EADS Propaganda...

So far EADS has been doing the best job of getting the news out from the Paris Air Show of any manufacturer.  Home court advantage? 

FNSS

Which do we need more????

AAV
First introduced in the 1970's.
Modified in the 1980's.
Expected to serve well past 2025.

Or this....

MV-22B
First introduced in about 2005 (sketchy..first deployment 2007)
Approx 160 on hand (examples diverted to HMX-1)
Original plan called for 502, was reduced to 360 and now increased back to 406

Doesn't it make sense to curtail buys of the F-35 and MV-22 and get our armor house in order????

When you have enough V-22's to send several over to HMX-1....then you're either playing politics or you have enough to take care of your active duty squadrons.

Weird fact?  No one is explaining how the Marine Corps justified the increase in baseline MV-22 buys after reducing it to 360.

Fox coverage of MPF offload

Hmm.  Useful training. Embarrassing overhype of the actual work being done....oh and will someone tells these silly bastards to put a cover on their domes?  The silliness done to make sure that the video cameras get a good view of your face is not inspiring.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®

A different view on the F-35 by BlackFive.

via BlackFive.

The defense budget for 2014 is starting to take shape and we are going to be taking a good look at some of the items in it. Money is obviously tight, so we need to make certain that it is spent wisely and for the right reasons. All too often politics, lobbying and factors that have nothing to do with national security push programs and spending. In an era of austerity we simply can’t afford this.
The Chairman’s mark of the Defense Authorization Act is out and there are many good things in there. Rep. Buck McKeon is a solid advocate for a strong defense and this is his chance to comment on priorities and goals for defense funding. Most of the relatively short document relates to policy and has some requirements for explanations of debacles like Benghazi. But there are also some funding items that don’t make much sense.
One of these is a requirement to buy F-18 aircraft, which is a bit of a head scratcher. We cancelled the F-22 program before we bought anywhere near as many true air superiority fighters as we should have. We have cut back severely the number of F-35s that we plan to buy, but somehow we can find the money to buy a completely different and significantly less capable bird. That smells distressingly like some corporate welfare for Boeing, who makes the F-18.
I am unaware of any purely tactical or strategic military argument for splitting the funding for our fighter aircraft. There was a time back in the day where we had the F-14, 15 & 16 birds with different mission profiles and we let Northrop, Boeing and Lockheed duke it out to see how many of each we were going to buy. But we came to the logical conclusion that too often led to a contest between retired generals to feather their own company’s nest.

Read it all at BlackFive.

I don't have an opinion.

What I do have is simmering anger.  No.  Make that boiling anger.

I hate being misunderstood so let me try this again.

I DESPISE THE THOUGHT THAT TWO AIRPLANES (F-35 & V-22) ARE GOBBLING UP THE ENTIRE MARINE CORPS BUDGET!!!

How bad are things from my viewpoint?  We're going to cut the Marine's manpower to the barebones, not procure much needed replacements to the AAV, not buy the Marine Personnel Carrier, not update our fleet of MTVRs, make a questionable buy of lightly armored JLTVs, all because we are hyper dedicated to getting the F-35 and V-22!

I do not want the very nature of the US Marine Corps changed because of some gear.  Gear is suppose to be a tool to help you do the job better, not become the service's reason for being.  We do not need to become a quasi air force in green!

NOTE:  The issue with the F-35 has been broken down into camps.  Either your  for it' or you're against it'....I'm in the Marine Corps camp.  A real deal medium weight force that is expeditionary, can land on foreign shores, fight and win against technologically capable foes is what I'm all in on.  Future foes will have IEDs, anti-armor systems and artillery.  Protected transport for the infantry will be a must have.  I don't see the AAV as meeting the challenges of the future.

AFSOC wants the Combat Rescue Mission back...

via DefenseNews.

WASHINGTON — The future of a long-stymied US Air Force effort to buy new combat search-and-rescue helicopters is once again uncertain as top-level generals are intensely debating the type of aircraft and which arm of the service is best suited to conduct this critical mission.
For several months, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has been quietly lobbying to take over the combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) mission from Air Combat Command (ACC), arguing, according to sources and internal Air Force documents obtained by Defense News, they can do the mission with fewer aircraft, at lower cost.
AFSOC wants to perform the mission with Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and a small contingent of Sikorsky HH-60 helicopters, the same type of aircraft that fly the mission now. The active-duty would operate a mix of CV-22s and HH-60s, while the Air National Guard and Reserve, as they do now, would only fly HH-60s.
The intense debate, which involves a handful of senior generals, comes as the Air Force is preparing to award a contract for up to 112 new helicopters to replace battle-worn HH-60G Pave Hawks.
The Air Force spat is just one example of the internal battles raging throughout a military grappling, for the first time in more than a decade, with how to handle smaller budgets.

This is interesting.

Para-Rescue wants to get back into SOCOM.

Air Combat Command wants to have its own organic rescue component on hand for recovery of its pilots.

SOCOM itself is probably staying out of it (at the command level).

At issue?  Para-Rescue is wanting a new vehicle to help perform its mission, already works a great deal with SOCOM with regards to exercises, proficiency training and with other government agencies---it already sees itself under the SOCOM tent.

