3 US Dollars in Venezuelan Money....Democracy might suck but Socialism sucks way worse!

I'm not gonna list the tumblr page cause I don't want to get the guy banned because he mostly posts on military topics and the long knives are out for military related information on that site.

But!

He did post the above pic and stated that the money you see in that wheelbarrow equals 3 US dollars.

Simply amazing.

The only saving grace..the only hope that the Venezuelan people have lies on two fronts.  The first that they can kick their pathetic leadership to the side and the second is that oil prices keep rising.

So yeah.

They're praying to God every night that oil prices rise.

Democracy might suck but Socialism sucks way worse...hopefully you get my meaning...

Side note.  I've been waiting for that country to pop for awhile now but somehow it keeps rolling on. I don't know if we should praise the people for tremendous fortitude or bash them for putting up with utter bullshit but while it's raggedy as fuck it remains intact.

Blast from the past. Operation Meetinghouse...more deadly than the firebombing of Dresden or the atomic blasts at Hiroshima & Nagasaki...

The charred remains of Japanese civilians pile up on the streets of Tokyo, the day after U.S. firebombing on March 9, 1945 — “Operation Meetinghouse” stands as the single most deadly air attack in the history of war, killing more people than either Dresden, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki.

Wikipedia entry here.

Read up on the bombing of Tokyo.  Everyone cringes at the horror of Hiroshima.  Everyone is alarmed at the suffering in Dresden, but no one knows or seems to care about the TREMENDOUS firepower unleashed on Tokyo.

From my chair this incident and the threat of follow on raids of this magnitude did as much OR MORE to end the war than the two atomic bomb blasts.

Remember this.  No one knew that the US had a new weapon when those two cities were assaulted.  From the position of the Japanese they reckoned that they simply faced another Tokyo, just new cities were picked.

The power of the atom thrilled and chilled the public.

Military people were in awe of the massed bombers wrecking cities.

That promise was realized. Which is another reason why the Strategic Air Command was disbanded.  They became a weapon too powerful to be allowed to go forward. They amassed too much power and were on the verge of becoming the "only service" when it came to nation state warfare (imagine if SAC was still existence today with a resurgent Russia and a looming China...no one else would get a dime especially with the tilt in the West toward airpower as the main element of power).  Air Combat Command is simply a fig leaf to keep the "bomber boys" from ruling the roost again...Tactical Air Command won the internal service battle...the neckerchief, sunglass and big watch crowd beat the guys that win wars....

Back on task though.

This is what concerns.  We have NEVER been on the receiving end of raids on our cities.  Our ground forces have NEVER been on the receiving end of the kind of massed artillery strikes that the Russians plowed on the Germans.

In essence, we have never been on the receiving end of the horrific, modern day blasts that most other countries have faced.

Considering the mental, physical and moral fortitude of many Americans I don't know how it would play out.  We would either become unbelievably savage (hopefully) or we would find ourselves in the fetal position.

I leave it to you to decide which one, but I will say this....I look around and see nothing but weakness.

Jesus! This is insane....Is this the SEAL culture or am I jumping to conclusions?

Thanks to Gerard for the link!

via Newsweek.

“This is Mako Three Zero Charlie.... This is Mako Three Zero Charlie….” The same six words, over and over, each time dissipating before Jay could hear anything else.

Jay was part of an elite reconnaissance team operating behind enemy lines, and he immediately recognized the call sign and voice. They belonged to his counterpart on another team: Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman. From his hidden perch, Jay responded again and again on his powerful satellite-capable radio. But he received no reply. The voice continued for about 40 minutes, he says, like a plaintive mantra—“This is Mako Three Zero Charlie…. This is Mako Three Zero Charlie….” Then it fell silent. It wasn’t until the next evening that Jay learned Chapman had died, that he was the last American to hear him alive.

Today, some 16 years after Chapman’s tragic death, fierce disagreement over what happened on that snowy peak threatens to overshadow two Medal of Honor recommendations that—as of publication—await White House approval. The bitter dispute pits members of the Navy SEALs against Air Force special operators and Army Rangers. It has entangled numerous senior military leaders, several of whom had personal links to the desperate fight on Takur Ghar mountain.

Story here.

Full disclosure this is from the cheap seats but from what I can tell...US Army Rangers stay as far away from SEALs as possible, Green Berets work with them when necessary and the SEALs avoid working with MARSOC cause they see a threat to their mission sets.

Long story short.

SEALs rep has taken a beating since McRaven and Rummy talked them up as super studs to push the war effort when it was floundering.

All those books and movies that the SEALs were pumping out?  In hindsight it was greenlighted to help support for the war.  The memes and patriotic demonstrations (mostly at football games and NASCAR events) were meant to do the same.

