General Allen saw this shooting coming...

Remember my post on  26FEB2011????

General Allen told the troops that "this is not the time to seek revenge" and to "use the discipline" they're so proud of and to basically muscle through the pain of the Afghans indiscriminately killing allied forces.

That didn't quite work.

Time for plan B...wait we're past that too. 

Time for plan Z.

Let's leave that God forsaken country.

The Commandant's running out of time & the ACV.

"We will have a vehicle before I leave office."

You're running out of time Commandant.  

The same issues that doomed the EFV seem to be dooming the ACV...

*Lack of urgency on the part of Marine Corps Acquisitions Officials...

*A mindset that the AAV is good enough...

*Other priorities....

The problem is quite simply this.  The AAV is as old as dinosaur bones.  Its beyond time to get it replaced, and yet the US Army is showing more urgency, and is being more tenacious when it comes to replacing the Bradley IFV which is practically new when compared to the Marine's vehicle.

Since the AAV has been in service the US Army has fielded the following vehicles....

Ok, this is the Australian version of the M-113 but you get the point.  The Army introduced this vehicle during the Vietnam War...

The Bradley IFV...the current US Army Chief of Staff is not a fan of this vehicle.  As a matter of fact he pretty much damned it, but if the truth be known it has performed quite well, has excellent off road agility and has outstanding firepower.  They could have product improved this IFV but are choosing not to.

The Stryker.  I'm not as sold on this vehicle as the US Army is but they're selling the future of the Army on the capabilities...and weaknesses it has.  Its all rather immaterial though.  The GCV might end up relegating this vehicle to state side use.

Three combat vehicles.

The US Army has done it and is now working on its next generation replacements for the Bradley and the M-113.  Oh and don't be confused...they're two different programs.

While the US Marines can't get the AAV replacement off the ground.

Disgraceful!

Chilean Marder's and Leopard 2A4's.

I've had a focus on the happenings in the Middle East, Europe and the Pacific.

Understandable but probably not smart. Ya see we have a bunch of stuff going on in S. America that deserves attention.

How I missed it I don't know but tiny Chile is building a formidable force.  Their order of battle is impressive and they have a goal of having a fully mechanized Army by 2015.  But the photos of the Leopard 2 and Marder operating in battle formation had me asking one question.

Who are they getting ready for?

TAPV and the near future of armor advances.

Canada's TAPV is another of those armored vehicle programs that's suddenly gotten quiet.

During 2011 there was a flurry of activity...Textron even moved into a new building in Canada...but nothing since.  My big worry is that once the JLTV, GCV, MPC and ACV programs are done (in addition to this one) that's going to be a wrap for the foreseeable future.

I think we're seriously heading into a time of upgrades and upgrades only.  It is entirely possible that the same tank (with upgrades) being driven today will be the same one thats driven by some Tankers great grandson in 2050.

That should give everyone in the armor industry pause.  The great armor depression is right around the corner.

via Defense and Freedom

What's going to add to the pain is the fact that even small nations are developing home grown armored vehicles to meed their needs.  The big companies...Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, BAE, KMW and others are going to have to develop some kind of strategy to penetrate those markets or else watch market share disappear.  I hate to say it but partnerships are the only viable solution.  Develop the vehicle and then allow production to occur in the smaller country.  Maybe not as profitable but it will allow some of the big guys to survive...or else we're going to see consolidation like never before.  It could make what happened in the aircraft industry look like a spring shower.

Textron's LSAT

Many thanks to William for the vid.

Breaking News. Soldier walks off base and kills Afghans.

Thanks for the heads up Joe.

This was bound to happen.  You see your buddies getting shot, blown up and all sorts of nonsense and then the people that you're suppose to be training start killing coalition forces...

A fool could see this from a mile away.  Anyway check this out from the BBC.

A US soldier in Afghanistan is reported to have killed a number of Afghan civilians after walking off his base in Kandahar province.

The soldier - who surrendered to the US military authorities - is thought to have had a breakdown, reports the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Kabul.
Nato said it was investigating the "deeply regrettable incident".
Local tribal leaders said women, children and men were among the dead in Panjwai district.
The governor of Kandahar province, Tooryalai Weesa, confirmed there were casualties, but said the exact number of dead and injured would be made known later.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement that US officials in Afghanistan would work with their Afghan counterparts to investigate what happened.
"This is a deeply regrettable incident and we extend our thoughts and concerns to the families involved," Isaf added.
Our correspondent reports sources in Kabul as saying the soldier had some kind of breakdown just before leaving the base and opening fire on civilians.
The incident comes as anti-American sentiment runs high in Afghanistan following the burning of copies of the Koran by US soldiers at a Nato base last month.
US officials apologised, but the incident sparked a series of protests and attacks that killed at least 30 people and six US troops.

I hope the President of the US has enough common FUCKING SENSE to not apologize for this.

But I'm not holding my breath.

NOTE:

To all the apologist out there understand something.  We've been teaching these people for 10 years to form an army.  We've pumped in billions of dollars to build up their country.

