Super Hornet! Huge order possible!

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Bloomberg

 President Trump, speaking at the rollout of
Boeing’s newest Dreamliner in S.C., says the U.S. is “looking
seriously at a big order” of F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets.
  * Says Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who introduced him, is a
    “tough negotiator, but I think we may get there”
  * NOTE: Trump has repeatedly criticized Lockheed Martin’s F-35
    fighter jet program costs as “out of control,” and said in
    December he asked Boeing to price out a comparable F-18
    Super Hornet
  * Earlier: Trump’s F-35 Calls Came With a Surprise: Rival CEO
    Was Listening

Good news!  No scratch that...THIS IS AWESOME NEWS!

US Army setting up advise/assist Brigades....SOCOM out of the foreign training business...

via Military Times.

The Security Force Assistance Brigades will enhance the Army’s readiness by reducing demand for existing brigade combat teams, which will allow BCTs to perform full-spectrum operations instead.
In January, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Defense News, a sister publication of Military Times, that advise-and-assist brigades are one way to regenerate the force as its end strength shrinks but threats continue.
The Army has conducted advise-and-assist operations for years, but in the past, the service would break apart brigades to meet those missions.
“We’ve taken brigades apart, active-duty, full-up infantry and armor brigades, and ripped them apart, ripped the leadership up, so what is the effect?" Milley said in January. "The effect is several thousand soldiers left at home station with very little — if any — inherent organic chain of command, so then you have discipline, cohesion problems, so and so forth, training problems.”
It can also take three years to put the unit back together once leadership returned from serving overseas, he said. With the new advise-and-assist brigades, there would be a cohesive chain of command to take soldiers through basic training, add a team and put it under those existing chains of command.
There are approximately 4,500 Army personnel serving in a train, advise and assist role in Iraq, with the number likely to grow.
The SFAB brigades will be designed on the Infantry and Armored Brigade Combat Team model, with approximately 500 senior officers and noncommissioned officers.

Story here. 

Two things...

1.  SOCOM is out of the foreign training business.  I remember seeing the John Wayne's movie about SF and how they were foreign language trained so that they could communicate with those they led.  Don't need that now.  The reality?  SOCOM is one huge fucking Ranger BN.  It's all raids all the time.  With that being the case it would be better if we simply upped the size of the Army, created another 4 BN's of Rangers (total would be 7) and then we could shutter the rest of SOCOM.  This is stunning in my opinion.

2.  Because of this, we're gonna see Army combat power go down.  6 brigades dedicated to foreign training?  That's a huge slice of combat power that is being tossed aside.

Yeah.  I don't like this one bit.

Eagles of Death Metal singer everybody must have guns

Thanks to Ronin 134 Tumblr Page for the vid!



"Until no one can have guns I think everyone should have them"....he goes on to talk about how ineffective French gun control laws were and he talks about real angels he saw get cut down.

I couldn't say it any better.

Gun rights isn't about hurting others.  It about protecting your loved ones from evil.  It's about taking responsibility for your safety, the safety of your loved ones and maybe even a stranger.  It's about depending on yourself and not the govt for your protection.

The guy in the vid gets it.  It took a tragedy but now he gets it.  Do you?

Friday Funny. NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!! (no nudity...sexually provocative)

NASA might be about to pick up the pace!

via NASA Press Release.

NASA acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot has asked Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, to initiate a study to assess the feasibility of adding a crew to Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The study will examine the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space. The SLS and Orion missions, coupled with record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to unlock the mysteries of space and to ensure this nation’s world preeminence in exploring the cosmos.

About damn time!

This is good news.

Symbolism is important.

National efforts are important.

Space travel and having a viable space program is important.

Enough messing around.  NASA just might be getting its game face back.  I sure hope so.

CH-146 Griffon @ Operation Southern Breeze (pics)

Note:  This appears but I'm not sure because Canadian Combat Camera didn't go into details, a US Coast Guard exercise off the coast of Florida.

Administrative Landing @ MARFIBEX 17 (pics)

Blast from the past....Back when the Army was hard....

pic via Semper Annoying!

Just joking Army dawgs....well kinda just joking....

Australia's Land 400 contenders should be amphibious?

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Shepard Media.

We immediately see that Land 400 AFVs face severe impositions, since they are dependent on vulnerable LHDs and landing craft to get ashore. The inclusion of an amphibious capability on these vehicles would have offered far greater flexibility for littoral operations.
BAE Systems and Patria have teamed up for the Australian Army’s Land 400 programme. The AMV35 was loaded onto HMAS Canberra during recent trials. (Australian DoD)

Of note, the USMC is pursuing its Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) project, as it at least recognises the need for littoral forcible entry vehicles.

The fact is that the Australian Army deliberately dismissed this amphibious and expeditionary factor, opting instead for heavily protected vehicles. For example, the AMV35 tips the scales at 30t while the Boxer is even heavier at 35t. For an army that has always conducted 'expeditionary' deployments, the choice of heavier vehicles seems questionable.

Indeed, as the spokesperson explained: 'The ADF prioritised protection for the Land 400 vehicle fleet. This meant no amphibious vehicles would be able to meet the required level of protection. The priority was to "survive ashore" rather than "swim ashore".'

This assumption was not tested by the army via a call for alternative competitive design solutions due to a military off-the-shelf (MOTS) policy that favoured the recycled designs of overseas primes over new domestic, innovative designs.