But shit like this.

Is it me or does SEAL culture look broken? 

I wasn't there so I don't know but we've had enough incidents to piece together that something wicked is going on inside that particular part of the Navy.

What is the answer?

My guess is it got too big, too fast and standards slipped.

But that can't be it.

We're talking about SEAL Team 6.  Unless there is another SEAL Team that is so top secret its never spoken of then this is the cream of the crop.

Additionally this incident happened at the start of the war on terror.  This was when they were still somewhat small and still EXTREMELY choosey when assessing personnel.

If this is true then the culture is broken and they need to fix it.  The answer?  It'll take some clear eyed, high speed operators to figure that one.  I haven't a clue.   

SU-57 is designed not for stealth but to hunt stealth aircraft?

via Business Insider.

As the scientist said, Russia didn't even appear to seriously try to make a stealth aircraft. The Su-57 takes certain measures, like storing weapons internally, that improve the stealth, but it's leaps and bounds from a US or even Chinese effort.

This highlights the true purpose of Russia's new fighter — not to evade radar itself, but to kill US stealth jets like the F-35 and F-22.

The Su-57 will feature side mounted radars along its nose, an infrared search-and-track radar up front, and additional radars in front and back, as well as on the wings.

As The Drive's Tyler Rogoway writes, the side-mounted radars on the Su-57 allow it to excel at a tactic called "beaming" that can trick the radars on US stealth jets. Beaming entails flying perpendicular to a fighter's radar in a way that makes the fighter dismiss the signature of the jet as a non-target.

Any fighter can "beam" by flying sideways, but the Su-57, with sideways-mounted radars, can actually guide missiles and score kills from that direction.

Russia has long taken a different approach to fighter aircraft than the US, but the Su-57 shows that even without the fancy percision-machined stealth of an F-22, Moscow's jets can remain dangerous and relevant.

Haven't heard the theory that the SU-57 is simply a stealth killer and nothing else but it kinda makes sense.

Additionally I've never heard much about this side mounted radar arrays except from the Airpower Australia boys, but if this is right then we have to consider something else too.

The entire SU-30+ family has this type of radar or can accommodate it.  That means that there are tons of currently flying airplanes that can employ this technique.

But what about the Chinese you say?

They're looking to play the game we do.  They're looking to conduct offensive operations.  Additionally it is as I've always said.  For better or worse and in defiance of conventional wisdom, the Russians are BUILDING A DEFENSIVE force.  You can look across their entire defense industry and for the most part they're building for the defense with limited offensive capability tossed in (and even that is found in the use of weapon systems in that role, not purpose built stealth attack aircraft).

Open Comment Post. May 9, 2018

Army Says It Needs $2B More Per Year For Big Six: Over Half For Air & Missile Defense

via Breaking Defense.

For example, the most expensive single initiative — part of the Air & Missile Defense portfolio — is $3.2 billion for Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense, the Army’s crash program to rebuild the frontline anti-aircraft units it largely disbanded after the Cold War. Identified as an urgent need in the face of Russian aggression, the M-SHORAD was already underway before Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley identified the Big Six. The program also relies on putting proven missiles and radars on a proven platform, the 8×8 Stryker, rather than inventing any new technology, so it can move quickly into production.

The second most expensive line item, also under Air & Missile Defense, is $2 billion for the Integrated Air & Missile Defense Command System. IBCS is meant to share targeting data among Patriot, THAAD, future anti-missile systems like lasers, and an array of Army radars. IBCS was the Air & Missile Defense community’s top priority before the Big Six were named and was already underway well before M-SHORAD.

Story here. 

This story should make every F-35 supporter pause in his tracks.  The US Army is basically declaring that the era of allied air superiority is over and that its up to the ground forces to protect themselves.

If they have the data to back this up, and I'm sure they do because they're shoveling money at air defense as fast as they can, then that's a stunning indictment of the USAF and will out of necessity cause a realignment of things.

The Army doesn't need ground attack because the USAF can do it. The Army doesn't need fighters cause the USAF can do it. The Army doesn't need transport airplanes cause the USAF can do it.

But what happens if a service doesn't live up to it's end of the bargain?

What happens when a service doesn't fulfill its roles and missions?

SAIC’s Mobile Protected Firepower light tank

Thanks to Vodknar for the pic!

Wow.  The ST Kinetics (SAIC) Light Tank looks good.  But it does highlight an issue.  Light is definitely relative.  I know ST Kinetics does good engineering. I wouldn't be surprised (I don't think even disappointed if they won the ACV contest...somehow the Marine Corps lucked into two great candidates) if they won the ACV contest, but on this vehicle I'm thinking a little thick, a little tall.

