Israeli F-35 flying over Tehran, Iran to take photos makes no sense...this is fake news!

via National Interest.

According to the newspaper’s investigation, “the IAF F-35 “Adir” planes penetrated Iran’s airspace, circled high above Tehran, Karajrak, Isfahan, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas – and photographed Iran’s air defense system.”

One of the sources reported that Iran’s air defense system, including its Russian radar, did not detect the entry and exit of the fighter planes, and that Ismaili hid this information from the supreme leader to cover his service failure. However Iranian intelligence discovered that the Israeli fighter jets had carried out this sortie as a test of the possibility of an undetected attack on Iranian outposts and bases, during which they photographed those sensitive bases, evading the Russian S-300 missile system’s radar.

According to Al Jarida, Iranian intelligence received top secret information that the Israeli fighter planes even managed to photograph Iran’s underground bases. Khamenei, who received this information, now suspects a cooperation between Russia and Israel, and that the Russians gave Israel the secret code of the Russian radar in Iran – according to the Kuwaiti newspaper.

Story here. 

Wow.  I'm being an Arm Chair General but this story makes no sense.  Let's do a tick tock of events here.

1.  The IDF decided to risk manned aircraft on a deep penetration mission over Iran JUST TO TAKE PHOTOS over Tehran?

2.  The IDF coordinated with several Arab nations, the US, presumably Russia to carry out this mission?

3.  The IDF either landed in or flew around those nations, had refueling aircraft, rescue aircraft, presumably at least a company of Special Ops people to assist if a plane went down, several other squadrons of fighters in the air to help if this thing went belly up?

4.  If they did not have to assemble the force in #3 then they coordinated with the US military to have a similar force floating off shore to mirror what was talked about earlier?

5.  They eschewed the use of sat imagery or even the use of a spy drone to use the F-35 instead?

6.  The Russians risked relations with Iran to give the Israelis intel on Russian anti-air systems previously sold to them?

The logistics of this thing are daunting and a few pics just ain't worth the effort.

The risk of a plane going down for a few pics makes this borderline batshit crazy.

The idea of so many nations coordinating with the IDF for such a dubious mission makes no sense.

Russians would NOT give away those types of secrets/intel for such a ridiculous show of force.

The whole thing just reeks of paranoia that is found in the Middle East, parts of Africa...hell all over the world now.

You want fake news?  This is fake news!

120mm mobile artillery vehicle based on the DT-30PM amphibious all-terrain tracked carrier vehicle.

via Army Recognition.

According to pictures released on Twitter, the Russian Company Uralvagonzavod has developed a new 120mm mobile artillery vehicle named Magnolia, based on the DT-30PM amphibious all-terrain tracked carrier vehicle. A news was released by TASS, the Russia Press agency in October 2018, that self-propelled mortar system Flox and Magnolia guns and Drok mortar are successfully undergoing preliminary trials.

In November 2017, TASS has announced that a self-propelled artillery system nicknamed Magnolia based on an articulated armored tracked chassis is being developed for Russian army units deployed in Arctic areas. Since a few years, the Russian Defense Ministry has launched a state arms program to create a whole range of highly mobile artillery guns for battalion level.

The DT-30PM is a two-section articulated carrier with a tracked tractor vehicle at the front and a tracked transport vehicle at the rear linked by a steering mechanism. For the Magnolia artillery system, the first vehicle is used to tow a modified cargo vehicle fitted with a turret armed with a 120 mm mortar. A bank of six 81 mm electrically operated 81 mm smoke grenade dischargers are mounted to each side at the front of the turret.

According to our first analysis, the Magnolia seems to be fitted with the same turret as the for the Russian-made 2S31 Vena, a 120 mm tracked self-propelled artillery system. The 2S31 Vena is equipped with a three-man turret armed with 2A80 120-mm rifled gun. The turret has a traverse of 360° with an elevation from -4º to up to +80º.

