Current Events

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/pop...14&src=news You know they look defeated but their probably still getting better chow then if they were at home.

From The Virginian-Pilot Nuclear ships: Millions to build, and now millions to trash By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot © July 4, 2007 For more than two decades, the Hyman G. Rickover plied the North Atlantic and other oceans, stealthily traveling the equivalent of 26 times around the world. The nuclear-powered sub and its crew of 160 sailors packed torpedoes and missiles to help keep Cold War foes in check and support ground troops in the war on terror. The Rickover will soon face its demise when it is shredded into millions of pounds of recyclable steel and lead, plus lesser bundles of aluminum, brass, bronze, copper and zinc. Only its radioactive “hea…

NAVY WANTS UNDERWATER SPYCAM NET Defense Tech Submarines have been part of America's arsenal since the Civil War. But we still don't have a very good idea about what lies below. Even the coastal, or littoral, waters remain something of a mystery -- which is why the USS San Francisco ran aground in January. And trying to track the sneaky little diesel subs that Tehran and Beijing are stockpiling? That can be even harder still. The Office of Naval Research's solution: a semi-autonomous "network of fixed bottom and mobile sensors" that can track ships and subs along in the shallows. According to Defense Industry Daily, the Navy's big thinkers have just handed Penn …

More thought provoking stuff ... From Stratfor The Real World Order August 18, 2008 By George Friedman On Sept. 11, 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush addressed Congress. He spoke in the wake of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe, the weakening of the Soviet Union, and the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. He argued that a New World Order was emerging: “A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor, and today that new world is struggling to be born. A world quite different from the one we’ve known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A …

Military Capabilities for Hybrid War: Insights from the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon and Gaza (PDF)

From Air Force Magazine, July 2007 “Enemy troops 75 meters away. ... I need guns only!” The Art of Strafing By Richard B.H. Lewis Modern fighter pilots risk their lives every day performing the act of strafing, which to some may seem like a tactic from a bygone era. Last November, an F-16 pilot, Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, died strafing the enemy in Iraq, trying to protect coalition forces taking fire on the ground. My first thought was, “Why was an F-16 doing that mission?” But I already knew the answer. In the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, I was combat-ready in the 512th Fighter Squadron, an F-16 unit at Ramstein AB, Germany. We had to maintain combat…

The Need for SEAD Part I: The Nature of SEAD (War on the Rocks)

Even if you're not interested in buying George Friedman's book, The Next 100 Years, this excerpt does make for some potentially interesting discussion ... From Stratfor OVERTURE: An Introduction to the American Age Imagine that you were alive in the summer of 1900, living in London, then the capital of the world. Europe ruled the Eastern Hemisphere. There was hardly a place that, if not ruled directly, was not indirectly controlled from a European capital. Europe was at peace and enjoying unprecedented prosperity. Indeed, European interdependence due to trade and investment was so great that serious people were claiming that war had become impossible—and if no…

This month's issue of Foreign Affairs has several thought provoking articles that you may want to check out, including: The Logic of Zero, Toward a World Without Nuclear Weapons, by Ivo Daalder and Jan Lodal Summary: Washington must lead the way to a world without nuclear weapons. The first step will be dramatically limiting the U.S. nuclear arsenal's declared size and purpose.

From Aviation Week Concerns Grow About Iranian, North Korean Missiles and Chinese Asats By Craig Covault The Bush administration for the first time says it has intelligence proving detailed and ongoing collaboration between Iran and North Korea in the development of new ballistic missiles. The Pentagon has also just released previously secret intelligence data on new Iranian and North Korean ballistic missiles under development. North Korean and Chinese missiles already threaten the Middle East, Asia and Europe and could eventually target the U.S. The new Pentagon data also confirm an Aviation Week & Space Technology report that Iran is working to…

I will try to post in this thread articles, links or news relatives to the current Second Cold War and perhaps Second Fake War. This first one is about the current relevance of the GIUK gap: http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/03/russian-subs-are-reheating-cold-war-chokepoint/126428/

Blunt arrows: the limited utility of ASATs by Dwayne Day Excerpt from The Space Review Monday, June 6, 2005 Last week in The Space Review Mark Listner wrote about the Outer Space Treaty and anti-satellite weapons (ASATs): “Although technically the treaty does not allow these types of weapons (considering the ban on military activities), the fact is that these have been under development at times in the past, and may be so today.” (See “It’s time to rethink international space law”, May 31, 2005) This is false. The Outer Space Treaty places no limits on anti-satellite weapons and never has. During the Cold War neither superpower actively sought an international …

Gentlemen, Please find the above article here. It is a very interesting read for better understanding some of the problems encountered with attempts at suppressing enemy air defenses in the relative recent past.

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From Stratfor The Maneuvering Before the Storm: Second Quarter Forecast 2007 The second quarter of 2007 will brim with fury and froth as two states attempt to challenge the geopolitical order imposed by others to stem their expansion, in hopes of regaining their long-lost position as major powers. Throughout the quarter, these two states will seek a louder voice and a stronger hand. The real conflicts, however, will come later. For the first country -- Iran -- the more aggressive tone is part and parcel of the diplomatic dance with the United States. Both countries realize that their ideal for Iraq -- unified and pro-American for Washington, unified and pro-Ir…

Looks like another step close to David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" storyline. U.S. Army Balks at Sending Laser Weapon to Iraq By REUTERS DefenceNews

New Wrinkles in Maritime Warfare (The Diplomat)

You asked for it, you got it. Here today's naval summary. FWFS, Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired - - - - - 02 January BRAZIL British BAe Systems signed a contract for transfer of three 90-m Ocean Patrol Vessels originally ordered by the Trinidad & Tobago coast guard - and cancelled by it shortly prior delivery – to the Brazilian navy … contract value given as Euro 140 million. The first two ships will be delivered in 2012 and the third will follow in early 2013. Contract said to also provide for further vessels of the same class to be constructed in Brazil. IRAN During the final day of exercise „Velayat 90“ the Iranian navy has test-fired anti-s…

JFCOM releases study on future threats By John T. Bennett - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Dec 4, 2008 15:49:23 EST A new U.S. Joint Forces Command planning document offers insights into planning for irregular conflicts, urges long-promised acquisition reform, and outlines potential threats and enemies. Released Thursday, the “Joint Operating Environment” document is a “historically informed, forward-looking effort to discern most accurately the challenges we will face at the operational level of war, and to determine their inherent implications,” Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, JFCOM commander, writes in its foreword. “Its purpose is not to predict, but to s…