Navy To Modernize Boeing Super Hornets

via Investors Business Daily.

The Navy plans to "continue to modernize" Boeing's (BA) F/A-18 Super Hornets, said Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, the commander of Naval Air Forces, calling newer versions "4.5-generation" fighters.
During a talk Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Shoemaker said he isn't minimizing the need for Lockheed Martin's (LMT) F-35, a fifth-generation fighter. Instead, he sees a role for both of them.
"We absolutely need the F-35 as soon as we can get it," he said. " We want to pair those two up together."
Shoemaker said the two jets could be flown in tandem to take advantage of the planes' "very good complement of high-low mix."

The Admiral's words betray him.  It isn't hard to read between the lines here.  He has to say the good stuff about the F-35 because...he has to.  The problem is that he exposes some serious reality here.

First by calling the F-18 a 4.5 gen bird, he's essentially stating that the F-18 in its latest versions has everything the F-35 has except for stealth.

Second, he's practically screaming that the F-35 has no chance at coming in at the cost projected by the Program Office.  If it did then the Navy wouldn't buy one more Super Hornet and they'd be looking to fill the carrier decks with the F-35.  They aren't because the F-35 won't meet performance or price specs.

Shoemaker said alot by saying only a little! 

Russian K4386 "Typhoon" Airborne MRAP....do they have TOO MANY vehicles in development?

Thanks to Robert, Olgerts and my other readers that sent me the link!

via Live Journal.

An interesting photograph of two prototypes of the new K4386-protected vehicle "Typhoon Airborne" with the wheel formula 4x4 in the workshop "Plant special cars" (Naberezhnye Chelny).On the left - the first prototype ballast simulating combat weight of the module to the right - one of the subsequent samples have already established a new remote-controlled weapon stations

Interesting.  This vehicle reminds me of the old Force Protection Cheetah that the Marine Corps was lusting after so long ago but couldn't get the Army to bite on.

Back on task.  The Russians have ANOTHER vehicle in development.  How many is that?  I'm convinced that at least half the vehicles they're working on MUST be for foreign sales.  Even if that's true I don't know how successful that marketing strategy can be.  The Chinese have a number of vehicles that are designed for the foreign market and aren't being used by their own forces and the only sales they get are when they basically give them away.

My favorite tank company that died an undeserved death ...the late great Vickers...made a number of tanks that should have been world beaters but they didn't have the stamp of British Army use on them.  Same can be said of the Textron V-600 that would be viable even today.

If the home military isn't using it then many foreign forces just aren't interested.

Go down the list of Russian vehicles in development right now...its way too many.....so what is the thinking?

Side Note;  Anyone know the development status of the beast below?  Its totally dropped off the radar.

China wades into the Syrian conflict...they're going to support Assad.

via ABC News.

A top Chinese military officer visited Syria this week in a show of support for President Bashar Assad's embattled regime, official media reported Thursday, underscoring Beijing's backing of fellow authoritarian governments and concerns about the spread of religious militancy.
Rear Adm. Guan Youfei met on Sunday with Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij in Damascus, the Xinhua News Agency said. He also met the following day with a Russian general who is coordinating his country's military assistance to Assad's fight against armed opposition groups, the agency said.
Xinhua said Guan expressed China's willingness to boost military cooperation with Syria, while the newspaper Global Times cited the Chinese Defense Ministry as saying that both sides agreed to expand personnel training and humanitarian aid via the Chinese military.
The Chinese military "is willing to strengthen cooperation with its Syrian counterparts," it quoted the ministry as saying.
Guan is head of the Office for International Military Cooperation under the Central Military Commission that oversees China's 2.3 million-member armed forces.
While China has followed Russia's approach in backing Assad, it hasn't directly contributed forces in keeping with its policy of opposing outside intervention in domestic conflicts. During the early months of the 5-year-old civil war, China joined Russia in blocking motions at theUnited Nations calling for Assad to work for a resolution of the conflict.

Our military strategist, diplomats and Think Tanks (along with Neo-Cons) have utterly failed.

The Chinese wading into the Syrian civil war and siding with Assad will almost guarantee his survival.  You can kiss a UN sponsored no-fly zone good bye, and you can bet your last dollar that NATO will NOT participate in helping us enforce it if we try and go it alone.

