Galrahn at Information Dissemination on an "after action" report on the latest atrocity committed by Somali pirates.The media and the think tank community is made up of chicken shit cowards who refuse to ask why the US Navy sails circles around the Gulf of Aden while piracy gets worse, and under no circumstances will anyone criticize the Obama administration for an aimless, endless perpetual violence policy in the Indian Ocean. What is the point of continuous military operations without objectives?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Quote of the week...
UAE to convert its BlackHawks to BattleHawks.
via DefenseNews.
S70-054_ABH_BR_hi
An attack copter that does double duty as a transport? It took several years but it seems that the US has finally achieved what the Russians did many years ago. We have our own Mi-24...Columbia has been using a version of this for quite some time too...the only remaining question is whether the US Navy or Army will acquire a few kits. It would seem a natural for the Navy. With the focus on littoral combat, these would seem an ideal addition to the fleet.ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates is set to turn a number of its Sikorsky Black Hawks into gunships in a deal with the U.S. helicopter maker worth nearly 1 billion Arab Emirate dirhams ($272 million).The announcement of a plan to buy weaponization kits for 23 of its Black Hawk UH-60M helicopters was the pick of a 4 billion Arab Emirate dirham order bonanza unveiled by the UAE armed forces at the IDEX show Feb. 21 in Abu Dhabi.
S70-054_ABH_BR_hi
The British people will go ape if the RN buys P-8's.
via the News.
If this is true and the plan is actually carried out then the British public will go ape! This will be the ultimate boondoggle.Navy to buy new aircraft
THE Royal Navy is looking to buy a fleet of maritime patrol aircraft for up to £1 billion just weeks after the Ministry of Defence scrapped the new Nimrod aircraft at a cost of £3.6 billion.
The MoD confirmed last week that the navy wanted to buy its own maritime patrol aircraft to track enemy submarines to replace the Nimrods, which are being broken up for scrap.
The new RAF Nimrod MRA4s had not even come into service when the prime minister announced last October that as part of the strategic defence review he was scrapping Nimrod.
The navy, which was furious that RAF bosses had agreed to get rid of Nimrod at a time of increased submarine activity, has already set up a team to buy a replacement and ensure that it is flown by the Fleet Air Arm. The programme is being run by Commodore Simon Kings with a team made up of naval officers.
Another blast from the past...the XP-87.
via the National Museum of the Air Force...
Sadly, this beautiful airplane lost out to the F-89...
The XF-87 was the last aircraft built by Curtiss Aircraft. The specification originally called for a twin-engine, single-place fighter, which evolved into an attack aircraft (XA-43) and finally to a quad-jet, twin-place, all-weather, high-altitude fighter. Two prototype XF-87s were built (S/N 45-59600 and 46-522), the second of which was modified to the sole XF-87A.
The XF-87 was designed for an innovative nose turret capable of swiveling in a wide arc around the axis of flight; however, the turret was never actually installed on the XF-87.
The very large fighter was severely underpowered by four J34 turbojets and was redesigned for two J47 turbojets (XF-87A). A production order for 58 XF-87As and 30 RF-87s was canceled before any aircraft were constructed.
Type Number built/
convertedRemarks XF-87 2 Last Curtiss aircraft XF-87A 1 (cv) Modified XF-87 F-87A 0 58 canceled RF-87A 0 30 canceled
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Engines: Four Westinghouse J34-WE-7 turbojets of 3,000 lbs. thrust each
Armament: Four 20mm cannon and two .50-cal. machine guns
Maximum speed: 520 mph
Cruising speed: 450 mph
Range: 1,000 miles
Service ceiling: 41,000 ft.
Span: 60 ft. 0 in.
Length: 62 ft. 0 in.
Height: 20 ft. 4 in.
Weight: 37,350 lbs. loaded
Crew: Two
Sadly, this beautiful airplane lost out to the F-89...
Monday, February 21, 2011
I hope we have security devices...
Watching the Middle East descend into chaos reminds me of one terrible fact. We've sold some very hi-tech toys to many of the nations in the region...and if we haven't then the Europeans have.
