HG S2 (Intel Bot)

Americas According to Jane’s, the US Navy is not keen to use the MQ-4C in an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) role. The Hudson Institute’s senior fellow, Bryan Clark, had told Janes that the new sensors onboard IFC-4 variant of the MQ-4C have passive sensing capability to be used for AEW&C. Doug Shaffer, Northrop Grumman vice-president and program manager for Triton programs, also revealed that the company is thinking about having the E-2D and MQ-4C share each other’s pictures in demonstrations. But the mission set has been ruled out by Captain Dan Mackin, the maritime UAS manager. Mackin wants the unmanned air vehicle to focus on maritime surveillance. On August 5, US Air Mobility Command commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost approved a second Interim Capability Release (ICR) mission for the KC-46A Pegasus. The first ICR decision approved the KC-46A’s Centerline Drogue System mission set on July 9. Transportation Command can now task the KC-46 for the C-17, the B-52H, and the KC-46 receivers. This is the first ICR decision regarding the air refueling boom mission set. As a result, the Pegasus aircraft and crews can now accept operational tasks that would otherwise be filled by KC-135s and KC-10s. Middle East & Africa Sailors from the navies of Ghana and Nigeria joined the US Navy’s USS Hershel “Woody” Williams for maritime security training this week. The vessel, an expeditionary sea base, returned to West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea after participating in the 32-nation Obangame Express 2021 exercises in March. Europe In a bilateral contract worth close to $354 million, Eurofighter and NETMA, the NATO Eurofighter & Tornado Management Agency, have defined the next steps in the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. Consolidation Package Step Two and Three, Phase 1 Contract’s most important features will enable Typhoon to operate the Meteor beyond-visual-range, air-to-air missile while transferring the capability from the existing M-Scan radar to the new E-Scan radar. Asia-Pacific Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) laid down keel for the Indian Navy’s first anti-submarine warfare (ASW) shallow water craft. GRSE has delivered three P-28 class ASW corvettes (NS Kamorta, INS Kadmat and INS Kiltan) to the Indian Navy. The warships have around 90% indigenous content and tonnage of 3250 tonnes. South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) will start testing its new Grenade-Launching Drones and Small Modularized Drones next year. DAPA’s Grenade Launching Drone is an attack drone that is equipped with six 40mm class grenade and can remotely control fire to a short-range target (within 2km). The drone is equipped with a two-axis gimbal and recoil absorber to offset the impact of the drone’s movement and grenade launch. It is fitted with an optical and thermal imaging camera and laser range finder. This kind of drone has high utility as an offensive weapon. Today’s Video Watch: Dream Realized: The Air Force’s New Multi-Mission KC-46 Tanker Is Ready View the full article

Shipping rates, supply bottlenecks, and some nightmare abandonment stories for some mariners, like everything else on our water plant, COVID-19 impacted our shipping industry hard at sea and ashore. The impacts of which rippled in to everything. As economies, nations, and corporations adjust to the new reality, what trends can the consumer and maritime professional expect? It’s time to catch up with returning guest, Salvatore Mercogliano this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern. Sal sailed with MSC from 1989 to 1992, and worked MSC HQ as Operations Officer for the Afloat Prepositioning Force 1992-1996. He has a BS Marine Transportation from SUNY Maritime College, a MA Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University, and received his Ph.D. in Military and Naval History from University of Alabama. He is the chair if the Department of History, Criminal Justice & Political Science at Campbell University. He was awarded 2nd place in the 2019 CNO History Essay Contest with his submission, "Suppose There Was a War and the Merchant Marine Didn't Come." 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=oh9CuwjfPi0:exvvBcbaJtA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=oh9CuwjfPi0:exvvBcbaJtA:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=oh9CuwjfPi0:exvvBcbaJtA:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=oh9CuwjfPi0:exvvBcbaJtA:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/oh9CuwjfPi0View the full article

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4367154917_8641d731c4.jpg Via Sid's suggestion and tin-can.org, the fuzzy-face Navy at its best. Rowan was a Gearing class destroyer commissioned too late in World War II to see any combat. That changed just a few years later when she was bloodied for the first time during the "Forgotten War" when she took a medium caliber shell hit in her starboard quarter, damaging the after steering compartment and causing a number of casualties. She had been providing counter-battery fire against North Korean shore batteries when she was hit. And counter-battery would prove to be her specialty in another twenty year. ... 27 August 1972 ... the skipper came on the 1MC again confirming that Rowan was, indeed, going to raid Haiphong harbor in a matter of hours along with Newport News, USS Providence (CLG 6) and USS Robison (DDG 12). ... We went into battle well prepared. Rowan was amongst the sharpest shooters in the Navy having had more gunnery practice under combat conditions with the same crew during the few months leading up to this night than few ships have in a lifetime. Moreover, Rowan had just had her guns relined in Yokosuka and the 80 plus rounds of 5" HE that we could put into a precise area in under a minute was devastating. The Shrikes were a plus; but, the plethora of fire control radars in and around Haiphong overwhelmed the four missiles that we had at the ready. In the final analysis, it was the experience and solidarity of her crew that gave Rowan her edge. Initially it seemed like another LINEBACKER II raid. I felt the ship heal and slow as we turned onto our twenty knot firing run. I heard the guns in action and the Shrikes firing at varying intervals. While the action seemed heavier than normal, it wasn't any more than what I had been expecting. After the firing run I felt Rowan again heal in a tight turn. The blowers in the fireroom just aft increase in pitch and the wave noise from the ship's passage increase as we worked up to the thirty plus knots for our getaway. The command over the 1MC to "Now set condition YOKE" was the next thing we expected to hear. It came in due course and I had just taken off my phones and was opening the scuttle in the hatch above preparing for the "Secure from GQ" command when the captain's voice came over the 1MC. "This is the Captain speaking. It's not over yet! We've two high-speed surface contacts closing fast! Reset condition ZEBRA. Re-man all General Quarters stations." Then three things happened virtually at once: The whine from the fireroom increased to a crescendo, the height of which I had never before heard as Rowan worked up to over thirty-five knots; she started to heal one way and then reverse her rudder and heal hard over in the opposite direction; and the guns were firing at a frantic rate. ...http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2791/4367902134_53c4644bae_o.jpgET2 Richard Spicer kept a contemporary log of his time in Rowan . An excerpt from his log of that night stirred many memories for all that have read it. "27 Aug 72 2230 Hrs. I was at my GQ station in the crypto room in radio central, when we went to general quarters at the start of the operation. It was a good place to be to hear what was going on, as we had tac-air and Navy-red frequencies up on remotes and listening in on the battle group! That was one night I had my life vest on good and secure!" From the log, "Arrived at Haiphong harbor with the USS Newport News, USS Providence, and USS Robison. At 2230 GQ is sounded, 2310 all ships came to firing course. At 2325 all ships are ordered to go "hot" and commenced firing at coastal gun sites, NVA barracks and other targets. ECM in CIC now sees three cross slot gun site radars radiating, and we now are receiving counter battery! All ships are continuing firing at their targets, still receiving counter battery. Oh shit they are hitting real close now! Providenceand Robison turn out to sea as they have fired their rounds at targets, leaving the Newport News and us in the harbor. The Newport News and we keep firing, when ECM gets a bearing on a cross slot radar site and we launch our first Shrike anti-radar missile at it. This is from our new "SOB" system (Shrike on board). [Seven] min. later another cross slot radar is radiating at us and the second Shrike bird is launched. We are still receiving counter battery and lots of it! Newport News is still providing cover for us, with her 8-inch guns. We see another cross slot radar come up and fire our last two shrikes at it, this time hitting the site! With our entire Shrike missiles fired the Newport News and we turn out to sea at 26knts. As fast as we can. We are still taking heavy counter battery, and sonar reports closest hits at 20 yards off the port bow. We are hauling ass out to sea when radar sees Skunk-A at 17,000 yards closing at 48knts. We request to go hot on Skunk-A and turn 180 degrees to go back and provide cover for Newport News and shoot at Skunk-A. We are shooting at Skunk-A, now at 9,000 yards and closing [on the] stbd. beam. Newport News and we continue shooting at Skunk-Alfa when CIC radar sees Skunk-Bravo closing in on us. But we have tac-air cover and they take Skunk-Bravo. The Newport News and we connect on Skunk-Alfa, a torpedo boat with Russian [Stix] missiles on it, and sink it while tac-air sinks Skunk-Bravo! ... Dana Perkins who was a SM3 at the time was manning his GQ station on the exposed signal bridge. Perkins relates, "I remember the night of the Haiphong Harbor pretty well. I don't think they passed the word of our objective until shortly before General Quarters, as I'm sure the mission was of utmost importance and secret. Also I think that they didn't want us to have much time to think about what was about to unfold. As a signalman I was on the highest point on the ship and had a clear view of all the action. Myself and three other signalmen were manning the Redeye shoulder fired missiles, loaded, armed and ready to squeeze the trigger in the event the time should come. When we started to see the lit shoreline and the lighted buoys of the harbor, make no mistake about it, the tension was high. All of a sudden the whole shoreline lit up with counter battery, spewing bright fireballs as each round was fired at us. The North Vietnamese weren't using flashless powder like we had. At one time I remember counting about 22 shore batteries rapid firing at the squadron. The shells were dropping all around us like seagull shit, leaving thunderous columns of white spray as they splashed into the ocean. Some of the shells were proximity and burst in the air. I remember one shell passed over the Rowanand burst in the air, causing the shrapnel to hit the side of the ship. I think it put some heavy-duty dents on the starboard side of the ship along the upper outer passageway. Luckily no one was hit! The whole time the ships in the squadron were firing on their intended targets with gunmounts and Shrike missiles. It was like the most intense 4th of July display I'd ever seen. The Newport News was off our port side at about 270 relative position, rapid firing her 8-inch guns and launching missiles as fast as they could get them off the deck. All of a sudden the word came over the sound powered phone that we had 2 torpedo boats, (Russian Osha class I believe) about 80 feet long coming out to attack. The guys in the magazine were jamming whatever shells they could get their hands on into the hoist. The first round that we hit one of those boats with was actually a practice starburst round and it tore right through it. The second round did explode. I think an A-6 Intruder came in and finished it off with an air to surface missile. The Newport News I believe sank the other boat. All I could think about the whole time was how un-watertight some of those hatches on the old Rowan were. Luckily we got past them and then the word came in that there were some inbound bogeys [MiGs] headed our way. I white knuckled the pistol grip of that Redeye missile and prepared for whatever was about to happen. At about 30 miles inbound we pushed the power button and the gyro on the missile head whined as it spooled up. Adrenaline was in overdrive by now. Then at about 20 miles out, we got word that they turned away and were outbound. I guess they knew the deck was stacked against them! As we turned away (at probably flank speed I might add), the shore batteries were trying their damnedest to get in a few last shots at us. We were out of sight of land and an occasional round was still reaching us and splashing into the ocean. The whole event probably didn't take 15 minutes but seemed like an eternity with all the action going on. The next day I remember as a chill passed through me, they told us that we weren't that far from the mines that were dropped at the harbor entrance. Thanks for that comforting bit of info." Note: The air support, whether it was an A-6 Intruder or an A-7 Corsair II, came from an attack squadron flying from USS Coral Sea (CV 43). That's how it was to the best of our fading memories. A veteran destroyer with a veteran crew fighting the U.S. Navy's last night surface gun battle. Perhaps, also, it was the last of a long tradition of destroyers placing themselves between a heavier ship and harms way.This was originally posted on 19 Feb 2010. 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=NRMMTEWS-c8:PpX2SFVjY1A:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=NRMMTEWS-c8:PpX2SFVjY1A:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=NRMMTEWS-c8:PpX2SFVjY1A:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=NRMMTEWS-c8:PpX2SFVjY1A:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/NRMMTEWS-c8View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $35.6 million contract modification for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system. Under this contract modification, Lockheed Martin will provide 36 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTTs) A2 as a lifetime buy to support the THAAD weapon system. Work will take place in California, Texas and Wisconsin. Estimated completion date is August 4, 2021. Skydweller Aero has been given $5 million by the US Navy to demonstrate its unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that is based on the Solar Impulse 2. The US-Spanish startup has tested and flown autonomous flight software on the Solar Impulse 2. The company hopes to fly the plane at the stratosphere while carrying an 800lb payload. It can remain airborne for 90 hours. Middle East & Africa Capt. Pete Arrobio, head of PMA-231, disclosed during the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference that Egypt and Taiwan are the next potential export customers for the E-2D early warning aircraft. Japan and France are existing customers with Japan taking delivery of three airframes already. France will take delivery of its aircraft in 2027. Europe A Boeing E-3D Sentry has returned to its home base at RAF Waddington following its final mission on Operation SHADER, bringing to a close 30 years of operational service. According to the Royal Air Force, the period between retirement and the Wedgetail becoming operational, the Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting and Reconnaissance requirements will be covered by a combination of other aircraft and E-3s from the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force. Asia-Pacific The US government is selling another batch of RIM-116C Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) Block 2 missiles to Japan. This time, the $61.5 million Foreign Military Sale package is for 44 missiles. The country bought 51 missiles in September 2020. The US State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the government of Japan of AEGIS Class Destroyer Support and related equipment for an estimated cost of $134 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale. Today’s Video Watch: RAF E-3D Sentry Retirement Waddington 04/08/21 View the full article

