Once ISIS is solved the Kurds will be the next major Middle East issue.

via Ottawa Citizen.

Germany has already sent some Milan anti-tank systems to the Kurds fighting in Iraq. It will now send 30 more launchers and 500 more missiles. Also included in the shipment will be 4,000 assault rifles and 10 Dingo armoured vehicles.
Peshmerga Minister Mustafa Sayid Qadir recently told reporters about the value of the first shipment of gear that came last year. “The German weapons, especially the anti-tank Milan missiles have been effective in deciding the battle.”

Has anyone been noticing the request for munitions coming from the Kurds?  I'm a supporter of their efforts against ISIS and quite honestly I'm beginning to wonder.

Are they gearing up to take ISIS down or are they taking this opportunity to get setup for the fight for an independent state?  Below is a map of "proposed borders" for an independent Kurdish state.

If you Google, "Big Kurdistan" or "Pan-Kurdish National Conference" or "Kurdish Independence" then you'll be taken to some websites where these ideas are considered a done deal.

So chew on that one.

Once ISIS is put back in its cage then we will immediately roll into the "Kurdish" problem and since they will have fought for and hold the ground of much of Syria AND Iraq....with the Syrian govt either still divided or newly formed, the Iraqi govt attempting to deal with its own Sunni/Shia issues and the Kurds having slices of both countries it will be a fait accompli.

Except Turkey will be pissed and spoiling for a fight.  They will not stand idly by while the Kurds establish a state.  Something that will cause a rift between Turkey and the rest of NATO?  We will have for all intents and purposes rearmed them....and if it continues at this pace then they will have a force that can cause Turkey serious problems.

Best case scenario?  The Ukrainian issue is solved by years end.  ISIS is defeated late next year or early 2017.  Which leaves us with the Kurdish issue roiling the world into the next decade.

I am really not a fan of these interesting times we live in.  A bit of boredom would be nice.

"It's not just Greenert, it's across the naval aviation community: They're just not that into the F-35,"

via Navy Times.

Greenert was speaking about the next generation of fighter aircraft, but his comments could just as easily be applied to Lockheed Martin's F-35C, the carrier-based version of the joint strike fighter. Aviation analysts who watch the F-35 program closely say Greenert's comments reflect ambivalence among naval aviators about the F-35 as a strike fighter, especially compared to the tried-and-true F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets.
"It's not just Greenert, it's across the naval aviation community: They're just not that into the F-35," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group.
Greenert has expressed skepticism about stealth technology's value before, arguing in a 2012 paper that improving computing technology will render even the most stealthy aircraft more detectable.
"Those developments do not herald the end of stealth, but they do show the limits of stealth design in getting platforms close enough to use short-range weapons," Greenert wrote.
"It is time to consider shifting our focus from platforms that rely solely on stealth to also include concepts for operating farther from adversaries using standoff weapons and unmanned systems — or employing electronic-warfare payloads to confuse or jam threat sensors rather than trying to hide from them."

Told ya so.

The bigger problem for the F-35?

The budget for the services.

Take a deep dive into the budget issues and things are bleak.  The Navy needs a new boomer, keep the current fleet serviceable and build a few ships a year to just maintain the 300 ship fiction that it spouts.  The USAF needs its next gen bomber, tanker and the F-35.  The US Army is hanging on by a shoestring...its cut almost all the personnel that its sensible to cut and anymore heads into a risk area...and its so called modernization is a sad joke.  They're simply maintaining equipment already in stock.

The USMC.  Well you know my thoughts on whats going on there.

People are looking for the exits and preparing the ground for a quick get away.

Do the Russians have Daisy Cutters?

Thanks to Info Infantrie for the vid!



NOTE:  This is a follow up to a post earlier "What target got hit to turn night into day in Donesk"

Check out the crater left from the explosion.  According to my Russian speakers the hole is 10 meters deep by 50 meters in diameter!  I guess a MOAB would cause even greater damage but maybe a Russian Daisy Cutter...just weaker than our own...maybe optimized for urban settings.

USMC Concepts and Programs website.

Many of you might already have dug into this site but it was new to me.  Click here to go the USMC Concepts and Programs website.  The dreaming is high in this shop.  I get the impression that fantasy rather than reality is going on here.... with procurement driving doctrine, instead of doctrine driving procurement.  But thats my opinion.  Head over there to check it out for yourself.

We finally found out the holdup with Australia's LAND 400 project...

