This Khan controversy annoys.

This Khizer Khan controversy annoys the hell outta me and shows that the US military has become a pawn in the political process.

Ignore the competing Generals...one a Marine no less....Generals are political and if they've decided to show there real colors then so be it.

This stuff with Khan though annoys because a man did the hard thing for the country and instead of everyone being able to celebrate his life, honor his sacrifice and try and comfort his parents we're instead locked into a political fight.

That pisses me off.

Make no mistake about it.  Khan insulted Trump 12 different ways on the stage and Republicans, Democrats and the elite in general are all piling on.

Everyone sees it but those people think this attack is working.

They're wrong.

What it will do is to further drag the US military into the same gutter the rest of the govt is in and any support will soon wane.  Want to see something nasty?  Watch what happens when military service become political instead of neutral.

Consider this another example of our great democracy slipping away.  Worse?  The establishment is so desperate to hold onto power that they're willing to smear any institution to do so.  My question is this though.  Trump and Sanders supporters all represent people in America that ARE NOT happy with the status quo.  Even if the establishment/neo-cons get Hillary elected what happens next?  What happens on the day after she's elected?  What is the plan to fix things?  If there is no relief for the millions of Americans that say the country is headed in the wrong direction then what's next?  They tried elections and the DNC rigged the Democrat process and the Republicans sabotaged there nominee.

So what do the people do since the normal machinery of democracy no longer work?

PS.  SACRIFICE IS NOT TRANSFERABLE!  His son made the sacrifice.  His son made the choice to run to danger to protect his troops.  The father did not.  He can be lauded for producing such a fine man but he cannot be praised for his "sacrifice".  He can be sympathized with because of his loss BUT HE DID NOT SACRIFICE!  We need to get our language right on these issues!

Israel's Eitan 8x8 Wheeled APC Video.

Thanks to MicMac80 for the link!



Like I told Dima in the comments on another blog post, this heavily armored, high speed 8x8 is a kick in the teeth to the USMC.

Consider that once again we see a small country design an indigenous 8x8 from the ground up and will have it in service before the USMC can buy one off the shelf!

Something is MAJOR LEAGUE broken at HQMC.

Israel's new "Eitan" 8x8 Armored Personnel Carrier!!!

Thanks to Galvars for the link!

Nice!  Can't wait to get more details!

What can we tell from the pics?  Notice the RWS?  That puppies armored up.  They've taken notes from the action in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Speaking of armor...take a look at the hull and the spaced armor around the sides.  I can't speak of the suspension system but just a glance under the front wheel reminds me of the setup on the MTVR.  We know it has a MONSTER power pack so it'll scoot.

The Israelis are probably introducing the most heavily armored wheeled APC in service anywhere and because they paid attention to the suspension/power pack it will retain the necessary mobility to get out of trouble.

I REALLY WANT TO SEE THE INTERIOR!

Russian MI-8 Helicopter shot down in Syria.

via Sputnik

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down in Syria's Idlib province on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Russian Defense Ministry is investigating the fate of three crew members and two reconciliation center officers who were aboard the downed aircraft.
"On August 1, a Russian military transport Mi-8 helicopter was shot down from the ground en route to the Hmeimim airbase after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo. A crew of three and two officers of the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation were on board."
The defense ministry underscored that the fate of the Russian servicemen is being investigated through all available channels.

Is it wrong for me to hope that the crew is dead and not captured?  I don't need to start the week with a YouTube vid of captured Russians being horribly treated.

Are they our enemy?  Personally I don't think so.  Allies?  I think they could be.  But even more than that, they're human beings that deserve to be treated properly.  Rough up prisoners?  Yeah I can see that.  Behead them or drag their bodies thru the streets?  That's many steps too far.

