HG S2 (Intel Bot)

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

Tired of hearing "DELTA" related to COVID, when in a good and just world when you heard that word it would be used to talk about old Russian Soviet Era SSBN or 2-seater all weather F-18s? Well, we're not sure we'll cover either of those topics on today's episode or that we'll totally ignore COVID's impact in the natsec arena, but it's a melee - so you never know what will come up in the maritime national security conversation. We do have a few topics to get the conversation started; giving Deming a second look, the CNO admits what everyone knew about FORD for over a decade, China rattles the nuclear saber at Japan, and our friends return to the Pacific. Remember, with the melee format, if you have a chance to catch the you can join in the chat room or call in with the topic of your choice and make the show your own. Join us live if you can and roll in with your preferred topic in the chat room or call the switchboard number right here on the showpage. 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. 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=k_Fr3W3sa5M:673O5MFhJxw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=k_Fr3W3sa5M:673O5MFhJxw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=k_Fr3W3sa5M:673O5MFhJxw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=k_Fr3W3sa5M:673O5MFhJxw:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/k_Fr3W3sa5MView the full article

If not you, who? Duty. Duty to your crew. The nature of a man is often revealed in crisis when he has to run on instinct. Meet then Staff Sergeant Henry R. Erwin, USAAC, just a good 'ole boy from Alabama. On April 12, 1945, Erwin's B-29, called the "City of Los Angeles," was the lead bomber in a group attack on a chemical plant in Koriyama, about 125 miles north of Tokyo. Aside from operating the radio, Erwin was also in charge of launching phosphorescent smoke bombs to help assemble the bombers before they proceeded to their target. Erwin was positioned behind the forward gun turret toward the front of the plane. Once he got the order to light the bombs, he dropped them down a chute that launched them out of the aircraft before they exploded. But something went wrong with one of them. It didn't leave the chute, instead bouncing back into the aircraft, striking a kneeling Erwin in the face. The intensely burning bomb obliterated his nose and completely blinded him. To make matters worse, smoke quickly filled the front part of the plane, obscuring the pilot’s vision. Despite his wounds, Erwin knew the plane and crew would not survive if he didn't get the bomb outside. So, despite the fact that he was physically on fire and his skin was burning off, he picked up the incendiary at his feet and, feeling his way instinctively through the plane, crawled toward the cockpit. His path was blocked by the navigator's table, which he had to unlock and raise to get around. To do that, he had to clench the burning bomb against his body. Erwin then struggled through the narrow passage and stumbled forward into the pilot’s den. He groped around until he found a window and threw the bomb out. Completely on fire, Erwin collapsed between the pilots. He had journeyed only 13 feet, but later he said it "seemed like miles when you are burning." The plane had been on autopilot during the crisis, but to keep it from stalling out, the pilot had to drop altitude. When the smoke finally cleared, he realized they were only 300 feet from hitting water. The pilot managed to pull the plane out of its dive, abort the mission and head for Iwo Jima, the closest place for medical aid. During that time, the crew sprayed Erwin with a fire extinguisher to put the flames out, and they gave him morphine for the pain. Somehow, Erwin stayed conscious during the flight and even asked about the crew's safety. Once at Iwo Jima, doctors labored for hours to remove the white phosphorus that had embedded in his eyes. Since it combusts when it's exposed to oxygen, each fleck that was removed burst into flames – small bits of torture for the already struggling airman. No one thought Irwin would survive, but his entire crew knew he deserved the Medal of Honor for his actions. So, while he was getting treatment the night of their botched mission, the officers in his unit were preparing a Medal of Honor citation. The next morning, they presented it to Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, commander of the 21st Bomber Command, so he could sign it. LeMay managed to get it approved in an unprecedented amount of time. They were all hoping to give it to Erwin before he died. Three days after the incident, a still-living Erwin was flown to a Navy hospital on Guam. For days afterward, doctors performed blood transfusions, did surgery and gave him antibiotics to fight infection. On April 19, 1945 — one week after the incident — officials pinned the Medal of Honor on a heavily bandaged Erwin as he lay in a hospital bed. The medal itself was from a display case at U.S. Army Headquarters in Honolulu. It was the only available one in the entire Pacific Theater. Read it all. Henry live a full life of 80 years. Fullbore. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=R5zVuP9lUrM:tDdrsNSz3rE:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=R5zVuP9lUrM:tDdrsNSz3rE:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=R5zVuP9lUrM:tDdrsNSz3rE:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=R5zVuP9lUrM:tDdrsNSz3rE:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/R5zVuP9lUrMView the full article

Americas Parsons Government Services won a $953 million deal for US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) Air Base Air Defense services. The deal provides the USAFE-AFAFRICA with a layered base defense capability. According to the DoD, the capability will be employed across various sites within the area of responsibility. Work will take place in various locations throughout Europe and Africa. Estimated completion date is July 20, 2031. Lockheed Martin won a $19 million contract modification to to procure 16 Operational Data Integrated Network Base kits, to include software installation and integration support for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program in support of the Navy, Air Force and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion date is January 2024. Middle East & Africa Four more ex-Israeli F-16s have been delivered to Top Aces in the United States. An An-124 arrived in Israel on July 20 in the morning and departed in the afternoon with the cargo of four dismantled F-16s. Europe The French defense procurement agency (DGA) contracted Thales to provide new avionics equipment – 350 Scorpion helmet-mounted sight and display systems and 400 digital multi-function displays- for Dassault Rafale fighter jets. The systems deliver enhanced tactical situational awareness and slave the weapon or mission systems to the pilot’s line of sight to improve the effectiveness of air operations. This new equipment will further enhance the operational effectiveness of the Rafale F4 standard. Asia-Pacific The Financial Express says Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will respond to a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) tender for Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). The newspaper says the price for the Tejas fighter being offered is $41 million each. India’s state run Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested an indigenously developed low-weight, fire-and-forget Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM). The missile was launched from a man-portable launcher integrated with thermal site and the target was mimicking a tank. The research and development agency added that the missile is incorporated with miniaturized infrared imaging seeker, along with advanced avionics. “The test validated the minimum range successfully,” DRDO said. Today’s Video Watch: Hypnotic French Rafale Take-off From US Aircraft Carrier View the full article

