2015 National Military Strategy...Hot off the press.

  2015 National Military Strategy

David Axe posts the report on the F-35!

Story here!

F-35 fanboys.  Will you now.....

Millennium Challenge 2002...the last unscripted wargame the Pentagon allowed.

via Wikipedia.

Red, commanded by retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, adopted an asymmetric strategy, in particular, using old methods to evade Blue's sophisticated electronic surveillance network. Van Riper used motorcycle messengers to transmit orders to front-line troops and World-War-II-style light signals to launch airplanes without radio communications.
Red received an ultimatum from Blue, essentially a surrender document, demanding a response within 24 hours. Thus warned of Blue's approach, Red used a fleet of small boats to determine the position of Blue's fleet by the second day of the exercise. In a preemptive strike, Red launched a massive salvo of cruise missiles that overwhelmed the Blue forces' electronic sensors and destroyed sixteen warships. This included one aircraft carrier, ten cruisers and five of six amphibious ships. An equivalent success in a real conflict would have resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 service personnel. Soon after the cruise missile offensive, another significant portion of Blue's navy was "sunk" by an armada of small Red boats, which carried out both conventional and suicide attacks that capitalized on Blue's inability to detect them as well as expected.[1]
At this point, the exercise was suspended, Blue's ships were "re-floated", and the rules of engagement were changed; this was later justified by GeneralPeter Pace as follows: "You kill me in the first day and I sit there for the next 13 days doing nothing, or you put me back to life and you get 13 more days' worth of experiment out of me. Which is a better way to do it?"[2] After the reset, both sides were ordered to follow predetermined plans of action.

Millennium Challenge 2002 was the last unscripted wargame the Pentagon allowed.  The reason?  A Marine Corps legend, General Van Ripper, took a pet project of the SecDef and totally eviscerated the concept (sorta like ISIS is doing today).

Why do I bring this up?

Simple.  F-35 advocates are using the scripted exercises "validating" the planes performance as an indication of how well it will do in combat.

I say bullshit.

But its worse than that.  Company Landing Teams?  Validated by fraudulent, scripted exercises.   Regionally Aligned Army Brigades?  Ditto.  LCS?  Much the same.

The list goes on.  If you're testing to a desired outcome then its not a test, its a coronation of a pet project.  Our military and our nation deserves better.

Confidence is not high.

Pentagon response to F-35 bad news? Investigate the leak!

Many thanks to William for the link!

via Washington Post.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,the $400 billion futuristic jet program that so many love tohate, found itself, once again, in the crosshairs this week when
a popular military blog published a report from a test pilot who
apparently found its performance less than stellar.
"Test pilot admits the F-35 can't dogfight," read the
headline in War is Boring. "New stealth fighter is dead meat in
air battle."By now, after years of media beating up the most expensive
weapons program in the history of the U.S. military, the
Pentagon's joint program office and Lockheed Martin, the prime
contractor, have well-oiled media response teams that are quick
to rush to the plane's defense. And they wasted no time as the
War is Boring report gained traction in military circles.
("Meet the most fascinating part of the F-35: the $400,000
helmet")
In an e-mail to reporters Wednesday morning, they said the
report "did not tell the entire story" of the test dogfight
between an F-35 and an F-16 this year because the F-35 was not
equipped with many of the features that gives it an advantage.
But they did not dispute the authenticity of the pilot's remarks,
and said they were investigating how the report, marked "For
Official Use Only," was leaked.

Wow!

The Pentagon did NOT dispute the authenticity of the report!  Additionally, (and I blame idiot reporters that don't know shit about defense issues for this) no one confronted the SPIN MASTERS with information from that report.  The F-16 was flying in "degraded" condition and still beat the shit out of the F-35!  What systems will give the F-35 an advantage that they're hanging their hat on?

This program would be canceled in a sane universe.

But the really galling thing is that instead of working to fix the problems with the airplane (if they can be fixed...something I seriously doubt), the Pentagon instead throws down the gauntlet to public knowledge and shoots a shot across the bow of truth tellers.

