2012 F-35 Year in Review

Defense Distributed 3D Magazine Printing Instructions.

Get it while you can guys.  A US Senator has already proposed a bill to outlaw this great invention and for some "unknown" reason the website that initially hosted the plans removed them without Defense Distributed's permission.

Click here for the downloads...

Marine Personnel Carrier Program. Where we're at...

Note:  Still a little "fired" up but we'll proceed anyway.

The Marine Personnel Carrier Program had a major turning point.  At the last Modern Day Marine, BAE brought a mock-up of their version of the SUPER AV out into the light and it was the buzz of the event.

Before that unveiling, whispers of why are we even doing an MPC when the Amphibious Combat Vehicle is suppose to be an affordable alternative to the canceled EFV were flowing and gaining voice.

But like I said.  BAE shocked the world and put forward the SUPER AV.

The conversation changed.

Suddenly thoughts of totally revamping the amphibious assault fleet gained traction.  If the MPC could meet mobility goals...If the MPC could meet swim requirements...If the MPC was actually cheap enough to buy in large quantities then we might have a game changer.

Of all the competitors, BAE and Lockheed Martin seemed ready for the challenge.  Sorry ST but I just don't include the Terrex...I would be shocked if it actually won.  Shocked and trying my best to find out who got bribed.

Which brings me to General Dynamics.

Grandma said not to burn bridges.  

The Marine Corps taught me how to blow them up.

Time to do this the Marine Corps way.

General Dynamics is in a fetal position on the floor begging the bad man to make it stop.

THEY HAVE YET TO IDENTIFY THE VEHICLE THAT IS GOING TO BE PRESENTED FOR SWIM AND BLAST TESTS DUE TO START IN TWO MONTHS!

So let me get this straight.  An organization that is a world beater, maker of what they claim is the most powerful tank in the western world, is so secretive that they can't identify to a minor blogger that has a pretty strong focus on armored vehicle projects the vehicle in their portfolio that they're going to present to the Marine Corps for testing?

I mean seriously?

Seriously?

I could get a hold of some contacts and get a pic when it rolls through the gates at Pendleton, Lejeune, Ft AP Hill or Quantico but that just don't seem right.

I would expect them to have enough balls...enough fortitude to realize that at this point in the game it doesn't freaking matter.

But they don't see it that way.

Congratulations BAE and Lockheed...I really believe you guys scared the living day lights out of one of your competitors.  Good luck to you both.  To General Dynamics.  Man up...

Never blog mad.

I'm taking a moment to cool off 'cause they say never blog pissed.

So I'm going to hold fire.

Phone off.  Not checking e-mail.  Just digesting some info(zero from GD...but I'll flesh out my speculation) and I'll be back later with details.

General Dynamics awarded contract for more LAV-A2's

via RTT News.

General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada , a business unit of General Dynamics (GD: Quote), said it has been awarded a US$24 million contract to produce 13 Light Armored Vehicles or LAV-A2 for the U.S. Marine Corps.The LAV-A2 is a mobile, survivable and lethal system for conducting a variety of functions, including security, reconnaissance, offensive and defensive operations as part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. The eight-wheeled vehicle operates on land and water. It is equipped with enhanced armor protection and an automatic fire-suppression system for crew protection, as well as a robust suspension for mobility.Vehicle production will be performed at the General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada operations in London, Ontario, with the existing workforce. The first delivery is scheduled for June 2014 and the last delivery will be made in October 2014.

LCS: Fit for Duty, Ready for Action

F-35B BF-23 First Flight

Lockheed Martin F-35 chief test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew F-35B BF-23 (US Navy Bureau Number 168721) on its inaugural flight on 11 January 2013 from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas.

LCS...looks like garbage (literally)!

SAN DIEGO (Nov. 26, 2012) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) departs San Diego harbor to conduct operations off the coast of Southern California. The littoral combat ship is a fast, agile, networked surface combatant designed to operate in the near-shore environment, while capable of open-ocean tasking, and win against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, mines and swarming small craft. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class John Grandin/Released)

Information Dissemination has news up on the LCS.

