Scorpion Jet Straight On Video Shot

Chinese Produced Zubr Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) via Chinese Military Review.

The Chinese are now building the Zubr LARGE landing craft.

It will be interesting to see how they perform amphibious assaults.  We're already starting to see a hybrid approach.  Large deck LHDs and LPDs...along with big LCACs, mixed with a mechanized Marine Corps (to a greater extent than our own).

Japan is making moves to protect its claims on the disputed islands.  China is building forces to take them.

This is gonna get good (in a bad way).

The Royal Aeronautical Society's catalogue is available online!

Awesome news!

Via Defense Industry Daily...

The UK's National Aerospace Library recently opened its extensive catalog of aeronautics books and journals via an online searchable database.

You really should check this out. 

China pushed Japan a bit too far....

Thanks for the article Jonathan.

via SCMP.

Pacifist Japan will adopt new defence guidelines next week paving the way for its military to respond more quickly and forcefully to perceived threats from China and North Korea, officials said Thursday.
The government of conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will approve rules intended to help air, land and sea forces work together more effectively in the face of danger, an official from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said.
The move comes amid the continuing row between China and Japan over the sovereignty of a small island chain in the East China Sea, a dispute that has escalated over the last year to include military hardware from both sides.
Lawmakers from the ruling bloc on Wednesday endorsed the plan, which would create what it called a “Dynamic Joint Defence Force”, the official said.
“For the first time, we will be able to obtain mobility, or the capability to deploy swiftly in an integrated manner,” Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Thursday.
“When we deploy troops to remote islands... we need to respond with ground, marine and air defence forces,” Onodera said in a speech at a private think tank in Tokyo.
“Or if we faced a North Korean missile, Japan would first attempt to shoot it down from the sea, then from the ground.
“While the Air Defence Force has huge radar sites, it is the Ground Self Defence Force who protect these important facilities,” he said, adding the country’s military had to be alert to a possible “intrusion from the sea”.

Read it all here.

The Japanese are moving full steam ahead into a full fledged arms race that appears to have the support of the people.  We've never seen a nationalistic Japanese nation.  Not in modern times anyway.  If history repeats then we're about to see a sight to behold.

Ancient tensions.  Ancient animosities.  Ancient grudges.

All settled with modern weaponry.

Add to it an America ready to step back from the international stage and take care of issues at home and you have a massive power vacuum.

The burning question.

China has nukes. N. Korea has nukes.  Will Japan acquire them along with a more powerful military?

Aresa 2300 Landing Craft

DefenseWeb reports that Cameroon is receiving these Landing Craft to help protect their offshore resources.

Interesting.

It appears that the influence of the Royal Marines is being seen here.  They are unique in using Landing Craft as patrol boats as well as raiding craft. More info on the Cameroon purchase here.

New M27 IAR rail protector.

via AmmoLand

 Manta has been awarded a contract to produce extreme rail protector components for the U.S. Marine Corps’ new Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR).
The “Full Rate Production” announcement by the Marines caps a competition that began in 2005.
The components provided by Manta for the M27 IAR consist of a Vertical Grip Sleeve, featuring a Micro-Pocket that will accept a pressure pad from an optic or laser; thus, eliminating the need of tape, zip ties, velcro or rubber bands, while offering a positive no slip grip.

Read more here.

AF Chief displays breathtaking arrogance.

via Breaking Defense.

There’s also the grim calculus of risk. Welsh — a  former Warthog pilot and guy who studied ground tactics at the Army’s Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth – said destroying the mass of an enemy’s air force (the second echelon, known to most as the reserve) saves the most lives on the ground and at sea, although he also said that close air support (the A-10′s speciality) is very important.

Read the entire article, but be advised.

THIS IS WHAT I HATE ABOUT AIR POWER CENTRIC THINKERS.

Its as if the rules of air warfare trump everything.  What idiot thinks that air power is supreme?  Does the Taliban have an Air Force?  Did the Viet Cong and the N. Vietnamese ever have control of the skies?

Quite honestly the air power mafia is constantly reliving WW2.  They have images of fighter sweeps clearing the skies and then taking credit for winning the war instead of realizing that ground combat is a different, nasty and much more vicious type of warfare than the fly boys experience.

The ARROGANCE of this statement...."destroying the mass of an enemy's air force saves the most lives on the ground"... is breathtaking.

Time to change fighting style.