The Magnolia has a maximum firing range of 10 km with a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute. The vehicle carries a total of 80 rounds.

Story here. 

The Russians are real serious about building a force to fight in the arctic. Besides the BV-10 and similar type vehicles do we have anything comparable?

Can we winterize our Strykers, ACVs, Bradleys, MTVRs and FMTVs?  Our artillery?  Helos?

Can an Abrams even fight up there?  Is our winter gear good enough to keep our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines from being rendered combat incapable because of the cold?

I don't know.

What I do know is that the Russians are serious about a fight up North.

Open Comment Post. 3 June 2019

The unbelievable courage of Master Sergeant John Chapman, an Air Force Combat Controller & winner of the Congressional Medal Of Honor (video of combat action...discretion advised)

Thanks to UtahBob62 for the link!



Just wow.

No words.  Just amazement that we have men such as Master Sergeant Chapman.

It makes my heart sing to see that the right thing was done and his Air Force Cross was upgraded to the highest award given by this nation.

Blast from the past....USMC Captain Francis "Ike" Fenton

1) This photo captured by David Douglas Duncan, is one of the most iconic images of the Korean War. Appearing exhausted and frustrated, USMC Captain Francis "Ike" Fenton has just been told his company is out of ammunition during the Battle of "No-Name Ridge in August,1950. pic.twitter.com/BOtGunPNpH

— Terry (@TerranceCreamer) August 28, 2018

Those eyes.

Those eyes tell a story that would chill my soul but I'd love to hear.

NASA Orion spacecraft's launch abort system successfully launches...

Need a science guy to help me out here.  Does anyone remember the Saturn V?  I thought the old Apollo system was designed to pull the capsule away if there was an issue on the launch pad.  If that's true then why are they testing it by launching it into the sky?  I guess you would want to make sure it would work while the rocket is in boost phase but wouldn't you want it to work if an issue occured on the pad?

If NOT then how do they deal with an issue on the launch pad that requires getting our Astronauts away from presumably explosive rocket fuel quickly and without endangering other personnel?

Exercise Sea Breeze Glamour Shot!

Late notice but Exercise Sea Breeze has its own Twitter page (here) they have 400 followers but I'd like to see it much higher.

Check it out for yourself and follow along for the next 10 days.  It should be interesting.

F-35 failure should not be rewarded by Congress (Editorial by Bill Martinez)

via AMGreatness.com

Recently, the House Appropriations Committee added two-dozen F-35 fighters to the number of such jets that the Pentagon has requested. If the purchase goes forward, those 103 new warplanes would represent a colossal waste of money on top of the tens of billions the federal government has already squandered on the massive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.


The F-35’s proponents have been over-promising and under-delivering for decades now. Don’t take my word for it. Just last year the military completed an internal assessment of the plane. The review shows ongoing reliability issues with the jet that have already greatly shortened its useful life. In other words, lawmakers are lining up to say they want to buy more of a plane that can’t even fulfill its stated mission.


It’s one thing for lawmakers to have believed the hype and invested in the F-35 decades ago when the concept was introduced. Many people inside and outside our military fell for the pie in the sky promise of a single jet that could do it all. Lawmakers should not, however, trip over themselves to repeat their past mistakes by adding a hundred more of these clunkers to the military’s fleet. 

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

 It might have been different if Lockheed had finally solved the problems with the JSF. But it hasn’t, and the problems that have long dogged the plane aren’t getting better. The same internal review found “no improving trend” among the number of aircraft available for training and combat missions.


This failing jet is good at one thing and one thing only: ringing up costs. Bloomberg News reported the F-35 program, which is already the most expensive weapons system in the history of warfare, is adding another $22 billion in unexpected costs. Expect that price tag to increase, not decrease.

Story here. 

More on the jamming in and around Syria.

via National Interest.

