SNAFU preseason college football picks...

That's right.  Its that time of year again.  If I'm talking to someone from the SEC then its real simple.  

LSU sustains it.

If I'm talking to someone that lives outside the SEC...then I have to ask myself.  Why am I talking to someone that doesn't understand what real football looks like?!

Seems like the Coaches agree.  Check out the poll...

1. LSU (18)  13-1 1,403 2 

2. Alabama (20) 12-1 1,399 1 

3. Southern California (19) 10-2 1,388 NR 

4. Oklahoma (1) 10-3 1,276 15 

5. Oregon  12-2 1,258 4 

6. Georgia  10-4 1,061 20 

7. Florida State (1) 9-4 1,055 23 

8. Michigan 11-2 1,023 9 

9. South Carolina 11-2 981 8 

10. Arkansas  11-2 948 5 

11. West Virginia 10-3 833 18 

12. Wisconsin  11-3 743 11 

13. Michigan State  11-3 717 10 

14. Clemson  10-4 598 22 

15. Texas  8-5 549 NR 

16. Nebraska 9-4 501 24 

17. TCU 11-2 499 13 

18. Stanford  11-2 497 7 

19. Oklahoma State  12-1 476 3 

20. Virginia Tech  11-3 461 17 

21. Kansas State  10-3 398 16 

22. Boise State  12-1 271 6 

23. Florida 7-6 250 NR 

24. Notre Dame  8-5 166 NR 

25. Auburn 8-5 66 NR 

Five of the top 10 teams are from the SEC.  Oregon is LSU Tiger bait.  We chomp on them like a Cajun eats gumbo. But do you want to know the scary thing if you're outside the SEC?  3 of the top 10 teams in the nation come from the SEC West. 

Oh I almost forgot.  Championship game will be between LSU and Oklahoma.  LSU wins 52-24.  The game was over by the middle of the 3rd and LSU started playing freshman and sophmores.

This beast is real. The Italians are crazy!

via Defesa

Finmeccanica´s Oto Melara SpA  has recently showed a brand new VBM Centauro (Veicolo Blindato Medio) 8×8 armoured vehicle modified as a 155mm self-propelled artillery system.

The weapon system comprises a 155mm/39 turreted gun installed in a VBM Centauro 8×8 wheeled armoured high mobility chassis. The protected turret has a stealth design and is fitted with eight grenade dischargers, a digitized suite, a powerful elevation system, an automatic loading system for ammunition and propelling charges and can be equipped with a remote controlled weapon station like the Oto Melara SpA HITROLE lightweight and stealth system which is armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun. It can fire the Vulcano family of guided ammunitions and as well as standard NATO shells. It requires less than three minutes to be deployed ready for fire and one minute to abandon the scene after the action.

VBM is the chassis for different specialized vehicles including Freccia infantry fighting vehicle of the Italian Army, VBM Centauro reconnaissance and fire support vehicle in service with the armies of Italy, Spain and Oman which feature the HITFACT turret armed with 105mm/52 or 120mm/45 guns, VBM Explorer which feature a HITFIST turret armed with a 25mm gun and two twin launchers for Horus mini-unmanned air systems, VBM Draco equipped with a 76mm turreted gun, and, VBM Recovery combat armoured recovery vehicle of which Spain has procured four units and a the chassis for the artillery system.

The company also has developed a Dardo tracked infantry fighting vehicle configured as a mobile mortar carrier. The vehicle is equipped with the 120mm 2R2M mortar system from TDA Armements.

I've seen some "interesting" concepts out of the Germans (Donar) and some pretty innovative ones too (Wiesel 120mm mortar carrier) but this design is on a whole new level.

One thing appears certain though.  The Italians are making a run at the traditional powerhouses..BAE, General Dynamics, KMW and Rheinmetall and challenging some of the up and comers like Lockheed Martin.

The armored vehicle market looks to be in the middle of some type of renaissance.

SIGMA 9813 class Corvette

General Dynamics. I figured out your play for MPC!

laviih

I've been scratching my head for months...

I've sent e-mail after e-mail to General Dynamics asking about their offering for the Marine Personnel Carrier...

I got no response and couldn't understand the silence.

Then tonight while surfing the web I took another look at the LAV II High Tech Demonstrator.  Examine that PDF document carefully.

