The aircraft in the photo is China's J-18 VTOL stealth fighter jet.One thing is becoming increasingly clear. China has its sights set on challenging the US militarily...and on equal footing.
Japanese and US media have lots of speculation about China’s third fourth-generation stealth fighter jet J-18 in addition to the J-20 and J-31 already widely known,
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun was the first to publish a report on the successful test flight of J-18 at the beginning of 2013. It said that China began to develop its own catapult for the aircraft carrier it planed to build but lacked key technology to make such catapult; therefore, China scrapped its original plan for a carrier for horizontal taking off of aircrafts and began instead to develop VTOL aircrafts.
Soon afterwards, US Defense News weekly published an article that believed that China was developing short-distance vertical taking-off and landing stealth fighter jet, i.e. J-18 Red Eagle VTOL fighter jet, with superb stealth function and installed with laser active phased array radar, internal weapon bays and two vector engines with great thrust.
The Japanese and American reports, though sensational in nature and supplemented by later reports, are but speculation. There had been no evidence on the existence of J-18 whatever until now when Britain’s Jane’s Defense Review published a report on the fighter containing a recent photo copied from a post at a Chinese military forum on the Internet.
Judging by the photo given by Jane’s, J-18 looks almost the same as J-31 except its canard structure. This gives people the impression that it is a VTOL version of J-31. It sounds reasonable as developing a VTOL version saves money than the development of an aircraft from nothing. This is also the case with US F-35 stealth fighter jet. It has three versions including a VTOL version.
However, J-31 is developed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation who has no experience in developing canard aircrafts. It is suspected that the aircraft is a national project participated by Shenyang and other aircraft manufacturers.
Poland plans to allow civilians to sign up for military training. With anti-Russian hysteria spreading like wildfire, Warsaw has rushed to step up its defense systems amid fears over the ongoing military conflict in neighboring eastern Ukraine.Make no mistake about it.
"All citizens interested in taking part in military exercises will be able to sign up starting March 1" at regional recruitment centers, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told reporters on Thursday.
Although Poland, Central Europe's largest country, ended conscription in 2008, Siemoniak said that some 38,000 reservists would be called up to take part in exercises in 2016, compared to the 12,000 this year. The ministry also plans to involve paramilitary groups in its new defense policy, AFP reported.
Since the crisis broke out in eastern Ukraine, Poland, a NATO member state, has been busy revamping its armed forces. Warsaw plans to spend 33 billion euros ($37 billion) over a decade on the overhaul.
"The chances of a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis are increasingly slim. Russia’s obvious goal is to block Ukraine's path toward Europe," Siemoniak said, adding that Russia's use of "military means" poses "a long-term threat to Europe."
President Putin proposed a cease-fire and a withdrawal of weapons exceeding 100 mm in caliber from a defined area.The largest gun mounted on the T-34 was, if I remember correctly, a 85mm gun. These tanks would fall in line with his proposal. The people that posted this video and the Russians who commented on it believe that these tanks are headed to Ukraine. I agree with them. As crazy as it might sound, these vehicles are in line with Putin's plan. Funny. The "crazy" Russian seems to have a game plan while the US and EU are lost in the woods.
Just shy of a months worth of operations and the RAF has expended;Now you know why the effort against ISIS is .... a joke.
- Hellfire; 20
- Brimstone; 5
The target descriptions are equally interesting, a truck, a heavy machine gun position, an armoured personnel carrier and excavator. These targets fall definitely into the ‘tactical’ column rather than attacking ‘strategic’ targets.
- Paveway IV; 12
What conclusions can we draw (if any) from the number of targets, types of target, launch platform and weapons expended?
- Reaper is doing just as much of the heavy lifting as Tornado without the massive logistic effort involved with refuelling Tornado?
- Paveway IV seems to be the referred option for those sorties flown by Tornado?
- How many Reapers can we buy for a single F35?
- The effect delivered (destroying an excavator or trucks in singles) are insignificant compared to the cost?
