New Chinese Anti-Ship Missile via Chinese Military Review.

The info attached to the pics (but not to the article--it only shows the photos) is calling this a YJ-18 Sino Klub Anti-Ship Missile.

Amphibious Combat Vehicle. The ClusterFuck continues.

Marines.mil.

Marines in the infantry and Assault Amphibious Vehicle communities can provide valuable insight into the requirements for the next Amphibious Combat Vehicle, said Dr. John Burrow, executive director for Marine Corps Systems Command and director of the Marine Corps ACV team.
The ACV team was established in January in response to a tasking from the commandant of the Marine Corps and the assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, Burrow said. Their mission is to evaluate the contributions of high water speed and the feasibility of building an affordable, survivable amphibious high water speed vehicle.

The team includes representatives from MCSC; Combat Development and Integration; Plans, Policies and Operations; Programs and Resources Department; Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity; Program Executive Officer-Land Systems; and various other commands within the Department of Defense.

About 25 Marines gathered July 9-11 at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., to “rack and stack” capabilities that will help shape the ACV team’s analysis for a new high water speed vehicle. Of 198 requirements evaluated for the ACV, about 30 were deemed “tradable”—capabilities with multiple cost and weight implications—following the team’s initial requirements and engineering analysis.

During the three-day ACV Warfighter Requirements Workshop, the Marines reviewed the tradable requirements to determine the value they place on various capabilities that may be included in the vehicle.
“The purpose of the workshop was to gain the insight and experience of operators from the fleet about how they employ amphibious vehicles in an operational environment,” said Maj. Lynn Berendsen, branch head for Amphibious Combat Vehicles at MCOTEA. “The group includes Marine sergeants up to battalion commanders. We wanted a wide perspective of people who have been involved with amphibious vehicles in the past and will most likely be intimately involved with the next amphibious vehicle.”

Really?

Seriously?

Witness the definition of a clusterfuck.  We've been developing this thing for how long and NOW THEY WANT INPUT FROM THE INFANTRY AND TRACK COMMUNITY?

Just fire all these bastards now.  They're more concerned with the image of doing something than they are with actually getting a vehicle built. 

Warrior Thunderbird CGI...

This tells of a bad day in the military (of course I'm reading into it)...but think about it.  Stuff is so bad that we've got to arm up Thunderbirds to participate in air campaigns.  That's a real bad day...but a real nice CGI.  I've seen plenty of the Thunderbird F-35 concepts floating around but never one with a weapons load.

About those Russian-Chinese Wargames.

Russia is coming to play!  That's (if my figures are right) the equivalent of an Army Corps!  Thats' more tanks than the US Army has in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions combined.  That's more men than those previously listed divisions combined with the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions.  They're light on planes though and I find that curious, but 70 ships is impressive.  Yeah.  This will garner the attention of pretty much every spy asset that isn't already assigned in the Pacific.  Oh and with 70 ships out emitting this will be a US Sub Commanders wet dream!

Note:  Kris sent me a follow up link to a Facebook Page that goes into greater detail and speculates on the reasons behind this exercise.  

Suffice it to say that I've been educated.  I thought only the Chinese and other Pacific nations had claims on the Spratly Isles.  I forgot all about Russia.  Consider this nightmare scenario.  The Chinese and Russians both move in and land troops and station ships throughout the chain.  Who would step forward to repel that land grab?  Wouldn't it be a fait accompli?  I think so, its up for you to decide though.

IG upset about Marine social media comments on females in the infantry.

via DVIDS. (go there to read the whole thing...this is just a tidbit)

“This is the first time I have seen the (inspector general of the Marine Corps) come down with a message addressing concerns regarding social media,” said Terry Rudisill, the command inspector general for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.
The message was spurred by concern about complaints the office has received regarding inappropriate sites and posts on a variety of social media outlets. Over the past 10 years, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps has dealt with complaints about social media. There have been instances of pages being removed and individuals held accountable for their activity on social media.
Some recent trends involving misconduct have revolved around opening of formerly all-male military occupational specialties to females. Numerous social media pages and comments have gained national attention due to the degrading posts about female Marines.
Online misconduct is not defined solely on these types of posts.

The guidance set forth in the Marine Corps’ Social Media Handbook states Marines shall not post “anything that is defamatory, libelous, obscene, abusive, threatening, racially or ethnically hateful, or otherwise offensive or illegal information or material.”
Misconduct over the internet, to include social media, can paint a negative picture of Marines to a vast audience and invite scrutiny of the Corps as a whole.

