The PM is pissed!

via Defense Management.

PM rebukes forces chiefs over Libya

21 June 2011

Prime Minister David Cameron has hit back at forces chiefs' warnings about the strain being placed on Britain's armed forces.

In recent weeks the heads of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy have warned that Britain would struggle to maintain operations in Libya beyond September due to the difficulty in refreshing personnel and equipment in both Afghanistan and Libya.

When the First Sea Lord repeated his warning recently he was said to have been called to Downing Street for a 'dressing down' by the Prime Minister.

Today it emerged that Air Chief Marshal Simon Bryant warned MPs that allowance cuts had affected morale and that the RAF was 'running hot' in terms of the demand on its personnel and airframes.

Confronted with today's news, Cameron told a press conference: "There are moments when I wake up and read the newspapers and think 'you do the fighting, I'll do the talking'."

"…Time is on our side, not Gaddafi's. We are allied to some of the richest and most militarily capable countries in the world. We have the Libyan people on our side and we'll keep going.

"The pressure is turning up all the time: you can see that in the desertions from his regime, the pressure on the west of the country, the pockets of resistance that people had assumed would be snuffed out are growing in strength.

"Britain's military are performing magnificently."

Wow.

The truth always gets out.

The truth is just as the Sea Lord stated.  NATO is struggling.  NATO is overstretched and its future is in doubt.

Remember a bridge too far?  This is a war too strenuous for an out of shape military alliance with delusions of grandeur.

MH-60R Helo Heads Down Under

Old news but good news.

Australia is about to get an advanced, capable, and cutting edge helicopter....now.  Not in the next 10 years.

NATO helo downed in Libya.

Read it on CNN.

Will someone please drug test this guy or label him 5150?

Via Aviation Week (official magazine of EADS and EADS North America *note stated tongue in cheek---sorta).

After a lull period, EADS North America is seeing increased interest from the Pentagon about a potential purchase of Airbus Military C-212 light transports.
There is “intensifying interest” in the last month for the C-212 to potentially serve as a new light mobility aircraft, says Sean O’Keefe, CEO of EADS N.A. The program outline is still emerging, but O’Keefe says it could entail the purchase of 50-100 aircraft.
One of the drivers of twin-engine C-212 interest is a recognition that doing the mission with a single-engine aircraft is not suitable.
O’Keefe says EADS N.A. also is eyeing a special operations command requirement for transport aircraft. The C-212 is one of the aircraft the special operations community will be evaluating, he says.
Still unclear is what the commercial strategy would be for the U.S. program, including whether the aircraft would be assembled in the U.S.

Geez.

WHAT IS THIS GUY SMOKING!

First we get word that the US military will be interested in purchasing the A400M.  Now we get word that the US military is showing interest in the C-212.

Yep, O'Keefe needs to be drug tested or declared 5150.

My question is this.  What happened to the C-27????  This from Wikipedia...

The United States received its first C-27J on 25 September 2008.^[28] In September 2008, the C-27J Schoolhouse, operated by L-3 Link, officially began classes at the Georgia Army National Guard Flight Facility, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. By April 2009, the Army had accepted deliveries of two aircraft and had 11 more on order.^[29] A proposal in May 2009 that the US Army/Army National Guard relinquish all of its aircraft to the US Air Force, primarily the Air National Guard, with a reduction of the total buy to 38 aircraft,^{[30][dead link]}led the DoD to give total control of the US's C-27Js to the USAF in December.^[21] Although the plan is for the C-27J to be entirely operated by the Air National Guard for direct support of the United States Army, today both Army National Guard and Air National Guard flight crews support the fielding of the aircraft. The US Air National Guard had received four C-27Js by July 2010 and began using them for testing and training. Purchase of 38 Spartans is anticipated with initial operational capability expected in October 2010.^[31] The US Air Force has planned the C-27J's first combat deployment for summer 2011.^[32]

Wishful thinking is not a business plan.