The long march through the institutions by the diversity commissariat may be shocking for those who just look at DOD, but if you really want a peek in to how bad it is, look around. Today, I would offer to you the foreign service sector. Think about all critical challenges facing our foreign service from Central Asia, to Europe, to the western Pacific, to Africa, to the Middle East ... and then look what they are spending their time on. Check out the July/August edition of The Foreign Service Journal. You can get the PDF here, but here are the critical issues our diplomats must focus on; - Asian Americans Can No Longer Be Silent, and Neither Should You: Generations of citizenship and sacrifices for and contributions to America notwithstanding, Asian Americans face the need to prove their loyalty over and over. - The Power of Vulnerability: A Black former consular fellow, whose report of her ordeal at the hands of U.S. officials at the border with Mexico shook up the State Department, shares her thoughts today. - Three Myths That Sustain Structural Racism at State: Countering bias and recognizing overt racism are important, but it’s time to go beyond this work and take a hard look at institutional racism in the department. - Rooting Out Microaggressions: What does exclusion look like? An FSO explores the concept of microaggressions—and suggests how shining a light on them can help foster a culture of inclusion. When you have hard problems that have clear metrics with regards to progress you can track, weakly led organizations will focus on other things. 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=ut5KA0Z_OwQ:M2bX9sBtLG8:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ut5KA0Z_OwQ:M2bX9sBtLG8:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ut5KA0Z_OwQ:M2bX9sBtLG8:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ut5KA0Z_OwQ:M2bX9sBtLG8:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/ut5KA0Z_OwQView the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $13 million contract modification for repair services for the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-4C Triton. The Global Hawk and the Triton are both high-altitude surveillance aircraft. The Navy MQ-4C differs from the Air Force RQ-4 mainly in its wing. While the Global Hawk remains at high altitude to conduct surveillance, the Triton climbs to 50,000 ft to see a wide area and can drop to 10,000 ft to get further identification of a target. The Triton’s wings are specially designed to take the stresses of rapidly decreasing altitude. Work will take place in California, Utah, Virginia, New Mexico, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Kansas and Maryland. Estimated completion date is October 31, 2021. Saab received an order valued approximately $75 million for Carl-Gustaf ammunition from the US Army. The deliveries will take place in 2022. The shoulder-fired ammunition order is placed within an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) framework agreement signed in 2019 between Saab and the US Army that allows the customer to place orders for Carl-Gustaf ammunition and the disposable AT4 shoulder-fired weapon systems during a five-year period. This order for the US Army and Marine Corps is comprised of seven different types of ammunition including anti-armor, anti-structure, smoke, and illumination rounds, all underlining the versatility of the multi-purpose Carl-Gustaf system. Middle East & Africa According to news reports, an Alpha Jet was shot down by criminals on July 18. Nigerian Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet said the aircraft had carried out a successful interdiction mission on the border of Zamfara and Kaduna states when it “came under intense enemy fire” and crashed. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo, ejected and was rescued. Europe Russia sent a commercial offer to India for the delivery of 21 MiG-29 fighters in response to a request for proposal from the Indian side. A spokesperson for Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told the news to Russian media at the MAKS-2021 show on July 21. The German Bundeswehr inked contract with Rheinmetall to supply 130,000 laser light modules worth a potential $210 million. To begin with, 2,460 devices worth a total of $3.5 million will be delivered. This is the largest order for laser light modules ever booked by the device’s maker, Rheinmetall Soldier Electronics of Stockach, Germany. The framework contract is initially set to run for seven years. Asia-Pacific The Republic of Korea Air Force has commissioned Korean Air (KAL) and a research team from Seoul National University to study the feasibility of developing an air-launched space rocket that can send small satellites into orbit. The approach is similar to what Virgin Orbit is doing with its LauncherOne rocket by using a Boeing 747 airliner as the mothership. The South Korean government hopes to have this capability to send satellites into space by 2040. Today’s Video Watch: Guided Carl-Gustaf® munition flight tests View the full article

