IDF's 7th Armored Brigade upgrades to Merkava 4's...

via Jerusalem Post.

The IDF's 7rh Armored Brigade is in the midst of a modernization process that will see all tank battalions equipped with the Merkava Mk. 4 tank by 2016, a senior army source said Tuesday.
The brigade's 75th battalion will complete the switch over from the Merkava Mk. 2 tank to the Mk. 4 on Thursday, and an additional two tank battalions will complete the process within two years, he added.
The tanks will come equipped with Raphael's Trophy active protection system against anti-tank missile attacks, making them suitable for combat in complex and hostile environments saturated with guerrilla cells armed with anti-tank missiles, particularly, in Lebanon against Hezbollah, according to the source.
The Seventh Brigade's fourth battalion is an engineering corps unit, and the brigade is also supplemented by a specialized infantry company that travels around in armored vehicles.
"The last time we got a new tank was in the 1980s," the officer said.
"This will enhance our ability to fight in closed spaces and hilly areas, against an enemy that disappears," he stated.

Israel's recent fight is causing a serious back to basics movement.  Good to see.

Warning! Not Safe For Work! Is this what "Women in the Infantry" crowd want for America's daughters?

I've called them animals.

I will never publicly speak my true feelings about the "radical" Muslims that are rampaging thru the Middle East.

What I will continue to harp on...is this simple fact.  War is barbaric.  Do we really want to subject America's daughters to this?  Are we really ready as a society to accept the possibility of this happening to one of our own?

Women in the Infantry is an awesome campaign slogan.  It excites feminists, makes lesbians wet themselves and the liberal elite can claim that they're fighting for equality.

The reality is much more harsh.  Busted knees, a bad back, sore shoulders, aches when it rains---and even sometimes when you wake, are all by products of the life style...and that's if you don't go to war.

If there is one issue where cold facts and not wishful thinking MUST take precedence then its this one.  Women are NOT physically designed to participate in infantry action as its currently conducted.  In the future?  Maybe.  But not now.

Bold Alligator 2014.

Read the article here

Note:  My first reaction to this exercise was to slam it.  Crisis Response?  For a multinational exercise to focus on small unit activities?  I'll hold my fire and wait to see how this plays out.

More evidence of F-35 death spiral? UPDATED!

Eric over at ELP Blog has a couple of short posts up about the F-35 that made me pause.  Read them here and here.

The stark reality?

The F-35 isn't seeing the massive production ramp up that the Program Manager/Lockheed Martin insisted was needing to get the "cost curve" down.

Production has been flat for the past four years.  Orders from Israel, and Italy have almost been cut in half.  Japan isn't buying as many as fast as hoped and S. Korea appears to already be suffering some type of buyers remorse.

But the real kick in the pants should be this realization.  The plane is still eating up an inordinate part of the budget, other more needed programs have been cut to protect it and we can't buy enough to force the price down.

This is just more evidence that the death spiral is already here.

UPDATE:  Its worse than I initially thought.  I was reading the comments over at ELP's Blog and ran across this...

Don Bacon • 33 minutes ago
This just in -- The UK shoe has finally dropped, and it's a size four not a fourteen.
BBCNews, Feb 10
UK to spend £2.5bn on [14] F-35 fighters
The UK is about to commit to the F-35 fighter project, a US-led effort to produce 3,000 aircraft which is set to cost more than £600bn globally. The initial UK order for 14 F-35Bs will, with support costs added, cost about £2.5bn, Newsnight has learned.//
UK has been "about to commit" for eight months and now--
DailyMail, Oct 28
Britain says agrees to order four F-35 stealth fighter jets
(Reuters) - Britain has reached an agreement in principle to order four more of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.
The contract, part of a plan to purchase 14 of the stealth fighters over the next five years, will be placed within the coming weeks, the ministry said. The aircraft are due to be delivered from mid-2016.

The above information is verifiable.  Additionally I remember the much ballyhoo-ed announcement and then nothing of the British Defense Minister signing a contract for the F-35's earlier this year and now...in the fourth quarter we get the news that the Brit order has been cut from 14 to 4.  Aviation and Defense journalist should be all over this! 

