BAE Future Technology Demonstrator with an Integrated Directed Energy Weapon

Future Technology Demonstrator with an Integrated Directed Energy Weapon. Our Hybrid Electric Drive technology is demonstrated to deliver real durability, vision and execution, and provides enough electrical power to host next-generation weapons and technology.

What are defense reporters covering if this isn't front page news at AUSA?  Just plain wow.  This is how you know the services are only talking about energy independence for deployed forces.  What am I talking about?  Hybrid engine tech works and works now.  Even the tree huggers in the Obama Administration would love the military if they introduced hybrid engines into legacy and future vehicles.  That tech is ready now and no one is biting.

Japanese AAV pics.

Finally found some pics of Japanese AAVs.  Is it me or do they look straight off the factory floor?  I'd love to see some interior shots but who did the refurb work on these things?  Albany, GA could take lessons if they're as good on the inside as they are on the outside!

All pics via Daily progressive of Ddog (passive pro-American Japanese citizen)

Japan chooses strategic over tactical mobility.

via Defense News...

According to publicly announced plans, the MoD intends to reduce the GSDF’s tank force from 740 to about 300 over the next decade, with most being concentrated on the main islands of Hokkaido in the north and Kyushu in the south. According to this scenario, some 200 to 300 MCVs will be procured and airlifted to islands where they are needed.
The MoD’s Technical Research & Development Institute has been developing the MCV since at least 2008; it displayed a fourth prototype in October 2013. Testing is scheduled to begin shortly and if all goes well, the GSDF will receive its first units in 2016. The MCV is being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
The plan is proceeding smoothly, according to MoD spokesman Tsuyoshi Hirata, who said the deployment schedule and perhaps final number of MCVs will be reviewed over the next five years. The announced figures could change, he said.
“Based on the current Mid-Term Defense Program [MTDP] issued last December [2013], we plan to introduce 99 MCVs by the end of [fiscal] 2018. We have in mind to introduce about 300 MCVs,” he said.
The MoD plans to deploy the MCV in several rapidly deployable basic operational units (rapid deployment divisions and/or brigades) and rapid deployment regiments that will be formed.

Hmmm.

I like the vehicle but the doctrine seems suspect.

A quarantine is working in Sierra Leone.

Common sense is not so common in Western leadership.

A section of Sierra Leone has instituted a quarantine and its working to keep Ebola out.

We don't need rocket science, we need sensible policies to cure the ills of the world.  This is exhibit one.

Read Todd Frankel's article here.

The President of the US calls America a "Muslim" country.

Read the story here.

I am in shock.

I'm punching walls, pissed as fuck and can't see straight.  I have never agreed with his policies but thought his critics had gone too far when they described him as a closet "Muslim".

I guess I was wrong.  But Jerusalem Online said it best when they said this...

In reality the US has one of the smallest percentages of Muslims of any Western country. The number of Muslims in the US is approximately 4.5 million, 1.5% of the population, one of the smallest minorities in the US. Since there are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, the number of Muslims in the US is approximately 0.3% of the world Muslim population. By comparison there are between approximately 6 million Jews in the US, who account for approximately a third of the world's Jewish population. Whereas many Americans regard it as a society based on "Judeo-Christian values", it is doubtful if there is one sane American who would define it as a Jewish country.

The President has been called smart but not politically savvy.  But this?  Did he really believe that this wouldn't reach the US?

And if he did but doesn't care what does that tell us?

If Kobani falls should we care?

Question.  If Kobani falls to ISIS should we care?  Is it our responsibility?  Isn't this a Middle Eastern problem that should be solved by the nations of that region?

Yes.  Thousands could be slaughtered.  Yes.  It would be a tragedy.  But why is it the responsibility of the US to protect the people of the world?

Fact.  Our military is strained and has been subjected to cuts both in manpower and budget.

Fact.  The military forces of the region, at least on paper, have more than enough power to defeat ISIS.

Fact.  Turkey would be directly affected by the fall of that city and yet they have not acted.

I ask again.  If Kobani falls should we care?

Another pic of the BAE/Iveco SuperAv 8x8.

BAE/Iveco SuperAv 8x8 at Modern Day Marine.

A quick sidenote.

We're losing carrying capacity with the AAV, so the idea of reorganizing the Battalions to have more vehicles now is probably already in the works.

The issue is simple.

The blast seats.

