Back to the A-16 future...

Pic and background on the failed A-16 experiment via F-16.net.

via F-16.net

The Block 60 did not go into production and the A-16 became wrapped up in the debate about close air support. The supporters of the A-16 project wanted the USAF to replace its A-10A Thunderbolt IIs with A-16's, arguing that the A-10 was too slow to survive above a high-tech battlefield. Detractors argued that the A-16 had insufficient range and load-carrying capability to make an effective attack aircraft, and, in addition, it would be too vulnerable to enemy anti-aircraft fire.
The Army argued that the Key West agreement of 1948 (under which they were prohibited from operating fixed-wing combat aircraft) was now obsolete, and that the USAF's A-10's should be turned over to them for use alongside AH-64 Apache helicopters. In 1990, Congress decreed that some USAF A-10A's and OV-10 Broncos be turned over to the Army and Marine Corps beginning in 1991.
However, all of these plans came to naught on November 26th, 1990, when the USAF was ordered to retain two wings of A-10 aircraft for the CASmission. No order for the A-16 was ever placed.

And fast forward to today...via Washington Post...

Close-air support (CAS) is carried out by a variety of aircraft, including helicopters, the A-10 and fighter jets like the F-15E Strike Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. As the A-10 is retired, the Air Force will tap some fighter squadrons to primarily be close-air support units, and move A-10 pilots to them.
“We’re going to take those aviators, and we’re going to have designated predominantly CAS squadrons in the F-15s and the F-16s, and eventually in the F-35,” Carlisle said. “We want those CAS expertise to go to those squadrons that are dedicated to CAS to keep that expertise, that knowledge base, that culture alive.”

Read the entire story here.

Just wow.

We've tried this non-sense before but it seems like institutionally the USAF and the Army/Marines just don't remember.

Sad.  Real sad.

F-35 will provide substandard Close Air Support initially says USAF general.

“In many ways, it won’t have the some of the capabilities of our current platforms,” Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, head of the service’s Air Combat Command, acknowledged during a briefing with reporters on Friday at the Pentagon.

via Defense Tech.org

Carlisle said the F-35A won’t initially be able to perform “advanced” close air support “because those are systems that are going to be coming onto the airplane in later blocks.”
The technologies the aircraft will initially lack include the large area, high-definition synthetic aperture radar known as “BIG SAR,” which is needed to get the best functionality out of the electro-optical targeting system, as well as a pinpoint glide bomb known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, or SDB-II, the general said.
Carlisle said the systems are slated to be integrated into the aircraft as part of a Block 4 software upgrade, the first version of which isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2021. “All of those are things that are going to be coming on in Block 4,” he said.
Even the F-35’s 25mm, four-barrel GAU-22 gun won’t be ready for at least a couple of more years.
So which weapons will the airplane initially carry? The Marine Corps’ F-35B will enter service with Block 2B software, which lets pilots fire a pair of AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles, AMRAAMs, or drop a pair of satellite-guided bombs or laser-guided weapons — not exactly the armament of choice for close-in missions.

The airplane is now being acknowledged to be less capable than the current version of the Harrier that its slated to replace and that the USMC is retiring early.

What is HQMC thinking?

Why are they so determined to get this airplane into service when it is so obviously substandard?

WHAT IS GOING ON!

Council on Foreign Relations eviscerates USAF arguments to retire the A-10

Read the entire article here.

I don't know who this Janine Davidson (she's has PHD in international affairs and is a milf too) is, but she's on my new watch list (for the brain, not the face).  I haven't read anyone take apart the USAF position the way she has.  Usually I'm not impressed by the so called "brains" at these think tanks.  What we usually get is processed groupthink, but this is different.

Add this to your weekend must read.

Ukrainian Army has a new helmet....via English Russia.

More pics at English Russia here.

Batman's science destroys Vader's magic....

I want to see a Batman that has the current versions tech and detective skills, mixed with the Punisher/Deathstroke's weapons sets, Wolverine's healing factor, Flashes speed and Superman's invulnerability.

Then we would have something to see.

Notice I left out Ironman's power suit?  If you've kept up with the games then you know that he's just a step away from repulsor rays and mini-rockets.

"...In better shape than Marines graduating boot camp"

This was an Air Force Recruiting commercial which was released on their website. Not even a few days later, the SgtMaj of the Marine Corps (SgtMaj Kent) contacted the Air Force, and demanded it be "reviewed", due to its UNTRUE comments and claims against the Marine Corps. Needless to say, within hours after receiving that email, the Air Force removed this commercial from their website.

Spock was a selfish jerk?

via Free Beacon.

“I loved Spock,” said President Obama, reacting to the death of actor Leonard Nimoy. Why? Because Spock reminds him of himself. The galaxy’s most famous Vulcan, the president wrote, was “Cool, logical, big-eared, and level headed, the center of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future.” Just like you know whom.
The president is not the only writer who hasdrawn comparisons between himself and Spock. I am also a Star Trek fan, but I admit I was somewhat confused by my rather apathetic reaction to Nimoy’s death. And as I thought more about the president’s statement, I realized he identifies with the very aspects of the Spock character that most annoy me. I don’t love Spock at all.

Read it all here.

Just wow.

Now even sci-fi is being invaded by political nonsense!

So what if the President likes Spock.  That's one thing we can agree with..but to take a beloved FICTIONAL character and to do this hatchet job on him because it helps promote a political position is distasteful.

ENOUGH ALREADY!  Everything is polluted with politics...even my beloved Marine Corps.  Can I at least have sci-fi without the taint?

Roster of Aircraft Carriers and Fast Jet Capable LHDs via War Machine...

SAIC moves forward on AAV upgrades.

via SAIC Press Release.

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Executive Officer – Land Systems (PEO-LS) exercised options under a prime contract awarded to Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAIC) to perform initial upgrades to 10 Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) prototypes. Following this, additional options, if exercised, will lead to developmental testing and low rate initial production (LRIP) delivering 52 vehicles for operational test and evaluation and to USMC units.

This single-award, firm fixed-price contract builds upon SAIC's previously announced initial contract value of $16 million for the engineering phase of the contract. This contract value has been increased by $53 million in options exercised, bringing the total contract value to $69 million. The total contract value, if all options are exercised, is approximately $194 million over five years. The work will be performed primarily in Charleston, South Carolina.
Under the contract, SAIC will upgrade AAVs to provide improved protection while gaining back land and water mobility that improves the AAV's ability to fight. Upgrades include armor, engine rebuild to improve horsepower and torque, replace aging transmission, upgrade suspension components, install new water jets, install blast-resistant seats, and upgrade vehicle control, instrumentation and driver interface systems.

RAF A400M Atlas 'City of Bristol'