Where are you on this scale?

Note:  I find it interesting that guys consider women that are below 17% to be almost "hulking out".  I also note that sticking to a BF of below 8% for more than a few weeks is either aided (yeah, you're juicing) or you're a mean miserable SOB.

French amphibious ops.

First F-35A In-Flight Missile Launch

Second production Airbus Military A400M (MSN8) makes maiden flight

The second production Airbus Military A400M new generation airlifter has made its maiden flight.
Known as MSN8, the aircraft made its first flight from Seville, Spain, the location of the A400M final assembly line on 7 June.
It is scheduled for delivery to the French Air Force in the third quarter of the year. MSN7, which flew for the first time at the beginning of March this year, will be delivered to the French Air Force in the coming weeks.

Know your allies. Japanese Ground Self Defense Force Armored Vehicles.

Note:  The JGSDF's collection of armored vehicles isn't widely known outside of the circle of military professionals, armor enthusiast and hobbyist.  That's a pity because they have some of the finest kit in the world, and the underrated Type 90 can be considered the Leopard 2 of the East.

Type 90 MBT.

Type 87 Recon Vehicle

This vehicle intrigues me.  I'm definitely going to find out more.

Type 89 Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier

It should be noted that the Japanese are in the midst of a pretty impressive upgrade of their armored forces and especially their armor.

The Type 90 is about to be supplemented in service by a new, lighter tank.  The Type 89 is set to be replaced with a dedicated wheeled infantry fighting vehicle, and the Type 87 is going to be replaced too.  Not shown are the wheeled mortar carriers and those are due for replacement...and that ignores what is being done for the Navy (traditionally the service that receives the most funding) and Air Force.  Not mentioned but still important are the AAVs on order, the potential buy of V-22s and the rumor that not only are they buying F-35As but considering adding F-35Bs to the wish list.

All photos via Geocities.Jp/Pinealguy

CH-53K, the USMC and the Inspector General.

A blistering report from the DoD Inspector General on the CH-53K.

As a result, the Marine Corps risks spending $22.2 billion in procurement and operating and support funding for 44 additional aircraft that have not been justified and may not be needed to support future Marine Corps mission requirements.

Read the entire summary here.

The Marine Corps originally had a requirement of 200 CH-53Ks when the force was measured at being 202,000.  Currently its projected to fall to 182,000 and many believe (but aren't saying publicly) that it could drop to 150,000 or even lower.

With that as a backdrop, the Inspector General is saying that the Marine Corps is buying excess capability.

So how will the Marine Corps justify it?

Expect the Marines to offer up both a V-22 and CH-53K squadron to SOCOM for support.  Some in the airwing have been pushing the idea for years and its gained traction lately.  If you've been paying attention MV-22s are exercising more and more with SOCOM.

The sad part of this?  22.4 billion would buy the entire run of MPCs and fund the AAV upgrade.

MARSOC to train with 11th MEU? Why? Wasn't the point to get away from the Corps?

via Army Times.

Personnel with the Marine Corps’ special operations force will soon train aboard Navy ships, a step toward returning special operators to sea for the first time in more than a decade, said Commandant Gen. Jim Amos.
Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command will begin training as soon as this fall off the West Coast with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., said Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine spokesman. The mission will be a prototype to prepare MARSOC for a closer relationship with MEUs and their Navy counterparts, Amphibious Ready Groups, Amos said.
Col. Matthew Trollinger, commander of the 11th MEU, said his unit is prepared to conduct its predeployment training “with representation from the special operations community to facilitate planning with Theater Special Operations commands and other spec-ops units.” Doing so will improve the MEU’s support to geographic combatant commanders, he said.
The move comes as MARSOC, established in 2006, assesses its future as forces come out of Afghanistan. This spring, top Marine officials traveled to U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., for a war game that examined MARSOC’s maritime capabilities and a way forward.
Amos, speaking at a May 29 event in Washington, said Marine officials decided to go forward with the “prototype” training mission involving the MEU. It’s a step toward an arrangement that has similarities to operations in the 1990s, Amos said. At that time, Navy SEALs deployed regularly with MEUs, tackling a host of complex missions.
“Every amphibious ready group/marine expeditionary unit had a team of SEALs on board,” Amos said at the Brookings Institution, an independent think tank in Washington. “In about 2000, 2001, that changed, and it became a function of ‘Well, there are other things,’ and then the war in Iraq broke out, and they became preoccupied. They have not been back aboard naval vessels — except for unique, specific, surgical-type operations — on any kind of routine basis since then.”
The recent war game focused on developing special operations “network integration teams” that can train with MEUs and ARGs prior to deployment, a SOCOM official said.
“While the details of this concept are still being developed, SOCOM is leading a planning effort to deploy SOF Network Integration Teams with West and East Coast-based ARG/MEUs in 2014,” the official said. The 11th MEU is one of those units.
Left to be sorted out is when teams of MARSOC operators will return to the sea — and how that will affect other Marine forces. Raids and other complicated missions at sea have been handled in recent years by other Marines, particularly Force Reconnaissance units. In one high-profile example, a Force Reconnaissance platoon with Pendleton’s 15th MEU was called on in September 2010 to take back the German shipping vessel Magellan Star from Somali pirates. They stormed the vessel without any loss of life.
The commandant at the time, now-retired Gen. James Conway, said afterward that he saw Force Recon as a possible solution going forward in similar future missions. Amos, however, has embraced MARSOC since taking over as commandant. At the Brookings Institution, he said he had “no intention of downsizing special operations,” citing their cost effectiveness and ability to build security and partnerships abroad.

