HG S2 (Intel Bot)

Reviewed by LCDR Bryan Hayes, USN (Ret.) In the Claws of the Tomcat is a thoroughly researched and detailed book about U.S. Navy F-14 operations in the Middle East, including Operation Desert Storm and other less-known encounters between U.S. aircraft and Iranian and Iraqi adversaries. I highly recommend it to serious students of naval aviation as well as aircraft modelers interested in accurately depicting the F-14. This book’s greatest strength is its reliance on interviews with aviators who flew the missions described in its pages. The interview subjects include not only U.S. Navy pilots and radar intercept officers (RIOs), but also Iranian and Iraqi airmen. This provides perspectives seldom found in American aviation histories and adds to the quality and utility of the work. Author Tom Cooper appropriately complements and fact-checks “sea stories” and personal recollections with operational details of the respective campaigns and missions. Cooper is an Austrian historian with a background in the transportation industry and the author of more than 20 books on military aviation. He has a particular research interest in lesser-known air forces of the Middle East and Africa. The technical portions of the book are highly detailed and describe aircraft, radars, and weapons systems belong in to both the United States and its adversaries. If you have ever wanted to know the operating frequencies or NATO nomenclature of Iraq’s P-35M and P-37 radars, this is the book for you. However, the author does more than recite technical specifications, and he uses the information effectively to support the historical narrative. Examples include explanations of why the F-14’s radar system limitations prompted Iraqi pilots to employ particular air-to-air tactics, and how incompatibilities between U.S. communications and electronic warfare systems contributed to friction and likely resulted in missed “kill” opportunities for Tomcat pilots. Readers will come away from this book with a greater appreciation of the complexity of modern air-to-air combat and the importance of radar, early-warning aircraft, communications, and other systems. The book includes seven plates of full-color aircraft illustrations (also by Cooper), as well as a useful selection of maps and diagrams. The former will be most useful to aircraft modelers, while the latter will help any readers to visualize the operating environment and aircraft tactics. The book’s few flaws are minor. A few acronyms included in the text are omitted from the introductory list of abbreviations. In addition, the author’s discussion of the geopolitical context of the Gulf War is lightly referenced and makes a dubious claim about Iraq’s strategic purpose for invading Kuwait. These errors do not detract from the overall quality of the book. In the Claws of the Tomcat is a fine work that pays appropriate attention to both human and technical factors influencing U.S. Navy F-14 operations in the Middle East. I recommend it to any historian, aviation enthusiast, or modeler who is interested in this fascinating aircraft. In the Claws of the Tomcat: US Navy F-14 Tomcat in Combat, 1987-2000 (Tom Cooper, Helion & Company, Warwick, Great Britain, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Is our nation's military as poorly maintained and lacking in self-respect as we seem to be from Kabul to the high seas? What messages are we sending? I'm pondering a long standing critique of mine over at USNIBlog today ... something more important now than ever. Come on by and give it a read. 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=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/JqG1mdM07lgView the full article

I don't think the US press has done anything like this, yet. In a way, perhaps this is best. To get a good view of our great national humiliation, you really need to have a 3rd party provide it. The Australians are our friends and they fought with us. They too share our humiliation, but as you can see in the report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation program, 4 Corners - they are also angry at what the USA did. They should be. We all should be. Hat Tip Gray Connolly. 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=BnV2SHd4ge4:zv3oV9cruyo:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=BnV2SHd4ge4:zv3oV9cruyo:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=BnV2SHd4ge4:zv3oV9cruyo:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=BnV2SHd4ge4:zv3oV9cruyo:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/BnV2SHd4ge4View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $25.8 million deal, which provides non-recurring engineering for the development, integration, testing, and deployment of the MH-60 Product Line System Configuration 24 fleet release for all MH-60 air platform variants, to include baseline management integrated management planning, integrated development environment support, support equipment baseline management, software architect, core lab support, problem trouble report legacy support, engineering tools support, and development aircraft support for the Navy and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. The MH-60R Seahawk missions are Anti-Submarine Warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare, Surveillance, Communications Relay, Combat Search and Rescue, Naval Gunfire Support and logistics support. Work will take place in New York, Australia and Denmark. Expected completion date is in August 2024. The US Army has carried out flight tests with a new wide field-of-view helmet-mounted display (HMD) that could be fielded on the AH-64E. The new high-definition, binocular see-thru HMD allows the pilot to see around and below the aircraft to create a transparent cockpit. The system was demonstrated on an AH-64E Version 6 over 23 flights. A total of 17 pilots from Redstone Test Center (RTC), 101st Airborne Division, and the Army Capability Management – Recon Attack participated in the testing. Middle East & Africa According to Israel Defense, MCTECH unveiled the MC-HORIZON D360BP, a multi-layered manpack system designed to protect against UAVs. The reactive system can identify drones, acquire the targets, and neutralize them automatically from far distances. A number of such systems were delivered last week to the army of an African country, according to the company. Europe French and German defense ministers signed the second Franco-German intergovernmental cooperation agreement in the field of tactical air transport on August 30, 2021. It aims to create a bi-national squadron and a training center at the Evreux air base,France with a view to operating a fleet of C-130J planes. This signature will allow the formal establishment of the Franco-German squadron on 1 st September 2021. Asia-Pacific The Indian Army reportedly placed an order for nearly 100 explosive-laden SkyStriker loitering munitions. The drones will be supplied by a joint venture between Bengaluru-based Alpha Design and Israeli firm Elbit Systems. Alpha owns 51% of the JV. The contract valued INR 100 Crore ($13.7 million) was signed on September 1, the Times of India reported. The Indian Air Force has inked an agreement with the US Air Force recently to co-develop air-launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The agreement marks the first co-development project under the US-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. The US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) will work with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for this project. Today’s Video Watch: King of the Sky | The Navy’s Largest Helicopter [MH-53] View the full article

Americas Harper Construction won a $101.7 million construction contract for design and construction of an F-35C hangar addition at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The project will include the construction of a two-module addition in support of F-35C operational squadrons. It will construct an aircraft parking apron and marshalling area, access apron and shoulders, taxiway connections and associated lighting, and construct an alternate mission equipment storage facility. The hangar addition will be constructed with reinforced concrete masonry unit, structural steel frames, metal deck and pile foundation. The work to be performed includes design and construction of the F-35C hangar addition to Hangar 6. Work will take place in California. Estimated completion will be by March 2024. Lockheed Martin won a $12.6 million deal to exercise options for Aegis design agent field engineering services. Services include test and evaluation, engineering change development, ordnance/ship alterations, modernization engineering, logistics and technical support, ordnance alterations kit development, integration and test support, AN/SPY-1 series radar antenna refurbishment and Coast Guard deep-water program design agent field engineering support. The services are in support of Aegis-equipped CGs and DDGs, allied Aegis-equipped ships, and Coast Guard Aegis-configured ships. Work will take place in Virginia, California and Florida. Estimated completion will be by September 2022. Middle East & Africa According to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), it has resumed the production of F-16 wings for Lockheed Martin, using an assembly line established in the 1980s. IAI recently reopened the production line following increased worldwide demand for the F-16 Block 70/72. IAI will produce F-16 wings that will be shipped to the F-16 final assembly line in Greenville, South Carolina, according to the company. Europe Northrop Grumman won a $50 million modification for Integrated Battle Command Systems hardware and software. The Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System is intended is to integrate the communications between weapon launchers, radars, and the operators, allowing an air defense unit to fire its interceptors using information provided by the radar of another. Fiscal 2010 Foreign Military Sales (Poland) funds in the full amount were obligated at the time of the award. Work will take place in Alabama. Estimated completion date is December 31, 2025 Finnish firm Patria won an order to deliver 200 6×6 armoured vehicles to Latvia. The contract also covers provision of support and training systems. Deliveries will take place between 2021 and 2029. The joint programme is open to other countries with the mutual consent of the participating countries. In general, this common vehicle system will improve the mobility, cost-effectiveness, interoperability, and security of supply of armies in the participating countries, the company said in a statement August 30. Asia-Pacific Hindustan Aeronautics has completed the spin and night flight testing portion for the HTT-40 basic trainer and the light aircraft will head for certification clearance. Intended to replace the HPT-32 (Hindustan Piston Trainer), the HTT-40 is a basic training aircraft developed for the first stage of the training of rookie pilots in the Indian Air Force. Today’s Video Watch: Gigantic Fleet of US C-17 Take Off One by One During Elephant Walk View the full article

