If I'm right then protecting yourself just became harder.

via Fox News.

As airport security lines get longer, the finger-pointing over blame is growing too.

The nation's leading airlines, already feuding with the Transportation Security Administration, are now taking on Congress.

The trade group Airlines for America on Thursday says Congress should reverse a 2013 decision that diverted $12.6 billion in passenger-security fees to reducing the federal budget deficit. The airlines want that money to pay for airport security screening.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has joined a handful of senators in asking airlines to waive fees on checked bags. They say that would lead to fewer carry-on bags for TSA to screen.

Neither side is giving ground, and passengers are stuck in the middle.

Airlines say lines are long because TSA is understaffed while travel is expected to hit a record high this summer. Congress has advanced TSA money to hire 768 more screeners and pay overtime this summer, but airlines say that won't be good enough.

What has me amazed is that out of nowhere these long lines popped up.  Then we see an Egypt Air plane taken down presumably by a terror attack and yet no one is calling the administration on the obvious.

They did a "quiet" terror alert increase, didn't inform the public, stretched lines because the threat was credible...and didn't tell the public a thing.

What's worse is that Congress, Homeland Security and the Airlines are all playing the game when the reality for the public is stark.  If my guess is right then you can no longer rely on officials to warn you of potential danger.  The implications of that are mind blowing.  This can range from attendance at fairs, concerts, malls, shopping centers etc....

For better or worse we've entered a time where because of politics, visuals, economic considerations and other reasons I can't begin to fathom that its up to each person, now more than ever, to be responsible for their own safety.

That means being informed.  It means MAYBE putting on a tinfoil hat and wondering when something inexplicable (like long lines before the summer travel season kicks in) happens what could really be going on.

These are interesting times.  Only the smart, strong and informed will survive.  The foolish, those that worship at the trough of normalcy bias and those that trust in authority will be roadkill.

Air National Guard interested in the MV-22 for Search and Rescue? Seriously!

via Breaking Defense.

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) isn’t just wooing foreign customers for the V-22 Osprey. Deputy Program Manager Scott Hite revealed here Thursday that NAVAIR has also been talking to Air National Guard units about the tiltrotor transport as a search and rescue aircraft. “There has been some dialogue with the Air Force Air Guard and certain states have mentioned interest,” Hite said in a briefing to the American Helicopter Society International’s annual conference here, Forum 72. “Texas and Pennsylvania have both shown some interest. Alaska has shown some interest.

Wow.  Is this real?  I have yet to hear anyone quantify the statement that the MV-22 is changing the way that the Marine Corps conducts operations, but pointing to Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief isn't one of them.  Neither is Search and Rescue.

Check out the vid above.  Then think about blowing snow or use in the Texas plains with blowing dust and tumble weeds.  If you narrow it down to medical evacuation then you can make the sale....but that's not what they're talking about.

Royal Thai Army's switch to Mi-17v5 over Chinook explained.

via ASEANMilDef.

The Royal Thai Armed Forces plan to replace outdated Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters produced in the United States with Russia's Mi-17V5 helicopters, Thai Army's Commander-in-Chief Teerachai Nakwanich said Wednesday.

Earlier in May, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said that Bangkok could purchase Russia's helicopters for its needs.

"We need helicopters to replace outdated US CH-47 Chinook that are used as main military transport helicopters. We do not have money to buy new Chinooks, our budget is very limited and Russia's helicopters meet our requirements both in their characteristics and prices," Nakwanich said in an interview with Fifth National TV channel of Thailand, commenting on the recent statements of the prime minister.

This is a huge shot across the bow of Western defense manufacturers.  Thailand made a pure value play in determining the buy of their replacement helicopter and accepted less overall capability in return for lower operating costs/easier maintenance.

News of this buy came out earlier this week and I was puzzled.  The Mi-17 has always been sold as a BlackHawk competitor.  If it can be pitched as a viable replacement for the CH-47 then the map has changed.

This could be huge.  

11th MEU’s Battalion Landing Team 1/4 Conducts Vertical Assault Training......Photos by Lance Cpl. Brandon Maldonado

Director of the F-35 Integration Office let slip that enemy defense can see stealth aircraft!

