New improved J-31 undergoing testing...

via Popular Science (May 2017)

This uncertainty held until the second, improved prototype first flew on December 26, 2016. The new J-31 prototype is three tons heavier and about 20 inches longer than the original technology demonstrator; it also had key improvements like an IRST sensor, stealthier wings, cleaner burning engines, and an improved radar. In addition to avionics and datalinks that enable sensor fusion, SAC officials state that the production J-31s (which could appear soon as 2019) could have supercruise capability, giving them a leg up over current F-35 fighters. Its WS-13 engines would be replaced by domestic WS-13E or WS-19 turbofan engines to give it that advantage in speed. The combination of the J-31's high speed performance, and suggested payload of 6 PL-12 or 4 PL-21 long range air to air missiles suggests that the J-31 has been optimized as an air superiority fighter, though it can be fitted with a wide array of Chinese precision guided munitions like the LS smart bombs.

Story here.

Read the full story but they're saying that the new improved J-31 will be about 3 tons heavier, uses improved engines and avionics and is optimized for air to air combat.

Interesting isn't it.  If this speculation on the J-31 is the case then sensors, missiles and networking will carry the day.

Regardless we all need to wrap our heads around a terrible fact.  The "stay the course" crowd with the F-35 might have already sealed our fate with regard to air superiority into the future.  Has the US military faced an enemy with qualitative equality and a numerical advantage? 

USMC/NAVAIR looking to "skip test points" with the CH-53K

via Flightglobal.

US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is mulling a shorter test schedule for its Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion helicopter programme in an effort to save money, Sikorsky’s president said this week.

With the CH-53K now in production, Sikorsky believes it could save time going forward by skipping some test points, Dan Schulz tells reporters this week at the Paris air show. Sikorsky will not know how much time skipping test points will save until after testing finishes.

The USMC is set to replace its ageing fleet of CH-53E heavy lift helicopters with 200 King Stallions, with four early production aircraft scheduled for delivery this year and initial operational capability slated for 2019. The US Navy estimates the cost at about $87 million per example.

The navy laid out the scope of flight tests at the very beginning of the programme and built in areas where testing could be eliminated, says US Marine Corps Lt Col Jonathan Morel, the government's chief test pilot for the CH-53K. The USMC looks for clues in performance, structures, propulsion and avionics to assess whether the service could skip some test points.

The navy is working closely with the Pentagon’s top weapons tester will work closely on analysing the shorter schedule.

“If certain testing was performing as expected over a certain period of time then there would be a chunk of test points that would be considered contingent testing,” he says. “If test points one through seven trend as expected, then we can skip eight, nine and 10."

However, Sikorsky is aware that Lockheed’s decisions to accelerate testing timelines have not always yielded positive results. The F-35’s former programme executive officer Lt Gen Chris Bogdan once called Lockheed’s decision to conduct concurrent production and development “acquisition malpractice".

Story here. 

No rant.  But I would like an explanation.  How can the Marine Corps push for such a leisurely test schedule when it come to the ACV but repeat the mistakes made with the F-35B when it comes to the CH-53K?

A simple, no bullshit explanation would be real nice.

Possible terror attack in Michigan Airport.

MSNBC is reporting that an officer was attacked in the airport with a knife (in the neck ...multiple stab wounds) with the attacker yelling "Allah Akbar".

FBI is on the scene and all that is known is that the attacker is a resident Canadian citizen.  More to come.

House Armed Services Committee begs Army to speed up Light Tank & M1 Abrams replacement programs...

via AOL Breaking Defense.

Congress wants the Army to get its tanks in gear. Today, the House Armed Services Committee released its draft of the 2018 defense policy bill, which all but begged the Army to accelerate its air-deployable Mobile Protected Firepower vehicle. MPF would fill a void in light tanks that’s existed since the M551 Sheridan was retired in 1996. A separate provision would order the Army to report on its plans for modernizing its heavy armored forces across the board, including “the development of a next generation infantry fighting vehicle and main battle tank” to replace the M2 Bradley and M1 Abrams respectively.