HPT-32 (click to view full) India’s stalled defense procurements have become an international joke, but they’re not funny to front-line participants. The country’s attempts to buy simple artillery pieces have become infamous, but their current problem with trainer aircraft is arguably a more significant wound. You can’t produce pilots properly without appropriate training, but the IAF’s fleet of 114 locally-designed HPT-32 Deepak basic trainers has been grounded since August 2009, because they aren’t seen as reliable enough or safe enough to fly. Since then, equally aged HJT-16 Kiran jets are being used for both Stage-I and Stage-II fighter training. That yawning gap has added urgency to a replacement buy, but progress has been predictably slow. With its high-end Hawk AJT jet trainer deals behind them after 20+ years of effort, can the IAF take the next step, and plug the hole in the middle of its training? In May 2012, it did. India’s Trainer Choice(s) Basic Training: Pilatus Wins the Competition IAF PC-7 MkII (click to view full) By June 2011, Switzerland’s Pilatus had emerged as the IAF’s preferred basic choice with their PC-7 Mark II, which is in wide international use with over 20 air forces. The PC-7 Mark II, introduced in 1994, adds all of the avionics advances and some airframe changes from the P-9M, but uses a very cost-efficient Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25C engine. The engine provides less power, in return for a lower price and lower operating costs. Ejection seats, an anti-g system, and On-Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) help round out its capabilities; and the plane is still touted as being suitable for aerobatics, tactical flying, and night flying. All of these things mark a sharp step up from the HPT-32. Overall, Pilatus has touted the PC-7 as a trainer that can cover both basic and intermediate training roles, at very low operating costs. In recent years they’ve backed off a bit, emphasizing the PC-9M and PC-21 turboprops as their advanced trainer offerings. On the other hand, the PC-7 Mark II’s original South African customer uses it as the sole lead-in to the same Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer that India flies. Like the HPT-32s, PC-7s can be armed, and this has been done by a number of customers. To win, Pilatus beat Korean Aerospace’s KT-1 and Hawker Beechcraft’s T-6C in the finals. Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano armed trainer, Finmeccanica’s M-311 jet trainer, and Grob’s G-120 TP didn’t make it past the technical trials. In May 2012, the IAF has signed a contract to import 75 PC-7s from Pilatus in fly-away condition, and the planes were formally inducted into the IAF in February 2013. Some Indian pilots trained on the PC-7s in Switzerland, then returned to India as trainers themselves. A HAL proposal for a locally developed “HTT-40 trainer” also lost out at some point in this process, but it has been revived under political pressure as a developmental program. The problem, as a May 2013 article in the Daily Mail explains, is timing: “As per the project report submitted by the company in 2011, it had promised to deliver two aircraft by 2019 and 10 by 2021. At this rate, the IAF can begin training on home-built [HTT-40s] only by 2022…. The Defence Acquisition Council had mandated IAF to exercise the [38-plane option] clause to buy more aircraft from the foreign vendor only if HAL’s HTT-40 does not take off before the delivery of first Pilatus PC-7. With first Pilatus arriving in February and HTT-40 nowhere in sight, the IAF will go for 38 more PC-7s.” HAL wants the government to mandate the HTT-40 as the IAF’s only trainer option beyond the initial 75 PC-7s, but the IAF disagrees vigorously, citing timing problems, training volume needs, and HAL’s known problems handling their workload on other programs. Even so, state-owned HAL has managed to block the intended February 2013 approval for the PC-7 contract’s 38-plane option clause. India’s government continues to dither over any means of moving forward, whether that means buying from Switzerland and moving on, having HAL build 106 PC-7s under license, or mandating the HTT-40. Intermediate Trainers: HAL’s IJT HJT-36 IJT (click to view full) India’s current intermediate training curriculum rests on a dwindling stock of HJT-16 Kiran jets. They were first introduced in 1968, though another 65 Kiran Mk.IIs entered service beginning in 1985. They serve as the bridge between existing basic flight trainers, and the IAF’s advanced Hawk Mk.132s. HAL received a 1999 contract to develop the HJT-36 Sitara as an intermediate trainer successor, but the firm has missed its 2007 in-service date very badly, and a number of crashes have raised concerns. HAL is contracted to deliver 12 limited series production aircraft and 75 production IJTs, but the Sitara still hasn’t achieved initial certification as of late 2013, and remains saddled with serious aerodynamic issues. The question is whether the plane can enter service by 2015, and whether it will be safe if it does. A mid-2014 admission that major redesigns are required casts serious doubt on both requirements. The PC-7 fleet performs the intermediate training role in other countries, and the threat of choking the IAF’s pilot training pipeline may be crippling enough to force a potential opportunity. As of mid-2014, the IAF is floating a foreign RFI for an intermediate trainer that can also serve in counter-insurgency roles. The IAF is already flying one – but India has a long political history of pursuing indigenous programs well past the point of crisis. Contracts & Key Events 2014 – 2019 HAL admits IJT must be redesigned; IAF looks abroad for IJT options; PC-7s noticeably improving IAF training. PC-7 Mk.II: unfrozen (click to view full) September 6/21: Headed For Certification Clearance Hindustan Aeronautics has completed the spin and night flight testing portion for the HTT-40 basic trainer and the light aircraft will head for certification clearance. Intended to replace the HPT-32 (Hindustan Piston Trainer), the HTT-40 is a basic training aircraft developed for the first stage of the training of rookie pilots in the Indian Air Force. May 2/19: Flight Tests Recommence Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd resumed flight tests of the HJT-36 Sitara twin-seat aircraft. Testing had been put on hold for three years after the aircraft encountered problems on the spin test flights in 2016. HAL developed the Sitara for the Intermediate Jet Trainer program, which aims to produce a direct replacement for the Indian Air Force Kiran. The production of the Kiran ended in 1989. HAL received a 1999 contract to develop the HJT-36 Sitara as an intermediate trainer successor, but the firm has missed its 2007 in-service date very badly, and a number of crashes have raised concerns. The aircraft that flew recently features a repositioned vertical fin and other design changes. It is possible that, if the new configuration proves up to customer expectations, the Indian Air Force may buy 73 serial examples. Working out remedies to improve spin characteristics for an otherwise promising and mature design required extensive wind testing on scale models. During the past three years, HAL also addressed issues of excessive airframe weight, while its program partners in Russia had more time to improve the engine that powers the HJT-36. June 2/16: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) has made its maiden flight after much delay. The Indian indigenous trainer will see at least 70 of the aircraft procured by the Indian Air Force despite the service’s preference for the Swiss built Pilatus PC-7 Mark II. Funding for the HTT-40 had been blocked by the Defense Ministry after the IAF claimed that the trainer would be too expensive, too heavy, and that it will not meet their need. Aug 5/14: IJT. Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley makes it official, in response to a Rajya Sabha question: “HAL, which has been developing the Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), as a replacement for the Kiran aircraft, has not so far been able to resolve critical wing and airframe Design & Development issues related to stall and spin. In order to meet the emergent situation created due to inordinate delay in the IJT project, IAF has already initiated the process for extending the technical life of the Kiran aircraft. The IAF has also initiated action to look for alternate options for the IJT.” See March 30/14 for that RFI. Sources: India MoD, “Replacement of Intermediate Trainer Planes of the IAF”. July 5/14: IJT redesign. Shiv Aroor’s exclusive report says that HAL is looking for foreign help to redesign the HJT-36 Sitara, and offers some excerpts from the RFI: “The HJT-36 aircraft presently weighs around 4150 Kg in its Normal Training Configuration…. HAL is envisaging achieving maximum possible weight reduction / optimisation for the aircraft…. The design of the above need to be revisited, analyzed and the scope for weight reduction / optimization studied while ensuring the required strength, stiffness & fatigue criteria…. Towards this HAL is looking forward for partnership / technical assistance / consultancy from a well experienced airframe design house…. This weight reduction / optimization study must be comprehensive, encompassing all the Structure, Mechanical Systems & Electrical Avionics Systems.” In light of this call for help, it becomes very doubtful that the plane can enter service by 2015 – a date that would already be 8 years late. Indeed, it’s legitimate to question whether the design will ever meet the IAF’s criteria. Whether or not the IAF opens another competition (q.v. March 30/14) will be a political decision. Sources: Livefist, “EXCLUSIVE: Totally Cornered, HAL To Re-design Lumbering Intermediate Trainer”. May 8/14: PC-7. Pilatus explains how important the PC-7 Mk.IIs have been to India. The translation needs a bit of work, but the gist is very clear. Available, reliable aircraft make a huge difference to pilot training quality: “Due to the excellent endurance, low maintenance and reliability of the PC-7 MkII aircraft, the Indian Air Force supported by Pilatus has been able to maintain a very high availability rate on the flight line since the introduction of the new platform. Thanks to this, the Indian Air Force is already planning to advance their plans to enhance the number of student pilots by 150% from the next course…. Furthermore, the PC-7 MkII has enabled the Indian Air Force to increase the basic training syllabus in terms of flight hours by 220% compared to the old syllabus and increase the solo content from only 1 to 14 sorties.” So far, India has taken delivery of 35 PC-7 trainers since the contract was signed in May 2012, and the remaining 40 are being flown in on an accelerated monthly schedule. A Fixed Base Full Mission Simulator is now operational at Dundigal, with a 2nd simulator and other training systems scheduled to be operational by the end of 2014. Overall, the PC-7 MkII fleet has achieved more than 12,000 flying hours, and accumulated well over 24,000 landings since deliveries began in February 2013. Sources: Pilatus, “Indian Air Force Pilatus PC-7 MkII Fleet Clocks Record Performance”. March 30/14: IJT competition? The IAF has reportedly published a non-binding global RFI regarding intermediate (Stage-II) jet trainers “for a primary task of Stage–II training of Pilots and also capable to undertake a secondary task of Counter Insurgent Operations” (sic).” The specifications seem to aim directly at some of the HJT-36 Sitara’s problem areas: “Stalling. An unmistakable natural stall warning should be available, irrespective of the configuration. (b) Spinning. The aircraft must be resistant to spin but it should be possible to perform intentional spin upto six turns to either side and recover safely thereafter. The aircraft behavior in the spin should be predictable and consistent. (c) Aerobatics The IJT should be capable of performing loops, barrel rolls, rolls, combination maneuvers and negative ‘g’ flight without adverse effects on the engine and aircraft structure. The aircraft should be capable of sustained inverted flight for at least 30 seconds at sea level at maximum takeoff power…. The aircraft should be capable of carrying at least 1000 kg of external load. The aircraft should be equipped with a minimum of five hard points and each hard point on the wing should be stressed to carry at least 300 kg stores. The aircraft should be, free from buffet, dutch roll, snaking and wing rock during air to ground weapon training. The aircraft should be capable of employing the following armament: (a) Gun. A light weight gun/ gun-pod with adequate ammunition for at least 5 sec of firing time. (b) Rocket Pods. Reusable rocket pods. (c) Bombs. Should be able to carry at least 4×250 kg retarded or ballistic bombs. The stations should be capable of employing Carrier Bomb Light Stores (CBLS) type of dispensers for carriage of practice bombs (25 lbs and 3 Kg). Defense News says that the RFI was reportedly sent to Russia’s Yakolev; Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi; Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI); Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Beechcraft; and Sweden’s Saab. That’s a strange list, if true. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Saab don’t really have current products in this space. Russia’s Yak-130 is a different class, overlapping India’s existing high-end Hawk AJT fleet; ditto KAI’s supersonic T-50 jet. Beechcraft doesn’t make jet trainers, just a T-6C turboprop which is designed for the basic-intermediate role, as is KAI’s KT-1. Ironically, these 2 turboprops were the finalists that Pilatus beat with the PC-7 Mk.II. The only real jet candidate would be Alenia, whose M-311 jet trainer didn’t even make the finals against Pilatus’ PC-7 Mk.II. If India demands jets, the PC-7 wouldn’t qualify, but the hardpoint requirements may be within the PC-7’s 1,000 kg capacity. There have been efforts to arm the HJT-36 (q.v. Feb 19/11), but it isn’t clear how successful they have been. Sources: Livefist, “HAL’s IJT Delayed, IAF Scouts Foreign Source” | Defense NEws May 2014, “India Looks Abroad for New Jet Trainer”. Feb 10/14: IJT. Defence Minister Shri AK Antony admits that the HJT-36 IJT isn’t going to arrive any time soon: “The Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) is planned to replace Kiran Mk-I. Due to repeated revisions in the time line set for the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) of IJT, and also considering the present state of the project regarding induction of the IJT in Indian Air Force (IAF), it has been decided to extend the use of Kiran Mk-I. After the study of the fatigue life spectrum of Kiran Mk-I aircraft, the Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (Aircraft) has recommended extension of Total Technical Life of the aircraft. This will help IAF to utilize the fleet till 2017-18, though in gradually reducing numbers.” Sources: Indian MoD, “Replacement of Kiran Aircraft” | India’s Economic Times, “5th gen fighter aircraft project with Russia delayed: A K Antony”. Jan 20/14: Next BTA? Ajai Shukla pens an oped that looks at HAL’s arguments for the HTT-40, while dismissing any concerns raised by the other side. That isn’t very valuable in and of itself, and makes his “full” cost figures suspect. On the other hand, he details the IAF’s counter-proposal: INR 24.05 billion (about $393 million) for 10 more full PC-7 imports, and 96 license-assembled PC-7 Mk.IIs at IAF’s 5 Base Repair Depot in Sulur, Tamil Nadu: 28 semi-knocked down kits, and 68 fully knocked-down parts sets. There is merit to his point that lifetime costs are larger than purchase costs. An India unable to produce its own spares locally does leave itself at the risk of paying more, and subject to currency fluctuations. The core argument involves pinning down the potential differences, and then asking whether the IAF’s training fleet is both economically small enough, and militarily important enough, to justify the tradeoffs in exchange for a no-risk solution. The IAF says yes, and makes an argument. Shulka won’t address the question. The most interesting point Shulka makes is that the original Basic Trainer Aircraft RFP only covered 75 fully built aircraft. Could a competitor snarl the proceedings by citing the failure to include a local-assembly under Transfer of Technology option, on the basis that they would have won had it been part of the tender? Anywhere other than India, the answer would be no. Separate contracts are separate. In India? Who knows. Sources: Business Standard, “Is indigenisation just a slogan?” 2012 – 2013 PC-7 Mk.II contract signed, plane inducted; HAL fighting to push its HTT-40, attacks procurement process and stalls follow-on basic trainer buy; KAI’s procurement challenge fails; India’s weak currency becomes a problem. 2013 induction Dec 18/13: HTT-40. Minister of State for Defence Shri Jitendra Singh replies to a Parliamentary question in India’s Rajya Sabha upper chamber, and attaches a number to HAL’s basic trainer attempt. It’s a bit less than previous reports (q.v. April 15/13): “HAL has sanctioned an amount of Rs.176.93 crore [DID: INR 1.77 billion, currently about $29 million] for preliminary design phase and detailed design phase activities of Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) aircraft. IAF has expressed reservations over acquiring the HTT-40 developed by HAL and has recast its proposal from ‘Make’ category to ‘Buy and Make’ category to procure the balance 106 Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA).” Source: India MoD, “Use of HTT-40 Trainer by IAF”. Oct 14/13: Build to print? The IAF is forwarding what seems to be a compromise proposal: have HAL build the last 106 PC-7 Mk.II trainers, using blueprints supplied by Pilatus. Sources: Oct 10/13: IJT. HAL is having serious flight and safety problems with its HJT-36 Intermediate Jet Trainer. The plane has an inherent asymmetry that makes the aircraft roll around 16 degrees during stall trials. That’s very dangerous to trainee pilots, and has forced the suspension of stall testing. HAL is still saying that they hope to get the HJT-36’s Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) by the end of December 2013, but “insiders” don’t consider that very likely. HAL is contracted to deliver 12 limited series production aircraft and 75 production IJTs, but the IJT program has been in trouble for several years now. The original IOC date was supposed to be 2007, but a string of crashes (q.v. April 29/11) and other problems have pushed the likely date back by 7 years or more. It’s not a very good advertisement for HAL’s “MTT-40” lobbying, and the longer-term question is whether continued IJT problems will push effective fielding beyond the old HJT-16 fleet’s safe life. Sources: Indian Express, “HAL struggling with jet trainer project”. July 30/13: Currency exchange. India’s Business Standard follows up on its earlier report about HAL’s HTT-40 trainer offer by discussing an IAF clarification, but won’t quote that clarification or link to it. That’s bad practice and questionable ethics, especially when other sources note the IAF statement’s citation of persistent delays and problems across all of HAL’s aircraft production programs. With that said, the Business Standard makes an important point along the way. The flyaway price of each PC-7 Mk.II trainer in the contract is reportedly SFR 6.09 million. Since payment is linked to delivery, India’s declining rupee is steadily making each subsequent trainer more expensive. The IAF had given a mean figure of INR 300 million for the 2014 delivery year, but on May 24/12 when the contract was signed, the conversion worked out to INR 360.8 million each. Today’s conversion is INR 394.7 million – a 9.4% cost hike. India’s RBI is stepping up its defense of the currency as it approaches record lows, but a current account deficit amounting to 4.8% of GDP requires broader policy changes to avert further decline. Currency exchange factors weren’t part of the cost figures in IAF Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne’s letter to Defence Minister A K Antony earlier this month, and the letter also gave wrong information regarding some basic specifications like the PC-7’s flight speed. That’s bad form indeed, and could become a club in the Minister’s hands if he wishes to pursue this issue. India’s Business Standard | India Today | Reuters. July 29/13: Changed standards. India’s Business Standard reports that the IAF changed a number of key specifications for its trainer competition, after laying down a more stringent Preliminary Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (PSQR) for the HTT-40. Items changed include zero-zero ejection seats (lowered to 0/60), instructor visibility levels from the rear cockpit, the ability to the instructor to simulate front-seat instrument failures in flight, glide ratio reduced from 12:1 to 10:1, and the need for a pressurized cabin. The report adds an important missing piece, which seems to explain HAL’s sudden ability to offer their HTT-40 for 42% less: lower standards. India’s critical shortage of IAF basic trainers pushed the service to look abroad, rather than risk serious damage to pilot training while waiting for a developmental plane. Once that decision is made, it’s entirely normal to set performance requirements to a standard that invites more competitors and better deals. Especially when dealing with established offerings, whose performance has proven more than adequate to train thousands of pilots in air forces all around the world. These moves are especially notable because India has had serious problems with a number of important military programs, which remain in limbo to this day because of poor (and often late) framing of unusual requirements with no reference to the marketplace, followed by rigid insistence that vendors provide off-the-shelf, unmodified solutions. Current high-profile casualties of that approach include India’s LUH/RSH light helicopter program, a body armor program for soldiers, the lightweight assault rifle program, 2 armored personnel carrier programs that included an urgent deployment need, upgrades to India’s BMP-2 APCs, new anti-tank missiles, the QR-SAM and MR-SAM air defense programs, and 155mm towed and self-propelled howitzers. Taken together, this is a huge and serious set of gaps in India’s military capabilities, and adding basic flight training to this list would have been catastrophic. Lower standards could allow a legitimate price reduction from HAL, though one has to acknowledge that estimates for an airplane that exists only on paper are wildly unreliable. In contrast, bids from abroad involved tested, in-production aircraft that are known to be able to meet both performance and cost specifications. Those considerations also factor in to vendor ratings, if the buyer is competent. India’s Business Standard. April 15/13: I’m sorry, Danuj, you can’t do that. India’s Business Standard reports that the option for 37 more PC-7 Mk.II trainers is being stalled by HAL. The state-owned firm is demanding that the IAF buy 108 of their undeveloped HTT-40 trainer instead, in order to meet India’s requirement for a total of 183 basic trainers. They’re leaning on defense minister Antony’s recent fetish for India-only production, in order to avoid “corruption” in defense procurement. We use fetish here in its traditional sense: a key component of animist magic that is performed as a placebo, in return for tangible recompense. To review: After a long history of late or deficient performance on other aircraft programs, and a INR 600 million per trainer bid (vid. Dec 19/12) that got them thrown out of the competition, HAL has miraculously discovered that they can offer the HTT-40 for just INR 350 million per plane, a 42% reduction that’s suddenly cheaper than Pilatus’ proven INR 385 million figure. This will include development of an armed HTT-40, and HAL is also claiming lower life-cycle costs. Bids for blueprints-only aircraft tend to be followed by “unexpected” price hikes once political commitment makes it hard to back out. That same commitment dynamic may be driving HAL itself, after their corporate investment of about INR 2 billion (about $36 million) to develop the HTT-40. The corresponding life cycle cost estimates are also likely to be too low, and experience shows that truthful figures require a flying fleet like Pilatus’, not paper promises without a prototype. Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force will find it difficult to train its pilots, because HAL is lobbying to block planes the IAF says it needs, by making promises it almost certainly can’t keep. All in return for money and political favors. Which, somehow, doesn’t qualify as corruption. India’s Business Standard, ” HAL’s trainer pitted as Rs 4,500 cr cheaper than Swiss Pilatus trainer” | UK Daily Mail India, “HAL’s trainer aircraft headed for disaster as development costs soar”. March 13/13: IJT. In a Parliamentary reply, Minister of State for Defence Shri Jitendra Singh says that: “Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed two contracts with HAL for delivery of 12 Limited Series Production Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) aircraft and 73 Series Production IJT aircraft. The IJT aircraft is presently targeted to be inducted in IAF in the year 2014 onwards.” That would make 15 years from initial contract to induction for HAL’s HJT-36 Sitara intermediate trainer jet, which is already late. Even so, 2014 gives the IAF a very narrow window in which to shelve this project, and they probably won’t. The opportunity, such as it is, is that the IAF envisaged possible orders of 200-250 IJTs, for use in “Intermediate Stage 2” training. That leaves about 115-160 aircraft as potential pickups for a rival like the PC-7 MkII, if HAL’s IJT runs into delivery, service, or cost issues. Feb 4/13: Options clause. India’s Business Standard reports the IAF will exercise their contract option to buy another 37 Pilatus trainers at the same price, which is reportedly INR 300 million per plane. This brings India’s Swiss-made order total to 112: “A top IAF official told Business Standard, “The contract for 75 Pilatus trainers, which was signed last year, includes an options clause that allows India to order an extra 50 per cent of the contracted number of aircraft (i.e. 37 trainers) at the same price as the first 75 trainers. We will exercise this options clause this month.” Feb 2/13: the first 3 Indian PC-7 Mk.IIs arrive at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, near Hyderabad. They were flown in by the Swiss pilots. MSN India | WebIndia123. 1st PC-7s arrive Dec 19/12: HHT-40s and IJTs. India’s Business Standard reports that HAL had also been a contender in the basic trainer competition, with a proposal to develop and build 106 “Hindustan Turbo Trainer – 40” (HTT-40) planes. The problem was that HAL was about twice as expensive as foreign-built aircraft, at Rs 60 crore per plane. Basic trainers aren’t exactly a strategically vital competency, so that was it for HAL. The paper even suggests that additional PC-7 Mk.IIs beyond the initial 75 could be manufactured in Switzerland. The other question the paper raises involves the IAF’s missing solution for “Stage 2” intermediate training, between the PC-7 and the jet-powered Hawk AJT. Pilatus touts their plane as being effective through Stage 2, but HAL continues its 14-year old quest to develop an Intermediate Jet Trainer. A 2011 crash has set that option back again, and more problems or unfavorable cost comparisons could earn the PC-7 another slice of business. PC-7 Mark II (click to view full) May 24/12: PC-7 contract. India and Pilatus sign a contract for 75 PC-7 MkII turboprop aircraft, their integrated ground based training system, and a comprehensive logistics support package. The contract also contains an option clause for extending the contract to 105 planes. Indian reports place the initial contract value at INR 29 billion, but Pilatus rates it higher, at “in excess of 500 million” Swiss Francs. In dollar terms, it’s worth over $525 million. Delivery of the PC-7s and their associated training systems is scheduled to begin by the end of 2012, and the 30-plane option clause will expire in May 2015. As part of this contract, Pilatus will establish in-country depot level maintenance capabilities at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which will allow the IAF to fix the planes in country, instead of having to send them back to Switzerland. Pilatus has also entered into the required 30% value industrial offset contract, and says that it is “our intention to leverage the offset opportunity to establish manufacturing capability for the region in support of our business plans for India.” It’s a very good week for Pilatus, who just won a 55 plane order from Saudi Arabia for 55 of its top of the line PC-21 trainers. India’s contract is the largest single contract in the company’s history, and will extend Pilatus’ global fleet of turboprop trainers to more than 900 aircraft. IANS | PTI | Swissinfo | Flight International. PC-7 contract May 2-3/12: KAI aside. India’s Minister of Defence Shri AK Antony, in a written reply to Shri PiyushGoyal in Rajya Sabha: “The proposal for procurement of Basic Trainer Aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) is awaiting consideration of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)… A representation submitted by M/s Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), one of the bidders, has been found to be devoid of merit.” Korean Air Industries (KAI) had alleged flaws in the selection procedure, on the grounds that Pilatus’ bid was incomplete. Antony’s written response sets off a flurry of reports, indicating that the PC-7 deal’s major bottleneck has been cleared. India MoD | Times of India | Flight International | Jane’s. 2009 – 2011 HPT-32 basic trainer fleet in crisis; Pilatus picked as preferred; HJT-36 crash. PC-7 Mk.II (click to view full) July 18/11: Indian media reports that Pilatus’ rivals are pressing the Indian government to keep their aircraft in the race, but the IAF is sticking by its preference. The PC-7 Mk.II is said to be a lot less expensive than the most modern offerings like Pilatus’ PC-21. That was a key to its win, but it’s also a plane in wide use around the world. Pilatus is conducting commercial negotiations with the Indian government, after which India’s parliament must approve the budget for the deal. If the billion-dollar, 181 plane deal is approved, 75 aircraft would reportedly be delivered by Pilatus in flyaway condition, with another 106 to be built by HAL in India. India Strategic | Flight International. June 18/11: Contract details. The daily Le Temps reports that Pilatus Aircraft is about to sign a record SFR 850 million (about $1.01 billion) deal to supply 75 PC-7 MkII trainers to the Indian Air Force (IAF), which could eventually be extended to as many as 200 of the single-engined turboprops. Pilatus declined to comment on the report that the trainer had been selected as the winner of offers invited by India in 2009 for a new trainer. Aviation Week offered quotes that stressed the absence of a deal, quoting Indian chief of air staff, Air Marshal P.V. Naik as saying that: “Of the three short-listed firms from the U.S. [T-6], Korea [KT-1] and Switzerland [PC-7 Mk.II], the bid made by Pilatus has emerged the lowest… We have started price negotiations with the Swiss vendor for supplying 75 aircraft…” Other contenders that didn’t make the IAF’s short list reportedly included Grob’s G-120 TP, Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano, and Finmeccanica’s jet-powered M-311. See The Hindu | France 24 | Oman Tribune | Aviation Week. April 29/11: IJT. HJT-36 prototype #S-3466 crashes in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. It’s the 3rd crash in 4 years for the intermediate flight trainer, which was supposed to become operational in 2007. A crash at Aero India 2007 had a plane swerve off the runway just as the pilot was getting airborne; and in February 2009, the 2nd prototype landed on its belly. DNA, “IJT aircraft crashes for third time in 4 years”. IJT crashes Feb 19/11: IJT. HAL is looking to arm the HJT-36 Sitara, and is reportedly inviting bids to give the platform a 12.7-mm gun pod with 200 roun d capacity on its in-board wing stations. That makes sense, since the Sitara will be used for primary weapon training of pilots in gunnery, rocketry, bombing and weapon aiming. The bad news? Initial Operational Clearance is slated for June 2011, and the plane is entering final tests. This seems a bit late to be looking at such fundamental capabilities. Sources: Livefist, “Effort To Arm Indian Stage-2 Trainer Begins”. Oct 2/09: An Indian Express report says that India is urgently seeking up to 180 trainer aircraft to replace or augment its trainer fleet at all levels, in the wake of problems with the lower-tier HPT-32 fleet and contract issues with its upper-tier Hawk AJT program. The report adds that a plan to buy 40 additional Hawk AJTs has hit a roadblock, due to differences over price between BAE and the IAF. Oct 1/09: HPT-32s. Plans to phase out India’s grounded HPT-32 basic trainer fleet will intensify India’s needs for trainer aircraft at all levels. Indian Express quotes Air Chief Marshal P V Naik: “The IAF lost two experienced instructors in a fatal crash of HPT-32 this year. We have ordered an inquiry and a study on the aircraft, as we have had a lot of problems since their induction in 1984. We hope to use it only till 2013-14″… Sept 2/09: HPT-32s. India’s Business Standard: “The Indian Air Force (IAF) is desperately short of aircraft for training its flight cadets. With the entire fleet of basic trainers – the HPT-32 Deepak – grounded after a series of crashes, advanced training is suffering equally due to unexpected delays in the manufacture of the Hawk advanced jet trainer (AJT) in India… Trainer crisis Additional Readings Bharat Rakshak – HAL HJT-36. Photos. “The first flight of the HJT-36 was done on 7th March 2003 by Sqn Ldr Baldev Singh (Retd), Chief Test Pilot (Fixed Wing (FW)) of HAL. He took up the IJT on its maiden flight, which lasted for about 20 minutes.” Pilatus – PC-7 Mark II. The main site defers to the PC-9M for Advanced/Intermediate training roles, but countries like South Africa are already using PC-7 Mk.IIs all the way up to Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer transition. IAF Fighters DID – India Ordering, Modernizing SU-30MKIs. DID – India’s M-MRCA Fighter Competition. DID – LCA Tejas: An Indian Fighter – With Foreign Help. View the full article

