Anniversary of the Philippine Landing

Hudson Institute says that the Chinese J-11 severely outclasses the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet & F-35C Lightning!

via National Interest.

Already, the F/A-18E/F faces a severe speed disadvantage against Chinese J-11 aircraft, which can fire longer range missiles at a higher kinematic advantage outside of the range of U.S. AIM-120 missiles.”

Nor does the F-35C—which suffers from severely reduced acceleration compared to even the less than stellar performance of other JSF variants—help matters. “Similarly, the F-35C is optimized as an attack fighter, resulting in a medium-altitude flight profile, and its current ability to only carry two AIM- 120 missiles internally [until Block 3] limits its capability under complex electromagnetic conditions,” the authors wrote. 

Story here. 

Read the entire article but this is the closest I've seen a Think Tank finally admitting what most of the readers of SNAFU! have known for years.

The F-35C (and family) is screwed against even CURRENT Chinese/Russian fighters (as is the Super Hornet).

I still believe that the Super Hornet is "serviceable" in certain roles in the event of peer vs peer combat but the F-35 has taken too long, cost too much and will deliver too little to allow the fiction of its lethality to continue.

Someone must save leadership from itself.

The F-35 won't deliver.

It's time to cut bait and start an air superiority program that will give the US and its allies an airplane that will be able to compete and win against the best from China/Russia.

We just don't have anymore time for vanity....or to allow profits to trump national security. 

China says its military is paralyzed by peace and that war is not far off...

Thanks to Danger Carlos for the link!

via Yahoo.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) criticized its own military personnel for being paralyzed by peace as China ramped up preparations for war.

This week, a PLA Daily report blasted its own soldiers for refusing to face the possibility of war, blaming the recent period of peace for paralyzing the current generation of troops, reported the Global Times, a newspaper produced by the ruling Communist party.

"War is not far from us. Regional situations around China are complex and unstable, and dangers are hiding under the peace. China cannot afford a military failure, so we must be fully aware of potential crisis and be prepared for battle at all times," the official PLA newspaper read.

-------------

 "In regions like the Korea Peninsula, China-India border area and the Taiwan Straits, the PLA needs to be prepared for all possibilities. Our overseas interests in regions like Africa and the Middle East are also under threat due to local instability,” he said.

Story here. 

Ok Major Pallas. I like your thinking. But can you get it past HQMC?

via War on the Rocks.

In his recent birthday ball message, the Commandant of the Marine Corps stated that the Corps can’t “lose to learn — we gotta win.” To ensure the Marines continue to win, they have to develop their training to meet the threats of the future. Right now, the Marine Corps is practicing against an open backfield and shadow boxing in the mirror — marines are often a self-licking ice cream cone patting themselves on the back when complete. It’s time to move past sustaining this model and develop the ability to conduct realistic force-on-force training.

The Marine Corps prepare for the unknown. I have always taken great pride in that marines are able to fight and win in modal domains within the spectrum of human conflict. If they are warfighters, they must train against the “anti-warfighters.” They must train against a force that is scalable, experienced, and the subject matter experts of enemy tactics, techniques and procedures. Marines have to stop training only in what they are good at and instead train for exposure to an enemy that is intimately familiar with Marine tactics, in order to expose their weaknesses and create a greater force at the outcome. To do this, the Corps should create and resource an Adversary Air Ground Task Force, or the A-AGTF.

The A-AGTF would provide a unit made up of free-thinking, breathing, adaptable individuals well-versed in enemy tactics as an adversary force for service-level training. Due to the existing “canned” tire stack, plywood, and static metal enemy force, the current training construct does not allow for rapid changes on the practice field or improvised decisions played out in execution, nor does it account for decisions made by the enemy and how they affect the decisions marines make in training. Marines operate by a well-defined and scripted playbook that does not allow free thinking at the lowest levels of leadership. This problem is hard to crack — in fact it would require a complete paradigm shift in Marine Corps training philosophy — but a requisite one if the service is to truly prepare to face the threats of tomorrow.

