Tuesday, June 28, 2011

F-22's still grounded.


From ASD News.
WASHINGTON - The US Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of F-22 fighters, the most sophisticated combat aircraft in the world, after problems emerged with the plane's oxygen supply, officials said Friday.

The radar-evading F-22 Raptors have been barred from flying since May 3 and Air Force officials could not say when the planes would return to the air.
Wow.

Bad news for the F-22 program.  Worse news for the USAF.

I know that the problem will be solved but while they're doing it I hope they go back and take another look at the F-22 crashes...particularly the one involving the Lockheed Test Pilot that they blamed a loss on.  I think it was ruled partial G-Loc.  If nothing else his record needs to be cleared and these planes fixed and put back into service.

YAT-YAS onboard the USS Whidbey Island.

An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green)

An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green)

An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green)

An amphibious assault vehicle with Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returns to the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, participating in the Spanish Amphibious Landing Exercise off the coast of Spain. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Desiree D. Green)


Team Timberwolf...the extended video.

Team Timberwolf has released an extended video with better views of their vehicle.  Interesting.

USAF Maj. Gen. C.D. Moore upbeat on F-35 test progress.



Pound sand Air Power Australia!  Your prediction of program failure is wrong again.

Northern Command continues it legacy of failure.

The below pics are from the flooding in the midwest.  If this had occurred in some far off land then you would see the US Navy sending ships at flank speed to the crisis.

Even if everyone involved knew that they could do very little.

The USMC would be assembling a SPMAGTF to deal with the situation and Marines would be brought back from leave or schooling to make sure that it was filled out...

The US Army would be gathering a Brigade Task Force to help out.

The USAF would be boasting of how its C-17's are flying supplies into the trouble spot while other forces are getting assembled.

This is happening in the center of the US and it barely gets mentioned.  Celebrations are held for 'gay rights'...the so called budget impasse is debated...but people who have or are in the process of losing all their worldly possessions are ignored.

America, you attempt to take care of the world yet ignore your own.  We should be ashamed.

The Souris River is swelling in size and breaching dikes built to contain the water here, June 24. By June 29, Mouse River pressures and heights will reach unprecedented levels seven to ten feet higher than the all time record with pressures reaching approximately 16,000 cubic feet per second. On June 22, the river breached the levees and the warning sirens sounded requiring the immediate evacuation of over 11,000 Minot residents to include nearly 1,000 Minot Air Force Global Strike Command airmen.
North Dakota Army National Guard soldiers from the 817th Engineer Company, from left to right, Spc. Ryan Lindberg, Spc. Michael Young, and Staff Sgt. Jason Lothspeich wade through flood water to sling-load one-ton sandbags from a flatbed truck onto a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter June 24, at a flood levee near 13th Street and Railway Avenue, Minot, N.D. The North Dakota National Guard helicopter is being loaded with the large sandbags from a flatbed truck parked in flood water near the levee and placing the sandbags on an area of concern in the flood water of the Souris River. National Guard dump trucks are also responding to the site as they haul flood levee building material in an effort to create a flood barrier for a residential area, which has not yet been flooded. Several residential areas of Minot were inundated with flood water on June 24, leaving thousands of people homeless.
A U.S. flag waves above nearly 10 feet of water in Minot, N.D., June 26. The Souris River has inundated the city and reached a historic height. Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman estimates 4,000 homes have been damaged by the flooding.

The scene from inside the levee system around Minot leaves little question as to the devastating effects of flood waters on homes here, June 24. With water levels continuing to rise and the Lake Darling Dam increasing the flow of water it releases to 29,000 cubic feet per second, many around Minot wonder how much of the city will have to be evacuated and how many people will be left without a home. 




Kevin Neish Blogspot.

Kevin Neish's blog is worth reading even if you're like me and strongly disagree with the guy.  I can't properly describe his politics or his view points.  You'll have to go to his blog for that, but what will be interesting is his 'inside' coverage of the Flotilla 2 on course to Israel.

The Israeli Commandos got a bit of rough handling the first time. 

I'll be watching to see how they handle it this time.  Ole' Kevin will be my inside, twisted point of view, reporter on this.

Interesting stuff and interesting times we live in.

The Marine Corps turns towards Asia.


Thanks for the article Heidi.

