A Grand Proposal.

Its time.

The US Navy has been deploying carriers with half its true compliment for over a decade now.

That is an improper use of resources.

Instead of sending a detachment of Marines to a carrier, my grand proposal is for the Navy to turn over a carrier to the Marine Corps.

Instead of deploying with 3 ships to house a MEU, you could sail with one.  It would be a MEU (-) but it would be a sight to behold and would be a formidable rapid response force.

You have a carrier loaded with a wing of F/A-18C's and D's...AV-8B's, CH-53E's, CH-46 or MV-22's, AH-1Z's and UH-1Y's.

Your Battalion (+)  Landing Team (s) would all be your air battalions instead of just an air company.

If a hot spot were to occur you would be steaming at almost 40 knots to the area of concern and would be able to influence events much sooner not only because of the speed of the carrier but because of the reach of your enhanced air wing.

Small boat swarms?

Really?

Not with this beast sailing around with Marines ready to pounce on them form the air in rotary and fixed wing assets.

Pirates an issue?

Your wing would fly out and protect commercial shipping and if necessary not only bomb pirate/terrorist bases but could also conduct helo raids.

Reinforce a tough situation in Afghanistan?

Again, you're moving at 40 knots and you're flying your Marines in from the sea by CH-53 and MV-22 to help put the situation right.

Enough of not using the resources we have.  Lets fully utilize our carriers.  The Marines are ready is the Navy?

Boeing media steps into the 21st century.

Thanks Ed for sending the link.

To be honest I could care less about the 787 winning the Collier Trophy last year.

I really don't care for the photo.

But the fact that Boeing is finally opening up their aviation photos to us lesser beings is amazing.

Fucking amazing that it took a major corporation so long to wise up!

Next war...Africa by way of pirates.

Thanks Jonathan for sending me this article....

Bad news bat fans...

If you thought that with the war winding down in Afghanistan that we might get at least a temporary pause in action, this should make you reconsider.  Our next battle field (probably already is) will be on the African continent.

The payoff?  I have no idea but piracy is not a big enough problem to warrant full scale military intervention.  via AFP.

BRUSSELS — The European Union will likely approve plans Friday to strike Somali pirate equipment on beaches, widening the scope of its naval operations four years into a mission to protect shipping.
Germany had voiced reservations about plans to allow EU warships and helicopters to fire at trucks, supplies, boats and fuel stowed on the coast of Somalia, but a minister indicated Thursday that Berlin would now back the plans.
"Military officers say they want to render harmless the ships on the beach that could be used. This was a convincing argument," German deputy defence minister Christian Schmidt said after a meeting of EU defence chiefs in Brussels.
EU officials have stressed that the new mandate would not call for the deployment of troops on the ground in Somalia.
"We made clear that this should be limited actions against assets on the edge of the beach. Piracy must be fought at sea," Schmidt said.

Notice the careful wording?

Land forces would not be involved?

Land forces are already involved on the continent.  British, French and American forces are operating all over the place.  Add in the work the Chinese are doing and you the next flashpoint of the future.

Remember you heard it here first.

EDA-R.

I continue to be fascinated by the EDA-R...the French solution to the 'enhanced' landing craft problem.  The fascination isn't with its operation...I don't think that its any more capable than a legacy landing craft with improved thrust.  It's rising and lowering deck doesn't impress...I find it to be overly complicated with little utility.

It's like a strange painting or a car accident (no injuries)...I stare in fascination and wonder how someone could come up with that.  Pics via the French Navy website.

Collapse...

A U.S. Soldier assigned to the 197th Special Troops Company, Utah Army National Guard collapses his parachute after a static line jump in Fairfield, Utah, March 15, 2012. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Staci Miller, U.S. Air Force/Released)

The Navy's real carrier problem.

An MV-22 Osprey maneuvers on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) during test operations. George H.W. Bush is in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications.

The above pic while "artistic" illustrates perfectly the Navy's carrier problem.

They have more carriers than aircraft.

Check out that flight deck.  One MV-22 and maybe a couple of Sea Hawks...pathetic.  It will piss the Admiral's off but the Navy really only has one of two options to keep the current number of carriers and be considered serious.

The first option is to establish a partnership with the US Marine Corps and deploy an enhanced SPMAGTF (aviation centric...AMOS should love that) with the idea of embarking maybe two Battalion Landing Teams to act as regional reinforcement for CENTCOM.

They would bring along extra MV-22's, CH-53E's, AH-1Z's and UH-1Y's....along with a beefed up AV-8B force.

This should be a more than credible spear against small boat attacks, provide an enhanced TRAP option in the event of planes going down etc...

The second option would be to team up with SOCOM...get the 160th on board and maybe a company or two of Rangers along with some Special Forces Detachments and give them the super mothership that they've been begging for.

I like option one best but hey....that's just me.

Either way, the Navy has a carrier problem and unless they start sending ships to sea with full compliments (I'm talking upwards of 90 aircraft) then the carrier force is in danger of serious cutbacks.

