Open Comment Post. Dec 21, 2017

China is making it's Type 96 MBT its standard tank

Thanks to Miguel for the link!

via 21stCenturyAsianArmsRace.

No country today has as many tanks as China’s bloated armed forces. But as it struggled to modernize its tracked fighting machines across three decades of rapid technological change, a peculiar eclecticism gripped its vast arsenal. In 2016 Chinese state media revealed with utmost certainty that of “more than 7,000 tanks in active service” less than half were considered up to date. These comprised 2,000 Type 96 and Type 96A tanks and 600 Type 99’s.

This is problematic because it leaves the PLA stuck with so many old medium tanks designed after World War 2 mixed with incompatible “third-generation” substitutes. At the forefront of this colorful assemblage is an untested model that relies on constant upgrades. This isn’t the Type 99A/99A2 leading annual parades but the humble Type 96 or ZTZ 96–the racing tank that took on Russia’s T-72B’s in 2014 and 2016.

Story here.

Real nice overview on the state of Chinese tanks and a good view on how they got here and where they're going.

I doubt you find better on the net that isn't behind a classified firewall.  Consider this a must read if you're interested in Chinese armor developments.

US Forces on the ground in Yemen? We've gone from covert to overt support of the Saudis?

JESUS!

Don't blog while you're mad.  Cdr Salamander always says that but that's out the window on this one.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTIS AND TRUMP THINKING????

What have we seen?

We've watched the Saudis GET THEIR ASSES HANDED TO THEM on a plate and NOW we're riding in like the Cav to save the day?

Are you fucking kidding me?

More to come without a doubt but consider this.

The Congress just told the Pentagon that it wouldn't get it's budget plus up and even worse would have to do with Continuing Resolutions.

NOT PLAYING CONSPIRACY THEORISTS but with the war against ISIS winding down, Afghanistan being on everyone's nerves and EVERYONE wanting out of that swamp then how would they get more money?

Not accusing just tossing that out there.....

Lockheed Martin met production numbers on the F-35? Not so fast, the real story is much different!

via Bloomberg.

Lockheed Martin Corp. failed to meet delivery timelines set out in contracts for its F-35 jet for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Pentagon’s contract management agency.

It’s a less upbeat assessment of Lockheed’s performance than was offered earlier this week by the No. 1 U.S. defense contractor, which said it met its “2017 delivery commitment” of 66 planes.

While the company -- and the Defense Department’s own F-35 program office -- count how many of the fighter jets were turned over in a calendar year based on an agreed-on commitment, the Defense Contract Management Agency zeroes in on the monthly delivery dates set out in production contracts.

The 66 planes delivered in 2017 included nine from the planes’ eighth production contract that were supposed to be ready in 2016, according to the contract agency. Of the remaining 57, 23 were late based on the monthly “contractual requirements,” Mark Woodbury, a spokesman for the agency, said in an email.

Story here. 

I get Lockheed Martin lying their asses off. 

It's part of their corporate DNA.  If you want to advance past the production floor then you BETTER learn to toe the line!

But the Program Office?  The fucking Pentagon?

Just plain wow.

The F-35 has infected the services and caused them to not only lust after an airplane that will not deliver but to join themselves at the hip to a
manufacturer and LIE to the American people.

This is expected but still disappointing.

Honor and Integrity is no longer the hallmark of military leadership.  We aren't led by warriors.  We're led by Ferengi.

Cliven Bundy wins in court...mistrial declared...

via The Daily Caller.

A federal judge declared a mistrial in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy after prosecutors willfully withheld evidence showing that government agents behaved illegally during a 2014 standoff.

Judge Gloria Navarro dismissed jurors Wednesday nearly one month after a trial began against Bundy and his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, both of whom were accused three years ago of leading an armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Navarro showed evidence suggesting prosecutors refused to produce records showing agents conducting surveillance on the Bundy Ranch, and threat assessments about the Bundys dating back to 2012. The prosecutors also did not disclose unredacted FBI logs about activity at the ranch in the days around the standoff.

Story here. 

This is crazy!

What did we see?  How could the govt have lost a case this open and shut?

We saw gunmen in overwatch positions taking aim at Federal Agents.  We heard rambling speeches at standing ground and how the "2nd American Revolution" was about to start over illegal grazing.

