You keep saying we MUST fight in mega cities? Calculate the costs in tiny Marawi in your planning!

via Star and Stripes.

MARAWI, Philippines — More than six months after Filipino and foreign fighters claiming allegiance to the Islamic State stormed this lakeside city, setting off a monthslong war with U.S.-backed Philippine troops, liberated Marawi lies in ruins and its people seethe.

The heart of the city has been bombed and burned beyond recognition, its domed mosques pierced by mortar fire. Homes stand roofless, blackened. There are armored vehicles on the streets.

Some 200,000 residents are still scattered across the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, living with weary relatives or in displacement camps thick with mud and worry.

Those who have been allowed to return found their homes sacked and looted - safes open, jewelry snatched, appliances gone.

Many are angry at the men who seized their city in a failed bid to establish a caliphate, taking hostages and targeting civilians. They are angry, too, at the forces that fought those men, namely the Philippine army and its backer, the United States.

Beyond earshot of officials and soldiers, people wonder why the army was so quick to pummel their predominantly Muslim city. They are also suspicious of the role played by U.S. Special Forces.

Story here. 

Hate me if you want but I bet body parts I consider valuable that this fight was a test bed for the Army/Marine Corps and specifically the Special Ops bubba's wet dream of fighting in mega cities.

I hope they're properly assessing the costs.

I've talked about the refugee crisis that will develop.  I've talked about how air operations will be inadvisable due to enemy forces firing horizontally at our aircraft as they're inserting personnel.  I've talked about how the terrain favors the defense over the assault.

I could go on but you get the drift.  Fighting in a mega city is a STUPID idea.

While this debate has raged (well not really...there is NO pushback in the military journals) I have yet to hear a plausible explanation of why we should do such a thing.

All I get is "that's where the people are so that's where we have to fight".  What bullshit!  But ignoring the lack of logic, it really seems as if a general got a chance to see Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and wants to make it come true.  There is no strategy other than thinking that a video game points the way to the future.

USMC put the F-35 into service before it was ready and now tries to blame the Program Office for a fire...

via Defense News.

The weapons bay bracket that caused the fire was a “known and previously identified hazard in the F-35B community,” the commander of Marine Aircraft Group 31 wrote in an endorsement of the investigation.

“The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office (JSFPO) should have assessed the risk of the broken bracket as more severe than Marginal, properly assessed the root cause of the broken brackets, and implemented a long-term solution to prevent bracket failures,” according to a redacted copy of the investigation, which Marine Corps Times obtained through a Freedom of information act request.

On Oct. 27, 2016, a fire broke out while the F-35B was in the air. The plane’s warning system identified the malfunction, allowing the pilot to land safely at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, a 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman said.

The broken bracket had chafed against electrical wiring, which are near hydraulic lines, the investigation found. An electrical short ignited fluid from a pinhole-sized leak in the hydraulic line.

“The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office should re-evaluate the risk severity of the faulty bracket design in order to prevent re-occurrence of an in-flight fire or the potential loss of an aircraft,” wrote the commander, whose name was redacted.

Story here. 

Pretty interesting stuff, so make sure you read the story.

What I find interesting is that the USMC pushed for an early IOC....waaaaay before the plane was ready to enter service and in total opposition to the way that we've done business before and now they have the temerity to complain about the Program Office?  Simply amazing!  Additionally the idea that they would redact the name of the commander is puzzling.  Simple Google searches can track him down in seconds.  Last.  This type of thing should have been expected.  You put an airplane into service before testing is complete and they're lucky as hell we haven't seen one crash or pilots killed.

Blaming the program office over a bracket?  Pretty ballsy stuff.

The Brits are selling their Landing Platform Docks...clever, diabolical and stupid...

via Janes.

Proposals to retire the UK Royal Navy’s (RN's) two landing platform docks (LPDs) and reduce the size of the Royal Marines (RM) have come under fire from retired officers and academic experts during a parliamentary inquiry.

