Fucking Seriously FBI SWAT Alaska??? Jesus dudes!

Read the story over at Firearms Blog.  My reaction?  FUCK!  Those guys could have gotten lit up!  They're lucky they didn't take serious casualties.

Royal Air Force 18(B) Sqn Chinook leads two Apache helicopters from 4 Regt AAC into the Mojave Desert, USA (pics)

USMC to acquire Polaris Defense MRZR

via DoDBuzz.

The U.S. Marine Corps is about to outfit its infantry regiments with a version of the Polaris Defense MRZR four-seater, all-terrain vehicle.
Under the Utility Task Vehicle program, the Marines are planning to purchase 144 Polaris MRZR-Ds, a new version of the vehicle designed to take diesel and JP8 fuel, Joaquin Salas, business development fort Polaris Defense, told Military.com Tuesday at Modern Day Marine 2016.
No contract has been awarded yet, but the Corps is planning on fielding 18 MRZR-Ds per infantry regiment, according to UTV program information displayed at the USMC’s Program Manager Light Tactical Vehicles booth at the show.
The vehicles are scheduled to go into production in October, Salas said. In addition to the four crew seats, the MRZR-D features a small cargo bed and is capable of carrying 1,500 pounds of payload, Salas said.
The MRZR-D vehicles are designed to be carried inside a V-22 Osprey “to provide logistic support for infantry forces,” Salas said. “It enables them to deploy long distance in the V-22, and then when they get to the ground they are not stuck with only their feet to move logistics.”
The U.S. Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division dropped 10 MRZRs when it jumped into Poland in June as part of an exercise to test of their ability to bolster NATO’s eastern flank against possible Russian aggression.
The MRZR ATV is a very Spartan design. There’s no armor protection. It’s designed to carry extra ammunition, food, water and casualties if necessary.
“We are not comparing this to a JLTV or an up-armored Humvee or anything like that,” Salas said. “It’s designed to stay off road; it’s designed to enable you to be unpredictable.
“It’s a mule. It’s designed to be there at the most tactical level.”

You do get the force of connection on this don't you?  18 per Regiment means that you're able to move about a Company worth of Marines.  They're just doubling down once again on the Company Landing Team.

I marvel at the stubbornness and the desire by HQMC to push forward despite all evidence that a CLT will be ABNORMALLY vulnerable against the new jack terrorist formations we're seeing.

What is the thinking?  Is the Marine Corps and SOCOM so convinced that this generational war against terrorists will last for another 50 years that they're willing to destroy the Marine Air Ground Task Force to chase it?

Open Comment Post. Sept 28, 2016

Ultra Heavy Landing Craft.  Remember when Amos and HQMC was selling us the bullshit that we would have to launch from over 200 miles out?  Remember Greenert not getting the memo (and maintaining his integrity) by saying that's wrong and that the Navy would rollback enemy defenses so that we could launch from traditional distances?

Fast forward to today.

The ACV will have 14 vehicles delivered to the Marine Corps by two manufacturers and THEN they will be tested for ANOTHER year and a half before they make a decision?

Leadership is full of shit.  The ACV won't survive the study being conducted now and all hope that Neller will pull the Marine Corps out of its tailspin has been lost.

Mark my words.  The next big fight will see momma's of America crying buckets.

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (concept pics)

 

Korean War Naval Aviation was kinda cool....in a very deadly way....

via USS Edsall Tumblr Page

VA-195 Dambusters was assigned to Carrier Air Group 19 (CVG-19) for a deployment to the Korean War from 21 March to 03 November 1952. The “special weapon” was a 454 kg (1000 lb) bomb with a kitchen sink attached. The idea came up when the squadron’s executive officer LCDR M.K. Dennis remarked during a meeting with the press: “We dropped everything on them (the North Koreans) but a kitchen sink.” Royal J. Deland, ADC, and J. Burnett, ADC, then produced a bomb with a kitchen sink attached. The commanding Admiral was not pleased by this and would not allow to drop the bomb for a week. However, press coverage in the United States obviously led to the dropping of this bomb in August 1952 on Pyongyang by Lt.(jg) Carl B. Austin.

You think this would fly in 2016?  Somehow I doubt it.  The crazy thing? Flag Officers haven't changed (with a few exceptions) and the pressure to drop the kitchen sink came from the public!

Russian And Chinese Marines conduct amphibious assault exercise.

Thanks to Anderson for the link!



The Pentagon has been so busy jumping thru hoops for Combatant Commanders that are pushing idiot partnership missions that no one is seeing the danger in our so called pivot to the Pacific.

