I was worried about this. Atlanta PD has entire zones uncovered in sickout...

via Star Tribune.

Atlanta police officers called out sick Thursday to protest the filing of murder charges against an officer who shot a man in the back, while the interim chief acknowledged members of the force feel abandoned amid protests demanding massive changes to policing.

Interim Chief Rodney Bryant told The Associated Press in an interview that the sick calls began Wednesday night and continued Thursday, but said the department has sufficient staff to protect the city. It's not clear how many officers have called out.

"Some are angry. Some are fearful. Some are confused on what we do in this space. Some may feel abandoned," Bryant said of the officers. "But we are there to assure them that we will continue to move forward and get through this."

Here 

I was worried this was coming.  Worse?  I can see this going nationwide.  The problem?  Let's say that many LEOs in your dept decide to participate in this type of action.

You (assuming you're a LEO) know the deal and know that instead of backup being a few minutes away because your buddy will drive like Mad Max to get to you, you now know it'll be 15 minutes because the closest backup is across the city?

How do you walk into that snake pit knowing that reality?

Even worse?  From my chair we've seen these "pop up" mobs (I make the distinction between protests and mobs that are surrounding police cruisers/assaulting police etc..) and you're asking a force that is already under staffed to operate in even MORE understaffed condition in this environment?

I have to admit that I saw the shooting in Atlanta as justified.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe the prosecutor overcharged but the end result of all this will be the same.

You can expect ever major urban area to become even more unsafe than they are today.  We're on the cusp of a major crimewave and at the end of the day the reasons are irrelevant.

T-90 tanks, Su-30 fighter jets, Mi-28 helicopters, Buk-M2 air defense systems on exercise in Algeria...

Cezayir'in gerçekleştirdiği tatbikata ait görüntüler.

Tatbikatta T-90 tankları, Su-30 savaş uçakları, Mi-28 helikopterler, Buk-M2 hava savunma sistemleri kullanıldı. pic.twitter.com/wpRNqOMC47

— Turkish Defence Agency (@tdefenceagency) June 18, 2020

China CAPTURED 10 Indian soldiers during the recent border clash!

via Bloomberg

China’s military has released 10 Indian soldiers captured on Monday during deadly clashes between troops from the two nations along their contested Himalayan border, senior Indian officials with knowledge of the matter said.

The Indian Government did not ever confirm the troops -- including two officers -- were missing. Instead it issued a statement on Thursday saying there were no soldiers missing in action.

Their release followed talks between senior military commanders in Galwan, the officials said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.

The skirmishes with stones, iron rods and bamboo poles wrapped in barbed wire laced with nails left 20 Indian soldiers dead along with an unknown number of Chinese casualties. The scuffle is the worst border incident between the two nations in at least 45 years, and signaled a sharp deterioration in ties between the two regional giants.

The violence broke out Monday afternoon and went on until midnight on the Tibetan plateau along the freezing Galwan river.

Indian Army spokesman Aman Anand declined to comment, while India’s spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava, referred Bloomberg to the one-line statement denying Indian soldiers were missing.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Curious.

I really can't explain this except that is magnanimous behavior on the part of the Chinese AND it appears to be an attempt at de-escalation.

Gotta give credit where it's due.

This move plays to even a critic like myself of the Chinese govt so it should play extremely well in the court of international opinion.

On the other side of the table is the Indian govt reaction.

Surely they knew that their soldiers had been captured.  So why no mention of it?  Did they assume that the Chinese would kill them?  I don't know but its curious indeed.

More to come.  Obviously alot more happened on that mountain pass than we're being told.

Rheinmetall Pionierpanzer 3 KODIAK (PiPz3)

Successful first firings of Saab’s Lightweight Torpedo

U.S. Army Soldiers Participate in Exercise Allied Spirit

Open Comment Post. 19 June 2020

Single Seat A-6 Intruder variant mockup, for the program to replace the A-4...via Reddit Weird Wings...

Never heard of this before.  I'm rather intrigued.  If they could have kept the same avionics and fuel carriage (which I seriously doubt with regard to fuel) then this thing would have given the A-7 Corsair II a run for it's money.

General Dynamics European Land Systems Dragon 8x8...pics by JM Serrano

Thanks to Toni Hawk for the link!

India moving more troops to "Line Of Actual Control", authorizing emergency buildup of war stocks

via Times of India.

The government has given powers to the armed forces to make emergency procurements to stock up its war reserves in the wake of escalating conflict with China along the Line of Actual Control.

While India has initiated dialogue to contain the conflict in Ladakh, sources said, the government did not want to leave anything to chance at this stage, especially after the violence on Monday night.

Story here. 

I really don't know if either country will be able to pull back due to their cultures (I don't mean that in an insulting way so don't get it twisted).

The weird thing?

I've talked about an aggressive battalion commander kicking this off but its much worse than that.  All it will take is one macho company commander, hyped up platoon commander, balls to the wall squad leader on either side to possibly start a war.

This is the terrible thing about forward deployed forces within close proximity to enemy troops.

One miscalculation on either side could turn deadly.

Pacific Power Display..

Pacific Power ✈︎ Aircraft fly in formation over #USSNimitz in the Pacific Ocean, while the aircraft carrier is underway for a composite training unit exercise. pic.twitter.com/YMEXHa6wBl

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) June 18, 2020

I saw this vid and all I could think is that line from the Star Wars movie by Darth Sidious...



Sidenote.

The Commandant is talking about more and better integration with the Navy.  Cool.  But he's bypassing the low hanging fruit.  The purchase of F-35C's should be cancelled immediately and the Marines should be buying Super Hornet Blk 3's like candy before Halloween.

Ground based anti-air efforts...

Thanks to Snafuperman for the idea...

Snafuperman asked what happened to the US Army's Multi Mission Launcher. The quick answer?  They quit the project.

For whatever reason (I believe its the fighter mafia combined with the ground forces belief that the aviation would get the job done so there was no need to invest in the capability) US ground forces have had a pathetic record when it comes to ground based anti-air capability.



The LAV-AD had perhaps the shortest active run of any vehicle in the US Marines in recent memory.  It seems like one day it was in service, the next day retired.

I don't know anything about how the Army views the Avenger but it has been around awhile.  Biggest obvious plus?  8 ready rounds to engage the enemy (or 4 plus the laser in butched up versions).

Moving toward the future the US Army has a new SHORAD Stryker based setup that looks right.  Problem for the Marines?  Fitting it on a JLTV will be beyond problematic.  If the MOOG system is too heavy then this will flatten the roof of a JLTV while you're setting it up much less driving cross country.

The Russians always have emphasized ground based anti-air and use the Tigr platform as the baseline for the Gibka anti-air command vehicle and missile carrier.

The Poles use the POPRAD that also comes with a radar (mounted on the same vehicle type) that just entered service.

Even the Chinese have a ground based anti-air system with more than 4 ready rounds!

Long story short?

I'm not sure US ground forces have taken the idea of organic anti-air seriously. There are various examples around the world of how it could be done.

What has me spinning?  If its about killing UAVs then EOS Defense Systems USA has shown that its R400 Mk 2 has an organic anti-air capability.

If we're not gonna get serious about building the capability in a unique vehicle then our IFVs should have the ability to at least defend themselves with the proper weapons fits.