I think its time to change my fighting style.   Don't get it twisted, I don't bar hop looking for fights and I'm not in a league (I do know of a few underground fight clubs...that shit is real), but while talking to a few buddies about the world that we live in and the threat of multiple attackers...the understanding that we're concealed carriers and understanding that in this day and age the ground is death we decided to concentrate on defensive ground fighting and Thai Kick Boxing for stand up.  The reason is simple.  You have to have a ground game if you're knocked down.  If you're aware and can't justify guns then you need an offense that allows strikes that are at the very least debilitating.  Thai Kick Boxing seems to fit that bill.

Oh and Scott Adkins has to be the coolest Brit ever born.

Anybody ever use these? Fat Gripz.

Anyone out there ever use Fat Gripz?

I see the advertisements everywhere but I haven't seen anyone at the local gym using them and I'd like to know if they actually work before I plop down the cash.

If you have any real info I'd appreciate it.

Nahal Brigade Exercise

What is up with those Israeli helmet covers?  I've always been told its to break up the outline of the helmet but really?  I mean seriously?  They don't wear camo uniforms but they go to the trouble of attempting to hide a helmet?  The Israeli's are good but that's just weird.

Save Combat Rescue. The budget wars are here.

I've read a bit about past budget wars.  I've heard from old skool Marines alot more.

The budget wars are back.  Why do I say that?  Because of this new website...SaveCombatRescue.org.  They're honcho'ed by a couple of LTC's but have Generals Moseley, Looney and Corley apparently (its not clear) on board.

The General Moseley connection is interesting.  He was a hardcore believer in the F-22 and now he's back bigger than ever leading the charge not only for additional F-22s but also (and again this is pure supposition) fighting to keep Combat Rescue flying new helicopters and in Air Combat Command.

The Air Force is first out the box but you can bet that others will follow.  The budget wars are about to heat up.

The ones to watch in my opinion is the US Army.  They're getting bent over a table and raped by the budget thinking of the OSD.  They won't let this stand and Hagel is a former Soldier.  Somewhere in his mind is the knowledge that ground forces need new gear too.

This will be interesting.

F-35 in S. Korea. EADS refuses to quit!

Slowman (a reader from the Pacific region) reports the following...

EADS won't give up. EADS just held a press conference in Seoul making an offer for 40 Typhoons. If Seoul buys 40 Typhoons, they guarantee IOC by 2017, and honor the offset agreement for 60 units. In addition, EADS offers to join in Korea's 120 passenger jet program as an equity partner which Bombardier recently bailed out(<= This proposal is angering KFX backers because they were actually cheering when Bombardier bailed out on the 120 passenger jet program, because it was seen as a resource competitor to the KFX)

I'm anxiously awaiting confirmation.

If this is true, then EADS is upping the war over who gets to provide fighter jets to the S. Koreans.

One thing everyone forgets.  Numbers matter.  If the price of the F-35 can't be pushed down then NO ONE will be able to afford enough of them to matter.  For the S. Koreans this is no longer an exercise in future war planning.  The young dictators uncle in N. Korea was ousted in a military purge that caught everyone, including China by surprise.  The Chinese responded by holding an exercise near the N. Korean border.  No announcements but I would bet that the 2nd ID went to a higher readiness level.

The S. Koreans can't afford to wait for promised capabilities.  War could literally break out anytime in the next 5 years and jets waiting to be delivered will do no one any good.  They need deliveries of replacements NOW, not in the distant future. 

Brits play long ball in the Pacific.

pic via Naval Today.

For some reason the Brits are much better at the "international" good will game than we are.  When it comes to brute force, strong arm tactics and bending nations to our will, we have no peers.

If we like you and feel a kinship then you'll find no better friend.  If you have something we want, you'll find no better buyer.

But what happens when you're in that grey area where you're not quite our best friend and you have something to sell that we want but don't necessarily need?

Ask the Filipinos and compare our response to the Brits.

The USMC made a huge show of the MV-22 and its response to the affected area. Meanwhile you have the Brits that quietly and efficiently sent their warships to the area, got on with the mission and now have the Filipino people making signs thanking them for their work (on this note another country that performed admirably but mostly unnoticed is Israel...they setup a hospital with astonishing speed, rebuilt schools etc.).

Lessons learned for this exercise?  State, USAID and NGOs need to be the face of our efforts at disaster relief.  Never use a crisis to test a concept...its unseemly.  Cut back on the propaganda (the MV-22 talking points were beyond bad taste, they were embarrassing).  There is time for that when people are no longer suffering.  Oh and maybe do it the way the Brits did.

Are Airborne Units Obsolete?

Thanks for the article Jonathan.

James Hasik has an article up that makes a pretty strong case for the Army developing (or rather buying) an airborne tank.

I agree on that need but this part of his article caught my attention....

