SNAFU!

Friday, May 25, 2018

Highlights of the "The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019"

via The Hill

It would also authorize about $68.5 billion for a war fund known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.

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The money would go toward a slew of new equipment, including $7.6 billion for 75 F-35 fighter jets. That’s two fewer than the Trump administration requested, a decision made “to realign the program towards sustainment,” according to the summary.

Interesting. First time in awhile that we haven't seen them add to the number of planes. Would love to hear the real deal stuff on the costs of this program.
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It would also authorize $23.1 billion, or $1.2 billion more than requested, to fund 10 new ships, including three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, two Virginia-class submarines and one littoral combat ship.

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The bill also targets Turkey by including a provision that says the Senate believes Ankara should be sanctioned if it goes through with buying a Russian air defense system.

Can't wrap my head around this one. Sanction Turkey if they buy a Russian anti-air system? I think Turk leadership is insane but I don't understand the desire to punish them for buying gear that they think they need. We can choose to sell or not to sell them what we have, but to sanction cause they buy stuff we don't like? Doesn't seem right.
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“I am also deeply humbled that my colleagues saw fit to do me the undeserved honor of designating this year’s NDAA in my name,” McCain said in a statement Thursday. “In the committee’s work, I have found high purpose in the service of a cause greater than self—the cause of the women and men in uniform who defend America and all she stands for. That is why it has been one of the greatest honors of my tenure in the U.S. Senate to serve as its chairman."

Meaningless flourishes. No one cares who this defense authorization is named for. Do these people actually think this means something? Do they really believe it matters?

This proves that death is the only equalizer. As painful as it is to see a loved one pass, death makes us all equal. Whether you're rich or poor, King or serf we all die.

McCain's passing is instructive.

Most people suffer the long good bye in silence. With their family. In quiet dignity.

Am I being too cruel or does it seem like he's flailing about wanting attention?

Doesn't matter the article is here if you want to read it.

American Conservative Mag takes shots at the Amphibious Combat Vehicle..

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via AC.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates canceled the EFV program in 2011. Immediately afterwards, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Amos, decided to pursue the next iteration of troop connector named the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or ACV. High speed on water remained a top priority as late as 2013.

After some research proposals were explored, General Amos decided in January 2014 that the ACV would be developed in a phased approach with a decreased need for speed on water. The ACV 1.1 was to be an off-the-shelf, armored, wheeled vehicle that met requirements for armor protection on land but would rely on connectors like the Navy’s Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC, aka Hovercraft) to move it swiftly from over the horizon at 40 knots to a few miles from its objectives, where it would then swim the last few miles. The LCAC has a large deck area that can accommodate several ACVs. Traditionally the LCAC would bring in heavy equipment like tanks or trucks after Marines secured a beach since the LCAC lacks armor protection.

The phased acquisitions approach was a tacit admission that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. The Marine Corps asked industry for a vehicle that offered protection first and then speed on the water at some point in the future.

The ACV 1.1 would not be able to self-deploy and swim from a ship like the AAV or EFV. The Marine Corps would buy a smaller number of the ACV 1.1, upgrade older AAVs and keep them in service until 2030, and research and develop ACV 1.2, a high-speed, fully amphibious vehicle.

But this solution appears to have been smoke and mirrors. In March 2015, Marine Commandant Joseph Dunford testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee concerning the program. He said industry might merge the ACV 1.1 and ACV 1.2 requirements together.

BAE Systems and SAIC were awarded $100 million each in December of 2015 to develop 16 test vehicles for ACV 1.1. And lo and behold, abracadabra, both company’s test vehicles could self-deploy and swim from a ship at, wait for it, seven knots—as fast as, you guessed it, the 1972 version.

Since the introduction of the AAV, almost 50 years have passed and many billions have been spent in research and development. And now the taxpayer will be footing the bill for a connector that holds fewer Marines than in 1972 (13 versus 20), swims at the same speed, and is more expensive.

The Marine Corps and industry are touting the fact that the ACV is under cost and ahead of schedule. The program is projected to cost $1.2 billion with 204 vehicles operational by 2020.

In October 2017, deputy Marine commandant Lieutenant General Beaudreault stated that “we have to find a solution to getting Marines to shore, from over the horizon, at something greater than seven knots. We’ve got to have high-speed connectors.”

It appears the deputy commandant didn’t get the memo. As the F-35 and USS Gerald Ford programs have shown, whenever the system wins, the warfighter and taxpayer lose.

Story here.

AC is just plain wrong. They're using research dollars as a means to justify the slam on this program? Bullshit! The Corps needs a combat capable APC that can swim and the ACV will provide that.

The only caveat is whether or not the upgraded AAV can actually serve in the near future battlespace. If the planned upgrades actually pan out and if the number crunchers can prove that it will work while being cheaper than the ACV then it would make sense to save the pennies and simply upgrade all those vehicles to that new standard.

If not?

If it can't then the ACV winner becomes a high priority procurement item.

Deathbed confession. McCain admits Iraq war a mistake.

via Vox.

Sen. John McCain has made a shocking admission: The Iraq War was a “mistake,” and he’s taking the blame.

In his new memoir, McCain who is battling brain cancer, writes that the Iraq War “can’t be judged as anything other than a mistake, a very serious one, and I have to accept my share of the blame for it,” as Politico reports.

McCain is among the most hawkish Republicans in the Senate and was an ardent supporter of the George W. Bush administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq and a later US troop surge.

Story here.

I didn't even read the rest.

All I wanted to do is to see with my own eyes the guy that NEVER SAW A WAR HE DIDN'T LIKE admit that he fucked up.

Strange that it didn't make me feel better.