We've been making the point here for years that of all the institutions and groups in the United States, the Navy is one of the least racist places a person could find themselves in. It was for me. Especially when people make the the charge of "systemic racism" against our Navy, any well meaning person of experience will know the charge is just baseless. What if I was wrong? Maybe I was. Maybe things have changed. There was an amazing admission earlier this week from the Chief of Naval Personnel, Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., that I am still trying to get my head around; “I think we should consider reinstating photos in selection boards,” Nowell said Tuesday at The Navy League’s 2021 Sea-Air-Space Exposition. “We look at, for instance, the one-star board over the last five years, and we can show you where, as you look at diversity, it went down with photos removed.” As you may recall, I greatly welcomed the removal of the photo requirement - especially because of the reason people gave for it, "We want to make sure people look professional." What BS, many of us said, I don't care if you are tall, short, thin or round. If you do your job well and pass they physical requirements, then all I care and that the Navy should care about is your record. Take the picture away, and for that matter, the names as well. If you are "not professional" then your FITREPs will reflect that. What a fool I was. “It’s a meritocracy. We’re only going to pick the best of the best, but we’re very clear with our language … that we want them to consider diversity across all areas. Right?” Nowell said. “And therefore … I think having a clear picture on this just makes it easier. So, actually, our data show that it would support adding photos back in.” I know it is hard to read through all the contradictions there, but when you boil it down, what he is asking for is, essentially, "Bring pictures back so we can discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin to make our metrics look better. You know, good old school bigotry based on superficial appearances. That's what we need the pictures for." That is the only reading one can have. I know he is aware of the cohort issues we covered last week. In the zero-sum game that promotions are, if you want to force-mode a set of numbers based on self-identified race and ethnicity, there is only one way to do it: non-meritocratic quotas. There is no military in the history of the human race that ever prospered with such a system. There is no multi-ethnic nation that has ever survived long when it promoted division and an open spoils system based on a people divided by factors they were born with. None. Never. This is engineering failure. This is the Chief of Naval Personnel. He runs our promotion system and personnel management. How quickly things have changed from the clear guidance on the bottom of page 4; In July 2020, then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued a memo instructing the Defense Department to “remove photographs from consideration by promotion boards and selection processes and develop additional guidance, as applicable, that emphasizes retaining qualified and diverse talent.” At the time, Esper also signaled that sex, names and other identifying information could be next on the chopping block since they may “may trigger unconscious bias.” We've gone from trying to avoid unconscious bias to no kidding saying we want to be fully conscious in our bias - and we want to be congratulated for it. You can't make this stuff up. I've spent a decade and a half online, longer IRL, warning everyone what was growing in the heart of our Navy, but no one did anything. Here it is. Don't blame Biden either; these are Flag Officers brought up and promoted under both political parties. The only solution is that Congress must act. Of course, nothing will happen with (D) in power. That means that nothing can be done outside the margins until 2023 - maybe - and nothing substantial can be done until 2025 unless the right person is elected as CINC and brings with them the right people who get it. This will not fix itself. The Navy is incapable of extracting itself from racial essentialism on its own. It has embraced it whole hog. This is only going to get worse if not actively opposed and pushed back. You can do what you can on the local and personal level to slow-roll, ignore, and throw a spanner in the Diversity Industry works where possible, but otherwise we will have to wait, husband our forces, and prepare for a change at the top. I'm sorry, if people don't see the CNP's comments as a clear demonstration about how far across the line we are - especially with the CNO's full embrace of the racist cancer of Ibram X. Kendi - I can't help them ... and they are part of the problem and should be left out of the future solution. All those leaders who told us the photos were not used for racial bean counting? They just admitted they lied to us all along. It is that, or they've decided to throw that all away for ... for what, exactly? What long term, institutional positive impact are they looking for ... or are they doing this for petty, personal reasons, trying to just get by without anyone calling them nasty names until they get promoted or retired? Who knows ... but here we are watching one of the last institutions most had confidence in, thrown in to the gaping mouth of the Diversity Industry's Vaal. Of note, I have been a member of a board. That was back in the 00s. At least from the worker bee POV, the pictures were mostly ignored ... perhaps something changed. Perhaps they are used elsewhere. What is clear from the CNP's comments, at least at some level they were a tool to practice racial discrimination. Really? How? At a Pentagon press conference shortly after the comments by CNP, you can tell the Defense Department Spokesperson John Kirby at the 43:11 point was not quite ready for the question, but his shuffling it in to a category of "creative ideas" should set people back a bit. Racism is now considered a "creative" solution? That is where people are at now? Noted. There is nothing "creative" about discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin. It is simply being a bigot. We see you. A final note: I was impressed how rapid the response was to this as demonstrated by my email, DMs, and other communications media from civilians to active duty officers from LTjg to CAPT and retired Flag Officers. This hit home. I'll take this as a positive sign. It has generated an amazing degree of cynicism even I'm a little taken back with. Though there had been rumors and even isolated occasions of interference in the integrity of the selection process people - including me - have first hand knowledge of, there is a general feeling that this would be the last bastion off fairness people could rely on. In a moment, that is gone. People rightfully should no longer have the assumption of fair and impartial boards. Sooner more than later, the CNP, CNO, or better yet, whenever we need a SECNAV, they need to repudiate the CNP's statements as outlined above. In no uncertain terms, people need to have confidence that there will be no discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin on selection boards. To get there, this episode needs to be publicly repudiated. If these comments are left standing then there can be only one possible conclusion; we are in a new era where racial discrimination is now policy. You want systemic racism? There it is - red in tooth can claw. You were warned; we are now here. 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=3fNB7K3XyG8:Wdw5jO3Dx_A:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=3fNB7K3XyG8:Wdw5jO3Dx_A:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=3fNB7K3XyG8:Wdw5jO3Dx_A:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=3fNB7K3XyG8:Wdw5jO3Dx_A:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/3fNB7K3XyG8View the full article