The proposals prepared by RN chiefs as part of the ongoing UK national security capability review were described as “perverse” and “aggregated stupidity” during a session of the House of Commons Defence Committee on 5 December to investigate the RM and UK amphibious capability.

The committee launched the inquiry in November in response to media reports – that were not denied by the Ministry of Defence – that the early retirement of the RN’s two LPDs, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion , and a reduction in the strength of the RM by 1,000 was being considered in the review.

This is crazy.  But also clever, diabolical and stupid.

Why is it clever?  Because they get to get rid of other pieces of equipment at the same time and few are taking that into account.  With the LPDs gone then the landing craft are useless.  Sell the LPD and the air cushion vehicles are useless.  Of course you don't need the Beach Armored Recovery Vehicles (right) that were a uniquely British "thing".

Why is it diabolical?  Cause it justifies cutting the Brit Army. How do you get them overseas ...especially the Army's vehicles without LPDs?  Everything will be suboptimal and I don't think you can put Challengers on the flight deck of the QE.  They're taking out two majestic ships but they're gonna be able to justify FAR LARGER cuts across the board with this decision.

Why is it stupid?  All of the above.  The Brits don't want to admit it but they've just relegated themselves to a different class.  I don't know their aspirations but they will never "punch above their weight class" if they go forward with this planning.

To be blunt.  The Brits will become a drag on operations and militarily irrelevant.  Instead of asking the Brits to provide fighting forces I can see future commanders telling the Brits to send donations to the Red Cross and to go shopping to support the war effort.

Russian MoD Reports Incident With US F-22 Fighter Over Syria's Euphates River

via Sputnik

The Russian Defense Ministry has called the presence of the US air force in Syria illegal.

"An American F-22 fighter actively prevented the Russian pair of Su-25 attack aircraft from carrying out a combat mission to destroy the Daesh stronghold in the suburbs of the city of Mayadin in the airspace over the western bank of the Euphrates River on November 23. The F-22 aircraft fired off heat flares and released brake shields with permanent maneuvering, imitating an air battle," Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesperson said on Saturday.

The spokesperson has explained that most of the majority of near-misses between US and Russian planes in Syria and in the area of Euphrates were connected with the Washington's attempts to hinder Daesh defeat.

At the same time, he noted that "after the appearance of a Russian multifunctional super maneuverable Su-35S fighter, the American fighter stopped dangerous maneuvers and hurried to move into Iraqi airspace."

Moreover, the ministry's representative has noted that the American side has failed to give any answer to the Russian command at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria "concerning this and many other incidents in the Syrian sky".

I don't understand this.  Why are we still protecting ISIS?  I thought those games were over with.

Someday someone is gonna have to explain this nonsense we have going with ISIS and why it continued for so long.

Quite honestly this is the biggest scandal of the last three decades.  We're looking at almost OVERT support of a terror outfit.  That has to be something new right?

Blast from the past.....They could build nukes thru open source but the bio stuff worries me today...

Nuke development doesn't worry me.  In the age of the internet and big brother watching, you would be caught in a New York second just by typing a few key words in sequence...and that applies no matter where you live.

The mass destruction thing that worries is the bio stuff.  That junk is written in books all over the place and if you have access to those old skool book stores...I'm talking about the mom and pop joints that people just give those old high school textbooks, medical journals, etc... to after a loved one has passed then that's where you can do the deed without coming to the attention of officials.

A little brains, determination and evil intent and we could be looking at a mass casualty event.

The price you pay for living in interesting times I guess.

2nd CAV receives it's first 30 mm Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle - Dragoon (ICVD)

We are excited to announce we have received our first 30 mm Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle - Dragoon (ICVD), named after our very own "Dragoons." This variant increases lethality and provides 2CR the additional assets needed to defend the NATO Alliance against any adversaries if called to do so. Which Dragoons are looking forward to testing this Stryker out? #StrongEurope #AlwaysReady #Stryker #2CR #Readiness #Lethal #NATO #Dragoon

A post shared by "Always Ready" (@2dcavalryregiment) on Dec 8, 2017 at 11:35pm PST

British troops exercise in Estonia as part of the NATO's eFP (Enhanced Forward Presence)...pics by LCpl Craig Williams

Open Comment Post. Dec 9, 2017

Hyundai Rotem has won a contract to build K806 and the K808 for S. Korean military....

via Yonhap News.

