Concept Art By Al Crutchley

Pic of the day.

Wishful thinking in Jordan. 1st ID and 26th MEU on the ground training hard.

So we have the 1st ID and 26th MEU training hard in Jordan.

The news media is saying that its a show of force to the Syrian government.

I say its wishful thinking.

Assad doesn't give a rats ass about what the US and Jordan are doing across the border.  All he cares about is defeating the rebels and solidifying his power.

I'm a skeptic but from watching the history of these things, I just get the feeling that Hezbollah is licking its chops at the idea of capturing a US service member and parading him or her (God have mercy if they capture a female) and parade them in front of the cameras before they decapitate them on YouTube.

One side note:  I'm not sold on the idea that the refugees that are pouring into Jordan are as big a threat to the current leaders power as he is claiming. As a matter of fact the more I think about it the more convinced I am that he's using the crisis as a bid for more foreign aid.  I could be wrong but I don't think so.

3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion & Assault Craft Unit 5 at Dawn Blitz

Photos by Lance Cpl. Alexander Quiles

F-35A AF-28 First Flight

LARC-V. Unappreciated Work Horse.

The LARC-V.

I consider it one of the most unique and valuable tools in the Gator Navy.  It is used as a jack-of-all-trades and does its best work behind the scenes.

Its also another example of an old vehicle being used well past its prime and in need of replacement.  Here is the passage on its SLEP program via Wikipedia.

The United States Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) has directed the Sealift Support Program Office (SSPO) to supervise a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) on the LARC V's used by the Navy. This SLEP involved changing from a mechanical to an hydraulic transmission, updating the electrical system, and improving other on-board systems. These reworked LARCs began delivery in June 2006 for use by U.S. Navy Beach Master Units, Underwater Construction Teams and the Maritime Prepositioned Force ships. A total of 42 LARCs are currently funded to transition through the SLEP process.
Towing capacity on land was improved to approximately 29,000 lb and bollard pull in water was doubled to 7600 lb. The vehicle operates in all-wheel drive while in land or tow modes. The craft is powered by a 375 horsepower John Deere turbo-charged diesel engine that is Tier 2 certified. Engine speed is constant with an hydraulic transmission modifying speed.
Design and manufacture of the SLEP LARC-V's was carried out by Power Dynamics, LLC of Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.

The SLEP `was a good idea and accomplished a modest improvement in reliability but in my opinion more needs to be done.  So what vehicle should we consider to replace the LARC-V?  How about the Gibbs High Speed Amphibian?

 How useful is the LARC-V?  It was used by the Argentinians in the Falkland War...It was used in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina...Australia used them for rescuing people during recent flooding.  The Gibbs High Speed Amphibian would be a worthy successor.

Don't lie. You would shit your pants.

Real Leadership, Real Motivation. Mattis for Commandant.

Generals, even after retirement, are always considered to be on "on active duty"...it wouldn't be a reach to make Mattis the next Commandant.

Azerbaijan receives huge arms shipment.

T-90S tank

TOS-1A Solntsepyok

BMP-3

via Russian Information Bureau.

94 T-90S tanks, about 100 BMP-3 armored vehicles, 18 Msta-S SPGs, 18 Smerch multiple-rocket launchers, 18 Vena multiple-rocket launchers and 6 TOS-1A Solntsepyok flamethrowers have arrived from Russia to Baku.
Vladimir Yevseyev, director of the Center for Socio-Political studies, believes that the vehicles are an attempt to maintain balance in the region. He says that Russia enforced the Gyumri base and probably needed to calm Azerbaijan by sending the armaments. It may be an attempt to improve relations before the summit of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev planned for October.

Good old fashioned Russian diplomacy.  We send food and give promises while the Russians deliver arms.

Considering the issues in Syria, Afghanistan and insurgencies in the Philippines and Indonesia, I bet our allies want more than flowery speeches from the President. 

Syrian Rebels being supplied T-55 Main Battle Tanks???

via Press TV.

There are reports that armored vehicles including a shipment of t-62 and t-55 tanks, which are old armored Russian tanks collected in Libya and transferred to Syria, have reached foreign-backed militants through different secret ways.

The US and its allies are geared up to disturb the military balance, prolong the clashes and change the situation into a war of attrition in Syria, Al Quds Al Arabi reported.

There have been reports of a plan for training and organizing thousands of Syrian volunteers including those who had avoided military service or civilians capable of carrying weapons and taking military training.