I did a little paper napkin check on current seats and then compared it to the interior dimensions of the AAV and it looks like we're going to lose 4 - 6 Marines from every vehicle...

So not only is the wing going to need to get bigger to support the maintenance requirements of the new aircraft coming online (meaning the F-35 and the MV-22) but we're also looking at a larger AAV Battalion to maintain current carry capability (supposedly to provide mechanized transport for 1 Marine Expeditionary Brigade...which is a downgrade from previous requirements of providing lift for 2)...while at the same time we're eviscerating Infantry, Artillery and Tank Battalions.

But back to the MPC.  If its going to actually match the AAV in troop carriage, swimming and exceed its mobility over all grounds...even in its upgraded form then the only thing left to determine is can we afford it.

CONFIRMED! 2nd Ebola patient in the US.

via Shepherd of the Gurneys...

Duncan and government incompetence rack up second Ebola victim.

(CNN) -- A healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola after a preliminary test, the state's health agency said.
Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The employee helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person ever diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday.

It's okay though. This is "highly unlikely", health care here is "well-prepared" to deal with Ebola, and "We've got this!".
So everything's cool.

I'm conflicted.

I can either continue to warn my readers about the short time period left to finish their preps....or I can say fuck it and leave you to your own devices.

I will say this though.

I fully expect authorities to attempt to keep a lid on this situation through the Christmas holiday shopping period.  My guess is that you have until probably the middle of January before the general public gets hit head on with how deadly this situation is.

NOTE:  Decision made.  No more talk of prepping after this post.  I'll cover the outbreak but those who get it don't need my reminders and those who don't are probably already screwed.

NOTE 1:  This is starting to play out just like it did in Liberia and the other countries.  Healthcare workers are getting hit first.  How soon before we run out of them?  How soon before a choice has to be made between going to work and protecting your family?  The US govt is behind the power curve on this thing and it doesn't look like they're going to be able to catch up.  I wonder.  How long before the Dallas Judge gets sick?  

1st LAR on exercise...photos by Lance Cpl. Garrett White

NOTE:  Keep an eye on units like LAR.  If they get deployed to Western Africa...even if its to augment the SPMAGTF-CR...then you're looking at a mission change from "disaster relief" to nation building/stabilization.  

Western Africa is already lost.

First check out this passage from a blog post from Shepherd of the Gurneys...

Most ominous development of all , Liberia has now banned all reporters from Ebola treatment centers:
"Journalists are no longer allowed to enter ETUs. These journalists enter the ETUs and cross red lines," Jackson, the deputy information minister, told listeners to commercial station Sky FM.The minister said he would insist that journalists report his statements from now on rather than what they saw for themselves.
Liberia's announcement came after soldiers prevented the media in Guinea from investigating the murders in September of eight people, including three journalists, during an Ebola education visit.
In Liberia, medics have been banned from communicating directly with the media, RSF said, while Sierra Leone has threatened to adopt draconian measures against journalists criticising its Ebola response.
Typical banana republic media relations: When you don't like the news, shut them up and kick them out. So, what would make them want to shut the press out?
Omoruto said the centre had been designed for a maximum capacity of 150 beds but had been forced to take in 300 patients.
Alphonso Wesseh, representing the clinic's healthcare workers, told AFP the government had refused to pay benefits for dealing with Ebola and salaries were as low as $250 a month.
"We cannot work under these conditions. We are risking our lives every day and the government remains insensitive to our plight. This is not human."
So they're already delivering sketchy care, and workers have largely fled, which indicates that the official reports are simply pure BS. So how stable are the governments?
The United Nations said on Friday it had quarantined 41 personnel from its Liberia mission, including 20 soldiers, following a second Ebola infection among its staff.
The measure came two days after the mission, known as UNMIL, announced an "international staff member" working in its medical department tested positive after complaining of symptoms consistent with the Ebola virus.
The healthcare workers have fled, the UN is overwhelmed, and the local governments are tightening freedoms as their control over events becomes even more tenuous.  Government spokesman Isaac Jackson made the announcement as he was questioned on a radio phone-in show about reporters being barred from covering a strike at a Monrovia Ebola treatment unit (ETU).                                                                                 "Most of the workers are no longer coming to work. The few ones who come don't work. We don't have the manpower needed to do the work here at the centre," director Atai Omoruto told reporters before the government clampdown.                                                        The [Liberian] government announced on Wednesday it was postponing nationwide senatorial elections which had been due on Tuesday next week, with no new date yet announced.

