F-35. American built, Russian inspired...never proven.

Yak 141.

The world's first Supersonic STOVL airplane.  Do you recognize the engine layout?  Basically the same as the F-35.  This airplane never went into production.

What does all this have to do with the price of tea in China?  It boils down to the fact that (and I hate having to admit this) STOVL capability and the airplanes that the USAF and USN need are totally incompatible.  You can share avionics, engine cores etc...but sharing airframes is a step too far.

The F-35.  American built, Russian inspired, never proven and an eventual failure.  How do we know?  Because even the daddy's of this design (the Russians) abandoned it. 

A-12 Avenger II, the X-32 and the F-35.

Consider this your weekend assignment.  I'm going to kill hogs and hopefully you'll be all over this when I get back.

Consider the A-12, X-32 and F-35.

They couldn't be more different yet they're all connected in a strange yet fascinating way.  The A-12, slatted to be the US Navy's next strike fighter...stealthy, a flying wing and designed to penetrate the toughest defenses on the planet unscathed.  But things went wrong.  Between the Navy adding requirements and specifications...the contractor allowing costs to balloon and the obvious delays all this brought on, the plane was cancelled, the Navy and the contractor were at knifes edge and the entire dept was put on warning.  DON'T DO IT THIS WAY EVER AGAIN.

Consider the X-32.  Boeing played it straight.  They didn't come in with "half" a plane, were well aware of the issues with the A-12..designed an airplane that met all the requirements including the DoD's supposedly number one priority of affordability...and they got beat when the DoD turned around and let Lockheed Martin enter a plane that didn't even have a bomb bay.  Additionally my beloved Marine Corps was so infatuated with hot and high performance that they didn't consider a couple of issues...1.  lift fans turn into empty weight for 99 percent of an airplane's flight profile and 2.  even the Russians didn't succeed in making this work on production vehicles (the crashes etc...are legion on the internet).

Now consider the F-35.  We've been dealing with this bullshit for 10 years.  When is enough, enough?  When do we finally say that we're done, it costs too much and we're not going to keep pumping good money after bad in an obviously failed program?

History tells the story.  Lockheed Martin continuing to peddle this jacked up airplane AND still selling production rights to anyone who will build it is telling.

Sequestration will continue.  The best thing the military can do is to cancel this program and fund other much needed projects....what say you?

C-130 unleashing hellfire (missile).

Blast from the past. Bristol 188 via HushKit.

This plane defies the saying..if it looks right it is right.  It was to be a MACH 3 testbed and barely made it to MACH 2.  Quite beautiful though.

I slam McRaven and SOCOM but this is cool...

Ok McRaven.  You get my atta-boy award for the day.  Too awesome!

F-35 trickeration. S. Korean Fighter Competition is a joke.

via AINOnline.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Joint Strike Fighter and the Eurofighter Typhoon are back in play for South Korea’s F-X III fighter requirement after that country made a sudden decision to reject the last remaining contender, Boeing’s F-15SE Silent Eagle, and restart the procurement process.
An executive committee of South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), chaired by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, met on September 24 and determined that the F-15SE “is not suitable as it lacks stealth features,” according to Yonhap News Agency. The defense ministry opposed the procurement agency’s selection process because it prioritized cost over combat capability, the news service said. A majority of the committee’s members “agreed that the South Korean Air Force needs fifth-generation combat jets to keep pace with the latest trends and to deter provocations by North Korea,” defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told Yonhap.

Why even have a contest?

Why is the Eurofighter and Boeing playing this game?

Under the table deal making...industrial blackmail on an international scale...and phony pricing has already determined the outcome of this contest.

Lockheed Martin, the USMC and USAF have rigged this contest.  They want the price low and will do whatever it takes to see that the F-35 wins.

If the S. Koreans were smart they would face facts.  They're Lockheed Martin's bitch.  A proud people have been reduced to lap dogs for a corporation.  Its sad, but its true.  Don't feel bad.  The US Marine Corps feels your pain.

Hollywood Stuntz terrorized other people too.

Remember the guy that ended up in a comma because his gang decided to harass motorist and got ran over because the motorist feared for his life?

