Turkey launches military operation against Kurds...

via Kurdistan 24

- Turkish authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew in 46 villages in the major Kurdish province of Diyarbakir as the army launched a vast operation on Thursday against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the area.

Diyarbakir's Ankara-appointed governor's office in a press release on its website said the mountainous region and forests around the districts of Kulp, Lice, Hazro, and Silvan where the villages are located served as a bastion for the Kurdish fighters.

The governorate statement read that the operation's objective was "to neutralize high-ranking terrorists, capture their accomplices, and destroy their shelters, anti-aircraft positions, and arms depots."

Story here. 

A few things....

*  Interesting that the Turks are referring to anti-aircraft positions.  It's also a warning for the Corps.  Depend on air power and your enemy will adapt.  Remember we're talking about what the Turks call a terror organization yet it has a NATO member's airpower held in check.

*  I don't think this will be successful.  The PKK is the Turkish version of the Taliban...you can't stop them as long as they can run across the border into Syria or Iraq.

*  The battlefield in Syria and Iraq continues to become even more crowded. This is what happens when you don't act to win a war but only to continue military operations.  This thing has been going on too long.  It defies all reason.  It's beyond obvious that killing terrorists is not the objective (spare me your theories...I've heard them all).

It's a terrible thing when you have a NATO member going against a supposed terror group and you don't know who to cheer for.

Blast from the past. A pair of Royal Air Force Harrier GR3 hunting in the Norwegian wilderness!

Pics via FireInTheHorizon Tumblr Page from Aviation Hub HQ Twitter Page.

Blast from the past. CIA declassifies Soviet Navy estimates...

Thanks to Galvars for the link!!!!

Document here.

Soviet Naval Infantry on the cover?  You know I'm skipping ahead to that portion of this estimate!  Wonder how the analysts feel in hindsight.  How much did they get right and wrong.

This is inflammatory but showed up in my news feed. Does anyone know of this operation in Syria?

NOTE:  I have several news feeds that link to articles of interest.  Occasionally they point to obscure sources.  That's why I constantly tell you guys that I just post the stuff.  You decide.  About this story.  It's inflammatory as FUCK!  I've tried to find a bit of info about MINA but there isn't an "about us" section or anything.  Additionally I can't find any information from any other news source about Russian MPs being surrounded....but at the same time they have a Russian General supposedly talking about this operation.  Check this out via MINA....

Now this is something you won’t see on NBC nightly news.

The Russian military spokesman General Sergei Rudskoi in his latest briefing (detailed below), in a matter-of-fact deadpan, explains that 'US Secret Services’, and their Al Qaeda proxies, had a very, very bad day yesterday.

Americans love bombing small, defenseless countries into the stone age, it’s part of their culture like baseball, apple pie, and obesity. One of the things they never do, however, is pick on a country that can fight back.

Well this time they messed with the Russian Bear and so... reality ensued.

Yesterday, according to General Rudskoi, an army of “moderate” decapitators, directed by their ‘US Secret Service’ handlers and special ops, double-crossed the Russians by violating a ceasefire agreement, launched an attack with tanks and artillery on the Syrian Government north of Hama in the de-escalation zone, in an attempt to halt the Syrian Army’s successful advance.

A key part of the plan was to capture 29 lightly armed Russian soldiers (military police), which would have been a major embarrassment for Moscow.

Here’s where the story gets gripping.

The 29 Russians were trapped for several hours by the militants, engaged in a heavy fire-fight for their very survival.

Finally, a Spetsnaz (Russian Special Operations) unit, partially composed of ‘military natives of the North Caucusus’ (these are probably Chechens, one of the fiercest soliders in Russia), broke through the terrorist line.

Then, like lightning over the skies of Syria, Russian Sukhoi jets conducted pinpoint strikes against the opposition force, which was subsequently bombarded with an artillery salvo, providing cover for the Russian rescue squad.

They successfully reached their comrades, and though three operators were injured, Russia suffered no casualties. How many US "advisors" to Al Nusra were lost is not known. The US does not report losses in covert operations.

The story and vid (along with pics of dead rebels) is here. 

Let's do this.

Assume that there was a fight but assume that the terrorists weren't being directed by US Special Ops.

Or better yet.

