
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the Navy and Marines have “got to get the right concept … and design” to move forward with the new Landing Ship Mediums – the vessels projected to augment larger amphibious vessels.
Investing in the new ships did not mean the Navy was pulling back its commitment to larger amphibious warships, Del Toro said Wednesday, speaking at the National Defense Industrial Association Expeditionary Warfare Conference.
There will “probably be more LPDs [landing platform, docks] in the future,” he said. He also mentioned America-class amphibious assault ships LHA-8 [Bougainville] and LHA-9 [Fallujah] as critical to the mix of ships because of the capacity they have to handle aircraft and surface connectors.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said at last year’s conference the new smaller ships, formerly known as the Light Amphibious Warship, are vital for the service’s missions in an era of Great Power competition. The Congressional Research Service said the construction price tag for LAW would run between $100 million and $150 million. Last week at the WEST 2023 conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA., Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith said the requirements were ready.
“We agree on the requirements. Now we’re trying to move,” Smith said.
Calling bullshit on a couple of points.
* No way they can build these LSMs and additional big deck amphibs. The money ain't there unless we start an arms buildup in the middle of economic trouble....while cutting back on donations to Ukraine.
* Even if they do build more big decks then for what? The well decks will be used for everything except forcible entry so why? It would make more sense to use the money to put additional DDGs in the water or aircraft on carriers.
Make it make sense!
Force Design 2030 is all about putting a trip wire force in range of Chinese missiles so that they act as missile sponges. The amount of firepower that they will deploy against naval targets is negligible at best.
Any capable EABO will be found, fixed and destroyed before they can even refuel/rearm the first aircraft that needs it.
In short Marines will be relegated to the role of coast watcher.
I can name a range of capabilities that will be more useful than FD2030 in the upcoming naval battle.
Even the Army's Multi-Domain Brigades will have more firepower!
This whole push just does NOT make sense.
Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade reportedly suffers heavy losses
via VOA
An elite Russian infantry force has suffered significant losses in Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday.
The ministry said in an intelligence update that imagery from the Vuhledar section of Donetsk oblast shows “concentrated Russian vehicle losses,” with the vehicles probably from Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade.
The ministry said the Naval Infantry “has been tasked with some of the toughest tactical missions in the war and has suffered extremely high casualties.”
The ministry update, posted on Twitter, said the capability of Naval Infantry brigades has “almost certainly been significantly degraded” because its units have been replenished with “inexperienced mobilized personnel.”
The Battle of Porytowe Wzgórze (Porytowe Hill) -- Polish & Russian Partisans (about 3,000) defeated a German Combined Arms Force (25,000 - 30,000)
via Wikipedia
On 14 June the Polish and Russian partisans, numbering around 3,000 in total, found themselves tightly surrounded by German forces. The German units consisted of between 25,000 and 30,000 soldiers, with artillery, tanks, armored cars and air support.
After an artillery and mortar barrage, the Germans managed to make two breaks in the partisans' line of defense. However, these attacks were eventually driven back, although at a high cost to the Poles and Russians. The Germans, relying on their superior numbers and armaments, managed to take control of a small wood nearby from which they could keep the partisans under constant fire, causing high casualties among them. Using this as a base for further attacks, German forces managed to seize the western side of the Porytowe Hill which breached the main line of defense. However, the Poles and Russians soon counterattacked, recovered the lost positions and, that night (of 14 June), made an attempt to break out from the trap. The main columns of partisans, after fierce fighting, many casualties and a forced 40 kilometer march, managed to reach the relative safety of the Solska Forest.
Partisan casualties were about 170, including around 100 killed and 70 wounded. 495 Wehrmacht soldiers also died, as well as an unknown number of German police and auxiliary forces.
Everyone, myself included, always searches the major battles that happened in WW2. Additionally the emphasis is always on the Western Front. Outside of the battle at Kursk and Stalingrad, we in the West tend to ignore that front.
That's a mistake and an educational bias that I believe even infects our military professionals to a degree (I've always wondered why the US has historically had a terrible time fighting in Asia, but for some reason Western Forces always do badly in that region....after WW2 that is and that was meatgrinder, bomb it till you start tilling the soil and then bomb some more).