EADS and EADS North America seem to be engaged in a whole bunch of wishful thinking.

Get ready for Exercise Mailed Fist.

Via CNN.

Washington (CNN) -- It's mid-June, a perfect time to visit the beach to watch porpoises play in the surf or seagulls strut the sand -- or you could watch a formation of Marine Corps warplanes darting over the shore at hundreds of miles per hour.
But don't worry -- the United States hasn't declared war on your family's beach house. It's just part of a major Marine Corps exercise called Exercise Mailed Fist (translation: armored fist).
The exercise is designed to test the capability of every type of Marine Corps aircraft, including MV-22 Ospreys and F/A 18 Hornets, as well as some Navy ships and Air Force planes.
The drill will stretch from Quantico Marine Base in northern Virginia to the Navy's Pinecastle Bombing Range in Florida.
With thousands of Marines and other service members involved, it's the biggest such drill ever on the U.S. East Coast.
"Exercise Mailed Fist is the first exercise of its specific kind and the largest 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing exercise conducted in recent history," said Staff Sgt. Roman J. Yurek, Marine Corps spokesman. "In the past, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing units had to deploy to the West Coast to conduct this type of training."
Mailed Fist was not originally supposed to be one big exercise. But the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing's commander, Maj. Gen. Jon Davis, decided to combine several smaller drills into one big exercise. Not only do the Marines train closer to home, the Pentagon saves money.
Most of the exercises will take place in the skies above or near Marine bases along the North and South Carolina coast.
From Monday until Friday, vacationers "who are located near the bases ... will see an increase in air and ground traffic at various times throughout the week, but there should be minimal impact on activity near beaches other than occasional fly-overs at relatively high altitudes," the spokesman said.

Interesting.

I forgot all about this test of a fully assembled (Marine Expeditionary Brigade I believe) amphibious assault force for experimentation and exercise.

This is the news the Marines should be shouting about...not saturating the air ways with a dog and pony in St. Louis.  Just as a heads up, you should also read Information Dissemination.  The author is upset about the Navy losing the narrative on Air-Sea Battle to the Air Force.

I hope Headquarters Marine Corps is paying attention and gets its act together not only for the Marine Corps sake but to help inform policy makers of what a value the Marine Corps provides------Regardless of the next gee-whiz battle concept that comes down the pike.

HyperStealth pushes hard into air and sea...

HyperStealth is making waves in a big way.  While surfing their website I ran across some of the concepts that they have in the works that they're farming out to the Canadian Air Force.  A few of them are below.

The Jordanian military is sold on fractal camo when it comes to their aircraft and ships...

But little did I know that they have also made in roads with the Slovakian Air Force...

Which only leaves us with one question.  When will we see a branch of the US military experimenting with this camo pattern?

EC635

EC635

Top Ten Failed States.

via IO9.

What are the top ten failed states of the past year?

Annalee Newitz — Every year, Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace do a survey of "failed states," nations whose citizens they judge to be in the most dire circumstances in the world — largely because of government mismanagement and outright abuse.
The methods they use to pick the failed states is fascinating, though the biggest state fails may not surprise you.
Here are the states who ranked the highest in the Failed States Index, with their scores:

1 Somalia 113.4
2 Chad 110.3
3 Sudan 108.7
4 Dem. Rep. of Congo 108.2
5 Haiti 108.0
6 Zimbabwe 107.9
7 Afghanistan 107.5
8 Central African Republic 105.0
9 Iraq 104.8
10 Ivory Coast 102.8

Guess what boys and girls.  The US has been nation building in....Haiti...Afghanistan...Iraq.  We've been sending aid like a parent sends money to a spoiled college attending alcoholic male to...Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, SUdan, Chad, Somalia and Congo.

Long story short.  Nation building doesn't work.  

Which means that counter insurgency hasn't worked.

Which means that we're wasting tax money.

