Thursday, March 14, 2019
Pentagon Cuts F-35 Funding for Third Year Running As Unit Costs Increase
They're NOT pushing down the cost curve!
Check this out via Defense Aerospace.
The Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 earmarks $11.2 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, $1.51 billion less than in FY2018 and $368.3 million less than in FY2019 (see red highlighting in graphic).Story here.
After increasing slightly between FY2018 and FY2019 (+3 aircraft), the number of F-35s the Pentagon plans to order in FY2020 will drop by 15 aircraft. Specifically, the US Air Force plans to cut its purchase by eight aircraft, from 56 to 48, and the US Marine Corps will cut its F-35B order by an even dozen, from 22 to ten aircraft.
Only the US Navy will increase its purchase of F-35C Carrier Variants, by 5 units, from 15 aircraft in FY 2019 to 20 in FY 2020, while also maintaining its order for 24 F-18E/F Super Hornets an in the previous year.
These cuts are all the more unexpected that they are accompanied by new or increased orders for other tactical aircraft.
The US Air Force, for example, is buying eight new F-15EX fighters, a variant of the F-15QA developed for Qatar, at a unit cost of $80 million excluding development costs (or about $125 million each -- in FY2020 only -- to amortize development costs).
In parallel, the US Navy is repeating its FY2019 purchase of 24 Boeing F-18E Super Hornets – 4 times as many as F-35Cs – and together these two services send a message of disengagement from the F-35 program.
The more information I get the more curious this gets.
Talking to the average fanboy, LM troll, etc...All you hear is that they need to ramp up production to push the cost curve down.
They're far from ramping up.
Quite honestly at best the spending is remaining static. The US Navy continues to puzzle me. They're quite vocal about the F-35 but they're buying Super Hornets instead.
Additionally they're buying UPGRADED Super Hornets that boast many if not all the features of the F-35 with the exception of stealth (and let's be honest, the F-35 flying today is a far cry from the full stealth model we saw during the X-plane fly off...that plane REALLY DID LOOK like a mini F-22).
I guess we're in a wait and see mode.
The F-35 story is beginning to unravel and it will be fascinating to watch and learn exactly what they'll say to explain it all.
Why is this forward firing rocket system viable for the V-280 but not the V-22?
Take a quick look at the picture above. In it you see the troop transport of the V-280 being escorted by the gunship variant.
Simple question.
Why is this possible with the V-280 but not the V-22? From what I gather the USMC will have "excess capacity" with regard to it's tilt rotor fleet with the last deliveries of the airplane happening next year.
Have test been conducted using this type layout on it? Is the USMC looking to retain troop carrying capability while laying down fires?
If so why?
A simple proposal would be to trial this solution (or something real similar) and if it works to designate one or two as deep escort tilt rotor platforms per squadron.
Rapid prototyping, testing, and experimentation is suppose to be the hallmark of how the Pentagon goes into the near future so why not try it out with the V-280 solution for forward firing gunship being trialed on the V-22.
The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle B-Roll....Video by Sgt. Bryce Hodges
My first view of the "touch screen" inside the vehicle compartment. I can see why they had a couple of accidents (the same happened with the HUMVEE). More capable vehicles lead to over confidence in their stability. With the info being given to the driver its no wonder that basic limits/common sense could take a back seat to a bit of hubris.
USMC Amphibious Combat Vehicle "Tweet Media"...
The new Amphibious Combat Vehicle is off the tracks. pic.twitter.com/7B9WrvLn2W— U.S. Marines (@USMC) March 14, 2019
Freaking awesome.
Every time we get good news about the ACV I remember the talk I had with General Mullen. Of course he was well spoken but I could detect the underlying Grunt in him basically saying (paraphrasing)...Sit down and chill the fuck out, we got this shit.
Apparently he did.
Apparently the Marine Corps and BAE/Iveco does.
This thing is looking right!
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
US Amphibious Assault Ship quarantined at sea for outbreak of a virus similar to measles...
Thanks to Joe for the link!
via CNN.
A couple of things. First I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. The US military and especially its Naval Services go ALL AROUND THE WORLD, meet new and interesting people...interacts and that makes them vulnerable to all kinds of wild and wooly infections/diseases. All are inoculated but viruses mutate so even that is far from full proof.
Second I haven't blogged about it but we've seen an outbreak of measles in the US in several states. I'll be the bastard and put it out there. I thought it had to do with our current immigration system of catch and release along with our opening ourselves up to international travel with LITTLE oversight of possibly contagious passengers traveling to the US.
A new pandemic has been predicted since the 80's and while it hasn't happened I would bet that its big on someone's radar screen.
What makes this a military issue is the above and the fact that the US has service members in so many places, they travel to more on liberty and then they make it home.
