The new Sergeant Major Of The Marine Corps says...The Corps exists for “a singular purpose” the round hitting the target. The Corps is about warfighting.”

Meet the 19th @USMCSgtMaj, Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black. pic.twitter.com/sYOeQ5wbrB

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) July 27, 2019

via Marines Times.com

There’s a new sergeant major of the Marine Corps in town as of Friday, but don’t expect a whirlwind of changes anytime soon.

If the mantra of Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, the 19th sergeant major of the Marine Corps, could be summed up, it’s in the popular 1970s Marine Corps recruiting ad: “We don’t promise you a rose garden."

Black told Marine Corps Times in an exclusive interview that Marines shouldn’t expect significant changes to tattoo policies, grooming standards, uniform regulations or re-enlistment incentives: What he’s focused on is the foundation of the Corps and its Marines.

The Corps exists for “a singular purpose” Black said. “The round hitting the target. The Corps is about warfighting.”

And there are certain non-negotiables that make up the identity of the Corps. He said he’s focused on reinforcing those.

Story here. 

Hmm.  Were you paying attention this week?  We got a news alert that a SEAL Team had been kicked out of theater and that same day we saw some Marines arrested (in MASS) out at Pendleton for gross stupidity.

News of the SEAL alleged misconduct vanished in a flash.  The idea of that elite outfit being involved in behavior so gross....the fact that they refused to cooperate in the investigation, didn't spark any additional questions.  Didn't send defense journalist into a frenzy to see what was actually behind all that.

It simply disappeared.

Not the same with the story on Marines out at Pendleton.  That story has legs.

Why?

Because despite all the publicity.  Despite what I consider the obscenity of actually chasing the spotlight, the SEALs still don't have the imagination and love and interest that the Marine Corps has with the American people.

We have problems.  We have issues.  But we're still America's Praetorian Guard.

It's refreshing, damn near hardon producing to see the new Sergeant Major Of The Marine Corps walking in talking this way.

Hopefully he climbs out of the fighting hole this office has had for the past few years and gets out and about, pushing the views expressed in this article.

This new Commandant and SMMC could possibly lead to a much needed revival and a refocusing on Marine Corps principles.  We can hope can't we???

French have plans for miniature sats armed with lasers...the space warfare is becoming an OPEN reality...

The French have plans for a constellation of laser-armed miniature satellites:https://t.co/oGiXNnjfc3

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) July 26, 2019

We've heard stories since the Cold War of sats being weaponized by the US and Soviet Union.

We've heard that China has also deployed some types of orbital weapons.

Now?

Now the French are openly talking about following suit.  Space Warfare is coming out of the shadows and becoming an OPEN reality.

What are the ramifications?

Militarily I have no idea.  I do know that millions of individuals around the world could be adversely affected by even a minor skirmish in space.

Bear in mind that I'm talking about rumors and open source info.  What's being done in the black budget is beyond my imagination but I can bet that everyone is working overtime on defense and offense against what the certain nation state considers a threat capability.

We are entering a brave new age and I don't think we'll be able to avoid going...Rods From God, to nukes and back to the stone age even if we see an accidental encounter...how do you keep from escalating if a city is damn near vaporized because a malfunctioning sat sent telephone pole sized titanium rods at 10 times the speed of sound into a major city?

Saber Guardian: Joint exercise with Romanian Forces

FBI Director says that China is our nation's most dire counter intel threat!

Thanks to Filippo Neri for the link!

via Epoch Times

The FBI has more than 1,000 active investigations into theft of U.S. intellectual property, “almost all leading back to China,” as the communist regime is waging a “generational fight” to achieve economic dominance, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate committee on July 23.

“There is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat to this country right now than China,” Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee, reiterating previous warnings he made about the Chinese regime.

Beijing is using both state and non-state actors to “steal their way up the economic ladder at our expense,” he said.

“It is a threat that’s deep and diverse and wide and vexing in terms of the kinds of actors that are used, the kinds of techniques used, or the kind of targets that are used,” Wray said. “It affects basically every industry in this country.”

Story here. 