Is it time to use the Stryker ICV as an Interim Marine Personnel Carrier?

What happens when you're a cheerleader but things are going wrong with your team?  You can do the "fan" thing and keep saying all is well even though they're obviously not (F-35 supporters)...or...you can bite the bullet and say shit is fucked up and its time to fish or cut bait.

Never in a million years would I have predicted that we would be where we're at with the AAV replacement.  When the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was canceled, I was reassured by statements from HQMC that we would turn to and get another vehicle to the fleet quickly.

Hindsight is 20/20 and its now obvious we were fed a heaping dose of bullshit.  So where does that leave us?  Right now we're looking at upgrades to the AAV to begin sometime in the near future (or so we're told) and eventually a selection between four companies for a new, less capable ACV 1.1.

American Mercenary has a different idea...

The AAV is a good solution for getting lots of Marines to shore. It is not an optimal patrolling solution. The Stryker is a great patrolling solution (decent arms and armor, moves fast, very maneuverable). Add in very precise 120mm Mortar Fire and things get very interesting for maneuver commanders.
From my perspective this seems like a win/win for the USMC. The hulls are available, the capabilities of the LAV III family are well known inside the USMC, and there is massive interoperability with the US Army built into the supply chain.
Now, the cons of this solution, it will cost money in an era of diminishing budgets. It won't provide a "leap forward" level of capability for the USMC compared to some of the other (more expensive) options on the table. It may seem to some Marines that they are getting "the Army's scraps" instead of the latest and greatest (although those flat bottomed hulls are still newer than most HMMWVs the USMC has in the inventory).

Read the whole thing here.

Quite honestly, where before I might have automatically poo poo'ed the idea, now I'm not so sure.  It will get us vehicles that we need now.  Give us back the capability to transport 2 Marine Expeditionary Brigades in protected transport and not in MTVRs...and we could fall on the Army's supply chain.

As far as making them amphibious.  Yeah.  Sticking point.  I would argue against doing that so we could get the vehicle we want in the future and not be stuck with interim becoming permanent.

All I know for sure is that less than 500 "modernized" AAVs will not cut it.  The world is burning and we need vehicles now not later.  Army Strykers might be the best we can hope for....at least for the moment.

Mistral-Class Building Projection & Command (BPC) Carrier vid...

Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicles. What's the hold up?

How many of you remember the "Crusher" UGCV?  How about the "Black Knight"?  Check out the vids below and I'll get back to you on the other side...

I talked to a buddy about this and we both came back to one thing.  The war on terror knocked these programs off track.

The point of this post?

We have the lead.  The Europeans, Chinese, Russians and others are basically playing follow the leader when it comes to moves in armor development.  For example.  Wheeled IFVs.  The US Army bought the Stryker and everyone is following that lead.  Forget the fact that the Army is tailoring its force to be expeditionary...everyone else is copying it.  

We have the lead here.  We're doing it and others aren't.  If nothing else this is DARPA hard, and something that they should keep pressing the gas on.

Battalion Landing Team 3/1 conducts mechanized raid...photos by Cpl. Steve H. Lopez

Dragon Ship...via the Royal Navy...

Soldiers & Marines that served in W. Africa are quarantined upon return... UPDATED!!!

UPDATE:  I just hit on something.  The US Army is stepping up and taking the hit on this but those Soldiers are based in Italy.  This is all part of the basing agreement and the agreement to use Italy and Spain as jump off points for the relief missions to Africa.  If they weren't quarantined when they came back then the agreement would be off.  Good on the Army for doing the right thing.  Bad on the Army for not telling the fucking truth.


