British Army Combined Arms Manouvre Demonstration 2016 (Armor)

Note:  I don't understand what the Brits are thinking.  They have high speed, highly mobile (over broken ground) Chieftans and soon AJAX vehicles and they're gonna make lumbering, slow and roadbound MRAPS a part of that maneuver force?  I don't think this will work and fully expect them to place the majority of their MRAPS in storage for peacekeeping work just as the Marine Corps will do soon.

Pentagon buries evidence of 125 billion dollars in bureaucratic waste.

Thanks to John for the link!

via Washington Post.

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.
Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.
The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology.
The study was produced last year by the Defense Business Board, a federal advisory panel of corporate executives, and consultants from McKinsey and Company. Based on reams of personnel and cost data, their report revealed for the first time that the Pentagon was spending almost a quarter of its $580 billion budget on overhead and core business operations such as accounting, human resources, logistics and property management.

Story here. 

Everyone (myself included) has talked about rebuilding America's defense.  I've bitched about cuts in the combat power of the Army and Marine Corps...yet we see a Pentagon study that identified 125 billion dollars in waste?

And the answer is to give this bureaucracy more money?

Maybe the sequester needs to stay in place.  If they're going to hide this report from January two years ago then we're look at more than waste.  We're looking at fraud.

The Pentagon needs an enema.

BAE USA Chief wants the US to share its technological advantage with allies.

via Defense News.

Lastly, we must enable collective security through our strategic alliances. One of the consistent themes in our recent presidential election was encouraging allies and partners to do more. In order to equip them to do more, we must prioritize programs designed to allow the United States to share its technological advantages with key allies and partners around the world. 

A couple of things.  BAE when it entered the US marketplace was forced to form a standalone company that was entirely separate from its UK parent so that US tech could not be used by the firm when selling gear to other countries.

Next, I've been a big booster of BAE, Boeing and several other companies...but this article gives me pause.

I've watched the videos where the statement is that BAE is concerned with safeguarding the American people, especially the troops that use their gear. This article is a wakeup call.  BAE leadership is apparently no different than Lockheed.  This is a wish list to the Trump administration in order to fill their coffers and increase profit margin.

I've been so naive.

"Muflone ​​2016" Italian Army Special Ops Olympics..

via Italian Army Website (translated by Google).

In the period between November 27 and December 2 there was the final stage of "Muflone ​​2016", conducted by the exercise COMFOSE and its departments, it aims to consolidate its capacity to interoperability in the planning and conduct of special operations .
The activity involved the 9th Regiment "Col Moschin" , the 4th Parachute Regiment Alpine , the 185th Regiment acquisition targets , the 28th Regiment of Pavia and the 3rd Regiment Helicopters for Special Operations "Aldebaran" , with rates of 41 Regiment SORAO , of ' 11th Signal Regiment "Lioness" and the 183rd Parachute Regiment "Folgore" in addition to a rate of COFS staff - in the role HICON - has affected a wide area between Marche, Lazio and Tuscany, It saw the use of more than 500 men.
The departments have created a Special Operations Task Group Land who also worked with the support of the helicopters of the 3rd REOs that has spelled a Special Operation Air Task Group.
The exercise, conducted in opposing parties and characterized by a strong realism, confirmed the capacity of individual departments to conduct online transactions with its missions.

Let the fun begin!!! FBI Warns of 'Imminent Threat' Against Los Angeles Metro Rail Station

This information was relayed to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force via International Partners?

Just awesome.  2017 is gonna be just as crazy as 2016.  Let the fun begin!  The growth industry of the future?  Private Security!  I'm not talking about for the average mall security guard but more like the Israeli example of having damn near military standards for corporate security and from an American perspective a blending of the two to a point where differences are unrecognizable.

I'm generally in Trump's camp but this issue gives me pause.  He touted himself as being the law and order candidate.  If a terrorist attack or two is successful in his first year then we could easily see an overreaction that will make the Bush years look like grade school stuff.

