WEST PAC 11-2

A Marine with Company L, Battalion Landing Team 3/1, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires at a target while wearing a gas mask during in a live-fire exercise aboard USS New Orleans here Dec. 1. The unit embarked USS New Orleans, USS Makin Island and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14, beginning a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.  Photo by Cpl. Chad Pulliam

A Marine with Company L, Battalion Landing Team 3/1, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, wears a gas mask during a live-fire exercise aboard USS New Orleans here Dec. 1. The unit embarked USS New Orleans, USS Makin Island and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14, beginning a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.  Photo by Cpl. Chad Pulliam

A Marine with Company L, Battalion Landing Team 3/1, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, participates in a live-fire exercise aboard USS New Orleans here Dec. 1. The unit embarked USS New Orleans, USS Makin Island and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14, beginning a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.  Photo by Cpl. Chad Pulliam

Marines bullish on F-35.

via WNEP.com from Reuters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Marine Corps version of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet could soon be taken off a "probation" imposed by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a U.S. Marine Corps official said on Wednesday.

General Joseph Dunford, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told an investment conference that he was "pretty bullish" on the F-35B, the short takeoff, vertical landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

He cited progress in fixing technical problems and said the fighter jet met 98 percent of its test points this year.
Gates put the F-35B on a two-year probation last January and threatened to cancel further work on it unless technical issues were resolved. But Dunford said he was optimistic about the plane's future after a year of solid progress.

"It's no longer ... in the cross hairs," Dunford told the conference hosted by Credit Suisse and Aviation Week, noting that an engineering solution had been identified for every challenge that had arisen.
Given the progress, the plane already was slowly coming off probation and could see that label removed wholly at the start of 2012, he said.

The F-35 program is the biggest U.S. weapons program, which has prompted speculation that the program may face big cuts as Pentagon budget officials struggle to cut over $450 billion from their plans for the next decade.

The F-35B, designed to take off from shorter runways and land vertically, like a helicopter, is seen as particularly vulnerable given a variety of technical issues.

But Dunford said the new fighter remained a top priority of the Marine Corps, and that its ability to land on shorter runways and twice as many U.S. warships was a critical capability that the military could not do without.
Dunford said the Marines would not accept a "hollow force", and would rather downsize the overall size of their force than send Marines into battle without the right equipment.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa)

Every time we get a "strange" bit of news that many of the military blogs pick up on the F-35 (mostly non-stories that are put forward as breaking news) I start looking around the web because I realize that it must be in reaction to something positive that's been said.

Which had me search out the above news story.  But why, you ask do I suspect a good news story about the F-35 occurred whenever I see a quasi bad news one?

Exhibit number one.

Dunford made these statements to a conference hosted by Credit Suisse and Aviation Week!  Yet we didn't read any of this on their blog!

Exhibit number two.

We have this story posted by a couple of Aviation Week journalist.  Read it here.

It might not be a conspiracy but it is definitely an effort by some to shape opinion about the F-35.

US Marines and US Air Force to begin pilot training in the F-35 in 2012.

via Defense News...

"Looks like training for STOVL students may go around August of this coming year," the official said. "Once student training starts, it will include all modes including STOVL."
Originally, the STOVL training was projected to start around April 2012. Air Force pilots will likely start training in the F-35A conventional-takeoff version months before the Marines, as previously planned.

Pics of the day. Nov 30, 2011.

The latest production F-35B (Navy Bureau Number 168059, called BF-8) was flown from NAS Fort Worth JRB on 29 November 2011.  Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti was the pilot for aircraft's first flight.

As the crew of Fat Albert, the support aircraft for the Blue Angels, the US Navy's Air Demonstration Squadron, brings their twenty-year-old C-130T in for a landing at NAS JRB Fort Worth, Texas, on 22 November 2011, the latest production F-35B Lightning II (Bureau Number 168059) can be seen in a flight line hangar at the adjoining Lockheed Martin facility. Fat Albert’s crew stopped in Fort Worth to pick up two pallets of toys for the Marine Corps Toys For Tots program

I don't know who "Farmer" is but he's one heck of a artist!

Spike’s Tactical Rally Fighter

Massive hat tip to Soldier Systems...

Spike's version...

Standard version (if you can call this vehicle standard)

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!

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.

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

I'm a little disappointed with this article for a number of reasons...

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.

2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team & 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment get in a training evolution...

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Nielson, with 2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team out of Norfolk, Va., demonstrates how FAST Marines transition from primary to secondary weapons for Australian Army Soldiers with 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Australia, Nov. 23, 2011. FAST Marines are attending Exercise Semper Fast 2011, a combined training event hosted by 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment focusing on small arms ranges, direct fire ranges, military operations on urban terrain, and light infantry operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau)

Australian Army Sgt. Bruce Morris, with 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5 RAR), gives a class on Australian military weapons systems to U.S. Marines with 2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team out of Norfolk, Va., on Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Australia, Nov. 21, 2011. FAST Marines are attending Exercise Semper Fast 2011, a combined training event hosted by 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment focusing on small arms ranges, direct fire ranges, military operations on urban terrain, and light infantry operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau)

Australian Army Cpl. Phillip Trease, with 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5 RAR), gives a class on Australian military weapons systems to U.S. Marines with 2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team out of Norfolk, Va., on Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Australia, Nov. 21, 2011. FAST Marines are attending Exercise Semper Fast 2011, a combined training event hosted by 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment focusing on small arms ranges, direct fire ranges, military operations on urban terrain, and light infantry operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau)

An Australian Army Soldier with 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment tries on Marine Corps protective gear from U.S. Marines with 2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team out of Norfolk, Va., at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Australia, Nov. 23, 2011. FAST Marines are attending Exercise Semper Fast 2011, a combined training event hosted by 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment focusing on small arms ranges, direct fire ranges, military operations on urban terrain, and light infantry operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau)

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

Royal Marine Commandos on Exercise in British Woodland

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.

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.

and finally this...

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.

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.

The F-22 program confounds.

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.