Are you getting the force of connection yet?

Is it sinking in for you?

The African continent is facing not an outbreak but an epidemic.  We're looking at failed states already.

The UN has quarantined 41 of its personnel...including medical staff!

Does this sound like something a Marine Corps SPMAGTF-CR can possibly cope with?  Does this sound like something the 101st Airborne can cope with?

If the answer is no then we have to ask.  Why are we sending them?

The various govts will not allow reporters to cover the sick.  Elections are being delayed.  Emergency/Dictatorial powers are being sought.  Its past time to accept the fact that Western Africa is lost and plan accordingly.  Like Shepherd of the Gurneys said (metaphorically)...the four horsemen have arrived in Africa and there is nothing we can do to stop them.

This shit is fucking insulting!

MONROVIA, LIBERIA – OCTOBER 09: A health worker takes the temperature of U.S. Marines arriving to take part in Operation United Assistance on October 9, 2014 near Monrovia, Liberia. Some 90 Marines landed on KC-130 transport planes and MV-22 Ospreys to support the American effort to contain the Ebola epidemic. The Ospreys, which can land vertically like helicopters, will transport U.S. troops and supplies as they build 17 Ebola treatment centers around Liberia. U.S. President Barack Obama has committed up to 4,000 troops in West Africa to combat the disease. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Forgive me but I have to rant.

This person in Liberia is taking the time to check the temperature of US Marines going to help HER GOD FORSAKEN COUNTRY?

She should be out in the countryside helping her own countrymen, instead she and the idiots appointed above her are playing the usual games.

THIS IS IDIOTIC AND INSULTING!

This is exhibit 1 on why this mission will fail.  Instead of using scarce resources to work the problem they're caught up in bureaucratic bullshit.  This is another example of why the US military working with NGOs and foreign governments is an utter waste of time.  The military works to solve problems (or kill people!) and the NGO/Bureaucrats seek to claim credit or show they're in charge.

A meme is going to bite the USMC in the ass.

Its amazing.

A meme is going to bite the USMC in the ass.

What the fuck am I talking about?  This "crisis response force" thing.  When you have ineffective civilian federal agencies and then the military comes along and says that we can fix any problem, just give us the word, then you have the elements of a disaster in the making.  Check this out from the War is Boring blog...

“If somebody does contract Ebola and becomes symptomatic, they will be handled … just like you’ve seen on the recent ones who came back on an aircraft that was specially designed to bring them back [to the United States],” Gen. David Rodriguez, the head of the Pentagon’s Africa Command, told reporters recently.
“[An infected service member would] go back to one of the centers that is specially designed to handle the Ebola patients right now,” Rodriguez said.
The Ospreys might be one of the few options to rapidly move sickened Americans between hard-to-reach locales and Monrovia’s airport. Phoenix Air’s special air ambulances—which have already flown private citizens back home for treatment—need an actual runway. V-22s don’t.

So you're going to shove a sick and infected troop into the back of an MV-22 and transport him to the airport so he can be evacuated.

Sounds solid....until you take a look at the facts of life for Marines and Soldier on deployment or in the field.

First!  The culture.  You deal with aches and pains.  You have your own personal stash of Tylenol or Asprin to keep you going when your body hurts.  Do that shit in Africa and you're making the early symptoms of Ebola go away...for a little while at least.  Additionally you've always felt achy, had slight fevers etc during any tough field op.  You wouldn't even recognize it for what it is until its too late.

Second!  You're taught rush to the fallen.  Its ingrained into the Marine or Soldier to aid the wounded.  What happens when a squad member goes down?  His buddy move to help.  DO that in Africa and you're exposing yourself.

Third!  How are you going to decontaminate an airplane that has this disease infesting it?  You go from being an angel to being a vector to further spread the disease!

And then last.  Once this short duration mission is over, if you're doing things the right way, then you've just rendered a USMC combat unit ineffective for 21 days once they leave the hot zone.

If you don't then you could see outbreaks at Lejeune or Pendleton or at bases in Spain, or where ever this SPMAGTF-CR is coming from.

Someone is so busy to please the boss that they aren't thinking.

I'm going from worried to full bore 100% alarmed. 