You're a reader of CDRSalamander ... so I know that you not only find port clearing sexy ... but you know it's important. Do you know the story of Umm Qasr in 2003? Well, head on over to USNIBlog and ponder with me. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9b9wbfxCB0I:6VtvehTZbSA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9b9wbfxCB0I:6VtvehTZbSA:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9b9wbfxCB0I:6VtvehTZbSA:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9b9wbfxCB0I:6VtvehTZbSA:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/9b9wbfxCB0IView the full article

Reviewed by Dr. Joseph Moretz In Turret Versus Broadside, Howard J. Fuller, a Reader in War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton in Great Britain, relates the history of the Royal Navy’s struggle to retain maritime supremacy in the face of ironclad warships innovated by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. The engagement between ironclads in April 1862 off Hampton Roads might have ended in a tactical draw, but the strategic effects of the encounter between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia were of an altogether higher order. It represented a continuance of the Union Navy’s blockade against the Confederacy to be sure, but also across the sea there was a realization that England’s wooden walls might no longer suffice as Britannia’s sure shield. For a maritime empire singularly dependent on the sea, John Ericsson’s handiwork threatened to upend the presumed superiority of the Royal Navy in American waters if not on the greater seas. In view of the recent contretemps arising from the Trent affair when the screw-frigate USS San Jacinto had interfered with a British steamer on the neutral commons the risk was now ever present that an outcome ending to London’s satisfaction then might not necessarily be repeated. True enough in 1862 when the U.S. Navy remained a minor fleet and truer still three years later given the rapid rise in size and capability of that navy owing to four years of war. England itself might not be at risk, but Canada and British holdings in the Caribbean potentially were to a rambunctious polity that espoused national expansion at the expense of others. In hindsight, the risk to Canada remained largely theoretical if only because a most tumultuous and internecine war had reduced any American appetite to try conclusions with a power far more capable than the Confederate States. That may have alleviated one source of trouble for Britain, but others remained closer to home including France and Russia. The former had already presented a challenge when it commissioned the Gloire in 1859 and now the latter promised to create a fleet of gunboats akin to the Monitor to ensure a repeat of the Crimean War did not transpire. All this was deeply worrying to the British Admiralty and to the nation at large courtesy of a free-wielding popular press framing matters as a test of ‘turret versus broadside’. In truth, as Fuller reminds us,that formulation was altogether too narrow masking as it did elements of service ethos, geography, strategy, industrial capability, bureaucratic infighting, and professional interest groups which underpinned the period’s naval competitions. The Royal Navy countered the Gloire by launching a ship equal to its name—HMS Warrior—but answering the likes of the Monitor tested the British Admiralty severely as Ericsson’s prodigy did not aim to establish command of the broad seas but merely secure control of local waters. As such, the Monitor could forsake ocean-going attributes, such as range and speed which had resulted in ships of ever-greater dimensions, for a low-freeboard armored-platform bearing the largest guns and optimized to fight in shallow waters. Such vessels threatened to undermine a rival’s establishment of a close blockade or prohibit the projection of a military force ashore, thereby reducing two-key elements of offensive naval power. They could also be constructed more quickly and cheaply than a fleet of Warriors. The modern reader will appreciate that the problem giving rise to the Monitor remained of a different sort than that which gave birth to the Warrior. Occurring in an age when maritime theory had yet to be codified by the likes of Alfred Mahan or Julian Corbett, that void doubtless made arriving at a sound, reasoned response the more difficult still. The assertions and assumptions underlining the alternatives proposed were not always voiced. More problematic, each represented a compromise and, at best, offered only a partial solution depending on components far from perfected. Needs must, however, and the Royal Navy rose to meet the latest challenge. Unlike previous challenges which saw the Admiralty fashioning its response along known, established lines, the state of naval shipbuilding at this moment was undergoing profound changes owing to the scientific and industrial revolutions underway. A byproduct of the ensuing turmoil witnessed the font of naval engineering expertise seemingly shift from the Admiralty and its naval dockyards to Britain’s industrial and commercial concerns of more recent vintage. More than a question of ‘turrets versus broadside’, designers, statesmen, and practitioners wrestled with technological change of an unprecedented scale, be it armor, rifled-guns or large smooth-bore cannons. That they would not always decide wisely stood as a certainty. In a work thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, Fuller documents the threads of the multi-faceted problem facing the Royal Navy. Competing solutions were fielded and tested with most quietly giving way to the next ‘ideal’. HMS Captain, a masted turret-ship and the brainchild of Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, proved the exception. Coming to grief in a storm off the Spanish coast in September 1870, Coles and nearly 500 others went down in the Captain. Not even the Crimean War had proven so deadly to the British Navy and the ensuing court-martial established the essential failure as one of design. If the verdict absolved the Admiralty’s Controller Department which had fought tooth and nail against Cole and his radical design, then the challenge that had fostered the Captain still remained. In an otherwise excellent and highly recommended work, Fuller refrains from taking the story to its logical conclusion. That is a minor pity for the story of history is always one of context, with what follows being as important as what precedes. Oscar Wilde might not have had the tragedy of the Captain in mind when he avowed ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing badly’, but the point remains that maintaining British naval mastery demanded a degree of risk-taking in the face of new and deadlier threats. Lavishly illustrated, Turret Versus Broadside will appeal to those attuned to nineteenth century naval affairs or the integration of new technologies in complex social and political environments. Dr. Joseph Moretz is a member of the British Commission for Military History. Turret Versus Broadside: An Anatomy of British Naval Prestige, Revolution and Disaster, 1860-1870 (Howard J. Fuller, Helion & Company, Warwick, Great Britain, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by CAPT Derick R. Fix, USN Unlike Anything That Ever Floated is one of the newest additions to the Savas Beattie Emerging Civil War Series, which offers compelling, easy-to-read overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important battles and stories. Author Dwight Sturtevant Hughes provides a captivating narrative of the Battle of Hampton Roads and the clash of the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia. Hughes, a United States Naval Academy graduate, retired surface warfare officer, and Civil War naval historian is well-suited to this task, having previously published A Confederate Biography: The Cruise of the CSS Shenandoah and currently serving as a contributing author to the Emerging Civil War blog. While the book touches on some of the significant strategic and operational considerations surrounding the events of March 1862, such as the overall Union blockade, Burnside’s North Carolina expedition, and McClellan’s impending Peninsula campaign, the primary focus is on the technical development of both vessels and the tactical actions of the battle from both the Union and Confederate sides. After setting the stage, the narrative shifts to the design and construction of both vessels. Looking across the Atlantic at recent British and French ironclads as possible prototypes, both sides rushed to develop warships shortly after declaring war. CSS Virginia represented the epitome of the Confederacy’s asymmetric naval strategy of attempting to counter material superiority with cutting-edge technology by leveraging the hull of ex-USS Merrimack. Though possessing superior resources, the US Navy had the difficult task of initiating a blockade of the Confederacy while overseeing an unprecedented ship-building program and trying to develop new technology to counter potential Confederate ironclads. Ultimately, the Navy Board decided to go with three designs to balance risk, one of which would become Swedish-born John Ericsson’s revolutionary Monitor. The narrative then shifts to the fateful day of 8 March 1862, when Virginia emerged from the mouth of the Elizabeth River to wreak havoc on the North Atlantic blockading fleet, sinking USS Congress, destroying USS Cumberland, and causing USS Minnesota to run aground before being forced to retire due to waning daylight and shoal water. Fatefully, Monitor would arrive that night after a harrowing journey, setting up the historic clash the following day. Hughes provides a detailed narrative of the entire battle, relying heavily on first-person accounts of officers and men from both sides. The book contains numerous historical pictures, computer-generated technical diagrams of both vessels, and maps of the battle to complement the text. An afterward by Hampton Roads historian John Quarstein recounts the aftermath of the battle and the later fates of both Monitor and Virginia. Appendices and additional reference information include a tour guide to the battle site, an order of battle, and a suggested further reading list. Per the author’s acknowledgement, he relied considerably on the USS Monitor Center at the Mariners’ Museum and Park to craft this detailed historical account of both vessels’ development and subsequent battle; however, the book does not contain any citations, bibliography, or index. These would would have been helpful for further reference, especially in identifying the sources of the participants’ first-hand accounts. Despite this shortfall, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the development of Monitor and Virginia and a blow-by-blow account of their meaningful engagement. As Hughes quotes Virginia’s Lt. John Eggleston, “With us of the navy it was real civil war. On both sides we were fighting men with whom we had lately intimately associated with a common profession.” Those associated with or interested in the history of that common profession will enjoy this riveting account. CAPT Derick R. Fix, USN, is a Military Faculty member at the Joint Forces Staff College. Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862 (Dwight Sturtevant Hughes, Savas Beattie, El Dorado Hills, CA, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $51.8 million deal, which provides for program management support to include development of customer unique capabilities in support of the continued development of the air system for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program for a Foreign Military Sales customer. Work will take place in Texas, California and Florida. Estimated completion date will be in January 2024. The US Air Force has carried out wind tunnel testing of directed energy system turret earlier this year. “There is a growing interest for directed energy systems within the DOD for many purposes, especially defending our systems and personnel,” said Dr. Rich Roberts, chief of the Aerodynamics Branch Store Separation Section. “There are a number of systems in use and being developed across the DOD. Integrating the DE systems on aircraft has obvious benefits but also creates challenges, especially at higher speeds.” Middle East & Africa The Egyptian Navy received a German S-44 submarine in Alexandria on Monday. The craft is question, a 209/1400 mod class submarine is the last of four that Egypt received with the aim enhance its defense capabilities and combat efficiency, an Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement. Europe According to The Times, HMS Monmouth and HMS Montrose, two Type 23 Frigates vessels, will be given to Greece as part of efforts to ‘sweeten the deal’ to sell the Greek Navy the Type 31 design. In March it was announced that Montrose as well as sister ship Monmouth would be decommissioned earlier than planned Asia-Pacific Lockheed Martin won an $117.7 modification, which provides non-recurring engineering and field services representative efforts to bring 12 MH-60R aircraft from standard Foreign Military Sales (FMS) configuration to a Republic of Korea Navy configuration. The MH-60R is a naval version of the American-made UH-60 Black Hawk designed and manufactured by Sikorsky company which is now part of Lockheed Martin. Work will take place in Connecticut, France, New York and Rhode Island. Estimated completion date is in November 2026. The Yomiuri reports that the Japan Ministry of Defense intends to deploy anti-ship and anti-air missile units to Ishigaki Island next year. The number of personnel will be between 500 to 600 and four islands in the Okinawa island chain will have missile bases. Today’s Video Watch: Protecting HMS Queen Elizabeth: On The US Destroyer USS The Sullivans View the full article

