US Navy wants more EA-18 Growlers!

via Reuters.

Nov 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is looking at possible additional orders of Boeing Co's EA-18G electronic attack planes, or Growlers, as it shapes its fiscal 2016 budget request, the Navy's top uniformed officer said Saturday.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert said the Navy was reviewing its inventory of tactical aircraft, including Growlers and strike fighters, to ensure its electronic attack needs were met.
Congress, responding to an "unfunded priority" list submitted by the Navy earlier this year, is poised to approve orders of 12 more EA-18G Growlers in the fiscal 2015 budget, which will help Boeing extend the production line for the jets in St. Louis through 2017.
The Navy had not requested funding for the jets in its fiscal 2015 budget, but did add 22 EA-18G jets to its unfunded priorities list.
Greenert did not comment specifically on whether the Navy would request funding for the jets in its fiscal 2016 core budget, or a new unfunded priorities list, but said the Navy's electronic attack capabilities were being evaluated as part of the overall tactical aircraft budget.
"Before we close the books and call it quits on Growlers, we want to make sure we've got the electronic attack right," Greenert said.

Keep an eye on this one.

The USMC has a carrier mission and is part of the US Navy's electronic attack capabilities.  Additionally the cost of the F-35C is prohibitive and the USMC will not be able to abandon the effort like the USAF has.

Long story short?  I have no visibility on inside Navy/Marine discussions but it would not surprise me to see a squadron or two of Growlers with USMC decals on the side.

Sidenote:  Greenert is a slick son of a bitch.  He's inching his way toward the Advanced Super Hornet and at the same time emphasizing his philosophy....payloads over platforms...add to it the budget deficit, the need to increase ship building, the delayed maintenance on ships we have, the need to replace the current ballistic missile subs and the idea that the USMC needs more amphibs and you have the perfect scenario for Super Hornets forever.

Sidenote 1:  There must be some fascinating developments in Electronic Attack.  The only Squadrons that are increasing in size are those involved in this field.  How the USMC and USAF can continue to ignore this area when the US Navy appears to be all in, is beyond me.  The most interesting part of this?  The Russians appear to be following the Navy's lead and are satisfied with partial stealth...with an emphasis on payloads!

Blast from the past. WWII Amphibian Tank and Tractor Historical Association

Are you interested in the COMPLETE history of amphibious assault?  Are you curious about how the US Army organized its Amphibious Tank Companies?  Are you concerned about the direction of Amphibious Assault Vehicles in the Marine Corps?

If you answered yes to any of the above then you really should check out the WWII Amphibian Tank and Tractor Historical Association FaceBook Page.

Get ready for the Syrian war....US style.

via Jerusalem Online.

US President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor asked the President to present a new strategy for the war against IS, after reaching the understanding that the current method has failed. According to the reports, the only way in order to defeat Islamic State is to overthrow Assad as well and that it is not possible to operate against the terror group in both Iraq and Syria separately.


Over the last week, the National Security Council held four meetings in the White House, which was attended by top officials including President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry. “The purpose of these meetings was to examine how we are going to coordinate our strategy against IS in Syria. The President asked how to examine how things so they fit together. The long war in Syria together with the desire to defeat IS was until now separated and it was not the correct action,” a senior level US official stated.
Regarding the Civil War in Syria, Washington, DC had hoped that training and arming moderate rebels to fight against IS will also allow them to defeat Assad, but this strategy has not proved itself on the ground. The moderate rebels have been fighting on two fronts, both against Assad and the Islamists, resulting in them failing to effectively fight against both. “Ultimately, the Iraq first strategy did not work,” the senior level source stated.
“The Syrian opposition has proven that it cannot deal with IS, which is still in northern Syria despite the incessant fighting,” he stated. One of the options now under consideration is the establishment of restricted flight zones south of the Turkish border or changing the support for moderate rebels to include increased US assistance.

Just fucking wow.

An expanded war in Syria with no one looking at worse case scenarios, the cost of rebuilding this nation will be on our shoulders alone...And in the end the Middle East will be as fucked up as it always has been.

What do I recommend?  Pull out the lawn chairs, crack open a bottle and watch the shit burn.

More combat in the Middle East?  We're going to go broke fighting for people that won't fight for themselves.  This shit needs to stop! 

Lockheed Martin going after AVIC for theft of intellectual property with the J-31???

Photos of a Lockheed Martin employee surfaced on the Internet indicating that he spends a few hours taking snapshots of the J-31/FC-31 static display, hoping to find signs of intellectual property infringement. Good luck! 

The above photos were posted on the J-31 facebook page and they ... well you can read the caption.

Is LM actually sending people to the Chinese Air Show and checking the model to see if they can find evidence of theft of intellectual property?

