Monday, June 29, 2020

Scots Guards + Boxer = Strike Brigade?

Open Comment Post. 29 June 2020


Chinese Armor (Type 96A MBT?) thundering across the desert...





The Military We Have Vs. The Military We Need

Note.  I ran across this article and thought that I would be reading something so thought provoking that it would have me post it on the blog as an alternative way of thinking and stir debate.  That did NOT happen.  Instead I'm left wondering how this guy could be teaching at a premier defense university in the USA.

The Military We Have Vs. The Military We Need via Defense One (article here)

The military we have is heavy, destructive, lethal, blunt, combat-oriented, technology-dominant, general purpose, unilaterally capable, provocative, escalatory, expensive (gluttonously so), and unsustainable. It is basically a hard-power warfighting machine, totally captive of and obsessed with its own warfighting/warfighter verbiage, useful primarily for tacit threatmaking based on ostensibly superior capabilities, and prepared – arguably – only for traditional, conventional war (even though deployed for a variety of missions). 
The end (or toward the end) of the article first.  I thought the military we wanted was suppose to be destructive, lethal, blunt and combat oriented! Suffice it to say that this bubba is arguing for something different.
 The military we need would be quite the opposite: light, constructive, predominantly nonlethal, precise, noncombat-oriented, manpower-dominant, tailored, multilaterally-capable/-dependent, reassuring, de-escalatory, affordable, and sustainable. It would be a strategically effective force, designed to respond to a robust array of complex, most-frequently-occurring emergencies – peacekeeping, nation-building, humanitarian assistance, disaster response – that ultimately contribute most demonstrably to the overarching normative strategic aim of enduring global peace.
Yeah.

I don't get it.  I hope I'm wrong but can anyone point to any place on the planet where an external force has been able to successfully engage in nation building, peacekeeping etc...?

I can't think of one place where it's happened.  I stand ready to be corrected.

Anyway, read the whole thing and let me know what you think.

My guess is that this is a primer for a position in the new administration and is his bid at showing dramatic new ideas probably with the idea that an appointment can be had if he can justify slashing defense spending dramatically.

One last thing.

The force that he envisions for the US would be more in keeping with the current German model than many of our more powerful allies.  This portion should keep the people at the Pentagon up at night.
 Should such sweeping, transformative overhaul ever become a reality? Yes – if peace is actually our ultimate aim. Could it take place? Unlikely – given the intellectual shortcomings of the defense establishment in particular, and the national security community in general. These are heretical, heterodox ideas that can take root and be acted upon only as an outgrowth of new thinking that is in inexcusably short supply in government and think tank thought factories. In the final analysis, though, the military will have to take the lead – and want to take the lead – in dramatically reforming itself because politicians have major vested interests, political and economic, in preserving the status quo and in letting the military dictate its own fate. Whether the military has the intellectual wherewithal to measure up to such a challenge is a matter for high hopes, but measured expectations. But if we are to produce a future that is better than the past, we shouldn’t give up on hope. 
What should keep you up at night?

The knowledge that someone at the Pentagon is reading this article and agreeing with it 100%

Sunday, June 28, 2020

RAFAEL Multi-Missile SPIKE NLOS Launcher Configuration



I was happy to share this vid when I found it but I'm a bit miffed. Some of these manufacturers fail to realize that we want to see the system they've developed, not explosions or the weapon they launch (in this case). Good vid but I wanted a bit more.

Royal Air Force Chinook doing work down low...



Chinese Navy vs the QUAD countries


If payloads over platforms is the correct meme....If China is able to develop effective anti-ship missiles that can be launched from small ships...If Chinese Diesel Electric Subs are as effective as their European counterparts...then we have a huge problem in the Pacific.

I guess the first issue is the most important one.  Would the Quad countries actually stick together if a fight were declared?  Notice that the S. Koreans aren't included?  That's a huge red flag in my mind.

Next is the issue we covered first.

How will the USMC's future force structure make up for this deficit and is the juice worth the squeeze if they're able to get on land?

Just looking at this chart, leadership fiddled while the threat turned into a monster.

Did the naval order of battle against the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact ever look this bad during the height of the Cold War?

Open Comment Post. 28 June 2020


GM Defense wins US Army Infantry Squad Vehicle Carrier Contract...

Defense Blog has the details here.

Below is a pic, the brochure and the GM Defense Website.





Saturday, June 27, 2020

This is clearly BATSHIT crazy...



Simply amazing but not entirely unexpected.

This is batshit crazy but a sign of things to come.  Defund police?  I give it till the first of the year and you'll see a hiring call that will shock the system along with increased pay in all localities.

Conventional wisdom today is gonna be seen as "what the fuck were you thinking" tomorrow.

Late Saturday Talk. Summer is pretty much a wash. Is fall gonna be worse?

Just a little Late Saturday Talk.  Some have hit on it on the blog.  I've seen it said outright in other places.

Summer is looking like a wash.  Their will be no traditional summer this year.  Which means tourism worldwide is in the toilet.  Looks like beaches are gonna take a beating and normal other summertime activities (probably with the exception of barbeques) is underwater too.

So from my seat we can kiss summer goodbye.

Will the fall be better or worse?

What does that even look like?  Can you imagine Halloween in the era of the coronavirus?  Thanksgiving might scrap by but Christmas and the shopping that props up most businesses is gonna take a SERIOUS and drastic hit.

Oh and this is all before you add in some of the social unrest that is definitely keeping me in an even less than normally anti-social mood than I already am.

Of course this will extend to all facets of our lives.  From domestic policy, foreign policy, defense spending, domestic spending...even to employment.

I'm tossing this out to you all.

If you look at everything we're facing could we possibly be on the verge of a freaking depression (and yeah I've said it before, seen the videos on YouTube of the Karens and Kens acting a fool and even one woman saying she doesn't wear a mask for the same reason she doesn't wear panties...cause she gotta breath) because of our response/fear of this disease?

What are the global implications of a great depression?  What are the issues that the defense budget will face because of a crashed economy?

Looking into a crystal ball I can't anything but hard times ahead.  Am I wrong?

Someone is moving a large convoy of SCUD missiles in Libya. What's going on?



Someone is moving a large convoy of SCUD missiles in Libya.  WTF is going on? Either they're moving them to more secure storage, moving them for transport out of the country, moving them to launch sites or moving them to a place where they can be dismantled.

Considering its Libya I'm guessing they're gonna be used.