All aspect?

I didn't want to get pulled into this part of the F-35 debate.  Quite simply it costs too much and will cost the USMC too much for it to continue as is.  If Lockheed Martin Aviation showed the same sense of urgency it now has at the beginning of the program then things might have worked out differently.  As things now stand the MPC, the ACV, probably the JLTV will all vanish from Marine Corps procurement rolls because of this excessively expensive airplane.

The future isn't bright either.  Once retirees pull their heads up and realize that tricare costs will increase, the troops see prices rise at the Commissary etc you'll see retirees and vets go the way of the Republican party.  Screw the military.  They didn't keep their promises to us, so why should we support them now.

Additionally with the massive drawdown in troops (which is different this time because you're dealing with an all volunteer force, not a bunch of draftees that want out anyway) you're going to see Infantry Battalions, and Aviation Squadrons go away.  Which mean that in the end we're already headed into the death spiral with this airplane.  Anyway it goes fewer will be needed which means that they will cost more which means that the Pentagon will buy fewer...well you get the idea.

But back to the subject of this post.  Rear aspect.  I am by no means an expert but check this out....

Above you're looking at the various stealth aircraft that have been in service and the F-35.  Unless something wonderful and dramatic has happened in the world of stealth then either the term all aspect has been dumbed down or we're seeing an outlier.  

Yeah Amos. The story ain't going away...

The playbook works a little like this.  Bad news comes out.  Keep your head down.  Let the news cycle move on to new controversies.  Come out of hiding and everything is forgotten.

The playbook isn't working on this one.  Eventually the big news organizations are going to start sniffing around.  This is via the Business Insider.

Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos allegedly sought to have investigation documents classified that could have possibly incriminated him under article 37 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for unlawfully influencing an investigation.
Now the Commandant is under investigation, Chuck Hagel’s top military advisor is caught in the middle of it, and one of the Marines court-martialed in the Taliban urination scandal says it’s why he should be exonerated.
In early 2012, after a video surfaced appearing to depict three U.S. Marines urinating on Taliban corpses, Amos ordered a full investigation.
He appointed a tremendously well respected Marine general, Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, to head the inquiry. At the time, Waldhauser was the commanding general of both Marine Corps Forces Central Command and I Marine Expeditionary Force. He now serves as the senior military advisor to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
“Rest assured that the institution of the Marine Corps will not rest until the allegations and the events surrounding them have been resolved,” Amos said in a statement shortly after the incident came to light.

Nothing new.  But the story has legs.  How long can he hang on when its obvious that he is morally bankrupt and incapable of holding the position he has?

The craziest part of this?  He is probably the biggest supporter of the F-35 in the Pentagon.  If he goes then so goes one of that program's biggest backers.   Will the next guy choose aircraft over armor?  Will he allow the issue with the AAV to fester the way Amos has?  Will the next Commandant choose an airplane over Infantry Battalions?

I'm not sure but I'm ready to find out.

In light of Amos' pending retirement I'd like to award him the BF with gold cluster....

The F-35 and RMA...a holdover from Rumsfeld.

The military concept of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) is a theory about the future of warfare, often connected to technological and organizational recommendations for change in the United States military...

What do the above airplanes all have in common?

Not one of them features all aspect stealth.

The Russians have moved toward retaining high agility with moderate stealth and the Chinese (reading from our playbook) appear to be trying for basically the same.

The Europeans have only gone down the stealth path when it comes to UAVs and are instead concentrating mostly on high speed air to air missiles along with tweaking their AESA arrays...only God knows what the Navy is up to, but they have some fully funded classified projects in the works that seek to keep the Super Hornet viable until a 6th gen fighter is developed.  The Air Force is probably teamed up on some of those projects which would explain the upgrades being pushed to the F-15/16.

Considering the price that the US military is paying for the F-35.  Thinking about the combat experience that is going to shoved out the door to get that airplane, the question must be asked.  Is stealth worth the price?  Are we going to trust the same leadership team that promised us an affordable fighter to get it right when they say that the F-35 will be competitive for the next 50 years when our enemies have produced stealth aircraft 10 years before their estimates?

This high tech force in lieu of retaining personnel is nothing but Rumsfeld's "Revolution in Military Affairs" just watered down.  Instead of cutting edge aircraft, armored vehicles and communication systems...all we get is an airplane.

New Alert. President to visit 1st MarDiv tomorrow.

1st Marine Division Public Affairs Office put out a news blast that the President is to appear at Camp Pendleton tomorrow at noon to thank the Marines and Sailors for their work.