This has to be propaganda!  China stole the tech and the US govt, LM, BAE and the other stake holders in this program rolled over. If that actually is a LM employee then my guess is that he's looking for partnership opportunities with Communist China.  International defense firms have only customers...no loyalty and no nationality.

Sidenote:  To the employees of defense firms.  Don't react emotionally to that statement!  I believe that you are loyalist (the vast majority anyway), but I don't believe it extends to the boardroom or many of the "big" shareholders.

F-35 strangling the Canadian Air Force even before they get it...

via Ottwa Citizen.

Usually such funds would have come from the Department of National Defence and been administered by its procurement staff. But that process has changed, according to Royal Canadian Air Force commander Lt.-Gen. Yvan Blondin.
“The RCAF will now be responsible for the National Procurement financial obligations detailed in the Joint Strike Fighter program – amounting to $22.5M(million) for FY 2014/15 – and has no ability to absorb this amount,” Blondin wrote in his 2014 business plan, which was leaked to the Citizen.
Blondin warned if he didn’t get the money then RCAF operations would be hindered.
That set off a series of intense negotiations within National Defence headquarters, with budget officials heeding Blondin’s warning and providing him with the money.
“Payment into the program has had no impact on the RCAF’s readiness level or operational capabilities,” DND spokesman Dan Blouin stated in an email to the Citizen.
He noted the air force now has responsibility for such future costs, a change from previous years.

Too fucking funny.

They're complaining about 23 million dollars when that won't even buy one airplane?  What happens when they finally saddle up and actually start buying?  This is turning into a dark comedy.

Laser deployed aboard US warship.

via Bloomberg.

The U.S. Navy has deployed on a command ship in the Persian Gulf its first laser weapon capable of destroying a target.
The amphibious transport ship USS Poncehas been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can be fired in several modes -- from a dazzling warning flash to a destructive beam -- and can set a drone or small boat on fire.

Warfare at sea is about to change.

All those vaunted supersonic anti-ship missiles will be worth nothing.  Suddenly, air defense against boat swarms will be simplistic.  The idea that a "sea base" needs to stand off 200 miles off shore will seem foolish.

Yeah.  I like what the Navy is doing.

Its amazing what happens when you build your forces to fit your doctrine, instead of fitting your forces to certain procurement objectives.

The F-35, The US Navy and the truth about an "off ramp"...UPDATED!

UPDATE!  Elements of Power Blog didn't name his source. A 1.5 second Google search revealed it to be Breaking Defense...why would he not reveal it?  Unknown.  They're big boys and can take the heat from any statement they make.  Perhaps its because they have standing in the defense media community and are diverting from the PERCEIVED direction of common thinking.  Regardless, this issue will soon be front and center for Congress, the President and the Pentagon.  There is no appetite for increased defense spending without trade-offs.  The days of the F-35 being a protected program are over.

via Elements of Power Blog.

Where did the idea that the “Navy” has been less than enthusiastic about the F-35C come from? I think I know, and can trace it back two or so years to a single statement made by the incoming CNO in an article for the USNI ‘Proceedings’. That single article gave such hope to the anti-JSF crowd that it gained far more audience and credence that it would have ever otherwise received, certainly more than it ever deserved.

Today, with the successful-to-date F-35 sea trials of the CF-3 and CF-5 aircraft operating off the USS Nimitz these past two weeks, the story has become one of a ‘surprising’ reversal of opinion (or beginnings thereof) by the Navy—at least as far as the media would lead us to believe.
I submit, that to the contrary it can be shown that what Navy enthusiasm there is for the F-35C is probably pretty much what it has always been, with perhaps a few more opinions among Wizened within the competing NAVAIR tribes lately changed for the better.

The life cycle of the whole ‘Navy chill to the F-35’ meme can be tracked easily—all the way back to its origins. The first FIVE citations/quotes are from the same publication taken over time. I do not mention the publication’s name for a couple of reasons. One, it doesn't matter. The media followed pretty much the same path getting here no matter what the sponsor. Two, I am partial to the reporting at the source and do not want to unfairly highlight this one little misadventure among a larger body of greater work. [I've numbered the steps involved in developing the meme to make it easier to discuss and reference if needed]

Go to Elements of Power's house to read the entire thing.

He's as wrong as three left feet.  I don't know when Elements of Power stopped looking at reality and suddenly became a slave to this program but its extremely frustrating to see so much potential wasted on propping up a failed program.

But back to reality and not EoP's fantasy.  This is where the meme that the Navy wanted on off ramp from the F-35 came from...via Politico...

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.

Yeah.  That's right.

A 2.5 second Google search led me to the smoking gun that EoP ignored, didn't find or chose not to reveal to his readers.

