SNAFU!

Monday, December 31, 2018

Leopard 2 A7 / German Armed Forces...

Pics via Combat Camera Europe...

Martial Arts Instructor Course....pics by Lance Cpl. A. J. Van Fredenberg

The part of the "DNA" from the F-22 and F-35 that will make the F-16 Block 70 lethal is the AESA according to Dave Majumdar

via Yahoo.

How F-22 and F-35 'DNA' Will Make the 'New' F-16 Viper a Real Killer

Key point: "At the core of the F-16 Block 70 is the Northrop Grumman APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, which is based on technology leveraged from the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 and can track more than 20 targets simultaneously."

Lockheed Martin has received a massive $1.12 billion contract from the U.S. government to produce 16 advanced F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcons for Bahrain.

The “undefinitized contract action award” means that the Royal Bahraini Air Force will become the first operator of the most advanced and capable version of F-16 ever designed.

Story here.

Read the whole thing but excuse me for a second while I chest thump a bit.

I've heard all the experts talk about sensor fusion, and sensor node and quarterback for the fleet and how it will allow deep strike via HIMARS.

I said bullshit. It's the AESA.

I was shot down. It's not that simple they said.

Apparently it is.

Whom is the weapon? Is it the man, or is it the machine? (pic)...

Pic via COMBAT AVIATOR Instagram Page (if you love AH-64 Apaches - follow this guy!!!)

Ajax Family of Fighting Vehicles...AJAX, ARES, APOLLO, ATHENA, ATLAS and ARGUS

Many UK defense thinkers are pointing to the Boxer as the base vehicle for their future combat power. I wonder if that might be short term thinking? The Ajax has a family of vehicles already developed and ready to go.

It's mobility is unquestioned, its already being developed with Brit modifications/requirements and a large portion of it will be built in the UK.

Strike Brigades with Boxer or Heavy Strike Brigades with Ajax?

Both can be tailored to the desired mission and the difference in weight is not all that great...The question might come down to self deployment. Does the ability to self deploy within theater trump tactical mobility when the bullets start flying?

10th Armored Cavalry Brigade of the Polish Army & 41st Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Bundeswehr during a joint live-fire exercise

Pics via BMACHINE Tumblr Page...

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Blast from the past. The best tank at the start of WW2

Zi-8 Widebody Helicopter...

Pics via Odeo Soldier's Twitter Page...

Is it my imagination or does this thing take a bunch of design elements from the S-92? Did they hack Sikorsky too?

24th Mountain Battalion of the 61st Mountain Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division of the Romanian Army

Pics via BMASHINE Tumblr Page...

Open Comment Post. 30 Dec 2018

Saturday, December 29, 2018

IL-112V definitely looks like a C-27 competitor to my eye...a few frames I found on Twitter...

Опубликованы первые кадры рулежки новейшего транспортника Ил-112 pic.twitter.com/c6p2yFCqZp
— Телеканал "Звезда" (@zvezdanews) December 28, 2018

Wow! Bayou Man while doing research stumbled upon something brutal in the extreme...

Bayou Man (here) covers a variety of issues and if you don't tune into his blog you're missing out.

I hope the cowboy don't mind but I had to steal this from his pages and pass it along here. Do me a favor and hit him up so he don't get mad. Anyway with that said check this out...

At last the Capitana of Naples, the "Lodi" (She-wolf), bearing the Marquis of Santa Cruz, drew near [the galley] of Mamut, son of Dragut and nephew of Barbarossa, both famous corsairs of the previous generation. Mamut was a young man of 22 years, noted for his cruelty to his Christian slaves, of whom he had 200 on board. He stepped forward from his station on the poop to urge the efforts of the chained rowers, and after killing several in his fury, the stroke oarsman, always a most powerful man, seized him and dragged him into the midst of the rowers, who dropped their oars and fell on him like wild animals. Mamut was thrown from bench to bench, every man taking a bite from his carcass as he passed forward and he was a corpse before he reached the bows ... On the anniversary of Lepanto, Mamut's vessel became the sole prize of the entire campaign and the reward of the labors of 70,000 men.

Bayou Man ends with "ain't that a helluva way to die"!!!! That's an understatement!

Task Force Alamo in the Horn Of Africa...pic by Tech. Sgt. Shawn Nickel

U.S. Army Sgt. Wesley Carter, vehicle commander, Delta Company, 4th Platoon, 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, Task Force Alamo, Texas National Guard, deployed to Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), Djibouti, stands on top of a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle while preparing a preparing .50 Caliber Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station during training at a military range in Djibouti, Dec. 15, 2018. Task Force Alamo is responsible for rapidly deploying in response to any crisis threatening U.S. personnel or property throughout CJTF-HOA, an area nearly half the size of the continental United States.