This is weak sauce!

This is in essence a discipline issue and the call should come from the Commandant and the SgtMajor of the Marine Corps (where is he by the way?).... for a statement on this subject to originate in the Inspector General's Office is telling.

AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.

I heard about it.  I read about it.  But I never thought I would see the hollow/socially divided military of the 70's.

Well, saddle up boys and girls cause its back.  I would advise Company Commanders, Platoon Leaders and Company 1st Sgt's to start hitting the weights, sucking down protein and creatine and boning up on their Marine Corps Martial Arts skills.  If past is prologue then I'd expect a few of them to get punches thrown their way!

This is gonna be fun to watch and heartbreaking at the same time.  All this could have been avoided but like most change artists, the Administration refused to give organizations time to absorb all the changes asked of them.

Additionally by muzzling opinion they've instead pushed simmering resistance underground...they didn't stop it,  just placed it out of view for a while.  Devil Dogs will be heard.  That's the Marine Corps way.  I just hope in the end that its not as nasty as I think it eventually will be.

China and Russia are doing a "partnership" mission.

Thanks for the article Kris!

via WantChinaTimes.

Sixteen fighters from the United States Air Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force have been deployed to monitor the Maritime Cooperation 2013 joint naval exercise launched by China's PLA Navy and the Russian Navy in the Sea of Japan, reports the Tokyo-based Japan News Network.
The Japan News Network believes that the joint air combat exercise launched by the United States and Japan between July 8-12 is intend to monitor China and Russia's joint naval exercise taking place at the same time. Eight F-16 fighters from the 35th Fighter Wing of the US Air Force and eight F-15J fighters from the 2nd Air Wing of Japan Air Self-Defense Force are taking part in the exercise held in the airspace between Hokkaido and Misawa.
Because Hokkaido is only 600 kilometers from the Peter the Great Gulf located off the Russian Far East coast, aircraft taking off from there can easily monitor the movements of Chinese and Russian ships in the Sea of Japan. Japanese early warning aircraft and frigates had already been deployed to patrol the waters of Hokkaido and the Sea of Japan on July 4.
During the joint air combat exercise, US and Japanese fighters will conduct patrols over the airspace of northern Japan 24 hours per day.
About 18 surface combat vessels, one submarine, three fixed-wing aircraft, five helicopters and two special force detachments have been mobilized by the PLA Navy and the Russian Pacific Fleet for their drill.

The obvious is why would you use fighter aircraft to monitor an exercise?

The answer.  You wouldn't.  You would launch fighters to protect your spy planes/uavs from being harassed though.   And that's my guess on whats actually going on here.  You're seeing a massing of spy assets to monitor the Chinese and Russian wargames and the fighters are simply providing cover to that spy force.

All this leads to a much larger issue.

The US Navy seems to be sold on partnership missions and is intent on using them to make up for gaps in the US fleet.

We seem to be ignoring the fact that diplomacy is also part of warfare.  The Chinese will seek to make alliances (with Russia) and will seek to nullify our own partnerships.  Expect one of the warning signs of a military action to be either the issuance of carrots or massive sticks being brought to bear against our allies.

If China is planning a war and is able to warn off Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and to sow hesitancy in the Australians then it would (in this mythical scenario) be the US and Japan versus China and Russia.

This is going to be interesting.

Side Note:  I'd pay good money to know what sub is getting the mission to spy on these drills.  That's where the real intel effort will be taking place.  With the Chinese and the Russians playing someone is looking at the chance of a lifetime.  This is a career making assignment if I'm right.  Hell, its career making for the entire crew if they can pull it off.  Of course if they screw up and are detected then they can start searching the help wanted ads.

Blast from the past. Run Paddles Run!

Time to move port seizure up on the list of MEU essential tasks.

  ARG-MEU Overview Pamphlet

Above you see MEU Mission Essential Tasks (pg 16).  They're drilled, rehearsed and practiced till they become almost routine.

I've either watched or participated in every mission set listed above to include airfield seizure but there is one that I've never witnessed.

Port seizure.

This is piggy backing on the MLP discussion.  Why is it that we practice airfield seizure but not port seizure.  Did you know that the Marine Corps has a manual for practically everything it does.  Its a common truth that some take as a joke.  Additionally tribal knowledge is passed through either word of mouth or by professional writings.  I have never seen an article in the Gazette that cover the subject.

One of our stated core competencies has essentially been ignored.  

Are you one of those that is calling for a major role for MARSOC?  This is it.  Coupled with an MEU or MEB, this is a mission set where they would be welcomed due to the sheer complexity of the task (at least in my mind and I've been a critic).

