Batman's science destroys Vader's magic....

I want to see a Batman that has the current versions tech and detective skills, mixed with the Punisher/Deathstroke's weapons sets, Wolverine's healing factor, Flashes speed and Superman's invulnerability.

Then we would have something to see.

Notice I left out Ironman's power suit?  If you've kept up with the games then you know that he's just a step away from repulsor rays and mini-rockets.

"...In better shape than Marines graduating boot camp"

This was an Air Force Recruiting commercial which was released on their website. Not even a few days later, the SgtMaj of the Marine Corps (SgtMaj Kent) contacted the Air Force, and demanded it be "reviewed", due to its UNTRUE comments and claims against the Marine Corps. Needless to say, within hours after receiving that email, the Air Force removed this commercial from their website.

Spock was a selfish jerk?

via Free Beacon.

“I loved Spock,” said President Obama, reacting to the death of actor Leonard Nimoy. Why? Because Spock reminds him of himself. The galaxy’s most famous Vulcan, the president wrote, was “Cool, logical, big-eared, and level headed, the center of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future.” Just like you know whom.
The president is not the only writer who hasdrawn comparisons between himself and Spock. I am also a Star Trek fan, but I admit I was somewhat confused by my rather apathetic reaction to Nimoy’s death. And as I thought more about the president’s statement, I realized he identifies with the very aspects of the Spock character that most annoy me. I don’t love Spock at all.

Read it all here.

Just wow.

Now even sci-fi is being invaded by political nonsense!

So what if the President likes Spock.  That's one thing we can agree with..but to take a beloved FICTIONAL character and to do this hatchet job on him because it helps promote a political position is distasteful.

ENOUGH ALREADY!  Everything is polluted with politics...even my beloved Marine Corps.  Can I at least have sci-fi without the taint?

Roster of Aircraft Carriers and Fast Jet Capable LHDs via War Machine...

SAIC moves forward on AAV upgrades.

via SAIC Press Release.

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Executive Officer – Land Systems (PEO-LS) exercised options under a prime contract awarded to Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAIC) to perform initial upgrades to 10 Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) prototypes. Following this, additional options, if exercised, will lead to developmental testing and low rate initial production (LRIP) delivering 52 vehicles for operational test and evaluation and to USMC units.

This single-award, firm fixed-price contract builds upon SAIC's previously announced initial contract value of $16 million for the engineering phase of the contract. This contract value has been increased by $53 million in options exercised, bringing the total contract value to $69 million. The total contract value, if all options are exercised, is approximately $194 million over five years. The work will be performed primarily in Charleston, South Carolina.
Under the contract, SAIC will upgrade AAVs to provide improved protection while gaining back land and water mobility that improves the AAV's ability to fight. Upgrades include armor, engine rebuild to improve horsepower and torque, replace aging transmission, upgrade suspension components, install new water jets, install blast-resistant seats, and upgrade vehicle control, instrumentation and driver interface systems.

RAF A400M Atlas 'City of Bristol'

ISIS's Apocalyptic Mission

Many thanks to Peter for the link!



Read the story here.

The more I take a look at this ISIS thing the more convinced I become that we're seeing the opening rounds of a MAJOR regional war that will involve us all whether we like it or not.

Top ten jump-jets via HushKit.

Check out HushKits top ten here....I agree with number one, but the rest of the list needs to jumbled hard...real hard.

US Ambassador to Korea attacked. Time to leave.

via Free Beacon.

SEOUL – The American ambassador to South Korea was injured in a politically motivated attack by a man wielding a razor on Thursday amid growing anti-U.S. tensions in the country.
Mark Lippert, the ambassador, was in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries at a Seoul hospital after he was attacked on his way to make a speech before a breakfast meeting, State Department officials and local police said.
The ambassador suffered cuts to his face and wrist.
Lippert was shown in news photos holding a cloth to his face as he walked to an emergency vehicle, and appeared to have been spattered with blood.
He was in stable condition at a nearby hospital, local news media reported.

