Open Comment Post. 03 May 2019

CAPE director tells HASC that DOD does not view F-35A flying hour cost target of $25,000 by 2025 as achievable --

CAPE director tells HASC that DOD does not view F-35A flying hour cost target of $25,000 by 2025 as achievable -- says it's a target, but not a projection.

— Courtney Albon (@calbon) May 2, 2019

Quick side issue.

These lady defense journalists are kicking ass lately.  Firs the chic over at Shepard Media doing the hard thing covering armor (don't know why they didn't send her to IDEX 19, but their coverage of it is lacking because she's not there) and now this lady comes out of nowhere with this news.

Just plain wow.  Impressive and well done ladies!

Back to this.

Projections that are NOT achievable.  Well I guess that's improvement.  We've gone from lies that are easily proved after the fact to deception that they admit to before the event.  

The next question becomes this.

How many other projections aren't achievable?  How many other projections are they hanging their hats on to the public that they know will fail?

Can you imagine the discussions happening in Singapore right now?  Uh Sir, you know how you promised to evaluate the F-35 and buy it from the Americans?  Well Sir that plane is a piece of shit!  That's the honest assessment, now do you want us to waste money or buy a cost effective fighter that will defend our city state?

What about the UK?  Hey Sir, the Royal Air Force is demanding more money cause the F-35 is going to cost a mint.  The Royal Navy is saying the same.  The British Army is threatening to storm Parliment because they've been bled dry and we have soldiers shouting bang on exercise because we can't afford blanks.  Are you sure you want to buy the entire 138 we promised the Americans?

Finally in Turkey.  Hey Erdogan, Sir.  The Americans are still threatening to NOT sell us the F-35.  I think we should fuss a bit but thank Allah that we aren't getting that bird!

Advanced Armor Protection

1ABCT, 3ID Soldiers provide feedback for JLTV improvements....pics by Maj. Peter Bogart

A split screen view highlights the improved visibility for drivers and truck commanders while negotiating steep hills during testing at Fort Stewart, Ga. 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Soldiers spent several days testing and giving feedback on four new features to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) as part of the “Big 4” Soldier Touchpoint Event.

One of the features that is now standard on JLTVs is a 250% larger rear window. The vehicle on top has the new window and was used during testing at Fort Stewart, Ga. 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Soldiers spent several days testing and giving feedback on four new features to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) as part of the “Big 4” Soldier Touchpoint Event.

A Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) with the troop seat kit installed during testing at Fort Stewart, Ga. 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Soldiers spent several days testing and giving feedback on four new features to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) as part of the “Big 4” Soldier Touchpoint Event.

Chinese T-Rays Radar...is this their anti-stealth ace in the hole?

Thanks to Christopher for the link!

via SCMP

The report said the new device could generate stable, continuous radiation at an average level up to 18 watts, and terahertz pulses with peak power close to one megawatt, on par with some military radars.
A technical executive at a vendor in China for T-ray devices used in F-35 manufacturing said the reported power levels of the device were “more than a million times higher than the power of the T-ray device used to measure the thickness of coatings on the F-35”.
“The radar-absorbent coatings on the F-35 will look as thin and transparent as stockings if [the Chinese instrument] is as powerful as they claim,” the executive said.

Story here. 

Read the entire article! 

Just plain wow.  You can pretty much stick a fork in stealth.  The game is gonna be in the electronic warfare realm.  Wanted to know why the J-20 wasn't built to be fully stealth?  I think we have our answer!  The Chinese know that stealth is of limited benefit.

Quite honestly I think that certain aspects of that plane (like internal carriage of weapons) isn't about stealth but more about range and lack of drag.

But back on task.

One thing we can be sure of.

The Chinese are following several different avenues in their efforts to build stealth detecting gear.  Whether they succeed with one system or several isn't relevant.  What matters is that they're banging on this problem hard and we MUST assume that they'll crack the code.

AW101

Biden on China...

Biden is skeptical of the threat of competition from China.