via Shepherd of the Gurneys.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Army has started isolating soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission in West Africa, even though they showed no symptoms of infection and there was no incident signaling potential exposure, the Pentagon said on Monday.The decision goes well beyond previously established military protocols and came just as the White House pushed to roll back steps by U.S. states to quarantine healthcare workers returning from countries battling Ebola epidemics, even if they showed no symptoms of infection.
The Army has already isolated about a dozen soldiers at part of a U.S. military base in Vicenza, Italy. This includes Major General Darryl Williams, who oversaw the military's initial response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Williams is the head of the U.S. Army Africa, which is based at Vicenza, and the senior Army officer at the base.
"They're not allowed to leave," said Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
Dozens more troops would be isolated in the coming days as they rotate out of West Africa, where the U.S. military has been building Ebola treatment facilities to help health authorities treat Ebola victims, the Pentagon said.
"There was no single triggering event. This is really a decision that's made out of an abundance of caution," Warren said.
The Army is the only service to implement such a move. The only personnel who have rotated out of the operation so far have been from the Army, Warren said.
But a U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that discussions were under way about taking similar action across the U.S. armed forces.

Rant time.

So a fucking princess of a nurse can sue because she worked directly with Ebola patients and lives in the New York/New Jersey megalopolis....and the governors of those states want to protect their people from an outbreak....

But service members that had no direct contact are being quarantined???

Yeah.  We're seeing complete and utter bullshit on the Ebola issue.

SIDENOTE:  Remember the post where I said that this would take SPMAGTF-CR Africa out of action for at least 21 days after mission completion, longer if a member got sick?  Well its worse than that now.  We're talking about taking the 101st Airborne Headquarters and a Brigade from that unit out of action too.  I complain about the USMC being stretched thin but have you seen the Army's taskings lately?  We're playing with the national security of the United States in many ways.  To me this is beyond crazy.  Worse?  The world is burning and we might need those forces for combat, not humanitarian missions.

They made her a "poster" girl for women in combat & ISIS beheaded her.

Thanks for the link William...

I read the stories about the fierce female fighters of the YPG....I heard people talk about how ISIS was scared shit-less to face these females.

And I knew it was all bullshit.

Now the poster girl for women in combat has been beheaded (if she was lucky all they did was behead her).  Check this out from 9 News.

A prominent female Kurdish "freedom fighter" may have been executed by beheading, according to unconfirmed reports on social media.
The young woman, who went by the nom du guerre "Rehana" became a symbol of the Kurdish resistance movement when pro-Kurdish journalist Pawan Durani tweeted a picture of her giving a peace sign.
"Rehana has killed more than 100 ISIS terrorists in Kobane," his tweet read.
There has been no independent verification of the claim, but the photo went viral, receiving more than 5000 retweets.
Female Kurdish fighters of the Yekineyen Parastina Jin (YPJ), or Women Protection Units are involved in the struggle for the key Syrian border town of Kobane.
The town of Kobane has become a crucial battleground in the war against ISIL, representing the gateway to northern Syria and the Turkish border.
This brave and unique force of women are highly trained, committed and fearless, in a fight that represents the survival of an entire people.
They believe that in their fight there is no difference between a man and a woman, but are aware they fight an enemy that routinely rapes the women it captures before butchering them or selling them into slavery.
Now there is speculation that Rehana has been captured or killed, with gruesome photos purporting to show her decapitated body circulating on social media. But the death is unconfirmed.

Notice that no one is talking about the circumstances of her capture?

I won't dig deeper into her capture and murder but I will add a cautionary note.  All these older females that are trying to "open" doors for their daughters...and yours, to join the infantry are FOOLS.

Women in the infantry is a bad idea.  Rehana died because she was young, bought the hype, was an image for a cause and was in the end hung out to dry.

If I had a daughter I wouldn't let her within 5000nm of a warzone and would worry about her going shopping.  What kind of people would want to put their mothers, daughters and sisters in that meat grinder?  I might be borderline sexist but proponents of this idea are plain sick. 

Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV) in use by 2-12 Cav...Video by Sgt. Fred Brown

World of Tanks question.

Ok, don't know if you can see the above screen capture from a WoT game I had ... oh and yeah.  Some 12 year old kid smacked me senseless, killed my tank and talk shit while he was doing it....but how come I didn't get "high caliber"?

Just curious.  In a losing effort I had one of my better games (yep, again, I know!  but for me a 3k game is in the "awesome" range) and the whole team sucked but still!

