NEWS ON THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN----AT THE UNIT LEVEL----IS BEING EMBARGOED!!!
The Bull Shit Meter is spiking!
What's going on and why is this happening!-?????
Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the purchase of 20 F-35 fighter planes for the Israel Air Force on Sunday.So another win to offset any losses and we still have Singapore, Japan, S. Korea and a possible additional set of purchases from Australia for their LHD to look forward to.
The planes, manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin, are expected to be delivered to Israel between 2015 and 2017.
Barak's approval of the $2.7 billion deal came after more than two years of tough talks between the Israeli defense establishment, the U.S. Pentagon, and Lockheed Martin.
Mistral-class helicopter carriers, which Russia plans to buy from France, will be armed with Russian Ka-52 Alligator helicopters, Air Force Commander Colonel General Alexander Zelin told the Ekho Moskvy FM station on Saturday.and...
The Russian military has said it plans to use Mistral ships in its Northern and Pacific fleets.Read the whole thing here. One thing is certain, Georgia and the other small European countries near the sea should be concerned.
Many Russian military and industry experts have questioned the financial and military sense of the purchase, and some believe that Russia simply wants to gain access to advanced naval technology that could be used in the future in potential conflicts with NATO and its allies.
In April, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriev, said the Mistral deal would be concluded by the end of the year.
Since then, Marines have fought on the beaches, mountains and trenches of Korea, the highlands and rice paddies of Vietnam, and the deserts of Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Although many of these operations saw Marines initially projected from the sea, “they soon turned into long, grinding, ground engagements,” Gates said.Sounds like he is endorsing the work already done by the current Commandant to get the Marines feet wet again.
The nation does not need a second land army, Gates said, but rather forces that can deploy quickly and sustain themselves for a short period of time.
“Looking ahead, I do think it is proper to ask whether large-scale amphibious landings along the lines of Inchon (Korea in 1950) are feasible,” the secretary said. Anti-access technologies, such as more accurate cruise and ballistic missiles, will work to drive the starting point for amphibious operations farther and farther out to sea.The funny thing here is that Forcible Entry in general and Amphibious Assault in particular has been reaffirmed once again. This is honestly a shot at only one part of the Marine Corps and that's the EFV. This entire speech was a thinly veiled shot across the bow at a weapon system and not the Marine Corps.
All will gain from a serious and balanced look at military missions, with an emphasis on balance, Gates said. “The United States will continue to face a diverse range of threats that will require a flexible portfolio of military capabilities,” he said. The military must be equally adept in counterinsurgency and full-spectrum operations. Any enemy is going to confront perceived American weaknesses, and how the military responds to asymmetric tactics must be considered, he added.
As the UK public got its first glimpse of the RAF’s stunning Harrier replacement at Farnborough, Squadron Leader Steve Long said:'Nuff said.
“It is like an iPhone on speed. It is a quantum leap in terms of technology and aerodynamics.”
The intense battle over powering the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could be heading to new levels following test results that show the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine has more than 15% thrust margin against specification, significantly exceeding the power of the baseline Pratt & Whitney F135.and then this later on...
“Initial results show we have more than 15% margin at sea level combat-rated thrust than the specification. That’s significantly beyond the thrust requirement right out of the chute,” says GE-Rolls. In March this year, following the first maximum afterburner test of a system development and demonstration engine, the team quietly expressed confidence the F136 would exceed the thrust of the baseline F135 by 5%. Actual thrust achieved in the test remains undisclosed, but it is in excess of 40,000 lb.So for an observer and not expert, I'm left with the thought that...ok, the F136 produces 5% more thrust than the F135...but haven't we known that all along?