1.  Did a fight as described actually take place?

2.  Who were the Russians actually fighting?  Moderates under our direction or not?

3.  Is this part of a psyops campaign by Macedonia?

I just don't know.  You guys play detective and figure out the truth, motivations etc...with this thing.

Head is hurting again.

Taiwan conducted an "all service" readiness exercise....

via FocusTaiwan.tw

The MND statement was released following a local media report that members of the public noticed fighter jets flying overhead islandwide. Some also saw armored vehicles on the streets, according to the United Daily News.

Some feared the maneuvers could be a response measure against possible Chinese fighter jets invading Taiwanese airspace, as several types of Chinese military aircraft have been reported flying close to the nation's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the past few months, the report said.

In response, the MND said that the take-off and landing of fighter jets were part of a scheduled air defense drill to test all three main branches of the armed forces -- the Air Force, Navy and Army -- response measures in the event of an enemy invasion at night.

Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) gave special credit to all the servicemen and women who took part in the exercise, which was led by Chief of the General Staff Adm. Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明). 

Story here. 

Am I missing something in Taiwan?

An "all service" night time exercise?

You don't think that the Taiwanese believe that if there is action against N. Korea this winter that the China could use the distraction to launch an invasion do you?

Naw.  That's crazy talk.  Right?

Open Comment Post. Sep 21, 2017

Note.  I started following this dude on Instagram and he's all about Swedish aviation.  I love his pics so expect at least a few more days of it before I move on to the next thing that grabs my attention.

US Army 7.62mm Rifle Program is dead.

Thanks to Samuel for the link!

via The Firearms Blog.

The US Army’s program to field a new standard-issue 7.62mm caliber rifle is dead in the water, it seems. Multiple anonymous sources have informed TFB that the Interim Combat Service Rifle program has been cancelled as part of a massive review of US Army small arms programs. The program was officially announced on August 4th, and lasted just over a month before its cancellation.

Few specifics about the cancellation have been revealed, but TFB’s sources cited the lack of a pressing threat necessitating the change, poorly written requirements, little or no support from the ranks, and no backing holistic DOTMLPF assessment. If these reflections are accurate, then it indicate that ICSR may have been a poorly-constructed program driven by the preferences of the brass and not the needs of the actual soldier.

Story here. 

TFB nailed it.  This program came out of nowhere!  No one saw it coming, no one could explain the why behind it and I never heard one person speak out in favor of it.

I hope TFB stays on this story and digs in to find out how the hell this became a "thing" in the first place.

The SecNav seems ready to put the Combatant Commanders back in their cage!

via Breaking Defense.

How will the new Navy Secretary  get people to understand the fleet is being worked too hard? “Because we’ll start every conversation with 17 dead sailors,” Richard Spencer told reporters this morning in his first media roundtable as SecNav.

The 10 deaths aboard the USS McCain last month and the seven aboard the USS Fitzgerald in June have many causes, which Spencer addressed in a Senate hearing yesterday. But the fundamental problem is a collision between a shrinking fleet, growing operational demands, and erratic funding for training and maintenance.

“When I said yesterday that the Navy has a problem and we’re going to fix it, *that means) we’re going to have to come to…some sort of balance between supply and demand,” said Spencer. “The COCOMs (Combatant Commanders) are going to have to understand it, and the Hill is going to have to understand it.”

Story here. 

Wow!  This dude gets it!

IF the Navy/Marine Corps learn to say no.  If the SecNav is willing to run interference and push his thinking on Combatant Commanders requesting forces for no good reason, then we might see this drama sort itself out.

But Combatant Commander MUST be put back in those cages for this to happen!

What will we see if the SecNav has the courage of his convictions?  We should see an immediate and noticeable drop in the number of exercises worldwide. We should see targets hit for the amount of dwell time that our troops get.

Doing this one thing could help reset the force, reinvigorate personnel and maybe slow the rush to the exits that we're seeing now.

I hope this is more than just words but time will tell.

Block 4 will bring the real "combat package" to the F-35...this is worse than I thought...

 

via Aviation Week.

“From a production perspective, we have literally 150 to 160 modifications that have to occur on some of our tails to get it to a Block 3 configuration,” Winter said during a Sept. 18 speech at the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber conference here. “Our mods program is almost as exciting and dwarfing our production program.”

