Pakistan in talks to buy the F-35?

via TheNews.com

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will acquire the fifth generation multi-role fighter aircraft from the international market but, for the time being, it will devote its full attention on its state-of-the-art JF-17 Thunder to make it the most effective of its generation.
It has been revealed by Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman while talking exclusively with The News here on Wednesday evening. He said that Pakistan wouldn’t lag behind the countries of the region in obtaining the fifth generation planes and it has opened negotiations with the US manufacturers for exploring options of buying single engine multirole F-35 viewed as the plane of the next decade.

Really?

They're so desperate for sales that they would consider selling the most (supposedly) technologically advanced piece of US hardware to the country that harbored the most wanted man in the world at one time, is hampering our efforts in Afghanistan and is a thorn in the side of a closer relationship to India?

Simply amazing.

Breaking! SecDef to open all jobs to women.

Thanks to William for this depressing/disgusting news.

The Associated Press: BREAKING: Senior defense official: Defense Secretary Carter to open all combat jobs to women in historic
2015-12-03 16:31:07.897 GMT
BREAKING: Senior defense official:
Defense Secretary Carter to open all
combat jobs to women in historic change.
The Associated Press @AP

This is a mistake.

I just thank God that I don't have any daughters.  This is what happens when people don't speak up...when they'd rather be politically correct instead of concerned with the defense of a nation.

But hey!  The Marine Corps lasted for 240 years ... it was a good run.  Lets see how this New Marine Corps works out.

Breaking! FBI takes over the investigation into the terrorist attack in California.

Watching the press conference given by the President and he announced that the FBI was taking over.

He was extremely guarded in his words and seemed (in my opinion) to be stepping back a bit on his gun control push...oh wait....he's back on that train.

Interesting.

An insider terrorist attack and he's focused on guns.   WAIT!!! I'm watching and typing this live.  He just made a freudian slip.  He said we have the best intel, best military and law enforcement and we can't stop this from happening.  In my mind that indicates that they DO know (besides the FBI taking over) that its as we called it.

The reality of why gun control...even tightened background checks will never pass under Obama...

I was watching coverage of the terrorist attack in California and the issue turned away from this insider attack back to guns...in particular gun control.

It will never happen under this President.  The reason is really quite simple.  The games that the President and his democrat colleagues played after Sandy Hook.  Let's take a trip down memory lane, with a quick down and dirty.  The tragedy hit and the President started talking about gun control.  Senator Diane Feinstein got with her allies in the ATF and drew up a plan to reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban.

The push was on and it took a hellacious push by the Gun Owners of America, note that the NRA was on the verge of rolling over.  But the effort to reinstate the AWB was killed.

Then stepped in the traitor Senator Joe Manchin and he put forward a bill to increase background checks.  That too was defeated and many people wondered why.  It was really very simple.  We saw how things played out in California. The gun control zealots started off with background checks to get their nose under the tent.  Next thing you know we see magazine size limitations, a de facto state ban on assault weapons...essentially the most rigorous gun laws in the US.  On top of all of this we see a competition in liberal states to see who can pass the most restrictive laws possible.

For those of us that live in free states (yeah...the irony of that is both personally ironic and chilling...many of the first "gun control laws" were aimed at freed blacks) we've seen the playbook and will not be fooled.

Until the govt shows a bit of competence and until trust is restored, it will be impossible to pass any form of gun control.  The current President is too polarizing an individual for a compromise to happen.

The only thing this push is going to do (and it will fail) is to spur more gun sales.

Side Note:  Lets go into fantasy land.  Lets say that a gun ban is put in place tomorrow.  Can you imagine the black market that will pop up?  How about the mass public disobedience that will happen when calls to turn in your weapons are ignored?  This is the USA not Australia or Britain.  I know I would ignore the call to turn in my gear and would  bet money that they wouldn't be able to track me down (ok they probably could but that's alot of door to door work...plus I'd lie my ass off and say that I sold them and then dig them up once the authorities left).  The perfect utopian world that the gun grabbers want just can't happen.  At least not  in my lifetime.

