Raw Intel

The United States Navy has moved up the deployment of the Bataan ARG. There's word Thursday that the USS Bataan, homeported in Norfolk, will head out on deployment later this month. Navy officials tell WVEC.com that the Bataan is surging to replace the Kearsarge, as part of a contingency operation. The surge is designed to give the president flexibility regarding the recent uprising in Northern Africa and in the Middle East. There's no word on the exact time of the deployment or for how long it will last. There are several things here. The Kearsarge had unloaded Marines into Afghanistan, and while the ship has been reinforced with additional M…

I wish I could claim credit - but in an email from an anon reader; I’m going to wash my mind out with soap for thinking this . . . but recall “ The Final Countdown †and everyone’s fantasy about turning a modern CVN and CVW loose on the Japanese fleet before Pearl harbor? Would a sequel turning LCS loose in the Solomons Campaign then be labeled “Final Letdown� View the full article

Several noteworthy events took place surrounding Korean Peninsula tensions over the last 24 hours. Reuters discusses the first two issues in this report. "We oppose any military act by any party conducted in China's exclusive economic zone without approval," China's Foreign Ministry said in an online response to a question regarding China's position on the George Washington participating in joint naval exercises. This is the first reaction to the US moving the USS George Washington (CVN 73) into the Yellow Sea. As far as China is concerned, they believe no one should be allowed to operate a warship, much less an aircraft carrier, within their exclusive economic zone.…

Just lovely. Our "friends' the Pakistanis, the best allies money can rent, have apparently continued hedging their bets as far as who will be their sugar daddy. With the planeloads of loot we have been supplying them, which they tranship almost immediately to Dubai, in jeopardy they have continued to play footsie with the Chinese. "The US now has information that Pakistan, particularly the ISI, gave access to the Chinese military to the downed helicopter in Abbottabad," said one person in intelligence circles, referring to the Pakistani spy agency. The Chinese engineers were allowed to survey the wreckage and take photographs of it, as well as take samples of the…

So I was at Arlington last week to lay wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns for Soldiers' Angels. With SA, on our way out, I told the group I needed some alone time to visit someone. You can see me (below) taking the photo in the reflection of the tombstone for COL Thompson, but you can't see the tears streaming down my face. Every time I go to Arlington, I visit a friend. Or in this case, a man who bears much responsibility for who I am today. He's in section 30, 611. If you went to Mary Lincoln's tomb, he's directly across from her on a nice little ridgeline. Over at This Ain't Hell, the manager of the Blackfive Farm Team, has a post about Tro…

A few thoughts on the revolutions, and how to respond. Responses are meant to be effective without opening a new ground war, which is a condition that has to be avoided for obvious reasons. Bahrain: This one of the three is the most significant in terms of US power projection because of the 5th Fleet; it is also the one that will require the lightest touch, because we have long been aligned with the monarchy. The military's -- without even a warning shot -- is a quality we should not want in an ally. The Constitutional Monarchy being demanded is a reasonable step; we should publically condemn the shootings of protestors, and begin to push for negotiations betwee…

A bit sensationalistic, but a very valid question under the circumstances. Jonn starts the discussion of the death of Jose Guerena and details the problems he saw at the start. Jose was a Marine, served two tours in Iraq, survived that, and came home to be killed by Sheriff Dupnik's (yes, that sheriff Dupnik) SWAT Team. The sheriff's office has changed it's stories multiple times since, finally admitting that he had not fired and that more than 70 rounds were fired by them in response to an accidental discharge by one of their own officers. Operator Dan follows up with yet more. Much more, and even more disturbing. Having warrants and records sealed after the f…

DID would like to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year! So, what milestones does India’s Ministry of Defence want to highlight from 2011? Dynamint Nobel is still working on its classic Panzerfaust, whose modern versions have proven quite popular. The lightweight versions are strong urban warfare weapons, and the next step is integrating them with remote weapons stations for roles like harbor defense. Switchblade UAVs to launch from subs? While the could retain their kamikaze capabilities, the reality is that sub-launched UAVs are going to be 1-shot items at first. Why not adapt an existing UAV designed for that? Aviation Week Intelligence Network re…

For those interested in the seamanship aspects of the Costa Concordia disaster, this may be interesting: Reconstruction of the Costa Concordia Tragedy, Narration by John Konrad from gCaptain.com on Vimeo. Narration by John Konrad, CEO gCaptain.com and USCG Licensed Master Mariner Unlimited. View the full article

How much faster would it be, and how much more range would it have. That was my first thought; what is your first tactical application? BM1 have some thoughts? View the full article

