F-35 achieves max angle of attack in only 4 flights.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., November 19, 2012 – An F-35A Lightning II conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft rapidly expanded its high angle of attack (AOA) test envelope to its 50 degree limit in only four flights during recent flight testing here. F-35A test aircraft are limited to AOAs of 20 degrees until their controllability is proven at a higher AOA limit of 50 degrees.  The ability to rapidly progress to the maximum AOA indicates a sound aerodynamic and flight control system design. High AOA testing will continue on the F-35A for several months testing the capabilities of all design loadings and the flight control system.

If you want a primer on these flight tests and reporting on the F-35 then I recommend you head over to "Elements of Power" Blog and check out his view of things.  Its well worth your time.

BattleGuard® Remote Weapon Station

Interesting concept.  I especially like the pairing of the 50 cal with the 40mm (at the 1:00 mark) and wonder...will an improved/upgraded AAV get a Remote Weapon Station?  I know that armor vehicle thinking has switched from fighting with your head out of the vehicle to being buttoned up. Where the Marine Corps is in its armored vehicle philosophy with regards to manned vs. RWS is beyond me (hopefully someone will be able to answer it) but maybe this could be a game changer.

Rtn12 Ncs Battleguard Ds PDF (1)

Tanks on Mars by Jake Parker...concept art.

I love concept art...

Second production-level F-35B arrives at Patuxent River BF-18 temporarily adds to test fleet

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – Navy test pilot Lt. Christopher Tabert taxis BF-18, a production-level F-35B variant of the Lightning II, after arrival Nov. 8. BF-18 temporarily adds to the complement of F-35B and F-35C test aircraft at the F-35 Integrated Test Facility before heading to its ultimate destination of Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The F-35B is the variant of the Lightning II designed for use by the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as F-35 international partners in the United Kingdom and Italy. The F-35B is capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings to enable air power projection from amphibious ships, ski-jump aircraft carriers and expeditionary airfields. The F-35B is undergoing flight test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River, Md., and Edwards Air Force Base prior to delivery to the fleet. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin)

Barbarism.

Palestinian gunmen ride a motorcycle as they drag the body of a man, who was suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2012. Palestinian gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza Strip who "were caught red-handed", according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio on Tuesday. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

Geez.

I always hear apologist for Hamas but its hard to feel sympathetic when pics like the one above are a constant with that organization.  

Red Lions Grow Wings for First Flight

Navy new uniforms for the Army-Navy game. Complete with tramp stamp.

via Bleacher Report.

The uniform is mostly with with blue trim, small accents of yellow on the arm. The helmet sports the naval flags to spell out “Beat Army,” which is a really cool touch.There is a “Navy” tramp-stamp, which I’m not a fan of. Lower backs and butts should be free of legible items or decoration for men and my daughters.

Thank you Bleacher Report.  I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.  Read the whole thing but what I'm looking forward to see are the "Don't Tread on Me" unis.

Namer Heavy APC. Missing in action.

The pic above is of the NAMER Heavy APC.

I've been doing my best to keep up with things in the Middle East.  In particular the coming ground war between the Israeli's and Palestinians.  I've seen Merkava 3 & 4's.  I've seen heavily upgraded M-113's.  I've seen Achzarit's modified T-55 APC's, but I haven't seen the NAMER.  It could be that I've simply missed it and they're on the line like everything else waiting for orders to cross the line.  Or it could be that the Israeli's don't think that this is the vehicle to take into a heavily defended urban area to hook and jab with the enemy.

If the Israeli's decided not to employ the Namer in this conflict then it tells us more than any Think Tank about the wisdom of heavy APC's.

I could be wrong.  It might be on the line.  But if it isn't then US Army procurement efforts need to be looked at in a different light.

24th MEU sails to the sounds of gunfire...again.

via CNN

U.S. sends warships near Israel in case evacuation neededBy Barbara Starr
Three U.S. Navy amphibious warships are returning to the eastern Mediterranean to remain on standby in the event they are needed to assist Americans leaving Israel in the coming days, according to two U.S. officials.
The officials stressed an evacuation remains an extremely remote possibility and the Obama administration is not currently planning for one. Americans who wish to leave the region now are able to do so using commercial airlines.
But the decision to send the ships even if the event is such a remote contingency underscores the growing concern about where the Israel-Gaza conflict could be headed.
"This is due diligence. It is better to be prepared should there be a need," one official said Monday. Both officials said the ships would be used only for assisting Americans and not for any combat role.
The most immediate impact will be on the ships' crews and the estimated 2,500 Marines on board. They had been scheduled to return to Norfolk, Virginia, just after Thanksgiving; their homecoming will now be delayed several days depending on events, the officials said.
The ships involved are the USS Iwo Jima, the USS New York and the USS Gunston Hall. At the end of last week the ships were west of Gibraltar, before the decision was made to turn them around and send them back to the eastern Mediterranean, where they will remain for now.
The U.S. military also maintains three to four ships off the coast of Israel that are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. That deployment has stretch for some months in the face of a potential ballistic threat from Iran.

