20th Armoured Infantry Brigade on the range in Germany...

I swear to God!  Since the Army practically did away with the Division system and is doing this Brigade/Regiment stuff I can't figure out who these guys are with!

It's probably simple as hell but I can't wrap my head around it.  For example these bubbas are...20th Armoured Infantry Brigade 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment....BUT WHAT FUCKING DIVISION????

I guess its a small thing but it still annoys.  Compare this insanity to the USMC way of things.  2/8.  Second Battalion, 8th Marines.  You know they're 2nd MarDiv.  Simple.  Quick.  Easy.  Plus we don't get our Battalions and Brigades twisted up and assbackwards.

Turkish army hit village in Syria's Afrin with suspected gas

via Reuters

Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group said the Turkish military carried out a suspected gas attack that wounded six people in Syria’s Afrin region on Friday.

There was no immediate comment from the Turkish military, which has previously denied accusations of hitting civilians in its Afrin operation.

Birusk Hasaka, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin, told Reuters that Turkish bombardment hit a village in the northwest of the region, near the Turkish border. He said it caused six people to suffer breathing problems and other symptoms indicative of a gas attack.

Turkey launched an air and ground offensive last month on the Afrin region, opening a new front in the multi-sided Syrian war to target Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

Story here.

Hmm.  Waiting for more info on this one.  Wouldn't surprise me though.

US Navy opts for the Advanced Super Hornet in all but name...we know how the F-35 vs Super Hornet comparison worked out!

Thanks to Super Rhino for the link!

via Combat Aircraft.net

US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is awarding Boeing a $219,600,000 contract for non-recurring efforts associated with Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) 6503 for the design, development, test and integration of the conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) for the Super Hornet.  Work will be completed in July 2022.

The Navy first said it would fund a number of the Advanced Super Hornet (ASH) capabilities under the Block III upgrade in June last year.

The concept for modernizing the ‘Rhino’ includes the CFTs, large area cockpit displays, a powerful new computer processor and a superfast digital network.

The Navy wants the CFTs, the Elbit 10 x 19-inch cockpit displays, the new computer, Distributed Targeting Processor-Networked (DTP-N) and ultra-fast high-band connectivity referred to as Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT).

Story here. 

Don't believe me.  Follow the money.  The USN is in the process of buying the Advanced Super Hornet in bits and pieces.

They aren't buying it all at once, but if you follow their procurement then with the exception of the weapons pods they're on track to buy every widget that Boeing threw there way.

There is no need for an announcement from the SecDef's office with regard to how the F-35 vs Super Hornet comparison worked out.

It's now obvious the Super Hornet won and Mattis might not like the outcome but he will follow Navy wishes.

Ok, this is one of those Sgt Major's you see and turn around before you're noticed...

This week, the Corps lost a great Marine.

Sgt. Maj. Robert E. Cleary, the 10th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, passed away February 11 at the age of 86.

He was the last Korean War veteran to serve as Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.

Semper Fidelis, Marine. pic.twitter.com/BbP4BPiMiu

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) February 17, 2018

Geez.

This dude looks hard as woodpecker lips flash frozen in the arctic in the middle of winter time.  

Don't lie.  You've done it.  Spot that Sgt Major in the distance and bust that quick u-turn before he spots ya!

Forget the nonsense.  Fair winds and following seas stud!  See ya on the other side....

Side note.  Time to dig into Marine Corps history and read about some of the Sgt Major's that have come before.

Hi-res photos of Kawasaki C-2 ELINT

Pics via Alert 5...

The Japanese are putting it all together.  The US Navy has a tactical electronic warfare bird flying.  The USAF doesn't.  What it does have (if I recall correctly) is based on a 707.  Why aren't they doing better?  SAAB has an offering based on a business jet that is suppose to be top notch.  If not that they how about a persistent example based on a big UAV?

Either way electronic warfare is gonna be big and trying to do that out of a rucksack when they're blasting away with all kinds of 'trons on your little setup is gonna be a dogs breakfast.

