1970s Future Weapons....

F-35 News. The F-35 will strain future operations....

via Bloomberg.

“At current estimates, the projected F-35 sustainment outlays based upon given planned fleet growth will strain future service operations and support budgets,” the report said. Lockheed also “must embrace much-needed supply chain management affordability initiatives, optimize priorities across the supply chain for spare and new production parts” and share the data rights to certain F-35 software with the Pentagon.

Story here. 

Another story hitting what I posted yesterday but I missed this juicy nugget.

This airplane that we've labored so hard to build over more than a decade is still going to be draining budgets dry.

This is concerning.

The USMC is buying the F-35B.  Supposedly the plan was to buy the plane, clear the budget and to upgrade the rest of the service once aviation was taken care of.

Now?

Now we see that this plane will be a continuing drain on resources.

The pain won't stop after the plane is put into service.  No.  It will continue for decades more.

We need a plan B.

The USMC MUST JOIN THE US NAVY IN BUYING THE SUPER HORNET!!!

Monday Late Day Funny...Marine General Micromanager V.S. Angry Drill SGT

Thanks to Cynical for sending me the link!


This shit is TOO FUNNY!

Well done Angry Drill Sgt!

I've been chewing on this a bit and you know what's coming don't you?  As soon as the new Commandant takes office you can bet that this "schedule" will go Marine Corps wide.

I would bet body parts that this has been discussed at a Commanding General Symposium and that at the Sgt Major symposium too.

2nd MarDiv is just the test bed so they can judge reaction and have a plan laid out to deal with dissension in the ranks.

Long story short?

Expect the fuck fuck games to continue.  Dicks will be hammered into pulp.  Anger and misery will go mainstream in the Marine Corps.

I am actually feeling sorry for our next opponent.  The Marine Corps is going old skool.

They're pissing off every swinging dick and ovary in the Corps to such an extent that when it comes time to unleash hell and fury on the enemy they won't stand a chance.

F-35 News. So much for reduction in costs....F-35 price spikes with Block 4 upgrades!

Thanks to Charley for the link!

via Bloomberg

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet, the world’s costliest weapons program, just got even costlier.
The estimated total price for research and procurement has increased by $22 billion in current dollars adjusted for inflation, according to the Pentagon’s latest annual cost assessment of major projects. The estimate for operating and supporting the fleet of fighters over more than six decades grew by almost $73 billion to $1.196 trillion.

The increase to $428.4 billion from $406.2 billion in acquisition costs, about a 5.5 percent increase, isn’t due to poor performance, delays or excessive costs for labor or materials, according to the Defense Department’s latest Selected Acquisition Report sent to Congress last week and obtained by Bloomberg News.

Instead, the increase reflects for the first time the current cost estimates for a major set of upgrades planned in coming “Block 4” modifications, according to the report.

“Ensuring our Block 4 efforts are captured in our acquisition baseline and now in our SAR help us to provide full transparency and status on our F-35 modernization progress,” the Pentagon’s F-35 program office said in an emailed statement.

“The F-35 program remains within all cost, schedule and performance thresholds and continues to make steady progress,” the program office said in its statement. The office “is committed to the delivery of cost-effective warfighting capability across all areas of the program.”

But the long-range cost estimate for operating the fleet from 2011 to 2077 was problematic even before the latest independent Pentagon cost projection of an increase to $1.196 trillion. By contrast, the F-35 program office’s latest estimate declined by about $8.5 billion to $1 trillion.

Story here. 

Wow.  Are you seeing what's going on here?  Every upgrade that was suppose to integrated at the start of the program has been pushed back for one reason.

To save money.

Now they're in a catch 22.

They add necessary capacity to the airplane...like weapons...and the costs spike again.

But if they don't add that capacity then the plane becomes more than useless.

This is why the F-15EX is being bought.  This is why the Super Hornet will dominate carrier decks until the 6th gen.

They played games but at the end of the day THERE IS NO PUSHING DOWN THE COST CURVE!!!!

Concept art by Robert Watts for Teledyne Ryan, ca. 1967-1977.

2nd MARDIV Commanding General is NOT A FAN of Terminal Lance....

via Military.com

However, he added, he really doesn't care what the internet has to say about his decision.