General Dunford arrives at Incirlik AFB Turkey. Why?

via Sputnik.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford arrived at the Turkish southern Incirlik airbase on Monday, local private broadcaster NTV reported.
ANKARA (Sputnik) — According to the Turkish broadcaster, Dunford is expected to meet US troops and hold talks with Turkish high-profile military officials in Ankara.
It comes a day after media reported that the Turkish army stepped up security at Incirlik military base amid unconfirmed reports on a new coup attempt.
Incirlik military base is used by the United States and shelters combat planes of the US-led coalition launching airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against Daesh outlawed in many countries, including Russia.
After a faction in Turkish armed forcesattempted a coup on July 15 which was thwarted later in the day, Gen. Bekir Ercan Van, former commander of Incirlik airbase, was arrested due to alleged involvement in the plot.
On July 25, Dunford dubbed Turkish media reports on US involvement in the Turkish attempted coup "absurd."

This is a crazy move in my opinion.  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is going to insert himself in the middle of this situation in the hopes that he can defuse it?

What could he be thinking?

The Turkish Commander of that base was arrested for being a participant in the coup attempt, the Turks have accused a US General of being involved, they're requesting we extradite an immigrant to the US back to Turkey for participation/inciting the coup and he thinks that talks to senior Turkish military counterparts might help?

I don't understand the plan.

Are the Turks about to take over Incilrik?

via RT

Some 7,000 armed police in heavy vehicles surrounded the Incirlik air base used by NATO forces in Adana in what a Turkish minister called a “security check.” With no official explanation, speculations have arisen about a new coup attempt or VIP visit.
Hurriyet reported earlier that Adana police had been tipped off about a new coup attempt, and forces were immediately alerted. The entrance to the base was closed off.
Security forces armed with rifles and armored TOMA vehicles used by Turkish riot police could be seen at the site in photos taken by witnesses.

This story has been brewing for a couple of days and I thought it was just the usual posturing of a madman.

Then they moved in protesters and I think its getting serious.

How do you over run a NATO base?  You send in a mob basically daring US servicemen to fire.  Its a catch 22.  If they defend themselves then diplomatic relations are dead right there and if they don't then the personnel are dead right there.

This might get dangerous and goofy.  I just hope they got the nukes out.

Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) @ RimPac.

Note:  SecNav can (yeah I'm repeating but I despise that bastard) shove his rebranding, ship naming, political correctness up his ass.  This ship will always be known to me as a Mobile Landing Platform, not the Expeditionary yada yada that he came up with.

Question:  Does the MLP carry its own LCACs or are they borrowed from an LPD that's in the area?

USMC F-18 Hornet broke apart in flight? The USMC is creating its own tragedy...

Thanks to Moebius for the link!

via Washington Post.

According to a Marine who witnessed the crash, the F/A-18 was in a dive preparing to drop ordnance on a simulated target when the aircraft broke apart in midair and erupted into a fireball. The base’s civilian air rescue immediately responded to the crash site — a strip of canyon roughly 10 miles south of I-40 called Gay’s Pass, said the Marine, who requested anonymity because of his active duty status.

I need to express my sympathy to the Marines family and my hope that he is able to rest in piece.  Next check out this passage from Breaking Defense.

“We’ve been on that track now for two years to get all of our pilots in every type model series the hours they need,” Davis said. “Last year the only guys that got their hours, and the only T-1 unit I have right now, is the F-35s.” He added: “They’re ready for everything.”
Davis said the Corps was on its way to meeting its readiness goals because, “ We’ve had great allies in Congress. They’ve actually helped us out.”

Do you get the implication there?

The only full up fighter attack squadron that we have is with a unit that isn't slated to be sent to war anytime soon!  We have guys that will be sent to combat but the Deputy Commandant for Aviation is bragging that a showpiece unit is the only one that is T-1!

If that isn't enough we saw it coming from a March article of this year  via Marine Corps Times.

