PAK-FA prototype caught fire via War Machine...

MOSCOW, June 10. One of the T-50's engines failed during landing near Moscow on Tuesday, and there was a minor fire on aircraft’s hull. No casualties were reported and the fire was quickly extinguished. “The jet will be restored. No one was injured. Sukhoi company has set up a commission to investigate the reasons of the accident. But the accident will not change the schedule of test runs slated for the T-50 program,” the company said in a statement.

Mumbai? Kenya Mall? Its gonna happen here....

Take the time to watch this vid....chilling to the core....

The Division - E3 2014 Trailer

When popular culture is pointing more and more toward a dystopian future then that tells you where the population is.  People might not even realize it but they see trouble coming.  They see a time when the government will no longer function...video games and movies are simply reflecting an unknown and probably frightening future.

The "Child Dump" on the border...the story you aren't hearing....

A serious dose of reality boys and girls...

Modern Close Air Support is not working....

Five US Special Operations troops were killed in a friendly fire incident.  Black Five has the best take on things....

While there isn't much official information about the incident, our thoughts and prayers are with their families. From FoxNews:
...A senior U.S. defense official told Fox News early Tuesday that the troops were killed when they requested air support from a B-1 bomber after coming in contact with enemy forces...

The information might nullify everything I'm about to say but a couple of things jump out at me.

Too often small units are found, fixed, placed under fire by the enemy.  Too often those small units have to rely on air power to provide fire support so that they can disengage and get back to base or carry on with their mission.  Modern close air support is not working.  Using bombers and deep strike aircraft to provide close air support is not ideal and we don't have to do it this way.

Additionally the idea that small units are survivable on the modern battlefield is pure fantasy.  Why this idea persists is because SOCOM pushes it, portions of the USMC/US Army are in love with it, but the reality is much more stark.

We're operating in an environment where there is no anti-air network.  Apply this small unit philosophy to a situation where even basic defenses are in place and it falls apart.

We need to keep the A-10 and we need to get aircraft like the B-1 back to their real mission.  Strike against installation, warships and massed formations.

Russian Paratroopers Test Multi-Purpose Armored Vehicles

via RiaNovosti

MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) have started testing eight advanced multi-purpose Rakushka armored personnel carriers in field conditions, military spokesman Yevgeny Meshkov said Tuesday.
The Russian Airborne Forces received two Rakushka armored vehicles last year and are expected to get another eight by mid-2014. After the tests, the vehicles are to be put into service.
“A controlled tactical exploitation of eight Rakushka airborne multi-purpose [BTR-MD] armored vehicles has started at the testing areas of an Airborne Forces unit,” Lieutenant Colonel Meshkov said.
The BTR-MD Rakushka is a Russian multi-purpose armored vehicle designed for airborne troops, produced by the Volgograd Tractor Factory. The vehicle has a weight of 13.2 tons and is equipped with two machine guns. The carrier requires two operators, while a total of 13 people are to be involved in the airborne landing test.

A couple of things.

If these reports are to be believed then the Russian military is emphasizing its Airborne Forces ... at least when it comes to procurement.  Expeditionary forces seem to be making a comeback when it comes to the Russian Bear.

Second, how can a nation that is so innovative when it comes to armored vehicles get the basics so wrong?  The entry and exits from these vehicles is absolutely atrocious!  When seconds count and you need to unass one of these vehicles, it must seem like it takes an eternity.  The Russians are better than this.  I wonder why they haven't fixed it. 

Thales - RAPIDFire 40mm Multi-Role Ground-Based Gun System

Future trend?  If military theorist are correct then almost every country in the world that operates fighter jets will have UAVs in the next 10 years. How do you deal with slow flying, persistent UAVs in a cost effective manner?  You revive guns and use them instead of missiles!  The USMC and US Army would be well served to get aboard this train before it leaves the station.

This Lt Colonel needs to shut the fuck up!

Thanks to Bryan for the link!

First read this story, but I give you a tidbit...