Hyundai Rotem Co., the rolling stock and arms manufacturing unit of Hyundai Motor Group, said Friday it will build two kinds of wheeled armored vehicles for the South Korean Army by 2020.

Hyundai Rotem inked the 390.7 billion-won (US$357 million) order with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and will build the wheeled armored vehicles at its plant in Changwon, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, the company said in a statement.

The two models are the K806 and the K808, the company said without giving the number of ordered wheeled armored vehicles.

Based on the contract, the company aims to export the wheeled armored vehicles to overseas markets, such as the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia, from next year, it said.

Ogden has been screaming that the USMC needs to do a design study to see if a 6x6 version of whatever wins the ACV should be conducted to see if we can get a future replacement for the LAV-2 at the same time...as well as get a bit of vehicle commonality to save on maintenance/sustainment...but that thinking seems to be missing from what HQMC considers a priority.

The S. Koreans seem sold on the concept though.  We'll see how this goes.  Consider this another example of how others are doing it faster than we are. Think about it like this.  If you go back to the Marine Personnel Carrier days (MPC) then we're behind by about 7 years.  If you go back to when the ACV was first mouthed (and remember it was an off the shelf buy) then we're behind by only 5.  The problem?  Brazil and now S. Korea have scratch built vehicles and will have them into service before we get our "off the shelf buys" thru testing.

Politics Talk. Alcee Hastings in the noose now? This WILL BE interesting!

Shit Is About To Get Real!

Alcee Hastings is a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus.  They could get rid of Conyers because it was convenient.  He was old, he was slipping mentally and they wanted to make room on a powerful committee for younger members.

The same could be said of Franken.  Never mind the fact that the allegations came before he was in Congress.  That was just what the Democrats needed to pressure the Republicans on Moore.  Franken needed to take one for the team...so he did.

But now.  What do they do with Hastings?  How do they handle this?  Even worse?  The news came out late Friday nite which means that it will be the top news all weekend whether the news media wants it to be or not!

Via Roll Call.

The Treasury Department paid $220,000 in a previously undisclosed agreement to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment that involved Florida Democrat Alcee L. Hastings, according to documents obtained by Roll Call.

Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights, said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked.

Hastings has called Packer’s charges “ludicrous” and in documents said he never sexually harassed her.

Story here. 

If precedent has been set then Hastings must resign right?

Or am I being played and this is the news story to put a pen in this whole thing and immunize the rest of Congress from further accusations?

Reliable sources says up to 40 SENATORS have paid out money to accusers.  That is almost half the Senate!  We could see a mass turnover sparked by accusations alone.

Watch this one people. 

One of two things.  Either women will continue to roll and all men should be afraid or they're about to hit a roadblock and this story will fade.

Gurkhas kick Para ass in Kenya!

via The Sun.

MORE than 100 Paras and Gurkhas fought with poles, bats and heavy machine-gun barrels as a training exercise exploded into mayhem.

The Royal Gurkha Rifles — motto: Better to die than to be a coward — were playing the role of an enemy and hid the cudgels for an ambush.

They lashed out as troops from 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment launched their final assault of the eight-week exercise.

The Paras — motto: Ready for Anything — grabbed spare heavy machine-gun barrels to hit back.

Scores were injured. An insider said: “It was like a scene from a football hooligan film. Soldiers were fighting using rifles and spare general purpose machine gun barrels as clubs.

“A few of the guys were hospitalised, and there aren’t many without a bruise or gash.”
Sources said there had been bad blood between the units since a brawl when they faced each other on the same exercise at Archer’s Post base in Nanyuki, Kenya, two years ago.