A few things...

1.  I told ya so.

2.  It's about time leadership woke up to this threat. 

3.  Apparently the previous couple of years of Russia, Russia, Russia is behind us and we're now focusing on the real threat and not the one that was politically fashionable.

But do we have time to get focused and working on defeating this real threat to our Republic?

I don't know.  Too many refuse to see the danger.  Too many want the status quo no matter how fleeting it is and ignore the reality right before their eyes.

There are glimmers of hope though.

via Fox News.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said China is the No. 1 threat to U.S. security. 

----------

 “China is a threat economically and diplomatically. I think it's time we address some of these issues -- militarization of the South China Sea, the Communist Chinese Party launching cyberattacks against the U.S., theft of intellectual property, and a significant expansion of military capability.”

Story here. 

via Bloomberg

 Mark Esper, President Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, said the U.S. needs more bases “throughout the Indo-Pacific region” to counter China’s “significant technological advancements.”

“Alternate operating locations” will be sought as the Pentagon works “to develop new concepts, build a distributed and resilient force posture and field new capabilities to counter these threats,” Esper, who had been serving as Army secretary and then as acting defense secretary, said in written answers to questions from lawmakers ahead of a Senate confirmation hearing that convened on Tuesday morning.

----------

 “China has made significant technological advancements in weapons systems designed to defeat, or drastically reduce the effectiveness of U.S. forces, including in the range and accuracy of its missile forces,” Esper said. “China is also developing sophisticated on-orbit capabilities, such as satellite inspection and repair, some of which could also function as a weapon.”

Story here. 

Yeah.  They're waking up to the threat.  The question really becomes.  Is it coming too late?  Do we have time to reorient ourselves to this threat?  Do we have the national will to emerge victorious?

Royal Marines PTIs...

Thanks to Noble for the link!



I had one occasion to do PT with these dudes and trust me.  They'll leave you in a puddle of sweat, fear, hatred and evil intent!

Quite honestly I don't know why every Marine Corps Battalion doesn't have a PT Instructor trained the Royal Marines way.

Notice that they still do it old skool style.

No military reinterpreting of crossfit.  None of the idiocy with extraneous equipment that supposedly helps measure fitness.

Naw.  They keep it simple and effective.

My opinion?

Scrap the Combat Fitness Test.  Go back to old skool training in the Royal Marine way (old USMC way too!) and put away the toys.

All the equipment that is now needed to assess fitness is just wrong.  Simple is effective.  Practice makes perfect.  Training properly will lessen injuries. The CFT is crossfit and crossfit is a fad.

Note.  If we're going smaller then we need to increase the number of subject matter experts!  I've called for Mountain/Arctic Leaders, Jungle Experts, Desert Patrollers etc...across all our Battalions. This is where PARTNERSHIPS would actually serve a purpose.  Use the Brits jungle school (even the French one) and run our MEUs thru them while on float.  Same with our trips to Northern Europe so we can get some of that Mountain Leader/Arctic Warfare stuff the Royal Marines do.  Team up with the dudes that run desert schools...hell even get up with the Brit Desert Rats for our mechanized forces.  Too often partnerships have been about exercises of dubious quality or watching aviation land on each others ships.  How about we start taking advantage of some excellent training programs that our allies run?  I highlight the Brits cause I'm more familiar with what they're doing but I'd bet everyone would be willing to teach us their speciality/allow us to utilize their schools/trainers,  if we simply asked.

Exercise Talisman Saber 2019...Video by Sgt. 1st Class John Etheridge

Vipers and Venoms of Summer Fury 19....Video by Sgt. Charles Plouffe

Open Comment Post. 26 July 2019

Sexual Assault is the reason why the SEALs were kicked out of theater???

Thanks to FormerDirtDart for the link!

Big update here: As widely suspected, there was more to the story about SEALs getting kicked out of Iraq.

Officials now say their drinking was exposed by a reported sex assault. SEALs wouldn't cooperate w/ investigation, as reported by @David_Philipps.https://t.co/nAseUP5Yg2

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) July 26, 2019

A few idiot Marines out at Camp Pendleton knocked the issue of Navy SEALs out of the headlines but this will see them HAMMERED by the media.