A decision was clearly made to ignore not only tactical mobility in water, but also manoeuvre operations in the littoral environment (MOLE), a still secret army concept. This will impinge on the service's ability to contribute to amphibious operations, despite the ADF claiming: 'The Australian government's maritime strategy relies upon a joint task force, which is a range of joint capabilities fulfilling a variety of roles to conduct amphibious operations, and not a single platform or vehicle doing all of them.'

The 'Operational Concept Document' (OCD) for the Land 400 Land Combat Vehicle System (LCVS), released in December 2011, states: 'The desired Land 400 LCVS end state will be a future professional, multipurpose combat force equipped with a LCVS integrated into the CAFS [Combined Arms Fighting System] providing enhanced land combat lethality, survivability, situational awareness, close combat mobility and combat power in order to win the land battle over time.'

This is well and good, but does it suit Australia's official Maritime Strategy? Especially considering the geography of Australia's primary operating environment, the ADF requirement to operate in littoral waters and on land within 200km of a coastline.

Story here. 

I agree with the above.  The Australian Army like the Japanese should have built a Marine Corps (as I've long said) and like the Japanese they should be buying AAVs as an interim step.

A partnership with the US Navy/Marine Corps should have been a no-brainer but for some reason the Aussies didn't go that route.

Considering their operating environment its a huge mistake that will probably bite in the future.

HMT 400 Desert Special Operations Vehicle

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Defense Aerospace.

Supacat is unveiling HMT 400 Desert, a new variant of its acclaimed “Jackal” special operations vehicle, at IDEX 2017. HMT 400 Desert will be exhibited on the International Golden Group, IGG, stand 04-C30, as Supacat’s representatives in the UAE.

HMT 400 Desert has been adapted to enhance performance in the desert’s harsh environment and climatic conditions. It has no armour and the lighter gross vehicle mass improves the power-to-weight ratio and increases mobility over deep desert sand. Further desert features include cooling, a central tyre inflation system and lightweight bead locks to enable the vehicle to be operated at the lowest tyre pressures.

The vehicle has been configured to fully comply with the UAE Presidential Guard’s requirements for a new special operations vehicle, including tactical CH-47 internal loading, and has undergone successful tactical trials and testing by UAE forces over the summer. The HMT series, widely known as `Jackal`, has been battle proven in service with numerous elite special forces worldwide.

“Supacat is committed to supporting the region and in the event that HMT 400 Desert is selected by the UAE Presidential Guard a large element of the production and subsequent support programmes will be conducted in UAE”, said Phil Applegarth, Head of Supacat.

The flexibility of the HMT series has been recently demonstrated by Supacat in developing additional variants and conversions to meet wider and emerging requirements. These include HMT in the Recovery, Logistic Support and Gun Towing roles as well as a unique 4x4 to 6x6 convertible feature, which were announced in September at DVD in the UK.

Amazing how history repeats.  While we're recreating Long Range Patrol from  WW2 we also need to make a few upgrades.  What would I like to see, especially since the Marine Corps is looking to add these vehicles to its inventory?

First is trailers.  If we're going to be at long distance from support then food, water, bandages and ammo are important.  Trailers that are off road capable should be acquired to carry the increased load and not overburden our rides.

The second is this.  Has anyone thought about maybe cross training a few of the grunts as mechanics on these vehicles?  I mean formal courses!  We should first take them out to the field, bang them around hard and see what breaks.  We should do this over the course of a couple  of months and then train our guys to fix what breaks and then properly stock our offroad trailers with the gear.  I hear you bitching already.  If you see something breaking with hard core use then why not pay for upgrades.  On that issue I don't want to make unique components which will drive up costs and then the testing will be extreme.  We're talking about operating the vehicles above design limits to get a gauge on things.

Yeah.  Lets think about off road trailers and getting basic mechanics skill for the guys that will operate these vehicles.  That I think will be a winner.  Below is the Tetrapod off road trailer (website here...they run with the gimmick of it being able to be turned into a boat but I think a robust enclosed trailer has military applications). 

The unholy alliance politically assassinated Mike Flynn...Must Read!

via Daily Caller.

National Security Advisor Gen. Michael T. Flynn (ret.) — who resigned Monday — was the victim of a “hit job” launched by intelligence operatives, Obama government holdovers and former Obama national security officials, according to former intelligence officials who spoke with The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group.
The talk within the tight-knit community of retired intelligence officers was that Flynn’s sacking was a result of intelligence insiders at the CIA, NSA and National Security Council using a sophisticated “disinformation campaign” to create a crisis atmosphere. The former intel officers say the tactics hurled against Flynn over the last few months were the type of high profile hard-ball accusations previously reserved for top figures in enemy states, not for White House officials.
“This was a hit job,” charged retired Col. James Williamson, a 32-year Special Forces veteran who coordinated his operations with the intelligence community.

Story here. 

I made this call (but included Democrats, Republicans and portions of the military) on the night of his resignation!  I'm glad to see the obvious being stated openly by those in positions that will be listened to.

Of course this brings up a troubling reality.  If I could see this from my chair then why did Trump request his resignation?  Additionally it appears that our Intel agencies are not only politicized but going rogue.

On a different note have you been watching the news?  Have you seen how the media is working overtime to try and cleanse the leaks by saying that these guys are whistle blowers and not leakers?  I don't think its gonna work and the latest rumor is that Trump is going to purge the department of the types that participated in this idiocy.

I hope he does.

Eight years allowed the Obama Admin to taint practically our entire Intel/Defense communities.  Its gonna take a lot of hard work to clean up the mess.

Patria AMV in winter tests in Lapland