Its a win-win.  You want a real mission for MARSOC?  This is it.  You're a big believer in the traditional Marine Corps?  This is that mission.  You like joint operations?  You're going to need SeaBees attached to the assault wave.  It might be nice to have Coastal Riverine Force follow on shortly after the seizure.

This is the capability that we must start practicing.  Port seizure should become as routine a tasking as Tactical Recovery of Personnel and/or Aircraft (TRAP) missions.  

Where to???

Australian LARCs at Exercise Talisman Sabre 2013.

Note:  This thing is off to a slow start.  The biggest event so far is the jump by the Airborne outfit out of Alaska.  Other than that all I'm seeing are a few ships and a Rugby match.

The MLP. We have it. So what are we gonna do with it?

The MLP.  Mobile Landing Platform.

We have it, so what are we gonna do with it?

We've seen major exercise after major exercise occur and they've all been conducted without the MLP making an appearance.  This can be looked at as a minor issue since the first has only recently come into service but two things make this a concern.  via Wikipedia.

In March 2012 the USN requested a fourth ship in the FY14 budget of the National Defense Sealift Fund, and proposed that both MLP-3 and MLP-4 would be MLP-AFSB variants.[8] Congress rejected both requests on the grounds that the Ponce could do the job and AFSB's should in any case be funded out of the main Navy account.[14] As of March 2013 the Chief of Naval Operations is still planning to buy two MLP and two MLP-AFSB despite the uncertainty caused by the sequester,[5] in fact the late-2012 "Vision for the 2025 Surface Fleet" by the head of Naval Surface Forces envisages buying more MLP variants as a cheap alternative to traditional amphibious ships.[6]

I've complained that the Marine Corps has a ship that is based on a concept that is no longer applicable.

I think a look at recent history is proving that to be correct.  The second issue (and perhaps the more troubling one) is that the Chief of Naval Operations has floated the idea that these ships can serve as a cheap alternative to traditional amphibious shipping.

Combat vs. Mercantile ship building standards.  It should cause concern.   The idea that US Marines would be asked to ride into combat aboard ships that are built to Mercantile standards should be an automatic non-starter.  The idea that an additional MLP is being produced when doctrine hasn't been aligned with projected (under todays dollars) funding should also raise eye brows.

I don't have the training schedule, but the next major amphibious exercise should include the MLP whether Maritime Prepositioned Ships participate or not.  Experience can be gained by simulating the unloading of MPS ships by using amphibs as surrogates. 

Yeovilton Air day

No more fist fights ....

Fat little tubby, wanna be cop.  Too scared to join the Marines or Army, not fit enough to walk around the corner, his own trainer called him a physical disaster and yet when he has a gun he gets balls the size of King Kong.  This is the guy that the gun community is rallying to support?  Really?  Seriously?  We need to pick better poster boys cause this ain't it.

Zimmerman got off which I predicted.

We'll see if there are riots but I don't expect them.

What I do expect is a big change in male behavior now.

What happens if I get into a fist fight with someone?  If I'm winning then the other guy can shoot me and claim that he was in fear of his life.  I can do the same if he gets the upper hand.

We just inadvertently pussified ourselves once again.

NOTE:
Physical Fitness no longer has a bearing on self defense.  All you need to be able to do is to pull a trigger and have a credible story and you're good to go.  Manhood died and pussyfied people that play at being gun guys won the day.  Pussies 100--Manhood O

NOTE 1:
I'm enjoying reading some of the gun guy facebook pages.  No riots erupted so they're focusing on the blowhards talking shit.  Zimmerman doesn't have a thing to worry about as far as the idiots posting pics of themselves with firearms talking about "goin to kill'em"... the guys that are talking are never the ones to worry about.  Its the loser that already has a couple of strikes against him with nothing to lose and hoping to make a name for himself.  That's who he should worry about.  If Zimmerman can keep his head down for a year (probably less than that) he'll have faded from memory and the only people that will still think anything at all about him will be Martin's family.

NOTE 2: 
This is turning into a God Send for the Obama Administration.  Instead of everyone focusing on a still sputtering economy, an immigration deal that is dubious at best, Benghazi, IRS, Spying on citizens scandal, everyone is looking at this.  Its perfect for him.  If I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it.  The emotion thats tied up in this is something to behold too.  I just can't get emotionally involved in this but to watch the two sides go at it, and to read the comments from an honest look at the case (my opinion but its a straight forward look) its going to be front page news for at least two more weeks which will get the administration to the back to school time which will distract people again.  AMAZING!