Reviewed by Capt. Charles “Herb” Gilliland, USN (Ret.) Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Lafayette! Now keep it up if you’ve heard of Louis Duportail! I thought not. This reviewer knew nothing of Duportail either before reading this book, in which Prof. Norman Desmarais presents strong evidence that such obscurity is undeserved. As the back-cover claims, Duportail was indeed “instrumental in the American cause of independence.” To fight and win the Revolution, George Washington needed more than the colonies could provide: more troops, more weapons, more money, more ships. All these were generously provided by France. But America also needed military engineers, and naturally sought them in France. Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, the American representatives in Paris, recruited a small group led by Antoine-Jean-Louis Le Begue de Presle Duportail. Given leave by Louis XVI and promised rank higher than they held in the French army, they were eager to go. Duportail, then a thirty-four year old major, had been studying or practicing military engineering for half his life. He had even “written the book”—that is, at the request of the Minister of War, he had written the new edition of the training manual for the Royal Corps of Engineers, printed in late 1776. He and the other French engineers were experts in designing and building all sorts of defensive works, as well as evaluating the defenses of an enemy and considering how best to deal with them. France was not yet at war with England, so they traveled surreptitiously. The transition to positions as Continental officers also involved financial, political and practical complications, but after all America was still creating itself while fighting a war. Nevertheless, by November 1777, we find Duportail a brigadier general in the Continental Army, in charge of the army’s engineers. As a working engineer, Duportail designed and constructed the miles of defensive works surrounding the Valley Forge encampment. The resulting position was, according to British General William Howe himself, imprudent for him to attack. Prof. Desmarais calls this “the most significant of his services,” that “established his reputation.” As a general, Duportail attended all of Washington’s staff meetings. Washington’s habit at critical junctures was to ask all of the dozen or more generals with him to provide written opinions on short notice. Receiving help with his English from fellow officers, Duportail swiftly (within an hour in one case) produced what might be called point papers that presented impressive analysis of the strategic, political and tactical issues with a combination of great tact and candor. Prof. Desmarais comments that Duportail’s “Memorial” to Washington of April 1778 is “a very significant document, as it had a profound influence on Washington’s policy.” In it Duportail argued at length for a defensive strategy rather than directly attacking the British army. Washington, said Duportail, should be like “Fabius, that wise Roman who ruined Hannibal by refusing to fight him in plain.” How much weight Duportail’s arguments had for the other generals is unclear, but they unanimously supported the defensive posture he recommended. Duportail arrived in Charleston in 1780 seeking action, unfortunately just as terms of surrender were being discussed. With the city’s surrender three weeks later he became a prisoner of war. Freed half a year later in exchange for a British general captured by the Americans, he rejoined Washington, who was eager to have him back. The following year, Duportail was crucially involved as Washington shifted his focus from the northern arena southward. Early the morning of September 1, 1781, after a hard and hasty journey he boarded Admiral De Grasse’s flagship off the mouth of the Chesapeake. Following a conference with the admiral he went ashore the next day to join Lafayette in operations against Cornwallis in Yorktown. With the American forces soon completed by the arrival of Washington and Rochambeau’s combined strengths, the siege of Yorktown was fully in progress. This involved, among other things, 15,000 men digging and piling dirt and preparing obstacles and approaches. Duportail directed that process, aided by two of his French colleagues and other engineers. When Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, Duportail was too disabled by dysentery to attend, but was personally commended by Washington. Duportail’s plan for the Corps of Engineers detailed an organization approved by Congress and Washington and it envisioned the formal and permanent shape the Corps needed and eventually attained. In 1783, with the war won and a farewell promotion to major general, Duportail returned to France. With his formalizing of the Corps, his advice and assistance to Washington, and his oversight of the works at Valley Forge and Yorktown, Duportail did more for the new nation than many who are better remembered, while his “memorials” to Washington might serve as models of military analysis and communication. Resuming his service in the French army, initially as a lieutenant colonel, he retired in a few years as a general. With the French Revolution, he served for a time as Minister of War, then again as a general, but soon found it prudent to flee to America. There he retired to a farm in Pennsylvania but in 1801 he took ship for France, apparently to serve in Napoleon’s army. He never made it; dying aboard ship, he was buried at sea. He was fifty-eight. Prof. Desmarais’ mastery of primary and secondary sources is thorough; inevitably perhaps he relies considerably upon the earlier treatments of Duportail by Paul K. Walker and Elizabeth S. Kite. The most fresh and interesting elements in this new book are especially present in the latter sections. Here Prof. Desmarais has provided new information on Duportail’s last years and death. The bibliographic essay brings Duportail scholarship nicely up to date. Also, an appendix listing the contents of two ships sent to Washington’s army by French arms merchant and playwright Pierre Beaumarchais gives fascinating details (255,000 gun flints! Clothing for 12,000 men!). Because his focus is so much on the somewhat overlooked Duportail, at times the less specialized reader may wish for more context. This reviewer would have liked the maps to be larger, thus more readily interpreted, and indeed would have welcomed an additional map or two. However, those interested in the role of engineers in the American Revolution or indeed in the history of engineering in America will learn things from this book. It offers scholars or the reading public a renewed and augmented story of this remarkable Frenchman and American patriot. Captain Herb Gilliland, USN (Ret.), is Professor Emeritus at the United States Naval Academy and a frequent book reviewer for the Naval Historical Foundation. Washington’s Engineer: Louis Duportail and the Creation of an Army Corps (Norman Desmarais, Prometheus/Rowman, Lanham, MD, 2021). The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Are we really using the right numbers when it comes to the PLAN"s amphibious capabilities? Are we paying attention to not-so-subtle capabilities? I'm pondering the topic over at USNIBlog. Come on by and join 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=yn6zH4CQkls:bHcijtQDbmw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=yn6zH4CQkls:bHcijtQDbmw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=yn6zH4CQkls:bHcijtQDbmw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=yn6zH4CQkls:bHcijtQDbmw:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/yn6zH4CQklsView the full article

Americas Raytheon Missiles and Defense won a $35.7 million deal for the procurement of AEGIS modernization (AMOD) kits for Navy DDG 51 Class destroyers and for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program. The Navy’s Aegis Modernization program provides updated technology and systems for CG 47 Class Aegis guided missile cruisers and DDG 51 Class Aegis guided missile destroyers. The DDG 51 Arleigh Burke destroyers provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. They can operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups. Work will take place in Massachusetts, Virginia and Burlington. Estimated completion will be by July 2024. Boeing won a $25 million contract, which provides for the upgrade of the P-8A Poseidon maintenance training device suite, to include virtual maintenance trainers and related courseware and hardware in support of the P-8A aircraft platform to ensure the fleet receives training in current aircraft production baseline capabilities that align with real-life flight scenarios for the Navy and the government of Australia. The Poseidon is a maritime patrol aircraft. It is is operated by the United States Navy, the Indian Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force and the UK Royal Air Force. Additionally, It has been ordered by the Royal Norwegian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Republic of Korea Navy. Work under the new deal will take place in Florida, Missouri, Washington and Australia. Estimated completion is in December 2023. Middle East & Africa South Korea dispatched two KC-330s to Africa on July 18 after a COVID outbreak occurred onboard ROKS Munmu the Great (DDH-976). DDH-976 is on an anti-piracy mission there. According to local news, 247 sailors out of the 301 onboard the warship were tested positive. The aerial refueling tankers will bring a new crew to bring the warship home and to bring home everyone onboard the warship home for medical treatment. According to NHK, the warship had docked at a port in Africa and crew members developed flu symptoms soon after that. Europe According to the BBC, the Pentagon wants to build a large space tracking radar site in Britain. The 1km square site will be part of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) being developed by the US Space and Missile Systems Center. The facility will have around 20 parabolic antennas that are 15 metres in diameters each. Naval Group inked a deal for the operational maintenance of the French Navy’s nuclear attack submarines (SSN) which will be in force for over three years. This agreement includes the maintenance operations of Rubis and Suffren-class SSNs and all the related services: engineering, maintenance of tools and spares, management of the stock of spares, training platforms and maintenance of nuclear installations necessary for the operational maintenance (MCO) of submarines. Asia-Pacific Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) announced that Indonesia has decided to take up a follow on order for six T-50i advanced jet trainers. The deal is worth approximately $238 million and includes a maintenance package. Today’s Video Watch: France’s New Nuclear Attack Submarines Are Killers View the full article

