Terrible couple of weeks for the world...great weeks for the sea services.

Think about it...

The tragedy in Japan...the start of fighting in Libya...war still raging in Afghanistan...everyone holding there breath to see if the 'uprisings' in the Islamic world spread to nuclear power Pakistan....

But through it all the sea services have had great weeks.

I'm don't mean to be ghoulish but consider this....

On one side of the planet the US Navy/Marine Corps mobilized a fleet of ships/personnel/aviation assets and sailed to the aid of the Japanese..

And on the other side a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a couple of Destroyers, some subs (with another unidentified and unconfirmed sub landing Navy SEALs) and began an air campaign in conjunction with the USAF and our allies.

Add to it the 26th MEU mobilized a TRAP mission and sent an MV-22 along with a couple of AV-8B Harriers riding shotgun to pick up the crew of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle.

And before that happened (and even during it) they've been sailing around the world conducting partnership missions, anti-piracy missions, keeping an eye on the N. Koreans, performing exercises and normally scheduled training.

The sea services have delivered.

Pic of the day. March 25, 2011.

U.S. Marines assigned to the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) drop from a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter assigned to Marine Medium Squadron (HMM) 163 to the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) while conducting a fast-rope exercise in the Indian Ocean March 24, 2011. Boxer is the flagship of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which is under way with the 13th MEU on a regularly scheduled western Pacific Ocean deployment. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Trevor Welsh, U.S. Navy/Released)

B-2 bomber ops. Lets get real.

Lets talk B-2's and the raid in Libya.

First we have an airplane that in today's dollars cost 1.1 Billion dollars a piece.

Second we have a fleet of 19 of these airplanes.

Third we have two of them being sent on a transcontinental mission to drop a total of 45 JDAMs.

We have mission failure.  We have a glamour shot.  We have the USAF trying to justify a ridiculously expensive airplane while lobbying for more (NGB).

We have a service without a vision of the future.

Shoot down the idea that this was a silly waste of resources that ultimately wasn't needed and one that took support away from the main effort and all you're doing is ignoring the obvious.

Lastly...if the mission was so necessary for the success of the air war then why haven't they duplicated the effort?  The Navy did with its Cruise Missile Strikes...the Brits did with its Tornado missions...the USAF has had F-15E's flying continously....so why no more B-2 missions?

Because it isn't necessary.

Time to put this turkey out of its misery.  Kill the B-2 and save money.  Put Nuclear strike in the hands of the Navy's Trident Missile Subs and be done with it.

UPDATE*
SMSgt Mac has a website called Elements of Power.  Would you believe he has written a rebuttal to this post?  Check him out.

Pararescue and the rest of the Special Ops Corpsmen/Medics...

I promise this is the last one I'll do on the USAF CSAR mission (at least for a minute) but one thing has been bugging the hell outta me.

My buddy Marcase made the case that PJ's (and again they're probably as tough as woodpecker lips...though I've never met one) are more medically skilled than the Corpsmen that rode out with the TRAP team picked up the F-15E Pilots a couple of days ago.

That bothered me.

It bothered me alot.

The reason why is because the Corpsmen that I've run across have all been extremely capable members of the family.  I've seen Doc's go to Marine's homes when the kids were sick to give advice on what was going on.  Seen them even deliver babies in terrible circumstances and of course watched them help injured Marines when strong armed men stood and all the could yell is "Corpsman Up!"

So what's a guy to do?  Whip out the old Google-foo and see what the real story is...what I found was surprising...only because I didn't remember it.

The US Army Special Forces has a dedicated Medical Sgt.  He not only takes care of his team but administers aid to local forces when they're leading insurgents against a hostile nation.

I looked on BlackFive and saw that Froggy posted that Navy Seal Corpsmen are no longer called Corpsmen but Navy Seal Medics...

I went to ForceRecon.com and saw that Navy Corpsmen are "Recon" qualified...they jump, fight, fast rope and dive with their teams...as well as perform medical treatment....

Long story short...its not about their qualifications or medical skills.

I take the training schools and selection boards at their word---these men are all highly skilled warriors.

But I do doubt the efficacy of the mission set as the USAF has established it.

A simple solution is for the US Air Force to step away from the CSAR mission.  It requires gunfighters that its force does not have.

Give the mission to SOCOM to be shared with the Navy/Marines and elements of the Army (thinking mainly the 82nd and 101st...I don't know if the other Army Divisions have the air assets or training to carry it out) or...

Get serious about the entire thing and get its Security Forces trained and armed up to take part.