Dahir Insaat - Russia Deployable Anti-Tank HE Missile Rounds Combat Simulation (Vid)

If the Russians could actually get this to work then this would be devastating...but one question.  Why would they use American C-5's as the deployment vehicle and then have Russian tanks as the aggressor force?

McCain gives the F-35 program the bad news.

via Bloomberg (this is an interview with John McCain read it all here)...

“That leaves well over 2,000 to complete the program” so “we would have to purchase 100 F-35s per year for more than 20 years at a cost of $10 billion to $12 billion a year,” said McCain, an Arizona Republican. “That seems unlikely, and all that assumes the F-35 will provide the necessary capability.”

This is the most damning indictment of the F-35 and the Pentagons plan I've heard yet.  McCain is a hawk of hawks.  There isn't a military program that he doesn't like but he says "100 F-35s per year for more than 20 years at 10 to 12 billion per year"...in essence he's saying that they won't be able to push the cost curve down.  In other words the Pentagon and Program Office is feeding us bullshit.

But that's not even the worst of it.  Read it and weep fan boys...

"...assumes the F-35 will provide the necessary capability."

That should be chilling for F-35 supporters.  McCain has the secret information.. gets to peek behind the curtain and he is telling us that the F-35 isn't all that it's cracked up to be.  If you take the time to read the entire article, he makes a cleansing statement toward the end but those with eyes to see and a willingness to accept reality know the truth.

Critical mass has finally arrived.

The F-35 program isn't in a death spiral...it's in a flat spin headed out to sea.

Underreported Side Note:  We have word that the Singaporean Air Force has decided to upgrade its fleet of F-16s.  Story here.  This is another "admission" that the F-35 will not deliver on its promise.  Singapore is extremely frugal and are resistant to any pressure that LM might apply.  They're also brutal when it comes to dealing with corrupt officials...with the news that the Australian Senate is going to investigate the efficacy of purchasing the F-35, its turning into a terrible week for the airplane.

A little levity after today's madness. Batman vs Superman is gonna be good!

Awesome!  I might actually have to see this!

Stop calling the California incident "Domestic Terrorism"!

via Wikipedia.

Domestic terrorism in the United States consists of incidents confirmed as or suspected to be terrorist acts. These attacks are considered domestic because they were carried out by U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.[1]

That is how its defined in the US by code of law.  This is how its defined in the rest of the world...again via Wiki...

Homegrown terrorism or domestic terrorism is commonly associated with violent acts committed by citizens or permanent residents of a state against their own people or property within that state without foreign influence in an effort to instill fear on a population or government as a tactic designed to advance political, religious, or ideological objectives.[1]

Its nuanced but the details make the difference.

The incident in California cannot be called domestic terrorism if it can be reasonably assumed that the terrorists were influenced by ISIS.

So FUCKINIG STOP calling this domestic terroristm.  ITS NOT.  This is plain and simple terrorism.  ISIS successfully hit us.  Deal with the reality and stop playing word games!!!

NOTE:  After thinking about this a bit more not only is this terrorism (without the caveat of being called "domestic") but it also bears all the hallmarks of "Insider Attacks" that our forces experienced in Iraq/Afghanistan.  So called naturalized or 2nd gen citizens that go on a rampage on behalf to ISIS?  Yeah.  A terroristic insider attack is a much better definition of this and the Boston Bombing.

14 dead, 14 wounded in Inland Empire, CA.

 I'm waiting to see on this one.  Of course we have the usual parade of officials on camera talking alot but saying nothing...

Three guys in military garb carrying rifles?

Yeah...I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop.

NOTE:  Don't jump to the conclusion that this is ISIS.  Sovereign Citizen Movement, White Supremacists, even Mexican Drug Cartels could be involved.  The only thing that throws this into the realm of an organized group is the fact that three guys wearing military type garb hit the community center.  With the rise of the internet, we could easily be seeing the first of a new type of mass murder scenario.  Guys get together that just want to go on a killing spree.

NOTE 1:  I hate to go here but I have to keep it real.  We're talking about a mass shooting.  We're talking about a man hunt.  We have no description of the dead shooters and no indication of the race of the guy they might be looking for.  Surely this info has to be in the hands of LEOs.  Why aren't they telling us anything on that?  Yeah.  I despise racial politics but in the case of identifying a threat to the public it only makes sense.