I stumbled across this battle and have to know more. Follow the link and read what's there but this thing is fascinating.
Even with the follow on operation Partisans escaped and they gave as good as they got with regard to body count.
Anyone know a good book on the Partisan fight on the Eastern Front?
F‑15 STOL via Mike ACS Flickr Page
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| F-15 STOL/MTD_v_c_o_TPMBK (ca. 1985-89, unnumbered poss. MDC photo) “The Short Take-Off and Landing/ Maneuver Technology Demonstrator (STOL/MTD) Joint Test Force completed the first phase of F‑15 STOL tests. The goal of the program was to demonstrate that an F-15 fitted with new technologies could land without navigational aid from the ground, on a bumpy field only 1,500 feet in length and 50 feet wide at night, in bad weather, with a 30-knot crosswind. In 1975, Langley Research Center began to conduct sponsored programs studying two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles; government and industry studies of non-axisymmetric two-dimensional (2-D) nozzles in the early 1970s had identified significant payoffs for thrust-vectoring 2-D nozzle concepts. In 1977, Langley started a system integration study of thrust-vectoring, thrust-reversing, and 2-D nozzles on the F-15 with McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC). In 1984, the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division awarded a contract to McDonnell Douglas for an advanced development STOL/MTD experimental aircraft. The aircraft used in the STOL/MTD program has flown several times since the successful STOL/MTD program completion in 1991 that used thrust vectoring and canard foreplanes to improve low-speed performance. This aircraft tested high-tech methods for operating from a short runway. This F-15 was part of an effort to improve ABO (Air Base Operability), the survival of warplanes and fighting capability at airfields under attack. The F-15 STOL/MTD tested ways to land and take off from wet, bomb-damaged runways. The aircraft used a combination of reversible engine thrust, jet nozzles that could be deflected by 20 degrees, and canard foreplanes. Pitch vectoring/reversing nozzles and canard foreplanes were fitted to the F-15 in 1988. NASA acquired the plane in 1993 and replaced the engines with Pratt & Whitney F100-229 engines with Pitch/Yaw vectoring nozzles. The canard foreplanes were derived from the F/A-18's stabilators. Prior to August 15, 1991, when McDonnell Douglas ended its program after accomplishing their flight objectives, the F-15 STOL/MTD plane achieved some impressive performance results: - Demonstrated vectored takeoffs with rotation at speeds as low as 42 mph - A 25-percent reduction in takeoff roll - Landing on just 1,650 feet of runway compared to 7,500 foot for the standard F-15 - Thrust reversal in flight to produce rapid deceleration Above paraphrased from: www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-... Credit: Air Force Test Center (AFTC) website Since it’s cool, there are plenty of other sites regarding this, nearly all regurgitating the same content though. Check out what’s going in the image, like the one coming in for a landing…I think. It’s completely vertical! Like the crazy shit the Russian bastards used to demonstrate at air shows. Then there’s the starboard quarter elevator/platform, or whatever it’s called…in a vertical position…with an F-15 STOL/MTD attached! Huh? And…is the approaching aircraft coming in to land on the similarly vertical port elevator/platform??? I mean, it looks to be headed right for it. If so, I suppose the arresting cable acts like the wire on the back of wall art. 😉 As if all of that crazy stuff wasn’t enough, this beautiful work is apparently by the hand of a female artist, Tricia Martin. Outstanding! Possibly a McDonnell Douglas artist? Unfortunately, I’ve found nothing on her. I just hope it’s not a male artist who decided to lead with his middle name. |
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Ukrainian drones dropping grenades on civilians?
What is the kill radius on these things. But ignore that. Why would they do this?GRAPHIC: Ukrainian quadcopter drone drops grenades on civilians in Donetsk city. Drones were likely flown from Avdiivka.
— LogKa (@LogKa11) February 26, 2023
Ukrainians have reached the stage where they don’t even bother hiding their war crimes
Cr: @Fishcak18433002 pic.twitter.com/uBdtXRrOXZ