"China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man."

"They're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not competition for us." #iacaucus

— Stephen Gruber-Miller (@sgrubermiller) May 1, 2019

And with that one statement he just lost my vote...

Have the Chinese been able to track our stealth jets since 2013???

Thanks to Fonck for the link!

WU Jian Qi, ingénieur en chef du groupe CETC, confirme qu'un radar métrique a détecté et tracé le parcours d'un F-22 à une distance de 450 km en 2013, alors qu'aucun d'autres radars chinois ne le voyaient. Aujourd'hui ces radars métriques couvrent la totalité des zones côtières. pic.twitter.com/hl1nvfB0Zt

— East Pendulum (@HenriKenhmann) December 24, 2018

Google translate might be needed but this guy is claiming that they were able to track the F-22 back in 2013.

Is this propaganda or real?

F-35 News. Did a pilot let something slip when talking about 6th gen fighter?

via USNI News.

Lockheed Martin officials provided the media a view of electronic warfare in the near future during a media briefing Wednesday. The High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system is at the core of Lockheed Martin’s electronic warfare work.

The company expects to field a ship-based HELIOS system aboard an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in 2021. However, technological advances are helping the company shrink the size of HELIOS from what is due for installation aboard a ship to what can possibly fit onto an airframe, said Tony Wilson, a Lockheed Martin F-35 test pilot.

“Being a tactical pilot in today’s age is really exciting. During my time, I’ve seen the leap from fourth-generation to fifth-generation, with the integration of stealth and sensor fusion,” Wilson said. “What I’m really looking forward to is the next generation leap. That’s a sixth-gen fighter, where we not only take stealth and sensor integration, but we start adding things like directed energy weapons, drone swarm control.”

For Lockheed Martin, their HELIOS pitch to the military includes how the system offers an infinite magazine, is powered by the ship’s existing power-generation system, is a precision low-cost-per-kill weapon and will be integrated with the Aegis Combat System, said Brendan Scanlon, Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS program director.

“From a fighter’s perspective, we always want more gas, more weapons,” Wilson said.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin experts are taking a close look at how adversaries conduct electronic warfare, with the intent of developing capabilities to be shared by the service branches and used on various platforms, said Steve Allen, Lockheed Martin’s Information Operations and Solutions Director.

Story here. 

People that are trying to reason with me always say...stay in your lane...you're a ground guy...you don't know shit about aviation.

Well that's true.  Right as rain.  Spot on.

But instinct is a motherfucker.

So is having people that can give you insight into things if you can muster the discipline (and I've failed at times) to shut up, listen, and put away preconceived notions/biases.

There is one other thing.

You have to gather the courage to look at things as they are, not as you wish them to be.

What's that got to do with the article?  Read the whole thing but check out the highlighted portion.

“What I’m really looking forward to is the next generation leap. That’s a sixth-gen fighter, where we not only take stealth and sensor integration, but we start adding things like directed energy weapons, drone swarm control.”

What?

We're already looking at drone swarm control with unfortunately for us but at the same time fantastic cause they're an ally, Australia leading the way with their wing man concept.  Oh and that is being controlled by a Super Hornet! As far as lasers?  That's air frame agnostic as long as they can make one that works fit into an airplane.

But it gets better and I think he tells us a bit about where the F-35 is now.

“From a fighter’s perspective, we always want more gas, more weapons,” Wilson said.

I want to take you all back to the so called F-35 "beast mode" setup.  Check it out below.

What you see above is the beast mode configuration that has the F-35 fanboys drooling.  Do you notice something?  They put out hundreds of pics but the basic load out are those bombs (I don't know the size), Sidewinders on outer pylons and I assume two AMRAAMs and another two bombs in the bay.

That's hardly formidable.  That's really a weak load out for an airplane that is already in service with 3 services and our allies. 

Real question.  What ordnance can the F-35 carry today?  Has anything else been cleared except for these weapons?  If not then the variety of weapons this plane can carry is PATHETICALLY small.

