Modest proposal...revamp the Marine Personnel Carrier scheme.

The Marine Corps wanted a vehicle that was amphibious across streams and lakes...could transport around 7 to  9 Marines and had a remotely operated weapons station.  It began settling on wheeled transports (out of a desire to reduce logistics costs I assume).

But what happens when we marry the idea of a Marine Personnel Carrier with the idea of distributed operations.

We come up with a whole different set of requirements...

1.  A vehicle that is air transportable by CH-53 or even the MV-22.
2.  A vehicle that is amphibious ... across rivers and lakes is awesome but in sea state 1 or 2 from a ship would be fantastic (even if its in an adhoc situation).
3.  A RWS is still desirable.

So where does that lead us?  It leads to the BVS-10 or a modified Marine Corps version of it anyway.  Why the BVS-10?  Because its in production....because it has already been tested with numerous weapons/mounts...because its amphibious and lastly because BAE has production facilities rolling in the US which would mean that we could get the vehicle to our forces now, not 10 years from now.

Pic is courtesy of THINK DEFENCE.

Marine Personnel Carrier...mystery vehicle that no one talks about...

photo via Marine Corps Times...

Of all the issues on procurement that the USMC faces, one vehicle has virtually disappeared from the discussion...the Marine Personnel Carrier...this from Marine Corps Systems...

An MPC company lifts an infantry battalion in conjunction with the infantry’s organic wheeled assets. Like the planned Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), MPCs will be assigned to the Assault Amphibian Battalions of the Marine Division currently outfitted with Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs). The reconstituted Assault Amphibian battalion would tentatively consist of one MPC company (nominally 88 vehicles) and three EFV companies (about 45 vehicles each).
The MPC family of vehicles will consist of a base vehicle and two supporting mission role variants. The MPC-Personnel will be the base vehicle, two of which carry and support a reinforced rifle squad of 17 Marines (one EFV would do the same). Each vehicle would carry 9-10 combat-equipped Marines and a two-man crew. This meets the need to transport more Marine infantrymen than the existing Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) or Humvee platforms while providing greater protection. The eight-wheeled LAV is not employed as an armored personnel carrier and usually carries a four-person Marine scout/reconnaissance team in addition to its crew. The MPC-Command will be equipped to serve as a mobile command-echelon/ fire-support coordination center for the infantry battalion headquarters. The MPC-Recovery will be the maintenance and recovery variant of the MPC.
The MPC supports expeditionary maneuver by enhancing the Marine Air Ground Task Force’s (MAGTF) tactical and operational protected mobility. Conceptually, the MPC will complement the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) and will be delivered to the fight as part of the reinforcing echelon of the MAGTF during forcible entry operations and in of support sustained operations ashore. The MPC will enable the GCE to maintain lift capacity requirements and provides an additional balanced platform that will be capable across the range of military operations.
The Marine Corps leadership deferred a Milestone A go-ahead for the MPC program in May 2008, saying the delay would allow it “to effectively prioritize near-term investment decisions, in order to provide a synchronized mobility strategy with respect to the capabilities the MPC, the EFV, and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) offer in the future.” (See the separate EFV and JLTV chapters of this publication.) MPCs would be supported by JLTVs carrying heavy weapons, communications equipment, and cargo.
The MPC will be designed to cross rivers and inland bodies of water in a Marine Air-Ground Task Force’s littoral operational area. The MPC likely would have a remotely operated weapon station turret fitted with a .50 caliber machine gun, a 7.62 mm machine gun, or an automated Mk. 19 grenade launcher with a thermal sight. The MPC crew could provide direct fire in support of dismounted Marine infantrymen.'

Read the whole thing here...

But my questions are these...

1.  What will the MPC bring to the table that the current MRAP doesn't?
2.  If the vehicle is only required to cross inland water sources then is this really a must have for Marine forces?  A host of vehicles can perform the troop transport mission and the fact that the vehicle will perform the APC role and not that of the IFV reinforces this notion.
3.  How are we going to justify this vehicle in light of modifying the HUMVEE (and for that matter is the JLTV a must have)?  Can we not modify legacy Strykers to perform this mission at much reduced cost?

I guess in summation its time to get to budget crunching in a serious way.  If the EFV is a must then we've got to start tossing other programs into the garbage heap.  I submit that the MPC be the vehicle that gets tossed...

US Army Strykers (used) and slightly modified to have an amphibious (limited) capability would seem ideal.  They're already set up with Blue Force tracker, already have RWS and can be had fairly cheaply...with the added bonus of the Marine Corps being able to piggy back on the Army's supply system.

This seems like a no brainer.

Scrap the MPC and modify US Army Strykers for this mission.  Or..if you really want to be light and expeditionary...want a vehicle that you can fly to dispersed locations to give your infantry companies mobility then how about this...

Sheep Dog takes down wolves in Houston...

via Fox News...

