Hey Thomas! I'm your huckleberry...

Thomas...you're no daisy...you're no daisy at all....

Is this an M27 with 2nd LAR?

AZIRABAD, Helmand Province, Afghanistan-Lance Cpl. Frank M. Garrison III, a Shinnston, W. Va., native and rifleman with Company C, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), provides security as the Afghan Border Police partnered with the Marines and sailors of the company move through the town. Company C accompanied the ABP on a clearing mission through the town in order to deny the insurgency a transit location for smuggling illicit drugs. , Cpl. Jeff Drew, 6/27/2011 5:49 AM

Take a look at this Marine's weapon.

I'm not sure but it doesn't look quite like a M16A4....but it doesn't exactly fit the profile of the M27 either.  Anyone know what it is?

The Dark Lord's Response.

Somewhere in a dimly light room the Dark Lord responds to the news of the USAF starting the Operational Evaluation of the F-35.  Our hidden cameras caught scene.  See the video below.



This is via Defense News.  Go there to read the whole thing but here are the good bits...

"The JPO is currently estimating Ops Test of Block 2B to commence in early 2015 and complete in early 2016, and the [Operational Test] for Block 3C IOC capabilities to commence in mid-2016 and to end in early 2018," said Air Force spokesman Maj. Chad Steffey.
The service's Air Combat Command has not set a new IOC date for the F-35.
Carlisle said that the F-35 could be a valuable combat asset even with the earlier Block 2B software.
"Block 2B has capability that if the combatant commander needed it, we would deploy it. Would it be IOC? No," he said.
"We in the Air Force designated a set of capabilities to include [Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses], [Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses], air-to-ground and some air-to-air capability that we consider the minimum required for initially operational capable," he said.

He noted that the Air Force has deployed many aircraft that had not yet formally entered service, including the F-15E Strike Eagle, MQ-9 Reaper UAV and the E-8 Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) surveillance plane.

The F-35 even outpaces its larger twin-engine cousin, the F-22 Raptor, in certain areas, including electronic countermeasures and electronic counter-counter measures. Carlisle also praised the jet's infrared sensors and air-to-ground radar as "phenomenal."

I'm not going to get into the F-35 vs. F-22 debate.  In hindsight thats always been a false choice.  A choice pushed on us by the F-35's critics.....

What I will get into is the stance that the USAF and USMC are taking when it comes to the F-35.  Both services are prepared to deploy the system in Block 2B configuration and the USMC has taken it a step further and stated that they will declare it IOC with that milestone.

The critics have lost, McCain is senile and this war is over.

The F-35 will be the primary fighter for US forces for the foreseeable future.

Marines make their mark at NASA

First Production F-35 Arrival at Eglin AFB

Analysis of Sweetman's latest post on the F-35.

'Nuff said.

Read his post here.

F-35 production ramps up. First flight of AF-13.

Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin flew the eighth production model of the F-35 Lightning II, F-35A AF-13, on its inaugural flight on 14 July 2011 from NAS Fort Worth JRB.

Take that Sweetman...APA...Cox...Trimble....and the merry band!