Saturday, October 24, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
Australia's Air Force is set to become the most powerful air arm in the Pacific (pound for pound) with the aid of Boeing's Loyal Wingman
Watch as the #LoyalWingman remotely piloted aircraft taxis down the runway for the first time.
— Royal Australian Air Force (@AusAirForce) October 23, 2020
It's another testing milestone for the @BoeingAustralia project, which we’re supporting to explore different concepts for unmanned aerial systems.
Next step will be its first flight. pic.twitter.com/9FGHDO5Am6
This is crazy! It's a darn shame that the Australians are getting such a big jump on us with this airplane. It's gonna be a world beater and with it teaming with the Super Hornet will probably be more lethal than any other combo flying today.
The crazy thing?
They aren't even playing with the thing yet! Imagine loading up one with a wing full of missiles. Another with jamming pods. A third acting as a scout with AESA blasting away...all while being trailed by a Super Hornet playing point guard directing the action. Why the basketball instead of football comparison? Because on the court every player can score. In this mythical package every plane can shoot and kill. Even the AESA variant playing the scout can use its radar in the electronic attack role. Killing electronics might be just as important as blasting apart structures!
I like what they're doing.
We should have beat them here but we didn't.
I guess we can take comfort in knowing that they're our allies and not another foe.
New Polish IFV Borsuk (Badger)
#tanktwitter
— Damian Ratka (@DRatka1) October 23, 2020
New Polish IFV Borsuk (Badger) in it's second prototype variant was just recently tested at Drawko Pomorskie proving grounds. From what we know tests wen very good. Start of mass production is scheduled to start 2022/2023. pic.twitter.com/REdaQxbs6M
The craziness of maintaining Marine Infantry when Berger really needs is a ton of ANGLICO!
It’s not so much becoming observer for fires, because other enablers will do that but instead finding your place in an organization that emphasis is now support of the fleet and that fleet doesn’t see the need for the seizure of key maritime terrain.
— Ron (@RonMcLaughlin2) October 23, 2020
This tweet is in response to a great article that talks about the Marine Infantry dilemma.
The reality?
With Berger's force we don't need Marine Infantry anymore than we needed the now discarded Marine Tanks.
All we need is all the missiles and rockets the son of a bitch wants to buy and a whole lot of ANGLICO.
Let the reality of that sink in.
In Berger's world the only thing that would be recognizable about the Marine Corps is aviation (which would inevitably be consumed by Navy Air). Everything else would be turned upside down.
No one is calling him on it and he's halfway to completing this craziness.
Ain't that just perfect for 2020? The seeds of defeat are being sown by one out of control Commandant and his sycophants that cheer for something even they realize is flawed beyond recognition.
I told you LAR was the walking dead and just didn't know! I told you the ACV did not fit with Berger's one region, one opponent vision!
via National Defense
A draft request for prototype proposals for the platform’s base variant was slated to be released in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020 with the final RFPP scheduled for spring 2021, the press release said.
“PM LAV will focus efforts targeted on industry RFIs and strategic small group engagements,” John Myers, program manager for Marine Corps Systems Command’s light armored vehicle portfolio, said in the release.
However, these timelines are now being questioned as the Marine Corps and Navy have gone silent on the ARV.
Over the summer, the program was transferred from Marine Corps Systems Command to the service’s Program Executive Office for Land Systems. Since then, public affairs officers have declined to answer follow-up questions about the program, with MCSC spokespersons referring questions to PEO Land Systems, and its spokesperson referring questions to the Office of Naval Research, since it is classified as a science-and-technology program, not a “program of record.”
An ONR spokesperson declined to answer questions about the program, citing “national security” reasons.
Read the entire article but its easy to read between the lines. LAR might survive in name but it won't look like anything most of us would recognize. From the same article a bit about the ACV.
“With the shift in our primary focus to great power competition and a renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific region, the current force has shortfalls in capabilities needed to support emerging joint, naval and Marine Corps operating concepts,” Berger said in the report.
Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, noted that the service is not only divesting its tanks, but also scaling back on other ground platforms such as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle.
“That vision is for small, highly agile teams that will use long-range precision fires,” Cancian said. “Combat vehicles don’t fit very well into this concept. … Ground combat vehicles are most useful if you are conducting operations against the conventional ground forces of another power. The Marine Corps looks to be fighting at long range.”
And a little about Berger's concept in general...
Cancian said he has reservations about the service’s vision for its vehicles, noting that the Force 2030 document is heavily focused on island warfare in the Western Pacific.
However, adopting a new reconnaissance vehicle would help ensure that the service is able to conduct operations in a variety of environments, he said. The Marine Corps should remain versatile in its warfighting abilities, he added.
“A reconnaissance vehicle would be extremely useful if you have a conflict in Korea, if you have a conflict in the Middle East, if you had a conflict in Europe,” he said. “My personal belief is the Marine Corps should hedge more against an uncertain future instead of building its forces and its concepts exclusively for a single kind of conflict.”
They just restated the point I've been making. I've yelled this shit from the rooftops.
Berger is building a Marine Corps that is viable in only one region against one opponent.
He is ensuring the death of the Marine Corps when the big fight happens where he didn't expect.
All-Domain Reconnaissance Detachment ?
Note. I guess the forever rebranding of shit continues....maybe. Is this simply Recon or something new? I have no idea. Interested in finding out. Additionally it seems like some of these Combat Photographer bubbas are getting "inventive" with their captions lately. Could be nothing. Could be something. Who knows.
 |
| 201012-M-PQ459-2016 PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 12, 2020) - U.S. Marines with the All-Domain Reconnaissance Detachment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit hoist a simulated casualty aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) during emergency readiness training. The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group and the 15th MEU are currently conducting at-sea training events in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Sarah Stegall) |
Thursday, October 22, 2020
A 'Big Fight Coming' over Defense Budget if Dems Sweep Election, Lawmaker Says
via Military.com
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says he opposes proposals by progressive Democrats to cut the Pentagon budget by as much as 20% if that party takes the House, Senate and White House on Election Day.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said he is "open to debate" on the subject of Defense Department funding but favors a flat budget or slight reductions over massive cuts designed to shift money to other federal programs.
Wow. This is crazy! All those generals that have come out in support of Biden and the Dems are gonna have to deal with this aftermath.
The trainwreck isn't gonna be just a trainwreck. It's gonna be a rape with a cactus!
Berger was right to try and move fast but even with that he's too slow.
The Marines are gonna be in the worst position possible. Halfway thru a transformation in the midst of massive budget cuts.
I know his game plan to deal with it though and he's signalled it.
He's said that he will cut legacy programs to pay for his modernization? You bet your ass! Say goodbye LAR, ACV and probably a few more F-35Bs. See ya KC-130 squadrons, so long a few more MV-22s! I've most definitely left out a few items but you get the drift.
BUT!
The biggest hit will be personnel.
I predicted an end strength of 150K based on what Amos and now Berger have publicly stated but that's far too low. I think we're probably now looking at an end strength of 125K at the high end to a low of 100K.
Mark my words. We're about to see the consequences of this election right away.
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