LSD's and LPD's as Mini- Carriers.

The above photo is another example of the tremendous amount of aviation that even an ancient LSD can carry.

Perhaps this is the best kept secret in the Navy.  LSD's and LPD's can (in a high density operation) almost rival the first Iwo Jima Class LHA's in the number of helicopters they can carry.


The mini-ARG concept can work but it will require a careful balancing of assets and the LPD-17 class should be the centerpiece of the effort.

With this in mind it might make sense to re-class the LHD and especially the USS America Class LHA's as Amphibious Assault Carriers, limit our buy of them and fill them only with F-35s.

Imagine an amphibious fleet of 4 America Class Amphibious Assault Carriers with the balance of the ships being LPDs and LSDs.  You could have reinforced companies all over the place and a forward presence that the Navy has been clamoring for.

Protection could be an issue but a Burke Class destroy to accompany each Mini-ARG should be sufficient for operations other than war.

I think I've hit on something.

Lockheed Martin C-130 Demonstration Video!

Orange County Register Graphic on the EFV.

The Orange County Register has a great graphic on the EFV and the issues facing it...

EFV raw video. The info war is on.

So the SecDef wants to fire a shot across the Marine Corps bow by having a commission take a look at the Marines roles and missions?

Yeah right!

Who in the Congress has the balls to go head to head with the USMC?

Does the White House really want the battle?

The answer to the first is no one and to the second...are you crazy!

So having properly evaluated the enemies strength on this subject the power that be have ignored the sound of the blast and are moving forward with a head on assault on the SecDef's position.  Besides, he fired his rounds in haste...his tactics are confused (he did after all signal that he's going to retire within a year) and the only real obstacle is the bean counters in OMB.

Oh and there is one more danger.  Remember the LVTP-5?  That was the last amphibian that was optimized toward the water mission against evidence that most missions would be focused on land.  It was a failure in Vietnam...maybe we should just get BAE or General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin to modernize the AAV-7---radically modernize it.

Kel-Tec speaks up on the PMR-30.

Anonymous posted this on the PMR-30.  Its a statement from Kel-Tec regarding the PMR-30...

Kel-Tec Ok folks, since this question is being asked relentlessly I'll address it.

No, we are not at full production on PMR-30s. It has nothing to do with the product but more with the time line we set to release the PMR-30.

Back in January we ann...ounced that Q2 was the release date. It was based on estimated time to move from prototype to full production. What we had in January was a working model, but was not made on production CNC machines.

Our estimation proved to be quite off in terms of development. We noticed it before release but felt if we really pushed ourselves we could meet the Q2 release. The first batch of 80 or so, were done by that deadline, but had not been tested extensively (as we do with any first production run). After testing we found some inconsistencies in the CNC work and did some re-tweaking to fix it.

Since that first batch we've sent several other batches out, each with it's own new little fix. All of the fire arms that have been sent out work, but in the course of production we've found little adjustments here and there that are improvements.

In all honesty this is stuff that should have been going on before release.

What should have happened (because hindsight is 20/20) was that we push back that official release date until October at the earliest.

Basically we underestimated the time it would take us to get these badboys into full production.

So we had a choice: either stop production completely and just wait until a later date (angering those that were told July as a release date) or release smaller batches so the guns can at least see the light of day as production catches up (also angering customers as they see guns coming out but can't seem to get one). Obviously
we chose the latter (the right choice? this remains to be seen). The PMR-30s going out now are in working condition, but we've made that they may want to upgrade to, depending on serial number.

These parts will of course be free.

One thing we've discovered since shipping is that the PMR-30 does NOT like ammunition made in the Philippines (Armscor/Fiocci). The brass is weak and blows out.

So in conclusion: We are still making and shipping PMR-30s while production can get on track. They are still in small batches (30-70) and we are waiting on various redesigned parts to come back from heat treatment so we can start producing them in larger quantities.

Simply put we jumped the gun a bit on release (no pun intended), we acknowledge it, accept it, and are doing everything in our power to get things moving. In the meantime we are still sending out PMR-30s in small batches as we make them.

I hope this clarifies some things. My suggestion is to just pretend as if we set a release date for sometime in October and if you happen to come across a PMR-30 then it will be a pleasant surprise.

I will be happy to answer any additional questions that I can.

Lockheed Martin UAVs.

The future looks (at least in unmanned aviation) bright.

AH-1Z. Why isn't it in Afghanistan yet?

I'm a big supporter of the AH-1Z and UH-1Y project...but....why hasn't the AH-1Z made it into battle yet?  The UH-1Y is getting its first taste of battle but the AH-1Z remains a work in progress.  What gives?