Dude still has blood on his hands and while he did suffer as a POW in Vietnam, he inflicted countless pain and suffering on others because of his hawkish views.

To be blunt the guy has pushed for warfare thru out the Middle East and seemed to revel in it. Am I the only one that heard that "Bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran" diddy he did during his run for the President and felt bile rising to his throat?

How many good men and women died because of his ideology? How many people I'll never know suffered because of his jacked up belief system?

When you do evil shit, a deathbed confession (or memoir) isn't enough to wash away the stain.

I'm just glad God has to deal with this shit. If I was running things he'd be in the pit of hell .... but thats emotionalism on my part. This kind of judgement demands the power and knowledge of the dude sitting on high.

Open Comment Post. May 25, 2018

Thank you EU (NOT!!!!) for slamming my inbox with privacy policy updates...

This idiocy is out of control!

I've been concerned about apps, websites and other media tracking me for as long as I've been on the internet and didn't need a government body to play mommy for me.

But no.

The freaking EU had to do just that and stick its big teet in everyone's face so now my inbox is being slammed with privacy policy updates.

Thanks but no thanks.

I can manage my affairs just fine. For those that can't? Maybe they should stick to x-box.

Flyer 72 Tactical Utility Vehicle (TUV)

via Shepard Media.

General Dynamics has unveiled its Flyer 72 Tactical Utility Vehicle (TUV), a design it is pitching as a way to help US special forces transport additional equipment in theater.

At SOFIC 2018, the company showed off its latest transport vehicle for the first time — a variant to the M1288 Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 currently being used by the SOF community.

Laurie VanBrocklin, a senior director for communications and marketing services, said the new TUV was developed based on feedback from the field and calls for a way to transport additional equipment.

"What we've organically learned is [SOCOM forces] need a secondary support supplement vehicle to the GMV 1.1," VanBrocklin told Shephard 22 May. "Depending on what their mission profile is, they might be able to take a lot more gear."

The TUV design has an open cargo deck and can operate in restrictive terrain. In its base configuration, it seats three, can transport up to 6000 pounds of cargo, reach top speeds of 95 mph and can drive up to 500 miles on flat ground. A remote or manned gun ring can be housed on top of the platform.

Additionally, the TUV has a number of cargo configurations including an ambulance, shelter carrier, K-9 carrier, mortar weapon and munitions carrier, and 12-crew assault carrier kits.

"So with the GMV1.1 being in the field and hearing things coming back from them, it's just a natural evolution to have this [TUV] vehicle," VanBrocklin said.

"We're talking to the users, 'Tell us what it is that you need? What do you need the vehicles to actually be able to do?'" she added. "That's how we started with the 1.1. You tell us what capability you need and we'll build the vehicle for you to meet that capability."

Hmm. Above is the newest view of the vehicle. Below is the past versions (I'm assuming without the add on armor, but can't make out details of what's going on in the rear).

The IDF F-35 over Beirut. Hubris or Deterrence?

via Haaretz.

With U.S. President Donald Trump at its side and following a series of military gains in the north, Israel is zigzagging irresponsibly on the boundary between deterrence and arrogance. This behavior is not surprising when it comes to politicians. Certainly not in regard to Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz who, like a dyed-in-the-wool internet commenter, told the European Union this week to go to “a thousand thousand hells”; nor in regard to a number of MKs and journalists who have spoken of the events of recent weeks in terms of a divine miracle. What’s more surprising is the way the Israel Defense Forces stumbled in its decision to publish a photograph of an F-35 aircraft on an operational sortie, the first of its kind in the world, over Beirut.

One can understand, albeit barely, the considerations that led the Israel Air Force’s commander, Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, to display the image at a meeting of commanders of foreign air forces that he hosted on Tuesday in Herzliya. Israel wants to show that the advanced warplane is already in use in operational missions. There is certainly a deterrent value to the sight of the plane above Beirut’s international airport and over the city’s Dahiya neighborhood, home to the city’s Shi’ite population, during a heightened period of tension in the north. But it still comes off like inordinate swagger, and perhaps also an attempt to rehabilitate the IAF’s image following the downing of an F-16 during the previous escalation of hostilities with Iran and Syria, in February.

Story here.

via Times of Israel.

Senior cabinet ministers reportedly slammed Israeli Air Force chief Amikam Norkin for releasing a picture and details of an Israeli F-35 stealth fighter high above Beirut, saying the move was “arrogant.”

At a cabinet meeting held Wednesday, ministers condemned the display of the image as “unnecessary arrogance and showing off,” and also “inappropriate and unhelpful,” with one minister declaring it is the kind of thing that should not be revealed even to countries closely allied with Israel, Hadashot news reported from within the closed-door meeting.

Although the report didn’t identify which ministers made the comments it noted that Defense Minister Avidgor Liberman told the meeting that the photo was displayed without his knowledge, or that of IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.

Story here.

Was this hubris or deterrence?

That's not the proper choice. There should have been another option.

This wasn't hubris or deterrence, this was batshit stupid, arrogant beyond belief and an obvious propaganda play.

This was an amateur move from a force that I considered professional.

I don't know what the IDF is doing but this wasn't a good move. Additionally the "glory" of the announcement is starting to fade and fade fast.

I've read stories that many experts are claiming that the plane was used on "lesser" missions. That it played "quarterback" (as if that was necessary in the air space they're operating in) or that it performed recon (again...was it necessary to use the F-35?).

This was a pure propaganda play to give the F-35 the "used in combat" moniker but the IDF shat all over the play. Fortunately for Israel they have cabinet members that will call them on their idiocy.

The only real question that remains to be answered is this.

If the Israeli Air Force leader did this without knowledge of his superiors then is it time for him to be early retired?