Raw Intel

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/2283121435_9a6ede08e9_o.jpg25 FEB 1852. Discipline. Honor. Sacrifice - and steadfast leadership. Do you really know what they mean? How do you know you, as well as the men and women under your command, can do what is needed - and do it with cold firmness? Are you ready for the Birkenhead Drill?To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about, Is nothing so bad when you’ve cover to ’and, an’ leave an’ likin’ to shout; But to stand an’ be still to the Birken’ead drill is a damn tough bullet to chew, An’ they done it, the Jollies—’Er Majesty’s Jollies—soldier an’ sailor too! Their work was done when it ’adn’t be…

Today we return to the subject of the addition to the CNO's reading list of a book that openly calls for the most sectarian view of race. Worse, it calls for the official application of racism in to official policy. For those who have not read his book, let me pull out how Ibram X. Kendi defines things in his book, "How to be an Antiracist," the book in question. Words mean things, and when people redefine words, you need to pay special attention; Now operationalize that concept in your mind every time in our Navy you hear, "equity." From Flight Surgeons to Nuke Power School - operationalize the above concept and how, once people read this CNO recommended book,…

“Divest to Invest” is the lie a declining power tells itself when temporary leaders decide to shrug the hard work today to enable a more secure tomorrow, in order to have a comfortable and pleasant tour for themselves today – forcing others to have to play catch up later. It is that, or it is just plain wrong. We’ve seen this play before in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and it failed so well last time, it is back again. The Terrible 20s does not have to happen, but it is. Decline is a choice, and one we seem to be making … but it is reversible if a nation and its leaders have the will to stand athwart the declinist drive and yell, “Stop!”. While it is easy to become fr…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $38.7 million contract modification, which exercises an option for ordering emerging capabilities and analysis systems engineering to include programmatic and logistics tasks that will analyze the F-35 air system’s ability to meet future operational requirements, investigating cost and weight reduction program options and conducting modeling and simulation activities. Additional assessments may include such efforts as analyzing changes to design life, operational readiness, reliability and air system design and configuration. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2021. The 85th Test and Evaluation Sq…

As we covered here last month before the debacle at the gates of Kyiv knocked the Russians off their stride, the supply lines from NATO territory into the southwest of Ukraine and on to Odessa are incredibly delicate. Then northern route is an iffy 2-lane surface road that goes through Moldova and too close to the Transdniester. If you need anything heavy from the Danube ports to Odessa, you will need to go over the Zatoka bridge. When the Russian Navy shelled the coast there, I was frankly surprised the road and more importantly the rail line across the bridge at Zatoka was left intact, but they were. Things then got quite on that front, but not anymore. 📷More photos …

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $50.9 million contract modification, which provides for repair services for 36 critical common items for the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-4C Triton. It will support reparable National Stock Numbers (NSNs) encompassing the air vehicle, multiple sensor packages, Mission Control Element, and Launch and Recovery Element. In addition, this effort includes support engineering services covered under the Engineering Delegation Authority for NSNs transferred to and under the 407th Supply Chain Management Squadron. According to Northrop Grumman, the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissanc…

Most everyone knows that the Korean War, though mostly a South Korean and American affair, was a UN action. Students of the war know that many nations contributed forces to the fight, with the United Kingdom and Turkey known by most. Just a bit more than half a decade after liberation from a crushing Imperial Japanese occupation, the Philippines joined the fight as well. They didn't hide in the rear either. The below won't be a surprise to people who served in the US Navy. We, more than most, know the quality per pound of the people we served with of Philippine extraction. Take a moment to acknowledge an underknown battle and the heroism of an unappreciated fighting nat…

I think that pic captures the soul of a battleship well, don't you think? 108 years after her commissioning, she got underway again for a well needed dry docking. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ObWh_P2FodI/T77zjjqRXyI/AAAAAAAAB94/kz9TLghqooo/s320/uss-texas-bb35.jpgI had a lot of people reach out to me about seeing her underway again, so for this week's FbF I'll reach back 8-yrs ago when we last mentioned the USS TEXAS (BB-35).We could spend hours on the ship that my paternal Grandfather (GM3 Salamander) saw from his ship, the USS ARKANSAS (BB-33), with the Brits in WWI - but let's just say "Happy Birthday" to the grand lady who completed 34 years of commissioned service an…

Some developments on the "Diversity Statement" front ... or "DEI Statement" or "DEIA Statement" or whatever they are calling it this week. How do you connect the U.S. Naval Academy to the University of South Carolina, Florida, VMI, and the University of North Carolina System? Let's check in where the other school's are, and then we'll finish up what is happening at our Navy's undergrad institution. Thanks to John Sailer we have a look behind the curtain at the not so innocent "Diversity Statements" that so many colleges are making people fill out when applying for a teaching or tenure track position. Sure, they may tell you that there is no correct answer ... but ... …

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-72_M51_zMsk/VodCoy1QaYI/AAAAAAAAKoo/9NX16NSlvdk/s320/migkill-014b.jpgI first ran this FbF right after a great man passed in 2016 and I feel bad it took so long for me to cover Mugs. Read the whole thing, but here is a lead in to the video below;Former Navy Capt. Ronald E. "Mugs" McKeown, a decorated fighter pilot who was the first commanding officer of the elite Top Gun academy, died Nov. 21 in a Hillcrest care facility. The cause was complications associated with Parkinson’s disease. He was 76. Mr. McKeown, whose boxing prowess earned him the nickname "Mugs," was chosen to command the newly commissioned Navy Fighter Weapons School, popularly k…