Which means that we aren't affecting the lives of people that we're supposedly trying to help.

Which means that we're wasting our time.

Its time to nation build in the US...AMERICA FIRST.

3rd LAR's monument to fallen brothers.

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif., -The Marines of 3rd LAR dedicated this monument to 11 brothers who lost their lives during Operation Iraqi Freedom during the dedication ceremony of their memorial park June 14, 2011, in front of the 3rd LAR headquarters building.
, Lance Cpl. Sarah Dietz, 6/14/2011 8:40 AM

Royal Marines.

Royal Marines Conducting Boarding Training With SA80 Rifles and Laser Light Modules

Pictured are Royal Marines from Fleet Protection Group (Scotland) (FPGRM)conducting boarding training on HMS Monmouth, to aid the Type 23 frigate during Counter Piracy Operations.

They are using 5.56mm SA80A2 assault rifles mounted with fixed Laser Light Modules (LLMs) which can be used in different formations including Infra-Red mode used in conjunction with a Night Vision Unit.

Royal Marines Conducting Boarding Training with Pistols

Pictured are Royal Marines from Fleet Protection Group (Scotland) (FPGRM)conducting boarding training on HMS Monmouth, to aid the Type 23 frigate during Counter Piracy Operations.

They are pictured using 9mm Browning pistols with torches.

Royal Marine from 42 Cdo Provides Security During Visit to Estonian Patrol Base

A Royal Marine from 42 Commando provides protection during a visit to the Estonian Patrol Base Wahid.An Estonian Armoured Patrol Vehice is pictured in the background.

Royal Marines from Lima Coy 42 Cdo on Patrol Near Na-e-Ali, Afghanistan

A Royal Marine patrol stops and awaits orders near Forward Operational Base Folad, Afghanistan.
The Marines from Lima Company 42 Commando were operating around the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand Province.

"Sir, in the name of God, no sane man would have stood there and done what they did. They saved us all."

I heard this story...but not like the Lt. General tells it in this article.  This is just a snippet.  Read the whole thing.  Via the American Legion Magazine.