"They can pillory me to their hearts' content on Terminal Lance or any social media platform they have," he said, naming a popular Marine Corps web comic. "But we're going to do the right thing for the right reason."

Terminal Lance is big time if he has a Commanding General commenting on his drawings!  But seriously I think he's being a little "sensitive".  I think it was all in good fun and I don't detect any malice in it from TL's side at all.

TL is just having fun with it.  I'm sure the dude doesn't really give a shit one way or another.

But onto the serious part of the story.  The part where the General explains his thinking and what led to this.

On Maj. Gen. David Furness' last combat deployment to Afghanistan as commander of the Marines' Regimental Combat Team 1 in 2010, the unit sustained 31 casualties. Nineteen of those, he says, were "the fault of the Marine either doing something he was told not to do and trained not to do or not doing something he was trained to do."

Now the commander of 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Furness appeared as a guest on the internet-based All-Marine Radio Friday to discuss a controversial new policy letter he wrote in an effort to curtail a trend he observed of sloppy, undisciplined Marines in the division.

The letter, published Wednesday, instituted a "basic daily routine" requiring all Marines to begin their days with reveille at 5:30 a.m., and observe two daily formations and regimented cleaning and hygiene times. For those who wouldn't comply, Furness' message was clear: shape up or ship out.

"There are weeds growing around our buildings and work spaces and trash everywhere but the dumpsters where it belongs," he wrote. "These are just a few examples of the lack of discipline seen across the board that will not be tolerated in this Division any longer."

During his radio interview Friday, Furness added more detail to the new policy. Marines in his division, he said, would observe an upcoming "leadership and discipline stand-down" June 3-7 in which he'd address all sergeants, senior noncommissioned officers and lieutenants directly. The stand-down, he said, would also include a division-wide "field day," or cleaning period, and a quarters inspection by leadership.

"It's not chicken-s--t. It's all about combat performance," he said. "You can keep yourself and your teammate and your unit alive. We will do this, you will clean your room, we will have people walk through your room to make sure you've done it right."

And for those who can't do it, he added, "I'll get you orders somewhere else."

Furness said his policy letter hadn't been created in a vacuum; rather, he said, he had created a "council of sergeants" featuring outstanding young enlisted leaders from around the division shortly after taking command in 2018. They were the ones, he said, who came up with the daily routine published in his policy letter, and each of them said they agreed with Furness' plan to institute it.

In his combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, Furness said he had repeatedly observed that the most disciplined units were the ones who fared best in combat.

Read the entire thing here. 

From my chair I have no issues with the policy.  Everyone that's ever served at any time in our nation (or any Western nation's) military has played what was called during my time "fuck fuck games".

It's no big deal.

You're annoyed.  You bitch alot.  You grumble.  You're miserable, leadership is miserable then everything goes back to normal.

The difference?

They're picking up trash instead of painting rocks.

What does give me pause is that he seems (and I could be misreading this) to almost be hiding behind the "Sgt's Council" that he assembled to thrash out his thinking and to get their input.

Dude has stars.

He sits in the big chair.

He makes the decision.

No need to even bring that up. 

Kinda looks like he's trying for a bit of cover and concealment and failing badly.  He will get no cover and he can't hide from this decision.

He should take this on his shoulders and to be honest bang heads.

At the end of the day it's better to be feared than loved at least according to Machiavelli.

Side note.  Ok.  This makes the second Marine General I would love to meet. Mullen is the first and then this bubba.  I know Mullen would be an interesting dude and I get the impression this cowboy would be too.

Former CIA analyst says Intel Agencies dominated by liberals

via Free Beacon.

John Gentry, who spent 12 years as a CIA analyst, criticized former senior intelligence leaders, including CIA Director John Brenan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former deputy CIA director Michael Morell, along with former analyst Paul Pillar, for breaking decades-long prohibitions of publicly airing their liberal political views in attacking Trump.

The institutional bias outlined in a lengthy article in the quarterly International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence risks undermining the role of intelligence in support of government leaders charged with making policy decisions.

