Some sweet renders of the Hanwha AS21 Redback. Arguably the most modern infantry fighting vehicles in soldiers’ hands at the moment. pic.twitter.com/6UuiuEPJZ4
— Gregory Knowles (@2805662) June 26, 2021
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| Check this out! #BlackJack Troopers with 8th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd ABCT, BreachMaster Company, exercised the new Joint Assault Bridge during Doctrine and Tactics Training on Fort Hood. The JAB provides rapid combined arms gap crossing capabilities to maneuver units |
via SeaPower
Berger added that in the current budget climate, the Corps will pay for its Force Design 2030 initiatives by retiring some legacy systems and shifting the savings to new programs.
“We will self-fund our modernization,” he said. “To ensure the success of this approach, I will ask for your support in reducing the total procurement of some platforms commensurate with the recent reductions in our end-strength.
“The fact is, our Marine Corps is significantly smaller than it was a decade ago, about 24,000 Marines smaller,” he said. “That means we won’t need as many ground vehicles; we won’t need as many aircraft as we thought we did when initial procurement decisions were made decades ago. With the reductions outlined in our Force Design report, I believe we will have sufficient resources to create the modern capabilities required for competition, deterrence and crisis response without a further reduction in our end-strength.
“That approach, however, relies 100 percent on this committee’s confidence on allowing the Marine Corps to retain and reallocate the internal resources we generate through end-strength reductions, cutting legacy platforms and right-sizing programs of record for new capabilities like the F-35 [strike fighter], the CH-53K [heavy-lift helicopter] and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle,” he said.
I'm not sure about what the evil mutant is thinking on this one!
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| AKA...Berger MODOKLMC (Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing the Legacy Marine Corps) |
The F-35 is certainly on its way to being right sized down. The maintenance just doesn't allow for the programmed buy. That alone will eat up the Marine Corps budget.
Not sure about the CH-53K. Like CoffeeJoeJava says (and he's banging the table on it too!), this whole thing is hanging on the string of logistics. I personally don't think they're up to it. Not even in a peacetime scenario much less full on combat. If they can POSSIBLY make this thing work it means they're gonna need CH-53Ks. Or do they? If they can make the small robot boat thing work then surface resupply becomes possible.
Still hate the idea and many people don't know it but piracy is an issue in the Pacific region. I can see more than a few opportunistic fishermen and full bore Jolly Roger flag flying idiots grabbing robot boats filled with supplies...that's not even counting the Chinese Navy/Coast Guard.
The JLTV? I am lost in the woods on this one. They're moving forward with Nemsis or whatever they call it. A two shot launcher instead of following the lead of the Army and basing it off a FMTV chassis? Don't make sense UNLESS he's pushing the recon thing of this even more than I thought.
An entire service devoted to recon when you can do better with a constellation of sats flying overhead? Makes no sense but there you have it.
I'm guessing he might buy more JLTVs.
Off topic but it needs to be addressed. They're sitting pretty with recruiting because they're cutting. But in the future when you need warm bodies how do you sell this new Marine Corps?
What the fuck is it? If you sell the glorious past then you're lying about what new recruits will walk into. If you try and sell what its going to be then no one will want to join. Better the Army if you want to be a trigger puller. Better to be an Airman or Sailor if you want to launch missiles.
How the fuck do you sell the New Missile Marine Corps to potential recruits? What the fuck is it? How do you make the case if you don't sell a past that is no longer part of its future?
The AMPV: The next generation answer to the Armored Brigade Combat Team’s (ABCT) protection, mobility, reliability and interoperability needs. pic.twitter.com/bIW5dNLgJB
— BAE Systems, Inc. (@BAESystemsInc) June 25, 2021
French Army officially renewed Nexter's support contract for Leclerc, "extended [10 years] to include the treatment of major obsolescence and the renovation of the first 50 tanks [to XLR standard]".
— Jon Hawkes (@JonHawkes275) June 25, 2021
This follows French MoD announcement on 1st April of a EUR1bn contract for... pic.twitter.com/2VJUcxZHXs
via Defense News.
“Its important for me to say to BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and all the other [ contractors] that ‘It’s in your interest to keep through-life support costs down’ because simply, I don’t want to be held to a massive bill I can’t get out of,” he said.
“Also it’s important that we continue the planned integration of Meteor on the F-35, I don’t want to be put to the back of the queue for that and it’s in all your interests that if you want me to carry on buying F-35 that we keep a lid on those costs and that we are treated fairly integrating a European made missile [on the jet].
“We need more than 48 and we will invest in more than 48, but I’m not in the business of giving a blank check to contractors if they don’t play their part in cost controls, support and indeed making sure Britain’s developed capabilities are put on them [ the F-35], " Wallace told lawmakers.
The two issues? Maintenance and weapons integration.
Ya know it really comes down to the back end doesn't it? Lockheed banked on making a ton of money on the back end thru a constant drip of maintenance contracts to keep the well primed for upgrades etc.
The problem?
Almost from the start this program went off the rails, we started seeing so called 4th gen fighters getting 5th gen features and when it comes to weapon variety the F-35 just doesn't have it.
It really was a tight fit for internal carriage of weapons and instead of simply saying to hell with it, they started trying to do a crash course to get stuff that fit.
Meanwhile the threat evolved, the style of combat evolved and big, long range, fast and more lethal warheads were desired.
So internal carriage became less important.
Which screwed the program harder.
It no longer matters how many more customers line up to buy the plane.
The F-35 did make it into service. It won't be a long service but it made it. By 2030 this plane will start being withdrawn and either indigenous designs will take its place or we'll see next gen models zoom to the fore.
#Chinese navy’s new mystery #Submarine, what we know.
— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) June 25, 2021
And why we should stop saying it’s a copy of the Swedish A-26 class.
Even managed to get it on Airbus satellite imagery. https://t.co/EN4lbgSqz5
