Monday, November 22, 2010

Suppression of enemy awesomeness.

They call the Prowler's mission "Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses," but they should call it "Suppression of Enemy Awesomeness," because there's no way you and your stupid C3I network can be awesome when an EA-6B is on station.
~photo & caption by Joe Copalman

Why are we still buying MRAPs?


I got this from Jonathan.  Thanks dude.  This is amazing.  This is nonsense.  This makes no sense!  Read it and weep, your tax dollars at work.  More MRAPs when we don't know what to do with the ones we already have.
Navistar Defense, LLC today announced that it received a delivery order for 250 International® MaxxPro® Recovery vehicles from the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command. The $253 million order was placed under the company’s Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity contract and includes contractor logistics support. This is Navistar’s eighth major MRAP variant.
Navistar originally unveiled the MaxxPro Recovery vehicle, also known as a wrecker variant, in February 2009 as a new utility vehicle offering.

Galrahn bails on USNI blog.


I lurk on the USNI blog from time to time and to be honest when I first read this blog post, I didn't see anything controversial...just another statement from an inside the beltway blogger that spends too much time at Navy Headquarters.

This statement though has me scratching my head...
I apologize to the United States Naval Institute for failing to meet editorial standards on the blog in my November 10, 2010 post titled Leadership and Accountability. In that post it has been suggested I made an ad hominem attack against Admiral Jonathan Greenert. US Naval Institute blog rules forbid ad hominem attacks on the blog. I am responsible for all content posted under my name on the United States Naval Institute blog, and I strongly believe I should always be held accountable by USNI for any violation by me of their rules.
 I didn't see the 'ad hominem' attack.

The US Navy is in bigger trouble than I thought if they're to the point of pushing Politically Correct THOUGHT!

If you have an interest in Naval Services then this should send a chill down your spine.

The leading blog of the US Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard has now instituted a type of censorship of opinion that does not support the views of leadership.

I once lurked over at the USNI blog.  I won't even do that now.

PS.
And if you believe that this was simply a voluntary exit on Galrahn's part then I suggest you notice these words..."it has been suggested I made an ad hominem attack'...from reading his blog I can tell you that the only people that would carry weight when it comes to that suggestion with the G-man would be Navy leadership or the USNI blog editors.  Since the editors allowed the posting then it would have to be Navy leadership.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

You have got to watch this.

Massive hat tip to War News Updates.  This is a part of history I never knew.

K-Max UAV...the video.

K-max UAV would make the tank deployment make sense.



Ok, now this is making sense.  If the K-max UAV comes online then a whole lot of stuff comes together.  A certain blog has criticized the F-35 for requiring too much gas in forward operating base.

My response was that it would require less than a full gas tank to accomplish its mission since it would be forward based.  The same critique could be applied to tanks in Afghanistan.

This would seem to make Distributed Operations a nice dream but realistically undoable due to exposed supply lines....but bring into the equation not only the CH-53K but also the K-max UAV that's able to operate around the clock without worry of pilot fatigue and suddenly it comes together nicely.

Now the only thing left is to get the thing to Afghanistan and see if the experiment works!

Memorial planned for F-22 pilot.


A memorial service is being planned for the pilot of an F-22 which was lost over Alaska.
Capt. Jeffrey Haney's remains have not been found, but the Air Force says evidence at the remote crash site indicates he could not have survived. Part of the fighter jet's ejection seat was found at the site, which means Haney, of Clarklake, Mich., never ejected, Col. Jack McMullen said Friday.
Haney was on a nighttime training mission at the time of the crash Tuesday.


My question is this.

I'm by no means an aviation expert, but this is the second time that an F-22 appears to have abruptly departed controlled flight.  Why do I say that?  There has been no indication that a 'mayday' call was put out by the pilot.  It also appears that these airplanes were conducting some type of air intercept mission and were perhaps aggressively throwing the planes around the sky.

This is to be expected if you're flying the premier fighter in the world.

What isn't to be expected is that an airplane departs controlled flight without warning to the pilot.  The last time this happened that I can recall is to a Lockheed Martin test pilot in Nevada.

What gives with the F-22?

And please oh please spare me the tired old pilot error thing.

AH-1z onboard the USS Makin Island.