Whoa! New player in Marine Personnel Carrier Competition!

A new player and definite wild card!

The Terrex 8x8!

I've always been a fan of this vehicle and to be honest and not to throw bombs at Lockheed Martin/Patria or BAE/Iveco but this may be the most technologically advanced vehicle yet in this competition.

via Defpro.

16:28 GMT, March 23, 2012 Singapore | ST Kinetics, the land systems arm of ST Engineering, and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) today announced they will team for the upcoming U.S. Marine Corps Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC) programme.

The MPC will provide U.S. Marine infantry formations with an advanced generation eight-wheeled armoured personnel carrier. The MPC is intended to be a highly protected and swim-capable vehicle, with requirements shaped to provide a balance of performance, protection, and payload to ensure it is effective across the full range of military operations. The MPC programme calls for the production of approximately 100 units per year for up to 7 years, with initial awards for the testing and demonstration phase expected in April 2012.

"The SAIC and ST Kinetics team will base its offering on the modern TERREX 8x8 Armoured Personnel Carrier already fielded by the Singapore Armed Forces. By using existing and proven technology, tailored to Marine expeditionary requirements, we will be able to quickly deliver a simple, elegant, enduring and USMC-usable capability to meet the programme's critical needs and schedule." ~ Dan ZANINI, Senior Vice President and Landforce Systems Operation Manager, SAIC

Under the teaming agreement, SAIC will serve as the prime contractor for the MPC programme, with both companies combining their ground vehicle integration, design, production, fielding, and support expertise to field and provide the best solution to the U.S. Marines.

"We are proud to field ST Kinetics' TERREX as the basis for our team's offering for the USMC MPC programme. We are confident that the advanced design of the TERREX, particularly in the areas of survivability and crew habitability, will underpin an effective and affordable solution usable by the US Marines in a myriad of tough environments." ~ Patrick CHOY, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, ST Kinetics
 

As a sidenote...

Who are these guys????  SAIC shows up whenever a foreign company tries to penetrate the US market place.  I don't care where it comes from as long as US workers are assembling the product for US forces...but a look at the SAIC website clarifies nothing.  SAIC is a mystery to me.

F-35B BF-13 First Flight

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew F-35B BF-12 (Navy Bureau Number 168309), on its inaugural flight on 12 March 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB.

Aviation Week might not like it...two stories that Sean is linking to tout program failure??? Really Sean?  Really?

The British Government might be confused about which version to buy.

The Canadian's might be under pressure to delay it...

But one thing can't be denied.

The F-35B is rapidly heading toward the start of training by the end of this year.  Despite the critics, things are looking up for the F-35 program...

BAE's Brimstone, Hellfire, Maverick and maybe gunship killer.

APKWS is the biggest threat to the dedicated helicopter gunship in a generation.  Precision missiles can now be launched off utility aircraft.

Multi-role aircraft can now enter the rotary world.

A UH-1Y can go back to the future.  When the Huey was first deployed it operated as a troop transport, ambulance, command and control platform and gunship.

Now the Marine Corps can do it again.

Let's not even talk about what Navy MH-60's can do know that they're sporting the US Army's stub wing arrangement on their aircraft.

More targets can be hit at a reduced payload penalty meaning better performance.

I like it.

Shayetet 13

Soldiers of the IDF's elite naval commando unit 'Shayetet 13' are getting ready for a training exercise on a Sa'ar 5-class Corvette of the Israeli Navy.

The Nanny Commandant strikes again.

Ya know the time is rapidly coming when assigning a Marine to walk point or to be placed on a work detail is going to be called hazing.

And we're going to have the Nanny Commandant to blame for it.  Check out this misery from Military.com.

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan -- In an effort to stamp out the “cancer” that is hazing, the Marine Corps has updated its hazing policy to include more officer accountability as well as information and instruction for those affected, Marine officials said this week.
Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, ordered an update to the 1997 policy in an attempt to bring the Marine Corps in line with Navy guidance and to rein in what he called a “leadership issue” following several high-profile cases of hazing in the ranks.
Military leaders were on Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss hazing with members of the House Armed Services Committee on Military Personnel. At that hearing, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., pleaded for an end to the culture of hazing.
The new Marine Corps policy now defines hazing as “any conduct whereby a military member or members, regardless of service or rank, without proper authority causes another military member or members to suffer or be exposed to any activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning or harmful.”

The current policy works.

This is overkill.

We are rapidly approaching a point where every leader will spend more time second guessing themselves.  

Many will worry more about the potential for punishment from action rather than be concerned about the consequences of INACTION.

Things are bad bat fans.

Amos is making them worse.