Right now throughout Afghanistan and the different ways out of that nation, Americans, Brits, and others are doing all they can to fill in the gaping scar of dishonor that is our defeat-of-choice and retreat from Afghanistan. There are individuals, ad-hoc groups of like minded veterans, family members, and others who are doing all they can to help Americans, family members, and those who trusted and fought with us from almost certain death. From American school kids, to helicopter pilots - people are trusted in our government to not leave them behind are trapped. There are good people on the other end who are doing extraordinary things to make up for the disgraceful official US government abandonment of those left behind. Some are already to safety, but thousands more are still trapped in a nightmare that will only grow darker with time. Over the course of the next few weeks you may hear of some of their stories, other tales will always be hidden due to the desires of those involved, but the stories will come. There will be books and movies - some good some cringingly bad - that will come out over the next few years about what is happening right now in the shadows. I don't have any specific stories to share this week - it isn't my place - but know this; we are a nation of great people who will always have enough people willing to take action even when our government fails us. Fullbore to them. 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=QOa9zPL0XyI:DdUWmiVN73o:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QOa9zPL0XyI:DdUWmiVN73o:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QOa9zPL0XyI:DdUWmiVN73o:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QOa9zPL0XyI:DdUWmiVN73o:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/QOa9zPL0XyIView the full article

