HG S2 (Intel Bot)

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

So, if the People's Republic of China is our main opponent on the world stage, and so many in the USA believe that race if the first and most important consideration in all things ... what about China and its view of race? Evidently the result of some FOIA, DOD released a report from 07 January 2013 to Andrew Marshall at the Office of Net Assessment. It is titled, THE STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCES OF CHINESE RACISM: A Strategic Asymmetry for the United States. You have probably heard of this issue mentioned now and then as a side-note, but this goes in to incredible detail - not just about the Chinese view on race and racism, but how that informs their views of the United States. From page 134, this bit caught my eye;The rise of multiculturalism in the United States, and the West more broadly, has destroyed, or “decentered” in the language of the multiculturalists, the American Creed, in favor of an explicitly multiracial, multicultural society that celebrates differences rather than requiring assimilation. Huntington’s American Creed has been replaced by an ideology that rejects its core principles and beliefs in favor of promoting any culture, so long as it is not Western. From the perspective of the Chinese, it is hard what to make of this. In their view, the United States is explicitly rejecting the principles that made the country great, and united it. It is fair to say that the Chinese have not fully thought through the impact of multiculturalism on the West. According to Sinologist John Copper, the Chinese see multiculturalism as a sickness that has overtaken the United States, and a component of U.S. decline. Their belief is that it is bad for the United States, weakening it at a time when the United States is already weakened due to its alien political ideology and different cultural values, with too strong a focus on individualism. From the Chinese viewpoint, all of this conspires to cause the breakdown of American society and the lack of purpose in life for most Americans. Yet, at the same time, they embrace American popular culture. In essence, they think the American people are good but the American government and dominant beliefs are bad. One major implication of this is that the Chinese government may have less of a desire to confront the U.S. due to the expectation that it will collapse of its own internal discord.You really need to put this on your read list. 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=gKn2Hdynlsw:w9lKmjjY4I4:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=gKn2Hdynlsw:w9lKmjjY4I4:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=gKn2Hdynlsw:w9lKmjjY4I4:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=gKn2Hdynlsw:w9lKmjjY4I4:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

By Leo J. Daugherty III The late Professor Edgar F. Puryear, Jr., who until his death in 2018 was scholar-in-residence at the National Defense University and an authority on American generalship, outlined in his book Marine Corps Generalship (National Defense University, 2009) the three critical components that define Marine leadership in time of war. The first of these components is that the position of command is a lonely one. Generals as well as field grade officers are likewise subject to the same strains and stresses accompanying the execution of military operations. Generals make mistakes. This can be seen in the case of Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith and his controversial relief of his Army counterpart – Major General Ralph Smith during the fighting on Saipan in July 1944, and Major General William H. Rupertus and his conduct of the fighting on Peleliu in September of that same year. Both Smith and Rupertus made decisions that carried on into the postwar years in terms of, in Smith’s case, Marine – Army relations, and Rupertus over the question of the necessity of the Peleliu operation. The second component Puryear noted is the fact that generals then as now are faced with innumerable difficult and grave decisions. Indeed, generals during World War II oftentimes did not have the kind of information available to their counterparts today. The critics of both Holland Smith and William Rupertus have had the luxury of a treasure-trove of information available to them that neither of these Marine leaders had during their respective campaigns. Smith and Rupertus fought their battles amidst the chaos and confusion of battle, or, as Clausewitz wrote, “the fog of war.” In short, it is easy to criticize these men but it is highly doubtful that others could have done any better in similar circumstances. The last component is the need to select competent and efficient staff members. Generals make their decisions based on the best analyses their respective staffs can offer. A wartime commander can select his key staff members, “probably the most competent, dedicated, and strong professionals he knows. These individuals are selected based on their expertise, experience, and competence. Their advice cannot, as Puryear noted, be taken lightly. In short, if the staff fails, then so too does the commanding general. Taaffe’s Commanding the Pacific, Camp’s Three War Marine Hero, and Huffman’s Magnificent Bastard, present an overview of Marine officers who succeeded (and failed) in time of war due in large part to their competence, dedication, and tenacity as leaders in war and peace, as well as their ability (or inability in Rupertus’ case) to heed the advice of their respective staffs. The books reviewed here are about Marine leaders who, by the parameters set forth by Puryear, rose to the challenges of leadership and, in the process, put their mark on Marine Corps history in the 20th century. Stephen Taaffe’s Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II, is an overview of the Marine generals who fought in World War II from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. Here, the author examines how the inter-war period between 1918 and 1941 shaped a generation of Marine Corps officers dedicated to the Advanced Base Force and later its successor, amphibious warfare doctrine, which came into fruition in the many landings throughout the Central and Southwest Pacific during World War II. Starting with Major General — later General — Alexander A. Vandegrift and his campaign on Guadalcanal and ending with Lieutenant General Roy Geiger during the last weeks of the Okinawa campaign, Taaffe does an excellent job in illustrating how Marine generals carried out their assignments, oftentimes with limited resources and often with limited or little higher echelon support and succeeded in the face of enemy resistance, inadequate logistical and fire support. One of the major strengths of Taaffe’s book is his criticism of how certain Marine generals carried out their assignments or refused to take advice from higher headquarters – such as Rupertus during the fighting on Peleliu or Major General Harry Schmidt during the fighting on Iwo Jima. As Taaffe wrote, both Rupertus and Schmidt’s stubbornness in their operational decision-making cost the lives of many Marines, sailors, and soldiers, as well as unnecessarily prolonging the battles they fought. Taaffe likewise does an excellent job in pointing to the emerging Marine leadership during World War II that guided the Marine Corps during the bruising Defense unification fight for institutional survival in the late 1940’s as well as the Korean War. Here, Taaffe provides superb insight into Marine officers such as Major General Clifton B. Cates and Brigadier General Lemuel C. Shepherd, both veterans of World War I and tested Marine leaders during World War II. One drawback of Taaffe’s otherwise excellent book is his lack of discussion on Marine field grade officers and their contributions to the victories during the island campaigns in the Pacific during World War II. Many of these same officers would lead Marines into battle in Korea and later in Vietnam. The same qualities and principles that defined the performance of Marine generals during the war served as the foundation for their decisions during the Korean and later Vietnam wars. Colonel Richard Camp’s Three War Marine Hero: Major General Raymond C. Davis is a first-hand look at a Marine who began his career during World War II and participated in the fighting on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, in Korea, and Vietnam; conflicts—one might add—that shaped a whole generation of Marine battalion and regimental commanders as well as general officers. As noted above, many of these same regimental and battalion commanders – such as Davis, gained invaluable experience as staff officers and executive officers during World War II. This most definitely applied to officers such as Lou Walt and Ray Davis who learned the art of leading Marines commanding battalions and regiments during WWII. Camp provides a brief though thorough survey of Davis’ philosophy of leading Marines and how service in WWII laid the foundation for his philosophy on leadership. Here, the author pays particular attention to Davis’ service during the Korean War, especially during the fighting withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir in November-December 1950. Camp, who served as an aide to General Davis during the Vietnam War, offers a first-hand look at this Marine general from the time he entered the Marine Corps by way of an Army ROTC scholarship at Georgia Tech in the late 1930s, through his service on Guadalcanal and later with the 1st Marne Division at Cape Gloucester and finally on Peleliu. Throughout each of his chapters, Camp portrays Davis as perhaps one of the finest leaders to ever wear a Marine uniform. Finally, Mark Huffman’s Magnificent Bastard: BGen William Weise, USMC (Ret.), is a brief, though superb, account of this legendary Marne leader who fought as commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, in one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War at Dai Do in April-May 1968. Huffman, who served as executive officer to General Weise when the latter commanded F Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment on Okinawa in 1959 wrote the book on this extra-ordinary Marine leader so that others might “know Bill Weise the way I know him” as a “task-master whose motto was `The harder we work, the luckier we become.’” As Huffman wrote, General Weise “considered it his primary duty to ensure that his Marines were prepared to face any enemy force that might show up.” As Huffman recounts in his biography of BGen Weise, the latter’s entire career, starting in 1951 and ending in 1982, centered itself on leading Marines and preparing them for battle. The focus of Huffman’s biography on BGen Weise centers on the battle of Dai Do and command of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, known as the “Magnificent Bastards.” Huffman wrote that during the fighting