Monday, April 02, 2012
Royal Marines Practicing Cliff Climbing Techniques
How will the Army be relevant in the Pacific?
That's the question of the day.
How will the US Army be relevant when everyone's attention is turning to the Pacific?
The answer is found in history and in Japanese planning.
Its to occupy islands in the area with Air Defense Artillery and Infantry Brigades.
As things currently stand the Stryker Brigades will be relegated to what they have always been...irrelevance. Sidenote: You don't form units around vehicles...its been a mistake that the Army's been making since reinventing its Infantry Squads to fit the Bradley. The US Army will have to re-embrace the Light Infantry concept and get boots back on the ground. It will take an institutional change in mindset but its doable. Brigade sized units scattered around the Pacific on select islands would be an automatic force multiplier. Toss in some robust Air Defense Artillery and you have road blocks and containment units to help cage the Chinese Dragon.
Best of all this matches not only US planning but also that of our Japanese and Australian allies. I would bet body parts that I highly value that Singapore would be happy with any training opportunities..as would the Philippines and even Vietnam.
Quick and easy the US Army is in the game in the Pacific...has a role in combating N. Korean nukes (if it deploys the appropriate gear for anti-missile defense) and has the chips in the game to help it survive those dastardly budget wars.
How will the US Army be relevant when everyone's attention is turning to the Pacific?
The answer is found in history and in Japanese planning.
Its to occupy islands in the area with Air Defense Artillery and Infantry Brigades.
As things currently stand the Stryker Brigades will be relegated to what they have always been...irrelevance. Sidenote: You don't form units around vehicles...its been a mistake that the Army's been making since reinventing its Infantry Squads to fit the Bradley. The US Army will have to re-embrace the Light Infantry concept and get boots back on the ground. It will take an institutional change in mindset but its doable. Brigade sized units scattered around the Pacific on select islands would be an automatic force multiplier. Toss in some robust Air Defense Artillery and you have road blocks and containment units to help cage the Chinese Dragon.
Best of all this matches not only US planning but also that of our Japanese and Australian allies. I would bet body parts that I highly value that Singapore would be happy with any training opportunities..as would the Philippines and even Vietnam.
Quick and easy the US Army is in the game in the Pacific...has a role in combating N. Korean nukes (if it deploys the appropriate gear for anti-missile defense) and has the chips in the game to help it survive those dastardly budget wars.
Marine Aviation doing what it does best. Supporting the Marine on the ground.
Tavor to be sold in the US? I'm buying one!
The Firearms Blog is reporting that this weapon is coming to the US.
Awesome.
I THOUGHT I was done buying guns...but if the Tavor is coming to America then I have to make room for it and its little brother!
Sunday, April 01, 2012
T-Rex vs. Titano Boa.
via IO9 by way of the Smithsonian
My money is on the snake. Ambush predators are plain tough to beat.
My money is on the snake. Ambush predators are plain tough to beat.
Lies, Damn lies and What The Fuck Lies.
Robin Laird has an article that everyone should read...go to his place but check out this part....
Recently, we have seen yet again, a US government report on the life cycle costs of the F-35 fleet from a 55 year perspective!
One could ask a simple question: what has mandated this question and why are they not fired?
There are many questions one can ask in life but wondering about the lifecycle costs of combat systems 55 years in the future is not one of them.
There can only be one purpose of posing this question: to come up with a PR number to club the program.
But analytically, we should laugh this effort off of the stage. Simply to pose the question should be met with ridicule, disdain or perhaps sorrow.
To give perspective, let us imagine that our predecessors had been so stupid or irrelevant. Let us go back in time – 55 years ago – and pretend that we are GAO analysts being tasked to look at the life cycle costs of weapon systems by the year 2012. (Hard to imagine President Eisenhower not calling such folks up to the White House for a barbecue, and not to eat ribs).
Some MORON at the GAO is trying to ESTIMATE costs of the F-35 fifty five years into the future!
Say it out loud. 55 fucking years!
And yet certain aviation websites and defense sites are publishing this GUESS and obvious HIT PIECE and running with it like its news.
I only wish that this was an April Fool's joke and not something that our government actually put out.
I'd be amazed if it wasn't par for the course. Pathetic.
UPDATE:
Darren hit me with the numbers that we should be looking at (journalist too)...
Production fly away cost
F-35A = $83.4 million ((£52 million))
F-35B = $108.1 million ((£67 million))
F-35C = $93.3 million ((£58 million))
Guess what bat fans...this makes the F-35, a stealth airplane and probably the most technologically advanced airplane flying known to the general public, cheaper than its rivals...Typhoon, Rafale and the F-15E/S/K. Kinda puts things into perspective doesn't it?
Her Bra Saved A Life!
Speechless.
Just wow. I've heard of improvised gear but this has to be a first.
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