I couldn't even make it to the article when I saw the picture.

The LCS looks like trash.

Pure garbage.

I don't know if looks indicate performance (and the LCS has enough critics to at least make the effort to look good) but if it does then the US Navy is in trouble.

Big trouble.

James Yeager - "Killing People" Response(Funny) (Not Safe for Work)

NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

I like James.  What he said was "unwise" on YouTube but I've heard the same and much worse in dens and dinners in my area.

Having said that I found the vid funny as hell.  Oh and if you're in a private area turn up the speakers.  I bet you won't play it only once and I bet you'll be saying FUCK THAT for the rest of the day.

In Mali the French are cleaning up our mess.

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. - Marines with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Africa recieve a fairwell speech from Brig. Gen. Burke Whitman, deputy commanding general of mobilization for II Marine Expeditionary Force and an Atlanta, Ga., native, here, Jan. 8, 2013. Special-Purpose MAGTF Africa deployed to conduct theater security cooperation and limited crisis response missions in support of U.S. Africa Command.(Photo by Lance Cpl. Caleb McDonald)

Thanks Drake for pointing this article out to me.

Read the following and weep out loud..punch walls...just get pissed.

Via the Telegram.com

BAMAKO, Mali —  French fighter jets struck deep inside Islamist strongholds in northern Mali on Sunday, shoving aside months of international hesitation about storming the region after every other effort by the United States and its allies to thwart the extremists had failed. 
For years, the United States tried to stem the spread of Islamic militancy in the region by conducting its most ambitious counterterrorism program ever across these vast, turbulent stretches of the Sahara. 
But as insurgents swept through the desert last year, commanders of this nation’s elite army units, the fruit of years of careful U.S. training, defected when they were needed most — taking troops, guns, trucks and their newfound skills to the enemy in the heat of battle, according to senior Malian military officials. 
“It was a disaster,” said one of several senior Malian officers to confirm the defections. 
Then a U.S.-trained officer overthrew Mali’s elected government, setting the stage for more than half of the country to fall into the hands of Islamic extremists. U.S. spy planes and surveillance drones have tried to make sense of the mess, but U.S. officials and their allies are still scrambling to get a detailed picture of who they are even up against. 
Now, in the face of longstanding U.S. warnings that a Western assault on the Islamist stronghold could rally jihadists around the world and prompt terrorist attacks as far away as Europe, the French have entered the war themselves. 
First, they fought off a recent Islamist advance, saying the rest of Mali would have fallen into the hands of militants within days. 
Then on Sunday, French warplanes went on the offensive, going after training camps, depots and other militant positions far inside Islamist-held territory in an effort to uproot the militants, who have formed one of the largest havens for jihadists in the world. 
Some Defense Department officials, notably officers at the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, have pushed for a lethal campaign to kill senior operatives of two of the extremists groups holding northern Mali, Ansar Dine and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. Killing the leadership, they argued, could lead to an internal collapse. 
But with its attention and resources so focused on other conflicts in places like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, the Obama administration has long rejected such strikes in favor of a more cautious, step-back strategy: helping African nations repel and contain the threat on their own. 
Over the last four years, the United States has spent between $520 million to $600 million in a sweeping effort to combat Islamist militancy in the region without fighting the kind of wars it has waged in the Middle East. The program stretched from Morocco to Nigeria, and U.S. officials long heralded the Malian military as an exemplary partner. U.S. special forces trained its troops in marksmanship, border patrol, ambush drills and other counterterrorism skills. 
But all that deliberate planning collapsed swiftly when heavily armed, battle-hardened Islamist fighters returned from combat in Libya. They teamed up with jihadists like Ansar Dine, routed poorly equipped Malian forces and demoralized them so thoroughly that it set off a mutiny against the government in the capital, Bamako. 
