Thursday, September 29, 2016

The size of the ACV is dictated by its requirements! It sings!

Thanks to Gessler for the pic!


Just got back from a short trip and while going over the comments I noticed people talking about the height of the ACV.

While not ideal its easily explained, makes sense and is dictated by mission requirements for the vehicle.

First we're talking about a vehicle having high mobility.  The gold standard for wheeled vehicle mobility in the Marine Corps today is the MTVR.  That truck has proven itself capable of going anywhere.  What is the secret to its
success?  Ground clearance, horsepower, and an outstanding suspension system.  Ask anyone that's gone off road in any type wheeled vehicle and they'll tell you that's the "formula" for success.  The reason why the MRZR is being touted as a capable off road performer is because it has that formula in spades.  If not for the requirement for internal carriage inside the V-22, I'd expect lift kits to be added (SOCOM is probably already/has already looked into it to increase the mobility of their rigs).

Another issue is the requirement to carry upwards of 10 Marines.  Most Marines aren't Smurfs and more than many know are in the 95th percentile that is so often talked about but dismissed by armored vehicle manufacturers.  Lets just say that big guys in kids seats is very uncomfortable.  You build a vehicle to fit the full spectrum of Marines and the vehicle will be "big".

Last but not least is the swim requirement.  Sorry but this is what makes building TRUE amphibious assault vehicles hard and what separates the men from the boys.  You can't simply put a swim vane on a non-amphibious vehicle and expect to be capable of swimming from ship to shore.  Displacement counts.

All in all I have no problem with the size of the BAE SuperAV or the ST Kinetics Terrex 3.  Form follows function and these vehicles sing!

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Fucking Seriously FBI SWAT Alaska??? Jesus dudes!



Read the story over at Firearms Blog.  My reaction?  FUCK!  Those guys could have gotten lit up!  They're lucky they didn't take serious casualties.

Royal Air Force 18(B) Sqn Chinook leads two Apache helicopters from 4 Regt AAC into the Mojave Desert, USA (pics)









USMC to acquire Polaris Defense MRZR


via DoDBuzz.
The U.S. Marine Corps is about to outfit its infantry regiments with a version of the Polaris Defense MRZR four-seater, all-terrain vehicle.
Under the Utility Task Vehicle program, the Marines are planning to purchase 144 Polaris MRZR-Ds, a new version of the vehicle designed to take diesel and JP8 fuel, Joaquin Salas, business development fort Polaris Defense, told Military.com Tuesday at Modern Day Marine 2016.
No contract has been awarded yet, but the Corps is planning on fielding 18 MRZR-Ds per infantry regiment, according to UTV program information displayed at the USMC’s Program Manager Light Tactical Vehicles booth at the show.
The vehicles are scheduled to go into production in October, Salas said. In addition to the four crew seats, the MRZR-D features a small cargo bed and is capable of carrying 1,500 pounds of payload, Salas said.
The MRZR-D vehicles are designed to be carried inside a V-22 Osprey “to provide logistic support for infantry forces,” Salas said. “It enables them to deploy long distance in the V-22, and then when they get to the ground they are not stuck with only their feet to move logistics.”
The U.S. Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division dropped 10 MRZRs when it jumped into Poland in June as part of an exercise to test of their ability to bolster NATO’s eastern flank against possible Russian aggression.
The MRZR ATV is a very Spartan design. There’s no armor protection. It’s designed to carry extra ammunition, food, water and casualties if necessary.
“We are not comparing this to a JLTV or an up-armored Humvee or anything like that,” Salas said. “It’s designed to stay off road; it’s designed to enable you to be unpredictable.
“It’s a mule. It’s designed to be there at the most tactical level.”
You do get the force of connection on this don't you?  18 per Regiment means that you're able to move about a Company worth of Marines.  They're just doubling down once again on the Company Landing Team.

I marvel at the stubbornness and the desire by HQMC to push forward despite all evidence that a CLT will be ABNORMALLY vulnerable against the new jack terrorist formations we're seeing.

What is the thinking?  Is the Marine Corps and SOCOM so convinced that this generational war against terrorists will last for another 50 years that they're willing to destroy the Marine Air Ground Task Force to chase it?

Open Comment Post. Sept 28, 2016


Ultra Heavy Landing Craft.  Remember when Amos and HQMC was selling us the bullshit that we would have to launch from over 200 miles out?  Remember Greenert not getting the memo (and maintaining his integrity) by saying that's wrong and that the Navy would rollback enemy defenses so that we could launch from traditional distances?

Fast forward to today.

The ACV will have 14 vehicles delivered to the Marine Corps by two manufacturers and THEN they will be tested for ANOTHER year and a half before they make a decision?