But this is the meta.

Placing a turret on an APC/IFV chassis and making it a light tank is all the rage.

We'll keep an eye on Army testing.

Russia confirms its armed robot tank was in Syria

via C4isrnet.

 And, according to statements published today in Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti, Deputy Minister of Defense Yuriy Borisov confirmed that the country tested Uran-9 robots in Syria.

“This is where it gets interesting. The exact RIA quote is as follows: ‘В военном ведомстве заявили, что отлично зарекомендовали себя в Сирии роботизированные комплексы ‘Уран-6’, предназначенные для разминирования местности, и ‘Уран-9’ — многофункциональные комплексы разведки и огневой поддержки подразделений на поле боя’,” says Samuel Bendett, a research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses. “Verbatim translation: The defense ministry announced that the robotic Uran-6 complexes designed for mine clearance were well-proven in Syria, as well as Uran-9 multifunctional reconnaissance and fire support system.”

While observers have written about the Uran-6 mine-clearing robot in Syria, and Russian media has even released video of the Uran-6 in action, the Uran-9 would be an altogether different phenomenon. Bendett says that, is all his time following Russia’s use of robots in Syria, there was only a single instance that purported to be the Uran-9, an instance that under further scrutiny was revealed to be not the robot, but a blurry photograph of a souped-up Soviet battle tank, the T-55 MBT, in Syrian government hands.

“In reality, Uran-9 tests in Syria should have garnered major attention from all major Russian news outlets, given how proud Russian are of their remote-controlled tank,” says Bendett. “Still, such tests may have taken place in secret – the way Russians supposedly tested Soratnik UGV in ‘near-combat conditions.’ Such ‘conditions’ may or may not have referred to Syria proper, although officially Russians announced tests at temperatures exceeding +30 Celsius, which many thought means Syria. Such tests may in fact have taken place in Russia’s own Ryn Desert - we tend to forget that Russia actually has a real desert near Kazakh border, on the Caspian Sea shore, with extreme heat of up to +45 Celsius.”

The statement from Borisov is clearer about the theater in which the robot was tested, but doesn’t resolve any of the questions about why no observers have spotted the Uran-9 yet, and why Russian media itself hasn’t heralded the fighting power of the robot. Indeed, when it comes to listing the capabilities of the machine, RIA is upfront.

Story here. 

Hmm.

The US Army is desperate to catch up to the Russians and get an "armored wingman" in the field as soon as possible.

But I have to wonder.

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

Would we better served with upgraded Abrams and more powerful guns on our IFVs instead? 

I know everyone thinks they're cool but I can't help but think these will be easy targets for human gunners...at least at this stage of their development.

Open Comment Post. May 8, 2018

Iranian nuke deal. Should we pull out of it? UPDATED!!! We Gone!

UPDATE:
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin (biblical reference).  Supposedly Trump is now informing Congress of his intent to pull out of the deal.  The course is set.  You can whine or you can try and figure out a way to make it work.  If a new deal can even be made.  I don't know.  Don't care.  The Iranians needed to be yanked back and for those of you that don't remember the Quds force has been active in Iraq AND in Syria. We've already been shooting at these bastards so no nuke treaty is really no big deal.  We're either gonna continue to cross swords or they're gonna get their minds right.  It's really up to them.

The president is suppose to make a decision on the Iranian nuke deal but I can't wrap my head around whether we should stay or go.

One thing is clear.

The former president pulled a fast one with this idiocy.  He went around Congress, played fast and loose with the rules and now we have this mess to deal with.  It's so obvious that they just KNEW that Hillary would win and preserve this thing and since she didn't they're going bat shit crazy that a blind man could see it.

But I can't let that one part of this thing go.

This was a total backroom deal that is flimsy at best and we don't even know all the issues with it because its confidential/secret or whatever classification they're using to keep the American people in the dark.

At this point I'm leaning toward pulling out.

With the Europeans, Iran and John Kerry doing behind the scenes lobbying it makes me wonder what they're trying to keep us from seeing.

I believe the Iranian people are worth an effort to reach out to.  I believe that the average man and woman on the street there is worthy of if not friendship then at least not being enemies.

But it's that 10 percent.  The religious zealots.  Those are the people that need to be shot in the face.

And that's the rub.

To get to the 10 percent THAT ARE ENEMIES of the US we have to go thru the other 90 percent...which means the good have to suffer for the bad.

Yep.

I decided.

End this mockery, set up a new deal thru Congress and do this the right way...if it can be done.  But either way we end this travesty now.