And the last maybe biggest issue is that AFSOC already has CV-22s.

This fight might tell us more about where things will go in the post Afghanistan period than anything else.  IF AFSOC gets the mission back then they've succeeded in helping SOCOM wall off its budget against stagnation or even cuts.  If Air Combat Command wins then by default it will get new equipment..

AFSOCs biggest problem?  The USMC.  Its going to devote an MV-22 squadron to special operations the same way the Navy has devoted a MH-60 squadron for the same use.  Para-Rescue will end up losing because everyone has combat/jump/scuba qualified Corpsmen/Medics.  Even Battalion Recon has Corpsmen that have been to the Basic Recon Course.

Still.  This internal fight is gonna be good.

Blast from the past. Vought F7U-3M "Cutlass" with Sparrow I missiles

pics via Aeroman.

Philippine Soldiers Kidnapped.

via the Washington Post.

MANILA, Philippines — Communist rebels posing as government troops have abducted five Philippine army soldiers on the outskirts of a southern city, the military said Tuesday.
New People’s Army guerrillas wearing military uniforms stopped the soldiers aboard two motorcycles at a road block late Monday outside Davao city, said local army spokesman Capt. Raul Villegas.
The soldiers in civilian attire were unarmed and on their way to the market to buy supplies for a community feeding program, Villegas said.
The group’s team leader sensed that the gunmen manning the road block weren’t soldiers and jumped off the motorcycle and leapt into a ravine to escape, leaving his five comrades behind, he said.
The rebels usually release captured soldiers after determining they were not involved in human rights violations and other abuses. Arrangements are made with local officials, who coordinate a limited cease-fire with the military to allow the safe return of the captives to government representatives.
The rebels have been fighting in one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies. Talks to end the uprising have stalled for nearly two years due to disagreements between the two sides over the release of several jailed rebel leaders.

Another of those long running insurgencies that many don't know about. Everyone talks about the US performing partnership missions with all these nations in the Pacific but I can actually see US participation as being problemsome.

For example.  What happens if US Soldiers are kidnapped while in the Philippines?  SOCOM will be tasked with a mission to recover them and would likely succeed.

The fallout?  Cheers in the US and an escalation in the violence in the Philippines.  Where once you had a low scale insurgency you suddenly have full scale warfare.

This country and the whole Pacific bears watching.

A Fighter Attack Squadron lost and still no one held responsible.

Remember the attack on Camp Bastion/Leatherneck?

A Marine Fighter Attack Squadron was rendered combat ineffective and lives were lost.

Now compare and contrast that with the incident in Las Vegas where about 8 Marines were killed.

The difference?

Commanders were held responsible within weeks.  Careers were dramatically altered.  Lives changed.  Accountability confirmed.

We have none of that in the Camp Leatherneck attack.  We don't even have a good after action report (at least one that is publicly available).

Jones, Conway, Krulak, Grey and other greats would have had someones ass in the sling for such an event.

And you wonder why I think the Marines are adrift?

The Brits are unusual people...and the RAF Regiment is just plain weird.

via Breach-Bang-Clear.

I was wrong. The Marine Corps was wrong.

No graphics on this one guys.  Just plain rear view mirror gazing.

The F-35, EFV and the V-22 were too big a price to pay for the dream of over the horizon amphibious assault.

I was wrong when I said (and argued) that they were just what we needed.

We could easily have made due with say the S-92 in place of the V-22 and F/A-18E/F, instead of F-35s.  Our air power wouldn't be state of the art but it wouldn't be breaking the bank, it would be sufficient to carry out Marine Corps taskings and it wouldn't have put even "traditional" amphibious assault in jeopardy like we're facing now.

The Marine Corps was wrong when they continue to stick to the yardstick of over the horizon attack.  They're also wrong for attempting to design amphibious ships and vehicles to act in that arena.

It was a bridge too far then and now. The troubled development process that was painfully illustrated by the EFV was an early warning sign that we all missed.

I missed it.  HQMC missed it.  Marine Corps leadership missed it.

Marine Corps institutional fear about being rendered irrelevant has served it well in the past but this time it worked against us.  We guard amphibious assault so vigorously that we missed the obvious.

So what if it becomes a combined service effort that involves elements of the Air Force and Army.  So what if its not a pure Marine Corps and Navy effort?

The other two forms of forcible entry are as difficult to perform now as any...maybe more and the threat to those forces performing those missions is perhaps even greater, yet the Airborne and Air Assault Forces never seem to express the "fear" that the Marine Corps does.

The Marine Corps as an institution needs to have a serious come to Jesus moment and get its shit straight.  

70 million (down from 100 million) for a CH-46 replacement is a sign of mental illness.  A replacement for the Harrier that is coming in at 150 million dollars each when we can get F/A-18's that can perform the MARINE CORPS mission of providing close air support for our infantry is insane.  Delaying the replacement for a Amphibious Assault Vehicle that is almost 50 years old while we prioritize the buying of the above aircraft AND a CH-53K which I haven't mentioned yet is a sign of illegal drug usage.

