Fallschirmjaejer QRF in Afghanistan.

Germany's in the fight.  The photo is via Strike-Hold and the gallery is definitely worth a look-see.  Their gear setup is interesting.  As is the way they outfit their weapons.  No backup iron sights?  Wow.

Comment of the day. July 14, 2010.

Steve made this comment on an earlier post.

F-35 cops a lot flack for development delays - but as I recall it is no worse than the F-22 whose X moodel first flew in 89/90 but did not reach IOC until about '05. The Eurofighter X-model first flew about '86 and did not reach IOC - in only a limited air-air mode - until about '04. The Rafael was not much different.
Yet I cannot recall Bill Sweetman et al giving anything like the grief to those earlier fighters that they now give to the F-35. And before someone tells me that the F-35 is much bigger program, the issue here is development cos' once development is completed, the production ccosts usually come down e.g. F-22.

And that boys and girls is the real issue with the F-35.  Once it begins serial - full rate production, then its Katy bar the door!  The costs of the airplane will drop dramatically.  Nations will clamor for the airplane and the Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen and Super Hornet will be shut out of the fighter market.  This could be the swan song for some aircraft manufacturers.

That's Bill's fear.

That's Boeing's fear.

That the European Aircraft Manufacturer's fear.

And that explains why so much venom is being tossed at this program.  Effectiveness be damned.  Its all about protecting territory and market share. 

Old School Combat Arms Recruiting Poster.

via Mechanix.

AAV training at RIMPAC.

Seems like the Marines and Australian Army are the only ones doing real training and from the looks of things its not too intense.

RIMPAC 2010 will never be confused with a STEEL KNIGHT or a CAX at 29 Palms.

Israel wants F-15 Silent Eagles?

Awesome.  If they want F-15's instead of F-35's cool.  Just be done with it.  Either buy a US plane or don't but stop playing these damn games.  More at UPI...

For the Israelis, the advanced version of the F-15 Eagle has been seen as an alternative to the ill-starred F-35 for some time, both in terms of delivery schedule and cost.
Boeing unveiled the Silent Eagle in March, about the same time the Department of Defense announced the F-35 program's problems.

It will reportedly cost around $100 million per plane, which conforms with the ceiling the Israelis have put on acquiring a fifth-generation fighter.

The new F-15 configuration reportedly includes a stealth capability but that's only effective in evading the radars carried by hostile aircraft but not by ground-based radar systems.
Other improvements include adapting the F-15's conformal fuel tanks to carry weapons inside the fuselage rather than externally, thus reducing the radar signature.
One of the functions tested during the F-15 Silent Eagle's weekend flight was opening and closing its left side conformal weapons bay that contained an AIM-120 air-to-air missile, which wasn't fired.

One last thing.  If you think that you can buy a Silent Eagle for the same price as a legacy F-15K then someone in Israel is smoking crack.

Pic of the Day. July 13, 2010.

Another Joe Stemph Flickr Page Production!

Fifty-Three Delta

CH-53D Sea Stallion (BuNo 157736) of HMH-363 "Lucky Red Lions" arriving at West Wetlands park in Yuma, Arizona during a noncombatant evacuation drill supported by MAWTS-1 as part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor course 2-10.

Blast from the past. Expeditionary Tank.

If you've been reading my little blog here, you might have noticed that I've become fascinated with projects from the past that were left behind or not pursued.

Well, I found another promising project called the Expeditionary Tank.  Want a surprising tidbit of information?  It would have worked perfectly...as a matter of fact its main gun is being used on the Stryker!

Read more at Military-Today.