SNAFU!

Friday, March 15, 2013

A favorite meme of gun grabbers is debunked on Morning Joe.

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Hat tip to Everyday No Days Off Blog.

I actually watched this interview live and I absolutely loved the way Mika's jaw dropped.

Joe and Mika had been playing up the thinking inside the beltway that the NRA was being run by the gun makers. To see the shock on their faces when it dawned on them that no, its not the gun makers but the actual shooters, sportsmen and enthusiast that are dictating policy.

Quite honestly I think the White House got the memo first and that's why they're slowly but surely lowering expectations when it comes to their Gun/People Control efforts.

Singapore rides in to rescue the F-35.

Check this out.

(Reuters) - Singapore is in the "final stages of evaluating" the F-35 to upgrade its air force, a process U.S. sources say should turn quickly into orders for several dozen of the stealthy warplanes that have been beset by cost overruns and delivery delays.
Singapore, a major business and shipping hub with the best-equipped military in Southeast Asia, is expected to submit a "letter of request" soon for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, said two U.S. government officials who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The city-state could start the process as soon as this week to buy the planes built by Lockheed Martin Corp, one of the officials said. Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, makes the engine for the F-35.
Singapore's defence minister, Ng Eng Hen, said on Tuesday the air force "has identified the F-35 as a suitable aircraft to further modernise our fighter fleet".
"Our F-5s are nearing the end of their operational life and our F-16s are at their mid-way mark," he said in parliament. "We are now in the final stages of evaluating the F-35."
Ng gave no timeline but said the defence ministry "will have to be satisfied that this state-of-the-art multi-role fighter meets our long-term needs, is on track to be operationally capable and, most importantly, is a cost-effective platform."
Singapore's air force now has 24 F-15SGs, 20 F-16Cs and 40 F-16Ds, 28 F-5Ss and nine F-5Ts, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It also has 19 AH-64D Apache attack helicopters among its other assorted aircraft.
The wealthy island nation of about 5.3 million people plans to spend S$12.3 billion ($9.85 billion) on defence in the 2013 fiscal year that starts in April, a rise of 4.3 percent from the previous year, the government's budget shows.
Singapore - home to a global financial centre, the world's second-busiest container port and major energy operations - is the region's biggest military spender, dwarfing its much larger neighbours Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Wow. I've always said the Chinese play chess while we play checkers. Well to be honest they got caught up in nationalism and arrogance.

Imagine if they had kept their stealth airplanes under wraps for another 5 maybe 10 years. Budget pressures in the West would have killed the airplane and the US military would probably be in the midst of a massive reduction.

Now the Warhawks like McCain have a viable and real threat to point to when it comes to rallying for maintaining defense spending at current rates.

Arrogance and nationalism spoiled what could have been a deadly strategy. Instead of facing the West with an array of modernized 4th gen fighters they're instead going to be facing a Pacific filled with F-35's.

The Chinese royally screwed up.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

War Machine's FaceBook photos.

Don't judge, but I've been going to FaceBook a bit more often lately. The real reason is because all my Gun Websites, Vendors and Trainers seem to only like a presence on there. Why I don't know but you go to where the gear or trainers are so off to FaceBook I went. A good thing happened on the way though. I ran across War Machine's Facebook Page. Lots of interesting photos so check'em out.

Marine Infantry and Armor in contact. A photo essay.

Note: No captions came with these photos. They were found on a wild cat website in China.

Pakistani Special Forces are behind the beheading of an Indian Soldier!

Wow. I've been expecting plenty of bush wars in Africa. I've been waiting for a mistake to happen between China and one of its neighbors causing a few airplanes to be shot down or a ship sunk. But the real flashpoint, especially after the US leaves Afghanistan will be the issues between Pakistan and India.

Check this out.

