Heavy Attack Squadron 5. A-5 Vigilantes aboard the Saratoga (CVA 60)

National Naval Aviation Museum

It would have been quite a sight on board the carrier Saratoga (CVA 60) watching these Vigis launch on April 17, 1964, forty-nine years ago today. Note that they are Heavy Attack Squadron (VAH) 5 birds normally embarked in Ranger (CVA 61).

Interesting fact?  The F-35 is heavier than the A-5 Vigilante.  That includes its empty weight, loaded weight and maximum takeoff weight.

Suspects on the run in Mass.

Supposedly the suspects in the Boston Bombing are in custody and caused the shootout with police.

UPDATE:  Looks like they caught the younger one.  The older guy is probably dedicated to the cause and will go down fighting.    This was more than we're being told.  Much more.  This is a full blown terrorist attack.  Not a radicalized individual.

UPDATE 1:  If these guys are students at MIT or any other university and they're talking about amnesty for illegal aliens then the President can stick a fork in his bill.  Americans are pissed and this won't make the people in the South and Midwest happy.  Could this lead to loss number two for the President????

UPDATE 2:   The bombers are foreign students.

UPDATE 3:  Now they're reporting that these guys have been in the US for a year and that they have military training.  

A black powder bill? Are you shitting me????

via the Examiner.

In the wake of the deadly bombing attacks in Boston, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today announced that he will reintroduce legislation he has proposed in a prior Congress to require that sales of explosive powder be subject to a background check. He will also file the legislation as an amendment to the gun violence prevention bill currently on the Senate floor. -Lautenberg.Senate.com

Really Senator?

My grandpa knew how to make black powder from scratch.  Do you think that you can regulate something that people have historic/generational knowledge of?

We live in the age of knowledge.  Some cutting edge like printing 3d magazines.  Some is old fashioned....like making gunpowder.

NOTE:  Its becoming more and more obvious that the people in Washington have absolutely no knowledge of gun culture.  They're trying to regulate a community that they have no ties to, no understanding of and cannot relate to in anyway.  It will never work and all attempts at compromise are doomed to failure.

A cop carries 145 rounds of ammo everyday.

Notice the scoring on the RedBack One target.

Sorry guys.  I'm all over the map today.

I'll get back on track tomorrow  but this is a must read story and a pretty intense lesson learned.  First this is the guys take aways after his encounter...

Expert Analysis
Lessons learned from facing an “invincible” assailant
By Charles Remsberg
Sgt. Timothy Gramins who fired 17 .45-cal. rounds into a hell-bent suspect before putting him down offers these lessons learned from his extraordinary fight for his life:
1.) Beef up your ammo reserves. “A lot more rounds are being exchanged in today’s gunfights than in the past. With offenders carrying heavier weapons, going on patrol with just a handgun and two extra magazines no longer cuts it. Carry more ammo. Always have a backup gun. Carry a loaded rifle where you can reach it. I can’t express how quickly your firearm will go empty when you’re shooting for real. There’s no worse feeling than pulling the trigger and hearing it go ‘click’.”
2.) Practice head shots. “When you fire multiple ‘lethal’ rounds into an attacker and he keeps going, you don’t have the luxury of waiting 20 or 40 more seconds for him to die while he can still shoot at you. Don’t waste time arguing the relative merits of various calibers. No handgun rounds have reliable stopping power with body shots. Pick the round you can shoot best and practice shooting at the suspect’s head.”

Click here to go to the story to read it for yourself but it made me add one thing...PRACTICE PELVIC SHOTS!  If you get into a gunfight and you can get a clear sight picture then a hit to the pelvic girdle is almost guaranteed to immediately limit your assailants mobility...going to result in tremendous blood loss...and will lead to--- if not death then lifelong disability.

So long story short. Three to the head.  Three to the chest and dump the rest in the pelvic girdle if the bastard is still moving.

With railguns about to be reality...is it time to think about Battleships again?

Railguns and lasers are the hottest "future weaponry" going.  While everyone is seeing it as a leap into the future, I have to wonder if what we're really doing is heading back to the past.

Consider the old Iowa class battleships.  Now instead of conventional guns, think about these heavily armored, extremely fast monsters with railguns and lasers instead.  I'm talking about four guns fore and aft.  Lasers mounted to cover all sectors and maybe backed up with rolling airframe missiles and a couple of close in weapon systems (gatling guns).  Add new high performance engines and suddenly you have a super weapon.

