Chinese appear to be settling on the ZBD04A as their IFV of the future. via China Defense Blog.

All pics via China Defense Blog (his photo spread on the 37 Motorized Infantry Division can be found here).

Day at the field: Armored Regiment, 37th Motorized Infantry Division, 13th Group Army, Western Theater Command

This PLA "regional RRU" is responsible for external threats from the West as well as a back up to local Armed Police for handling terrorism activities. Together with other RRUs, they have priorities in getting new gears, such as the ZBD04A IFV.

The title of this blog post is a personal observation.  The Chinese have produced a number of different IFV/APCs recently but it seems that they're settling on the ZBD04A as their standard.

If I'm correct I don't know the implications of it.  Does this indicate the type of warfare they see coming?  Is this an indication that they've decided that tracks beat wheels?  Are we seeing an old "Soviet" style system where "Guards" rated units get the best kit and the rest of the Army gets hand me downs?

Additional pics of the ZBD04A also from CDB.

MSAU| Marine Security Guard Security Augmentation Unit?

Wow.  We used to call this FAST Company.  Now we have MSAU?  Are we making too many specialized units?

US Army moving closer to Armored Airborne Force. Updated.

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Army.mil

"The AMPV is anticipated to satisfy critical missions necessary to tackle ground combat situations alongside the ABCT [Airborne Brigade Combat Team] fleet," Army officials said.

Read the whole article if you must.  Its just talk about doing software reliability. I personally found that part boring.

The talk about the AMPV workign with the ABCT though.

That made me pause.  I've been screaming from the rooftops that the Army is making moves in the expeditionary arena that deserves a bit more attention from the Marine Corps.

I ARROGANTLY hung my hat on the fact that while HQMC is pushing the "MV-22 Enabled MEU" bullshit, the guys in the FMF were still doing the hardwork of making sure we had enough armor, artillery....they were making sure that the famed Marine Air Ground Task Force remained the unit of choice for our nation's leaders.

Now this.  We're getting indications that the Airborne Forces are about to be totally revolutionized.  They've always had strategic mobility second to none.  The latest hotness of adding tactical mobility by way of Polaris RZRs was nice but didn't impress.

But what happens if they develop airborne armored forces?

What if they finally achieve strategic (second to none)/tactical mobility , increased battlefield survivability/lethality and couple that with some pretty decent light infantry (even by Marine Corp standards)?

HQMC is singing jointness  while Big Army is out to drink our milkshake. 

UPDATE: It is Armored and not Airborne Combat Team.  ARDEC changed it and didn't even bother to put a correction or update notification on their page.  Well done ARDEC.  Big Army has taught you well.  Special thanks to Umberto for letting me know of the change and apologies to the Army Dogs in my audience that recognized the fuck up and tried to let me know.  Once again I gave "authority" in the form of the writers of the article too much credit for actually KNOWING WHAT THE FUCK THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT than they deserved.

Resurfaced Footage Of Ukrainian Troops During The Failed Defense Of Debaltseve

Hat tip to Enrique262 Tumblr Page!

If the students at UMASS Amherst are any indication...

Wow.

I'm late to this......a buddy sent me a note and asked me why I wasn't talking about the batshit crazy students at UMASS Amherst.  My response was "what the fuck are you talking about" and he promptly sent me the above video.

Holy shit.

People are pissed and T.Rob has a point.  The left is wigging out....the right is loading magazines.

Side Note:  That "young lady" has turned into an internet meme.  She's been nicknamed TrigglyPuff...

I never knew a C-5 Galaxy was this agile...or powerful via WarHistoryOnline.

I can't lie.  I as waiting for the crash once it went vertical....never knew a C-5 was that agile..or powerful.  Amazing.  Live and learn.

NOTE:  I have obviously been taken in by a fake.  Talk about live and learn.  

Unknown Armor. Zhalo 2S14-S Fire Support Vehicle...