Thanks for the link Jonathan!

via Yahoo.Australia

One industry figure said the delays in the tender for the LAND 400 contract were costly for the six teams interested in the contract, including those being overseen by BAE Systems, Boeing, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Rheinmetall.
Insiders believe the project has already been ticked off by the Government's razor gang - the Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet - but query why a tender has not been issued.
The project is seen as crucial in protecting Australian soldiers from rocket-propelled grenade attacks. Australia's ASLAVs and M113s were designed 30 to 40 years ago and cannot withstand modern weaponry.
The 16-tonne ASLAV will be replaced by a 25-30-tonne vehicle and the 18-tonne M113 will be replaced by a 35-40-tonne vehicle.
A spokesman for Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said the Government would have more to say about LAND 400 "in the near future".

Interesting.

The new info here is that they're looking at two different vehicles to replace the ASLAV and M113's instead of settling on just one.

That will cost extra.

I don't quite understand why they would choose to go that route but at least we now know that the program is still on.  I think I'll start keeping an eye on this one.  If only to learn the rationale behind the Australian Army's decision to go with two different sized vehicles.

Sea Basing annual report ...

Thanks to Lee for the link!

  Sea Basing annual report.

Well this explains why the fight against ISIS is going so badly...

Thanks to MIKE for the link!

via Breitbart.

Sunday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday,” veteran journalist Bob Woodward said people in the military are complaining to him that the Obama administration has no strategy to defeat ISIS other then having people like Susan Rice “micromanage” military responses.
Woodward said, “If you talk to people in the White House and the military, I think there’s agreement and John McCain is right and General Flynn is right, there is no strategy. They have not sat down and said this is where we want to go and this is how we want to do it. And the measure of that, when you head into the weeds here, people from the White House are micromanaging the tactical situation on a daily and weekly basis. That’s not their job. They have to kind of do strategic planning and say what do we want to accomplish in the next year.”
When host Chris Wallace asked, “Wait a minute, are you saying that — forgive me, Susan Rice, is telling the generals what to do?” Woodard confirmed it by saying, “And they have got all these people in the White House. You talk to people in the military who are there and they say ‘we are being micromanaged and we’re not given a real plan to say what are we going to do here.’ And it’s not the way to run a war or try to win a war.”

It would be natural to complain about White House meddling and sympathize with the Generals.

I can't.

We haven't seen one General resign and go on a talking tour to express issues with the fight against ISIS.  We haven't seen leaks (well except for this one that won't be seen by the majority of Americans) to trusted press sources (and every General has at least one) that have railed against White House interference in this fight.

So no.  I can't sympathize with the Generals.  I can only state that we're seeing the worst military leadership in our nations history...and its extended through two administrations...16 freaking years of leadership failure.

What target got hit to turn night into day in Donetsk?

Many thanks to Andrius for the vid!



Many are guessing ammo depot.

I don't think so.  We should be seeing plenty of secondary explosions if that was the case.  A poorly organized fuel farm?  Maybe.  I'll be watching for reports of damage from the Donetsk region with a bit more care over the next few days.

Motley Fool Investment site thinks the Armata MBT will be robotic.

via Motley Fool

....we're fascinated by the Armata -- and how its invention might affect investor portfolios back here in the U.S. For example, General Dynamics (NYSE: GD ) builds tanks for the U.S. military, while iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT ) builds smaller military robots. Might a perceived threat from Russian "robo-tanks" like the Armata tank prompt a merger -- or at least a collaboration -- between these two U.S. defense contractors?
Unless the Pentagon is willing to permit a "robot gap" to open between U.S. and Russian military capabilities, such a team-up might be necessary. Disturbing as the prospect of a new arms race between the U.S. and Russia might be, such a development would certainly benefit U.S. defense contractors.

At General Dynamics, for instance, slack sales of battle tanks recently forced the company tolay off hundreds of workers at its Lima, Ohio, Abrams tank plant. iRobot has been hurt nearly as hard by the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Revenues at the company's Defense and Security business, responsible for PackBot sales to the military, fell from a 2011 high of $175 million in sales to just $50 million in the most recent fiscal year, according to S&P Capital IQ data -- about where the company was a decade ago. Working off such a small revenue base, it wouldn't take much of an investment in robo-technology by the Pentagon to move the needle at iRobot.

Motley Fool is an interesting site.  They've been extremely bullish on the F-35 and have recently moved to a more neutral stance.  Additionally they have a focus on defense issues that I find...amusing.  I don't often agree with them but it is fun to see what the people on Wall Street think (assuming they're representing "conventional wisdom").

Anyway, read the entire article here. 

Stryker from 4th Infantry Division...pic by Sgt. William Howard

Sidenote.  Is anyone satisfied with the new Marine Corps plan to finally down select to two MPC candidates next year and then pick a winner in 2019...with production to start sometime in the 2020's?