They're gonna investigate the leak!  A substandard airplane that is costing billions and they're more worried about a leak than the performance of the airplane.

Absolutely amazing.

Combined Resolve IV Live Fire Event...photos by Markus Rauchenberger

Note:  Have you noticed that the Stryker Brigade has been pushed aside and it's a heavy armor show in Germany now?  I'm betting that the optics of running around Europe in IFVs while Russia is parading new tanks just didn't have the "staying" power that was desired...hence you now see M1A2 SEP V2's....and speaking of the Abrams.  Is it just me or is that RWS unnaturally tall?

A person, or group is actively attempting to destroy vital infrastructure in the US.

via 9news.com

Internet providers suffered disruptions Tuesday in what a West Coast internet provider said appeared to be a coordinated physical attack on three high-capacity "backbone" lines in California.
Wave Broadband said three major fiber-optic cables in the Sacramento area were "physically severed in what appears to be a coordinated attack on multiple internet carriers."
Wave spokesman Mark Peterson said the company's subscribers in the suburban Sacramento area were suffering outages, and crews were working to restore the connections, which were severed at 4:20 a.m. local time. Peterson said Wave itself is a customer of the two backbone companies apparently targeted, Level 3 and Zayo. Both backbone companies are based in Colorado.
In a statement, a Level 3 spokeswoman confirmed a "service disruption" and said the company assessing the damage and impact, while a crew on the ground was preparing to repair the line.

Story here.

This is not the first time we've seen PHYSICAL attacks on infrastructure in the past 5 years.

I can think of at least three others and the kick in the pants is that law enforcement authorities have YET to make an arrest.

What makes this different is that the previous attacks were against the power grid.  Power stations and underground lines have been attacked in the past.  The move to attacking fiber optic lines is new and should be chilling.

A person, or group is actively attempting to destroy vital infrastructure in the US.  

And no one is paying attention.

SAPPER Leaders Course...photo by Cpl. Krista James

Lance Cpl. Alex Rowan, a combat engineer with 4th Marine Division, runs to take cover before the Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System detonates during the SAPPER Leaders Course aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, June 26, 2015. During the course, the Marines used assault and breaching techniques to clear a wire obstacle using line charges that utilized C4 explosives and their APOBS.

Brazil organizes a Guarani "Mechanized School of Excellence"....

via Defesanet News.

The mechanized infantry and the modernization of the Mechanized Cavalry, driven by the Strategic Project Army Guarani (PEE Guarani) and combined with the deployment Leopard Project, constitute milestone in the transformation process of the Land Force. However, for these troops reach full operational capacity, it is necessary that, besides their doctrine, organization, infrastructure and suitable material, are composed of military possess the required skills.

Story here and here.

I get nervous when I read a blog or news organization talking about a piece of kit in the same way that SLDInfo talks about the F-35 and V-22 in USMC service...its about the people, not the equipment that will win battles.

Having said that I can see a need for the Brazilian Army to want to rethink their mechanization training.  They are about to get a drastic boost in mobility with the Guarani ... I'll be keeping an eye on them to see what they come up with.  Additionally it will be telling to see how legacy vehicles are integrated or cast off from their formations.  Quite honestly I expect a Mobile Gun System sooner rather than later....and I'm beginning to think that the 8x8 will be canceled and they'll settle on an all 6x6 force.

Combined Joint Logistics Over the Shore (LOTS) 2015...photo by LT Russell Wolfkiel

ANMYEON BEACH, Republic of Korea (June 29, 2015) - 331st Transportation Company (Modular Causeway System) inserts a Trident Pier into Anmyeon Beach on the west coast during exercise Combined Joint Logistics Over the Shore (LOTS) 2015. LOTS are military activities that include offshore loading and unloading of ships when fixed port facilities are unavailable or denied due to enemy activities

AKT16 Morpheus via Concept Tanks Blog