Evacuate or die?

via MarketWatch.

Puerto Ricans have been warned to evacuate or risk their lives as Hurricane Maria barrels toward the U.S. territory, brining life-threatening winds, storm surge and rainfalls.

The weather system is forecast to hit the islands, with a population of 3.5 million people, Wednesday morning as a Category 5 storm. It is expected to wreck more havoc than Hurricane Irma that destroyed large parts of the Caribbean just two weeks ago.

The National Hurricane Center said in its early Wednesday advisory that Maria is heading toward the southeastern part of Puerto Rico at 10 miles per hour, packing sustained winds of as much as 165 miles per hour. It was just 85 miles southeast of San Juan at 2 a.m. Eastern Time.

Story here. 

Wow.

They're actually telling poor Puerto Ricans that while realizing that many don't have the means to leave?

That's why you prep.

Between the hurricanes (with more to come I'm sure) and the earthquakes in Mexico this is turning into another crazy year.  The teenage years of this century are a real bitch.

What happens to the production numbers if the current F-35B's aren't upgraded?

Check this out from Wikipedia.

Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, General James Amos has said that, in spite of increasing costs and schedule delays, there is no plan B to the F-35B.[360] The F-35B is larger than the aircraft it replaces, which required USS America to be designed without well deck capabilities.[361] In 2011, the USMC and USN signed an agreement by which the USMC will purchase 340 F-35B and 80 F-35C fighters, while the USN will purchase 260 F-35Cs. The five squadrons of USMC F-35Cs will be assigned to Navy carriers; F-35Bs will be used on amphibious ships and ashore.[277][278]

My question is simple.

The Program Office Chief has stated that the Block 2 is not combat capable. Former Commandant and current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dunford said that the F-35B with Block 2 IS COMBAT CAPABLE.

So what happens to the numbers programmed to be bought?

The USMC is suppose to get 340, so are these jets that are currently operating simply "demonstration" models and won't count against that figure or do they count against the number and the number bought is in essence going to have to be increased.

Wait.  That sounds like the same thing, but that's what we have with the modern Pentagon.

I hate the fact that you can't talk about this shit plainly but have to enter the world of legalize to even discuss it but we are where we are.

In short.

Is 340 the number and the current jets can be deducted from the total or is the 340 the number of REAL combat capable jets as the Program Manager states it which means that the Marine Corps' buy of the plane hasn't even begun yet?

Yeah.  It's clear as mud.  Read between the lines cause I can't even begin to figure out how to ask it any better.

My guess is that they're gonna state that the real buy of the jets hasn't even begun so that means that every jet the US military has already bought isn't worth anything except money for Lockheed.

Concurrency has COMPLETELY failed.  I predict the F-35 fanclub will be saying....

U.S. Marine Corps Advances SAIC to Next Phase of AAV SU Production

via Business Wire.

The U.S. Marine Corps Program Executive Officer Land Systems (PEO LS) approved the Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) Survivability Upgrade (SU) program to enter into the Production and Deployment Phase following a Milestone C decision. As a part of the decision Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC) was awarded an initial Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) option to provide the Marine Corps additional AAV SU vehicles. As part of the LRIP decision, SAIC will deliver a total of 25 vehicles over a two-year period for operational test and evaluation and initial fielding to USMC expeditionary units.

Story here. 

This is good news...especially for SAIC.  What I don't understand is the snails pace.  Why two years to deliver a paltry 25 vehicles?

They bought more mistake F-35B's that they won't upgrade in the same amount of time, yet a vehicle that is to carry Marines into battle is slow walked?

I don't understand today's Marine Corps.  I don't think I want to.

Open Comment Post. Sep 20, 2017

2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of 3rd Infantry Division on track to become the U.S. Army’s 15th Armored Brigade Combat Team

via DVIDS

When the Department of the Army announced that the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart would become the U.S. Army’s 15th Armored Brigade Combat Team, the Spartan team initiated the planning process and went straight to work.

Converting a light infantry brigade into an armored brigade is a major undertaking that requires thorough planning and disciplined execution.

“We address conversion like any other operational mission,” explained Capt. Joe Amico, brigade conversion planner. “First we began by outlining key milestones, coordinating resources and sequencing fielding and training schedules.”

