Friday, April 20, 2018

SISU GTP 4×4


Story here.

Roshel Senator APC


via Defense Aerospace
 Roshel Defence Solutions has started serial production of its recently developed and tested multi-purpose Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) – Senator. The APCs of these series are produced from start to finish at the Roshel’s manufacturing facility in Toronto, Canada.

The Roshel Senator is a high mobile multi-purpose transport vehicle, which was specifically developed for peacekeeping and law enforcement applications. This tactical platform features a high level of maneuverability as well as advanced off-road capabilities, making it efficient in accomplishing its missions in urban and cross-country terrain. In addition to being an Armored Personnel Carrier, this versatile platform offers various interchangeable function modules, such as Medical Evacuation, Anti-riot, Command & Control Centre, EOD, NBC, Reconnaissance, etc.

Depending on the intended role, the Roshel Senator provides ballistic and mine protection for up to CEN B7/ STANAG 4569 Level II. As an industry leader in the law enforcement vehicle market, Roshel focuses its R&D and engineering efforts on the survivability of its vehicles, along with ergonomic design and increased performance. To achieve this highly-desired combination, Roshel has developed and implemented an innovative technology based on multilayer composite materials offering superior ballistic performance (protection against fragmentation and bullet penetration) at a lighter weight.

The manufacturer only utilizes ballistic materials and heavy-duty components, which have been tested by internationally recognized North American and European laboratories, to meet ballistic protection standards.

The Roshel Senator APC stands out from its competition by providing advanced integration capabilities allowing the platform to be equipped with comprehensive security systems, such as observation and surveillance, thermal and infrared imaging, two-way communications with a command control center, night vision, fire source detection, laser range finder, remote control weapons, chemical protection and many more.

The base model of the Senator comes with perimeter gunports, escape hatches, perimeter view cameras, gas extraction system, siren/PA system, emergency lighting, military-grade mine protected seats, 3-point military-grade seatbelts and many other security systems and emergency equipment.

To date, Roshel has already received several orders for its new Senator APC, and plans to deliver the first batch of vehicles in the third quarter of 2018. An official public release of the vehicle will be held at 2018 AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition, the largest defence trade show in North America, which will take place on October 8-10, 2018, in Washington, DC, USA (Roshel’s booth #2835).
 
Story here. 

Thursday, April 19, 2018

CH-53 Super Stallions conduct aerial refuel....pics by Lance Cpl. Cody Rowe






Spanish Army Armored Regiment 10 on maneuvers...(pics)




Deftech presents three variants of AV8 Gempita 8x8 armored for Malaysian army


Story by Army Recognition (here).

Milkor promotes new High Speed Interceptor Boat & Wheeled 4x4

Milkor MN Centurion


Milkor 4x4

Here and here.

Saudi Arabia can't win its war in Yemen, wants to put troops into Syria...if we do the same...

via Al Jazeera.
Saudi Arabia is holding talks with the United States about sending troops into Syria as part of a wider international coalition, the kingdom's foreign minister has said.

In his comments on Tuesday, Adel al-Jubeir said the deployment offer was "not new", adding that Riyadh had previously proposed the idea to former US President Barack Obama.

"We are in discussion with the US, and have been since the beginning of the Syrian crisis about sending forces into Syria," al-Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh during a press conference alongside Antonio Guterres, the UN chief.

"We made a proposal to the [previous] Obama administration that if the US were to send forces … then Saudi Arabia would consider along with other countries sending forces as part of this contingent."
Story here.

Want to know why I have a visceral hatred of Saudi Arabia?  It's batshit STUPID stuff like this.

These people can't even win a war in Yemen and now they're begging the US to supply troops (in partnership with them) for a fight in Syria?

You have got to be shitting me!

The crazier thing?

I bet Bolton will be all over this idea.  Haley too.  I will never understand the thinking with regard to the war in Syria.  I'm trying so hard not to believe the conspiracy theories but nothing else makes sense.

They want this war and they want it bad.  Syria must have huge deposits of unobtanium buried beneath the soil or else people in power really don't value human life....or rather the lives of people they consider peasants.

Lockheed Martin is fighting the bill to repair it's jacked up F-35's...the US govt has become Lockheed Martin's bitch...


via Bloomberg
Lockheed Martin Corp. is contesting a repair bill of $119 million to $180 million on the $406.1 billion program to develop and build F-35 jets, according to Pentagon contract data.

The dispute over poor workmanship that resulted in corrosion damage last year on some of the fighter jets illustrates the disputes that arise from time to time between the Pentagon and its biggest contractor over its costliest weapons program.

The problem was linked to a primer that’s supposed to be applied as a protective layer on aluminum fasteners to prevent corrosion. The Defense Department temporarily stopped deliveries of F-35s for the month ending Oct. 20 to assess the issue. Delivery of five planes is currently on pause until the dispute over who pays is resolved.