This move isn't about evacuating civilians from Israel.

The State Dept hasn't issued any adviseries to US citizens to leave the country...the only thing they've said is to follow the directions of Israeli Home Front Command (or Dept) and to head to bomb shelters when instructed.

In my estimation this is at best a show of force and at worst part of a plan to put US forces between the Israeli's and Palestinians to help with a peace deal.

The Middle East is like the tar baby that ensnares Br'er Rabbit from Uncle Remus stories.  As much as we fight we just can't get ourselves free from the idiocy there.

F-35 High Angle of Attack Testing

Question of the day. Are Marines still "extremist"?

"I think the Army is much more connected to society than the Marines. The Marines are extremists. Whenever you have extremists, you have some risks of total disconnection with society. And that's a little dangerous."Sara E. Lister former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) 

Sitting around watching football and drinking adult beverages with friends --politics, the world situation, the economy and the state of the Marine Corps came up.

One of my fellow extremist (who will go unnamed to protect him from the social network monitoring that the Homeland Security Agency has admitted to conducting) stated that despite all the "messaging" that the Marine Corps is doing stating that "old breed" or "new breed" there's not a bit of difference as long as its Marine breed is now pure bullshit.

Well you can bet that the debate was on.  I found myself in an unusual position.  I actually despise certain General Officers that I've watched from afar and have huge man crushes on others...so no.  I wasn't defending Marine leadership.  As a matter of fact I gleefully threw them under the bus.  My defense was for CERTAIN Colonels and generally everyone below.  Despite having a bit of control over a small portion of the Marine Corps in view, most are simply obeying orders and Marine-ing as good as possible.

We concluded that Marines are doing the best they can in the situations that they're being placed in.  Its leadership that fucking the pooch.

The question should be (and no blasphemy intended) what would Chesty do or say if he could see the Marine Corps today?

I think he'd be pissed.  And that's the shame of it.  A Democrat appointed Assistant Sec of the Army called the Marine Corps extremist once.  The current administration can't get enough of the Marines.

Who changed?  Us or them?  Think about it but consider a few passages from an article by Thomas Smith, Jr.  By his verbiage I assume him to be a Marine...read the whole thing but check this out...

James Adams, former CEO of United Press International, describes in his 1989 book, SECRET ARMIES, “Marines with 20 percent of the [American] force ended up occupying 80 percent of the island [Grenada]”
Then in a 1992 study conducted by the Heritage Foundation, it was determined that “for every [U.S.] Army soldier in a combat position, one soldier is behind the lines in such supporting roles as administration and supply; for Marines the ratio is two combatants to one administrator or supplier. As a result, the Marine Corps delivers the most firepower in the quickest time when responding to a crisis. … The Marine Corps’ greatest advantage over other services is the speed and muscle with which it can respond to a crisis.”
In 2006, national defense and economics historian Dr. Larry Schweikart – in his book, AMERICA’S VICTORIES – WHY THE U.S. WINS WARS AND WILL WIN THE WAR ON TERROR – describes the performance of U.S. troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq: “The Marines, given their superiority in combat training and despite their youth (Marines are the youngest, on average, of the enlisted troops) generally fared far better than the regular Army in combat situations.”

And then this... 

And lastly, let’s look at a few examples of how America’s enemies have traditionally perceived us.
During the Korean War, Chinese premier Mao Tse Tung was so-concerned about the combat prowess of the 1st Marine Division that he issued a death contract on the entire division, which he stated, “has the highest combat effectiveness” of any division in the U.S. armed forces. “It seems not enough for our four divisions to surround and annihilate [the 1st Marine Division’s] two regiments,” Mao said in orders to the commander of the 9th Chinese Army Group. “You should have one or two more divisions as a reserve force.”
During the same war, a captured North Korean officer confessed, “Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the American Marines.”
Years later during the first Gulf War, Iraqi soldiers nicknamed their U.S. Marine foes, “Angels of Death.”
And during the 2004 U.S. assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah, an intercepted radio transmission revealed the enemy’s utter fear of America’s few good men.
“We are fighting, but the Marines keep coming,” shouted a panic-stricken Al Qaeda insurgent to his commander. “We are shooting, but the Marines won’t stop.”