A confidential internal review completed last July by the Pentagon’s Africa Command concluded that the coup had unfolded too quickly for U.S. commanders or intelligence analysts to detect any clear warning signs. 
“The coup in Mali progressed very rapidly and with very little warning,” said Col. Tom Davis, a command spokesman. “The spark that ignited it occurred within their junior military ranks, who ultimately overthrew the government, not at the senior leadership level where warning signs might have been more easily noticed.” 
But one special operations forces officer disagreed, saying: “This has been brewing for five years. The analysts got complacent in their assumptions and did not see the big changes and the impacts of them, like the big weaponry coming out of Libya and the different, more Islamic” fighters who came back. 
The same U.S.-trained units that had been seen as the best hope of repelling such an advance proved, in the end, to be a linchpin in the country’s military defeat. The leaders of these elite units were Tuaregs — the very ethnic nomads who were overrunning northern Mali. 
According to one senior officer, the Tuareg commanders of three of the four Malian units fighting in the north at the time defected to the insurrection “at the crucial moment,” taking fighters, weapons and scarce equipment with them. He said they were joined by about 1,600 other defectors from within the Malian army, crippling the government’s hope of resisting the onslaught. 
“The aid of the Americans turned out not to be useful,” said another ranking Malian officer, now engaged in combat. “They made the wrong choice,” he said of relying on commanders from a group that had been conducting a 50-year rebellion against the Malian state. 
The virtual collapse of the Malian military, including units trained by U.S. special forces, followed by a coup led by an U.S.-trained officer, astounded and embarrassed top U.S. military commanders. 
“I was sorely disappointed that a military with whom we had a training relationship participated in the military overthrow of an elected government,” Gen. Carter F. Ham, the head of the Africa Command, said in a speech at Brown University last month. “There is no way to characterize that other than wholly unacceptable.” 
U.S. officials defended their training, saying it was never intended to be nearly as comprehensive as what the United States has done in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
“We trained five units over five years but is that going to make a fully fledged, rock-solid military?” asked a senior U.S. military official. 
After the coup, extremists quickly elbowed out the Tuaregs in northern Mali and enforced a harsh brand of Islam on the populace, cutting off hands, whipping residents and forcing tens of thousands to flee. 
Western nations then adopted a containment strategy, urging African nations to cordon off the north until they could muster a force to oust the Islamists by the fall, at the earliest. To that end, the Pentagon is providing Mauritania new trucks and Niger two Cessna surveillance aircraft, along with training for both countries. 
But even that backup plan failed, as Islamists pushed south toward the capital last week. 
With thousands of French citizens in Mali, France decided it could not wait any longer, striking the militants at the front line and deep within their haven.

I haven't run into many articles that require me to highlight almost the entire passage but this is one of them.

This is embarrassing.

This is a debacle that could destabilize the entire region and lead to attacks in Europe.

Our State Dept, DoD and Special Operations Command have egg on their faces.

The French are cleaning our mess...that's unacceptable.

NOTE:
I'm not claiming cover up or conspiracy but I am saying that the timeline of this thing going south puts it right smack in the middle of our Presidential elections.  Like I said.  I'm not making any claims just making an observation.

What is the enemy strength in Mali that has the French on their heels?

A meeting engagement, a term used in warfare, is a combat action that occurs when a moving force, incompletely deployed for battle, engages an enemy at an unexpected time and place.

Wow.  

The French are fully engaged in Mali now.  From almost a brigade of troops on the ground to at least a few dozen airplanes providing air support with helos and an unknown number of ground vehicles involved this is turning into something fierce.

The way that this developed seems to caught many off guard.  Myself included.  As a matter of fact this has all the hallmark of a meeting engagement that turns into a savage furball.

The UK is rushing to assist as is the US and reportedly Canada.  What other members of the EU are doing is beyond me but I would be surprised if they didn't become involved soon.