Lockheed stands to make billions as production of the F-35 ramps up. The Defense Department estimates jet procurement will cost about $292 billion, according to its latest Selected Acquisition Report on the fighter. The final fiscal 2018 omnibus budget bill approved $10.2 billion for 90 aircraft, which is 20 aircraft and $2.6 billion more than the Trump administration’s request.
Story here. 

When you first buy drugs from the drug dealer (so I'm told), you get great prices.  Sometimes the shit he sells is even free.

But once you're hooked and he knows it, that's when you become his bitch.

The US govt has become Lockheed Martin's bitch.

The solution is clear.  It's similar to what a drug abuser needs to do.  First he must acknowledge the problem, then he needs to seek help for the problem, then after all that he  needs to stop cold turkey.

No half measures just stops doing the shit that is slowly killing him (or quickly if mojo, meth, flakka and other weird shit is his drug of choice).

The same applies to the US govt with regard to Lockheed Martin.  The time for negotiations is over.  Accept the fact that this program is screwed beyond recognition.  Start implementing a plan B and make it stick.

In other words the govt needs to kick the fantasy F-35 habit.

The US has been at war for almost 20 years now. Why haven't we see a REAL antiwar movement?




Question.

The US has been at war for almost 20 years now.  Why haven't we seen a REAL antiwar movement.

I've been chewing on this for a couple of days and I have a few points but not the complete picture so I'm tossing it to my readers.

What have I come up with?

1.  Supporting the troops has become confused with supporting Middle East policy.

2.  A "professional" military has allowed most of the public to check out of the burden of the war.

3.  False tax cuts/bad policy has allowed the public to check out of the war.

4.  In the same vein, Bush's call to "keep shopping", when the public wanted to know what they could do to support the troops gave a false sense of civic responsibility.

5.  Irrational patriotism.  Calls to "stay the course" when it was obvious that the policy was failing successfully muted the objections of those that new better.

The list goes on but that should help spark discussion while giving you an insight into what I believe is going on.

One thing is certain.

This is a dangerous game the Pentagon and policy makers are playing.

For the first time in our nation's history we are engaged in multiple conflicts with a small military and at the same time facing global competitors that appear to be getting stronger everyday.

Additionally if you look around we're facing some of the same pressures that we did during the 60's.  From my seat we're seeing increasing racial strife, a still too slow economy for many, and general household insecurity all around.

We're living thru it so we can't tell or rather don't have proper visibility on how 20 years of continuous war is affecting our country but I'd bet body parts it isn't for the good.

Air National Guard Colonel went full retard? Or is it the fault of the people he reports to?


Oh shit moments have consequences.  Ya still gotta man up to them, but you gotta deal with the consequences.  Check this out via Air Force Times.
The Tennessee Air National Guard colonel who led a re-enlistment ceremony in which a senior noncommissioned officer recited her oath using a dinosaur puppet has been demoted and retired.

Army Maj. Gen. Terry Haston, the adjutant general for the Tennessee National Guard, also announced in a Facebook post Wednesday that Master Sgt. Robin Brown, the SNCO whose videotaped re-enlistment ceremony created a firestorm online, has been removed from her full-time job with the Tennessee Joint Public Affairs Office and is facing other administrative actions.

Haston also said that another Tennessee Air National Guardsman — an unidentified SNCO who videotaped the event ― has been removed from his job as unit first sergeant and has been reprimanded. That SNCO will stay in the Guard.

Brown could be identified in the video because she said her name as part of the re-enlistment oath.

Randy Harris, the director of joint public affairs for the Tennessee Military Department, refused to identify the other airmen who have been punished.

William Jones, a spokesman for the joint public affairs office for the Tennessee National Guard, said that it was an official re-enlistment ceremony. Brown’s children were not in attendance, Jones said, but the video was made for them to watch later.
Story here.

On a serious note the military has itself to blame on this one.  Remember back during the height of the war in Afghanistan at Camp Bastion just a few weeks before it was attacked?

Marines at that base did a music video.  It was applauded at HQMC.

Remember when Marines had this stupid craze of asking celebrities to the Marine Ball?  It was applauded initially at HQMC, then the brakes were put on it when celebrities started balking at going.  But remember it was initially applauded.

Remember when a few Marines posted a video of them singing the lines to FROZEN?  The news media ate it up while I cringed my ass off.  I don't know the stance of HQMC but their silence said everything I needed to hear.

I use these examples from the Marine Corps of a loosening of basic social discipline because I have limited visibility on what's going on inside the USAF.

All that was said to emphasize this.  The lines for even senior leadership has become fuzzy.

If a Colonel and a Senior Airman are so confused about what is and isn't acceptable at a reenlistment ceremony then maybe it's not the Colonel that has gone full retard but the people he reports to.