Story here. 

Jeez.  People talk too much these days.  This kinda shit happens more often than you know and it once never made it to the papers.

Guess those days are over.

Still it doesn't matter for two reasons.

The first, no one appears to have been seriously injured and a little unit cohesion was established while at the same time earning respect from both units toward the other in terms of respect (hopefully).

The second is that if they unified and fought a US Marine Corps unit they'd be handed their asses and the unit motos would change to "mommy make the bad, mean Marine stop"!

Open Comment Post. Dec 8, 2017

1/4 demonstrates amphibious landing capabilities at Steel Knight...video by Cpl. Brandon Maldonado

#Marines from 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, demonstrate amphibious landing capabilities during #SteelKnight18 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Dec. 3, 2017. The distinct ability of the U.S. Marine Corps to gain access to critical areas anywhere in the world through air, ground and maritime capabilities enables us to aid our nation in efforts to resolve conflict, conduct humanitarian assistance or engage our enemy in remote, austere environments. (#marinecorps video by Cpl. Brandon Maldonado)

A post shared by 1st Marine Division (@1stmardiv) on Dec 7, 2017 at 3:16pm PST

Poland shocked by the cost of the Patriot..

via Defense News.

Poland has been pushing toward a purchase of a medium-range air-and-missile defense system for many years, settling on an unprecedented configuration of the Patriot system, but was surprised by the high price tag presented when the U.S. State Department cleared the sale of half of the Patriots Poland plans to buy.

According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, when it notified Congress last month of the potential sale, the deal could cost the country $10.5 billion for four systems — that is roughly 37 billion zloties — which already exceeds by 7 billion zloties what Poland has said it would spend on the entire program.

Story here.

Two words you should focus on.  Unprecedented Configuration.

My guess.

The Poles wanted something unique, boutique and uber expensive and got surprised at the cost of their wish list.

My speculation.

If they went back to the drawing board and requested something a bit more conventional then they would get a lot closer to the price point they're pushing.

3rd Brigade Combat Team/82nd Airborne loves its light howitzers and Polaris vehicles..

1st Tanks heads out to Steel Knight.

Note.  Combat Cameraman's work was not attributed so no credit can be given.

You need a feel good story...Masha The Hero

Just a little good news to offset the bad...

Doug Jones just lost the Alabama Senate race...sends out "racists" flyers...

via The Root.

The above photo is not a stock photo or an image created by The Root’s art department. It is an actual flyer circulating around from the Doug Jones for Senate Committee in his run against Elmer Fudd wannabe and schoolgirl aficionado Roy Moore for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, and it has upset black voters across Alabama.

Someone, probably a white man, thought that the image would resonate with black people and motivate them to get out the vote. It’s as if black people were considering voting for the child molester until some brilliant strategist posited: “What if he were black, though?” The flyer is reductive in its oversimplification of the black mind as only caring about black issues. While it might not be racist, it is certainly racist adjacent.

It is also the Democratic Party.

Story here. 

Time for some plain talk.

I don't get this "believe the woman" standard.  I don't understand why the black community wasn't outraged by Conyers being forced out.  I don't understand why the average man (regardless of color) isn't freaking out that powerful individuals are being taken down/losing jobs with mere accusations and not connecting to the idea that if they can do it to the rich and powerful then what can they NOW do to the average Joe Blow?

But what pisses me off is the history of black males, black females having knowledge of this history and yet the Black Caucus is playing along with this madness.

That poster above?

It's racists as fuck and it's from the Democrat party.

Why?

Ok, this IS NOTHING but opinion, but the idea of black guys pursuing and bedding (in essence raping because no woman would want to have sexual relations) white women is as old a taboo as any.  I personally don't care who fucks who, but this was established in a different time and it's always been in the context of the discussion we're seeing today.

Black males ravaging white females and they females are powerless to stop it.  People have been accused of this and hung from trees.  People have been tortured into false confessions just to make the pain stop.