BREAKING! Kendall says production of the F-35 may be slowed to meet budget caps!

Thanks to CharleyA for the great news!

via Reuters.

Dec 2 The Pentagon's fiscal 2017 budget plan may slow production of key weapons programs, including Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, in order to meet budget caps imposed by an agreement with Congress, the Pentagon's chief arms buyer said Wednesday.
Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told reporters after a speech at an industry conference that the new radar-evading F-35 fighter was the Defense Department's "most cutting-edge capability," but other priorities needed funding as well.
"Dollar for dollar it probably gives us more combat capability than any other investment that we're making, but we've got a lot of other things that we need to do as well," he said. "It's not entirely fenced." Kendall gave no details on the likely scope of the expected cuts in production of the F-35 fighter jet, which is already cleared for combat use by the Marine Corps.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Absolutely fucking awesome.

U. S. Marine Corps Research Findings: Where is the Case for Co-Ed Ground Combat?

Many thanks to Stuart for sending me this link!

No commentary on this one.  Take the time to read it for yourself.  To say that it's eye opening is an understatement.  

  InterimCMRSpecialReport-PartII_122015

Is the F-35 as stealthy as we're being led to believe?

We talk about the F-35 alot on these pages because I believe its destroying the defense budget, hindering needed modernization of our ground forces and will fail to deliver what's being promised.

If you've monitored the conversations here, you'll notice that proponents no longer talk about the F-35 being able to fly as fast, as high or be as maneuverable as our current fighters.  They say that its not necessary because the F-35 is stealthy.  It will see the enemy first, shoot first and leave the area before its detected.  Lets assume that argument has merit.  The next question becomes...is the F-35 as stealthy as we're being led to believe?  Do an eyeball test.  Below are pics of the X-35....

This airplane has the look that we've come to associate with stealth aircraft.  To be quite honest in this form it actually does look like its stablemate, the  F-22 (pic below).

But look at what the F-35 has turned into now?  Does it meet the eye test?

I don't know what happened between the X-plane and the production version but to this aviation neophyte the plane has lost its stealth characteristics somewhere along the way...at the very least it doesn't appear to be as stealthy as the original design.

What say you?  Am I way off base and the eye test doesn't apply or could I actually be onto something?  Oh and consider this.  If the F-35 has seen even a modest reduction in its stealth profile then the argument that it will get first look, first shoot suddenly loses alot of steam.  Against a near peer foe, we will see radars that are equal to our own....and against a networked air defense complex these planes will be sitting ducks.

Carter Hits Gulf Allies for Prioritizing Air, Not Ground, Forces

via Defense News.

"I'm going to be very candid with you: Many of the Gulf States weigh air capabilities, air forces and so forth over ground forces and special operations forces," Carter said.
"If they want to — as we would wish them to — wield more influence in the Middle East and do more to secure this part of the world in which they live, they're going to need to do more of that on the ground," he continued. "Buying our airplanes is fine, and we provide them, but when it comes to ground forces and special operations forces, there is no question they need to build those forces and wield them."
"They frequently complain to me, for example, about how capable the Iranians are, to which I say 'yes, and you're not in the same game, an effective game on the ground,'" he said.

WOW!

Mr Sec how about you fix your own house first before you complain about what others are doing!  The USMC is headed down the road of being aviation centric, the F-35 is raping the defense dept and even the US Army is buying more helicopters...all while we're shedding ground combat power.

Simply amazing.

Infantry Battle School Brecon @ The Fan.

The Fan Dance

The highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, just one of the tests soldiers endure on the section commanders' battle course.

So that's the "hill" the Royal Marines always talk about. I can't lie.  It looks like pain mixed with a big dose of more pain.  Seems like decent weather for these guys though.  I was always told of freezing rain being blown at almost hurricane like force and movements at night on it.  I guess they can tell tales too!

ISIS is a fully formed terrorist group supported by...everyone?

via MintPressNews.