for a village known as Dai Do, “The Second Battalion, 4th Marines, hung on gallantly … they had stopped the enemy advance with three under-sized companies of infantry and a company borrowed from the First Battalion, Third Marines,” and over the course of a six-day battle (30 April – 5 May 1968) they killed more than 600 North Vietnamese soldiers (later estimates indicate that the NVA lost over 1,500 men). During the fighting at Dai Do, two Marine company commanders, Captains Jay Vargas and James Livingston would earn the Medal of Honor for their bravery and tenacity during the fighting for this Vietnamese village. Throughout the battle of Dai Do, Weise’s steady leadership and tactical expertise guided his Marines to victory. This same expertise and skill as a Marine officer likewise served Weise in his post-Vietnam assignments at the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico, Va; Headquarters Marine Corps; and Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. Weise’s dedication to duty and caring for Marines remained the centerpiece of this remarkable Marine leader until his retirement from the Marine Corps in 1982. All three authors — Taaffe, Cap, and Huffman — have written superb books on leaders of Marines—both in war and peacetime—that show these leaders embracing what Puryear called “the “whole Marine Concept” of employing and orchestrating ground, aviation, and combat service support assets, as well as understanding the service infrastructure dedicated to recruiting, training, and equipping Marines. Herein lies the key to Marine leadership and the main strength of each of these books. The authors show how Marine leaders, from Vandegrift to Weise understood these precepts and successfully employed them in battle and in peacetime assignments. Marines look to their leaders for competence and tenacity in both war and peace. As a young Marine, this reviewer had the privilege to serve under some extraordinary Marine leaders – most notably BGen James Livingston, whom I met as a corporal. All three authors, Taaffe, Camp, and Huffman have brought to the fore how Marine leaders were made and performed in combat from World War II to Vietnam. All three authors do an excellent job in illustrating the shortcomings and yes, failures of Marine leaders in both war and peace. Overall, the most important lesson from all three books is the fact that they serve as excellent guides for Marines today, from noncommissioned officers to field grade officers on those qualities necessary in leading Marines. Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II (Stephen R. Taaffe, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2021). Three War Marine Hero: General Raymond G. Davis (Richard D. Camp, Casemate Books, Philadelphia, PA, 2020). One Magnificent Bastard: BGen William Weise, USMC (Ret.) (Mark Huffman, RH Rositzke & Associates, LLC., Fairfax, VA., 2013). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Did you notice that every Russian big-missile cruiser that can go to sea, is at sea? The old veterans of the Soviet Red Banner Fleet are making what is probably their thunder run. Glorious designs of an ear that is about at its end. I'm pondering the beasts over at USNIBlog. Come by and tip a hat at the glorified PASSEX ... unless war kicks off. 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=WvLBXhOMhmo:EqiidBLGjIM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=WvLBXhOMhmo:EqiidBLGjIM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=WvLBXhOMhmo:EqiidBLGjIM:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=WvLBXhOMhmo:EqiidBLGjIM:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems won a $12.6 million order, which provides non-recurring engineering for the development of preliminary software design, software coding, maturation, test, and integration for Link 16 Advanced Capabilities with the Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radio System into the MH-60R/S aircraft for the Navy and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. 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. Work will take place in New York. Completion date is in February 2024. The United States Marine Corps has administratively activated the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion on February 11. This is the Corps first Littoral Anti-Air Battalion. The unit traces its lineage back to the 3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Battalion, which stood up on December 19, 1938. While the unit is not expected to be fully operational immediately, it will eventually be able to provide air defense, air surveillance and early warning, air control, and forward arming and refueling services to the Marine Corps. Middle East & Africa Sikorsky won a $372 million contract modification, which exercises an option for the production and delivery of four low-rate initial production, Lot 6, CH-53K Heavy Lift aircraft, as well as associated aircraft programmatic and logistical support for the government of Israel. In July 2021, the US State Department approved the sale of 18 CH-53K King Stallion helicopters worth $3.4 billion to Israel. Israel announced last February that it would purchase one squadron of CH-53K over Boeing’s CH-47 to replace its fleet of Yasur helicopters at Tel Nof Air Base. Work will take place in Connecticut, Kansas, Utah, Missouri, West Virginia, Washington, Canada, Wisconsin, the UK, Florida, New York, France and Florida. Estimated completion will be in November 2025. Europe The technical launch of the fourth Multipurpose Offshore Patrol ship (PPA – Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura) “Giovanni delle Bande Nere” built for the Italian Navy took place at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Riva Trigoso (Genoa) recently. This PPA, to be delivered in 2024, is the first in “full” version, which means equipped for a complete defence ability, and the first to be supplied with generator sets by Isotta Fraschini Motori, a Fincantieri subsidiary specialized in the production of diesel engines. The vessels are being developed and built under a contract awarded by the Organisation Conjointe de Cooperation sur l’Armement, the international organization for cooperation on arms (OCCAR). Asia-Pacific Rafael’s BNET SDR ground communication was chosen for installation on vehicular platforms of an Asian army. The deal was inked on January 29th, following a thorough and intensive tender process. Various international communication companies completed the tender, at the end of which BNET was chosen as the optimal solution for the program. Delivery will commence this year. South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) awarded Boeing three performance based logistics (PBL) contracts to manage sustainment of Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) F-15K fighter jets and Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft, and Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) CH-47 Chinook helicopters. The five-year contracts will improve aircraft availability by using performance data to inform logistics and supply chain management activities. Today’s Video WATCH: RAFAEL Unveils BNET NANO SDR – A powerful radio that fits in the palm of your hand! View the full article

By Dennis A. Steenbergen, Landing Craft Support Museum 15 February is the anniversary of the loss of three LCS ships to Shin’yō suicide boats at Mariveles Bay during the liberation of the Philippines. U.S. forces were massing in February 1945 to launch an amphibious and land attack on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor. Mr. Steenbergen has an intense personal connection to the loss of these ships, which is discussed in the post that follows. A group of six Landing Craft Support (LCS) ships was readying to provide gunfire support for an amphibious landing at Mariveles when fast Japanese motorboats known as the Shin’yō-class came speeding out of the darkness and slammed into the hulls of four of the LCSs, detonating their 600 pounds of high explosives. Three of those ships sank within minutes. The fourth was able to steer onto the beach and avoid sinking. Seventy-seven sailors were lost in the sinkings and dozens more were wounded. In addition to American lives, thousands of their Filipino brethren gave their lives to defeat the Japanese occupiers and liberate the Philippines. The Landing Craft Support ships of WWII played a pivotal role in the Liberation of Mariveles Bay on 16 February 1945. Six of the small LCS ships were anchored across the mouth of the bay to provide security screening for the US and Filipino forces landing on the shores of your city to recapture the Bataan Peninsula from the occupying forces of Japan. My father, Ship’s Cook 2/c Edward G. Steenbergen, served aboard the USS LCS 49 during WWII. Luckily, he left the ship just days before it was sunk in the Mariveles Bay and was on a hospital ship at Subic Bay at the time. He was lucky because the first suicide boat slammed against the port side of LCS 49 and blew up right where he would have been sleeping. Those brave men of the United States Navy Amphibious fleet sailed into Mariveles Harbor as boys, and they would come out as battle-hardened veterans. Seventy-seven of their number would not come out at all. They are now entombed in the Landing Craft Support ships resting at the bottom of Mariveles Bay or are buried in the American Military Cemetery in Manila. I would like to take a little of your time to share a story that was told to me by a man who lived through it. That young man was aboard LCS 49 when she went down. His story has gone untold for seventy-seven years. At a number of recent Landing Craft Support Museum reunions, I got to know that young sailor very well. His name was Zenon Vincent Zembrzuski. He was a small unassuming man of Polish descent that had survived the Japanese attack and lived the rest of his life in the quiet suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. He was a city bus driver. Most of his friends never knew he was a hero of WWII. He would never talk about his time aboard LCS 49. I had to pry his story from him. Zee, as he liked to be called, was spared death on the morning of 16 February 1945, by either divine intervention or just dumb luck. Zee was in the engine room standing the “mid-watch.” As a young lad of eighteen years, he had just learned the finer points of smoking cigarettes to relax and went topside to have a smoke. He no sooner stepped onto the main deck of the ship and was about to light up, when the first suicide boat hit the port side of the ship in a blinding flash of light and a ball of fire just feet away from him. The resulting explosion sent Zee flying into the water. He found himself dazed with minor burns and injuries and floating in the dark, oily, and fiery waters of Mariveles Bay surrounded by floating burning debris, which moments before had been parts of his ship. He was horrified to find himself covered with oil and