HG S2 (Intel Bot)

This month when you say "tender" I am not thinking about a tender Turkey. I am not thinking about tender mercies. Nope. If we are really concerned about winning the next great Pacific war ... we need to grow up and get ready. Details over at USNIBlog. Tell me where I'm wrong. 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=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/bQxRG1Fxo3IView the full article

Americas Boeing won a $13.6 million contract modification, which exercises an option to perform 24 modifications in support of the Increment Three Block One retrofit as well as the procurement, manufacture and assembly of 25 additional retrofit kits supporting engineering change five for existing P8-A Poseidon aircraft. The P-8A Poseidon is the US Navy’s maritime patrol aircraft. It is capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations, and is also successful at search and rescue. Work will take place in Washington. Expected completion date is in December 2023. An annual air exercise between South Korea and the United States kicked off secretly on November 1. The exercise will be held over five days. “We cannot comment on the exercise as it is one that is not disclosed to the media,” an Air Force official told Yonhap News Agency when asked. Middle East & Africa Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a state-owned Israeli company and Rafael will for the first time exhibit at the Dubai Airshow taking place from November 14-16. Israel-UAE ties have expanded in technologically-sensitive fields in the year since the signing of Abraham Accords, a deal brokered by the United States of America. For instance, the two countries signed a historic space exploration cooperation agreement at the 2020 Expo Dubai in October and will collaborate on the “Beresheet II” mission destined for the Moon. Europe Russia’s President Vladimir Putin revealed on November 1 that the military will receive around 200 aircraft, 26 S-350 and S-400 air defense systems besides a number of new S500s in the coming years to counter NATO. “This is required by the general military and political situation, including the growing intensity of NATO aviation flights near Russia, and the appearance of alliance ships with guided-missile weapons in the waters of the Baltic and Black Seas,” Putin told a meeting of the country’s military chiefs in the coastal city of Sochi. Asia-Pacific Space Dynamics won a $29 million contract for the support and sustainment of the tasking, collection, processing, exploitation and dissemination of data for the Republic of Korea Global Hawk. Seoul ordered four RQ-4 Global Hawks from US company Northrop Grumman for 965.9 billion won ($812 million) in 2014. First aircraft delivered to the South Korean military in December 2019, and the last one in October 2020. Work will take place at Osan Air Base, Republic of Kore. Estimate completion date is November 30, 2024. Thales Australia announced that it will invest $6.5 million in the first phase of an industrial plan to transform its Lithgow Arms facility in regional New South Wales. Phase 1 of the plan will establish a modern manufacturing and integration hub for the design, development and precision manufacture of next generation weapons systems. Today’s Video Watch: South Korea Awarded Defective RQ4 Global Hawk Maintenance Contract View the full article

I think this is going to be tender week ... as my post tomorrow will be on the same topic. I want you to think about 2012. Yes, it was nine years ago. Obama was running for re-election against Mitt Romney. The #1 song of that year was "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra. ISIS, in its present name, did not yet exist for another year. It also was the last time... The submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) completed a weapons handling exercise involving the transfer of a MK-48 inert training shape to a submarine, Oct. 22. This was the first expeditionary reload Frank Cable has conducted outside of Guam since 2012. OK. Here is a question I hope someone in Congress askes next time a 4-star comes in front of them.“This exercise was instrumental to developing the expeditionary combat capabilities that our submarine tenders and submarines bring to the Pacific theater,” said Capt. Albert Alarcon, Frank Cable's commanding officer. “Every training opportunity helps assure our readiness for any contingency.”So, all that talk about a Pacific pivot. All that talk about the, correct, primacy of our SSN fleet in any engagement west of Wake ... all that ... talk ... ...and yet we did not conduct an evolution that will be essential for any sustained war effort in the Western Pacific. Why? I know there is message traffic on this. I know there is a reason ... but as a profession we need a serious conversation on why this was not done until ... 1QFY22. h/t the immortal Chris Cavas. 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=is_2maNCdOg:LtoxJJTQ_74:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=is_2maNCdOg:LtoxJJTQ_74:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=is_2maNCdOg:LtoxJJTQ_74:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=is_2maNCdOg:LtoxJJTQ_74:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/is_2maNCdOgView the full article

Naval Historian Paul Stillwell tells the story of how Duke Snider earned extra income during World War II. View our full Second Saturday Webinar HERE. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

In an incredibly important ... and silly drama over the last couple of years, some otherwise smart people in objectively important positions invested significant amounts of personal and professional capital trying to make an argument that the US Army - our land component, is the primary service ... here. No. Unless you want to get in to another land war in Asia from the Pacific approaches ... no. However, we have friends who share our concerns with the People's Republic of China who, in addition to having four times the USA's population, have significant land borders and territorial issues with the PRC. In a larger war, they may find themselves allied with us, and there are things we could do to help them on their front. To do it best, we need to know each other better and the environment we might find ourselves fighting alongside them. This is something the US Army needs to be thinking about and growing their expertise in ... not the Pacific approaches; ...U.S. Army Alaska’s bilateral exercise with the Indian Army, dubbed Yudh Abhyas, drew to a close Friday after two weeks of cold weather warfare training...Roughly 350 Indian soldiers from 7th Battalion, Madras Regiment, participated in the exercise alongside Alaska-based U.S. paratroopers. The Indian forces may mostly originate from southern India, but they work in the Himalayas, where Indian and Chinese forces have brawled over border disputes in recent months....“There are no higher, nor more remote, mountains than the Himalayas, and that kind of subject matter expertise is going to make our Paratroopers that much more capable in Arctic warfare,” U.S. Army Col. Jody Shouse said of the Indian soldiers and the skills they brought to the exercise. Shouse commands 4th Infantry Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which worked with the Indian forces this year. The Indian unit — nicknamed “Shandaar Saath,” which means “Magnificent Seven” — was led by Indian Army Brigadier Parag Nangare. ... The field training also involved cold weather and high altitude skill development in mountaineering and snow survival, medical evacuations and small arms firing. “There are certain peculiar conditions which are specific to high altitudes, especially those that affect men and materials,” Nangare said. “Guns and other equipment face a lot of maintenance issues. Range calibration is a challenge and vehicles also face problems both during operations and repair.” Good. More of this. 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=faLgQCn-zbk:XS7OWRbfDhs:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=faLgQCn-zbk:XS7OWRbfDhs:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=faLgQCn-zbk:XS7OWRbfDhs:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=faLgQCn-zbk:XS7OWRbfDhs:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/faLgQCn-zbkView the full article