- Air power used in this manner satisfies the ‘something must be done’ brigade but not much else?
- Any others?
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| BRIDGEPORT, Calif (Jan. 26, 2015) - Paratroopers assigned to Able Company, 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry execute high-altitude mountain mobility operations at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. The joint training opportunity is part of U.S. Army Alaska's initiative to enhance partnered high altitude cold regions training. |
Friday, January 30, DONBAS — According to the press center of the North Operations Command, the terrorists make attempts of break-through in Schastya, Krymske.This news is from the Ukrainian military website. How accurate is it? Again, I don't know. But it is another source of info. Click the above link to go to the site.
Military equipment is moved from RF in Lugansk direction and the illegal armed forces increase their forces. The combat tactics of the rebels: multiple rocket launcher attacks, shelling attacks, armor groups supported by infantry.
Artillery units of the North Operations Command accomplished 12 tasks in order to destroy the rebels’ fire emplacement and inflict losses. In the last 24 hours they have destroyed 6 armored vehicles.
The rebels have completed 24 attacks against the sector positions. The rebels traditionally mount their weapons in communities.
“This organizational change will help ensure a unified voice for operational integration of the F-35 across the Air Force as we collectively work towards bringing this remarkable new aircraft into our combat inventory.” Harrigian said in a statement.Wow.
Harrigian is the Air Force’s assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements. He replaces Col. Carl Schaefer, who heads to Edwards Air Force Base in March to command the 412th Test Wing in March.
Perhaps the most important but obscure bit of this change is that the Air Force’s voting authority in the JPO moves from Air Combat Command to the F-35 Integration Office. That gives the service’s senior leadership a tighter rein on the program. As the statement notes, “all senior leader communication within the Air Force will flow through the integration office.”
“Assigning a general officer on the Air Staff will ensure we have a single point of contact with the Joint Program office empowered to speak on behalf of the Air Force for any aspect of the F-35 program,” Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force Chief of Staff, said in the statement.
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| General Dynamics ACV prototype. |
so what you're telling me is that our new ACV is now barely more capable than the AAV in the water, probably less mobile than a legacy AAV over broken terrain but the plus side is that its more heavily protected?One thing the USMC must NOT do is fool itself.
do you get what you're saying?
we canned a high speed EFV that was (according to HQMC) only suffering from reliability problems...they said that it had attained MRAP type levels of protection before it was canceled. we declined to buy a non-planning version of that same vehicle because we said that high speed in the water was important. we not only threw away all the work that was done on the EFV but then we turned around, wasted 4 years debating this issue and in the end we're going to rely on a vehicle, the Marine Personnel Carrier that was intended from the start to be a surrogate vehicle to the EFV.
we invest over 15 years of work...waste millions of dollars and in the end we're getting a vehicle that only equals (at best) what we have now?
sorry. i want to be fired up, but this just makes me want to choke someone in leadership. don't piss on my back and tell me its sunshine. additionally lets be real. we'll actually be lucky to have these vehicles in service by 2025. so again. tell me why i should be happy?
Lance Cpl. Steven J. Szymanski reached over the front seat of a light armored vehicle to grab his helmet.JESUS!
In doing so, the lever that raises the seat was accidentally triggered and Szymanski was trapped with his neck between the back of the driver's seat and the ceiling of the vehicle.
At least 15 minutes passed before a fellow Marine found Szymanski and pulled him out. By then, according to officials, it was too late.
A 147-page report obtained Thursday by the Observer details the Marine's accidental death on Fort Bragg last year and shows that at least 11 other Marines from his unit had experienced similar seat malfunctions.
The malfunctions, however, were never reported to the appropriate personnel.
Szymanski, 24, of Midland, Michigan, was training on Fort Bragg with his unit, the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune, when he was killed on Oct. 21.
A light-armored vehicle crewman, Szymanski was conducting post-operation checks from inside the LAV when he reached to grab his helmet.