Close quarters fighting, known as “push of pike” or “bad war”

caption via Gdfalksen Tumblr Page
Swiss pikemen and German landsknechts engaged in close quarters fighting, known as “push of pike” or “bad war”. This manner of fighting was extremely chaotic and brutal, and once soldiers got inside the range of each other’s pikes closer range weapons like swords and halberds became far more effective.

The DoD has two years to shape our defense future...stay the course or change direction but only 2, maybe 3 years to do it!

via Breaking Defense.

Finally, Wilson made a bold statement about the 14 percent spending increase recently passed by Congress for fiscal 2018 and 2019, one that bears spreading and remembering: “We can’t expect that this rate of increase will continue.” Given the chances America will experience much larger deficits and growing inflation over the next three to five years, these words may prove prophetic.

Story here. 

As usual the author missed the biggest part of the story he was covering.  I could careless about some future counterinsurgency plane that will be used to give pilots rides while they wait to jump into a fast mover.

The statement about the budget is the key here.

That is the headline.

Trump, the defense budget hawks and the DoD clawed out a budget busting plan.

Hurrah!

The reality is stark.  This is it.  They won't get another bite at the apple.  Deficits, inflation, global stagnation (my guess) is all going to conspire to make future increases almost impossible.

I hope the DoD understands that they've been given a TREMENDOUS opportunity.

If they truly believe that they're on the right course then they should continue.  If not then this might be the only off ramp they get.  Either way the future fight will be fought with weapons and concepts DEVELOPED now.  Practiced now.  Trained on now.

They better be right.  They better be willing to bet the lives of Marines and other service members on what they're doing today.  Cause if they're wrong they'll not only be cursed by historians but they might also be blamed for the defeat of a nation.

More than 75% of the production run was lost in combat...

Caption via USAF Phantom 2 Tumblr Page...
F-105D Thunderchief. The 105 lost more than 75% of the production run over the skies of the North as it bore the brunt of the Rolling Thunder & Linebacker Campaign’s as an Iron Bomber.

That stunning statistic is common knowledge to any person with even a passing interest in the Vietnam War.

I wonder though.

Considering the "limited" production runs of combat aircraft, vehicles and ships today, could we soon be saying the same for entire swaths of our force if we were to engage in a war with a peer?

My point is simple.

Have we become so high tech that we don't have any staying power?  If we cross swords with China and the war to drag on for more than a year what would we have left to fight with?  How rapidly could industry and the armed force ramp up for anything but a Short SHARP war?

If the Chinese changed the game and makes the next war a war of attrition could we keep up?  I'm talking high tech equipment.  Manpower is a totally different kettle of fish that I don't even want to think about.

No more golden hour for Marines if we face a peer in combat...casualties are gonna be horrific..

via Marine Corps Times

A lifesaving Defense Department policy that whisks wounded troops off the battlefield to lifesaving care within the first hour of injury is a luxury Marines may not have headed into the next big fight.

The policy is credited with a near 98 percent survival rate, Rear Adm. Colin G. Chinn, Joint Staff surgeon, told audience members at a Navy medical symposium held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday.

But as the U.S. is facing more capable adversaries, it’s a promise the Defense Department no longer believes it can keep.

“The last 15 years of war we pretty much adapted to the operational environment and dominated it,” Chinn said. “We are not going to have all the advantages we have now.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Joseph Dunford, relayed his concerns about the ‘golden rule’ last week to Chinn, the admiral said.

The ‘golden hour’ policy was put in place by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2009 in an effort to stem the tide of increasing battlefield casualties. It was a promise by the DoD to surge medical assets and rotary wing support to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to save the lives of troops wounded in action.

For the past 15 years the U.S. military has dominated the battlefield, allowing U.S. forces to set the time and space for hostilities. U.S. forces controlled the terrain, and were afforded the ability to move medical assets when and where they wanted.