Even though the brigade is not scheduled to deploy within the next year, they will continue to train and prepare to attend the National Training Center (NTC) in the Spring of 2019.

“We are using our deployment to the NTC in 2019 as the target and backward plan from there,” said Amico.

The Spartan Brigade will again become an armored brigade combat team (ABCT) after being an infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) for the last two years.
Organizational requirements to convert were driven by the changing global landscape. Dynamic political and military behaviors throughout the world cause adjustments to the menu of options U.S. commanders need to prevent, shape and win against determined adversaries.

“Armored forces are in high demand and this adjustment increases capacity available for the Army and combatant commanders to meet strategic requirements,” explained the brigade commander, Col. James K. Dooghan.

The brigade’s structure will shift from three light infantry battalions to being centered around three combined arms battalions with a fleet of Abrams main battle tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.

“Bringing speed, precision fires and overwhelming combat power to bear on the enemy is at the heart of what it means to be an ABCT,” said Dooghan.

A return to a proud history.

US Marines order 104 MRZR-D Utility Task Vehicles...good riddance to the ITV!

via IHS Janes.

The US Marine Corps (USMC) has ordered 104 more diesel-powered MRZR-D Utility Task Vehicles (UTVs) from Polaris Government and Defense, the company announced on 18 September.

Story here. 

They might not say it out loud but its obvious that the ITV is on the way out the door.

To that I say good riddance!

Reports from the field rate its performance at best to bad and most say its just unsat in all categories.

If you want to trace the beginning of the failure of procurement in the Marine Corps then I think it began with the ITV being selected.  There are still reports from a news station in Detroit that ran down all the skullduggery behind that vehicle selection process.

Still.  The Marine Corps is to be applauded for recognizing the deficit and correcting it. On that score well done.

Ukrainian Separatists have more armor than German, the UK, & France combined...Europe must rebuild its armored force!

via Real Clear Defense.

Just a few years ago, Western military leaders were all but certain that the era of the tank was over. As a result, they unwisely did away with the world’s foremost armored fighting force. Germany, the nation that more than any other perfected the role of tanks and armored formations in warfare, reduced its fleet of Leopard 2 tanks from some 2,100 to 225. The British Army, which ended the Cold War with 800 advanced tanks, currently deploys just 156 in a single regiment. France has 406 tanks but only 240 in front-line units. In comparison, the Ukrainian separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk are reported to be operating more than 700 tanks, a larger fleet than that of Britain, Germany and France combined.

Moreover, reductions in combat support capabilities, logistics and manpower means that this “corporal’s guard” of NATO armored fighting units are actually less capable and deployable than the raw numbers would indicate. A recent RAND study concluded that it would take a month or more for the U.K., Germany and France to generate a combat-ready armored brigade 

Story here. 

Now we know why the US Army is pushing more armor into Europe.  Once again the United States is subsidizing underfunded EU defense requirements with American Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen...and alot of our gear.

Open Comment Post. Sep 19, 2017

WarHammer News. Use of tactical nuclear weapons discussed with South Korea

via Military Times

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed Monday that the U.S. and South Korea have discussed employing tactical nuclear weapons as an option to defend against North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The acknowledgment from Mattis comes as the U.S. and international community grapple with increasingly aggressive nuclear weapons testing by North Korea.

Story here. 

Wow.

Mattis actually put this on the table.

Now I can see how a decapitation strike could actually succeed.  How many people remember the Neutron Bomb?  How many people remember how it scared the living dog shit out of the Soviet Union?

Do you think that development on such weapons has ended?

With the use of such weapons MARSOC and US Army Rangers MIGHT be able to make that assault into the mouth of hell and make it out the other side.

But even if I'm wrong, the idea that it would even be raised is confirmation.

War is coming.

All the chips are on the table.

It's just a matter of the timetable they've established.

Wait one Gawd Damn minute! The USMC declared the F-35B operational with 2B software!

Wait one Gawd Damn minute!  The USMC declared the F-35B operational with 2B software.  Let me refresh your memory.  via Marines.mil

The U.S. Marine Corps' F-35B Lightning II aircraft reached initial operational capability July 31, 2015 with a squadron of 10 F-35Bs ready for world-wide deployment.