Redacted to protect the ... well ... you know. The answer appears to be, "In the finest traditions of the Naval service." Side note: you can add this to your file that, yes, what the Admiral is interested in, the Fleet will be interested in. It matters. That is why, in the end, if you are happy or unhappy with our Navy ... that is where you start to look for answers to the question, "why?" 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=EK3z1xbOwFA:e3zsmdfORs8:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EK3z1xbOwFA:e3zsmdfORs8:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EK3z1xbOwFA:e3zsmdfORs8:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EK3z1xbOwFA:e3zsmdfORs8:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/EK3z1xbOwFAView the full article

Most people do not realize that one of the largest Pacific nation, if you measure by territorial seas, is France. She has a lot to lose in a world where fleets of hundreds of Chinese fishing boats in fleet movements go from place to place, strip mining already stressed fishing resources. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France and South Pacific nations would launch a South Pacific coastguard network to counter "predatory" behaviour, which an adviser said was aimed at illegal fishing, as China expands its maritime reach. The United States and allies including France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, are actively expanding their activity in the Pacific to counter China's influence. Though tiny in land mass, Pacific islands control vast swaths of resource-rich ocean called Exclusive Economic Zones, forming a formidable boundary between the Americas and Asia. "To better cope with the predatory logic we are all victims of, I want to boost our maritime cooperation in the South Pacific," Macron said after a video conference with the leaders of Australia, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and representatives of New Zealand and other Pacific nations. When France is good, she is very good. This is a "growth area" in the maritime security arena. You can hear it in Macron's statement, and you can see it in the growing fleets of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) that are a good compromise design for the mission at hand. Those over 50 remember the last time a nation with a less than enlightened view of the rule of law and responsible stewardship of the world's oceans had the capability and will to do real damage, the Soviet Union. For the better part of three decades, the world has become comfortable and secure - with isolated exceptions - of the fruits of Pax Americana on the high seas. Those days are over. With pressures and stress, more nations will need to turn their attentions to those things they thought they were naturally granted, responding to gaps in what I modestly call, "Salamander's Hierarchy of Maritime Power™" (apologies to Maslow). All the higher requirements can only successfully be attained when the ones below it are properly secured, funded, and maintained. Where a power gets itself in to trouble is when it neglects "lower echelon" requirements - through ill-understanding or immature priorities - and instead get's top heavy. Smart move by France in bolstering the base of its maritime power. With this secure, it will have better standing in higher echelon functions. 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=6gfFF8aRCyM:XXKjctg2y34:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6gfFF8aRCyM:XXKjctg2y34:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6gfFF8aRCyM:XXKjctg2y34:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6gfFF8aRCyM:XXKjctg2y34:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/6gfFF8aRCyMView the full article

Americas The MQ-9 in service with the US Air Force has carried out an Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability (ATLC) test and the drone is now cleared for Agile Combat Employment operations. A specialized launch and recovery crew is no longer required when the MQ-9 land and the unmanned air vehicle can now be diverted to a foreign field where it has never been before. The test was carried out by the 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron on July 8. On the first day, the drone was flown from Creech to Cannon air force base using satellite control. Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside aircraft has obtained airworthiness approval by the US Air Force, allowing the aircraft to enter its next phase of flight testing under Air Force direction. These flight tests aim to explore the unique attributes of the eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) Heaviside aircraft and its potential utility for both military and commercial use cases under the supervision of AFRL engineers and other military stakeholders. Middle East & Africa The Turkish defense company Aselsan has delivered a new electronic countermeasure system, nicknamed SANCAK, to the Turkish military, Defense News reports. “We have delivered the Next Generation Electronic Attack System SANCAK to the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), which will provide a significant advantage in the field by neutralizing strategic communication systems,” Ismail Demir announced on Twitter. Sancak is the nickname of Aselsan’s MILKAR-4A2 high-frequency jamming system. It has been developed for electronic attack operations against high-frequency band (the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between frequencies 3 and 30 MHz) communication systems located on different platforms in the field. Aselsan claims the system can effectively jam targets “communicating through the ground wave, skywave and near vertical incidence skywave, or NVIS, in the HF communication band,” Defence News said. Europe The Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and its national industrial partners have jointly agreed to fund development of the European Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS), also known as Eurodrone. The OCCAR-Executive Administration (EA) Director and senior representatives from prime contractor Airbus Defense and Space from Germany and Spain signed an agreement on July 15 to allow European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) funding from the European Union to partially finance the project, which also includes Leonardo from Italy and Dassault from France. According to the UK Defence Journal. BAE Systems has been awarded a £3 million ($4.1m) contract to provide technology for Kongsberg’s Joint Strike Missile system for the F-35. The new contract will see BAE Systems provide expertise of radar absorbing material and sensor development and technology integration to the highly capable Joint Strike Missile system which is currently being adopted by Norway and Japan. Asia-Pacific The Australian-designed and manufactured Hawkei Protected Mobility Vehicle – Light has achieved initial operational capability under the Project Land 121 Phase 4, the Department of Defense in Canberra announced on July 11. Minister for Defense Peter Dutton said the $1.49 billion project will see the new fleet of 1,100 Hawkei vehicles – and 1,058 companion trailers – rolled out to Australian army and air force units, adding that this capability will provide “a high level of protection for soldiers” from blast and ballistic threats, with significantly improved mobility enabling it to operate in high threat environments”. Today’s Video Watch: Army’s new Australian-designed Hawkei protected vehicle View the full article