Americas General Electric won a $1.6 billion deal including all options for the F-15EX Lots 2+ propulsion system procurement. This contract provides for 29 F110-GE-129 engines (installs and spares) for the F-15EX fleet. The contract also provides seven option lots for a most probable quantity of 329 total engines if all options are exercised. The F-15EX is a ready-now replacement for the F-15C that includes best-in-class payload, range and speed. Work will take place in Ohio and Texas. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2031. Lockheed Martin won a $30.5 million modification, which exercises options to provide operation and maintenance support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development labs in support of testing developed configurations across the F-35 platform for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas and is expected to be finished in March 2022. Middle East & Africa Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed an agreement of cooperation with Romanian defense company IAR-Brasov on UAVs to offer advanced UAVs solutions, based on IAI’s Tactical Heron, in Romania. Based on the agreement the UAV systems will be manufactured in Brasov, Romania. Furthermore, IAI will establish in Romania an academy to train the system operators and technicians for the UAV systems, IAI said in a statement recently. The first F-15QA Ababil combat aircraft for Qatar have departed Boeing’s Missouri production facility for the Gulf emirate. Five Qatari-variant Advanced Eagles left St Louis Lambert International Airport on October 27 on the first leg of their nearly 12,000 km journey to their future home operation station of Al Udeid Air Base. Europe The Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (FMA) signed two contracts worth $170 million for the delivery of a new batch of Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs) and maintenance of existing inventory of these missiles. The new NSMs will be armed on the Navy’s frigates and corvettes. The existing inventory of missiles will go through a series of maintenance actions to extend their operational timeline and continue providing state of the art defence capabilities for the Navy, Kongsberg announced in a statement. Asia-Pacific Boeing said it delivered the first KC-46A tanker to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) marking the program’s first delivery to a customer outside the United States. The KC-46A has already completed more than 5,000 sorties and transferred more than 50 million pounds of fuel to other aircraft through its boom and drogue systems. Today’s Video Watch: F-15QA Ababil Flights View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman Aerospace won a $298.2 million contract modification to repair common unmanned aircraft system components for the US Air Force. The deal provides for repair services for “common items” for both the RQ-4B and MQ-4C Triton. It will support reparable National Stock Numbers (NSNs) which encompass the Air Vehicle, multiple sensor packages, Mission Control Element, and Launch and Recovery Element. In addition, this effort includes support engineering services covered under the engineering delegation authority for NSNs transferred to and under the management of the 407 Supply Chain Management Squadron. Work will take place in California, Utah, Virginia, Ohio, New Mexico, Missouri, Quebec, New Jersey, Indiana, Massachusetts and New York. Estimated completion date is December 31, 2027. Dyncorp International won a $60.5 million deal to provide organizational level aircraft maintenance and logistics support for aircrew systems and subsystems, search and rescue equipment, and support equipment for the P-3 Orion, C-130 Hercules, F/A-18 Hornet, E/A-18 Growler, AV-8B Harrier II, H-60 Seahawk, and E-2D Hawkeye aircraft in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) Naval Test Wing Pacific. Work will take place in California, Hawaii, Florida, Maryland and Arizona. Estimated completion is in September 2022. Middle East & Africa The UK has sold military vessels to Egypt. This is the first time in more than 30 years. Royal Fleet Auxiliary stores ships RFA Fort Austin and RFA Fort Rosalie will sail to Egypt after refurbishment work. The UK Government has called the landmark deal a part of its Global Britain vision. Europe The Swedish government has decided to buy the Saab Globaleye to replace its Saab 340B AEW-300 Erieye. The press statement says the Globaleye has a more powerful radar and other sensors that boost Sweden’s ability to monitor the airspace, the sea and the ground. A new parachute system, Cadet-75, developed by Rostec-subsidiary Tekhnodinamika Holding will allow the landing of military personnel from the height of at least 150m when the aircraft is flying at a speed of 180kmph. It is a training parachute system with a round canopy, which provides step-by-step training in the skills of separation from the aircraft and the skills of free fall with the transition to manual opening of the parachute. Asia-Pacific The Indian Navy inducted a pair of Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) MK IIIs into its 321 Flight at INS Shikra naval helicopter base in Mumbai on October 29. Built indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), these helicopters are equipped with systems that were previously present only on heavier, multi-role helicopters of the Indian Navy. Today’s Video Watch: Navy inducted two more ALH MK III into its 321 Flight at the naval helicopter base INS Shikra View the full article

Most everyone knows that the Korean War, though mostly a South Korean and American affair, was a UN action. Students of the war know that many nations contributed forces to the fight, with the United Kingdom and Turkey known by most. Just a bit more than half a decade after liberation from a crushing Imperial Japanese occupation, the Philippines joined the fight as well. They didn't hide in the rear either. The below won't be a surprise to people who served in the US Navy. We, more than most, know the quality per pound of the people we served with of Philippine extraction. Take a moment to acknowledge an underknown battle and the heroism of an unappreciated fighting nation, the Philippine Army at Yultong; As reported, in part, by HistoryIsNow; ...the Filipino force was assigned to join the Turkish Brigade and the US/Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment into the 3rd Infantry Division. Soon after, the 3rd Infantry Division faced the Communist North Koreans at the Battle of Miudong, which resulted in their victory. That was the first battle won by Filipinos in a foreign land. In the spring of 1951, the 3rd infantry division was deployed along the area of the Imjin River. The 3rd and 2nd Battalions of the US 65th Infantry Regiment positioned facing west along the river, with the Turkish Brigade occupying the east flank, and the 10th BCT was at the center. Unbeknown to these men, a storm was brewing under their noses in the form of the Chinese Spring Offensive. 40,000 Communist Chinese troops of the 44th Division of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army under Commander Peng Dehuai planned to attack and surround the 3rd Infantry Division. He deployed the 15th Army in a narrow zone between the Imjin River and Route 33. The 12th and 60th Armies were deployed to attack the positions held by the 10th BCT and the Turkish Brigade through the Pogae-san ridges. Chinese Spring Offensive 20:00, 22/04/1951 – Artillery shells, mortar fire, machine gun, and small arms fire greeted the Turks at the start of the battle. At 23:00, waves of Chinese soldiers assaulted the 10th BCT positions and engaged in a series of close-quarter confrontations. Continuous artillery bombardment and some friendly fire cut the communications between troops in the 3rd Infantry Division. Fortunately, communications returned at 00:30, and the Turkish Brigade received an order to retreat to a position on the line south of Hantan River. Intensifying Chinese assaults forced the 65th Infantry Regiment to retreat several hundred yards to regroup and reorganize. The 10th BCT was surrounded and left alone to brave the ocean of Communist Chinese forces. The 10th BCT non-combatants such as the chaplain, clerks, medics, cooks, and drivers threw themselves into the fray to bolster the strength of their outnumbered battalion. Men of the 10th fought dispersed and confused because of the lack of communication between the hills. The fighting went on and on where some men were wounded, killed, or captured. Among the captured was Lt. Tomas G. Batilo of the Able Company of the 10th. Then Lt. Jose Artiaga Jr. led the Baker (B) Company to defend the strategic hill of Yultong but they were pushed back by the unrelenting Chinese forces. At 03:00, enemy forces penetrated deep into the formation and reached the position of the Charlie Company in the reserves. Unfortunately, the company suffered heavy losses including Lt. Artiaga. While all this was happening, Lt. Col. Dionisio S. Ojeda received an order to withdraw and all units complied except Captain Conrado Yap's Heavy Weapons Company. Captain Yap led his men to counterattack to rescue the wounded and to retrieve the dead. He opened the hatch of his tank and shot at the Chinese with the mounted machine gun with his gun crew firing as fast as they could. Chinese soldiers fell one by one at the rate of 17 to 1 in favor of the 10th. The Heavy Weapons Company succeeded but at the price of Captain Yap's life. The 12th President of the Philippines Fidel Ramos, who was also a PEFTOK soldier for the 20th BCT, commented about Captain Yap's actions in his speech during the 42nd Anniversary of the Battle of Yultong: "Captain Yap—his mission accomplished—now ordered a withdrawal. While making a headcount of his boys and directing the withdrawal, he was hit by machinegun fire." The 10th held their ground until dawn and by this time the Chinese attack slowed down and this allowed the 3rd Infantry Division to retreat. Then the C Company of the 10th, supported by two M24 Chaffee light tanks of the Recon Company and allied artillery, led a counterattack to restore the lost area of B Company. The Filipinos fought until midday when General Robert Soule fell back to Line Kansas, to a position in Anhung-ri. Aftermath The battle ended with over 500 dead Chinese soldiers lying dead on the battlefield and 2 of them were captured. On the other hand, the 10th BCT lost only 12 people with 38 wounded and 6 missing. It was a victory for the ‘Fighting Filipinos’. For the act of valiance performed by Captain Conrado Yap, he was posthumously awarded the Philippine Medal of Valor, the US Distinguished Service Cross, and was awarded the First Taeguk Cordon of the Order of the Military Merit on the 65th Anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 2018. Lieutenant Jose Artiaga Jr. was posthumously awarded the Philippine Distinguished Service Cross. There even appears to be a little rah-rah video. Fullbore my Filipino friends; Fullbore. 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=QD16dSNtlBU:YFqjj4wBOvQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QD16dSNtlBU:YFqjj4wBOvQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QD16dSNtlBU:YFqjj4wBOvQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QD16dSNtlBU:YFqjj4wBOvQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/QD16dSNtlBUView the full article