Israeli sources “are increasingly convinced” that three weeks of GPS disruptions for civilian flights are a side effect of Russian jamming and spoofing in Syria, Breaking Defense reported. “Moscow is trying to interfere with both Western airplanes — including cutting-edge stealthy F-22s and F-35s — and improvised terrorist drones.”

The U.S. Air Force starting in April 2019 has deployed F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, respectively, as part of a wider build-up of forces as Washington clashes with Tehran following U.S. president Donald Trump’s decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program.

Now, the situation is rife with rumor, with the Israeli government avoiding any official statement and still investigating other sources. But if Russia is indeed disrupting a friendly nation’s GPS by accident, why haven’t they stopped?

The answer may lie in the limits of Russian electronic warfare, which — while far more potent than U.S. military [electronic warfare] — still relies on raw power more than precise targeting.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations and Israeli Airports Authority in late June 2019 announced that many flights lost the GPS satellite signal while flying into or out of Ben Gurion International in Israel, Breaking Defense reported. There has been no risk to passengers, according to the IAA. The affected aircraft simply switched to backup systems.

“Intriguingly, ground-based GPS systems are unaffected,” Breaking Defense noted. “That makes the jamming of aviation GPS suspiciously specific — another sign that it’s not a simple glitch but some kind of electronic weapon. And the Russians have invested heavily in high-powered spoofing systems that send out false GPS signals up to 500 times stronger than the real ones, leading civilian navigators miles astray.”

Story here. 

Syria is the most chaotic battlefield in recent memory.  There is one small bright spot in all this though.

We have a FANTASTIC training/intel opportunity!  Operating in this type of environment is something that can't be duplicated back home...you can't beat real world experience.  Additionally we should have every SIGNIT/ELINT aircraft, vehicle and ship soaking up signals and analyzing it so that we can develop effective counters (assuming we don't already have one).

But of course this activity could be aimed at terrorist drones.  As many of my readers are quick to point out...often the simplest explanation is the correct one.

Amphibious Combat Vehicle background report for Congress...

The background report on the ACV is out and you can read it all here.  What follows is what I think is one of the most important parts of the report.  How did we get to a point where ACV 1.1 and 1.2 were merged and how/when will a decision be made to move forward with ACV 2.0.  Check it out...

ACV 1.1 and ACV 1.2 Consolidated 

On April 10, 2019, during testimony to the Subcommittee on Seapower of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Navy and Marine Corps leadership noted During the fall of 2018, ACV 1.1 prototypes demonstrated satisfactory water mobility performance in high surf conditions, and in doing so met the full water mobility transition requirement for ACV 1.2 capability. Subsequently, the Milestone Decision Authority Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN (RD&A)) approved the consolidation of increments one and two into a single program to enable continuous production of ACVs to completely replace the AAV. The next key acquisition event is the Full Rate Production decision scheduled for the third quarter of FY 2020 following Initial Operational Test & Evaluation. ACV remains on schedule to achieve Initial Operational Capability in the fourth quarter of FY 2020. With the consolidation of ACV variants into a single variant, there will likely be a number of programmatic changes and potential ramifications for the ACV and

ACV 2.0 programs. 

Reportedly, the Marines plan to develop an ACV 2.0, capable of carrying 10 to 13 Marines plus crew, capable of high water speeds and deployment from ships far from the coast. ACV 2.0 is planned to be capable of operating on land alongside tanks and light armored vehicles. According to the Marines ACV 2.0 serves as a conceptual placeholder for a future Decision Point (~ 2025, or sooner) at which time knowledge gained in the fielding and employment of the first phase of ACV (1.1 and 1.2), the state of the naval connector strategy, and science & technology work towards a high water speed capable self-deploying vehicle will support an informed decision.46

Read the report but the above highlighted and enlarged text is clear.  First the ACV DOES MEET requirements to replace the AAV.

It would have been awesome if the Marine Corps provided the public with images and video of the testing in various conditions but we will just have to trust that they got this right.