The meme is real  The Navy wants out of the program and the real fight for this program will happen in Congress, not the Pentagon.

Expect real Congressional oversight of this project and a frank discussion about the need for ships (including amphibs), subs and armored vehicles over the F-35 in the near future.

EoP was wrong...he was so wrong...

Future Threat Armor. VT4 Main Battle Tank (formerly MBT-3000).

via Want China.

The VT4 main battle tank occupied the center of the pavilion. Liu Song, the deputy general manager of Norinco's R&D department said that the tank is set to be a major export for China. The tank was first unveiled at a defense expo in France, at that time it was referred to as the Main Battle Tank 3000 (MBT-3000), but it has now been renamed the VT4.
Liu said that one of the biggest improvements in the VT4 is that it is now constructed with 100% Chinese components, a 12,000 horse-power propulsion system and an automatic transmission. Previously a Russian media outlet stated that China had exported Al-Khalid or MBT-2000 tanks to Pakistan, which had performed well, but as they used Ukrainian engines, China was forced by Ukraine to pull out of a deal in the South American market. Liu said China's VT4 has resolved this issue, as its indigenous propulsion system is effective and stable. Its fire control system employs a digital imaging system and the speed at which the charge travels has also been accelerated.
Besides the three main features of defense, speed, and firepower, the VT4 also features the incorporation of digital and internet technology. In front of the head of the tank team, for example, is an integrated display terminal. This is no ordinary terminal. It not only displays the amount of fuel and ammunition remaining, but can receive commands from remote locations, transmit the location of friendly tanks and provide information on the enemy.
Also on display at the expo are caterpillar infantry fighting vehicles, wheeled tank destroyers and other armored vehicles, all of which incorporate digital and internet technology. Even if they get out of their vehicles, infantry can carry the hand-held terminals on the battlefield.

I wonder how they're going to make the "only for export" market work for them.  Vickers had a couple of fantastic looking tanks that never got orders and Commando Gage had a superb 6x6 Mobile Gun that never caught on.

If they can make the price too good to pass up, and if they prove to be even a little reliable then we might see a change in the armored vehicle market.  The current trend is to buy used, but refurbished MBT's.    Brand new, state of the art vehicles might be what some smaller countries are looking for.

French air combat missions against ISIS.

French AIr Force website, translation by Google...The Rafale support Iraqi troops in combat on November 14, 2014, the Shamal force brought three new strikes against Daech positions from which these terrorists were conducting offensive actions against Iraqi security forces in the North of the country.

In the morning, while she was in armed reconnaissance mission, a patrol of two Rafale has been oriented by the air operations centre (CAOC) on a mission of opportunity in the Kirkuk region, between Baghdad and Mosul. It was to destroy combat positions from which the group self-proclaimed Daech terrorists opened fire on Iraqi security forces.

During this mission, the patrol has issued several laser (GBU12) guided bombs Daech offensive positions. The action of the french aircraft led the destruction of a bunker housing terrorist fighters, equipment used in the fortification of their position, as well as a second position fighting.

These daily armed reconnaissance missions directly support the action of the Iraqi armed forces engaged in combat.

Canada's LAV III's to be upgraded with surveillance modules..

via UPI

LONDON, Ontario, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- An enhanced surveillance suite is to be provided and installed on upgraded Canadian military LAV III armored vehicles by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada.
The surveillance system will include a 32.8-foot retractable mast, an operator control station and a surveillance suite consisting of radar, thermal/day and image intensification sights, laser range finder and GPS.
The contract is worth about $253.3 million and was announced by Minister of Public Works and Government Services Diane Finley.
"General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada continues their 37 year partnership with the Government of Canada," said Danny Deep, vice president of General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada. "More than 20 years ago, we designed and delivered to the Canadian Army the Coyote vehicle, which at the time was the best reconnaissance/surveillance vehicle in the world. We are now privileged to deliver the next generation of advanced surveillance capability to the Canadian soldier."
Upgraded LAV III infantry fighting vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems have been designated LAV 6.0. Delivery of the vehicles is to begin at the end of 2016.

This understated news blurb is perhaps one of the biggest things to hit the armored vehicle sector.

Everyone talks about "network fusion" but this actually brings ground forces into that game.  It appears that the Canadian Army is actually looking at being a major part of a true 3d force (land, air and sea fully networked).  Impressive.

Space X Dragon version 2 (pic).

Can't quite tell the dimensions but it appears to be substantially larger than version 1 (below).

BLT 3/1: Motorized Raid...video by Cpl. Steve H. Lopez

Are we really looking at a future where MTVR's become the primary vehicle for Marine Corps motorized assaults?

That proposal by American Mercenary for the USMC to cut its losses and simply use/modify some  Strykers is looking better and better.  Oh and look forward to something on the Marine Personnel Carrier competition real soon.