I just acknowledged the false assumptions that I made regarding Marine Corps procurement.  Hopefully, someone in HQMC has the balls to tell the Commandant that we're on the wrong road and need to turn around.  If a blogger can see this so can those in charge of the Marines.

Women in the Rangers??? Navy SEALs????

relax feminist...take your anger out on the guys that like to morph female body builders...she is no where near this big in real life but it does illustrate the point...gender norming will be done to get women into the infantry...standards won't be lowered for women...they're going to be lowered for everyone.

via New York Times.

Women will be permitted to serve in the most intense and physically hazardous combat positions in the military, including the Navy SEALs, the Army Rangers and the Marine infantry, senior defense officials said Monday.

Read the rest of this nonsense over at the Times.

War is reality.

Its not the kind, friendly, backstabbing halls of Congress or Universities where they "discuss" the issues of the day.

Put women in Infantry units and the units will suffer.

Put them in the Rangers, SEALs, MARSOC, or Special Forces and those units will suffer.

Don't believe the bullshit about standards not being lowered.  They will, and from the looks of the politically correct bastards in the Joint Chiefs of Staff AND sorry son of a bitches that will do anything to make rank and what you see in the next war will be suffering the likes of which will make stomachs turn.

American women WILL be brutalized by the enemy.  They will be sexually assaulted, gang raped, drug through the streets and humiliated in ways that I can't begin to imagine.

But this is gonna happen which leads me to the next question.

If women can fight in our front line combat units then why are their domestic violence laws?  If two people are equal then its a simple physical confrontation.  If women can fight then isn't being a gentleman outmoded?

The elites are viewing this as a simple case of equality, but reality...both in society and combat will show that this is a decision that will have consequences in both arenas. 

Drug war in Mexico? Not when they're building improvised armored vehicles!

Its becoming obvious that we're no longer seeing a drug war in Mexico.  Quite honestly it hasn't been a drug war for a long time.  Its some type of quasi criminal insurgency with the goal of .... I have no idea what the real goal is but when you have the criminal insurgents building armored vehicles that take anti-tank weapons to destroy them, and can shake off machinegun fire then you have something weird going on.

Afghans take over security from NATO. How long before the unfinished civil war kicks off?

via Hindu Times.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced at a ceremony on Tuesday that his country’s armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the U.S.-led NATO coalition.
The handover of responsibility is a significant milestone in the nearly 12-year war and marks a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months.
“This is a historic moment for our country and from Wednesday all of the security operations will be in the hands of the Afghan security forces,” Mr. Karzai said at the ceremony, held at the new National Defense University built to train Afghanistan’s future military officers.
Mr. Karzai said that in the coming months, coalition forces will gradually withdraw from Afghanistan’s provinces as the country’s security forces replace them.

Put on your thinking cap and remember your history. What was one of the major clues that terrorist activity was soon to occur back in 2001?  I'll give you a hint.  A commander for this group was killed and intelligence analyst went crazy.

The assassination of Commander Massoud of the Northern Alliance.

Want a serious kick in the pants?  The military wing of the Northern Alliance reformed when the US began getting serious about peace talks with the Taliban.  Many, myself included, picked this up as a signal that peace wouldn't be allowed.  Once the US left, the war would be back on and the Northern Alliance would once again be back in action fighting their old foes.

So my question is simple.

How long before what we're seeing in Syria is repeated in Afghanistan?

Bell 525 Relentless Press Release

"The Bell 525 Relentless program truly exemplifies our focus on meeting the mission needs of our customers. When our Customer Advisory Panel told us they wanted a helicopter with best-in-class performance characteristics and passenger amenities across a range of mission needs, we listened," said John Garrison, president and CEO of Bell Helicopter. "The updates we are sharing today are further evidence we are delivering on our customer commitment to provide an aircraft that delivers unmatched, cost effective performance."

The Bell 525's enhanced specifications include a flight cruise speed at max continuous power and max gross weight of 155+ kts (306 kph), a range of 500+ nm (926 km) and a useful load of 7,400+ lbs (3,357 kg). The maximum gross weight for the Relentless is 19,300+ lbs (8,754 kg). The Bell 525 Relentless can also perform CAT-A take offs and landings to and from a helipad at maximum gross weight on a hot day.

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Vehicles...

Concept Art. Man-Shark.

Japanese Work Alongside Marines for San Clemente Island Exercise. video by LCPL Reel.

NOTE:  I wasn't going to post this video, but it points out what appears to be a culture problem that I didn't see coming to the Marine Corps.

Do you see all that banter?  Have you seen how the General running that MEB has been grabbing as much screen time as possible?  Have you noticed that same General sounds more like a Senators Aid than a warrior?

My first thought was "Chesty would fuck these bastards up" if he was around today.

My second was...how did the Marine Corps become a place where a soft spoken Marine General (that sounds more comfortable at cocktail parties than battlefields) could rise in rank.

More than ever we need a reformer like Conway, Krulak, Gray or Jones as the next leader of the Marine Corps.  More later.

Tattoo Tuesday. Asian pivot edition.