gasping for air and treading water among the badly mangled bodies of his shipmates. He soon found a floating life jacket and strapped it on. As his head cleared from the explosion, he started to hear muffled voices and screams of badly injured shipmates. He was again dazed by another explosion of another suicide boat slamming against the starboard side of LCS 49. In quick succession, he witnessed LCS 7, LCS 26, and LCS 27 suffer the same fate as his ship. The resulting explosions sent three of the four ships to the bottom of Mariveles Bay. Only the LCS 27 was able to avoid sinking by steering the ship onto the shore. Zee would tread water for what seemed like hours, looking for injured shipmates floating in the oily burning waters and helping his shipmates onto floating debris while machine-gun bullets whizzed by. After, what seemed like hours, Zee became exhausted. He leaned his head back in the life preserver and closed his eyes and surrendered his fate to God. He was awakened sometime later in the daylight hours by muffled voices of sailors on a PT boat calling to him and reaching to pull him to safety. It is unknown just how many men Zee saved that morning. It didn’t matter to him. He had a duty to do, and he did it. His story of bravery and heroism was common in the waters of Mariveles Bay by the sailors of the other LCS ships doing the same things that Zee was doing for his fellow shipmates on 16 February 1945. The men of the LCS ships need to be remembered for their selfless acts of courage and heroism. Many of the men that survived their ordeal never told their families of what they endured in the waters of Mariveles Bay and most of their stories have been lost to history. Zee passed away a few years ago without ever receiving the accolades from his country or even a purple heart medal for the injuries he received in the dark waters of Mariveles Bay. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by Master Chief David Mattingly, US Navy (Retired) Rear Admiral Dave Oliver spent a career as a submarine officer, a leader within the Navy and Department of Defense, and as an executive in several Fortune 500 companies. He has been a writer about leadership most notably Lead On! A Practical Guide to Leadership published in 1992. In Lead On he introduced the reader to the concept where he compares his Bronze Rules to the metal bronze, which is strong, highly resistant to corrosion, and can withstand challenges. In Lead On and Bronze Rules, Admiral Oliver uses sea stories to present leadership concepts that are applicable to small units as well as large military commands or civilian operations. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Oliver was commissioned in 1963 and served as a submarine officer in a community led by Admiral Hyman Rickover. Oliver’s career transcended a Navy fighting a Cold War while also engaged in Vietnam, The Navy was also adapting to a changing American society. The civil rights movement granted to minority civilians rights and privileges which into the late 1960 were not granted to minority Sailors. Lastly, women Sailors were barred from many career fields which hindered their promotion to higher levels of rank and leadership. Each of these challenges required Navy leaders to act within the Navy’s Core Values however over and over the reader will see examples of Sailors in leadership positions that failed in their roles as a leader as well as civilian that may have been good managers but failed as leaders. As Oliver points out Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt (1970-1974) instituted some of the greatest social changes in the Navy from the standpoint of removing both racial and sexist barriers and making it a service that treated enlisted Sailors with dignity and respect. Zumwalt believed the secret to getting a strong Navy of the future was to immediately begin solving institutional racism and harassment problems. Oliver points out that the “old guard” fought and challenged the new rules which he issued as a series of Z-Grams to the fleet. The “old guard” thought the changes would adversely affect the combat effectiveness and morale of the Navy. Oliver, who was then on the CNO’s staff said that national birth rates indicated the future Navy would include more women and minorities. One of the arguments that the “old guard” made against women serving at sea was the perceived health issues involved in pregnancy aboard ship. After establishing that the medical odds were lower for a woman developing a situation during pregnancy than a man developing a male-only medical condition that the Navy did not screen men going into sea billets Oliver approached then Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Mike Boorda. Oliver argues that women were being set up for failure. “Instead of being encouraged, these Sailors were invited to fail.” With this crack in the Navy’s policy, Oliver was able to open the Navy‘s sea and top leadership positions to thousands of women. Oliver goes on to tell a sea story of how female Sailors were challenged during an exercise in Alaska. A team was to go ashore and establish stations to monitor Soviet Navy activities. Oliver ordered that all team members including the women assigned would be responsible for carrying the team’s equipment. Although others countered his order, he stood fast. The teams returned to the ship carrying their equipment and saluted the colors when they came aboard. “There was no mention below decks about weakness.” Oliver’s use of sea stories from both the Navy and his second career in corporate America makes the “rules” not only understandable but relevant to today’s leaders. Although some may react that they are dated, going back to his early career. I would argue that many challenges of leadership have not changed but have only taken on a different twist with time. For example, the sexual harassment that he investigated is still seen today in today’s news reports of Navy leaders being disciplined over the same issues. Bronze Rules is a very good read and belongs on the shelf of Navy leaders. At the end of the book, Oliver lists his “Bronze Rules” by first stating. “The only golden rule is to never betray your ethics or risk your integrity.” Master Chief Mattingly retired with over 30 years of service in the Navy. He also served as a Senior Intelligence Officer and Senior Research Analyst in the US Intelligence Community. A Navy Admiral’s Bronze Rules: Managing Risk and Leadership (RADM Dave Oliver, USN (Ret.), Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. James G. Stavridis, a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1976, who majored in English and would ultimately rise to four-star admiral, spent 37 years as a surface warfare officer on active service in the U.S. Navy. He commanded destroyers (USS Barry and subsequently Destroyer Squadron 21) and Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, which conducted combat operations in the Persian Gulf in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He was the first Navy officer to command the United States Southern Command and became NATO’s 16th Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) 2009-2013. Admiral Stavridis earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy in 1983 and a Ph.D. in International Relations in 1984, both from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1984. In addition, he was 1992 distinguished graduate of the U.S. National War College. Following his retirement from the Navy in 2013, he returned to Tufts as Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, stepping down in 2018. He is also Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors of the United States Naval Institute, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and a member of the boards of several corporations and charitable organizations. Stavridis has also been a public speaker and consultant to television and print media as international security and diplomacy analyst. Currently, he is Vice-Chair, Global Affairs and Managing Director of the global investment firm the Carlyle Group and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. He is a prolific scholar, having written hundreds of articles on global security issues and leadership. In addition, he has authored ten books in addition to the volume under review here, as well as 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, co-written with Elliot Ackerman (Penguin Press, 2021). Nicknamed “Zorba” during his days at the Naval Academy, likely because of his Greek-American heritage, Admiral Stavridis has been a voracious reader of books since early childhood when his father, a Marine colonel, was stationed in the U.S. Embassy Athens and young James had access to the library. His love of books has continued as readers will learn quickly. His home library currently contains approximately 5,000 volumes about the sea and from which he has selected his personal choices reflecting this passion. In late November 2021, the Naval Institute Press published The Sailor’s Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea, in which Stavridis documents his eclectic choices, providing synopses of fifty books that he recommends because they illustrate the history, significance, and lore associated with oceans and those who venture onto and into the sea. Among his selections, readers will find guides to ship handling and navigation, classic fiction pitting humans against the sea, ecological and strategic challenges, fetes of achievements yet also lessons that derived from failure, economic competition and combat, deep explorations, and poetry that the reflects the sea and seafarers. Some of the titles he includes will be familiar to many readers, but others are likely less well-known. The chosen include several recently published books, yet he also recommends other works, several of which are considered to be “classics” from decades past and deserve recognition. Stavridis renders these selections with reflections from his own service (i.e. “sea stories” in popular jargon) that clarify these choices but also document why he is held in such high regard among his fellow sailors, as well as others. In some instances, he also mentions motion pictures (documentaries and popular films based upon nonfiction and fiction) as diverse as Heyerdahl’s “Kon Tiki,” Kevin Costner’s “Waterworld,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Master and Commander…,” “Mr. Roberts,” “300,” and “Mutiny on the Bounty” (he does not recommend Marlon Brando’s 1962 film). The book begins with a “Preface” in which he documents his passion for the sea, love of books, and biographical notes (see also p. 215). The narrative (pp. 3-192) is divided into four parts of unequal lengths, followed by after matter. I’ll provide an overview of the breadth of his selections in the four categories; the book titles that I cite and the order of discussion are my own choices. The Oceans (Chapters 1-13): His 13 selections were