Usually things flow from here to twitter, but now and then I pop something off that - knowing that not everyone who reads CDRSalamander is on twitter - deserves to flow the other way. As a Navy guy who spent almost half a decade doing an Army guy's job as an operational planner, a few ideas popped in to my head this AM about "what next" in Ukraine. Generally I'm not a fan of winter offensives, but when they work - they work. I am even more not a fan of wasting momentum when your larger enemy is on the back foot. So, three Courses of Action for you to consider ... with absolutely no Commander's Intent or Higher Direction and Guidance ... but when has that ever stopped a co…

Americas The US Space Force wants to send a satellite to the moon in order to help detect, track and identify artificial objects operating there. A draft Request for Proposals was published recently for the spacecraft, called the Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS) satellite. The satellite will expand the Space Force’s space domain awareness by one thousand times. The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate will be in charge of developing CHPS. The Defense Department (DoD) is ending a study on how to streamline and better protect its vast array of often incompatible ground terminals for satellite communications to introduce some changes next y…

KAL A330-200 (click to view full) South Korea is moving to buy 4 long-range aerial refueling tankers with secondary transport capabilities, with a budget of WON 2 billion (about $1.8 billion). That capability isn’t a huge priority on the Korean peninsula itself, but it’s very useful for international operations. It’s useful as a way of projecting regional power, as territorial disputes flare with China. As Asian economies grow and militaries modernize, these factors have made long-range aerial refueling a growing regional priority. China, India, Pakistan and China deploy the Russian IL-78. Japan fields 4 Boeing KC-767As, and may raise that to 8 under recent plans. Simi…

May the Christmas spirit find you where ever you may may be. The US Navy wishes you peace on this day, but if you don't want peace ... well ... in the finest traditions back to George Washington, we can handle that too. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OMcBgSuXY-Y:gLo1h91AncI:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OMcBgSuXY-Y:gLo1h91AncI:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OMcBgSuXY-Y:gLo1h91AncI:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OMcBgSuXY-Y:gLo1h91AncI:F7zBnMyn0Lo…

JS Kongou (click to view full) The JMSDF (Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force) is working closely with the USA on missile defense activities. Air Force cooperation has also improved by leaps and bounds, allowing for much closer coordination with the USA in all aspects of operations – including missile tracking. Japanese involvement includes modification and improvements to the SM-3 long-range anti-air/ABM missile. This weapon will form the outer layer of Japan’s ABM system, deployed from its current fleet of 4 Kongo Class AEGIS destroyers and their 2 larger Atago Class successors. The inner layer will consist of land-based Japan Self Defense Forces PAC-3 Patriot missi…

Let's hit a first principal out of the gate here: if you are serving in the military for the money - get out. Your nation does not need or want you here. Thank you for your service and enjoy your civilian career. Now that this is out of the way, let's hit a topic in the Salamander Top-10: we have a glut of General Officers and Flag Officers in the US military. We have more than we know what to do with, so we keep making up jobs for them - bloating the tail while starving the teeth. That bloat means that we have a lot of very talented people who are underemployed. Trust me on this, with one or two exceptions, take any 4-star right now, and there are a few dozen 3 or 4 …

The latest iteration of the People’s Republic of China’s highly successful island hopping campaign in the Southwest Pacific has brought us to another round of the US national security nomenklatura and chatterati pounding away at their keyboards trying to figure out not just what is going on, but what China’s goals are. Everyone continues to talk each other in circles, your humble blogg’r included. Towards the end of last week it started to dawn on me that perhaps part of the problem is that “we” continue to think ourselves in to the same intellectual box canyons. As a result, at the end of each iteration we don’t make progress and the Chinese get more islands. The last …

We're going to kick out Midrats' 13th year with someone who has been with us from the start, best friend to the show Dr. Claude Berube! If you care about American history in general, and US Navy history in particular, you won't want to miss a minute of this Sunday's show. Claude will be with us for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to discuss his latest and 4th non-fiction book, On Wide Seas: The US Navy in the Jacksonian Era, just released by University of Alabama Press. Claude earned his PhD in Military History from the King's College, London and holds two master's from Northeastern and the Naval War College. In his 30-year career, he has worked as a defense …

Americas Raytheon won a $8.8 million deal for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Production Lot 35 Rectifier Filter Assembly Captive Air Training Missile Retrofit effort. Work will take place in Arizona. Expected completion date is May 30, 2026. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Dominance Division Contracting Office, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft won an $8 million deal for procurement of services and data for the integration and qualification of the Improved Turbine Engine onto the UH/HH-60M Black Hawk aircraft. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission h…

So, we’ve made it – 2020 is about done. It is cliché to go over all the things that will make this year stand out more than any other, but for the navalists out there, perhaps we should take a moment to ponder the Top-5 events that come to mind. 1. Captain Crozier, USN and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71): it would be difficult to write a screenplay – and I am sure we will see one after the book – of the circumstances in the 1QCY20 as COVID-19 appeared on the scene. This will be a study in leadership for a long time. I think with time and distance that my original take, with sympathy towards Corzier, will become the standard. As more is found out about what happened up t…