Retro Tucano.

via Aviation News.EU  ...more info at there site

Your new wallpaper.

This photo had to be staged.

A Special Forces Soldier provides security for inbound aircraft after completing a cordon and search of a suspected bomb making facility at a remote village in the Arghandab District Dec. 10, 2009.
Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan Media Operations Center
Photo by Sgt. Debra Richardson

 

Arrogant Journalist.

I am becoming more than a bit irritated and VERY annoyed at the arrogance I see coming from Journalist these days.  I present to you exhibit number 74.  This via ABC News.  Read the whole thing and try your best not to throw up when she compares herself to actual warriors.

I am now an official "combat aviator" with 5½ hours in the back seat of an F-15E Strike Eagle, flying two separate combat missions over Afghanistan.

Why the USAF would allow this is beyond me.  They effectively took an airplane out of the fight by allowing this publicity stunt.

What's even more annoying is how she raises her own profile and in my opinion questions the urgency of the men on the ground receiving fire, requesting air support.

Courageous restraint?  Not on your life Female.  Not when you're at 20,000 feet in the back seat of an F-15E.  Now don't shoot back when they're lobbing RPG's at ya and then you have my vote for the NATO (mythical) medal...but not for what was done on this mission.

Stories like this make me want to punch walls.  What's the name of the Commanding Officer that signed off on this cluster????

EFV Podcast.

Here ya go.  One stop shopping. Be patient. There is a long gap at the beginning of the recording.
DoD Live: Blogger Round Table on the EFV.

EFV Blogger roundtable notes.

I'm listening to the bloggers roundtable ---initial impressions.....Col.  Moore made the statement that the EFV will be the most capable Infantry Fighting Vehicle in US service and that it will surpass many of the attributes of the Bradley.

That's all well and good but I wonder about the employment of the vehicle.  With the Bradley there was always a tension between its being a fighting vehicle and it being a battle taxi.  A 30mm cannon makes the idea of hunting enemy vehicles and troops rather attractive.

But back to the roundtable...Bettina Chevania from Aviation Week and Greg Grant from DoD Buzz asked really good questions and I'll get a copy of the podcast up shortly.  BUT!  Remember my saying that "haters" would show up to simply bash the program?  Well a person named Sandra filled that role nicely.  It was quite obvious that she hadn't kept up with the program and knew little about it.

1st Scots in Afghanistan.

Off Topic.

This is off topic and maybe I have a weird sense of humor (as in juvenile) but I found this funny as hell.
Hat tip to Jalopnik...Read the forum link at DSMTuners to get the joke (or not).

Pic of the day. May 27, 2010.

Members of the Brazilian Marine Corps Special Operations Battalion clear a house using tactics exchanged with U.S. Navy SEALs during a joint combined exchange training exercise. The bi-lateral training course was facilitated by U.S. Navy SEALS and special warfare combatant-craft crewmen.
Navy Visual News Service
Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Kathryn Whittenberger

RoK/US Amphibious Assault.

An old video but still entertaining.  The Republic of Korea and US Marines conduct an amphibious assault.  Highlighted in the video is the soon to be retired CH-46.

US Army goes from observing K-Max for Marine service to participating?

When the US Marine Corps first came out with a requirement for an unmanned helicopter to perform resupply missions for dispersed units, the Army stated that they would observe the program.  Seems like they've moved from observation to almost participation...this from DefPro.com

“Under the contract, Kaman Helicopters will be adding mission equipment to a test aircraft that helps elevate the reliability of unmanned aircraft to the standards the K-MAX attains in commercial operations,” stated Terry Fogarty, general manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Product Group for Kaman Helicopters. “While this is not a deployment contract, it continues our efforts as we prepare for a potential opportunity for a military deployment later this year.” Kaman’s commercial operators boast 98-99 percent availability rates in the harsh helicopter logging environment, where K-MAX rotorcraft deliver 6,000 pound loads 20 to 30 times per hour. A single K-MAX often moves more than one-million pounds of timber in a single day, and has exceeded two-million pounds in a single day on numerous occasions.

I wonder if they just tipped their hand on who the Marine Corps has selected for this mission.  It would make little sense for the Army to select a different helicopter than the Marines (at least in this role) in this age of austerity.

Center for American Progress slams Navy/Marine Corps Budget allocations.

The Center for American Progress has published a write-up of the latest from the House Armed Services Committee.  Suffice it to say that they're not pleased with continued funding of many of the service's programs.  Read more here.

The HASC bill also includes $65 billion for Navy and Marine Corps procurement despite Secretary Gates’s recent speech before the Navy League calling on the service to reexamine its force posture in the current operating environment. As Gates noted, the United States will maintain 11 carrier strike groups through 2040 when no other country has more than one. The $65 billion includes $5.1 billion to fund two Virginia class submarines—the first time the committee has ever authorized two of these boats in one year. And the committee’s FY 2011 authorization includes $1.7 billion in advance funding toward the purchase of two more Virginia class hulls in FY 2012. Including funding for the advanced purchase of these two submarines creates a strong incentive for lawmakers to allow the program to proceed in next year’s budget, which essentially ensures that the same misguided spending evident in this year’s markup will continue in FY 2012.
The list goes on. The HASC bill includes $361 million over what the administration requested for funding for ballistic missile defense despite the fact that the Pentagon already increased the budget by over $300 million from a year ago. The increased funding, which then-Senator Obama campaigned against, would fund missile defense at George W. Bush administration-levels if approved by the House and the Senate. HASC also revived funding for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, an unnecessary and deeply flawed amphibious vehicle that is vulnerable to the types of improvised explosive devices used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm not sure about many of the issues raised here.  What I do know is that the statement regarding the EFV is false.  It has been re-engineered to survive IEDs similar to those encountered in Iraq/Afghanistan.  I wonder what else they got wrong.

Terror Alert on Southern Border of the US.

via FoxNews.

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.
The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami.
In 2008, the U.S. government designated Al Shabaab a terrorist organization. Al Shabaab has said its priority is to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on Somalia; the group has aligned itself with Al Qaeda and has made statements about its intent to harm the United States.

Talk about the most under reported news of yesterday!  When a terrorist attack is tracked back to the Southern Border there will be hell to pay.

Now we know why the President decided to send an 1200 troops to the border.  He's probably worried about the possibilities.  It also explains the silence from the illegal immigration activist to the news.