via Sputnik News.
US Abrams tanks with personnel, as well as two groups of US paratroopers will arrive in the Estonian town of Tapa at the end of this week to participate in the Siil 2015 (the Hedgehog 2015) international military exercises, the General Staff of the country's Defense Forces said Tuesday.Read it all here.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Siil 2015 military training will be held in Estonia from May 4 — 15. A total of 13,000 US and Estonian soldiers will take part in the drills.
"In addition to Abrams tanks, support equipment and other auto vehicles, as well as two groups of US paratroopers will arrive in Tapa," Estonia's General Staff said in a statement.
Vehicles and equipment will arrive in Tapa by rail.
The presence of US soldiers in Tapa is part of operation Atlantic Resolve, which demonstrates US efforts in support of its NATO allies and partners in Europe.
I've always been curious about stationing an Airborne Brigade in Europe. It seems like a weird place to put a unit that specializes in out of area operations....especially while Stryker Brigades are sitting in Kansas and Colorado begging for missions.
Having said all that is anyone in the Pentagon taking a look at the taskings lately?
I might be seeing things incorrectly but it really seems like op-tempo is starting to rival what we saw at the height of the War on Terror. Of course these aren't combat missions but the active force is doing more and more it seems.
If this is the new normal then our military...especially our ground combat forces..are waaaaaay too small.
Having a gun doesnt equal having an immediate skill to wield it properly.
ReplyDeletethe analogy doesn't fit. the Chinese aren't amateurs and the building of an aircraft carrier makes them something different. they're the first power since WW2 that is actually attempting to meet the US strength for strength. hey have identified our weaknesses and are planning to overwhelm us there and will meet us on equal terms where we are strong.
ReplyDeleteput aside your normalcy bias of the US being the most powerful nation on the planet and realize that you have to fight to maintain supremacy
China's carriers will most likely be STOBAR carriers and they will have at least a decade to develop a carrier battle group system that the US has.
ReplyDeleteBut... this is the first carrier they build or will build right?
ReplyDeleteI talk about actual ability in proper crew training and know-how.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese were requesting a port visit from a Nimitz just this last
year with an aim towards building relations to bilateral naval aviation
training. They're, shall we say, less than impressed in the level of
training they're receiving from the Brazilian naval pilot instructors
they have right now. At the same time, they're hyping the shit out of
their "carrier killer" weapons. Silly Chicoms.
"Train us!"
"Fuck a you, American Pig Dogs!"
Damn, China, make up your mind.
The request came just three weeks after they lost two planes and two
pilots in training ops on their carrier. Sue me for seeing a
coincidence.
It's always been F U American capitalists. It's just that businesses/politicians whored themselves just to make a quick buck and turned a blind eye to the CCP true motives. What technology and processes businesses didn't willingly transfer, the Chicom's just stole for themselves to point where now they aren't in need of much help and can threaten to deport foreign companies. The rise of the PLA has been funded in large part by Americans, who sadly won't notice as they are more focused on their iphones and reality shows. Hard to believe a country can decline so much in the space of six years.
ReplyDelete"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes." Oscar Wilde
ReplyDelete"Silly Chicoms." This quote sums it all, and its very common in the west specially in the US, I provide the comment section of article postedd by solomon as evidence. We forget that training brings mastery and that chinese people are more dedicated than anyone in the west right now. If they put their mind to it, which Im sure they are doing, they are going to match you in way less than you think. I hope your nation is prepared for a rude awakeneing, Solomon sure is, he reports on their advancements for a reason.
@No
ReplyDeletewell said. the Chinese are no ones fool and they're well aware of where they're deficient but they have a goal and a plan to get there. the idea that the US is and will always remain the world's most powerful nation is either willful ignorance or wishful thinking.
if we're going to remain strong we need to work at it.
this whole nation state thing reminds me of fighters who have been on top for too long. they get old but no wiser. they stop working as hard and forget what it took for them to get to the top. then some guy thats hungrier, more motivated, more dedicated and willing to work his ass off takes the title and the former champ is left to wonder what happened.
that is what i fear is happening to our defense establishment. the work taken to get where we are is being forgotten and everyone is resting on the laurels.
we need to wake up or China is going to be drinking our milkshake.
This will be the First carrier the Chinese will build on their own. The Liaoning was imported. From the article I can read that orders for various components of the carrier have already been given and component makers and subcontractors are already on it. Which means that the Chinese Naval design bureau finalized the plans and specifications of this Carrier a long time ago. And that seems surprising since no heavy industry associated with Naval affairs has declared or hinted at making stuff for it. No news of propulsion turbines, warship grade steel etc. has come about. Now the Chinese may be able to make warship grade steel in China but the engine turbines come from outside, maybe we should keep an eye on Ukraine...... Zorya-Mashproekt or maybe even Finnish Wartsilia. Had the Chinese finalized and frozen plans for their carrier, something or the other would have come out by now. Lets see how this one plays out.
ReplyDeleteYou've posted this comment before on this page, and there are a few flaws in your logic.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the Chinese had suggested a Nimitz port visit, not requested -- and even if it had been "requested," do you seriously think the PLAN believe they can get the USN to train them for carrier operations? The PLAN are not idiots and the USN aren't idiots either. I'm not sure why you believe that the PLAN believe they can somehow make the USN train them in carrier ops.
Second, the only people that had been hyping up China's "carrier killers" and overall military capabilities have been US and western media. Chinese state and military media has not written many original articles about their weapons development at all, and what articles that are written are usually based on western reports first. I'm not sure how familiar you are with PLA watching, but the PLA and PRC almost never toot their own horn in regards to weapons under development, it is usually fear mongers by media in the US or Taiwan who do so.
And there has not been any news of the PLAN losing planes from their carriers -- there was a xinhua english report a few months ago that seemed to say that a navy test squadron had lost two pilots from carrier ops, but if you're able to read Chinese you'll see that the actual Chinese article said the two pilots who had died came from a squadron which has contributed to many things including developing carrier operations. The actual deaths were from a JH-7 crash -- a land based non carrier capable strike fighter, not carrier related.
Unfortunately this misinterpreted piece of news was circulated by some other western military blogs and PLA watching sites, and even reached mainland Chinese web users, to the point that the PLA actually went to clarify that the deaths were not carrier related. This just demonstrates the importance of actually being able to read Chinese for PLA watching, or at least the ability to wait and sift through information.
Solomon, Hong Kong and Taiwanese media are often unreliable on Chinese military matters, so I would doubt any the claims of any article that is using those kind of sources.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it is pretty much accepted by most PLA watching forums and Chinese PLA watching BBS that the PLAN's second carrier is under some early stage of construction at Dalian, and has been for up to a year now. It'll be a year or more at least until we see a sign of it though.