Nothing short of the USAF's bunker buster could kill it and it would shrug off the average anti-ship missile with ease.

As a matter of fact, nothing short of torpedoes could probably cause it much pain considering the punch of weapons today.

Such a ship could possibly perform the WW2 German Raider mission and take out entire task forces.  Powerful enough to shrug off anti-ship missiles while closing in to launch 1000 pound depleted uranium shells at enemy ships waterlines from 100 miles away.  If I'm right about the armor of these old WW2 battleships, then its possible that one properly equipped could take on and defeat a carrier task force.

Just kidding but it would be a helluva fight.

Ok. I'll say it. They look like they're from the Middle East.

Watching the FBI press conference.

They look Middle Eastern to me.

And they're about to pass a immigration bill?  The President met with the Saudi Foreign Minister?  We should have known it was was not domestic when we didn't see the President going ballistic over the bombing.  How long do you think they had this info?  Do you think they're still in the country?

Amazing.

SIDENOTE:  They still haven't explained the "bomb drill" that occurred the morning of the attack.  MANY witnesses have come forward talking about a heavy presence of bomb dogs and law enforcement.

SIDENOTE 1:  Chris Matthews is tying himself in knots trying not to state the obvious.

SIDENOTE 2:  Are they part of a sleeper cell?  Can we expect more attacks?

SIDENOTE 3:  Its obvious they had all this info by the first night.  Either these guys made it out of the country or they're holed up deep somewhere.

Boston Bombing. Lack of clarity leads to conspiracy thinking...

NOTE:  I blame DHS LEADERSHIP for this turning into a big steaming pile.  Instead of clarity, they're being extremely secretive, rumors are spreading and we are not getting a solid, this is the facts news conference on this story.

via The Blaze.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had a fiery exchange with Rep. Jeff Duncan during a House hearing Thursday morning over reports that Al Alharbi is being considered for deportation.
Napolitano refused to entertain a question regarding if it would be “negligence” to deport someone who just days ago was a person of interest.


“I’m not going to answer that question,” she shot back after being pressed by Duncan and denying any knowledge of such a plan. “That question is so full with misstatements and misapprehensions that it is not worthy of an answer.”
Watch her response and read her other fiery comments in our full write-up here.

The leader of DHS is defying the requirement to inform and report to Congress and is treating questions by our elected representatives with disdain.

Want to know why the gun control bill failed.  This is a perfect example.  No one trusts the DHS and by extension Washington.  The meeting that the President attended with the Saudi Foreign Minister is adding to the suspicion.

This story will not go away.  Let's hope it doesn't get bigger.

Things to do now...before they try another run at gun control....

There are a few things that gun guys need to do now...before they take another run at gun control.  Of course that means before the 2014 elections (the political landscape could change dramatically depending on how the immigration amnesty bill turns out).

Ammo.  Buy it at normal prices, not the inflated nonsense that its at now.  But every time you make a trip to buy groceries, buy a box or two.

My thoughts on weaponry is ... evolving.  I'm starting to veiw the idea that if its possible to settle on no more than 3 types of weapon types it might an ideal.  I'll get into it more in the future but I'm beginning to wonder if those people that are into home defense might be making a mistake by choosing the 5.56 for the task might be missing the boat.  Regardless.  Get them while you can.  Weapons that is.

Parts kits.  Get them.  Learn your weapons and learn to fix them yourself.  Certified Glock armorers courses are rather inexpensive.  Becoming familiar with your AR is simplicity itself.  Most people probably either can or know someone that can walk them through building one from a stripped lower receiver.  Get the parts now.

That's about it when it comes to gun control.  The other stuff you already know to do now.  Get in shape.  Physically and financially.  Become self sufficient to the greatest extent possible. I've labeled it as a 2014 goal.  The reality is that its a life time project.  Get started.

A tale of two agencies...FBI vs. Boston Metro Swat.

Its probably (most definitely) not a fair comparison...the sample size is extremely small, but little things count when it comes to people assessing professionalism.

Above you see an FBI Agent.  Gear is right he looks ready for the fight.  I don't know the guy from Adam, but a quick glance tells me that he isn't exactly someone I would want to fuck with...or if I did, I'd better pack a sandwich cause its gonna go more than one round.
PIC REMOVED BECAUSE OF A CLAIM OF OWNERSHIP...IF IT AIN'T OPEN SOURCE THEN IT DOESN'T GO ON MY BLOG!!!

