SNAFU!

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Combat Assault Company live fire...pics by Cpl. Eric Tso

USAF abandons 80% mission capability rate goal after F-22, F-35 and F-16 fail to hit target

via FlightGlobal

The US Air Force (USAF) has abandoned mission capability rate goals for its Lockheed Martin F-22s, F-35s and F-16s, after none of the fighters hit the target.
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“The Office of the Secretary of Defense determined the fiscal year 2019 80% mission capable rate initiative is not an FY2020 requirement,” he said in written testimony sent to the US Armed Services Committee and released on 7 May. “As a result, the air force returned to allowing lead commands to determine the required [mission capability] rates to meet readiness objectives.”

After initially making rosy projections about the F-35 reaching 80% mission capability, the Department of Defense (DoD) gradually walked back its forecast. In July 2019, it said F-35s and F-22s would fail to meet the goal. Nevertheless, F-16s were supposed to hit 80% mission capability by September 2019. In the end, not one of the USAF’s fighters achieved the mark.

The F-16’s mission capable reached a high of 75% in June 2019, F-22s reached a high of 68% in April 2019 and F-35s hit a high of 74% in September 2019, says Brown in his testimony. The USN reported in September 2019 that its fleet of F/A-18s surpassed the 80% mark.

Here.

Hmm. The F-22 for all its glorious capabilities has been somewhat of a hanger queen since introduction. I can't figure the issues with the F-16...something must be broken with Air Force maintenance if they can't hit the mark with that airplane. The F-35? My guess would be software issues, a broken ALIS (notice how that issue has faded from the news) and just another case of the tech being fragile instead of robust.

I really think that the REAL availability rates of that plane is why the Marine Corps is seeking to cut the numbers purchased.

Open Comment Post. 13 May 2020

Why did HQMC pick the Kongsberg turret for the ACV instead of other great options?

We covered this before but I have to circle back to why the Kongsberg turret. A refresher from Defense-Aerospace...

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS has been selected by BAE Systems, Inc. to design and manufacture the remote Medium Caliber Turret (MCT) for the United States Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) -30 program.

Kongsberg will deliver up to 150 MCTs in a phased program as part of this contract. Test article delivery will commence early 2021 followed by production phases.

The Kongsberg MCT-30 is the first remotely operated 30mm turret to be qualified and fielded in the United States. The system provides highly accurate firepower for wheeled or tracked combat vehicles. It is remotely controlled and operated from a protected position inside the vehicle compartment for optimized crew safety.

The MCT-30 leverages a link-less medium caliber cannon providing lethality, extremely high reliability and multi-user functions to the Marine Corps ACV and other platforms.

“The ACV-30 with Kongsberg’s MCT-30 turret signifies a powerful lethality capability for the Marine Corps, representative of a new era in U.S. amphibious operations,” said Pål E Bratlie, Executive Vice President Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.

The U.S. Army, in 2015, chose Kongsberg’s MCT-30 to increase the lethality of the Stryker Brigade in Europe. The system has been fielded and operated with the Army as part of the European Deterrence Initiative since 2018.

It is the primary armament and fire control system for the Infantry Carrier Vehicle – Dragoon (ICV-D) Strykers. All MCT-30s, and any remote weapon stations, bound for U.S. customers are manufactured in the Kongsberg Johnstown, PA facility leveraging a U.S. supply base located in over 30 states.

Here

Let me be clear up front. This isn't a bash the HQMC or Kongsberg blog post. This is a simple why did they select this particular turret thing. When the Army went this way in 2015, to be honest, I was kinda confused. Even back then there were other options that seemed to offer more capability. Fast forward to today and the turret seems almost old tech. Toss in a few realities that the Marine Corps has chosen for itself and it makes even less sense.

What do I mean? We can expect compressed budgets because of the coronavirus. Tanks are out so we're gonna need a mobile anti-tank capability. The Marine Corps is emphasizing sensors so a robust suite is desirable.

So where should we have looked? Below are a few options....

Besides being hyper accurate the EOS 2000 comes with built in spike launchers, can provide protection up to STANAG 6, has active protection built in and has gunner/commander independent sensors.

Next up for consideration would be the Rafael Samson as seen on the Singaporean Hunter AFV.

It boasts some of the same features as the EOS 2000 (but in my opinion to a lesser degree) and is also another option that should have been considered.

Another consideration? Longevity. Was any thought given to the idea that the ACV might be FORCED to serve much longer than planned (God knows the AAV certainly did...from my recollection we had been seeking to replace that vehicle from the 80's!) so perhaps the idea of following the Army's lead and moving to a 50mm gun should have been considered.

