Somerset (LPD 25) heads for commissioning via Defense Media Network.

Read the story at DMN here.   I love their website and if you haven't visited I highly recommend you do so.  One other thing.  I'm of mixed opinion when it comes to the Pentagon budget woes.

How can you be looking to cut ships, squadrons and battalions, yet you keep legacy  requirements when it comes to the number of airplanes, ships, etc that need to be purchased?

The only weapon system that has seen the needed quantities cut is the AAV upgrade.

We're going to have many fewer squadrons in the Marine Corps and Navy, yet the number of F-35's needed remains the same.  Ditto with the MV-22, AH-1Z, UH-1Y...even the JLTV.

Yet we're looking at a Marine Corps that AT BEST will be almost 30,000 bodies smaller.

I don't get it.

Keeping track of the US Navy...with one App.

Thanks for the link Alex...

The above capture is from an I-phone or pad and is used by Russia Navy Blog to keep track of the US Navy with an app called "Marine Traffic".

I'm seriously thinking about giving it a spin.  The detail, if accurate, is pretty stunning.  The "Spearhead" is in the Aegean Sea moving at 6.2 knots? Wow!

UPDATE:  Marine Traffic lists the Command Ship (what they call US Navy 20) and an Oliver Perry Frigate (US Navy 50) as being just off shore of Sochi.  Interestingly, the Command Ship appears to be rather close ashore.  I think we know why the State Dept Rep got called exposed for making the "Fuck the EU" comment by the Russians now.  They probably view the Command Ship to be on a spy mission so they're playing tit for tat. 

The jet that ate the Pentagon

H/T ELP Blog

China's Type 55 Destroyer...a DDG-1000 Clone?

photo via PLABOT1

Just plain wow.

The face of an Air Assault trooper at war via Paolo Nurra

This Air Assault Trooper look like he's been through hell.  I hope he and his buddy are ok.

JSOW, MALD and HARM vs. The Advanced Threat

LSD(X) becomes LX(R)...are the Marines about to lose amphibs to other missions?

Thanks for the link Lee!

via Defense News.

U.S. amphibious warfare ships often have been pressed into a variety of roles beyond those of carrying Marines and their gear and taking part in beach assaults. Now, the design of the Navy’s next amphib might itself be adapted to different missions and requirements.
That’s the thinking behind a recent decision to change the name of the next amphibious ship program from LSD(X) — representing a replacement for today’s landing ship docks — to LX(R), reflecting a ship that can be adapted to even more roles.
“It’s an effort by the Navy to not confine themselves to looking at a ship configured just for amphibious work,” said one knowledgeable source.
“It gives you the option to look at everything,” said Cmdr. George Doyon of the service’s Amphibious Warfare Branch. “LSD(X) kind of narrowed the focus. Changing the name opens up the aperture.”

Read it all here.

The Marine Corps burned the Navy on the MLP and instead of acting as seagoing piers at least half will become AFSBs.

The Navy has to trust that Marine Corps requirements are real or else we'll see more and more swing role/re-roled ships in the fleet.

Command & General Staff College Battle Book.

  ST 100-3 by Gen. H.P. Flashman

Those are the ships you're sending in case of trouble? Really? Seriously?

The Navy finally announced the ships that its sending to the Black Sea to be on standby in case trouble erupts at the Sochi Olympics.  A Destroyer?  A command ship?

Really?

Seriously?

Hmm, doesn't seem credible enough to handle a boy scout convention much less trouble at the games.  The idea that these two ships have the aviation facilities, berthing areas and are equipped to handle even an administrative evacuation is laughable.

The Pentagon is playing reindeer games with us on this.  Keep track of these ships if you want to, but I'm heading to Google sat to take a look at bases in Georgia, Turkey and maybe a few other places.  Its beyond obvious that the ships they're sending are just for show.

Congrats McGrath. You wrote the scariest article I've read all week.

Son of a bitch!

That was my response after reading an article by Bryan McGrath.  You can read it here but this is my take away....

1.  Consensus is being achieved and the only winners are those pussies in the Air Force.  An Air Force I will happily remind you that doesn't do joint unless they're in charge and an Air Force that has sold its soul to stealth with the very idea of bankrupting the other services.  Those sorry bastards have succeeded.

2.  We're going down to probably 8 carriers.  Now its becoming even more clear why the Navy wants out of the F-35 program.  They get VERY little and lose alot for a capability that isn't worth the effort.  I curse the Marine Corps for getting involved in this program and I curse past leadership for letting this boondoggle go on this long.

