The UK's nukes should be moved to the US if Scotland votes independence? Seriously?

via express.co.uk

BRITAIN’S independent nuclear deterrent should be moved to the United States if Scotland gains its independence next week, senior military figures have said.
Speaking to the Sunday Express they said the plan would ensure that our four Trident missile-carrying Vanguard submarines would not remain in the hands of a Non-Nato foreign country and deprive Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond of any “leverage” in post -independence negotiations.
The call, which one senior US politician last night said would be “overwhelmingly supported” in Congress, comes only two days after Ministry of Defence chiefs finally green-lighted an impact assessment study on Britain’s defence in the event of a Yes vote on Thursday.
Last night Whitehall sources confirmed they were “very alive” to the US option, though, officially, the Ministry of Defence refused to confirm it was making any provisions for independence.
Speaking last night, Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, now attached to the UK National Defence Association, said: “The great leverage that Alex Salmond currently has over the British Government is the location of our nuclear defence base at Faslane. If the vote is Yes, we should move heaven and earth to move all our submarines out of Faslane as quickly as possible.
“We must decide how important, in the short term, the word independence is in terms of our nuclear deterrent. After all, we rely on the US for our missiles and for an awful lot of intelligence. Would it make a huge amount of difference if we asked the US if we could use a base to place our nuclear deterrent there as a temporary measure?

Just plain wow.

I mean seriously?  We're going to allow a foreign government, even a friendly one, to establish a base on US soil?  A base that houses nuclear weapons?

FUCK NO!!!!

I don't care how friendly we are with the UK.  They're testing my patience with this one.  And I can't say for sure but I think the backlash from this proposal would be pretty severe in the "Bible Belt" of the US.  Sure you'll have some that love money so much they'd pimp there mother so a nuclear base wouldn't make them think twice but foreign nukes on US soil?  I don't fucking think so!

NOTE:  Don't  hit me with the canard that foreign ships visit and that some carry nuclear weapons.  That's a temporary thing.  A naval base that services nuclear deterrent submarines is something else entirely.  

Army ditches armor while everyone else heavies up.

Thanks for the link Jonathan!

vai Defense News.

Frost & Sullivan analyst Wayne Plucker credited the conceptual vehicles as more sustainable than the multi-ton mine-resistant ambush- protected vehicle, and said they might allow troops to operate a week without support, from an “airborne beachhead.”
“My Marine colleague here called this, ‘too light to fight,’ ” Plucker said. “The Marines have several layers they can bring in via sealift, and this is the Army saying, ‘we can do this too,’ but they might need to finagle on the weights and sustainability. ... If we were inserting ourselves into Africa, say, not near a coast, it would probably work for a while.”
The LRV, envisioned for a six-scout squad, would host basic and advanced surveillance systems. Infrared systems, ground surveillance radar and links to UAVs would be among them. This would replace Humvees kitted with surveillance gear. Not meant as a fighting vehicle, it would have a medium-caliber weapon system and baseline protection against small arms, 152mm shrapnel and anti-personnel mines, with the ability to receive heavier armor.
The LRV’s capabilities development document is still in draft form; its estimated operating time frame is fiscal 2020. The platform is considered to be in the technology development phase with plans to hold a performance demonstration in the third or fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.
To be considered, the vehicles would have to be transportable inside or by sling load by a CH-47.
The MPF, envisioned for 2024, has an initial capabilities document scheduled for consideration in October by the Army Requirements Oversight Council.
In concept, the MPF would quickly engage enemy forces, protecting the infantry brigade’s freedom to maneuver.

The Army is in even worse shape than the Marine Corps when it comes to forming a coherent doctrine...or to use Pentagon-speak..."shape a direction for future armored/mechanized transport" of their forces.

I mean seriously!  They are going from a fully motorized force, into an airlanded intervention force!  I know that some will say that they're simply attempting to fulfill the vision of the force that General Shinseki laid out when he introduced the Stryker ICV as an interim vehicle.

I disagree.

We're looking at a US Army that is setting itself up for even worse trouble than what I see happening with SPMAGTF-CR's.

If they actually follow through with this we will see the 82nd Airborne Initial Ready Company being hung out to dry for 72 hours or more against forces that will have at least technicals, probably heavy anti-tank weapons and possibly even Chinese or Russian main battle tanks or armored personnel carriers.

The US Army is setting itself up for a bloodbath in a far off land.  Blackhawk Down will look like a picnic in comparison.