UPDATE:
It just occurred to me that I just endorsed a proposal that I shot down weeks ago.  Let me clarify.  Marine Corps detachments aboard aircraft carriers with "full" compliments of their aircraft is a waste of Marine Corps personnel.  Designating an aircraft carrier and having it switch to being a super LHD is different.  It becomes a Marine Corps centric vessel instead of having Marines along as dead weight.

Sand storm at sea...

ARABIAN SEA (March 19, 2012) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) passes through a sand storm. Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Benjamin Stevens/Released)

Nigel "Sharkey" Ward wants F/A-18's instead of F-35's!

Wow.

Holy Position Reversal Batman!

Sharkey Ward (famed fighter pilot) has written a paper in which he has gone from being a supporter of the F-35 and is now wanting F/A-18's instead.

The dynamics of the power struggle between the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are hard to make out on this side of the Atlantic but if Sharkey is even half right in his accusations against the RAF then the UK military is in a world of trouble.

While on the surface this might not seem like a big deal, trust me it is.  Ward is a trusted voice in British military affairs and although some would like to dismiss him, 3 kills in the Falklands War and a reputation as being a maverick marks him as a force to be reckoned with.

If Sharkey has turned on the F-35 then its not a good day for the program. My problem is that his reasoning seems to be based purely on politics and not the performance of the airplane.

Read it for yourself...
120320 - The Multi-Role Fighter for Britain's Future Naval Air Force

F-35B BF-11 First Flight

Lockheed Martin test pilot Al Norman flew F-35B BF-11 (Navy Bureau Number 168062), on its inaugural flight on 21 March 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB. The aircraft will be assigned to VMFAT-501 at Eglin AFB, Florida.

Too cool...

I'm assuming this is the UK judging by the accents...

25th CAB Pathfinders

Sgt. Kaylub Divine, A Team leader, F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, designates a sector of security to Pfc. Samuel Corsolini, a gunner with F Company, 2-25 AVN, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, during Operation Pranoo Verbena in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16.  Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

Pfc. Bryce Sterling, a rifleman with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, keeps a watchful eye during a search mission with members of 2nd Afghan National Civil Order Patrol Special Weapons and Tactics Team as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in order to disrupt Taliban operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16.  Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

 

Pfc. Samuel Corsolini, a gunner assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, pulls security for members of 2nd Afghan National Civil Order Patrol Special Weapons and Tactics Team during a vehicle interdiction as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in order to disrupt Taliban operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16.
25th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs
Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

 

There are many more pics but they contain ANA personnel in them.  My choice, right or wrong is to not include them on these pages.  My opinion...my decision. 

The "Nanny" Commandant.

I'm not a fan of Amos.

Something about him rubs me the wrong way.  When I see him all I think is that this guy is a politician and he wasn't/isn't ready for the big chair.

Now we have this coming down the pike and it confirms my impressions.  This guy wants Marines to be warrior and to close with and destroy the enemy, wants them to fight tooth and nail to be the best Marine possible...and this is what he's worried about????

3/21/2012  By Keith Hayes, Public Affairs Specialist  , Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow 

MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif.  — The punishment has increased for not wearing a seatbelt while driving aboard a Marine Corps installation under Marine Corps Traffic Safety Program Drivesafe Order 5100.19F. The enhanced MCO signed by Commandant of the Marine Corps, General John F. Amos, Nov. 29, 2011, adds to the already existing burden of losing private automobile driving privileges aboard base for a period of time, said Brian Korves, safety officer, MCLB Barstow.
“The first violation (for driving without a license) is a 30 day suspension of all base driving privileges to include privately owned vehicles and government owned vehicles, so if you drive for work you can’t drive for 30 days,” Korves said, “plus attendance of an improved remedial driver improvement course.”
For those drivers who still refuse to obey traffic laws by driving without a seatbelt, Korves said the penalties increase.
“The second offense is loss of driving privileges aboard base for six months,” he said. “The third offense is one year without driving a POV or GOV on the base.”
That means an offending driver’s employment could be severely affected.
“If you’re a forklift operator you’re out of a job,” Korves said.
The harsher across the board policy is being implemented, Korves said, because many drivers still are not getting the message.
“The seatbelt laws have been in place since the ‘80s and you still have people refusing to wear their seatbelts, that’s one of the reasons I believe they’re making the punishment harsher,” he said.
The stiffer penalties will inspire most drivers to not take a chance by driving without one.
“If they make this painful for a person then a person is more likely to comply with the laws,” Korves said.
“Let’s look at it this way,” he continued. “You get caught not wearing your seatbelt you get 30 days not driving. You get in to an accident not wearing your seatbelt and you’re dead. Which one is harsher?”
The bottom line is simple, Korves said.
“Seat belts save lives. I believe that this increased penalty for not wearing your seatbelt will make the base a safer place to drive,” he said.

Hey. I get it!

Seat belts save lives. 

But this kind of micro management. 

This crazy ass punishment for not wearing a seat belt has gone too far.  We need a warrior Commandant, not a damn safety Nazi.

Time for you to go buddy.