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to a receptionist in a physical therapist’s office that I was covered by Tricare, the military’s health-care program for service members, retirees and their families. (It has nothing to do with the troubled Veterans Affairs hospital system.)
“Good deal,” I said.(“You deserve it,” she responded.
Really? If she only knew. Though I spent more than five years on active duty during the 1970s as an Army infantry officer and an additional 23 years in the Reserves, I never fired a weapon other than in training, and I spent no time in a combat zone. I returned to active duty for five months in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, but I was assigned to the Pentagon. My hazardous duty consisted of a daily drive on New York Avenue before its upgrade.
I am hardly unique. Despite the extended operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly half of the 4.5 million active-duty service members and reservists over the past decade were never deployed overseas. Among those who were, many never experienced combat.
It’s a fact of warfare called the logistical tail. For every soldier, Marine, sailor or airman whose job is to engage the enemy, there are three or more service members in a well-guarded, reasonably comfortable bivouac area ensuring that the troops are fed, resupplied, paid, entertained and attended to medically.

What arrogance.

What a failure to understand the trigger side of the equation!  Military training is inherently dangerous.

For Soldiers and Marines its obvious.  You're around stuff that can crush you, micro vaporize you or rip you from limb to limb.  For Sailors and Airmen, they're around stuff that can crush them, rip them from limb to limb or even rip them in half mechanically.  And we're talking about daily operations or training....not combat.

Even the physical grind of maintaining fitness takes a toll after a few years.

Long story short?  Since the nation has reverted to a volunteer military, the nation has a responsibility to take care of its servicemembers.  That's just a fact.  Don't like it?  Then go back to a draft, but if you're going to ask more of fewer people then you have to pony up the costs of decent pay, medical and retirement accounts.  On a sidenote let me add this.  You can have a healthy looking 45 year old former Marine or Soldier with the knees of a 70 year old and if he spent his entire time in the infantry, the back of an 80 year old.

The Lt Colonel in this article might have skated but he speaks only for himself.  Other than that he needs to shut the fuck up! 

China's Godzilla Submarine (Type 032) revealed on Chinese Military Review....

I don't usually keep up with Chinese sub developments so this caught me by surprise.  The Type 032 is purported to be the largest conventionally powered sub in development and its firepower is beyond impressive.  Vertically launched anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and if I'm not mistaken even two tubes for ICBM's?  That's crazy smart.  If this sub is standardized then every one of them has a strategic mission as well as the usual attack boat duties.

Russian Airborne Forces In Action

Make note of the heavy armor (well we are talking airborne...heavy is relative) drop.  The USAF hasn't demonstrated heavy drop capability since the mid 90's.  Do they still have the capability?

The Las Vegas Shooting. Its just not adding up.

I've been getting hit with news of the Las Vegas shooting and it looks real bad.

To be simply eating lunch and to be ambushed is horrible.  The idea that they took the dead and dying officers weapons and ammo is telling.

But what has me shaking my head and wondering is some of the details....

*  A Gadsden flag being draped over the bodies of the officers by the assailants????
*  Literature saying that they were connected with White Supremacists???

I just don't know.  First with the flag.  That is crazy in a handbag.  Its weird.  But the incident is laced with lunacy so ok.  Maybe.  But the White Supremacists angle?  Don't buy it.  If White Supremacists had activated and gone on a shooting rampage then the body count would have been much higher.  Additionally ever Black and Hispanic person in that Walmart would have been gunned down.

I'll wait to see more on this.  I do know that militia groups should be on alert like never before.  This is the impetus that will put them on the radar of both Federal AND Local law enforcement.  I really expect a WACO type incident to hit soon.  War has been declared.  Buy your preps, ammo and spare parts NOW.  Congressmen that were on gun owners side will get wobbly once the intel reports are massaged to get them to act to restrict 2A rights.

Modest Proposal. RFID Chips for personnel in war zones....

The Bergdahl incident has hit full force and its fall out has shown one thing.

Force Protection has become essential due to expanding threats against our troops.

One solution?

WHEN IN THE WAR ZONE we need to tag our Marines and Soldiers with RFID Chips.  It will be controversial, but it would only be done in combat situations and it would help facilitate rescue/recovery if they are taken, captured or lost.

Yeah, its big brother, but its also something that must be considered in light of the Bergdahl case and the threat being issued by terrorist that they will seek to capture our personnel.  Additionally the idea that we still have individuals that are missing years after conflicts have ended can be rectified with this new tech.

Lastly, this could even apply to Sailors at sea.  Personnel that fall overboard could more easily be recovered with these devices.