Unfortunately (and I admit its absolute worse case scenario) it could very well be one of our warriors that brings something nasty back home.
via CNN.
A US warship has essentially been quarantined at sea for over two months and has been unable to make a port call due to an outbreak of a viral infection similar to mumps.Story here.
Twenty-five sailors and Marines aboard the USS Fort McHenry amphibious warship have been diagnosed with parotitis, which causes symptoms similar to mumps, according to US military officials.
Until CNN asked about the incident, the US military had not disclosed it. The illness first broke out in December, with the most recent case being reported on March 9.
"None of the cases are life-threatening and all have either already made or are expected to make a full recovery," the Fifth Fleet said in a statement provided to CNN.
A couple of things. First I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. The US military and especially its Naval Services go ALL AROUND THE WORLD, meet new and interesting people...interacts and that makes them vulnerable to all kinds of wild and wooly infections/diseases. All are inoculated but viruses mutate so even that is far from full proof.
Second I haven't blogged about it but we've seen an outbreak of measles in the US in several states. I'll be the bastard and put it out there. I thought it had to do with our current immigration system of catch and release along with our opening ourselves up to international travel with LITTLE oversight of possibly contagious passengers traveling to the US.
A new pandemic has been predicted since the 80's and while it hasn't happened I would bet that its big on someone's radar screen.
What makes this a military issue is the above and the fact that the US has service members in so many places, they travel to more on liberty and then they make it home.
Unfortunately (and I admit its absolute worse case scenario) it could very well be one of our warriors that brings something nasty back home.
More clues about the F-35 in the USAF budget...research on Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter balloons from 490 million to 1 Billion dollars...
via Defense News.
Instead of boosting F-35 procurement, the service appears to have expanded research and development funding for the program, hiking its investment in the Block 4 modernization program from $504 million in FY19 to $794 million in FY20.Story here.
The Air Force also heavily invested in the development of its future aircraft. Funding for Next Generation Air Dominance — a portfolio of systems that likely includes a new air superiority fighter — skyrocketed from $430 million to $1 billion.
First things first.
DEFENSE NEWS IS CRUSHING THIS BUDGET STUFF!!!! It doesn't mean a thing from a small operation like this but I much appreciate their efforts and you should too.
Give them a visit and turn off your ad blockers. This is journalism we all should support.
Now about those clues.
I highlighted what caught my eye (your mileage might vary) but they're really putting money into Block 4. I would think we're pretty far down the road for them to need to add almost 300 million dollars to that modernization program.
Wonder what's lagging. Remember they awarded LM a contract for 180 million dollars for software updates just in NOV of last year. Oh and remember this? Valarie reported for Defense News Oct 2018....
The first Block 4 capabilities are set to be delivered in April, Winter said, but about 22 modifications will require the F-35 to undergo a set of computing system upgrades called Tech Refresh 3. Those “TR 3” modifications include a new integrated core processor, memory system and panoramic cockpit display.At a glance it appears that the DoD is stuck between a rock and hard place. The F-35 needs software upgrades that are gonna cost more than expected, take longer than desired, might not be placed into planes already in service...or planes that are purchased now.
The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps currently plan to upgrade all of their F-35s to TR3 in the 2020s, although that could change due to operational or fiscal constraints, Winter noted.
It is still unknown whether all operational F-35s will be converted to the Block 4 version, but that decision could also affect the cost of the follow-on modernization program.
The next thing is that the F-35 is being sold to any and all as ruling the skies for the next 50 years but we're also seeing work on the Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter seemingly being sped up.
Is this quiet acknowledgement that it won't live up to that billing?
We have clues but no answers. More to come I'm sure.
What is this madness about the N. Korean embassy in Spain?
This story is completely nuts. "At least two of the 10 assailants, who beat and interrogated the eight people who were in the [DPRK] embassy, have been identified and have links to the US secret services. Spanish interlocutors have asked the CIA about their involvement" https://t.co/qZEWAbgh0k— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) March 13, 2019
Now this sounds batshit crazy! That's even crazy for a Tom Clancy novel. No way THIS could be true...
More proof that Russia isn't the enemy and is acting to secure itself from an overly AGGRESSIVE NATO!
Thanks to Bob for the link!
via National Interest.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was given a host of assurances that the NATO alliance would not expand past what was then the East German border in 1990 according to new declassified documents.Story here.
Russian leaders often complain that the NATO extended an invitation to Hungary, Poland and what was then Czechoslovakia to joint the alliance in 1997 at the Madrid Summit in contravention of assurances offered to the Soviet Union before its 1991 collapse. The alliance has dismissed the notion that such assurances were offered, however, scholars have continued to debate the issue for years. Now, however, newly declassified documents show that Gorbachev did in fact receive assurances that NATO would not expand past East Germany.
