Cute puppy overload vid.

Peruvian MI-35P's and a rant about partnership missions.

Every time a S. American country that we have relations with buys aircraft from Russia or Europe we're losing points. Effective military to military relations should have them lusting, wanting, begging to buy US equipment.  If partnership missions can't even accomplish that small feat then the very reason for partnership missions should be called into question.

Ka-32A1BC cleared for ops in Australia.

via Press Release.

The Russian-made multi-role coaxial Ka-32A11BC received a certificate of airworthiness in Australia.This certificate allows Australian helicopter operators to use the Ka-32S11BC as a search & rescue and firefighting helicopter as well as for sling load operations and in construction and installation work.

Don't know why but this helicopter is starting to grow on me.  At least in this photo its neat and looks right.

Russian Airborne to get BMD-4M & BTR-MD

Via Rianovosti.

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Airborne Troops will receive the first BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles and BTR-MD Rakushka multirole transport vehicles by the end of 2013, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexander Kucherenko said on Thursday.“Paratroopers are planning to receive 10 modernized BMD-4M airborne infantry fighting vehicles and 10 tracked Rakushka armored personnel carriers by mid-2013 for final testing and commissioning by the end of 2013,” Kucherenko said.A decision to adopt the long-awaited BMD-4Ms has been made in the beginning of December despite an earlier statement by former deputy defense minister Alexander Sukhorukov that the vehicle had not met the requirements and would not be bought by the military.The BMD-4M is the latest modification of an armored combat vehicle that can be para-dropped to provide firepower and support for airborne troops. It features a new chassis, a digital fire control system and a set of high-precision weaponry, including a 100-mm gun.The 13-ton vehicle has a crew of two and can carry six paratroopers.The Russian military is expected to acquire at least 1,000 BMD-4Ms under the current rearmament program until 2020.At present, 123 BMD-3 and 60 BMD-4 airborne combat vehicles are in service with the Russian Airborne Troops, with the rest being outdated BMD-2 models.

This isn't exactly earth shattering news but it does indicate a capability gap.

The Russians will be able to deploy their Airborne Forces and once they hit the ground they will be mechanized versus our foot mobile forces.

Someone said that the US should develop a joint IFV that could be used by our Airborne, Air Assault, Marine Corps and attached to SOCOM when needed.

The Russians have done it.  So should we.

Beechcraft ... born again hard?

via Press Release.

Beechcraft, formerly Hawker Beechcraft, today announced that its Defense Company team is participating in the Air Force Association’s (AFA) Annual Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition this week in Orlando, Fla.The team’s participation comes on the heels of the company’s announcement that it has formally emerged from the Chapter 11 process as a new company well-positioned to compete vigorously in the worldwide business aviation, special mission, trainer and light attack markets, including the anticipated Afghanistan Light Air Support contract.

And they're at Avalon in Australia.

USS Freedom Sports New Paint; Gears Up for Deployment

RUAG Armor package for Leopard 2A4.

via Defesa Global.

If I had the pennies and the price wasn't crazy...

This would be my next rifle carbine!  Too cool.

via TacBlog

Blast from the past...CL-84

What if we had concentrated on a Huey sized platform for our first tilt-wing/tilt rotor?  We might be at a point now where we have tilt wing attack airplanes etc...its really a shame that we didn't follow the turbine into helicopters route by starting small and working up.

Our guys are better too.

via The Truth About Guns...

In fact, anyone with basic metalworking tools available from most hardware stores and plans that are freely available on the Internet can make magazine fed, fully automatic firearms (yes, machine guns) in their garage. Don’t believe me?  Late last year Australian authorities arrested man for doing just that.

Read the whole thing at his house but the point is this.

In the Philippines gun making is big business.  Same in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Same in a number of other countries  with restrictive gun laws.

