Friday, March 06, 2020

A pair of EA-18G Growlers from NAS Whidbey...via Jennifer Schuld's Twitter Page...





China is deploying "disinfection" robots in Wuhan...



I'll take the body slam on this one but I gotta know.  What are they spraying to disinfect large areas in China?  A bleach water solution?  Some type of super powered Lysol?

Silly question but I seriously have no idea.

Back on task.

This thing must still be raging in China.  It's obvious too that N. Korea must be getting SLAMMED by this thing if S. Korea and Japan are affected.  Wonder if this could lead to the death of the little fat bastard and calamity or an opportunity. 

Also its apparent that WHO is not declaring a pandemic for one reason alone. Economics.  A pandemic declaration could literally destroy globalization (although many here seem to doubt that).

Last thing.

You know what everyone is missing about the Spanish flu?  The first wave wasn't anything.  It was considered a seasonal flu and was basically ignored by any and everyone.  When it came around the next year (after mutating) is when we saw massive deaths. 

My view of this thing has changed.  I think its gonna sputter out by the end of March, early April.

Later this year and early next is when we're gonna get body slammed by this thing.  I think most will forget about this thing (except for govts and the scientist that work for them) and you'll see everyone attempt to go back to normal just in time for this thing to go sideways  just in time for the Christmas season.

Stock up on masks this summer.  I believe you'll be ok for the first wave of this thing.

Blast from the past. M26 Pershing duels and destroys a German Panther in the streets of Cologne...

Corporal Léo Major ("Canadian Rambo")...The two war hero that defined Canadian heroism - and a guy you probably never heard of...

He was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things, but most Canadians don’t know his name.

He landed on the beaches as part of the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944. Later that day, he captured a German armoured vehicle by himself.

He refused to be evacuated when he injured his left eye in combat. At the Battle of the Scheldt, he single-handedly captured 93 Germans after an entire garrison surrendered to him.

He refused to be evacuated when an exploding landmine broke his back. In one night, he single-handedly liberated the Dutch town of Zwolle by forcing the enemy to retreat.

He volunteered for service in the Korean War in 1950. He led his men to capture and defend Hill 355 for three days despite being vastly outnumbered.

He is one of only three Canadians to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in two separate wars. Some called him the “Canadian Rambo”.  His name is Corporal Léo Major.

CH-53K, K4 Flt 205 and K5 Flt 42, fly in formation from NAS Patuxent River, MD









Jolly Green II: Sikorsky HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter






Wednesday, March 04, 2020

Royal Canadian Air Force CH-148 Cyclone @ the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City




Infographic. CLASH REPORT's "Lethal Fusion of Armed & Electronic Attack UAVs"




Can't lie.  If this is how the Turks pulled this off then I'm impressed.  Didn't think they had this capability.  Has anyone ever done this before with UAVs? If they have I haven't heard about it.

The thing is that you must have a fleet of UAVs that you're basically willing to throw away...that you can risk without question.

In this case its obvious that Turkey considered Russian Air Defenses to be such a high priority that they were willing to have a portion of their "fleet" attrited.

Of course this does raise other questions.

Why do this instead of attack with long range missiles?  Are they caught up in the same "penetration of air space" that the US air arms are locked into?  Do they have missiles that could accomplish the task?  Would missiles be easier to spoof?

Could the same have been accomplished with the US Marine Corps focus on using UAVs for targeting and having artillery (cannon or rocket) accomplish the kill instead?

Does using ground based fires present a potential risk to those systems?  If so what are they?  Can the risk be mitigated and lower cost assets used?

Many questions few answers and at the end of the day I'm left with this....Turkey just did something that at least to me seems to be a new "revolution in warfare".

Late Open Comment Post. 4 Mar 2020


FOST (Flag Officer Sea Training) and 846 NAS on deck landings with Merlin Multi-Purpose Helicopters...





Tuesday, March 03, 2020

Aviation Centric Assault Ship delivered...


I really have to wonder why we continue to walk the middle ground with these ships.  In reality they are no longer multi-purpose.  They've evolved to light carriers.

Full stop.

I like the idea of medium amphibious assault ships because the Ground Combat Element still needs a ride. 

Of course this brings me to the real point.

Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) need to be totally revamped.

From my chair the divergence is complete.  We have Marine Aviation that will be the main Corps force in fighting the sea battle (and make no mistake about it...all the talk from critics about being a second land army has made a terrible impression on the brass...so much so that I fear the loss of capability on the ground) while the GCE will still do MOST of the heavy lifting in small wars/embassy evacuations etc...

Since we tend to send MEUs to the hotspots around the globe and since in the past 50 years its been mostly a ground affair I propose we develop two separate MEUs.

One aviation based and the other biased toward the GCE.

How would that look?  MEU-Aviation would include a new jack LHA, a San Antonio Class LPD and that's it.  You could carry a Company Landing Team, JLTVs, and howitzers for limited ground actions.  It would be biased toward F-35s and MV-22s.  Extra space that would come from leaving a Battalion Landing Team behind would go toward aviation stores and enhancing attached artillery.

The GCE based MEU would contain a LHD, San Antonio Class LPD, 3 Medium Amphibious Assault Ships, an MLP (still can't latch onto the new designation).  It would have a reduced air wing based mostly on MV-22s, would carry what is now standard loadout for ground action in addition to reinforced artillery (both cannon and rocket).

Enough of the middling.  Time to get this done.

Boeing FARA, the future attack reconnaissance aircraft