Boston Metro Swat is pictured above.  Not going to go into details, but suffice it to say that if he was to go hands on I'd feel fairly confident that I'd own his weapon, his helmet and anything else that I'd want.

What's the point?  The point is this.  Who would you trust to respond to your call for help looking at the photos above?

Marine Corps Policy....

Want a good explanation of Marine Corps policy development?  Click here.

Snakebit.

I just watched reports of a devastating explosion at a fertilizer plant in Waco.

Coming on the heels of the terrorist attack in Boston, the ricin letters to the senate, the madman in N. Korea, the just announced deployment of 1st Armored Division's Headquarters staff, the ongoing effects of the sequester (did you hear about the layoffs of civilian employees of the DoD and the reduction in force of Airmen), and the war in Afghanistan....

It really looks like the US of A.  My country.  Is snakebit.  I ranted about us needing to stop being soft and to focus on real issues instead of the made up issues DC has been tossing at the public, but I didn't think that my wish would turn into this kind of reality.

For better or worse we better saddle up.  Things are looking dicey if you take everything together (and I know I left some important stuff out) and we aren't even at the halfway point of this year.

Wow.  Wow in a bad way.

1st Armored Division prepping for deployment?

I've been tied in knots over the gun bill before Congress, the bombing in Boston, and the almost killing of the MPC.

While I was focused on that, Sec. of Defense Hagel pulled a fast one.  Check this out from CNN.

Washington (CNN) -- In a critical indication of growing U.S. military involvement in the civil war in Syria, CNN has learned Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is ordering the deployment of up to 200 troops to Jordan, according to two Defense Department officials.
The troops, which will come from the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, "creates an additional capability" beyond what has been there, one official said.
The group will give the United States the ability to "potentially form a joint task force for military operations, if ordered," he said.
The new deployment will include communications and intelligence specialists who will assist the Jordanians and "be ready for military action" if President Barack Obama were to order it, the official said.
This comes as the Pentagon has recently reviewed military options for Syria although Obama has not ordered any to be put into action.
There have been several dozen American troops, mainly special forces, in Jordan for the past year assisting the Jordanians.

Read the rest over at CNN, but I would guess that this covers two bases for the DoD.  First it gives the US Army a workout when it comes to its regional brigade concept and second it will help out the Jordanians with their humanitarian crisis.

I don't expect these guys to go to war.  They might if the situation in Libya Syria (thanks Ferran) fully devolved but I do expect them to be handing out beans and bandages.  Unfortunately because it is the Middle East they'll probably get tagged by some terrorist.  If Hezbollah goes after our guys then you could see unintended drama.

This will get interesting.

UPDATE:  An Army Dog will have to correct me but I thought their new unit of action was the Brigade.  Having said that does deploying a Division headquarter mean anything more significant than what I'm thinking now?  Meaning, can we expect the entire division to deploy or will they still stick with individual Stryker Brigades...or Heavy Brigade Combat Teams in this case?

Integrated Air and Missile Defense

Great vid of an integrated system designed to take down high end threats.

But did you notice whats missing?  Ground forces moving on the attack and the ability to defeat cruise missiles, ground attack missiles and drones.

We're becoming very good at destroying ICBMs.  We're even capable of knocking down SCUD type missiles.  Lower end threats might prove to be a problem and there is no focus on that issue.  That is where the threat will emerge.

Exercise Joint Warrior...the future of British amphibious assault?

Exercise Joint Warrior
42 Commando Royal Marines is participating in Exercise Joint Warrior. Over the next two weeks this Plymouth based unit of 650 marines will be conducting amphibious operations from HMS Illustrious , HMS Bulwark and the Dutch ship HNLMS Rotterdam, landing into South West Scotland and moving over 100km inland. This exercise will validate 42 Commando as the immediate readiness Commando Unit, Providing the teeth for the 1800 strong lead Commando Group. This group includes a command element, helicopters, small boats and logistic support, to conduct contingent operations around the world. 42 Commando will retain this readiness for the next 12 months and expect to deploy, with the lead Commando Group, on Operation Cougar in the latter part of 2013.
Major David Ethell, Second in Command of 42 Commando Royal Marines said,” This exercise presents an opportunity for all of our capabilities to come together. 42 Commando Royal Marines has spent much of the last of the last 12 months preparing for the lead Commando role both alone and with supporting elements. This is the first time we will get to exercise all aspects of the lead Commando Group within a well-constructed scenario, in testing exercise conditions against a credible adversary.”