“The documents show that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991,” George Washington University National Security Archives researchers Svetlana Savranskaya and Tom Blanton wrote. “That discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of East German territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels.”
-------------------------------------
Indeed, Russian Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin have complained bitterly about the expansion of NATO towards their borders despite what they had believed were assurances to the contrary. “What happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today?” Putin said at the Munich Conference on Security Policy in 2007.“No one even remembers them. But I will allow myself to remind this audience what was said. I would like to quote the speech of NATO General Secretary Mr. Woerner in Brussels on 17 May 1990. He said at the time that: ‘the fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee.’ Where are these guarantees?”
As the newly declassified documents show, the Russians might have had a point.
I love my country.
I love my countrymen.
I love it so much that when I see it going wrong...making mistakes...being led astray that I will shout instead of simply groveling to the masses that say I'm wrong.
What is that old Captain America comic?
You need to move.
I don't fully understand the reasons behind the framing of Russia as an enemy. I suspect that it had a bit to do with the unexpected election of Trump. Additionally I unfortunately believe it has to do with a need to push the defense budget (corporate welfare on a grand scale...too many flaky programs for another other conclusion).
Did they meddle in our elections? Yeah. Was it to such an extreme as to tilt the election? Doubtful. Do we meddle in other people's elections (to include allies)? You bet your ass!
We ran a huge exercise on the Russian border. They did the same and it was headlines. They fly a couple of bombers to Venezuela. We do the same right up to their coast...even regularly sail ships there.
You punch a man in the face you should expect to be punched back. Expecting any less is a sign of either arrogance or immaturity or both.
Smedley was right. Wish he was around to lecture on this topic. The quote from his book if you forgot...
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."For some reason the powers that be have decided that Russia is the racket...Can we ever be friends? Maybe not. Some would say probably not. That's fine. But we don't have to cross swords and we can cooperate when possible.
Our current stance simply makes no sense.
The US Army's Multi-Mission Launcher is dead...in steps a BIG Multi-Mission Launcher?
via Breaking Defense.
“The trigger really was MSHORAD allowing us to step back and try to not goldplate this thing,” McIntire told me. With MSHORAD and Iron Dome entering service, the Army should have the tactical threats covered. That means IFPC can focus on the other urgent threat — cruise missiles — without being constrained by size requirements to fit on the back of a truck.Story here.
IFPC’s truck-mounted Multiple Missile Launcher was a flawed take on a great concept: a single set of tubes that could fire a wide variety of interceptors depending on the target, from Lockheed’s 28-inch Miniature Hit To Kill to Rafael’s 9.8-foot Tamir — used by Iron Dome — and Raytheon’s 9.9-foot AIM-9X Sidewinder — originally built for fighter jets. But it sounds like the Army was trying pack too much in.
“Some of it’s classified,” McIntire told me, “but….the biggest thing I would tell you is we had some technical challenges with the missile and we weren’t comfortable with the reloading procedures.”
Now the Army can make the IFPC launcher bigger, to accommodate larger missiles, more missiles, or both. “You trade maneuverability for firepower,” he told me. “We’re actually going to be much better off with this approach.”
I just don't get the Army sometimes. They shout expeditionary, the highlight their light forces but when it comes to providing them with necessary protection they always flub it up.
The MML as it was originally conceived would have made a formidable pocket asset for the Maneuver Commander to knock down any and everything up to and including the forward edge. Now they're back to having a gap.
I don't think the Stryker based solution will have enough "shots" to be able to deal with the threat that a nation state can present.
It almost seems like they're stuck in the either/or category. They're either looking at relatively static missile systems that can't scoot or they're going so light they can't stay in the fight.
But maybe the USMC can pickup the concept, put it on the MTVR and load it up with AMRAAMs, Harpoons and even MLRS rockets and make the concept sing.
In the Navy the Super Hornet wins big...the F-35B/C take a hit...
via Breaking Defense.
The the aircraft budget, the Navy wants to spend $18.6 billion to purchase 148 aircraft, including 20 F-35Cs, which is four more compared to last year’s plan. But it also wants to buy 10 F-35Bs, 10-plane fewer than estimated last year. There is also a line for 24 more F/A-18E-F Super Hornets.Story here.
When it comes to the proposed F-35 cuts, those decisions were “tied to force structure mixes,” Crites said, adding that the Navy and Marines are looking to avoid duplicating efforts.
Elsewhere, the Marine Corps F-35B program was slashed by 19 planes over the Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP), with 10 fewer in 2020, five in 2021, three in 2022 and one in 2023.
The headline is about ship building. The Navy says its gonna get its 300 plus ship fleet (planned). But what caught my attention is the F-35 news.
Avoiding duplication of effort?