Story here. 

Wow.

Read the story but I actually like this proposal.  Correction.  I love it!

The Major is doing two things, one of which will probably ensure his promotion.  Let's talk about him punching his ticket (oh and I have no problem with that as long as it's because you've done something worthy of promotion).

Dude has taken the Commandant's own words and "actionized" them.  He has devised a plan to actually make training more meaningful and realistic.

The second thing he's done will probably see him on most wanted posters by Think Tanks.

The Major's schemes will give us an opportunity to take all these flights of fancy and get them from around meeting tables, water coolers etc...out into the field where these free thinking adversary forces can either confirm or fuck beyond recognition the favored concepts being pushed.

I would bet body parts that in a REAL scenario, a 1000 mile raid by a Company Landing Team will end in horror unless it is MASSIVELY supported.  That fantasy that Amos ran with students from Infantry Officer Course was batshit stupid on a stick.  Nothing was certified, nothing tested, they simply burned aviation gas and the boots yelled cool.

This proposal could actually put such concepts to the test.

I like it!

I'll bet money it'll never happen though.  Concept guys don't like to be told that they "don't have any clothes"...just like the mythical king.

Two SEAL Team 6 members. An Army Green Beret. A murder.

via Vox

On June 4, Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar — a 34-year-old Army Green Beret — was found dead in US Embassy housing in Mali while he was on a secret assignment. Investigators currently believe he was strangled to death — and that two members of SEAL Team 6 may have killed him.

Murder among US service members is relatively rare, but it’s especially shocking to see that the two suspects — Petty Officer Anthony DeDolph, a former professional mixed martial arts fighter, and a still-unnamed sailor, both Melgar’s roommates — form part of one of the most revered military units in the United States. SEAL Team 6 became internationally famous for successfully killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.

A probe, first reported by the New York Times, is ongoing — and no one has yet been charged with a crime. But it appears the suspected SEALs changed their story and lied about about what happened. The Daily Beast reports that Melgar found out the two SEALs were taking some money designated for an informant fund. The SEALs asked Melgar if he wanted to get involved, but he declined.

The SEALs first told investigators that they found Melgar dead around 5:00 am on June 4. But after an autopsy showed Melgar died of asphyxiation, they said the three of them were doing fighting exercises when Melgar passed out, after which they tried to get Melgar medical attention. The SEALs claimed Melgar was drunk — but he didn’t drink that day — which raised suspicions of their account. The two SEALs have left Mali and are now on leave.

Read the whole story here. 

You can follow that link and read the whole story but you really don't need to. See that portion I highlighted?  That tells you all you need to know.

Let some Marine kill a Soldier and you know what would happen?  NCIS would be crawling up his rectum so far that his voice would change octaves and he'd start to question his sexuality.

These SEALs will get off.

They're on leave? 

That's batshit insane.  That means that SOCOM is wanting this whole thing to fade away. 

My guess?

We'll see them plead guilty to false statements and quietly separated from the service.  From the outside looking in on the SEAL community this won't keep them from cashing in on post activity duty benies either.  They'll get hooked up with CORPORATE security work and they'll do the same thing they did in service but only for Xi, Triple Canopy or one of the other firms out there.

The only thing that has me truly puzzled is this.  Why is the Green Beret community and Army Special Operations so silent on this issue?  I thought for sure they would be beating a drum and I expected MASS exodus of Navy Special Operators from any locale the Army had sunk it's teeth into.  I can't explain the silence but I find it extremely curious.

One last thing.

No one will touch on it but SOCOM is a HUGE piece of the waste, fraud and abuse problem.  The bigger they've gotten the more "slush" money they have which means loose money is floating around for anyone to grab.  The idea that SEALs were suspected of stealing informant money isn't really news to me.  The fact that a SF Soldier put them in a position to even wonder if he would rat them out means that there are a few men of integrity left in SOCOM.