People are policy. That explains a lot. What an amazing bit of commentary that really reads like parody, but it isn’t. Given the history of the UN from Rwanda to Haiti, you would think there would be a bit more of a humble attitude from the UN, but amazingly, no. Some of these people seem like they never left the Model UN camp they went to while they waited to take their AP History exams. One guy, Eide, I remember from my time in Kabul, so let’s do things in reverse and show you the CV of the authors of this article; Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, served as the United Nations secretary general’s special representative for Afghanistan from 2008 to 2010. Tadamichi Yamamoto, a Japanese diplomat, served in the same role from 2016 to 2020. Look at this monument to a lack of self-awareness; Between 2008 and 2020, across six years, we served as U.N. envoys to Afghanistan. In those years, the U.N. endeavored to create openings for the peace process but could not get one underway. Though last year’s agreement between the United States and the Taliban made possible the withdrawal of international forces, it sadly did not create conditions conducive to peace. Yes, there will be math. That is 12-yrs. You could have fought almost four WWII’s in that time. 12. Years. The U.N. must now step up and guide Afghanistan away from catastrophe. The alternative, as all-out civil war beckons, is too grim to contemplate. Who is stepping up again? Who exactly will you guide? Whose money? Whose forces? This is completely disconnected from local history, regional history, hell, global history. I sarcastically say on a regular basis, especially on twitter, that “we need new elites.” Q.E.D. The organization needs to do more. Though two U.N. envoys are currently assigned to Afghanistan, neither is sufficiently empowered to make a difference. … Fortunately, by contrast to times in the past when disagreements among members hobbled effective responses to global crises, the U.N. is in a good position to act. The United States, Russia and China — three of the five permanent members of the Security Council — all have a stake in Afghanistan’s stability. Along with Pakistan, they issued statements in recent months calling for a reduction in violence and a negotiated political settlement that protects the rights of women and minorities. They also encouraged the U.N. to play “a positive and constructive role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.” Taken together, the statements demonstrate a hopeful amount of political will. Statements? Did no one consider a strongly worded letter instead? Again, how can you parody the unparodyable? The U.N. must step into this vacuum. In the first instance, the secretary general must immediately convene the Security Council and seek a clear mandate to empower the U.N., both inside the country and at the negotiating table. That would mean the United States, Russia, China and other members of the council coming together to authorize a special representative to act as a mediator. With the pivotal support of member states, this would put pressure on both sides to halt the fighting and reach a settlement. Read that again. I am without words. These people have no shame. UPDATE: As my friend Andrew pointed out, this sounds familiar, yes? Take up the White Man's burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need; To wait in heavy harness On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half devil and half child. Take up the White Man's burden— In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain. To seek another's profit, And work another's gain. Take up the White Man's burden— The savage wars of peace— Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought, Watch Sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought. Take up the White Man's burden— No tawdry rule of kings, But toil of serf and sweeper— The tale of common things. The ports ye shall not enter, The roads ye shall not tread, Go make them with your living, And mark them with your dead! Take up the White Man's burden— And reap his old reward: The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard— The cry of hosts ye humour (Ah, slowly!) toward the light:— "Why brought ye us from bondage, Our loved Egyptian night?" Take up the White Man's burden— Ye dare not stoop to less Nor call too loud on Freedom To cloak your weariness; By all ye cry or whisper, By all ye leave or do, The silent, sullen peoples Shall weigh your Gods and you. Take up the White Man's burden— Have done with childish days— The lightly proffered laurel, The easy, ungrudged praise. Comes now, to search your manhood Through all the thankless years, Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom, The judgment of your peers! - "The White Man's Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands" (1899), by Rudyard Kipling, 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=6vu47NrNSek:uvPndi6krEA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6vu47NrNSek:uvPndi6krEA:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6vu47NrNSek:uvPndi6krEA:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6vu47NrNSek:uvPndi6krEA:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/6vu47NrNSekView the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $108.8 million modification for AEGIS combat system engineering agent (CSEA) efforts for the design, development, integration, test and delivery of Advanced Capability Build 20. The Aegis combat system uses powerful computers and radar to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. More than 100 Aegis-equipped ships have been deployed in five navies worldwide. Aegis, not an acronym, refers to the shield of the mythical Greek God Zeus. Work will take place in Moorestown, New Jersey. Expected completion date will be in December 2021. The US Air Force has successfully demonstrated that the F-16’s Electronic Warfare System can receive software updates with new Mission Data File while airborne. The test was carried out during a recent Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) demonstration at Nellis Air Force Base. The jet downloaded the data file using an existing Beyond Line of Sight satellite communication system. It was processed by a custom-developed Center Display Unit software, and load into the ALQ-213 Countermeasures Signal Processor. Middle East & Africa The UK and Kenya have signed a new Defence Cooperation Agreement to tackle the shared threat from Al-Shabaab. According to the UK Ministry of Defense, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Dr Monica Juma signed the deal. British troops currently help to train over 1,100 Kenyan soldiers every year before they deploy to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to fight Al-Shabaab and the British Army and Kenya Defence Force (KDF) conduct around five joint training exercises every year, involving around 750 Kenyan and 5,000 British troops. Europe The UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) today awarded BAE Systems approximately $348.77million to progress the design and development of Tempest, the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The contract, signed by BAE Systems, officially marks the start of the programme’s concept and assessment phase. The programme is being delivered by Team Tempest – combining the expertise of the UK MOD, BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, MBDA UK and Rolls-Royce. Working with international partners, the team is leading progress towards a UK-led internationally collaborative Future Combat Air System. The UK Royal Navy (RN) Type 23 frigate HMS Portland has completed first-of-class sea acceptance trials (SATs) of Ultra Electronics’ Sonar 2150 bow-mounted medium-frequency sonar. Trials took place over multiple days at sea, detecting and tracking a target and proving its passive and active performance. Asia-Pacific The US State Department approved a potential sale of 300 Javelin FGM-148 Missiles to Thailand accounts for another estimated $83.5 million. Thailand’s request would include 300 Javelin missiles, as well as 50 Command Launch Units, plus associated technical support and training. Thailand wants to use the Javelin to replace the 106mm Recoilless Rifles that the Royal Thai Army was given back during the Vietnam War; doing so will improve the country’s anti-tank capability and help with interoperability, according to the DSCA statement. Today’s Video Watch: F-16 Fighting Falcon Fighter Jet Take Off U.S. Air Force View the full article

While the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier and her battlegroup heading east of Suez for a bit of showing the flag, with her Dutch and American friends along for comic relief, the Arabian sea the last week seemed to wake up. The chief of Israel’s armed forces spoke with his British counterpart on Sunday, the Israeli military said, after London accused Iran of carrying out an attack on an Israeli-managed ship off Oman last week that killed a Briton and a Romanian. Lieutenant-General Aviv Kohavi and Britain’s Staff General Nick Carter “discussed recent events in the region and common challenges faced by both countries,” said an Israeli military statement... In case you were not up to speed on the MV Mercer Street incident. Iran's ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office following a drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker in which two crew, including a British national, were killed. The ambassador was summoned this morning for a meeting with Foreign Office minister James Cleverly after the UK and US blamed Iran for the strike. ... The UK and US have blamed Iran for the attack on the Israeli-linked oil tanker, in which two crew members - a British national and a Romanian citizen - were killed. The attack happened last Thursday when the tanker MV Mercer Street was off Oman's coast in the Arabian Sea. Unrelated ... or simply byproducts of a same bubbling stew? Not sure, but what is clear is that the eternal laws of geography and maritime security may take a nap now and then, but they do not sleep. Britain said on Tuesday it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China is vying for influence with the United States and Japan. Plans for the high-profile visit by the carrier strike group come as London deepens security ties with Tokyo, which has expressed growing alarm in recent months over China’s territorial ambitions in the region, including Taiwan. “Following on from the strike group’s inaugural deployment, the United Kingdom will permanently assign two ships in the region from later this year,” Britain’s Defence Minister Ben Wallace said in a joint announcement in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Nobuo Kishi. It looks like they will base out of the already established logistics hub in Duqm, Oman - ~60 miles southwest of the unsinkable aircraft carrier that is Masirah Island. What will they do? The UK will operate two Littoral Response Groups, one deploying to the Euro-Atlantic region and the other deploying to the Indo-Pacific. This was outlined in the Defence command paper (essentially a defence review) published earlier this year. “The Royal Navy will be a constant global presence, with more ships, submarines, sailors and marines deployed on an enduring basis, including to protect shipping lanes and uphold freedom of navigation. With support from partners in the Indo-Pacific, Offshore Patrol Vessels will be persistently deployed and a Littoral Response Group (LRG) in 2023 will complement the episodic deployment of our Carrier Strike Group; contributing to regional security and assurance. This will be enabled by the deployment of two Littoral Response Groups; the first in 2021 will be deployed to the Euro-Atlantic under a NATO and JEF construct, while a second will be deployed to the Indo-Pacific region in 2023. They will also be able to deliver training to our partners in regions of the world where maritime security is most challenging.” Oman seems to be playing a tricky game. She is diplomatically very close to Iran, yet has a long standing security relationship with Britain and has been very helpful to the United States the last few decades. Where does this go? We'll have to watch. Just an interesting sidenote: everyone is a student of history because you are living every day in its first draft. 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=b0ICETUpq7g:5NZndY7Msvw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=b0ICETUpq7g:5NZndY7Msvw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=b0ICETUpq7g:5NZndY7Msvw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=b0ICETUpq7g:5NZndY7Msvw:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/b0ICETUpq7gView the full article