Again, this isn't a slam HQMC, Kongsberg or any of the decision makers. A bad decision done on time can be directed. A good decision too late is a mistake.

An explanation of how they arrived at the Kongsberg would go a long way in establishing where the Marine Corps is headed and what leadership is thinking.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The ‘Milk Tea Alliance’ & how one little girl plus a bunch of 20 somethings are pissing off China...

Thanks to Utah Bob for the link!

This is fascinating. Check this out...

When we stand together, no evil is too big to fight. #nnevvy pic.twitter.com/K1d0QtDICh
— John Ho (@JOSHUAHUCKEBEIN) April 12, 2020

Yeah. They're using Sailor Moon as their representative of SE Asian countries standing together against China.

But you have to read the articles Utah Bob posted to get the full flavor of the revolt in the region against Chinese hegemony.

A small sample...

A barrage of memes and posts ridiculed Chinese social media users for everything from their pro-Communist Party ideology to the spread of coronavirus. Failed attempts by Chinese social media users to mass report tweets, posts and memes that they found critical of China were also soundly mocked on social media platforms.

This is too delicious and a must read. Check out the articles HERE, and HERE.

Even better do you know what NNEVVY said to kick start this whole thing (assuming I'm reading this right)? Check this out before you head out...

The online battle started when Sukaram was accused of retweeting and sharing a Thai Twitter post that questioned whether coronavirus had emerged in a laboratory in Wuhan.

LOVE IT!

Chinese Type 99 MBTs in the desert on exercise...

FNSS will provide 8x8 and 6x6 vehicles to the Land Forces Command and the Gendarmerie General Command.

Caption.

Within the scope of the Special Purpose Tactical Wheeled Armored Vehicle (OMTTZA) Project Agreement signed between the Defense Industry Directorate (SSB) and FNSS, FNSS will provide 8x8 and 6x6 vehicles to the Land Forces Command and the Gendarmerie General Command.

In the first phase of the project; With the domestic development model, vehicles in 5 different configurations will be developed and a total of 100 vehicles will be produced. Within the scope of the project: Command and Radar Vehicles and Sensor and KBRN Reconnaissance Vehicles to the Land Forces Command, Armored Combat Vehicle will be delivered to the Gendarmerie General Command.

The moment of the attack on the joint Russian-Turkish patrol on the M4 highway, Idlib province, Syria.

Момент нападения на совместный российско-турецкий патруль на трассе М4, провинция Идлиб, Сирия. pic.twitter.com/XGR1UXA8U1
— SwankyStas (@StasSwanky) May 12, 2020

Weird war.

Said it once and I'll say it again. No one is fighting to win. Seems like everyone is simply fighting to fight. No real objectives. No real goals. Just military operations for military operations sake.

Protests are back on in Hong Kong and the Police are out in force...

Police arrested 230 people — some as young as 12 — after a weekend of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/CoZwxFg776
— DW News (@dwnews) May 12, 2020

I kinda suspect that some of those "policemen" are actually Chinese soldiers. Nothing to base it on just a suspicion.

Milrem Robotics THeMIS tows a VBCI in tests...

"The platoon (Estpla-32) successfully tested ... towing a 22-ton Sisu APC and a 32-ton (!) VBCI infantry fighting vehicle." Read more what the Estonia Defence Forces used the THeMIS in Mali for from their Yearbook 2020 https://t.co/pvLji8zecz pic.twitter.com/WCy9qFPJYd
— Milrem Robotics (@MilremR) May 12, 2020

Pretty impressive.

Someone tweeted that maybe (assuming they have enough endurance) use these as lightweight recovery vehicles. I don't know how much torque they develop or how far they could go towing a vehicle this heavy but it could add another capability that might be worth investigating.

So what do we have? Heavy Weapons Carrier. Unmanned Assault Platform. Squad Equipment Carrier. Maybe Lightweight Recovery Vehicle?

A new 'Marine Littoral Regiment' specializing in ship-to-shore capabilities is coming to Hawaii

via Stripes

A new “Marine Littoral Regiment” coming to Hawaii — the first of its kind in the Marine Corps — represents a major shift for the service in the “great power” competition playing out in the Western Pacific and preparation for a high-tech missile war in the region.

Instead of training for low-tech counterinsurgency missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, which defined the Corps for nearly two decades, the littoral, or nearshore, Marines will become specialists in ship-to-shore capabilities in austere conditions to, among other things, sink ships at sea using missiles fired from unmanned vehicles that look like bulked-up Humvees.

The unmanned vehicles will operate inside the range of extremely capable enemy missiles fired back at them while trying to move about quickly to avoid being targeted.