I hope kill switches, security devices...something to keep them from being used against our forces has been installed. Playing with dictatorships, monarchies ... whatever can be very dangerous business.
AAV Replacement RFI is coming.
Defense News has info on the upcoming RFI on the AAV Replacement. Pretty heady stuff. Follow the link to read the whole thing but here are the basics.
* The ability to autonomously deliver a Marine infantry squad from an amphibious ship to shore a minimum distance of 12 nautical miles, at "a speed to enable the element of surprise in the buildup ashore." The notice acknowledges that a high rate of speed "may prove to be unaffordable."If General Dynamics were smart, they'd just redo the EFV without hydraulics and moving treads and just toss the de-teched version at the Marines.
* Protection against direct and indirect fire, mines and improvised explosive devices. The protection can be modular, "applied incrementally as the situation dictates."
* Employ open architecture principles to rapidly integrate new technologies, and be reconfigurable to carry out alternative roles, including operation of heavy mortars or rockets, and logistic or medical evacuation missions.
* Be powerful enough to engage and destroy similar vehicles, provide direct fire support to dismounted infantry and maneuver with M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.
As a matter of fact I wonder why they are even opening this up to bid---single source it and get the simplified vehicle into the fleet.
Wow, what a reversal...
Talk about being taken to the woodshed and coming out with their mind right!
Well in the words of a famous movie...
ELP had a failure to communicate---I wonder if he spent a night in the box!
First the author of ELP Defens(c)e Blog wrote this...
ELP Defens(c)e Blog is in favor of the F-35?????Well in the short span of one day he's come out with these posts!Now that the latest USAF gathering in Orlando–which in recent years doesn’t
produce much of anything–is over, we can have the week of wild alternatives
for the USAF fighter roadmap. How to fix a force structure in the coming
years of shrinking budgets? Well, we need ideas. And these will be thrown
around mostly for entertainment purposes. And when I state “shrinking
budgets”, I mean real bad stuff. All plans will assume the stupids in D.C.
let F-22 production close.
Plan one.
The F-35 program will be composed of 20 Fighter Groups. Each group will have
one squadron of 24 F-35B STOVL aircraft. They will be procured at 48 per
year for 10 years. This does not count extras for test, training and
development. This will support 10 AEFs and allow for home air defense of the
most basic kind.
A-10s stays as-is. Refurb as much and as many times as needed.
http://ericpalmer.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/more-unsupportable-rubbish/
http://ericpalmer.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/the-ponzi-scheme-that-has-to-deliver-for-australian-industry-or-else-auspol/
I'm not going to say group think or accuse the writer of falling victim to peer pressure but I will say that the turn around is remarkable.
Navy Test Pilot talks about the "solid" F-35C.
via Navy Times.
As always follow the link and read the whole thing...but if the Marine Corps has to keep its pilots away from the Super Hornet, then its a sure thing that the Navy better keep its boys away from the F-35!The thrust is good, and there’s no indication that the F-35 has only one engine, instead of two like on the Super Hornet, he said.The thrust is good, and there’s no indication that the F-35 has only one engine, instead of two like on the Super Hornet, he said.Compared to the Hornet, it seems “a bit more solid,” Buus said.“I really like a lot of things they have done with this airplane,” he said.all quotes attributed to Cmdr. Eric ‘Magic’ Buus
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Maritime Contingency Force remains ready
Interesting timing of this story...Considering the events happening in the Indian Ocean.