The ACV is the rig we're gonna be riding into the future.  Full stop.  Nothing else to add to that section.

The next part that needs to be discussed is the decision point by 2025 with regard to a high speed amphibious assault vehicle that can swim fast, keep up with an M1A1 Abrams over broken ground, provide at least equal protection of the ACV and PROTECT AGAINST IEDs.

That's a high mark.

While the Japanese are laboring hard and I'm sure there are Marine Corps observers and possible even team ups with US corporations going on, I just don't see that as a possibility.

We tried with the EFV.

While many falsely slam that vehicle, the reality is that without the ongoing wars in the Middle East, we'd be using that vehicle today.

IEDs changed everything.

Long story short?

Repeating myself but I believe that the ACV will be our rig into the foreseeable future.

Where does that leave us?  Time to develop fully the family of vehicles so that we're not caught using MTVRs to transport our Infantry Battalions in the next mechanized war.

We need to go fully tilt.  Mortar Carrier, Recovery Vehicle, Logistics Vehicle, Assault Gun, Medical Vehicle, NBC Vehicle etc....We had over 1000 AAVs.  By my count we will need at least 700 ACV to properly equip our Fleet Marine Force.

Karem Aircraft is in the hunt for the Army's Future Attack Recon Aircraft program...

via Defense News.

Karem is bringing its “unique active variable speed rotor technologies,” which have been developed over the last 10 years through collaboration with the Army, to the teaming effort.

The company’s experience “will be augmented with Northrop Grumman’s manned and autonomous military aircraft development, system integration, production and support expertise and Raytheon’s systems architecture, mission equipment and weapons capabilities,” the company statement adds.

Story here. 

More on the Kurjak (Black Wolf) 6x6 Amphibious Fighting Vehicle...

via Defenseweb.co.za

The project was launched in March 2019 by privately owned Serbian company Srboauto, which specializes in the repair, maintenance and overhaul of vehicles for the Serbian Army. The Kurjack was developed as a private initiative based on demand for a highly protected amphibious multi-purpose 6×6 vehicle to fill the gap between the Milos 4×4 and Lazaar 8×8 vehicles supplied by Serbian government owned Jugoimport.

At the moment the Serbian Army does not have an amphibious wheeled vehicle with at least STANAG 4569 Level 4 ballistic and Level 4A/4B landmine protection, which the Kurjack has. It can also withstand a 50 kg TNT improvised explosive device (IED) detonating five metres from the vehicle.

The Kurjak will be fully amphibious with a minimum speed of 8 km/h in water at a mass of 24 tons. A 540 hp diesel engine coupled to a 6 speed automatic gearbox will supply power to a fully independent suspension with hydropneumatic struts and 16.00R20 tyres. The hydraulic and pneumatic system will be supplied by Srboauto’s sister company, Pneumatic-Flex. The electrical system is based on CAN-bus architecture.

The vehicle will have a maximum speed of 115 km/h, length of 7 metres, height of 2.6 metres and a gradient capability of 60%. The Kurjak will carry a crew of 11 namely a driver, commander, gunner and eight dismounts. A RCWS (remote controlled weapon station) with a 30 mm gun will be fitted, but provision is made for a variety of weapon stations to be fitted. A fire suppression system, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence) and climatic systems will be provided as standard. A 360-degree video surveillance system can be fitted.

ADG Mobility said the concept phase of the project has been completed and the definition and design and development phases will commence shortly. A fully tested prototype will be available within the next 20 months.

Story here. 

Exercise Sea Breeze is underway (July 1- 12)...

32 Ships
24 Planes
19 Countries
3K+ Soldiers

Twitter page here.

I imagine that the exercise is being scaled as to not alarm Russia, but compare this to what ONE Marine Expeditionary Unit brings to the table and you can see just how small this thing is.

