Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Spike’s Tactical Rally Fighter
Massive hat tip to Soldier Systems...
Go to Soldier Systems website for more info....I can't wait to read how SOCOM writes the requirement to get about 500 of these. Of course it'll be airdrop capable and have mounts for a 50 cal on the roof and a passenger side 7.62 machine gun, with an additional passenger facing rearward with another 50 cal.
Damn it, I hope they write the requirement!
Spike's version... |
Standard version (if you can call this vehicle standard) |
Damn it, I hope they write the requirement!
Naval guns...we took a step back by taking them off amphibs.
Back in the old days...when the Marine Corps still remembered the lessons of the past, Amphibs had 5 inch guns. In the case of the old school Tarawa --- two 5in guns.
Why do I bring this up? Because of an article by the G-man today. Check it out here but this part caught my attention.
But hindsight being what it is, I do have serious questions if the US Navy leverages the flexibility of the amphibious ships well in modern irregular warfare situations like offshore of Somalia. Does anyone honestly think it is a good idea to put a $2 billion ship like USS Chafee (DDG 90) in green water for fire support? Our destroyer force is being primarily resourced to fight sophisticated air targets, not shoot guns to shore in littorals which are always the most risky.I'm a little disappointed with this article for a number of reasons...
What a false choice current US force structure forces on warfighters for gunfire support - either send in $3 billion DDG-1000s with advanced gun systems or send in the less expensive, terribly armed 57mm hauling LCS. Honestly, where are Reapers on LHDs, because right now the only other option is to task the RW community for their capabilities.
I encourage folks to read the whole Military Times article and give it some serious thought. When I read that article, I ask myself why the US Navy and US Marine Corps spends so much money building and maintaining amphibious ships to deploy structured air-sea-land battalions if the MEUs are unable to accomplish the sustained irregular warfare missions by sea as described in that article. That situation in 2007-2009 off Somalia appears to have been crying for a Sea Base, and yet none existed. Why
1. This was a Special Ops party. Having a floating sea base (even if it was just one LHA) would probably have been a show stopper for the snake eaters. Quiet professionals and all that.
2. ID posted an article just a few days ago that complained about the lack of amphibs and even talked about a deployment that is reaching record breaking lengths. Read it here and here.
3. He forgets the 'time' that the Navy and Marine Corps was living in. Iraq was going gang busters. IED attacks were at all time highs, the war was in doubt and things had yet to turn our way. Additionally you had missions going in Afghanistan and other parts of the world (I forget where but do remember it was a crazy busy time). If I recall correctly all the naval forces had available was probably a destroyer.
But having said all that, the G-man has a point, but not for the reason that he thinks.
Where is the sea base. I've attempted to capture some of the documents before the USMC placed them behind a firewall but even with the latest MEB exercise we didn't see even the tinkle of a sea base being utilized.
The issues with Pakistan would certainly be less stressful if we had one available too.
Monday, November 28, 2011
2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team & 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment get in a training evolution...
We have holographic sights for our rifles, why not our pistols?
I believe that many firearm innovations start out in the civilian world and migrate to the military. It didn't use to be that way.
Back when civilian shooting wasn't as big a force as it is today, the military wagged the dog. Now you see major firearm manufacturers backing out of military competitions to focus on the civilian market. Smith and Wesson is the latest example of this....they just backed out of the M4 comp.
But to the issue at hand.
A big trend is beginning to appear in the civilian shooting market and I'm beyond intrigued. I'm ready to pull the trigger on it and I'm wondering why the military hasn't investigated its use.
That would be the holographic sight on a pistol.
The above system is from TSD.
What I find absolutely amazing is that not even US Special Ops appears to be embracing this tech.
That should change. I think this is a worthwhile addition that should be procured by the lab rats at the USMC Marksmanship Training Unit to investigate its combat possibilities.
Its definitely as worthy as the IAR....in my opinion more so.
USMC AH-1Z Super Cobra and UH-1Y Huey flight for Top Brass
Hat tip to Military Photos.net via Military Notes
F-22 upgrades in budget crosshairs???
via the Orlando Sentinel...read the whole thing...but a couple of tidbits...
Although the F-35 has had its share of problems, nothing compares with the woes of the F-22, which have made it the poster child for defense critics. And yet the U.S. is still pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into it.and this...
It is not clear exactly how much the latest contract is worth. There was confusion when the military announced that the deal was a "potential $7.4 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity contract." That turned out to be incorrect; instead, the Air Force deal had actually boosted the potential value of an existing program to $7.4 billion, according to Reuters news service.and finally this...
A DoD spokewoman told Reuters that the latest deal "cleared the way for funding of further upgrades in 2012, the last year of the program." She did not, however, disclose the value of the latest deal.
In some ways, the upgrade work on the F-22 could be seen as a sort of "bailout" of the problem-plagued fighter jet. Since the first Raptor was fielded in 2005, technical problems have prevented a single jet from taking part in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in any other conflict.The F-22 program confounds.
Among the malfunctions: oxygen problems in the cockpit that caused pilots to lose consciousness, and navigation problems that led to an embarrassing return to base over the Pacific Ocean in 2007 for a dozen jets on a flight to Japan.
For defense proponents, it is an uncomfortable irony that the most-expensive, most-capable jet in the U.S. arsenal has never fired a shot.
Its supporters are vociferous. It is (they claim) capable of shooting down anything short of a Death Star, yet its looking more and more like a hangar queen and its upgrade path seems to indicate that its not as technologically advanced as some 4th gen fighters.
Upgrades are flowing from the F-35 to the F-22 and not the other way around. Perhaps the real canary in the USAF's coal mine is the F-22 and its actual utility against a 1st tier opponent.
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