The attack on an Indian Army patrol in January, in which one soldier was beheaded, was carried out by Special Services Group of Pakistan Army, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Rajya Sabha today.In a written reply to a question in the House, he also said that intelligence reports have indicated that Chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Sayeed had visited the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir prior to the attack.“On January 8, 2013 the Special Services Group of Pakistan Army executed an attack on an Indian Army patrol in which two Indian soldiers were killed. One soldier was beheaded in the attack,” he said.The Defence Minister further informed the House that inputs analysed by Military Intelligence indicate that,”terrorists affiliated to LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad were involved in the attack”.“Intelligence reports also indicate that Pakistani terrorists and Chief of LeT Hafiz Sayeed was reported to have visited the LoC areas prior to the attack,” Antony said. In reply to a separate question whether government has announced to consider to award the two soldiers on Republic Day, who were killed in the incident, Antony said, “As on date, no citation/ recommendations pertaining to the specific incident have been received.”

Read the entire article here.

If we're lucky all we'll see is heavy mechanized combat, mixed with plenty of sea and air action.

If we're unlucky we'll see a nuclear exchange and terrorist making off with Pakistani nukes.

Nightmare scenario? India and Pakistan go for each others throats and China makes a move to capture disputed Indian territory.

This will get ugly. Bet on it.

Injustice video game has an Arma Otokar in it.

Freeze this highlight video of this upcoming game at 1:15. You'll see an Arma Otokar Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

I don't know if its by accident or on purpose but its pretty cool.

Time for the US Army to go grey!

The US Army has experimented with it, but now is the time to go full bore.

I've posted this before but the first person to actually come out online and suggest it was your friend and mine, Mike Sparks. Say what you like about the guy but some of his ideas were truly ahead of their time.

One thing I haven't been able to find out is why the Army hasn't gone ahead and adopted this camo scheme for their helicopters. Any infrared suppression found in the green paint surely is applicable to the grey. Its time to make the switch.

Sexual Assault in the military.

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The JCS is playing ball with the Congress on this but they better step up and explain the facts of life real quick.

If they take away the authority of the Commanding Officer to make judgments on issues like this then its chaos in the military.

What the Congress should do is to overhaul the promotion system. Put people in place that are capable of handling the responsibility that goes with command.

The JCS knows this but they appear too afraid to mount a proper defense or better stated to offer proper counsel.

Have we been too hard on the Terrex?

I got a note from Singapore and while it accuses me of nationalism and bias against the Terrex in the Marine Corps Personnel Carrier competition (which I think is unmitigated bullshit) I do wonder if I've been too hard on the Terrex.

I personally don't think so but lets go over the players again.

Lockheed Martin Havoc. This is probably the strongest player in the game if you're talking about a pure combat vehicle. Its combat proven and performed remarkably well in Afghanistan. I didn't consider the Patria AMV (Havoc) to be cost competitive but when you consider the desire to keep workers working you can bet they're gonna push down the price.

BAE Super AV. This vehicle shows the promise of being the best swimmer. It also has the added advantage of being able to rely on a supply line to help lower costs. If its a pure cost shoot out they will be tough to beat...especially with IVECO willing to sell its soul to win a US military contract.

General Dynamics LAV/Stryker. Combat proven and already familiar to the Corps. Consider it a Havoc junior. I'll be extremely interested to see how they get this vehicle sized to carry 9 Marines that are 95th percentile.

Terrex AV2.

This is the blind spot. I know little about the other vehicles but the Terrex is really an unknown. I've credited it with being technologically superior but touch screens throughout the vehicle don't make it the proper one to carry Marines into battle.

Tell me where the Terrex is obviously superior to the other competitors. I don't know and neither does the letter writer.

I haven't been too hard on the Terrex. The issue is the same that faces Israeli built equipment. The Israeli's build some of the finest military equipment on the planet but its geared to local conditions and to their way of war. I see Singapore falling into the same box.

My opinion but I just don't see the Terrex making the final cut. But I could easily be wrong.

Gunny helps Hollywood get it right...

Just glancing through some of my feeds on my soon to be killed Google Reader, I ran across the advertisement for GI Joe Retaliation.

I was about to keep going when the photo of the Joe with the SCAR hit me.