Even worse?  It won't be cleared for more weapons till about 2024 if I'm reading the Block 4 upgrade chart correctly.  This went from pathetic to criminal.

Then we have the last quote I highlighted.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin experts are taking a close look at how adversaries conduct electronic warfare

This my friends.  This is where my instinct took me and this is where I'm chest thumping and shouting to the sky that I was right.

Electronic warfare is the domain that must be won and will be the mother's milk of the future fight.

Lockheed Martin ain't digging into this because they're altruistic.  They're going here because they're greedy bastards.  This is where the money is with regard to future procurement.

But it's beyond telling.

Stealth isn't the end all be all anymore.  It really hasn't been for the longest but most weren't paying attention.  The F-35 talking points told us alot but people chose not to see.

They talked about stealth and only stealth at the beginning of the program.  Then reports came out that systems were being designed to detect stealth. We heard rumblings about the Russians being able to detect the F-35, then we heard about Saab with their GaN AESA that could spot it, then Raytheon and now the Chinese and others are into the game.

Today?

The talking points are all over the place.  The messaging on the F-35 has become confused.

I'm good with that.  Lies are hard to keep track of so it makes sense to me. What can't be denied is that if you look hard enough you can see that military leadership and even LM are beginning to tell us that we need to get started on a 6th gen fighter cause the F-35 just won't cut it.

German and Canadian Soldiers train in a Quick Reaction Force exercise in the Savannah Malis.

Open Comment Post. 02 May 2019

Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Chinese Espionage Conspiracy

via Free Beacon.

Former CIA operations officer Jerry Chun Shin Lee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit espionage for China in a case linked to the loss of numerous recruited CIA spies in China.

Lee, 54, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Hong Kong, supplied documents and information to Chinese intelligence officers from April 26, 2010, to Jan. 15, 2018 when he was arrested, according to court papers in the case.

The former spy handler initially had pleaded not guilty. The plea deal avoids what was expected to be a lengthy trial that may have risked further exposing CIA secrets Lee supplied to China.

Lee faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the charge. Sentencing in the case was set for Aug. 23.

The case is one of three Chinese espionage-related cases in recent months as part of a Trump administration crackdown on Beijing's intelligence operations.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Americans entrusted with the government’s most closely held secrets have a tremendous responsibility to safeguard secret information.

"Instead of embracing that responsibility and honoring his commitment to not disclose national defense information, Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct," Terwilliger said in a statement announcing the plea deal.

"This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation’s secrets and betray our country’s trust."

Edward MacMahon, Lee's lawyer, declined to comment on the case.

Lee was recruited by the Chinese Ministry of State Security during a 2010 meeting in Shenzhen, China. At the meeting, two MSS officers offered him money in exchange for secrets. The MSS officers told Lee "they had prepared a gift of $100,000 cash and that they would take care of him ‘for life' in exchange for his cooperation," a statement of facts in the plea deal states.

Story here. 

I wonder how easy the Chinese find the average American to turn into a traitor?  I wonder how deeply they're found within every dept in our government?

I wonder exactly how many people this guy got killed for his few bars of silver?

Doesn't matter.

God forgives.

The USA shouldn't.  A public execution should be the price for his treachery but we've grown soft so he'll continue to live at the expense of the taxpayer in some federal prison (if he doesn't get parole....crime is getting to the point of actually paying with weak laws).

We're already at war with China.  Most of our population and leadership just won't admit it and just don't want to see it.

Worse?

We're losing.

KAPLAN STA & PARS 4x4 STA

Barr senate testimony....game, set and match in 5 minutes....

Geez.

You ever hear a public servant speak and say to yourself...damn that dude is a beast!

I did today while listening to Barr give the tick tock on his decision regarding the Mueller report.

He eviscerated the Dems in about 5 minutes and it was a sight to behold. I don't know the guys internal thinking.  His true politics.  His motivations.

But I can tell one thing.

He's an old skool operator.

