WTI 2-17 Heavy Huey Raid....video by Sgt. Daniel D. Kujanpaa

Anyone know the history of the "heavy Huey raid"?  I never knew such a thing existed!  Is this a new concept or just one that I hadn't heard of?

U.S. Marine Corps UH-1Y Venoms assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) insert Marines with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment during a heavy huey raid as part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (WTI) 2-17 at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., April 12, 2017. The exercise was designed to focus on executing a company air assault raid supported by fixed wing and rotary wing escort, and simulated aviation delivered fires. WTI is a seven-week training event hosted by MAWTS-1 cadre, which emphasizes operational integration of the six functions of Marine Corps aviation in support of a Marine Air Ground Task Force and provides standardized advanced tactical training and certification of unit instructor qualifications to support Marine Aviation Training and Readiness and assists in developing and employing aviation weapons and tactics.

15th MEU armor at Red Beach (but where is tanks?)....pics by Cpl. Frank Cordoba

I scoured Cpl Cordoba's photos for pics of Tank Bn but saw nothing.  Is the 15th MEU deploying without a tank platoon?  I don't know the answer but if that's the case then the question of the future of tanks in the Marine Corps is being answered.  If a unit isn't used then it's soon relegated to the Reserves...just before it's cast off completely.  It happened with our self propelled artillery and I fear that the Reserves are the future home of our Tank Bn's.  I hope not but the fear is real.

Open Comment Post. April 15, 2017.

CH-53 admin movement...pics by Lance Cpl. Jacob Pruitt

Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit load into a CH-53E Super Stallion with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 (Reinforced) to be transported to the USS America (LHA-6), April 10, 2017. The 15th MEU utilities air assets to transport personnel between ships during PHIBRON-MEU integration. The 15th MEU’s rapid ability to mobilize people and equipment makes the amphibious force uniquely postured to respond to any mission around the globe. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Jacob Pruitt)

New North Korean Pokpung-ho Tank. Should we follow their lead?

Thanks to DWI for the link!

This is an interesting concept.

Yeah this is a N. Korean idea but should the USMC follow their lead?  Think about it.  The chance of us acquiring a family of vehicles is slim.  Add to it the idea that we will have enough to protect our maneuver force is even slimmer.

But what if we added a simple anti-aircraft mount to each of our vehicles?  Does it make sense especially when you see the widespread use of drones now?  So maybe not missiles but anti-drone systems?

Regardless we can learn from every force on the planet...even the N. Koreans.

Will we strike?

This is turning into an interesting weekend.

I think we're all seeing the same thing here.  The US is coiled and ready to strike.  The N. Koreans will not sit idly by.  They have a reputation to save.  If they back down now they'll lose face.

Is the little fat boy wise enough to walk away from a fight that he can't win? Have we pushed him into a corner that will demand that even if he fights and loses its still a win?

That's the problem here.  We haven't left him with a credible way to back down.

Pass the popcorn.  This is gonna be an interesting watch.

The planning to strike N. Korea has been going on longer than you want to believe.

I haven't posted on it but I've been monitoring several reports that indicate a decapitation strike on the little fat man might be what the preemptive/retaliatory strikes talked about if the N. Koreans test a nuke weapon this weekend are really about.

What the fuck am I talking about?  Check this out from the Diplomat (Jan 10, 2017)...

The South Korean government argues a swift targeted operation against North Korean leadership will serve as a prepared retaliatory strike against any North Korean provocation, doubling as a deterrent to North Korean nuclear ambitions. The thinking goes, “Cut off the head of the snake and the whole regime falls apart.” The logic is clean, simple, and completely idiotic. This kind of thinking is fortune cookie wisdom masquerading as strategic thought.

This this from Sputnik (Aug 10, 2016)....

 "Some Chinese scholars and policy makers began to talk about supporting ‘surgical strikes’ and decapitation’ by the US and South Korea as one policy option," said the esteemed professor. "More radical proposals indicate that China should change the leader, send troops across borders and station in DPRK, force DPRK into giving up nuclear and beginning opening up and reforming."

Then this from USA Today (yesterday)...

