Combat in a built-up area is close, personal and extremely violent....via ZuluFucxs Instagram Page

 

zulufucxs "Combat in a built-up area is close, personal and extremely violent. We were familiar with fighting in dense jungles but were disoriented by the combat in tightly packed streets. Sounds ricocheted off walls adding to the confusion of urban combat. Crumbled buildings and blind corners made perfect sniper nests and ambush points. It was chaos.

It was just absolutely utter devastation, burned out trucks and bodies on the road. The stench of death was there all the time.

I remember looking up and saw someone with a cross on his uniform, and I knew he was a chaplain. He told us, 'I don't know if some of you will make it to Sunday...I'd like to give you guys last rites.'

During the fighting, all I could hear were people say, 'I'm hit, I'm hit, I'm hit.' And I kept thinking, when is a bullet going to hit me?

If there's anything close to hell, it had to be Hue." – Lcpl. Richard Prince, Delta Co., 1/5 Marines, Hue City, Vietnam, Feb 15, 1968.

(Photo shows a Marine taking cover next to the remains of a radio operator who took a direct hit from a missile).

What is this craziness supposedly happening in Russia?

#coronavirus #koronavirus
🔴Rusya
Sanırım rusya'da binaların kapıları arızalı. Yoksa niye cesetler iple bağlanıp baş aşağı sarkıtılsın,ceset dolu kamyona konsun... pic.twitter.com/nH3vWJEQi9

— Abdullah T.R #coronavirus (@TraderAT12) September 30, 2020

This craziness is supposedly happening in Russia. Any of my readers have a clue as to whether its true or not? If it is true then what's the deal? If this is coronavirus related then its super batshit crazy. Aren't the deceased still infectious?This is the translation of the Tweet...

Russia I think the doors of the buildings are defective in Russia. Otherwise, why should the corpses be tied up with a rope and hung upside down, put on the truck full of corpses ...

VBMR Griffon in North Africa doing work!

 Note.  How do the French classify this vehicle?  Is it a wheeled apc, MRAP, some unknown designated troop carrier or what?

Phase d’aguerrissement en zone désertique de niveau SGTIA pour les marsouins du 5e RIAOM, accompagnés pour la 1ère fois du VBMR Griffon #Djibouti #FFDJ

📸#5RIAOMhttps://t.co/TYZgjeXALN pic.twitter.com/G8xoJUvmc1

— Forcesoperations (@ForcesOperation) September 28, 2020

This will get out of control. It will get out of control and the machines will kill us all!

Excl: A shotgun-armed drone that can fly indoors & identify targets using AI has been developed by British military.

The i9 has overcome the “wall suck” problem facing drones flying indoors.

It’ll be used in urban warfare & could be fitted with a rocket or chain gun in future. pic.twitter.com/I6ImnEBHDW

— Lucy Fisher (@LOS_Fisher) September 29, 2020

Armenian Army finally released it. Here is the second video showing shot down of a Mi-24 heavy attack helicopter of Azerbaijan Air Force

#BREAKING: #ArmenianArmy finally released it. Here is the second video showing shot down of a Mi-24 heavy attack helicopter of #Azerbaijan Air Force by an Osa-AKM SAM system of #Armenia Air Defense Force at #Artsakh/#NagornoKarabakh most probably two days ago. https://t.co/hQlTprMcS5 pic.twitter.com/bZLJgmt7Ja

— Babak Taghvaee - Μπάπακ Τακβαίε - بابک تقوایی (@BabakTaghvaee) September 29, 2020

Hellenic Tank Challenge 2020

 

Here.

We've been focused on the Light Amphibious Warship but the Missile Marine's main effort is the Next Generation Medium Logistics Ship....

 

Light Amphibious Warship

via Breaking Defense

The Next Generation Medium Logistics Ship is the bigger effort, representing an entirely new class of manned ship designed to operate in a crowded environment while supplying ships at sea and a new, lighter, Marine force on the ground that is currently being designed by Commandant Gen. David Berger. 

