Fox News Report on the F-35.

Read Allison Barrie's story here.

Pre-Commissioning Unit Anchorage (LPD 23)

Pre-Commissioning Unit Anchorage (LPD 23) – seen here conducting builder's sea trials in May 2012 – has arrived in her namesake city of Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of her commissioning this week.

Commissioning scheduled for May 4th(?).

Timber Rattlers and Turkey Season...a terrible mix.

WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

I just wear snake boots but I guess a kit couldn't hurt.  Timber Rattlers scare the daylights out of me...the only thing worse are Water Moccasins  you ever stare into the mouth of one of those and it'll change your life.

If you want to stay alive, take your chances with the 325!

South Korea-U.S. Marine Corps joint military exercises(2013 Ssangyong Exercises)

Does cross decking make sense for the USMC?

I was having a discussion with Guthy and Grim about the future of the USMC cross decking with the Royal Navy the F-35B.

Quite honestly it doesn't make sense in my opinion.  Several reasons.

Accountability.
If the Marine Corps is able to suddenly provide deck space for even 6 F-35B's from the Royal Navy then it will have to explain why the US Marine Corps is able to set aircraft on the tarmac while it forward deploys British aircraft.

Differing foreign policy agendas.
The Marines can find themselves at any time (especially on deployment) involved in everything from a humanitarian relief mission, to embassy reinforcement to an intervention, to full scale combat.  It just wouldn't do to have British aircraft taking up precious space on an LHA, especially if the British government disagreed or decided not to participate in an operation.

Ruined career paths.
This is probably the least important consideration but the most important for some quarters of the Marine Corps.  Every pilot, maintainer, Commander that is part of the USMC that sees a boat space taken up by a British counterpart will be at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to promotion and competitiveness in the post Afghanistan Marine Corps.  Without a shooting war going on the focus becomes schools, commands, deployments and B-billets.  You can make the point that for every ship that sails with British planes would have an equal number of USMC planes on their deck but because the Marines have more decks, deploy more often and deploy with more pilots the exchanges could quickly become imbalanced.

Workups for deployment.
Cross decking for effect would require British pilots participate in USMC MEU workups.  You would in essence take a pilot and plane out of British service for months at a time to get them ready to participate as part of the MEU Air Component.  I assume the same would apply to USMC aircraft operating off British carriers.

Real deal cross decking vs. make believe.
If the notion is to do a real deal cross deck then the negatives far outweigh the pluses.  If you're talking about a couple of ships sailing together and then the aircraft simply land a few times, take off, the crews spend a night or two and then they return to their own vessels then you're talking about a publicity stunt and not a real life application of the concept.

Where cross decking or adding "allied" aircraft to the MEU does makes sense.
There is an area where it would make nothing but sense to have a real deal 100 percent cross decking routine built.  That is with certain allies that do operate F-35B's but have little or no capability to put them to sea.  Singapore would be an example.  If they do actually buy the F-35B and either don't have an LHA or are delayed in building one then it would be an ideal situation to invite Singaporean F-35B to participate in the MEU.  It would probably require a few helicopters be displaced to LPD-17 for certain air ops but it would be a win win for both forces. Suddenly you could surge a LHA to the Pacific with available F-35's, make up the difference with Singapore's (or Australia if they got F-35B's...or Japan..you get the idea) and suddenly you have a full fledged MEU deployed plus a surged LHA acting as a sea control ship with an unscheduled Marine fighter squadron supplemented by  allied aircraft.

I look forward to hearing opinions.

Royal Navy Wildcat Attack Helicopter undertakes its maiden flight

The first Royal Navy Wildcat Attack Helicopter undertakes its maiden flight at AgustaWestland in Yeovil, Somerset.

Oakley's F650 goes one up on Magpul's Unimog...

Oakley sees Magpul's Unimog and raises with a F650.

McRaven gets quietly bitch slapped.

via BLACKFIVE from CNN Opinion.

Our leaders must counter this misrepresentation and overexposure. Their first step? Act more responsibly. Senior officials are a primary driver behind these profiles, trumpeting operations almost as a matter of routine. Sometimes this is to inform the public, but often it is to claim credit or, even worse, to divulge insider knowledge.
This encourages misleading and unauthorized disclosures from others, including from some operators themselves, leading to more sensationalism. Former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates reportedly expressed great frustration with leaked details on the Abbottabad raid, saltily asking his White House colleagues to "Shut the f... up." We should hold those indiscreet individuals accountable.
We can't legislate common sense, but we can reject leaks and unseemly competition for credit. We call upon the Department of Defense to take the lead and issue a new weighty policy directive that states clear and specific guidelines for the appropriate release of operational information. The directive must codify who can divulge what, when and under which conditions, and call for a universal commitment to accurate reports that also maintain operational security.