One thing is certain though.  It puts this story in a whole new light.

On July 8 the Washington Post reported the story of the April 20 death of three U.S. Special Operations Forces service members in Mali, a North African country known for a growing Islamic insurgency, and more recently the scene of a coup in March. The soldiers’ deaths are believed to be the result of vehicle accident, as their rented Toyota Land Cruiser went off a bridge in the pre-dawn hours, and plunged into the Niger River.While tragic, what is curious is that this accident and these deaths came a full month after the Obama administration officially suspended military relations and humanitarian assistance with Mali’s unstable government. Even more curious, along with the bodies of our soldiers found in their vehicle were the bodies of three dead women, all of whom have been reported to be Moroccan prostitutes.

I don't know what really happened and we probably never will.  I'll bet there was alot more to this story than meets the eye though.

But the subject of this post is what's really causing me the most heartburn.  What is the enemy strength?  How were they able to gain enough strength to scatter government forces?  And how were they able to mount this offensive without us detecting them?



 

Marine Personnel Carrier. GD did the unthinkable with a tracked Stryker would they???

I shot off an e-mail to the Vice President of Communications over at General Dynamics today asking about their version of the Marine Personnel Carrier.

Don't kick me.  I followed instructions and that's where I was directed.

And this is the kicker.  I keep vacillating on what I think they're up to.  Yesterday I said it had to be the Pandur II.  If not that vehicle then maybe an Amphibious Stryker.

Tonight?

I'm back to the amphibious Stryker as being my favorite.  I initially said that it would be too hard for them to make it amphibious.

But a short conversation later and it dawned on me.  THEY PUT FREAKING TRACKS ON A STRYKER!

Making one swim shouldn't be that hard a push, especially if you're going to go to the trouble of developing a tracked version.  Expect some major exterior changes...developing a proper bow, putting on a swim vane and maybe widening it a bit.

Hopefully I'll get a response and if I do you can bet it'll be posted rickety quick.

A new standard coming online.

The Firearms Blog gives great coverage on a caliber and weapon that I think is going to bring a new standard to the weapons industry.

What do I mean by that?

I fully expect by the end of the year for every major manufacturer to be producing the round.  I expect every weapons maker to be offering a rifle AND handgun chambered for the round.

Additionally I expect interest from SOCOM and even Law Enforcement.

A super fast 22 caliber round that shoots flat and hits hard?

Urban sniping.

Varmint hunting.

Self defense.

Check out the TFB's post here.

Shadow M2

Forces in focus. The French Army.

This post stems from my attempting to find out more on the FELLIN next gen soldier system.  It just a brief pictorial of various French arms and armor.  Of interest to me is the LeClerc Main Battle Tank.  At around 56 tons its the lightest western MBT and yet the French claim that it provides the same protection as the much heavier Abrams and Leopard.  A wild claim when you consider that many IFV's are now approaching 40 tons and a few are heavier than the LeClerc!

FRF2 Sniper Rifle.

AMX-10.

VBCI.

LeClerc.

Marine Personnel Carrier speculation. A couple of months till testing and NOTHING from General Dynamics.

First lets talk Terrex.  The offering from Singapore for the Marine Personnel Carrier Contest.  No disrespect to ST Kinetics or SAIC but I just don't consider it a serious player in this field.  It is undoubtably the "highest tech" version and provides flat screen displays for the infantry in back, cameras all around for the driver etc.  Nice to have's but in my mind not entirely essential.  War wagon first.  Pimped out APC second.  Lets get the basic vehicle right first shall we?  Then once the money flow evens out we can go back and upgrade them with bells and whistles.  Think adding a beefier suspension lift with tires to your truck after you get it off the show room.  Yeah just like that.  Anyway, here is the latest news on the Terrex...