The Fuji Firepower Exercise 2014 (Japanese weapons overview)

Parachute Regiment Jackal high mobility vehicle roll-over...

pic via celer-et-audax.tumblr.com

American Mercenary has a must read on women attending Ranger school...

American Mercenary's latest is a must read.

He takes on the issue of women attending Ranger school and I must admit his attitude is more liberal than my own but makes sense.  Check it out here, but a tidbit...

I earned my tab. I got a yeast infection. I got cellulitis. I smelled like a corpse and looked like the walking dead. I took a double recycle to stay in the course so that my 62 day training event stretched out to 117 days. But ten years and one day after I signed my first enlistment contract my wife pinned a black and gold tab to my left shoulder.

So bring it on. If there are any women out there who volunteer to meet the Ranger standard, go for it. I'm convinced there will be women who can make it. But I'm also convinced that the women who could make it are smart enough to avoid it.

Yeah.

You have to read this one! 

China's MBT-3000. New details about the vehicle!

via Janes

The latest version of the MBT-3000, which is also known as the VT-4, has composite armour over the frontal arc. Officials have also revealed that the side skirts are made of rigid composite armour to which explosive reactive armour (ERA) can be added.
When first revealed, the MBT-3000 was fitted with a simple roof-mounted 12.7 mm machine gun. The latest version is fitted with a new low profile roof-mounted remote weapon station (RWS), again armed with a 12.7 mm MG. This is operated by the tank commander and as well as having an anti-aircraft capability, could prove useful in urban operations.
Chinese sources have also said that the MBT-3000 can be fitted with an active defence system - designated the GL5 - but it has not been confirmed if this is a hard kill or a soft kill ADS.
Officials have also confirmed that the gun control equipment (GCE) is all electric, and images broadcast by Chinese state television show that the stabilised 125 mm smooth bore gun is fed by a horizontal automatic loader that loads the projectile first and then the charge.
The MBT-3000 made its international debut in June 2012 at the Eurosatory defence exhibition in Paris. As well as the MBT-3000, Norinco now offers the MBT-2000 - which has a combat weight of 48 tonnes - and the VT2, which has a combat weight of 42 tonnes.
At Eurosatory Norinco officials described the MBT-3000 as the company's most advanced MBT offered on the export market to date, pointing to the fact that it is fully digitised, air conditioned, and fitted with an over-pressure NBC system and an inertial navigation/global positioning system.

Interesting.

This puts Marine Armor in an uncomfortable position.  Do we upgrade the M1A1 to Army standard or do we attempt to leap ahead?

Oh and once you answer that, then riddle me this.  Where are we gonna get the fucking money?

Sidenote:  I wonder how much info they stole to produce this hybrid M1/Leopard look alike?

The Ranger Tab becomes worthless.

via Army Times.

The Army is looking for female soldiers who want to volunteer to attend Ranger school.
The call-out is part of the Army’s ongoing effort to determine whether and how to open combat arms military occupational specialties to women.
Senior Army leaders are expected to decide in January if they want to move forward with this one-time, integrated Ranger school assessment. If the assessment moves forward, it likely will take place in the spring, and the Army will need volunteers already in place and ready to go, officials said Friday.
If the assessment takes place, it will be a first for the storied Ranger school, which until now has been open only to men.
“Right now we’re going through the deliberate planning process, identifying volunteers, and selecting them over the next few months,” said Lt. Col. Alayne Conway, an Army spokeswoman. “In January, we’ll determine the feasibility of conducting an assessment of the Ranger course in the spring of 2015.”

Consider this a done deal.

I find it funny that no one is coming forward and talking about the recruiting difficulties that the services are facing now.

I've gotten too many e-mails from Marines on the trail that tell me about the troubles that they're running into making mission.  They blame former, retired and vets being pissed at the President and Amos...second come the message that males are getting burned by disgruntled females for chickenshit reasons...and last is the lowered standards/push for women in combat arms.

This move by the  Army won't help things.

Being blunt.  I only have respect for only a few Army outfits.  I only respect a few of their schools.

One of them WAS the Ranger course.  After this?  No more.  Ranger school will do as ordered and some female will be wearing a Ranger tab she didn't earn.

Awesome.  Just don't expect me to respect it anymore.  Those days are over.

Sidenote:  Isn't it strange?  On one hand we have men that assault women being charged with not only assault but domestic violence (if they know them) and yet on the other those same people are pushing to have women in combat arms!