Houston Store Owner Kills 3 Would-Be Robbers

Published December 17, 2010 | Associated Press

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HOUSTON -- Police say a Houston jewelry store owner has shot and killed three men who tried to rob his business.
Houston police spokesman Kese Smith says two men were in the store Thursday afternoon pretending to be customers when a third man burst into the store and stated, "This is a robbery."
All three men then pulled out pistols, tied up the store owner's wife and took her to a back room.
They were trying to tie up the owner, when he took a handgun from his waistband and fatally shot one of the suspects. Smith said he then grabbed a shotgun and shot and killed the other two suspects.
The store owner was shot in the stomach and taken to a Houston hospital. Smith says his wife was not hurt.

God Speed to the store owner...I hope he heals quickly and completely.  Do you wonder why I call people who take the time to defend themselves or others --- Sheep Dogs?  Its because there are wolves that walk on two feet that will prey on the weak.  The weak can be called sheep...but there are those out there that have the same qualities of the wolf, yet they defend themselves and others...they're the Sheep Dogs and this guy is one of them.

Defense Tech on General Dynamics Flyer...

Kinda makes the USMC's choice of the Growler look to be the wrong one. I guess the only real question is ... how much????  Oh and can it tow the 120mm Mortar?

Fire X first flight...

BBC News on the Harriers final flight.

This guy gets it!

via DOD Buzz...

Incoming House Armed Services Committee Chair, Howard “Buck” McKeon, today laid out his stance on defense spending as the top man on the committee, backing the embattled F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, its alternate engine program and the Pentagon’s efforts to reduce costs.
While the U.S. Marine Corps’ F-35B short take-off and vertical landing version of the jet has experienced numerous testing delays over the past year and is unlikely to meet its scheduled operational date of 2012, McKeon said he doesn’t want to see it cut.

“If you take that away then what plane are the Marines going to have,” asked the congressman. “I would not be supportive of cutting that.”

This guy so gets it.  

 

I wondered why we have been fairly drowned in F-35 news lately and now I think I'm putting it together.  It seems like the critics of the program once again were organizing a drum beat of negative news in an effort to influence policy makers...and as usual they've lost again.

AWESOME!

Marine Air in Exercise Keen Sword.

Video of F-35C arriving at Pax River.

Same story...two different view points.

The F-35.  A controversial project with many detractors.

But when you have one story but two different takes on the same facts it should give pause.  We have in one corner Bjørnar Bolsøy of F-16.net and in the other we have Graham Warrick of Aviation Week....

First Bjørnar's take...

As the third F-35A test jet joins the test fleet at Edwards AFB, the F-35 program has logged its 400th test flight this year - still with two weeks to go before year's end. The program had planned for 394 flights, a goal acheived on December 9.

Some 300 flights have been flown since June. This is despite a fleet wide grounding in October due to a software issue with the jets fuel boost pumps as well as challenges with the F-35B STOVL jet, which has slowed the type's flight test progress. Overall the program has logged 531 flights to date.

And now Graham's...

Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, says it passed its 394-flight test target for 2010 on Dec. 6, taking the program total to 531 flights since the F-35 first flew on Dec. 15, 2006. Two F-35As, four F-35Bs and one F-35C logged 60 flights in November against a plan of 51.

That sounds like progress, and it is, but it's worth remembering that, in September last year, the JSF program office leadership was pojecting that 12 aircraft would be flying by now, each logging 12 test sorties a month. That goal is unlikely to be achieved until well in 2011.

If these two differing views of the same information doesn't give you pause then nothing in the world of procurement ever will.

It appears that we've reached a point in the development of this airplane where either you're a supporter or a detractor....that my friends is a shame.

Pic of the day. Dec. 13, 2010.

USS Halsey is underway in formation with the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.

101210-N-8824M-268
ARABIAN SEA (Dec. 10, 2010) USS Halsey (DDG 97) assigned to Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, sails in a formation with the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle (R 91) during a photo exercise. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts to establish conditions for regional stability. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Spencer Mickler/Released)

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) recover CH-47 Chinook in Afghanistan.

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan-A CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers” returns to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan to deliver a disabled H-47 Chinook for repairs Dec. 10. The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only aircraft in country capable of a 23,500 pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:00 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-A CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 returns to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan to deliver a disabled H-47 Chinook for repairs Dec. 10. The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only aircraft in country capable of a 23,500 pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:04 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-A disabled H-47 Chinook rests on the Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan, flightline Dec. 10, after being delivered by a CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers.” The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only available aircraft in country capable of a 23,500-pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:37 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-A disabled H-47 Chinook rests on the Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan, flightline Dec. 10, after being delivered by a CH-53E Super Stallion with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers.” The Flying Tigers, based out of Camp Bastion, flew across the country to conduct the mission. Their Super Stallions are the only available aircraft in country capable of a 23,500-pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:22 AM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JALALABAD, Afghanistan-The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) commanding general and sergeant major stand with Lt. Col. Douglas Gasgow, commanding officer for the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 (Reduced) (Reinforced) “Flying Tigers,” and a small group of his Marines in front of a disabled H-47 Chinook. The Marines conducted an external lift for the Chinook, returning the aircraft for repairs to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The Tigers and their CH-53E Super Stallions are the only aircraft in country capable of a 23,500 pound external lift., Sgt. Derek B. Carlson, 12/10/2010 2:30 AM