How the UK will lose the Falklands...

Check out the article from the Daily Mail...but as always a few tidbits...

The date is July 27, 2012, and in London the Olympic Games are about to begin. For months, the British people have been looking forward to the jamboree of patriotic enthusiasm.
But now that the day is here, the mood feels heavy with gloom. The crowds are thin, the drizzle pours down. The Union Flags hang forlornly in the dull breeze.
Even the nation's new Prime Minister, the blinking, stammering Ed Miliband, cuts a remarkably limp figure, a melancholy leader for a nation sunk in misery....

...Under the terms of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the government had committed itself to scrapping the Harrier Jump Jets and decommissioning the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, effectively hobbling its capacity to strike back against an Argentine invasion.
In October 2010, Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, the architect of victory in the South Atlantic in 1982, warned that a surprise attack would be 'highly likely to succeed'.
Thanks to the swingeing cuts, he insisted, the Argentines could take the islands 'with barely a shot being fired'.
But to their eternal shame, the Coalition ignored his warnings. And they even ignored an even more aggressive bout of sabre-rattling from Mrs Kirchner, who declared the following summer that Britain was merely a 'crude colonial power in decline'.
All this, however, was merely a taste of what was to come...

Read the entire article...those are only two passages...but also read the comments section over at Think Defence.

I continue to be amazed at the arrogance of opinion by some of the commenters.  The idea that they could be under threat of having their islands attacked seems almost foreign to them.  They deride the Argentinian military and have a vision of the Royal Navy from the '80's.

They ignore the draconian cuts forced on the Navy by the Royal Air Force and British Army.  They still believe that they're a world power even though they're only willing to fund a Navy at the rate of a 1st rate Coast Guard.

Trouble is coming and those that are warning of the danger are being ignored and belittled.    Neville Chamberlain would be proud.

Pic of the day...

12/22/2011 By Andy Wolfe
Headquarters Marine Corps
Lt. Col. Matt Taylor lands an F-35B Short Take-Off Vertical Landing aircraft Dec. 13 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The first test flight of the STOVL variant by a Marine was in 2009.

Aselsan Tank Modernization

Interesting video.  They claim that this upgrade is a step beyond the Leopard 2A6 but I just don't see it.  Any Tankers know for sure?

A waste of an aircraft carrier...

Above you see a drawing of the "proposed" HMS Queen Elizabeth class that was canceled.  Note that it came in at around 60,000 tons, was to carry 24 Phantom fighters, 12 Buccaneers and presumably at least a couple or 6 helicopters for various duties (including plane guard).

Fast forward to today and what do we have the British Ministry of Defense planning for their flagship in terms of aircraft?  12.  A grand total of 12 fighters.

Say that out loud and see if it makes sense to you.  12 fighters on a 60,000 ton aircraft carrier.  What a waste of a fabulous capability.

USMC goes full bore with civilian shooters...

I keep saying that civilian shooting in the US is leading the military and influencing its training and equipment set more and more.


The above video is just more evidence of that trend. 

Battalion Landing Team 1/2 conduct beach raid exercise

Amphibious assault vehicles assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/2 prepare for a beach raid exercise aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York. New York is underway participating in composite training unit exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group's certification for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood)

Amphibious assault vehicles assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/2 debark from the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York for a beach raid exercise. New York is underway participating in composite training unit exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group's certification for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood)

Amphibious assault vehicles assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/2 debark from the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York for a beach raid exercise. New York is underway participating in composite training unit exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group's certification for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood)

Vice Adm. David Venlet brings in his boys...

Note that this is pure speculation on my part...

But it appears that Admiral Venlet is solidifying his grip on the F-35 program.  Management classes teach that if you're going to be a 'change agent' that you need to have your people in places of power to see your vision carried out to completion.

Now check out this press release from NAVAIR...

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md.—Building on his history as a test pilot , Navy Capt. Erik Etz recently assumed duties here as the senior military representative of the F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF).

Etz became the director for Test and Evaluation of F-35 Naval Variants in November, and replaces Marine Corps Col. Roger Cordell, who on Dec. 21 took command of Naval Test Wing Atlantic, which includes the “Salty Dogs” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23.

“We could not have selected anyone better than Erik for the demands of the job at Pax River,” said Vice Adm. David Venlet, Joint Strike Fighter program executive officer. “Roger did a fantastic job of capitalizing on the momentum built in B and C test evaluation there in the past year, and I’m fully confident Erik will maintain that momentum.”

An F/A-18 pilot, Etz was the deputy lead for the F-35 Mission Systems Integrated Product Team at the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office in Crystal City, Va. He is a 1998 graduate of the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School, and completed two tours in VX-23, including a lead role in the third sea trials for the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet.

“The ITF this year has really ramped up the pace and diversity of flight test, completing initial ship trials for [the short takeoff and vertical landing variant], first catapult testing, including [the electromagnetic aircraft launching system], and getting ahead on test points,” Etz said. “I look forward to another great year of retiring risk in 2012, so we can get these aircraft out to the fleet.”

The F-35B short take-off and vertical landing variant and the F-35C carrier variant of the Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter are undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River. The jets represent the next generation of tactical aircraft for the Navy, Marine Corps and international partners.

During his operational tours, including command of the “Stingers” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 113, Etz completed multiple carrier-based deployments, most recently in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He has more than 3,300 flight hours in 35 types of aircraft, including over 2,700 hours in F/A-18 variants and more than 840 carrier landings on 14 different aircraft carriers.

Cordell’s yearlong stint included managing the F-35 ITF of more than 700 military, civilian and industry personnel. The team completed delivery of six test aircraft, including all three of the F-35C variants, bringing the total test force to eight.

“I have never been associated with a group of people who faced a more daunting challenge with the inspiring spirit, confidence and ability so prevalent at the ITF,” Cordell wrote in a note to the ITF. “Future success in delivering F-35 to the warfighter depends on your continued commitment to doing things right, trusting your judgment and voicing concerns.”

Read this part again...

commitment to doing things right, trusting your judgment and voicing concerns.”

Call me chicken little but it appears that more is going on behind the scenes then meets the eye.  Still a fan of the airplane but the action isn't at Lockheed Martin or the Pentagon anymore.  The action is at the Program Office and that's where I'll be turning my binoculars!

The Falklands...a flashpoint for 2012...

Think Defence took me to task for my thinking that the Falklands was endangered in this post.

Take the time to read his entire article and then read the comments section.

Then read this from DefenceTalk...

A South American trading bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay agreed Tuesday to close its ports to ships flying the flag of the disputed Falkland Islands, Uruguay's president said.The presidents of the Mercosur countries agreed at a summit here that ships flying the Falklands flag "should not dock in Mercosur ports, and if that were to happen, they should not be accepted in another Mercosur port," Uruguay's President Jose Mujica said.A statement issued at the end of the summit said member countries would adopt "all measures that can be put in place to impede the entry to its ports of ships that fly the illegal flag of the Malvinas Islands."Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner, who took over the presidency of the trade bloc from Mujica, thanked her fellow presidents for the show of support for Buenos Aires in its dispute with Britain over the South Atlantic archipelago.

Those that don't see the clouds or hear the drumbeats are fooling themselves.  Argentina has just set the stage diplomatically for the South American "federation" to unite behind a particular cause.


Unless the British respond appropriately then this is going to be a mission accomplished without a shot being fired.