More than 75% of the production run was lost in combat...

Caption via USAF Phantom 2 Tumblr Page...
F-105D Thunderchief. The 105 lost more than 75% of the production run over the skies of the North as it bore the brunt of the Rolling Thunder & Linebacker Campaign’s as an Iron Bomber.

That stunning statistic is common knowledge to any person with even a passing interest in the Vietnam War.

I wonder though.

Considering the "limited" production runs of combat aircraft, vehicles and ships today, could we soon be saying the same for entire swaths of our force if we were to engage in a war with a peer?

My point is simple.

Have we become so high tech that we don't have any staying power?  If we cross swords with China and the war to drag on for more than a year what would we have left to fight with?  How rapidly could industry and the armed force ramp up for anything but a Short SHARP war?

If the Chinese changed the game and makes the next war a war of attrition could we keep up?  I'm talking high tech equipment.  Manpower is a totally different kettle of fish that I don't even want to think about.

No more golden hour for Marines if we face a peer in combat...casualties are gonna be horrific..

via Marine Corps Times

A lifesaving Defense Department policy that whisks wounded troops off the battlefield to lifesaving care within the first hour of injury is a luxury Marines may not have headed into the next big fight.

The policy is credited with a near 98 percent survival rate, Rear Adm. Colin G. Chinn, Joint Staff surgeon, told audience members at a Navy medical symposium held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday.

But as the U.S. is facing more capable adversaries, it’s a promise the Defense Department no longer believes it can keep.

“The last 15 years of war we pretty much adapted to the operational environment and dominated it,” Chinn said. “We are not going to have all the advantages we have now.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Joseph Dunford, relayed his concerns about the ‘golden rule’ last week to Chinn, the admiral said.

The ‘golden hour’ policy was put in place by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2009 in an effort to stem the tide of increasing battlefield casualties. It was a promise by the DoD to surge medical assets and rotary wing support to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to save the lives of troops wounded in action.

For the past 15 years the U.S. military has dominated the battlefield, allowing U.S. forces to set the time and space for hostilities. U.S. forces controlled the terrain, and were afforded the ability to move medical assets when and where they wanted.

“But in a future fight that may not be the case,” Chinn said. “We need to be ready now. You fight tonight with what you have.”

Story here. 

Dispersed units at EVEN GREATER distances from the ship than before.  Smaller units that when found will be fixed and if not outright destroyed, need to be rescued, delaying the possibility of getting the wounded out even more.

Yeah.

If we face a peer threat then the casualties will be horrific.  I'm not talking about those killed initially but those few that Doc will keep from sailing that ship to the next world, only to fail because we won't be able to get them back to Regiment where the surgeons are.

Simply amazing, horrifying but amazing.

Airmen integrate with F-35, improve air ground dominance? WTF is air-ground dominance?????

A U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II 5th-generation fighter taxis on the flight line during pre-initial Operational Testing and Evaluation Jan. 23, 2018, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. All three variants of the F-35 were brought to Eielson to test and evaluate their ability to operate in an extreme cold-weather environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Isaac Johnson)

Airmen stand in front of a Sno-Cat at a range in Delta Junction, Alaska, during F-35 pre-Initial Operational Test and Evaluation. TACP Airmen had the chance to work with all three variants of the F-35. (Courtesy Photo)

via Air Force.mil

During the F-35 Lightning II’s pre-Initial Operational Test and Evaluation, Airmen from the 3rd Air Support Operations Squadron had the opportunity to work with all three variants of the Joint Strike Fighter.

Tactical Air Control Party Airmen coordinate air support with joint and international platforms, making this a unique opportunity to work with three different versions of the fifth-generation aircraft.

“We were able to execute close-air-support training scenarios and validate TACP cold-weather training,” said Staff Sgt. Gary Russell, Detachment 1, 3rd ASOS battalion air liaison officer. “We were also able to build the 3rd ASOS’s familiarization with all F-35 variants.”