With that in mind, Winter said it is time to consider perhaps not modifying every aircraft to the Block 3F standard that would enable it carry a full complement of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. Testing of Block 3F could be delivered by the end of this year. “We’re looking at a solution space that gives our warfighter options,” he said.

Story here.

Check out this passage from Flightglobal back in Feb of this year.

 Given numerous issues on the F-35, including 270 high-priority deficiencies in Block 3F performance identified in a recent review, Michael Gilmore expects Lot 10 will be delivered without the full Block 3F capability.

Story here. 

Now check out this comment from a reader at Aviation Week under the story listed at the top of the page.

The US delayed/has delayed needed upgrades to the F-16, F-15 and F-22 fleets for years/decades while adding funding to the development of the F-35, as well as dealing with the overseas conflict funding needs.

So now the US is in a bind that because of these upgrade delays these aircraft really need them, as well to compensate for the truncated buy of F-22s.

Now there's up to 200 expensive F-35s that need structural and other upgrades due to the policy of producing an aircraft while its being developed (concurrency). And as AWST reports, "are too limited to fly in combat", but other officials have stated they are ready for combat.

While AWST and the USAF claims that.." the Block 3F standard that would enable it carry a full complement of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons", in fact this complement is rather limited, and cannot use a range of other US and foreign weapons planned for Block 4 which really enable the F-35 to meet its potential.

So now the US and other users face this upgrade quandary. Many have known this situation was coming.

In short?

A reader of this blog stated that this thing is worse than I thought and he was right.

THIS IS CRIMINAL!

We know of this issue and Lot 10 will be bought with the full knowledge of the Pentagon that they're mistake jets.  

This is why so few people are willing to buy the airplane now.  This is why the "projected" sales into the future are so full of nonsense.

In short the US is asking its allies to buy airplanes before they're completed. It was a stupid on a stick idea and it shows how far the Pentagon has fallen.

One airplane program has thoroughly corrupted the Pentagon.  If I didn't see it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it.

In case you ask....

Here's the original in case you ask....I never know which header pic will capture ya'lls imagination.

Joint India-US Military Exercise – Yudh Abhyas "Training For War"...this is why ops tempo is out of control!

Three things.

1.  Is it just me or does it look like Indian troops have some pretty antiquated battle rattle?  Those helmets look prehistoric and their webbing looks like its from the 60's.  They are a mysterious force.  They have nuclear weapons, first rate aircraft but it seems like their infantry is poorly equipped.  No hate, just stating what I'm seeing here.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

2.  One weekend I'm gonna catalog all the formal exercises that the US has run/will run with foreign nations this year.  If you want to know why the ops tempo is out of control then simply keep track of that number.  What I find amazing is that while they had a chance to rest and reset the force they've instead increased things.  I don't get it but that's what my eyeballs tell me.

3.  One other issue that dovetails with ops tempo.  Forward presence.  I don't believe that "concept" works.  Overseas bases just places US forces in areas where they can be destroyed in place if a sudden war breaks out.  It's almost like they're trying to do the ink blot strategy from Vietnam on a global scale.  It won't work and its another reason why the force is being artificially worn out.  Someone needs to get a handle on things.  If "forward presence" is the way we're going then I guarantee you'll see a replay of that concept like we had in the early stages of WW2.  US garrisons being overrun.

Aurora 17. Another of those exercises you've never heard of...

Aurora 17.

Another one of those large scale military exercises that include US forces for no apparent reason other than to say the Americans participated.

What irks me isn't the obvious dog and pony aspects of the thing (but you can't help but cringe at all the politicians & defense officials that show up....just get the fuck outta the way please!) but the scenarios...all scripted, very little free play and the desired outcomes which validate all the assumptions going in.

If it was free play with tight control by umpires whenever live fire happened, with the ability for ground commanders at the Battalion level and below to respond to unanticipated issues then I wouldn't complain.

But from my chair its looking like another field op with an opening ceremony, lots of pics with politicians, a closing ceremony where generals and politicians pat themselves on the back bragging about jointness and no one getting any training benefit out of the entire drama.

I'll monitor this thing to see if my preconceived notions are wrong, but I'd bet valuable body parts I'm spot on.