When I was the commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, on April 22, 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 “The Walking Dead,” and 2/8, were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion was in the closing days of its deployment, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour.
Two Marines, Cpl. Jonathan Yale and Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, our allies in the fight against terrorists in Ramadi – known at the time as the most dangerous city on earth, and owned by al-Qaeda.
Yale was a dirt-poor mixed-race kid from Virginia, with a wife, a mother and a sister, who all lived with him and he supported. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle-class white kid from Long Island. They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines, they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple Americas exist simultaneously, depending on one’s race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, education level, economic status, or where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible, and because of this bond they were brothers as close – or closer – than if they were born of the same woman.
The mission orders they received from their sergeant squad leader, I’m sure, went something like this: “OK, take charge of this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass. You clear?” I’m also sure Yale and Haerter rolled their eyes and said, in unison, something like, “Yes, sergeant,” with just enough attitude that made the point, without saying the words, “No kidding, sweetheart. We know what we’re doing.” They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry-control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, al Anbar, Iraq.
A few minutes later, a large blue truck turned down the alleyway – perhaps 60 to 70 yards in length – and sped its way through the serpentine concrete Jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck’s engine came to rest 200 yards away, knocking down most of a house down before it stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was caused by 2,000 pounds of explosive. Because these two young infantrymen didn’t have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers in arms.
When I read the situation report a few hours after it happened, I called the regimental commander for details. Something about this struck me as different. We expect Marines, regardless of rank or MOS, to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned from the site, and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event – just Iraqi police. If there was any chance of finding out what actually happened, and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I’d have to do it, because a combat award requires two eyewitnesses, and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer.
I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police, all of whom told the same story. They all said, “We knew immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing.”
The Iraqi police related that some of them also fired, and then, to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated, and with tears welling up, said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life.”
What he didn’t know until then, and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal. Choking past the emotion, he said, “Sir, in the name of God, no sane man would have stood there and done what they did. They saved us all.”
What we didn’t know at the time, and only learned after I submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras recorded some of the attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated. You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives.
I suppose it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. No time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: “Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.”
It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time, the truck was halfway through the barriers and gaining speed. Here the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were, some running right past the Marines, who had three seconds left to live.
For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines firing their weapons nonstop.  The truck’s windshield explodes into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tear into the body of the son of a ***** trying to get past them to kill their brothers – American and Iraqi – bedded down in the barracks, totally unaware that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground.
Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder-width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could. They had only one second left to live, and I think they knew.
The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty. Those are the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight for you, and as amazing as this selfless act of sacrifice may seem, it is the norm.
In all the years I have been both enlisted and an officer of Marines, I have praised them and have chewed them out. I have promoted them and unceremoniously disciplined them. I have hung decorations on them and court-martialed them. I have visited them mangled and broken in military hospitals around the country, in lonely defensive positions across Iraq, and in brigs. I have known thousands of them over nearly 40 years, and I can tell you without hesitation or qualification that I never met one who would have run from his post that morning – who would have done anything other than to have stood there and died.
I have the name of the most recent hero, killed in Afghanistan a few hours ago, but I cannot share with you his name because a Marine officer and Navy chaplain have not yet executed their honored duty of notifying the next of kin. That family, right now, somewhere in America, is in the final minutes of blissful ignorance before their entire lives change forever. I know God will help them bear this inconceivable burden – a burden I am told by those who know that never goes away or even gets lighter – and help them find comfort in the fact that their son was doing exactly what he wanted to do, was doing it with the finest men on this earth, and for a cause that meant more to him than his life. The reality, however, is that it doesn’t matter if we are comforted, or if we accept it or not. It only matters that he did.
We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow on man while he lives on this earth: freedom. We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious – our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines – to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can ever steal it away.
Rest assured that our America, this experiment in democracy begun over two centuries ago, will forever remain the land of the free and home of the brave so long as we never run out of tough young Americans who are willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down and kill those who would do us harm. God bless America, and semper fidelis.
Lt. Gen. John Kelly is senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Kelly delivered this speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis on Nov. 13, 2010, four days after his son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in action in Afghanistan.

If this doesn't bring at least a bit of mist to your eyes then you have no heart....

Hey Air Force. The debate is over. Buy AT-6's.

Yeah its pure propaganda.

Yeah its tugging at my protectionist, isolationist, America first heart strings.

Yeah its politically incorrect.

So what.

We protect the world, time to protect our manufacturing base.  USAF.  Buy American.

UK's Ministry of Defense is in for a rough ride.

When you have "main stream" military bloggers echoing whats been said on SNAFU! then you can only come to one realization.

We were right.

The next realization when it comes to the UK's Ministry of Defense is this.  You boys are about to have a very rough ride.

Read CDR Salamander's post here (Welcome back CDR...I thought for a minute that you had gone over to the dark side.  Nice to see you fighting on the side of truth, justice and the American way again!).

The point is...

On this side of the Atlantic....

With military bloggers that are well connected...

The UK's defense cuts are being seen as foolish....irresponsible....dangerous.

That's not the way a world power wants to be viewed.  

By either friends....or enemies.

Sikorsky Overview

EADS news you won't hear on Aviation Week.

via Aviation News.EU.

Airbus will not hold a demonstration of its A380 superjumbo at the Paris International Air Show after the wing-tip of its test aircraft was damaged in an incident Sunday, the company said.
“During ground maneuvers with the Airbus A380 flight test aircraft MSN 004, the aircraft’s right hand wing-tip touched a structure near the taxiway,” at Le Bourget airport on Sunday afternoon, Airbus said in a statement.
“Airbus experts are currently inspecting the aircraft, but it is already confirmed that the A380 MSN 004 will not perform the flying display at the Le Bourget Air Show 2011,” it said.
It was the second setback for Airbus ahead of the show, which starts Monday, after it announced earlier Sunday that its A400M military transport plane will not make any flight demonstrations because of a problem with its engines.
The A380 — the world’s largest passenger jet with capacity for up to 853 passengers — entered into service in 2007, breaking US rival Boeing’s more than three decades of dominance of the jumbo jet market with the 747.
Source: Airbus

How to land on an aircraft carrier without jump jets

Thanks for the link Phil!