There is only one solution.  Try and salvage something from this mess.  Switch back to the talking point of wanting to destroy ISIS, take credit for killing them and then get as much rebuilding work for US firms as possible.

Who am I kidding.  The world knows better and rebuilding contracts is why the Chinese are stepping ashore now.

Once again our best and brightest have once again dropped the ball.

Ukraine's Donetsk sector heats up.

via Interfax.com

"Positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were attacked 96 times over the past day. Most shelling incidents, 45, were observed in the Donetsk sector, and heavy artillery was used in ten cases," the report said.
Donbas militants launched six artillery attacks on Avdiyivka in the Donetsk sector; 134 projectiles whose caliber is 122mm were fired on Ukrainian army positions and similar weapons were used in Pisky, Novoselivka Druha and Pershe Travnya; four dozen shells were lobbed into the village of Luhanske, the report said.
Mortar and grenade launcher attacks on Ukrainian army positions continued throughout the contact line in that area, the press center said. The militants used infantry combat vehicles in Novhorodske and Zaitseve, an anti-tank missile system in Novoselivka Druha, and Avdiyivka was also under sniper fire, it said.
Thirty-two enemy attacks with the use of 122mm artillery systems were recorded in the town of Maryinka in the Mariupol sector; 152mm weapons were used against Ukrainian army fortifications in the village of Sionitne; mortars, grenade launchers and large-caliber machine-guns were fired in the Krasnohorivka-Shyrokyne area, an armored personnel carrier was engaged in Shyrokyne, and an infantry combat vehicle was used near Krasnohorivka, while a sniper was active in Maryinka, the report said.

Interesting.

Rumors that nuclear weapons have been moved from Turkey to Romania.

Thanks to Alex for the link!

via Euractiv.com

EXCLUSIVE/ Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the US has started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania, against the background of worsening relations between Washington and Ankara .
According to one of the sources, the transfer has been very challenging in technical and political terms.
“It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,” said the source, on conditions of anonymity.
According to a recent report by the Simson Center, since the Cold War, some 50 US tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, approximately 100 kilometres from the Syrian border.
During the failed coup in Turkey in July, Incirlik’s power was cut, and the Turkish government prohibited US aircraft from flying in or out. Eventually, the base commander was arrested and implicated in the coup. Whether the US could have maintained control of the weapons in the event of a protracted civil conflict in Turkey is an unanswerable question, the report says.
Another source told EurActiv.com that the US-Turkey relations had deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer trusted Ankara to host the weapons. The American weapons are being moved to the Deveselu air base in Romania, the source said.
Deveselu, near the city of Caracal, is the new home of the US missile shield, which has infuriated Russia.

I'm not sure if I buy this.  

Australian CH-47F conducting flight trails aboard HMAS Adelaide

50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. A warning for the future.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.  As a side note, Vietnam and Australia have reached an agreement that allows Aussies to visit the battlefield.  Vietnam just a few days ago refused to allow Aussies to commemorate the battle by visiting the site.  I'm glad they worked it out.

How is this battle a warning to the future?

The Aussie Task Force that participated in the fighting here are one of the modern day examples of the vulnerability that the Company Landing Team will experience in future fights.  NOTE:  While trying to "figure out" how the Company Landing Team will fair in battle, I've found that the closest analogy is the US Army's 1st Cav (Airmobile) Division during Vietnam. More on that later.

But back on task. Watch the video, drink it in and marvel that men such as these were willing to do the hard thing.

Russia's BT-3F Armored Personnel Carrier is revealed.

Thanks to ArmorFan for the link!

via Live Journal

As it became known to our blog, in Russia created the first prototype of the new tracked armored BT-3F (full name - an armored personnel carrier on the basis of the BMP-3F infantry fighting vehicle). The machine was developed by the Special Design Bureau of Machine Building (mound), which is part of "Corporate Governance Company" Concern "Tractor Plants" (KTZ).

As stated earlier this year in an interview with " Moscow Defense Brief is " Deputy General Director - Head of the Export Department and current planning KTZ Alexey Losev, GTC at its own expense razrabatal design documentation for the BT-3F, and a prototype is planned to show the exhibition of arms "Army 2016". According to him, the interest in this machine has already expressed Indonesia. The prototype armored BT-3F (c) bmpd

The Russians are either engaged in a weapons buildup that we don't know/understand the true scale of it, they're attempting to modernize legacy vehicles while acquiring new ones or they're just confused as all outdoors.