Pic of the day. July 13, 2013

New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team member drives a light armored vehicle away from the firing line to discharge smoke grenades during a live-fire training exercise in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, Feb. 28, 2013. The vehicle was equipped with eight 76 mm multibarrel grenade dischargers capable of firing high-explosive or smoke grenades. (DoD photo by Sgt. Christopher Bonebrake, U.S. Army/Released)

Weekend Wrap Up.

Just a recap and a wrap up of this weeks issues (at least as I see them)....

F-35 vs. Armor....

I made the suggestion that the Marine Corps needs to get out of the combat crouch regarding the F-35 and delay the program by 4 years in order to purchase an MPC to replace the AAV.  I had a junior psychiatrist/economist/procurement manager try and explain that by removing 24 aircraft from the program and moving them to the out years that it would in essence kill the project.  Quite honestly, if moving 24 airplanes kills the program then let me shoot it in the face....administer the drip...cut its throat.

I don't care.  If it dies, it dies.  The Marine Corps needs armor.  If you've watched exercises you've seen AAVs being towed to shore on almost everyone of them.

One day, its going to be an issue where a tow isn't needed.

One of those almost 50 year old vehicles is going to sink to the bottom of the sea and Marine Moms will get gold stars 'cause their boys were sent out in ancient vehicles.  Commanders will be relieved, some squid doctor will come up with a sillier immersion escape contraption and a unit will have a memorial service.

The reality?  We should start replacing the vehicles today.

Specialized Marine Units...

For the little piss ants like Sferrin that like to shout to the roof tops that I know so little, it sure seems to me like the Commandant was out making statements that seemed to be direct rebuttals to some of the complaints on this blog.  He had an interview where he talked about the 26th MEU being ready to respond to trouble in Egypt.  That's a classic MEU mission, one that they train up on before deployment.  Problem is that he formed a SPMAGTF/Crisis Response to do the same mission.  We also have the SPMAGTF Africa that is also training to do the embassy reinforcement mission ......

160th conducting operations inside the US.

via FoxNews.

An Army official apologized Friday for conducting an unannounced training mission around the small city of Port Angeles, Wash., using special operations helicopters that the mayor said "terrorized" his city.
Dozens of alarmed residents called police to ask what was going on and said the noise and light from the mystery helicopters buzzing around the city panicked horses and other livestock, The Peninsula Daily News reported.
The Army said the helicopters involved included both twin-engine Chinooks and Blackhawk attack helicopters.
"No one had any warning about the helicopters, no one said anything afterward, and today city officials had to spend hours just trying to find out what had happened -- who had invaded Port Angeles," said Cherie Kidd, mayor of the Olympic Peninsula city about 60 miles west of Seattle.
The training exercise involved part of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which is based at Fort Campbell, Ky., but has individual units in various locations, said Sgt. Jimmy Norris, an I Corps spokesman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash. Part of the 160th is based at Lewis-McChord, he said.
"Our watch commander last night reported that we received `dozens of calls' complaining about low-flying helicopters over the city," Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said.
After multiple calls to Puget Sound-area military bases, Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict was finally able to determine about mid-day Friday that the helicopters belonged to the Army, the newspaper reported.

They're not even trying anymore.

That's not even a decent cover story.

The US Army and SOCOM have far too much experience, and are too image conscious to risk ill will from the public by running an unannounced training exercise over a city.

I'd almost bet body parts that it was an actual operation and that they didn't use the announcement of an exercise because even that news would have spooked their targets.

I could be wrong and the 160th might be staffed by idiots that no longer have common sense but I doubt it.  And if its a case where they knew this would alarm and did it anyway then it had to be because the fallout was worth it.

General Dynamics bodyslams the German Armor deal to Saudi Arabia.

via Shepard Media.

According to a report in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, the Saudis have found a new partner inGeneral Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), the US defence manufacturer, which would instead deliver a variant of the Abrams M1 MBT.
KMW were unwilling to comment on the reports.
The export of MBTs to Saudi Arabia is controversial in Germany, which has a policy of not exporting military equipment to conflict zones. The potential deal, which was first reported in the German press in June 2011, for 270 Leopards has still to be approved by Berlin and the Saudis are thought to be tired of waiting.
Saudi Arabia already has 315 M1A2 MBTs, which it is upgrading under a $2.9 billion foreign military sales (FMS) deal along with the acquisition of a further 58 Abrams. Saudi is also procuring an additional 69 MBTs in the M1A2S variant announced by GDLS in January this year under a $132.7 million FMS agreement.
Riyadh has had plans to expand its MBT force for some and there have been earlier reports of talks with Russia and France that never came to fruition.
KMW secured an export deal with Qatar in April to deliver Leopard MBTs and PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery systems.