 The Trump administration has reportedly been drawing up contingency plans for solving the problem before millions of American lives are at stake. National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said Sunday that deploying forces in the region was prudent and that President Trump has asked for “a full range of options to remove that threat to the American people and to our allies and partners in the region.” The Trump administration isn't the first to consider preemptive military action against North Korea. Defense secretaries from the Obama and Clinton administrations made the case in 2006. But active counterproliferation against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs — which is to say, destroying them — has always been risky because of the threat of millions of North Korea troops swarming south.
However, there may be a solution that at least lowers the risk. During last month’s combined exercises in South Korea, U.S. forces participated in a simulated decapitation strike to take out North Korea’s leadership. 

I was wrong.

Think Tanks, Neo-Cons and the National Security establishment have been planning this type of action for quite awhile.

Looking at things in this light (sorry I didn't remember this sooner tribe members) it seems like a well laid plan is being carried out.  The meeting with the Chinese President MIGHT (pure speculation) have been to hammer out a few details.  The strike in Syria might have been a way to "acclimate" the American people to sudden military action (as was the dropping of the MOAB in Afghanistan yesterday).

If we see missiles fly this weekend, it was because this shit has been planned for at least 6 months or more.

How about a little sauce for the goose?  Check this out from Business Insider...

The annual Foal Eagle military drills between the US and South Korea will include some heavy hitters this year — the Navy SEAL team that took out Osama bin Laden, Army Special Forces, and F-35s — Korea JoongAng Daily reports.
South Korean news outlets report that the SEALs, who will join the exercise for the first time, will simulate a "decapitation attack," or a strike to remove North Korea's leadership.
Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Gary Ross later told Business Insider that the US military "does not train for decapitation missions" of any kind.
Yet a decapitation force would fit with a March 1 Wall Street Journal report that the White House is considering military action against the Kim regime.
The SEALs boarded the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and should arrive in South Korea on Wednesday, Joon Gang Daily reports.

Using open source materials we can put together a pretty circumstantial but in my eyes convincing argument that China, S. Korea, the US, and Japan are all in this and that the "war package" is already assembled.

They did this in the open and we all missed.  I again apologize.  I should have seen this sooner. 

Offensive Air Support 5...pics by Cpl. AaronJames Vinculado

Open Comment Post. April 14, 2017.

The amazing art of Antonis Karidis

Check out all his amazing work here.  I love this guy, he just puts out fantastic stuff. 

US prepared for preemptive strike if N. Korea does a nuke test this weekend.

MSNBC is reporting that the US military is on full alert (meaning the 2nd ID boys are jumping thru hoops) with several Tomahawk firing subs and ships diverted off the shore of N. Korea.

The reason?

Several high placed Trump admin officials state that the US is prepared to conduct a preemptive strike if N. Korea does a nuke test this weekend.

My take?

What the fuck is McMasters, Dunford and Mattis thinking?  Are they shitting me?  Trump is turning into a fucing tool of the Neo-Cons.  I'm SERIOUSLY on the verge of going from cautious optimism to wall punching fury.  Trump is really starting to make me believe he's a fucking lunatic.

I want to still think that he's gonna follow thru on his campaign promises but if this is true and not part of some kind of elaborate psyop campaign then I owe my readers an apology.  If this is true then you guys were right.  I helped elect a fucking madman.

Boeing/Sikorsky future attack helicopter concept.

pic/story via The Drive.

On April 10, 2017, Lockheed Martin, which owns Sikorsky, posted a sales video online that included a depiction of the “attack variant” of their FVL – Medium (FVL-M) contender.  The Army specifically wants the FVL-M to replace both the UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopter and AH-64 Apache gunship. It has not specified whether or not the transport and attack versions need to be based on the same aircraft, but obviously this would be very beneficial, and Sikorsky and Boeing appear to have chosen to develop two separate, but highly related designs with common components.

Story here. 

Do you ever think that the Marine Corps pushed too many concepts that just weren't ready too soon?  Do you think that instead of waiting for those concepts that have been bought to fully mature before buying more (think V-22) and instead going with what works now (what I'm proposing is to cancel the remaining V-22 purchase and instead go with S-92s) that we could have saved a metric shitload of money?

I do.

What does this mean if the Future Vertical Lift actually delivers?  It means that the Marine Corps will be stuck with obsolete vertical assault lift.

If, and it's a big IF, the tech for the FVL delivers (especially if after years of trying the F-35 continues to disappoint) then the USMC will be looking at another budget trainwreck.