Open Comment Post. 20 Feb 2019

New Chinese infantry fighting vehicle at IDEX-2019

Note!  This thing is crazy.  Either the Chinese are trolling the hell outta us or they've gone mad.  Maybe my estimates are off...way off, but take a look at the pics and tell me if you're seeing what I am....

Continued!  Let's start at the front of this vehicle.  Either this thing is the most heavily armored tracked IFV planned, has an engine that can power an oil tanker or they have a HUGE amount of dead space up front.  How do I arrive at that?  Check out what I assume to be the drivers position just in front of the turret!  It's almost at the halfway point of the vehicle!  If this thing is to scale then it's monstrous.

Next take a look at the turret.  Then check out the caption that came with the pics (below)...

Until in the form of layout. Armament - 100 mm + 30 mm + 7.62 type turret of the BMP-3 and remote 2 installation type German Marder at the stern. The fighting compartment is similar to the same on BD-04A.

Again, I'm assuming that Chinese model makers build to scale.  That's a BMP turret riding on this thing.  By my crude estimates that makes this vehicle appear to be bigger than even their MBTs.  Probably bigger than even the Namer.

But wait it gets better! Check out the middle pic.  The caption says Marder style machine guns in the back.  Ok.  But again look at the scale!  50 cals?

If we're not getting trolled then the Chinese are about to build what the US Army wanted to...the 80 ton GCV.

Would they dare?

Is it possible I'm right?

What do you guys think?

2nd Tank Battalion Gunnery....pics by Lance Cpl. Ursula Smith

No F-35's for Turkey?

via AhavalNews.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a spending bill that blocks the transfer of the country's F-35 new generation fighter jets to Turkey.

According to spending bill signed by Trump on Friday, delivery of the jets to Turkey will be blocked until the U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense submit an update to the report regarding the purchase of Turkey of the S–400 missile defense system from the Russian Federation.

In earlier report to the Congress, Pentagon said Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile systems could result in Ankara’s potential expulsion from the F-35 program, as well as affecting its acquisition of other weapons including Boeing Co. ’s CH-47F Chinook helicopter and Lockheed’s F-16 fighter and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Story here. 

Hmm.  Definitely need to wait to see how this plays out.

The US Navy and Boeing receive permission to offer Finland the E/A-18G for the HX fighter program...

via Naval News.

Boeing and the U.S. Navy have received U.S. Department of Defense approval to offer the EA-18G Growler to Finland. Previously only Australia had been authorized to purchase the airborne electronic attack (AEA) aircraft.
-------------------------------------------------

An F/A-18 variant, the Growler is the world’s most advanced AEA platform and the only one in production today. It’s capable of disrupting, deceiving or denying a broad range of military electronic systems including radar and communication systems.

Story here.

This is interesting.  I never even considered the E/A-18G for the Finnish Air Force.  I wonder if they have a different view of future warfare than the rest of the Europeans?

Canada is trying to put lipstick on a tired bird...

Just wow.

Wonder how long Canada will be able to keep these planes in the air even with these upgrades changes.

At second glance these aren't major at all.  Small tweaks at the edges.

Suddenly I feel a bit of sympathy for the Canadian Air Force.  They're spunky but their leadership refuses to support them.  Whether new build Gripens or Typhoons or Super Hornets or even the F-35s...a decision needs to be made. 

Indecisiveness is NOT a desirable trait.

Today US Marines landed on Iwo Jima and suffered 6,800 casualties before seizing the island....

Today in 1945, US Marines land on Iwo Jima. 6,800 Americans are killed in the five-week campaign to secure the island. Japan's losses are higher with 18,000 dead. pic.twitter.com/FiVwxmEC2n

— Military History Now (@MilHistNow) February 18, 2019

Everyone talks peer vs peer warfare.

But has anyone thought about the butchers bill?  In WW2 US Marines could sustain 6,800 casualties over the course of just over a month and remain a coherent fighting force.

The public was NOT happy about the casualties but still supported the war.

If the same happened today would the American people still support the fight?  Could the US Army, US Marines, US Navy (I don't include the US Air Force because by the very nature of modern warfare unless a base was hit they wouldn't incur such losses) still function?

That's the loss of two Army Infantry Brigades.  Two Marine Expeditionary Units.  One Carrier plus a couple of escorts.

My point?

We need to think long and hard.  The American people must be educated about the cost of a future fight now.  Additionally politicians need to be made aware of the issues with fighting a peer opponent.

Can we win against a foe like China?

Yes.

But it will take more than tech, skilled warriors and courage on the battlefield.

It'll take conviction, a sense of purpose, a willingness to do the hard thing and see it through.

That's what I wonder about.  That's why I think any fight against a peer opponent MUST be framed as a fight for national survival.

Open Comment Post. 19 Feb 2019

Too Funny....Hoda Muthana 'deeply regrets' joining Isis and wants to return home

via Guardian.

An American woman captured by Kurdish forces after fleeing the last pocket of land controlled by Islamic State says she “deeply regrets” travelling to Syria to join the terror group and has pleaded to be allowed to return to her family in Alabama.

Agonising hunt by US father for children trapped in Isis enclave
 Read more
Once one of Isis’s most prominent online agitators who took to social media to call for the blood of Americans to be spilled, Hoda Muthana, 24, claims to have made a “big mistake” when she left the US four years ago and says she was brainwashed into doing so online.

Speaking from al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria, while her 18-month-old son played at her feet, Muthana said she misunderstood her faith, and that friends she had at the time believed they were following Islamic tenets when they aligned themselves to Isis.

“We were basically in the time of ignorance […] and then became jihadi, if you like to describe it that way,” she said. “I thought I was doing things correctly for the sake of God.”

Story here. 

Everyone has an "oh shit" moment.  Some are comedy gold.  Some are life altering.  Some demand punishment to the strongest degree possible.

This woman covered all the bases.

My opinion?

She shouldn't be allowed to return home.  I don't know the law book definition of treason but to join a terrorist organization that beheads its victims, to aid them in going on social media to call for the blood of Americans and then to want to return?

Not only no but hell no.

From LAV-25 to LAV-A2 and now LAV-A3?

via Defense Blog.

General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada (GDLS-C), a subsidiary of General Dynamics, has been awarded a $37.2 million (USD) contract to deliver 60 hardware kits for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) Reset Program.

According to a company’s statement, the hardware kit addresses key obsolescence and readiness issues and consists of a modern powerpack, driveline system, driver’s instrument panel and a new turret slip ring.

The fully integrated kits will be procured by General Dynamics and delivered to the Marine Corps for installation at Marine Corps Production Plants.

The enhancements are designed to extend the service life of the LAV into the 2030s.

Embedded in their original design, LAVs combine speed, maneuverability and firepower to perform a variety of functions, including security, command and control, reconnaissance and assault. The first LAVs were initially fielded in 1983.

Active light armored reconnaissance battalions will be the first units to receive the upgraded vehicles, which will become LAV A3s.

Just wow. 

Don't get this.  I thought they just upgraded to the LAV-A2 designation just a few years ago and now its on to LAV-A3?