Friday, July 14, 2023

US, NATO weapons stockpile ‘dangerously low’: USAF General

 via Breaking Defense

Amid a high tempo of arms transfers to Ukraine, the stockpile of US weapons and those of allies are getting “dangerously low,” the commander of US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) said today. And worse, he warned, no “short term” fixes are on the horizon. 


Speaking on a panel with the air chiefs of the United Kingdom and Sweden during the Chief of the Air Staff’s Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, USAFE Commander Gen. James Hecker, who also leads US air forces in Africa, urged fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization members to take a hard look at the status of their weapon stockpiles.  


“I think it’s very important that we kind of take stock of where we are in our weapons state across the 32 nations of NATO, and we’re getting way down compared to where we were,” said Hecker, who counted Sweden’s expected accession to NATO among the collection of allied nations — a topic of heated discussion at the NATO summit in Lithuania this week.


“If you look at the US itself  — and let’s not just talk about the munitions we recently have given away to Ukraine — but we’re [at] roughly half the number of fighter squadrons that we were when we did Desert Storm,” Hecker said, pointing to a similar decline in fighter strength for the UK. “So we don’t have nearly what we had at the heart of the Cold War. Now you add that we’re giving a lot of munitions away to the Ukrainians — which I think is exactly what we need to do — but now we’re getting dangerously low and sometimes, in some cases even too low, that we don’t have enough. And we need to get industry on board to help us out so we can get this going.”

Told ya so.  Here 

Zelensky loves saying "we fight for Europe".  Ok.  Debatable but the Europeans seem to believe so fine.

We all know he ain't fighting for the US.

So.....

This fight ain't for us.  We don't have a dog in it.  Let's get our shit together.  Get our munitions stockpile right again, get our HOUSE in order and let the Europeans take care of this European problem.


The FBI went totally rogue. They spied on Nunes' staffers...and Google helped!

 

If Wray is right and he "reformed" all the mistakes of the FBI (something I seriously doubt) then we still have the problem of the FBI messing with an election. Comey and all his soy boys need to see what prison is like. This can't go unpunished.

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Wonder what lit up this Bushmaster...

 

Thanks to Maria Zakharovka for the link! I wonder what hit them. Looks like heavy caliber machinegun fire, but I would expect chunks of bodies being missing and it doesn't look like it. 30mm cannon doesn't seem probable but the front fender area seems ripped big time but the front windshield took hits but doesn't appear to be penetrated. I just don't know. Not even sure if what we're seeing is the aftermath of the fight or after the vehicle has been rummaged thru. I suspect the latter.

Can we please agree on one thing.

This war needs to be turned off.

I'd LOVE to see a ceasefire.  I don't think ANY side would benefit more than the other at this point but I do think it would allow for maybe a FEW more people to live.

Why the FUCK is Biden calling up members of the Ready Reserve???

 

Thanks to Maria Zakharovka for the link! I saw this shit and said to myself he's got to be fucking with me. Checked it out. Its true. Biden is calling these dudes up. To support the regular Army in Europe? In a reassure mission? WTF is going on??? What is happening that this needs to be put in place?

Call me a conspiracy theorist but something bad is coming.  I gotta see what units these guys belong to but if its the transportation bubbas then fuck.

They're probably about to send a full division over to Europe.

This shit is becoming concerning.

Hope all you cheerleaders are dusting off your cammies, hitting the gym and working hard on that dad bod.  You don't want to be a disgusting fat body on the battlefield.  They always target the fat guys first.  Easier to hit.

Damn Zelensky just buy a fucking suit already...

Poor guy :(
by u/UAPchaserFL92 in Military
Read the comments on this one. Kinda funny. But in all seriousness. Just buy a damn suit bro! This performance art is just too painful to watch. You're at a formal event and you show up like that? Maybe at the beginning but the long war has started so its past time to dress the part of a statesman, not a wanna be soldier.

Zelensky needs a new public relations staff.  They're losing the crowd and this is getting old.  Real old.

Alexander The Great was buried alive?

 

Ben Wallace called Zelensky on his bullshit. Once again Zelensky forgot his place...

Thanks to Duke 7 for the link!

 

Zelensky is reading too many of his own fawning press. Dude doesn't know his place. Doesn't realize that he's a pawn and is pissing off the hand that feeds him.

Alot of people on this blog don't like to hear it, but ...

1.  Zelensky is an imaginary hero.  Nothing about him screams leadership.  This appears to be just another acting role for him.  The combat/fatigue shirts?  The beard?  Dude is playing a role.

2.  Didn't realize it till I read this tweet and did a little digging, but alot of people in the UK (just like in the US) are little miffed about all the money/gear going to Ukraine. I guess every country has X-country first faction.