All we get in return are our soldiers and Marines killed and wounded and the projects that we're building FOR THEM destroyed almost as soon as they're built.

We owe the people of Afghanistan nothing.  Not even an apology...

A meeting with enemy...

Major Gen. John A. Toolan, the commanding general for RC (SW), and Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, who is assuming command of RC (SW), speak with Qasim Khydri, the deputy governor of Nimruz province, during a key leader engagement meeting, March 9. Topics discussed during the meeting included the governance, security and developmental successes of Nimruz within the last couple of years since International Security Assistance Forces started to put an invested interest in the region. By LCpl Mark Garcia.

Ok its really our so called allies.  But the title seems appropriate.  After all, can you really tell a difference in Afghanistan?

Thomas Jefferson was right.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.
Thomas Jefferson

Seems like the old timers were right.

At least if they're named Thomas Jefferson.

Everywhere we look it appears that a strange mixture of staunch Liberals and Neo-Conservatives (think John McCain and his camp follower from S.C.) want us involved in every conflict world wide.

The Obama Administration hasn't made it any easier with a policy that's confusing at best, contradictory at worst.  Libya was ok, Syria not ok.  In Libya we interviened because of the THREAT of violence against his country's population, in Syria we won't even though thousands have been killed.

The latest of these appeals to involve US troops is this Invisible Children/Kony 2012 campaign.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't like the idea of children being used in war.  I don't understand the religious dynamic here (although from my limited reading, it makes sense that African Christians would finally start fighting back) and I sure don't under stand the political/social workings either.

Which makes Jefferson's warning even more applicable.  If we involve ourselves even in humanitarian endeavors we have embarked on an entangling alliance.

Syria, Uganda, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq...entanglements that provide us no advantages and only serve to drain our resources and manpower.

Time to leave these countries to their own devices.  If they survive and if they are worthy then we can become friends.  If not then God help them because we won't.

NOTE:

I give it a year and we'll see Special Ops having to try another raid to rescue some misguided souls from the US that think that they have to fly halfway around the world to help their fellow man.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Lots of work to be done right here in the good ole' USA.  But like I said.  By the end of the year we'll have to send in SOCOM to rescue some wayward soul.

UPDATE:

Looks like my instincts were correct.  I don't agree with some of this young ladies characterizations but I agree with her premise that this stop KONY 2012 is bullshit.  Someone is trying to make a buck.  This is craziness.  Long story short.  Lets stay out of other peoples affairs.

 

Tanks, Artillery and Recon should be pissed.

I can't shake how pissed I am about this video.

The good:

It shows the USMC performing the most difficult of military operations (yeah that's right, every military expert says that an opposed amphibious assault is the most difficult of operations) with speed, and precision.

The bad:

Care packages in the back of helos, MTVR's and the emphasis on the Marine Corps being an armed Salvation Army.

The weird:

LouG reminded me of a fact that I failed to notice before.  The F/A-18 is never noted in Marine Propaganda.  In this vid, Tankers, Artillery, Recon, Snipers and other members of the combat arms, combat support community are left out.

I guess a 70 ton tank driving off an LCAC doesn't promote the idea of serving food to the masses.

Its true. The UK might switch back to the F-35B.

Interesting news Gents.

I stand by my statement.  The F-35B WILL be the best selling model of this airplane when it comes to foreign buyers.  It won't even be close.

Check this out from Bloomberg.

The U.K. is reconsidering its 2010 decision not to buy Lockheed (LMT) Martin Corp.’s F-35B jet, said U.S. Navy Vice Admiral David Venlet, program manager for the Joint Strike Fighter.

Asked in an interview if the U.K. is again interested in the F-35’s short-takeoff and vertical landing model, Venlet replied: “That is under consideration.”
If the U.K. decides to buy the F-35B, it would be a boost to Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps, which is the major customer for the airplane. In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted a yearlong probation on the B model, which is the most complex of the three F-35 variants. At an estimated $382 billion to produce different models for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, the F-35 is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program.
In October 2010, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who is scheduled to visit the U.S. and meet with President Barack Obama March 13-14, announced that Britain wouldn’t buy the F-35B model. Instead, the U.K. expressed interest in the Navy’s aircraft carrier version, which is projected to be cheaper than the short-takeoff and vertical landing model.

The U.K.’s reconsideration of the F-35B model is a “relatively new development” driven by “national U.K. financial constraints and what it costs” to modify its two future Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers so they could carry the U.S. Navy’s F-35C, Venlet said after a presentation to a Credit Suisse conference on defense programs yesterday in Arlington, Virginia.

Read the entire article but....

I guess the old saying "steel is cheap, electronics are expensive" actually is true.  I'm having a bit of trouble believing that this entire decision is based on the costs to modify the ships though.

Supposedly that was taken into account when they decided to switch to the C version in the first place.  This strikes me as more political than industrial and books will be written about the Brits vacillating between different versions of the F-35.