Russia has superior jamming capability?

via Sputnik...

Top US and NATO officials have confirmed that Russia has extensive capabilities to shut down enemy communications.
Russia maintains an ability to destroy command-and-control networks by jamming radio communications, radars and GPS signals, according to Laurie Buckhout, former chief of the US Army's electronic warfare division.
In contrast with the US, Russia has large units dedicated to electronic warfare, known as EW, which it dedicates to ground electronic attack, jamming communications, radar and command-and-control nets, he added.

Here.

Isolated units or ships will be increasingly vulnerable.  Company Landing Teams, Distributed Operations and Independent Ship Operations are just asking to see our forces found, fixed and destroyed.....with backup arriving too late to help.

Even worse?  China is heading down the same road.  Electronic warfare is a major part of their ground forces...and its aimed at enemy ground forces.

China selling J-10's to Iran?

via National Interest.

China is reportedly prepared to sell Iran some of its J-10 multi-role fighter jets.
Over the last week, a number of sources have reported that China and Iran are finalizing an agreement for Beijing to sell Tehran the Chengdu J-10, which China exports under the name the F-10. The aircraft is called the Vigorous Dragon in the West.
Many of the reports trace back to DebkaFile, an Israeli military and intelligence site with questionable credibility. Last week, DebkaFile reported that China intends to sell Iran 150 J-10s. The story cited unnamed military and intelligence sources.

Uh wow.

Everyone looks at the SU-30 series of fighters in China's arsenal as the main short term threat but the J-10 to me has always been an overlooked wild card.  Everyone says that it has F-16 like performance but I doubt that.  I really get the impression (from what I've read) that it is much more formidable....but that's just my opinion.

Now Iran is about to get it?  I wonder what else they're going to buy....anti-ship missiles...advanced air to air missiles....armored vehicles.....Iran is about to make a generational leap ahead in military tech.

Defence Technology Review (August issue) is out!

http://tinyurl.com/qflg2ej

Another great issue from the guys over at Defence Technology Review...what caught my eye? A view on Thailand picking Chinese Subs...Elbit entering the Land 400 contest....and the arrival of the C-27J.  A must read!

ROK Army Special Operations Training Group Maritime Infiltration Ops....

HSV-2 Swift supporting Saudi operations in Yemen?

Many thanks to Robert for the links!

via Janes.

The ex-US naval logistics ship Swift is now operating under the flag of United Arab Emirates (UAE), which may be using it to support an amphibious operation in Yemen.
Built by Australia's Incat shipyard in Tasmania, Swift was chartered as High-Speed Vessel 2 (HSV-2) by US Military Sealift Command from 2008 to 2013. IHS Maritimedata shows it was back at the Incat yard in Tasmania from October 2014 until late June, when it set out for the UAE and arrived on 15 July.
The vessel is now operated by the UAE's National Marine Dredging Company, according to the Incat website.
Shortly after its arrival in the UAE it set out for Yemen, transiting through the Strait of Hormuz on 23 July and visiting the Omani port of Salalah on 26-27 July. Its last recorded AIS signal at the time of writing was from 0343 h GMT on 29 July as it headed into Aden harbour.

Interesting.

I thought we owned them.  Talk about live and learn.  Still its an indication of the "seriousness" with which the GCC is taking ops in Yemen.  Additionally we have pics of the armor arrayed via  محمد بن خالد@saikhamk Twitter page...

The exit interview of Capt Kirby Jones, USMC....a warning to leadership...

I was doing my late night turn thru the web and ran across this article from USNI News.  Read it all here, but the part that is a warning...a stark and urgent warning to leadership is below....

I was continually frustrated by the prevailing hypocrisy and mixed messages coming from all sides and lower than expected levels of competency and character in leadership. Throughout The Basic School it was preached to me that I would be a leader and need to make quick, decisive, important decisions, but in the fleet it felt as if everything I did had to be run by several levels above me. Even as a Company Commander, I often felt powerless to make simple decisions for my Company knowing that they would just be overruled later. This impression filtered down to subordinates in being constantly told to trust your enlisted Marines, but yet scolded when you let them take charge and ceased to micromanage their efforts. I had exceptionally high expectations of leadership gleaned mainly from the awesome Marines that I encountered very early on in my career and the majority of leaders that I served under did not reach these high standards.

The warning has been issued.

The tribe is restless, frustrated, and in some cases disheartened.

Will the new Commandant be able to fix this?  I don't know.  Alot of stuff is said but in the end that 6,000 mile hammer is always hovering overhead ready to pound those that do instead of those that simply talk.

What should have the nation spinning is the obvious.  We're not talking about the Army, Navy, or Air Force.  This is being said in the USMC.  If its reached this level in our house then what's going on with our brother services?

Chinese Marines ZBD05 participates in Russia's Tank Olympics...

Photo and story from China Defense Blog...

Here comes the PLAN Marine
The "Caspian Derby" individual race, which was one of the events of the Russian International Army Games 2015, kicked off at the Adanak Range in Kaspiysk, Russia on August 3. China's three participating crews ranked the first, fourth, and fifth respectively. Russia's three crews ranked the second, third and seventh respectively, and Kazakhstan's three crews ranked the sixth, eighth and ninth respectively.

From what little I've seen from these Tank Olympics, it seems that the Russians were impressed with the physical fitness of the Chinese more than their vehicles...don't know if that's true but from reading Russian armor forums that's the impression I get.

Additionally it seems that someone tried to drift a tank and ended up rolling it....and more countries showed up with the Russians INVITING THE US TO PLAY!!!!

Yeah.  The Ruskies basically challenged the US to come and play in their Olympics.

1st or 2nd Tanks should take them up on it!

M1A1 at Range 500, 29 Palms....photo by Lance Cpl. Julio McGraw

An M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank crew with Company A, 4th Tank Battalion, fires its 120 mm main gun during the company’s pre-qualification tank gunnery at Range 500, Aug. 4, 2015. The live-fire exercise tests tank crews on their ability to work together on target acquisition and accuracy.

USS Kearsarge prepares for flight operations....photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Hunter S. Harwell

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Aug. 4, 2015) Sailors prepare for flight operations on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) are conducting a composite training unit exercise in preparation for an upcoming deployment.

Off topic question.

Why does the Navy include the MOS of individuals when it comes to rank?  Is it simply tradition or is there another reason.

Camp Shelby is being fired upon...BREAKING!!!

I can't believe how STUPID the people at SOCOM are.

Its so obvious that they have no idea of the feelings that are flowing thru some sectors of the community down South.

They really should have talked to some people, gauged public reaction...got a feel for HUMAN TERRAIN before they started this exercise.

Let me repeat.  Too many people in the "exercise area" have military experience and training.  Too many are aware of the LAVISH combat cities that are available for use by the armed forces on VAST SWATHS of federal land.

The response to questions by citizens that amounted to "trust us", "its secret" and "fuck  you" is resulting in this violence.

Do I condone it?  No way.  Could I see it coming?  Hell yeah...anyone could that took the time to see.

No one was hurt at Camp Shelby (that's a good thing) but expect even more of this....you should really worry about what will happen in West Texas, Arizona and New Mexico...there are some people out there that will come loaded for bear and won't simply fire warning shots.  Its about to get real for the sunshade boys.