You don't see that everyday. Had to hurt...Seagull swallowing a rat in the streets. pic.twitter.com/g3HHNlzj4a— Incredible Beauty (@ScienceAndAstr1) July 1, 2020
Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Nature is brutal....
Iran makes a smart looking BMP-2...
Story here.
I would love to get a few more views of this vehicle, watch it maneuver over broken ground and check out it firing, but on looks alone its a rather smart looking vehicle.
I don't recognize the turret. Locally made?
Hate them or love them but the Iranians deserve a bit of credit. They're doing more than expected with a crushed economy and being considered an international pariah.
Public Health officials under fire...a predictable result of the lockdown...
via CNN
During a live public briefing on Facebook last month, "someone very casually suggested" the Los Angeles County's public health director should be shot, the director said.Story here.
"I didn't immediately see the message, but my husband did, my children did, and so did my colleagues," Dr. Barbara Ferrer said Monday in a statement.
It's just one of the many threats of violence public health workers are facing across the nation "on a regular basis" as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, Ferrer said.
Whether it's advising people to avoid large groups or encouraging people to wear face coverings in public, health officials -- both at the local and federal level -- have spent the last few months updating Americans on how to remain safe during the pandemic and avoid spreading the virus.
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The backlash has taken its toll: At least 24 public health officials have either resigned, retired or been fired from the positions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) said Monday.
"What has typically been just pure public health advice coming from a trusted source in the community, the local health department, is being politicized and made to seem like the public health advice is something that is restricting people's rights, their freedoms to move about," Lori Freeman, CEO of NACCHO, told CNN.
This should have been easily predicted and should have served as a SERIOUS consideration for governors across the nation.
Free men and women will eventually buck at the notion of being told that they are essentially being placed on house arrest.
I also contend that the protests/riots, the response by law enforcement (hoisted on them by policy makers) to businesses reopening and wide spread defiance by the public to go out into the public is having a terrible effect on the psyche of our nation.
From my chair the messaging has been all wrong about this pandemic.
If you recall I stated on this blog that medical professionals would go from being hailed as heroes to hated by the public.
I think we're there now.
The real question that we will have to grapple with? How much damage has/is being done to our fellow citizens finances, mental health and physical health (because so much medical care has been canceled/postponed)? How much damage has been done to the nation?
The only good thing that can come out of this? The US military has another datapoint when it comes to insurgent warfare. Study of the pandemic response in the US should be studied by our psychological warfare and special ops community. There is much to be learned here and those lessons could possibly translate to future operations in megacities and/or disaster response.
Side note. Could we consider this entire pandemic (at least so far) a missed opportunity for the US military? Should our reaction to this thing have been to look at it as a massive HA/DR episode that required Northern Command to fully leverage the logistics capability of the US military? I think so. Additionally I believe that this is another bit of evidence that Northern Command is basically useless. It really should be disbanded.
Houthis strikes on Saudi Airport
Houthis strikes on Saudi Airport pic.twitter.com/2b8H5Hd6bn— ZOKA (@200_zoka) July 1, 2020
Open Comment Post. 1 July 2020.
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| rabbit is almost as big as the fox...wonder if he actually killed it... |
Patria and Kongsberg Teaming Up for U.S. Turreted Mortar Programs
Story here.
Wow. This program would be a natural in the old Corps but I'm not sure the new Corps will even be an observer in it.
I'm really liking the moves the US Army is making with regard to modernizing its ground force.
It's airborne forces (and light infantry) will gain mobility with the Infantry Squad Vehicle. The Stryker while old has seen a number of upgrades along with firepower. The turreted mortar will only add to that. Heavy Brigades are also experiencing an evolution right before our eyes.
The weird thing is that the Army/Navy are evolving while the Marines/Air Force are seeking transformation.
Can't wait to see which direction is correct.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Scots Guards + Boxer = Strike Brigade?
2. Boxer— Scots Guards (@scots_guards) June 28, 2020
A video produced by Gdsm Hardie to promote this incredible Battalion - and our role in the Strike Brigade.