National Interest has what (sorry guys calling it like I see it) a puff piece on F-35 upgrades.  The Director of the F-35 Integration Office waxes on about how the airplane is being upgraded and is planned to be upgraded to meet advanced enemy air defenses. The problem is that he let slip an uncomfortable truth.  Check this out.

“They have got these digital SAMS (surface-to-air-missile-systems) out there that can change frequencies and they are very agile in how they operate. being able to replicate that is not easy,” Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, Director of the F-35 Integration Office, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
Surface threats from air defenses is a tough problem because emerging threats right now can see aircraft hundreds of miles away, service officials explained.
Furthermore, emerging and future Integrated Air Defense Systems use faster computer processors, are better networked to one-another and detect on a wider range of frequencies. These attributes, coupled with an ability to detect aircraft at further distances, make air defenses increasingly able to at times detect even stealth aircraft, in some instances, with surveillance radar.

Interesting.

We know that the planes raw performance is nothing special.  It equals legacy airplanes (maybe) in speed, maneuverability and flying height.  We know that its avionics is at BEST a mixed bag.  EOTS is a couple of generations behind the latest SNIPER or LANTRIN pods.  Its AESA MIGHT equal what is already flying on 4th gen fighters so tactics designed for it can be replicated by current aircraft with AESA setups.

Its vaunted information sharing is duplicated across the world by every airplane in frontline service.  Networked warfare has moved forward while the F-35 has been in development Purgatory.

What the F-35 supposedly had (that was its saving grace) was stealth.  Now we get a tidbit of truth from people inside the program.

Air Defense radars are getting good enough to see stealth...and we can expect that improvement to continue.

What happens when dogged determination turns into a religion and blind faith replaces sound defense policy?  I don't know but we're about to see. 

RAF C-130 Number 47 Squadron Centenary Tail Art

1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment gunnery training @ Exercise Noble Partner (Vaziani Training Area, Georgia)

Now we know why the long lines in US airports...there was a terrorist threat...

via New York Times

Long security lines have at times prompted hours of delays at the nation’s airports, generated heated responses from frustrated travelers and led to calls for Congress and the Obama administration to fix the problem. Here are the answers to five questions to help passengers understand why waits are longer at airport security checkpoints.

via CNN

EgyptAir Flight 804 vanished off radar on its way from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard, the airline said Thursday.
The plane was flying at 37,000 feet when it lost contact with radar above the Mediterranean Sea, the airline tweeted.
Somber family members gathered at the Cairo International Airport, seeking word on their loved ones. Buses ferried them to a special hall, where translators and psychiatric support awaited.
The Egyptian navy is conducting search and rescue operations with help from Greece.

The Obama Administration did a quiet terror alert, didn't tell anyone but tried to ramp up security on the sly.  I'm assuming they told our European allies but the terrorists still got thru.

What should stun is that they failed to alert the populace to the issue.  While not surprising it should make everyone realize that at the end of the day, its is up to each individual to ensure his/her safety....even if it means that you have to read tea leaves like unexplained long lines that pop up out of nowhere.

U.S. Marines Range 400 – Most Realistic Live-Fire Range

Pegasus, Vanguard of the New Navy 1975 US Navy...does this sound like the LCS today?

I ran across this vid and the similarities to the LCS are haunting!  Watch it all and as CMDR Salamander would say...ponder.

Fixed Wing Light Strike is what's missing from the USMC's future air wing.

Thanks to Russell 2878 for the link!

via WarZone

The news that the Pentagon was sending a pair of refurbished and highly-upgraded Vietnam-era OV-10 Broncos to Iraq to take on ISIS raised a lot of eyebrows. It was a new twist in a decade and a half of counter-insurgency warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the United States has never used a light air support and surveillance aircraft. For many, the OV-10’s appearance in Iraq had been very long overdue.
Now, The War Zone reveals details of what the pair of OV-10G+ Broncos were doing in Iraq, and how they went about it with impeccable results.

I had read accounts of the OV-10's in action but this confirms something I've been thinking for a while now.

The USMC needs to truncate its purchase of F-35's and turn to on getting back into the business of Light Fixed Wing Attack.  During the height of the Marine Corps power (arguably...by capability/versatility), it operated the F-18, AV-8B, A-6E, A-4F, OV-10, AH-1, UH-1, CH-46 and CH-53.