Americas Sikorsky Aircraft won a $26.9 million contract modification for UH-60M Foreign Military Sales green aircraft. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission helicopter developed by Sikorsky that has been operational in the US Army since 1978. Work will take place in Connecticut. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2022. Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV won an $8.6 million modification to support Javelin engineering services. The Javelin is a man-portable anti tank missile. Raytheon is responsible for the command launch unit (CLU), missile guidance electronic unit, system software and system engineering management. Lockheed Martin is responsible for the missile seeker, engineering and assembly. Work will take place in Arizona. Estimated completion date is February 15, 2023. Middle East & Africa vEurope HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Carrier Strike Group has sailed into the Indian Ocean Region having recently transited the Suez Canal. Following a series of successful engagements and operations in the Mediterranean it is now sailing East across the Indian Ocean towards India, according to the Ministry of Defense. Asia-Pacific A press release from the British High Commission New Delhi says the UK Carrier Strike Group will soon conduct exercises with the Indian Navy. The High Commission says the deployment represents Britain’s “commitment to deepening diplomatic, economic and security ties with India and in the Indo-Pacific region.” Negotiations by India to buy 100 General Electric F404 turbofan engines for the Tejas Mk1A fighter are about to be completed, new reports from India say. These will power the 83 Tejas Mk1A that the Indian Air Force recently ordered. Today’s Video Watch: Here’s the most insane ability of A-29 Tucano in Action View the full article

If it is early summer in the Black Sea, it is time for the annual Ukrainian hosted international exercise Sea Breeze. Why is this exercise important, who came along, and what does it tell us about the state of the Ukrainian Navy, maritime security in the contested eastern Black Sea, and some interesting responses from the Russians? Recently returning from the exercise and joining us for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be returning guest, Captain Chris Rawley, USNR CAPT Rawley is the Reserve Chief of Staff for US. Naval Forces Europe and Africa. Over his 29 year career, he has deployed to the Persian Gulf, Western Pacific, Iraq, Afghanistan, and across Africa. In his civilian career, Chris is the founder and CEO of Harvest Returns, a platform for investing in agriculture. 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=2VyCCIue5B8:UMrA8MCR04g:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=2VyCCIue5B8:UMrA8MCR04g:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=2VyCCIue5B8:UMrA8MCR04g:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=2VyCCIue5B8:UMrA8MCR04g:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/2VyCCIue5B8View the full article

Five years ago, an exceptional American Army NCO from WWII passed away, Technician 5th grade (E4) from the 103rd Infantry Division, awarded the Bronze Star by the USA and Légion d'honneur from France. He lived 102 years, and with him passed the last war chief of the Crow Tribe. A great American, Joe Medicine Crow; According to Crow tradition, a man must fulfill certain requirements to become chief of the tribe: command a war party successfully, enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse, wrestle a weapon away from his enemy and touch the first enemy fallen, without killing him. Joe Medicine Crow was the last person to meet that code, though far from the windswept plains where his ancestors conceived it. During World War II, when he was a scout for the 103rd Infantry in Europe, he strode into battle wearing war paint beneath his uniform and a yellow eagle feather inside his helmet. So armed, he led a mission through German lines to procure ammunition. He helped capture a German village and disarmed — but didn’t kill — an enemy soldier. And, in the minutes before a planned attack, he set off a stampede of 50 horses from a Nazi stable, singing a traditional Crow honor song as he rode away. “I never got a scratch,” he recalled to the Billings Gazette decades later. 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=pi-4z2ywr_Y:E_BiWqr1ZZQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=pi-4z2ywr_Y:E_BiWqr1ZZQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=pi-4z2ywr_Y:E_BiWqr1ZZQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=pi-4z2ywr_Y:E_BiWqr1ZZQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/pi-4z2ywr_YView the full article

Americas The Navy awarded 600 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts (MACs) to businesses in multiple locations across 29 of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia for future competition of support service requirements to be solicited by Department of the Navy activities under rolling admissions of the SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort-NxG) multiple-award contract vehicle for engineering support services and program management support services in 23 functional areas. The government estimates the Navy will procure $5 billion worth of services annually through task orders issued under SeaPort-NxG. Each multiple-award contract has a base period of two and a half years and an ordering period option of five years. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Virginia is the contracting activity and received 620 offers through a competitive solicitation for the rolling admissions. Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control won a $160.5 million contract modification for production of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems M142 launchers and support requirements. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is the newest member of the MLRS launcher family. HIMARS is a lightweight mobile launcher, transportable via C-130 and larger aircraft for rapid deployment, that fires Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets, Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, the next-generation Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), and Extended-Range GMLRS rockets. In October 2020, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the US State Department’s approval of the potential sales of 11 M142 HIMARS systems to Taiwan. Taiwan’s potential acquisition will also include 64 M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems. Middle East & Africa BAE Systems won a six-year contract to deliver support and training to a new joint UK-Qatar Hawk squadron based at RAF Leeming, UK. The company will provide Qualified Flying Instructors as part of this contract, delivering both live and synthetic training to Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) and Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots. Europe Poland’s defense minister Mariusz B?aszczak announced that the country will acquire 250 Abrams tanks in the latest SEPv3 configuration. “So we are ordering the most modern tanks. Tanks available in the best equipped version, tanks that are combat proven, tanks which were constructed to counter the most modern Russian T-14 Armata tanks,” the minister was quoted as saying by Polish media. Asia-Pacific Negotiations by India to buy 100 General Electric F404 turbofan engines for the Tejas Mk1A fighter are soon completed, new reports from India say. These will power the 83 Tejas Mk1A that the Indian Air Force recently ordered. The US Army’s 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade will fire a Patriot missile in Australia during exercise Talisman Sabre on July 16. The firing drill at Shoalwater Bay will be the first time a Patriot missile has been fired in Australia. Today’s Video Watch: Incredible Video of U.S. Marine’s Super Powerful M142 HIMARS Rockets In Action View the full article