 |
| Thailand-February 14, 2011, U.S. Marines with the Maritime Raid Force (MRF), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), participate in a Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) exercise aboard the U.S. Navy Ship Jack Lummus, in support of a certification exercise conducted by the 31st MEU., Sgt. Kelsey J. Green, 2/17/2011 9:30 AM (SNAFU! Note- if you enlarge this pic you'll notice that the Marine in front has a Magpul stock attached to his weapon. I've never seen Marine Corps weapons utilize Magpul stocks...it maybe common but its news to me...looks like the Marine Corps is going "DYNAMIC" with all the products from Magpul filtering in) |
 |
| Thailand-February 14, 2011, U.S. Marines with the Maritime Raid Force (MRF), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), participate in a Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) exercise aboard the U.S. Navy Ship Jack Lummus, in support of a certification exercise conducted by the 31st MEU., Sgt. Kelsey J. Green, 2/17/2011 9:32 AM |
 |
| Thailand-February 14, 2011, U.S. Marines with the Maritime Raid Force (MRF), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), participate in a Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) exercise aboard the U.S. Navy Ship Jack Lummus, in support of a certification exercise conducted by the 31st MEU., Sgt. Kelsey J. Green, 2/17/2011 9:57 AM |
Maritime Contingency Force remains ready
ABOARD THE USNS JACK LUMMUS — CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters broke the silence of the early morning hours as they soared toward a ship refusing to comply with orders of the U.S. Navy. The Force Reconnaissance Platoon inserted via Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262 (reinforced), both with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and quickly gained control of the bridge, as the rest of the Maritime Raid Force searched key areas throughout the vessel, during a mock Visit Board Search and Seizure, Feb. 17.
The ship used for the event, USNS Jack Lummus, is a military sealift command ship. The MRF was tasked to perform a non-compliant boarding of the ship and locate a specific individual aboard.
The VBSS mission is a regular, but vital part of the 31st MEU’s certification as a Maritime Contingency Force. The training teaches service members how to board a ship, search it for weaponry or combatants, and eventually gain control of the vessel.
MEU snipers provided support from the air, aboard a SH-60 helicopter, and from a nearby shouldering ship.
Throughout the evolution, the MRF secured and held key areas of the ship and detained persons of interest for further questioning.
The training evolution prepares the MEU to conduct maritime interdiction operations throughout the Pacific Command’s area of of operations.
“Situations like this can happen at any time, much like the Magellan Star operation last Fall. The 15th MEU’s MRF successfully boarded that ship and detained nine pirates while recovering the crew,” said Gunnery Sgt. Steven Sarten, Special Missions Chief Instructor for Special Operations Training Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force. “And by doing this training, this certifies the 31st MEU to always be ready, always be on stand-by and be able to be called upon at anytime to conduct this mission.”
The training was conducted as a part of the MEU’s certification exercise and coincided with the unit’s participation in exercise Cobra Gold 2011.
Where are the liberals on this???
Fascinating.
The liberals in the US and Europe were all over the story of the unrest in Egypt. They pushed hard for Mubarak to step down and refused to see the danger that his unplanned ouster would mean to the rest of the Middle East.
Now we have this drama going on not only in Bahrain but in the rest of the M.E. and all we hear is silence.
Why?
Graphic images...probably too strong for liberal stomachs.
The liberals in the US and Europe were all over the story of the unrest in Egypt. They pushed hard for Mubarak to step down and refused to see the danger that his unplanned ouster would mean to the rest of the Middle East.
Now we have this drama going on not only in Bahrain but in the rest of the M.E. and all we hear is silence.
Why?
Graphic images...probably too strong for liberal stomachs.
XP-67...First blended wing, semi stealth fighter?
My love affair with airplanes from the past continue. Introducing the XP-67...if they had gotten the engines to work this would have been a war winner!
What The F*CK!!!!
Thanks Phil for sending me this link!!!
ELP Defens(c)e Blog is in favor of the F-35?????
Now that the latest USAF gathering in Orlando–which in recent years doesn’tOk, if ELP is in favor of the F-35B then the world is spinning backwards, the end times are here and there is hope for the world to get right again!
produce much of anything–is over, we can have the week of wild alternatives
for the USAF fighter roadmap. How to fix a force structure in the coming
years of shrinking budgets? Well, we need ideas. And these will be thrown
around mostly for entertainment purposes. And when I state “shrinking
budgets”, I mean real bad stuff. All plans will assume the stupids in D.C.
let F-22 production close.
Plan one.
The F-35 program will be composed of 20 Fighter Groups. Each group will have
one squadron of 24 F-35B STOVL aircraft. They will be procured at 48 per
year for 10 years. This does not count extras for test, training and
development. This will support 10 AEFs and allow for home air defense of the
most basic kind.
A-10s stays as-is. Refurb as much and as many times as needed.
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