Gentry stopped short of saying the widespread liberal bias of intelligence officials has influenced intelligence reports and products. However, he concludes that "bias may have crept into CIA analyses."

"A considerable body of evidence, much of it fragmentary, indicates that many CIA people have left-leaning political preferences, but less evidence shows that political bias influences CIA analyses," Gentry concludes.

Story here.

Just plain wow.  READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, but the part above should be troubling to most here.

Think about the implications.

Instead of calling it down the middle, intel analysis might have a left lean to it.  That's just as bad as it having a right lean!

We need our intel agencies to give policymakers the straight scoop.  No political beliefs involved.

A prime example?

The Iran issue.

Either they're on the cusp of building a bomb or they're not.

How about Russian influence in the election?

Either they were or weren't.  Either it altered the election or it didn't. 

The actions of certain individuals in the intel community makes all the bloviating and declarations we've heard over the past two years suspect and now we have someone saying what many have thought but dared not speak aloud.

Are our intel agencies politicized to such a degree that they're no longer reliable?

Philippines eyes upgrade of ACV-300 APCs to Infantry Fighting Vehicles

via Asia Pacific Defense Journal.

The Philippine Army (PA) plans to convert its small fleet of FNSS ACV-300 Advanced Armored Personnel Carriers (AAPC) to Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV), with the installation of a manned turret with a medium-calibre cannon.

According to Philippine defense page MaxDefense Philippines, the PA has a fleet of six (6) FNSS ACV-300 (now marketed by FNSS as the ACV-15) armed with manually-operated 12.7mm M2 heavy machine guns, which are the first recipients of the upgrade worth Php288 million (around US$5.55 million).

The procurement is expected to done via a Public Bidding, with Turkish defense company FNSS expected to participate.

The Philippine Army operates a few Infantry Fighting Vehicles in its fleet, with the the remainder of the FMC AIFV similar to the Dutch YPR-765 acquired in the late 1970s, around four (4) GKN Simba 4x4 IFVs armed with a 25mm Bushmaster M242 guns, and four (4) M113A2 IFVs equipped with the 25mm Bushmaster M242 gun on Elbit Systems UT25 unmanned turrets.

Say what you will but I believe that for a poor country they're making a sensible and economical decision here.  The threat is extremist and this vehicle should be effective, if not overwhelming, in the fight against them.

I think this is well done....especially considering budget restraints.

Open Comment Post. 22 April 2019

Coxswain Course.....video by Sgt. Devan K. Gowans

Open Comment Post. 21 April 2019

Has the IFV become the "main force vehicle" in armored formations replacing the Main Battle Tank?

Quick question.

Has the IFV replaced the MBT as the main force vehicle in armored formations replacing the MBT?

Looking across the landscape I think a case can be made...especially if US ground forces consolidate and make standard the 50mm cannon that is the objective weapon for the US Army's Next Generation Combat Vehicle.

Here me out before you kill the idea.  First take a look at the weapon on the NGCV.

We're moving up to a 50mm cannon.

What can this gun do?  EVERYTHING a 105mm or 120mm cannon can except bust tanks.  Some jobs it's less than optimal but we've accepted less than optimal in many ways.  Think about urban combat.  We've rid ourselves of the fabulous 165mm demolition gun.  We accepted the fact that against structures in the Middle East the 120mm would punch thru instead of blasting walls.

Will a 50mm kill tanks?  Nope.  But most turrets being offered (to include the one on the NGCV) have anti-tank missiles built in, and most have them under armor.  Like the EOS 2000T below.

The next thing to be considered is the tracked vs wheeled discussion.  For this topic it doesn't matter. Wheels are here to stay.

So what do we have.

Whether wheeled...like the Eitan...

Or tracked like the Namer...it appears from my seat that for the most part, IFVs can fulfill many of the roles reserved for MBTs.

In essence supporting the infantry.

With the addition of the 50mm cannon we're seeing these vehicle approach being able to give us direct firepower and even a bit of shock action.  In the future we can expect development of new rounds to enhance their firepower.

Is the MBTs reign over?

I'm not sure but between cost, lack of strategic mobility (in the case of the US), high maintenance demands, and heavy logistics train to keep them in the field, I think it can be argued that we're heading for an unexpected revolution in armor.