Americas The KC-46A has gotten its first Interim Capability Release (ICR) mission set, the approval to use its Centerline Drogue System. Air Mobility Command commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost gave the greenlight on July 9. The decision provides more daily “taskable” operational capabilities to the various services. “This decision reflects a risk-informed, data-driven, constraint-analyzed approach to releasing KC-46A operational capabilities to the joint force,” Van Ovost was quoted as saying. The US Army awarded Raytheon approximately $321 million for Stinger missile production. The FIM-92 Stinger is a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles and helicopters (as an air-to-air missile). Middle East & Africa DynCorp International won a $27.6 million contract modification for maintenance support services for the government of Saudi Arabia’s Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command (RSLFAC). The RSLFAC inventory comprises UAVs for reconnaissance and strike missions, as well as the following helicopter types: Boeing AH-64D, Bell OH-58D and Sikorks UH-60L. Work will take place in Saudi Arabia. Estimated completion date is July 31, 2022. Europe Sudan is expected to give the green light to Russia for the latter to build a navy base on its territory. After meeting with his Sudanese counterpart Mariam al-Mahdi on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Mariam disclosed that Sudan is preparing for the ratification process. It will be carried out in accordance with procedures that exist in the Sudanese parliament. Britain and the United States have extended a cooperative agreement between the two nations aircraft carrier fleets. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met Tuesday in Washington, DC to strike the deal. Asia-Pacific Lockheed Martin won a $23 million deal, which provides for the integration of a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) country into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and provides country-specific program support for F-35 aircraft production, modifications, logistics, and sustainment efforts. Work will take place in Texas. Japan, Florida, California, UK and is expected to be finished in March 2025. Today’s Video Watch: How Powerful is FIM-92 Stinger Missile • FIM-92 Stinger In Action View the full article

On the tarmac at Andrews. I just don't know. A few more comments at USNIBlog, but not that many more. Come for the pic, stay for the ponder. 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=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/CL-Lu2JGRtAView the full article

Americas Collins Aerospace won a $22.4 million contract for High Fidelity Visual Display Systems required to support the F-35 Joint Simulation Environment. The contractor will deliver, install, and provide training for the visual display systems. Work will be performed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Edwards AFB, California; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and is expected to be completed July 31, 2023. The F-35 Lightning is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and programme partners from the NATO and US allies. Work will take place at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Edwards AFB, California; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Estimated completion date is July 31, 2023. The Lockheed Martin X-56B was destroyed on July 10 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards. The aircraft impact the ground at approximately 7:35 am local time after taking off. The unmanned aerial vehicle was designed to test active flutter suppression and gust-load alleviation technologies. Middle East & Africa German group Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems handed over S44, the fourth Type 209/1400mod-class submarine, to the Egyptian Navy. The contract for the delivery of the first two 209/1400 mod class submarines to the Arab Republic of Egypt was signed in 2011. In 2015, Egypt decided to take the option for two additional units. The first submarine was handed over in December 2016, the second in August 2017 and the third in April 2020. Europe Babcock is preparing to showcase its frigate project credentials during ‘Defence Exhibition Athens’ to promote its bid to deliver the Hellenic Navy’s new frigates. Supported by the UK Government, Babcock has been fine-tuning its comprehensive and compelling programme to provide the Hellenic Navy with a Hydra Class upgrade programme, an interim frigate capability and four Babcock Arrowhead 140 frigates. Asia-Pacific Japan will deploy six F-35Bs at Nyutabaru Air Base in 2024, two more are to arrive there in 2025, local news reports say. There will be a squadron of 20 aircraft eventually at the base in Miyazaki Prefecture. The facility was chosen due to its proximity to a Field Carrier Landing Practice facility that Japan is building for the US military at Mageshima island. The Indonesian Navy today inaugurated its newest ship, KRI Teluk Youtefa 522 which is the third ship of the Teluk Bintuni class tank transport ships. Also known as Landing ship tank, the tactical transport amphibious ship can land tanks, amphibious vehicles and troops close to the coast. It is manufactured by PT. Daya Radar Utama and launched in May 2019 in Lampung, an Indonesian Navy information said. Today’s Video Watch: Japan’s First New Carrier Sight After Modification, F-35B ready to deploy View the full article