The prime source of money feeding ISIS these days is sale of Iraqi oil from the Mosul region oilfields where they maintain a stronghold. The son of Erdogan it seems is the man who makes the export sales of ISIS-controlled oil possible.
Bilal Erdo?an owns several maritime companies. He has allegedly signed contracts with European operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different Asian countries. The Turkish government buys Iraqi plundered oil which is being produced from the Iraqi seized oil wells. Bilal Erdogan’s maritime companies own special wharfs in Beirut and Ceyhan ports that are transporting ISIS’ smuggled crude oil in Japan-bound oil tankers.
Gürsel Tekin vice-president of the Turkish Republican Peoples’ Party, CHP, declared in a recent Turkish media interview, “President Erdogan claims that according to international transportation conventions there is no legal infraction concerning Bilal’s illicit activities and his son is doing an ordinary business with the registered Japanese companies, but in fact Bilal Erdo?an is up to his neck in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution.” Tekin adds that Bilal’s maritime company doing the oil trades for ISIS, BMZ Ltd, is “a family business and president Erdogan’s close relatives hold shares in BMZ and they misused public funds and took illicit loans from Turkish banks.”

Wow.  The Russians are turning up the heat on Turkey and if you take the time to actually look at what's being said on the net...from other than mainstream news sites...we're looking at a monster of our own creation.

This is wild.  This is tinfoil hat-ish.  This is scary if true.

H/T to Ronald for this story.

Strike Update via Combine Joint Operation Inherent Resolve Facebook Page.

SOUTHWEST ASIA- On Nov. 30, coalition military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, coalition military forces conducted one strike using remotely piloted aircraft. Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 12 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Coalition military forces conducted one strike in Iraq in support of Coalition operations using fighter aircraft.

The following is a summary of the strikes conducted against ISIL since the last press release:

Syria

• Near Al Hawl, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

Iraq

• Near Al Huwayjah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
• Near Habbaniyah, one strike destroyed an ISIL building.
• Near Makhmur, one strike denied ISIL access to terrain.
• Near Ramadi, five strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL command and control nodes, an ISIL staging area, and an ISIL weapons cache, damaged two ISIL command and control nodes, two ISIL buildings, and denied ISIL access to terrain.
• Near Sinjar, three strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed seven ISIL fighting positions.
• Near Al Qaim, one strike struck an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) facility.
• Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike struck inoperable Coalition equipment denying ISIL access in support of Coalition operations.

Strike assessments are based on initial reports. All aircraft returned to base safely.

A strike, as defined in the CJTF releases, means one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative effect for that location. So having a single aircraft deliver a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings and vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making that facility (or facilities) harder or impossible to use. Accordingly, CJTF-OIR does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community.

The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct operations. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Iraq include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Syria include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S.

They're freaking truck plinking.  We could save money and be more effective by deploying all of our AC-130's and keep the wear and tear on our fighters to a minimum.

Games are being played.  I don't know why but we're not fighting to win...and the Pentagon knows it.

Retired Lt Gen Vaught was right.

General Vaught during his active duty days...

Lets take a step down memory lane...via ABC News...

A retired general today assailed the commander of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden for drawing too much media attention to operations that he argued should be kept under wraps.
Special Operations Commander Adm. Bill McRaven was confronted by retired Lt. Gen. James Vaught, who said he didn't understand why the recent raids by the Navy SEALs, such as the one to kill Osama bin Laden or to rescue U.S. hostage Jessica Buchanan, were all over the media.
"Since the time when your wonderful team went and drug bin Laden out and got rid of him, and more recently when you went down and rescued the group in Somalia, or wherever the hell they were, they've been splashing all of this all over the media," Vaught, 85, said. "I flat don't understand that.
"Now back when my special operators extracted Saddam [Hussein] from the hole, we didn't say one damn word about it," he continued. "We turned him over to the local commander and told him to claim that his forces drug him out of the hole, and he did so. And we just faded away and kept our mouth shut.
"Now I'm going to tell you, one of these days, if you keep publishing how you do this, the other guy's going to be there ready for you, and you're going to fly in and he's going to shoot down every damn helicopter and kill every one of your SEALs. Now, watch it happen. Mark my words. Get the hell out of the media," he concluded, as laughter broke out at a meeting of the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington, D.C.