Our machinist are better than they are simply because we have better tools to work with.  Quite honestly I've heard of people working in high tech industries obtaining scraps of Titanium and developing some pretty interesting bullets (just a rumor so don't send the ATF my way...it was just in passing so I couldn't tell ya who or where even if I wanted to...AND I DON'T).

The point is this.

Gun bans will never work.  Never.  

Lockheed Martin's DAGR.

Sequestraton might set new base line.

The Pentagon is beyond politicized now.

Everyone knows it, no one admits it...

But a silver lining out of this sequestration mess might be that a wedge is finally driven between the Pentagon and the White House (as it should be).  Especially when all this chicken little talk finally gets tallied up.

Check this out...via the Washington Times...

In an 11-page briefing sent to Congress and obtained by The Washington Times, the Navy said it will be forced to “shut down at various intervals” the USS John C. Stennis, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Ronald Reagan and the Roosevelt.
The Navy’s active carrier fleet already has been reduced to 10 vessels because of the retirement of the USS Enterprise in November. Removing more carriers from action will leave the Navy unable to surge a large number of ships and strike fighters to a hot spot like the Persian Gulf.
Suspending all operations on four carriers means the Navy also would close four of its nine carrier air wings — the F-18s that project power overseas.

What happens if the Navy follows through and shuts down 4 carriers.  Let's say they shut down 4 carriers at the same time.

What happens when Congress...Extreme Left Wing Democrats and Fiscally Minded Right Wing Republicans...look out on the world and realizes that nothing went boom.

What happens when a bean counter says that this shutdown is helping to solve the nations debt or fund government entitlements?

In essence, the Navy is about to put a huge amount of cash on the table in an attempt to show all the damage that sequester might impose on the nation and the nation's leaders might say thank you, may we have some more.

What if Congressional leaders look at the sequestration-"nated" military and consider that the new baseline?

What then?

Tree top Rangers....

Thanks for this story Joe!!

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

via CNN.

They are widely considered among the top in the U.S. military.But for three Army Rangers who got stuck in trees while parachuting Thursday afternoon in Washington state, their only aim was to get down.The members of the 75th Ranger Regiment -- a U.S. special operations force -- were training at Joint Base Lewis-McChord when they jumped from a plane and got entangled in towering evergreen trees that canvass the sprawling military installation between Tacoma and Olympia.Video from CNN affiliate KOMO showed rescue workers climbing the trees to reach the stranded soldiers.They were ultimately brought down safely and with only minor injuries, said base spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield."(The soldiers had) a couple of bumps and bruises," Dangerfield said.Dangerfield noted that this was the second time in the past year alone that parachutists have gotten hung up in tall trees around the base.

Washington State sucks.

Damn near jungle on one side...Desert on the other....and the Army actually put a base up there.

CH-53K offer from Sikorsky..

via Flight Global.  March 2012.

The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is evaluating a proposal from Sikorsky to build four production-representative CH-53K Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopters, says the US Marine Corps' programme manager.
"We're looking at the proposal now," says Col Robert Pridgen.
NAVAIR received the proposal at the beginning of March, he says. A contract award is expected some time after this has been evaluated, although Pridgen says: "I don't want to nail down a date."
The four pre-production aircraft will be "fleet-representative" and be used for operational evaluations, as well to finish developmental testing.

We still have no word on whether or not NAVAIR has taken Sikorsky up on its offer.

Now they're calling for Transsexuals in the military.

via the Daily Caller.

In a revealing presentation at Claremont McKenna College, birth-control activist Sandra Fluke said the U.S. military should accept transsexual recruits. The demise of the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” program, she said, should be only a first step toward a more inclusive American fighting force.Referring to what she called “the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning” community, Fluke said lawmakers didn’t go far enough in ending the military’s official but often unenforced ban on homosexuals.“We still don’t let trans-folk join the military,” Fluke said February 13. “That needs to change.”

Wow.

Four years ago I would have said never in a million years.

Now?