YAK-130. Pic of the day.

Don't know the photographer so I can't credit him.  Seen at Zone 5.net.

India's Light Combat Helicopter via Military Aviation News.

India on Wednesday pinned an inspiring page to its chopper chapter when Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) successfully conducted the maiden test flight of the third technology demonstrator (TD-3) of the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). Piloted by Wg Cdr Unni Pillai (Retd), HAL's Chief Test Pilot (CTP), Rotary Wing (RW) and ably assisted by Gp Capt Hari Nair (Retd), Deputy CTP (RW), the 20-minute maiden outing of LCH TD-3 was a flawless affair. The successful flight is a huge morale-booster to HAL, as the TD-3 project is being funded (Rs 80 crore) completely by the company, as part of the ‘bold strategy by the Board' to fast-track the programme. HAL has also set aside Rs 126 crore for LCH TD-4, which is expected to fly soon.

The LCH TD3's flight had its own share of suspense with the Bengaluru weather presenting a gloomy picture all through Tuesday. However, not-withstanding a light drizzle, the pilots took off the LCH TD3 from HAL's Helicopter Division and headed towards the Hoskote segment with a Dhruv chopper as the chase. The confidence of the pilots were evident when they did a low fly-past over the Helicopter Complex before touching down completing all flight parameters as prescribed during the pre-flight briefing session. "Every test point was done exactly with nothing unusual noticed during the flight. We are confident that the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) will now be achieved in September 2015, three months ahead of the deadline," HAL Chairman R K Tyagi told OneIndia.

Sailors attacked in Turkey while on shore leave.

The Sailors should have manned the fuck up and beat the shit out of those bastards.  Fuck a speech.  Just punch the bastard in the throat and haul ass.

But rant aside.

Who the hell thought that it would be a good idea to grant shore leave in fucking Turkey!  THEY HAVE SUPPORTED ISIS!!!!  We're lucky they were'nt kidnapped and in the hand of those terrorists.

Where is Naval Intelligence and the Force Protection guys to assess these areas before our guys start wandering around in civvies in public?

Someone failed big time.  They're just lucky Sailors didn't bleed for their fuckup.

Bold Alligator 2014 moves ashore...pics by Cpl. James Smith

Assault amphibious vehicles with 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division drive ashore at Onslow Beach, N.C., during beach operations training aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Nov. 4, 2014, as part of Exercise Bold Alligator 14. Bold Alligator 14 is a scenario-driven exercise designed to improve naval amphibious core competence, increase proficiency in operations ranging from foreign disaster relief to limited force entry, and help grow interoperability with coalition forces

Check out the weathering on this F-35C.

Less than a couple of weeks out at sea and this F-35 already looks like the maritime environment is just body slamming that stealth coating.

NATO Commander confirms Russian armor is now in Ukraine...

via USA Today

Russia is moving columns of armored vehicles and combat troops into east Ukraine, NATO said Wednesday.
"We have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defense systems and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine," said NATO's supreme allied commander, U.S. Gen. Phillip Breedlove, according to Agence France-Presse.
Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the official spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry denied Breedlove's assertions.
"We've already stopped taking note of the unfounded statements by NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe," Konashenkov told reporters Wednesday, according to Russia's state-owned TASS news agency. "We've stressed many a time there are no real facts behind the acts of shaking the air by Brussels officials."

Interesting.

This confirmation comes while Obama is at the meeting in China.  Is this meant to humiliate the President?  Additionally who is doing the jabbing here?  Putin or the NATO Commander?

Bear Bomber intercept via UK Ministry of Defense.

RAF QRA Typhoon Escorting a Russian Bear Aircraft
A Russian Bear aircraft is escorted by a Royal Air Force Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Typhoon during an intercept in September 2014.
Royal Air Force aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth launched the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) for the first time since the Moray base took on the role of defending the UK’s Northern airspace. Typhoon jets were scrambled to identify aircraft in international airspace. The aircraft, identified as Russian military ‘Bears’, did not enter UK airspace.

Everyone's getting excited about the Russian flights but isn't the big nosed Bear a recon or electronic warfare airplane?

It seems that they're just doing the same things we do off the Chinese coast.  By that I mean its really no big deal.

Russian & Serbian Airborne Exercise Vid.

The Russians are light years ahead of the US Army's 82nd Airborne when it comes to the art form.  Its past time for them to finally develop an airborne APC and light tank.

Oh and a slight shocker.  The above vid is from "For the Record" blog.  Its dedicated to World of Tanks video game.  I've said it once and I'll say it a thousand times.  The gaming, modeling and the reenactment communities are a major source for preserving armor history, both past and present.