A couple of opinions/facts.

*  SEALs did not deploy regularly with MEUs before 2000.
*  MARSOC & SEALs will be competing not only for missions but also space on amphibs.  Unless MEUs are about to start leaving capabilities on the beach there is only a finite bit of space aboard amphibs.
*  This is indicative of an issue that does not receive alot of attention.  SOCOM requires conventional support.  Not only air but also infantry.  We have submarines that have the transport of Special Ops as part of their mission set but instead these forces are wanting to climb aboard amphibs. Marine leadership should ask if this is the best use of resources.
*  Is this another slap in the face for the LCS?  One of its big selling points was that it could transport and support SOCOM.
*  What about the dedicated Afloat Forward Staging Base?  Isn't that what SOCOM was pushing hard for?  Why the push to teaming with MEUs instead of pushing to get that ship into service as soon as possible?

Something is going on in SOCOM land that I can't quite decipher.  The moves don't make sense from the outside looking in and seem to point to a greater integration with conventional forces instead of their being a bright clear line between them.

As it is now McRaven and his Theater Joint Special Ops Commander just looks like another bureaucracy that will slow down instead of speed up operations...especially if they're operating with instead of independent of conventional forces.

Comics are cool. Emma Frost.

24th MEU and the rescue of Basher 52

Once the weak signal was validated, a platoon-sized element (41 Marines) from Weapons Company, Battalion Landing Team 3/8 boarded two Super Stallions from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464, Marine Corps Air Station, New River, N.C., lifted off the deck of USS Kearsarge in the Adriatic Sea and headed east toward Bosnia.
Two AH-1W Super Cobras from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269 at New River and four AV-8B Harriers from Marine Attack Squadron 231, Cherry Point, N.C., rode shotgun, scanning the countryside for any resistance.
All of the Marine helicopters are attached to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, a composite squadron.
The so-called TRAP (Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel) team headed northeast through enemy territory to a spot about 20 miles southeast of Bihac, a Muslim safe haven for refugees that has been the scene of heavy fighting over the past year.

Read it all here.... 

NOTE:  Weapons Company did the TRAP mission, not Maritime Raid Force.  Why the Marine Corps is so fixated on that unit and the Marine Expeditionary Brigade as the operating units of the future is beyond me, but I have yet to read anything explaining why.

KAMAZ-63969 MRAP.

all fotos via Military Photo.net.

Interesting.  Kamaz seems to be tweaking the Typhoon to fit a different role than originally intended.  Out the box this was to be a transport for internal security troops...now its morphing into more of a combat role...especially if it actually has MRAP level protection.

Of course the Russians do use internal security troops in Chechnya...just sayin.

Pic below is of the baseline Typhoon.

Eroding discipline ....

The US military has a problem.

What do you see when you look at the above photo?

I see an entire formation conforming to standards and one person with a child old enough to realize whats going on that deems themselves "different".

I'm guessing because I wasn't there, but some adult was with the child and gave her the ok.  The soldier being hugged could have signalled to the child to go back.

