Norwegian Army picks Hanwha Techwin K9 and RUAG upgraded M109 for down select...panzerhaubitze 2000 rejected!

Thanks to Bjørnar for the link!

via TU.NO

Korean K9 Thunder and Swiss, upgraded M109.
It is these two guns that stands between when the Norwegian military planned to acquire 24 new artillery pieces and put them to use by 2020.
The Korean candidate has an advantage, and may be the preferred artillery system in the Nordic region.
Decisive winter test
After a market survey (RFI) asked defense last June about offers from four artillery manufacturers .
The candidates were then put to the test in three weeks in January this year on Regionfelt eastern Norway by Rena.
In the very thorough and well-documented tests, should the four shoot towers with 155 mm cannons demonstrate its ability to move forward and to shoot under Norwegian winter conditions.
Key requirements for the new Norwegian artillery goes on range, firepower, mobility, protection and life cycle costs.
The two candidates who scored best in the overall evaluation is Hanwha Techwin (formerly Samsung) with their K9 Thunder and RUAG with their upgraded M109 (Krait).

It also means that Defence equipment (FMA) so far has rejected German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and their panzerhaubitze 2000 and French NEXT Caesar.

Follow the link to see a vid of the comp.

Amazing.  Conventional wisdom had the Panzer 2000 as being the best self propelled gun in the West.  Seems like we need to rethink that.

That Indian sub leak IS serious!

via Sputnik

The report carried specifics on the entire sonar systems used to identify and target enemy vessels, forcing India to accept that a few pockets of concern remain in the establishment. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said, "It is my understanding that there are a few pockets of concern, assuming that what is claimed to have been leaked has actually been leaked."

And this."The Navy is just trying to control the public relations damage of the leak, so they are trying to play it down. If they claim there is no damage, then maybe we should now put all 22,400 confidential documents on the net," he told Indian newswire IANS.

There is definitely more to this sub leak than the Indian Navy is telling us.

Pic of the day. Marine Corps Sikorsky HR2S (H-37) Mojave helicopter

Thanks to Galvars for the pic!

I love this helicopter.

Open Comment Post. Aug 26, 2016. What will the ramifications be for dissing the Kurds?

This is an early "Open Comment Post" because the situation in Syria is becoming even more alarming to me.

We are seeing a circular firing squad with the added insult of the US abandoning one of its most important allies in the supposed fight against ISIS.

Think about it.

Just a month ago all we heard was how the Kurds are the most dependable friends we have in the fight against ISIS and Assad.  Pics (above) leaked of US Special Ops personnel wearing YPG patches and fighting alongside them.

Actions have consequences.  I wonder what the consequences/ramifications be for dissing the Kurds?

Turkey-backed rebels, U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds clash...the circular firing squad continues.

via TheStar.com

Turkey sent more tanks into northern Syriaon Thursday and gave Syrian Kurdish forces a week to scale back their presence near the Turkish border, a day after it launched a U.S.-backed cross-border incursion to establish a frontier zone free of the Daesh and Kurdish rebels.
Skirmishes broke out between Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, raising the potential for an all-out confrontation between the two American allies that would also jeopardize the fight against Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in the volatile area.
Turkey’s incursion Wednesday to capture the town of Jarablus was a dramatic escalation of Turkey’s role in Syria’s war and adds yet another powerhouse force on the ground in an already complicated conflict.
But Ankara’s objective went beyond fighting extremists. Turkey is also aiming to contain the expansion by Syria’s Kurds, who have used the fight against Daesh and the chaos of Syria’s civil war to seize nearly the entire stretch of territory along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.
Above all, Ankara seeks to avoid Kurdish forces linking up their strongholds along the border. The U.S. has backed its NATO ally, sending a stern warning to the Syrian Kurds with whom it has partnered in the fight against Daesh to stay east of the Euphrates River. The river crosses from Turkey into Syria at Jarablus.

“The U.S. is interested in stopping this from becoming a confrontation between the YPG and Turkey. That would be a huge detriment to the anti-IS (Daesh) campaign,” said Chris Kozak, a Syria researcher at the Washington-based Institute of the Study of War, referring to the main U.S.-backed Kurdish faction fighting Daesh. Turkey accuses the group of links to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

Now we're seeing hints of the truth.

With the removal of ASSAD being taken off the table, things are heating up.  The Kurds are the first victims in all this but there are many more to come.

Forgotten Marine Corps Legends. Colonel Joseph Biddle, Master of Unarmed Combat

via Bowie Knife Fighters Blog.

A pot-bellied fellow with eagles on his shoulders and store teeth up-stairs pointed his bayonetted rifle toward a hard-boiled regiment at Ft. Bragg.

"All right, now," he shouted, "kill me."
Nobody moved.