The last part (marked in bold blue print) is particularly instructive.  The enemy in Afghanistan didn't view Marines with fear.  They assaulted a Marine Base with the goal of destroying a Marine Corps Fighter Attack Squadron.  AND THEY SUCCEEDED!  That unit was rendered combat ineffective and the enemy unit that won that battle was outnumbered at least 100 to 1.  THAT'S THE TYPE OF BOLD, AUDACIOUS ACTION THAT WAS ONCE THE HALLMARK OF THE MARINE CORPS.  PRIMITIVES THAT LIVE IN CAVES DESTROYED OUR MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MACHINES OF WAR WITH A MORE THAN RESPECTABLE COST/BENEFIT RATIO.

Something isn't right.

Those that are being led are doing the absolute best they can.  Current leadership however is lacking.

Blast from the past. Chrysler's unusual amphibian.

Thanks for the link Jonathan.  Stay safe and keep your head down!

UFC 154.

Damn.  I hate this.  I was glued to the TV watching LSU barely survive Ole Miss and then it was out to a sports bar to catch Oregon fall and to take joy in watching Baylor kick the dog shit out of Kansas.

While I was doing all that, drinking Coors Light and killing a specialty 3 pound hamburger, UFC 154 was going on.  This morning I hit the MMA Blogs and ESPN and WHOA!  St. Pierre got lucky.  He DID look like he got hit by a mack truck.  If he's smart he'll decline the fight against Silva.  Even at a catch weight he's gonna be out muscled and out sized.  Not a good combination against probably the best fighter in the world.

One other thing.  I got some pics from the fight below, and I finally see the thing that has the fight and weight lifting community whispering.  I don't know the scientific name but its called gyno in gyms.  It usually comes from hit D-Bol/Testabol/Primobal/Sustanobal  too hard or to end your use without using an estrogen blocker so that your bodies test production can get balanced.  When you're juicing you're supplementing the bodies natural testerone production so when you cycle off you have to get it back.  That's where the estrogen blocker comes in.  If you don't then it'll keep pumping at a slightly elevated rate which gives you gyno.

St. Pierre has the classic puffy nipple look of someone with gyno.  I hadn't seen any pics but I always defended him because he such a workout animal.  Now?  I just don't know. But the fight was brutal.  I'm going find a copy.  Enjoy the pics.

Modest Proposal. Iron Dome for the USMC.

Photos via Militaryphotos.net- the pics below show Israeli Iron Dome missiles enroute, being setup and firing at enemy missiles.

No matter the outcome of the current hostilities between the Israeli's and the Palestinians, one thing is clear.  Anti-missile tech has come a long way since Reagan first introduced the world to the Star Wars Concept.  What many critics claimed was impossible is now happening many times a day with remarkable success.

My modest proposal is this.  The USMC should re-establish anti-air units under the artillery banner and they should be integrated with every Marine-Air Ground Task Force.

Every credible think tank (that means any think tank that does NOT include ex-Marine General Cartwright!) has concluded that our forces will face the threat of ballistic missiles.  The Israeli experience has shown that even terrorist organizations can now acquire these weapons.

Its only a matter of time before US forces...even in a humanitarian role, might be targeted with Qassam rockets.  Quite honestly criminal organizations have the knowledge necessary to construct these weapons and considering how porous our Southern border is, we could easily see a drug cartel target Federal Buildings in Tuscon, El Paso or even Houston.

C-Ram is inadequate, its time to leverage our investment in the Iron Dome system and make sure that our ground forces are properly equipped.  If we don't then the next shock that the Pentagon faces won't be the IED (which our forces are becoming expert at countering, if not defeating), it'll be cheap, mass produced rockets falling like steel rain.

F-35B in VMFA-121 markings for first operational squadron.