A good primer on British Amphibious Assault issues will be found in this Naval Requirements post.  It is a must read.

CAMM. UK's solution to the air defense dilemma?

I've just started crawling into our allies solutions to the anti-air threat.  The UK it appears has hit upon a wonderful idea...one that we could probably replicate.

I plan on reaching out to Naval Requirements Blog and the to guys on SeaPower Thinker.org to get their views on the effectiveness of the system.

From the outside looking in though it looks like a solution to protecting our amphibious forces in the attack...especially against cruise missiles, drones and aircraft when the wing is drawn away to protect the fleet.

SIDENOTE:  The first time that US Marines are strafed because the air wing was away doing its job somewhere else...the first time US Marines are buzzed by enemy drones that selectively fire Chinese versions of Hellfire or Brimstone missiles at command vehicles or structures...whether its in full scale combat, peacekeeping or a humanitarian mission will be a wake up call that will shake the very foundations of the Corps. 

USMC Death Spiral. Did the F-35 kill Marine ground vehicle improvement?

Bill Sweetman, Eric Palmer and Australia Airpower all talked about the F-35's costs going so high that it would inevitably go into a death spiral.

They were off target with that assessment.

It appears that the F-35 will be dragged across the finish line no matter the costs.

Is Marine Corps armor one of those costs?  The USMC has always had a grunt as Commandant, an Assistant Commandant for Aviation, and an Assistant Commandant for logistics.  Now we have an Aviator in the Commandant's chair, and the rest of the structure remaining the same.  Did that imbalance the Corps to the needs of aviation over the needs of its ground forces?

I think so.

Consider this.  The ACV has been delayed.  Delayed.  And delayed again.  Meanwhile, aviation projects are moving ahead full speed.  Just yesterday we got news that the Marine Personnel Carrier program was being "delayed" awaiting the outcome of the ACV program.

The Corps is out of balance.  What will fix the situation?  I have no idea but this is not a good development and the F-35 could be the blame for it all.

I don't know the answer but between the MV-22, F-35, AH-1Z, UH-1Y and eventually the CH-53K we will have a brand new air fleet.  Meanwhile what is promised for improvement for our ground combat vehicle fleet?  The JLTV.  A JLTV that many see as too heavy and not a leap ahead of a project improved Humvee.

We're screwed.  

300:Rise of an Empire.

F-35C CF-7 First Flight

EFSS is what we got...compare it to what should have been.

 EFSS is what we got.  But is it what we needed? The EFSS was birthed out of the Dragon Fire Concept.  It envisioned a heavy mortar that was capable of rapid fire.  Of being left in place and firing without a crew.  Of basically providing instant, on call fire support.  Somewhere along the way, the designer of the system and the Marine Corps got into a pissing match and the concept was allowed to die and surrogate systems became primary.  So instead of a cutting edge mortar, the Marine Corps was left with a tired, old, French mortar system that requires Marines to jump up on boxes to load it.

  07Lindsey Dragon Fire II

Read about the Dragon Fire Concept here.  But the question should be asked.  How did the Marine Corps go from a cutting edge weapon system to what it has today?  According to my limited research, this is the first sign that Marine Corps Procurement was going off the rails.

More to come.

Marine Personnel Carrier. More news to follow...update...

Hey all...

I'm in the process of reaching out to BAE, Lockheed Martin and the Program Office for the MPC/AAV/ACV.

I've had conversations with all of them before so I am expecting  comment from them all.

I won't even waste time with General Dynamics or SAIC.  Like I said earlier, they're closed shops, running scared and for them this is probably good news.

More to come.  Standby.

UPPDATE 1:  I have to admit that I'm a bit frustrated.  Lockheed Martin at least MANNED UP and told me that they weren't going to be releasing a statement at THIS time.  BAE, which I've had nothing but good relations with promised to let me know something but as of this writing they've completely WUSSED OUT and the Program Office is as quiet as a grave.

Did the news of the MPC's demise come out ahead of schedule? I wonder.


UPDATE:  I ignored the last statement that the Commandant put out on sequester.  I shouldn't have.  I will now state categorically that those Marines that believe that the draw down will stop at 180,000 are smoking crack.  With acquisition programs running at full tilt on the aviation side, its become obvious that the only way to pay for it will be by slashing personnel.  150,000 boatspaces....here we come.