I don't understand the push to modernize legacy vehicles when they have new models ready to go...of course the USMC is doing the same with the AAV Survivability Upgrade while supposedly pursuing the ACV so maybe I'm just confused.

Open Comment Post August 17, 2016.

Trying to work out how to get a bit of comment discipline so that blog posts aren't hijacked by off topic comments.  PURPLESLOG recommended an open post.  We'll try that.  If it works over then it'll be a daily thing where readers can take discussions where ever they like without disrupting conversations elsewhere.

So if you have off topic subjects post them below.

BTR-82 to get the 57mm cannon?

via Sputnik

The latest, upgraded, version of Russia’s famous BTR-82 armored personnel carrier will boast a more powerful 57 mm automatic cannon to make easy work of all existing foreign analogues and also to seriously damage or even destroy enemy tanks, the newspaper Izvestia wrote.

“The BTR-82s will now carry the AU-22M Baikal remotely-controlled combat artillery module, which will considerable add to its firepower,” the newspaper quoted a Russian Defense Ministry official as saying.
The BTR-82 is an upgraded version of the BTR-80A wheeled armored vehicles which were armed with a 2A72 30 mm automatic cannon, modern sights, digital communications gear and better anti-mine defense.
More than a thousand BTR-82s are currently in service. Apart from armored infantry brigades and division they are also used by combat reconnaissance units, Marine brigades and Special Operations forces.
According to military historian and veteran tank man Sergei Suvorov, armed with the 57 mm remotely controlled automatic cannon the BTR-82 will be able to take on armored jeeps kilometers away and even main battle tanks as its shells are not only able to wreak havoc on a tank’s exterior but can also cut through its side armor.

The 57 mm Baikal automatic cannons will also be installed on Kazakhstan’s new Barys APCs, developed on the basis of the South African Mbombe fighting vehicle.

Wow.

Nine refugees accused of Austria gang rape, stoking election fears

Thanks to William for the link!

via Telegraph.

ine Iraqi refugees have been arrested in Austria on suspicion of gang-raping a 28-year-old German woman in a case that could ignite debate of immigration and crime ahead of this Autumn’s presidential election re-run.

The arrest of the nine Iraqis, all either asylum seekers or recently granted asylum, comes as Austria’s anti-immigrant Freedom Party seeks to over-turn the result of June’s presidential election after mounting a successful legal challenge to pave the way for a re-run on October 2.

The arrests were made over the weekend, police confirmed, after DNA evidence and CCTV camera footage was used to build a case against the nine asylum seekers.The woman filed the complaint on January 1 but it took nearly eight months of what Austrian police called a “protracted and difficult” investigation before the arrest were made.

The alleged attack took place on New Year’s Eve at an apartment in Vienna where the woman, who was visiting from the German state of Lower Saxony, was visiting to celebrate the New Year with a friend.

The suspects range in age from 21 to 47, said Vienna police spokesman Paul Eidenberger. “There is no doubt about the gang rape according to the biological traces,” the police spokesman told Der Spiegel.

First.

I've come to the conclusion that women deserve the brave new world that they're creating.  Think about the title of this story.  A woman was gang raped and the media story is about election fears and not the tragedy that this woman faced?  My quaint and outdated position that women should be protected from this type of barbarity is looked down on but those that are progressive seem more concerned with the politics of the crime rather than the suffering of the victim.

Second.

They'll be lucky to keep Europe together.  Much more of this and it'll be every country for itself and closed borders all around.  

Comment Discipline.

I've had complaints (justified) that certain topics of importance get hijacked by readers wanting to talk or link to other subjects.  That hasn't bothered me but on some topics I want the conversation clean.  I want us to stay on topic.

My solution was to make what Blogger calls a "web page" (a stand alone page on the blog) but after a bit of reflection I realize that it wouldn't work.

The solution is simple.  A little comment discipline is needed.  When a topic is of importance then you'll see a  "*"   before and after the title.  No off topic comments will be allowed.  I'll simply delete them.  I'm going back one day and instituting this system. 

Oh my God! Donald Trump finally made the speech that I could have written for him!