A comprehensive reconnaissance mission is currently underway on the borders of Syria’s neighboring countries as a preparatory measure for launching arms to the foreign-backed militants.

The mission seems to be a good reason for the presence of 8000 American, British and French forces on the borders of Syria with Turkey and Jordan to supervise the process of arming and delivering weapons to the foreign-backed militants.

There are also reports that opposition groups consisting of 650 military groups are equipped with new arms in Dara’a.

Uh wait.  What?

T-55's?

This is unlike any other civil war I've ever heard of.  New definitions are needed when a civil war/insurgency is now involving heavy armor!

Are we trying to make this a regional war???? 

EADS Propaganda...

So far EADS has been doing the best job of getting the news out from the Paris Air Show of any manufacturer.  Home court advantage? 

FNSS

Which do we need more????

AAV
First introduced in the 1970's.
Modified in the 1980's.
Expected to serve well past 2025.

Or this....

MV-22B
First introduced in about 2005 (sketchy..first deployment 2007)
Approx 160 on hand (examples diverted to HMX-1)
Original plan called for 502, was reduced to 360 and now increased back to 406

Doesn't it make sense to curtail buys of the F-35 and MV-22 and get our armor house in order????

When you have enough V-22's to send several over to HMX-1....then you're either playing politics or you have enough to take care of your active duty squadrons.

Weird fact?  No one is explaining how the Marine Corps justified the increase in baseline MV-22 buys after reducing it to 360.

Fox coverage of MPF offload

Hmm.  Useful training. Embarrassing overhype of the actual work being done....oh and will someone tells these silly bastards to put a cover on their domes?  The silliness done to make sure that the video cameras get a good view of your face is not inspiring.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®

A different view on the F-35 by BlackFive.

via BlackFive.

The defense budget for 2014 is starting to take shape and we are going to be taking a good look at some of the items in it. Money is obviously tight, so we need to make certain that it is spent wisely and for the right reasons. All too often politics, lobbying and factors that have nothing to do with national security push programs and spending. In an era of austerity we simply can’t afford this.
The Chairman’s mark of the Defense Authorization Act is out and there are many good things in there. Rep. Buck McKeon is a solid advocate for a strong defense and this is his chance to comment on priorities and goals for defense funding. Most of the relatively short document relates to policy and has some requirements for explanations of debacles like Benghazi. But there are also some funding items that don’t make much sense.
One of these is a requirement to buy F-18 aircraft, which is a bit of a head scratcher. We cancelled the F-22 program before we bought anywhere near as many true air superiority fighters as we should have. We have cut back severely the number of F-35s that we plan to buy, but somehow we can find the money to buy a completely different and significantly less capable bird. That smells distressingly like some corporate welfare for Boeing, who makes the F-18.
I am unaware of any purely tactical or strategic military argument for splitting the funding for our fighter aircraft. There was a time back in the day where we had the F-14, 15 & 16 birds with different mission profiles and we let Northrop, Boeing and Lockheed duke it out to see how many of each we were going to buy. But we came to the logical conclusion that too often led to a contest between retired generals to feather their own company’s nest.

Read it all at BlackFive.

I don't have an opinion.

What I do have is simmering anger.  No.  Make that boiling anger.

I hate being misunderstood so let me try this again.

I DESPISE THE THOUGHT THAT TWO AIRPLANES (F-35 & V-22) ARE GOBBLING UP THE ENTIRE MARINE CORPS BUDGET!!!

How bad are things from my viewpoint?  We're going to cut the Marine's manpower to the barebones, not procure much needed replacements to the AAV, not buy the Marine Personnel Carrier, not update our fleet of MTVRs, make a questionable buy of lightly armored JLTVs, all because we are hyper dedicated to getting the F-35 and V-22!

I do not want the very nature of the US Marine Corps changed because of some gear.  Gear is suppose to be a tool to help you do the job better, not become the service's reason for being.  We do not need to become a quasi air force in green!

NOTE:  The issue with the F-35 has been broken down into camps.  Either your  for it' or you're against it'....I'm in the Marine Corps camp.  A real deal medium weight force that is expeditionary, can land on foreign shores, fight and win against technologically capable foes is what I'm all in on.  Future foes will have IEDs, anti-armor systems and artillery.  Protected transport for the infantry will be a must have.  I don't see the AAV as meeting the challenges of the future.

AFSOC wants the Combat Rescue Mission back...

via DefenseNews.