Americas General Atomics won a $33.7 million contract, which provides for logistic support, maintenance services, supply chain and spares management, and sustainment support in support of the MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and its dual control mobile ground control station. The MQ-9 Reaper is the primary offensive strike unmanned aerial vehicle for the US Air Force. It is part of a remotely piloted aircraft system. A fully operational system consists of several sensor/weapon-equipped aircraft, ground control station, Predator Primary Satellite Link, and spare equipment along with operations and maintenance crews for deployed 24-hour missions. Work will take place in Arizona, Bahrain and California. Estimated completion date is in July 2022. An MQ-4C in Integrated Functional Capability (IFC)-4 configuration has made its first flight at NAS Patuxent River on July 29. The press release added that multiple MQ-4Cs have been modified into the IFC-4 configuration in support of IOC in 2023. Middle East & Africa The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale worth $3.4 billion of 18 examples of the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter to Israel. The package includes the King Stallion helicopters, made by Lockheed Martin, in Shelton, Conn., and up to 60 T408-GE-400 engines, made by GE Aviation, in Lynn, Mass., as well as up to 36 embedded navigation systems with anti-spoofing and an unspecified number of GAU-21 .50-caliber machine guns. Europe A Russian Su-35 fighter has crashed into the Sea of Okhotsk on July 31 after experiencing an engine failure in mid-air. The pilot ejected and was recovered safely. An Italian F-35B Lightning II, belonging to the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) landed on the Italian Navy’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier for the first time on July 30, 2021 during navigation in the Gulf of Taranto. The aircraft is the BL-4 built at the Cameri Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO), in northwestern Italy, and recently delivered with the serial MM7454 and codes “4-03”, which flew for the first time in June. As the other two F-35Bs delivered to the Navy, it features the wolf’s head insignia on the tail, the wolf’s paw prints on the rudder, the Italian Navy roundel and the “MARINA” text. Asia-Pacific South Korea has started deploying an upgraded version of its indigenous 81-millimeter mortar system. According to Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the development of the system took five years and was completed in 2019. The system is about 20% lighter and can now be move easily due to having its own carrier vehicles. Today’s Video Watch: Italian Navy F-35B Lands Aboard ITS Cavour for the First Time View the full article

For coming up on two decades, the United States military has been engaged - if you want to call it by the medal they give everyone for it - a Global War on Terrorism. As we have invested two decades, trillions of dollars, and thousands dead across the globe in response to the attacks of September, 2001 - our best friends have been with us. They do this of their own free will, and share the good fortune and bad with us in our contact of the war. Today’s Midrats is a wide ranging discussion on the history, theory, and application of American leadership with our guest, Gray Connolly. Gray Connolly (Graham Alfred Frederick Connolly) is an Honors graduate in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. He is a graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College and holds the Queen's Commission in the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Australian Navy [Naval Intelligence]. Gray has served on operational Naval Intelligence deployments at sea and ashore in the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, East Timor, and the Middle East. Gray served as a Naval Intelligence officer in the Iraq War (two deployments) and in the Afghanistan War. These days, Gray is a Barrister in Sir Edmund Barton Chambers in Sydney. He has advised and represented the State of New South Wales and the Australian Government, including in national security matters. Gray was before that a Judge’s Associate in both the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia. Gray lectures in Australian Constitutional Law. Gray is a frequent panelist for ABC radio and television, and he has been published in various newspapers and journals. Gray is married, has had basset hounds named Churchill, and is a life-long supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Richmond Football Club. He still plays football/soccer and is a plodding midfielder. This is a prerecorded show, so no chat room today, but you can get it right now here or at the embedded show banner below. 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=xWOZpo9eBn0:cJ0h0viDrnA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=xWOZpo9eBn0:cJ0h0viDrnA:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=xWOZpo9eBn0:cJ0h0viDrnA:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=xWOZpo9eBn0:cJ0h0viDrnA:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/xWOZpo9eBn0View the full article

What can one small ship, well trained, well led, and well armed do when she finds herself in the right place at the right time? I give you the USS ENGLAND, (DE 635), via Michael Peck at TheNationalInterest; The saga of the England began on May 18, 1944, when the England and two other destroyer escorts received orders to find a Japanese submarine reported heading toward the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. On the afternoon of May 19, the England's sonar detected the submarine I-16. What happened next is detailed in an account written by Captain John Williamson, who served as the England's executive officer during that time. In a March 1980 article in Proceedings Magazine, Williamson and co-author William Lanier describe the destroyer escort's baptism of fire. Four times the ship made attack runs over I-16 to launch Hedgehogs, which missed. The Japanese skipper cleverly tried to evade its pursuer by following the England's course and wake. On the fifth run, the sub's luck ran out. Williamson recalls the crew cheering as they heard four to six Hedgehog hits. Then the England's “fantail was lifted a full 6 inches, then plopped heavily back into the water....We had, with cataclysmic certainty, heard the last of one Japanese submarine. Sobered, and more than taken aback by that final blast, we no longer felt like cheering. But we did stand a little straighter.” Later that May, the Japanese Navy implemented Operation A-Go, which called for concentrating the Japanese fleet to ambush the Americans in a decisive battle. The plan included establishing a blocking line of seven subs northeast of the Admiralty Islands and New Guinea, across the expected path the Americans would take. The subs would give the Japanese early warning and then sink enough of the American battleline to affect the decisive fleet battle that would follow. But after U.S. codebreakers deciphered the Japanese orders, the Americans decided that the England and her two companions would roll up the Japanese sub line from one end to the other. On the night of May 22, the USS George's radar picked up the RO-106 cruising on the surface, and illuminated the sub with its searchlight. The sub dived, only to run into the England conducting Hedgehog runs. The England obtained at least three hits, and observed wreckage bubbling to the surface. On May 23, the RO-104 became the England's third victim, followed by the RO-116 on May 24. On May 26, a hunter-killer anti-submarine task force arrived, centered on the escort carrier Hoggatt Bay, which allowed the England and her two consorts to head to the port of Manus for resupply. On the way, the England sank the RO-108. After taking on supplies, the destroyer escorts sailed back to what was left of the Japanese underwater picket line. On the early morning of May 30, the destroyer Hazelwood, escorting the Hoggatt Bay, picked up the RO-105 on radar. While several American ships hounded the sub, the England was ordered to stick to its own patrol area. For almost 24 hours, the other U.S. ships hunted the RO-105, on which was sailing Captain Ryonosuka, the highly experienced leader of the Japanese Navy's Submarine Division 51. The sub managed to evade their attacks. Williamson recalls that the England offered to help and requested the location of the U.S. ships, only be told that “We are not going to tell you where we are. We have a damaged sub, and we are going to sink her. Do not come near us.” By now out of air, the RO-105 surfaced between two of the American ships, which blocked each other's fire, then submerged again. Disregarding orders, the England headed to the vicinity, and was finally cleared to make its own attack. After surviving 21 attacks over 30 hours, the RO-105 was sunk by the England's Hedgehogs. Two of the seven subs in the Japanese picket line had previously returned to port. The remaining five had all been sunk by the England. ... Admiral Ernest King, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy, had this to say about the destroyer escort's exploit: "There will always be an England in the U.S. Navy." Kind of full of huzzah, eh? Well, this is CDRSalamander, so - here we go. Look at King's quote again. "There will always be an England in the U.S. Navy." USS England (DE-635) was decommissioned in 1945 as it was just too much to repair her after surviving damage off Saipan. The next ship to have that name was the LEAHY Class ship, USS England (DLG/CG-22). She was commissioned in 1963 and decommissioned in 1994. Think off all the warships we have commissioned since 1994 - some of which have names of dubious nature. And yes ... we continue to make a liar out of Fleet Admiral King. In the word of a great American post-modern poet; sad. First posted JAN 2017. 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=Cqf1lyccGiA:FgAGo2xy7Sg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Cqf1lyccGiA:FgAGo2xy7Sg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Cqf1lyccGiA:FgAGo2xy7Sg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Cqf1lyccGiA:FgAGo2xy7Sg:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/Cqf1lyccGiAView the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $482.8 million contract modification, which provides for the exercise of the pre-priced options for Lot 35 production of AMRAAM missiles, AMRAAM Telemetry System, initial and field spares, and other production engineering support hardware and activities. The AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) is a new generation all-weather, missile. Work will take place in Arizona. Estimated completion date is May 31, 2024. Sikorsky won a $26.9 million contract modification for UH-60M green aircraft. The UH-60 Black Hawk has been operational in the US Army since 1978. More than 2,000 aircraft of different variants are in service with the U.S., and more than 600 have been exported. The primary mission of the Black Hawk helicopter is as a troop carrier and logistical support aircraft, but the helicopter can also be configured to carry out medical evacuation, command-and-control, search-and-rescue, armed escort, electronic warfare and executive transport missions. Work will take place in Connecticut. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2022. Middle East & Africa Turkish state-owned defense firm ASFAT has received an order for four unmanned minesweeping equipment to Burkina Faso. “We made our first defense industry export to the region with the sale of 4 Mechanical Mine Clearing Vehicle,” the company announced in a Tweet. Earlier, ASFAT exported the vehicles’ sale to Azerbaijan where it is being used to clean its lands of mines. Europe The UK Ministry of Defense awarded BAE Systems approximately $348.77million to progress the design and development of Tempest, the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The British Future Combat Air Programme, Tempest, is expected to create 20,000 jobs every year from 2026 to 2050, and contribute £25 billion to the UK economy. Asia-Pacific Taiwan has concluded the signing of the contract to buy the MS-110 reconnaissance pod, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on July 28. A total of six pods will be procured for the island’s F-16 fleet. The Indian Air Force has inducted its second Rafale unit – 101 Squadron – at Hasimara Air Base on July 28. The second squadron is being raised at Hasimara Air Force Station in West Bengal. The first squadron—17 Golden Arrows—was raised in Ambala, Punjab in September last year. Today’s Video Watch: The AMRAAM®-ER missile takes to the sky View the full article