I could care less either way quite honestly.

Taiwan wants F-35s.

via Focus Taiwan.

Washington, July 10 (CNA) A delegation from the Taiwan-US Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association of Taiwan's Legislature said Wednesday in Washington that Taiwan wants to purchase advanced F-35 fighter jets that best suit its defense needs.
Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator and Association Chairman Lin Yu-fang briefed reporters in Washington after the delegation's meeting at the Pentagon with David Helvey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, to discuss Taiwan's needs for advanced defense weaponry.
The delegation members, in their capacity as the Republic of China (ROC) lawmakers, also met with Gregory Kausner, deputy assistant secretary of state for regional security and arms transfers, at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Washington Headquarters, according to Lin.
The lawmakers said Taiwan needs more advanced fighter jets and submarines to enhance its defense, and also needs to gain more international space.
Lin said Taiwan will continue to push for the purchase of F-35 fighters from the U.S. but should also consider buying a reasonable number of F-16C/D jets to replace Taiwan's aging F-5s, which are expected to be phased out in the next few years.
When the United States agreed to upgrade Taiwan's current fleet of F-16A/B fighter jets in September 2011, it effectively ruled out the sale of the next-generation F-35s, according to Lin.
It would be ideal if Taiwan could purchase the new fighters, which are capable of vertical and short take-off and landing, Lin said.
But even if the U.S. approves the sale, the global waiting list is so long that it would take 15-20 years for Taiwan's order to be delivered, he added.
While in Washington, the delegation also met with members of the U.S. Congress including Sen. Benjamin Cardin, chairman of the East Asian & Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, and Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Earlier in New York, the delegation met more than a dozen of the permanent representatives to the United Nations of Taiwan's allies at the U.N. headquarters.

This will be interesting.

We'll see if national security matters more than economics.  If its about national security then this should be dismissed without thought.  If its about economics then we'll see a massive push for the sale to take place.

An interesting side note though.  When word got out that the Taiwanese wanted F-16s, we heard from the Chinese almost immediately that they were unhappy.

We're hearing nothing from them regarding the F-35.  I wonder why. 

China to participate in RIMPAC.

via ABC Australia.

Arriving in Australia today for the beginning of Exercise Talisman Saber 2013 (TS13), Vice Admiral Scott Swift has confirmed the idea has been discussed for some time.
"It's a foregone conclusion. The question is when will it occur and I think it'll occur much sooner than anyone is anticipating," Vice Admiral Swift, who sailed in to Sydney Harbour on board the USS Blue Ridge to command the training activity, said.
A key plank of the Obama administration's foreign policy platform is the so called "pivot" to the Asia Pacific but, Vice Admiral Swift says those who see this refocus on the region as simply an effort to contain China's regional ambitions, are wrong.
"I think it would be misguided to say its focussed on any one country - what it's focused on is increasing the stability in the region and thereby increasing the prosperity," he said.

Read the whole thing at their site, but one thing is obvious.

Our leadership is BRAIN DEAD.  China is flexing its muscles against India, Japan, S. Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

So what do we do?  We invite them to participate in wargames that EVERYONE and their mothers know is designed to repel an aggressive China.

On a side note, it appears to me that the biggest China apologist reside in the Dept of the Navy.  I don't get it but every flag officer in that joint appears ready to kiss Chinese ass.  Its kinda frustrating.

MEUs need more Tanks & the Assault Breacher Vehicle.

Consider this an adjustment to things as they are, not as I would like them to be.

Where once I thought that the MPC/ACV would provide enough organic firepower to deal with enemy infantry and most armored threats, its obvious that we're probably 20 or more years away from a replacement.

I've already made the reversal in thinking on Tanks.  From once suggesting that a Fire Support Version of the MPC could replace them, I'm now of the mind that each MEU needs to increase the numbers carried from 4 to as many as 8.

Now to complete those thoughts...we need to add another essential vehicle.  The Assault Breacher Vehicle.  Each MEU needs at least one, preferably two assigned.  Route clearing will be essential since we're going to be using AAVs and MTVRs to transport our Infantry for the foreseeable future.

Leadership is choosing new toys over the needs of the Marines on the ground.  That's nothing new.  We simply need to adjust to make the best out of a bad situation.