Here. 

We know what they're looking at for the LAW, the article says that a freaking FRIGATE might work in the logistics role (I can't even imagine how that would work!) but other than that I've seen little on this (although in hindsight a little birdy on Twitter did give me a clue but I was too stupid to realize it!!!!!).

This is another shatterpoint for this entire plan.

I've been focusing on warfighting but Berger is apparently enthralled by the logistics challenge of the thing.  I get it.  If these small, dispersed units can possibly survive then resupply will be vital for their CONTINUED survival (and combat effectiveness...I doubt they'll live long under a Chinese onslaught though).

So he's thinking logistics.

Cool.

Wonder what his ideal ship is?  Can it be bought off the shelf?  In my mind its either in inventory now or is cheap as chips or this shatterpoint will become a show stopper.

They finally figured out what they're gonna do with the JHSVs and you're not gonna believe it...

 via DVIDS

Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport vessel USNS Burlington (T-EPF-10) departed its hub port in Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek – Fort Story, Va., Saturday, September 26, in support of a three-month deployment in U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility.

Serving as an afloat forward staging base style platform, Burlington will transport a Maintenance Expeditionary Team of active duty sailors and their equipment and repair materials to various Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) locations for scheduled maintenance. Destroyer Squadron 40 and Task Force 45 will embark an officer-in-charge to serve as the command element and take tactical control of the vessel to execute the mission.

Burlington was chosen to test a proof-of-concept of operation that capitalizes on the unique capabilities of EPFs to support Planned Maintenance Availabilities (PMAV) of the LCS class ships deployed to U.S. SOUTHCOM.

The EPF compliments the Littoral Combat Ship nicely, said Burlington master, Captain Todd Kutkiewicz. “Similar to EPFs, LCSs are also designed for high speed intra-theater operations with the additional combat capabilities. The difference between the two ships is that an LCS is a commissioned warship, whereas an EPF is a Naval Auxiliary vessel operated entirely by Civilian Merchant Mariners employed by Military Sealift Command. Despite the difference, together, these ships may prove to be an excellent pairing, and this concept of operation seeks to determine how well the EPF class vessel will support future LCS forward deployed sustainment.”

Burlington is a 338-foot-long aluminum catamaran designed to be fast, flexible and maneuverable, even in austere ports, making it ideal for rapidly transporting troops and equipment within a theater of operations. It has the capability to carry up to 300 troops and 600 tons of cargo at high speeds in support of intra-theater sealift and logistics. In addition to reaching maximum speeds of 25-45 knots, EPF-10 is equipped with an expansive flight deck, a load ramp capable of supporting 100 tons of weight, and a 20,000 square-foot mission bay.

EPFs have sleeping accommodations for up to 42 crew members, 104 mission personnel, and an airline-style seating for 312 people. Its aviation flight deck can support day and night flight operations for a wide variety of aircraft, including CH-53 Super Stallions.

EPF-10 is one of 14 EPFs scheduled to be built for the U.S. Navy. It is crewed by 25 civil service mariners working for MSC who operate, navigate and maintain the ship. For this mission, the crew will be accompanied by both active duty sailors and marines.

Just plain wow.  After all the stomping of feet saying we needed these ships for intra-theater lift and now they're being turned into LCS tenders!

Simply amazing. 

MSC provides essential assured logistics and service support to the joint warfighter, enabling distributed lethality and maritime dominance as the nation’s premier maritime transportation organization.

Marines with 3rd Recon load a UTV onto a CH-53 Super Stallion

 

Let me hit you with a crazy fact. Soon the 82nd Airborne will be heavier than the USMC! Think about it. They'll have JLTVs, Squad Mobility Vehicles, an Airborne Light Tank. Meanwhile, if my prediction is correct and Berger kills the ACV to pay for his "transformation", then the heaviest ground combat vehicle in USMC service will be the JLTV. Not only will the 82nd have a more powerful ground combat element but it'll also be tactically more mobile. 