Political Talk. Barr is right and the news media owes the American people an apology...

via New York Times.

The American political and media elites that spent the first two years of the Trump administration promoting the Russian collusion hoax have some explaining to do. And not merely explaining: They owe the president an apology.

As Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday before releasing the Mueller report, “After nearly two years of investigation, thousands of subpoenas, and hundreds of warrants and witness interviews, the special counsel confirmed that the Russian government sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 presidential election but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans colluded in those schemes.”

And yet nearly the entire complex of elite media was actively complicit in promoting the biggest political conspiracy theory in American history: that Hillary Clinton lost the election because Donald Trump conspired with Vladimir Putin to — well, that was always a moving target — but to somehow deprive Mrs. Clinton of victory. What we now know definitively is that Robert Mueller, the special counsel, and a team of very accomplished, mostly Clinton-supporting, prosecutors were unable to find evidence of a conspiracy that had been taken as an article of faith by Trump haters.

Journalists don’t like being called “fake news,” but too many of them uncritically accepted the Trump-Russia narrative, probably because of their strong distaste for Mr. Trump himself. But that lack of objectivity represents a major professional failure, and it’s Exhibit A in why Mr. Trump’s taunt resonates with so many Americans. Gallup polling shows that for 69 percent of Americans, trust in the media has fallen over the last decade. Among Republicans, it’s 94 percent; for independents, it’s 75 percent and for moderates it’s 66. Only among self-identified liberals and progressives does a majority continue to trust the media. They like what they hear.

Story here.

I'm center right.  I don't wander into what Rush calls "Genghis Khan" right, just that murky center right.

Having said that isn't this whole ordeal obvious to anyone that even tries to seek the truth?

As soon as Trump was elected.  Correction before he won in Nov a narrative had been formed in our intel agencies and apparently pushed by members of the media that Russia assisted Trump's election.

Group think led to fake news being pushed by the mainstream media, those in the intel agencies that knew better remained silent or participated in this illusion and the only conclusion I can reach is that they sought to drive him out of office on the assumption that he couldn't hold up to the pressure of what was made to look like a looming impeachment.

Even worse?

Apparently foreign leaders participated in this mockery.  People like Merkel and Macron.

It will never come to light but we just witnessed a coordinated assault on the elected President of the United States by not only the opposition party, but also members of the intel agencies of the United States and the so called 4th estate...the news media.

If you aren't spooked by all this then you're not paying attention.

Russia building two Borey-K guided missile submarines....

Россия может построить две атомные подлодки "Борей", но не с баллистическими, а с крылатыми ракетами большой дальности. Если решение будет принято, эти подлодки будут строиться по новому проекту "Борей-К", сообщил наш источник:https://t.co/dmnzhcqHvM pic.twitter.com/SGoCn5UwNM

— ТАСС (@tass_agency) April 20, 2019

I don't know the implications of this news.  Can anyone make heads or tails of this thing?

AirForce Magazine Infographic. How the F-35A and the F-15EX compare....

click on pic to expand!

Check out the magazine here.

Interesting isn't it.  The F-15EX carries more, flies further, flies faster, can carry a greater array of weapons, has a cheaper flight per hour (although the F-35A is projected to fall to being equal...interesting that they can estimate the cost of the F-35 but can only project the F-15EX) and has a higher service ceiling.

This is a no brainer.

Buy F-15EXs!

Open Comment Post. 20 April 2019

If this is true then Google has achieved information domination (long thread but worth it I think)...

 NOTE!!!  I know this is a LONG thread and if it becomes burdensome to my readers just let me know and I'll take it down.

http://tacticalasfuck.tumblr.com/post/183880692933/mtnsguy-justahighwayman-quietbatpeople

 

This is amazing and more than a bit disturbing!  I've been a Google fan because of convenience but this is troubling!

Saturday Public Service Announcement...

I saw this posted on Instagram and it stopped me in my tracks. 

Time is precious friends.  Concentrate on the important stuff.  Family.  Loved ones.

EVERYTHING ELSE is secondary.