This is the speech that I wished Donald Trump had delivered during the convention.  Trust me.  If this is the new Trump then this race is about to turn from being a trainwreck into a serious affair. WATCH/LISTEN TO THIS SPEECH!  I can't find the video but Heavy.com has the full transcript (here).  Below is a tidbit.

There is no compassion in allowing drug dealers, gang members, and felons to prey on innocent people. It is the first duty of government to keep the innocent safe, and when I am President I will fight for the safety of every American – and especially those Americans who have not known safety for a very, very long time.

I am asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different future.

It is time for our society to address some honest and very difficult truths.

The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community. Democratic crime policies, education policies, and economic policies have produced only more crime, more broken homes, and more poverty.

Let us look at the situation right here in Milwaukee, a city run by Democrats for decade after decade. Last year, killings in this city increased by 69 percent, plus another 634 victims of non-fatal shootings. 18-29-year-olds accounted for nearly half of the homicide victims. The poverty rate here is nearly double the national average. Almost 4 in 10 African-American men in Milwaukee between the ages of 25-54 do not have a job. Nearly four in 10 single mother households are living in poverty. 55 public schools in this city have been rated as failing to meet expectations, despite ten thousand dollars in funding per-pupil. There is only a 60% graduation rate, and it’s one of the worst public school systems in the country.

1 in 5 manufacturing jobs has disappeared in Milwaukee since we fully opened our markets to China, and many African-American neighborhoods have borne the brunt of this hit.

To every voter in Milwaukee, to every voter living in every inner city, or every forgotten stretch of our society, I am running to offer you a better future.

The Democratic Party has taken the votes of African-Americans for granted. They’ve just assumed they’ll get your support and done nothing in return for it. It’s time to give the Democrats some competition for these votes, and it’s time to rebuild the inner cities of America – and to reject the failed leadership of a rigged political system.

Will black leadership still dance for the democrats?  You bet your ass.  But if he can peel off 10-15% of the vote...maybe even more if he keeps talking like this then we might see a VERY different outcome than the one that most political talking heads are predicting.

Yeah I know.  But I can only hope.

*Company Landing Teams/Squad Experiments show the USMC isn't serious about the near peer threat.*

What have we seen?  ISIS has operated almost like a nation state military.  They are using tanks, artillery, UAVs...everything but aircraft (and they're rumored to have captured at least one) against both Iraqi and Syrian forces.

We're seeing the same in Africa by groups affiliated with ISIS.

What is the Marine Corps solution?  The Company Landing Team?  Not hardly. Every swinging dick and ovary in the Marine Corps knows that formation will not hold up on the battlefield we see in Iraq/Syria.  They might perform well in the advisory role in Afghanistan but we're talking about combat situations.

So why the push?  Why the desire to play with the basic Marine Corps Infantry Squad?  I believe the answer is clear.  First the Marine Corps isn't serious about the big fight that Neller talked about not long ago.  Second?  This is even more ominous to me.  Company Landing Teams/Squad Experiments make sense if you're trying to push as many Marine units forward as possible.  If combat power is only a secondary consideration and your main mission is simply presence then it might work.

The problem is that our peer competitors are looking to recreate what the Marine Corps is throwing away.  Combined Arms Teams of the first order that can scale up and down the spectrum.  Company Landing Teams will relegate the Marine Corps to supporting operations...operations other than war, training of foreign forces and disaster relief.

IF THE MARINE CORPS was serious about near peer threats then it would seek to reinforce the MEU.  If additional skills sets are needed then they would be attached.  UAVs for every squad?  Then you would simply pull those operators from the wing and attach them.  You want to get fancy and do the same with a cyber warrior?  No problem, but the CLT is definitely not the answer.

Side Note:  I'm making this prediction before HQMC fully develops its marketing campaign to sell their bullshit.  We will see the ACV canceled this fall with the talking point that the AAV upgrades and the desire to prepare for the next war necessitates a high speed AAV.  They will further state that the ACV just doesn't provide enough of a technological leap forward to justify purchase.  Tanks of course is buried but they'll state that they're moving it to the reserves to keep the tribe quiet.  Unfortunately that won't be what gets people howling.  I expect a reduction in artillery with the same thing done.  They'll be moved to the reserves.  It will be stated that aviation can provide much more responsive and tailored fires.  Last but not least they'll trumpet the increase in the size of Marine Corps Infantry Battalions to sell the idea that they're actually increasing combat power instead of relegating the Marine Corps to meals on wheels duty or SOCOM perimeter guard (outer perimeter...the Rangers must do the inner perimeter after all).