Americas The US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) recently completed exercise New Horizon, the first at-sea evolution for its new unmanned task force. During the two-day training exercise, Task Force 59 integrated and evaluated new MANTAS T-12 unmanned surface vessels (USV) that operated alongside manned US patrol craft and Bahrain Defense Force maritime assets. BAE Systems won a five-year Systems Engineering and Integration Support Services contract to continue supporting the US Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) office. The contract, worth up to $478 million, was awarded in September 2021. Middle East & Africa Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and SixAI will commercialize IAI’s military technologies and their adaptation to current civilian market needs. Ran Poliakine, Founder and Board Member of SixAI said: “Converting existing IAI dual-use technologies will enable us to introduce to the world solutions that could potentially solve pressing global challenges such as humanitarian issues, traditional industrial employment, and the climate crisis.” Europe French Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) has qualified Thales-made Sea Fire digital radar for use on the Navy’s future FDI frigates. The radar is now handed over to Naval Group for integration into combat system on-board the FDI frigates, Thales announced. Asia-Pacific The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has sent a P-8A to participate in Exercise Albatross Ausindo for the first time. The exercise with the Indonesian Air Force took place last month. The aircraft, from No. 11 Squadron, was flown to Darwin for the exercise. India commissioned the indigenously built Coast Guard Ship Sarthak in Goa on October 28. It was commissioned by the Director General of Indian Coast Guard K Natarajan. ICGS Sarthak will be based at Porbandar in Gujarat and operate on India’s Western Seaboard under the Operational and Administrative Control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (Northwest). ICGS Sarthak is commanded by Deputy Inspector General MM Syed and has complement of 11 Officers and 110 men. Today’s Video Watch: Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Sarthak’ was commissioned & dedicated to the nation at Goa today. View the full article

Take a moment to think about all the news concerning the fragility of our maritime supply chain nodes. One good byproduct of this crisis is that the critical importance of merchant ships and maritime infrastructure to our national economy has come under the spotlight. For those who have spent their professional lives feeling like some Cassandra screaming in to a void of national disinterest – the opportunity to educate people while you have their attention is a once in a generation moment. In the US, in addition to the US Merchant Marine Academy, we have some states that have their own state merchant marine academies. It would be logical that the last year would have inspired administrators and curricula developers to review and revamp their course catalog and professorship to better prepare their students for the world as we have it today. One of those state merchant marine universities is the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, MA. Founded in 1891 with a student body of 1,637, … Mass Maritime is the second oldest state maritime academy in the United States. Originally established to graduate deck and engineering officers for the U.S. Merchant Marine, the academy has since expanded its curriculum. Though not required, some graduates go on to serve in active and reserve components of the U.S. Armed Forces. The academy operates a training ship, the USTS Kennedy. Well, to support that mission, let’s head on over to HigherEdJobs.com to see what full-time tenure track positions are available. Type: Full-Time Salary: 70000 to 80000 USD Per Year Posted: 10/25/2021 Application Due: Open Until Filled Well, what timely position do we have here to meet the needs of the nation? Massachusetts Maritime Academy invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Humanities beginning Fall 2022. The position is a 4/4 teaching load that includes teaching core courses (English Composition and/or Writing About Literature) as well as upper-level courses. … These duties will include teaching English Composition along with a specialty field, such as Cultural Studies, Latinx Literature, Women’s, Gender, and Non-Western Literature Studies, Diaspora Literature/Studies, or Disability Literature Studies. … - A Ph.D. in English or related field by Fall 2022 and be able to teach in one or more of the following areas: Cultural Studies, Latinx Literature, Women/Gender Studies, Non-Western Contemporary Literature, Disability/Crip Studies, or Diaspora Studies. … - The department values equity and diversity and will prioritize applications that directly incorporate these values into teaching, research, and service. We seek empathetic teachers, innovative scholars, and collaborative colleagues... We especially encourage candidates skilled in pedagogical practices that promote classroom inclusivity. … We are particularly seeking to hire a person with demonstrated interests in inclusive pedagogy, anti-racist initiatives, anti-racist curriculum, disability studies, accessibility, and usability. Applicants should also demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through their cover letters, CVs, and/or teaching philosophies, or they may submit an optional Statement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. … - Experience working with/teaching students that are historically underrepresented or marginalized in higher education, including but not limited to students that identify as ALANA, BIPOC, first-generation, and/or LGBTQ+. … To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume/CV, Statement on teaching (1-2 pages) and evidence of teaching excellence (including syllabi), an MMA application, Affirmative Action form and the contact information of five (5) professional references. Of course. A very serious institution in a very serious nation. h/t TheOccidentalJihadist. 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=OnGaYPxaPtI:gg2Ls1YVXsE:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OnGaYPxaPtI:gg2Ls1YVXsE:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OnGaYPxaPtI:gg2Ls1YVXsE:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OnGaYPxaPtI:gg2Ls1YVXsE:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/OnGaYPxaPtIView the full article