Americas Hamilton Sundstrand won a $60 million requirements contract for the repair of the constant frequency generator used on the V-22 aircraft in support of the weapon replaceable assemblies and shop replaceable assemblies programs. The V-22 Osprey is a joint-service, medium-lift, multimission tilt-rotor aircraft. The aircraft operates as a helicopter when taking off and landing vertically. The nacelles rotate 90° forward once airborne, converting the aircraft into a turboprop aircraft. Work under the contract will take place in Illinois. Estimated completion will be by September 2026. Midnight Sun-Centennial Kirratchiaq won a $19 million deal for providing Simplified Acquisition of Base Civil Engineer Requirements (SABER) support for Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE), Virginia. The deal provides all labor, tools, equipment, transportation, materials, supervision, and all other necessary supplies and services required to perform a broad range of design, minor and new construction, facility repair, and maintenance on real property for JBLE. The Simplified Acquisition of Base Engineering Requirements (SABER) contract’s main purpose is to expedite contract award of civil engineer requirements through the issuance of individual delivery orders. Work will take place in Virginia. Estimated completion date is August 31, 2026. Middle East & Africa President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan started the construction of “Crescent Star,” the massive complex for the Turkish army and the Ministry of National Defense, on August 30, in India. The date has a special meaning for the army as it is the 99th anniversary of a battle that cemented the country’s success against invading forces in the aftermath of World War I. Europe Russian firm Kronstadt today announced contracts with several foreign countries for shipment of drones in 2022. The models of drones or their numbers were not specified in a statement released by the company as reported by local media. Asia-Pacific Northrop Grumman won a $40 million contract modification for the Japan and Republic of Korea Global Hawk Program. It is a cofounded joint Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The contract provides for the co-development, test and integration of the Mode 5 software for the Republic of Korea and Japan Global Hawk fleets. he RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Work will take place in California, Japan and Korea. Estimated completion date is July 31, 2023. Kazakhstan is now the ninth operator of the Airbus A400M transport with anorder placed for two aircraft this month. The delivery of the first aircraft is scheduled in 2024. The deal includes a complete suite of maintenance and training support. Together with the agreement a Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed to collaborate on Maintenance and Overhaul services and with a first step of creating a local C295 maintenance center. Today’s Video Watch: Military Airbus A400 Atlas Full Documentary View the full article

Reviewed by Joseph Moretz, PhD The story of the American War of Independence has oft been told but rather less has been said of the maritime portion of that story and less still has been told from the perspective of the Royal Navy. It is to this end that Quintin Barry, a retired solicitor and employment judge, offers Crisis at the Chesapeake: The Royal Navy and the Struggle for America 1775-1783 as a rejoinder. In a well-reasoned and highly readable monograph, Barry surveys that war’s broader naval context and the competing challenges faced by Admiralty and flag officers alike as they sought to restore imperial control on the rebellious American colonies. Hindsight reveals just what a difficult task Britain faced. Its attention was focused foremost on affairs in Europe and the West Indies, which partly explains the manifest difficulties experienced by the Royal Navy in American waters, but Barry notes that the strategic choices of where and how to counter simultaneous threats were far from the only hindrances preventing British success. Operational shortfalls existed such that executing amphibious raids on the American coast came at the expense of maintaining the blockade which starved the colonists of outside support. In short, the British lacked the necessary ships on station to perform both tasks at the start of the war. This was difficult to achieve in 1775 and even more so in 1780, after France became actively allied with the American cause. Complicating such dilemmas further was the need to find naval escorts to protect the trade that made prosecuting the war possible. With a French invasion of England a real possibility in 1779 and outlying holdings, such as Gibraltar, under constant threat of invasion, the wonder is that Britain managed to retain as much of its empire as it did. A strength of Crisis at the Chesapeake is the attention the author pays to Britain’s joint approach to the war. The need to balance risks and opportunities proved just as vexing for the British Army, and harmonizing military and naval strategy was never going to be easy for Britain, especially as flag and general officers rotated between service in America and elsewhere. Even if that bugbear had not been present, ensuring a congruent approach would have remained difficult given the limitations of the era’s communications and the distances to be overcome. With messages taking weeks to pass between London and the New World and the campaigning season constricted by the seasons, the window for achieving operational success remained fleeting indeed. To be sure, these difficulties were not unique to the British situation in America, but the need to fashion a military response that would move the colonists to desist from their political course surely was. Local maritime supremacy might allow the British to land forces at a time and place of their choosing and gain a lodgment, but the British victory secured at Charles Town (i.e., Charleston) in 1780 showed the limits of such successes absent the defeat of the forces under General Washington and, more importantly, those of his French allies. To his credit, Washington appreciated the same and husbanded his command until local military and naval superiority could be assured. As a military strategy, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton’s foray into the Carolinas to separate one portion of the rebellion from the other had much merit, but the greater problems remained. With Clinton returning to New York, General Lord Cornwallis continued British operations into Virginia arguing that standing pat in South Carolina put at risk the gains so far made. This is ever a problem for lesser military forces that have seized the initiative, as either troops are siphoned off to ensure the security of one’s line of communications or the risk is accepted that resupply will occur at a later point on the line of advance. Cornwallis implicitly accepted that the Royal Navy could resupply his forces no matter the army’s objective. The prospect of being supplied from the sea while extending operations into Virginia did not unduly worry Cornwallis, as he had arrived by sea and witnessed Clinton depart by sea. In fact, he believed operations along the Chesapeake with its numerous estuaries remained preferable to sustaining a force from Wilmington. From a purely military point of view this was assuredly so, but from the naval perspective the situation was much more nuanced. Absent the defeat or neutralization of the French fleet supporting the American cause, the Chesapeake represented as much a cul de sac as a point d’appui. The risk remained that Rear Admiral Thomas Graves might not gain the Chesapeake to succor Cornwallis. Of course, Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot had demonstrated in March 1781 at Cape Henry the British navy’s ability to secure temporary control of the Chesapeake as an adjunct to supporting an army under duress. Then it had been Brigadier General Benedict Arnold’s force needing help while engaged along the tidewater. Barry’s accounting of these preliminaries is succinct and judicious. The respite, however, proved fleeting as Arbuthnot’s force sailed for New York while further American troops trekked southward to Virginia and Cornwallis’s location. In all this luck had played its part. While Arbuthnot’s superior squadron reached the Chesapeake ahead of a French flotilla, poor signaling on the part of the British hindered the concentration of their forces which ought to have delivered a greater result against the Chevalier des Touches. September saw Cornwallis facing circumstances not unlike those that had beset Arnold six month previous. This time Rear Admiral Thomas Graves would possess neither an advantageous position nor a superior fleet, to Cornwallis’ lasting detriment. Again, poor communications marred British tactical execution, though it must also be allowed that this time Graves received less support than was perhaps due from Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood. This is a tentative conclusion though, for in truth, Hood and his subordinate flag officers lacked that familiarity which derives from close, constant association, as circumstances had not permitted the standard training beforehand. That personality and pique between the principals exacerbated matters must be recognized as further reason for the defeat suffered. As a tactical encounter the Battle of the Chesapeake hardly merits remembrance, but strategically its effects were far reaching for from it a nation was ultimately won. In a work finely illustrated, soundly argued, and sympathetically told Quintin Barry recounts these events from a British perspective. It is a perspective all will benefit from reading and this work is warmly recommended. Dr. Joseph Moretz is a member of the British Commission for Military History. Crisis at the Chesapeake: The Royal Navy and the Struggle for America 1775-1783 (Quintin Barry, Helion & Company, Warwick, Great Britain, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

What was Navy, was taken by the Army, loved by everyone ... and is hinting that we have some wonderful ideas about how to sustain operations in the Western Pacific against China, and it would be a shame if something happened to them. Thinking a bit over at USNIBlog on things that go "brrrrrrrr." Come ponder it out 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=oHMvIwXEYaI:SeM6iUvjnFg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=oHMvIwXEYaI:SeM6iUvjnFg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=oHMvIwXEYaI:SeM6iUvjnFg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=oHMvIwXEYaI:SeM6iUvjnFg:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/oHMvIwXEYaIView the full article

Americas Sikorsky won a $48 million deal, which procures eight spare part and management and delivery of parts in support of the CH-53K low rate initial production configuration aircraft. The CH-53K can be fielded from amphibious assault ships for the transportation of personnel and equipment. Work will take place in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, UK, Canada, California and North Carolina. Estimated completion will be in December, 2026. Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solution won a $17.6 million modification, which procures initial spare parts and aircraft common equipment to support the E-2D Hawkeye Integrated Training Systems flight, tactics, and maintenance devices.The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye features a state-of-the-art radar with a two-generation leap in capability. Work will take place in Virginia, Japan and California. Work is expected to be finished by March 2024. Middle East & Africa Nigeria has inducted its A-29 attack aircraft into service at Kainji Air Base on August 31. The induction ceremony was hosted by Nigerian Minister of Defence Bashir Salihi Magashi.Gen. Jeff Harrigian, US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander, represented the US Department of Defense. Europe Saab announced that it will be demonstrating a new generation of the Combat Boat 90 (CB90) fast assault craft for the first time outside of Sweden. It will be shown from 14-17 September at the DSEI exhibition in London, where visitors will have the opportunity to go aboard to learn more about its new capabilities. Asia-Pacific South Korea’s Defense Ministry has submitted its budget request for next year and one of the items on the shopping list is a Counter rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) system. The military is also requesting $9 million for the development of micro-satellites. $392 million out of the $42.4 billion is for the KF-X fighter program. Japan’s Defense Ministry is seeking a record $50 billion for its budget next year, this represents a 2.6 percent increase from the previous year. Nearly $78 million will be spent on research into high-powered microwave weapons to defeat unmanned aircraft. $35 million will goes into research for hypersonic weapons. Expenses for research and development will add up to nearly $3 billion. Today’s Video Watch: E2D Advanced Hawkeye View the full article

Americas EaglePicher Technologies won a $12 million deal for the BBU-63/B Impulse Cartridge for the B-2 bomber. The B-2 is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defense shields. Work will take place in Missouri. Estimated completion date is September 30, 2026. The US Navy has sent its third and final ship Zumwalt Class destroyer off to sea trials, its maker, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, announced. The USS Lyndon B. Johnson, christened in April 2019, left the Bath Iron Works shipyard on Friday and is expected to be commissioned by the Navy in 2023, after its combat systems are fully installed and activated. Middle East & Africa Iraq’s Defense Minister Jumma Inad Sadoon has indicated that his country intends to buy 12 T129 attack helicopters from Turkey. Sadoon also revealed that a consensus has been reached with Turkey with regards to the purchase of the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned air vehicle (UAV). He held discussions with Turkish defense officials during the visit to International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2021) last week. Europe Italian shipyard Fincantieri is holding early talks with Italy’s Leonardo to acquire its naval gun manufacturing operation, formerly known as Oto Melara. The deal, if concluded, would see Fincantieri take charge of the production of the Leonardo-built 76mm and 127mm naval cannons which it mounts on its warships and which have also been widely exported around the world. BAE Systems recently unveiled its ultra-small MicroGRAM-M GPS receiver compatible with M-Code signals that are resistant to jamming and spoofing. About the size of a postage stamp, MicroGRAM-M is the world’s smallest, lightest, and most power-efficient M-Code embedded GPS receiver – delivering assured positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) for size-constrained and other micro-applications. Asia-Pacific Future joint military exercises led by the US Space Force could include South Korea’s air force in order to help reinforce the latter’s space defense capabilities. Gen. Park In-ho of the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF), and U.S. Space Force Gen. John W. Raymond reached an agreement on Aug. 27 when Park visited Peterson Air Force Base. A joint consultative body on space policy will be set up and both sides will also share information on space surveillance. Today’s Video Watch: All Types of Warships Explained View the full article

