CH-148 Cyclone conducts wet hoist training operations above the Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia.

Armor Porn. Patria AMV Nemo on display...

2nd AABn Conducts Gunnery Ranges....Pics by Lance Cpl. Christian Robertson

U.S. Marines land in Lithuania during BALTOPS 18 (The Corps is hot and heavy in Europe now!)

What gives here!

We've always been big in Northern Europe (since the Cold war and the Marines were tasked with defending NATO's flank) but now it's extending all over the continent.

When did this happen!

Make no mistake about it either.  We're all over Europe and we're participating in numerous exercises too (the Pentagon is allowing a false - high optempo to creep back ... this is not good for the force and terrible for equipment)....hell, we've even got a reader (John) running exercises over there and I'm waiting for the pics to hit so I can get them up on the blog.

For better or worse we seem to have decided to fight a war on terror, and plan for TWO MAJOR REGIONAL WARS, if exercises are an indication.  The Pentagon is gonna need a better focus on the money it spends, determine if there are savings in house and then beg Congress for more (assuming there is a deficit)...or else they're gonna have to rethink this strategy.

From my chair we will fail horribly in both Europe and the Pacific if things go bad.  The best bet is to make the Europeans stand up and deal with Russian aggression (I still don't believe the Russians have an offensive force...everything screams total defense to me) and we need to reorient to face the Chinese.

Failure to focus on real threats is how you suffer catastrophic national failure on the battlefield.

Blast from the past. Remember the assault on Europe...D-Day June 6, 1944...

Sometimes there are no words.

Sometimes you just have to drink in the events of a battle and marvel.

This is one of those times.

Dig into the history, check out the bravery on all the beaches and wonder how you would have performed under the same conditions.

Some debts can never be repaid....

Open Comment Post. 6 June 2018.

Joint Stars 2018

Self Defense News. If you can't carry a gun, at least carry a knife!

We all know how dangerous the wilderness can be, well late last month this hiker, Nate Edmonds, found out just how true that was. Nate was attacked by a coyote, that later tested positive for rabies, while hiking in Jones County and used his Benchmade to get to safety. 

Full story here.

US Navy gives Lockheed Martin 14+ Million to determine if the F-35 can meet future "operational" requirements...

via executive.biz

Lockheed Martin has received a $14.4 million contract from the U.S. Navy to determine if the current F-35 air system can address future operational requirements.
The company will also help the service branch explore cost and weight reduction strategies as well as conduct administer modeling and simulation efforts under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, the Defense Department said Monday.

Work also includes additional analysis efforts to examine changes to the aircraft’s design life, operational readiness, reliability and air system design and configuration.

The service branch will obligate $5 million in fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds at the time of award.

Lockheed will perform contract work in Fort Worth, Texas, through December 2018.

Wonder what they mean by "if the F-35 air system can address future operational requirements"?

Isn't that why they're building the fucking plane?

The funny - curious part is the weight reduction work.

I thought they had solved that.

The last bit is curious too.  This is all short fused for a govt contract.  This should be done December of this year?

The F-35 is one snake bit airplane.  Everyone wants to say that its the Brewster Buffalo but they're wrong.  The F-35 is the Cutlass reborn...

F-35 has 966 "Open Deficiencies"...

via Bloomberg

The Defense Department office that oversees the F-35 program was criticized by a government watchdog for its plans to delay fixing critical deficiencies on the fighter until after a decision to start full-rate production is made -- a move that won’t come before October 2019.

The F-35 -- the world’s most expensive weapons program -- had 966 “open deficiencies” as of January, the Government Accountability Office said in an annual report released Tuesday. Of those, at least 180 “will not be resolved before full-rate production” under the Pentagon office’s current plans, according to the report.

The production decision would commit the U.S. to building 77 or more of the Lockheed Martin Corp. aircraft per year over the next 12 years, up from 70 this year. Output would peak at 105 aircraft in 2023 at an annual cost of $13.4 billion and stay at that rate for six years. That makes it imperative for the Pentagon to fix the deficiencies before a decision about production -- the most profitable phase for Lockheed -- is made, the report said.

Story here. 

Even if you support this program (and I believe you need to be drug tested if you do) then I still don't get how you can just give this a wink and a nod!

The idea that they're about to put into production an airplane that has this many defects, a jacked up modification regime that will leave hundreds of planes unusable and still think its a good idea to go to full rate production is something that a crack whore on Bourbon street wouldn't even think is "something to do".

It's almost like someone inside the Pentagon is a Chinese spy wrecking our defense capability from the inside.