Mission-capable rates for all but one of the Marine Corps' 12 fixed-wing, rotary and tiltrotor airframes have fallen since the end of fiscal 2009, according to data obtained by Marine Corps Times via Freedom of Information Act request. While officials stress that the number of flyable aircraft fluctuates daily, the downward trends have alarmed Marine leaders and members of Congress.
Of the Marine Corps' 276 F/A-18 Hornets, only 87 are currently flyable, Marine Corps officials said on April 20. That is less than one-third of all the service's F/A-18A-D variants that can be used to strike the Islamic State group, provide close-air support or fly reconnaissance missions.

But we had a plan to properly mitigate the risk of delays with the F-35...via Telegraph 2011.

The US Navy and Marine Corps is in the final stages of negotiations to purchase all 74 of the planes, which have been permanently grounded since last year’s Strategic Defence Review.

The sale is likely to raise further questions over the wisdom of axing the Harrier as US defence chiefs suggested they were getting a bargain by buying the recently upgraded aircraft.

Rear Admiral Mark Heinrich, chief of the US navy's supply corps, said buying the Harriers made sense because many of the jets had recently undergone a refit, and the US already had pilots who could fly them.

"We're taking advantage of all the money the Brits have spent on them," he told the US newspaper Navy Times.

"It's like we're buying a car with maybe 15,000 miles on it. These are very good platforms. And we've already got trained pilots."

Then this from Defense Tech 2012.

Yup, you read that correctly. With the help of spare parts scavenged from Britain’s old GR9 Harriers that the Marine Corps just bought from the UK, the Marines could keep their AV-8B Harrier jump jets flying until 2030. Yes, the Harriers could serve alongside, F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, and whatever jet is selected as the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike jet. Remember, the F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing version of the JSF was originally supposed to start replacing the Marines’ Harriers and F/A-18 Hornets by oh about now. You all know what’s happened to that plan. The AV-8B entered service with the Marines in the mid-1980s.
Naval Air Systems Command has done a structural analysis of the Harriers’ airframes and concluded that the jets will be good, with plenty of maintenance, to fly through 2030, said Rear Adm. Donald Gaddis, the Navy’s program executive officer for tactical aviation during the Navy League’s annual Sea, Air, Space conference in National Harbor, Md.

What is my point with all these links?

Its really quite simple.

HQMC had a solid plan to mitigate risk to the fleet and preserve the airwing.  The answer was a buy of British Harriers and to use them to hold the line till the F-35 came online.  The elderly Hornets which we don't have parts to (remember officers going to a museum to scavenge parts?) would be retired post haste and the Harriers which we DID have parts to would soldier on.

That all changed and the Harrier would be retired early and the Hornet would soldier on.

Why?

My suspicion?

Leadership wanted to ensure the F-35 purchase.  The old idea of saying that the plane is perfect and then "fixing it after we get it" made a come back.

The problem?

Now Marines are dying.  Marines are being overworked.  Planes are breaking up mid air.

Now I ask.  What does it take to get a Marine Corps Deputy Commandant fired?  One dead Marine in a F-18 Hornet that breaks apart in midair?  12 in the back of a CH-53E off the coast of Hawaii?  How about 6 Marines in a UH-1Y in Nepal?

Even if you think Davis is blameless then you can't deny the facts.  The USMC is creating its own tragedy.  This can be fixed but its gonna take some balls and its gonna take putting Marines ahead of an airplane.

Dump the bumper stickers..

Wow.

I've always heard that criminals go "shopping" based on bumper stickers but never considered that they could profile you so completely based on the info on the back of your car.

Dump the bumper stickers!

Brazilian Marines to get upgraded light tanks...

via Janes.

The Brazilian Navy is considering upgrades for its SK-105A2S Kürassier light tanks, and to purchase 4x4 and 6x6 armoured vehicles for its Marine Corps (CFN), a navy spokesperson told IHS Jane's .
Projects to modernise the tanks and to obtain wheeled armoured vehicles are currently undergoing a study phase and a concept and budget feasibility analysis, the spokesperson said.
Those projects integrate the service's multi-phase Strategic Project for Consolidation of the Marines Amphibious Brigade Program (PROBANF), which is to add to marines' firepower, expeditionary, mobility, and protection capabilities.

