Beretta ARX160

Its butt ugly but the features are nice.  

F-35A first flight of AF-12

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew the seventh production model of the F-35 Lightning II, F-35A AF-12, on its inaugural flight on 9 July 2011 from NAS Fort Worth JRB.

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti was at the controls for the first flight of the fifth production model of the F-35 Lightning II, F-35A AF-10, on 29 June 2011 from NAS Fort Worth JRB.

Good for you buddy...you won...the ball is going to be a bust.

Guess what dumbass.

She said yes, now the ball will be a bust.

Every news camera in the social world will be at your ball, no one will be allowed to let their hair down and have a good time.

You won, everyone else lost.

11th MEU's maritime raid force

11th MEU's maritime raid force practices securing an oil platform July 9.

75th Ranger Regiment Combat Jumps.

Did you know that the Rangers have conducted several combat jumps during the war on terror?  I had in passing seen gold stars on jump wings and figured they were at Tora Bora. 

Ok, awesome. 

I get that.

What I didn't know is that they had conducted several other "listed" jumps in addition. 

via the Ranger website.

Special Combat recognitions (Combat Jump Operations)

* Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment Tm 3 conducts combat military freefall parachute drop onto Wrath Drop Zone in southeast Afghanistan on 10 November, 2001. In order to establish a Flight Landing Strip for follow on combat operations.

* Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment Tm 3 conducts combat static line parachute drop onto Shiloh Drop Zone in southeast Afghanistan on 21 November, 2001.  In order to establish a flight Landing Strip for follow on combat operations.

* Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment Tm 3 conducts combat military freefall parachute drop onto Tillman Drop Zone in southeast Afghanistan in July, 2004 in order to emplace tactical equipment.

*Regimental Reconnaissance Company Tm 1 conducts combat military freefall parachute drop with tandem passenger in Afghanistan on 11 July, 2009 in order to emplace tactical equipment.

Like I said previously.  These are the acknowledged combat jumps.  The after action of these wars is going to make for some fantastic reading.  Its going to be interesting to see the modifications to uniforms that are going to come once this stuff comes in out of the dark.

75th Ranger Command Video.

Turn your speakers up.

75th Ranger - Command Video from Fort Benning Television on Vimeo.

You can call me a 'fanboy' but if Special Ops needed to be expanded for the war on terror then the logical move wasn't to expand it across the board...the common sense move would have been to add another Ranger Battalion.

This war is about raids.  Rangers are some of the best "raiders' in the world and its a core competency.  Not an add on skill.

HMAS Childers...a patrol boat the Australian way.

(via Wikipedia) The Armidale class patrol boats are 56.8 metres (186 ft) long, with a beam of 9.5 metres (31 ft), a maximum draft of 2.25 metres (7.4 ft), and a displacement of 270 tons. The semi-displacement vee hull is fabricated from aluminium alloy, and each vessel is built to a combination of Det Norske Veritas standards for high-speed light craft and RAN requirements. The Armidales can travel at a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), and are drien by two propeller shafts, each connected to an MTU 16V M70 diesel. The ships have a range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), allowing them to patrol the waters around the distant territories of Australia, and are designed for standard patrols of 21 days, with a maximum endurance of 42 days.

Elements of Power weighs in on the defense budget debate.

Two things...

“The nice thing about the defense budget is it’s so big, it’s so huge, that a 1 percent reduction is the equivalent of the education budget,” Obama said, immediately noting he was “exaggerating” the exact numbers.

And this...

Today, the Marines are stuck with aging airframes that have limited capabilities and are expensive to operate—a double problem. In contrast, the “B is a winner on both counts. The impact on the fleet is significant. The Marines go from three to one aircraft; and it gets a new aircraft with significant reductions in cost of maintenance.”
The fate of the F–35 is a case study in the President’s penny-wise, pound-foolish approach to defense spending.

Read the entire article but when need better leadership than we're currently getting...both in Congress and in the Administration.  I wonder how they think the unemployment numbers are going to look after all the reductions in force....I wonder if this entire budget battle isn't really about saving health care and not reducing the deficit....I wonder if anyone in D.C. actually cares.  I wonder.

Where does this suspended cadet go to get back his reputation?

Force Protection Timberwolf ...the latest vid.

Force Protection and the other competitors in the Canadian TAPV contest are slowly but surely letting information out on their products.  This latest vid from Force Protection was released on July 6.  It gives a much better view of the vehicle and at the end gives a run down of the partner companies.