China gains kinetic weapons projection and no one notices.

What would be the world's reaction if the Israeli government bought the rights to the B-1 Bomber production line?

Do you think we'd hear outrage from every Muslim nation in the region?

Yeah.  You would.

That's why I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more airplay today.  The Chinese just bought the TU-22BM line from the Russians.  Check this out from International Aviation News.

China buys from Russia the production line of Tu-22MB bombers for US$1.5 billion including transfer of all the technology for the production.

China has already imported 6 such bombers as the bombers are much better than China’s own H-6 bombers in bigger load and larger range.The Tu-22MB Tupolev Backfire is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime surprise strike bomber.According to Chinese military expert Ma Dingsheng, the swing-wing of Tu-22MBenables it to conduct surprise stealth maritime attack. It can first adjust its wings in a position that enables it to fly at super-low attitude without being detected by enemy radar. When it comes near its target, it changes its wing position to enable it to clime up quickly to conduct sudden attack.However, Ma said that for production of the bombers, China still needs quite a few parts that it cannot produce especially the engines. It is said that there is a contract to supply the parts for the production of 36 such bombers.China has to develop its own ability to produce the parts, especially the engines. Otherwise, if Russia refuses to provide more parts, China will be unable to produce more and even have difficulty in maintenance of the bombers.Source: China Times

I don't know if the analyst in this piece properly characterized the airplane but he was right about one thing.

The TU-22MB is perfect for maritime strike.

US Navy Carrier Forces just got a new threat.

HE LEFT THE AR-15 IN THE CAR.

Interesting.

I remember watching the news coverage of the Sandy Shooting and the Coroner of the town told everyone that would listen that the children were shot with an AR-15.

NOW WE FIND OUT THEY WEREN'T.

My sympathy still extends to the victims and their families.  BUT.

The lies must stop.  The use of the children to push an agenda must stop.  Several million law abiding citizens must not pay for the sins of one madman in  one of the most "gun regulated" states in the nation.

A Ranger SSgt training the old skool way!

Don't let the smooth looks fool ya...he'd fuck you up in a heart beat!

Via SOFREP via SOC.mil from 75th Ranger Regiment.

"A Kaibil student must do several events in order to eat," said Rodriguez. "Run 2 miles in 18 minutes or less in full combat gear, conduct five pull ups and 10 pushups. Then we duck walked 50 meters to the dining facility and while waiting to enter the building, we had to stay in the duck walk position."Once the students reached the Dining Facility, they were given 30 seconds to eat.

Wow.

Follow the link to read it all.  That is one tough training course. 

Bloomberg is an idiot and this pic is awesome.

$596 Million dollars worth of C-27's down the drain.

This is almost too painful.

I can't figure out whether its a USAF issue, an Alenia issue or just another example of Afghanistan being one of those problems.

Read the pain and misery here.

The next great Marine Corps thinker?

If you don't know or haven't heard of Capt Brett Friedman then you haven't been paying attention.

I just finished reading an article that he wrote for the Journal of Military Operations that Jonathan sent me (thanks dude!).  I was intrigued and did a little search and all I can tell you is that he's at the Naval War College right now...but that's not the point.  He's pretty widely published and not saying he's right but I definitely agree with many of his views.  He gets it.

Is this the next great Marine Corps thinker?  Is this how the Marine Corps is developing its next gen?  Not in the traditional way...not through publications that are peer reviewed and critiqued but in open media available to all?

I don't know but I think I like it and I also think it bodes well for the future of the Corps.

Good thing too.  They're going to have a mess to clean up after the next few years.

When a gang banger/politician figures this out its over.

Photos are from Sniper Central.  Click here to read the specs on this gun.

I'm already pounding walls so hard over this gun ban thing that I'm about to voluntarily give it up and just go dark on the issue (don't think for a minute that I won't harass my representatives about the issue though).

Having said that I have to add this closing tidbit.

Everyone is so fired up about so called assault weapons.

They're big.  They're ugly.

But compared to a properly equipped 22lr they're nothing in an urban setting.  All the CCTV cameras.  All the sniper detection devices.  All the UAVs, helos.

All that would be irrelevant with a shooter that had basic training and was able to employ a 22lr properly.  An assault weapons ban will do nothing as long as evil is in peoples hearts.  Some just don't get it...You can't legislate morality.

Are we losing Africa? UPDATE

You've heard all the stories and projections.

Africa is the next "gold mine" of natural resources left on the planet (well...ignoring the two poles) and the US and China are locked in a race to the riches.

So what happens when our side appears to be getting run out of town?  Check this out from Marine Times.

By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 27, 2012 21:03:27 EST
WASHINGTON — The State Department is closing its embassy in the Central African Republic and ordering its diplomatic team to leave as rebels there continue to advance and violence escalates.
U.S. officials said the U.S. ambassador and about 40 others, including a number of Americans, were flown out of Bangui (bahn-GEE’) on a U.S. Air Force C-40 headed to Kenya. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss the evacuation publicly.
Rebels have seized at least 10 towns across the sparsely populated north of the impoverished country, and residents in the capital of 600,000 people fear insurgents could attack at any time.
On Sunday, the State Department issued a warning recommending against travel to the country and authorized non-emergency personnel in Bangui to leave.

I find this interesting on two levels.

The first that the fear of another Libya has become so great that even in an Embassy, it is thought better to evacuate rather than reinforce it.

The second thought is this.  I haven't heard of our allies or the Chinese evacuating.  I usually frown on face saving but if we're leaving and they're staying then  something is out of whack.

