Pony Express..Navy Style---plus pics of the day June 21, 2010.

U.S. Navy shooters launch a C-2A Greyhound aircraft assigned to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 from aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) June 11, 2010, while conducting training operations in the Atlantic Ocean. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel S. Moore, U.S. Navy/Released)

The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), rear, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force Osumi-Class amphibious assault ship JDS Kunisaki (LST 4003), center, and two Japanese landing craft, air cushion hovercraft steam through the South China Sea during a photo exercise June 14, 2010. Mercy is deployed as part of Pacific Partnership 2010, the fifth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet humanitarian and civic assistance endeavors to strengthen regional partnerships. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Husman, U.S. Navy/Released)

U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. David Carter rappels from an HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 14 June 16, 2010, during helicopter rope suspension training on the flight deck of USS George Washington (CVN 73). Carter is from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5. George Washington is under way in the Pacific Ocean in support of security operations. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Adam K. Thomas, U.S. Navy/Released)

Two CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters from USS Peleliu (LHA 5) fly off the coast of Dili, Timor-Leste, June 20, 2010. Sailors from the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit are participating in Marine Exercise 2010, a multilateral exercise promoting cooperation through civic action programs and training with the Timor-Leste and Australian militaries. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Russell, U.S. Navy)

FN's new Remote Weapon Station.

Bill Sweetman has an article over at Ares covering the wide number of 8x8 Infantry Fighting Vehicles on the market.  A segment of the defense industry that's kept up with the variety of IFV's are the RWS that are being used to provide them with firepower.  FN has demonstrated a new system at Eurosatory.    Via DefPro from FN Herstal.

Taking advantage of its experience in the field of Remote Weapon Stations with more than 630 units already contracted within the frame of several acquisition programs - some of them being deployed in Lebanon and Afghanistan -, FN Herstal announces the introduction of the newly developed deFNder™ medium remote weapon station that provides optimized remote firing capabilities while keeping the operator fully secure and safe from harm.

The deFNder™ is capable of integrating any FN Herstal machine gun up to .50 cal, including the exclusive M3P machine gun, which has a unique firing rate of 1,100 rounds per minute and features extended operation angles [-42°; +73°]. The deFNder™ is therefore well suited for:

• self-defense, fire support and combat missions – also in urban environments – when mounted on light, medium or heavy vehicles 
• turret onto turret applications
• border control or critical infrastructure protection missions.

The deFNder™ features a universal cradle accepting any FN machine gun from 5.56mm MINIMI up to .50 cal or 40mm AGLs. The cradle is mounted on a soft mount to ensure optimized firing capabilities and reduced level of shocks and vibrations. The weapon station does not exceed 120 kg in weight (without weapon and ammunition) and 640mm in height. It comes standard with a CCD and thermal uncooled camera.

Many have criticized the consolidation in the defense industry (myself included) but with the proliferation of different weapon systems and vehicles from even the limited manufacturers in this segment, its obvious that even more consolidation is on the horizon.

Consolidation and savage down sizing. 

We definitely live in interesting times.

22DDH. Japan's next Helicopter Carrier (LHD).

via DefPro.

Rumors that the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s third “aircraft carrying destroyer” would mark a major improvement in size and capability over the Hyuga class ships now entering service have been confirmed. The new 22DDH will be 248 meters long and 39 meters in beam, and displace more than 24,000 tons. This makes her almost 50 percent larger than the Hyuga class and places an unbearable semantic strain on the use of the term “destroyer” to describe these ships. To put the size of the ship into context, she is comparable with a World War II Essex-class fleet carrier.

That my friends is larger than the Mistral, Canberra and Cavour.  While the US Navy's Surface Officers are ready to move away from support of the Amphibious Fleet, other nations are embracing their utility.  

Information Request.

Major Hat Tip to Elgatoso for catching this in the photo.  Can you identify the airplane just in front of the island behind the AH-1W and to the left (as you look at the pic) of the H-60?