Doesn't the idea of making the Stryker amphibious sound better and better?  Beg borrow and steal them from Army stock, get them to help fund mods to make existing vehicles swim (the Army could possibly benefit from that too) and be done with this whole sad affair! The one vehicle that is MARINE CORPS SPECIFIC is the one VEHICLE  that the Marine Corps habitually fails to get right.  Amazing!

Keep an eye on Australia!

via The Guardian.

Tony Abbott has brought forward the party room vote on his leadership by one day, shortly after his possible rival Malcolm Turnbull emphasised the importance of keeping it on Tuesday.

Read the entire article here.

Wow.  Pure gamesmanship and to be honest a bit of nastiness on the part of Mr. Abbott.

Why is this showing up on a defense blog?  Simple.  Because this could affect the program that I love to hate...the F-35.  The full ramifications are unknown to me and I'll be sending e-mails to a couple of Australian contacts I have (especially ELP Blog) but its already slowing things up in other areas...like a certain project to replace the LAV that is going absolutely no where till this mess is settled.

An election in Australia could have an impact on US defense procurement?!!! That's globalization for ya!

Explosive new book details how China made an ass of Administrations, the CIA, the Defense Dept, State Dept etc...via The Free Beacon.

via The Free Beacon.

For more than four decades, Chinese leaders lulled presidents, cabinet secretaries, and other government analysts and policymakers into falsely assessing China as a benign power deserving of U.S. support, says Michael Pillsbury, the Mandarin-speaking analyst who has worked on China policy and intelligence issues for every U.S. administration since Richard Nixon.
The secret strategy, based on ancient Chinese statecraft, produced a large-scale transfer of cash, technology, and expertise that bolstered military and Communist Party “superhawks” in China who are now taking steps to catch up to and ultimately surpass the United States, Pillsbury concludes in a book published this week.
The Chinese strategic deception program was launched by Mao Zedong in 1955 and put forth the widespread misbelief that China is a poor, backward, inward-looking country. “And therefore the United States has to help them, and give away things to them, to make sure they stay friendly,” Pillsbury said in an interview. “This is totally wrong.”
The Chinese strategy also is aimed at gaining global economic dominance, he says, noting that China’s military buildup is but one part. The combined economic, political, and military power is seeking to produce China as a new global “hegemon” that will export its anti-democratic political system and predatory economic practices around the world.
In the interview, Pillsbury, currently director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Chinese Strategy, said new details contained in the book were cleared for publication by the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department, including details of formerly classified presidential directives, testimony from previously unknown Chinese defectors, and alarming details of writings from powerful Chinese military and political hawks.
The book also discloses for the first time that the opening to China in 1969 and 1970, considered one of the United States’ most significant strategic gambits, was not initiated by then-President Nixon’s top national security aide Henry Kissinger. Instead, Pillsbury shows that it was Chinese generals who played the United States card against the Soviet Union, amid fears of a takeover of the country by Moscow.
Some sensitive details were removed from the manuscript by the government. However, the totality of the book represents an authorized disclosure of China’s secret strategy....

Bill Gertz is probably the best defense reporter in Washington and this book (and article) is nothing less than explosive.

The book, The Hundred Year Marathon, is available on Amazon here.

Chinese Marines war game against the 204th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, 16th Group Army via Chinese Defense Blog.

Can anyone provide a credible ID of this tank?  It sorta looks like a T-55 but I can't imagine the Chinese giving there Marines such an elderly vehicle.

Check it out here.

Pay close attention folks.  

They're getting ready.  

They're more confident.  

They're operating in Western style formations...and they're broadcasting it to the world. 

Should the US consider a "Hannibal Directive" for US servicemen captured by ISIS?

Does this picture shock you?  Does it make you want to turn away?  Don't!  This is the reality that can't be swept away by the insignificant "debates" that the current administration takes joy in having.  This is an illustration of what the enemy has in store for every American and every ally we have.  A horrible, painful death.  Drink in the horror of it and understand the nature of the beast we face.

At the very top I don't want this to turn into a debate about whether or not the Hannibal Directive is real or not.  Its part of the lore of the Israeli Defense Force and Israel's enemies act as if it is an established part of Israeli doctrine.

A refresher via Wikipedia.

