The Marines could have pushed for change 10 years ago. Following the 9/11 attacks, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approached the Marine commandant and asked if the Marines could take on a special operations role within the Department of Defense. For the secretary, it seemed logical. The Marine Corps is designed to operate independently when necessary; it can sustain itself with a well-oiled logistics organization, and it even has its own air wings. At the time, most special operations forces resided in the Army and in Navy Special Warfare and there was an emerging shortage of operators. The Corps could have filled the gap in special forces that existed right after 9/11.This article was like a bottle of Tabascco Sauce on eggs in the morning. Just a dash makes your day, too much sets you on fire.
Singapore is expected to announce sometime in the next 10 days that it plans to buy its first squadron --12 planes -- of some 75 of Lockheed Martin's F-35Bs, further bolstering what had been the flagging fortunes of the world's most expensive conventional weapon system.You want the truth about the F-35?
Special-Purpose MAGTF To Have 500 Marines, Rely On MV-22, KC-130JAnd...
The Marine Corps' new special-purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force crisis-response team will be about one-sixth the size of a traditional MAGTF but will allow the service to place more units in places like Africa to provide the range and speed needed to respond to crises, a Marine Corps official said last week
Brig. Gen. Matthew Glavy, assistant deputy commandant for aviation, told Inside the Navy on March 20 that the special-purpose MAGTF would have about 500 Marines versus about 3,200 in a traditional MAGTF but would still be a "very capable" crisis response force.
"When you can't sortie the ships required to have an enduring presence, how do you get the same effects to the combatant commander?" he told ITN after giving a presentation at an amphibious operations symposium hosted by the Defense Strategies Institute. "The V-22 [Osprey tiltrotor aircraft] provides the depth and range, combined with the KC-130J air refueling capability, combine that with a company of Marines, and you're kind of onto something."
USMC Looks To Existing Technologies For Amphibious Combat VehicleFirst. On the Special MAGTF. I despise duplication of effort. I don't like it when a new wheel is invented when a tried and true one will get the job done.
The Marine Corps is focusing on leveraging existing technologies to define requirements for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle through an ongoing feasibility study, according to a service official.
The study will help the service better understand the risks and best approach for developing an affordable, survivable, high water speed vehicle, John Burrow, ACV director, told Inside the NavyMarch 19 during an interview at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA.
"This vehicle will be in the Marine Corps serving the nation for a long time, so we've got to get it right," he said.
The study, which just began, will last about six months, but Burrow does not see it significantly impacting the program's time line because of its nature. . . ."Some of the concept design work we're going to be exploring will help to mitigate, I think, the time line, number one. And number two, because we're leveraging some of the existing technology, then we can minimize some of the development time associated with that," he said.
“There are two answers to that, one is as Commandant of the Marine Corps’s answer which is Before I leave leave office four years from now … we’ll have a program of record, we’ll have steel, there will be a vehicle and I’ll be able to drive it,” Amos saidand....
“I’m trying to pressurize industry, I’m trying to pressurize the acquisition folks, I want the word to get out. If we followed the standard acquisition timeline, which in some cases got us to where we are today, it’ll be 2024.”and...
“Something probably that resembles the sense of urgency that we had for the MRAP but probably a little bit more scheduled, and that’s what we’re going to do.”Mark my words. The US Army will have the GCV and the AMPV in service before a Marine drives the ACV.
:Read it all here.
Added: Mar 21, 2013 4:48 pmThis is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.The solicitation number is HSFLAR-13-Q-00020 and is issued as an invitation for bids (IFB), unless otherwise indicated herein.The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 2005-65. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 332993 with a small business size standard of 1,500.00 employees.This requirement is a [ Small Business ] set-aside and only qualified offerors may submit bids.The solicitation pricing on www.FedBid.com will start on the date this solicitation is posted and will end on 2013-03-28 17:00:00.0 Eastern Time or as otherwise displayed at www.FedBid.com.FOB Destination shall be Artesia, NM 88210
The DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Center requires the following items, Brand Name or Equal, to the following:
LI 001: Ammunition, Commercial leaded training ammo (CLTA) Pistol .40 caliber 165 grain, jacketed hollow point (JHP) p/n P40HSTS3G or equal - Brass casing. Quantity of 360,000 rounds - newly loaded unit price per 1000 rounds with FOB Destination., 360, CA;
Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) program successfully conducted the first Guided Test Flight to characterize the seeker, guidance, navigation and control systems of its Miniature Hit-to-Kill (MHTK) interceptor. The very small and agile interceptor is designed to defeat Rocket, Artillery and Mortar (RAM) targets at ranges greatly exceeding those of current systems.Hopefully this works and gets into service. Quite honestly they had me sold when they showed the possibility of taking down 155mm cannon fire or MLRS.