What would be discussed is the fact that cutting the Marine Corps down to 150,000 boatspaces is in the works.

How is this different from previous drawdowns?

Those were conscription forces.  They didn't volunteer (well some did, the majority didn't) so the drawdown came largely from people that didn't want to remain in service.  This time it will be different.  Saddle up and get ready.  The Corps can place its needs ahead of yours but you can't put the Corps ahead of the needs of your family.  Get your house in order for any eventuality.

Russian BTR-Boomerang family of vehicles.

Information is spotty and so far all I've been able to find are artist concepts.  One is of a vehicle that look alot like a Patria AMV and the others are variations on the theme.

Is the F-35 worth the cost?

Sferrin wants to be a jerk about the F-35 and whether it brings value?

Ok.  I'll play. Via Military.com

The Army would shrink to 380,000 troops, the Marines Corps to 150,000. The Navy would lose three carriers, and the Air Force would begin mothballing its B-52 bomber fleet under a worst-case budget scenario outlined Wednesday by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

&

The choice under the automatic budget cuts of sequestration came down to one between troops and new weapons systems, Hagel said. Defense leaders who led the review favored funding cyberwarfare, and such weapons systems as the F35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Littoral Combat Ship over personnel.
"We did not find any particular capability that we could do away with" and still maintain overall combat power, a senior Pentagon official said at a later background briefing of the proposed new weapons systems.
Winnefeld said the review was the result of a "deep and very painful look into every corner of our institution."
"Nobody was very happy" with the outcome, he said

Combat experience is being sacrificed on the altar of technological superiority.  But even that is in doubt when you consider the fact that the F-35 Program Manager has been quoted as saying that the secrets to the F-35 have shown up in Chinese aircraft under development and that he isn't sure that the contractors have secured their information against further hacking.

So with an Army that needs a new Ground Combat Vehicle and Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle...A Marine Corps that needs a new Amphibious Combat Vehicle...A Navy that would like to maintain 12 carriers.

Is the F-35 worth the cost?

Kamaz 63969 via War Machine.

Super Hornet now can carry the same internal fuel as the F-35.

Read the article about the CFT's here.

Someone has to get the balls to ask.  What do we need Naval Aviation to do?  Long loiter time while performing CAP missions to protect the Fleet?  Long loiter time to provide Close Air Support for Marines and other ground forces?  Deep strike missions against enemy installations??????

If you have the integrity to ask those questions then the next thing that must be asked is quite simple.  Does the F-35 provide enough value to justify cutting the Marine Corps down to 150,000?  Does it justify another decade or two driving a 50 year old Amphibious Assault Vehicle?

I'm just asking.

NavAir is sitting back, chilled the fuck out...laughing its ass off at the Marine Corps and Air Force.

Heartbreaking blast from the past via National Naval Aviation Museum

Final pages of the log book of Lieutenant (junior grade) Raymond Porter noting that he and his gunner, Aviation Radioman Third Class Normand Brissette, crashed during a strike against Kure Harbor in Japan. Taken prisoner by the Japanese, the Bombing Squadron (VB) 87 personnel were held captive in Hiroshima, where they died as the result of the atomic bomb dropped on the city on August 6, 1945, sixty-eight years ago today.

I'm calling bullshit on SLD in regards to Special Purpose MAGTF (Crisis Response).

SLD wrote an article trying to prop up the Special Purpose MAGTF (Crisis Response).  You can click here to read it for yourself, but be advised...I'm calling bullshit on the whole thing.

The thing that annoys me most about this is that it creates a brand new command.  The Marine Corps has its MEU's that are purpose built and float the seven seas waiting for trouble.  As a reader pointed out just yesterday when trouble hit in Liberia, the 26th MEU back in 97 (I believe thats the time frame) sent its LPD to conduct an embassy evacuation while its big deck remained on station conducting a larger more involved evacuation of personnel from another country.

So what is this formation really?  Its simply another slot for Marine Colonels to hang their hats. When did the Marine Corps become the land of the juicy command without actual need?  The fact that its aviation centric is another issue but one I'll ignore for the time being.

If you want to see how things are going off the rails then look at this SPMAGTF(CR).  If you want to see something that should be killed at birth then look at this formation. 

Unneeded Commands.  A Commandant that doesn't have the integrity to resign when he's caught up in wrongdoing.  And now a publication that is attempting to put lipstick on a pig.

Yeah.  We're screwed.