The chicken-claws pointed to the ranks.

"You, come and get me." But the kid he singled out was scared. "Dammit, I want you to cut my throat."

The Private made a half-hearted bayonet thrust.

"You're yellow," the Colonel yelled, prancing up and down in his black sneakers. "I want a man who's not afraid to kill. Step out, you there," he commanded a tough-looking 30-year-old sergeant. The buck stepped from the ranks.

"Now come running at me with your bayonet," he ordered, "and go for my throat."

The sergeant wet his lips. He clenched his gun and lunged full speed at the Colonel's neck.
Col. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, who knows more about bayonets, knives and jiujitsu than any other man, parried the thrust with his own bayonet. Before the sergeant could mumble, "Holy smoke," Biddle had his own bayonet alongside the sergeant's throat, and the big buck was sweating.
"That's how it's done," the Colonel said. "Now let's all try it."

Read the whole thing here.

Secret info on India's Scorpene Subs leaked.

via Sputnik

The 22,400 pages of data seen by The Australian contain the key secret stealth capabilities of the Indian submarines. Some information included what frequencies the submarines gather intelligence at, the levels of noise they make at various speeds, their diving depths, range and endurance, where on the submarine the crew can speak safely to avoid detection by the enemy, magnetic, electromagnetic and infra-red data, and the specifications of the submarine’s torpedo launch system and combat system, the speed and conditions needed for using the periscope, noise specifications of the propeller and radiated noise levels that occur when the submarine surfaces.

Do you see that tidbit of the info leaked?  I guarantee that EVERY navy on the planet made hard copies, is comparing it to estimates and is putting the info into new battle simulations.

Further you can bet that China, the US (yeah...we gather info even on allied nations gear) and Russia are digging thru it hard.

If India is smart they'll cancel this contract.  Those subs will be damn near useless if delivered with the current specifications.

British Military Working Dogs are plain fierce! Pic of the day.

Geez!  If I saw that dog when I came around the corner I would head the other way.  I wouldn't want to die from puppy kisses. Brit MWD are fierce!

New Video of EItan 8x8 APC!

Mark my words gents. You're seeing a new standard in wheeled IFV/APC design.

The death of an 8x8 IFV. Is situational awareness the most important factor in armored warfare now?

Below you'll see screen captures of the vid that Drinas gave the blog links to (you can see it in an earlier post).  Putting aside the fact that the Saudi's are piss poor soldiers...putting aside that they're getting taken apart with basic and I mean BASIC soldier skills...ignoring that those three vehicles possessed more firepower than the people firing at them from the hilltops....

The question needs to be asked.  Is situational awareness (optics, sensors, etc...) the most important factor in armored warfare now?  Armor nuts (myself included) debate firepower, mobility, armor protection...wheels vs tracks...but we never debate vehicle sensors.

Check out the pics below and the video I posted earlier.  We weren't there so we don't know but my bet is that those poor bastards didn't even know where they were taking fire from.  If they had state of the art sensor systems then maybe they could have returned fire and gotten out of that killbox.

Lead vehicle hits a rut in the road and loses its axle.  Trail vehicle following too closely for the speed being traveled rear ends it.  Apparently the crash causes the two back tires on the right side of the vehicle to deflate.  This should not have been a mobility kill.  I'm sure the driver of the LAV probably sustained serious injuries in the crash.

The third vehicle in this tragic comedy zooms around the first two.  This was the chance to assist his comrades but he was having none of that and simply unassed the area at high speed. I guess the thought was better "you than me".

The survivors of the crash realizes they're in deep doo-doo.  I can't even imagine the conversations going on inside the vehicles at this time.  The radio communication back to whatever HQ is probably laced with profanity.  I'm sure prayers were said.

Didn't notice it the first time I saw the vid but the turret attempts to orient toward the enemy.  I never saw it fire and the fact that the rear hatch is open means that at least one person in the vehicle has made a decision to leave on foot.  The fate of one guy trying to hoof it out is shown on vid.  He sprints for what looks like a half mile to me (world record fashion) and is finally clipped in the ankle and sent to Allah.

The death of the 8x8 IFV.  I never saw rocket fire and it appears that they killed it with small arms.  I have to repeat.  Not counting personal weapons, but with the 90mm on the LAV, plus the 50 cal on the Hummer, the ambushed force had FAR MORE FIREPOWER than the enemy.  They quite simply had no idea where to fire.

Saudi Armor keeps getting beat up in Yemen (video)

Thanks to Drinas for the video!



The tragic comedy starts at 12:50.  What is that 8x8 IFV?  So much for the vaunted durability!  It lost 2 wheels on one side just from the crash.  I never saw its main gun fire and those guys were in full retreat.

The Saudi's are some pathetic soldiers.

