Naval Officer Talks Future Australian Amphibious Ops

Note*  This article is focused on the entry into Australian service of the LHD01 which is based on the Spanish Juan Carlos 1 (L-61).

Question: You have an extensive amphibious background - what are the main lessons we can learn from the USN and other Navies using LHDs?
The main areas that we need to focus on in terms of running the ship itself are how they run a large multi-spot flight deck with a mixture of aircraft and how the run a well dock. These are skills that I am sure with the professionalism we already have in the ADF we can pick up pretty quickly to deliver a basic safe operational LHD for lower end amphibious operations. What will take us some time is the ability to generate the tempo of flight and well dock operations that is required to deliver combat capability rapidly across the shore. It is this tempo that will determine how successfully the ADF can mount amphibious operations at the higher end of war fighting. So we need to learn how they simultaneously operate large numbers of aircraft and watercraft in an effective, efficient and yet safe manner.
One other less understood area that we can learn about is providing full logistic support to a land force when they are engaged in combat. Making sure when the force leaves Australia it has all it needs to conduct the first period of the operation without any further logistic resupply or access to supporting infrastructure is essentially what makes an amphibious operation so unique and so powerful.

Read the whole thing here.

American Expedition Vehicles Jeep Brute.

Johnathan sent me an article about the Israeli Military acquiring Jeep Storm.  Thanks Buddy...I initially thought..ok, no big deal.  The Israeli military is in love with the Jeep...they use it the way the Hummer was initially suppose to be used and because they stayed true to form, they can use it into the future.

What made me stop and say wow! was the fact that the company sending the kits to Israel is known as American Expeditionary Vehicles....and the fact that they make a kit that I've been dreaming about for years but only now realize is available to the public...the Jeep Brute kit. Check them out here.

SkyNews slams the British Tanker deal and shows F-35's.

Even SkyNews in the UK is caught up in the silliness of the anti F-35 paranoia.  Check out this article...its a blurb on the Tanker deal but they use illustrations of the F-35 in the story.  Amazing!

Just a reminder...the EFV still lives!

Don't tell me...lack of zipper control???

The US Navy has gotten extremely tight lipped when it comes to the sacking of its Commanding Officers...but if this one is like previous ones then its because of a lack of zipper control...or being a Capt. Blye.  Read it here.

F-35B...

More Lockheed Martin Propaganda...this time the F-16...

Pic of the day. Sep. 14, 2010.

The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), left, conducts a high speed turn as it moves into position for a column maneuver exercise with the amphibious platform dock ship USS Ponce (LPD 15) Sept. 7, 2010, while en route to Pakistan to provide relief to flood-stricken regions of the country. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kristin L. Grover, U.S. Navy/Released)

An AV-8B Harrier aircraft prepares to take off from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) Sept. 13, 2010, while under way in the Philippine Sea. Essex, part of the forward-deployed Essex Amphibious Ready Group, is participating in Valiant Shield 2010, a joint U.S. military training exercise. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Casey H. Kyhl, U.S. Navy/Released)

U.S. Marines assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and embarked aboard USS Essex (LHD 2) ride in a combat rubber raiding craft after departing the ship during operations in the East China Sea Sept. 9, 2010. Essex is part of the forward-deployed Essex Amphibious Ready Group and is on patrol in the Western Pacific Ocean. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mark R. Alvarez, U.S. Navy/Released)

U.S. Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division parachute after jumping from a C-130 Hercules aircraft over Fort Bragg, N.C., Sept. 12, 2010. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Rissmiller, U.S. Air Force/Released)

U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Dave Teston, flight engineer instructor, scans the area for possible threats, while sitting on the ramp of his CH47 Chinook helicopter, Sept. 3. Teston is with B Company, 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment assigned to Task Force Gambler and deployed to Forward Operating Base Sharana.
Joint Combat Camera Afghanistan
Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Ross Dobelbower
Date: 09.03.2010
Location: Ajeristan District, AF

JSF to survive upcoming budget squeeze. Well duh!

via DefenseNews.com

Despite the rough year the program has endured, "I think the JSF is in great shape," said a former deputy commander of U.S. European Command, retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Wald.
"It's going to replace several airplanes," ranging from the F-16 fighter to the A-10 ground attack plane and even the U.S. Marine Corps' AV-8B Harrier and the U.S. Navy and Marines' F/A-18 fighter, he said.
"When you think about it in that context, from what we'll get from an efficiency standpoint, it's a great idea, it's a great airplane and is one of the last programs that we'd want to cut, because we're going to have to modernize the fighter fleet, and legacy airplanes will cost so much to maintain," Wald said.

Read more here.

Lockheed Martin C-5M Propaganda.