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) along with Congressmen Jim Banks (R-IN), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) commissioned a study by Lieutenant General Robert E. Schmidle, USMC, Ret. and Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, USN, Ret. on a series of issues familiar to regulars here and on Midrats. It was released on Monday and at only 22 pages is an easy read, the aptly titled, "A Report on the Culture of the United States Navy Surface Fleet" is a compact summary you should take time to read in full. What does it use as the basis for its review? 77 unique and formal interviews were conducted with Navy personnel via an extensive hour-long process to establish a common controlled approach to the questions at hand. ... Instead of chasing the laser dot across the floor, they are focused on, ...underlying systemic problems... larger institutional issues... They are taking a non-traditional approach and, thankfully, their own authority; ...by conducting the interviews from outside the chain of command via the exercise of the Congress’s Title I oversight authority, and by pledging anonymity to participants, interviewers enjoyed a significant level of candor in these conversations. Ultimately the process was able to identify trends that, by the admission of those interviewed, would not normally be shared with their own chain of command. What did they find? The results of this project are unambiguous. There was a broad consensus across interviewees on numerous cultural and structural issues that impact the morale and readiness of the Navy’s surface force. These include: an insufficient focus on warfighting skills, the perception of a zero defect mentality accompanied by a culture of micromanagement, and over-sensitivity and responsiveness to modern media culture. Structural issues identified include lack of resources and consistency in surface warfare training programs, and the Navy’s underwhelming commitment to surface ship maintenance—a problem that spans decades. Though all the Representatives and the Senator here are Republicans, they correctly identify this as a multi-decade, bi-partisan problem. Not (R), not (D). No, this is all (N); this is a Navy problem. They found six major issues: 1. Insufficient leadership focus on warfighting. 2. A dominant and paralyzing zero-defect mentality. 3. Corrosive over-responsiveness to media culture. 4. Under-investment in surface warfare officer training. 5. Poorly resourced and executed surface ship maintenance programs. 6. Expanding culture of micromanagement. Let's dive in to the sections above and see what we find. Insufficient leadership focus on warfighting: ... many sailors found their leadership distracted, captive to bureaucratic excess, and rewarded for the successful execution of administrative functions rather than their skills as a warfighter. This is a recurring theme through all the sections; distraction. All humans only have 24-hrs in a day. You can only do so much, and less well. When the important is crowded out by the unimportant, you become inefficient, ineffective, and live in the moment just to survive to the next Outlook refresh. ... “the very difficult problem for an O-5 CO (Commanding Officer) is that he’s got 1,000 requirements pushed on him, many of which are administrative or operational…and so his real job is figuring out which requirements he’s just going to blow off…whether it be fixing a material issue or training or warfighting readiness. The rewards and incentives that an organization signals will drive what is on top and what is on the bottom of a rack-and-stack prioritization. There was considerable apprehension that the surface warfare community in particular lost a component of its fighting edge... How much time in the last quarter century ... and how many funded programs ... were spent on the ability of our navy to do what is the foundational purpose of navies throughout time - sink opponents ships and deny them access to the seas ... at range? One recent destroyer captain lamented that, “where someone puts their time shows what their priorities are. And we've got so many messages about X, Y, Z appreciation month, or sexual assault prevention, or you name it. We don't even have close to that same level of emphasis on actual warfighting.” From the US Navy's official YouTube page, look at the topics of the videos the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gilday, USN, has put out in the last year. He sets the tone. He sets the priorities. Check them out yourself. I don't need to say more. Frustration with nonessential training was found to be overwhelming and not limited to the surface warfare community. Navy leaders have contributed to morass of requirements, but so have senior civilian defense leadership and Congress. While programs to encourage diversity, human sex trafficking prevention, suicide prevention, sexual assault prevention, and others are appropriate, they come with a cost. The non-combat curricula consume Navy resources, clog inboxes, create administrative quagmires, and monopolize precious training time. By weighing down sailors with non-combat related training and administrative burdens, both Congress and Navy leaders risk sending them into battle less prepared and less focused than their opponents. This is part of the administrative burden. You only have finite training time. Priorities derived from incentives and disincentives will drive decisions throughout the chain of command. “Sometimes I think we care more about whether we have enough diversity officers than if we’ll survive a fight with the Chinese navy,” lamented one lieutenant currently on active duty. “It’s criminal. They think my only value is as a black woman. But you cut our ship open with a missile and we’ll all bleed the same color.” We need more of that LT, and less of others. One interesting note, and credit to him and the authors, is the one person named - and insisted on being named - is our friend Bryan McGrath; “[The ships] are very busy,” he said. “I think there are too few of them for what is being asked…The operational requirements squeeze out maintenance, they squeeze out some training.” This brings back to a call here for years; where is "Admiral No?" The problem Bryan outlines is a manifestation of our priorities driven by the "now." In what few hours you have in the day, what do you need to do to not get in trouble, not to get a phone call, not to get a message that will create trouble? You get in survival mode. The job of leaders is to create an environment for your subordinate leaders to get their heads up and out of survival mode. A recently retired senior enlisted leader suggested that this dynamic was more a lack of proper prioritization. “I guarantee you every unit in the Navy is up to speed on their diversity training. I’m sorry that I can’t say the same of their ship handling training.” What metrics are being tracked by who and why? A dominant and paralyzing zero-defect mentality: Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman has framed this in an historical context, suggesting that none of the four key Admirals who led victorious fleets in World War II would have made it to the rank of Captain in today’s Navy. “Nimitz put his first command on the rocks,” Lehman said. “And Halsey was constantly getting into trouble for bending the rules or drinking too much…Ernie King was a womanizer and a heavy drinker. And Admiral Leahy may be the only one that might have made it through, but he had quite a few blots on his record as well.” A few questions come to mind: Why were previous generations more flexible? What did they do to make a 2nd chance institutionally worth forgiveness? Is there an assumption of expendability when it comes to our people? If so, to whose benefit? Why? I think in the next pull quote, we may have a partial answer: “But in each case, there was a critical mass of leadership in the Navy that recognized that these were very, very promising junior officers. And so, while they were punished for mistakes, they were kept in a career path. That’s not the case today. It’s just not done because it’s too dangerous for anybody that tries to help someone who has made a mistake.” That last part is underappreciated. "The system" doesn't just go after the individual in the barrel, but anyone who associates with or shows sympathy to that individual. It is absolutely heartbreaking to talk to people who all of a sudden find themselves at a meeting where on one will sit within two seats of them. Calls and emails are not returned. Social events are cancelled. Wives and children are ostracized. Just heartbreaking what we can do to each other out of fear. Fear. That is a common thread in our culture; fear. We will face death and will calmly give orders that results in the deaths of hundreds, but we are terrified of a mention in an article, an angry phone call, or worst ... being called a nasty name. Great warriors become quivering piles of goo. However, isolated infractions such as an alcohol-related indiscretion, a poor choice of words with no malice or offense intended, a ship-board accident with no damage or injuries and no demonstrated neglect, and similar offenses are supposed career-ending faults that could