It’s July, so I guess it is time for another overwrought ethno-masochistic virtue signaling article by CDR Wolf Melbourne, USN. You can read last year’s here where he strangely implies guilt on everyone, and this year’s here where he's making another run, both in Proceedings … if you are so inclined. A few of you asked my thoughts and being that I’m not one to ignore the audience, here you go. In its reaction to the death of George Floyd, the Navy has had to face the deficit between its own ideals and its reality. Despite many pioneering and rightfully laudable advances in racial equality and a genuine desire to be meritocratic, it remains clear the Navy continues to be weighed down by the effects of systemic racism. Many of these effects have been expressed courageously in the pages of Proceedings. The need for Black officers to “wear masks” and “carry burdens” and the fact that White officers inequitably “profit from the status quo” are all, as Baldwin would believe, truths we need to accept before we can hope to overcome them. Yes, he likes to quote Baldwin, a lot. Just like last year, for some reason Melbourne REALLY wants people to know that he read someone many of us first read in high school or college. For me, I read Baldwin first in 1984. While the impetus to make substantive change is present, and the emotional moment of today is focusing our collective mind, Navy leaders urgently need to talk openly about these truths, plan how how to address them, and, most important, start acting. Otherwise, the Navy will simply fall back on old habits, and initiatives such as Task Force One Navy will either fail or disappear into bureaucratic oblivion like each preceding effort. “Start acting.” We get a lot of vague calls for action from Melbourne, but he never really outlines exactly what that means to him. How would he operationalize bending the numbers to what he wants them to be? Not what they are, what their objective levels are … but what appears to be a desire to the US Navy to perfect align with the nation’s demographics, as if that delta in itself represents racism somehow. I know that is how Kendi defines racism, but that does not make the Navy racist any more than medical school or the NBA is. All Navy officers, but especially White officers, owe this effort a debt. A debt stemming from decades of looking the other way, being oblivious, and making excuses. It is well past time to reconcile the deficit between our ideals and our reality—between what we say and what we do. This debt needs to be paid. It is what we owe. No. No they don't. Melbourne can speak for himself here. Personally, I don’t know how you look in the eye a new Ensign born in Bosnia in 1999 and tell her she somehow owes a debt to her shipmate next to her born in Nigeria the same year … all based on something as meaningless as the color of their skin - when you in all your white Commanderness stand there knowing full well black LCDR were left behind in the crunch at the CDR selection board you made it through. ...why does the Navy continually get such racially disparate outcomes in its officer demographics? In 2020, Black officers made up 7.5 percent of all ensigns in the Navy, yet only 2.8 percent of all flag officers. White officers make up 75 percent of all ensigns and 90 percent of flag officers. Over the course of an average career, Black naval officers lose rank and positions of power while their White colleagues gain and improve on their already substantial position. As the Task Force One Navy final report states, “Our officer corps remains overwhelmingly white and male and . . . is not representative of the U.S. today [emphasis added].” As we’ve discussed here for over a decade, the US military and the Navy is on the receiving end of the nation’s cultural and educational production line that brings men and women to adulthood. It is at that point that they intake the Navy. For most officers via NROTC and USNA, (the ones entering today were in diapers when we invaded Iraq in 2003 BTW) they enter at about 18 years of age. If you want to be so retrograde as to first look first at someone race and ethnicity – which is what Melbourne seems to want to do - there are certain objective entering criteria for officer program selection you have to recognize. There are more, but let’s just pick three; high school diploma; criminal history; standardized testing scores. In these areas there are significant group differences which are not the fault of the Navy – nor its Sailors. Blaming them for this is at best illogical, on average sadistic bullying, at worst bearing false witness. As Melbourne is obsessed with externalizing his white guilt as contrasted to African-Americans (black) - (mostly ignoring “Hispanics” and Asian-Americans (AAPI), and the growing cadre of mixed-race Shipmates), let’s look at that difference … but I’m still going to pull in the AAPI numbers in where possible because in almost all categories their objective desirability is greater than that of whites. High School Diploma: Criminal History: Standardized Testing: What do these facts inform us about the utility of Melbourne’s feelings? Simple; at the point the first objective filters finish their sorting, there will be a significance divergence in eligibility for consideration for commissioning by race. As a percentage of the population, there will be many more AAPI available, slightly more than average non-“Hispanic” whites, slightly fewer “Hispanics,” and significantly fewer blacks. Those are just the numbers. Numbers are not racist any more than the sun’s ability to burn my fair skinned daughter more than her olive skinned sister is racist. In addressing this disparity there are only two approaches. The first is passive. It argues the Navy’s policies and performance to date are sufficiently equitable. The Navy is objectively meritocratic and color blind, and any racial imbalance is largely explained by forces out of its control. Over time, these imbalances will right themselves. This approach further argues it is not the Navy’s role to be a social experiment in correcting the inequities present in the larger society it serves. Doing anything more risks weakening the Navy by sowing confusion, undermining morale, and unnecessarily distracting the service from its central warfighting mission. The other approach is active. It argues there is something systemically racist occurring in how the Navy recruits, retains, and promotes Black officers. The disparity in demographics indicates the Black officers who do make it into the top ranks do so despite systemic racism, not because the service is free of it. This approach stresses that the reality Black Navy officers face is not a new one. It goes back at least as far as 1948, when President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 ending segregation within the armed services, if not all the way to the founding of the Continental Navy. Doing nothing more means institutional acceptance of the Black officer’s second-class status. Again, Melbourne does not define what he wants or defines as “active.” Melbourne does not want to have a conversation on this topic, he wants to dictate. If you don’t align with him .. well … here is the bifurcation, the lack of nuance and critical thinking typical of the radical “NO CENTER!” Red Guard thinking. There is no middle ground between these approaches to the question of racial disparity in the Navy’s demographics. An honest accounting of today’s reality and the history that led to it must drive Navy leaders to stand on difficult, but moral, ground, acknowledging that the service has a systemic racism problem that requires sufficient attention and resources be paid to rectify. You either agree with him or you are a red in tooth and claw racist. This mindset is not open to reason – it is a bully’s emotional desire to dominate. More damning than its officer demographics has been the Navy’s utter lack of curiosity about why they remain so persistent. Until it contracted with the Center for Naval Analyses late last year to analyze the challenge of minorities shifting out of the core warfighting communities at a higher rate than their White peers, the Navy had never sought or conducted a comprehensive study of how Black, female, and other minority officers progress through their careers. Albeit late, this is the type of question the Navy needs to start asking more, because, as Irish poet James Stephens said, “We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.” This is just silly and not grounded in reality. We had these conversations with senior leadership in my NROTC unit in the 1980s, and throughout the next 2+ decades in uniform. Let’s return to the central critique I have with Melbourne’s earnest concern with the disparity of numbers relative to self-identified racial classifications: that it is not the Navy’s fault nor the fault of today’s serving officers. If someone wants to fix that problem, accusing the Navy of being worm-ridden with racism is not only on morally shaky ground and contrary to the facts – it is avoiding the real source of the problem in the 3rd decade of the 21st Century; our nation’s educational and cultural failures in raising children to adulthood. That is where Melbourne should point his attentions, but instead he desires to place all of this peers and his Navy under the shadow of a yet clearly defined and demonstrated systemic racism. He demands action, but never says what action he wants. Besides the challenge of the entering argument of objective criteria (criteria BTW, that are proven indicators of success), there is the issue that well meaning people need to accept; people have choice and agency. Throughout our nation, civilian and government organizations with the best intentions desire their organizations to “look like America” too. As such, they have specialized recruiters who aggressively recruit minority candidates who meet the objective criteria for success (side-note, a high school classmate of mine has made an exceptionally good career doing just this). They come for those with military experience aggressively. The pay, positions, and – in the late 20s-early 30s offer of staying home to properly raise a family – it is hard to say no to greener pastures. Shipmates of mine were swept up in the 90s. I don’t blame them, I congratulate them. The fact that their leaving cuts a few percentage points off the number of minority candidates at the top of their peer ranking does not mean the Navy is more racist. That isn’t how this works. They’ve all done very well. High demand, low density marketplaces are hard to compete in. Melbourne’s arguments are a bit threadbare and worn. We’ve discussed them here for over a decade. I don’t think that we should establish as a baseline for talent management racial essentialism as Melbourne does. I think it is not just unfair to do to people born this century, but it is corrosive to building unity that we need as a fighting force. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he means well, but he is creating more heat than light. I would offer that he should examine the problem with a wider aperture. I’ve lived and worked all over the world and I’ve lived in states in all corners of our nation. The US Navy is the least racist place I have ever been associated with. That is something we should be proud of, even talk about, but we don’t – mostly because people like Melbourne want to accuse everyone not aligned exactly with his theory as being bad actors. Perhaps it is because Melbourne is so narrowly read. I mean, we get it – you’ve read Baldwin. You don’t have to quote him four time in this year’s article alone. Embrace a little intellectual diversity and read, oh I don’t know, Thomas Sowell. 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=t9ZjpWCSBUM:d4SScc9LtW4:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=t9ZjpWCSBUM:d4SScc9LtW4:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=t9ZjpWCSBUM:d4SScc9LtW4:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=t9ZjpWCSBUM:d4SScc9LtW4:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/t9ZjpWCSBUMView the full article