published between 1951 and 2020. The author shows himself to be an admirer of Rachel Carson and her The Sea Around Us (1951) and he recommends a chapter, “Changing Climate Changing Chemistry,” from Sylvia Earle’s The World is Blue (2009), and includes Cod: A Biography (1997) by Mark Kurlansky as well as Atlas of Remote Islands (2010) by Judith Schalansky. His naval warfare texts include Simon Winchester’s Atlantic Great Sea Battles … (2010), his newer book, Pacific (2015), and Nimitz’s Sea Power (E.R. Potter, ed., 1960). Naval Shiphandler’s Guide (James Barber, Jr., 2005), Watch Officer’s Guide (Stavridis et al.16th ed., 2020) and Dutton’s Nautical Navigation (Thomas Curter, 15th ed., 2004) which are also evaluated. Explorers (Chapters 14-21): Eight tomes published between 1950 and 2011 are recommended. Across the Top of the World (James Delgado, 1999) details the quest for the Northwest Passage through the Arctic while The Endurance (Caroline Alexander, 1998) focuses on the Shackleton Antarctic expedition. Captain Cook: Master of the Seas (McLynn, 2011) view’s Cook’s South Seas voyages, 1768-1779, while Jacques Cousteau’s The Silent World (1953) reviews underseas discoveries, and Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki: Six Men Cross the Pacific on a Raft (1950) demonstrates that Polynesian to South America transit was possible. Cousteau’s and Heyerdahl’s efforts are subjects of documentary films. Sailors in Fiction (Chapters 22-35): The 14 books he describes were penned by a variety of authors whose writings range from science fiction (Jules Verne) and knowledgeable laymen (for example: Herman Melville, Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, Herman Wouk, Nicholas Monsarrat, and Ernest Hemingway) to seasoned naval officers (Edward L. “Ned” Beach and James Barber, Jr.). A number of his choices have also been made into motion pictures (some good and some bad) and he has selected some that have been made into motion pictures: The Bedford Incident (Mark Rascovich, 1963) a Cold War thriller with destroyer versus submarine featuring the fictional USS Bedford, and The Good Shepherd (C.S. Forester, 1955) a nautical and war novel with another fictive destroyer, USS Keeling, versus a wolfpack in the North Atlantic. The latter was made into a film in 2021with Tom Hanks commanding the “USS Greyhound “ and is not to be confused with “The Good Shepherd,” a 2006 American spy film focused on the OSS-to-CIA era produced and directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon. Another volume on the North Atlantic features a corvette, HMS Compass Rose, in the Cruel Sea (Nicholas Monserrat, 1951, the film isn’t mentioned), while in the Pacific, Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny (1951, film with Humphrey Bogart 1954); Tom Heggen’s Mr. Roberts (1946, film starring Henry Fonda, 1955); and “gifted writer” Ned Beach’s Run Silent, Run Deep (1983) is “especially good” but the motion picture is “not very good.” The Admiral recommends the novels and film versions of Das Boot and The Hunt for Red October as better choices. Many of these books, he notes, depict a variety of different issues about leadership. Stavridis also suggests several classics: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Verne, 1871); Moby Dick, or the Whale (Herman Melville, 1851, Gregory Peck’s film isn’t cited); Mutiny on the Bounty (Nordhoff and Hall 1932) and the movie with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, not the Clark Gabel film; Master and Commander (Patrick O’Brian, 1969) became a 2003 Russell Crowe film featuring “Lucky” Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and is the title of one among 20 volumes in O’Brian’s series. Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Life of Pi (Yann Martel, 2001) are cited for parables; and Moods of the Sea: Masterworks of Sea Poetry (George Solley and Eric Steinbaugh, 1981) are among other works selected. Sailors in Non-Fiction (Chapters 36-50): Admiral Stavridis discusses 15 volumes and covers a variety of topics included in several autobiographies and first-person accounts. He begins with an author and painter of things naval – Joseph M.W. Turner (1775-1851), Turner & the Sea (Christine Riding and Richard Johns, 2012). The selections include a volume on whaling, In the Heart of the Sea (Nathaniel Philbrick, 2000), the story of the Essex, which Stavridis places in the same class as Melville’s Moby Dick; has recently been made into a motion picture. Books focusing upon geopolitics and naval campaigns include early works such as the venerable The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1890), as well as The Battle of Salamis (Barry Strauss, 2005), and Empires of the Sea (George Crowley, 2008), both with Mediterranean settings. “Modern” works featuring combat at sea include Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945 (Evan Thomas, 2006); two leaders are American and two are Japanese. One Hundred Days (Admiral Sandy Woodward with Patrick Robinson, 1992), recounts the British campaign against Argentina in the Falklands. More personal stories about men against the sea are told in The Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger, 1997) and Two Years before the Mast (Richard Henry Dana, Jr., 1967); both translated into a half dozen foreign languages and versions made into films. Women in the sea service include Lady in the Navy (Joy Bright Hancock, 1972) an autobiographical account of a WAVES commander who served in both world wars, and the documentary She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea (Joan Druett, 2000) detailing bold female sailors over 2,500 years. Significantly included and appropriately titled is Trailblazer: The U.S. Navy’s First Black Admiral (Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. with Paul Stillwell, 2010), a splendid inclusion that a reader may contrast with Admiral George Dewey’s Autobiography written in 1913 with Frederick Palmer. Admiral Stavridis also makes a significant case for including The Seafarers (a 22 volume series prepared by Time-Life, 1978-81). The Sailor’s Bookshelf closes with a “Conclusion” (pp. 193-196) in which the author suggests that the reader: 1) keep reading about the oceans and 2) find new and better books; lastly, 3) he lists 15 additional books and a poem. The “Afterword – A Course to Steer By” is written by Cdr. J. D. Kristenson, USN (pp. 197-201) who provides his own lists: Able Seamen’s List, (four books), Mate’s List (nine books), and Master’s List (cautionary tales). Lastly, there are “Acknowledgments” (pp. 202-204): and “Notes” (pp. 205-214) 159 references to citations included in the fifty narratives and “Afterword.” The New York Times has described Admiral Stavridis as a “Renaissance admiral.” His resume certainly reflects this characterization and is reinforced by the book selections and insightful commentaries that appear in The Sailor’s Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea. In this outstanding volume, the author shares his love of the sea and suggests that these are books valuable as a guide to sailors to better understand ourselves and the world around us. He succeeds in offering examples of leadership and heroism valuable to laypersons, members of the military in and beyond the Navy, whether novices or veterans. This book, like the Watch Officer’s Guide, provides a handbook of standards, to which readers could add Stavridis’s own works: Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command (Naval Institute Press, 2007) and The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command at NATO (Naval Institute Press, 2014). Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D., is a USNI Golden Life Member. The Sailor’s Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea (Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

If you didn't already read Bryan's more cerebral challenge and reply review of The Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States yesterday, please read it now. I've decided to take a slightly different take on the reading. Though there are some good points made and to reference in follow-on documents, my primary thought is one of frustration. Yes, this is not a military strategy document, but - as is correct - an all of government strategy where rightfully the military is in a supporting role. I went in hoping and expecting such an approach ... but I should be careful what I asked for. Too many good idea fairies had a role in promoting their petty agenda vice the nation's larger agenda. There is my TL;DR summary, but if you're still with me, let's dive in. On page two; "The future of each of our nations - and indeed the world - depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific enduring and flourishing in the decades ahead." - President Joe Biden, Quad Leaders Summit, September 24, 2021 Free and open. Yes. That begs the question based on this observation: the Indo-Pacific is defined by its name - the two great Pacific and Indian Oceans. Throughout human history there is only one way you can keep oceans "free and open" and that is through a large and capable navy that enforces this state on the global commons that is the high seas. Words mean things. The word "navy" is only mentioned once, and that was for the Royal Australian Navy. "Naval" not once. We do have a few different variations on "maritime" however; "maritime domain"(4); "maritime security"(3); "maritime space" (1); "maritime capacity" (1); and "maritime challenges" (1). At least the U.S. Coast Guard got mentioned twice, which is good for them ... but this isn't the U.S. Coastal Waters strategy. Their inclusion does fit a pattern of the USCG being pulled away from its primary responsibilities. Additionally, it is more politically acceptable to some in the present administration. If everyone has not realized it quite yet, the US Navy is not in possession of many advocates in the Executive Branch, and it shows. There are other priorities in play. "Climate" was mentioned 16 times. The nations of the Pacific? - India=12 - Japan=10 - Taiwan=8 - Australia=7- China=5 - Korea (any)=4 - Philippines=3 - Vietnam, France, United Kingdom=1 each - Russia, Canada, Mexico, any Central or South American nation or region=0 (NB: as an all-of-government document, this is a mistake. The Western Hemispheric nations are in NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM as you can see in the pic above ... but that only a military concern. The rest of the government should not be so constrained). Besides "Climate" getting 16 mentions; - Democratic/Democracy=8 - Human Rights=2 - Gender equity=1 If you were looking for any new thinking, you're going to be sadly disappointed. If you were hoping to see domestic politics kept out, you will be even more disappointed. It does start out strong; The United States is an Indo-Pacific power. The region, stretching from our Pacific coastline to the IndianOcean, is home to more than half