This ladies and gentlemen is our enemy. They cannot be reasoned with, negotiated with, or be coexisted with. They do not want to live in peace with you or your family or our country. They want you, your family, our country, and anyone that’s not a Wahhabi to die in the most painful way possible.
They understand one thing and one thing only. FORCE and STRENGTH.
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| Note this chart is somewhat dated but gives an indication of manning and missions. |
Defense officials say the U.S. is moving additional Marines and aircraft from Spain to the Horn of Africa to provide embassy security and help with evacuations from violence-wracked South Sudan.Read it all here.
Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, says the commander in Africa is getting the forces ready for any request that may come from the U.S. State Department.
A defense official says the extra forces moving to Djibouti will bring the total U.S. troops there to 150, with 10 aircraft, including Osprey helicopters and C-130 transport planes. The official was not authorized to speak publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Troops deployed last week helped evacuate Americans and other foreign nationals and provided security at the U.S. Embassy in Juba. Another couple hundred Americans remain in the country.
The U.S Navy’s unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) program has evolved to call for a jet that is much larger and much more capable than what was envisioned just six months ago, Navy officials told USNI News.Read the whole thing here.
“We’re talking about a 70,000- to 80,000-pound airplane,” Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, the Navy’s director of air warfare said in a 20 December interview. “We’re talking [Grumman F-14] Tomcat size.”
The shift in the character of UCLASS comes as the service prepares to release a set of months-delayed draft requirements to industry, and follows a struggle inside the Pentagon over the character of the aircraft.
“The concepts have moved around. They’ve been: You want unmanned off the carrier to do some off-cycle ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance]—we’re more than that now,” Manazir said. “We have heavy-end ISR and strike capability with some growth in the ability to carry weapons and some growth in the sensor package.”
Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics are all hoping to secure what looks to one of the Defense Departments few new start development programs for the foreseeable future.
The Navy’s current thinking about the UCLASS concept calls for an aircraft much larger than even the 44,000-lb. Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air system-demonstrator (UCAS-D).
In fact, the UCLASS could be considerably larger than even the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, with some of the proposed UCLASS designs being 68 ft. long—eight feet longer than a Super Hornet, Manazir said.
I recently came back from the sand box, and for the first time in a deployed environment my unit faced an "active shooter" scenario.I'm also trying to dig up an article from Police One where a LEO ended a car chase in a shootout from hell.
We lost one our own. Yes it sucked, but I learned something again, and being close to the action put things in perspective. I'm thankful that this time I didn't know the deceased on a very personal level. It is easier to compartmentalize and move on logically that way.
Two Soldiers with M9 pistols and full magazines, were able to save themselves from a pissed off Afghan with an AK long enough for someone else to shoot him with a rifle. Both the Soldiers went dry on ammo.
If you are going to carry a pistol, odds are it will save your life. Odds are statistically speaking, that it won't always kill the bad guy. If you want to make sure your pistol work kills the bad guy, you need to practice like Tam does so that you don't "suck."
Chinese website qianzhan.com cites "top People's Liberation Army" sources as saying the 110,000-ton aircraft carrier should be launched by 2020.I don't know who's in charge of Chinese propaganda but they're good. Just a few days ago a story came out about how they were railing against the Japanese defense buildup and now we hear about this.
"By that time, China will be able to confront the most advanced US carrier-based fighter jets in high sea," the Chinese-language article reads.
The news follows rising tensions in the South and East China Seas where the most recent incident involved a near-collision with a US cruiser shadowing China's first aircraft carrier, the refurbished Liaoning which was purchased from Ukraine.
WARSAW — The Peruvian Ministry of Defense has awarded an order for 24 Mi-171Sh helicopters to Russian defense export company Rosoboronexport. The contract is estimated to be worth US $500 million, according to the information obtained from a source close to the deal by local daily Kommersant.Not too surprising. The Peruvian govt is a big time buyer of Russian military equipment. What does surprise me...and to be honest annoys me more than a little is the fact that Sikorsky has the fabulous BattleHawk that the USN is all but putting into service and they're failing to advertise it.
The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered from 2014 to 2015, with the first batch of the helos expected to be supplied by Dec. 9, 2014. The new copters are to be used by the Peruvian armed forces in operations to counter drug trafficking and terrorism, the Russian newspaper reported.
The defense company will supply the helos along with a flight simulator and related equipment. Under the contract, a helicopter maintenance and repair center is also to be opened in Peru in early 2016.
In 2010, the Peruvian defense ministry ordered six Mi-171Sh copters and two Mi-35P helos from Russia. The aircraft were delivered by the end of 2011.
Based in Moscow, Russia, Rosoboronexport is a subsidiary of state owned defense giant Rostec, which comprises some 663 companies. The Mi-171Sh is manufactured by the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Rebel gunfire hit a U.S. military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens caught in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle ground between the country's military and renegade troops, officials said. Four U.S. service members were wounded.TRUST ME FRIENDS!
The U.S. military aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week. One American service member was reported to be in critical condition.
The U.S. military's Africa Command said the hit aircraft was "participating in a mission to evacuate American citizens in Bor."
"After receiving fire from the ground while approaching the site, the aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the mission," the statement said. "The injured troops are being treated for their wounds."