If Black people in Alabama are as big a part of Doug Jones' base and if he needs them to turn out to support him then I HOPE TO GOD they have enough sense to stay home.

It's past time to get off the Democrat Party plantation.  Oh and spare me the talk to Moore being an idiot.  I take that for as a given.  It's time to send a message to the Democrat party at the very least.  Blacks staying home for the slight you see at the top of the page would be a very powerful message....of course you'll see so called black leadership defend the poster and encourage voting for Jones but it will be bullshit from bullshitters.

The British Army could go as small as 60K soldiers...the Brits will soon be no longer relevant....

via Economist.com

The result is that the Ministry of Defence is desperately seeking ways to find savings of around £2bn a year, at least until 2022 and probably for five years after that. Exactly how the axe will fall is likely to be determined by a review of “national-security capabilities” that is expected to report early next year—a delay supposedly to allow the recently appointed defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, time to get a grip on his new brief.

There are already some indications of the way things are going. The navy, says Mr Chalmers, has made clear that its priorities are the nuclear deterrent, aircraft-carrier strike capacity (two new carriers are in the process of entering service), and the attack submarine force. The result is that Britain’s amphibious capabilities are expected to take the hit, with two assault ships taken out of service and the number of Royal Marines cut by 15%.

The army is also likely to suffer. The government had promised not to go lower than 82,000 soldiers, but the current figure is around 77,400 and there are fears that it could go as low as 60,000. American generals are worried that Britain would be hard put to deploy a division (about 20,000 troops) alongside their forces in a future European war. The House of Commons defence committee warned earlier this year that, even at the previous numbers, the “credibility of the warfighting division will be undermined”. Mr Chalmers thinks an expedient fudge on army size could be found, but there may be a price to be paid in terms of urgently needed new armoured vehicles.

Four years ago the then-chief of the defence staff, General Sir Nick Houghton, sounded the alarm about manpower cuts resulting in a “hollow force”. He could see what was coming.

Story here. 

Wow.  So the Brits will lose two amphibious ships, 15% of its Royal Marines and potentially cut the British Army to 60K troops to pay for the F-35?

Congrats Great Britain.

You bought the lies and the bullshit about the F-35 and have guaranteed that you will soon no longer be considered a relevant military power.

Combat Assault Company Conducts Long Range Swim Training Exercise in Hawaii....Video by Sgt. Kathy Nunez

A reader states that studies show that the time on water for Marines conducting an assault by AAVs and still remain combat effective was about 7 hours. 

Simple math says that the max distance (if they're being realistic) had to be 56 odd miles.  Pretty far out.  Damn far out in an AAV.  Additionally I can't EVER recall AAVs swimming from that far out.  Even 30 miles would be considered unusual and I can't find any documentation for testing at that distance.

The logistics of such an attempt would be daunting (at least in my eyes).  I don't know if it's my imagination but sea state always seems a bit worse further out.  Which means that they could launch in sea state 1, cross points that jump to sea state 5 and finally land in sea state 2.

Vehicles break and AAVs are no exception.  Recovery operations would have to be planned for.  Towing an AAV from 20 miles offshore?  Has that ever been done? 

What about rescues?  No one talks about it but AAVs have sunk before.  Hit a rogue wave and you have an overturned vehicle, and while they self right themselves if you have a hatch that hasn't been secured then you have that crazy scramble to get out while sea water is pouring in.  Not a good situation.  Meanwhile you have that crazy reality.  It's dark, you're geared up, the hatches are small and you're sliding deeper down into the ocean.

You would need combat swimmers if things go bad.  If you have grunts onboard and you're a semi decent planner that cares for your troops then you're gonna need an assload of swimmers, rescue helicopters (the downwash from the V-22 makes it less than optimal for this task) and potentially an assload of Corpsmen to help with the injured.

I applaud this exercise but want to know more.  If it was truly long distance then we need to be awe that they even tried.  I'm spitballing from my chair and this was a bear of an exercise.