This article by Nathan Hodges is titled "Marines aim to avoid post-war identity crisis" is in my opinion a rehash of subjects already debated.

Nothing new in it at all but here are some highlights.

Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos, the service's top officer, sees renewal in the region where Marines experienced their most devastating losses and most heroic victories: "We're going to reorient in the Pacific," he said during a recent swing through bases in Japan and South Korea.
The reorientation is in part because of the coming contraction of the defense budget, in part because of the shifting balance of power in the world, and in part because of a historical fear embedded in Marine culture.
and this...

In meetings with Marines, Gen. Amos said it was his intent, post-Afghanistan, to return the Corps to its mission as a crisis-response force in the Pacific. The commandant envisions keeping about 20,000 Marines stationed at Pacific Ocean bases, plus another 3,000 at an air station in Japan. About 5,000 Marines are based in Hawaii, tens of thousands more in California.
Shifting back to the Pacific would be in line with U.S. strategic objectives. Military planners note that the region is an economic center of gravity—80% of the world's shipping passes through the geographic area covered by the U.S. Pacific Command—and preserving power in the region is a national-defense priority. "We are a Pacific power and intend to remain a power in the Pacific," Mr. Gates said on a recent visit to Asia.
This debate has been had and the answers already found.

Once the war in Afghanistan is wound down then you'll see a move toward the Pacific. 

Nothing to see here.  Move along.

Monday, June 27, 2011

First Operational Test P-8A Arrives at NAS Patuxent River

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – The Navy has received its first P-8A production representative operational test aircraft June 24.

The new P-8A arrived at NAS Patuxent River and it will join three developmental test aircraft already undergoing integrated testing in preparation for initial operational test and evaluation of the P-8A Poseidon.

The Navy entered into Low Rate Initial Production of the first six Poseidon aircraft in January 2011. These aircraft will be used to form the first operational P-8A squadron, which is scheduled for initial operational capability in 2013.

German Army is combat IN-effective.

That's right.  According to an article in the Daily Beast the German Army is combat in-effective.

Thanks Jonathan!  Much appreciated.  Read the entire article but here's some highlights.

First this...
"German soldiers mostly don’t know how to use their weapons.” They “have no or little experience driving armored vehicles.” For German field commanders, “the necessity and ways [to protect their units from roadside bombs] are to a large extent either unknown or incorrect.”
Then this...
The secret reports bemoan German soldiers’ outdated training and antiquated, insufficient equipment. German forces could not operate if it weren’t for Ukrainian cargo planes and American helicopters and their U.S. Army crews, most crucially the Chinook troop transports and Black Hawk MedEvac helicopters that ensure Bundeswehr soldiers can get into and out of their battles quickly and safely. Considering Obama’s announcement about the beginning of the pullout of U.S. forces, the Bundeswehr couldn’t even fight in terrain like Afghanistan’s if it wanted to. “If the Americans pull out of the north, the Germans will stand there in very short skirts,” says Bundeswehr General and former NATO Commander Egon Ramms.
I wish I could lay my hands on the actual report. This is damning. 

The most powerful economy in Europe is no longer capable or willing to defending itself.

AMAZING.

Hyundai Rotem's Wheeled Armored Vehicles.

The Koreans have been busy developing and expanding their armored vehicle lines.  Everyone pays attention to the K-21 and the K-1 MBT but Hyundai is attempting to meet its competition when it comes to Wheeled Armored Vehicles.

I wondered why no wheeled vehicle from the West has turned up in Asia.  Now I know.  Between the offerings from Singapore, Taiwan and S. Korea...not to mention China, this market is closed. 

KW1

KW2

Army Humor.



This guy is funny as hell.  Check him out here.

Militarized Police.



A no knock raid.

On US soil by law enforcement officers decked out like an Infantry unit.

Amazingly, they always seem to go against people that don't have the training or the will to resist.  The real hard cases always seem to be missed in these raids (Recall the mobster that is accused of killing 19 plus people?  No SWAT raid...just a ruse to get him out the house...and many suspect him of being the gray haired bandit that was robbing banks in the Los Angeles area).

Militarized Police forces is a problem.  I don't have a position on legalizing drugs.  I do have a position on abuse of police power.

Major hat tip to Every day, No days off blog.