NASA's Space Launch System.

NASA is currently in a jacked up state and it hurts to say that because the retired Marine General in charge of the place was one of those straight shooters that I admired.  How things change with politics and a boss that doesn't care about American exceptionalism.  Anyway, one of the programs that NASA is supposedly pursuing is the Space Launch System.  I hadn't heard about it but its Saturn V on steroids.  Check it out here and here.

Blast from the past. A couple of awesome light aircraft that the USAF ignored.

Everyone is excited (well a few people are anyway) about the possibilities that a Tucano or AT-6 could bring to the USAF...particularly in the Special Ops realm.

Few remember that the USAF has had some pretty awesome clean sheet designs that they refused to even fund...

How about the Ratun Ares Concept?



Or if that does nothing for you then how about the SM-27 Machete?

I'm not throwing stones at the Air Force on this.

I happen to believe that future air support will require larger, higher performing aircraft in order to be successful and survivable.  But the point remains.  If this is a valid requirement then we can do better than the Super Tucano.

Military exercises in US cities.

I've noticed many Marine Corps and especially SOCOM exercises that are taking place in and around local communities.

I've always questioned why.  The Marine Corps and SOCOM both have elaborate mockups that mirror local towns and cities so the training in civilian areas just doesn't make sense.

Additionally I've seen an uptick in the number of training evolutions that are conducted with federal law enforcement agencies.

Why a civilian law enforcement agency would seek to train with the military also escapes me.

The tactics are different.  When a Marine Squad assaults a building it isn't done with protecting civil liberties...it isn't done with the idea of preserving evidence.

That my friends is a fact!  NO MATTER HOW MANY CLASSES ARE GIVEN ON COMBAT POLICING, YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE DYNAMICS ON A BATTLEFIELD.

So with all that being said, can someone explain the uptick?  Can someone explain the rationale?

Maybe the tinfoil hat crowd isn't so crazy afterall.  Especially when it seems like the Army is getting into the game.

Ten Principles for Success

Ten Principles for Success
Major Dick Winters Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Div. “The Band of Brothers”

• Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.
• Lead from the front.  Say, “Follow me!” and then lead the way.
• Stay in top physical shape, physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.
• Develop your team.  If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goals and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.
• Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their jobs.  You can’t do a good job if you don’t have a chance to use your imagination and creativity.
• Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles.  Don’t wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.
• Remain humble.  Don’t worry about who receives the credit.  Never let power or authority go to your head.
• Take a moment of self-reflection.  Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.
• True satisfaction comes from getting the job done.  They key to a successful leader is to earn respect not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character.
• Hang Tough!Never, ever, give up.

From Beyond Band of Brothers, The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, by Dick Winters and Col. Cole C. Kingseed. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2006. page 293.

Interesting.

The basic concepts for success are varied but essentially the same.  Leading by example...physical fitness...positive attitude and never quiting.

On a side note the Army's uniform of WW2 is so much more...elegant...than the modern version.  I wonder why they don't go back to it.  And someone tell me how Winter's is able to look like a million bucks while living at an adhoc base!  Even in a black and white photo those boots are gleaming.

Oliver Ehmig for the Daily Mail.

Ehmig's photos are awe inspiring.  The photo essay done for the Daily Mail is outstanding and the guys website is something that MUST be seen.  Check out his site here and his photos are below....

Viking amphibious tracked vehicles retired from British service.

Thanks for the article Jonathan.

via Defense-aerospace.com

Military vehicles have been withdrawn from the frontline after they failed safety checks.
Armoured Viking all-terrain vehicles were used in Afghanistan but have already been replaced by Warthogs.
The MOD wanted to give the Vikings to Royal Marines for frontline use but those plans were scrapped when damaged from carrying too much weight was discovered.
-ends-

Too bad.

When the discussion first started about the Marine Personnel Carrier, I suggested that the Marine Corps should consider this vehicle...especially since I could not find any rationale for it being wheeled.  With the British experience of this type of vehicle failing safety checks and not being able to stand up to IEDs, it would appear that the perfect all terrain vehicle is headed to the scrap heap.