Reviewed by Jon Mikolashek, Ph.D. When people think of World War II most recall black and white photos of momentous occasions or soldiers running into enemy fire. In Victory: World War II in Real Time, editor Alan Axelrod brings many of these images together in a collection of Associated Press (AP) photos and headlines from across the United States between 1939 and 1945. Axelrod is an established author with more than 150 published works spanning multiple decades, disciplines, and topics. David Eisenhower, the grandson of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, writes a brief foreword that perfectly encapsulates the need for works like Victory. While the wartime leaders have long faded away and many of the generation that fought the war are gone, the lessons and memories from World War II must be passed down to future generations. This book does just that. Victory includes coverage of events from Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 to the announcement of the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. While professional historians may quibble over the start and end dates of the war, as some argue that the war began in the Pacific two years earlier, the book’s time frame fits with the commonly accepted dates for World War II. Using headlines from regional papers and papers from smaller cities across the United States like the Tallahassee Democrat and the Salt Lake Telegraph, the book tells the story of the war as Americans saw it in real-time. Headlines clipped with AP photographs tie the war together and illustrate just how accurate the reporting was from journalists during the war. Axelrod acknowledges he edited some of the paper clippings to fix minor typos, but otherwise, the original language remains. While some readers may argue that the clippings should have stayed in their original form, most corrections are for spelling and grammatical errors. Axelrod did not change any of the outdated or racist language used to describe the enemy. Because of this decision, the reader gains a more realistic understanding of the articles and photographs. History is always better when it is studied “warts and all.” This book covers the entirety of the war in chronological order, mainly from a European perspective. The Pacific theater does receive attention, but like most Western works on World War II, operations against Germany garner more coverage. There are only a few headlines and photographs from the Mediterranean theater of operations and even fewer on China-Burma-India. However, this is an accurate representation of how journalists covered the war. Due to time and distance, more journalists were in Europe at the time, and larger operations often forced stories in other theaters off the front page. There is a reason most Americans do not remember the liberation of Rome by United States forces on 5 June 1944! Victory is a remarkable story of wartime journalism, demonstrating how AP reporters and photographers covered the conflict. While not intended for professional historians, the book has a broader appeal to the general public and would make a great, if rather large, addition to any coffee table book collection. Dr. Jon Mikolashek is a Professor at the Joint Forces Staff College. Victory: World War II in Real Time (Alan Axelrod, Sterling Publishing, New York City, NY, 2020). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Do we have a problem in the profession or army of being loose with the truth? Where is the line between clever word games and lying? Who do we owe truth to, and who should we deceive? From the Army to our Navy, I'm pondering a bit on the topic over at USNIBlog. Come ponder with me. 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=duAW8YSBLso:Q0JJbXrg9ZA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=duAW8YSBLso:Q0JJbXrg9ZA:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=duAW8YSBLso:Q0JJbXrg9ZA:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=duAW8YSBLso:Q0JJbXrg9ZA:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/duAW8YSBLsoView the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $340 million deal for mobile sensors operations and maintenance services of the Cobra King radar system. Cobra King is a mobile radar system, called an active electronic scanned array, of S- and X-band phased radars in use by the Air Force Technical Applications Center. It provides radar data to the Department of Defense’s strategic community, the Missile Defense Agency and other government agencies. Work will take place in Florida. Estimated completion date is October 31, 2031. SECO has successfully tested a new deck control device (DCD) to be used for controlling the MQ-25 on aircraft carrier flight decks. The device was successfully tested earlier this month during a multi-day demonstration featuring Navy and Boeing personnel simulating carrier-based operations at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport. Middle East & Africa The Israel Defense Force (IDF) wants to boost its air defense systems to neutralize aerial threats, including Iranian drones. Within two years, the IDF intends to have a full, permanent defensive coverage in place over the airspace of northern Israel, with plans to eventually expand this to the entire country. Europe The Turkish-made deadly Bayraktar TB2 combat drone has been deployed at Donbas by the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation (JFO) for the first time. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Valeriy Zaluzhny, has ordered the deployment of Bayraktar TB2s in Donbas to force the “enemy” for a ceasefire. The unmanned aerial vehicle did not cross Ukrainian territory. Asia-Pacific Hakugei, the second Taigei-class unit in the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s (JMSDF) new class of diesel-electric attack submarines, has been launched and named in mid-october. The launching ceremony was held at Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ (KHI) shipyard in Kobe on October 14, the navy officials revealed. An Ariane 5 rocket launched from the Guiana Space Centre placed France’s new Syracuse 4A military telecommunications satellite in low orbit on October 22. The satellite “is designed to resist military aggression from the ground and in space, as well as interference,” said French air and space force spokesman Colonel Stephane Spet. Today’s Video Watch: The MQ-25 Conducts First Unmanned Aerial Tanking View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $50.9 million contract modification, which provides for repair services for 36 critical common items for the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-4C Triton. It will support reparable National Stock Numbers (NSNs) encompassing the air vehicle, multiple sensor packages, Mission Control Element, and Launch and Recovery Element. In addition, this effort includes support engineering services covered under the Engineering Delegation Authority for NSNs transferred to and under the 407th Supply Chain Management Squadron. According to Northrop Grumman, the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions. The 355th Fighter Squadron at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska took delivery of four more F-35As on October 19. The 354th Fighter Wing is slated to have a total of 54 F-35As by the end of 2022. Middle East & Africa Sudan’s main opposition coalition has called for civil disobedience and protests across the country after the military, headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, dissolved the transitional government and seized power on Monday. The takeover came more than two years after protesters forced the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Former leader al-Bashir came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south. Europe Saab AB, has entered a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate with ORBCOMM and AAC Clyde Space AB to develop the next generation of global maritime communication services based on a VHF Data Exchange System (VDES). The parties, collaborating under a new brand named AOS, aim both for services directed to end customers as well as for safety of navigation services. The goal of the consortium is to create a global maritime communication network enabling ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication everywhere on the globe. Asia-Pacific The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently conducted the first ever test where it destroyed a hostile high-piled wharf, a capability it can use in future combat for attacking enemy ports to cutoff their supply lines. The underwater explosion test was organized by an institute under the PLA Naval Research Academy at an undisclosed naval port, government-owned China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Saturday. Chinese and Russian warships have conducted the first ever joint patrol in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. The patrols involved a total of 10 warships, five from each nation, and lasted a week, from Sunday, October 17 to Saturday, October 23, covering 1,700 nautical miles, according to the Ministry. Today’s Video Watch: China Conducts First Underwater Port Demolition Test View the full article

The news isn't that they have 60-days to get out, the news is they've been allowed to operate here for two decades. Washington has revoked the US licence of one of China's biggest telecoms companies citing "national security" concerns. China Telecom must stop providing services in America within 60 days. Officials said the Chinese government's control of the company gave it the opportunity "to access, store, disrupt, and/or misroute US communications". This in turn could allow it "to engage in espionage and other harmful activities against the US", they said. China Telecom, which has provided telecoms services in the US for nearly 20 years, called the decision "disappointing". "We plan to pursue all available options while continuing to serve our customers," a statement said. ...and of course, their Americas HQ is in DC. Better to ... well ... you know. 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=ARn81tZuMGU:ScmA9uqOAuQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ARn81tZuMGU:ScmA9uqOAuQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ARn81tZuMGU:ScmA9uqOAuQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ARn81tZuMGU:ScmA9uqOAuQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/ARn81tZuMGUView the full article

In June, 2005 the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Vern Clark, released an administrative message to the fleet. “Effective immediately, we will refer to all of our sailors, active and reserve, as United States Navy sailors. This shared title will strengthen the bond between our active and Reserve components, and enhance the culture of integration needed to most effectively deliver decisive power from the sea.” View our full Second Saturday Webinar HERE. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

SE=SL-RD-NL+DI-PL If you want to bench test an old Cold Warrior, put something like this out; The Navy has created a new task group on the East Coast to ensure it has ready destroyers that can deploy on short notice to counter the Russian submarine threat in the Atlantic Ocean.OK, Mallory Shelbourne's latest at USNINews got my attention.The plan is to take destroyers that have recently completed deployments and are awaiting maintenance availabilities and make them ready for training and operations in the Atlantic. ... The creation of the new task group comes as the Navy has refocused assets and efforts on the Atlantic region due to Russia’s undersea capability. The service formally reestablished U.S. 2nd Fleet, which covers the North Atlantic and East Coast, in 2018 amid concerns over Russian submarines operating in the waters. ... The ships will be based out of Mayport and Norfolk, Va., and the task group is set for full operational capability by June 2022, according to McLane, who noted the ships will still have a post-deployment stand-down so sailors can see family after being out at sea. ... “These will allow us to work with the schedules of not only the surface ships, but the submarines, the P-8 community, and the HSM, [Commander, Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic] helicopter detachments so that we can align everybody up to take advantage of whatever training opportunities may exist, as well as tactical development exercises like in the past Black Widow, and then training opportunities like submarine command course operations. We can align those assets to go after these training environments that may exist,” Rear Adm. Brian Davies, the commander of Submarine Group 2, told reporters.This is not a flip of the switch as there are a lot of “ifs” “buts” and “whens” … but the thinking is sound for reasons our friend Jerry Hendrix outlined in his 2017 report he co-authored on Forgotten Waters. Jerry and I are about the same age. As East Coast JOs, we spent our ENS and LTjg sea duty saying bye to the last of the Soviet threat before that empire all fell apart. If you are under-50, you have no idea. We experienced the Reagan build-up at flood tide. If you took a snapshot at the turn of the last decade of the 20th Century, the US Navy was well positioned for high end conflict in the Atlantic Coast. We had the entire great circle route from Miami to the GUIK gap covered. If you could keep the Soviet SSN/SSGN out of the open Atlantic, the convoy routes to the northern European ports would be relatively safe. Surface ASW forces were well distributed and ready to conduct ASW or escort convoys. From south to north, we had Mayport, Charleston, Norfolk, and even a few in New York City (yes, for a brief shining moment, the sanity of strategic homeporting rules) and Newport. Land based active-duty air ASW were in Jacksonville, FL and Brunswick, ME with deployment sites all over the North Atlantic. That was just on the US side. Canada, UK, France, The Netherlands, and Norway were all punching above their weight in the North Atlantic keeping that a very dangerous place for the submarines of the Red Banner Northern Fleet. After 30-yrs break, we are not just a smaller force, we are a more scattered and vulnerable force. The incredibly myopic and greed based BRAC process divested the US Navy of the most effective access to the great circle routes to Europe. We evacuated the North. Brunswick gone. New York, and Newport are empty. Even Charleston in the Southeast is empty. Yes, the Russian submarine force is a shadow of what the Soviets were, but it takes a lot more effort to kill a sub than to be a sub. If you consider the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap the essential barrier, just look at the additional time to get on station. Of course, you won’t do surface ASW at 25 knots, but if you are just looking at nice round number transit speed – all caveats apply – then Newport is the closest to Iceland. A ship based out of New York will take 4.4-hrs more to get there. One in Norfolk, 14.3-hrs Indeed, you don’t have to be a genius to see how easy it would be to place a few blocking ships in Mayport and Norfolk – not to mention some even more dramatic events – to effectively degrade the east coast Navy for weeks or even months. If we desire to deny the Russian submarine force access to the North Atlantic, we need more than a couple of DDG between availabilities … thought I 100% support this solid concept. No, we are witness to decades of neglect in ASW in the Atlantic. We have left what capability we do have concentrated and incredibly vulnerable. Task Group Greyhound is a nice opening for a long conversation. 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=1p_pHF1Uoec:qvF28AN1-Eg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=1p_pHF1Uoec:qvF28AN1-Eg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=1p_pHF1Uoec:qvF28AN1-Eg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=1p_pHF1Uoec:qvF28AN1-Eg:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/1p_pHF1UoecView the full article