The Hannibal Directive (Hebrew: נוהל חניבעל‎) (or “Hannibal Procedure” or "Hannibal Protocol"[2]) is a secret directive of the Israel Defense Forces with the purpose of preventing Israeli soldiers being captured by enemy forces in the course of combat. Israel has with several notable exceptions adhered to the principle of not negotiating with what it considers terrorists and this especially in hostage situations. This policy led to some notable successes, such as Operation Entebbe but also to loss of human life, as in the Maalot Massacre. In cases where Israeli soldiers were captured and no military solution was found, Israel was forced to negotiate with the captors about an exchange of prisoners. On several occasions this led to a highly controversial release of hundreds or even thousands of convicted or suspected terrorists in Israeli captivity.
The order, drawn up in 1986 by a group of top Israeli officers, states that at the time of a capture the main mission becomes forcing the release of the captured soldiers from their captors, even if that means injury to Israeli soldiers.[3] It allows commanders to take whatever action is necessary, including endangering the life of a captured soldier, to foil the capture. However it does not allow for a soldier to be killed in order to prevent his capture, according to the IDF chief of staff, Benny Gantz.[1]

Fast forward to the situation we face today.

We have watched videos of ISIS beheading aid workers, journalists and people of all ages of different faiths (to include toddlers).  We've heard reports of women raped, young ones being sold into slavery if they're boys and girls as young as 9 years old married off to ISIS fighters.

Finally we saw a Jordanian pilot burned alive.

The longer this "action" lasts against ISIS the bigger the likelihood of a US service member becoming a captive. Even if it must remain secret is it time for the US to adopt such a directive?

Should the US destroy the enemy especially if it means that a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine is killed in order to prevent his capture?  Could such a move be considered merciful?

2nd Cav in Latvia firing Javelins!

What's old is new again. Blood Restriction training by another name.

Blood Resistance Bands sold on Amazon.

via Navy Times.

Better yet, what if — after that kind of workout — not only do you not feel any of the typical soreness that comes with pushing your body to total muscle failure, but you're ready to do it again within just a few hours?
And what if you could get that workout with just a few basic body-weight exercises and minimal weights?
Best of all, what if that workout not only adds solid, lean muscle mass, but also significantly increases strength and endurance, while reducing body fat?
All within just a few weeks?
That's the promise of a revolutionary new training system just coming over from Japan dubbed Kaatsu.
"It really does sound too good to be true," says former Army physician Dr. Brian Law. "That's exactly what I thought."
But Law recently tried Kaatsu for less than two weeks. And he's already a believer.
"I work out a lot. I normally bench press 350 pounds," says Law, now a researcher at Ohio University. "After 10 days of doing Kaatsu for only about 10 minutes a day, I added 10 pounds to my max bench press — without even using a spotter. All the hours I've spent in the gym and, wow, these kind of results after only 10 minutes. It's pretty cool."

This irks me to no end.

Why?

Because this has been used forever and a day in the bodybuilding community.  They go to Japan and its Kaatsu?  In the US its been used for certain since the 1970's and is called "Blood Resistance Training"!

If any of you have watched old skool wrestling then you know how all the wrestlers wore bands on their upper arms?  Why?  Because it gave you a better pump!

For you old skool Marines that remember rolled sleeves before Amos took it away and then brought it back....remember rolling a tight cuff to make those guns pop?

Same fucking thing.

What's old is new again.  Consider this the perfect example of people not understanding fitness history and then think about how it applies to lessons learned when it comes to the military art.

This is how you end up wasting money, studying thing you already have the answer to.

Krugman's class slides (economics)

Thanks to William for the document!

  Krugman's class power point

There you have it folks.

Krugman.  One of the so called wise men of economics says that the US is experiencing a continuing "great recession" while Europe is facing a "lesser depression".

Indian Navy LCA Prototype 2 flies. via Livefist

Quick.

Name the last lightweight attack fighter operated by the US sea services.  If you said A-4 SkyHawk then you get the prize.

Maybe that's why I like this plane so much.  It reminds me of the results of a wild night on the town between a Jaguar and A-4 that ended back at the hotel.

Livefist has more pics and info here.

Chinese Type 99 on exercise. via China Defense Blog.

CDB has a FANTASTIC photo spread of these vehicles.  Check it out here.

The Leopard 2-SG (EVO)

Do a quick rundown of Main Battle Tanks in the Pacific and I believe its a no brainer.

The Leopard 2-SG (EVO) is the best of breed.  

It has best combination of firepower, armored protection, mobility (the iron triangle) along with fire control, networking and comms (the digital triad).  The only tanks that come close (as far as public information is concerned) is the Japanese Type 10 and M1A2....it will only be surpassed when and if the M1A3 ever comes online.

This of course leads to an obvious question.

If the USMC is going to use AAVs until 2030 then that pretty much negates a serious combat role for those vehicles.  If the Marine Corps is moving toward an "Air Inserted Ground Force"  (that is a phrase that is so filled with bullshit that it makes me want to throat punch whoever invented it) then what becomes of the M1A1's in USMC service?

If AAVs are for all intents and purposes going away then how long can tanks remain?