of the world’s people, nearly two-thirds of the world’s economy, and seven of the world’s largest militaries. More members of the U.S. military are based in the region than in any other outside the United States. It supports more than three million American jobs and is the source of nearly $900 billion in foreign direct investment in the United States. In the years ahead, as the region drives as much as two-thirds of global economic growth, its influence will only grow—as will its importance to the United States. It outlines our allies and close friends; ...ironclad treaty alliances with Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Philippines, and Thailand, laying the foundation of security that allowed regional democracies to flourish. Those ties expanded as the United States supported the region’s premier organizations, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN);Though the post-Cold War efforts of the Bush 41 and Clinton Administration get snubbed, they do make the point that in broad terms this is a national, bi-partisan effort...as is proper; The George W. Bush Administration understood Asia’s growing importance and engaged closely with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Japan, and India. The Obama Administration significantly accelerated American prioritization of Asia, investing new diplomatic, economic, and military resources there. And the Trump Administration also recognized the Indo-Pacific as the world’s center of gravity.Credit is due for clearly identifying the central player in this story; This intensifying American focus is due in part to the fact that the Indo-Pacific faces mounting challenges, particularly from the PRC. The PRC is combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might as it pursues a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and seeks to become the world’s most influential power. The PRC’s coercion and aggression spans the globe, but it is most acute in the Indo-Pacific. From the economic coercion of Australia to the conflict along the Line of Actual Control with India to the growing pressure on Taiwan and bullying of neighbors in the East and South China Seas, our allies and partners in the region bear much of the cost of the PRC’s harmful behavior. In the process, the PRC is also undermining human rights and international law, including freedom of navigation, as well as other principles that have brought stability and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific. This opening was clearly where the adults were in charge. Things start to wobble a bit when the people from the cheap seats start to get a say. This one paragraph is just strange, as was the almost spoof-worthy constant bringing in of the neo-pagan climate change agenda ... but really, DPRK deserves a bit more than being clumped in to the weather; The Indo-Pacific faces other major challenges. Climate change is growing ever-more severe as South Asia’s glaciers melt and the Pacific Islands battle existential rises in sea levels. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict a painful human and economic toll across the region. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues to expand its illicit nuclear weapons and missile programs. Indo-Pacific governments grapple with natural disasters, resource scarcity, internal conflict, and governance challenges. Left unchecked, these forces threaten to destabilize the region. At this point, we discover - besides proper fealty to the Cult of Gaia - what appears to be a Biden Administration buzzword that needs to in the middle square of all our BINGO cards; "resilience." They mention is a whopping 14 times. Here's just a sample of the context; Our strategy, therefore, begins with building resilience within countries, as we have done in the United States. There's a whiff of "White Man's Burden" here (along with other neo-imperialist patronizing sprinkled throughout), but let's look at the definition of "resilience;" re·sil·ience /rəˈzilyəns/ noun 1. the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. "the often remarkable resilience of so many British institutions" 2. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity. "nylon is excellent in wearability and resilience" Huh. They keep using that word, but I don't think they know what it means. The United States cannot do that across a swath of the planet with multitudes more population than we have. We are overselling here. Sure, sounds all Kennedy School of Government and McKinsey Consultingesque to make The Smartest People in the Room™ nod their heads, but no. Stop. Not here. Mixed in the growing clouds of chaff, there remain some good things. Nothing new, but that's OK. The fundamentals need repeating; The United States will pursue five objectives in the Indo-Pacific—each in concert with our allies and partners, as well as with regional institutions. We will: • ADVANCE A FREE AND OPEN INDO-PACIFIC • BUILD CONNECTIONS WITHIN AND BEYOND THE REGION • DRIVE REGIONAL PROSPERITY • BOLSTER INDO-PACIFIC SECURITY • BUILD REGIONAL RESILIENCE TO TRANSNATIONAL THREATS This paragraph from the second bullet and all the "wills" to generate action and name dropping The Quad is solid. If we work on just this, everyone's security would strengthen; Those efforts begin with our closest alliances and partnerships, which we are renewing in innovative ways. We are deepening our five regional treaty alliances—with Australia, Japan, the ROK, the Philippines, and Thailand—and strengthening relationships with leading regional partners, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands. We will also encourage our allies and partners to strengthen their ties with one another, particularly Japan and the ROK. We will support and empower allies and partners as they take on regional leadership roles themselves, and we will work in flexible groupings that pool our collective strength to face up to the defining issues of our time, particularly through the Quad. We will continue to strengthen Quad cooperation on global health, climate change, critical and emerging technology, infrastructure, cyber, education, and clean energy, as we work together and with other partners toward a free and open Indo-Pacific. Whoever snuck Mongolia in, I owe you a beer. Well done and exactly correct. As for the people responsible for this but; ...we will deepen long-standing cooperation with ASEAN while launching new high-level engagements on health, climate and environment, energy, transportation, and gender equity and equality. I'm sorry, but whatever gaggle who clearly has zero experience in the world outside meetings at Davos, the lounge at a Sheraton somewhere, or musings in DC salons or Acela academic lounges - they need to be kept away from policy and go work at some Vermont liberal arts boarding school to teach Dadism. Domestic political fetishes exported to interfere with foreign policy and security requirements has brought more trouble to America abroad than any value it brought to people not holding an American passport. Feel good cultural imperialism - and that is what it is - that runs against the norms and deeply held beliefs of many nations we are trying to work on more fundamental issues is a vanity that gets people killed. This is counter productive to the extreme. Then we have another strange paragraph that seems wedged in. Allies and partners outside of the region are increasingly committing new attention to the Indo-Pacific, particularly the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). We will harness this opportunity to align our approaches and will implement our initiatives in coordination to multiply our effectiveness. We will partner to build regional connectivity with an emphasis on the digital domain, as well as to uphold international law, particularly in the maritime space. Along the way, we will build bridges between the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic, and, increasingly, with other regions, by leading on shared agendas that drive collective action. We will also advance our common vision through close coordination at the United Nations. Evidently someone has a pet theory of trying to spot-weld European security entities to the Indo-Pacific. I'm sympathetic to that theory, but it is tertiary at the moment. I'm sorry, we can't get the Germans and French to focus on events a day's drive from Berlin. We can bring them in deeper in to Quad issues at a later date. Yes, France has a lot of waterspace in the areas and it is nice for others to visit now and then, but let's not lose focus on ... oh, I don't know...Indonesia. Focus people. Focus. Speaking of trashy domestic vanity politics. I'm still giggling at this; Through our Build Back Better World initiative with G7 partners,...It's just embarrassing. Of the five bullets, only #4 has a military focus. It dilutes that with the whole "integrated deterrence" that is says will be the "cornerstone of our approach." As defined last year, it is word salad; Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, fleshed out the concept ... "In terms of integrated … we mean, integrated across domains, so conventional, nuclear, cyber, space, informational," he said. "[It is also] integrated across theaters of competition and potential conflict [and] integrated across the spectrum of conflict from high intensity warfare to the gray zone."Feel free to do something with that. Mortals can't. Don't expect anything new about Taiwan or the NORKs. Most of what is said is either legalistic hedging or the status quo; We will also work with partners inside and outside of the region to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, including by supporting Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, to ensure an environment in which Taiwan’s future is determined peacefully in accordance with the wishes and best interests of Taiwan’s people. As we do so, our approach remains consistent with our One China policy and our longstanding commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiqués, and the Six Assurances. ... As the DPRK continues to develop destabilizing nuclear and missile programs, we will continue to seek serious and sustained dialogue, with the goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and addressing its ongoing human-rights violations and improving the lives and livelihoods of the North Korean people. At the same time, we are strengthening extended deterrence and coordination with the ROK and Japan to respond to DPRK provocations, remaining prepared to deter—and, if necessary, defeat—any aggression to the United States and our allies, while bolstering counter-proliferation efforts throughout the region. While reinforcing extended deterrence against nuclear- and ballistic-missile systems and other emerging threats to strategic stability, the United States will seek to work with a wide set of actors, including our rivals, to prevent and manage crises. If you thought bullet #5 about transnational threats would be terrorism, well, no. It appears that Gaia is mad and that makes her the transnational threat. The Indo-Pacific is the epicenter of the climate crisis, but it is also essential to climate solutions. Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will require the major economies in the region to align their targets with the Agreement’s temperature goals. This includes urging the PRC to commit to and implement actions in line with the level of ambition required to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Our shared responses to the climate crisis are both a political imperative and an economic opportunity in the Indo-Pacific, home to 70% of the world’s natural disasters. The United States will work with partners to develop 2030 and 2050 targets, strategies, plans, and policies consistent with limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and will seek to serve as the preferred partner as the region transitions to a net-zero future. Through initiatives like Clean EDGE, we will incentivize clean-energy technology investment and deployment, seek to drive energy-sector decarbonization, and foster climate-aligned infrastructure investment. The United States will work with partners to reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation and will support critical-infrastructure resilience and address energy security. We will also work to safeguard the health and sustainable use of the region’s vast oceans, including through the legal use of their resources, enhanced research cooperation, and the promotion of beneficial commerce and transportation. We will partner with the region to help end the COVID-19 pandemic and build resilience against common threats. We will work closely with partners to strengthen their health systems to withstand future shocks, drive investments in global health security, and expand regional platforms to prevent, detect, and respond to emergencies, including biological threats. We will also work through the World Health Organization (WHO), the G7, the G20, and other multilateral fora to strengthen preparedness and response. We will advance our resilience efforts in close coordination with ASEAN, APEC, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and other organizations. It appears that the adults were allowed to kick off the action plan. Some solid stuff here; LEAD AN INDO-PACIFIC FRAMEWORK We will launch, in early 2022, a new partnership that will promote and facilitate high-standards trade, govern the digital economy, improve supply-chain resiliency and security, catalyze investment in transparent, high-standards infrastructure, and build digital connectivity—doubling down on our economic ties to the region while contributing to broadly shared Indo-Pacific opportunity. REINFORCE DETERRENCE The United States will defend our interests, deter military aggression against our own country and our allies and partners—including across the Taiwan Strait—and promote regional security by developing new capabilities, concepts of operation, military activities, defense industrial initiatives, and a more resilient force posture. We will work with Congress to fund the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and the Maritime Security Initiative. Through the AUKUS partnership, we will identify the optimal pathway to deliver nuclear powered submarines to the Royal Australian Navy at the earliest achievable date; in addition, we will deepen cooperation and enhance interoperability through a concrete program of work on advanced capabilities, including cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and undersea capabilities. I'm all about giving interns a chance to contribute, but who let the Model UN kid go unsupervised? The Quad Fellowship will formally launch in 2022, recruiting its first class of 100 students from all four countries to pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields in the United States beginning in 2023. OK. "The Quad" is Australia, India, and Japan in addition to the USA. Let's look at the numbers; - 167,582 Indians are studying in the USA already. - 11,785 Japanese. - Australian numbers are hard to find, perhaps a bit over 5,000. 100 students won't make a ripple unless they all become CIA assets. So, in the end, I kind of understand why this was dropped on Friday. We can now say we have a strategy, but there simply is nothing here we didn't already know. In the end from 'ole Sal, there are five places we need to focus on to build our relationships in the Indo-Pacific. Don't worry about the details, they will reveal themselves. - Security. - Economic growth. - Standard of living. - Good governance and rule of law. - Respect for local cultural norms. 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=ABzMEMcXfgk:5ayTGsbgvNI:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ABzMEMcXfgk:5ayTGsbgvNI:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ABzMEMcXfgk:5ayTGsbgvNI:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ABzMEMcXfgk:5ayTGsbgvNI:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas General Electric won a $39.2 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure 19 T-64 engine cores for the CH-53E aircraft in support of the T-64 Engine Reliability Improvement Program. The GE T64 is a turboshaft engine used in both fixed-wing aircraft and in helicopters, for which it was originally developed. Work will take place in Massachusetts, Vermont, North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio. Estimated completion date is in January 2024. Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solutions won a $31.4 million contract modification, which extends services and adds hours to implement Delta Software System Configuration (DSSC) #4 tactical baseline updates and concurrency enhancements, to include technical data, on the E-2D Hawkeye Integrated Training System, flight, tactics, maintenance, and E-2D Distributed Readiness Trainer (D-DRT) devices. Additionally, this modification exercises options to provide integration of the DSSC #4 on weapons system trainers and flight devices, DSSC #4 Operating Systems upgrades on flight and D-DRT devices, and technical data, as well as provide DSSC #4 training, to include maintenance, user, and cyber security/software support. Work will take place in California, Virginia and Japan. Estimated completion will be in September 2024. Middle East & Africa Lockheed Martin won a $16 million deal for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 flight test support in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with an estimated completion date of February 13, 2025. Fiscal 2022 Foreign Military Sales (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) funds in the amount of $16,099,270 were obligated at the time of the award. The Advanced Technology Systems Company (ATSC) awarded SRC, Inc. a contract to manufacture and deliver SR Hawk ground surveillance radars in support of Egypt’s Mobile Surveillance Sensor Security System (MS3) program. The long-range radar provides situational awareness in a low-power package that is easy to setup and use. SRC is continuously improving this system with hardware and software updates that enhance usability and performance. Europe Three more F-35B aircraft are being delivered to the UK, bringing the fleet to 25 aircraft. The aircraft are being flown from Texas to RAF Marham (via MCAS Beaufort) and assisted in crossing the Atlantic by a Voyager tanker. Three more jets will arrive later in 2022 and seven more will arrive in 2023. Asia-Pacific Textron Aviation will deliver new commercial Beechcraft King Air 360ER aircraft to Sri Lanka. A contract valued nearly $11.5 million was awarded to the company for these aircraft. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kansas, with an estimated completion date of September 26, 2025. Today’s Video WATCH: Dive Deep Into Fusion Avionics in the King Air 360 View the full article

From lay observers to professionals in the national security arena, for the last year most have been waiting to see what our Indo-Pacific Strategy would be. Words matter, especially in national strategy where those words drive funding, effort, and the attentions of industry and the national security apparatus. For reasons best known to those who made the decision, it was delivered last Friday, buried in a general Friday news dump before the Super Bowl weekend and Russia on the brink of invading Ukraine. You would be hard pressed to pick a worse time, but it is what it is. The timing does not take away our responsibility to read and comment, and this week we are going to spend the next two days doing. To start out we have returning guest poster, our friend Bryan McGrath. I'll follow with my thoughts tomorrow. You can get your own copy of the strategy at this link if you don't have it yet. As always, we are grateful to have Bryan guest posting. On this topic especially, he's the right guy to give it a once over. Bryan, over to you. Non-Specific/General Comments These thoughts were rather quickly put down in reaction to an important document that could be lost amid other world events threatening to take center stage. As a Seapower advocate, attentive readers will note my obvious biases. This is strategy at the “grand” level, in that it attempts to align and apply U.S. national power within itself, and with friends and allies. This needs to be remembered, even as I criticize it for its vagueness and generality. It is a stab at laying out a comprehensive strategy for competing with China, particularized to this region. One can reasonably be expected to look at how this was framed and what it is considered to be important when anticipating what a Biden National Security Strategy will look like. And that worries me. That “Bolster(ing) Indo-Pacific Security” is the fourth of five objectives of this strategy, is unfortunate, and it sends an unfortunate message of prioritization (or lack of, mainly) of building up our military power and encouraging our friends and allies likewise. There is a great deal of this document upon which I do not comment. This is because whatever is not commented upon is unobjectionable or not important enough to bring up. The document was released late on a Friday afternoon when there is war boiling on front burner in Europe. I realize it was timed to the Quad meeting, but I wonder if putting this aside for a bit might not have been a better move. THE INDO-PACIFIC’S PROMISE Note: Bold text references are direct quotations from the document, with page numbers noted. (4) Since then, administrations of both political parties have shared a commitment to the region. The George W. Bush Administration understood Asia’s growing importance and engaged closely with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Japan, and India. The Obama Administration significantly accelerated American prioritization of Asia, investing new diplomatic, economic, and military resources there. And the Trump