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121), based in Yuma, Arizona, is the first squadron in military history to become operational with an F-35 variant, following a five-day Operational Readiness Inspection, which concluded July 17.

“I am pleased to announce that VMFA-121 has achieved Initial Operational Capability in the F-35B, as defined by requirements outlined in the June 2014 Joint Report to Congressional Defense Committees,” said Gen. Joseph Dunford, Commandant of the Marine Corps. “VMFA-121 has ten aircraft in the Block 2B configuration with the requisite performance envelope and weapons clearances, to include the training, sustainment capabilities, and infrastructure to deploy to an austere site or a ship. It is capable of conducting Close Air Support, Offensive and Defensive Counter Air, Air Interdiction, Assault Support Escort and Armed Reconnaissance as part of a Marine Air Ground Task Force, or in support of the Joint Force.”

Dunford stated that he has his full confidence in the F-35B’s ability to support Marines in combat, predicated on years of concurrent developmental testing and operational flying.

“Prior to declaring IOC, we have conducted flight operations for seven weeks at sea aboard an L-Class carrier, participated in multiple large force exercises, and executed a recent operational evaluation which included multiple live ordnance sorties," said Dunford. "The F-35B’s ability to conduct operations from expeditionary airstrips or sea-based carriers provides our Nation with its first 5th generation strike fighter, which will transform the way we fight and win.”

As the future of Marine Corps tactical aviation, the F-35 will eventually replace three legacy platforms: the AV-8B Harrier, the F/A-18 Hornet, and the EA-6B Prowler.

Former Commandant of the Marine Corps and Current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said that the 2B was fully capable of performing the FULL SPECTRUM of combat.

Let me plus out the capabilities he outlined for the slow members of the class...

 It is capable of conducting Close Air Support, Offensive and Defensive Counter Air, Air Interdiction, Assault Support Escort and Armed Reconnaissance as part of a Marine Air Ground Task Force, or in support of the Joint Force.

That's the whole enchilada folks.  That is everything that Marine Air does kinetically.

But now we have this revelation from Flight Global (posted about it earlier but we need to plus it out again..story here and thanks again to Peter for getting it to me!).

 Delays during the development stage caused Lockheed to deliver more than 108 aircraft with Block 2B software. Each fighter requires 150-160 modifications to be raised to the combat-rated Block 3 standard, says Vice Adm Matt Winter, the F-35’s programme executive.

So what the fuck over?

We were sold by the USMC and USAF that Block 2B is combat capable.  We have F-35's flying demonstrations of force near N. Korea and the FUCKING PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE says that Block 3 is the combat rated standard?????

I SAY AGAIN!  WHAT THE FUCK!  

These planes aren't worth upgrading to Block 3 because they want to save money, but at the same time they're combat capable now?

EXPLAIN THIS SHIT PENTAGON!!!! 

Hundred of non-combat capable F-35s????

Thanks to Peter for the link!

via Flight Global

Scores of US-owned Lockheed Martin F-35s would remain in the fleet with a software operating system rated below combat-grade under one of several cost-saving proposals under review by the Joint Programme Office.

Delays during the development stage caused Lockheed to deliver more than 108 aircraft with Block 2B software. Each fighter requires 150-160 modifications to be raised to the combat-rated Block 3 standard, says Vice Adm Matt Winter, the F-35’s programme executive.

The looming modification bills are threatening to suck resources from a looming production ramp-up with more than 900 aircraft projected for delivery over the next five years, Winter says.

“We’re looking at solution spaces to give our warfighters options,” Winter says.

Story here. 

Ya know a certain blogger from back in the day...a certain Australian Think Tank all said out loud that the US military was buying hundreds of mistake jets that would break the bank to upgrade.

We were all told that it was simply a software update so the cost would be negligible.

Looks like the fan club was wrong and the critics right (once again).

I'll just leave this here for you to drink in.  

Gunner Fact or Fiction | The Will to Train

Gunner Wade should redo this vid!  Why?  Oh its good for what it does.  It highlights the need to train on your own dime and time if you want to master the pistol.

My thinking though is that this is a good primer for being good at anything.  You have to invest the time, your own dime and a little bit of blood/sweat to whatever it is you want to master.

Dude should be teaching at the Academy.  Might get fewer dingbats coming out to the Fleet.