What's missing today?  The light strike portion of that portfolio.  Even if you accept budget reality that a "neck down" approach to aviation HAD to be done, it makes no sense to save pennies if you lose capability.

I contend that if you're saying that the MV-22 is revolutionizing the way that we conduct operations from the sea (and I find that debatable) then it only makes sense that a fixed wing airplane that is able to keep pace and still operate from LHDs makes nothing but sense.

The OV-10 was not only a potent striker/close air support platform but it also filled the helo escort role!  The last model that the USMC operated, the OV-10D had as part of its portfolio an anti-air mission!

Of course we could always dust off the plans of my personal favorite in the competition that the OV-10 won, the Convair Model 48 Charger!

Either way we go - OV-10, Convair Charger or Super Tucanos - one thing is obvious.  We have a hole in our future air wing.  We will have the super expensive A-6 equivalent F-35 that will be too expensive or impractical for many missions, the relatively long legged MV-22 ferrying Marines and the AH-1Z that is too slow to keep up.

A light strike fixed wing helo escort is what's missing.  Canceling a few dozen F-35s to pay for this plane would be well worth it (and while you're doing it you could also put down a serious down payment on the ACV).

Yes. The F-35's electronics are hopelessly outdated.

Close Air Support.  The reason for being for Marine Air.  Probably the biggest failing of the F-35!  I hate to keep beating on this drum but apparently people forget.  As you probably know Gripen just rolled out the E version of the airplane.  I made the comment to a couple of readers that the Gripen is more advanced than the F-35 electronically and that unless the planes stealth works as advertised it would be swept from the sky.

They didn't believe me.

Fair enough.  But how about a little proof?  Check this out from The Daily Beast (Dec 2014)...

The problem stems from the fact that the technology found on one of the stealth fighter’s primary air-to-ground sensors—its nose-mounted Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS)—is more than a decade old and hopelessly obsolete. The EOTS, which is similar in concept to a large high-resolution infrared and television camera, is used to visually identify and monitor ground targets. The system can also mark targets for laser-guided bombs.

“EOTS is a big step backwards. The technology is 10-plus years old, hasn’t been able to take advantage of all the pod upgrades in the meantime, and there were some performance tradeoffs to accommodate space and stealth,” said another Air Force official familiar with the F-35 program. “I think it’s one area where the guys are going to be disappointed in the avionics.”

But wait, how about a bit more...

When the Pentagon had initially drawn up the Joint Strike Fighter program’s specifications during the later half of the 1990s, the EOTS would have been bleeding-edge technology. However, in the 14 years that have passed since the Pentagon awarded Lockheed the contract to develop the F-35, technology has evolved—and the services have gained experience from over a decade of war.

“It was an awesome system when the F-35 specs were drawn-up in the late ’90s—LANTIRN [targeting pod] was the most advanced pod at that time,” said the first Air Force official affiliated with the F-35 program. “But we’re now a couple of generations beyond that spec with the targeting pods. EOTS is about a [1990s-era Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-28(V)] LITENING II-equivalent targeting pod.”

That means that the EOTS camera does not have the range or high-resolution capability that would be found on the current targeting pods carried by American fighters flying over Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. It also means that future F-35 pilots won’t be able to see their quarry in the same kind of detail that they can on current U.S. jets.

This is why I go high and to the right when the Deputy Commandant for Aviation talks about the F-35 delivering game changing close air support!  Additionally you have to ask the logical question.

If the F-35's EOTS is outdated then what about its AESA, DAS etc...?  The world hasn't stood still since the plane started development in 2001.  Quite honestly we should already be on F-35E/F and G by now...if the program had stuck to plan!

The dogged determination to stay the course with the F-35 has caused the US to basically skip two generations of airplanes because it didn't know when to say when with the F-35.  Worse, we allowed plausible and affordable upgrades to legacy airplanes to whither on the vine instead of going forward because leadership wanted to protect the program (Advanced Super Hornet, Silent Eagle and F-16 Block 80 should be standard models while we worked on the F-35 replacement that would have been ready by 2025 IF we had bailed in 2010).

So yeah.  The F-35's electronics are obsolete.