The Ebola patients apt was a cesspool of disease...

via DallasNews.com

“When we entered the room, you could tell it was a frantic whirlwind to keep this man alive,” company owner Erick McCallum told The Dallas Morning News. “It was very clear they were working very hard and very diligently.”
McCallum and his hazardous-materials cleaning crew were called in to help at the hospital because of their experience last week cleaning the Vickery Meadow apartment where Duncan was staying when he fell ill.
They’ve gotten more attention than they bargained for, not all of it positive. Some longtime clients are now keeping their distance, and one employee was told to stay home from his second job.
At the hospital cleanup, workers packed all the disposable items Duncan might have touched into several 55-gallon drums: bedsheets, an air-chamber mattress and protective suits scattered around the room in the anxious moments preceding Duncan’s death.
“There’s no time for picking up gowns,” McCallum said. “You’ve got to work on the issue at hand, protecting yourself at the same time.”
Duncan’s body had already been removed and was to be cremated to eliminate any possibility that the disease could spread. The crew also used special chemicals to decontaminate hard surfaces in his room and those surrounding it.
“We wanted to make sure we did right for our country and make sure this is eradicated and out of here — properly,” McCallum said.
The trash bins were sealed and sent to an undisclosed location to be incinerated by another company, he said.

Read the entire article.  Its clear that its another attempt to calm the public but the reality is a bit more stark.

"A whirlwind to keep this man alive"?

And the Dallas County Judge walked into that apt in regular clothes that he wore to a press conference and then back home to his family?

This was an immigrant family that can be assumed to have maintained touch with some of the cultural norms of their native home...Liberia?  And we're suppose to be confident that this disease hasn't spread?

I don't fucking think so.

I believe act 3 is soon to open.  Today is Friday so I expect a late news dump.  Don't be surprised if we hear confirmation of another case. 

101st Airborne. Ft Apache in Africa.

You're in the command element of the 101st Airborne and you're being sent ahead of the main body to assess the situation in Liberia and the other two countries facing an Ebola epidemic.

I hope you're prepared to established reinforced forts inside those countries.  They're inches away from being failed states and the US has never sent troops into this type of situation while at the same time battling a disease.

Speaking of which.

How do you do force protection against a disease that can survive outside a host?  Someone vomit on the street, you walk thru it and before you know it you've brought it into your sleeping area.

How do you keep diseased locals from over running your base camps making your troops sick with restrictive rules of engagement?  Remember it just won't do to shoot into a mob of Ebola victims that are simply seeking treatment while at the same time over running your base!

What about flying to deliver supplies.  Do you simply kick gear out the helicopter or do you land to deliver aid?  If you do how do you protect your troops from the sick but excitable natives?  How do you react to villagers that believe that Western medicine is the cause of the illness?  Remember they just killed people that were coming to educate them on the disease!

This will end badly.  The 101st will end up leaving Africa with its tail between its legs.  I just hope that AFRICOM truly understands how jacked up this situation is...the chances for success are extremely low.  This thing will just have to burn itself out.

Official Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER™ Rollout Video

How crazy is it to keep the AAV in service until 2030????

Thanks to Beowulf75 for reminding me of this...he said...

If the AAV hangs around as long as they are planning on won't that be about the same as if we had used WW2 Sherman tanks in the first gulf war, if another conflict comes up before their service life ends anyway, which is likely. 

That's exactly right!

The better analogy would be that if we use the AAV for as long as is currently planned it will be like having kept the LVT in service through WW2, Korea, Vietnam and finally retiring it after service in the first Gulf War.

Additionally we will be operating an armored vehicle that will serve in frontline combat longer than we (the USMC) has operated ANY vehicle in its history.

I think I'm merging two blog posts by accident, but William asked in my blurb about the AAV Program Office letting the cat out the bag....

Can anyone provide a logical explanation for why full production cannot begin until 2018 with initial operating capability in 2019? Is it really that hard of an engineering task to add armor, put on a 30mm gun, add blast seats, ect? I would guess that a good team of mechanics and engineers could do that in months if allowed free reign to do so.

The dirty secret that HQMC, F-35 program office, the Commandant's office, F-35 supporters and the DoD don't want you to know is that this program and others are all being held hostage by that airplane.

The Marine Corps is still trying to stagger purchases so that they can properly budget things.  The delays with the F-35 have already bitten hard, jumbled things and will continue to do so into the future.