*USMC Infantry Officer Course is officially harder than the US Army's Ranger School.*

Thanks to Joe for the link!

via CNN.

The only female officer enrolled in the Marine Corps' Infantry Officer's Course has dropped out after failing to complete two conditioning hikes last month, according to the Marine Corps' Training and Education Command.
"At this time, there are no female officers enrolled or slated to attend (the Infantry Officer's Course)," Marine spokesman Capt. Joshua Pena told CNN.
He added that 33 additional officers have been dropped from the course out of a starting class comprising 97 officers. The course started on July 6 and is scheduled to finish on September 20.

Ordinarily I'd cheer this news but the reality is that they'll just water down the course until women can pass.

Until they do its official.  USMC infantry officer course is officially harder than the US Army's Ranger School.  Eat that Army dawgs!

Forget the Russian slat armor...Army Recognition has the info on the 6S21RWS.

via Janes.

The Russian defence industry has developed a slat armour system designed for tracked and wheeled armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) for enhanced survivability against anti-tank weapons fitted with a single high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead.
These include the PG-7 rocket fired by the RPG-7, PG-9S fired by the tripod mounted SPG-9, as well as the PG18 disposable anti-tank weapon.
The slat armour can be installed on the Russian BTR-60, BTR-70 and BTR-80 8x8 amphibious armoured personnel carriers (APCs), the BMP-1 and BMP-2 tracked infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and the 4x4 BRDM-2 amphibious scout car.
In the case of the BTR-80 the slat armour is installed on the both sides of the vehicle and covers the upper part of the road wheels to just above the hull roof line. Provision has been made to protect the gap between the second and third road wheels on either side to enable the dismounts to enter and leave the vehicle via its side hatch.
For travelling the lower part can be folded up 180° and locked in position alongside the upper part.
The front and rear of the BTR-80 is also protected and when travelling the upper part of the front-mounted slat armour package can be folded back under the nose of the BTR-80 for improved vision in low-threat environments.

Janes dropped the headline on this one.  Forget the slat armor.  What's going on with that remote weapon station?  A little Google search took me to Army Recognition.

"At Russian Arms Expo 2015, being held from 9-12 September 2015, the Russian defense giant UralVagonZavod unveild a modernization kit installend onto the famous BTR-80 armored personnel carrier. This new kit features i.a. a 6S21 remotely-controlled weapon station.
According to UralVagonZavod, this new kit is not only dedicated to the BTR-80 APC, but can also be installed on various types of fighting/special-purpose vehicles.
The modernization kit disclosed by UVZ at RAE 2015 comprises first a 6S21 remote-controlled weapon station used to solve the reconnaissance, battlefield surveillance and target recognition using TV and IR cameras and engagement of point and group targets, both moving and fixed, by means of, in this case, of a 14.5 mm KPVT machine-gun from short halts, on the move and on the float…"

This is interesting.

The Russians are working the issues with RWS hard.  They definitely see a future for mechanized warfare.

The F-35 Program Office just subsidized Lockheed Martin shareholders.

via Defense Aerospace.

Yet the Pentagon authorized a $1 billion cash payment to Lockheed in early August,Defense News reported August 12, five months earlier than Lockheed expected and for $100 million more than Lockheed’s claimed shortfall.

Furthermore, the payment – reportedly made under an existing undefinitized contract action (UCA), has not been made public.

Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), told Defense News that “with what we have provided, Lockheed will be able to continue the LRIP 9 production without bearing any undue burden.”

DelleVedova did not reply to an Aug 15 e-mail asking for clarification.

The cash payment to Lockheed appears all the more surprising that the company apparently does not have any cash-flow problems.

For the first half of the year, Lockheed posted an operating profit of $2.86 billion, dwarfing its claimed $900 million shortfall on the F-35. Lockheed also said it “generated cash from operations of $1.5 billion,” so it was hardly pinched for cash, especially as its F-35 sales increased -- during just the second quarter -- by $390 million, and its profit by $60 million.

This is fraud.

This is criminal.

This is corporate welfare.

Everyone associated with this program is getting smeared because of it.  Fanboys should be proud.  You're not only getting used by the Generals, F-35 program, Lockheed Martin but now you can add shareholders to the list. You're being whored out.