He could probably run any dept in the govt and make it tick like a clock.  I don't know if he made the right decision (but I'm leaning REAL HARD THAT WAY) but I must say.

Dude impressed me with this testimony so far.

Trump overrides decision to decommission a carrier...BAD move!

I am overriding the Decommission Order of the magnificent aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, built in 1998 (fairly new), and considered one of the largest and finest in the world. It will be updated at a fraction of the cost of a new one (which also are being built)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019

On the surface this might seem like an awesome move by the President.  IT'S NOT!

A few things come to mind.

1.  The defense budget glory days are over.  It's time to get smart.  It's time to take ACCEPTABLE risk.

2.  Have you seen how many planes our carriers are carrying today?  We have EXCESS capacity when it comes to carriers.  We could probably shave another two or three, get back to a once standard deployment of 100 plus airplanes AND STILL be over capacity!

3.  We are experiencing a kind of "military diplomacy" that MUST BE reversed. Have you heard the idea that service members are ambassadors?  That's great when you're insisting on decent behavior when in other lands but falls short when you start using the military as your PRIMARY diplomatic tool.  It's my opinion that President's have become lazy and relied too much on showing the flag worldwide.  Fewer carriers would help reverse that trend.

The above is just off the top of my head as I read Trump's tweet.  There are probably millions more.

The sad reality?

We're gonna have to accept cuts to the military if we're going to be able to afford the outrageously expensive weapon systems coming online.

In other words the Pentagon did not act with haste when the funding was high...that's why the F-35 was allowed to remain in development for so long...why it takes so long to build ships...why we have so many foreign bases.....

Cuts, modernization and streamlining should have occurred long ago.  Now the price must be made.  The Navy was willing but Trump won't allow the pain to come.

Too bad.

Kicking the can down the road will cost us dearly I fear.

Open Comment Post. 01 May 2019

Turning into FNSS Day on the blog. Next up the "ZAHA" (Turkish AAV)....

Thanks to Osmanoglu for the pic!

Note:  The title says this is turning into FNSS Day but that's a misnomer.  IDEF is going on now and thankfully we have someone providing us pics of various vehicles being shown at that event.  For that I'm grateful.

Wow.

This beast is huge!  But what has me spinning is that IF the USMC hadn't been chasing the holy grail of an armored vehicle with high water speed, then we might have seen something similar from an upgraded/modernized AAV.

Hydrodynamics being what they are, I don't expect this thing to go much faster (if at all) then the legacy AAV or the upcoming ACV, but it is tracked and that's something that continues to nag about the ACV.

HQMC is convinced that the benefits of the upcoming 8x8 rig for our force is the right move but I can't shake the feeling that we're gonna miss tracks when transitioning from the water, onto the beach and crossing onto land.

FNSS Pars Scout 6x6 & 8x8 going into service with Turkish Forces...

via Army Recognition.

With the contract for the Special Purpose Tactical Wheeled Armoured Vehicles (SPTWAV) Project that was signed between the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) and FNSS, the company shall supply PARS SCOUT 8x8 and 6x6 vehicles both for the Turkish Land Forces and the General Command of Gendarmerie.

The first stage of the project will involve the development of five different vehicle configurations, and production of a total of 100 vehicles. The project will cover the delivery of Command and Radar Vehicles as well as Sensor and CBRN Reconnaissance Vehicles for the Turkish Land Forces, and Armoured Combat Vehicles for the General Command of Gendarmerie.

Having conducted R&D on tactical wheeled armored vehicles for many years, FNSS reaped the first fruits of its labors in 2005, becoming the first company in Turkey to roll out a product family of such vehicles. After competing with the world’s other leading companies in land vehicles, this product family became the vehicle of choice of Malaysia in 2010, and of Oman in 2015. FNSS thus managed to export two members of its PARS product family, the 8x8 and 6x6 vehicles, before having delivered to Turkish users. These vehicles were developed in a variety of highly different configurations for both Malaysia and Oman, and development works on various configurations are still continuing.

