Vote for nobody.

IAF practices in Italian skies!

Safe House

Endo-Mike found another movie I've got to go see.  The trailer looks good!

Read this story at MSNBC and see if it doesn't make your blood boil!  But a sample is below...

A top U.S. general in Afghanistan was relieved of duty Friday for "inappropriate public comments" after calling the Afghan government "isolated from reality" and President Hamid Karzai "erratic."

Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, deputy commander for training Afghan security forces, blasted the Afghan government, military and Karzai in an interview with POLITICO published on Thursday.

He called Karzai "erratic" for recently saying Afghanistan would side with Pakistan if the latter declared war on the U.S.

"Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle!," Fuller was quoted as saying. "You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, 'I don’t really care'?"

How is the XM-25 doing in Afghanistan?

Tactical Life is reporting that XM-25 is undergoing further testing.  My question is this.  How is it doing in Afghanistan?  If I remember correctly this puppy was suppose to have already been deployed yet I haven't heard a peep about it since.

F-35 hits top design speed in flight testing

via F-16.net

November 4, 2011 (by Bjørnar Bolsøy) - After the busiest month of flight testing to date and concluding three weeks of successful ship trials on the USS WASP the F-35 has reached its maximum design speed of Mach 1.6.
The record flight was flown at Edwards AFB by AF-1, as the jet is called, on October 25, a few days after the USS Wasp returned to its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk on October 21. In all two jets, BF-2 and BF-4, accomplished 72 short takeoffs and 72 vertical landings on the WASP.

According to a Lockheed Martin progress report, since the last flight test update issued on September 20, the program has completed 185 test flights, bringing the total for the year to 837.

● October was the busiest month for flying in the history of the F-35 flight test program, with F-35 aircraft executing 122 flights. The F-35B aircraft known as BF-2 accomplished 22 flights, the most ever for an F-35 in one month.

● F-35Bs completed their 500th flight on Sept. 30. In October, F-35Bs executed the most vertical landings (73) for a single month in the history of the flight test program, including the 200th vertical landing for the program Oct. 4.

● AF-12 and AF-13 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft were delivered to the 33d Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on Oct. 19 and 26, respectively. This marked the fifth and sixth delivery of CTOL jets to Eglin and the 12th overall delivery of an F-35 to the Department of Defense in 2011.

● As of Nov. 3, F-35C carrier variant (CV) jets had executed 59 successful catapult launches and three arrestments.

● F-35C aircraft achieved 200 flight hours on Sept. 22.

Cumulative flight test activity for 2011:

● F-35A CTOL jets have flown 407 times.
● F-35B STOVL aircraft have completed 296 flights.
● F-35C CV jets have flown 134 times.

In all the F-35 has completed 1432 sorties since it's first flight on November the 3rd 2006.

Bjornar gives us a flight test update along with the news that the F-35 has hit the top design speed.  I'm certain that it'll fly faster.

 

F-35B Ship Suitability Testing

F-35B Ship Trials

F-35B ship suitability testing aboard the USS WASP (LHD-1) in October 2011.

Raytheon Hydra. What happened to it?

Remember the Raytheon Hydra?

It was suppose to be a tech demonstrator which would eventually lead to an entry into the SOCOM light strike, internally carried vehicle competition.

I haven't seen a thing on it since.  Anyone know what happened?

Who's desperate?

My bud ELP has an article out on the possibility of F-35 sales to India.  Read it here but the juicy bits are below...

Looking at the news and there is all the sudden there is a lot out there about India and the F-35.

One word: desperation. As in desperation of the U.S. government and lockmart (one in the same) to keep the F-35 program alive by any means necessary.

ELP!

There is desperation. 

But it doesn't reside with anyone associated with the F-35 program.

It definitely must live in the hearts of the executives running the Typhoon and Rafale programs!

It must definitely reside in the hearts of the critics of the program.  If suddenly the Indians decide on the F-35 then that will be another loss for the Typhoon ... first rejected by the Japanese and then decided against by India would be a couple of body blows that would effectively knock the Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen and lets be honest --- F-16 and F-18 out of any further competitions.

U.S. Marines and French Soldiers Train Together in Hawaii

Question for Marine Planners.

Hey all.  Quick question and I hope you have the answer.

How do we expand Marine Special Ops while shrinking the size of our Corps?  If we say screw it and expand MSO, then do we still need to have MEU Special Ops capable or do we revert to pre-1990's setup and shrink our mission set?

If our Corps does shrink to below 180,000 then what does that do to our force structure?  Do we go to 2 full strength reinforced Divisions and place the third in cadre status?  What about the air wing?  Does our requirement for fighters, helos and such go down?  What about lift for a MEF?  Do we need fewer Marine Personnel Carriers, Marine Amphibious Combat Vehicles and JLTV/Humvee Upgrades?

Long story short, we can't plan jack until we get the personnel question answered.  And from what I can see, we won't know that until next year.