Damn Right...try the Army...they're next door.

Wow!

Joe and a couple of other people are gonna have a cow but this had me saying WTF!

I don't care what side of the political isle you're on this is just plain sad, stupid, pathetic and arrogant.  When I first saw this on Drudge and then followed the link to WeaselZippers.us I thought it was a gag...then I followed the link to the Obama site and its legit.

Just Wow!

F-4 shotdown...

via Reuters.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Syria had admitted it had shot down the plane and apologized, BBC Monitoring reported, citing Turkey's state news agency Anatolia.
Turkey said earlier it had lost contact with one of its military aircraft off its southeastern coast after it took off from Erhac airport in the eastern province of Malatya.
Turkish officials said Erdogan, who was returning to Ankara from Brazil on Friday evening, would convene a security meeting with the interior and foreign ministers and the chief of general staff. They did not say what would be discussed.
Turkey's military said a search and rescue operation was under way. Two crew were aboard the F-4 jet, Anatolia said.

Latest reports say the crewmen were recovered in ok shape.

The Middle East is primed to pop.  The US and European economies are staggering along.  Even China is facing a slowdown.

All we need is some trigger to make the whole world go boom and we could be looking at regional war.

2012 is proving to be quite interesting.

The makings of a Norwegian Air to Air video...

Thanks Endre for the info!  You rock!

Major Eskil “TAZ” Amdal...display pilot and Marie Brudevold...Norwegian Air Force designer.

The following photos illustrate the "shoot".  It was done off the back ramp of a C-130 with some pretty remarkable (at least to this layman) flying.  Enjoy...I did.

A Century of Norwegian Air Power.

Air Power a-century


Pretty awesome.  Norwegian Airpower at the century mark.  Effective, capable and efficient.  Can you ask for more?

Awesome F-16 vid.

Thanks for the vid Endre!

ALTAY. Turkish Tank Dreams.

What happens when you have a Turkish desire to develop its own domestic tank, mixed with S. Korean K-2 technology mixed with an economy that is weathering the current economic troubles rather nicely...bet they're happy they weren't admitted to the Euro now!....

You have the Altay.  Not much info is available over the web but the wiki page gives a good primer.  Read it here.

The Royal Australian Air Force gets busy at Red Flag...

NOTE:

If you enlarge the pics, you can see a photographer in the "observation bubble" on top of the airplane.    Pretty cool.  Now I know how some of these great air to air shots are taken.  One last mystery though.  If these aviation photographers (I'm talking about the guys that take air to air shots) are flying in military aircraft, taking pics of military aircraft and personnel, then why are they then able to turn around and charge the public for copies of the photos?  Just curious. 

Black Sea Rotational Force at Exercise BALTOPS 2012

Photos by Staff Sgt. Nate Hauser

Reconnaissance Marines of the Ground Combat Element, Black Sea Rotational Force 12, fast rope on to a beachhead, from a Lithuanian helicopter, in order to observe enemy movements prior to an amphibious landing during Exercise BALTOPS 2012, June 4. The Marines and sailors of BSRF-12 joined Lithuanian infantry soldiers in the first amphibious landing on Lithuanian soil in 40 years. BSRF-12 is Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training with 19 countries to facilitate interoperability with U.S. partner nations and promote regional stability while providing a limited crisis response capability in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions. BALTOPS 2012 aims to improve maritime security in the Baltic region through increased interoperability and cooperation amongst regional allies both on land and sea.

Marines of Black Sea Rotational Force 12, perform an amphibious landing aboard Polish landing craft launched from the OPR Krakow during Exercise BALTOPS 2012, June 4. The Marines and sailors of BSRF-12 joined Lithuanian infantry soldiers in the first amphibious landing on Lithuanian soil in 40 years. BSRF-12 is Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training with 19 countries to facilitate interoperability with U.S. partner nations and promote regional stability while providing a limited crisis response capability in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions. BALTOPS 2012 aims to improve maritime security in the Baltic region through increased interoperability and cooperation amongst regional allies both on land and sea.