Over 5 minutes in hover...

BAE test pilot Peter Wilson made the longest hover during the ninety-fourth flight of F-35B BF-1. On the final vertical landing, Wilson spent more than five minutes in hover, with almost six minutes elapsing from entering the hover to touching down. The flight consisted of three other vertical landings, five short takeoffs, and one slow landing.

One week in...who are the 'stars' of the conflict...

Time to do a tally of events in Libya...who are the stars and who are the big losers....

Stars...

1.  Surface Navy.
The Tomahawk strikes prove that they're relevant, vital and a strategic and tactical resource.  Our vaunted air arm still relies on this 70's era technology to kick in the door.
2.  26th MEU.
Its understrength but still delivering.  Everyone has forgotten that they deployed elements of this unit to Afghanistan then turned around and are supporting this effort.
3.  France.
They took the lead and pushed the US President into supporting this effort.  They might have blundered but they brought the US along for the ride.
4.  RAF.
They've effectively neutered the Royal Navy and established themselves as a long range strike force despite the Typhoon not being a capable ground attack platform.  Harriers would have been more effective off one of their carriers but they've nullified that with their early performance.

Losers...

1.  USAF CSAR.
An after action report showing that an understrength MEU was able to pull off this mission will effectively force the end of CSAR as the USAF practices it.  I see deep missions reverting to SOCOM entirely.  Expect more service specific efforts in the Army and the Marines to operate at the edge of the battlefield with SOCOM operating deep.  I expect the USAF to be out of a job and the Navy to piggy back on Marine efforts.
2.  B-2 bomber.
Despite the transcontinental flight of two of these airplanes, the efficacy of them as platforms of war must be questioned.  They're costly to operate and they still need tremendous support.  I believe calls to retire them and replace them with some type of advanced cruise missile will escalate.
3.  France.
They want a free hand outside of NATO control.  I don't think they'll have there way.  Whatever they planned for an endgame appears to already be in jeopardy.

Is dedicated CSAR a thing of the past? Part 2.

Quick follow up to my first post.  Is dedicated CSAR a thing of the past?

Yes....at least as the USAF conducts it.

USAF CSAR is still based on the Vietnam model.  They use PJ's operating in pairs (I've heard up to 6 now) to rescue a downed pilot.  Even with up to 6 highly trained men, they'll face one unfortunate fact.

They'll be savagely out gunned.

Just as the N. Vietnamese soon learned that they could use injured pilots to draw in vulnerable aircraft for easy kills, so too do our current enemies (this explains the actions taken by AV-8B pilots in dropping bombs upon request of the downed pilots when they saw approaching crowds...think Black Hawk Down).

Loren Thompson said it best in his article today...

In other words, a commitment to doing search and rescue the old way led the service to overlook the much greater performance of the V-22, which might arguably have made it the most cost-effective airframe for the mission.

I recommend you read the entire article but Thompson failed to go far enough.  The Air Force erred in not keeping CSAR inside the Special Ops umbrella.  Unless its properly resourced and staffed (and I'm talking available platoons of gunfighters) then it just won't work in the 22nd Century.

Pics of the day. March 23, 2011.

If you haven't checked out Brian Aitkenhead's Flickr Stream then you're missing a treat.  All photos credited to him.

HMS Diamond is the third ship of the Type 45 or 'D' Class of air defence destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in 2007, completed her contractor's sea trials in July 2010 and arrived at her base port on 22 September 2010.

The Type 45 (or Daring) class is considered to be the most advanced air-defence warship in the world.[9] The ship's capabilities centre on the SAMPSON Multi Function Radar, which can detect targets out to a distance of 400 kilometres (220 nmi), and the PAAMS missile system.
The Type 45 has frequently been cited by the British press as being the first class of warship to include e-mail and entertainment systems (including iPod charging points)[10] within the messdecks. These reports relate to 230-volt domestic supplies and access to external e-mail, both of which have been common features in most RN vessels for several years.[11]

Ok, I might've been wrong.

Mix the Surefire Mags with the IAR and you might not lose a thing.  Check this out from Military Times Gear Scout.  Awesome.  100 Round Mags and the IAR?  It just might work.

Second Line of Defense's Rescue Timeline.

Pretty interesting read...I'm really warming to SLD's site.  Check them out here.

USN/USMC-”Ready Now”

By Ed Timperlake
03/23/2011 – An old saying comes to mind when looking at the UN action against Quadaffi  and Libya—“Act in Haste, Repent at Leisure.” Regardless of the outcome, some very important 21st Century military lessons learned are already being seen. The USMC for over two decades kept the visionary flame of the need for unique capabilities of the MV-22 Osprey burning. In Afghanistan, it has been a potential war tipping technology and in today’s headlines in the Libyan “adventure” a life savor.