All together now… (click to view full) Britain’s practice of “contracting for availability” for key equipment, rather than paying for spare parts and maintenance hours, may be its most significant defense procurement reform. In a world where older air, sea, and ground vehicle fleets are growing maintenance demands beyond countries’ available budgets, it’s an approach whose success could have global significance. Across the pond, the USA is significantly behind in this area. Fortunately, they have not ignored the model entirely. Recent changes to the contracts covering their B-2 Spirit stealth bomber fleet demonstrate that some progress is being made, via a $9+ billion commitment from 1999-2014, and 2 parallel development programs that are changing key sub-systems. FAST, Revised Keeping it up (click to view full) In the UK the approach of starting at a smaller level, then expanding the scope once performance is proven and trust built, has become standard procedure. That pattern appears to be the case here as well. In January 2007, the U.S. Air Force’s Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center and Northrop Grumman came to a 1-year, $200 million agreement that changed the B-2A’s 1999 FAST maintenance contract. Under the revised terms, original aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman will provide maintenance and sustainment support for the nation’s fleet of 21 B-2 stealth bombers via 3 delivery orders: Contract Depot Maintenance (CDM), Consolidated Delivery Order (CDO), and Integrated Contractor Support (ICS). What’s different is that under the new “contracting for availability” performance-based logistics approach, Northrop Grumman will be measured by its ability to meet specified combat readiness requirements for the B-2 fleet, rather than being given money for specific tasks, spare parts, or maintenance on a specified schedule. All of that now becomes the contractor’s responsibility. The specified readiness rate was not published, but it may represent a challenge for the contractor. Introduced from 1993-2000, America’s B-2 fleet has historically had availability rates below 50% for a number of reasons. In practice, what this meant was that even with moderate usage, an average of only 6-10 stealth bombers were actually available for missions at any given time. As was the case with Britain’s Tornados, the effort to change the B-2 bomber’s maintenance framework is happening slowly. In 2002, the Total Systems Support Partnership (TSSP) was inaugurated between Northrop Grumman and the USAF; Air Force personnel worked closely with Northrop Grumman, in order to simplify the processes used to identify and deliver consumable spare parts to the B-2 fleet, resulting in improved combat readiness at a reduced cost. The USAF’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate also played an important role. The success of the TSSP program led to the B-2 program’s selection as part of a 2005 PBL pilot program conducted in 2005, and the new 1-year contract indicated a cautious but growing sense of trust and understanding between Northrop Grumman and the Air force in this area. Tornado maintenance (click to view full) Countries like Britain have made these availability-based contracts long-term or even “through-life-of-platform” affairs, in order to remove any incentives to skimp on work (like upgrades) whose benefits or problems may not show up for several years. The B-2 program is not there yet; it is still part of a learning curve and set of test programs designed to help the American DoD understand and successfully apply this new contracting approach. The B-2A stealth bomber may prove to be a good choice for this purpose. Britain’s experience indicates that combining maintenance and upgrades within an availability-based framework offers significant benefits, and the USAF certainly has plans to upgrade its B-2 fleet over the coming years. Like the Tornados, the B-2’s readiness record to date also shows room for improvement. As such, the 2007 contract’s 1-year duration made the B-2 maintenance and sustainment contract an excellent bellwether for the success and adoption of availability-based contracting within the US military. So far, continuation and extension have been the rule. The pressures driving such reform attempts certainly aren’t going away. Gary Roehrig, director of Performance-Based-Logistics for Northrop Grumman’s B-2 program, cited the fact that Air Force operations and maintenance budgets are continually under pressure as one of the factors influencing the new approach. This was certainly the case in Britain as well, where reformers like Nigel Bairsto found that they only had enough budget to keep half the Tornado interceptor/strike fleet flying under conventional maintenance contracting approaches. Under the new ATTAC framework, that’s no longer a problem. Better yet, the monies are locked in to future budgets as a fixed contractual expenditure, rather than a discretionary item. One suspects that kind of arrangement suits the US Air force just fine. Affiliated Efforts: RMP & EHF B-2A Spirit (click to view full) While FAST handles maintenance and upgrades for the fleet, there are also associated sub-programs to produce those upgrades. The 2 programs deserving of special note are the B-2 Radar Modernization Program, and the B-2 Extremely High Frequency (EHF) Satellite Communications program. The RMP cost about $1 billion, and was triggered by a negligent Federal Communications Commission decision to auction off the slice of spectrum used by the bomber’s previous radar. As the Pentagon’s testers put it [PDF]: “The B-2 RMP features an Active Electronically Scanned Array [AESA] radar operating on a new frequency. The RMP replaces the B-2 legacy radar antenna and transmitter and changes radar operating frequency to avoid conflicts with other radio frequency spectrum users. The RMP does not add additional capabilities to the B-2 radar beyond those in the legacy system. Mode Set 1 consists of conventional mission and weapons delivery capabilities. Mode Set 2 incorporates nuclear mission capabilities and enables the B-2 to conduct both nuclear and conventional missions in a GPS-degraded/ denied environment.” The RMP program finished in 2012. AEHF satellite (click to view full) The B-2 EHF SATCOM program, in contrast, is about a significant capability upgrade. The goal is 100x improvements in satellite communications bandwidth, used by the stealth bomber to send and receive data securely. Of course, achieving that boost requires more than just aircraft upgrades. Northrop Grumman confirmed to DID that the new antenna will work with the new AEHF hardened broadband satellites, each of which offers 10-12 times the capacity and 6 times the data rate transfer speed of current Milstar II satellites. The program is proceeding in 3 phases. Like the B-2 RMP, system development is conducted in parallel, but installation falls under B-2 FAST. Increment 1 didn’t actually change data speeds, just put the high speed data handling infrastructure in place. The first “kit” of EHF Increment 1 hardware included: A new integrated processing unit (IPU) developed by Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY. It will replace up to 12 stand-alone avionics computers; A new disk drive unit developed by Honeywell Defense and Space Electronic Systems in Plymouth, MN for transfer of EHF data onto and off of the B-2; A network of fiber optic cable that will support the high speed data transfers within the aircraft; New software was developed, integrated and tested by Northrop Grumman employees working at the Air Force’s Weapon Systems Support Center in Tinker AFB, OK. B-2 EHF Increment 2 will install a new communications terminal, and the AESA antenna. This will offer AEHF satellite compatibility, creating a significant boost to maximum bandwidth. Increment 3 will fully integrate the B-2 into the U.S. Department of Defense’s Global Information Grid network and its associated applications, so it can take full advantage of its new capacity. Contracts and Key Events 2020 – Today September 1/21: Cartridge EaglePicher Technologies won a $12 million deal for the BBU-63/B Impulse Cartridge for the B-2 bomber. The B-2 is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defense shields. Work will take place in Missouri. Estimated completion date is September 30, 2026. May 29/20: Repair Ophir Corp. won an $11.3 million contract for repair of the B-2 pilot alert assembly and laser energy monitor. The B-2 Spirit is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defense shields. It is capable of all-altitude attack missions up to 50,000ft, with a range of more than 6,000nm unrefueled and over 10,000nm with one refueling, giving it the ability to fly to any point in the world within hours. The cockpit accommodates two crew members. It is equipped with a color, nine-tube, electronic flight instrumentation system (EFIS), which displays flight, engine and sensor data and avionics systems and weapons status. Work will take place in Littleton, Colorado. Expected completion date is May 25, 2025. March 11/20: Europe B-2 stealth bombers deployed to Portugal for training and integration into the European theater of operations, the US European Command on Monday confirmed. According to Eucom, a US Air Force task force including B-2 strategic bombers and KC-10 refueling planes left the United States and arrived on Monday at Lajes Field in Portugal’s Azores Islands. First flown 30 years ago, the B-2 Spirit offers stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses which can deploy both conventional and thermonuclear weapons, including up to 80 500-pound class Global Positioning System-guided bombs, or 16 2,400-pound B83 nuclear bombs. 2018 September 6/18: Repair and Overhaul The US Air Force needs to overhaul the digital countermeasure receivers installed on the B-2 Spirit bombers. Lockheed Martin will be responsible to repair and modernize a number of those receivers under this $47.5 million firm-fixed-price requirements contract. The B-2 is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defence shields. The plane is equipped with a radar warning receiver, a defensive aids system and the Lockheed Martin AN/APR-50 defensive management system (DMS). The system, in conjunction with the radar warning receiver, detects electronic threats encountered by the B-2 and provides situational awareness to its air crew. Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facility in Oswego, New York and is expected to be completed by August, 2023 July 11/18: Defense upgrade The Air Force is upgrading the defenses of its B-2 Spirit bombers. The firm-fixed price delivery order is valued at $28.6 million and allows for a defense management system overhaul by Lockheed Martin. The Defensive Management System is a technology designed to help the B-2 recognize and elude enemy air defenses, by using various antennas, receivers and display processors to detect signals or “signatures” emitting from ground-based anti-aircraft weapons. The upgraded DMS technology ensures that the air crew knows where the threats are in real time in order to avoid flying into striking range. Built by Northrop Grumman, the B-2 Spirit costs about $2.2 billion per aircraft. It can reach altitudes of 50,000-feet and carry 40,000-pounds of payload. First produced in 1989, the stealth bomber was engineered to deliver weapons behind enemy lines and evade Soviet air defenses. Work will be performed in Owego, New York, and is expected to be completed by July, 2020. 2015 September 16/15: The Air Force has, however, struck a deal with Northrop Grumman to improve maintenance arrangements for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The contract modification will see the company overhaul the aircraft every nine years rather than the previous seven, in addition to reducing the time taken to complete these overhauls, reportedly saving over $900 million over the fleet’s lifespan. The contracting for availability arrangement with Northrop Grumman dates back to January 2007, with a revision to the $2.7 billion Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment Team (FAST) program contract, originally signed in 1999, which shifted the contract to more performance-based terms. June 1/15: Northrop Grumman has completed a Critical Design Review for new weapons management software for the B-2 Spirit bomber, as part of the Air Force’s Flexible Strike Phase I program. FY 2010 – 2012 B-2 & F-15s, Guam (click to view full) Sept 28/12: EHF LRIP. Northrop Grumman receives a $108 million Low Rate Initial Production contract for EHF Increment 1 hardware and software. NGC. Sept 24/12: RMP. Northrop Grumman announces that all RMP radar installations have been finished ahead of schedule. The average return time was 3 days early, and many were performed as part of the planes’ programmed depot maintenance (PDM). The team used aggressive buys of long lead-time items, alongside a Life of Type buy approach that bought all the spare parts expected for the life of the planes. The main sub-contractor was Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems in El Segundo, CA, who provided the AESA radar antenna, power supply, and modified receiver/exciter. NGC. RMP done April 4/12: EHF. A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber completes an 18.5-hour sortie from Edwards AFB, CA over the North Pole, in order to validate EHF Increment 1’s new flight management software and computer upgrade. The mission was led by the Combined Test Force team at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, and was the culmination of over 2 years of detailed planning and coordination between Northrop Grumman, the Air Force and multiple suppliers to verify hardware, software and process requirements. EHF-1 is now ready to enter low-rate initial production. NGC. May 12/11: Raytheon Company of El Segundo, CA receives a $25.2 million firm fixed price contract for 7 remanufactured B-2 aircraft antenna parts. At this point, $0 has been obligated. Work will be performed in El Segundo, CA, and will be managed by the USAF’S 448 Supply Chain Management Wing/PKBC at Tinker AFB, OK (FA8119-11-C-0006). Asked about this contract, Raytheon representatives said that: “I have received confirmation that this is not related to the spectrum allocation [DID: US FCC boneheads sold the spectrum slice, which forced a $1 billion radar refit for the fleet]. This is a separate contract that calls for radar repair and sustainment. Additional details will be forthcoming upon approval from the U.S. Air Force.” May 9/11: EHF-2. Northrop Grumman Corp. in Palmdale, CA announces a $372 million contract to begin designing the B-2A stealth bomber’s EHF Increment 2 antenna system, designed to offer 100x improvements in satellite communications bandwidth. Of course, doing that requires more than just aircraft upgrades; Northrop Grumman confirmed to DID that the new antenna will work with the new AEHF hardened broadband satellites, and also confirmed that the effort falls under the B-2 FAST contract. B-2 EHF Increment 1 involves enhancements to the aircraft’s processing and communications infrastructure. Increment 2 will install a new communications terminal, and the AESA antenna. Increment 3 will fully integrate the B-2 into the U.S. Department of Defense’s Global Information Grid. Under terms of this Increment 2 design contract, Northrop Grumman will complete the preliminary design of the AESA antenna system, demonstrate technology readiness levels, and prove its functionality using hardware prototypes. The required engineering design, manufacturing, assembly, integration and test activities will take place at company facilities in Palmdale, El Segundo and Redondo Beach, CA; Dayton, OH, and Tinker Air Force Base, OK. EHF Increment 2 SDD Oct 13/10: EHF. Northrop Grumman announces that it has begun flight testing Increment 1 of the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 extremely high frequency (EHF) satellite communications program, using the B-2A test aircraft stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. April 13/10: RMP. Northrop Grumman announces that it has successfully completed the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase of the billion-dollar B-2 Radar Modernization Program (RMP). Installation of the new radar in the first group of B-2s was completed Nov 30/09 at Whiteman AFB. Final spares were delivered March 22/10. A Northrop Grumman-led team is currently producing the radar units authorized under RMP’s low rate initial production phase (LRIP), which began in December 2008; and the full rate production phase, which began in November 2009. Installation of the LRIP radar units is expected to begin in mid 2010, with completion of all B-2 RMP radar installations expected to be complete in 2012. The B-2 radar modernization program replaces the aircraft’s original radar system with one that incorporates technology improvements that have occurred since the B-2 was originally designed in the early 1980s. One of the improvements involves not using the slice of spectrum that the US Federal Communications commission mistakenly sold. RMP SDD done Jan 26/10: The B-2A bomber “Spirit of Pennsylvania” lifts off from Northrop Grumman’s Air Force Plant 42, on a return flight to Whiteman AFB. It’s just the latest B-2 to complete its 7-year programmed depot maintenance (PDM) in Palmdale, CA. The process includes a complete restoration of the bomber’s composite airframe to a “like-new” condition, plus inspections, service and flight testing of all of the aircraft’s major mechanical and electrical systems. To date, every B-2 has completed at least one PDM cycle. NGC. March 17/10: EHF. Northrop Grumman technicians at Edwards AFB, CA have begun installing the first set of hardware for the B-2 stealth bomber’s B-2 extremely high frequency (EHF) satellite communications program. Increment 1 doesn’t actually change those speeds yet, just puts in place the high speed data handling infrastructure. Ground testing of the EHF Increment 1 hardware is planned early in 2010, and installation will hapopen under FAST. NGC. Oct 16/09: RMP OK. The acting assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition authorizes Northrop Grumman to begin making the balance of B-2 RMP radar units needed to outfit the entire fleet. They will be produced as the final installment of the $468 million RMP contract, awarded by the Air Force in December 2000. Source. FY 1999 – 2009 B-2A Spirit (click to view full) Aug 26/09: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation in Palmdale, CA received a $3.44 billion ceiling increase contract to support the B-2 weapon system. The FAST contract ican runs until 2014, and covers all aspects of B-2 fleet maintenance and upgrades. Northrop Grumman representatives placed the contract’s new lifetime ceiling at $9.54 billion, though the government is not obliged to spend all the funds. The 702 AESG/SYK at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH manages this contract (F33657-99-D-0028). See also NGC release. Availability: FASTer Jan 30/09: FAST. The USAF awards Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, CA $35.2 million dollars under the B-2 Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment Team (FAST) Contract, for performance based support and CY 2009 Contract Depot Maintenance. At this time the entire amount has been obligated. The 448 SCMG/PKBF at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma manages this contract (F33657-99-D-0028). This CY 2009 order for Contract Depot Maintenance (CDM) is added because this segment is no longer using a Performance Based Logistics approach. The reason, says Northrop Grumman, involves parts from other companies that are no longer available. The government chose to remove the PBL metrics from the 2009 CDM contract to allow Northrop Grumman to focus on the things they could control directly. For the CDM orders, Northrop Grumman will work with the government under the announced $35 million deal, in order to address the parts issues through other contracts with other suppliers. For 2009, the other 2 delivery order types related to B-2A maintenance will remain under the full performance-based contract begun in 2007: Consolidated Delivery Order work, and Integrated Contractor Support work. In these areas, Northrop Grumman has flexibility to decide on the types and quantities of hardware sustaining engineering, supply chain management, software maintenance, programmed depot maintenance, etc. that are needed to meet the USAF’s B-2 combat readiness requirements. January 2008: Northrop Grumman confirms to DID that the 2007 maintenance contract was renewed for 2008, on similar terms. Dec 29/08: RMP. Following successful initial operational test and evaluation flight tests, USAF officials award a $468 million production contract to Northrop Grumman for the B-2 stealth bomber radar modernization program. This award follows an initial award in 2000, and a $388 million system development contract in November 2004. Overall program costs are about a billion dollars. Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems in Palmdale, CA, is the B-2 RMP prime contractor and has significant subcontracting efforts with Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems in El Segundo, CA; Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY; and BAE Systems in Greenlawn, NY. USAF. RMP continued Jan 11/07: An NGC release describes the shift to a more heavily performance-based contract, as described above: “Northrop Grumman Awarded $200 Million Contract to Implement More Efficient Way to Support B-2 Bomber: Performance-Based Logistics offers Air Force, taxpayers more ‘bang’ for the maintenance buck.” Sept 17/99: Northrop Grumman Corp. in Pico Rivera, CA received a $2.7 billion indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to provide for the Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment Team (FAST) program in support of the B-2 aircraft from Sept 17/99 through Sept 16/05, with 3 add-on 3-year options for a possible total of 15 years (Sept 16/14). This program will provide the continuing support necessary to fulfill the mission, conduct operations, and endure the combat capabilities of the B-2 aircraft. The solicitation was issued on March 31/99, and negotiations were completed on Aug 23/99. The Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH is managing this contract (F33657-99-D-0028). FAST contract Additional Readings DID FOCUS Article – Britain’s Future Contracting for Availability Approach. USAF – B-2 Spirit Northrop Grumman: B-2 Spirit Bomber DID (June 18/07) – Upgrading Big Stealth: B-2 Improvements Continue DID (Jan 2/07) – Britain Hammers Out Through-Life Support Framework for Tornado Fleet DID (July 13/06) – UK MoD Issues Report on Through-Life Equipment Management View the full article

