Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Marines Welcome the F-35B to Eglin AFB


General Dunford nails it.

Now lets roll sleeves again.

They're all following the script.


DoDBuzz has the story up about the abbreviated flight that the F-35 took down at Eglin.  Read it here.

I won't even bother to quote from it.  Its just a bunch of mush about the short flight...how it represents the problems that the program has been having...yada, yada, yada.

It makes the critics smile but the only reason why this story is on my radar (besides getting tired of seeing it regurgitated all over the internet) is the fact that many outstanding defense reporters are missing the larger, more important story.

Someone, somewhere has accelerated this program. 

We will see flight training at Eglin this year.

Pilots will start getting checked out on this airplane THIS year.  

That's the real significance of the flight yesterday.  And no one in the mainstream media gets it.

That's just unreal.

Lex is gone. He will be missed.

Lex is gone.

USNI has a fitting tribute to the man.  And ID does a good job too.  Read them here and here.


His passing disturbs me.


I never met the guy, I only read his blog but this unsettles me.


I can't figure out why.

Prayers go to his family...his wife, daughter and son.

He will be missed. 


Winglets coming to a C-5M, C-130J or a P-3 near you.

According to a 2011 Department of Defense report, the US armed forces consumed nearly five billion gallons of fuel of all types in military operations in 2010. Those gallons cost $13.2 billion, a 255 percent increase over the fuel bill in 1997. “Saving even one percent of those five billion gallons is a huge amount of fuel and a big reduction in cost,” said Chuck Hybart, who headed the fuel efficiency studies program for the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, the company’s advanced technology development organization. Winglets, such as shown on a C-130J in this artist concept, is one major way to improve fuel efficiency.

Winglets are one promising option that turned up on the C-130, C-5, and P-3. Winglets are the upturned wingtip devices that improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag through partial recovery of the vortex energy created by the airstream as it goes over the wingtip. These devices also increase the effective aspect ratio—that is, wing length-to-chord—without materially increasing wingspan. A combination of CFD studies and actual wind tunnel testing was conducted for both the C-130 and P-3. This is a computer-generated version of a C-130J with winglets.



Tuesday, March 06, 2012

SEAL Team 17????

101211-N-4044H-045 SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND, Calif. (Dec. 11, 2010) Yeoman 1st Class Christine Dipaola, assigned to Seal Team 17, a unit comprised of both active and reserve component members based in Coronado, Calif., fires a .50-caliber weapon during expeditionary training. Members of the team are in San Clemente conducting exercises in preparation for an upcoming deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eddie Harrison/Released)

Who are these guys?

Is this a real deal SEAL team or something else?

Curious.

Geez. I hope Lex is ok...

I follow Lex religiously so when this news came I was stunned.

I hope he's ok...

I hope his aircraft wasn't involved in this accident...

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Authorities say a pilot for a defense contractor is dead after an Israeli-made military fighter jet crashed at Fallon Naval Air Station in northern Nevada.
Base and company officials say the F-21 Kfir (kuh-FEER) aircraft crashed just after 9:15 a.m. Tuesday inside the west gate of the military airfield, about 60 miles east of Reno.
Petty Officer 1st Class Doug Harvey says it was snowy and foggy at the time.
Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. official Matt Bannon in Newport News, Va., says it's too early to say what caused the crash of the single-seat, single-engine aircraft. Bannon says the name of the pilot won't be made public until his family is notified.
The aircraft is one of several types that the company provides under contract to the U.S. military.
I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times.

Even training is dangerous.

Go to Lex's site here.

Hi-rez elephant walk...





Let me clarify my stance on SOCOM.



I've been getting e-mails to lay off the SOCOM.

Maybe.  But lets be clear about more than a couple of things.

1.  Yes, I'm going to repeat myself.  SOCOM is as large as 3 Army Divisions.  Yet they still leverage support from the conventional forces, have a budget that is beyond massive (the part we can see) and we don't know how large the part we can't see is.

2.  We see enormous duplications in capabilities and mission sets.  The Rangers are the Army's raiders...enlarge them.  The Special Forces are the premier trainers.  If they're taking back that mission from conventional forces then enlarge them.  But as for the rest of SOCOM?  It just doesn't make sense.

3.  SEALs have been in the news far too much.  Quiet Professionals?  You're shitting me right?

4.  MARSOC is seeking to enlarge itself from Regimental strength to only God knows what.  If the Marine Corps shrinks to 150,000 then you'll see MARSOC absorbing a tremendous number of available boatspaces...all to follow a vision that is no longer viable...additionally it duplicates both Rangers and SEAL mission sets.  Force Recon being assigned to MEU's is a much better use of those assets.

I'm not anti-SOCOM but SOCOM is busted and needs better leadership.  The SEAL BullFrog in charge right now is the wrong man at the wrong time.  Glory seekers and bureaucracy builders are not whats needed in that organization.  Quiet Professionals are.

First F-35 Local Orientation Flight at Eglin AFB

The first local orientation flight for the F-35’s premier integrated training wing was successfully launched March 6, 2012, at Eglin Air Force Base.

UPDATE:
LOCKHEED MARTIN UPLOADED THESE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS>

 

MRAPs. The forgotten armored vehicle.

We're getting hit with a slew of stories covering Army and Marine Corps efforts at vehicle modernization.

You can check them out here and here.

But it occurs to me that whats been missing in all these conversations is the future of all those MRAPs that we have in service.

Are we going to keep some in storage?

If so then how many?

What is the plan on how and when we deploy them?  Do we take a certain percentage of casualties before its time to bring them out and ship them to theatre?

Or are they headed for the scrap heap because they're for use in counter insurgency's and we're out of that business?

We have alot of work to do before we get all this sorted out.

  In the meantime, the Secretary of the Navy (yeah his sorry ass again) is rolling out a Michelle Obama special.  

Note:

I stand corrected.  The work is being done...but unlike Navy SEALs these guys are operating in the background, getting the job done behind the scenes.

Awesome!

The statement on the SecNav rolling out a Michelle Obama special on the Marines and Sailors still stands though.