The USMC pushes ahead with Company Landing Teams.

via Marine Corps Times

The Marine Corps must be prepared to counter and defeat a range of adversaries in high-tech environments, leaders say. And the company landing team, which has long been considered the backbone of the infantry, could get a major makeover.
Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, was tapped by Commandant Gen. Robert Neller earlier this year to help the Corps figure out what these teams need to be successful. The grunts were recently sent out to the desert in varying-sized teams, equipped with new high-tech gear like drones, robotic vehicles — some with weaponry — and self-supporting energy systems.
The goal is to make this updated force, which was coined the expeditionary landing team, more self-sufficient and combat ready.
Neller dropped in on the company at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms to get a close look at the gear the Marines tested. The 18-month experiment will rely heavily on user feedback from the Marines and sailors involved, who formed a company landing team during an integrated exercise here.
“One of the best parts of this is [that] we're giving them some tools and seeing what they come up with — and hopefully we'll be smart enough to listen to what they tell us,” Neller told Marine Corps Times.

You are looking at a United States Marine Corps in the middle of confusion, churn and wishing on a star.

Company Landing Teams were born during the time when endless wars against terrorists that looked like they did in Afghanistan during 2011 or Iraq in 2009.  It ignores the battlefield we're seeing in Syria and Ukraine today.

So instead of adjusting to the new realities they stick to concepts that were born more than two decades ago.

We are seeing the purposeful dismantling of the combined arms team in order to create a small high tech infantry force that's overly reliant on airpower with the hope they will be able to stand toe to toe with  mechanized battalions of threat nations.

I personally don't think they could stand up against the hybrid forces we're seeing in the Middle East and Africa.

The Marine Corps is creating a future disaster.

Side Note:  This all but confirms it.  Tanks is dead.

Outrage of the day. South Sudan troops after defeating rebels went on a 4 hour rampage against foreign women...singling out Americans.

via Free Beacon.

On July 11, South Sudanese troops, fresh from winning a battle in the capital, Juba, over opposition forces, went on a nearly four-hour rampage through a residential compound popular with foreigners, in one of the worst targeted attacks on aid workers in South Sudan’s three-year civil war. They shot dead a local journalist while forcing the foreigners to watch, raped several foreign women, singled out Americans, beat and robbed people, and carried out mock executions, several witnesses told The Associated Press.
For hours throughout the assault, the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed less than a mile away refused to respond to desperate calls for help. Neither did embassies, including the U.S. Embassy.

These are the people that we're siding with.  Worse?  You have so called educated people that encourage their daughters to go on these missions under the belief that "nothing" will happen and that the rules of behavior in the US applies to the rest of the world.  But wait.  It gets worse.

One female aid worker interviewed by the Associated Press said a soldier pointed an AK-47 at her and demanded she have sex with him. She was successively raped by 15 South Sudanese soldiers and described how everyone at the complex was contacting anyone they could for help, including the U.N. peacekeeping force and the U.S. Embassy.

I can't even get upset with the UN or the US State Dept.  I've come to expect this type of behavior from them (vile as it is).  My anger goes to the men in these women's lives that knew better (or should have) yet still let the ladies that they supposedly care about walk into the jaws of hell.

Note:  Did you hear about this on mainstream media?  We are seeing something evil.  News is being tailored to hide the truth of the world from the American people.

Russia increases its strategic reach in the Middle East.

Thanks to Amir for the link!  Pics via Warfare Worldwide Twitter Page!

Russian strategic bombers and tankers at Iran's Hamedan Air Base?  Do you really think this is just about Syria?  Maybe but it also sends a message to the US and the GCC.  Russia is a major player in the Middle East and can conduct punitive raids against anyone in the region now.  It also helps with the issue of force protection.  I can imagine that these aircraft based in Syria would be juicy targets for both the terrorist (the bad head choppers that we don't support and the so called good ones that we do) and possibly even a covert raid by guys that run around the woods with knives between their teeth.

Love them or hate them but this is a good move on their part.

NOTE:  I stand by my previous statements.  The Middle East is a cesspool.  Better a dictator that can be controlled instead of a radical terrorist that can't.  We should support Assad and the Russians.  Reform Syria to the best that we can and kill every terrorist we see.  If we got to work on it I think it would take 3 months at most.