Gdsm Hardie - 8Plt pic.twitter.com/Estsh7sk2T
The Military We Have Vs. The Military We Need
Note. I ran across this article and thought that I would be reading something so thought provoking that it would have me post it on the blog as an alternative way of thinking and stir debate. That did NOT happen. Instead I'm left wondering how this guy could be teaching at a premier defense university in the USA.
The Military We Have Vs. The Military We Need via Defense One (article here)The end (or toward the end) of the article first. I thought the military we wanted was suppose to be destructive, lethal, blunt and combat oriented! Suffice it to say that this bubba is arguing for something different.
The military we have is heavy, destructive, lethal, blunt, combat-oriented, technology-dominant, general purpose, unilaterally capable, provocative, escalatory, expensive (gluttonously so), and unsustainable. It is basically a hard-power warfighting machine, totally captive of and obsessed with its own warfighting/warfighter verbiage, useful primarily for tacit threatmaking based on ostensibly superior capabilities, and prepared – arguably – only for traditional, conventional war (even though deployed for a variety of missions).
The military we need would be quite the opposite: light, constructive, predominantly nonlethal, precise, noncombat-oriented, manpower-dominant, tailored, multilaterally-capable/-dependent, reassuring, de-escalatory, affordable, and sustainable. It would be a strategically effective force, designed to respond to a robust array of complex, most-frequently-occurring emergencies – peacekeeping, nation-building, humanitarian assistance, disaster response – that ultimately contribute most demonstrably to the overarching normative strategic aim of enduring global peace.Yeah.
I don't get it. I hope I'm wrong but can anyone point to any place on the planet where an external force has been able to successfully engage in nation building, peacekeeping etc...?
I can't think of one place where it's happened. I stand ready to be corrected.
Anyway, read the whole thing and let me know what you think.
My guess is that this is a primer for a position in the new administration and is his bid at showing dramatic new ideas probably with the idea that an appointment can be had if he can justify slashing defense spending dramatically.
One last thing.
The force that he envisions for the US would be more in keeping with the current German model than many of our more powerful allies. This portion should keep the people at the Pentagon up at night.
Should such sweeping, transformative overhaul ever become a reality? Yes – if peace is actually our ultimate aim. Could it take place? Unlikely – given the intellectual shortcomings of the defense establishment in particular, and the national security community in general. These are heretical, heterodox ideas that can take root and be acted upon only as an outgrowth of new thinking that is in inexcusably short supply in government and think tank thought factories. In the final analysis, though, the military will have to take the lead – and want to take the lead – in dramatically reforming itself because politicians have major vested interests, political and economic, in preserving the status quo and in letting the military dictate its own fate. Whether the military has the intellectual wherewithal to measure up to such a challenge is a matter for high hopes, but measured expectations. But if we are to produce a future that is better than the past, we shouldn’t give up on hope.What should keep you up at night?
The knowledge that someone at the Pentagon is reading this article and agreeing with it 100%
Sunday, June 28, 2020
RAFAEL Multi-Missile SPIKE NLOS Launcher Configuration
I was happy to share this vid when I found it but I'm a bit miffed. Some of these manufacturers fail to realize that we want to see the system they've developed, not explosions or the weapon they launch (in this case). Good vid but I wanted a bit more.
Royal Air Force Chinook doing work down low...
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Chinese Navy vs the QUAD countries
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If payloads over platforms is the correct meme....If China is able to develop effective anti-ship missiles that can be launched from small ships...If Chinese Diesel Electric Subs are as effective as their European counterparts...then we have a huge problem in the Pacific.
I guess the first issue is the most important one. Would the Quad countries actually stick together if a fight were declared? Notice that the S. Koreans aren't included? That's a huge red flag in my mind.
Next is the issue we covered first.
How will the USMC's future force structure make up for this deficit and is the juice worth the squeeze if they're able to get on land?
Just looking at this chart, leadership fiddled while the threat turned into a monster.
Did the naval order of battle against the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact ever look this bad during the height of the Cold War?
Saturday, June 27, 2020
This is clearly BATSHIT crazy...