Waste money cause you can get it back. But don't waste time.  Don't neglect family/loved ones.  Once it's gone....Once they're gone....you can't get it back.

China has built a simulated "Mars Base" in one of their deserts....

This simulated "Mars Base 1" may show you what life could be like on Mars in NW China's Gansu Province. Why not come to explore it pic.twitter.com/8dLkwAHhof

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) April 20, 2019

Good God.

Many of you will say no big deal.  Many of you will say good, they're wasting money.

What do I see?

A nation with the drive to do the hard thing.  To reach out into space and to lead the world getting there.

We had that drive during the 50's and early part of the 60's.

We got sidetracked, lost our national drive and haven't been able to rekindle that fire.

China has that drive.

We better get it back or they'll not only be drinking our milkshake but also drinking the Chinese version of Tang from Martian Orbit...

USAF announces plan for electronic warfare....the answer? More Bureaucracy!!!

via AF.mil

 January 2018, the Air Force assembled a cross-functional group known as an Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team to explore how the service will ensure electromagnetic spectrum superiority. The team was led by Brig. Gen. David Gaedecke, director, Cyberspace Operations and Warfighter Communications, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Cyber Effects Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Virginia.

According to Gaedecke, “The U.S. Air Force must maintain our competitive advantage in the EMS to achieve freedom of action while denying the adversary that same freedom of action.”

In January 2019, during a special meeting at the Weapons and Tactics Conference held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Gaedecke announced the results of the ECCT and noted, “In order to execute the Air Force’s five core missions, the Air Force should deliberately refocus efforts on electronic warfare and the EMS as a whole.”

Gaedecke briefed three enterprise-wide recommendations collectively required for rebuilding and increasing core competency in the EMS: leadership championing and enterprise management; establishing a bridge to advanced technology and competitive capability; and re-instilling a culture of EMS Awareness.

To implement these recommendations, the Air Force is:

•unifying and organizing corporate governance of the EMS enterprise by establishing an EMS Superiority Directorate in the Headquarters Air Force, led by a general officer, to oversee and manage enterprise-wide EMS priorities and investments which will be subsumed and managed as a single portfolio.
•combining and consolidating EMS services, software programming infrastructure and expertise into a multi-domain organization focused on achieving real-time effects and enabling evolution to machine-to-machine adaptive and cognitive spectrum control. In order to win and control the EMS the Air Force will employ distributed systems and capabilities coordinated to defeat a sophisticated adversary of complex systems aligned to deny Joint Force capabilities.
•developing and instilling an EMS Warrior ethos by building enterprise-wide education and training programs to lead, innovate, integrate, train and build EMS awareness in Airmen at all levels. Air Force operational concepts, tactics and doctrine, and institutional expertise as a whole, will progressively advance with renewed focus of a near peer in the EMS domain.

Gaedecke concluded, “Superiority in the electromagnetic spectrum is fundamental to the National Defense Strategy. To be a lethal force of the future, we need to lead in research, technology and innovation. Superiority in the spectrum underpins all of these.”

These insights continue to build on the foundation and traditions created by the Association of Old Crows, an organization for individuals who have common interest in electronic warfare.

Just plain wow.

After the retirement of the EF-111, the USAF for a short time played with the idea of assigning its pilots/electronic warfare specialist to the US Navy.

Is that still happening today?  I don't know.

What I do know is that no electronic penetrating airplane is on the horizon.  I don't even see them adapting the new pods that the Navy is developing for fitment on the F-35, turning the B-52 into an uber jamming platform or anything else.

In essence the USAF is talking big but the real masters of electronic warfare reside with out brothers in the US Navy.

With the USMC sundowning the EA-6 with no replacement in sight, the US Navy stands alone in providing this vital capability to the US military.

That's a shame.

Stealth is already dying.

Electronic warfare is the future...and deserves more than creating a new bureaucracy, a new billet for an Air Force General and not one dime spent to actually create a new capability.

Side note.  You wonder why I keep shouting for a back to basics, return to an ethic of doing hard things and working hard?  It took the freaking Air Force an entire year to come up with this weak ass solution.  From my chair this is beyond pathetic.  Results like this should have been accomplished at the end of a seminar by the Old Crows, not a year long study!