The whole article is a good read.

It points out a couple of points that many have said but the Special Ops Community has failed to come to grips with (I have to say except for the Special Forces and Army Rangers...they have handled the transition from AND participation in the wars in Afghanistan/Iraq with noteworthy professionalism).

In essence this opinion piece validates the Old Timer that told McRaven to get the hell out of the press.  The idiot news media laughed at him but he was spot on.

McRaven is a dick.  A glory seeking dick that has taken Special Operations Command in a direction that will be hard to reverse from.

He transformed a Command that had specialist and professionals capable of conducting missions that the Conventional Forces could not do or do well into a 100% full time raid force.  In other words he made the entire Command into a bitched up version of the Rangers.

What is the down stream effect of his tilt?  You have US Marine and Army units doing training missions with foreign militaries.  Not full scale exercise type training but in the form of Special Forces...small units embedding and training those forces.  Further proof that SOCOM has drifted?  The Marine Corps establishes a Crisis Response MAGTF in Europe stepping all over the feet of the Special Operations Crisis Response Force yet not a word is said because they're all raiders now.

Added to the misery for SOCOM is the fact that conventional US Army units are soon to follow the Marine Corps lead and encroach on this MOST IMPORTANT of SOCOM missions.

Training is no longer a primary SOCOM mission.  Crisis response is no longer a primary SOCOM mission.  That leaves raids and deep recon...but since UAVs and SATs can do deep recon better that leaves raids.

A one trick pony is just begging to get downsized.  Expect the biggest enemy of SOCOM to come calling soon...the accountants.  And spare me the talk of them being enlarged and business being too brisk.  The Boston terror case has shown the future.  Terrorism is becoming a law enforcement task instead of a military one.  In the end, within 5 years MARSOC will be gone, Rangers will be smaller (along with Special Forces) and Navy SEALs will be back to 7 teams.

Don't hate me I'm just the messenger.  Blame McRaven.

Worthwhile reads from the Indian Defense Research Wing...

The Indian Defense Research Wing has a few stories that worth a read...

*The border area between China and India is heating up rather dramatically.  The Indian Army Chief is saying that now is the time to act...

*The Indian Army Parachute Battalion is going to Ft. Bragg to train with the 82nd Airborne.  Also coming out will be a 99th Mechanized Battalion and the 2/5th Gorhka Rifles.

*The Indian Air Force is claiming that the Tejas fighter has stealth characteristics.

Brits to purchase first squadron of F-35B's before the end of 2013

via Janes.

The UK is expected to obtain authority to procure its first squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)/Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) before the end of 2013, IHS Jane's was told on 18 April.
Speaking at BAE Systems' Warton production facility in Lancashire, Craig Smith, the head of F-35 Sustainment Programme Development UK/EU, said that military officials with industry support are working on the Main Gate 4 approval process for the procurement of an additional 14 F-35Bs to stand up the UK's first squadron in 2016.
"Main Gate 4 is being worked on right now, and should be submitted to the Treasury later in 2013," he said. "Another 14 aircraft will be ordered to stand up 'Squadron A' [the Ministry of Defence has yet to assign a unit designation] in 2016, with support to run through to 2020."
Overall platforms numbers for the UK remain the subject of speculation, beyond the initial 48 announced by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond in 2012. The programme of record remains at 138 aircraft, but no firm numbers will be announced until the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in 2015.
With three UK F-35B aircraft already delivered, a contract for the fourth is expected in the coming months.

The Brits seem to be in a bit of a rush.  I wonder what the story is. 

Danish APC contest update.

via Shepard Media.

Ok.  I'm making the call in the Danish APC contest.  CV90 Armadillo by a mile, followed by the G5.

via Shepard Media.

The Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) has launched the trials for the project, which aims to purchase some 360 vehicles to replace the army's ageing M113-series tracked vehicle fleet.
More than 50% of the vehicle requirement is for APC and command post variants with the remaining quantity split between ambulance, engineer, recovery and mortar variants.
The shortlisted candidates consist of three tracked and two 8x8 wheeled vehicles.
They are the BAE Systems CV90 Armadillo, the FFG Protected Mission Module Carrier (PMMC) G5 and the General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) Santa Barbara Sistemas ASCOD 1. The two wheeled vehicles are the Nexter Systems VBCI and the GDELS Piranha 5.
As the Danish requirement did not state either a wheeled or tracked solution, companies have been free to offer either although only GDELS has offered both a tracked and wheeled vehicle, giving the company a distinct advantage.
The evaluation trials started on 15 April and are planned to finish in September 2013. Some 375 demanding tests will be conducted on mobility, ergonomics, user requirements and technology assessments with Danish Army commanders and drivers having already been trained and allocated to the five contender vehicles. The tracked vehicles are all, unusually, fitted with rubber band tracks.
The BAE Systems CV90 Armadillo from Sweden, whilst not in-service, has considerable commonality with the current Danish Army infantry fighting vehicle, the BAE Systems CV9035, and the newest CV90 vehicles in neighbouring Norway.
BAE Systems spokesman, Peter Edwards, stated that a ‘tracked vehicle is the way to go’ and was confident of securing a suitable industrial partner in Denmark in due course.
The Piranha 5 from GDELS in Switzerland is the latest member of the Piranha family of vehicles spanning many generations and variants, but as yet has not secured its first launch customer. GDELS have already signed a teaming agreement with the Danish company Falck Schmidt Defence Systems but are ‘open to continue to partner with other companies to enhance the local content in Denmark’, Thomas Lattmann, spokesman for GDELS, told Shephard.
Also from GDELS, but from their Spanish business, is the in-service ASCOD 1. The British Army recently selected the more modern ASCOD 2 for their Specialist Vehicle programme and this was considered by GDELS for Denmark but according to their spokesman, Carlos Gil, ‘for the Danish requirement it is one step further (and) is not really required’.
This opens up questions about the UK’s selection of ASCOD 2 as the point of departure for its future armoured vehicle requirements, how they might differ from Demark and the progress that has been made as the tight production deadlines for the Danish competition mean that the trials vehicles must be almost production ready. As yet GDELS has yet to provide a really detailed picture of ASCOD 2s capabilities and how it differs from ASCOD 1, or how significantly the UK Scout SV will differ from these.
In a surprising admission to Shephard, the DALO Chief of the APC-Replacement Project Office, Col Karsten Kolding stated the more modern ASCOD 2 was not offered by GDELS and ‘I do not know the differences between ASCOD 1 and ASCOD 2’.

Somewhat embarrassingly, the old ASCOD 1 trial vehicle broke down during a media day at the trials this week and is believed to have broken down at least one more time since the trials began.
Analysts believe that Germany’s FFG will be one of the strongest candidates in the programme. The company is the most well established industrial contender in Denmark having a commercial relationship with DALO and Danish industry spanning 15 years. Their G5 vehicle is a major investment for the size of the company and so far they have built two prototypes and already tested the vehicles over 25,000km.
The Nexter Systems VBCI is the only contender in-production, in-service and in-combat, most recently in Mali with the French Army.
According to Nexter, the VBCI on trials in Denmark is ‘very close to the French Army version’ with the exception of the commander and driver stations, which are specific to Danish requirements. The French Army already field multiple variants of VBCI that closely match the Danish requirements.
The programme has contract negotiations being completed by the end of 2013 and contract award in mid-2014. The final contract will be split in two parts covering equipment acquisition and through-life support. The contract value was not revealed but is widely expected to be over $1 billion mark.
There has been considerable worldwide interest in the Danish competition as it evaluates both wheeled and tracked vehicles from some of the biggest names in the armoured vehicle industry.
The relative merits of wheeled versus tracked vehicle designs will be a central feature of the trials and those results will be closely watched and scrutinised. If a tracked solution is selected it will have rubber band track for the first time in a major heavy platform.

The repercussions for the eventual winner and losers will no doubt be felt in future competitions, including forthcoming programmes in the US, Canada and Poland.

Yeah, after reading Shepard's article I stand by my assessment.  BAE wins this one easy.  And after the trouble in the UK they'll be ready to bid accordingly.

What has me scratching my head is General Dynamics.  What are they thinking. This will probably go to a tracked vehicle and instead of sending an ASCOD 2 with a remote weapon system and perhaps enlarged cargo section, they're mailing it in and sending an ASCOD 1.  That's old tech and the Danish will not be amused.

