Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Weds Funny. Watching people fart on thermal camera!

 

The two former Army vets that volunteered for the Ukraine Foreign Legion got hit by artillery fragments..

Turkey considering another buy of Russian S-400 missiles

 

Apparently we DID imperil our own defense with the lavish "gifting" of weapons to Ukraine.

I warned about this but the usual commenters (ya know the guys that think we have endless stockpiles of everything) stated it was no big deal.

F-22 with NEW stealth drop tanks, NEW EW pods, and JATM.

 

A Combatant Commander asked for the Navy/Marine Corps Team to arrive to bolster Europe's defense before the invasion of Ukraine. They weren't ready.

 via USNI News

As Russia prepared to invade Ukraine, the head of U.S. European Command asked for a Marine Expeditionary Unit and Amphibious Ready Group to deploy early to Europe as a hedge against the conflict expanding.


But the Marine Corps couldn’t meet the request, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, told the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee today.


Asked how important it is for the Marine Corps to receive advanced procurement funding for an amphibious warship the service recently billed as its top unfunded priority for the upcoming fiscal year, Heckl pointed to the recent scenario.


“Within force design is our ongoing requirement as a Marine Corps and by law to be the crisis response force for the nation. Without those LPDs, sir, and the other amphibious traditional L-class amphibious warships, we cannot be there. And we’re already struggling now. And the case and point was the 22nd Marine Expeditionary unit off the East Coast,” Heckl told Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), the ranking member of the subcommittee.


According to Heckl, U.S. European Command chief Gen. Tod Wolters asked that the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group “sortie early to be on station as the Ukrainian situation evolved, or devolved. And we were not able to sortie the ship[s].”

Here

Most ready when the nation is least?  Not this time.  I always thought the SPMAGTF-CRs were lightweight.  We didn't even have that capability.

Even worse?

Can't put this all on the Navy either. 

Historically we've been able to put together tailored MAGTFs to perform the mission(s).  Additionally we've been able to use alternate shipping.

I wonder.  Was it a "not want to" or a "not able to"? 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Is our entire leadership senile?

Raise tax rates so my take home pay gets smashed even more? Is this dude smoking crack or just senile? Just plain wow.

It's bad out there...be careful...

42 Commando practised Joint Personnel Recovery tactics with USMC Aviation and Iceland's Coast Guard on Ex Northern Viking.

 

Well shit! China reports first human case of H3N8 bird flu

 via BNO 

A 4-year-old boy in central China has been infected with H3N8 bird flu, making it the first time that the virus has been confirmed in humans. Scientists believe that a previous strain of the virus – which is also found in horses and dogs – was responsible for the 1889 pandemic.

The boy, from Zhumadian City in Henan Province, developed fever and other symptoms on April 5 and was hospitalized on April 10 when his condition worsened, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement.

“On the 24th, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a test on the patient specimen sent from Henan Province and the result was positive for the H3N8 avian influenza virus,” NHC said in the statement.

Here 

A V-22 Osprey conducting submarine ops…

Well we see how SEALs get aboard subs at sea now. Guess the days of the boat having to stop and pick up parachuting SEALs is gone...note the SDV on deck.

A feel good moment in a world gone insane...

 

Air Force to buy E-7 to replace AWACS.

I'm a bit disappointed by this. I was really hoping the GlobalEye would be the choice. Oh well...

Russia to Cut Gas to Poland and Bulgaria, Making Energy a Weapon....the allies have two months before this alliance shatters.

via Bloomberg.
Russia says it will cut gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday—a major escalation in the standoff between Moscow and Europe over Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. For weeks, the Kremlin has threatened to turn off pipelines if Europe didn’t pay for gas in rubles. The European Union argued that would defeat the purpose of sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its aggression. Gas prices surged 17%, amid concern that other countries could be next. But Poland says it’s fully prepared for a cutoff of all energy supplies and has been outlining plans to live without Russian gas even before the war.

 They're finally gonna do it.

The Russians are gonna cut off the gas to Poland and Bulgaria.

Make no mistake about it.  That's the low hanging fruit.  The US and the rest of Europe will seek to make up the difference but will probably fail.

But the real hit will come when Putin swings around to hitting Germany.  When that happens you'll hear the screaming begin. 

This war has been easy for the allies.  The Dills have been doing the fighting and they dying.  Many immigrated to other countries. But now it will get hard.  Now the war will start to affect the lives of people outside the war zone.

It will be interesting to see how long the fever for prolonged combat lasts then.  I don't think it'll be long at all.  I think when you see rolling blackouts, fuel rationing and sky high prices, I believe you'll see people singing my tune.  They'll finally see the need for talks.

If not talks then you'll see the Europeans capitulate and pay in roubles.

The US will howl.  Why?  Because it'll be another wound for the petro dollar.  

Baskets of currencies will become the norm (everyone will follow the Israeli model).

The powers that be just didn't think the sanctions thru. They just reached for that rusted hammer and banged away without considering knock-on effects.

8-1 CAV @ Yakima, WA on earth day

 

USMC FY-23 Budget: "In FY 2023, NMESIS transitions to Low Rate Initial Production.

HMH-461's CH-53K King Stallion's First Operational Flight

 

So the Russians are performing Combat Search & Rescue in Ukraine...via Reddit

 

This was one of my huge questions. 

I hadn't seen any video of Russian forces actually performing CSAR of their downed pilots. As a matter of fact I've never seen any injured Russian troop being airlifted out (no video of it I've seen). I assumed it was all ground ops for that kind of thing.

Another thing has me curious.

I've seen "elite" units on both sides but the Special Ops boys are either ultra quiet or not being used in the conflict.

The only word I've seen of Special Ops participating is that Brit newspapers are saying that the SAS is on the ground over there.

We're seeing a HUGE propaganda effort mixed with news blackout so I shouldn't be surprised, but it would be nice to get a "look see" at what's really going on.

Open Comment Post. 26 Apr 22

 


Monday, April 25, 2022

Bayraktar Akıncı has participated in its first big combat mission in Iraq and is now combat proven via Reddit

 Note.  Altay put me onto this beast of a combat UAV and I've been monitoring its progress.  THIS is the way.  The Turks are onto something and the rest of NATO should pay close attention.  What I find interesting is that the Israelis once had a huge lead and seem to have fallen off the map(if you know of a project of note they're working on then let me know!).  The Turks have picked up the mantle now.