Pics of the day. March 2, 2011.

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- On Feb. 26, 2011, an F-35B test aircraft (BF-2) completed its 100th flight with Lockheed Martin test pilot David "Doc" Nelson at the controls. The 100th flight for BF-2 accomplished further short take-off envelope expansion in preparation for shipboard testing later this year. The F-35B is the Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, which is capable of short take-offs and vertical landings. It is undergoing test and evaluation at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. (Headquarters Marine Corps Photo by Andy Wolfe, Lockheed Martin)

A pair of MV-22 Osprey, with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166 Sea Elk, and VMM-161 Greyhawks, rest on the flight deck as a landing craft, with from Assault Craft Unit 5, exits USS Makin Island to conduct training during Exercise Iron Fist here March 1. This is the first time Osprey have been aboard USS Makin Island. Exercise Iron Fist is a bilateral training exercise between the Japanese Western Army Infantry Regiment, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and several Southern California based Marine units to increase military interoperability and amphibious capabilities. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Salvador R. Moreno/Released)

Armor is back in the game.

via Defense News.

Following the deployment of Merkava Mk 4 tanks equipped with Rafael Defense Systems’ Trophy (ASPRO-A) Active Protection Systems (APS) along the Gaza border last month (January 2011), following a Palestinian Kornet missile attack, battle testing of the system was only a matter of time. Today (1st March 2011), the Trophy was baphtized in combat, proving its worth in a first combat engagement with a hostile RPG, fired by Palestinain anti-tank team from Gaza.

F-35 flight test compilation.

Thanks B. Bolsøy

Marines Deploy to Med for Libyan Crisis

via Military.com

About 400 Marines are deploying from the U.S. to the Mediterranean where they'll be stationed aboard the U.S Navy warships while the U.S. continues to consider its response to the rebellion in Libya.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a Pentagon press conference that the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge and the amphibious transport dock ship Ponce "will provide us with the capability for both emergency evacuations and . . . humanitarian relief."

Kearsarge deployed about 1,400 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Afghanistan last month.

Hmm.  A Battalion (-)  to conduct this mission?

Seems like we could be witnessing the first operational "Company Landing Team."

This could get real interesting.

Even a humanitarian effort would be challenging...also be on the look out for these CLT (+) (reinforced) to operate in a dispersed fashion.

P-8 arrives at PaxRiver

Men then and "Men" now.

Sad but true.

*Update*

I posted this because it showed warriors of yesterday being compared to effeminate men of today.

It was suppose to be funny.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If you can't take the joke then its a "you" problem. 

LAV A2. A simple solution to the MPC issue.

The Marines already have a tailor made solution to the issue of what to buy for the Marine Personnel Carrier.  That solution is in production and being delivered today.  It would need minor modifications and is transportable by CH-53E/K.

Its the LAV-25A2.

Simply remove the turret, replace it with a remote weapon station and the issue is resolved.  Approval by the SecDef should be easy, it can be sole sourced (by passing competition) and it can be in the fleet by the 1st quarter of next year.  IF they act now.

USMC LAV A2

Amphibious warriors take SoCal beach

All photos courtesy of Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dunn

An amphibious assault vehicle from 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, lands on a beach here, Feb. 28, during a bilateral training exercise with various Marine units from Southern California and more than 180 soldiers of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.

An amphibious assault vehicle from 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, lands on a beach here, Feb. 28, during a bilateral training exercise with various Marine units from Southern California and more than 180 soldiers of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.

Amphibious assault vehicles from 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, land on a beach here, Feb. 28, during a bilateral training exercise with various Marine units from Southern California and more than 180 soldiers of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force

F-35B completes milestone.

via NAVAIR

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- On Feb. 26, 2011, an F-35B test aircraft (BF-2) completed its 100th flight with Lockheed Martin test pilot David "Doc" Nelson at the controls. The 100th flight for BF-2 accomplished further short take-off envelope expansion in preparation for shipboard testing later this year. The F-35B is the Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter and is capable of short take-offs and vertical landings undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River. Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin.

XC-142A

Modest Proposal. A new foreign policy.

Just joking (a little).  It would be nice if we actually talked to terrorist, despots and dictators like this.

An air to air load out?

People like to believe that the above photo illustrates a common air to air load out for modern fighters....

Not hardly folks...its just a glamour shot...nothing more or less.

Lets get the discussion on actual combat loads back into the realm of reality.

UPDATE.

I haven't read this issue of Aviation Week (but I plan to once I visit my local bookstore) but it has the best image I've seen of the "evolved" Super Hornet.