I'm also willing to be that there were other family members in as big a hurry to welcome back their loved ones as this child was.

Correction.  Its an adult that's hugging the soldier...her mom
via DVIDS...

This mom just couldn't wait to hug her daughter...
Sgt. Ana Karen Cordoba is welcomed home by her mother as the nearly 140 members of the New Jersey National Guard's 508th Military Police Company were reunited with their families at the Lawrenceville Armory on June 6 to conclude a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. The 508th provided security, force protection and advised the Afghan national police force in the Kabul region during their deployment. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen 108th Wing

But instead we have this.  Worse, we have it being promoted on the US Army and National Guard websites.  The US military is lost when it comes to social media, how it handles basic discipline and what it will permit.  Either you're a dick because you enforce the smallest infraction or you're playing favorites/engaging in situational ethics because you don't...and that makes you a hypocrite.

Its better to be a dick.

26th MEU deployed along Syrian border?!?!?!

I try and keep up with the MEU's and where they're at but got no word that this was happening.  This is a jumping off point for involvement...the MEU is not designed for long term humanitarian support.  But enough me...this is via Press TV.

Over 1,000 US troops, who had arrived in the Jordanian port of Aqaba via Israel earlier in the week, have headed toward the kingdom's border area with Syria under heavy Jordanian military escort, Israeli sources reported on Friday.

The troops are reported to be members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force.

Washington and Amman have imposed a news blackout on the deployment of US troops on Jordanian soil.

US sources have confirmed that the presence of the Marines in Jordan has nothing to do with military drills set to be held between American and Jordanian troops later this month.

In April, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Washington is sending 200 troops to Jordan to help contain the violence in Syria, increasing speculation that US is setting the stage for intervention in the Arab country.

At the time, Russia criticized the deployment of US troops to Jordan over the Syrian crisis, describing the move as an unconstructive step that threatens to expand the conflict.

Jordan’s opposition party, the Islamic Action Front, also denounced the presence of American troops in the kingdom and asked the government to review its decision to authorize the deployment of foreign troops on Jordan’s soil.

HM/KA/SS

This is exactly what we don't need but the Hawks and the Bunnys from the extreme left and right are begging for.

Another freaking war in the Middle East.

The Admiral is an idiot.

National Security Cutter.

Absalon Command Ship

Skjold Class Missile Fast Patrol Boats

You're going to have to go over to Commander Salamander's house to read this whole thing but I was half in the tank while I read this and wondered if the Admiral wasn't like that during normal business hours.  Check this out....

The spirit of Monitor -- and every other type of revolutionary ship -- is alive and well in LCS. As Monitor ushered in the era of armored ships and sounded the death knell for those of wood, so too will LCS usher in an era of a netted, flexible and modular capabilities.

With its interchangeable mission packages, its raw speed, and its ability to operate with so many other smaller navies around the world, LCS gives us a geo-strategic advantage we simply haven’t enjoyed since the beginnings of the Cold War.
The response by Singapore and by other Pacific partners to Freedom’s deployment, for example, has been overwhelmingly positive. They like the ship precisely because it isn’t big, heavily-armed or overtly offensive. They like it because they can work with it. I fail to see how that’s a bad thing in today’s maritime environment.
Let’s be honest. LCS was never intended to take on another fleet all by its own, and nobody ever expected it to bristle with weaponry. LCS was built to counter submarines, small surface attack craft, and mines in coastal areas. Thanks to its size and shallow draft, it can also conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, maritime security and intercept operations, as well as homeland defense missions. It can support Marines ashore, insert special operations forces and hunt down pirates in places we can’t go right now.

Let me say that again … in places we can’t go right now.
That counts for something. The CNO always talks about building a Navy that can be where it matters and ready when it matters. Well, the littorals matter. The littorals are where products come to market; it’s where seaborne trade originates. Littorals include the major straits, canals, and other maritime chokepoints so necessary to this traffic. It’s also where a whole lot of people live. Coastal cities are home to more than three billion people right now, a figure that some experts estimate will double by 2025.

The Admiral is smoking crack.

Quite honestly the mission that he's talking about was performed by the Perry Class Frigates that are going out of service.

Except for mine hunting...which should be on a dedicated platform by the way...we're getting nothing new.  The comparisons to truly paradigm breaking ships of the past is a flat out lie.  He knows better.  We all know better.