Why no hospital ships for West Africa? What is the real mission in West Africa?

Above you see the USNS Mercy.   Simple question.  If Ebola is not the issue that I believe it to be then why aren't we seeing them activated for the mission in West Africa? 

How could it help?  You would get 1000 medical beds as soon as it arrived on scene.  You would get almost a battalions worth of medical personnel when it pulled into dock.

Instead we have the 101st Airborne being tasked.  Why?  Simple.  Because the real threat is that these countries are on the verge of falling apart.  Ebola is a killer but the old ones are coming around the corner.  Famine.  Crops are failing and when you can't farm, people turn to bushmeat.  That simply means they're going to go out hunting wildlife.  That means Ebola is going to spread even more (bushmeat is suspected as the source of this disease).  Mass migration.  People are going to move when they sense that the danger is out of control.  That means that people will cross borders which will further spread the contagion.  Last is what we're seeing now but no one is talking about.  The break down of social order.

What I would like to know is what the contingency plans are.  

How is one Air Assault Division (even if we get the entire Division there...planning so far is to send a Brigade along with Division Headquarters) going to maintain order in 3 failed African states...while at the same time delivering medical support/aid...while at the same time protecting Air Assault Troopers against disease!

Geopolitics.by....the blog.

I posted yesterday that the war in Ukraine was about to heat up.  Well this is the source of that information and I invite you to check it out.  Its called "geopolitics.by" and its makes some pretty chilling statements about the war.

I don't know if its Russian, Ukrainian or Ethiopian (well I'm pretty sure its not the latter but you get the idea).  Before you head over there check out this passage from them...

But Europeans never occurs to blame Kiev. To blame for the events of Donbass, the EU Council has identified in advance - it's "aggressive" Russia, which can not stop after the "annexation" of the Crimea.
In fact, the fate of the inhabitants of Europe Donbass care. The really only care about her Russian gas supplies.
According to the results of the summit talks in Milan ("Free Press" about them wrote ), Moscow and Kiev have agreed on the terms of gas supply in winter. As explained by the head of "Gazprom" Alexey Miller , Ukraine every month will make a prepayment for the current delivery. Russia will supply its gas at a price of $ 385 per thousand cubic meters ($ 100 discount from the current price). In addition, until the end of 2014 Kiev must pay off the debt - 3.1 billion. Dollars.
But there is no money in Kiev - not to pay for current supplies or to repay debt. Logically, if the Europeans do not want to freeze, they could lend his Ukrainian protege. This is in the correct form, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on the results of the Milan meeting. "We hope that our European partners, the Commission can and should lean on Ukraine and help solve the problem with the cash gap" - said Putin, proposed a "specific tools": bridge loans, "the transfer of the next tranche of the IMF" or "guarantees a first-class European the bank. "
But Europeans no safeguards or about credits Kiev do not want to hear. They believe that Russia is obliged to deliver gas to Ukraine in debt - in other words, free.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 21 October, the head of the Ukrainian state Poroshenko ordered the start of the heating season across the country already this week. Actually gave "good" on the fence gas from the transit pipeline. This creates the risk that Russia will block any gas valve.
What does such a prospect for the EU, if the frost will make our European partners more objective assessments of the situation in the East of Ukraine?

Everything I read about this conflict always comes back to two issues.

*  Natural Gas
*  Ukraine being broke

From the outside looking in it appears that Europe is faced with a no win situation.  They either have to take responsibility for Ukraine, pay its debts and integrate it into the EU...something that would be extremely expensive and ruin relations with Russia not to mention what that would do the Ukrainian people...prices would skyrocket, they would have to make painful reforms to their entire society....or they finally shut up, sit down and let events play out as they may.

Oh an I say Europe for one simple reason.

I have yet to hear anyone make a case for how this is a US issue.  UN?  Maybe but lets be honest.  This is a European problem that deserves a European solution.

German Army River Crossing Demonstration Vid...

Major Hat Tip to Redken for the vid.



The above vid is a German Army demonstration of river crossing ops.  A few things stood out to me.