Marines of Black Sea Rotational Force 12, prepare to disembark a Polish amphibious tractor while conducting an amphibious landing during Exercise BALTOPS 2012, June 4. The Marines and sailors of BSRF-12 joined Lithuanian infantry soldiers in the first amphibious landing on Lithuanian soil in 40 years. BSRF-12 is Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training with 19 countries to facilitate interoperability with U.S. partner nations and promote regional stability while providing a limited crisis response capability in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions. BALTOPS 2012 aims to improve maritime security in the Baltic region through increased interoperability and cooperation amongst regional allies both on land and sea.

Marines of Black Sea Rotational Force 12, disembark a Polish amphibious tractor while conducting an amphibious landing during Exercise BALTOPS 2012, June 4. The Marines and sailors of BSRF-12 joined Lithuanian infantry soldiers in the first amphibious landing on Lithuanian soil in 40 years. BSRF-12 is Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training with 19 countries to facilitate interoperability with U.S. partner nations and promote regional stability while providing a limited crisis response capability in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions. BALTOPS 2012 aims to improve maritime security in the Baltic region through increased interoperability and cooperation amongst regional allies both on land and sea.

Marines of Black Sea Rotational Force 12, disembark a Polish amphibious tractor while conducting an amphibious landing during Exercise BALTOPS 2012, June 4. The Marines and sailors of BSRF-12 joined Lithuanian infantry soldiers in the first amphibious landing on Lithuanian soil in 40 years. BSRF-12 is Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training with 19 countries to facilitate interoperability with U.S. partner nations and promote regional stability while providing a limited crisis response capability in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions. BALTOPS 2012 aims to improve maritime security in the Baltic region through increased interoperability and cooperation amongst regional allies both on land and sea.

 These guys operate pretty much under the radar but they've been doing great work in spreading the "real" Marine Corps message (real training and no fluffy bunny bullshit) to allies that are generally harder and more loyal than most.  Its probably because they have fresh memories or still feel threatened by Russian expansionist tendencies. 

Judge Dredd Trailer...

This might be pretty good.  But after PROMETHEUS I'll take a wait and see approach.

Foxhound Patrol Vehicle in Afghanistan

I would so love this vehicle as a JLTV candidate.  We could retire MRAPs, neck down our inventory and still provide protection against IEDs.  The Brits outsmarted everyone with this...lets see how they run with the ball ---especially since they've invented something new.  Not quite an MRAP, not quite a Patrol Vehicle but tougher than a HUMVEE and able to fulfill all its roles.  They'll flub it up (along with General Dynamics) but its a winner.

First asymmetric weapons load test for F-35B

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – On June 14, F-35B Joint Strike Fighter test aircraft BF-2 completed the first test flight for the short takeoff and vertical landing variant with an asymmetric weapons load. Cmdr. Eric Buus flew BF-2 with an AIM-9X Sidewinder inert missile on the starboard pylon, a centerline 25 mm gun pod, and a GBU-32 and AIM-120 in the starboard weapon bay. Significant weapons testing for the F-35B and F-35C variants is in progress, including fit checks, captive carriage environment characterization, and pit drops. Aerial weapons separation testing is scheduled for this summer.

The F-35B is the variant of the Joint Strike Fighter for the U.S. Marine Corps, capable of short take-offs and vertical landings for use on amphibious ships or expeditionary airfields to provide air power to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. The F-35B is undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin)

F-35 avionics. State of the art!

Between this video and the question and answer article on DoD Buzz, its beyond obvious that the F-35 will bring unprecendented capability to US and Allied Air Forces.

Birds of Prey

CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters and MV-22B Ospreys land aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, June 18. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, boarded the aircraft to be flown to various training areas on base. The II Marine Expeditionary Force and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing are conducting Exercise Mailed Fist throughout the week resulting in a surplus of aircraft available for training purposes and aerial infantry operations.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Andrew Johnston)