Yet somehow the Feds fucked up the case so bad that a mistrial was declared?

It kinda makes you wonder if we should take a second look at another guy that got shot and killed on a snow covered highway don't it?

But even if you don't think this is all worth a second look-see then maybe we all need to get educated on why Ranchers in the Midwest and West are up in arms against the Bureau of Land Management just so we can understand what is making these guys take up arms.

Long story short?

I saw criminality.

I saw activity that should have resulted in Law Enforcement engaging suspects.  Even worse?  I've seen a more aggressive stance taken against protesters in a city....PEACEFUL protesters than I saw against these people.

So we have a couple of issues.

1.  Why are ranchers as pissed as they are?

2.  Why was a Fed response so weak?

3.  How could the Feds have lost this case?

4.  If the prosecuting attorney failed in his duties then why hasn't he been punished?

5.  If the LEOs acted irresponsibly then why haven't they been punished?

6.  With the photographic evidence widely available why haven't we seen more arrests from this standoff?

Questions abound but answers are few.

Amphibious Assault Breach....video by LCpl. Preston Hightower

USMC dumps 120mm Mortars!

Thanks to FormerDirtDart for the link!

via Military.com

In a push to build its modernization budget and invest in new technologies, the Marine Corps has hauled at least one program of record to the curb -- and is looking for more to cut.

The Corps has already divested of the 120mm Expeditionary Fire Support System to make way for other capabilities, Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, told Military.com in an interview.

The EFSS, fielded in the early 2000s, was designed to be extremely portable, small enough to be towed by an all-terrain vehicle that fits easily inside an MV-22 Osprey.

Made by General Dynamics, the full system weighs roughly 18 pounds and can fire high-explosive, smoke and illumination rounds. The system was fired in combat for the first time in 2011.

The news that the Marine Corps is cutting ties with the program is something of a surprise, considering the service was in the process of acquiring a new round: the Raytheon-made GPS-guided precision extended range munition, or PERM, expected to increase the accuracy of the system and extend its range from roughly five miles to 10.

Story here. 

JESUS!  Make up my mind HQMC!  Which is it?  

I have shouted to the rooftops that the Company Landing Team is a bad idea and that the battlefield has changed.  I've pounded walls stating that we have seen terrorists morph into nation state type forces (damn near combined arms teams) and that the CLT would not survive against that threat and would be less than a speed bump against peer/near peer forces.

The response amounted to this.  You don't know what the fuck  you're  talking about, so sit down and shut up, you snotty nosed bitch!

And then we have this.

I don't get it.

What happened to the air enabled MEU?  So in one fell swoop they dump 120mm mortars?  What is going to support the CLT 24-7?

Simply amazing.

Stryker Maneuver SHORAD Launcher (MSL)

Lion Loves Wiener Dog

Is the Israeli Army doing a "preemptive" roundup to stop a new Intifada?

via imemc.org

Ahed al-Tamimi, a 16-year old girl from Nabi Saleh who has filmed the brutality of Israeli soldiers in her village since she was ten, was abducted from her home Tuesday morning by Israeli soldiers during a pre-dawn raid. Later Tuesday morning, when her mother Nariman went to Benjamin police station, to ask about her daughters, the Israeli army’s response was to abduct the mother as well. The family still does not know anything about the evolution of the situation.

The soldiers, according to local sources, invaded the town with armored vehicles at 3 am and drove up to the al-Tamimi family home. They broke into the home, wrested the sleeping family from their beds, and ransacked the house, stealing all the family’s cell phones and computers. They then abducted the teen girl and took her to an interrogation center.

Story here. 

My blogging has been spotty but I've seen a real uptick of stories with regard to the IDF conducting raids/ops in Palestinian areas.

Up till now they've been what I would call arrests of the usual suspects.  Accused bomb makers, tunnel diggers, and foot soldiers of Hezbollah.

But why would this girl be on their arrest list?

My only guess is that they're prepping for a new Intifada and this girl showed up on their radar because she's got a bit of notoriety and is considered a person that influences thought?

I really can't think of anything else it could be because of my limited visibility on the issue.

So yeah.  This is all speculation.

But a new Intifada?  That would be unfortunate for everyone involved.  It would be nasty.  I hope both sides will let cooler heads prevail.