With the Haynie's and USNI's of the world along with the "change artists" in power it'll probably happen.  Probably sooner than we all expect too.

Textron developing "Light Tank" for Afghan National Army.

via Shepard Media.

Textron is contracted to deliver 627 Mobile Strike Force Vehicles (MSFVs) to Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and 344 have been delivered or are in transit to date. The mortar variant will comprise 50 of the total number.The new mortar variant vehicle has a base platform that can house any mortar system that can fire rounds up to 120mm through open hatches in the roof and it can hold 82 rounds. The mortar mount can fire at an azimuth of up to a 360-degrees and a firing elevation of 45 to 85 degrees. Feser said that a 90mm direct fire variant is also in development for the ANA.

Interesting.

Another Infantry Support Vehicle (or Light Tank) is soon to hit.

I think we're seeing a trend.

Gunsngear's Operator of the week.

gunsngear:

Operator of the Week

Name: Ethel Bergman
Hometown: Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Operations Type: Private Security
Weapon of Choice: Kriss Super V

Freaking Awesome Man!

18th Airborne Corps wants light tanks...

via Military.com

 Airborne units may one day have tank-like firepower they can jump with on future forced-entry operations.U.S. Army requirements officials at Fort Benning, Ga., are in discussions with the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C., to develop "mobile protected firepower for light airborne infantry," Col. Rocky Kmiecik, director of the Mounted Requirements Division at the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence, said Thursday at AUSA's winter meeting.Army leaders at Training and Doctrine Command are working on a Joint-entry Operations Concept that involves using the airborne community's forced-entry capabilities to thwart future enemy forces from using area-denial tactics against U.S. military forces, said TRADOC Commander Gen. Robert Cone Wednesday.

Pretty awesome but its only a toe in the water.

Time for the Airborne Force to jump all in.  They need to mech up.  There is no reason for them not to experiment using Mike Sparks idea of air dropping M-113's and riding, not walking off the drop zone.

Whatever they finally do in the future, Mike Sparks is somewhere laughing his ass off.  Slowly, after much criticism his ideas are winning the day. 

USS Freedom gets her new paint job!

CH-53K. What's going on with it?

I'm in a mood today so forgive the numerous posts.

Think about this.  With all the budget concerns, the one essential Marine Corps project you haven't heard a thing about is the CH-53K.

The Marine Corps is putting together a CRAZY procurement schedule for the AAV/ACV/MPC program.

Upgrade the AAV's by 2017.  Put the ACV in production by 2020 and then the MPC after that.  Only the MPC project seems ready to go but that's the vehicle that HQMC seems least enthused about (we really need both).

But to add to that misery, the Marine Corps has essentially placed the CH-53K program on hold.  Sikorsky offered to build a demonstrator of the helo on its own dime and the Marine Corps is still considering the offer.

Of all the aviation projects that the Marine Corps absolutely needs, the CH-53K is at the top of that list.

Why its disappeared from the talking points is a mystery to me but rebuilds WILL NOT do when it comes to these airplanes.  They've been ridden hard, served admirably and its time for the next gen.

A little birdy tells me that the real issue is that the Marine Corps is pleased by the performance of the K-Max and is looking at extending the CH-53E and filling the void by procuring a fleet of those smaller helicopters.

I hope that isn't true.  The CH-53 has served as a troop transport, casualty evacuation platform, performed TRAP missions and moved practically everything in the vehicle/aircraft fleet except for M1 Tanks.

The Marine Corps has to have an AAV replacement.  It has to replace the CH-53E with the K model and it needs to sort it out now.

If other projects need to be delayed then so be it, but its time to prioritize on the essentials.

The CH-53K is an essential.

UPDATE:  Want a little more misery?  Defense Tech is reporting that the US Army expects to have a milestone C decision by 2019.  That means that they will have started development of their Bradley replacement AND gotten it into production before the Marine Corps gets the AAV replacement going.  Read about the GCV here.