This is bad juju.

I fully expect for not only heads to roll but for the good times to be over.

How bad do I think it'll get?

I'm betting that down the line we're gonna see more than a couple of SEAL Teams go away.

They expanded and now the downsizing is gonna hit real hard and fast.

That Trident is sought after...but like we used to say...in this circumstance better them that the Marine Corps.  The dummies at Pendleton will get hammered.  The SEALs are about to get micro fragmented.

Army testing new tracks/suspension on the Bradley. Same suspension will be tested on the Abrams as well.

Thanks to PitchBlackUniverse for the pics!

I got no time.  Will someone please rundown the full story on this!  Love to see if they're looking for performance improvements or just easier maintenance.  Regardless it looks BEAST!

The 3 Miler from X Range looks kinda painful...

The 3 Miler from X Range takes mental resilience and combat endurance to conquer. @RiflesRegiment JNCOs need both to lead Riflemen. #rifles #swiftandbold #RTT pic.twitter.com/VzMzncCtrc

— Terry Rafferty MC (@OC_Rifles_TrgTm) July 25, 2019

I know many will say I'm weak, but I'm looking at these guys and all I see is pain.

Who is leading this thing?  Dude looks like he actually accelerated!  Is this one of those fabled PT Leaders or whatever the Brits call them?

US Navy SEALs are crashing against the rocks...

SEAL team ordered back to San Diego from Iraq due to “perceived deterioration of good order and discipline during non-operational periods” pic.twitter.com/YuEZW5iV0a

— Howard Altman (@haltman) July 24, 2019

I have ideas on why we got to this point but I'll leave that to my readers to hash out.

One thing Special Forces has said that makes a ton of sense and something that the USMC will have to grapple with come to the fore.

Special Ops cannot be created overnight, and quality must be maintained.

The Navy SEALs obviously have an issue.  So will the USMC.  How do you maintain Marine Special Operations Battalions, Force Recon, Recon, Snipers, Anglico and Radio Recon when your force shrinks to 150K?

How do you maintain numbers AND staffing all those units when the overall force gets smaller?

In short, how do you prevent what happened to the SEALs being repeated by one of these USMC units?

Sidenote.  This wasn't a minor incident that caused this either.  I don't know what it was but for the CENTCOM commander to lose faith/confidence in the discipline of a unit like the Navy SEALs means that something big happened.

Ejército de Tierra (Spanish Army) displays its new Pizarro Engineer Vehicle...

Open Comment Post. 25 July 2019

AJAX undertakes live firing trials...

Hitler's monster tanks...

Interesting and light reading here (along with some awesome illustrations).

Number of noncombatants in Chinese military almost halved...highlights of their new Defense White Paper...

via China Daily.

Nearly half the noncombatant jobs in the military have been abolished and about 25 percent of office posts at military units above the regiment level have been shed.

Military organizations involved in artistic performance, sports, news services, publication, and medical and research bodies have been dismantled or simplified, the white paper said.

The military had fulfilled its goal of reducing its troops by 300,000, and now maintained an active force of 2 million troops, the white paper said.

Story here. 

Wow.  We've bitched and moaned about the "fluff" in our military and the Chinese aren't talking but instead acting.

It's piecemeal but we've seen moves over the course of about 5 years to actually make the Chinese military more lethal...more ready for the fight.

The Chinese are getting ready for the big fight.

The threat of Remote Controlled Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (RC-VBIEDs)...

Coming soon: An in-depth article about the "threat" of remote-controlled VBIED (RC-VBIED) use by non-state actors in Syria and abroad, as well as the strategic reasoning behind groups choosing to use them or not. In the meantime, here's a wavy video teaser on the topic pic.twitter.com/SDR0RZFS4Q

— Hugo Kaaman (@HKaaman) July 23, 2019

Just awesome.  I knew it was coming just thought we had more time.  From this tweet it appears like it's already a thing in Syria.  I missed that news.