Two officials told The Associated Press that after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and flew to Kampala, Uganda. From there the service members were flown on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment. The two officials are in East Africa and demanded anonymity to share information not made public.
The military statement did not identify the aircraft taking part in the mission. One official told AP it appeared the aircraft were Ospreys, the type of aircraft that can fly like a helicopter and a plane.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said that government troops are not in control of Bor, so the attack on the U.S. aircraft has to be blamed on renegade soldiers, he said.
Nexter lamented the time and money it spent on the cancelled bid.Read the entire article here, but its regarding the canceled Canadian Close Combat Vehicle Competition.
"Nexter has invested a great amount of time, energy and resources in the CCV program over the past four years," company executive Patrick Lier said in a news release.
"Millions of dollars have been spent because we believed the competition would be fair, open and provide a rigorous assessment of the candidate vehicles with a view to acquiring the best possible medium weight infantry fighting vehicle for Canada."
Nexter also said it wants the Canadian government to compensate it for the cost of its bid.
"It would be our expectation that the government would compensate industry bidders for the cost of their bids," he said.
"No company can afford to make such considerable investments only to have the process produce no result."
HELSINKI, Finland, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Finnish defense manufacturer Patria reports it will overhaul and modernize XA-180 armored personnel carriers of the Finnish Defense Forces.The XA-180, known as the Pasi, is a six-wheel vehicle specifically designed for the country's military and has been in service since 1984. Estonia ordered the vehicle in 2005.A cold wind is blowing in the armored vehicle industry.
"Since the oldest of these vehicles dates back to the early 1980s, the total life-span of this successful Patria product is extremely long," said Seppo Seppala, president of Patria Land Systems and Patria Land Services. "As the original manufacturer of these vehicles, Patria has extensive in-depth know-how of armored wheeled vehicles. This enables us to produce a high quality-solution for the Defense Forces, in order to extend the life-span of the Pasi series.
"This is an extremely significant domestic defense project, a vital step for Patria in the development of the service business and a good reference for similar international projects in which we intend to be actively involved in the near future."
The contract involves the overhaul next year of a pre-series vehicle and a series of 70 vehicles in 2015-17. There is also an option to modernize 210 vehicles by the end of 2021.
The modifications will include new seats, electrical systems with instrument panels and new exterior surface coatings. Engines, power transmissions and axles will be inspected and repaired, or replaced if necessary, Patria said.
Dec 19 (Reuters) - Canada, which has a history of recent military procurement mishaps, will scrap a C$2 billion ($1.9 billion) plan to buy armored vehicles for the land forces, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said on Thursday.I never really expected this program to survive. The Canadian Army didn't seem enthused about it and quite honestly it was hard to justify.
The Conservative government announced in 2009 it would buy 108 so-called close combat vehicles designed to have enough protection to fend off the blast from mines and anti-armor weapons.
At the time Canadian forces were still active in Afghanistan. They stopped combat operations in 2011.
The three companies in the running were France's Nexter, Britain's BAE Systems Plc and General Dynamics Corp's Land Systems unit.
A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Rob Nicholson declined to comment on the report, saying military officials would make an announcement about the project in the near future.
Canada's Conservatives have experienced a series of procurement problems since taking power in 2006.
Last month, an official spending watchdog said Ottawa had underestimated how much a multibillion-dollar naval shipbuilding plan will cost.
In 2010, the government said it would buy 65 advanced F-35 jets from Lockheed-Martin Corp C$9 billion, but tore up the proposed deal in 2012 after the same watchdog said officials had deliberately downplayed the costs and risks.
Other problems include a plan to buy military trucks that was scrapped in July 2012 just minutes before the final deadline for applications.
The Gulf state had been in talks with the company and the UK government to buy 60 Typhoon jets.And the hits keep coming.
The union convenor at the firm's Warton factory in Lancashire said it was "very disappointing news to get before Christmas".
But a government spokesman said it was a "commercial decision" and that it was "always going to be a difficult deal".
"As BAE have said, it was an exciting prospect but not part of their business plan," they added.'Game changer'
In a statement BAE Systems said: "The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time."
A spokesman added that the collapse of the deal would not have an impact on jobs at the firm's Warton factory.
Phil Entwhistle, from the factory's Unite union branch, said the deal would have been a "game changer" in terms of recruitment and the long term future of the factory.
"Having said that, there's no threat to jobs in the short or medium term," he added.
"This deal wasn't yet part of the company's business plan so we won't be seeing people losing their jobs, certainly for the next three years or so."
Last year, BAE systems lost out on a deal to supply 126 Typhoon jets to India.
As the U.S. Navy ponders future purchases of the F/A-18, it is showing growing interest in the comprehensive structures, systems and propulsion upgrade package proposed by industry earlier this year that would extend the combat life of the current fleet.I can't read the entire article...that pesky paywall...but even this blurb tells me something.
One element of Boeing's Advanced Super Hornet plan receiving close attention is large conformal fuel tanks (CFT). In flight tests, they have shown the potential for marginal drag reduction and other benefits over the unmodified aircraft, despite their size and capacity. With the ability to hold 3,500 lb. of fuel, the tanks could add 260-nm combat range to the Super Hornet and, in the case of the EA-18G Growler electronic-attack version, would extend time on station and bring-back weight.
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