For particular situations, in particular locations, RFID chips for our servicemembers make sense.

Today in Marine Corps History. O'Grady is rescued by the 24th MEU (SOC).

Today in Marine Corps history, the Marines of 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Special Operations Capable rescued a downed USAF pilot in Bosnia.

Read about it here and here....a short tidbit from Wikipedia...

Just after midnight on June 8,[8] he spoke into the radio. An F-16 pilot from the 555th responded and, after confirming his identity, the rescue was set in motion. At 4:40, Admiral Leighton Smith, commander of NATO Southern Forces, called US Marine Colonel Martin Berndt aboard the USS Kearsarge with orders to "execute."[5]
Two CH-53 Sea Stallions with 51 Marines from the 3rd Battalion 8th Marines within the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, lifted off the USS Kearsarge to rescue the pilot. The two helicopters were accompanied by two Marine AH-1W SuperCobra helicopter gunships and a pair of Marine AV-8B Harrier jump jets. These six aircraft had support from identical sets of replacement helicopters and jump jets as well as two Navy EA-6BProwler electronic warfare planes, two Air Force EF-111A Raven electronic warfare planes, two Marine F/A-18D Hornets, a pair of anti-tank Air Force A-10 Warthogs and a NATO AWACS radar plane.[4]
At 6:35 a.m., the helicopters approached the area where O'Grady's signal beacon had been traced. The pilots saw bright yellow smoke coming from trees near a rocky pasture where O'Grady had set off a flare. The first Stallion, commanded by Major William Tarbutton, touched down and 20 Marines jumped off the aircraft and set up a defensive perimeter.[5] As the second Sea Stallion landed, a figure with a pistol who turned out to be the missing pilot appeared running towards the Marines and immediately went to the Sea Stallion.[9] As the side door opened, he was pulled in before the second 20 Marines poised to leave by the rear ramp could even move. They were called back to their seats, and those who had formed the defensive perimeter reboarded the other helicopter. After a quick head count, the Stallions took off. They had been on the ground no more than seven minutes.[4]

These were not Recon, Force Recon, MARSOC, or a fanciful Maritime Raid Force.

These were Infantry Marines that had the training and the confidence of their commanders to perform the mission.

Quite honestly the mission was the textbook on how it is done, even today.  Years later we would hear how a simple TRAP mission suddenly is the province of RECON/Maritime Raid Force.

Utter bullshit.  You're seeing mission creep.  SOCOM is stealing missions to justify its existence.  The Marine Corps MUST reinvigorate its MEU concept to push for a return to the robust capabilities it once had.

Your Sunday "WTF" Moment....

Consider this your Sunday what the fuck moment....

China.  The country that steals our tech and our jobs, bullies it neighbors and has cheated its way to a powerful economy is getting foreign aid from the United States and European countries.

Yeah.  Check this out from the Huffington Post (its 2013 article)...

The United States provided $28.3 million in foreign assistance and funding programs to China via USAID and the State Department in 2012, according to a May report from the Congressional Research Service. It projects that number to decrease slightly in 2013, to $25.5 million. Roughly half of the U.S. funding is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which focuses on four main areas in China: environmental protection, rule of law, HIV/AIDS, and sustainable development for Tibetans.

Read the article here.

Don't believe that article?  Then check this one out from the Boston Globe or this one from FoxNews.  Its all a joke and the American people are the punchline.  The struggle is to maintain the current system at any costs, and this aid is proof of that.  It won't work and we're seeing signs of economic collapse all around us.

General Jack Keane: Pentagon ‘Outraged’ Over Obama’s Bergdahl Victory Lap

via The Daily Caller....