Son of a bitch! The guy has the latest "setup" going on his rifle and even shows a little weapons knowledge with keeping his finger off the trigger and such.

I flowed through the other advertising photos and what do you know. The guys are all showing a bit of "real deal" military gear mixed in with the fanciful.

Hollywood isn't that good. They got some professional help to get so much "right". Let me introduce you to Gunny Terry.

This is from IMDb.

Gunnery Sergeant Quay Terry is a California Native who has served in the US Marine Corps for twenty years. An Iraq War veteran, Terry combines his active duty experience and his extensive knowledge of military history and tactics and is one of the most sought after technical advisers in the industry. He continues to serve his country as a Reservist in the Marine Corps.

SWEET!

Good work if you can get it. Technical adviser for Hollywood flicks....Kool.

The US Army finally gets its attack planes.

An MQ-1B Gray Eagle UAS, one of four currently in use at Fort Hood, sits on display at Robert Gray Army Airfield March 6 during a media event held to introduce the newest UAS training program at Fort Hood and mark the platform’s first daytime flight at the installation and 100 incident-free flight hours. Heather Graham-Ashley, Sentinel News Editor

via Ft Hood Sentinel

The future of the Army’s unmanned aeria1 systems program made its Fort Hood debut March 6 with its first daylight flight after years of planning and months of night flights.
With oversight from the 21st Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat), Soldiers from Company E, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, conducted the UAS platform’s first day flight at Fort Hood.
Daylight flight was just one of the milestones the UAS met, as that day also marked 100 hours of incident-free flight hours at the installation.
It was a big day, not only for the first unit of Soldiers to train on the new UAS at Fort Hood, but also for the brigade tasked with training them and others on the Gray Eagle platform.
“We are very proud of the events going on with Gray Eagle,” Col. Neil Hersey, commander, 21st Cav. Bde., said. “This is the Army’s newest, most advanced UAS.”
This is the third unit 21st Cav. has trained, but the first that is conducting their training at Fort Hood.

Interesting.

No one is talking about it but you've got to wonder if Army Aviation isn't keeping an eye on the work that the Navy is doing with the X-47B.

Imagine that UAV in Army colors, flying Army missions, under Army control....

If they can have Gray Eagles then why not X-47's?

NOTE: They painted the UAV in grey, why not their helicopters?

Manny Pacheco. The most important man when it comes to Marine armor you'll never hear about.

Members Were Present and Accounted For on June 1 as Al Eskalis (far right) and Brenda Varnadore (4th from l) were promoted to major and master sergeant respectively. USMCCCA members attending the ceremonies were (from l) Manny Pacheco, Ronna Weyland, Paxton, Varnadore, Col. Bryan Salas, Joe Espinosa, Sal Cardella and Eskalis.

When it comes to Marine Corps armor...especially when it comes to the AAV Upgrade, the Amphibious Combat Vehicle and the Marine Personnel Carrier, every Marine either knows or can quickly enough find the chain of command.

Its simplicity itself...even for someone who has weak Google-foo (yours truly) go to Marine Corps Systems Command Website, look up PEO Land organization chart....see that the projects you're looking for are under AAA and then run straight into a road block.

Wow. My beloved Corps is getting a bit stingy when it comes to info on this most important of projects.

But undeterred you seek comment from the boys at Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch on the vehicle from Singapore (Terrex AV 8x8) thats in the water out there and get....no where.

They send you to talk to the guys at 1st MarDiv.

The guys at 1st MarDiv send you to talk to the guys at 1st MEF.

The guys at 1st MEF send you to talk to Manny. I asked for confirmation that the Terrex AV 8x8 was actually at AVTB undergoing swim tests and I feel confident in printing his response (meaning if I get an angry e-mail from him threatening me to take it down that it will...not because I'm worried about a squad of Marines attacking but because I want to stay on his good side)....