China is effectively nullifying the "coalition" that we're building.  If they're very selective in their target choice then many of our allies will sit out the fight.

Even worse?  They're gaining economic power over our allies that could in time trump any thoughts of Chinese hegemony.

Our best and brightest are playing checkers while the Chinese...along with the Russians...are playing chess.

Open Comment Post. Sept 27, 2016.

What's on your mind.

Debate Discussion.

Wow.....

1.  So much for the laid back Trump.  He's going at her with razor blades, Uzi's and a few flame throwers.

2.  If this keeps up Hillary will have a heart attack on stage.

3.  She sorta seems a little flustered.  The moderator is trying to help her but he's already lost control.

Quote of the day and a warning to Marine Corps leadership.

CoffeeJoeJava made the following comment.

I have a bad feeling that the Marine Corps, when the first big fight happens, will cease to exist. Like LtGen Krulak stated in his book( I paraphrase)
The Untied States does not need a Marine Corps, we have an Army that can do everything we can do, a Navy that has fighter jets, and an Air Force that can dominate the air. The Marine Corps ONLY exists because the United States WANTS a Marine Corps. When we squander the ideals that make the Marine Corps great, we lose the American public, and we lose our beloved Corps.
Literally, when the Corps is called back into action and they cannot do what is asked, we will have lost every reason we have to exist. Making us back into the old Defense Battalions of WWII era is a fast way to speed that along.
I would hope that the powers that be are considering this when they make decisions, but from everything you read, they are not.
The Commandant needs a picture of Krulak and Puller on his wall and needs to justify decisions he makes against those men.

That statement by CJJ is so spot on.

In the circles I run in the Marine Corps has already lost its biggest boosters.  You won't hear it talked about but no one is recommending military service to young men of worth anymore.  If you think a scumbag might, maybe get straightened out then yeah, but someone you believe has a future?  Hell no.

But I digress.  The Marine Corps is making itself irrelevant.  Its making itself useless when it comes to defending the nation.  That comment was a warning to leadership, but I have no confidence that they're listening...and no one serving has the guts to say that the head shed is fucked beyond recognition.

33ft Anaconda found in Brazil (confirmed). Nope, Nope, FUCK Nope!

Thanks to William for the link!

via Sun

THIS is the moment a gigantic 33-FEET-long anaconda was found by terrified builders on a construction site in Brazil.
The huge reptile, which weighs in at at a whopping 63 stone, was discovered by the workers after they carried out a controlled explosion in the Cave of Altamira in the northern state of Para.

Do you get the force of connection here?  They found a 33ft long anaconda.  You can bet body parts that you cherish that bigger ones exist deeper into the jungle.

Now do you understand why I believe these are aliens from another world sent to terrorize?  Now do you understand why we need Space Marines to eradicate this threat? Just kidding but FUCK!  33 fucking feet long!

I've heard the stories from the old skool Marines about having to kill lions that were stalking them in the jungles of Vietnam, of snakes that if they bit you you would take two steps before you died and all kinds of other craziness that I dismissed as coming from crazy old men.

Now?  Now I know I was right when I said the desert is easy, the jungle is hard. 

We're buying helicopters that cost 100 mil each?

via UPI

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has been awarded a $232 million U.S. Navy contract modification for procurement of CH-53K King Stallion helicopters.
The deal covers procurement of two system demonstration test article aircraft.
Work will be performed at sites in the United States and is expected to be completed by February 2020.

Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity for the deal with the Lockheed Martin subsidiary.
The King Stallion is in prototype production phase and is the Marine Corps' heavy lift replacement helicopter for the CH-53E.
It will transport Marines, heavy equipment and supplies during ship-to-shore movement in support of amphibious assault and subsequent operations ashore.
The King Stallion will be the Pentagon's most powerful helicopter and is designed to lift nearly 14 tons at a mission radius of 110 nautical miles.
The service is seeking to eventually buy 200 of the aircraft.

I could easily be wrong but that means each of these beasts is hitting at over 100 mil!  That's crazy!  We're exercising ultimate financial restraints when it comes to buying an ACV....even pitting contractors against each other to get the lowest price...but then turn around and tell LM to "take our money" when it comes to the CH-53K?

The crazy thing?  IF they're able to bend the cost curve on the F-35 (which I doubt more and more each day) then our heavy lift helicopter will cost more than that abomination.

I've said that it would be stupid for the USMC to simply marinize a CH-47 (especially one with those extra large fuel tanks) to achieve cost savings by falling onto the Army's supply chain.  It might be time to reassess.