Cdr. Salamander's awesome scuttlebutt...

Long story short?

Cdr Salamander is stating that he's heard rumors that the Navy is considering bringing back the S-3 as a pure tanker. 

Read about it here.

That would be too awesome to believe.  What would make it even better?  If they brought the S-3 back along with the ES-3!

A dedicated tanker along with a dedicated mini E-8 for naval forces?

If NavAir could make that happen then things would definitely be looking up for carrier aviation.

17 counts of murder.

Thanks Joe for sending me this article.

via Yahoo.

Pentagon officials said Thursday that they expect Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 38, to be charged on Friday on 17 counts of murder, among other lesser charges.

The charges "are expected tomorrow," a U.S. official told Yahoo News Thursday night on condition of anonymity.

Hmmm.

This is gonna be a tough case to prove.  I wonder who's leading the investigation.  Army CID or has the FBI rode in and claimed jurisdiction.

Either way, the crime scene has been tampered with, the SSGT is claiming a lack of knowledge and his prior traumatic brain injury is going to be a factor in determining guilt.

Don't get me wrong, if he did it (and by all appearances he did) then he should be punished.  But if there were ever a case of mitigating circumstances then this case has it written all over it.

My opinion.  Your mileage may vary.

SAS members talk about the Falklands...

via the Telegraph...

Out over the South Atlantic, two C130 Hercules transports of 47 Squadron Royal Air Force battle through the night. Buffeted by strong headwinds, they skim the waves at 50 feet to evade detection. The co-pilots peer through night‑vision goggles, guiding the pilots towards the coast, one lapse enough to cause disaster. Night vision is in its infancy, the devices a secret gift from the Americans. Tension mounts as landfall over Argentina approaches, the conclusion of a 13‑hour flight from Ascension Island involving two mid-air rendezvous with Victor tankers.

Behind the crews, in the cavernous holds of the Hercules, some 60 men of B Squadron, 22nd SAS Regiment, ready their weapons and vehicles, Land Rovers bristling with machine guns. This is a one‑way mission, the best outcomes being escape to neutral Chile, or capture. The worst outcome is all too obvious.

Minutes later, the C130s slam down on the runway at Rio Grande. The rear doors are already open, the lowered ramps scraping the ground. In an instant, the Land Rovers are charging straight for the apron where four French-built Super Etendard fighters of the Argentine navy stand. Some of the SAS fling charges into the engine intakes while others search for the Etendard pilots, who are to be shot on sight. Another group search for the weapon that above all others threatens Britain with defeat in the South Atlantic: the Exocet. Moments later, the first charges explode. Gunfire erupts. The world dissolves into chaos.

That's just a snippet, but the best thing about this entire article is that it confirms a couple things that were speculated and more importantly it gives the perspective of the guys involved.

A nice historical article....about a time when Great Britain had its full groove on.

This is why we're losing Afghanistan...

Major Joseph R. Jackson, the lead governance and development advisor with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, directs Marines as they escort Holly Barnes, the field program manager of the District Stabilization Team in Kajaki for the U.S. Agency for International Development, on a patrol here, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from USAID and the U.S. Department of State to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center.  Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer

Lance Corporal Juan R. Sanchezvelazquez, a motor transport operator with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, walks across a bridge here during a patrol into the Tangye Bazaar, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Marine Corps to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic here. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center.  Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer

Corporal Diego E. Castaneda, a motor transport mechanic and assistant patrol leader with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, directs his Marines during a patrol here, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Marine Corps to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center.  Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer

Lance Cpl. Paul L. Mares, a cannonier with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, provides rear security with his M240 light machine gun during a patrol here, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Marine Corps to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center.  Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer

Read the captions above.

Then do what I finally did and step back and think about the implications of Sgt Harrer's words.

Marines are supporting the US Agency for International Development.

Think about that in the larger context of the war.

We're no longer about chasing down the bad guys.  If that was the case then we could pull out and let SOCOM do there thing the right way.  WITHOUT SUPPORT OF CONVENTIONAL UNITS.  I mean they are elite right?

No, we have thousands of Marines and Soldiers in country trying to develop a primitive culture...trying to get women's rights for women that don't want it...in essence we're fighting a war of special interests.

The powers that be are trying to make this back water country into a mini USA.

That's why we're losing.  Classic counter insurgency failed.  It failed because we've bastardized the concept.

And for that I blame military leadership of all services.

Mission accomplishment first.

Troop welfare second.

We can't accomplish this mission.  Time to leave now.  We know it, the Afghan's know it and the American public knows it.

Time for military leadership to finally admit the truth and end this waste of money and lives.

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?