"I may be stupid, but I know when I'm being had," ...French Army Chief resigns over budget cuts!

via UPI

French military chief Gen. Pierre de Villiers resigned Wednesday after a public clash with President Emmanuel Macron over defense funding.

De Villiers, upset by $980 million in proposed defense budget cuts, said in a statement that he could no longer command an army that's "necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people."

At a parliamentary committee meeting last week, de Villiers said he would not allow the French armed forces to be "screwed" by budget cuts.

"I may be stupid, but I know when I'm being had," he said.

Macron responded in a meeting with military leaders on Friday that, "I am your president," and encouraged loyalty and acceptance of his directions.

De Villiers, in a later Facebook post, did not name Macron but commented, "No one deserves to be blindly followed."

Macon was criticized by some for his public dressing down of his country's chief of military staff.

De Villiers' resignation comes before France faces its first military crisis under Macron, who was elected in June.

Story here. 

Sea Dragon 2025 weapon systems and gear .... pic by Lance Cpl. Justin X. Toledo

U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, execute firing drills utilizing their Sea Dragon 2025 weapon systems and gear during a live-fire range at Range G-6, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, July 12, 2017. 

All this is beyond cool but I wonder.  How much does all this weigh?  For every weight reduction effort the Marine Corps starts they always seem to add it back with some newly found requirement.

They're trying hard but I just don't think the code will be cracked on weight until someone gets pure medieval about the issue.  Squad support vehicles might carry rucks and baseplates but if your first and second line gear is still approaching 50 plus pounds you're still dealing with a hefty load.

Turkey deploys artillery to Qatar via Jane's 360

Story here.

Is this thing going beyond saber rattling?  I still can't figure out the endgame here.  I just can't see a shooting war breaking out, but Zero Hedge is saying that the real issue is over natural gas so maybe its just that critical.

Who knows.  There are some serious games being played in the Middle East and everyone seems to be on the verge of going full retard.

Australian Defence Force’s Amphibious Ready Group (vid)

What exactly are they talking about when they say "Amphibious Ready Group"?

The Aussies bought a couple of surplus Brit LPDs if I recall correctly so are they planning on combining them with the LHDs and putting half their Army on them?

If true that's interesting.

One thing I failed to consider is that the Aussies have enough amphibious capability to float almost 2 battalions if I'm counting correctly.  It would be high density but its possible.

Excuse me.  Time to take a hard look at Australian amphibious ships, see what their loadout is and how they plan on using their forces.

Your Daily Motivational. 0311 and Proud!

Thanks to Terrence for the link!

0311 and Proud.

Do I look like I’m enjoying it?

Hell, yeah! There’s no amount of time, money, wine or women that I would trade for being an 0311. Earning the title of Marine was cool and all that and I’m proud to be a Marine but I swear to the ghost of Chesty Puller and Dan Daly that being an 0311 is the best job in the world.

Where can you shoot guns, drink endlessly, hang out with all your closest friends, rip cigs, party, workout, hate yourself and everything around and still somehow laugh about it?

That’s right, being a damn 0311. For me being an 0311 was like being a member of a cult. An underpaid, oversexed, overworked, overseas cult.

The worst times I had (that last picture was definitely high on the list) were the best moments of my life. -35 and the worst blizzard to hit Hokkaido in 20 years? Bring it on Mother Nature, get ready to piss your panties ’cause nothing is holding us back. 130 degrees of hellish heat? They call us Devil Dogs for a reason, we come from what your nightmares are made of. Might as well call me Noah because I’ve been through 40 days and 40 nights of rain.

You might ride in a car everywhere you go but I’ll be reppin’ them brown Cadillacs.

Go here to read it all!  YOU MUST read this all....good stuff! 

Open Comment Post. July 19, 2017

NAVAIR video shows F-35B landing blind on LHA due to HMD glitch. Quote:"We got real lucky that night."

via Defense Tech.

The video that recently surfaced appears to indicate a new nighttime visibility problem, in addition to others that have been publicly identified.

In his presentation, Fields gave credit to the pilot, who positioned himself on the flight deck using two generators he remembered walking past on his way to the aircraft.

“I think his words later were, ‘screw you, ship, I’m landing on you,'” Fields said. “We got lucky. There is no way around it. We got very lucky that night.”

Story here.

Read it and fucking weep F-35 fanboys.  Your program was just saved by a fantastic USMC Aviator that has elephant sized balls  and somehow squeezed them into a cockpit to strap on a plane that is substandard, has faulty tech, jacked up leadership and by the grace of God made it all work.