As a fellow Marine Fighter Pilot said to me about rescuing pilots who go down- “I can remember a brief to my squadron (VMFA-451) two days before the start of Desert Storm by a SEAL who had to be all of 21-22 years old, telling us how HE was gonna get US out if we got bagged. This is why US pilots walk confidently to their planes and their competitors may decline to launch; US Marines, USAF PJs, and US Navy SEALs.” With the success of the USMC “TRAP” (Tactical recovery of Aircraft and Personnel) operation to rescue an Air Force pilot on the ground, the 26th MEU time line and distance flown by the MV-22 and AV-8 Harriers is impressive.  Let us review the operational timeline of this effort.
Timeline:
Ø 2333B 21 Mar:  USAF F-15E goes down, pilot and WSO eject safely
Ø 0050B: 22 Mar: 2xAV-8Bs launch USS Kearsarge (KSG)
Ø 0055B: JFACC approvesTRAP
Ø 0120B: MEU KC-130J launch Sigonella IOT refuel TRAP aircraft
Ø 0120B: AV-8Bs overhead downed pilots with F-16 in comm with F-15 pilot.
Ø 0130B: (quick reaction force) QRF 2xCH53E ready for launch with 46 Marines
Ø 0133B: AV-8Bs drop 2xGBU-12 ISO F-15 pilot
Ø 0133B: 2xMV-22s launch KSG
Ø 0151B: QRF (CH-53E) launch KSG
Ø 0219B: MV-22s overhead F-15 Pilot
Ø 0238B: MV-22 lands LZ recovers F-15 Pilot
Ø 0300B: MV-22s recover KSG with F-15 Pilot
Ø WSO reported in-hands of opposition forces at safe house.
Recently, senior policymakers have called into question the need for Marine Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) and also put the USMC F-35B “on probation.” But reality has a quality all of its own, even within inside the Beltway considerations.
Current combat has just demonstrated that not only did the USN/USMC capabilities in the Libyan fight save a pilot but they also are ready to live up to a famous  US Navy World War I quote.  When a US Navy Destroyer Squadron crossed the Atlantic and joined with the Royal Navy the US Commander was asked when his Destroyer Squadron would be ready–
“Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, asked Squadron Commander Taussig that question and he replied, ” We are ready now, Sir.”
Currently, from the deck of the USS Kearsarge and other ships off Libya, the America Navy battle cry of “ready now” is being heard. The importance of that battle cry cannot be overstated.  Because of recent political squabbling, and independent of the fact that forces are already engaged in combat, current air operations against Libya from Italian Bases might be aborted.
“The squabbling continued as Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini again threatened to take back complete control of Italian airbases if NATO did not take the reins of the mission.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/03/22/libya.nato.squabbling/
So in addition to keeping faith in the Osprey, the USMC should pause to give an additional thanks to the UK for V/STOL Harrier– which the Brits unfortunately just retired -  and now on to take the  F-35B V/STOL off probation. The MV-22, with the coming F-35B and Marine helo modernization, “Zulu Cobras” and CH-53K, along with Marine Infantry and their combined arms will put a true 21st Century  US “sovereign territory” force off any coast in the world.
Currently, today’s 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit might prove to be an invaluable military capability to shape American capabilities to get out of the Libyan mess.

CH-53K.

With ARES reporting that the CH-53K is finally taking shape, I thought a repeat of this vid was in order.  I can't wait to see its first flight.

Hold the F*&k UP!

The UK website MailOnline is reporting this....

Six Libyan villagers are recovering in hospital after being shot by American soldiers coming in to rescue the U.S. pilots whose plane crash-landed in a field.
The helicopter strafed the ground as it landed in a field outside Benghazi beside the downed U.S. Air Force F-15E Eagle which ran into trouble during bombing raid last night.
And a handful of locals who had come to greet the pilots were hit - among them a young boy who may have to have a leg amputated because of injuries caused by a bullet wound.

Flashy...headline grabbing...demonizing US Marines.

But wait one fucking minute.

We now have additional reports that the downed pilots requested air strikes because they felt endangered and Harriers dropped two bombs....the crew of the MV-22 is denying firing shots and the Pentagon is conducting an investigation.

Sounds like another liberal leaning paper was too damn quick to get a headline...too quick to judge...and eager to paint US fighting men in a bad light.