NavAir's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter 2011 Year in Review

I hope that the USAF puts out a similar video...it's also interesting that this vid has the actual test pilots talking about the airplane.

Riverine conducts route recon.

I still don't get the Riverine mission set as it appears to be conducted today.  I don't know if its SEAL Delivery Team lite, if its actually a Riverine force or if its a hybrid of something that is being left unsaid.  What I do know is that they're at Bold Alligator.

Riverine Command Boat 802, attached to Riverine Squadron 2, conducts a route reconnaissance mission during Exercise Bold Alligator 2012, the largest amphibious exercise in the past 10 years. Bold Alligator represents the Navy and Marine Corps' revitalization of the full range of amphibious operations. #BA12 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Lynn Friant/Released)

Blast from the past. AAV's in Beirut.

via Military in the Middle East Blogspot.

Sea Ceptor.

The MoD released these computer generated images of the missile that they're developing.  Pretty impressive if it lives up to its billing...able to defend 500 miles?  Darn impressive.  Might be something the US Navy, US Army and US Marines might be interested in.  If I'm not mistaken that exceeds the Patriot RIM-116 by a wide margin.

The MoD has confirmed that a new Royal Navy missile defence system will be able to intercept and destroy enemy missiles travelling at supersonic speeds.

The £483M contract to develop this cutting edge air-defence system - known as Sea Ceptor - is being awarded to UK industry.

The system uses a new UK-developed missile capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 3 and will have the ability to deal with multiple targets simultaneously, protecting an area of around 500 square miles over land or sea.

Sea Ceptor will be developed under a demonstration contract with MBDA (UK) that is expected to last for five years.

Pic of the day.

Pictured is a British soldier with his sniper rifle on board a Merlin helicopter on route to Camp Shawquat, Nad-e Ali.
British snipers fulfil a vital and enduring role on the battlefield, in terms of intelligence-gathering, target identification and eliminating high-value targets.
The L115A3 rifle, part of the Sniper System Improvement Programme (SSIP), is a large-calibre weapon which provides state-of-the-art telescopic day and night all-weather sights, increasing a sniper's effective range considerably.

Geez...that guys gear looks spotless...helicopter is remarkably clean too...where are the hydraulics cables dripping fluid everywhere???

That little Falklands issue pops up again.

via Defense Tech...

Dauntless will set sail for the Falkland Islands in the coming weeks armed with a battery of missiles that could “take out all of South America’s fighter aircraft let alone Argentina’s,” according to one Navy source.

The Type 45 destroyer is the most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic ship in the world equipped with 48 Sea Viper missiles and the Sampson radar, which is more advanced than Heathrow air traffic control

The ship is in a league of its own in air defence able to track dozens of multiple targets

“It can shoot down Argentine fighters as soon as they take off from they bases,” said another Navy source. “This will give Buenos Aires serious pause for thought.”

About fucking time. I guess someone finally woke up to the fact that 4 Typhoons just wasn't going to cut it (of which 2 are probably operational --- if they're doing strip alerts that must be murder---maybe we should count pilots in addition to aircraft)!  

What are we...as a Marine Corps doing?

Rant time.

For the first time in ten years (according to press releases) the Marine Corps is conducting a large scale amphibious exercise (Bold Alligator).

Meanwhile, we have Battalion Landing Teams (MEU's) doing exercises at Cobra Gold and Enhanced Mojave Viper.

All the work done to set the stage for mini-ARGs...distributed warfare and suddenly the powers that be have arrived at the point where Marine Expeditionary Brigade type training needs to be done!

For what purpose?

Why?

It hasn't been discussed publicly, the reasoning hasn't been explained...the thinking behind it hasn't been shared.

What in the name of Chesty is going on here!

The changing story regarding the USS Ponce.

The story of what the Navy SEALs will be doing with the USS Ponce keeps changing...first we have this from FoxNews reported a couple of days ago....

The U.S. Navy is working to place a 'mothership' for Special Operations Forces in the Middle East, Fox News confirms. 

The USS Ponce, which was most recently being used as a dock in the Mediterranean Sea for the Libyan operation, was scheduled to be decommissioned in December. Navy officials now tell Fox News that the ship will be transformed into a flotilla to be used by Navy SEALs

Then we have a comment made on the USNI blog by USNVO which stated this...