 With the exception of F-35s (which will almost certainly be seconded to the sea fight and NOT close air support) the 82nd will also have a comparable and some would argue more capable air wing. How far the Missile Marines have fallen!

Marine Corps Leadership is thinking of a "Guadalcanal 2" in the fight with China????

 via Seapower Magazine.

Japan in 1941 was a near-peer adversary of the United States, with advanced technology, expansionist policies and a bullying attitude toward neighboring countries, says Major Gen. Gregg Olson, director of the Marine Corps Staff.  While the foes and times have changed “the concepts and realities of war in the vast distances that occur in the Pacific remain the same,” he added.

Like the Marines who landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942, today’s Marines will face the same sweeping distances, vulnerable supply lines, contested air, sea – and now cyber – space limitations, across a battlespace of scattered, remote islands of steaming jungle or barren volcanic rock. “That’s the framework for the next conflict,” Olson told the virtual Modern Day Marine Exposition Sept. 23.

Victory on Guadalcanal and the rest of the Pacific came “at the cost of capital ships and thousands of lives,” Olson noted. Another speaker at the conference, Major Gen. Paul Rock, director of Marine Corps  Strategies and Plans, said high casualties could be likely again. “Attrition is going to be a factor in a future fight,” Rock said.

Here. 

GEEZ!

Maybe stuff has changed but the Marine Corps history I read said "never again" when it came to the fight on Guadalcanal!  Now they're actually pointing to it and saying...yeah our next fight is gonna be like that?  ARE YOU SHITTING ME!

Kinda puts into light those small amphibious ships and those small logistics ships don't it.

They're building a force they can lose.

Now I get the talking point that has been annoying the fuck outta me.  The Missile Marines will be the "eyes and ears" of the joint force?

They're gonna be the bait that gets shot at so the Navy and Air Force (probably the Army too but at least they live in the mud too) can hit ships!

I've never thought of Marines as being sacrificial lambs to the God Of War but I guess I was being naive.  Obviously Marine Corps generals think that way.

Open Comment Post. 29 Sept 2020

 

Bigger fighters for the USAF? Weaponized tankers?

 

via Aviation Week

One option for reducing demand on tankers is a new fighter aircraft that is designed to carry more fuel. 

“Maybe having [the] small, currently sized fighters is not the way to go in [the] future,” Roper said. “And since we’re all abuzz with digital engineering and thinking about what the future fighter force could look like, thinking about bigger fighters is a natural question.”

Another way to make the KC-46 fleet more survivable, and thus operate closer to the forward edge of contested airspace, is to weaponize the aircraft, he said. 

“We don’t put weapons and sensors on tankers to shoot down aircraft, but the current KC-46 is a big airplane with the ability to mount sensors and weapons under the wings,” Roper said. “We just don’t do it because we can use a fighter combat air patrol to defend high-value assets.” 

Here 

This is some pretty exciting stuff.  The USAF is finally getting its head around the fight in the Pacific.  

I don't know who the bubba was that eviscerated the Strategic Air Command but that decision is biting us hard.  We have an unbalanced USAF and its showing now.

He's talking about a bigger fighter?  He's actually talking about something that's the size of the F-111, or the canned F-108 or any number of projects that came out during the 60's that had high speed and long range.

Weaponizing tankers?

Kinda stunning.

You do get the force of connection don't you?

I guess a wargame showed that enemy fighters WOULD break thru and hazard tankers.  That's sobering to say the least.

I would pay good money to get a look at that classified wargame that has everyone jumping thru hoops.

Those two decades chasing tribals in the Middle East really fucked us up good. Now we're playing catchup and everyone is throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks.

Side note.  Is all this an indictment of the F-35?  They're talking about a new, bigger fighter and this plane isn't really in service yet.  Will it even make it to 2035 much less 2050?