via Gizmag
I don't know who this vehicle is marketed to but it would appear to have some military and first responder applications.
I'd love to take one for a spin!
The complaints by Air Power Australia, longtime critics of the $16 billion JSF acquisition, were made last night before a public hearing of parliament's defence sub-committee.Now I know some will say...ah its just APA chill out.
Latest-generation Russian fighters such as the Sukhoi T-50 would easily defeat the F-35 in air-to-air combat, Air Power's Peter Goon said, referring to recent modelling tests by his organisation.
"The aircraft we are planning to buy is carrying over 2000 pounds (900kg) of dead weight," Mr Goon said, referring to the JSF's big jet engines.
New Russian and Chinese air defence radars would also have little trouble detecting the JSF, a craft touted for its stealth qualities, he added.
The RAAF says it wants 100 US-designed JSFs to replace the decommisioned F-111 strike aircraft, with the first squadron supposed to be operating by 2018.But the program has been mired in cost overruns and delays.
Last month US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the purchase of US JSFs to be delayed to allow Lockheed-Martin time to resolve production and technical shortcomings.
The company is contracted to deliver the first two training aircraft in 2014 with another 12 scheduled for 2015-17.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith has said he is now considering an option to order additional F/A-18F Super Hornets to fill any capability gap created by further JSF production delays.
Hejlik stressed the importance of integrating special operations forces into Marine operations during a breakfast in Washington last week. The three-star general said getting those two groups to work closer together was a key goal for Bold Alligator planners. Increasing the ranks within MARSOC is a key part of the Marines post-Afghanistan force structure, especially as the service's total force drops to 181,000 troops. But current budget pressures may hinder that growth, Hejlik said at the time. The Marines "will not get the plus-up we expected" for their special forces cadre in the upcoming fiscal 2013 defense bill, Hejlik said. He did not go into specifics on how low that potential MARSOC troop increase could go. But the three-star general did note his lowered expectations for the Corps' special operations force was tied to the service's pending troop drawdown.
The Special Air Service gets about as much press as the Navy SEALs here in the US. I’m not sure exactly why that is. Maybe the Army’s SF and Air Force PJs need better publicists; perhaps it’s just the natural evolution of things, could be everyone wants to rock an SAS smock or Denison smock just ‘cuz they look cool.Hmmm.
Maybe (probably) some of the SOF units just don’t care one way or the other.
I’m guessing a lot of it just has to do with the ‘gun porn’ nature of how lay folk (and many military personnel) view SOF matters, and I know a lot of my friends in that line of work would just as soon no one knew they were involved in anything ‘special’ at all (which is the whole point of the gray man and quiet professional concept after all).
There have been a number of books about 22 Air Service Regiment over the years (far more than the SBS or the Paras, though the’re out there obviously), pretty much since the Iranian Embassy siege put them in front of every television in the world. One of these was Soldier I, SAS, by Pete Winner. I first read the book when it was first released many years ago, back before the magic of the interwebz and Bravo Two Zero and the like. That’s when I first read about the SAS at Mirbat. I’d never seen these videos before, thought you might find them interesting. The book is certainly worth reading, if you get a chance to pick it up. You can buy it off Amazon or maybe pick up an old paperback at a used book store, and you should.
Anyway, watch these. You gotta love some operators that take the fight to the bad guys with a WWII cannon along with all their modern kit.
and then this...you can't be this blasé about how the SEALs are in the spotlight and say it's the media or society,
the SEALs like to say they are SEALs, go to the clubs in UAE, Middlebury language courses, UCSD.
They like to write books and do interviews and be in Hollywood movies, hell who's idea was this site?
There is a culture of being in the spotlight with SEALs not present amongst SFs. there should be a study
on why this is. It is obviously paying off in DoD, more SEALs are getting promotions, and I'm sure this
publicity push has something to do with why only SEAL officers and not SF officers are getting the high
promotions within DoD, write an article about this Brandon.
That's a pretty strong reaction.Not waving off current American society's love for SOF porn, rather pointing why there is a focus towards SEALs, namely SEALs tend to put themselves out there.
Question: Are the popular missions tasked to SEALs because SEAL officers sit on spots that task these missions? I think this would be a good article for SOFREP, instead of SOF-porn let's get a good discussion about SEALs vs. SF relationship at the higher levels.
Other US Special Forces will often compare themselves to SEALs, but in the quiet of the night when they reflect personally, they admit to themselves that their selection is no comparison. Any that argue so just have to look at the length of training and attrition rate to realize that it is like comparing a London Business school MBA to one earned online. Enough said.I revise my previous. Something is seriously wrong in SEAL land. These guys need an intervention.
At a time when the U.S. Navy is trying to enlarge its fleet on a tight budget, a series of foreign ships offer thoughtful ideas about how that can be done.Wow.
France’s Mistral amphibious assault and command ship is a good example. Now participating in the massive Bold Alligator amphibious exercise off America’s East Coast Jan. 30-Feb. 13, she combines the commercial construction and automation to pack enormous capability into a relatively small and affordable package.
Able to carry up to 650 troops, up to 90 vehicles and between 16 heavy and 35 light helicopters, she has a crew of just 170 and costs about $600 million.
It’s hard to compare her to any U.S. vessel. She carries slightly fewer troops than an LPD-17-class amphibious ship at a third the cost and half the crew, but has a flight deck and aviation capabilities more akin to a Wasp-class assault ship at a sixth the cost and crew size.
Every vessel is the result of tradeoffs. Time will tell whether France made the right choices in a ship that compromises robustness for capacity and efficiency.
What is clear, however, is Mistral has spent most of the past four years at sea on real world missions, most recently off Libya more efficiently and at less cost than older warship designs.
Overall, Mistral is an attractive package that U.S. officials should check out more closely.