IOC for that airplane is 2015.  They plan on increasing production (ie buying more of them) in 2016, 17 and 18.  That means that the Marine Corps won't have funds free to buy more armor...or even upgrade.

This is why the JLTV program is being delayed.  Its also why the US Army couldn't go forward with the GCV.  If you examine the program, nothing being proposed was risky.  It was all proven tech that was simply going to be used in heavy armor.  Additionally the controversy about weight was a canard.  To get the type of blast protection required, a vehicle weighing as much as an Abrams was a given.  Additionally it wasn't expected that this would be a strategic...the Army had Strykers for that mission.

Its also a major reason why the ACV/MPC program has been in such disarray.  It was never about the engineering.  It was always about the funding.

UH-1Y's...photos by Sgt. Artur Shvartsberg

NOTE: You really have to call into question the continued service of the UH-1Y with the emphasis on extremely long range strikes from over the horizon. A combat radius that is longer than legacy models but still relatively short...all of which negatively affects loiter time, means that the USMC is basically rendering a brand new helicopter obsolete by the emphasis of a doctrine that seeks to favor the MV-22. The same applies to the AH-1Z. The emphasis on range affects more than the AAV and ship to shore connectors. It will also affect the air wing in ways that haven't yet been considered.  If the Corps follows through with the SPMAGTF-CR concept then we can effectively do away with at least half of our UH-1Y/AH-1Z force.

We're sneaking a Divison (-) into Africa...

Latest news reports indicate that a USMC SPMAGTF-CR will be sent to the infected countries in Africa.  Since its setup in the old configuration that means 100 grunts along with all the pilots and support personnel assigned to the wing.

But what has me scratching my head is that we were told that the 101st Airborne would be relieving them in place.

4,000 personnel...that's about the size of an Army Brigade, composed of medics/Corpsmen and construction engineers are heading to the region now.  The 101st will be providing logistical support and security (I'm assuming...reports are not clear).

That means that we're looking at deploying a Division (-) to the region by stealth.  Expect AFRICOM to want to plus up security since it appears that one to three of the affected countries might collapse and we're looking at nation building in Africa.

Awesome.

First the Middle East and now Africa.

Can we please take a break from saving the world and for once concentrate on saving ourselves?

Did the AAV Upgrade Program Office let the cat out the bag?

via Military Technology.

MT asked if nations’ currently using the AAV vehicle would be invited to participate in the Marines’ upgrade program, a PEO official, requesting his name be withheld responded, “We have quite a few countries with vehicles as old as ours, obviously there’s a business opportunity for the program winner, at that point I am sure discussions regarding foreign military sales for the upgrade package will get more serious, we communicate with our AAV user partners on a regular basis and have been asked, although a few of these countries have developed their own upgrade programs so end-users actually may soon have options ranging from a standard rebuilt to a drastic modernisation and life extension, that’s what we intend to do.”

Are they considering just doing a "drastic modernization and life extension and calling it a day when it comes to the AAV?

Is this the first clue that once again we're going to see the ACV/MPC canned because of budget pressures?

I'm not sure but the request not to have his name used is telling.  Something controversial in Marine land is brewing at PEO Land.

The Marine Corps family is about to be pissed....especially if the bread crumbs lead to Marine Air starving the ground side so they can have more shiny new toys.

2nd person in Frisco Texas that had contact with Duncan shows signs of Ebola.

Today Duncan died.

Today, a person that states that they had contact with Duncan says they have Ebola symptoms and they're evacuating him to the hospital.

The President still will not close our borders.  Still insists on airlines flying to West Africa and still will not answer questions about the mystery virus that is attacking school children.

Act 2 of this tragedy has just begun.  Buckle up.  Its gonna get bumpy.

Sidenote:  Where are those people that stated I was crying "chicken little" now?

Sidenote 1:  We could be looking at a major body blow to the economy that could send us into a deep recession.  We're coming up on the Christmas shopping season.  What happens if Ebola continues to be a worry?  Malls will empty.  So will restaurants, movie theaters, sports events, concerts etc...We could be looking at a 4th quarter that is so far below expectations that its effects in the US could circle the globe.  STARTING WITH REDUCED US DEMAND FOR CHINESE GOODS!  Personally I find that thought thrilling because it will be a major blow to those who push the global market place AND Chinese leadership.  This might be a painful time but its going to be fun to watch.