I told you 27K Dow Jones was crazy...you said it wasn't...you were wrong!

Thanks to Mech 61 for the link!

via Business Insider.

Stock markets around the world are selling off sharply as fears about slowing economic growth and rising interest rates spook investors. Declines in US futures Thursday show the sell-off is not slowing down.


The Dow Jones saw its third-largest one-day point drop in history on Wednesday; the bloodbath then spread to Asia, with China's Shanghai Composite losing more than 5%.

Europe was suffering Thursday, with all major bourses down at least 1%, and the so-called "fear index" was spiking, up 5.4%.

Story here. 

The Dow sinking 800+ points in a day was predictable.  Why?  Because the market has been "juiced" since the first year of the Obama Administration. 

According to economic theory that I've read, once we were out of the recession we should have seen the Fed raising rates.

According to STANDARD economic theory the idea that corporations could make returns of over 10 percent year after year was nothing but voodoo economics.  It's just not REALISTICALLY possible.

Additionally we've seen all kinds of bubbles that have defied (or rather allowed to be) by the Federal Govt because they add more fuel to the economic fire.  If this is a real correction we could hit 14K...the funny thing? That would still leave a tremendous amount of fluff in the market...while knocking the DOW down 50+%.

Now?

Now it's time to pay stupid tax.

One last thing.  I support Trump's trade war with China.  I believe he had to include some of our allies just because of how China exports its goods into the US.  They use "cut outs" in the form of the European Union, Mexico, Brazil...basically anyone we have normal relations with to lower the trade deficit we have with them, while at the same time pumping up their exports.

But Trump should have made a speech explaining his rationale and the short term pain that we would have to endure to right the ship.

But back to the military.

A sound economy is the first form of military strength.  We either get our economic house in order or we will our of necessity become a "former" great power.

Open Comment Post. 11 Oct 2018

Canadian CH-148 lands aboard HNLMS de Ruyter

Army to Buy 500 New "Light Tank" Mobile Protected Firepower Vehicles

via National Interest.

The Army plans to arm its force with more than 500 medium-weight Mobile Protected Firepower combat vehicles engineered to bring heavy fire support, high-speed mobility and warzone protection for fast-maneuvering infantry.

The service plans to pick two vendors in the next few months to build prototype vehicles as an initial step toward having one vendor start full-rate production in 2025.

“Our plan is to award up to two contracts. Each vendor will build 12 vehicles and the we will down select from two to one. When we go into production, we will build 504 vehicles,” David Dopp, Army Program Manager, Mobile Protected Firepower, told reporters at the Association of the United States Army Annual Symposium.

Story here.

Uh how is the Army gonna do this?

I don't want to pour cold water on their plans but they're trying to buy the kitchen sink and the house it goes in!

AMPV, JLTV, Future Scout Helicopter, Ground Mobility Vehicle, Light Tank, ATACMS, Electronic Warfare Vehicle, Upgun Stryker, extended range M777 and the list goes on.

Meanwhile the Marine Corps is buying F-35, CH-53K, MV-22, ACV, JLTV, and laying the groundwork for an LAV replacement.

The Air Force and the Navy have similar modernization plans.

How can the US of A afford all this?  Sequestration is due to raise its ugly head (or some would say fiscal responsibility) in 2020.

Either we're gonna see MASSIVE tax increases or these are just pie in the sky dreams for all the services.

Future USMC Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle to be a jack of all trades...

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Military Aerospace.

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps researchers are asking industry to build full-scale technology demonstrators of a future reconnaissance armored vehicle to enable Marine battlefield reconnaissance units to fight through the enemy to gather and disseminate crucial intelligence information from the battle front.

Officials of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va., released a broad agency announcement Thursday (N00014-19-S-B002) for the Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) Technology Demonstrator Design, Fabrication, Test & Demonstration program.

The future ARV will be able to fight for information on a complex and contested battlefield using an automatic rapid-fire medium-caliber cannon, remotely operated medium-caliber machine gun, and open-architecture vetronics to include sensors, communications, and battlefield networking.

The project seeks to build two ARV variants -- a base model and an at-the-edge model to evaluate technologies, performance, and battlefield concepts. Contractors will build two demonstrators of each variant.

Related: Army to brief industry in November on combat vehicle vetronics and electrification initiatives

The ARV demonstrators must be able to collect mobility data, determine reconnaissance and sensing capabilities, determine unmanned systems integration and operation, evaluate platform lethality, determine platform survivability, and evaluate overall performance.

Technology demonstrators have modular open systems architectures, with an eye to future integration of third-party hardware and software and will enable third-party repair.

The base variant and its vetronics will have an Average manufacturing unit cost of $6 million per platform for 500 units, with initial operating capability (IOC) in 2027.

The ARV is a possible replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps legacy Light Armored Vehicle (LAV). It would support light armored reconnaissance battalions within the Marine divisions.

Story here. 

I might be mistaken but I didn't see an "amphibious" requirement.  Additionally this vehicle is slated to be more expensive than the ACV.  No way in hell it can be a one for one replacement for the LAV.

Marines could increase some rifle squads to 15

via Business Insider India

*The Marines are expanding rifle squads to include up to 15 troops as warfare becomes more technical.

*Marine Corps infantry squads could soon expand from 13 troops to 15 as warfare gets more technical. The change is expected to come soonest for rifle squads on Navy ships.

*Squad leaders are taking on a host of new responsibilities like drones and cyber to help the service prepare for the future fight.

Marines operating at sea could soon form the biggest rifle squads in the modern military as top leaders move toward expanding their size to 15-person teams.

Rifle squads deployed with Marine expeditionary units could plus up to 15 as soon as 2020, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Wednesday. The extra personnel will help squad leaders deal with new responsibilities they're taking on as warfare grows more technical.

"If we take it to 15, that's difficult for one person, I think, to command and control," Neller told reporters during a Defense Writers' Group event in Washington, D.C. "That's why we added those two other people - to help that squad leader whose workload is increasing."
Marine officials announced in May that the traditional 13-person squad would drop to 12, including new assistant squad leader and squad-systems operator billets. Both of those Marines will come from the infantry ranks.

A 12-person squad will be the minimum size grunts can expect across the infantry, said Lt. Col. Eric Dent, Neller's spokesman. But if operational demands require it, leaders will have the ability to flex the size to 15 by adding an additional rifleman to each of the three fire teams.

Story here. 

A hardcore rant is on the tip of my tongue but I'm gonna "sit down, chill out and wait"...wait for an explanation.

I will say this.

When you see whipsaw decision making.

When you see vacillation on something this important....it bodes ill for any organization and especially a warfighting organization.

I'll wait but I expect to be dazzled.

Bell V280 Valor glamour shot.

Challenger 2 main battle tank during Exercise Saif Sareea 3 in Oman.