Wow.  Impressive.  Compact firepower that fills the role of mobile gun system.  While I'd personally think that basing it on the VBTR Guarani would make more sense, this is a reasonable solution.

It also points to something that the US Army is facing.  Building a Light Tank isn't hard.  Building an AIRBORNE LIGHT TANK isn't hard as long as you accept the limitations.  If its gonna be C-130 (optimum) or C-17 (sub optimal) transportable then any thoughts of it shaking off tank fire is a dream.  Same can probably be said of large caliber cannon fire.

Mobility, situational awareness and firepower trumps armor protection in the age we're living in.  The Army could sole source contract this out to General Dynamics or BAE and get the design work done in a year, get it in production in two and probably fill out the 82nd by the third.  Its just a matter of will and discipline...the discipline not to stick every bell and whistle on the thing that is!

Retired General Political Fight.

Thanks to Pete for the link!

via FoxNews.

“General Allen as a retired officer was in charge of our current strategy for well over a year … and during that period of time the rise of radical Islamism and ISIS, you know, it exponentially grew,” he said. “The strategy that John Allen was in charge of … it’s a failed strategy.”

Here. 

You're seeing something ominous here.  Military leadership has always played the politics thing but now?  During this time of max division in the country they're doing it so out in the open?

From my view of things this all began with the Bush Administration and is only getting worse.  Why do I say the Bush Admin?  Remember General Pace?  He was the first hand picked "yes man" that ignored military advice given the JCS and shilled for an administration dabbling in military matters.

He was the face of a policy that the rest of the JCS didn't agree with.  He put a military stamp on things.

Years later we saw the same with Allen and the ISIS strategy.

But back to the politics.  This is terrible news for the military.  Want to see a volunteer force evaporate before your eyes?  Do what's being done.  Want to see the public no longer care about the services?  Divide them between Republicans and Democrats!  The General Officers Club should have reigned these guys in.  Too late now though.  This will come back to haunt the nation....I guarantee it.

Israeli opinion on the F-35? We should not take them. We should walk away.

Many thanks to Gil for the link!

via Jerusalem Post.

Given the obvious problems with the aid program currently being proposed by the Obama administration, there’s little wonder that until now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated that if necessary, Israel is ready to wait for the next administration. Some argue that Netanyahu’s apparent newfound interest in concluding negotiations on Obama’s terms owes to his fear that this is the best offer Israel is likely to get. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for various reasons, it is argued, will be less likely to offer significant increases in US military assistance.
Assuming this is accurate, the question becomes whether Israel has an interest in the assistance at all.
And so we come to the F-35.
For Israel, to a significant degree, the aid package on offer is about the F-35, the US’s fifth generation fighter, otherwise known as the Joint Strike Fighter.
Last month Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and IAF Chief of Staff Brig.-Gen Tal Kelman flew to Texas to ceremonially “take possession” of Israel’s first two F-35s. Both aircraft are set to be delivered to Israel in December.
To date, the IAF has purchased 33 F-35s – all with US aid money. The IAF wants to purchase a total of 75 F-35s, which are supposed to replace the F-16s and the F-15s that the IAF currently fields.
As Liberman made clear during his visit, whether Israel purchases them or not is entirely dependent on the aid deal.
We should not take them. We should walk away.

Here. 

Wow.  This whole aid package thing with Israel is becoming "game of thrones-ish".

From watching the Israeli debate it seems like a large portion of that country is willing to walk away from the table.  Have things gotten that bad between our two countries?  Ordinarily I'd gloat and chest thump at the idea of the F-35 losing a customer BUT we're talking about the survival of the only democracy in the Middle East.

Even worse?  I'm conflicted on the issue.  To demand that US weapons aid is used to purchase US weapons doesn't seem outrageous.

We live in interesting times.  I'm a huge supporter of Israel but don't know who's right and wrong on this one.  This is another one of those issues to keep an eye on.