Romania buys Piranha 5.

Today, General Dynamics European Land Systems signed a contract to deliver up to 227 PIRANHA 5 wheeled armored vehicles in six different configurations to the Romanian Armed Forces. The contract has a total value exceeding $1 billion. It is part of the Romanian Army’s plan to modernize its...

This news is all over the place so this isn't to inform my readers but to ask a question.

I understand the popularity of wheeled infantry vehicles for forces that have to travel great distances.

It just makes too much sense based on logistics alone.

But Romania isn't one of those countries.  Neither are a few that I can name that also jumped on the wheeled IFV bandwagon.

The question is this.

Assuming that this program is designed to blunt a Russian invasion (an invasion that I continue to believe WILL NOT HAPPEN), then do they believe the nature of the fight in Europe has changed?

Hear me out on this one.  Challenger, Abrams, Leopard and LeClerc were born from the idea of intense combat.  So were their stablemates, the Bradley, Warrior, Marder etc....

If high intensity warfare does return to Europe (and I'm proven wrong as two left feet) will wheeled IFVs stand up to the fight?

I just wonder.

Remember the things that once made a good fighting vehicle.  Low silhouette, fast (forward and back), good armor especially over the frontal arc....I'm not so sure wheeled vehicles check those boxes.

My point is this.

The US has skewed its way of warfare toward being totally offensive.  Even in the defense we're offensive!  Think about it like this.  Why would we need to penetrate A2/AD?  Why have we had a premium on knocking down anti-ship missiles instead of developing our own?

If this way of thinking has truly become our way of warfare then we've seriously allowed current mission mindset invade our future warfare thinking.

Have our allies made the same mistake and are buying vehicles that aren't tailored to their defense needs?

Full Disclosure!  I'm a huge fan of the Piranha 5.  I think its an awesome vehicle.  This isn't a critique of the vehicle, just musing about whether its the right one for Romania's needs.

Open Comment Post. Jan 12, 2018

Amphibious Assault Mech Raid....vid by Lance Cpl. Kristiana Gehly

Tyler @ The Drive has pics of the MQ-25. NICELY DONE BOEING!

Tyler has the story and even MORE pics here.

Just plain WOW!

Boeing either read the Navy's mind, is trying to help the Navy out, saw a tremendous opportunity to oneup the competition or all of the above.

What do I mean?

They're coming with what looks to me like a big stealth body UAV.  You know what that means don't you.  Flexing into the ISR, or strike mission should be relatively simple (wonder if it will have bays for extra fuel that can be reconfigured for sensors or weapons?).

The Marine Corps better adjust now.

They're trying to tailor the force so that Company Landing Teams can participate in the rolling back of enemy defenses?  Launch assaults from further offshore?

Never gonna happen.  Land based anti-ship missiles will maintain a range advantage, as will most foreign air launched systems.

The Marine Corps could be looking at a future where the Navy is asking NOT for an America class LHD filled with F-35's and the Marines left on the pier.

No the future could be that the Navy asks for an America class LHD and Marine Air, Marine Ground and Marine Logistics are left on the pier and they sail with 40 MQ-25D's...5 for ISR, 5 for tanking, 10 for missile trucks and the remainder for deep strike.

You take every big deck LHD (and I think this is possible with the new automated landing system...the only thing you MIGHT have to install are arresting wires) and if you're in a real high tech shootout and automation has gotten pretty far then you could have a robot LHD, carrying robot planes to destroy robot enemy targets.  Rearming, refueling and such might be tricky but think of the possibilities!

You can plan for the future but sometimes the future has a plan for you!  Hope HQMC remembers that!

Trump's latest crazy statements. Are you not entertained? Good because you missed the real threat to democracy today...

Thanks to Joe for the link!

If you're not aware then your President and mine made some pretty outlandish statements today.  The first via The Washington Post...

President Trump caused a stir with his announcement that the United States had delivered F-52 fighter jets to Norway.