It wasn't supposed to end like this. If in the early fall of 2001, just as we just finished OPERATION RHINO, someone at C5F put up a picture of a 10-yr old boy standing behind a group of five newborns, three 1-yer olds, three 2-yr olds, and a 4-yr old and told us, "We will take Kabul, and after 18-months without a single casualty, we will abandon everything. We will be allowed to go home only at the pleasure of the Taliban and after we sacrifice these 13-children and abandon hundreds of American citizens behind us as we leave in darkness, tens of billions of dollars of our equipment left as tribute in addition to our children." we would have thought you insane, sick, and someone off their medications. But we did, and there is a price. In a defeat of choice in a complete collapse of competence at the most senior levels of our civilian and military leadership ... we did. In our panicked retreat we had our deadliest day in 11 years. Our Marines, Sailor and Soldier filled with their bodies the gap in intelligence, planning, and leadership by - what we are all told - are the very best, most credentialed from the finest institutions and selection processes to produce competent leaders for our nation of 300+ million souls. They physically stepped in the the real world breach created by the wholesale failure of our intelligentsia and its rent seeking nomenklatura. They did their job; everyone who they trusted with their lives in DC and Tampa did not. That is the first lesson here; our self-described "best" that claim to be the ruling class are not our best. They are not good at their jobs. Their ideas are garbage. Their ethics are fetid to the core. Their morality sold for a farthing's worth of power, fame, and influence. At the tactical level, from the C-17 aircrew to the leaders on the ground, they did the best they could with the ROE, restraints, and constraints that were put on them from DC. The American military from field grade officers to the 20-yr old E3s did an exceptional job - but there was only so much that could be done inside a structure of incompetence and politicized uniformed nomenklatura that we allowed to rise to the top over two decades. Those left in Kabul were never given time. They were never given honesty. The enemy knew this. We had to be right all the time, the enemy only lucky once. And so they were. The world's self-described super power selected the wrong people for the wrong reasons using the wrong selection criteria through a culture with the wrong priorities. This cannot be argued. The evidence is right there to be seen by all. And so, for two decades the products of the "best" universities, think tanks, and political organizations in what was once the world's greatest power brought us to the point where those kids and newborns of 2001 grew in to adulthood only to be killed on the alter of their leaders' hubris and lies. We failed these young men and women in detail; we failed our nation and our friends at large. Like other great American before them, these men and women - the children of 2001 - decided to serve their nation as they became adults. As many of their peers complained about how COVID might interfere with their getting a Rhodes scholarship or positioning for the right fellowship in their resume ... they enlisted to serve in the war they have known their whole life, and what in the end would be their entire life. Here are the 13 we recognized last Friday.- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas - Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, Calif. - Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City - Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tenn. - Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, Calif. - Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo. - Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.- Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Neb. - Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif. - Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Mass. - Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind. - Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Mo. - Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio I know I am not blameless here. I've been blogging since 2004 and on a regular basis written of the fact I helped kick this off the first few months of 2001. I spent years later that decade on active duty in Europe, Tampa, and in Afghanistan studying, staffing, writing, and then trying to implement the Operational Plan to make this a success as one off many staff weenie worker bees that infested this failed enterprise. I was part of trying to make this work. I thought for awhile we could. At one time I was proud of what I did. I thought it was important and could be successful. I was wrong. I failed too. I owe the fathers of these men and women, men my age with kids the same age as mine - kids they now have to bury - an apology. I am so sorry. Words are inadequate from me. I cannot imagine your personal loss joining thousands of others who fell in the last two decades. Everyone deserved to have more than this to show for it. Again, here words fail me. I'm sorry. If Hannity is the only place who will let them speak their peace, then so be it. Here are but two of the fathers. You can hear the words of other family members elsewhere. I encourage you to find them and add links to them in the comments. I can't right now.Gold Star Father Darin Hoover, whose son Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover was killed in Kabul, alleges that President Biden looked down at his watch when all 13 fallen service members arrived at Dover Air Force Base: "That happened on every single one of them." pic.twitter.com/PC83XWNWsx — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 31, 2021 A monument to two things; to the steadfastness of the Afghan culture and the utter inadequacy of the elite of the United States of America. There's your photo.A final note; the median age in Afghanistan is 18.4 years. Everyone to the left of that mark, and a few others, grew up under American occupation. Tens of thousands of Afghans fought and died for the promise we made to them. They and their families fell for our myth. Most of the Taliban who saw us off knew nothing but American and allied occupation, and yet they too became an antibody to our presence, and they defeated us through sheer force of will. So, as Afghanistan falls in to shadow, hundreds to thousands of American citizens, green card holders, allied civilians, and our Afghan friends who we abandoned behind us will fear the dark. Waiting for footsteps to the door. Waiting for people who will never return home from errands. Wondering why no one will return calls and texts ... and wonder how they can escape back to the civilized world. The fault, shame and humiliation is all ours; all red, white, and blue. Own it. 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=NsjMwMyoikU:-oToQn81SzY:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=NsjMwMyoikU:-oToQn81SzY:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=NsjMwMyoikU:-oToQn81SzY:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=NsjMwMyoikU:-oToQn81SzY:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/NsjMwMyoikUView the full article

Why do people leak? In the national security arena, there are broadly two kinds of leaks; - 1) the real dangerous ones that contain information that reveal sources and methods, or worse, put people in danger; - 2) the ones that simply provide evidence that an official position is a lie, or that someone who claims X happened when in reality Y happened … but there is nothing really “classified” about it that would put it in #1 above. You also need to look at who (organization/company/reporter) is reporting them. That can give you a hint as to how accurate they are (yes kiddies, some people invent leaks) and perhaps the motivation of the leaker. Also, if you have a lot of faith in the reporter, you can usually have good faith in the leak. A good reporter will do their due diligence on their source, and also do not suffer being burned with bad leaks. Good sources don’t lie, but if their information proves false and the reporter feels it was intentional, then all agreements for confidentiality etc are no longer in play. Rules of the game, etc. A leak reported to a highly partisan organization may or may not be as accurate as one reported by larger/mainline outlets. For one reason or another, a mainline organization may pass on reporting a leak or try to bury it outright. As such, the person who leaks it will find someone else who they think will be interested in it, or that they trust. In that case, it may be a partisan or smaller entity that reports the lead, but that does not make it any more or less true. Why do people leak? There are on occasion people who leak for the best of reasons. They see a wrong that for moral reasons they cannot allow to go unknown. They may or may not have exhausted official means to redress their concerns. These people usually will leak to people they trust most, not those who they think will get the greatest initial bang. They will sleep better knowing the truth as they know it is out there and others can judge or act on it accordingly. Other people leak for the most political of reasons, for personal gain, spite, or revenge. Many times, “leaks” are quasi-official from higher positions than the leaker for similar reasons. When a leak comes out of DC, even if it is 100% accurate from a reliable source, this is usually why there is a leak. And so, today’s story is from a leak. Though I have issues with parts of Politico, I have confidence in Lara Seligman. As such, her exclusive today passes my first filter. Why leaked? I’ll let you ponder that, but it reads right. This account of the internal conversations among top Pentagon leaders in the hours leading up to Thursday’s attack at the airport is based on classified notes from three separate calls provided to POLITICO and interviews with two defense officials with direct knowledge of the calls. Let’s dive it; During the meeting, Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of “significant” intelligence indicating that the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, ISIS-K, was planning a “complex attack,” the notes quoted him as saying. Commanders calling in from Kabul relayed that the Abbey Gate, where American citizens had been told to gather in order to gain entrance to the airport, was “highest risk,” and detailed their plans to protect the airport. “I don’t believe people get the incredible amount of risk on the ground,” Austin said, according to the classified notes. Define "people" here. Who the people Austin is referring to will point you to the critical players in this whole-of-government failure.On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel.Define "the commanders" and "they" in the above paragraph. Again, as above, that answer will define exactly what we are looking at. A little side note: the above pull quote and a few other parts of the leaked were picked up by some as an attempt to put some of the blame on the British. No serious person is in any place to throw shade at the British forces with us. No one. Anyone who does is either grossly ignorant, a bad actor in the extreme, or simply a sociopath. Anyone who served with the British in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere the last few decades, I believe, feels the same. That smear can stop right here, right now. I won't hear it. Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, and Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, called in from the Kabul airport to detail threats to three airport gates, where U.S. troops were moving in Americans and Afghans slated for evacuation. Along with Abbey Gate, the South and West Gates were also under threat, they said, according to the written notes of the call, which did not identify which of the two was speaking.He's not wrong. When you're surrounded, the threat is everywhere. According to the notes, Vasely and Donahue discussed how the Taliban were undertaking additional security measures and pushing back the crowds outside the airport due to the threat. Throughout the evacuation effort, the Taliban have instituted curfews and expanded the security perimeter around the airport in an effort to help the Americans increase security, the defense official said. Underscores that we can only exist due to the mercy and good graces of the Taliban. Yes, I said it ... again. Those are simply the facts on the ground. But the military leaders on the call expressed frustration with the Taliban’s persistent lack of cooperation, noting that militants were turning potential evacuees away at the gates.They owe us nothing and will only do what pleases them to their benefit, just as we would in their position. The team had “frequent and constant communications with the Taliban” multiple times a day to try to resolve issues as they cropped up, the defense official told POLITICO. “Many times they were successful, but that doesn’t mean that in subsequent hours or days we wouldn’t have a similar problem pop up again.”OK, the Taliban "watch floor" has a poor turnover folder that is not as well managed as ours ... or perhaps it is? Austin once again expressed his alarm about the imminent attack. “We probably ought to listen when you have a former [Joint Special Operations Command] and SEAL commander on the ground saying it’s high risk,” Who, exactly, was not listening to the hydrologist saying that water is wet? Who? (McKenzie) predicted the militants would be less willing to help the U.S. military effort the longer they stayed in Kabul, even as the threat from ISIS-K increased. The Taliban and ISIS-K are sworn enemies and defense officials have repeatedly said they have no reason to believe the two groups are collaborating. I may outline this larger issue in a later post. There is a cultural history here to understand. “The ability of [the Taliban] to protect us and assist in pursuing [American citizens] and other groups — that willingness will decay, and we’re seeing leading edge indicators of that today,” McKenzie said on the Wednesday morning call. “We do need the agreement of the [Taliban] to pursue our principal objectives of getting out [American citizens] and other priority groups.”Yes, we are here. Read the above to see the absolute state of the US military in 2021. This is a defeat of choice and fewer paragraphs are written that better outlines our national humiliation begat by this cohort of senior leaders. “We’re not going to get everyone out. We’ll get 90-95 percent,” McKenzie said.So, I guess we are now a nation that intentionally leaves our people behind. Put that on a streamer to add to CENTCOM's flag. “History will judge us by those final images,” Kahl warned, according to the call notes.Oh, yes. Colin Kahl. One of The Smartest People in the Room™. Just look at that CV ... and look what it brought us to. You hear me say now and then, especially on twitter, that we "need new elites." There you go. Leaders had already discussed with the Taliban additional security measures outside the gates, Vasely said, and planned to have Abbey Gate closed by Thursday afternoon, Kabul time. But Abbey Gate was not closed on schedule. British forces had accelerated their drawdown from the Baron Hotel just a few hundred yards away, their main hub for evacuating U.K. personnel, and the Americans had to keep the gate open to allow the U.K. evacuees into the airport, Vasely said. As we should have. It was our fault that our best and most loyal ally was in a pinch. The responsibility was ours. Any fault is ours. Any deaths are on us and our leadership. Full stop. 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=16ngRc-UdZA:fozjnvUWF_s:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=16ngRc-UdZA:fozjnvUWF_s:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=16ngRc-UdZA:fozjnvUWF_s:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=16ngRc-UdZA:fozjnvUWF_s:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/16ngRc-UdZAView the full article