I've called the fight in Syria, the most chaotic we've seen in awhile and if these are becoming widespread then it truly is.

But a bigger question looms.

What happens when we take fights to megacities and you see convoys of these devices used to take down skyscrapers?

Is Law Enforcement ready to deal with these being used by fringe/hate groups?  What about narco traffickers that decide to use them as a means to get their ships to shore and suddenly we see Coast Guard Cutters hit by their sea going equivalent?

This stuff is getting much more lethal.  I hope they're studying this at the head sheds of first thru third MEFs.

Turkish Aerospace introduces its Advanced Supersonic 5th Generation Trainer and Light Combat Aircraft.

Thanks to Alpay Osmanoglu for the pics & link!

BAE Alligator 8x8..Hybrid Diesel - Electric Drive...an IFV available 20 years ago...

BAE Systems, Alligator 8x8 Teaser from Loveframe on Vimeo.



via Military-Today.com

The SEP 8x8 armored personnel carrier evolved from the tracked and wheeled modular armored vehicle programme. It is an innovative and advanced design. Vehicle was developed by the BAE Systems Hagglunds to meet Swedish Army requirement. The SEP studies started in 1994. Demonstrators were produced in 2000 (tracked) and 2003 (6x6). Sweden's original requirement was for 600 vehicles in 10 variants. However in 2008 Swedish MoD announced that it would not purse the next-generation SEP programme due to dramatic budget cuts. The new armored vehicle was too expensive. At that time the SEP was at the final stage of development. Its prototype has been tested in UK. However in 2007 UK Ministry of Defense decided not to include SEP for its Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) armored vehicle competition. Despite that the SEP programme continued. Swedish defensive administration reissued reduced requirement for 200-300 wheeled vehicles. Production contract was to be awarded in 2009 and initial deliveries were expected in 2011. However it did not follow. At the time no other country was considering the SEP.

   The SEP 8x8 vehicle is designed for 40 modifications. All SEP versions are 6.1 m long and 2.8 m wide. It can be fitted with interchangeable specialized mission modules. This feature provides multirole flexibility makes vehicle upgradeable and reduces life-cycle costs. SEPs versatility enables it to replace a wide range of armored vehicles.

   The SEP armored vehicle is available with various armament fits. It can support remotely controlled weapon stations with 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun, or 40 mm automatic grenade launcher. Turret options range from 25 mm to 120 mm gun turrets. Vehicle can also carry 81 mm or 120 mm mortars.

   The SEP offers high level of protection. Vehicle can be loaded with add-on armor against heavy machine gun fire, artillery shell splinters and landmines. During a live-firing demonstration two RPG-7 rockets were fired, but no serious damage was caused due to the explosive active protection system. It is worth mentioning that the SEP features advanced stealth technology. Automatic fire extinguishing system is fitted as standard, however NBC protection system is offered as an option.

   Vehicle has a hybrid diesel-electric drive. It is fitted with two Steyr diesel engines, developing 270 hp each. The SEP 8x8 armored personnel carrier has a battery power option, which enabled the vehicle to run in silent mode. Vehicle has a hydropeumatic suspension. The SEP had a pivot steering and could turn on its own axis. Central tyre inflation system is optional. The SEP 8x8 APC is airportable by the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft,  however add-on armor protection has to be removed.

Story here.

When looking at the Turk AKREP IIe, I've talked about how I believed it to be an awesome concept and one that we should have taken advantage of long ago.

Some readers said that the technology wasn't developed enough for us to have headed in that direction.  This post is to prove them wrong.

I want to reintroduce you to the BAE Alligator 8x8. 

In my view a dynamic vehicle that held much promise but for some reason wasn't adapted by the military forces of the Western World.  If it was still around I think it would still be competitive (although it would probably need to be plus sized) and I still believe it to be a world beater.

Even more importantly?

It had tech that would have lessened the logistics train that follows our maneuver forces and would provide for some outstanding mobility coupled with lower acoustics signature when arriving on objective.

This is the type of vehicle tech that I'd like see applied to the ACV.  Maybe it can happen in future models.