CH-53K pics...

US issues EU wide travel alert!

Thanks to Frederick for the link!

via travel.state.gov

As part of the State Department’s continuous efforts to provide Americans travelling abroad with information about relevant events, we are alerting U.S. citizens to the risk of potential terrorist attacks throughout Europe, targeting major events, tourist sites, restaurants, commercial centers and transportation. The large number of tourists visiting Europe in the summer months will present greater targets for terrorists planning attacks in public locations, especially at large events. This Travel Alert expires August 31, 2016.

Yeah.

Europe is gonna burn this summer.  Even the US State Dept is all but saying so!

Middle Eastern news papers are reporting that a US soldier died today....

Thanks to MiloMonkey for the terrible news.

via FarsNews.

The dead body of a US army soldier who was killed as he was fighting alongside the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has secretly been transferred to the US Incerlik airbase in Turkey from a village near Raqqa city.

The US soldier was killed in an ISIL's suicide attack before the SDF troops could win back the village of al-Hisha, Syria's Breaking News site reported.
Informed sources told the site that the dead soldier was the first of the 200 American soldiers that Washington has recently dispatched to Syria.
The US soldier was killed last Saturday night in ISIL's suicide attack near al-Hisha village in the outskirts of Raqqa city and his dead body was secretly transferred to the US Incerlik airbase in Turkey.
The report comes as the rift between the US and Turkey has widened due to the former's support for the Kurdish forces in Syria.

Whole story here.

CONSIDER THE SOURCE ON THIS ONE!  FARS is Iranian State News and its info is automatically suspect.

Having said all that, this doesn't have the whiff of propaganda to it.  Rest assured that if my readers have it, then so do our intel agencies and they would curb stomp the hell out of it before word hit the street if it was false.

So say a prayer for the fallen.

And pray that our national leadership stops listening to the Globalist and Wilsonians and stop getting us involved in these wars...I don't care if its to spread democracy or aid the suffering....

We've suffered too much too.  Its time for this to stop...and I'm hardly a peace-hawk.

More on the Corsac 8x8 infantry fighting vehicle (pics)

Thanks to Búrlivák for the pics (used with his permission...contact him before reposting)

F-35 expensive helmet is drawing negative attention...via Voice Of America.

via VOA

“I would really love a great answer from somebody about why an active duty air force officer is out conducting public relations work for Rockwell Collins and Lockheed Martin (F-35 contractors) ... trying to create excitement with regard to this helmet," Grazier said, referring to Andreotta.

Well said Mr. Grazier...well said....

Memorial Day...

Memorial Day.

A day of reflection for some.

The start of the summer for others.

I hope you took time to remember what this day is really about.  It doesn't take a ceremony at Arlington, just a quick thought about those that gave so much.  After that have it...enjoy the day...but always remember.

F-35 pilots can see thru the floor of the plane? To what end!

Thanks to Kjell for the link!


Pilot talks about the helmet and visuality within the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II from Krigeren.dk on Vimeo.

Watch the entire video then come back.  Ok, you're back?  Good.  Did you catch all that?  There is no doubt that this USAF pilot is singing the party line, but we did get hints of some cold honesty in there.

First he was almost dismissive of the "the F-35 is so advanced that you can see thru the floor" meme that is always trotted out.  I hear that so much from so many yet never once have I heard someone state a reason why that will help the airplane "fight" better.

The next thing I noticed was that he talked about the F-16 in extremely glowing terms.  I assume that's the plane he came from so its to be understood...but he went off the reservation when he talked about that planes maneuverability didn't he!  Additionally he wandered into some dangerous territory (at least as far as the F-35 fan club is concerned) when he talked about what the F-35, F-22 and F-16 are designed to do.  He called the F-22 the best air superiority fighter in the world.  He stated that the F-16 was designed as a day time, light weight air superiority fighter.

He said the F-35 was designed to do other things....he said it would do them well, but he did say it was designed to do other things.

To be fair at the end of the video he is fully back on board with the Pentagon's talking points and emphasized that if a plane got behind the F-35 and the plane was doing what its suppose to do then it was a pilot problem.

Again, the F-35 fan club will find comfort in that statement.  I noticed that it contained that MASSIVE caveat.  "If the plane does what its suppose to do".

The marker has been laid for the F-35 program not by a blogger but by an Air Force pilot.  They need to make sure that the plane does what its suppose to do.

8x8 Corsac infantry fighting vehicle via IHS Janes.

via IHSJ

Slovakia's MSM Group has unveiled a new air-transportable 8x8 wheeled infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) prototype called the Corsac, which is based on the General Dynamics European Land System (GDELS) Steyr Pandur II armoured personnel carrier.

China's Coast Guard further militarizes by now using Type 054 hulls via China Defense Blog.

pics and story via China Defense Blog

China's Coast Guard getting their own Type054 based hull

And why not, since the Type054 is a proven design with 24 hulls already in service and an extensive record of overseas deployments by the PLAN. By sharing the common hull with the PLAN, the Coast Guard is applying the economy-of-scale of the per unit cost in addition to reductions in logistics support and maintenance costs.

The Coast Guard is also sharing the same hull with Type056 so this is not unprecedented.

I think CDB is seriously downplaying this development.  This is upping the ante for not only our Coast Guard but for Coast Guard forces in the region.  By adding warships to their force structure they're in essence doing a stealth Navy build up.  Additionally the peacekeeping roles of Coast Guards is being blurred if they're going to operate full on warships.

Many will say that I'm crying chicken little but this is one more piece of evidence that China is getting ready to cross swords.  I wish we were.