Administration also recognized the Indo-Pacific as the world’s center of gravity. This is excellent. Pointing to continuity over time is worthwhile. (5) The PRC’s coercion and aggression spans the globe, but it is most acute in the Indo-Pacific. This is useful and important, as there is sometimes a tendency to look at the PLA-Navy buildup and think that it is all about Taiwan or Western Pacific hegemony. It isn’t. China is building a global Navy and will operate it as such. We will rub up against them across the seven seas in the years and decades to come. (5) From the economic coercion of Australia to the conflict along the Line of Actual Control with India to the growing pressure on Taiwan and bullying of neighbors in the East and South China Seas, our allies and partners in the region bear much of the cost of the PRC’s harmful behavior. In the process, the PRC is also undermining human rights and international law, including freedom of navigation, as well as other principles that have brought stability and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific. Excellent shorthand description of what this strategy is designed to contest. (5) Our objective is not to change the PRC but to shape the strategic environment in which it operates, building a balance of influence in the world that is maximally favorable to the United States, our allies and partners, and the interests and values we share. There is laudable humility in this statement, and it leverages our “killer app”—which is our network of friends and allies around the world. OUR INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY (7) For centuries, the United States and much of the world have viewed Asia too narrowly—as an arena of geopolitical competition. Too narrowly? As opposed to what? Geopolitical competition is the natural order of things, and we ought to recognize that fact, not lament it. 1. Advance a Free and Open Pacific (8) through investments in democratic institutions, a free press, and a vibrant civil society. The United States will bolster freedom of information and expression and combat foreign interference by supporting investigative journalism, promoting media literacy and pluralistic and independent media, and increasing collaboration to address threats from information manipulation. This is good stuff, and it gets at the heart of this being a strategy written on the “grand” level rather than something derivative. It also is a group of activities and functions that in our republic, are not terribly well-synchronized. We don’t have a place where the making of grand strategy fits nicely, or a competent process for birthing it. (8) work closely with like-minded partners to ensure that the region remains open and accessible and that the region’s seas and skies are governed and used according to international law. I realize that I am being a bit of a noodge and a pedant, but the overwhelming majority of the region’s (and the world’s) seas are not only ungoverned, but they are also ungovernable. By design, at least, seas are ungovernable if “free seas” are what you actually desire. I think I get what the authors are aiming at here, but the language is inartful. 2. Build Connections Within and Beyond the Region (9) We will pursue this through a latticework of strong and mutually reinforcing coalitions. This is an interesting and strategically significant statement. It occurs to me that a single strong coalition would be the best approach to the reason but given several factors (fear of China, historical enmity, alignment preferences), that is unlikely to occur. So, this “latticework” of coalitions takes the world as it is and doubles down on our main strategic advantage (more and better friends). (9) We will continue to strengthen Quad cooperation on global health, climate change, critical and emerging technology, infrastructure, cyber, education, and clean energy, as we work together and with other partners toward a free and open Indo-Pacific. All very much the purview of grand strategy. Somewhat disheartening to have read several references already to climate change and not a single word about military power or capacity. 3. Drive Indo-Pacific Prosperity (11) The prosperity of everyday Americans is linked to the Indo-Pacific. Yes, and that prosperity is underwritten by forward deployed and stationed naval forces who work closely with friends and allies to maintain the freedom of the seas. Would have LOVED to see that tie made clear within this document. But it isn’t. We are either supposed to already know it, or it isn’t important. (11) The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the need for a recovery that promotes broad-based economic growth. That requires investments to encourage innovation, strengthen economic competitiveness, produce good-paying jobs, rebuild supply chains, and expand economic opportunities for middle-class families: 1.5 billion people in the Indo-Pacific will join the global middle class in this decade. As I read this, I thought “holy smokes, the Biden team is trying to shoehorn its domestic agenda into this”. And then I read: (11) Through our Build Back Better World initiative with G7 partners Silly me for not knowing that they’d already done so. 4. Bolster Indo-Pacific Security (12) Integrated deterrence will be the cornerstone of our approach. We will more tightly integrate our efforts across warfighting domains and the spectrum of conflict to ensure that the United States, alongside our allies and partners, can dissuade or defeat aggression in any form or domain. We will drive initiatives that reinforce deterrence and counter coercion, such as opposing efforts to alter territorial boundaries or undermine the rights of sovereign nations at sea. Integrated deterrence is posited here as if it is well-understood and a clear term that means something to the national security community. This is not the case. What is befuddling is that its use here, in a section that is very much (or should be) devoted to military matters, makes it sound as if “integrated deterrence” is a creature of the Department of Defense. And while it has generally been DoD types who use the phrase to explain why the rest of us should be happy with insufficient resources being applied to defense, the Department already had a lexicon to describe how “integrated deterrence” works within the department. That word is “Jointness”. Integrated deterrence—at least to the extent that I understand what it is—means applying national power in a more integrated manner to the question of deterrence. And because of this clever application of national power, the Biden Team believes that we could and should more efficiently apply the military instrument to conventional deterrence. By efficiently I mean “economically”. Because the defense portion of the discretionary budget is a fat target for Building Back Better funds, getting defense spending under control is and has been a fundamental tenet of the Biden Team’s approach. There is a whiff of smokescreen in the whole concept of integrated deterrence, in that it provides cover for diminishing the hard power contribution to deterrence while building up other elements of national power that are more popular with domestic political constituencies. (13) build the defense capacity of partners in South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. I am unable to find even a passing reference anywhere in this document to building our own defense capacity. This omission is the greatest weakness of this document. (13) expanding U.S. Coast Guard presence, I remain hostile to the Coast Guard performing naval functions forward, as it legitimizes Chinese blurring of lines in its own maritime power by playing the same game. I realize that this is a minority view, but it has implications in both how we approach Chinese maritime power and how we resource that approach. INDO-PACIFIC ACTION PLAN Drive New Resources to the Indo-Pacific (15) Building shared capacity requires the United States to make new regional investments. We will open new embassies and consulates, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, and increase our strength in existing ones, intensifying our climate, health, security, and development work. We will expand U.S. Coast Guard presence and cooperation in Southeast and South Asia and the Pacific Islands, with a focus on advising, training, deployment, and capacity-building. We will refocus security assistance on the Indo-Pacific, including to build maritime capacity and maritime-domain awareness. We will also expand the role of people-to-people exchange, including the Peace Corps. Within the U.S. government, we will ensure we have the necessary capacity and expertise to meet the region’s challenges. Throughout, we will work with Congress to ensure that our policy and resourcing have the bipartisan backing necessary to support our strong and steady regional role. The failure to mention properly resourcing hard power and strengthening our conventional deterrence posture is breath-taking. Reinforce Deterrence (15) developing new capabilities, concepts of operation, military activities, defense industrial initiatives, and a more resilient force posture. But not capacity. Not lethality. Words matter. Support India’s Continued Rise and Regional Leadership (16) We will continue to build a strategic partnership in which the United States and India work together and through regional groupings to promote stability in South Asia; collaborate in new domains, such as health, space, and cyber space; deepen our economic and technology cooperation; and contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific. We recognize that India is a like-minded partner and leader in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, active in and connected to Southeast Asia, a driving force of the Quad and other regional fora, and an engine for regional growth and development. Absolutely. Bravo. Deliver on the Quad (16) We will strengthen the Quad as a premier regional grouping and ensure it delivers on issues that matter to the Indo-Pacific. We need to do more to emphasize military cooperation and exercises as a part of the everyday business of “The Quad.” Bryan McGrath is the Managing Director of The FerryBridge Group. These views are his and do not represent any client. 