Iranian speedboats harass US Destroyer...

Story here.

There will be an incident at sea soon.  Just sit back and wait for it.  Our naval strategy of "forward presence" and freedom of navigation exercises might seem like a great idea in meeting rooms but out on the ragged edge it has consequences.

Take this incident for example.

One wild eyed Iranian zealot in one of those speedboats.  That's all it would take.  What if that zealot decided to show the "imperial dogs" and raked the superstructure of that destroyer with 50 cal fire?

How do we expect our Destroyer skippers to react?  Should they tuck tail and run or defend their ship?

Between incidents with Russia, China and Iran...this shit will get out of control and we will see an incident.  Mark my words.

And the hits just keep coming....now Putin offers to host Middle East peace talks.

Thanks to Joe for the link

via WarNewsUpdates.

President Vladimir Putin is pushing to host peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in the latest sign of his ambition for Russia to replace the US as chief powerbroker in the Middle East.
Mr Putin made his overture to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who said that it would involve a meeting at the Kremlin between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ­Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
“Putin has told me that he is ready to receive Abbas and ­Netanyahu in Moscow to carry out direct talks to find a solution,” Mr Sisi told the state-owned newspaper Al Ahram.

Gawd Damnit!  I'm really getting tired of our so called best and brightest being out maneuvered by Putin.  Either the guy is a freaking genius or our people are idiots.

Lets take it by the numbers....He props up Assad, brings Turkey to heel, gets Iran to furnish most of the soldiers taking the hits in the fight against the moderate terrorists (is there any such thing?), blunts US strategy against ISIS, curb stomps Kurdish ambition for a state carved out of the carcasses of Iraq/Syria...and now he wants to play peace maker between Israel and Palestine.

The optics on this are terrible.

We are on a serious losing streak in the Middle East and Putin is raping us with a cactus.

US dumps the Kurds, supports the Turks.

via Intellinews.com

The Turkish military supported by warplanes from the US-led coalition launched an operation at 4am on August 24 to clear the town of Jarablus, in Northern Syria, from Islamic State militants, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Turkish artillery and warplanes are pounding Islamic State positions in the town but it is not clear whether land forces have crossed the border. Local news channel NTV, however, reported that units from Turkish special forces are now in Northern Syria.
The operation is aimed at clearing the Turkish borders of terrorist groups, helping to enhance border security and supporting the territorial integrity of Syria, Turkish officials told Anadolu Agency. By sweeping Islamic State from the border, Ankara and Washington hope to cut off the extremist group’s vital supply routes.
The military operation was launched after a number of mortar bombs fired from IS-controlled Jarablus landed in the Turkish town of Karkamis on August 23. There were no reported casualties but the local authorities ordered residents to evacuate the town.

This is insanity.  Correct me if I'm wrong (and I probably am) but the score card looks like this now.

*  Russia is supporting Assad.
*  Iran is supporting Assad.
*  Turkey is ok with Assad.
*  Russia is fighting ISIS.
*  Turkey is fighting ISIS.
*  Iran is fighting ISIS.
*  Kurds are fighting Assad.
*  Kurds are fighting ISIS.
*  Moderate terrorists are fighting Kurds.
*  Moderate terrorists are fighting Assad/Russia/Iran
*  US is supporting Turkey.
*  US is supporting moderate terrorists.
*  US is supporting Kurds?

This whole thing is now jumbled.  Turkey is going after the Kurds.  No one doubts that.  The US is supporting Turkey.  Our Special Ops people are on the ground with the Kurds.

This whole thing is fucked beyond recognition.

Side Note:  Does anyone have a legit flow chart of this mess?  I seriously can't keep track of this thing!  Save your drama...I know I screwed up the "who's fighting who"!

USAF now planning on using 4th gen fighters in contested airspace?

Thanks to William for the link!

via Janes IHS

It is intended that the SHiELD pod would better enable the USAF's fourth-generation fighter fleet, such as the Boeing F-15 Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, to survive in contested airspace. The fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II would probably not carry the pod, as it would negate their stealth characteristics.

So wait one gawd damn minute.

All the F-35 fanboys have been stating that 4th gen fighters won't be entering contested airspace. The F-35 and F-22 would have to clear the way to "make it safe" for them.

Now the Air Force is building a pod so our 4th gen fighters can enter that fight?   It appears that planning for the future USAF fleet is changing.  I wonder what they're not telling us.

Open Comment Post Aug 24, 2016.

Open Comment Post so you can take discussions wherever you want.  I have a question for my readers though.  An reader came by and declared that the Spike is the best anti-tank missile in the world.  I never really thought about it because I considered it a wash. Is he right?

Land 400 requirements were poorly written.

