Nigel "Sharkey" Ward wants F/A-18's instead of F-35's!

Wow.

Holy Position Reversal Batman!

Sharkey Ward (famed fighter pilot) has written a paper in which he has gone from being a supporter of the F-35 and is now wanting F/A-18's instead.

The dynamics of the power struggle between the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are hard to make out on this side of the Atlantic but if Sharkey is even half right in his accusations against the RAF then the UK military is in a world of trouble.

While on the surface this might not seem like a big deal, trust me it is.  Ward is a trusted voice in British military affairs and although some would like to dismiss him, 3 kills in the Falklands War and a reputation as being a maverick marks him as a force to be reckoned with.

If Sharkey has turned on the F-35 then its not a good day for the program. My problem is that his reasoning seems to be based purely on politics and not the performance of the airplane.

Read it for yourself...
120320 - The Multi-Role Fighter for Britain's Future Naval Air Force

F-35B BF-11 First Flight

Lockheed Martin test pilot Al Norman flew F-35B BF-11 (Navy Bureau Number 168062), on its inaugural flight on 21 March 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB. The aircraft will be assigned to VMFAT-501 at Eglin AFB, Florida.

Too cool...

I'm assuming this is the UK judging by the accents...

25th CAB Pathfinders

Sgt. Kaylub Divine, A Team leader, F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, designates a sector of security to Pfc. Samuel Corsolini, a gunner with F Company, 2-25 AVN, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, during Operation Pranoo Verbena in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16.  Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

Pfc. Bryce Sterling, a rifleman with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, keeps a watchful eye during a search mission with members of 2nd Afghan National Civil Order Patrol Special Weapons and Tactics Team as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in order to disrupt Taliban operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16.  Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

 

Pfc. Samuel Corsolini, a gunner assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, pulls security for members of 2nd Afghan National Civil Order Patrol Special Weapons and Tactics Team during a vehicle interdiction as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in order to disrupt Taliban operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16.
25th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs
Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

 

There are many more pics but they contain ANA personnel in them.  My choice, right or wrong is to not include them on these pages.  My opinion...my decision. 

The "Nanny" Commandant.

I'm not a fan of Amos.

Something about him rubs me the wrong way.  When I see him all I think is that this guy is a politician and he wasn't/isn't ready for the big chair.

Now we have this coming down the pike and it confirms my impressions.  This guy wants Marines to be warrior and to close with and destroy the enemy, wants them to fight tooth and nail to be the best Marine possible...and this is what he's worried about????

3/21/2012  By Keith Hayes, Public Affairs Specialist  , Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow 

MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif.  — The punishment has increased for not wearing a seatbelt while driving aboard a Marine Corps installation under Marine Corps Traffic Safety Program Drivesafe Order 5100.19F. The enhanced MCO signed by Commandant of the Marine Corps, General John F. Amos, Nov. 29, 2011, adds to the already existing burden of losing private automobile driving privileges aboard base for a period of time, said Brian Korves, safety officer, MCLB Barstow.
“The first violation (for driving without a license) is a 30 day suspension of all base driving privileges to include privately owned vehicles and government owned vehicles, so if you drive for work you can’t drive for 30 days,” Korves said, “plus attendance of an improved remedial driver improvement course.”
For those drivers who still refuse to obey traffic laws by driving without a seatbelt, Korves said the penalties increase.
“The second offense is loss of driving privileges aboard base for six months,” he said. “The third offense is one year without driving a POV or GOV on the base.”
That means an offending driver’s employment could be severely affected.
“If you’re a forklift operator you’re out of a job,” Korves said.
The harsher across the board policy is being implemented, Korves said, because many drivers still are not getting the message.
“The seatbelt laws have been in place since the ‘80s and you still have people refusing to wear their seatbelts, that’s one of the reasons I believe they’re making the punishment harsher,” he said.
The stiffer penalties will inspire most drivers to not take a chance by driving without one.
“If they make this painful for a person then a person is more likely to comply with the laws,” Korves said.
“Let’s look at it this way,” he continued. “You get caught not wearing your seatbelt you get 30 days not driving. You get in to an accident not wearing your seatbelt and you’re dead. Which one is harsher?”
The bottom line is simple, Korves said.
“Seat belts save lives. I believe that this increased penalty for not wearing your seatbelt will make the base a safer place to drive,” he said.

Hey. I get it!

Seat belts save lives. 

But this kind of micro management. 

This crazy ass punishment for not wearing a seat belt has gone too far.  We need a warrior Commandant, not a damn safety Nazi.

Time for you to go buddy.

F-35B BF-10 First Flight

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew F-35B BF-10 (Navy Bureau Number 168061), on its inaugural flight on 15 March 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB

OH SHIT!!!!

MASSIVE HAT TIP TO JACKSON!!!

I couldn't believe this shit when I first saw it!

Marine Art.