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=_S1iV_6MKgE:gNqipGkTJUE:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=_S1iV_6MKgE:gNqipGkTJUE:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=_S1iV_6MKgE:gNqipGkTJUE:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=_S1iV_6MKgE:gNqipGkTJUE:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas General Dynamics won an $18.8 million contract modification for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia-class submarines.The Virginia-class attack submarine is an advanced stealth multimission nuclear-powered submarine for deep ocean anti-submarine warfare and littoral, or shallow water, operations. Work will take place in Arizona, California and Pennsylvania. Expected completion will be by November 2024. Lockheed Martin announced it has terminated its agreement to acquire rocket engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. for $4.4 billion. The decision to terminate the agreement follows the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) lawsuit filed late last month seeking a preliminary injunction to block the acquisition. Middle East & Africa A news report says Morocco is planning to acquire the Barak MX air defense missile system. Globes reports that IAI CEO Boaz Levy had visited Morocco to give a briefing on the system to the Moroccans. Europe Raytheon BBN will provide 34 Boomerang gunshot detection systems to equip the Lithuanian Armed Force’s fleet of next-generation combat vehicles. Boomerang technology increases battlefield mission success, vehicle safety and warfighter survivability. Its networked-system increases situational awareness and command-and-control options. The Boomerang is integrated with Android Team Awareness Kit. BAE Systems said the Royal Navy’s fifth Barrow-built Astute-class submarine Anson completed its first trim dive in the town’s Devonshire Dock. The operation saw Anson submerge completely beneath the surface of the water while crew tested on-board systems. This successful exercise proved the safety and stability of the 7,400-tonne, 97m-long attack submarine, the company said. Asia-Pacific The last three Rafale fighters that are to be delivered to India will depart France this week, the Hindu reports. After that, there will only be on India-owned Rafale left in France that is being used to certify India specific enhancements (ISE). Today’s Video WATCH: Why Britain’s $ 2.2 Billion Astute-Class Nuclear Submarine Is Its Most Dangerous Naval Asset View the full article

As described on Amazon, "Eight CIA officers are dropped into the mountains of northern Afghanistan on October 17, 2001. They are Team Alpha, an eclectic band of linguists, tribal experts, and elite warriors: the first Americans to operate inside Taliban territory. Their covert mission is to track down Al- Qaeda and stop the terrorists from infiltrating the United States again."Most may be familiar with one member of that team, Mike Spann. This Sunday we will spend the hour talking about that Team, the first few months of the Afghanistan conflict, and what the war and its future looked like early on as described in the recent book, First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11. The author Toby Harnden will be with us for the full hour this Sunday from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM to discuss the book and the story it tells. Toby is an author, journalist, and a winner of the Orwell Prize for Books. A former foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times of London and the Daily Telegraph who reported from thirty-three countries, he specializes in terrorism and war. Born in Portsmouth, England, Harnden was imprisoned in Zimbabwe, prosecuted in Britain for protecting confidential sources, and vindicated by a $23 million public inquiry in Ireland. A dual British and US citizen, he spent a decade as a Royal Navy officer before becoming a journalist. He holds a First Class degree in modern history from Oxford and is the author of Bandit Country: The IRA & South Armagh and Dead Men Risen: An Epic Story of War and Heroism in Afghanistan. Previously based in London, Belfast, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Washington, DC, he lives in Virginia. 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=RKAX5KITw4w:wDi2OtA1J58:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=RKAX5KITw4w:wDi2OtA1J58:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=RKAX5KITw4w:wDi2OtA1J58:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=RKAX5KITw4w:wDi2OtA1J58:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems won a $28 million modification, which exercises an option to procure MH-60R/S aircraft mission computer (MC) and flight management computer (FMC) retrofit kits, wiring kits, and Lynx licenses. The quantities are: 190 MC Generation III/V configuration to GEN 3i/5i MC kits (96 for the Navy, 70 for Naval Supply, 19 for the government of Australia, and five for the government of Denmark); 15 FMC Generation VI configuration to GEN 3i/5i FMC kits (10 for the Navy and five for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia); 194 MC Generation III/V FMC configuration to GEN 3i/5i FMC kits (114 for the Navy, 51 for Naval Supply, 19 for the government of Australia, five for the government of Denmark, and five for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia); 200 wiring kits (187 for the Navy, six for the government of Australia, five for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and two for the government of Denmark); and 1,250 Lynx licenses for the Navy. Work will take place in New York and Florida. Expected completion date is in November 2024. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has to cut the number of KC-390 that it will procure from Embraer from 28 to 22 aircraft. Earlier, the FAB said it will only buy 16 aircraft. Embraer then countered that the reduction to the order was done unilaterally and the aerospace company would consider legal actions against the Brazilian government. The delivery schedule will be stretched until 2034, which Embraer says will allow it to carry out long-term planning with its suppliers. Middle East & Africa Lockheed Martin won a $138.9 million agreement for federation, testing and user operational assessments of the Spike non-line-of-sight missile system. Spike NLOS is a multi-purpose, electro-optical/infrared missile system. Its advanced rocket motor provides capability to reach ranges up to 32km. Operators can integrate Spike NLOS with ground, aviation or maritime platforms – while leveraging its stand-off capability to strike distant or geographically concealed targets without line-of-sight. Work will take place in Florida and Israel. Estimated completion date is January 30, 2025. Europe Finland’s Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen approved a proposal to procure ammunition for a heavy rocket launcher system from the United States. The Ministerial Finance Committee supported the procurement in its session on 10 February 2022. The procurement will provide the Defense Forces with Extended Range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Alternative Warheads (ER GMLRS AW) for area targets and Extended Range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Unitary (ER GMLRS UNITARY) ammunition for point target effect, Finland’s MoD said in a release. Asia-Pacific The US government has approved a potential Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Indonesia for 36 F-15ID fighters. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress after the sale was approve by the State Department. The sale package includes MS-110 Recce Pods and AN/ASG-34 Infrared Search and Track equipment. The Pentagon says the proposed sale will improve Indonesia’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling it to provide increased deterrence and air defense coverage across a very complex air and maritime domain. Philippines has taken delivery of four CESSNA 172S Skyhawk trainer aircraft for $2.2 million. On Thursday, the Department of National Defense said it received the aircraft worth $2.2 million under U.S. Foreign Military Financing Program. They will be used by the Philippine Navy Naval Air Wing. The CESSNA 172S Skyhawk has a maximum range of 640nm and can attain cruise speed of 124 ktas. The aircraft can accommodate four people. Today’s Video WATCH: SPIKE NLOS In Future Vertical Lift Demonstration View the full article

In this episode of Second Saturday, we commemorate the centennial of the signing of this monumental arms control treaty. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College professor Dr. John T. Kuehn, who has written extensively on the General Board of the Navy, will offer a brief of the conference proceedings. This will be followed by commentary and discussion with 2021 NHF Knox Medal recipient Dr. Tom Hone and Naval War College associate professor Dr. Ryan Wadle, author of Selling Seapower: Public Relations and the U.S. Navy, 1917-1941. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

So, how tough will you be in your 50s? Jeff Schogol over at T&P has a benchmark for you; At 50 years old, (Paul) Douglas arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in 1942 to begin boot camp. The economics professor was more than twice as old as the average Marine recruit and Douglas remains the oldest recruit to pass through Parris Island. ... Initially, Douglas was assigned to the personnel classification section of Parris Island after becoming a Marine, but he was not content with the idea of writing training manuals for the rest of the war, so with the help of his good friend Fred Knox, who was serving as Navy Secretary, Douglas became an infantry officer. Douglas was commissioned as a captain after spending just seven months as an enlisted Marine and then he shipped out to the Pacific, where he fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. ... Douglas, who was serving as a division adjutant, had been allowed to take part in the invasion on the condition that he stay away from combat, yet he routinely volunteered to be a stretcher bearer to evacuate wounded and fallen Marines from the frontlines, Howard Shuman wrote in a 1979 profile of Douglas for Challenge, an economics magazine. During one of his trips to the front, Douglas saw that the Marines desperately needed a flamethrower and ammunition for rocket launchers, so he grabbed what was needed and braved heavy mortar and small arms fire to deliver it to the front lines. ... As a leader, Douglas was credited with putting his men first. Shuman wrote how during one battle, a Navy corpsman refused Douglas’ order to treat wounded Marines who were under heavy fire. “He said he was a Harvard Medical School graduate with training too valuable to risk his life,” Shuman wrote. “Incensed by his refusal, Douglas took out his weapon, pointed it at the doctor’s head, and marched him to the front lines. Years later he told me he still shuddered when he thought about it: he had been so outraged that he had been prepared to shoot the man if he refused again.” Read it all ... because if you are well read in American history or quirky economic theory, you may recognize that name. He kept serving his nation for a very long time. 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=_2WmauwFbI0:NoWA0PIyN4c:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=_2WmauwFbI0:NoWA0PIyN4c:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=_2WmauwFbI0:NoWA0PIyN4c:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=_2WmauwFbI0:NoWA0PIyN4c:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article