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| 12/23/2011 By Cpl. Justin M. Boling A detachment of Marines from Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 in Afghanistan completed their first unmanned aerial system cargo delivery in a combat zone, Dec. 17. The unmanned helicopter moved about 3,500 pounds of food and supplies from Camp Dwyer to troops at Combat Outpost Payne. The helicopter, an unmanned variant of the K-MAX, completed the delivery in about an hour and a half. |
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| The latest production F-35B (Navy Bureau Number 168058, called BF-7) was flown from NAS Fort Worth JRB on 21 December 2011. Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti was the pilot for aircraft's first flight. |
Lieutenant General Morrison said, "the Army's Deployable Joint Force Headquarters will foster and develop an amphibious culture across Army, but it will take some time to master. The important point is that the Army is committed to developing this aspect of its operations."Wow.
To reinforce Army's commitment, the Chief of Army has designated the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) to form the core of Army's contribution to a future amphibious force as this developmental work is done.
"2RAR will work on a day to day basis with Navy and Air Force on the LHDs and other amphibious platforms to further develop this joint capability."
In his inaugural year as Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Morrison expressed his confidence in Plan BEERSHEBA to deliver an Army that is robust, relevant and capable for the tasks directed by Government.
"Our modern Army is moving into the future with a new perspective and a smarter way of doing business and delivering capability within the resources we have," Lieutenant General Morrison said.
"Plan BEERSHEBA will ensure that Army can continue to contribute forces to operations including Afghanistan, until the mission is complete, and will successfully transition to a force that maintains high levels of readiness to react to the range of Australia's Defence needs as they arise.
"On operations and at home, it means we will derive the full value from our Army."
Interesting.The F-35 is the first aircraft in history with a 360 degree field of vision out to 800 miles, managed by an integrated combat system. Make no mistake -- the F-35 is a full combat system, not just a platform. The beauty of a combat system is the maintenance, upgrades, deployment readiness, development synergies provided by common software for upgrades and development.The F-35 will revolutionize air combat operations, especially in the Pacific. Fifth generation aircraft like the F-35 are at the heart of a potential new air combat system enterprise. The F-22s may have been the harbinger, but it lacks the essential air combat systems present on the F-35. Deployed as a force, the JSF enables distributed air operations that are crucial to the survival of our pilots in the period ahead. Distributed operations are the cultural shift that fifth generation aircraft, along with investments in new weapons, remotely piloted aircraft and the crafting of simultaneous rather than sequential operations, bring to the fight.The Japanese understand the opportunities to leverage the F-35 combat system enterprise and that is why they chose the aircraft.Before the JSF, military leaders would have to tack on additional systems to legacy aircraft to provide new capabilities. The pilot would be forced to manage each new system. The F-35's five major combat systems are already integrated and interact with each other to provide capabilities. The functional capabilities that emerge from that interaction are done by the machine and are not simply correlated with a single system. For example, jamming can be done by several systems aboard the JSF but the machine decides which one to use. And the entire system rests on a common architecture with broadband capabilities.
The date is July 27, 2012, and in London the Olympic Games are about to begin. For months, the British people have been looking forward to the jamboree of patriotic enthusiasm.
But now that the day is here, the mood feels heavy with gloom. The crowds are thin, the drizzle pours down. The Union Flags hang forlornly in the dull breeze.
Even the nation's new Prime Minister, the blinking, stammering Ed Miliband, cuts a remarkably limp figure, a melancholy leader for a nation sunk in misery....
...Under the terms of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the government had committed itself to scrapping the Harrier Jump Jets and decommissioning the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, effectively hobbling its capacity to strike back against an Argentine invasion.Read the entire article...those are only two passages...but also read the comments section over at Think Defence.
In October 2010, Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, the architect of victory in the South Atlantic in 1982, warned that a surprise attack would be 'highly likely to succeed'.
Thanks to the swingeing cuts, he insisted, the Argentines could take the islands 'with barely a shot being fired'.
But to their eternal shame, the Coalition ignored his warnings. And they even ignored an even more aggressive bout of sabre-rattling from Mrs Kirchner, who declared the following summer that Britain was merely a 'crude colonial power in decline'.
All this, however, was merely a taste of what was to come...
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| 12/22/2011 By Andy Wolfe Headquarters Marine Corps Lt. Col. Matt Taylor lands an F-35B Short Take-Off Vertical Landing aircraft Dec. 13 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The first test flight of the STOVL variant by a Marine was in 2009. |
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| Amphibious assault vehicles assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/2 prepare for a beach raid exercise aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York. New York is underway participating in composite training unit exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group's certification for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood) |
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| Amphibious assault vehicles assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/2 debark from the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York for a beach raid exercise. New York is underway participating in composite training unit exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group's certification for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood) |
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| Amphibious assault vehicles assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/2 debark from the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York for a beach raid exercise. New York is underway participating in composite training unit exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group's certification for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood) |