It's in blue camo has a red star on its tail and I would assume that its used for aggressor training.  Problem is I don't see it listed in squadron service.

If you can ID the airplane and the purpose it serves and the unit it belongs to I'd appreciate it!


UPDATE 1.

Commenter John identified the airplane for me.  He stated that its an Aero L-29 Delfin and provided a link to an acrobatic team that flies them in the comments section.

OK, I've gotten the aircraft ID, now I need to know why its on a big deck amphib! 

Bradley Family of Vehicles. An out the box GCV.

At 50 seconds into the video BAE shows the vehicle with the turret removed.  With the upgrades found in the CV90 Armadillo applied to some legacy Bradley's you have a low cost solution.  BAE is ready to move on this.  The US Army should take them up on it.

Army Chief of Staff wants lighter GCV.

via Defense News.

Gen. George Casey said he thinks the future replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle needs to be much lighter than the estimated 70 tons program officials are projecting that the new GCV will weigh. 
"I keep saying, 'Look, man, an MRAP [mine-resistant ambush-protected] is about 23 tons, and you're telling me this is going to be 70 tons, which is the same as an [M1] Abrams. Surely we can get a level of protection between that, that is closer to the MRAP than it is the M1,' " Casey said June 7. "It's not going to be a super heavyweight vehicle."
Casey's comments come less than a month after Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said at the Armor Conference at Fort Knox, Ky., that the GCV would weigh 50 to 70 tons.

After we all said WTF!  a 70 ton IFV, it seems that the Army Chief of Staff is walking this cluster back.  Good for him.  If the US Army actually stayed with a 70 ton IFV, then the USMC would be doing all the fighting ...well the USMC and the 82nd....

Casey might have just saved his service.

US Warships to intercept Iranian Flotilla.

Major Hat Tip to Resident Author.

Via Israeli National News.

Despite Egypt’s reported refusal to block the canal to Iranian boats, the clearance for the American-Israeli fleet may be a warning to Iran it may face military opposition if the Iranian Red Crescent ship continues on course to Gaza.
The warships may exercise the right to inspect the Iranian boat for the illegal transport or weapons. Newsweek reported that Egyptian authorities could stop the ship for weeks, using technicalities such as requiring that any official documents be translated from Farsi into Arabic.  
The magazine’s website also reported that the Iranian navy is the weakest part of its armed forces. Tehran has already backed down from announced intentions to escort the Iranian ships with "volunteer marines” from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Read the whole thing but I smell a public relations move by the US Administration rather than an escalation towards possible action at sea.

Obama is attempting to balance two conflicting truths.  First he's sympathetic to the Muslim world and seeks to bolster his image in the region.  Second, he needs to bolster his standing with the Jewish community here in America or a valued source of campaign contributions goes away.

Playing Russian Roulette with warships on the high seas is a dangerous game to play.  Lets hope he has a better plan for this "possibility" than he did after 50 days of oil spilling into the gulf.

You want to fight in the Littoral Zone? Retask the Riverine Units.

 Keeping with the theme of warfare in the Littoral Zone.

If you REALLY want to fight in this area then the LCS is not the answer.  No, the answer is to retask the Riverine Units and have them operate in Green and Brown water.

This is going to be a major undertaking however.

 First you have to re-equip them with CB-90's or equal boats.  Their rigid raiders can operate far afield but in order for them to be effective they need a slightly larger boat.

Next you need to provide them with some type of mother ship.  I really hate the idea of dedicating an amphib to the mission of supporting these Littoral Action Groups (my new name for the organization) but its necessary.  We should take an LPD that is to be retired, service life extend it (again) and have it act in this role...we'll need three.  One for action in the Pacific, Atlantic and Middle East.