“But in a future fight that may not be the case,” Chinn said. “We need to be ready now. You fight tonight with what you have.”

Story here. 

Dispersed units at EVEN GREATER distances from the ship than before.  Smaller units that when found will be fixed and if not outright destroyed, need to be rescued, delaying the possibility of getting the wounded out even more.

Yeah.

If we face a peer threat then the casualties will be horrific.  I'm not talking about those killed initially but those few that Doc will keep from sailing that ship to the next world, only to fail because we won't be able to get them back to Regiment where the surgeons are.

Simply amazing, horrifying but amazing.

Airmen integrate with F-35, improve air ground dominance? WTF is air-ground dominance?????

A U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II 5th-generation fighter taxis on the flight line during pre-initial Operational Testing and Evaluation Jan. 23, 2018, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. All three variants of the F-35 were brought to Eielson to test and evaluate their ability to operate in an extreme cold-weather environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Isaac Johnson)

Airmen stand in front of a Sno-Cat at a range in Delta Junction, Alaska, during F-35 pre-Initial Operational Test and Evaluation. TACP Airmen had the chance to work with all three variants of the F-35. (Courtesy Photo)

via Air Force.mil

During the F-35 Lightning II’s pre-Initial Operational Test and Evaluation, Airmen from the 3rd Air Support Operations Squadron had the opportunity to work with all three variants of the Joint Strike Fighter.

Tactical Air Control Party Airmen coordinate air support with joint and international platforms, making this a unique opportunity to work with three different versions of the fifth-generation aircraft.

“We were able to execute close-air-support training scenarios and validate TACP cold-weather training,” said Staff Sgt. Gary Russell, Detachment 1, 3rd ASOS battalion air liaison officer. “We were also able to build the 3rd ASOS’s familiarization with all F-35 variants.”

Unlike other aircraft used for CAS, the F-35 utilizes speed and stealth technology to become a more lethal threat on the battlefield.
“It’s a little more difficult to control than some other aircraft,” said Russell. “It flies higher and faster than most aircraft we deal with, but it also gives us the advantage of not having to worry about as many surface-to-air threats. Because of that, we are able to focus more on the ground commander’s priorities.”

Alaska’s weather makes some tasks harder to accomplish than others; but as part of United States Special Operation Forces, weather can’t keep an objective from being obtained.

“Weather was our biggest challenge,” said Russell. “At minus 30 degrees, batteries drain rapidly and keeping them warm is difficult.”

The roads to get to the different ranges located in Alaska are usually unpaved and difficult to drive on, and with a couple feet of snow added it makes getting out there extremely difficult.

“Air Force Technical Applications Center, Detachment 460, was able to provide us with a Sno-Cat,” said Russell. “Tech. Sgt. Cyrus Freeman from Det. 460 transported TACP personnel in the Sno-Cat for 15 hours a day all week. This was a significant battlefield enabler and a game-changer in allowing the missions to flow smoothly.”

The F-35 Lightning II is a multi-service and multi-nation fifth generation fighter aircraft, making it an integral part of future operations for the Department of Defense as well as its allies.

“In today’s military as TACP, we are regularly exposed to a joint battlefield,” said Russell. “So any exposure to platforms from varying nations and services is of benefit to us.”

With the addition of F-35 Fighter Squadrons in the near future, along with the TACP Airmen of the 3rd ASOS, Eielson will be the force enabling the United States military’s dominance in the air and on the ground.

Wow.

They talked alot and said absolutely nothing.

I thought these bubbas worked with everything from F-15, F-16 and up to B-1 Bombers in the "new" close air support doctrine they're working on.

So how does this plane flying faster and higher differ from what they've been doing?

How are they accounting for stealth in their work to control close air support missions?

Do anti-air threats go completely out the window because its an F-35?

Yeah.  This was nothing more than a fucking press release to show some TACAIR control bubbas in their snow cat or whatever that rig is and a Navy F-35 in the snow.

Color me NOT impressed.