The navies that he's talking about are involved in a massive program to upgrade their fleets and this is a step below what many of them are bringing into service.  The worship of "partnerships" has once again been proven to be a false god.  Those navies want to team with a technologically advanced force, one that brings things to the table that they don't have...and they want to get those capabilities themselves.  The Japanese don't want to train with the Marines so that they can be "part of the team" (well they do, but that's a small part of it).  They train with Marines because they want to learn the amphibious warfare art.  They want to achieve what the Marines already have.  If the Marine Corps approached them with watered down examples of how its done then they would be insulted.

That's actually what the Navy is doing with this boat.  They're insulting our allies.

Think about this and cry in your beer.  The Pegasus Hydrofoil has more firepower than the LCS.

It operated in the littoral zone and it was tossed aside by the big Navy.  Riverines was a throwback to the patrol boat Navy.  It was tossed aside.
You need something like the Riverines or the Coast Guard to do what is envisioned for the LCS if we're being honest.  But an undermanned LCS won't get it done, it won't insert Special Forces (Navy SEALs or MARSOC might ride along to claim a maritime role again...but it'll be a self serving role, not a real mission need), it won't provide support ashore for Marines (other ships---amphibs will do that and do it 1000% better) and in the end it won't even have the mine hunting mission (that'll be done by other ships that carry helicopters...this will be a helo based mission in the end).

Long story short.

The LCS is just another failure from this generation of generals/admirals that will forever mark this Pentagon as one of the worst in history.

Rosomak Family of Vehicles Photo Essay.

 Many thanks to Leetwin (cool nickname!) from Poland for the pics!

The Polish military has taken the term "family of vehicles" and taken it to its proper end place.

APC, IFV, Mortar Carrier, Fire Support Vehicle, Anti-Air Missile Carrier, Anti-Air Radar, and Recovery Vehicles...its the same thing the US Army did with the Stryker but with a much better vehicle in my opinion.

One thing that has gone unmentioned in the turn to the Pacific is a discussion of what kind of fighting we can expect.

In historic terms I expect a bunch of Iwo Jima's...a bunch of Hue City's...with a serious dash of Fallujah's mixed in.

What do I mean by all that?  Asia is seriously urbanized in some places, seriously filled with jungles in others and surprisingly you have a few plains thrown in.

But the cities and the jungles will be where the action is.

Consider Manilla as the perfect example.  I can see where a "stabilization" force could land without opposition and then face deadly combat (Iwo Jima)...the fighting will be fierce against regular forces (Hue City)...fighting will continue into the ghetto parts of the city (Fallujah) and then you'll have the remnants/insurgents being pushed into the countryside where you'll be faced with classic jungle fighting.

Continuing on with Manilla as being the place of the fight, a wheeled fighting vehicle would serve well in such a place.  Being amphibious would help if the fighting extended to jungles and even across rivers...

I was late to the party but a wheeled APC/IFV is definitely starting to make more sense...especially if we can get the Family of Vehicles/Neck down concept right.

Golf Co, 2nd Bn, 3rd Mar & AAV plt, Combat Assault Co, 3rd Mar conduct joint training op.

An amphibious assault vehicle drags another AAV back to shore after it lost power during a water training exercise on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, June 4, 2013. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment solved the unplanned problem and safely escorted the vehicle back for maintenance. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Matthew Bragg)

You're looking at what is going to be a bigger and bigger issue with AAVs.  Breakdowns at sea.  When it happens you start looking between your feet to see if its filling with water, while everyone is cussing and playing grab ass.  The AAV crew is trying to trouble shoot the problem and all you're doing is making plans to get the fuck out if it all goes bad....

This problem needs to be solved asap.  Best solution.  Buy a new vehicle. 

Concept airplanes by Stephane Beaumot.

Blast from the past. V-22 chin mounted turret gun.

F-35A completes 1st in-flight missile launch

An F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft completed the first in-flight missile launch of an AIM-120 over the Point Mugu Sea test range on June 5, 2013. (Courtesy F-35 Program Office)

Chile buying AAVs.

via UPI.