Specifically for the SPTWAV project, FNSS designed a special PARS family vehicle, SCOUT, superior for reconnaissance operations. The PARS SCOUT 6x6 and 8x8 offer superior mobility and a comfortable and safe drive in all types of road and terrain conditions, as well as balanced and high-speed movement on straight roads, low risk of skidding in bends. Also, the vehicle’s transparent armor (ballistic glass) integration ensures high situational awareness. Together, these features make a big difference for reconnaissance operations.

Story here. 

TAI 10 ton utility helicopter (pic)..

Thanks to Osmanoglu for the pic!!!

Gonna keep asking this till I get an answer.  When is someone gonna put a "mini" AESA Array on a helicopter!  It should already be a thing on deep penetration Special Ops birds and since the MV-22 and CH-53K are doing similar things for the Marine Corps I don't know why someone hasn't scaled on down for use on those platforms.

Marine Corps May Have to Shrink to Afford Modernization, Readiness Goals....back to 150K Marines, cuts probable to the JLTV, CH-53K and Recon Vehicle...

via USNI News.

“Among the most significant challenges I will face as the Commandant if confirmed will be to sustain readiness at high levels for our operating forces while concurrently modernizing the force – under constrained resource limits,” Berger wrote in response to policy questions from the committee.
“We will need to conduct a deliberate redesign of the force to meet the needs of the future operating environment. We will also need to divest of our legacy equipment and legacy programs and also consider potential end strength reductions in order to invest in equipment modernization and necessary training upgrades.”

--------------------

Most recently, the Marine Corps has seen slight growth in its end strength to 186,100 to grow its cyber and information Marines. The current force will again grow slightly through Fiscal Year 2021 to 186,400 to support Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) increases that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) requested.

That growth trend could reverse, though, if hard choices have to be made to keep the Marine Corps within its budget constraints.

“The NDS focuses heavily on modernization, and modernization comes with a significant price tag. If confirmed, I will work with Congress to communicate the investments the Marine Corps is making and the purpose of those investments,” Berger wrote. The service is currently buying F-35B Joint Strike Fighters and CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters in its aviation portfolio and the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) in its ground portfolio, among others.

Story here.

Wow.  This is why a good memory is needed when dealing with defense issues.  Remember a while ago when the idea of shrinking the Marine Corps down to 150K was floated?  Well expect that to come ROARING back.

Additionally with the Army cutting its buy of the JLTV, that's another no brainer.  The USMC will face increased cost because of the production number falling and that alone would lead to increased cost.  With budget reality becoming fashionable again then we can expect to see that number plummet.  Expect the Humvee to continue service into the foreseeable future.

The CH-53K buy of 200 has already been spot lighted by the GAO.  We're buying about an extra 50 in comparison to the CH-53E and according to the bean counters we didn't justify the increased buy. With that helicopter coming in at 100mil per you can expect that to be low hanging fruit too.

The rest?  I have no idea but I do have thoughts.

Treat Cyber like we do Medical.  Farm it out to the Navy and if we need folks in the field then let them be attached like we do Corpsmen.

The LAV replacement, the Amphibious Recon Vehicle?  Let that system rest.  Do a spiral upgrade of the LAV-A2.  Replace the gun with at least a 30mm and better yet trial the 50mm turret from the General Dynamics Next Gen Combat Vehicle (along with sensors) on it...should fit!

The big bear in the room is Aviation and manpower.  That's where alot of it resides.  Has anyone considered what the proper size of Marine Aviation should be?

Has anyone considered whether the roles assumed are the roles that NEED to be part of Marine Air's playlist?

Finally someone has to be the bastard and it might as well be me.  SOCOM is making too big a demand on the Marine Corps.  Supporting 3 Special Ops Battalions is just too much.  If this is to be an enduring requirement then it would be better to downsize it to ONE battalion with support elements and call it a day.

Don't throw rocks.  Tell me your thoughts!