Additional Marine Littoral Regiments may be based in Japan and Guam, but the first Hawaii-based unit is expected to have 1,800 to 2,000 Marines carved out mainly from units already here, including one of three infantry battalions at Kaneohe Bay, according to Maj. Joshua Benson, a spokesman for Marine Corps Combat Development Command.

As an exception, most of the companies and firing batteries that will make up a littoral anti-air battalion will come from units not currently stationed in Hawaii, Benson said in an email.

Reflecting the importance of the new formation, the 3rd Marines headquarters will be re-designated the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment headquarters. The Hawaii regiment has about 3,400 Marines.

This seems batshit crazy. From Marine Riflemen to Marine Missileers. Chesty must be puking his guts out.

Why is America reopening? Quarantine fatigue...

via Atlantic

#StayHome had its moment. The United States urgently needed to flatten the curve and buy time to scale up health-care capacity, testing, and contact tracing. But quarantine fatigue is real. I’m not talking about the people who are staging militaristic protests against the supposed coronavirus hoax. I’m talking about those who are experiencing the profound burden of extreme physical and social distancing. In addition to the economic hardship it causes, isolation can severely damage psychological well-being, especially for people who were already depressed or anxious before the crisis started. In a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half of Americans said that the coronavirus pandemic has harmed their mental health.

Meanwhile, most public-health experts agree that a premature return to the old version of normalcy would be disastrous. States continue to lack the capacity for widespread coronavirus testing or contact tracing. Serologic testing to date suggests that the majority of the population is still susceptible to infection. A vaccine is months or even years away. New cases continue to rise, with thousands of people dying each day, and those numbers will inevitably increase if communities go back to business as usual.
But the choice between staying home indefinitely and returning to business as usual now is a false one. Risk is not binary. And an all-or-nothing approach to disease prevention can have unintended consequences. Individuals may fixate on unlikely sources of contagion—the package in the mail, the runner or cyclist on the street—while undervaluing precautions, such as cloth masks, that are imperfect but helpful.

Public-health campaigns that promote the total elimination of risk, such as abstinence-only sex education, are a missed opportunity to support lower-risk behaviors that are more sustainable in the long term. Abstinence-only education is not just ineffective, but it’s been associated with worse health outcomes, in part because it deprives people of an understanding of how to reduce their risk if they do choose to have sex. And without a nuanced approach to risk, abstinence-only messaging can inadvertently stigmatize anything less than 100 percent risk reduction. Americans have seen this unfold in real time over the past two months as pandemic shaming—the invective, online and in person, directed at those perceived as violating social-distancing rules—has become a national pastime.

Here

This is a pretty interesting article but I want to touch on another issue.

The medical profession is again slow on the uptake, misreading the public and missing a huge opportunity to be seen as the saviors of the country.

Instead they will be viewed (in my opinion) as pushing a cure that was worst than the disease.

Why do I say that?

First we have to look at what we were seeing when the virus was rampaging thru New York City. On one hand we saw videos of nurses talking into cameras with tears in their eyes talking about how hard they were working, how they didn't have enough PPE, and how it looked like a war zone in their emergency rooms.

What happened later?

We're hearing calls for patients to return to emergency rooms and to return to hospitals in general because so many people obeyed instructions to stay away unless they were suffering from covid-19.

We saw videos of medical staff doing group dances outside of hospitals that had to be choreographed.

Then when the first appearance of quarantine fatigue showed up, they again rushed back to tell us that we needed to stay at home while adding a new requirement to reopen. A testing regime that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Meanwhile....

We've seen people all over the country basically defying stay at home orders. They might not be going to work but they are out and about.

The reality?

America is done with the stay at home order. Governors are finally cluing into this and are doing a slow motion opening because if they don't they know they'll basically have a revolt on their hands.

The mainstream press is still pushing the medical theme of continuing the stay at home orders but they're behind the power curve and APPEAR to have motives that I can't quite determine.

The unfortunate thing?

The medical community is missing a golden opportunity and Dr Faucci is setting himself up for failure. More calls to prolong the quarantine will paint him in a horrible light in flyover country. While it might prove popular in the NE corridor outside of those elite circles it will be seen as out of touch with normal people's reality.

Rank and file doctors and nurses will be seen as initially helping and then hindering progress while doing dance videos and enjoying the privilege of work while everyone else was being told to stay home and watch their incomes evaporate before their very eyes.

One thing is certain.

America is done with these lockdowns. Politicians and medical professionals can continue to try and fight reopening but the reality is that its here and people ... free people will not continue to be on house arrest for an indefinite time.