Troops in S. Korea is a flashpoint for bad relations that make the situation in Okinawa look like a picnic.  The S. Koreans can defend itself.  Time to leave.

Ducted Fan Airplanes.

This is a post in response to comments made about concept art that I posted talking about Future US Army Aircraft.

Ducted Fan Aircraft have NUMEROUS advantages over tilt rotors.  Why this type of vertical lift has been abandoned is beyond me but it should have been followed and with today's tech it would work perfectly.

A small flight of fancy.  Imagine a two seat AH-1Z sized airplane with ducted fans to operate off our amphibs to operate as escorts to the MV-22!  That would be a procurement/development project for the Wing that I could get behind...but...the F-35.

Open thread. How big should a nation's military be?

The US Army Chief of Staff made news when he said this....

"In the past we would have a British army division working alongside an American division."Now it might be a British brigade inside an American division, or even a British battalion inside an American brigade.

Is that fair?

How big should a nation's military be?  We always talk about commitments to NATO but what exactly is NATO's role?  If its to stand up to the Soviet Union then its time has passed.  If its to stand up to Russia then can we really complain about our allies defense spending?  Is it for out of area missions in the Middle East or the Pacific?

Bringing this thinking home....what if the US was just focused on defending its borders.  What would be the appropriate size force?  Should we really be focused on fighting two regional wars at the same time?  Why?  What's in it for us?  If we do size our forces that way, aren't we actually doing what we complain about---subsidizing the defense of others?

I don't know but before we complain about the size of other nations forces perhaps we need to figure out why we're sized the way we are. 

British Army Armor on the move during Exercise Tractable.

Note:  Seems like the British Army is seriously ramping up their operations.  Everytime I turn around they're doing some exercise...either at home or abroad.  How will such a small force hold up?  What the hell is a KRH?

Military vehicles including Challenger 2, Warrior and FV 432's belonging to 1 Yorks and KRH in convoy during a vehicle move during Ex Tractable near Ludgershall on SPTA.

Norway reorganizes Armor, Mech Infantry for high North fight.

via Defense News.

The NDF also is establishing a specialized Arctic-trained "professional" rapid reaction force north (RRFN), set to become fully operational in 2017. The RRFN unit's core will comprise an existing armored battalion and a motorized infantry battalion equipped with CV90 infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard 2 tanks
Norway's ability to defend its High North territories also received a boost from the Defense Ministry's US $1.6 billion program to re-equip its core forward armored brigade units with CV90 tracked infantry fighting vehicles, part of the NDF's biggest fighting vehicle modernization project investment.

Read it all here. 

I personally find this very interesting.  The US Army is focusing on using light infantry in the Arctic as is the USMC and other partners.  The Russians are also following this lead with the difference being that they have several armored utility vehicles (more logistics than fighting) that are slated to provide transport and support.

Norway is trashing all that and moving toward real armor and mechanized infantry combat teams for the far North fight.

As a sidenote you really should spend some time on their website.  The photo section is awesome.  Below are a few examples of what I found.

Future Chinook?

Photo Credit: U.S. Army graphic by AMRDEC VizLab
An artist's conception of future Army rotorcraft is shown.

Read about the future of Army aviation via RDECOM's Army Technology Magazine here.

How to tell a good alkaline battery from a bad one....

Saudi Arabia is exploring buying a nuke reactor from S. Korea. The nuke race is on.

Thanks to Slowman for the link!

via Korea Herald

RIYADH ― Leaders of South Korea and Saudi Arabia agreed on Tuesday to seek opportunities to build more than two small- and medium-sized nuclear reactors in the Gulf nation to forge bilateral cooperation in atomic energy ― projects that may be worth as much as $2 billion.
During the summit talks, President Park Geun-hye and the newly crowned King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud discussed ways to upgrade bilateral relations by strengthening cooperation in energy, creative economy, investment, medical services and information technology. Park arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, after wrapping up a three-day visit to Kuwait. Saudi Arabia is second destination of her four-nation Middle East trip, which will also include UAE and Qatar.