Steel Knight 2017: Amphibious Assault...Video by Lance Cpl. Skyler Treverrow

Ten most formidable dogfight missiles via HushKit Blog.

Mitsubishi AAM-5B ‘Mitsubishi Pistachio-crusher’
Seldom discussed is the Japanese AAM-5B. Like most 5th generation AAMs it has broad chord wings, thrust-vectoring and an imaging seeker. Entering service in 2004 the AAM-5 is one of the most modern weapons on this list, and considering Japan’s excellence in the electronics field it is likely that this is an extremely capable weapon.

HushKit Blog put together another interesting list. I'm not so sure about the rankings but what caught my eye is the fact that they listed a few missiles I was completely unaware of. I think its definitely worth a read. Check it out here.

Peru buys 178 Reconditioned Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles.

Thanks to Super Rhino for the link!

Notification to Congress.

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Peru for Reconditioned Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles and related support, equipment, and training. The estimated cost is $668 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on December 2, 2016. The Government of Peru has requested a possible sale of one hundred and seventy-eight (178) Reconditioned Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles; one hundred and seventy-eight (178) M2 Flex .50 Cal Machine Guns; and one hundred and seventy-eight (178) Remote Weapon Stations (RWS). Also included are driver’s vision enhancers; Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation capability; sets of special tools testing equipment; associated M2 Flex spare parts and tripods; M6 Smoke Grenade launchers and associated spares; VIC-3 systems; Operators New Equipment Training (OPNET) and Field Level Maintenance Training (FLMNET); publications; training manuals; Contractor Field Service Representative support; contractor and concurrent spare parts; project office technical support; U.S. Government technical assistance; packaging, crating, and handling; de-processing services for shipment; and associated transportation. Total estimated program cost is $668 million.

Mattis fever hitting triple digits...

I'm not so sure that Mattis' skillsets match up with putting the bloated and dysfunctional machine that is the Pentagon in check, but I am a lone voice in thinking that.

The meme generators are in full effect and they're making this guy into an almost mythical figure.

No matter what he does and how he does it can he actually live up to expectations?  I wonder.  Do people actually have a list of things they'd like accomplished or will a few more tough guy quotes from the new SecDef be enough to satisfy the rabble?  It really doesn't matter.  Mattis fever is hitting triple digits.

Best SUV to Pickup I've seen...

via Theoddrods Tumblr Page.

Everyone does it but VERY FEW get it right.  This Comanche SUV to Comanche Pickup is probably the best conversion I've seen to date.  For some reason everyone always pushes for a full size pickup bed when doing this which kills the potential utility of the conversion in my mind.  Even the new build Jeep pickups miss the point with the crazy overhang that they end up with because they're trying to add as much pickup bed as possible.

Forget all that.  I like the way this little truck came out.  Nicely done.

1st BN, 1st MAR: Amphibious Assault...photos by Lance Cpl. Skyler E. Treverrow

Who are the security bubbas at the pipeline protest?

Thanks to Michael for the link!

Michael sent me this link to a Breitbart story on the pipeline protest with a note to take a look at the hardware in the pic.  That's on Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) mounted on that MRAP!

Who are the security bubbas at this pipeline protest?  These aren't minor league security contractors if they have this type of gear....and no, you generally don't see corporate security (unless they're nuclear or some other sensitive location types) having access to this.

The main stream media is missing the big story here.  The protesters have a certain point of view and I get that.  The corporation wants to get their project done and I get that too.  But that's not the real story.  I want to know who these security types are, what company farmed them out (I get a whiff of Triple Canopy...everyone else is ate up with overseas commitments, you'd be amazed at all the staffings out there for trainers, personal security details etc at an undisclosed Airbase that are floating around) and how long the contract is for (on a side note I wonder since this is on Indian Nation ground do they get the tax free thing!).  Yeah.  These guys are operating with a different mindset (remember the firehose thing) and I want to know where they're from.