As Mark De Vore wrote in The Airborne Illusion, a 2004 working paper at MIT, the history of parachute operations points to debatable utility. During the Second World War, perhaps half of the major airborne operations were fiascos, if not outfight disasters. Since the Second World War, only two airborne operations have involved more than a battalion: the two-battalion American drop on Grenada in 1984, and the six-battalion American drop on Panama in 1989. Even the vaunted Israeli 35th Paratroopers Brigade has only made a single combat drop in its history—that of a single battalion on Mitla Pass in 1956, which didn’t go well. Plenty of other assaults at various times were considered and rejected, by Britain, France, the US and others. The memory of the disaster of the 1940s and the proliferation of anti-aircraft missiles were too much to overcome. All the same, parachute formations have survived. De Vore argues that much of this rests with the placement of former paratroopers in high ranks, who defend their regiments in bureaucratic battles. Soviet experience was particularly bad, but the establishment of the Airborne Troops as a separate corps of the Red Army made their reduction bureaucratically difficult. But while he and others scoff at the maintenance of "elite troops that can only be used against third-rate opponents,” (p. 29) 

Discussions about the utility of the Marine Corps always pop up, but what about the airborne forces.  10 percent of the Army is made up of paratroopers.

You're talking about 50,000 plus boat spaces....That's alot of jump pay!

Are airborne units obsolete?  Do they provide more utility than a light infantry unit that would have to be airlanded?

I'm a traditionalist, so I believe that the speed and surprise that the airborne give our country is a need, not a want.  But in this budget environment you can bet that someone, somewhere is asking these same questions.

Read the entire article on Airborne Tanks here.

Note:  I've got to get ahold of that paper (Airborne Illusion).

Scorpion's First Taxi - McConnell AFB

I keep looking at this jet and it finally dawned on me. This reminds me of a weaponized and enlarged "Honda Jet" type airplane.  I wonder if we're seeing the start of a new trend.  Articles have been written about the West pricing itself out of the fighter business.  UAVs seem to rapidly following the manned airplane model.  Are jets like the Scorpion the future?

F-35. Quote of the day....

“My job is to preserve options and that’s what I do,” said Capt. Francis Morley, Navy program manager for the F-18 fighter family

That quote is from a "Breaking Defense" story on the Navy's stance on future F-18 purchases.  It was well done and I highly recommend you read it.  It doesn't fill in all the blanks but gives a bit of clarity on the Navy's thinking on the F-35 and the F-18.

My take?  The Navy is far from sold on the F-35 and I expect a push for more F-18s instead, to start soon. With the F-18 expected to serve until 2030 and the F/A-XX to begin development at the start or middle of the 2020's, a move from the F-18 to the F/A-XX makes perfect sense..especially when you couple the X-47 with the F-18 to make a formidable deep strike package that costs less and is just as or more effective than a F-35/F-18 teaming.

Read it here.

A sign of things to come via American Mercenary.

I just read a really sobering view of the downsizing that's about to hit the military written by American Mercenary.

You can read it for yourself here.

I don't have much faith in this being done right.  I hope I'm wrong.

As a sidenote ...the Army will be brutal when it comes to downsizing, the Marine Corps will be vicious!  Marines, get your shit in order!!!  Not tomorrow, not in an hour but start on it right now.  You need to review your record book, check on your professional education, take a look at where you stand as far as getting your "B" billets in and see where you stand in comparison to your peers.

Take a good long look at your finances.  Cut where you can, build up savings as rapidly as possible, scrap the fast food and starbucks habit, learn how to workout without having a gym membership, sell that shiny new car and get a beater thats good enough and depression proof your family.  Even if you're single its worth the effort.

Last but not least decide if the worst happens what career field you're going to go into.  Start researching now and if possible reach out to prior service/retired people in those areas.  

If selected for separation you'll be alright and it might get rough for a minute but you can do it.  But you have to get right.  Like now.  If anyone knows of anything I missed on this hit me up.  I knew this was coming but I get the impression that its going to be a helluva ride.

Is this real? via TacBlog.

Geez.  Is this real? I'd love to know the details behind this.

Amphibious Necessity on amphibious armored vehicles...

Amphibious Necessity Blogspot has an article that is required reading on amphibious armored vehicles.  Quite honestly I was surprised by many of his conclusions and cheer him on many of them.

1.  The absolute need for modularity, but not in the way that most think of it.
2.  The necessity for British Marines to have proper armored vehicles.
3.  The different roles that armored vehicles can play in Marine Forces that cannot be replicated by helicopter or landing craft.

I'm hoping to expand on this in the future.  You can read it here.

3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion & 7th Engineer Support Battalion conduct bridging ops...photos via Cpl. Alexander Quiles