Note that in its stealth configuration, designed to go head up against the F-35---it limits its weapons load to perhaps 6 air to air missiles (I think in its current configuration its 4) so again...another quiver in my argument about fantasy combat versus its reality.

British SAS rescue civilians in Libya.

Thanks Marcase for the heads up and the article.  Via The Independent.

British special forces last night mounted a daring rescue of 150 civilians trapped in the Libyan desert.

As the security situation deteriorated, SAS troops were deployed to evacuate oil workers from several isolated desert camps south of Benghazi.

One senior source said: "It had been planned for a few days, covering an area four and half times the size of the UK." Landing strips near remote oilfields had to be secured, with stranded civilians collected from several sites. The rescue was ordered by David Cameron, who chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee yesterday morning.

The British government has acted forcefully to secure its citizens in the wake of violence in a war torn country, the same cannot be said for the US.

US Navy fights the FBI over hostage killing.

Via CNN. 

Before two pirate leaders departed the yacht where they held four Americans earlier in February, a maritime source says they left instructions: kill the hostages if we do not come back from negotiations.

U.S. officials took the negotiating pirates into custody -- a move which goes against standard negotiation practices, the source said.

One thing is certain.  The US Navy is attempting to make sure that the word gets out that this "fiasco" wasn't there fault.  They're definitely pointing fingers at the FBI Hostage Negotiators.  What isn't known and what I'm extremely curious about is whether this comes from Headquarters Navy or whether this is coming from some Fleet Command.

Marine landing at Da Nang

Gates turns his gaze toward the US Army.

via Military.com

Gates told the cadets that as the Army competes for money in the tightening economy, it must realize that high-end conflicts will mainly require Navy and Air Force engagements, not a head-on clash of big land forces. The Army must not lose its ability to wage the kind of irregular warfare it has honed on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, and be prepared to face off against insurgents, militia groups and rogue states.

Gates also warned the cadets that the U.S. so far has a perfect record of never accurately predicting what the next war will be. But one thing, he said, is certain.

Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should "have his head examined," Gates said.

Beesley...Things to remember about the F-35.

Thanks Dewline.

Mutual Destruction. Close in aerial combat has changed.

Python-5

ASRAAM

AIM-9X

The pictures above display just a few of the "within visual range" missiles that have driven the thought behind aerial combat in today's age.

Everyone points to Vietnam as the foundation of modern combat and the need to retain guns on aircraft.  Modeling and simulation have shown that not to be the case.

Detect with systems, enemy aircraft at distance.  Launch at optimum distance.  Break contact to re-arm, refuel and return to the fight.

If close in combat is the rule then this airplane would rule the skies...

Norman in...Beesley retires as F-35 Chief Test Pilot.

via Lockheed Martin.

Al Norman, a veteran Lockheed Martin experimental test pilot, was named chief test pilot for the F-35 program on 21 February 2011. Norman replaces former F-35 chief test pilot Jon Beesley, who retired 31 January 2011. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin in 1999, Norman served in the US Air Force for twenty-three years as a fighter pilot and test pilot. He left active duty in 1999 to become an experimental test pilot for Lockheed Martin on the F-22 program at Edwards AFB, California.  Norman tested all aspects of the Raptor's flight regime while in the Combined Test Force at Edwards. In addition to flight test and production work on the F-22, he performed production and test work on all models of the F-16. He is also Lockheed Martin’s chief pilot for the T-50 program. Norman has more than 6,000 hours of flying time in more than seventy aircraft types.

Best of luck to Norman.

Beesley has done outstanding work in the F-35 program and I can't help but want the best to him and his family.  I hope that he has success in all his future endeavours.

Having said that, I also hope that Norman has a more confrontational style with the programs critics.  Beesley was professorial with the nay-sayers and because he didn't meet their vigor, his comments while spot on, were often ignored.

Royal Navy Admirals Strike Back.

via the Daily Telegraph.

The operational and financial arguments for maintaining the Harrier in favour of the Tornado are clear to us and to the wider defence community. We therefore wish to bring to your attention a cost-effective option for retaining some Tornadoes and some Harriers, the latter under Royal Naval command, and both in reduced numbers

Wow.


One thing has me curious about all this.  The RAF dismantled and scrapped the Nimrods in a matter of days.  The Harriers remain available.

I don't know if this is part of a larger plan on the part of the MoD in regards to its civilian leadership...a gentleman's agreement between the RAF and RN or what but something just doesn't give.  Oh and the thought that they're selling a few aircraft on E-Bay (or rather were) doesn't add up either.

Strange happenings over in the UK and I don't have any visibility on what its about.  This bears watching.

Oh and read the entire article.  Gloves are coming off.