Well they were the only people that got harassed that day.  Here's a vid of them doing it to a Prius.

Good thing this happened in New York.  Between my truck rifle, my handgun and '33s sitting on a 4inch lift, the options are pretty good for my side in the deep south.  And trust me.  I ride light compared to some people I know.

Military Trained, Anti-Law Enforcement Shooter.

We've talked about it for ages here on SNAFU! but this is the first time we're seeing it play out.

Personally, the bad guys tactics are pretty good...except he didn't press his attack. If he did then the LEO would be dead. The LEO should have had gun out as soon as the guy refused to comply.

Is this a situation where political correctness is causing hesitation on the part of LEOs?

I would say yes.

I would also say fuck political correctness if you want another sunrise.

Female Marine tries the Infantry...gets fucked up.

Read the story here.

Pic of the day. A Kevin Martin1 Special.

How much law enforcement is in DC????

I'm watching the briefing on the DC shooting and I've got a question.  How many law enforcement agencies are in DC???  I'm counting...

1.  FBI
2.  ATF
3.  Secret Service
4.  Uniformed Secret Service
5.  Park Police
6.  Capitol Police
7.  US Marshals Service
8.  Homeland Security
9.  DC Police
10.  DEA
11.  ICE
12.  TSA (and I can't make out the rest of what's written on the raid jacket)

That's just the Law Enforcement Agencies.  Not counting the quasi-intel/security agencies.  If we count those then we're adding...

1.  CIA
2.  DIA
3.  US Army Intelligence Agency
4.  US Navy Intelligence Agency
5.  NSA

Oh and if we're looking at "special units for security in a national emergency" then you'd have to count "8th and I" that are slatted to provide security at Camp David and can be used in the city if ordered and the Army ceremonial unit.   I'm not sure if the USAF and Navy units also provide the same function.

Someone better deconflict DC with a quickness.

F-35 claims another scalp. US Army seeks to delay AMPV program.

via FedBuzz...

The Army wants to delay the start of its armored multi-purpose vehicle program by one year and raise its development costs by several hundred million dollars,according to Defense News.
The Army wants to buy 2,097 AMPVs over 13 years costing roughly $1.8 million apiece. The new draft request for proposals released Tuesday does not include an average unit manufacturing cost, unlike the March draft. The Army will now plan to award a five-year contract in May 2014 to one contractor that will manufacture 29 vehicles for government testing. This will be followed by a three-year low-rate initial production contract starting in 2020.

You can call this a face saving move.  This program is as dead as disco.  

Canadian Forces TAPV gets in the mud!

47% availability rate? Good job USAF!

I contend that stealth is too costly for fly everyday and train hard, then go to war type airplanes.  I also believe that the code will be cracked soon and all the money being spent on stealth will be seen as a passing phase of the development of warplanes.  Even saying that, David Axe has an eye opening article on B2 availability.  It ain't good.  Read it here.

Blast from the past. Pics from the Eastern Front via English Russia.

Motorcycle Gangster left paralyzed.

Above is a photo of one of the motorcycle "gang" that terrorized a family in supposedly safe New York.  The driver of the vehicle being terrorized did the only sensible thing and fled, using his car as a weapon.

I don't like the idea of a young man being paralyzed, perhaps forever but he was part of a mob that was harassing people.  I don't know if this is Karma but it sings.

Read about it here.

Project Pluto.

Scientist in the '50 and '60 were some crazy bastards.

How do you even think stuff like this up?

A nuclear powered, ram jet missile that carries nuclear weapons...drops them on desginated targets...zooms along at tree top level and moves so fast that the shock wave from it passing could kill...radioactive particles would be dripping from its exhaust so it would poison people that survived...and because its nuclear powered some scientist recommended that they simply fly it over the Soviet Union so that it could continue its killing spree while slowly running out of nuclear fuel.

Read a great article on this weapon system at Jalopnik.

STOVL Transport as big as an A-400M?

Rest well Stud...

Tom Clancy (1947-2013)

Blast from the past. Light Armored Vehicle-Air Defense (LAV-AD)