Now do you get the force of connection all you guys that worship anyone with stars on their shoulders?  This plane still doesn't work and you're being lied to.

McGregor BLASTS US Army General leadership AND says they're gonna lose the next war unless they change!

via National Interest.

The Army is on track to lose more than money unless President Trump appoints a forceful and informed Secretary of the Army—one who is prepared to impose accountability on his generals and demand sweeping change. It’s going to lose the first battle of the next war. And, in the twenty-first century, Americans may not get a chance to fight a second battle.

Then this!

 On July 18 the 173rd Airborne Brigade, along with allied NATO airborne units, will conduct a Joint Forcible Entry exercise near Bezmer Air Base, Bulgaria. The goal is to demonstrate an airfield seizure operation that will then allow for the “all wheeled” Second Cavalry Regiment to “build up combat power” and prepare for follow-on operations.

This exercise equates to practicing for suicide. Our East European partners know it and the Russians know it. Any joint theater-entry operation requires U.S. aerospace and maritime supremacy, as well as, overall battle-network superiority in the objective area. Try this “forced entry” against a defended Russian, Chinese or North Korean Airfield and the “exercise” would end in minutes with the total annihilation of the paratroopers and the brigade of light, armored trucks. The Army four-star generals are stuck in a World War II fantasy.

If that's not enough it gets even more brutal!

 Today’s Army is spread too thinly around the world and its fighting formations are Cold War relics. If today’s Brigade Combat Teams faced an air-defense threat, rocket artillery and loitering munitions (drones that loiter over the battlefield for hours and attack targets by flying into them), let alone a capable, opposing Army, then it would face certain defeat.

No fucking commentary on this one!  Go here to read it all for yourself! 

Open Comment Post. July 18, 2017

It's Chinook week I guess.  Anyway, what's on your mind....

The magnificent concepts of Zetor Engineering...a new 8x8 and tracked IFV...

via Janes.

Zetor Engineering, a subsidiary of Czech agricultural machinery producer Zetor Tractors, is developing a family of modular wheeled armoured vehicles that the company hopes to enter into upcoming public tenders for such platforms. These tenders are expected to be announced by a number of armed forces in Central and Eastern Europe, and beyond.

“In general the (armoured vehicle) project is geared towards future tenders and requirements where it will fulfil the criteria (of potential users), “Zetor Engineering's Isabela Vrskova told Jane's on 17 July.

Zetor Engineering has dubbed the flagship vehicle of the development programme as the Projekt 8x8, which boasts an enlarged hull capable of accommodating a crew of three (vehicle commander, driver, and gunner) and up to eight fully equipped infantry.

The company website is here. 

I don't know about you but personally I like it!  Small countries that are doing the work of innovating for their home defense needs?

This is the kind of national independence that I can get behind.  If we want our allies to take a bigger role in their own defense then I'm thinking that building up their "at home" defense industries and not forcing them to rely on outside products is probably the best way to go.

Develop a NATO/Western standard and build to it.  It doesn't have to look alike or work the same way...just get the job done and we should all be satisfied.  If it increases a nation's spending on defense but cuts off exports from our own industry?  A monetary loss but a big integrated defense win!

Modest Proposal. Bring back the S-3/ES-3 Vikings to make the carrier air wing great again!

pic via zainisaari.tumblr.com

A real quickie.

We've heard talk and studies about bringing back frigates from the boneyards to get the surface fleet back up to speed but what about naval aviation?

There is a major gap in our capabilities and frigates will only cover a portion of the problem.  We need dedicated electronic attack/surveillance platforms that can operate from the carrier and we need long range anti-sub planes that can do the same.

The answer is gathering dust in the boneyards.

The S-3/ES-3 Vikings have TONS of time left on them and can be quickly and easily brought back into service.  One squadron per ship of each type along with a nice allotment of anti-ship/anti-sub weaponry with buddy refueling tanks to pick up the load when the UAV refuelers go down would save wing time for the Super Hornets, provide a much needed capability for the carriers and add a new option for everything from Electronic Attack, Electronic Surveillance, Anti-Ship Strike, Long Range Anti-Sub work, Bomb Truck duties in permissive environments and tanker duties when necessary.

When the CMV-22 fails at the COD mission because its just too short legged we can even dust off the plans for this plane to fill that role.

We have a jewel in the boneyards.  Time to scrap off the dust and get it back in service!

AV8B Harrier II's buzzing the USS Wasp...pics by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Michael Molina