SANTIAGO, Chile, June 6 (UPI) -- Chile will buy surplus U.S. stock of a dozen AAV7 armored amphibious vehicles for its new sea-borne Amphibious Expeditionary Brigade, defense industry media reported.Officials say the vehicles are being acquired from excess inventory of U.S. stockpiles but will be upgraded before they are put into service. The cost of the AAV7 acquisition was not mentioned.
The upgrade is likely to be carried out by BAE Systems' Global Combat Systems unit, Defense Market Intelligence and Chile's Defense and Military blog reported. Independent comment on the acquisition and upgrade was not immediately available.
The first of the AAV7s is set to be delivered in 2014 after the upgrade, likely to involve installation of more powerful engines. Chile's purchase includes 10 AAVP7 A1 troop transports, one AAVC7 command vehicle and one AAVR7 recovery vehicle, the reports said.
Manufactured by U.S. Combat Systems, the AAV-7A1 is the current amphibious troop transport of the U.S. Marine Corps.
The vehicles, once commissioned, will be part of a 1,400-strong brigade Chile operates aboard its Sargento Aldea multirole assault ship, acquired from France in a $80 million deal. The Sargento Aldea previously operated in the French navy as the Foudre and served allied forces in NATO Yugoslavia operations in 1992-93 and French military action in Ivory Coast.
Analysts said the tracked AAV7 could work well with the Sargento Aldea and other Chilean navy vessels but might not be suitable for peacekeeping missions requiring faster, wheeled vehicles.
It was not immediately clear if the BAE upgrade would extend to weaponry.
A standard AAV7 is usually equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun and a 40mm grenade launcher.
Chile is also looking into acquiring new helicopters, landing craft and other hardware for its armed forces.

I'll be keeping an eye on this.  Consider it an experiment to see if BAE can actually deliver what they're promising in an upgraded AAV.

SIDENOTE:  Who knew Chile had an Amphibious Expeditionary Brigade?  I still want the Marine Corps to drop the "expeditionary" label and use amphibious...as in Marine Amphibious Unit, Marine Amphibious Brigade, Marine Amphibious Force...its been done before (during Vietnam) and the term expeditionary is now simply a buzz word with no meaning.

Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Rumors abound.

Rumors are good for info (sometimes) and entertainment (all the time).  The latest swirling around the ACV.


BAE.
BAE is intriguing in their approach.  The Marine Corps originally approached them with a request to provide information on AAV upgrades.  Additionally those upgrades we just learned focused on "force protection" only.  BAE however upped the ante and instead is offering a trio of proposals.  The first is in line with the Marine Corps request.  The second is a drastic upgrade that will include improvements of the basic vehicle across the line.  The third is the vehicle that has me scratching my head.  The AAV Advanced is a vehicle that is unrecognizable as an AAV.  It includes hull changes to make the vehicle perform better in the water AND to survive IED strikes.  New weapon systems in the cannon range...improved suspension and much more powerful engines.

General Dynamics.
I wasn't aware of it until recently but just before the EFV was canceled, GD made an offer to the Marine Corps for a simplified vehicle.  The Marine Corps refused to bite because the holy grail of a amphibious tractor being able to launch from over the horizon and yet retain the combat effectiveness and protection capabilities of a purpose built land vehicle still beckoned. General Dynamics is pitching a modified EFV that is less complex, yet retains a form of water planning.  How they're doing it is beyond me but my guess would be hull form, water jets and a MUCH lighter vehicle (they supposedly are dumping the fancy hydraulics).

What about the MPC?
Want to know why the numbers keep getting crunched for the ACV?  Want to know why the Marine Personnel Carrier Program is in limbo?  Blame the above options.  Both companies are promising the world.  A one for one replacement for the AAV with the amphibious tractor that the Marine Corps always wanted...just a bit slower and alot later but essentially what was desired....at a price that the Marine Corps can afford and allow it to get its procurement issues sorted out.  If this is true then we're seeing number crunching from hell and probably every available procurement attorney trying to make an iron clad contract  to keep costs from rising once the award is issued.

Am I happy?
If this is true then I'm still pissed.  If true then I'm pleased to see this come together at the very end of a very bumpy road but the trip wasn't worth it.  Again.  If this is true.  Then we've seen a new kind of ethic creep into the way the Marine Corps does business.  Just like smaller programs like the SERPA HOLSTER buy or the Blue Force Sling...and even the Internal Transportable Vehicle selection....it seems like things are being done in smoky back rooms and the equipment/vehicle selected isn't necessarily the best of breed.

Time will tell.