Americas Two F-15EXs that were delivered to the US Air Force have carried out the first operational test mission at Nellis Air Force Base. The evaluation involved F-15Cs and F-15Es as well. Running from October 18-25, the pilots were also evaluating the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System while there. German company Rheinmetall will export a Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) Test Chassis to the United States of America from its factory in Redbank Queensland. The Lynx vehicle export order will be delivered to Rheinmetall in the United States supporting the business’s worldwide activities currently underway in the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle competition and the US Department of Defense’s Bradley fighting vehicle replacement program. Middle East & Africa Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have signed an additional memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a loitering munitions programme. IAI is a global leader in developing loitering munition systems. The new concept weapon system technology maximizes the effectiveness of SEAD & DEAD missions, can perform long-endurance reconnaissance missions, and can strike a target immediately when necessary. IAI’s loitering munitions, including IAI’s HARPY NGW and HAROP loitering missile, are combat proven in many countries around the world. Europe The UK’s Royal Navy has successfully tested a new missile designed to protect warships from attacks by swarms of small boats. According to the service, HMS Defender’s Wildcat helicopter of 815 Naval Air Squadron fired the Martlet lightweight missile at an inflatable target in the sea – known in the navy as the big red tomato – during operations in the Pacific Ocean with the UK Carrier Strike Group. Italy’s Leonardo announced it has signed a framework agreement with the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) for the supply of up to 107,929 daylight optics for use on both current and new German Army assault rifles. According the company, the most important design change is the ability to operate the switching mechanism from 1x to 4x magnification on both sides of the new sight for assault rifles, while retaining the compact design and robustness of the optic. Asia-Pacific India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant left Kochi on October 24 for the second phase of sea trials. Following the first sea trials, the Navy had said the performance of key systems of the warship was found to be satisfactory. Today’s Video Watch: INS Vikrant Starts Sea Trial: Why It’s a Historic Moment for India View the full article

Americas The US Air Force Research Laboratory has partnered with ThermAvant Technologies and Maxar Technologies to develop and deploy the next generation of spacecraft thermal control technology. The groundbreaking technology, Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHPs), provides lightweight and highly efficient temperature control on higher power yet smaller spacecraft. The OHP was recently launched in the second quarter of 2021 on a Maxar-built satellite. The United States conducted the launch of a precision sounding rocket on October 20 to accelerate the development of advanced hypersonic weapons. The High Operational Tempo for Hypersonics flight campaign was conducted by the Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) and the Army Hypersonic Program Office (AHPO). Middle East & Africa The first AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter for the Royal Bahraini Air Force was completed by Bell on September 30. The helicopter will be shipped to Bahrain in 2022. The country has ordered 12 AH-1Zs. Europe The Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency (NDMA) has signed a contract with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS to to supply the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for Norway’s fleet of F-35A Lightning II fighters. The contract is valued at $473 million. The partnership between KONGSBERG, the Norwegian Armed Forces and Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in the definition, development and test of the JSM has been critical factor in developing a missile with such advanced capabilities. According to an answer from Jeremy Quin, Minister for Defense Procurement in the UK, ASRAAM Block 6 standard is due to enter service on Typhoon in 2022 and F-35 Lightning II in 2024. ASRAAM is in service with the Royal Air Force as its ‘Within Visual Range’ anti-air missile. The weapon is also in operational service with the Royal Australian Air Force on its F/A-18 Hornet. Asia-Pacific The Philippine House of Representatives has approved a request from the Philippine Air Force to buy five C-130J transport aircraft. Lawmakers realigned the 2022 General Appropriations Bill so that funds can be used for the down payment of the aircraft. Today’s Video Watch: Top 10 Air-to-Air Missiles Today (AAMs) View the full article

What are the of economic, demographic, and political forces driving China through this decade? What direction is her growth heading and where will she find herself at the end of the decade? Are the forces in play likely to move her towards a more peaceful or a more militaristic stance? Using the recent article he co-authored with Gabriel Collins in Foreign Policy, A Dangerous Decade of Chinese Power is Here, as a starting point, returning to Midrats for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Andrew S. Erickson. Andrew is a professor of strategy in the U.S. Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute and a visiting scholar in full-time residence at Harvard University's John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. His research website is www.andrewerickson.com. 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=UGE14U1EZbA:R6Ekb4wq51c:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=UGE14U1EZbA:R6Ekb4wq51c:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=UGE14U1EZbA:R6Ekb4wq51c:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=UGE14U1EZbA:R6Ekb4wq51c:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/UGE14U1EZbAView the full article