I do this just enough to irritate some of you - but it is my blog and I can tap in to my academic background now and then if I want - so there.Drudge has this at the lead this AM, but there is more than the 1.5% that you need to focus on.Facts and numbers are important, they are critical to cut through all the smoke, dazzle, and white noise of a political season. Here is the executive summary you need to let soak in. Via the governments Bureau of Economic Analysis: 2011 GDP Real GDP increased 1.7 percent in 2011 (that is, from the 2010 annual level to the 2011 annual level), compared with an increase of 3.0 percent in 2010 . The increase in r…

Now, I don't know if I would call a German Socialist a Fascist .... but that is simply because I have enough of a problem being redundant in my writing. This has been all around ... and I felt the need to share simply because it does three things for me: 1. Shows the EU Parliament as it is. 2. Shows the best political insults come from Brits. 3. Lets me share with you the, ahem, beautiful Dutch language and entertaining hand gestures. Mr. Bloom; take it away. Some think he went too far - maybe, but I would think that he did a great cry for freedom. I owe him beer. Now - who is calling who a Fascist? Vote PVV early - vote PVV often; at lea…

Since the news broke, there have been a number of people working to use the sad news to try to reach out to troops/veterans that were at risk, as well as to educate about depression, stigma, and related issues. I could rant about ignorant posts and posters, but I'd rather focus on what's important: reaching out to those at risk, because if even one stops and thinks, and chooses not to follow... The new social media manager for Mission: VALOR, Army veteran Jennifer Wilkins Perminas, sent me a post yesterday that she wasn't satisfied with. I thought it bloody marvelous, and said so. Here's a small taste: His death brings me to a larger epidemic that I believe we need to dis…

Today is the day to let a vital part of American society know that we appreciate them. Mostly for the tasty, albeit overpriced cofee, but also for not caving in to anti-gun zealots. Many people who love guns and coffee particularly appreciate Starbucks. In the 12 states with unfettered rights to “open carry†a gun, including Virginia, and the 16 others that are mostly open carry, Starbucks has rebuffed attempts by gun control activists to keep guns out of the national coffee shop chain. So on Friday, 2-22 (for the Second Amendment), gun rights supporters are holding “Gun Owners Support Starbucks Day,†and will be drinking their joe while openly packing their …

LT B .... gird your loins. View the full article

... I might have to shift my support from T-Paw to him. Why? Simple - we have similar tastes in toys. Perry ... carr(ies) his .380 Ruger - loaded with hollow-point bullets - when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He'd also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area. ... "I'm enjoying the run when something catches my eye and it's this coyote. I know he knows I'm there. He never looks at me, he is laser-locked on that dog," Perry said. "I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and…

Over at Foreign Policy, John Arquilla - the professor and chairof the defense analysis department at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School - writes about Game Theory with regards to the state of our Navy and recent overly-confident statements by our own President. Instead of using complex algorithms, Professor Arquilla uses games we all know - Battleship and Stratego - to demonstrate the lack of strategic understanding at the highest levels of the Obama Administration. ...In the finalcandidates' debate last week, President Obama delivered a telling, somewhatsnarky zinger in response to Governor Romney's call for naval expansion: "Thisisn't ‘Battleship.'" He then went o…

You know I liked the LCS-I better than the mission-module-madness ..... and it looks like LCS-I has morphed into the cringe inducing Multi-Mission Surface Combatant .... that has morphed into what is showing up at the Dubai Air Show as the "Named by Captain Obvious" Surface Combatant Ship ...... which if you must give me something in a USA designed hull that is ready to go now and is smaller than a DDG-51 in order to meet the Frigate Gap ..... I'll take this over the uni-mission LCS any day. Just look at it! ...provides simultaneous Anti-Air, Anti-Surface, Anti-Submarine, Electronic Warfare and Special Operations support capabilities. ... is a high speed, highly …

Today's guest is Mike Petters, President and Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries. How long would it take the shipbuilding industry to grow capacity and throughput if the nation faced a naval crisis or conflict? Anticipation, Not Reaction, is Critical The fact is the shipbuilding industry is not designed to respond rapidly to a crisis. Whatever the conflict, the nature of our business dictates that we play with the team we’ve got. Ours is a business of anticipation, not reaction. There is nothing magical about it. To meet tomorrow’s crisis or conflict requires continuous investment today to ensure we can deliver capability critical to our natio…

PACIFIC OCEAN (July 27, 2012) The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) are underway in close formation during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012 exercise. Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in the biennial RIMPAC exercise from June 29 to Aug. 3, in and around the Hawaiian Islands. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RI…