3.  We are heading toward a force that will barely be able to defend current commitments, much less surprises that are sure to come down the pike.  You happy about gays in the military?  You pleased about females in combat?  Enjoy because while the idiots in the Pentagon focused on that they've eviscerated our military forces.

4.  Abe and the Japanese are smart.  Real smart.  They can see whats going on and are devising a scheme to stand up to China without US assistance.  When will S. Korea, the Philippines and others realize that the once formidable US, will in the span of a couple of years, have the strength of an aids patient?

5.  We're screwed without new leadership in the White House and Pentagon.  It will not be enough to get rid of Obama and his pacifist ilk.  We need to give the Pentagon a good enema.  Too many shit bird officers have risen in rank under this administration.

We're looking at a rough period internationally.  Everyone turns to the US for leadership.  When it becomes obvious to all that we're not providing it then I expect wars to break out in formerly peaceful regions.  A shit storm is coming thanks to the idiots in the Pentagon, Congress and White House.

Assault on our power grid via EM Gear from the Wall Street Journal.

EM Gear Blog linked to this story of an attack on our power grid from the Wall Street Journal...

The attack began just before 1 a.m. on April 16 last year, when someone slipped into an underground vault not far from a busy freeway and cut telephone cables.
Within half an hour, snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night.

This has the hallmarks of a terrorist attack in my opinion.

Whether foreign or some misguided domestic source this is serious.

If one of these "attackers" got smart and hit the right substation then things would get real interesting real fast.

Additionally there is no way to "make safe" our power grid from attack.  Even electronic monitoring will only let you know whats under attack---it won't prevent it.

The US' achilles heel is identified and sooner or later they're gonna hit the sweet spot. 

Sochi Olympics. If trouble comes, help will arrive via Georgia, not a warship.

The Pentagon has been magical in their deception campaign with regards to where US forces will come from if trouble breaks out in Sochi.

We've all been asking the question what ships are being deployed?

That's not right.

We should be looking to see who is on their way to Georgia.  The movements are probably being kept secret but I would be body parts that you're seeing Special Forces and MARSOC staging out of Georgia with instructions to prepare to evac US citizens if a terrorist attack occurs----and if the Russians give us permission.

Ships are magnificent but easy to track.

Movement by forces to a blacked out military airbase is much harder to detect...at least by bloggers and reporters.  Quick Sidenote.  Don't leave out the possibility of Turkey playing a role here either.

Training carrier my ass!

via South China Morning Post.

"[You should] build up [the carrier's] combat readiness, logistics and support expeditiously," Xi told Captain Zhang Zheng before wrapping up his inspection of the Liaoning, according to an account in this month's issue of Dangjian(Party Construction) magazine.
The Liaoning, originally the Soviet Admiral Kuznetsov class carrier Varyag, was sold to China in 1998 after it was stripped of all weapons and engines. It underwent years of refitting and was handed over to the Chinese navy in September 2012 as an "aircraft carrier training platform".
In November it sailed for the first time in battle formation with warships in the South China Sea.

Many have speculated that this first carrier would serve as a training ship.

It appears they were wrong.

The Chinese are not evolving in the same way that Western navies have.  They have stolen secrets, copied training methods and are in essence reading our playbook...and they're doing it on the run.  

Sea Basing Report...

  Seabasing Annual Report 12 Dec 13

Interesting.

This has been hid behind a barrier that kept the public (read that to mean me...) from keeping tabs on evolving thought behind the sea basing concept.

Budget wars will make you open up to the public though.

F-35. The “Bottakuri Bar” of defense programs...

via Defense News.

Sources here have privately begun to refer to the F-35 deal as a “bottakuri bar,” referring to establishments that lure customers of differing degrees of naivety and force them to pay exorbitant bills through a range of excess charges for items not mentioned explicitly on the menu.
Bearing in mind the rising costs of the F-35 program, the MoD is still figuring out what it can do about the long-term replacement of around 200 F-15J fighters and 90 F-2 fighters, Kiyotani said. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the MoD still purchases fighters based on an annual budget, meaning that it cannot lock in a price.

Read the entire article here.

Costs.

It will be a tallying of the costs of this airplane that will finally wake everyone up.  Die in a ditch for this airplane?  No.  But we should take the plane down to the river and hold it under 'til it stops kicking.

Why the "die" language when talking about the F-35?

"Absolutely, die in a ditch, we need this airplane." — Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos

Do you remember the above quote?  I do.  But what has me scratching my head both then and now is why has the talk from the leadership of the Marine Corps become so strident over this weapon system?