You graduated from the Naval Academy with the world at war. While it seemed your nation’s politicians were saying they would do all they could to stay out of this war – you probably knew better. It was a big war, and one side was being fed and armed from our side of the ocean. After graduation you get assigned to a battleship – and within a year, your nation goes to war. Your battleship was not just any ship, she was the USS Connecticut (BB-18), the flagship for The Great White Fleet a decade earlier, and now flagship of the Fifth Battleship Division. Yet, your war never really came. You spent the war never leaving the east coast. You spent the entire war on what you realized soon, was an obsolete hulk of another age best used for what it was used for, training of others. With the war over, you knew naval war was in a new age – an age where the submarine and the aircraft would change forever how power is brought from the sea. You went to sub school and spent the next 12 years in the submarine service. A select group of select officers still trying to understand how to make these exciting new platforms work. Big Navy was not through with you though, and back you went to battleships, the 15-yr old USS New York (BB-34). Your nation by now was in the grips of a nightmarish depression and the world was quiet. You had a great tour and as a LCDR was given command of the USS Evans (DD-78). The 4-stack destroyer had been in the Navy as long as you had and was just a few years from being sent to mothballs, but she was your ship. You did well in command and post-command shore duty. As the world started to heat up again in 1937 you make Commander and your Navy sent you back to submarines with the honor of commanding Submarine Division Seven in Groton. Again, the world headed to war yet you had aged out of operational units. Command is command though … and as an East Coast Sailor, your friends at BUPERS had something interesting – a 32-yr old former collier converted into a repair ship based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The USS Vestal (AR-4). You’ve been in the Navy 25 years, almost 30 if you include your time at Annapolis. Maybe we’ll stay out of this war, maybe not … but command of a ship – any ship – in Hawaii, well, there are worse sunset tours for a Commander. Then came one December Sunday halfway through your command tour; Commander Cassin Young, USN – history is finally calling, and you’re on her short list: ...Sunday in port was shattered shortly before 08:00 as Japanese carrier-based aircraft swept down upon Pearl Harbor. At 07:55, Vestal went to general quarters, manning every gun from the 5-inch (127 mm) broadside battery to the .30 cal. Lewis machine guns on the bridge wings. At about 08:05, her 3-inch (76 mm) gun commenced firing. At about the same time, two bombs – intended for the more valuable battleship inboard on Battleship Row – hit the repair ship. One struck the port side, penetrated three decks, passed through a crew's space, and exploded in a stores hold, starting fires that necessitated flooding the forward magazines. The second hit the starboard side, passed through the carpenter shop and the shipfitter shop, and left an irregular hole about five feet in diameter in the bottom of the ship. Maintaining anti-aircraft fire became secondary to the ship's fight for survival. The 3-inch (76 mm) gun jammed after three rounds, and the crew was working to clear the jam when an explosion blew Vestal's gunners overboard. At about 08:10, a bomb penetrated Arizona's deck near the starboard side of number 2 turret and exploded in the powder magazine below. The resultant explosion touched off adjacent main battery magazines. Almost as if in a volcanic eruption, the forward part of the battleship exploded, and the concussion from the explosion literally cleared Vestal's deck. Among the men blown off Vestal was her commanding officer, Commander Cassin Young. The captain swam back to the ship, however, and countermanded an abandon ship order that someone had given, coolly saying, "Lads, we're getting this ship underway." Fortunately, the engineer officer had anticipated just such an order and already had the "black gang" hard at work getting up steam. The explosion touched off oil from the ruptured tanks of the Arizona which in turn caused fires on board Vestal, aft and amidships. At 08:45 men forward cut Vestal's mooring lines with axes, freeing her from Arizona, and she got underway, steering by engines alone. The naval tug Hoga, whose tugmaster had served aboard Vestal just a few months before the attack, pulled Vestal's bow away from the inferno engulfing Arizona and the repair ship, and the latter began to creep out of danger, although she was slowly assuming a list to starboard and settling by the stern. At 09:10, Vestal anchored in 35 feet (11 m) of water off McGrew's Point. With the draft aft increasing to 27 feet (8 m) and the list to six and one-half degrees, Commander Young decided upon another course of action. "Because of the unstable condition of the ship", Young explained in his after-action report, "(the) ship being on fire in several places and the possibility of further attacks, it was decided to ground the ship." Underway at 09:50, less than an hour after the Japanese attack ended, Vestal grounded on 'Aiea Bay soon thereafter. Commander Young was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. Many of you may recognize that name. He was promoted to Captain, given command of the USS San Francisco (CA-38) and was killed in action 13 NOV 42 during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal leading his ship against the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Battleship Hiei. Captain Young – fullbore. 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=Iwg1QVs9S1g:7T6kzs_hqXQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Iwg1QVs9S1g:7T6kzs_hqXQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Iwg1QVs9S1g:7T6kzs_hqXQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Iwg1QVs9S1g:7T6kzs_hqXQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/Iwg1QVs9S1gView the full article

Americas Sikorsky won a $14.1 million contract modification to procure four retrofit kits and associated system engineering support for the incorporation of 34 deployable configuration changes into CH-53K System Demonstration Test Article 1-4 Aircraft. The CH-53K is the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) heavy lift replacement for the CH-53E. Work will take place in Connecticut and Florida. Estimated completion is in November 2023. Lockheed Martin won a $206.9 million modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering, detailed aircraft modification execution planning and technical data packages in support of modifications to the F-35 developmental test fleet aircraft. These modifications are necessary to support flight tests for the F-35 developmental test fleet and for the capabilities delivered under the F-35 Block 4 modernization in support of the Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas, Maryland and California. Estimated completion in December 2025. Middle East & Africa Aeronautics Group, an Israeli provider of integrated solutions based on unmanned system platforms, payloads and communications for defense and HLS applications, announced it had concluded a successful evaluation of its Orbiter system, operating from the Finnish Border Guard’s Turva offshore patrol vessel, demonstrating high capabilities in a marine environment. Europe According to George Allison from the UK Defence Journal, the HMS Cardiff, the second of eight Type 26 Frigates, is starting to look ship-shape in Glasgow. Each Type 26 will be equipped with a range of capabilities including the Sea-Ceptor missile defence system, a 5-inch medium calibre gun, an embarked helicopter, medium range radar, powerful bow and towed array sonars, helicopter-launched torpedoes and a design which makes them extremely difficult for enemy submarines to detect. Asia-Pacific Rheinmetall has submitted the company’s Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) best and final offer for the Australian Department of Defence Land 400 Phase 3 Mounted Close Combat Capability tender. Rheinmetall is one of two competing companies involved in the tender for this procurement project. Lynx is fitted with the Rheinmetall Lance turret for precise and lethal effects and offers an integrated battle management system. Designed for close combat operations, the extensive family of Lynx vehicles is modular. According to Defense News, China unveiled its first retired fighter in the 1950s and converted it into an unmanned drone. Satellite images of two East Coast bases near Taiwan show a large number of jets.The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command posted photos of two Shenyang J-6s on its Weibo social media account during a post about a ceremony commemorating the start of the training brigade’s training cycle in late 2021. Today’s Video Watch: From HMS Glasgow to HMS Cardiff – The shipbuilding team at BAE Systems View the full article