Leadership is full of shit.  The ACV won't survive the study being conducted now and all hope that Neller will pull the Marine Corps out of its tailspin has been lost.

Mark my words.  The next big fight will see momma's of America crying buckets.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (concept pics)






 

Korean War Naval Aviation was kinda cool....in a very deadly way....



via USS Edsall Tumblr Page
VA-195 Dambusters was assigned to Carrier Air Group 19 (CVG-19) for a deployment to the Korean War from 21 March to 03 November 1952. The “special weapon” was a 454 kg (1000 lb) bomb with a kitchen sink attached. The idea came up when the squadron’s executive officer LCDR M.K. Dennis remarked during a meeting with the press: “We dropped everything on them (the North Koreans) but a kitchen sink.” Royal J. Deland, ADC, and J. Burnett, ADC, then produced a bomb with a kitchen sink attached. The commanding Admiral was not pleased by this and would not allow to drop the bomb for a weekHowever, press coverage in the United States obviously led to the dropping of this bomb in August 1952 on Pyongyang by Lt.(jg) Carl B. Austin.


You think this would fly in 2016?  Somehow I doubt it.  The crazy thing? Flag Officers haven't changed (with a few exceptions) and the pressure to drop the kitchen sink came from the public!

Russian And Chinese Marines conduct amphibious assault exercise.

Thanks to Anderson for the link!



The Pentagon has been so busy jumping thru hoops for Combatant Commanders that are pushing idiot partnership missions that no one is seeing the danger in our so called pivot to the Pacific.

China is effectively nullifying the "coalition" that we're building.  If they're very selective in their target choice then many of our allies will sit out the fight.

Even worse?  They're gaining economic power over our allies that could in time trump any thoughts of Chinese hegemony.

Our best and brightest are playing checkers while the Chinese...along with the Russians...are playing chess.

Open Comment Post. Sept 27, 2016.


What's on your mind.

Monday, September 26, 2016

Debate Discussion.

Wow.....

1.  So much for the laid back Trump.  He's going at her with razor blades, Uzi's and a few flame throwers.

2.  If this keeps up Hillary will have a heart attack on stage.

3.  She sorta seems a little flustered.  The moderator is trying to help her but he's already lost control.

Quote of the day and a warning to Marine Corps leadership.


CoffeeJoeJava made the following comment.
I have a bad feeling that the Marine Corps, when the first big fight happens, will cease to exist. Like LtGen Krulak stated in his book( I paraphrase)
The Untied States does not need a Marine Corps, we have an Army that can do everything we can do, a Navy that has fighter jets, and an Air Force that can dominate the air. The Marine Corps ONLY exists because the United States WANTS a Marine Corps. When we squander the ideals that make the Marine Corps great, we lose the American public, and we lose our beloved Corps.
Literally, when the Corps is called back into action and they cannot do what is asked, we will have lost every reason we have to exist. Making us back into the old Defense Battalions of WWII era is a fast way to speed that along.
I would hope that the powers that be are considering this when they make decisions, but from everything you read, they are not.
The Commandant needs a picture of Krulak and Puller on his wall and needs to justify decisions he makes against those men.
That statement by CJJ is so spot on.

In the circles I run in the Marine Corps has already lost its biggest boosters.  You won't hear it talked about but no one is recommending military service to young men of worth anymore.  If you think a scumbag might, maybe get straightened out then yeah, but someone you believe has a future?  Hell no.

But I digress.  The Marine Corps is making itself irrelevant.  Its making itself useless when it comes to defending the nation.  That comment was a warning to leadership, but I have no confidence that they're listening...and no one serving has the guts to say that the head shed is fucked beyond recognition.

33ft Anaconda found in Brazil (confirmed). Nope, Nope, FUCK Nope!

Thanks to William for the link!


via Sun
THIS is the moment a gigantic 33-FEET-long anaconda was found by terrified builders on a construction site in Brazil.
The huge reptile, which weighs in at at a whopping 63 stone, was discovered by the workers after they carried out a controlled explosion in the Cave of Altamira in the northern state of Para.
Do you get the force of connection here?  They found a 33ft long anaconda.  You can bet body parts that you cherish that bigger ones exist deeper into the jungle.

Now do you understand why I believe these are aliens from another world sent to terrorize?  Now do you understand why we need Space Marines to eradicate this threat? Just kidding but FUCK!  33 fucking feet long!

I've heard the stories from the old skool Marines about having to kill lions that were stalking them in the jungles of Vietnam, of snakes that if they bit you you would take two steps before you died and all kinds of other craziness that I dismissed as coming from crazy old men.

Now?  Now I know I was right when I said the desert is easy, the jungle is hard.