AN Irish-developed armour-ed vehicle has been selected for testing by the US Marine Corps which is seeking nearly 600 new armoured personnel carriers.The 8X8 Terrex armoured vehicle was developed in Ireland by world leaders in vehicle and suspension design, Timoney Technology of Navan, for the Singapore Technologies Kinetics company.One of the most modern armoured vehicles in production, it has exceptional mobility and agility using a Timoney suspension system.The vehicle, which has a V shaped hull to protect against mine blasts, can carry up to 14 troops or 11 tonnes of cargo internally.It underwent initial trials in Ireland and the UK before being shipped to Singapore for evaluation.It is now produced there and the Singapore Army has bought 135 vehicles, while another version is produced in Turkey by Otokar.The vehicle is one of four that has been selected by the US Marine Corps and manufacturers have been given $3.5m (€2.6m) each to deliver a vehicle for testing which will run until August 2013.The marines need 579 personnel carriers to fill the gap left by another vehicle – the so-called expeditionary fighting vehicle – which was cancelled after $3bn (€2.25bn) was spent in developmental funding.

Read the rest at their site.

This brings me to the real meat and potatoes of this post.

What the fuck is General Dynamics going to present?  Testing is happening soon and we still don't know what vehicle they're going to put forward.  After looking at their portfolio I think I was wrong in guessing on the LAV II Demonstrator.  Don't get me wrong, its still a possibility but I just don't have enough info to guess what they're up to.  Here are a few of my theories.

1.  LAV II Demonstrator.

Maybe they will run with an LAV II Demonstrator optimized to swim in surf.  It would make a bit of sense for the Marine Corps.  Why?  Because officials are becoming a bit alarmed at the weight of Marine vehicles.  Additionally it would help with the supply chain especially since the Marine Corps completed a buy of LAV-25A2's.  It makes sense but I just don't know.

2.  An Amphibious Stryker Double V Hull.

If General Dynamics offers a swimming Stryker double v hull and the Marine Corps bites then the Army Chief of Staff would probably shit himself silly.  It makes a bit of sense too.  First they could leverage a win into getting the Army to buy a few to help them "make the turn" to the Pacific.  Additionally the Marines could leverage the Army's supply chain to max effect especially if the vehicles have a great deal of commonality.  Add the possibility of the Marines using Army specialty vehicles based on this mythical amphibious Stryker and you open the door to many possibilities...from an amphibious Mobile Gun System (if they can ever make it work...I still like the turreted gun systems from Europe but we'll cover that later) to NBC and Medivac and you have a major upgrade in Marine armor on the cheap.  But we're talking about components and at the end of the day the Marine Corps can do that today.  Still an amphibious Stryker is intriguing.

3.  The other IFV.  The Pandur.

Don't ask me to explain why but this is my current favorite for General Dynamics to enter into the Marine Personnel Carrier race.  The Stryker is an attractive idea on the surface but in the end I just don't think it will be an effective swimmer.  The Pandur is the European secret that GD can pull out and stun the competition.  First except for the swimming requirement, the model operated by the Czech Republic seems to offer all the bells and whistles the Marine Corps is looking for.  And while it isn't (to my knowledge) certified to swim in the open ocean, it seems like the easiest to modify.  Additionally they should be able to win a price war with it.  Not wanting to insult our Czech allies but if they could afford it then certainly the Marine Corps has deep enough pockets.

I left out the Mowag Piranha IIIC because quite honestly I don't know if its still being produced.  Everything I've found on the web indicates that they've migrated to the even heavier Piranha V.

That's my guess guys.  Its worth what it costs ya.  We'll know in a couple of months when they line up at a Marine Base near you for swim tests.

Meanwhile in the Pacific...the Japanese are practicing airborne assaults to retake islands.

Thanks for the heads up Joe!



Rather stunning isn't it.  I haven't given it airtime because I figured everyone was already locked into it but Japanese and Chinese fighter planes have been playing cat and mouse in the air...the Philippines are trying their best to gear up to prevent Chinese incursions into their territorial waters...China came out on record warning Vietnam not to lay claim to a set of islands (they issued the same warning to the Japanese) and now we have Japan trying its best to cobble together a respectable expeditionary force to deal with retaking/repulsing a Chinese take over of one of its islands.