Story here. 

Wow.  The USMC is looking at a world of hurt if the Army (and the rest of the world) speeds up its armor programs.

Consider this.  If the Army fields a credible Light Tank then the USMC will be in a box.  Do we follow the lead or stay with a heavy tank.  But it doesn't stop there.  If the Army continues to upgrade the Abrams AND accelerates its work on its replacement then hell will descend on us.

Why?

Because we will face a three pronged debate.  Do we go light with the light tank, stay heavy with the M1 or do we wait and see what comes out of the Abrams replacement?

Either way its gonna cost bucks and I remain unconvinced that the air power that's coming online won't continue to drain the coffers even after they're purchased.  We should be getting a least an idea of how much it costs to maintain the F-35 but I can't find it anywhere.

And no one is asking the question.

If the MV-22 doesn't dramatically improve and if the CH-53K is an expensive piece of gear to maintain then our budget will be in a hurt locker.

Which leads to the last option.

We might be forced to operate the M1A1 till 2050 and beyond based on budget alone.  That would be like taking an upgraded M4 Sherman into Gulf War 1.

HIMARS | Live Fire

This is disturbing on two points.  First I find it curious that half the USMC's HIMARS capability is found in the reserves.  Second its weird that an awesome capability like the HIMARS is tying itself to one platform...the F-35.  Why?  Why would you do that?  If Marine Artillery is going to limit itself to only being useful when Marine Air is around then what good is it?  Better to integrate with Navy Net Fires instead.

I don't understand the thinking of this Marine Capt.  He's singing from the current hymnal but the tune is all wrong.

LAV 700 enters production.

via Janes.

General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada (GDLS Canada) has released additional details of its latest 8x8 Light Armoured Vehicle 700 (LAV 700) vehicle, which is now in production for an unidentified export customer. This is believed to be Saudi Arabia.

The LAV 700 leverages on technology from the 8x8 Stryker infantry carrier vehicles (ICVs) and its variants built for the US Army as well as the latest LAV 6.0 currently in production for Canada.

When compared with earlier LAV platforms, the latest LAV 700 features a new and larger hull on which increased payload and protection can be carried. The gross vehicle weight (GVW) of the vehicle depends on the variant and weapons fit but the company is currently quoting 32,000 kg, including a payload capacity of 11,000 kg.

Story here. 

Interesting.  Did you know that the Patria AMV is weight limited to 30 tons so that it maintains a high degree of mobility?  That's what the quick overview says on the Aussie variant.  Is the weight limit box broken or are they still constrained.  That testing in Mississippi of the ACV.  I GOT TO GET THERE!

USAF gives House Armed Services Committee secret report on restarting F-22 line...

Thanks to Galvars for the link!

via Washington Examiner.

The Air Force has provided the House a classified report on restarting the F-22 Raptor fighter jet program, congressional staff said Tuesday.

The House Armed Services Committee received the report two days ago, but staff said it was still being reviewed.

House lawmakers ordered the report last year to determine what it would take and how much it might cost to begin producing the high-tech, fifth generation aircraft again.

Congress voted in 2009 to stop purchasing the F-22 stealth fighters after just 187 were made, hundreds less than the Air Force had planned.

Armed Services, under its chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, has been considering whether the additional aircraft might still be built for the service to fill U.S. air power needs.

I am officially in the land of mirrors when it comes to this stuff.  Dunford says the F-35 is the best thing since sliced bread, but we hear and see the USAF spending mad money on upgrading over 800 F-16s.  We see Lockheed Martin bragging about the potential to sell hundreds of F-35's to allies but we see this news.

The cherry on top?  We never got any word on that expedited study that Mattis ordered comparing the F-35C to the Super Hornet for the US Navy (results never released and no defense journalist has asked about it), but we got word that the Navy was buying MANY more Super Hornets.

Someone is lying their asses off.

