 |
| 2nd Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment along with the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment conducted an air assault yesterday during the Combined Live-Fire Exercise (CALFEX) |
The White House has approved long-pending fighter jet sales to Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, the chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker confirmed Wednesday.Interesting.
The package reportedly includes 72 Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles for Qatar and up to 40 Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets for Kuwait. Bahrain’s package includes Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters.
The cases have gone forward to the Hill, where relevant committees will review them ahead of a formal notification, Corker, R-Tenn., told Defense News. The Pentagon and State Department had already cleared the sales.
"I'm glad where we've gotten to the point where the notification is coming to Congress. We've been pushing for it for some time," Corker said.
Kuwait and Qatar first requested those potential sales more than two years ago.
Thanks to our bud 2468Wheels we go a bit more information on that turret we saw on that modded LAV at Modern Day Marine.
In the longest range surface-to-air intercept of its kind in naval history, a Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) Standard Missile-6 successfully destroyed an over-the-horizon, threat target.This press release is a bit frustrating. They talked alot but said very little. Over the horizon is relative. If you're standing at the top of Mount Everest then OTH is 209 miles. If you're a U-2 pilot flying at 70,000 feet its 324 miles.
The mission also demonstrated the combat capabilities that SM-6 brings to Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air, an effort designed to link U.S. Navy ships and airborne sensors into a single network via Cooperative Engagement Capability. The SM-6 was fired from the USS Princeton (CG59), a U.S. Navy Cruiser equipped with the latest Aegis baseline 9 combat system.
The active radar and extended range of the 'smart missile' allow it to track and destroy over-the-horizon targets, out of sight of operators on deck.
"The multi-mission SM-6 is in a class of its own as it demonstrates its ability to go further, faster and counter more threats to offer maximum mission flexibility," said Mike Campisi, Standard Missile-6 senior program director. "The missile's ability to defend against so many different threats makes it the go-to solution to meet modern fleet defense needs across the globe."
This is not the first time that SM-6 has shattered its own distance record. The missile broke the previous long-range intercept record in January of this year, a milestone it set itself in June of 2014.
SM-6 provides U.S. Navy vessels with extended-range protection against fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of flight, and an offensive capability against surface targets.
Marines May See Future Fights in Mega-Cities, Planners SayYeah that's right. Someone in the Ellis Group is actually thinking that a future fight in a mega city is actually doable. Those fuckers have to be smoking some Grade A Crack! Check this out from the article.
Company- and field-grade officers are rehashing a major effort: Operation Littoral Resolve, the largest integrated naval force operation since the 1950 Battle of Inchon during the Korean War.Has the Marine Corps become so wedded to an idea that they can't see the flaws and pitfalls? Do they not see the dangers here? Do they really believe that Expeditionary Squads can do what Battalions and Regiments can't? Do they really think that those squads and Special Ops bubas will survive in this type of environment?
It's never made clear where this fictional offensive takes place, but the officers in the scenario describe operations in a dense coastal city, during which Marines must monitor social media patterns to get a sense of who's friendly and how to interact with the population.
In this world, drones are everywhere providing real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, various Marine Corps elements from dispersed small infantry elements to special operations teams to coastal riverine elements integrate seamlessly, and the emerging technology of today features prominently in the fight.
"Working from our F-35 feeds, we sent up our [unmanned aircraft system] killers to take out their crew-served positions and command posts," a Marine expeditionary unit company commander reports in the debrief, referring to the new Joint Strike Fighter. "The mortar section got fire capped and was able to drop precision rounds right where the squad leaders told us to put 'em. They tapped the app and had rounds on target."
Futuristic, yes, but also an educated projection of what fights 10 years from now will look like, according to the 32-page Marine Corps Operating Concept released Wednesday.