Sorry folks.  I need to take another bite of this apple.  Long story short?  If I was Singapore Kinetics I would lodge a protest.  Ditto with General Dynamics.

The more I dig into the specification and wording of the requirement with the Land 400 the more I think the Australian Defence Ministry was smoking crack.

How can you run a contest and not specify a manned or unmanned turret?  How can you run a contest with protection levels so high that they're bordering on damn near MBT level protection and then turn around and talk about the vehicle having to be MOTS when NO ONE IN THE WORLD is operating a vehicle with the protection levels they specified!

The Aussies put out an unrealistic wish list, tried to pare it down by saying that it was off the shelf and are still ending up with a vehicle that is built with yesterday's tech but is suppose to serve well into the future.

I'm getting more and more pissed by what I'm seeing here.  I thought this program would be one to watch because it would deliver the most advanced wheeled vehicle in the world to the Aussies.  Instead it turned into a text book example of how NOT to run a program.

Let me leave you with this parting shot.  They wrote a requirement that meant the Patria XP, General Dynamics LAV 5 and apparently Terrex 3/Sentinel II were disqualified!  Three of the most advanced wheeled IFVs were shot down because they weren't in service yet.  Instead you have vehicles that have been in service for at least 10 years and a few even longer making the down select.  Simply Amazing!

Below The Turret Ring Blog has a must read on Land 400.

via BTTR.

The Patria AMV 35 CRVshould be considered a cheap, but less capable option compared to the Boxer. The Boxer CRV is the "we put everything possible in the vehicle" solution, while the AMV 35 CRV seems to be based on a more reasonable cost-to-benefit ratio. However, aside of lower armor and lack of advanced features, there are a few more aspects about the proposal from Patria and BAE that are not so ideal. Not offering the latest configuration of the AMVXP, but an older chassis with only 30 metric tons of payload (still three more than the original 8x8 AMV could handle) is sub-optimal for a vehicle meant to stay in service for several decades to come. The commander's indepent optronics are integrated into the cupola, making hunter-killer options possible, but more cumbersome than utilizing a proper panoramic sight like the Boxer CRV or the Sentinel II.

This is a very nice overview of the selection process.  What still irks is that I still haven't gotten a proper explanation of why the Terrex 3/Sentinel II didn't make the down select.

I stand by my contention that it was the best vehicle in the competition and had the most growth potential...anyone check out the article.

SOCOM adopting Israeli room clearing tactics?

I got this from a little birdy, a if he swings around and tells me to take this post down then so be it.

With that out of the way, I was told that SOCOM is adopting Israeli room clearing tactics after lessons learned in the Middle East.  The difference is the action at the "fatal funnel".  US tactics were to stack at the door and then move rapidly to clear that choke point while taking up positions of dominance in the room being cleared.

Israeli tactics are to stack at the door achieve dominance at the funnel and then once the threat is suppressed move forward.  Its a poor description but I hope you get the gist.

I personally view this as a good thing.  Its alot less dynamic, alot more methodical but it should reduce casualties on our side.

This is a good sign.  No need to reinvent the wheel.  Innovation comes from many places and if an ally or even an enemy comes up with a better way then we should be all over it.

Marine Tanks to receive upgrade.

Thanks to D90 for the link!

via Tanks and AFV News.

Marine Corps Systems Command is modernizing the tank commander’s weapon station on the M1A1 tank by developing a suite of systems that give tank commanders and their gunners a hunter-killer edge over their enemies.
The new Abrams Integrated Display and Targeting System, Tank Commander Single Handle and slew-to-cue capability make up the modernized trifecta that cuts time to enemy engagement by half while increasing accuracy, range and lethality on the battlefield.
ABRAMS INTEGRATED DISPLAY AND TARGETING SYSTEM
Responding to feedback from Marines, the Abrams Integrated Display and Targeting System, or AIDATS, upgrades the thermal and day sights on the stabilized commander’s weapon station through a state-of-the-art, high-definition camera and permanently mounted color display.

“The most significant benefit—the main reason why AIDATS was started—is the color display,” said Michael Kreiner, AIDATS project officer in MCSC’s Armor and Fire Support Systems. “Users didn’t like the black and white camera that was in the tank before, because they have a hard time distinguishing between different color trucks.”

There is much more at the link.

I don't think this changes my assessment of things.  THEY MIGHT go forward with these upgrades but the future of tanks in the Marine Corps is very much in doubt.

Say it with me.  LESS THAN 60 TANKS (estimate) are left in the active duty Marine Corps.

After the "future" Marine Corps paper comes out later this year I expect that number to go to zero.  I further expect for them to split the baby and move them to the reserves.  That will keep the tribe from howling too loudly and open up boat spaces for the wing to get more maintainers, the new cyber bubbas and a few more spots in the Infantry battalions.