Third Marine Aircraft Wing's first F-35B taxis in Fri., Nov. 16, 2012 at approximately 1 p.m. on the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma flightline. Piloted by F-35 pilot instructor Maj. A. C. Liberman, today's arrival highlights next week's official re-designation of Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121, an F/A-18 Hornet Squadron, as the world's first operational F-35 squadron at MCAS Yuma. The F-35B accomplishes the multi-role, fifth-generation capabilities needed across the full spectrum of military operations to deter potential adversaries and protect our nation and its interests. Known as the F-35 Lightning II, the F-35B will eventually replace the Corps' aging legacy tactical fleet of AV-8B Harriers, F/A-18 Hornets and EA-6B Prowlers.

How I would build the Marine Corps.

NOTE:  I'm looking at PROBABLE budget cuts to the Marine Corps and I'm becoming alarmed.  Between a force reduction that will leave only 150,000 boat spaces to the need to get new armored vehicles to the drain that the air wing is having on the service, I decided to do a what if.  How would the Marine Corps look if I was in the big chair making the choices.

How Would I Build The Marine Corps.

*The Marine Corps is built around the Infantry.  I would guard my Infantry Battalions like a mother bear guards her cubs.

1.  EFV.  It got killed because it ran over budget.  Awesome.  Strip it down, get rid of the planing, put the most powerful water jets known to man on it and give me a water speed of at least 10 knots or better and I'm happy.  It would also lose the 30mm cannon and get either a 50 cal RWS or an upgraded AAV turret.

2.  LAV-25.  Put out to pasture.  I'd redesignate LAV Battalions to Light Armored Infantry, and put them in Marine Personnel Carriers.  They would get the legacy turret upgunned to 30mm and would be the basis for motorized raiding, and screening of my forces when we go heavy.

3.  MV-22.  Killed.  I'd stop the buy and get MH-92's for the balance of the requirement.

4.  CH-53K.  Accelerated.  These do everything helicopters will replace the current do everything helicopters.

5.  AH-1Z/UH-1Y.  Killed.  I'd stop the buy, piggy back off the US Army and Navy and supplement the buy with UH-60's.  I would also seek to standardize on the MH-60 in the BattleHawk configuration.  I would sell the AH-1Z/UH-1Y to nations that want them.

6.  M1A1.  Upgraded.  I would leverage off the US Army and either take some surplus M1A2's from their stocks OR make modest improvements (mainly change the engine to a diesel).

7.  JLTV.  Killed.  I'd standardize on upgraded HUMVEEs.

8.  120mm Mortar.  Killed.  I'd standardize on the US Army's 105mm Howitzer.

9.  AV-8B.  Upgraded.  The fleet would standardize on the latest model.

10.  F-35B.  Delayed.  The buy would be pushed to the out years.  We'll have to make due with the current stock of AV-8B's and husband the batch we bought from the Brits.

11.  MARSOC.  Killed.  Quality will suffer either in the Fleet Marine Forces or in MARSOC with the drawdown to possibly 150,000.  The Marine Corps must endure.  MARSOC is expendable.  Marines that have a desire to stay in SOCOM can do as Marines have always done.  Transfer to the Navy or Army and become SEALs or Rangers or SF.  The Army and Navy are expanding their Special Ops teams but doing so with a much larger base.  The Marines can't afford to lose 3 Battalions of personnel to SOCOM.

12.  Bases.  San Diego Recruit Depot would close and all initial training would take place at an expanded Paris Island.  Mirammar.  Closed.  The wing would move to either Pendleton or 29 Palms.  Bridgeport would become joint, the US military mountain warfare training center west (only cause I think 10th Mountain has one on the east coast.  CJ tells me that the base is in Vermont..I'll have to check).  Okinawa?  Closed.  I'd beg borrow and plead with Australia to let me house Marines there.  I tire of the Japanese protests.

13.  Civilian workforce.  Drastic cuts.  General Officers.  Drastic cuts.

Thats it for now.  I'll probably add to my list later.  

ALTAY Main Battle Tank Pics and vid!

The Turks have a SWEET looking new tank!  I like it...I can't wait to see how it performs.  The EU will regret not having them in the union...soon they're going to have the most powerful military on that continent and I'm including Russia in that estimation.  By 2050 they'll probably be the power on there.  Between declining birth rates in the EU and a rapidly improving defense sector in Turkey they are a future force to be reckoned with.

Royal Marines off Albania.

Do yourself a favor.

Follow this link and head over to BlackFive to learn what "Tango Mike Mike" is all about.

BAE's Ground Combat Vehicle Infographic.

click on pic to enlarge