The wheeled vehicles are interesting but I see no advantage for them and several disadvantages in this kind of contest.

We'll see soon though...and I could be wrong. 

OH-58F Kiowa gets a new look. Stick a fork in Aerial Scout Program.

The newly updated Kiowa Warrior aircraft, the OH-58F, made a ceremonial "first flight," April 30, at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. With new cockpit and sensor modifications installed, the OH-58F represents the first major upgrade or modernization to the Kiowa Warrior in 20 years.

The "cockpit and sensor upgrade program," called CASUP, converts OH-58D Kiowa Warriors into OH-58F models. The CASUP program is "designed to address obsolescence in the aircraft as well as the capabilities of the sensor," said Col. Robert Grigsby, project manager, Armed Scout Helicopters.

Perhaps the biggest change to the aircraft is that the familiar sensor ball, which is mast-mounted above the rotor in older models, has been moved down to the front of the aircraft. The nose-mounted common sensor payload includes improved optics, an infra-red sensor, laser pointer and laser spot tracker.

MLP "ballasting" down.

Awesome pic.  Thanks Lee...

Gun Control can be the nail in the coffin for the Obama Agenda.

I was watching Morning Joe and it dawned on me from listening to that idiot Scarborough.

They want a win on background checks at any cost so that the 2nd Term Obama Agenda can be salvaged.

All talk about an assault weapons ban has vanished.  Same with normal capacity magazines.

They're laying all their chips on background checks and if the Republicans have an ounce of fortitude (talking about the Senate..that bastard King from New York is gonna introduce it into the House just because he represents a bunch of backward ass city dwellers) then in the span of just a few weeks he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.

Lets hope and pray they hold the line.

1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment conduct mountain warfare training

Regimental Combat Team 7 in action...

USN Improved Lighterage System. Why do we need MLP again?

The Military SeaLift Command has recently put into service (a few years ago) an Improved Lighterage System.  Its purpose?  To provide the Joint Services a ship to shore logistics system that is capable, adaptable and deliverable to whatever spot on the globe its needed.

So why do we need the MLP again?  Before I answer, let me add...the system can be expanded to service several ships and is ready made to integrate with the JHSV.  Working with current and projected amphibs would not be an issue either.

So the answer to the question is this.  The Navy and Marine Corps for some ungodly reason, mixed the Assault Echelon, with the Assault Follow On Echelon and decided that they needed a ship to speed cargo ashore.  Without considering that the Military Sea Lift Command would be arriving with the AFOE and would have the ILS with them.

Long story short.  The MLP is a waste of money.  The ILS will serve us well and bet your retirement funds on the MLP being converted to an Afloat Forward Staging Base.  All 3 of them.  Payback for the Corps will probably be the big LSD based on the LPD-17 hull.

Want a good primer on what the Military Sea Lift Command is doing with this system?  Follow the links below...

To read more about previous JLOTS exercises:

http://www.msc.navy.mil/sealift/2010/August/mendonca.htm

http://www.msc.navy.mil/sealift/2011/July/morocco.htm

http://www.msc.navy.mil/sealift/2009/August/transcom.htm

http://www.msc.navy.mil/sealift/2010/March/gap.htm

http://www.msc.navy.mil/sealift/2010/March/lummus.htm

http://www.msc.navy.mil/N00p/pressrel/press08/press35.htm

NOTE:  The image below shows the mixing of the AE with the AFOE.  MSC ships alongside big deck amphibs with the MLP serving as a connector to the ship to shore connectors!  If that isn't convoluted I don't know what is!  Want another "what the fuck were the thinking" moment?  With the Amphibious Combat Vehicle at sea range closed down to 12 instead of 25 miles off shore, the need for an MLP type ship is rendered moot.

Lima Company, Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 3/2, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit Assault Exercise.

Geez.  That looked like a pretty long range they're working on.  I don't know who laid out this field problem, but they've got to have just a bit of sadist in them.  On a sidenote, BRAVO ZULU to the 26th MEU!  Its good to see the Grunts in the Battalion Landing Team instead of the slavish devotion to the Raid Force.  Way to go!

M60 Main Battle Tank Tusk Modernization Brochure.

Massive thanks to SpudmanWP for this brochure.  You filled in the blanks nicely.

  M60 Tank Modernization