Wow.  Just plain wow.  My first thought when I saw this awhile ago is that this guy, LTGen Vaught is spot on.  My second was that these so called defense journalist are fucking idiots.  Below is  the vid of the event...


ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos

Why am I posting this?  Because Carter just announced that a "Specialized Expeditionary Targeting Force" would be deployed to Iraq.  I believe SOCOM is flying into trouble..

Think about it.  Iraq is hardly reliable.  Turkey has been shown (conclusively in my opinion) to be supporting ISIS and the same can be said of Saudi Arabia and the other GCC states..the Kurds are good to go,  but the other people that we could expect to get help from...the Russians  are listed as enemies.  So we're in a hurt locker before we even deploy these guys.  One slip in protocol when it comes to intelligence handling and an ambush can be setup.  Poor intel on a target can have our forces flying into a situation with ISIS having only two goals...to kill as many of our people as they can, with a secondary bonus of capturing one alive so that they can torture and kill him for broadcast on YouTube.  This is risky beyond belief.

Retired LTGen Vaught is right, but just like other elder warriors, his council is being ignored.  This crop of military leaders think they know better.  They're wrong.  

Specialized Expeditionary Targeting Force (SETF)? What the fuck is that?

via CNN

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Tuesday that the U.S. military will send "a specialized expeditionary targeting force" aimed at conducting more raids in Iraq.
A U.S. official tells CNN that decision means that there will be additional U.S. Special Operation forces on the ground in Iraq to fight ISIS.
Carter made the remarks testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.
"Next, in full coordination with the Government of Iraq, we're deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL," Carter said. "These special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture ISIL leaders."

First.  FUCK!  Cut it out Pentagon!  You're not impressing with all this word sausage you're developing.  Stop with the bullshit please!

Second.  A specialized expeditionary targeting force, that will conduct raids, gather intel and capture ISIS leaders?  That could be any unit in SOCOM.

Last.  Am I the only one that is worried that these guys could get baited into a trap and suddenly we're seeing SOCOM personnel lined up on a beach getting their throats slit?

This is a bad idea and has hints of the Vietnam war.  If past is prologue then we're gonna see Marines deployed to support these operations...right before we start sending in Army divisions.  Yeah.  This is a terrible idea.

Turkish cooperation with ISIS is going mainstream..

via Jerusalem Online.

Hurriyet Daily News recently reported that Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar was arrested after exposing that the Turkish government was sending supplies to ISIS. His arrest was appealed but the Daily Sabah noted that an Istanbul Court had rejected the appeal today. Dundar is being charged with providing documents regarding the security of the state, political and military espionage, releasing secret documents, and propaganda for a terrorist organization.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, Dundar denies the charges against him: “We are accused of spying. The President said our action was treason. We are not traitors, spies or heroes. We are journalists. What we have done here was an act of journalism. We have nothing to feel sorry about. These are badges of honor for us.” Dundar compares what he has uncovered in Turkey to the Watergate and Iran Contra Scandals in the US, stressing that his exposures helped to prevent Turkey from making a grave mistake: “A journalist should report the story if he sees the country is in danger.”

Wow.

People have been talking about Turkey and ISIS for months on these pages (the US too) and quite honestly I thought it was MAYBE a few rogue elements but this story makes me wonder.

How high up does the conspiracy go?  Will the US media dig now that we're seeing mainstream Turkish journalist going after this story?

Last but not least are we all sleepwalking thru one of the biggest scandals of the 20th century?

Ayyub Faleh al-Rubaie, the Iraqi "Angel of Death" ambushed and killed?

This popped up on my news alerts and I can't find confirmation anywhere.  Supposedly ISIS snuck into his home, ambushed him and his men and he was killed in the fighting.  Reportedly 14 ISIS fighters died along with 6 of his guys (sounds like one helluva fight...I'd like to know how many assaulters ISIS brought with them).

More to come I'm sure.  One thing I don't get.  The social media/facebook side of the fight is really starting to grate.  Why would any serious fighter want to publicize himself this way?  Why make yourself a bigger target than you already are when you pick up a gun?