Africa will be the future Middle East (meaning an intractable problem) unless we get a better handle on things.

UPDATE:
Naval Recognition tells me that while we "leave" or "run" or "evacuate" or however you want to call it, the FRENCH are reinforcing!  Amazing.  The French stand tall and we go away?  I'm almost ashamed.
Read about it here and here.

Blast from the past? Bachem Ba349-A Natter.

Another blast from our WW2 past.

Check out this plane at the 456th Fighter Interceptor Squadron website.

This is why we could lose the gun control fight.

I posted this on Soldier Systems (one of those gear websites that is beginning to look more and more insider everyday...)

i went to Troy’s site and i saw that they have pre and post ban AR’s out. is that a typo or something i might have missed before or is it a response to recent events? if this is new then SCREW troy forever. they’re giving up before the fight has begun.

Instead of the blog editors saying that they will look into it, or that this is just the price of doing business with a possible gun ban coming...what did the son of a bitch say?  Check it out below...

 Sol, you need to do a little research. There are areas where consumers cannot purchase weapons unless they are in Ban-configuration.

I need to do research?

Seriously?

I have more trigger time than this guy has time alive and he wants me to do research?

I follow this issue like a hungry dog on a meaty bone and he wants me to do research?

And then he tosses that in some areas you can't purchase weapons unless they're in "Ban Configuration"?????

WHAT UTTER BULLSHIT!

This is why we could lose.  Bullshit is being fed from the Government and from people that are SUPPOSE TO BE on our side.

Quite honestly its time to par down on news sources, be suspicious of most of the stuff you read and write your Congressman.  This is war.  A different type of war, but war none-the-less.

Royal Marines of 40 Commando on Patrol in Afghanistan

Rest in peace big guy..

Details are few but Stormin' Norman died today.  We could sure use another 10 more like him today.

Assault Weapons Ban Agenda Confirmed

Requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act, to include:

• Background check of owner and any transferee;

• Type and serial number of the firearm;

• Positive identification, including photograph and fingerprint;

• Certification from local law enforcement of identity and that possession would not violate State or local law; and

• Dedicated funding for ATF to implement registration

Read the write up on the Assault Weapons Bill that Feinstein is going to put before the Senate here.

One question though.

Do these people know what they're risking here?

You can have all the impassioned liberals from both coasts screaming for a gun ban but the rest of the country is not going to take this lying down!  I don't want it but I really would expect trouble if this thing is passed.  I hope they realize it before its too late but if they don't then this is going to get real nasty.

I hope someone in Washington wakes up before its too late, but I don't expect it.  Additionally you have companies like Troy Defense that were expecting to simply modify their weapons to fit a new ban and now that they can't you can expect tons of money to flow into the pro-gun effort.

*Syria is on fire and about to implode...
*The economy is still weak...
*We're spending money as a nation that we don't have...
*Healthcare is about to be taken over and the costs are going to skyrocket...

And many other issues that I can't recall at this time.  All that and they pick a gun control fight?

They campaign like champions and govern like idiots!

RNLI Shannon class lifeboat

I found this on "Bayou Renaissance Man's" website (go there to read the rest and consider subscribing...its a mix of different things and I find it a great daily read).

But the applications that I find intriguing for the Marine Corps is that boats of this type should take weather out of the equation when it comes to landings.  Anything short of hurricane swept seas should be doable, it self rights like a champ and can even beach itself if you're willing to either destroy it on the beach or recover it after landing of the main force.

The use of these boats by SOCOM is a given but if you gave some to the Small Boat Companies then they could gain a place of prominence in planning anything from raids to scouting ahead...they could even be useful in the current darling of planning---disaster relief!

Quote of the Day.

“I carried a concealed weapon. I made the determination that if somebody was going to try to take me out, I was going to take them with me.” — 27 April 1995.
Senator Diane Feinstein.

Ironic ain't it???

Troy Defense turns on gun owners!

I saw this on the Troy Defense website and wanted you all to take a real clear look at one of the major "training and AR manufacturing" firms.

They've already laid bets that an Assault Weapons Ban will come back into force.  Maybe that's just being practical.  Maybe as a firm they have to plan on this type of thing...but the timing sucks, the battle hasn't been fought and its obvious where there politics are.

Spare me the whining and the excuses.  In my opinion Troy Defense is dead as a corporation.  I mean seriously!  A ten round polymer mag before its called for by law and they wrap it up in a full capacity body?

These bubba's can pound sand.

Pacific Rim --- and you thought the Chinese are tough?

The Australian Army.

I got this from Sharkey Ward (yeah the guy that hammered the Argentinians during the Falkland's War) and it made me laugh so hard I had to share it.  Enjoy.

“Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are  too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and  clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to  stack - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz  there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been  on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in  the back paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody possum's bum and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull  got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of piss!!  You don't even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting  truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya  gotta wrestle  with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy -  it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve  and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster.
Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's  got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers -  he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders  and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I  fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I  can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before  word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving  daughter,

Sheila"

Chinese Y-20

CGI via Chinese Military Review.

CGI via China Defense Mashup.

Note all the pics were designed by Gaoshan

Bedouin Scouts...

The Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion works to thwart illegal infiltration attempts into Israeli territory. They track down anyone from terrorists to drug smugglers. The latest generation of trackers recently concluded their basic training, and are currently in the middle of a course meant to further hone their skills, held twice a year in the Central Command.