2500 plus Marines (not counting the Sailors manning the ships), 30 plus aircraft, more than 50 plus vehicles including a Tank Platoon, AAV platoon and Motor T detachment, 5 LCACs plus two heavy landing craft....this isn't a very big exercise at all.

But the number of countries involved is impressive. 

The only thing I wonder about is whether or not we're really gaining "interoperability" and "stability" with allies?  Could we just be wearing out our troops and equipment on dubious exercises?  To be more precise.  Is Ukraine worth our efforts?

“Gentleman, what we have here is the most powerful force ever created by mankind. Lets poke at it with a screwdriver.” —Louis Slotin, Los Alamos laboratory

If this story is even half true then you have brilliant men touched with a bit of madness, mixed with insanity, bravado and bravery beyond description.

But I guess it takes a bit of madness to develop the most powerful weapon known to man.

I'd like to know what a psychological assessment of these men would show.  How much crazy vs brilliant were they?  Apparently the designer of the AK-47 had many demons to deal with although he was praised by the state.  Did these guys suffer emotional demons after creating the bomb?

 

https://enrique262.tumblr.com/post/185986032916/peashooter85-tickling-the-dragons-trail-with

 

BAE's Amphibious Combat Vehicle will be highlighted on the Outdoor Channel "GunnyTime" TV Show...

Airtime this week, (according to their website) is 9am ET Tues, 7pm & 10pm ET Weds, and 2am ET Thurs.

Check it out...looks like a great episode.

Bionix to Hunter...the evolution of Singapore made Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Infographic)...

click on pic to enlarge

Open Comment Post. 02 July 2019

Things are getting a bit dicey in Hong Kong...protesters storm and ransack parliament!

#UPDATE Hong Kong's leader condemns "the extreme use of violence" by masked protesters who stormed and ransacked the city's legislature in an unprecedented challenge to Beijing's authority https://t.co/dgIsOoQUNq pic.twitter.com/rRZIrevYk0

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 2, 2019

Where are those that said this was nothing and that the protesters would go home in a day or two?

This is getting interesting.  Chinese leadership will be forced to act if this continues.

Stay tuned.

This bears watching.

Have you been keeping up on the news that Russia is actively jamming Israeli GPS?

Unverified: interesting, nonetheless https://t.co/M72b2sDRYD

— Gregory Knowles (@2805662) July 1, 2019

Haven't talked about it on the blog but I've been following the story that Russian forces (unknown if they're land or sea based) are actively jamming Israeli GPS.

I've failed to touch on it because electronic warfare is outside my area of knowledge and the few people I do know that are versed in it (mostly the bros in Australia) don't seem to be answering my e-mails.

A quick overview?

If I recall correctly some IDF fighter pilots are talking about navigation errors and being told to pull their aircraft up when they're flying level.  Supposedly even a couple of airports are having difficulty because the Russians aren't being selective but "powerhousing" the thing.

Which brings me to the tweet above.

I do know the Israelis launched an airstrike just a day or so ago.  I also have read the claims of many Syrian civilians being injured and a couple killed.

It got no airtime here in the US but if you follow some of the Syrian War Blogs the anger is real.

Are the Russians experimenting with electronic warfare in that chaotic environment?  Have they cracked the code on negating some of the vaunted F-35 sensors?

Don't know. We have zero visibility and unless the Russians tell us then I doubt we'll ever know.  We can expect the Israelis to be as quiet as church mice.

What we do know is that stealth isn't the future of aerial warfare.  

Electronic warfare is!

Blast from the past....59 years ago today B2 Avro Vulcan XH558 went into service with the RAF

John Anthony Wood‏ @Bombbayjohn More

59 years ago today B2 Avro Vulcan XH558 went into service with the RAF at RAF Waddington. She joined 230 OCU and went on to serve for 33 years with the RAF before retiring in April 1993 to Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. 14 Years later she flew again in 2007 and retired in 2015.

Give the Brits credit, and consider it a loss for us all since they're no longer in the plane building business, but God knows they built some beautiful bombers.