The Pacific is about to pop.  No ones paying attention because the focus is on silliness instead of geopolitical threats lining up world wide. 2013 will be interesting.  I say that with the Chinese curse in mind.

NOTE:  I can't for the life of me understand why the Army hasn't designated an Airborne Brigade (separate) to be forward deployed in Guam and FORCING the USAF to supply them with a squadron of C-17's to make them part of a Rapid Deployment Force for the Pacific region. Yeah.  I said it.  Its time to bring back the RDF.  Especially considering the distances involved and the sudden action that we can expect with conflict in the Pacific.

Upcoming...

A few things I think I want to dig into in the coming days....

Turrets.  If you're into armor then you have to be into the different approaches that manufacturers are taking to develop the next generation turrets.  Lots of good ideas, quite a few bad ones and I hope to spot light a few of them.

Eurocopter USA.  They hit it big with the UH-72A and are poised to sneak in and win the Armed Aerial Scout contest (I say that on a cost basis...I love the Sikorsky offering but its too much too late).  With the coming budget insanity that will mean that they're poised to gain parity in a market that they were once locked out of.  Trip is being planned as we speak to their Mississipi or Texas offices to see what and how they're doing things.

Future Warrior Projects.  Everyone WAS talking about them, but they seem to be off everyones radar now.  A quick view on whats being worked, who's closest to actually putting it into service and a glance at how SOCOM is putting a version of it into service one piece at a time.  I can tell you now that I contend that its overkill for the mission and probably creates a type of 1000 mile thumb instead of helping the guy on the ground.

The UK grows some brass balls.

I'm not saying that the UK hasn't been brave and forthright allies.

No, not all.

What I am saying is that I haven't seen the UK act this decisively since the Falklands.

No talk, no debate, no public outcry just a get it done attitude.

They're talking airplanes.  Yeah right and I'm a liberal from New York State.  You can bet that the Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and Special Air Service (SAS) are already on the ground in Mali or on the way.  They probably have other forces staging too.  But I digress check this out from SkyNews.

The RAF C17 is stopping off in Paris first to load before a 10-hour flight to the West African country and will not arrive there before tomorrow, the sources added.It comes after Downing Street confirmed the Prime Minister had agreed to provide "logistical military assistance" to the French.David Cameron spoke to Francois Hollande on Saturday evening as France attempted to contain al Qaeda-linked rebels in the north of the West African country.French fighter jets and attack helicopters launched fresh strikes on Islamist strongholds in northern Mali on Sunday.Prominent Islamist leader Abdel Krim  - nicknamed "Kojak" - is reported to have been killed in the strikes.

Read the rest, including a video report at their site.  I find this all so fucking ironic I can't see straight.

The UK and France have been chomping to get out of Afghanistan (can't blame them, they've done their bit) and before they can properly clear that AO, they jump in with both feet into Africa!

Even the US which has targeted Africa for future operations (so called partnerships) hasn't been as aggressive as these two nations.

Remember the amphibious mechanized raid that the Royal Marines carried out in the middle of 2012?  Now this.

I'm surprised and amazed.  Much more of this and China will be effectively stalemated on that continent.

Ambassador IV Fast Missile Craft

I first saw this on Military Photos...Get ready to be pissed off.

The Ambassador IV Fast Missile Craft is being sold to Egypt by the US and is even manufactured in Mississippi.

Additionally the program is being governed by the US Navy to fulfill basically the same function as the LCS but at a much lower cost with much greater firepower!

Not wanting to re-invent the wheel I'll simply quote Eagle Speak Blog ... "For my son's Navy I want what we sell to Egypt!"  Click here to read his analysis of this ship.

Note:  The ship has a rapid fire 76mm gun, is surface to air, surface to surface and antiship missile defense capable.