The test was conducted on March 22 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in collaboration with the U.S. Army Research Development & Engineering Command/Aviation Missile Research Development & Engineering Center (RDECOM/AMRDEC). This test is another milestone in a series of technically challenging events completed under the EAPS Integrated Demonstration Science and Technology program.
The test closely replicated a tactical situation in which an enemy launches a mortar at an area protected by the MHTK intercept system. A radar successfully detected and tracked the threat in flight. The tactically configured MHTK interceptor launched vertically and flew a trajectory positioning it to detect energy from a ground illuminator reflected off the mortar target. Responding to the reflected energy, the MHTK interceptor maneuvered to fly very close to the target and gather data through its seeker as it passed the mortar in flight. Intercepting the target was not an objective of this flight test.
In addition to gathering data to characterize the interceptor’s performance, this test integrated and exercised the entire intercept system for the first time. The data collected will support an intercept flight test planned for later this year.
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| Advanced Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) 1983-1994 |
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| Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) 1983-1991 |
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| Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) 1994-1996 |
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| Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) 1994-1996 |
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| Advanced/Fighter-Attack (A/F-X) 1992-1993 |
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| Multi-Role Fighter (MRF) 1990-1993 |
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| Multi-Role Fighter (MRF) 1990-1993 |
Apparently, there will be no ban on assault weapons.I rarely enjoy reading
Never mind that Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15 assault-type rifle to rip apart the bodies of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Forget the fact that James E. Holmes, the alleged Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooter, fired, among other weapons, an AR-15.
Nor does it seem to make any difference that Jared Loughner -- the man who shot Gabby Giffords and killed six others, including a 9-year-old girl -- used a high-capacity magazine that the Clinton-era assault-weapons ban rendered illegal. A high-capacity magazine also enabled the massacre committed by Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.
The political climate has changed since the 1994 ban: Democrats have cowered before the gun lobby; the National Rifle Association has grown even more extreme; the U.S. Supreme Court has moved much further to the right. And, in the 20 years since Congress banned assault-type weapons and high-capacity magazines, Americans have heard a steady drumbeat of pro-firearms rhetoric that fetishizes the Second Amendment. In other words, the climate around firearms has gotten crazier.
Even before the current debate over more restrictive gun laws began, most political observers knew it would be difficult to get Congress to stand up to the firearms lobby. So it's no great surprise that Majority Leader Harry Reid, who runs from the shadow of the National Rifle Association, slammed the door on Sen. Dianne Feinstein's effort to re-up the assault-weapons ban.
Still, I find myself once again wondering just how bad things have to get before the fever breaks -- before the country comes to its senses on firearms. We're in the throes of a kind of madness, a mass delusion that assigns to firearms the significance of religious totems.
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| KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan " Soldiers assigned to Blue Platoon, Troop B, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team "Rakkasans," 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), conduct a dismounted patrol through the mountainous terrain in the Musa Khel District, Afghanistan, March 6, 2013. Soldiers conducted a 12-mile dismounted patrol in order to reach a village in the valley in hopes to disrupt suspected insurgent activity. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Brian Smith-Dutton TF 3/101 Public Affairs) |
Last night, the Michigan-based Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) issued a draft Request For Proposals for a new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle. The final RFP is expected in June and the contract award in mid-2014. Variants of the General DynamicsStryker and the BAE Bradley are the leading contenders. Our industry sources are still poring over thousands of pages of documentation, but here are the highlights.The Army needs a big pat on the back and a hearty "way to go" with how they've handled their vehicle programs.