The BONHOMME RICHARD fire report has the Surface Force in the news again, and one of our favorite ex-SWOs Bryan McGrath gave a speech to the Surface Navy Association's Washington DC chapter earlier today. He had a few things to get off his chest, and the things he said are worth a broader audience. Bryan has been kind enough to send along the text of his remarks for publication here - well worth your time. Bryan, over to you! Speech to the DC Chapter of the Surface Navy Association 21 October 2021“Three Rants”As Prepared for Delivery Thank you for the introduction, Captain Bryans. It was an honor to be asked to be here, and I am grateful for the opportunity. I hope the folks of this chapter know how lucky we are to have Bob Bryans leading us while he’s doing incredibly important and difficult work over at OPNAV. He’s the best of the best. When Bob asked me to do this talk, he requested a theme, and because this isn’t my first rodeo, I knew that the quicker I gave him one the quicker he’d get off my back about giving him one. So, I said, “Culture, Competition, and Conflict”, and we both went on with our lives. And while I have a feeling that I will hit each of those topics during my talk today, I ask that you give me some latitude to meander, and I’ll do so with the structure of three broad areas of concern that I call…the three rants. Also, I want to get something out of the way up front. I am a consultant. I happen to have business relationships with the Navy, specifically agreements with the Commander of Naval Surface Forces in San Diego and the Director of Surface Warfare Programs at OPNAV N96. In those jobs, the government pays me to tell Admirals Kitchener and Schlise exactly what I think. And that is what I do. Sometimes they agree with me. Sometimes they don’t. At no point has either one of them or their predecessors ever asked me to change or modify my opinion to suit the Navy line, nor have I ever taken a position publicly that isn’t my own. Nothing I say is carried water for anyone else. Period. Are we clear? Ok. Let’s get on with things. Rant One: Good Competition Let’s start with rant # 1, and that is, I want to talk about “Competition”. The previous administration centered its national security strategy and national defense strategy around the imperative of renewed great power competition. One doesn’t have to have a doctorate in international relations to see that we are elbow deep in great power competition again, and this was a rational response. Following this policy focus, the sea services promulgated a new maritime strategy, and the CNO updated his NAVPLAN, in BOTH CASES, raising the prominence of what has come to be known as the “competition phase” of the continuum of competition. The other phases of the continuum being “crisis” and “conflict”. I believe all four of these documents—NSS, NDS, maritime strategy, and NAVPLAN—were well-aligned to the security environment we face, and all pointed squarely at seapower as a primary tool of action and influence. The fact that all four placed considerable focus on the competition phase led me to several conclusions. First, competition is different than crisis, or conflict. It is how the United States Navy spends the overwhelming balance of its time. It is where the United States Navy (and seapower more generally), has its greatest impact, acting as it does as the guarantor of America’s security and prosperity. The primary products of competition phase seapower are—as I said—security and prosperity, both of which owe their promotion primarily to one factor—the conventional deterrence of those who would disturb the peace. Conventional deterrence is the ballgame, and as the Navy is the Service that promotes conventional deterrence where it matters and to a larger extent than any other element of American military power, one could and should have expected the Navy to receive more and more consistent resourcing. Additionally, and for the interests of this audience and the biases of this speaker, no part of America’s arsenal is as critical to providing conventional deterrence where it matters than the Surface Force. Forward, distributed, networked, lethal, visible, and sustained surface forces. Given the emphasis on competition, the focus on conventional deterrence, and the degree to which force structure discussions in 2020 seemed in no small part to be variations on the single theme of growing the Navy, it appeared as if an important point of consensus had been reached. The fact that it was reached after four years of TALKING ABOUT growing a Navy and with little or nothing DONE about it provided many of us with the nagging sense that the clock was running out on the consensus. It is now late 2021, and it appears that consensus is dead. The concept of military competition and its desired by-product conventional deterrence has been replaced by something called “integrated deterrence”, a term which strikes me as a means to de-emphasize the military contribution to deterrence while emphasizing other “whole-of-government” contributions, which invariably are less expensive than maintaining proper fleet. We saw our first evidence of this in the 2022 budget and its approach to shipbuilding, and we continue to see more evidence of it as time goes on. No one at OSD is talking about competition anymore, as we’ve entered the stage of defense planning that goes something like “when there aren’t resources available for both the deterrence of war and the conduct of war, defer to the latter”. In the process, we—the Navy, DoD, the United States—will field a Navy that is marginally better at fighting war and LESS able to deter war. I think this is a troubling and dangerous path, and I urge the Secretary of the Navy and the CNO to take every opportunity they can to advise against it. I know it is hard to for the numbers people at OSD CAPE and N81 to quantify the benefits of conventional deterrence. I know it is far easier to do force on force analysis and come up with exchange ratios and campaign results. But that whole system ignores what we know to be true—that persistent, powerful naval force forward—specifically, surface forces—is the backbone of our conventional deterrence posture, and if we continue to de-emphasize powerful forward presence that creates doubt in the minds of potential opponents, we will be left with terrible decisions about whether and how to intervene when opportunistic opponents realize we’ve given up on the day-to-day competition. Critics of naval forward presence sometimes suggest that it destabilizes the security situation. Do you want to know what is even more destabilizing? The other guy having the perception that the competition is over. A prominent voice in the national security world recently opined that we need to abandon this “cop on the beat” mentality, because we don’t have the forces required to carry it out. So, he’s telling me that instead, we should diminish the fleet while implementing more of an over-the horizon strategy that is an even less powerful deterrent? How about we build the Navy we need? There is talk of yet another force structure assessment in the wind, and my fever dream is that the Navy produces an assessment that is pretty consistent with the work it did in 2020, and then take a new position on that work. Well, not a new position, per se. But the position that the US Marine Corps has taken for much of my life. And that is, do the analysis and state the requirement. If the requirement is affordable within given resources, pursue it. If it is not, let political leadership know what the risks are and then do your best with the resources allocated. But never, NEVER, let available resources be the thing you start with when you seek to derive the requirement. And never, NEVER, change the requirement to fit the available resources. Rant Two: Bad Competition Ok—let’s move on to rant #2. And it is another rant about competition. But a different kind of competition. I want to talk a little about the acquisition system by using a couple of examples of where I think the Navy has made grave errors, and then suggest that the time is ripe to make sure we don’t make that same error a third time. About 11 years ago, the Navy moved forward with the Air and Missile Defense Radar, or AMDR program. A huge and critical effort, AMDR replaces the SPY 1 series of radars in surface combatants going forward, and it represented a franchise win for the company that competed and won the business. I don’t know much about this competition, but the urban legend is that Raytheon put a ton of internal investment money into winning this contract. I can imagine the conversation between the business unit lead and the CFO, where the business unit lays out the opportunity, the costs, and upside potential once serial production began. Considerable resources were applied, Raytheon won, and we expect to see the first ship with a SPY 6 AMDR radar commissioned in 2024 or so. Or put another way, we will not see an operational SPY 6 for a couple of years on a ship that won’t deploy until later in the decade. But that did not stop the visionaries of the Navy Acquisition system from conducting a competition recently to bring on a second source to produce SPY 6 radars? If I am that Raytheon CFO, I gotta be coming out of my skull. “We invested all that money and before the first one is even fielded the Navy is trying to find someone to undercut our price?” I think he or she has a good point. Now, I am a political conservative. I am a capitalist. I believe in free and competitive markets.But defense production is not a free and competitive market. It is skewed by externalities unknown to most businesses in America. It is a monopsony, or at least a near monopsony, with considerable constraints placed on doing business internationally. For industry to make the kind of internal investment necessary to create the advanced capabilities that the Navy requires, they need to know that they will be able to get their money out of serial production. I’m all for competing but starting the competition before the first arrays are even placed just makes no sense. But it isn’t just SPY 6. The same, or a similar move was made on the Navy’s SEWIP Block III program recently, and from what I can discover, similar conditions prevailed. In this case Northrop Grumman won the contract after considerable internal investment. No ship afloat has a fielded SEWIP Block III. Yet Navy acquisition recently sought to compete for serial production. This is insane, and if this race to the bottom continues, it places the Navy’s Large Surface Combatant or DDG(X) program at serious risk. And here is why. The Navy needs a sea-based, high-powered laser. For the purposes of this discussion, let’s call it the BAL—or Big-Ass Laser. Why does it need a Big-Ass Laser? Well, it needs a Big-Ass Laser because in a war with a big, aggressive country, after the carnage of an initial series of exchanges, our fleet will have to—as my friend Paul Giarra says—fight its way to the fight, and then fight through to the fight. It will be doing this against a country with a considerable ability to build missiles, and so we need a way to counter them that doesn’t bankrupt the United States. To my mind, the logical place to put the Big-Ass Laser is on the BAS—or Big-Ass Ship. That is the DDG(X). The folks deriving requirements for this ship and doing trade studies and analyzing hull forms and all that stuff need to understand that the purpose of the Big-Ass Ship is to carry the Big-Ass Laser. The case for the Big-Ass Laser is that we will not be able to operate within the contested area NEARLY confidently enough unless we can project power from protected sea space. The Big-Ass Laser will give us that confidence. Now…back to the whole question of competition. Capable tier-1 defense firms are busy with all manner of research and engineering designed to position themselves to compete for the Big-Ass Laser. It is difficult to conceive of being competitive without spending a considerable amount of internal investment money. So here I am, the VP of Big-Ass Navy Lasers at Acme Big-Ass Laser company, and I am going to talk to my CFO about getting the money necessary to upscale our current efforts to be able to compete for this contract. I deliver my perfectly crafted pitch, and then she looks at me and says, “why would I give you a dime after what the Navy has done with SPY 6 and SEWIP? How can we go to our shareholders and say that this investment is wise, given that EVEN IF WE WIN, the Navy is going to create a competitor before the first unit is fielded?” How do you answer that? The bottom line folks is that if conventional deterrence fails and we get into a shooting war, we’re going to need to project power in order to fight our way back in. The high-power laser is the thing that we need to help us do that, and the real estate, cooling, and power for it will be provided by the DDG(X). Screw up the acquisition of the Big Ass Laser and the Big Ass Ship becomes an expensive luxury. We must get this right. Rant Three: Culture and Systems Ok—my final rant. I want to talk about culture, or more to the point, the perception that there is something wrong with our culture in Surface Warfare. I’ve been on this rant for four and a half years now since the collisions of 2017. Those two collisions created and enabled a chorus of critics to charge that the there were “systemic” problems in Surface Warfare, particularly in the Surface Warfare culture. I asserted then, and I continue to believe now, that what others want to attribute to culture or leadership or some other ill-defined systemic failure, can more properly be attributed to a lack of resources. Simply put, the fleet was on the ragged edge because there weren’t enough ships to do what was being asked of them. To the extent that the system contributed to the collisions, it was this. But make no mistake about it. Those two ships had collisions because people who knew better, who knew what the rules were, and who knew what the right thing to do was—chose to do otherwise. If you want to make the charge of systemic failure, it seems to me you have a responsibility to account for why that failure was confined to one theater and a small number of ships. ADM Davidson, former INDOPACOM Commander, got into some hot water when he suggested as much before Congress. And while that was neither the time nor the place to try and make that case, it is a case that needs to be made. We have problems in Surface Warfare. What we do isn’t properly understood by policy-makers, we don’t do a good job in educating them, as a result, we get insufficient funding that results in too few ships, manning problems, deferred maintenance, and sub-optimized training opportunities. My inherently testable hypothesis is that if we properly resourced Surface Warfare, you’d hear a hell of a lot less about systemic and cultural problems. We are maintaining nearly a similar number of ships deployed every day with 295 ships that we did thirty plus years ago with twice that number. You want a systemic problem, there it is. The culture I know is one of mission accomplishment, and I have no desire to see this diluted. Every generation has had ridiculous administrative burdens. That’s part of the job. What has changed is that the fleet we own and operate is insufficient to the operational tasks asked of it. Some say we ought to cut back on those tasks, that all this stuff we do around the world should be restrained, that we ought to bring the fleet home and operate it as a surge force with a bit of a cruising mindset, rather than a forward deployed force. I’d be happy to go along with this, but only after I was convinced that the American people were content with no longer being top-dog. Because if you’re going to be the world’s dominant political, economic, military, and diplomatic power, you aren’t going to do it from Norfolk and San Diego. The nation that believes itself to be those things is reflected in a powerful, forward deployed Navy protecting and sustaining its security and prosperity, along with that of like-minded nations. At the center of that fleet is the surface force and the professionals who operate it. They are the nation’s primary conventional deterrent, they are the nation’s primary military diplomats, and they are the nation’s primary crisis response force forward. It is time to resource them accordingly. I only hope that people are listening. Thank you, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. 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=nuIAkxFeB_g:QUYmDjTDjro:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=nuIAkxFeB_g:QUYmDjTDjro:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=nuIAkxFeB_g:QUYmDjTDjro:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=nuIAkxFeB_g:QUYmDjTDjro:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/nuIAkxFeB_gView the full article