Was it a secret advanced jet capable of beating its Russian counterparts? A ruse to fool intelligence analysts?

Neither, it turns out. The “F-52” is a fictional jet only available to fly if you’re a gamer at the controls of “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”

Story here. 

This was an obvious mistake and can only be chalked up to one thing.  Trump simply doesn't know much about the military, doesn't do his homework and talks off the cuff so much that mistakes like this flow from his lips like water off a waterfall.

But the public via the clarion call of the media was entertained.  Why?  Because Trump haters launched into their usual diatribe of stating the obvious and Trump defenders were busy trying to justify the idiocy.

The second bit of entertainment is via NBC

 President Donald Trump on Thursday referred to Haiti and African nations as "shithole countries" during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House, a Democratic aide briefed on the meeting told NBC News.

Trump's comments were first reported by The Washington Post, which said the group of nations referred to also included El Salvador.

The comments came as senators huddled in the Oval Office with the president to discuss a path forward on an immigration deal. Trump questioned why the United States would want people from nations such as Haiti while he was being briefed on changes to the visa lottery system.

According to the aide, when the group came to discussing immigration from Africa, Trump asked why America would want immigrants from "all these shithole countries" and that the U.S. should have more people coming in from places like Norway. Thursday's meeting came one day after Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House. 

Story here. 

The same dynamics are at play with this except its got the added juice of having a racial tinge.

I refuse to be fooled.

This guy is DESPERATE to be loved by Dems...especially Democrat leadership but they continue to pushback against him.  So what did he do?  He turned another gaff (and I believe this was a gaff...full disclosure...I'm black and I've called those countries shitholes...that characterization does not equal racists) into an opportunity to appeal to his declining base.

What made this gaff seem especially egregious is because he referenced back to wondering why we don't have more people from Norway immigrating.

I believe that is a part of his diminishing mental health.  Oh and I'm not so sure that he's suffering early onset.  I think that the Russia Probe coupled with the stuff he's seeing sitting in the big chair and the constant berating that he's suffering from the mainstream media simply has him stressed beyond recognition.

The fact that he doesn't engage in daily exercise (a known stress moderation tool), has a poor diet (dude admits that he eats McDonald's on an almost daily) and is probably a bit overweight makes me believe that he's mentally stressed and is probably more of a candidate for a heart attack in office than he is in danger of being diagnosed as mentally ill.

But I digress.

Were you not entertained by the drama brought to you by the talking heads in the media and our political elite?

Well if you were then you missed the threat to our democracy, and didn't get a real look at how your political masters actually view you.

via Wired.

In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency was legally collecting millions of Americans’ phone calls and electronic communications—including emails, Facebook messages, and browsing histories—without a warrant. Congress has now decided not only to reauthorize these programs, but also to expand some of their most invasive techniques.

The spying initiatives Snowden brought to light are authorized under Section 702 of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, which was set to expire later this month. On Thursday, Congress voted down an effort to reform Section 702, and instead passed a bill that expanded warrantless surveillance of US citizens and foreigners. The newly passed bill reauthorizes Section 702 for six years, long after President Trump’s first term in office will have expired.

The amendment that the House of Representatives shot down would have added significant privacy safeguards to the law, including the requirement that intelligence agents get a warrant in many cases before searching through emails and other digital communications belonging to US citizens. The bill Congress did pass, meanwhile, codifies some of the most troubling aspects of Section 702, according to privacy advocates. 

Story here. 

So the American people were asleep at the wheel while the House just EXPANDED spying authority.

Don't be fooled either.

Where there is power, there is abuse. 

Republicans who are suppose to be champions of limited govt voted for this bill overwhelmingly.  Democrats who are suppose to be champions of free speech voted for this bill overwhelmingly.

You had a chance to see the true face of your Representatives.

They don't like you.

They don't trust you.

But they damn sure put in place the pieces to control you....if and when the time comes.