Retired four-star Army General Jack Keane claimed that senior military leaders are “outraged” over President Obama’s decision to trumpet the trade of likely Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl for five dangerous Taliban in a Rose Garden celebration last Saturday.
Keane spoke Sunday with Fox News’ Chris Wallace about the political implications of the prisoner transfer, with the general becoming the latest to contradict National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s assertion that the returned Army Sgt. “served with honor and distinction.”
“The fact that a citizen volunteers — becomes a soldier, becomes a paratrooper, goes to combat as a result of that, has an unblemished record, is a very good soldier — and then deserts his post, that trumps all previous behavior,” he explained. “So that is a distinction in itself, and he has to be held accountable for that.”
“And how have the military leaders you’ve talked to this week — I know you’re close touch with a lot of folks, still, at the Pentagon — how do they view the way this week has rolled out?” Wallace asked.
“They’re outraged that the president, at the Rose Garden ceremony, was actually promoting an event in terms of public relations,” Keane declared. “And then taking his family — who by the way, the military had advised to maintain a very low profile, and they had maintained a low profile for years.”
“And then to put them in front of the cameras like that and begin a celebration, I think that created not only anguish among those who were his teammates and those who may’ve lost his lives in rescuing him,” the general explained, “but senior military leaders looked at that and just shook their head and said, ‘Why are we doing something like that?’”

I've been thinking about this for a bit now and I think I get the thinking of the Obama Administration.

1.  They needed to put a win on the board.  National Security be damned.
2.  They needed to get the VA scandal off the front page.
3.  They needed to rally supporters who are extremely down with elections rapidly approaching.

So with those needs, they ignored all common sense and made a deal with the devil.

On top of that they are so removed from the military that they thought this would be cheered by servicemembers, retirees and vets.

Didn't work out that way and the only thing that can ruin the delicious tears of the liberal elite is the fact that Republicans and some military bloggers are telling us to withhold judgement until an investigation is performed.

What bullshit.

More Eager Lion 2014 pics....photos by Sgt James A. Hall, USMC

Note:  This was touted as a huge exercise to put the Marine Expeditionary Brigade future concept to the test.  I have heard nothing about that unit.  CENTCOM Marine Forces (Fwd) and the MEU have put out announcements but nothing from the MEB.  I wonder if that initiative is already faltering...

switch out the Jordanian attack helicopter for USMC birds and this brings back memories!

Canadian Law Enforcement....a real bad couple of weeks....

We all have heard about the Canadian "Rambo" thats on a rampage, gunning down law enforcement officials, and now we hear about a prison break by helicopter!  via Jalopnik...

Yves Denis Yvon Lamontagne, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and 49-year-old Serge Pomerleau escaped from the Orsainville prison in Quebec City by somehow gaining control of a helicopter on Saturday night. They were last seen flying west in a green-colored helicopter.
In 2010, Lamontagne and Lefebvre were arrested in a narcotics sting called Project Crayfish, according to Canada's CBC News. The bust netted 41 vehicles, a plane and a helicopter - so it seems at least one of these guys had some flying experience. A manhunt is under way to find the missing inmates. The trio was awaiting trial at Orsainville.
The make and model of the missing chopper hasn't been released at this time. Oddly, this isn't the first prison break in Quebec involving a helicopter. Last year, a helicopter pilot was forced at gunpoint to extract two inmates from Quebec's St-Jerome prison. In that case, the inmates and hijackers were caught and taken into custody within a few hours.

Uh wow.

That takes planning and guts.  I can't wait to hear the full story on this one. 

"...We got back our heroes.”

They got back their heroes and we got back a deserter.  I know you've already seen this but check it out anyway from Yahoo News...

“After arriving in Qatar, Noorullah Noori kept insisting he would go to Afghanistan and fight American forces there,” the commander told NBC News.
Last Saturday, Obama announced the release of Mohammad Fazl, Mohammed Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Abdul Haq Wasiq and Noori in exchange for Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan after he disappeared from his Army platoon on June 30, 2009......
They will reportedly be monitored, but are free to move throughout Qatar.
“We thought we may not see them again as once you land in the hands of Americans, it’s difficult to come out alive,” said Noori’s relative, according to the NBC News report. “But it was a miracle that Allah Almighty gave us Bergdahl and we got back our heroes.”

Between saying outright that he will continue the fight against the US and Afghan govt forces, we have guaranteed that Afghanistan will destabilize in the future.

Worse.  Reports indicate that the Taliban and Haqqani Network now believe that kidnapping American personnel is profitable.

This was an idiotic decision.  Bergdahl wasn't worth it. 

ASTROS 2020

SIG P320...it has a treat inside...

Thanks for the link Eric!



The good part is at the 4 minute mark.

The idea of being able to switch frames on a weapon to get you compact, mid sized and full sized weapons is genius!  Sig is onto something here..