Never heard of the Zhalo 2S14-S Tank Destroyer?  Neither did I.  Luckily I monitor the tank video games just so I can see the latest and greatest "obscure" vehicle that the developers introduce to keep their games fresh (I do the same with modeling sites...armored vehicle history is being lost at an alarming rate).

I'm having to add CG artist to the list of people that are working hard to preserve armor history.  If you have a passing interest in armored vehicles then you should check out 3D Models Blog.

But back to the vehicle.  Not much info is available online and the wiki entry says that it was in prototype form only.  Below are pics of it in real life.

Amazing isn't it.  During the cold war the Russians were ahead of everyone (except maybe the French) when it comes to motorized units.  If they had gone forward with this concept then we might have seen scenarios where motorized forces would have the same shock power of Tank Battalions.

General Atomics - Blitzer Railgun Land-Based Mobile Combat Simulation

The USMC didn't tell us the whole truth about F-35 performance at Steel Knight.

via Marines.mil (Dec 2015)

- Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 conducted the F-35B Lightning II’s first-ever expeditionary test in support of exercise Steel Knight 16, Dec. 10, 2015.
Exercise Steel Knight is a combined arms live-fire exercise that implements a combination of air and ground assets to complete a wide range of military operations to prepare 1st Marine Division for deployment as the ground combat element of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force.
VMFA-121’s role in the exercise was to conduct close air support drills and expeditionary missions in support of the MAGTF.
During the exercise, the F-35 utilized the expeditionary airfield on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, and the expeditionary landing pad at Red Beach on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.
“We’ve done similar landings in [Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona], but the one at Red Beach was the smallest vertical landing pad we have used to date,” said Maj. Colin Newbold, the flight operations officer with VMFA-121.
Exercise Steel Knight allowed VMFA-121 the opportunity to illustrate the abilities of the F-35 to operate organically in an austere environment while helping accomplish the mission of the MAGTF.
“This is the first time that we get to truly test the capabilities of the aircraft in an expeditionary setting,” said Newbold, the flight operations officer with VMFA-121. “This is going to be a real learning experience for everyone involved and will prove helpful in the future when developing tactics.”

I wrote this about the exercise

This is interesting.  HQMC released a few photos of the F-35 SUPPOSEDLY operating from the Expeditionary Air Field at 29 Palms and Red Beach at Camp Pendleton.
I'll hold my fire until I get better info, but I'm wondering....
The F-35 operating in an austere environment?  But we're building brand new facilities at every Air Station to accommodate this queen.  Did we waste money doing that or is the planes capabilities in challenging locations not up to snuff?
I'll hold my fire but I'm smelling another publicity stunt.

Now I get this info from Herbloke that show the USMC is holding back important information about this airplanes performance during these validation exercises.

Two F-35B aircraft received foreign object damage to their engine fan stages, a result from operating in rugged conditions with jet wash likely blowing small rocks into aircraft intakes. This prevented those aircraft from further participation in flying activities until repairs were completed just prior to the ferry flights home

Mar 23, 2016, Report To Congress by Gilmore

This.  This shit is why I have a hard on for the Deputy Commandant!

The F-35 debacle is doing more than wrecking the Marine Corps budget.  It's corruption is infecting the very fabric of the organization.  We can't trust senior Marine Corps officers to tell the truth and nothing but the truth about an airplane that they're basing the very future of the Corps on.

Side note:  That massive working party with brooms galore makes sense now.  I didn't get what my readers were talking about but do now...I wonder how many times those poor bastards had to sweep that tarmac before they started flight operations.  And you wonder why they're having trouble keeping aircraft mechanics?  A screen cap and the vid below.

If a single ALIS server were to go down, whether from loss of electricity or sabotage, it could cripple the entire F-35 fleet?

via Defense News.