Americas Raytheon Missiles and Defense won a $77.1 million contract modification for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) Production Lot 35 Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM) and CATM guidance sections. This Captive Air Training Missile is an inert store that is captive carried on the aircraft and simulates the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile for training purposes. Work will take place in Arizona. Estimated completion date is April 30, 2024. According to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division, the US Navy’s guided missile destroyer Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) completed builder’s trials. The Arleigh Burke Class destroyer spent three days in the Gulf of Mexico testing the ship’s combat system, which included firing a missile. Middle East & Africa Israel Shipyards announced the signing of an agreement for the detailed design phase for the construction of the Reshef Class Vessel for the Israeli Navy. The agreement was signed with the Ministry of Defense as a final step before the ship’s production phase. During this phase, Israel Shipyards will present an engineering plan, adapted to the needs of the Navy. Bryan 77 Construction JV won a $9.2 million task order for repair of the Scorpion Gate at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The task order also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised, would increase cumulative task order value to $9.3 million. The work to be performed provides for the repair and replacement of the Scorpion Gate at Camp Lemonnier to meet current anti-terrorism force protection requirements. The project consists of demolition of six existing structures, construction of a new pedestrian screening building, five prefabricated guardhouses, and re-configuration of the gate access. The contractor is to provide all labor, supervision, engineering, materials, equipment, tools, parts, supplies and transportation to perform all work described in the request for proposal. The option, if exercised, provides for the relocation of an existing guard tower. Work will take place in Djibouti, Africa. Estimated completion will be by February 2023. Europe Norway plans to deploy the P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft in the Arctic in 2022. According to Defense News, this represents a major advance in the country’s long-term efforts to enhance defense capabilities and readiness in the region. The Department of Defense unveiled the schedule on August 13, after it had already approved Ivins Air Station as the home base for its future Boeing-built fleet. The Royal Norwegian Air Force has ordered five P-8A Poseidons to replace its in-service fleet of six Lockheed Martin P-3C/N Orion maritime patrol aircraft and two Dassault Falcon 20 special mission aircraft. The P-3 Orions service operates from Andoya Air Force Station, which is located 190 miles inside the Arctic Circle. Asia-Pacific According to Reuters, Taiwan will allocate $1.4 billion to purchase new warplanes next year to bolster the island’s defense capabilities amid increasing pressure from China. The money is part of the $16.8 billion defense budget for 2022 approved by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s cabinet on Thursday. It is the country’s greatest defense expenditure to date. Today’s Video Watch: Nothing Can Kill the Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer View the full article

Americas Sikorsky won a $53.9 million contract modification for production of UH-60M Black Hawks. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission helicopter. The UH-60M is the latest variant in the Black Hawk family of helicopters. More than 2,000 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter variants are in service with the US, and more than 600 have been exported. Work will take place in Connecticut. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2022. The US Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) successfully conducted a test of the second stage Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) for a newly developed missile booster. The missile booster will be combined with the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB) to form the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) for the US Navy and Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) for the Army. The naval branch will lead the design of the CHGB while the land counterpart handles the production. Middle East & Africa A new agreement between Nigeria and Russia allows for Moscow to supply military equipment and training to the African country as it struggles with Islamist militant extremists and other security challenges. Reuters reported in July that US lawmakers had put a hold on a proposal to sell almost $1 billion worth of weapons to Nigeria over concerns about possible human rights abuses by the government. The news agency said last week that, according to several sources last month, “the proposed sale of 12 attack helicopters and related equipment was being delayed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.” Europe Ruselectronics Holding, a Rostec company, unveiled remote mine-clearing machine Foliage at the Army-2021 forum. Developed by the Kaskad KPZ, the machine can search for and eliminate explosive devices at a distance of up to 100 m using a system based on electromagnetic and induction means, Rostec said. Asia-Pacific Dmitry Shugayev, director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, disclosed on August 25 that Russia would deliver four Su-30SM fighters to Kazakhstan by the end of 2022. So far, 20 fighters have been delivered, Shugayev added. The Indian Ministry of Defense awarded Mahindra Defence Systems Limited (MDS) $183 million for the manufacturing of Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare Defense Suite (IADS) for modern warships of Indian Navy. Competitive bids from Indian companies were invited by MoD through open tender wherein the systems fielded were put through detailed trials at sea to prove their capability. Today’s Video Watch: Hypersonic Missiles Arms Race: What You Need to Know View the full article

While a lot of the attention in unmanned systems the last two decades has been in the air, significant developments on and under the surface of the oceans were happening in parallel. From small mine hunting unmanned surface vessels and the development of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel above the seas, to unmanned systems the size of lightweight torpedoes to midget submarines below the surface, unmanned maritime systems capabilities are growing each year. With each incremental advance in engineering automation to autonomous operations, their utility from maritime security to war fighting increases as well. For the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern our guest to discuss the potential of unmanned platforms will be Captain Pete Small, USN, Program Manager for Unmanned Maritime Systems (PMS 406) in PEO Unmanned and Small Combatants. A submariner by trade, CAPT Small has led PMS 406 since 2018 after multiple tours on submarines at sea, and ashore as an instructor, and leading program management and development. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia as well as earning a Master of Science Degree in Operations Research in 2002 from Columbia University and a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Naval Engineer Degree in 2005 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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=sBfhkS2yDZc:BieDb1LBv34:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sBfhkS2yDZc:BieDb1LBv34:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sBfhkS2yDZc:BieDb1LBv34:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=sBfhkS2yDZc:BieDb1LBv34:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/sBfhkS2yDZcView the full article

When you read military history, you read all the time about "fighting retreats" and "rear guard actions" and with few exceptions, that is about the only mention they get, maybe a paragraph or two. That rarely does justice to the incredible sacrifice a few knowingly make to help save the many. Those ordered to be the rear guard, or to execute a holding action, know exactly what they are being asked to do - and yet they do it willingly through good discipline or simply duty. Often they are not even ordered to do it, local commanders see the need, know commander's intent, and do it. There are some well known events, Napoleon's Dutch engineers at Berezina is one, and for the maritime crowd Taffy-3 - but mostly they are footnotes. I didn't know until this AM what we needed for today's FbF, and then on my commute in, it came to me clear as day. Ten Marines and at least one Navy hospital corpsman are among the 13 U.S. troops dead following the two suicide bomb attacks on crowds struggling to get into the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, USNI News has learned. Eighteen U.S. service members were wounded and an unknown number of Afghans were killed and wounded in an attack believed to have been perpetrated by ISIS Khorasan. The military believes a suicide bomb was detonated near the Abbey gate at HKIA and another bomb – which it doesn’t have much information about – was detonated near the Baron Hotel by the airport, U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters today at a Pentagon briefing. Abbey Gate. This is where they were. This was their mission. Yes, “we” are doing an evacuation, but they are conducting the holding action to enable it: This has been a numbing couple of weeks, but anything I or anyone else is feeling is nothing compared to the few thousands who are in AFG right now giving everything they can to salvage as honorable a departure as possible from this national humiliation. To get a few ideas what they were doing before the attack, here is a series of short videos from the day prior. This is what the #USMarines were facing in their day-to-day work at the exact spot where the attacks took place (filmed a few days ago). No one had been searched - it wasn’t possible. Tough conditions and incredibly vulnerable - open to attack. #KabulAiport #afghanistan pic.twitter.com/NvZpAuGQ4n — Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) August 26, 2021 This also explains the situation very well. @NewsHour pic.twitter.com/vlxl328XsY — Murat Efe (@Murat_Efe_IE) August 27, 2021 pic.twitter.com/40isGV04rF — Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) August 26, 2021 We will know their names and see their faces over the next few days, but it could have been anyone on duty. Fate and luck are what they are in this line of work, but every day our nations men and women don't ask why, they follow the orders of those appointed over them. They trust that their leaders and the nation they serve will do their best for them, as they do for us. As it was, it is, and will be. There will more stories to follow from our fellow Americans, friends and allies as the best of us make efforts to do the right thing. Here's is just one of many examples we will hear of over the coming weeks and months. 🇦🇫 #BREAKING Amazing Story of "The Pineapple Express" all-volunteer US special ops vets risking everything to smuggle their Afghan allies and families under cover of night to Kabul airport, determined not to leave their Afghan comrades behind. https://t.co/mxaM2fIdOn pic.twitter.com/RSNKzX8L8k — Prof. Michael Tanchum (@michaeltanchum) August 27, 2021 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=9C23h-U7jRY:7n_XuXgthPM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9C23h-U7jRY:7n_XuXgthPM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9C23h-U7jRY:7n_XuXgthPM:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9C23h-U7jRY:7n_XuXgthPM:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/9C23h-U7jRYView the full article

Americas Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) cut the first steel plate for use on the US Navy’s fourth ship of the Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carrier Doris Miller (CVN 81) on Wednesday at its Newport News Shipbuilding division, marking the beginning of its construction. Doris Miller is the second ship of the two-carrier contract award HII received in January 2019 for the detail design and construction of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers; Enterprise (CVN 80) being the first ship of the contract. The head of US Space Force says the nascent military branch has grown into a “warfighting force” after meeting key milestones. Army Gen. James Dickinson, US Space Command commander, said in a press release that the command has achieved initial operational capability on Monday, two years after it was founded. Middle East & Africa Boeing formally rolled out its new F-15QA fighter for the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF). The first set of F-15QA jets will ferry to Qatar later this year following the completion of pre-delivery pilot training. Boeing has been providing maintenance and logistics support for the QEAF during pre-delivery pilot training, which began earlier this year. In addition, Boeing will establish and operate an aircrew and maintenance training center for the QEAF at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar through 2024 while also providing in-country spares and logistics support once aircraft are delivered. Europe General Atomics won a $42.6 million contract for MQ-9 Reaper contractor logistics support. The company was also awarded a $8.1 million option. In both cased, the contractor will provide an additional period of support for the United Kingdom Royal Air Force. Work for both deal will take place in Poway, California. The SkyGuardian drone will soon be conducting trials from RAF Waddington in England and RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. In July the UK government announced the order of a further 13 Protector UAVs to add to the three already contracted, bringing the total number to 16 (the UK had an earlier stated requirement for 20 air vehicles, although a US Defense Security Cooperation Agency notification of the proposed Protector sale has put the number at 26). The RAF is scheduled to declare the capability operational in 2023/2024. Asia-Pacific The US State Department has OK’d a sale of precision-guided weapons worth about $258 million to South Korea. The sale, announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Wednesday, will help South Korea address threats on the Korean Peninsula and progress the transfer of wartime operational control to the country, the agency said. Today’s Video Watch: F-15QA Ababil Unveiled View the full article