Can you believe it. 😂 pic.twitter.com/bjgzH9e7nT— COP VIDEOS (@Copvids911) June 27, 2020
Simply amazing but not entirely unexpected.
This is batshit crazy but a sign of things to come. Defund police? I give it till the first of the year and you'll see a hiring call that will shock the system along with increased pay in all localities.
Conventional wisdom today is gonna be seen as "what the fuck were you thinking" tomorrow.
Late Saturday Talk. Summer is pretty much a wash. Is fall gonna be worse?
Just a little Late Saturday Talk. Some have hit on it on the blog. I've seen it said outright in other places.
Summer is looking like a wash. Their will be no traditional summer this year. Which means tourism worldwide is in the toilet. Looks like beaches are gonna take a beating and normal other summertime activities (probably with the exception of barbeques) is underwater too.
So from my seat we can kiss summer goodbye.
Will the fall be better or worse?
What does that even look like? Can you imagine Halloween in the era of the coronavirus? Thanksgiving might scrap by but Christmas and the shopping that props up most businesses is gonna take a SERIOUS and drastic hit.
Oh and this is all before you add in some of the social unrest that is definitely keeping me in an even less than normally anti-social mood than I already am.
Of course this will extend to all facets of our lives. From domestic policy, foreign policy, defense spending, domestic spending...even to employment.
I'm tossing this out to you all.
If you look at everything we're facing could we possibly be on the verge of a freaking depression (and yeah I've said it before, seen the videos on YouTube of the Karens and Kens acting a fool and even one woman saying she doesn't wear a mask for the same reason she doesn't wear panties...cause she gotta breath) because of our response/fear of this disease?
What are the global implications of a great depression? What are the issues that the defense budget will face because of a crashed economy?
Looking into a crystal ball I can't anything but hard times ahead. Am I wrong?
Summer is looking like a wash. Their will be no traditional summer this year. Which means tourism worldwide is in the toilet. Looks like beaches are gonna take a beating and normal other summertime activities (probably with the exception of barbeques) is underwater too.
So from my seat we can kiss summer goodbye.
Will the fall be better or worse?
What does that even look like? Can you imagine Halloween in the era of the coronavirus? Thanksgiving might scrap by but Christmas and the shopping that props up most businesses is gonna take a SERIOUS and drastic hit.
Oh and this is all before you add in some of the social unrest that is definitely keeping me in an even less than normally anti-social mood than I already am.
Of course this will extend to all facets of our lives. From domestic policy, foreign policy, defense spending, domestic spending...even to employment.
I'm tossing this out to you all.
If you look at everything we're facing could we possibly be on the verge of a freaking depression (and yeah I've said it before, seen the videos on YouTube of the Karens and Kens acting a fool and even one woman saying she doesn't wear a mask for the same reason she doesn't wear panties...cause she gotta breath) because of our response/fear of this disease?
What are the global implications of a great depression? What are the issues that the defense budget will face because of a crashed economy?
Looking into a crystal ball I can't anything but hard times ahead. Am I wrong?
Someone is moving a large convoy of SCUD missiles in Libya. What's going on?
a convoy full of long range missiles has left for #Sirte , these may be SCUD-B missiles from Gaddafi's time. #Libya pic.twitter.com/BxjbwBT6g3— Sukhoi Su-57 Felon 🇷🇺🇮🇳 (@I30mki) June 27, 2020
Someone is moving a large convoy of SCUD missiles in Libya. WTF is going on? Either they're moving them to more secure storage, moving them for transport out of the country, moving them to launch sites or moving them to a place where they can be dismantled.
Considering its Libya I'm guessing they're gonna be used.
Things looking grim for the UK's Royal Navy...
Pinstripedline has reviewed the NAO report into Carrier Strike - https://t.co/8PgVOCZJ2e— Sir Humphrey (@pinstripedline) June 27, 2020
Key Findings:
RAF F35 flying hours cut by 20%
A £60m LPH conversion to replace OCEAN cancelled.
The RN does not have enough spares to keep both ships ready for sea at all times. pic.twitter.com/oFS6mwPNBr
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