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| Reconnaissance Marines with the 11th MEU watch their fellow service members parachute from a CH-46E on Camp Pendleton |
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| Reconnaissance Marines with the 11th MEU prepare their gear before they jump out of a CH-46E on Camp Pendleton |
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| Reconnaissance Marines with the 11th MEU jump out of a CH-46E on Camp Pendleton Sept. 22 |
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| Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, collect information on a simulated enemy target during a raid on Fort Pickett's Cherry Villiage, Va., Sept. 19, 2011. More than 900 Marines and sailors are taking part in the Deployment for Training exercise at Fort Pickett, Sept. 6-23. The battalion is scheduled to attach to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Battalion Landing Team a few days after the training. |
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| Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, collect information on a simulated enemy target during a raid on Fort Pickett's Cherry Villiage, Va., Sept. 19, 2011. More than 900 Marines and sailors are taking part in the Deployment for Training exercise at Fort Pickett, Sept. 6-23. The battalion is scheduled to attach to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Battalion Landing Team a few days after the training. |
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| Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, collect information on a simulated enemy target during a raid on Fort Pickett's Cherry Villiage, Va., Sept. 19, 2011. More than 900 Marines and sailors are taking part in the Deployment for Training exercise at Fort Pickett, Sept. 6-23. The battalion is scheduled to attach to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Battalion Landing Team a few days after the training. |
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| Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, collect information on a simulated enemy target during a raid on Fort Pickett's Cherry Villiage, Va., Sept. 19, 2011. More than 900 Marines and sailors are taking part in the Deployment for Training exercise at Fort Pickett, Sept. 6-23. The battalion is scheduled to attach to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Battalion Landing Team a few days after the training. |
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| Pfc. Cassius Johnson, a rifleman with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, and Summit. Miss., native, posts security as an MV-22 Osprey lands near Fort Pickett's Cherry Villiage, Va., Sept. 19, 2011. More than 900 Marines and sailors are taking part in the deployment for training exercise at Fort Pickett, Sept. 6-23. The battalion is scheduled to attach to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Battalion Landing Team a few days after the training. |
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| Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, collect information on a simulated enemy target during a raid on Fort Pickett's Cherry Villiage, Va., Sept. 19, 2011. More than 900 Marines and sailors are taking part in the Deployment for Training exercise at Fort Pickett, Sept. 6-23. The battalion is scheduled to attach to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Battalion Landing Team a few days after the training. |
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| Qualification flights to land the F-35B Lightning II on the deck of an amphibious assault ship at sea began at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on 14 September 2011. Four test pilots started with expeditionary airfield, or EAF, landing practice, which will lead to field carrier landing practice, or FCLP, where shipboard landings are simulated at a land base. EAF and FCLP testing is part of the pilot certification process for landing aircraft on a ship’s deck. The first ship trial on board the USS Wasp (LHD-1) for the F-35B is on track for late 2011, and is scheduled to include the first short take-offs, vertical landings, deck handling, and shipboard landing systems Deck environmental data will be collected as well. |
In addition to announcing the Taiwanese military upgrade, the Pentagon this week will release a congressionally mandated study on Taiwan’s air power.Read the whole thing. Understand that the WT was able to find an "expert" that shot down the report as simply being justification not to sell new F-16's to Taiwan. But in my opinion there is more to it than just that. It should be obvious to all that the nation of Taiwan is vulnerable and that the only aircraft that will be able to get into the air after a missile strike is on that is STOVL.
The study concludes that Taiwan's military should buy short-takeoff and vertical-landing jets such as the British-design AV-8B Harrier jump jet or the new F-35B vertical-takeoff version, according to the officials familiar with the aircraft.
That conclusion was based on anticipated Chinese missile strikes against Taiwanese airfields with cratering munitions that would thwart takeoffs by F-16s and other jets
And we changed the way we shoot. In training Army it was two in the chest and one in skull if needed. Now, if I give you 1 you are getting 2, if I give you 2 your are getting 5, if you get 5 then you get the rest of the mag. Plain and simple I am not going to let you get up and hurt one of my team mates.Quite honestly that never occurred to me.
And we will put all my shots right across your pelvis and then the shoulder girdle. I don’t care if you got a trauma team on hand, 5 shots across the pelvis and you ain’t getting up. The enemy is likely to wear some kind of armor now a days just as much as we are. 2 in a 3×5 card ain’t cutting it. So there are lots more ammo expended in training, which effects how well the guns hold up also.
Impressive no matter how you feel about the F-35 program.Lockheed Martin F-35 Flight Test Progress Report
FORT WORTH, Texas, September 20th, 2011 -- Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] F-35 flight test program moves closer to reaching year-end milestones since the last update issued July 26. Since then, the F-35 Lightning II 5TH Generation multirole fighter conducted 124 test flights, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 642.
Overall, the F-35 system development and demonstration (SDD) flight test remains on or ahead of plan for 2011, despite 15 days of testing lost due to fleet stand-down after a ground mishap involving the Integrated Power Package (IPP). Flight testing was also interrupted at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Md., because of an Aug. 23 earthquake and severe weather associated with Hurricane Irene. During this period of down time, the flight test teams at all locations continued working through planned modifications and maintenance.
As of Aug. 31, the fleet remained 8 percent ahead of plan in year-to-date (YTD) flights.
Several flight test and production key milestones were accomplished since the last report:
Cumulative flight test activity totals for 2011 are provided below:
- BF-1 performed a 40 foot hover in calm winds and two vertical landings (VL) for the 150th VL to date on Aug. 31.
- AF-10 and AF-11 were delivered to Eglin AFB, Fla., Aug. 31. They join AF-8 and AF-9 assigned to the 33d Fighter Wing.
- Static testing was completed on the F-35C Lightning II carrier variant (CV) ground article CG-1 at Lockheed Martin Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 29. With this achievement, the F-35 Program has accomplished its static structural testing milestone for 2011.
- Jet Blast Deflector (JBD) testing was completed by F-35 CV aircraft CF-2 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. from June 25-August 13. CF-2 successfully completed this portion of JBD tests required to ensure the F-35C is compatible aboard an aircraft carrier.
- AF-7 completed its last flight of currently required conventional take off and landing (CTOL) maturity flights on Aug. 31.
From the start of flight testing in December 2006 through September 16, 2011, F-35s flew 1,202 times, including the production-model flights and AA-1, the original flight test aircraft.
- F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jets have flown 314 times.
- F-35B short takeoff/ vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft have completed 226 flights.
- F-35C carrier variant (CV) jets have flown 102 times.
The F-35 Lightning II is a 5TH Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