USNVO Says:
Just a thought. If you look at the RFP for the ship conversion, you immediately see several things.
1. This is not for SOF! Everything in the RFP points to supporting MIW. Helos, EOD, MCMs, MCM staffs.
2. Then ask, why would MCM in the Arabian Gulf suddenly get such a huge push? OK, that was too easy.
3. Following the logic, then you would want the ability to conduct MCM outside of land support since your potential opponent has a significant missile capability. So, you need a ship.
4. So why the PONCE? Need it now, needs MH-53 support capability, a well deck to support minesweeping sleds and EOD boats, and good Command and Control capability. So PONCE works where other options don’t, unless you want to give up a LHA or LHD?
4. Why now? Nothing sinister, I image a confluance of a variety of things are making it important now.
a. Changing world situation is focusing attention on MCM capability in the area of the SOH. With perhaps just a bit more emphasis than before.
b. Organic MCM and LCS hasn’t worked out quite like many people have hoped. So in order to support the dedicated MCM forces, you need support facilities.
c. The vulnerability of land bases to interdiction by missiles has increased and ballistic missile defense has not kept pace. Simply put, too many missiles not enough defensive missiles to cover everything yet.
So my thought is that financial priorities are changing due to the very real threat that we may need to conduct MCM operations in the Arabian Gulf and SOH in the very near future. The other cool features are nice, but the MCM support issue is the driver.
Why didn’t we do it before? Simply put, other priorities were seen to be more important. Nothing sinister, just different priorities were viewed as more important. So we end up with a stopgap with a future plan to procure a better ship down the road.
You play the percentages and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

 And then we have this from National Defense by Admiral Harvey...

But that will not be the focus of the USS Ponce, Adm. John Harvey told reporters in Washington Jan. 31.

“It is not the primary mission,” he said. “It’s not going over there as an alternate command ship. It’s not going over there as a special operating forces Death Star Galactica coming through the Gulf.”

The main purpose of what Harvey called the “afloat forward staging base interim” is to support mine sweeping operations and patrol combatant craft in the Persian Gulf, he said.

He called it an interim solution because the Navy may turn to its Mobile Landing Platform ships to perform the floating base role. The forthcoming budget will have details on the quantity and purpose of the MLPs and when they will be built, Harvey said.

Message discipline men.  Message discipline.

The USAF screws the Army...again.

The USAF screws the US Army once again.

Remember the C-27?  The Air Force wrested control of that program away from the Army based on the Key West accords...The Air Force stated that they could manage the program better and would see to Army inter-theater needs...then budget cuts hit and the Army is still without its airplane and the Air Force decided to mothball it.

But wait!  It gets worse!

The US Army is trying real hard to be a player in the new Pacific strategy and in order to be a player needs to get its troops to the scene as quickly as possible.  What does that require?  How about strategic airlift.  And what is the USAF also cutting?  C-5's and C-130's.  Not to mention the A-10's that are a close air support specialist.  Want to see the politically correct version of events?  Check this out from DoD Buzz...

As for the other aircraft the Air Force wants to go away, many of them are cargo planes. It plans to get rid of 27 C-5As, 65 C-130s and all of its C-27Js. They’ll probably end up with the A-10s, F-16 and F-15s in the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB. Most of those aircraft could soon be harvested for parts, but Schwartz said airmen will protect the C-27s for now.
“Type-1000 storage is essentially recoverable storage,” he said. “You don’t use the airplanes for spare parts.  You don’t pick and choose and cherry– pick, which type-2000 storage allows you to do.  So obviously, type-1000 storage is more expensive.  It requires sort of ongoing surveillance and so on.  So that — the disposition is not final-final, but those are the options.”

My boy Elements of Power will disagree, and I can't wait to hear from him but if we're really talking about "jointness" then the USAF needs to get a bit more serious about its air lift responsibilities...oh and a second look at retiring the A-10 might be in order too.

Retired Navy Admiral (and carrier pilot) fully endorses the F-35.

BlackFive hits it out the park again...read it there but a tidbit...

Why does Stufflebeem so heavily tout the F-35?

But many fail to realize that the F-35C, with its data exchange and interoperability capabilities, will make the entire Carrier Strike Group (CSG) more capable, effective and lethal. Using similar methods in exercises like Red Flag, the F-22 Raptor made both air and ground units more effective by providing enhanced situational awareness of the battlespace; so will the F-35 provide better maritime awareness to the CSG including both Airwing assets as well as surface forces. The F-35C will make the CSG a better, more capable fighting centerpiece of American military power and force for good around the globe.

Very interesting.

If my memory is correct this is the first time I've heard full support for the F-35 from a high ranking Navy Officer (the flag ranks never actually retire). 

About time.

Just plain cool...different, but cool.

Marines face off with insurgents