Ripsaw EV-2

I thought this thing was dead and buried....

First F-35 Jets to Lack Ground-Combat Punch of 1970s-Era A-10s

via Bloomberg.

The first F-35 jets ready for combat won’t be able to protect forces in ground combat as well as the nearly 40-year-old A-10s the Pentagon wants to retire, according to the Defense Department’s chief weapons tester.
Compared with the lumbering A-10, known as the Warthog, the initial F-35s made by Lockheed Martin Corp. will be handicapped by limits on how many weapons they can carry, flying at night and spotting targets as well as how long they can remain over them, Michael Gilmore, director of operational testing, said in a statement prepared for a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing and obtained in advance by Bloomberg.

For those of us that are following the program this isn't news.  For the rest of the media and the public?  They're probably stunned.

ISIS and the Mexican Cartels team up...ISIS camps in Mexico?

Thanks to Tony for the link!

via Judicial Watch.

ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector.
The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable sources confirm.
During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation.
Law enforcement and intelligence sources report the area around Anapra is dominated by the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel (“Juárez Cartel”), La Línea (the enforcement arm of the cartel) and the Barrio Azteca (a gang originally formed in the jails of El Paso). Cartel control of the Anapra area make it an extremely dangerous and hostile operating environment for Mexican Army and Federal Police operations.
According to these same sources, “coyotes” engaged in human smuggling – and working for Juárez Cartel – help move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border between Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, New Mexico. To the east of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, cartel-backed “coyotes” are also smuggling ISIS terrorists through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas. These specific areas were targeted for exploitation by ISIS because of their understaffed municipal and county police forces, and the relative safe-havens the areas provide for the unchecked large-scale drug smuggling that was already ongoing.

Wow.

EF 21 MAGTF GCE. A "Commando" Marine Corps to out Ranger the Rangers?

Do me a huge favor on this one guys.

Take the time to read the document that I posted earlier...the EF 21 MAGTF GCE.  The new GT score requirements stood out but the physical requirements are kinda interesting too.  But what really gets my juices going is the schooling...via the document...

Increasing the minimum GT score requirement to serve in all infantry MOSs to 105 is only one stepthough. Physical standards must rise as well for those that we access into and then retain in our infantryMOSs, with a minimum goal that Marines assigned to an infantry battalion will be capable of meeting orexceeding this GT score requirement and the following physical standards:
225 PFT on a semi-annual basis;
270 CFT on a semi-annual basis;
double obstacle course in 4 minutes on a semi-annual basis;
12-mile march with approach march load (i.e., for 0311 MOS, 114lbs) in 4 hours on a semi-annual basis;
Drag a 175 pound dummy 40 meters in 45 seconds on a semi-annual basis;
Water Survival Intermediate score annually.
In addition to our semi-annual infantry MOS training certification requirements for these same Marines,we will incorporate enhanced marksmanship training focused on night and precision shooting while under physical stress. We will further prioritize our infantry units’ manning, training, and equipping by ensuring that our rifle squads are all led by school-trained and certified NCOs. A key part of this certification, in addition to graduation from the required Advanced Infantry Courses (i.e., AIC and ISULC), will include completing the Joint Fires Observer (JFO) course.

I read about the current Commandant's effort to make Infantry Squad Leader an individual MOS and yawned.

Not now.

Now I'm fucking fired up.  THIS IS GREAT SHIT!

Army Rangers should get nervous...we're about to out Ranger the Rangers.  The Corps is actually about to start drinking their milk shake if this gains traction in the Corps.  What has me fired up?  You know the deal guys.  Leadership sets the standards.  You keep up and if you don't the rest will push you to get better.  Additionally these new standards will filter down into the rest of the squad meaning that you're going to have some savage trigger pullers in each of the squads.

The squads are going to get better which means the battalions are going to get shit hot.

This initiative could be the most important thing to hit the Corps in 20 years...and I almost missed it.

Crusader Attack Configuration...a pure fighter with a savage bite...

Build yourself a great fighter....then you can make it into a good striker!   The F-8 Crusader is in my opinion the best example of this.  You want a single engine beast that could run rings around the competition?  The F-8 was your baby.

China reaches back to the "old" sea base concept to design their new one....

Thanks to Tom for the link!

Do you remember the old concept for an Alfoat Forward Staging Base?  If not go the Military Sea Lift Command page for a quick refresher (here).

Well while we've had diminished expectations due to budget, the Chinese are clear eyed in their approach.  Check out the pics below...

Look at the size of this thing.

From what I can make out, they're taking a page from the X-band radar at sea and using a combination of oil platform type tech, along with large container ship tech and developing a platform that is capable of acting as a sea base solo.  Want a little Whiskey in your coffee?  Its also going to have a full size runway!

via Sinai...

　　Marine construction "Removable land" from a scientific concept into a project a reality - by Jidong Development Group to develop a world-class major projects truss large offshore platform project is progressing well. Truss large offshore platform technology, is a new concept of offshore floating structure type, the level of the world's leading technology, uses a wide range of products, is a new type of marine engineering equipment industry, will make China the first to grasp the "very large offshore platform" engineered core technology, seize strategic opportunities.
Major international projects developed by Jidong Development Group ----- "truss large offshore platform" (also known as the sea "Removable land"), the project construction is progressing well. Truss large offshore platform technology, is a leader in the world, the concept of a new type of offshore floating structure, uses a wide range of products, is a new type of marine engineering equipment industry, will make China the world's first large offshore platforms grasp engineered " core technology. "
According to the Group General Manager Wang Yandong surgery Wing Construction Company introduced a standard truss sub-area 90 × 300 meters and 120 meters of rice and 120 m × 600 × 900 米 three specifications. Mosaic composed according to the needs, can magnify, equivalent to more than one hull in parallel to form a floating island offshore platforms. You can configure the dynamic speed of 18 km per hour to move. Entrepreneurs in this "sea land" for tourism development, dock storage, power generation, marine use, as well as to protect the marine base.

If this design actually makes it into service then the Chinese will be drinking the milkshake of every player in the region.

Expeditionary Force 21 MAGTF GCE

  Expeditionary Force 21 Marine Air-Grount Task Force Ground Combat Element (MAGTF GCE)

Interesting on several different levels.

Notice the raising of the GT scores for Infantrymen?   Rumor central is going bonkers over a recruiting crisis as we speak.  Mix in the changing face of Marine Infantry with trouble recruiting from the traditional base, and I really wonder whats going on here.

Additionally am I wrong or have we moved past Company Landing Teams and are heading toward Squad Landing Teams?

A brief review won't do for this one.  I need to dig into this...a line by line review is coming...standby.

Bell V-280 Valor fleet in action (concept art)...

The evolution of the Russian T-10 (SU-27)...

Many thanks to Dynamic Pressure for the graphic.

The LCAC Carrier Concept by George Gougoulidis

This thing even in concept is HUGE...24 spots per deck?...2 decks?...Just two of these ships would be able to carry our entire inventory of LCACs to a theater of war/disaster!

CoffeeJoeJava made a comment on a previous post that had me looking at LCAC Carriers...especially since General Mullen specifically talked about them AND with the adoption of an LSD based on the San Antonio Class LPD will cost us precious well deck space.  This concept by Gougoulidis is pretty awesome.  You can see it all here.