Israel Tests Sea-Launched LORA Missile...could privateers make a comeback?

via Defense Update.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has successfully completed a firing trial with the Long-Range Artillery weapon system (LORA), marking as part of the demonstration and validation phases of the system, under a number of procurement programs involve the system. On this experiment, the missile was launched from a cargo ship toward a target at sea.

LORA is an artillery weapon system which consists of a long-range, tactical ground-to-ground missile developed by IAI’s MALAM division. It is intended for strike scenarios with a range of up to 400 km and boasts a precision range better than 10 meters.

Story here. 

This is the second time we're seeing a missile system being launched from a cargo ship and I don't think its a coincidence or a matter of convenience.  A
few years ago the Russians made a big show of demonstrating how missiles in shipping containers could be fired from both cargo ships, rails and trucks at unsuspecting targets.

Now the Israelis are doing it with a long range rocket?

Is someone is the Navy, Marine Corps or Army considering the possibility that they could soon take fire from a disguised cargo ship with its hold filled with land attack missiles?  Could the return of the privateers catch us off guard?

US confirms Russia killed top ISIS cleric.

via Military Times.

The U.S. military has confirmed it killed a top Islamic State group cleric in an airstrike.

Central Command said Tuesday that Turki al-Binali was killed on May 31. Activists and ISIS supporters reported his death at the time, but the military is only confirming it now.

The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the ISIS branch in Libya. He rose to be one of the extremist group's leading ideologues.

The military said Binali was killed in Mayadeen, an ISIS-held Syrian town near the Iraqi border.

Several senior Islamic State figures have been killed in recent years as the group has been driven from large parts of Syria and Iraq. U.S.-backed forces recently pushed into Raqqa, the northern Syrian city that served as the group's de facto capital. 

Interesting.  If they managed to bag the top ISIS cleric then I'm betting they also bagged the ISIS chief.

Wonder why no confirmation on the big fish yet.  Could it be politics?

Aussies suspend airstrikes in Syria

Thanks to Noble for the link!

via Guardian

Australia has suspended air combat missions over Syria after Russia threatened that it would treat any plane from the US-led coalition flying west of the Euphrates river as a potential target.

Russia said it was responding to US planes shooting down a Syrian air force jet on Sunday. The US said its planes had acted to defend US-backed forces seeking to capture Raqqa, the Islamic State (Isis) stronghold in north-east Syria.

“As a precautionary measure, Australian defence force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” the Australian Department of Defence said on Tuesday.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

Story here. 

Everyone is a badass in a fight that you can easily win.  When it comes to dealing with an equally matched opponent, most wilt.

This move by the Aussie Defense Minister does not surprise.

Not at all.

Leonardo develops its M346 Fighter-Attack Variant!

via Flightglobal.

Leonardo has taken the wraps off the most advanced version of its M-346, with the fighter attack (FA) standard to be capable of performing combat duties and also serving in an aggressor role.
On show in the company’s static display, the M-346FA can carry an array of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and precision-guided bombs. Its maximum weapons load will be more than 2t spread across seven stores stations, Leonardo says.

Story here. 

Awesome.  The entire world has been looking for the next A-4 SkyHawk and this has the potential to fill those big, unfilled shoes.

A VERY capable, robust, agile light fighter attack platform is what the world needs and I personally don't feel that the Tucano fills that bill (just my opinion).  What's needed is a light weight fighter that can flex from air defense (short range...maybe longer with the right missiles), assault escort (helo and mech raids), light attack and even close air support.

In essence the A-4 reborn.

Sulu taken to task over his view on the Congressional shooting...

Absolutely, positively awesome.

This shit right here!  Staple it to the forehead of your liberal acquaintances!  

We see courage under fire and elan' in combat...they only see a black chic that identifies as being gay.  The ironic thing?  Her sex and sexual preference had no bearing on her performance that day.  Only her training, skill and determination.

Guys on my side note the later.  Guys on Sulu's side note the former.  Who do you think is right?