1.  The Fennek recon vehicle is probably a future star.  I thought it was fully amphibious so I don't know why they would stop and not swim to the other bank to complete their recon.
2.  The contraption for delivering the rubber boats to the area seemed ghetto.  I wonder why they would use that instead of a dedicated trailer?
3.  The FUCHs is probably the most under appreciated wheeled APC in any nations army...especially the German Army though.  After watching this demo I'm more convinced than ever of the need to make your APCs amphibious.  Crossing obstacles is one of the major functions of APCs and the thought that you have to do bridging ops to get vehicles like the Boxer or Stryker across gives me pause...it pauses the offensive too...and momentum is paramount in the attack.

All in all not bad for a dog and pony show.  Everyone hates this stuff but they probably guaranteed funding for the next fiscal year for a few new toys.

Is Singapore Army's Leopard EVO the most powerful tank in the Pacific?

While doing a "by the numbers" post on MBTs/IFVs in the Pacific, I was struck by a realization.

Tiny Singapore has the best MBT (in my opinion) in the Pacific region.

Everyone knows about the Leopard 2.  Many think that in its basic form its the best combination of firepower, protection and mobility.  Add EVO armor to it and it takes it to another level.  Mix in the professionalism of the Singaporean Army and you have perhaps the finest MBT in the region.

I never would have thought that a tiny island nation could somehow beat the best in the area but there you have it.  The Leopard EVO is better than the M1A2 of the Australian and US Army, the Type 99 fielded by China, the Type 10 of Japan, and the K2 used by S. Korea.  "Nuff said.

"Leave or Die" ... Ukrainian Civil War Back On!

via RINF.com

Ukrainian Government is said to have air-dropped leaflets: “leave or die.”
Introductory note by Eric Zuesse: Below is from a recent day’s report by the Belarusian (or “Byelorussian”) management-consulting firm Geopolitics, a site which often posts the most-penetrating daily reports and analyses of the Ukrainian civil war, with a dozen or more articles written by various Belarusian academics. One of these news reports, shown below, is provocatively headlined “War will begin on Monday”; another is titled, “Kiev is preparing to capture Donetsk, and it will be the biggest defeat for #russia since 1991”; yet a third is “Donbass pending decisive assault”.

I've been focused on my usual fare (with the exception of Ebola)...Armored Warfare, the United States Marine Corps, the F-35 and general military matters.

But I've also had my ears to the ground with whats going on in Ukraine.

That shit is still sizzling.  Combat has never really stopped and it looks like we're going to see a bit more savage fighting before the first snow fall.

Seems like Kiev is setting up a decisive battle to stabilize the lines before winter.

CNAS Think Tank lays out alternatives to the F-35!

I've posted my thoughts on what we should do IF the powers that be decide enough is finally enough with the F-35.  I'm just a blogger so my thoughts on the subject mean nothing.

Things have changed though.

Now we have a MAJOR Washington DC think tank that has published alternatives to the F-35.   Center for a New American Security is a LEFT leaning organization.  It was founded by Michèle A. Flournoy, former advisor to SecDef Panetta.  Quite honestly this makes this paper even more important.  This might be an indication of what policy makers are actually thinking.

Read it all and give me your opinion on the piece.  Sidenote.  How this escaped my attention (it was published in Feb of this year) is beyond me!

MAJOR HAT TIP to Canuck Fighter for the link.

  CNAS CarrierAirWing White

In layman's terms, EBOLA is airborne!

Major hat tip to Shepherd of the Gurney's.

  Infections Spread by Air or Droplets

The above form is via Gateway Pundit....its highly recommended that you read the entire article.

Rant time.

I'm not a medical professional but do you get what they're saying in this advisory?  Do you not realize that when people talk they're constantly spraying spittle?  Do you not know that a sneeze has been measured flying further than the 3 feet they're quoting?

WHEN THE GOVT STARTS PARSING INFORMATION I GET SUSPICIOUS!  When they put out disinformation during a matter of national security/public health I get pissed.

We are NOT being told the whole story about Ebola.  In layman's terms, Ebola IS airborne.