Unlike other aircraft used for CAS, the F-35 utilizes speed and stealth technology to become a more lethal threat on the battlefield.
“It’s a little more difficult to control than some other aircraft,” said Russell. “It flies higher and faster than most aircraft we deal with, but it also gives us the advantage of not having to worry about as many surface-to-air threats. Because of that, we are able to focus more on the ground commander’s priorities.”

Alaska’s weather makes some tasks harder to accomplish than others; but as part of United States Special Operation Forces, weather can’t keep an objective from being obtained.

“Weather was our biggest challenge,” said Russell. “At minus 30 degrees, batteries drain rapidly and keeping them warm is difficult.”

The roads to get to the different ranges located in Alaska are usually unpaved and difficult to drive on, and with a couple feet of snow added it makes getting out there extremely difficult.

“Air Force Technical Applications Center, Detachment 460, was able to provide us with a Sno-Cat,” said Russell. “Tech. Sgt. Cyrus Freeman from Det. 460 transported TACP personnel in the Sno-Cat for 15 hours a day all week. This was a significant battlefield enabler and a game-changer in allowing the missions to flow smoothly.”

The F-35 Lightning II is a multi-service and multi-nation fifth generation fighter aircraft, making it an integral part of future operations for the Department of Defense as well as its allies.

“In today’s military as TACP, we are regularly exposed to a joint battlefield,” said Russell. “So any exposure to platforms from varying nations and services is of benefit to us.”

With the addition of F-35 Fighter Squadrons in the near future, along with the TACP Airmen of the 3rd ASOS, Eielson will be the force enabling the United States military’s dominance in the air and on the ground.

Wow.

They talked alot and said absolutely nothing.

I thought these bubbas worked with everything from F-15, F-16 and up to B-1 Bombers in the "new" close air support doctrine they're working on.

So how does this plane flying faster and higher differ from what they've been doing?

How are they accounting for stealth in their work to control close air support missions?

Do anti-air threats go completely out the window because its an F-35?

Yeah.  This was nothing more than a fucking press release to show some TACAIR control bubbas in their snow cat or whatever that rig is and a Navy F-35 in the snow.

Color me NOT impressed.

Russia orders 2 battalions of T-14 Armata MBTs...

Thanks to s300v4 for the link!

via The Diplomat.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) placed an order for two battalions of the third-generation T-14 Armata main battle tank (MBT) and one battalion of the T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) in December 2017, according to Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. Both the T-14 MBT and T-15 IFV are based on the “Armata” universal chassis system, which serves a platform for as many as 13 different tracked vehicles, including a self-propelled artillery platform, and an armored military engineering vehicle.

“It’s no secret that we already have a contract for trials and combat operations: two battalions of Armata tanks and one battalion of heavy infantry fighting vehicles,” Borisov said on February 9, as quoted by Jane’s Defense Weekly. A Russian tank battalion consists of around 40 main battle tanks, excluding support vehicles.

Furthermore, last month Borisov noted: “In accordance with the 2018-2027 State Armaments Program, the serial production of the T-14 tanks based on the Armata platform is planned to begin in 2020; hundreds of tanks will be made.”

Story here. 

Cobra Gold 18: RoK, Thailand and U.S. forces perform amphibious assault...Video by Airman 1st Class Timothy Tweet

Open Comment Post. Feb 16, 2018

China is the Air Force’s “pacing threat.”

via Breaking Defense.

It’s explicit: China is the Air Force’s “pacing threat.” That was the clearest message from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who met with the press the day after the Pentagon budget’s release.

China’s rapid modernization is driving the Air Force to respond, Wilson said, though she declined to detail any of the service’s efforts beyond noting the PRC’s anti-satellite test.

Story here.

The rest of the article is basically a sales brochure for the B-21.  It follows the path of the F-35 in tone.  It will revolutionize the way we fight, not only will it be a bomber but it will be a sensor node extraordinaire, it will be capable at cyber and electronic warfare and it's the lynchpin to our future success against the Red Chinese.