Are you kidding me?
Something is going on with the F-35. They slashed half the planned F-35Bs and are only plussing up the C purchase by 4 aircraft? Yet the line for 24 more Super Hornets remain?
What is happening behind closed doors with that airplane!
The sand has shifted under the programs feet while we were watching. I'm gonna be checking out Lockheed Martin stock to see if it takes a hit.
The IDF just revealed that this human filth is responsible for the abduction of US troops? Did I miss this???
What do Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Syria have in common? pic.twitter.com/G8lJWy5AD7— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 13, 2019
The real issue is that they're using this as a pretext for action in Syria against Hezbollah.
This was a tool to get people like me to automatically green light new fighting in Syria.
But if they have this type of intel then why not air strikes or send a hunter killer team after the dude?
Simple. They're aiming at doing more than just that. He is the excuse. The real reason is that they're looking at Hezbollah and seeing a gathering threat that must be curb stomped before it becomes too big to easily dispatch (or they're looking for a wag the dog moment because the PM is in HUGE trouble).
Either way my emotions got in the way of trying to properly analyze this thing.
Israel isn't beating the war drums. Now they're pounding them.
Tony Blair called a traitor...BREXIT is getting VERY interesting!
via Express.co.uk.
I am surprised. For Tony Blair to take this step tells us even more than we could possibly know. They will work against the will of their own people, will push for an agenda that many oppose, IF it serves their own value system.
Kings vs serfs? No. Its worse than that. Serfs know they don't have control. The modern day version has been fooled into believing they do.
Meanwhile Theresa May is all but done. She is in office but her power is almost nil and a major vote awaits today.
Stay tuned. A major ally is about to be in deep internal shit.
French sources said the former prime minister told Emmanuel Macron to “hold firm” over a Brexit deal, so Parliament will be forced to accept a customs union or even call for a second referendum, sources in Paris have confirmed. Mr Blair has denied this is the terminology used but admitted he has told European leaders how to persuade Britain to stay in the EU. But furious Brexiteers have hit out at Tony Blair over his interference, with ex-Labour MP George Galloway taking to Twitter to say: “This is treason!”Story here.
I am surprised. For Tony Blair to take this step tells us even more than we could possibly know. They will work against the will of their own people, will push for an agenda that many oppose, IF it serves their own value system.
Kings vs serfs? No. Its worse than that. Serfs know they don't have control. The modern day version has been fooled into believing they do.
Meanwhile Theresa May is all but done. She is in office but her power is almost nil and a major vote awaits today.
Stay tuned. A major ally is about to be in deep internal shit.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
This is Venezuela today...
Looters in Maracaibo overpower a National Guard cordón and sack Makro hypermarket in Maracaibo Tuesday. Video confirmed by @surdaneta. This was once one of the world’s oil capitals. Law of the jungle steadily spreading through Venezuelan provinces. pic.twitter.com/harhALp5iH— Anatoly Kurmanaev (@AKurmanaev) March 12, 2019
Law of the jungle? Naw. The breakdown of civilization. This is what Enrique262 has been posting on his Tumblr Page.
Woe to any civilized man that is unable to reach back and claim a certain amount of barbarity in that environment.
In that world the dead are hurdled and the weak trampled.
Question. What would you do if you and your family was caught in the midst of that madness? Don't dismiss it. We can probably figure that someone had to decide just that in seconds, while you can do it from the comfort of your own house.
About that F-15X buy and the F-35 cut....
So @LockheedMartin has been promising that #F35 unit cost will soon drop to $80m, and Boeing prices new F-15EX at $80m each w/o R&D costs.— Giovanni de Briganti (@JoedeBrig) March 12, 2019
Now, @usairforce is cutting its FY2020 buy of F-35s by 8 a/c to buy 8 F-15EX.
What message does that send? https://t.co/Fk9icjaPYz
Wow. Have to chew on this one. There is more going on in F-35 land than EVEN I imagined.
I expect some shoes to drop. Obviously there is some type of revelation that we haven't yet been told. I won't even speculate because this is as they say..."following the money"!!!
British Soldier complains about the chow hall on Twitter and the UK Army Director Of Engagement & Communications replies! Check out this thread!
Currently away from barracks conducting a week’s concentrated training to get through the mandated annual tests for the British Army. I won’t tell you what camp (it’s irrelevant) but I will share a couple of grievances. In 2019 we are still getting nutrition wrong. The kitchen...— Steve Bell (@troop_bell) March 12, 2019
Just plain wow.
Do this in the Marine Corps and the Sgt Major is hunting your ass and the Colonel is already burning your promotion package!
From the sounds of things this dude will probably earn a NAM for having the audacity to bitch about the food!
Simply fucking amazing!
Simply fucking amazing!
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