Time to pull out the Salamander wargame matrix. When I talk “wargame” I am not talking about something that is done with a board with a bunch of little pieces being moved around, that is a Tactical wargame. No, what I am talking about is a grey-matter wargame at the Operational and Strategic level. For those who don’t follow me on twitter, I outlined how this works a couple of weeks ago, For those not in "the guild" - "Blue" here are the good guys, the "Red" here are the bad guys. I'm only going to do 1 combination and 1 round. I'll define that for you; "1 combo" is how you run Blue vs. Red in the matrix you see here. You simplify Blue & Red in to two Courses of Action (COA); 1) Most Likely (defined by habit, requires least initial effort or risk by the party & assumes pliability of opponent to your will), 2) Most Dangerous (unexpected weighting of risk & action within ways & means, but not habit). The "turn" is one cycle of "Action-Reaction-Response." Different wargames have different structures & like religions, there are many confessions. This is how I ran things usually for NATO, heavily influenced by my German & Dutch Army peers, along with a few things of my own. I am doing this by myself playing both sides when - which is not canon or habit - I would prefer two 4-person teams plus an umpire, but you get what you pay for. Let me quote for you from my Bible; Here we are for today’s War Game for 26AUG21. This really needs to be done at least daily, if not twice daily from here on out through the quickening. Let’s define our COA. Blue Most Likely: Tuck and Go - Blue will stick to the 2359 Kabul time departure on 31AUG21. Senior officer will be the last boot on the last aircraft out. Equipment not usable will be destroyed in place Blue Most Dangerous: Hungnam - Blue will refuse to stick by the 31AUG21 deadline due to incomplete evacuation. While asking for more time, Blue will posture aggressively toward, and react accordingly, to any attempt to shrink the airport perimeter by Red. Red Most Likely: Mujahid Delight - Red will make every effort to seem the reasonable and honorable partner. Random incidents will be condemned as “rogue elements” or the newly minted ISIS-K forces. Every effort is made to look as positive and helpful as possible inside the framework of helping foreign forces extract themselves from Kabul. Red Most Likely: Gandamak Thirsty - Red wants to maximize the humiliation of Western and specifically American forces. While maintaining a, “we are doing our best” outward appearance, the security perimeter around the Kabul airport will be allowed to deteriorate. Various direct and indirect threats will be allowed to occur in the days leading up to 31AUG21 and if they cascade, will be permitted to go forward. As of 0000:01 01SEP21, Taliban and allied forces will take control of the entire airport and disarm any other forces by any means necessary. As I am a one man show, and we don’t have time today to spend an hour fleshing out the result of each wargame. Here are the results of the four wargames conducted in my brain bucket for discussion. BML vs RML: Quite Humiliation - This is the best result as seen by the Biden Administration. Everyone follows the rules like the Model UN they did when they were 16-yrs old. Norms were obeyed, and the next week can be spent discussing how awesome the numbers were and any Americans left behind, well, they were warned so that’s on them. BML vs. RMD: Doorgunner Wave - US forces never make it to 2359:59 31AUG21. The security environment falls apart in a collapsing series of shrinking perimeter lines demarcated by the bodies of combatants and noncombatants killed by everything from small arms to VBIED. Maybe a C-130 but perhaps a CH-47 will be the last unit out, taking fire as it leaves. American dead and wounded were probably left behind, but that is unknown. BMD vs. RML: Inside Straight - US bluff to stay after the deadline works. While Taliban checkpoints are holding firm, no efforts are made to take the airport by force. Isolated security incidents happen, but nothing that threatens evacuation. Further qualified evacuees continue to arrive at Kabul airport though a variety of means. BMD vs RMD: Osama’s Pride - Taliban calls US bluff. With a short statement, “The United States violated our agreement. They have no honor.” or something to that effect. At 0000:01 01SEP21 a pell-mell attack on the airport conducted from all sides with a last stand at the tower or other fortified building. Taliban and international press, along with untold numbers of phone video, live stream the entire event for hours on end. Most captured Americans executed live except for female civilian and military personnel who are seen loaded in to vehicles leaving the airport. What are the odds of the four? That I don’t know. Tomorrow’s matrix may be different, but wargaming like this isn’t to predict the future, but to make sure you are prepared for different combination of possible futures. Hopefully you’re close. It appears that our wargames in June and July were not close. Maybe we have a new team running them now. UPDATE: right after this post went live, reports of the event at the Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport have come out. The odds of Gandamak Thirsty getting better odds weighting have increased. 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=mAMOETTouWU:SzsH-u5ALp4:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=mAMOETTouWU:SzsH-u5ALp4:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=mAMOETTouWU:SzsH-u5ALp4:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=mAMOETTouWU:SzsH-u5ALp4:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/mAMOETTouWUView the full article

Reviewed by LCDR Donald A. Baker, USN An ancient Jewish teacher once said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for their friends.” If risk to life and limb is any indication of an individual’s commitment to this ideal, then Coastguardsman Chris D’Amelio’s very personal and intimate account of rescuing fellow citizens in his memoir Life and Death at Cape Disappointment is a consummate example of what the principle looks like in practice. As a qualified surfman, the Coast Guard’s highest small boat qualification, D’Amelio had first-hand experience performing search and rescue (SAR) missions from his post at Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment— a section ominously nicknamed “The Graveyard of the Pacific” for its treacherously dangerous and volatile sea conditions—from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. D’Amelio’s memoir recounts the most noteworthy of his documented 430 SAR cases, one of which earned him national recognition. The book introduces the uninitiated to life as a Coastguardsman at an intense duty station where physical limits of human and machine (not to mention the psychological strain that comes with putting one’s life in perilous situations) are put to the test as frequently as the tide shifts directions in the Columbia River. D’Amelio’s first-person perspective and tone throughout the book is not altogether different from war memoirs like With the Old Breed or Helmet for my Pillow, as the authors relay their thoughts and emotions to the reader. D’Amelio’s prose is basic and much less refined than Sledge or Leckie’s, but the simplistic style adds an element of authenticity that connects well to both the military and civilian reader. A second difference between other military autobiographical works and D’Amelio’s is that the protagonists of such stories typically live through some harrowing war episode—or several of them—where they encounter a fierce enemy combatant under dire conditions. The book maintains the tradition of other war books in these ways but here, violence and destruction come from the strong hand of the sea where D’Amelio and his crew battle storm-forced winds and intense wave-sets that often exceed twenty feet in height in relatively small Coast Guard vessels. Not all battles with Mother Nature are won, as D’Amelio attests, with some of his calls for assistance ending in fatal disappointment, hence the appropriate name for the Coast Guard station where the Pacific Ocean and Columbia River meet. D’Amelio sets out to tell the story of his time at Station Cape Disappointment, and he largely succeeds in this endeavor. His accounts of a rescue attempt of a brother and sister falling off a cliff, providing aid to a fisherman who burned his face off when his engine caught fire, the retrieval of a suicide victim’s body, and the unfortunate capsized boat that caused the drowning of its operator are particularly captivating to the reader. His surfman magnum opus is what he refers to as the “Peacock Spit Case,” where D’Amelio and his crew saved three family members from inevitable drowning after their boat flipped in heavy surf. For his action, D’Amelio received the Association for Rescue at Sea Gold Medal. As captivating as his narratives are in certain places, he weaves uncertainty into his book through his word choices. He cannot remember if it wass “nine or ten” fishing boats that got stuck out to sea or the average number of dead bodies each Coast Guard member of his station retrieves from the water, guessing at maybe “two or three a year.” Of particular concern is the uncertain status of a rescued burn victim. D’Amelio admits remembering the details differently than another crew member who was on the same case. There are numerous such instances in the book. Even still, the book achieves the goal of adequately depicting the Coastguardsman’s experience at Cape Disappointment. As much as D’Amelio’s volume captures his official search and rescue vocation, it is equally a very personal journal that chronicles his journey through family life as a husband and father. He acknowledges mistakes made in both his personal and professional lives. Still, he navigated both to success as he obtained a noteworthy Coast Guard career (achieving the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3), an achievement only surpassed by his successful marriage and raising of three children. This is the book’s strength and where it most clearly succeeds. It is an honest, open, and raw story of one man’s life voyage that happens to include his precarious time as surfman at the infamous Cape Disappointment. LCDR Donald A. Baker, USN is a Military Faculty member at the Joint Forces Staff College. Life and Death at Cape Disappointment: Becoming a Surfman on the Columbia River Bar (Christopher D’Amelio and Reid Maruyama, Lyons Press, Guilford, CT, 2021) The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

No, not your liberty stories ... but the front line nations facing China that aren't all that concerned, directly, about the crisis in Kabul. Taiwan and Japan ... tiny step by tiny step ... are getting closer. A few updates over at USNIBlog. Come by and give it a read. 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=lUHZfGepKDA:qOcc32tVzFc:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=lUHZfGepKDA:qOcc32tVzFc:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=lUHZfGepKDA:qOcc32tVzFc:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=lUHZfGepKDA:qOcc32tVzFc:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/lUHZfGepKDAView the full article

Americas The US Navy announced, that it has finished a test of its first littoral combat ship-based unmanned mine detection system. The Unmanned Influence Sweep System designed for the LCS has a mine countermeasures unmanned surface vehicle, or MCM USV, and a towed minesweeping payload to sweep magnetic or acoustic mines, the Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has departed from Norfolk Naval Station to Newport News Shipyard for planned maintenance. According to a statement, the six-month maintenance period, called a Planned Incremental Availability, which includes modernization, maintenance and repairs, was slated to serve as the final maintenance phase prior to the warship’s anticipated inaugural deployment next year. Middle East & Africa Russian claims of Turkey being in the ‘final stages’ of a deal to buy a second batch of S-400 air defense system is false, a Turkish official has said. Russian state arms supplier Rosoboronexport General Director Alexander Mikheev reportedly told Russian state media on Monday that the consultations between Turkey and Russia on a new supply of the S-400s were at the “final stage.” The German Bundeswehr ordered a tethered balloon-based area reconnaissance system worth $24.7 million for protecting a forward operating base in Niger. The Ka-52M is considered a competitor to the US-made Apache. First of these helicopters will be handed over to the Russian military in 2022. Deliveries of the upgraded helicopters will begin after passing state joint tests, which started in August, the company said in a statement. Europe The Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract for Kamoc Ka-52M Alligator combat helicopters with Russian Helicopters Holding today during the Army 2021 Forum. The Ka-52M is considered a competitor to the U.S.-made Apache. First of these helicopters will be handed over to the Russian military in 2022. Deliveries of the upgraded helicopters will begin after passing state joint tests, which started in August, the company said in a statement. Asia-Pacific A joint fighter exercise between the Indian Air Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) will proceed this year, the Sankei reports. The exercise was supposed to take place at Komatsu base with JASDF F-15s in June last year but postponed due to the pandemic. It was rescheduled to July this year and India’s Su-30MKIs were supposed to train with F-2s Hyakuri. That event was canceled due to the spread of the Delta variant. Today’s Video Watch: The Russian Ministry of Defense Orders Ka-52M Helicopters at Army 2021 View the full article

For all those Afghan nationals who helped us and we promised we would take care of them, if they are not already out of the country, it looks like the Kabul airlift option is off the table; Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid gave a press briefing and asked the US not to encourage Afghan people to leave the country. He said the group is no longer allowing Afghan nationals to go to Kabul airport and called on crowds at the airport to go home. Mujahid said "our aim is to rebuild our country." "We are asking women to stay home at the moment," until security is guaranteed, the Taliban spokesperson said. He said Taliban fighters are not yet trained "how to deal with women." but added that women can resume working once here is "full security in place." In regards to the Panjshir Valley region which is controlled by resistance forces, he said the Taliban would like to resolve the situation through dialogue. Mujahid claimed media outlets are safe and free to work under Taliban rule. He said the Taliban have not agreed to extend the August 31 evacuation deadline and said the US and allies must complete their operations by that date. There are other ways out of the country, but it won't be easy or inexpensive, and getting to the right American officials in 3rd countries will be even more difficult. Of course, this would all have been known in any competently run war game of the Course of Action chosen by the Biden Administration. As it is already established that we have a complete failure of the national security infrastructure in the United States, this level of incompetency is to be expected. To our friends and our competitors, we are rightfully seen as unreliable, incompetent, and prone to overpromising and underdelivering. We are good at logistics - at least that is impressive - but that is a function of mass more than anything else. All that we do in Kabul now is under the good graces of the Taliban. Without them, nothing we do in would be possible. As such, if you are willing to swallow the pill of abandoning non-Americans who put their lives on the line for us, there is some good thing here. First, this removes some, but not all, of the problems US citizens and those of allied nations have had getting to the airport. If the masses of Afghans are told they will not be allowed to get in the airport, then that should back the World War Z human masses from the gates. Secondly, if masses of Afghans are not there on the final day, then if the Taliban are nice enough, we will be able to leave in state of relative composure without leaving the bodies of Afghan civilians strewn about the airfield in our wake. Will there be US citizens and Green Card holders left behind in Afghanistan as of September 1st? Almost certainly. That will be the next phase. Remember, this was all by choice. It did not have to end this way. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=u_vEFiANIUI:gP00jO8A3SI:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=u_vEFiANIUI:gP00jO8A3SI:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=u_vEFiANIUI:gP00jO8A3SI:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=u_vEFiANIUI:gP00jO8A3SI:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/u_vEFiANIUIView the full article