This is the first step in Saudi Arabia developing a counter to what they believe is an Iranian nuke.

Israel is a sideshow for the moment.

The real fight is between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The seeds are being sown for a major regional war in the Middle East...a war with nuclear equipped nations and ineffective conventional forces.

This is going to be world changing people....and the idiots in Washington can't even see it happening right before their eyes.

British Army MLRS on exercise at Otterburn.... Pics Cpl Jamie Peters

Sidenote; The US Army Chief is concerned about falling UK defense spending.  He stated...

"In the past we would have a British army division working alongside an American division.
"Now it might be a British brigade inside an American division, or even a British battalion inside an American brigade.
"We have to adjust our programme to make sure we are all able to see that we can still work together."
He described Britain's role as a key US ally as "about having a partner that has very close values and the same goals as we do".
"As we look at threats around the world, these are global issues and we need to have multinational solutions," he said.

This is interesting.  If the "Big O" is correct then an ally will become a protectorate.  I'm interested to see what British Military Bloggers have to say about this development.

Ukraine News. Poland mobilizes...

Thanks to John for the link!

via Defense24

Polish MoD specifies the fact that the proposition regarding the preparation service is targeted at the persons who are aged 18 to 50, and who have not been serving in the Armed Forces earlier. These persons would be volunteers. At the same time, members of the reserve forces may also report themselves for duty. They would be requested to take part in relevant training exercises.
Reserve soldiers (privates younger than 50 years old and non-commissioned officers and officers – up to 60 years old), who have no mobilisation assignment, will be assigned to a proper unit and will be asked to participate in a training programme, in line with their military speciality. Reserve soldiers who are duly assigned will be sent to their mother-units.

Wow.

John was kind enough to provide this link where I talked about this before. Many people wrote it off as propaganda because the source for the news was Russia Times.  Seems like its real enough.

What should surprise everyone is how wide a net they're casting.  The US and EU in general might not be taking the Ukrainian war seriously, but Poland is...dead serious.

Chinese economic news you won't hear on mainstream shows.

via Reuters

Weakness in China's vast manufacturing sector, aggravated by high real borrowing costs and weak demand, appears to have driven the central bank to accelerate the pace of monetary easing to ward off deflation in the world's second-largest economy.
Cuts to benchmark lending and deposit rates, announced by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Saturday evening, pre-empted official data released on Sunday that showed a second consecutive month of shrinking manufacturing activity for February.
While economists had been predicting further easing to support the struggling economy, some were surprised that the PBOC made its move just days before China's national legislature will meet to set the official economic growth target for 2015.
"This rate cut signals policymakers' willingness to take further action to ease financing conditions in an effort to maintain stable growth," wrote Nomura analysts' in research note that said the cut had come sooner than predicted. "It also suggests that growth may have slowed sharper than we expected."

A buddy of mine chides me all the time about my saying that the world economy is no acting rationally.

I present this as another indication of some type of tomfoolery going on.  China's manufacturing sector slowed down, their bank cut rates and yet we see the stock market reach new highs?  Additionally we're seeing the price of gas start to creep back up?

ISIS, Ukraine, Libya, Africa, a weak US market, weak European market, unexplainable moves in energy prices, a weak home sector....

The world is upside down people.  Do what you will but please manage your assets with both eyes open.  Nothing makes sense anymore and if I didn't know better I'd believe that the entire game is rigged to do only one thing.

To separate you from your money.

Merkava IV Main Battle Tanks on the Golan Heights.

Kfir Brigade's Commanders Train in the Golan Heights
The commanders of the Kfir Brigade trained in the Golan Heights with the Armored Corps and the Combat Engineering Corps.