3.  He leads (extremely small quotation marks on the word leads) a complete donor nation.  Its just not munitions, military equipment etc...its also funding to pay for the govt, social services AND pay for the Ukrainian military.

To expect a little gratitude instead of constant demands is NOT asking too much.

But the humble and the ungrateful can't put something that simple together.

Biden is starting to prime the pump that this will be a LONG war (for the modern USA is there any other kind?) but I don't believe the citizens of the West will accept that.

Zelensky better rework his approach to the West or he'll lose support.

Better pic of the Heavy Class Unmanned Ground Vehicle ALPAR

This thing is gonna sell worldwide...consider this lost market share.  Our defense contractors better turn to building what the market place needs, not just what the US military wants.


OK. I'm getting a little pissed. How is Turkey running rings around the US/Europe/China and Russia? These dudes are pushing forward with unmanned air and ground vehicles at a break neck pace. They're about to make an assault carrier into an unmanned air vehicle carrier and saturate the sky with expendable but lethal aircraft.

The terrible thing?

We thought of all this shit at least two decades ago but the projects went no where!

Oh and that's just unmanned systems.  Look at their ground vehicles?  You like the JLTV?  I do too, but the Turks have the same class vehicle that is like a rolling porcupine.

We have lost our imagination.  We have lost our innovation.

We keep waiting for leap ahead tech while others are leaping ahead of us by ACTUALLY DOING WORK NOW!  Utilizing the tech we have today!

We need better military leaders that stop killing projects and will get stuff from the drawing board across the finish line.

Our military budget is too high for us to be so lacking in so many areas.  Let me repeat.  The Turks will have a jet attack drone while the Navy is struggling to get a refueling drone.

Are we back to leading from behind?

Ok. This looks like a safety standdown for the Italian Navy...

Another Day, Another Crash. Happened Yesterday at Italian Navy Air Base, during preflight check on a MH-90, don't have more details about it
by u/censaa in Helicopters
Interesting. Have you checked out the Italian Navy? They have one of the most well balanced and unrecognized naval powerhouse in Europe. Quite honestly I would put them at least equal if not a bit better than the Royal Navy. Ever met those guys? They're good. Real good. Real deal pros. If you want a force that brings alot to a potential fight in the Pacific, at least from a Navy/Marine view point, then you'd be a fool not to try and get the Italians to join in.

Extremely impressive flexibility

What a juicy stretch, lilybrownflex
by u/xandercage01 in ThickFit
The Pacific. And you wonder why so many Marines go native...

Open Comment Post. 13 July 23

North Korean state TV has aired the first video footage of Wednesday's Hwasong-18 long-range nuclear missile launch

OTOKAR ALPAR Karşınızda!

 

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Can't be aesthetic and lift HEAVY

I'm talking about REAL HEAVY.  To lift mega weight you gotta get mega sized! 

Partially submerged statue of shiva the destroyer during the flash flood in Uttarakhand via Reddit's Oddly Terrifying...

Partially submerged statue of shiva the destroyer during the flash flood in uttrakhand.
by u/lonely_dude__ in oddlyterrifying
Not into Shiva at all (but the mythology is as interesting as the Greek versions) but having said that, this is indeed oddly terrifying. If I was a believer this would definitely serve as a sign.

You thought I was rough on Berger? Reddit is BRUTAL!

 

Congratulations Gen Berger
by u/tommysthename in USMC
Damn! I thought I could meme but I'm still rookie class. I bow to the greatness of Reddit'ers.

Don't know if this is true or not, but it if it is then wow...

I find this interesting. What has me curious is that they obviously got within dog fighting range. That isn't supposed to be the F-35s preferred fight. I would assume the same applies to the Chinese J-20. Additionally the Chinese are supposed to have an all aspect air to air missile. It should be irrelevant to the fight.

So what gives with this report?

Lastly we keep hearing that the F-35 needs the Blk 4 update or whatever it is that they're calling it now.

Things get weird in the ocean depths. Never heard of a tripod fish

Fitness is now right wing?

 

Prime Day is a fraud and so many fall for it....

Saved this to my cart yesterday but decided to wait until today to buy it to get a sale price on Amazon Prime day.
by u/QuickWrenn in mildlyinfuriating
I wonder how our society evolved to the point where people buy shit they don't need. Correction. Lust for shit they don't need.

Even weirder?  How are corporations able to so effectively tap into that lust to create a false sense of need/desire and then announce a sale that isn't a sale?

America needs a back to basics movement.  I'm not anti-consumerism.  If you want to buy x, y or z then go for it.  That's between you and yours.  But on a societal level its a bit worrisome.  What happens when you have jaded, immature people that lust for things that they can't afford?  You have crime, depression, broken relations...just a host of social ills.

We've got to break the cycle but I don't know how.  Our society is broken bad.