As I mentioned yesterday, the Marine Corps (PM AAA) issued contracts late last year to four vendors for the demonstration and studies phase for an advanced generation eight-wheeled armored Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC). Those vendors include Lockheed Martin, BAE, GDLS and SAIC. All four companies will have a variant of their vehicle at AVTB for a variety of water mobility and habitability testing throughout the spring and summer of this year.
MPC is intended to be a highly protected and swim-capable vehicle, with requirements shaped to provide a balance of performance, protection, and payload to ensure it is effective across the full range of military operations.
As for your specific question on the Terrex it is SAIC's variant into this testing. They are slated to do some government swim testing later this month. They may have already done some swim test at AVTB as part of their pre-test. That is something that they would have contracted directly with AVTB for support and not part of our (PM AAA) contract. All of this testing is vendor sensitive and specific so you will not have more than one vendor at AVTB at a time.
Again these are just demonstrations and studies contracts --- basically a way for the government to validate the performance capabilities of these platforms.

Ok.

I feel confident that the tip I got on the Terrex being at the AVTB is spot on. What I'm not sure of is whether or not its undergone any changes in design. That is irking me. I'd love to see pics of it.

Another thing has me a bit sad.

The critics of the F-35 and the EFV have succeeded in one thing.

The era of open development of vehicles and aircraft is definitely over. In prior years the EFV and the F-35 probably could have moved forward, now they're under such a microscope that no manufacturer would dare expose a project to the type of scrutiny and venom that those two programs suffered.

Lastly the Commandant talked about Civilian Marines. I didn't buy it, but in this case I think it applies. I've seen Program Managers come and go (on the military side) over the years. I've seen staffs change and get re-arranged.

The only stabilizing influence has come from those Civilian Marines in that office. You want to talk about tribal knowledge? It resides with the Civilians, not the military members of Marine Corps Systems Command. By the time a Marine actually learns the insides and out of the place its time for him to move on.

That makes Manny probably the most important person in the office if Marine Corps armor is important to you.

Sidenote: General Dynamics and BAE won contracts to develop the Amphibious Combat Vehicle. I wonder if that will have any bearing on the MPC.

Google Reader is going away. Help!

Google Reader is going away...Damn you Google! And I need a replacement that's as lightweight and clean.

Does one exist or am I stuck with unfamiliar setups like "Feedly" and such? I'm definitely open to suggestions!

Today's Public Service Announcement.

Common sense if you ask me.

American Vet Al Qaeda Member

Don't know how I missed this one. This Army Vet supposedly is bragging on his FaceBook page of joining Al Aaeda and waging war.

Just plain wow. I'm against drone killing of Americans on US soil. It seems to fly against the constitution. I'm confused about the issue of killing Americans by drone in foreign countries. That would seem to fly against the constitution because you are innocent until proven guilty.

But when you post on FaceBook that you've joined the enemy, you post videos of your participation in combat with enemy forces...and once news of this becomes widespread and no explanation is given.....

Seems like you're fair game then.

Yeah. Nuke this fucker from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.

CH-46 (the European version) display

There is no doubt that the MV-22 is superior to the CH-46 in every aspect EXCEPT for maneuvering in a tight landing area.

On a side note, can anyone tell me what that is that's rotating at the bottom of the helicopter?

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The number one threat to US forces in the Pacific is....CLIMATE CHANGE!

via The Boston Globe.

CAMBRIDGE — America’s top military
officer in charge of monitoring hostile
actions by North Korea, escalating
tensions between China and Japan,
and a spike in computer attacks traced
to China provides an unexpected
answer when asked what is the biggest
long-term security threat in the Pacific
region: climate change.
Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III,
in an interview at a Cambridge hotel
Friday after he met with scholars at
Harvard and Tufts universities, said
significant upheaval related to the
warming planet “is probably the most likely thing that is going to
happen . . . that will cripple the security environment, probably more
likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about.’’

Quite honestly I'd like to be shocked but I'm not.

The Pentagon and every General Officer that's got a Combatant Command has been vetted, drank the cool and believe the doctrine of the Obama Administration.

Accordingly it would have been a surprise IF he had stated China. That he said climate change just confirms that he's probably angling for a seat on the Joint Chiefs.