But the acknowledgement is news.

Finally they're wrapping their brains around the China threat.

Normally I'd cheer but I'm suspicious.  Why now?  What's changed to alter the talking points to "it's Russia and China" to now only China.

I love winning arguments, I'm sure the former USNI Chief of Naval Intel for the Pacific is feeling vindicated, but I want to know why the change.

Freaking Australia strikes again. Tiger snake crawls a single wire like a commando/ninja goon from my tortured dreams....

Yeah.

Freaking Australia strikes again.  That's a Tiger snake crawling/slithering/doing whatever it is these God forsaken creatures do to move, along a single wire like a commando/ninja goon from my tortured nightmares.

Australia.

Beautiful vistas.  Good dudes.  Beautiful women.  Cosmopolitan cities....and animals that would make the creatures from Alien run back to their hive in fear.

Luv ya Australia, but fuck you at the same time.

Side note.  Have you noticed that people sneak all kinds of critters into the country but you never hear about someone stupid enough to important one of those big ass bird eating spiders?  Or some man eating croc?  Or some of the have to be 1000 plus venomous snakes they have?  We have stupid people in America but not that damn stupid.  Turn one of these things loose in the deep dark bayou and its flee the state time!

DDG-1000 goes from land attack to anti-surface/anti-air platform...there goes our naval guns AGAIN!

via Defense News.

The Navy has a new vision for what its enormous high-tech destroyers will do: Killing enemy warships at extended ranges.

The Navy is asking Congress to fund a conversion of its 600-foot stealth destroyers from primarily a land attack ship to an anti-surface, offensive strike platform, according to budget documents released Feb. 12.

The service’s 2019 budget request includes a request for $89.7 million to transform its Zumwalt-class destroyers by integrating Raytheon’s long-range SM-6 missile, which can dual hat as both an anti-air and anti-surface missile, as well as its Maritime Strike variant of the Tomahawk missile.

Converting DDG-1000 into a hunter-killer is a win for the surface warfare community’s years-long drive to beef up the force’s offensive capabilities. It also answers the bell for U.S. Pacific Command, which has been pushing for the Navy to add longer range weapons to offset the increasing threat from Chinese long-range missile technology.

The SM-6 is a versatile missile that the Navy has been excited about. In August, the Navy shot down a medium-range ballistic missile target with the SM-6, which uses a fragmenting explosion near its target as the kill mechanism. This is different from the SM-3 Block IIA in development that hits its target directly. It can also be used to hit surface targets at sea and on land from hundreds of miles away.

Story here. 

And there goes our naval guns...AGAIN!

So exactly what will we get with these ships?  Supersized Burkes that will be the focus of enemy action due to their large magazine size?

I should have seen this coming though.  When they didn't make moves to properly equip/fund the cannons that told us everything we needed to know.

Never LISTEN to leadership.  Always follow the money.

PLA Marine's amphibious assault breacher vehicle in action via China Defense Blog...

This is interesting.

It also give an indication of how China Defense Blog and probably many others are viewing this vehicle compared to how I see things.

Remember every problem that we're dealing with today is NOT NEW.  The greats that came before dealt with the same issues.  Different means of delivering the threat but still the same obstacles.

The Chinese are looking at amphibious assaults and incorporated "Breacher Vehicle" type capabilities on one of their vehicles that would be involved in the assault phase.

CDB is saying that their vehicle isn't as impressive as the USMC model and I disagree.

They have a vehicle that will land with the assault forces whereas our current stead will land with the assault follow on.

So what is the Chinese military doing?  They're ignoring what we're doing today and taking a page from our past when we were proponents of "more energetic" amphibious assaults.  Check out the pic below of a properly equipped LVTP-5.

I wish to GOD that Marine Corps historical society would release these pics to the public so I don't have to post pics with watermarks running down there lengths...how can people take open source history and bastardize it.  Not just this website BUT MANY others!

Back in the day we had all the capability and it could float ashore too!