Americas Five defense contractors have been awarded contracts for the second phase of development of the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, which is planned to replace the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. Point Blank Enterprises, Oshkosh Defense, BAE Systems and Land Armaments, General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall Industries will share a $299.4 million deal to develop digital designs of the new IFV. President Joe Biden told US intelligence officials that he thinks a cyber breach could lead to a “shooting war” with a major global power. “I think it’s more likely we’re going to end up—if we end up in a war, a real shooting war, with a major power—it’s going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach of great consequence,” Biden said during a visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), according to a recording of his visit. Middle East & Africa The commander of US Central Command said airstrikes in Afghanistan would continue as long as Afghan forces are being attacked by the Taliban as the US military pulls out of the country. CENTCOM commander Gen. Frank McKenzie noted the airstrikes in a visit to Kabul on Sunday, which comes as the US military has pulled about 95% of troops and equipment out of the country. Europe Northrop Grumman won a $19.7 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering risk reduction efforts to support the delivery schedule of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft FAA1-FAA3 for the government of France. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) is the newest variant of the E-2 aircraft platform. It features a state-of-the-art radar with a two-generation leap in capability and upgraded aircraft systems that will improve supportability and increase readiness. Work will take place in Florida, New York and Ohio. Estimated completion will be by January 2022. Spain’s Navantia shipyard has completed complex tropicalization work of the Roald Amundsen frigate (F-311) that Navantia designed and built for the Norwegian Navy between 2000 and 2011. The warship is second of the Fridjof Nansen Class (F310). These works, for which the contract was signed on July 2020, has improved the cooling capacity of the F311 frigate, which will allow it to navigate in conditions of much warmer ambient and water temperatures than the traditional operational scenarios of the Royal Norwegian Navy. Asia-Pacific The Yomiuri reports that Japan will send JS Kaga back to the dock for modernization works to prepare the warship to operate the F-35B. Meanwhile, the defense ministry is considering plans to have USMC F-35Bs operate from Kaga’s sister ship Izumo to test out the modifications that were done to allow the helicopter destroyer to operate the F-35B. Taiwan Navy took delivery of its Tuo Chiang Class stealth corvette on Tuesday. Taiwan launched the first Tuo Chiang Class corvette named Ta Chiang in Yilan county in December. Dubbed “aircraft carrier killer,” the corvette is heavily armed. Today’s Video Watch: Fridtjof Nansen Class General Purpose Frigate View the full article

Are you comfortable with that phrase? You should be. If not, head on over to my extended commentary at USNIBlog and get religion. 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=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/vKWi0m6i3CEView the full article

Reviewed by Major Chris Ketcherside, USMC (Ret.) The Ten Thousand-Day War at Sea is a companion book to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum’s exhibit of the same name, though it does hold up well enough on its own as a short summation of all U.S. Naval operations during the conflict in Vietnam. The book is relatively short at 101 pages, and most of these are given over to photographs of Naval actions in Vietnam and the related exhibits at the museum. It is organized by topic, covering every facet of Naval operations during the war, including special forces, logistics, gunfire support, surface actions, aviation, and so on. Also covered in their own sections are exceptional events, such as Operation Linebacker, the fires aboard aircraft carriers, and the Tet Offensive. These topics are covered with concise but thorough summaries as well as the aforementioned pictures. Some topics have excerpts from interviews with veterans applicable to that particular section. The pictures are always interesting and effective at illustrating the topic covered. The pictures of featured exhibits are intriguing and certainly make a visit to the museum seem appealing. The thorough coverage of these topics is the greatest strength of this book. The reader will walk away from The Ten Thousand-Day War at Sea with only a cursory knowledge of each aspect, but a deep appreciation for the variety and scope of all things Navy related in Vietnam. If the book has any shortcomings, it is the lack of context and the almost complete absence of any controversial topics, such as the protests at home or the political turbulence in country. While the book’s summations of the topics covered are excellent if short, they also seem sanitized to some extent, even the Gulf of Tonkin incident is summarized without noting the resulting controversy. There are notable exceptions, one of the topics featured is the racial strife aboard some ships. But this is not really the intent of the book. Readers should not expect to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Vietnam War from a Naval perspective, if it is even possible to gain so much from one book. This book is meant to accompany the reader through the exhibit and help them to understand the range of activities the Navy was involved in. This book succeeds in its primary purpose. If one cannot visit the exhibit itself, it is the next best experience. It would also make a fine gift to anyone interested in the topic, and a handy reference guide to anyone who wanted to have a quick guide to the Navy’s role in the war. Major Chris Ketcherside, USMC (Ret.) served in Iraq in 2004. He is now an adjunct professor of history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and a PhD student at the University of St. Louis. The Ten Thousand-Day War at Sea: The U.S. Navy in Vietnam (1950-1975) (Hampton Roads Naval Museum, Norfolk, VA, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by Mr. Tom Phillips, USN (Ret.) This 8.5×11.5-inch booklet of 64 pages is #26 of 30 in a series by Ship Craft. As such, it is less likely to appeal to historians than advanced scale modelers with a bent for customizing standard scale models into works of fascinating art. The author, Roger Branfill-Cook, has previously written several books on naval vessels and armaments, including Torpedo: The Complete History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon, X.1 The Royal Navy’s Mystery Submarine, and River Gunboats: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Other entries in the Ship Craft series focus mostly on single ship classes—e.g., Kongo Class, Yorktown Class, Bismarck Class, Fletcher Class, Grand Fleet Battlecruisers—or even individual ships—e.g., Titanic, Olympic, Britannic—with a particular emphasis on World War I and World War II vessels plus some classic liners. Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars is the exception, providing an overview of 28 different models of widely varying riverine craft ranging from those of 1940’s French Indochina to those of the South Vietnamese and the US Navy in the 1970’s. Restricted to the same 64-page format as other entries in the Ship Craft series, this volume is only able to provide a black and white line schematic pair—side view and planform—and a single photo or two for most of the craft mentioned. There is also an eleven-page Model Products section consisting of 37 existing models in scales 1:150, 1:76, 1:72, 1:56, 1:48, 1:35. Each model shows the box-top and provides a paragraph description with what is typically a single sentence recommendation for customization: perhaps the best hidden gem for the advanced modeler seeking advice. The beauty of this Ship Craft offering is the Modeler’s Showcase, a section dedicated to precise color photography depicting sixteen fine representative and inspirational dioramas, most by the author, Roger Branfill-Cook, plus several excellent products by Jack Carrico, and three other individual artists offering one diorama each. For the historian interested in the riverine craft of the Vietnam war, this book provides little. For the experienced modeler, the main value will be in identifying model kits which may be of interest. Novices to the world of customizing scale models are unlikely to find the detail they need, so it would be advisable for them select from any of the more focused Ship Craft series for a better initiation. Tom Phillips graduated from the US Naval Academy with the Class of 1969 and served with the Seawolves in the Vietnam War. He co-authored Leave No Man Behind: The Saga of Combat Search and Rescue with fellow U.S. Navy helicopter pilot George Galdorisi. At the Violent Skies symposium in 2015, he gave two presentations, the first pertaining to the Seawolves and riverine warfare, and the second pertaining to aircrew combat rescue. Ship Craft #26: Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars (Roger Branfill-Cook, Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Great Britain, 2020). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $37 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure special tooling and test equipment for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter production line in support of second source canopy tooling and other known capacity gaps for the Navy, Marines, Air Force and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in California, Texas, Australia and New Jersey. Estimated completion will be in August 2023. BAE Systems won a $117 million contract from Lockheed Martin to produce next-generation missile seekers for the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). The seeker technology enables LRASM to detect and engage specific maritime targets in contested environments with less dependence on traditional navigation systems. The next-generation seeker design reduces overall missile costs. Middle East & Africa Raytheon won a $212 million delivery order for Morocco Fighter Aircraft Engines. The order is for F100-PW-229 install engines, Work will take place in Connecticut. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2025. Morocco asked to procure 25 F-16C/D Block 72 jets, built by Lockheed Martin and 29 Pratt & Whitney F100-229 engines and other related equipment from the US government under a potential $3.9 billion FMS transaction the State Department approved in March 2019. Europe Thales has received an order from the French defense procurement agency (DGA) for 350 Scorpion helmet-mounted sight and display systems that will be integrated on French Air Force and Navy Rafale fighters. The contract includes 400 digital multi-function displays that Thales says are larger with an improved touchscreen interface and greater processing power. Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has purchased new long-range radars manufactured by Hensoldt and Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The contract calls for the delivery and installation of four long-range radars as part of the “Hughes Air Defense Radar Nachfolgesystem” (HADR NF) programme. Asia-Pacific According to Jane’s, the Indian Navy has made several upgrades to its “Tabar” guided-missile frigate as seen in photos during deployments in the Mediterranean and Europe. The naval ship is now equipped with a new electronic warfare system built by Indian defense firm Bharat Electronics. The new system has been installed to replace an older Russian electronic warfare system. Today’s Video Watch: INS Tabar Seen with New Combat System Upgrades… View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $12 million order, which provides production engineering support in support of the integration and installation of weapon systems on the F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft for the Navy. The US Navy F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet are maritime strike attack aircraft. The Growler is a derivative of the combat-proven two-seat F/A-18 Hornet, the US Navy’s maritime strike aircraft. The primary missions of the aircraft are electronic attack (EA) and suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD), particularly at the start and ongoing early stages of hostilities. Work will take place in Maryland and Missouri. Estimated completion will be in July 2022. The US Missile Defense Agency has carried out its most complex test so far on July 24 by firing four SM-6 Dual II missiles at two short-range ballistic missile targets. While one target was destroyed, the agency was not sure if the other target was intercepted. This is the third flight test of the SM-6 Dual II missile from a Aegis BMD-equipped warship. The firing ship for the test was the USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) and it took place off Hawaii. Middle East & Africa Russia has reportedly lent support to strengthen Syrian military’s air defense systems, which reports claim, is to offer protection against Israeli airstrikes. The United States was informed before Russia began upgrading the military equipment, London-based Arabic language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported citing “well-informed” Russian sources. Europe Royal Air Force (RAF)-operated Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4s from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, have completed a proof of concept exercise in Norway, which tested tactical ground-based refuelling capabilities at a dispersed forward operating location. The multi-role fighters were supported by an RAF-operated Airbus A330-243MRTT Voyager KC2/KC3 multi-role tanker transport and A400M Atlas C1 heavy-lift tactical transport from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, for the duration of the deployment. Asia-Pacific South Korean defense firm LIG Nex1 says its proposed solution for the South Korean navy CIWS-II program has scored the highest marks in the evaluation by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). South Korea wants a new generation CIWS that has the same barrel and ammunition carriage system as the Goalkeeper. The CIWS-II will be integrated into the future aircraft carrier, destroyers, and frigates. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Military Command deployed the indigenously developed HJ-12 man-portable anti-tank missile that is similar in capabilities to the US-made Javelin in a recent military exercise in the deep plateau region. In an official release, the military announced it conducted a series of exercises and attached a photograph showing a soldier carrying a portable anti-tank missile that can be carried by a single person. Shanghai-based news website eastday.com identified it as the HJ-12, making it the weapon’s first public appearance in PLA service. Today’s Video Watch: How Powerful is Javelin and HJ-12 Anti-Tank Missile View the full article