Aviation Week. Advertising for EADS.

Ever wonder why Lockheed Martin and Raytheon and others have to have their own shops setup to advertise the latest offerings at the Paris Air Show?

Its because Aviation Week's Blog ARES is an advertising channel for EADS!  From what I can tell they started "broadcasting" from the show on the 18th.

Since then they've had 7 blog posts.  6 of them favorable to EADS.  One that had nothing to do with EADS (it was about a British company). 

That's why the boss at Aviation Week had to step in.  Looks like he has tons more work to do before he gets a fair and balanced shop over there.


UPDATE:

Aviation Week's coverage of the Paris Air Show is becoming all EADS all the time.  This is the latest post.  And you wonder why US firms are cautious when talking to Aviation Week?  Its got a slant on a jihad and its obvious to anyone watching!

New Chinese Stealth Fighter.

This country would copy the fillings in my teeth if they were online.

They can't innovate, have no imagination and would be a backwater country if it weren't for greedy capitalist.

We created our own monster.  Time to pull the plug on this Frankenstein.

Italian aircraft carrier in Libyan mission

If I were British, I'd be jealous, embarrassed, ashamed, depressed and wondering what my leadership was thinking...

Its not too late UK.

A400M...wishful thinking abounds.

Ole Bill wrote this for Aviation Week this morning...

US interest in the A400M is likely to emerge mid-decade, according to EADS North America CEO Sean O'Keefe.  At the company's pre-Paris media seminar, O'Keefe noted that the USAF is likely to retire its oldest C-5A heavy transports before 2020.

"That leaves a hole in the big airbase, heavy-payload role," O'Keefe points out, and Boeing C-17s will be pulled into that mission - opening up the need for new tactical airlifters. "At that point, we'll have a hot production line", O'Keefe says, "and there isn't going to be any new US program."

However, Airbus Military is not going to do any intensive marketing until the A400M completes testing and gains its commercial type certificate, due next year.

Damn this guy is wishing on a star.

Boeing is slow walking C-17 production with an eye toward the same future that EADS sees with the A400M.

And the A400M will face the same issues it faces today.

Smaller payload than the C-17.

Shorter ranged than the C-17.

Slower than the C-17.

Worldwide acceptance and service.

Costs just a few mill less than the C-17.

And thats looking at it today.  Looking into the future I can see the C-17 getting stretched....Uprated engines...improved avionics...increased fuel efficiency measures...better aircraft defense countermeasures...a dedicated Special Operations version...

The list is endless and this clown from EADS thinks he's going to bust into the US market with an inbetween airplane that isn't as good as the industry leader and costs about the same?

Whatever he's smoking, I recommend he stop.  And I hope this type thinking is drug induced...if he's sober then they need a new CEO.

NOTE:

The weirdest thing about the whole A400 saga is the fact that when they first designed it and brought it to market, it was suppose to be a C-130 killer.

Lockheed Martin got nervous----started designing XL C-130's....the USAF was even starting to make noise about it because it was suppose to be the perfect plane to go along with the Stryker Brigades....

And then two things happened.

1.  The Stryker gained weight.  Alot of weight.  C-17 airlift type weight.
2.  The cost point of the A400 expanded to enormous proportions.

Now I can imagine Boeing executives are sitting back watching EADS spin like tea leaves and laughing there asses off.  The standard EADS model of building 'in betweener' aircraft bit EADS.  They deserve it.