At the center of the debate is the Autonomics Logistics and Information System (ALIS), an internal diagnostic system that tracks the health of each part of each plane worldwide. ALIS is no stranger to controversy, with top program officials identifying it as the last hurdle to declaring the US Air Force jets operational on time this year.
Now a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identifies a new ALIS-related concern — that if a single ALIS server were to go down, whether from loss of electricity or sabotage, it could cripple the entire F-35 fleet.
"Users are concerned that ALIS’ current design results in all F-35 data produced across the fleet to be routed up to the Central Point of Entry and then to the Autonomic Logistics Operating Unit, with no backup system or redundancy,” according to the April GAO report. “If either of these fail, it could take the entire F-35 fleet offline.”

This takes a single point of failure meme to a whole new level.

Can you imagine?  A USMC company is in heavy contact and they're calling for immediate close air and they get the call back that help IS NOT on the way because the system is offline?

Just plain wow.

Of course the Program Office is denying this, but what do you expect?  Amos told us the game plan.  This plane is die in the ditch worthy.  So if that's what they said 2 years ago do you think that they wouldn't lie about every deficiency...no matter what the consequences for our Marines/Soldiers?

We're screwed.

Hundred arrested in Germany during wild protests.

via CNN

Five hundred people were arrested in Germany after violent clashes broke out, authorities said.
More than 1,000 people were protesting Saturday in Stuttgart, where Alternative for Germany, a far-right political party, is holding a two-day conference over the weekend.
Demonstrators tried to block party members from entering the building where their conference was taking place.
Protesters then clashed with police, throwing flares and setting tires on fire, according to Richard Leuze, the spokesman for Reutlingen police.
About 2,000 party members were trying to attend the conference.
Another smaller, peaceful demonstration in the southern German city drew about 800 people.

So you're telling me that 500 people are arrested out of 1000 that were protesting?  I'm calling bullshit.  That number arrested indicates a protest of more than 5k people at least...probably closer to 10k.

The sunny side (if there can be one)?

This is right on schedule and my prediction of Europe burning this summer is looking spot on.  Germany won't be where the fun is though.  Watch France and believe it or not the UK.  They will probably remain in the EU and that will inflame passions that will make this look like a spring breeze.

Pass the popcorn this is gonna be good!

Malawi Albino's murdered for body parts...we are inches away from the "State of Nature"

via CNN

Malawi's albinos are at risk of "total extinction" amid escalating attacks against them for their body parts, the United Nations warned
Albinism is a genetic condition that leads to little or no pigment in the eyes, skin and hair. The southern African nation has about 10,000 albinos, according to the U.N.
In some African countries, albinos' body parts are believed to bring wealth and good luck. As a result,attackers chop off their limbs and pluck out organs, and sell them to witchdoctors.
Even after albinos are killed, some attackers go a step further and steal their remains from graveyards, said Ikponwosa Ero, the United Nations' expert on albinism.

Jesus!  I thought the Middle East was a cesspool of 10th Century thinking and then I read about this today.

The human race is screwed.

In the Middle East and Africa we have ignorance, tribalism and barbarity running rampant and in the West we're concerned about letting me that dress like women/identify as such being the most pressing issue of the day.

If Westerners actually took a real look at the world they'd be embarrassed by what they view as important and maybe realize that we're inches away from the "State of Nature".

The pure state of nature or "the natural condition of mankind" was deduced by the 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan and in his earlier work On the Citizen.[2]Hobbes argued that all humans are by nature equal in faculties of body and mind (i.e., no natural inequalities are so great as to give anyone a "claim" to an exclusive "benefit"). From this equality and other causes in human nature, everyone is naturally willing to fight one another: so that "during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called warre; and such a warre as is of every man against every man". In this state every person has a natural right or liberty to do anything one thinks necessary for preserving one's own life; and life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Leviathan, Chapters XIII–XIV). Hobbes described this natural condition with the Latin phrase bellum omnium contra omnes (meaning war of all against all), in his work De Cive.