Canadian Army - Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle

New J-20 variant picked up by IHS Janes?

Thanks to Hobgoblin Truth for the link!

pic and story via IHS Janes

IHS Jane's recently identified a radar cross-section (RCS) test complex in China. Airbus Defence and Space imagery captured on 24 April shows a recently completed test range northeast of Dingxin Airbase (AB) - the second new test site to be identified in the East Asian nation. The first one is located southwest of Beijing near Gaobeidian. A third possible site, predating the new complexes, is situated near Luoyang.
The location near Dingxin AB is well suited for a signature evaluation complex, with flat terrain and a lack of man-made or natural obstructions near the facility. Additionally, the configuration of the J-20 full-scale RCS test article present suggests design changes may be forthcoming to China's fifth-generation stealth fighter.
Along with the Gaobeidian RCS complex, the Dingxin RCS complex illustrates China's increasing attention to low-RCS aircraft design. The Dingxin RCS complex was constructed after the Gaobeidian site, which was built in the 2009 timeframe - perhaps in an effort to establish an RCS test range in a more secure location.

This should be staggering news for the F-35 fan club.  They're making changes to theJ-20 to make the plane even better.

The problem for the US?  If they're actually all in on the F-35 then not only do they need to get the software right but they need to start working on getting that next gen ADVENT engine in the plane, need to push forward with Meteor missiles, probably need to buy MANY more Growlers and need to get serious about it with a quickness.

If by chance we decide that we can take an operational risk to get our house in order and wash our hands of the F-35 debacle then we need the latest gen F-15/16/18/Growlers along with Meteor missiles and some clear thinking about a 6th gen jet.

No matter which way we go, we've wasted time and money on the F-35.  We've given the Chinese time to not only catch up but in some ways surpass our next fighter.

This is a sad state of affairs.  I hope historians aren't kind to our military leadership that rolled the dice on Lockheed Martins cash cow.

ACH-47 & the arming of the MV-22...Blast from the past...

What do I think when I see the current ideas being tossed around to arm the MV-22?  I think we're going back in the past and doing an Army version of the ACH-47 Chinook Guns a Go Go.

I see the same issues.  We're talking about an airplane thats bigger than the CH-46 being used in the direct attack role.  We're not talking about a fast airplane...the MV-22 is helicopter fast but it isn't attack jet/helicopter nimble.  Its as big as a barn and if you're talking about it getting low to hit targets its going to get shot out of the sky.

What is needed is suppressive fire when it goes into and out of landing zones.  Its design makes this hard but instead of accepting the fact that it IS hard and doing the work anyway, we're coming up with gimmicks.  This is unsat.

Mark my words on this one Tribe Members.  Putting rockets on the side of the MV-22 might look cool to many but it won't solve the problem.  The MV-22 will still be vulnerable entering/exiting landing zones.  Don't believe me?  Ask the US Navy SEALs.  via NextNavy

Does the airframe lack the ability to adequately suppress ground fire? One of the reasons the CV-22 may not be a good piece of kit for complex urban environments is simply that the aircraft lacks weaponry. In Afghanistan, the MV-22’s bolt-on Belly-Mounted Chain Gun was, at best, a heavy, nausea-inducing technical kludge (which was never used), and the tail ramp gun was a weak interim solution. But compared to the old MH-53M Pave Low’s ample armament, the stock, off-the-shelf CV-22 (assuming these haven’t been modified by the spooks too much) haslittle to suppress local fire by itself. Without excellent ISR and something overhead/alongside to support, the Osprey is not something I’d want to be flying into a potentially hot LZ (leaving is a different matter entirely).
A baby gunship (and–cough–far better intelligence collection/coordination from/with the diplomats on the ground-cough.) might be a nice addition to any future CV-22-backed NEO Mission Package in a relatively insecure environment.
Is the airframe sufficiently armored? It will be interesting to hear who got shot where and with what. If it was a lucky shot into the open rear of the aircraft that caused casualties, then, it’s a regrettable (and probably unavoidable) accident. If it’s something else…something sufficient to, say, ventilate the passenger/cargo area with a bunch of holes, that might be a sign the CV-22 is under-armored (And, if an AK-47 round penetrated the passenger/cargo area, we’ve got REAL problems). Again, as an OMFTS platform, the underlying understanding in development was that this platform would avoid flying into somebody’s crosshairs.
The other worry is that the CV-22 is bumping up against weight margins. It is no secret that the V-22–like every platform–got a bad case of developmental bloat, and that now, for every cool gadget that goes onto the airframe, something has to be taken off. If armor was taken off–or reduced–over the course of development, then, again, this may not be the right tool for an unaccompanied approach to an uncertain or contested LZ in a complex environment.
I would be interested to compare MH-53M protection with the CV-22.

Hooper is like other Defense Media...he's connected so he has to be polite.  I can be actual and factual.  The idea that the military is "figuring out" how to use a piece of gear that it bought almost 20 years ago is mind numbing.

Who buys something with the idea of figuring out how to use it?  The very idea that that meme has been allowed to be used without challenge annoys me to no end.  It applies to other kit too.  Remember the MLP?  We have to figure out how to use it!  The F-35?  Our aviators are figuring out how to use it!  That is insanity that's been allowed and I don't understand why.

But back on task.  The current idea of arming the MV-22 is a non-starter.  Someone has to tell the truth so I guess its up to me.

The crazy thing?

There were concepts to build "baby gunships" based on the XV-15.  In hindsight it might have been better to fully work the concept and build to that concept than this hodgepodge of mixed, incompatible fleets that we have now.