The EFV was cast aside without even a fight.  The ACV has been delayed into the distant future without even a backwards glance.

But for some reason, the Commandant of the Marine Corps would die in a ditch to get the F-35.  If that wasn't bad enough then we get this language from the head of Air Combat Command....

'Fight to the death to protect the F-35'

Gen. Michael Hostage, Air Combat Command

Are we perhaps missing something?

Is there a movement inside the DoD that is seriously looking at killing this program?

There has to be.  The language is too strident.  The fear to evident.  The leaks too obvious for there not to be a movement...a strong consensus building to kill the F-35.

I admit this is reading tea leaves, but its the only thing that makes sense.

LM-100J set to launch.

Lockheed Martin officials submitted a Program Notification Letter to the Federal Aviation Administration on 21 January 2014 for a type design update for the Model L-382J transport, a civil-certified variant of the C-130J Super Hercules. This commercial variant will be marketed as the LM-100J. A total of 115 L-100s, the commercial variant of the first-generation C-130, were produced from 1964-1992 at the then Lockheed-Georgia Company facility in Marietta, Georgia. Many of those airlifters are still in service worldwide. The LM-100J will be able to operate from short, unprepared airfields without dedicated ground support equipment. Other potential missions include aerial spray, firefighting, and delivery, medevac, humanitarian aid, and VIP transport. First flight of the LM-100J is expected in the 2017 timeframe.

Royal Navy's fateful decision. STOVL won, but the fleet lost in the end...

Do you remember the Royal Navy's issue with deciding between having cats on their ships or not?

I do.

I pounded the Royal Navy like a piece of cold meat over the decision to go to cats and then back to STOVL.

Hindsight is twenty twenty and I can definitely say they made the wrong choice.  They bought into the utility of STOVL despite watching what the US Navy was going to be doing with UCAVs.

No matter what you think of the F-35, it can be assumed by almost everyone that UCAVs at sea...especially those large enough to be launched by carrier...are going to dominate in a few short years.

The Royal Navy instead chose a legacy capability instead of embracing future opportunities.

Instead of joining with the USN to launch UCAVs at a target they'll instead have to team up with the USMC to provide support against targets that are closer, and lightly defended.

F-35. US Navy tries to leave the program!!!

Thanks Don for this article!

via Politico

Feb 3, 2014
OSD TOLD THE NAVY: YOU CAN’T TAKE A ‘BREAK’ FROM THE F-35C: According to a congressional source, in its 2015 budget proposal, the Navy asked to take a three-year “break” from its production of the F-35C, its variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. Concerned this was a first step toward walking away from the program permanently, OSD told the Navy: no way.
It’s an open secret that the Navy would prefer to invest more in its F-18 fighters rather than buy the F-35C. But if the Navy pulled out of the program, the unit cost — already under scrutiny — would go up for the Air Force and the Marine Corps.

 Long story short?

The US Navy wants out!

The OSD is FORCING THEM to stay with the questionable program.  The only question left is when does Congress step in and say enough is enough and shit can the entire drain on our resources.

UPDATE:  This deserves more comment than a bit of glee about being proven right about the Navy wanting out (I love how they're labeling it as conventional wisdom now).  This is more proof of the issues that the F-35C is facing when it comes to getting aboard ship, points to lingering doubt about the planes combat effectiveness AND illustrates the fact that it isn't sunshine and unicorns inside the JSF program.  This thing is falling apart right before our eyes.

Afloat Forward Staging Base. Is the design evolving?

I was checking out Admiral Greenert's page and found the following pics...

Above you see the first "concept of the AFSB.  It appears to have  a "add on" flight deck and spaces below contain machinery and I assume workshops.  It was a basic design and didn't seem like it would add much complexity and costs.  Perhaps more important, it also looks like it could revert back to supporting an amphibious assault without much work.

Now you see the latest "image" of what the AFSB will look like.  Quite honestly it seems like the Maersk concept of converting a tanker into a heavy amphibious assault ship is reborn in a smaller package.

Quite honestly this might be the best thing to come out of this "concept". The Mobile Landing Platform has always been a ship in search of a mission.  If it leads to converting Oil Tankers to heavy assault ships...each one capable of embarking a complete MEU...with two of them capable of carrying a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, then we might finally be seeing amphibious assault evolve into a heavyweight strike force from the sea, able to take on heavy mechanized forces --- and win ---- upon landing.