The vehicle carries 9 troops.  Is designed to carry a RWS.  Improves the swim capability of the original LAV-25.  Has blast attenuating seats and extra armor for protection against IEDs (belly armor will help with self righting too).  Has hatches for the crew and passengers (a real big deal in the Marine Corps) and has been tested for transportability by USAF transports and Navy LCACs.

I thought that the Piranha III was the choice.  I think I was wrong.  General Dynamics Canada and USA doesn't have that vehicle in its portfolio.  They do offer the LAV II High Tech Demonstrator.

I'll bet you body parts that this will be the vehicle they offer. 

Brazil to buy Amphibious Assault Vehicles. BAE gets a nice little win.

via DefPro.

13:57 GMT, August 2, 2012 WASHINGTON | The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified U.S. Congress July 31 of a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Government of Brazil for 26 Assault Amphibious Vehicles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $233 million.

The Government of Brazil has requested the possible sale of 26 Assault Amphibious Vehicles (AAVs)/Reliability, Availability and Maintainability/Rebuild to Standard (RAM/RS), with ancillary equipment, and machine guns. Also included are the upgrade of Brazil’s existing AAVs to the RAM/RS configuration, weapons and ammunition, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools and test equipment, technical data and publications, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $233 million.

The proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of Brazil, which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in South America.

Brazil will use this equipment to augment its current inventory of amphibious vehicles and to modernize and strengthen its naval operational amphibious capability in support of national defense objectives. Brazil will have no difficulty absorbing these vehicles into its armed forces.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The AAVs will be procured through a competitive procurement. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Wow.

Just plain wow.  This is surprising news to me.  I assumed that Brazil was on the road to going to an all wheeled force having acquired the VBTP.

What exactly does this mean?  I ask because the Brazilian Marines have operated their Piranha III wheeled APC's in Haiti during peacekeeping/disaster relief and have conducted "internal security ops" inside Rio with those same vehicles.

Did they experience deficiencies that have led them back to tracked vehicles?

But the big winner is BAE.  Even if they rebuild vehicles from Marine Corps stocks (and by this announcement it looks like these are new builds) then they'll gain some pretty solid info for the upcoming AAV upgrade program.

Nice win boys...I heard the design shop likes Jamie almost as much as I do so here's your Friday eye candy.

US Army Combatives goes hard. Pussification halted.

Army Staff Sgt. Glenn Garrison, right, and Army Staff Sgt. Shane Lees grapple during the finals of the lightweight division of the 2012 U.S. Army Combatives Championship on Fort Hood, Texas, July 28, 2012. Garrison, who won the match, is assigned to Fort Carson, Colo. DOD photo by EJ Hersom

Damn.


That looks like full contact combatives to me.  


US Army Combatives you make this JarHead proud.  YOU GUYS HAVE A COMBATIVE PROGRAM THAT GOES HARD!  No marching out to the back forty to get in some real training and hoping that you have a Corpsman (that's a Medic to you Soldier boys) that lives up to the Devil Doc rep and praying you don't have to explain a black eye that comes from building a little unit cohesion.


This is good shit!

First Supersonic AIM-9X

Maj. Ryan Howland of the F-22 Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, was at the controls for the first supersonic AIM-9X launch From an F-22 on 30 July 2012.

Wow.  Too much military fiction for me.  Everyone one of the aviation writers I've ever read always talks about pilots going supersonic or darn near to add umph to their missiles.  I didn't know it was actually done in real life...until now.

Upcoming posts. Plus. JTAC calling in the pain.

U.S. Marines Corps Capt. Rob Gambrell, a joint terminal attack controller assigned to the 1st Battalion , 3rd Marine Regiment, uses a radio to call out target information to a UH-1Y Venom helicopter and an AH-1W SuperCobra helicopter assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 169 during a close air support live-fire combat training mission at Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, July 23, 2012, during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012. RIMPAC is a U.S. Pacific Command-hosted biennial multinational maritime exercise designed to foster and sustain international cooperation on the security on the world’s oceans. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth, U.S. Air Force/Released)

Upcoming posts....


1.  UPDATE on turret system offered by FNSS (the PENCE)...


2.  GEAR REVIEW by a hard charging Jar Head...


3.  UPDATE on Marine Personnel Carrier Program...