WASHINGTON — The future of a long-stymied US Air Force effort to buy new combat search-and-rescue helicopters is once again uncertain as top-level generals are intensely debating the type of aircraft and which arm of the service is best suited to conduct this critical mission.
For several months, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has been quietly lobbying to take over the combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) mission from Air Combat Command (ACC), arguing, according to sources and internal Air Force documents obtained by Defense News, they can do the mission with fewer aircraft, at lower cost.
AFSOC wants to perform the mission with Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and a small contingent of Sikorsky HH-60 helicopters, the same type of aircraft that fly the mission now. The active-duty would operate a mix of CV-22s and HH-60s, while the Air National Guard and Reserve, as they do now, would only fly HH-60s.
The intense debate, which involves a handful of senior generals, comes as the Air Force is preparing to award a contract for up to 112 new helicopters to replace battle-worn HH-60G Pave Hawks.
The Air Force spat is just one example of the internal battles raging throughout a military grappling, for the first time in more than a decade, with how to handle smaller budgets.

This is interesting.

Para-Rescue wants to get back into SOCOM.

Air Combat Command wants to have its own organic rescue component on hand for recovery of its pilots.

SOCOM itself is probably staying out of it (at the command level).

At issue?  Para-Rescue is wanting a new vehicle to help perform its mission, already works a great deal with SOCOM with regards to exercises, proficiency training and with other government agencies---it already sees itself under the SOCOM tent.

And the last maybe biggest issue is that AFSOC already has CV-22s.

This fight might tell us more about where things will go in the post Afghanistan period than anything else.  IF AFSOC gets the mission back then they've succeeded in helping SOCOM wall off its budget against stagnation or even cuts.  If Air Combat Command wins then by default it will get new equipment..

AFSOCs biggest problem?  The USMC.  Its going to devote an MV-22 squadron to special operations the same way the Navy has devoted a MH-60 squadron for the same use.  Para-Rescue will end up losing because everyone has combat/jump/scuba qualified Corpsmen/Medics.  Even Battalion Recon has Corpsmen that have been to the Basic Recon Course.

Still.  This internal fight is gonna be good.

Blast from the past. Vought F7U-3M "Cutlass" with Sparrow I missiles

pics via Aeroman.

Philippine Soldiers Kidnapped.

via the Washington Post.

MANILA, Philippines — Communist rebels posing as government troops have abducted five Philippine army soldiers on the outskirts of a southern city, the military said Tuesday.
New People’s Army guerrillas wearing military uniforms stopped the soldiers aboard two motorcycles at a road block late Monday outside Davao city, said local army spokesman Capt. Raul Villegas.
The soldiers in civilian attire were unarmed and on their way to the market to buy supplies for a community feeding program, Villegas said.
The group’s team leader sensed that the gunmen manning the road block weren’t soldiers and jumped off the motorcycle and leapt into a ravine to escape, leaving his five comrades behind, he said.
The rebels usually release captured soldiers after determining they were not involved in human rights violations and other abuses. Arrangements are made with local officials, who coordinate a limited cease-fire with the military to allow the safe return of the captives to government representatives.
The rebels have been fighting in one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies. Talks to end the uprising have stalled for nearly two years due to disagreements between the two sides over the release of several jailed rebel leaders.

Another of those long running insurgencies that many don't know about. Everyone talks about the US performing partnership missions with all these nations in the Pacific but I can actually see US participation as being problemsome.

For example.  What happens if US Soldiers are kidnapped while in the Philippines?  SOCOM will be tasked with a mission to recover them and would likely succeed.

The fallout?  Cheers in the US and an escalation in the violence in the Philippines.  Where once you had a low scale insurgency you suddenly have full scale warfare.

This country and the whole Pacific bears watching.

A Fighter Attack Squadron lost and still no one held responsible.

Remember the attack on Camp Bastion/Leatherneck?

A Marine Fighter Attack Squadron was rendered combat ineffective and lives were lost.

Now compare and contrast that with the incident in Las Vegas where about 8 Marines were killed.

The difference?

Commanders were held responsible within weeks.  Careers were dramatically altered.  Lives changed.  Accountability confirmed.

We have none of that in the Camp Leatherneck attack.  We don't even have a good after action report (at least one that is publicly available).

Jones, Conway, Krulak, Grey and other greats would have had someones ass in the sling for such an event.

And you wonder why I think the Marines are adrift?