Lastly you need to have dedicated air assets devoted to fighting in the Littoral Zones, supporting these Littoral Action Groups yet capable of operating from the decks of the mothership.  In other words bring back the Sea Wolves.  The US Navy should bring back its attack helicopter component.  Ideally it would simply be additional CH-60's armed with hellfires.  This would allow a fast response when necessary to emerging threats detected by radar or recon UAVs/aircraft and it would simplify logistics.

This would give you a force capable of operating in the Littoral Zone effectively.  If its a counter-insurgency at sea then this force will be optimal.  If its full scale warfare then hand the issue back to the big boys---Burke's, Subs and Aircraft Carriers.

Lets not fool ourselves.  Full scale combat in the littoral zone will shred LCS and this new organization I propose.  This will also bring our doctrine in line with common sense.  The littorals are dangerous.  If its less than full scale war then the Littoral Action Group, equipped with CB-90s, LPD motherships and dedicated CH-60's can handle it.

This leaves the question.  What do we do with the LCS?  I'm sad to say, we scrap it and move to a cheaper solution.  It is looking more and more like the Navy's version of the FCS...a concept that was designed in haste to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Please Explain.

I was reading an article by Chris Rawley over at Information Dissemination and I'm a bit confused.  Read his article here.  But he makes this statement...

In an hybrid warfare environment, a stateless enemy with only a handful of higher end, state-provided, sea denial capabilities such as anti-ship cruise missiles will likely choose his targets carefully to maximize impact at a minimal cost. A capital surface combatant off the coast makes a more tempting and high profile target than a larger number of smaller green water combatants.

This leads me to my confusion.

1.  Why would we build ships that are in other words designed to be lost...along with the crews...in order to preserve our capital ships...
2.  How can the SecDef question the relevance of Amphibious Assault while at the same time pushing the concept of the building Littoral Combat Ships if amphibious assault can't occur because of anti-ship missiles, shore batteries etc???

This is almost idiotic! 

Greg over at Defense Tech penned an article you can read here.  In it he made this statement.

The proliferation of low-cost, precision anti-ship missiles into the arsenals of potential enemies means large deck amphibious ships are becoming “wasting assets.”

So amphibious assault doctrine is to operate 50 miles or more off shore and now the US Navy is designing a class of ships to push in closer???  We are actually embarking on a path where we will have 50 or more 600 million dollar a piece throw away ships to operate in hostile, congested waters with small crews and limited defensive countermeasures and its the path of the future?

Wow.

I DON'T GET IT!

Pic of the day. June 19, 2010.

100617-N-7948R-125 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) Marine pilots assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) fly an AH-1W Super Cobra during flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5). Peleliu is part of Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group, on a scheduled deployment to the western Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Russell/Released)

100617-N-7948R-175 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) A Marine pilot assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) flies an AH-1W Super Cobra during flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5). Taylor is participating in theater security cooperation activities in the Adriatic Sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Edward Kessler/Released)

100617-N-1200S-947 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conducts a replenishment at sea with the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Freedom and Bonhomme Richard are scheduled to participate in RIMPAC 2010, the world's largest international maritime exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Marcus L. Stanley/Released)

100617-N-1200S-914 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conducts a replenishment at sea with the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Freedom and Bonhomme Richard are scheduled to participate in RIMPAC 2010, the world's largest international maritime exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Marcus L. Stanley/Released)

NOTE: Is it just me or does it seem like everytime the LCS goes out to sea for more than a day its conducting replenishment exercises to keep it in the game? It has no endurance to speak of and it seems like a dedicated mothership might be necessary if the Navy goes ahead with procurement of these ships...or old fashioned forward bases.

Interactive displays.

Major hat tip to Bob for the Hawkei site.  I've already heaped praise on the effort put out by BAE and Thales Australia for providing the public with information on their new vehicles.

You can see the BAE interactive CV90 Armadillo site here.


and...

You can see the Thales Australia interactive Hawkei site here.

Hagglunds SEP is now BAE Alligator!