Reviewed by Lt. Col. Andrew D. Dausman, USMCR In Unsinkable, James Sullivan delivers a comprehensive account of USS Plunkett during World War II (WWII). A Gleaves-class destroyer, Plunkett saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Omaha Beach, and the Allied invasion of Southern France. According to Sullivan, Plunkett is one of the few, perhaps only, warships to fight in every Navy-supported European invasion during WWII. While Sullivan is a seasoned writer for the New York Times and National Geographic Travel Magazine, Unsinkable is his first book. Sullivan tells Plunkett’s story through the wartime experiences of the ship’s crew members, one of which is Sullivan’s great uncle. His use of personal accounts provides a compelling lens through which to understand the intensity of WWII naval combat. Photographs of Plunkett’s sailors sprinkled throughout the book add to the rich realism of individual stories within the broader narrative. Sullivan’s exhaustive research for the book is made evident by several hundred endnotes citing numerous personal interviews and other primary source material, conveying the book’s credibility as an authoritative wartime account of Plunkett’s exploits. Sullivan organizes the book into three parts covering pre-war activities, naval actions in the Mediterranean (Sicily and Salerno), and the latter part of the war (Anzio and Normandy). Plunkett’s engagement at Anzio, where the ship weathered numerous air attacks from German bombs, is arguably the high point in Sullivan’s narrative. Although Plunkett sustained significant human casualties (23 dead, 28 missing) during the fierce battle, the damage could have been much worse if not for the crew’s exemplary ship handling and gunnery. The commanding officer, Captain Edward Burke, received the Navy Cross for his courage under fire and adept maneuvers during the withering German attacks. One minor shortcoming is the lack of maps. Reading about Plunkett’s battles and engagements would have been enriched by the inclusion of associated maps and battle diagrams. Naval historians, professional and amateur, will need to find outside reference materials to understand the broader military and geographic context in which the Plunkett finds itself. The book is neither a formal military history book nor merely a collection of personal wartime anecdotes. Instead, it straddles multiple genres, and its lack of maps and technical material does indicate Sullivan’s effort to create a naval history with broad appeal and accessibility for a variety of readers. For this reason, the book is likely to be appreciated by both scholars and readers with only a casual interest in WWII naval history. Sullivan deftly accomplishes several objectives in the book. He tells the story of a single WWII warship and documents the wartime experiences and post-war lives of several sailors, weaving these accounts of Plunkett and its crew into a cohesive narrative. This account of a single warship offers a window into the broader American experience in WWII and provides a colorful commentary on naval warfare and the Sailors that comprised the Greatest Generation. Lt. Col. Andrew D. Dausman, USMCR is a Military Faculty member of the Joint Forces Staff College. Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett (James Sullivan, Scribner, New York City, NY, 2020). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Americas Vertex Aerospace won an $8.7 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide intermediate-level maintenance and repair services and logistics support for the T-45 aircraft and T-45 support equipment in support of the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department for Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft, tenant activities, and transient aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, Florida and Mississippi. Expected completion is in September 2022. The Boeing-made KC-46A Pegasus multirole tanker has been given the green light to refuel all versions of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. Gen. Mike Minihan, commander of Air Mobility Command, approved a third Interim Capability Release (ICR) mission set for the KC-46A Pegasus, on October 13. This ICR decision allows the KC-46 to refuel all variants of the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon during US Transportation Command tasked missions. Middle East & Africa Turkish defense company Otonom Teknoloji has said it signed a deal with the Iraqi government for supplying aerostat and airship systems. The company said on October 17 that the deal would also involve technological know-how transfer and co-production options in the future. No financial details of the sale were disclosed. Europe UMS Skeldar’s V-200 medium-range VTOL UAV has completed five-day long surveillance flight trial demonstrations aboard the OPV Turva as part of the Valvonta2 project led by the Finnish Border Guard and funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The project aims to achieve an understanding of how authorities could use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for diverse and demanding operations at sea both now and in future scenarios. Asia-Pacific The Philippine Air Force is looking at acquiring heavy-lift helicopters and the technical working groups within the service are carrying out studies. PAF spokesperson Lt. Col. Maynard Mariano declined to identify what models of helicopter are being considered but there have been reports that the service is interested in the CH-47. Austal has launched the first of six Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats (CCPBs) ordered by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Construction has commenced on the remaining five patrol boats. The first boat will be handed over to the Navy early next year. Today’s Video Watch: Australia Launches 1st of New “Evolved” Cape-class Patrol Boats… View the full article