Of course we lost you nitwits. We've designed a palace of glass as our our fortress; In a fake battle for Taiwan, U.S. forces lost network access almost immediately. Hyten has issued four directives to help change that. An aggressive red team that had been studying the United States for the last 20 years just ran rings around us. They knew exactly what we're going to do before we did it,” Hyten told an audience Monday at the launch of the Emerging Technologies Institute, an effort by the National Defense Industrial Association industry group to speed military modernization. The Pentagon would not provide the name of the wargame, which was classified, but a defense official said one of the scenarios revolved around a battle for Taiwan. One key lesson: gathering ships, aircraft, and other forces to concentrate and reinforce each other’s combat power also made them sitting ducks. “We always aggregate to fight, and aggregate to survive. But in today’s world, with hypersonic missiles, with significant long-range fires coming at us from all domains, if you're aggregated and everybody knows where you are, you're vulnerable,” Hyten said. I'm sorry, but in spite of all the warnings provided about building an exquisite Tiffany force and shoveling billions in to critical peacetime capabilities that in war immediately are converted in to critical vulnerabilities with zero benefit and uncounted risk ... we are shocked? Study for 20 years? Bullshit, you can see our vulnerabilities in open source in 20 minutes. If we had a culture that allowed aggressive critique as opposed to obsequious agreement, we wouldn't be here. We let the military industrial complex sell of a bill of peacetime-only concepts about networks, real time video, invulnerable satellites, the whole transformational offsetting grabassery that no intelligent person expected to survive any near peer adversary. No one here at least. Again; if your entire warfighting CONOPS rests on the chalk-brittle supports of networks, GPS and satellite VOX/DATA, then at war I will blind you, confuse you, target you and kill you. We've been pointing this out here for a decade and a half, as have a legion of others. We willfully ignored all the hard lessons of a challenged electro-magnetic spectrum. We've raised generations of "thought leaders" who decided it was not profitable to remember that if you leak you die ... instead we flood the air with proof of our location, and cannot fight without giving the enemy all they need to destroy us. We need new elites. We need new processes. We need a new culture. The fact that this is actually news, and people are acting as if this is a surprise - that alone should tell you how deeply corrupt and incompetent we have allowed our military to become. Yes, I'm blogging tired and pissed off. You should be tired and pissed off too. Tired of being lied to, and pissed off at what has been done to the greatest military power the world has seen by a generation of ill-focused, poorly selected, perversely incentivized leaders. Then when they can't hide it anymore, they expect you to give the system a pass. Bullshit. Just look at the state of it all; we have a CONOPS that two fundamentals of warfare teamed with two laughably intellectually prolapsed pipe dreams. Earlier this month, Hyten released four directives to the services: one each for contested logistics; joint fires; Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2; and information advantage. On Monday, he revealed new details about these “functional battles.” This is just painful. Contested logistics. Creating new ways to deliver fuel and supplies to front lines. U.S. Transportation Command and the Air Force are working on using rockets and a space trajectory to get large cargo spaceships into and out of battlefields. First of all, logistics in warfare has always been contested. Also - how about we invest in airlift, sea lift and land transport what can support and sustain a long war with attrition west of Wake by mid-decade first ... then ... for the love of Pete ... who lets this get proposed .... just look at it again. ...large cargo spaceships into and out of battlefields... I'm sorry, but go fire yourself. That is along the lines of the worst ideas of the post-Korean War nuclear Army. Joint fires: “You have to aggregate to mass fires, but it doesn't have to be a physical aggregation,” Hyten said. “It could be a virtual aggregation for multiple domains; acting at the same time under a single command structure allows the fires to come in on anybody. It allows you to disaggregate to survive.” Hyten said the joint fires concept “is aspirational. It is unbelievably difficult to do.” And the military will have to figure out what part will be affordable and practical, he said. I'm sorry, but go fire yourself again. We proved over the last two decades we cannot make a simple imperial brushfire work, how we are going to fight and win with this fragile construct? I'll save everyone the trouble - you can't. In the Terrible 20s budgetary environment with so many pressing needs for things to get ready for the fight, this is almost criminal. This is doubling down on the mistakes that made you lose your stupid wargame to begin with. JADC2: The Pentagon’s push to connect everything demands always-on, hackerproof networks, Hyten said. “The goal is to be fully connected to a combat cloud that has all information that you can access at any time, anyplace,” so that, like with joint fires, the data doesn’t get exposed or hacked because it’s housed in one centralized location, he said. This is what happens when people get high off their own supply. This will never happen. If it does, and you rely on it, you will not be able to fight without it ... as such, you lose. Information advantage: This element is the sum of the first three, Hyten said: “If we can do the things I just described, the United States and our allies will have an information advantage over anybody that we could possibly face.” Strategic over-promise and under-deliver. This is strategic Sea Monkeyism. We had a huge information advantage over the Taliban and how did that work out for us. We learn nothing. The new operating concept comes as the U.S. military reshapes its footprint in the Middle East to better prepare for a fight with China. On Monday, President Joe Biden announced U.S. troops will end their combat role in Iraq by the end of the year; the announcement comes just two months after Biden announced a full withdrawal from Afghanistan. If we think the above is what will defeat China, we've already lost the war. Next slide. As a military, we have learned absolutely nothing. Sea Monkey marketing is an unattractive look for a superpower. 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=EoNKschXU-8:CYiMtNTl6AM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EoNKschXU-8:CYiMtNTl6AM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EoNKschXU-8:CYiMtNTl6AM:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EoNKschXU-8:CYiMtNTl6AM:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/EoNKschXU-8View the full article

Americas American firm AeroVironment received two firm-fixed-price orders totaling nearly $16 million from the United States Air Force to deliver Puma 3 AE unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and spares packages and Raven UAS spares packages. The hand-launched Puma 3 AE has a wingspan of 9.2 feet, weighs 15 pounds and can operate for up to 2.5 hours. The aircraft also has a range of 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) with a standard antenna, and up to 37.2 miles (60 kilometers) with AeroVironment’s Long-Range Tracking Antenna (LRTA). It also features reduced system packaging with a flyable configuration and GCS in one case. A US Air Force plan to transfer all A-10 Thunderbolt planes and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters to Arizona was postponed, pending Congressional budget approval. The Air Force is waiting for action on the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes retirement of 42 A-10s, the branch said in a press release. Middle East & Africa The first international unmanned air vehicle exercise organized by the Israeli Air Force has concluded this month. Teams from Israel, France, Italy, Germany, UK and US participated. Italy and United States sent two teams each. Turkey’s STM Defense Technologies Engineering will deliver its Kargu rotary-wing attack drone loitering munition system to the first international customer. The Kargu UAVs entered Turkish Armed Forces’ inventory around two years ago. According to the company, Kargu is a portable, rotary wing attack drone designed to provide tactical ISR and precision strike capabilities for ground troops. The UAV has an endurance of 30 minutes and has a payload capacity of 1.3kg. Europe It was announced that during the Athens Flying Week in September, the Dassault Rafale fighter will be performing flying demonstrations. The flying schedule includes teams like Patrouille de France and Saudi Hawks. On the static display there will be F-15SA and Tornado from Saudi Arabia and F-16s from Denmark and Poland. Asia-Pacific Dmitry Shugayev, the chief of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, told Deutsche Welle that the Su-30 fighter jets ordered by Myanmar is still on schedule to be delivered to the country. Other countries had suspended trade deals and delivery of weapons after the country’s military ousted its civilian government. Today’s Video Watch: Puma LE Unmanned Aircraft System View the full article