According to the command investigation, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the LAV seat was not locked into place because the locking pin, which would have prevented the seat from moving up or down, was rusted and seized in the open position.
The Marine investigator ruled Szymanski's death, most likely caused by traumatic asphyxiation, an accident.
Recent photographs have confirmed that at least part of the Republic of China Army (RoCA) fleet of CM11 main battle banks (MBT) have been upgraded with the installation of explosive reactive armour (ERA).The analysis at the end of the Janes' article does raise a question.
The CM11 MBT is essentially a brand new US-supplied General Dynamics Land Systems M60 hull fitted with a modified turret from the older M48 MBT. The CM11 is also referred to as the M48H 'Brave Tiger'.
The ERA, shown in photographs taken during exercises earlier in January, is fitted on the glacis plate as well as the front and turret sides to provide a higher level of protection against weapons fitted with a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead.
This ERA is not normally fitted during peacetime training as there is no threat.
The exact origins of the ERA fitted to the CM11 MBT has not been confirmed, but it is very similar to that developed by France some years ago rather than the Blazer ERA fielded by the Israel Defense Forces.
The Pentagon's base budget is currently $496 billion, plus another $64 billion for overseas missions. Obama's increases would allow for new next-generation F-35 fighters, ships and submarines and long-range Air Force tankers. Military leaders have also said the earlier cuts forced reductions in flying hours, training and equipment maintenance.And there you have it.
On the domestic side, Obama has proposed offering two free years of community college and creating new or expanded tax credits for child care and spouses who both work. He's called for raising the top capital gains rate on some wealthy couples and consolidating education tax breaks, although some of those ideas have already faced intense opposition.
"Until he gets serious about solving our long-term spending problem, it's hard to take him seriously," said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.
Still, the president's budget proposal is just that - a proposal- and will not become law.
“The intelligence estimates were correct,” he said, of China. “And I became, I think it’s fair to say, alarmed as soon as I started seeing technical intelligence reports on China’s modernization programs.”I've been beating this drum for awhile now.
“And I can say the same with Russia’s modernization programs as well,” he added.
The U.S. military was dominant following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he said, and the U.S. action in the Persian Gulf war demonstrated the nation’s conventional force prowess.
But beginning in 2001 the military has focused on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns against a very different kind of threat.
“No one observed more carefully the dominance that we demonstrated in 1991 than the Chinese,” Kendall said, referring to U.S. precision arms capabilities, stealth forces, and ability to conduct wide area surveillance.
“And what I’m seeing [now] in foreign modernization, again, particularly China’s, is a suite of capabilities that are intended, clearly to me, at least, to defeat the American way of doing power projection, [the] American way of warfare when we fight in an expeditionary manner far from the United States,” Kendall said.
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| Image via Bantay Spratly showing the remains of the 44 Police Officers ambushed by terrorist forces. |
Brazilian police in the city of São Paulo made an unexpected discovery when they stumbled upon two old military tanks inside a warehouse. The armored vehicles were stashed away along with stolen items and the police are currently investigating how they ended up there.I've never explored it but have heard that the black market in the US is truly a sight to behold. Supposedly you can buy everything from prohibited firearms (talking real deal automatic weapons) to drugs and everything inbetween.
On Monday the military police of Sao Paulo state stumbled upon the two engineless tanks inside a warehouse in the Sacoma, a low-income neighborhood in São Paulo, according to the Guardian.
In a statement posted on their Facebook page, the police recount how an inquiry into the theft of car led them to the very unusual discovery. Police discovered a warehouse that contained various stolen products, the statement said.
"The warehouse is located in Vila Carioca, near Tamanduateí train station, and inside it [police] found a truck with a container, loaded with approximately 500 42-inch LED televisions," the police statement said. "Beyond that container, they found a semi-trailer truck, various automotive parts and two armored tanks of the armed forces, without any identification. [Police] located the owner of the warehouse; he said he rents it for an individual and was unaware of its use."