Battle of Belleauwood

"I had just read Ernst Jünger's brutal World War I memoirs, 'Storm of
Steel', and was really inspired to do some imagery from that time
period. Naturally, I went looking for the Marine Corps' side of the
story and read up more on the Battle of Belleau Wood. Initially I
thought about doing this with traditional paints, but there's already
a lot of incredible paintings depicting Belleau Wood. So I did a
sketch in ink brush, which I then scanned and colored in Adobe
Photoshop. Although I do love doing drawings from real life, with this
image I deliberately took a more exaggeratedly stylized approach to
make something that looked like it could be a screencap from an
animated film about Belleau Wood."
(U.S. Marine Corps Artwork by Cpl. Reagan Lodge)

I'm really digging some of the art work that these guys are putting out.  Who knew but they even have a combat art school.  Cool.

Aviation

Sgt. Shawn P. Sales created this graphite and charcoal drawing on Strathmore Cold Press watercolor paper. The drawing was created as a training tool for an in-house class on how to create depth in a drawing.December 11, 2010
(U.S. Marine Corps Artwork by Sgt. Shawn P. Sales)

Rockets from Rooftops

Sgt. Shawn P. Sales created this ink and graphite drawing depicting a United States Marine Holding an AT4 weapon system. The drawing was created on 11X17 drawing paper to to gain Proficiencies in shading techniques. Oct .23 2011, Fort George G. Meade, MD.
(U.S. Marine Corps Artwork by Sgt. Shawn P. Sales)

Night Ops.

Jointness at a cost.

Check out this story from the Royal Navy...

Daring enjoys ‘truly amazing’ experience working with American carriers
21 March 2012

Britain’s most advanced warship, HMS Daring, has worked with two American aircraft carrier groups as her Gulf mission steps up a gear.
The new destroyer has been showing off her air defence and fighter control prowess with the USS Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln and their task groups.

On her maiden deployment, HMS Daring has worked with not one but two US Carrier Strike Groups – here the USS Carl Vinson, but also her sister Abraham Lincoln.
The Portsmouth-based warship – the first of six cutting-edge Type 45 destroyers – has been exercising with both 100,000-ton flattops as she integrates with our closest allies.
That integration has taken the form of swapping sailors with several American ships, notably cruisers USS Cape St George and Bunker Hill, as well as the two carriers, allowing the two navies to share expertise and ideas and forge good working relationships.

The Carl Vinson leads US Carrier Strike Group One, while the Lincoln is the flagship of Group Nine (there are 11 such groups in all, comprising one carrier, one cruiser, two destroyers, one hunter-killer submarine and a support ship, plus an air group of more than 60 jets, helicopters and pistol-engined aircraft).
The culmination of this effort was HMS Daring working fully with the Carl Vinson and her impressive air wing of fast jets.
The Sampson radar (the spiky spinning egg atop Daring’s main mast) and command and control system allow multiple targets to be tracked to ranges of up to hundreds of kilometres. That information is fed to the Aster missiles in the silo on the ship’s forecastle. 
With the Long Range Radar (the large black slab just forward of the ship’s hangar) it means Daring can track many thousands of air contacts giving her unprecedented surveillance of huge areas of air space.
Which means that she is a valuable asset for a US Carrier Strike Group providing such a comprehensive air picture of the complex Gulf airspace.
“Working with the US carriers and their air wings is the culmination of many months of training and hard work for the ship’s company,” explained Lt David Berry, one of two fighter controllers aboard Daring.

“For me, this is the pinnacle of my fighter controlling career and it is truly amazing to watch it all come together in this operational theatre. Taking control of F-18 Super Hornets in this busy operational environment is hugely rewarding.”

Daring is attached to the Combined Maritime Task Forces on a wide-ranging maritime security – tackling piracy, smuggling, people-trafficking, terrorism and other criminal activities – as well as working with Coalition and regional allies.
Daring’s not the only Royal Navy vessel to link up with a US carrier group. In the Arabian Sea – outside the Gulf – the Abraham Lincoln joined forces with Britain’s capital ship, HMS Westminster.
The Portsmouth-based frigate is also on a maritime security patrol of waters east of Suez while ‘Abe’ is conducting both that mission and supporting operations in Afghanistan, codenamed Enduring Freedom.

Awesome.

Another joint training exercise.

But the part about a Destroyer taking operational control of fighters struck me as odd.  Does the US Navy work this way?  Do our Aegis Destroyers take operational control of our fighter wings or is this a purely British way of doing business?

The issue is this.

If its how we do business then awesome.  Works for me.

If its not how we do business then being joint is STUPID!  Would I take a Marine Rifle Squad and deploy them in a way that's foreign to them?  No I wouldn't.  So if we don't hand operational control of our fighters to our own destroyers then why are we doing it with our good friends the Brits?

If we're going to be joint then we need to be able to slot a destroyer from the UK into one of our battle formations and have it operate to our standards...and vice versa once they get their carrier in the water. 

Changing tactics and operational models for the sake of being joint is just not worth the loss of efficiency.

But I wait to be corrected.