instead be weighed in the context of an overall service record and provided with an opportunity for redemption. One officer noted the example of Captain Robert J. Kelly, a combat-tested aviator who ran the USS Enterprise aground in San Francisco Bay several decades ago but went on to earn 4 stars and command of the Pacific Fleet. It was a rare mercy in the early 1980s and unheard of today. The "how and why" of the change over four decades would be an interesting study in the mentality and motivations of the chain of command and selection boards. The media have always been with us, they are not new. Is it generational? A byproduct of training, accessions, competition? There's a PhD to be earned out there on this topic ... if an academic institution would allow an open investigation of such. “Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Apple, Google, whatever. All of these institutions of high performance and high excellence do circus flips trying to figure out how to cultivate and retain talent,” said one former naval officer who is now a senior leader at a major hedge fund’s philanthropic arm. “The Navy all but chases it out the door.” Career path rigidity is a disincentive to innovative and restless intellects. That is a large part why so many quality people leave at first chance. We are not good here. ... interviewers found no credible defense of the one-mistake Navy and its influence on officer careers in particular. The practice creates fear and apprehension in the fleet. It degrades lethality, atrophies talent, inhibits reenlistments, encourages careerism, and advances those that avoid risks and challenges up the ranks. Fear. There it is again. A military shaped by fear. Corrosive over-responsiveness to media culture: The “one-mistake” culture appears to be somewhat recent phenomena in Navy history and some suggested that today’s unyielding news environment could bear some of the blame for its rise. Much of this comes from senior leadership lacking sufficient training or ability to have confidence in themselves to respond appropriately. Back to point; There is an undercurrent of fear in the surface fleet. We need to keep pulling that string on "fear." The first is a loss of faith in the chain of command. In the wake of a damaging story, the senior ranks are perceived as quick to sacrifice junior personnel to preserve the credibility of the unit or the career of the senior leader in charge. A byproduct of concern that the chain of command is driven by fear. It isn't bad news that people are worried about, it is how their boss will react to bad news. Junior personnel's lack confidence in the intestinal fortitude of their superiors. That peacetime suspicion bleeds over to the operational side as well. That simply is not healthy. “COs would be quite risk-adverse,” one officer recalled, “they would have their senior department heads manning a lot of watches, especially on the bridge and things like that to make sure that nothing went wrong, because nobody wanted to end up in the media, and nobody wanted to end up on the cover of Navy Times.” He finished his statement with a telling observation that, in this day and age, this reaction was “totally understandable.” The press isn't the problem; it is the fear of the press that is the problem. It is also an archaic, ham-fisted understanding of the news cycle exasperated by the culture of the now; Commanders do not appear to understand that stories come in a flash and disappear just as quickly Like a summer squall on a lake, you don't abandon ship, you just secure things and wait it out. It passes faster than you think and then the press is on to other click-bait. The Navy has forgotten how to differentiate between stories that are ignorable and stories that demand corrective measures. We could help commanders by having better Public Affairs (PA) and Human Resources (HR) professionals. I have seen a lot of solid leaders needlessly spooked by excitable PA and HR "professionals." Then again, it is a commander's responsibility to ensure he has a good staff, and knows who on his staff he is free to ignore. ...a 30-year veteran of the Navy, who would have been an invaluable asset in a conflict at sea, resigned. In what would have normally been discipline via stern conversation from a higher officer, three decades of honorable service were instead ignobly ended. What a great example of how corporate Navy values service. People remember this and other similar acts of callousness. Memories of such events are long lasting. Just ask anyone who was a JO during the post-Tailhook '91 era. The trend has not gone unnoticed. It creates the impression in the lower ranks that Navy leaders are easily cowed by the press and will throw sailors to the wolves should their name appear in print. Ground truth ... and when done by senior leadership, this trickles down to lower echelons. Under-investment in surface warfare officer training: The surface warfare officer community has frequently been under pressure to look for efficiencies, both in resource allocation and time spent before entry to the Fleet. The aviation and submarine communities had no such pressures. That lies firmly at the feet of the surface warfare community. Why? They will have to answer that. In 2003, the Navy surface warfare community, in its effort to become more efficient, eliminated the initial SWOSDOC training at Newport as well as many of the unit specific combat and engineering systems schools. This cohort are commanding our ships today. We've corrected this error and a lot of good work has been done in recent years to improve SWO training ... but this horrible child of the Age of Transformationalism - that same group that begat LCS and DDG-1000 - will continue to impact our Navy for another decade at least. Read page 13-14 for the second and third order effects for that cohort that only ended in the last decade. This was all predicted. There is one area we did continue to do right, and I was glad to see the authors mention it. This is another thread I would like pulled ... the why and how we did, and continued to, get this right. Nearly every respondent, both in the pre-2003 and post-2003 eras attested to the fact that initial basic firefighting and damage control training as well as frequent refresher training in these essential skills was both prioritized and accomplished as required. Many respondents offered sentiments similar to one officer who stated that the Navy was “very intent on damage control and fire-fighting training [that was] crucial to day-to-day operations.” One important insight was that fire-fighting and damage control simulators had continuously evolved over the past generation to “become very advanced. We developed the use of ones that you could set off fires and contain the smoke and clean the air.” The degree to which the crews of both the USS McCain and the USS Fitzgerald were able to stabilize and counter the serious flooding that occurred following their separate collisions suggest that this is true. While Congress still waits for the full account of the origins of the USS Bonhomme Richard fire, the Navy’s focus on damage control can largely be praised as an example of how proper prioritization of essential training can yield effective results. Poorly resourced and executed surface ship maintenance programs: The opening is heartbreaking because if we had only followed a report we've had over a decade ago, so much of what we are trying to fix would be better; The 2010 VADM Philip Balisle Report on Surface Force Readiness highlighted a number of manpower, maintenance, training, and readiness issues plaguing the surface warfare enterprise. You get what you inspect. You get what you reward. Organizations follow leadership priorities. This is basic stuff. Surface ship maintenance packages are perceived as “bare bones” and unable to absorb growth. The cumulative effect of this underfunding and poor execution has left the surface warships less modernized and less ready for combat operations. Also basic is an understanding of where the path of deferred maintenance leads to. This was a choice, not an accident. “If you have budget X and you only do whatever maintenance that is required that you can do under budget X, then you have all the rest of the stuff that you had to descope because you're limited by the budget. And then that just creates a bow wave because what's the second and third order effects to deferring that maintenance? You end up with, for instance, on a cruiser where…we knew that the fuel tank tops in one of the machinery spaces, that if we did the ultrasonic testing (UT) on that space, that then the safety requirements would require us to replace the tank tops. We didn't have the budgets to do the tank tops, so we didn't do the UT. And then it wasn't until we went into the shipyard and we were doing the required cleaning of the tanks, which that was a requirement under the package, then all of a sudden, one of the shipyard workers goes up and goes, ‘Oh, I see sunlight through this tank top.’ Well, now you're forced to do the UT. So now you're forced to re-scope the work. So now you're forced to cram more work into a yard package that you should have had planned in the first place.” Expanding culture of micromanagement: As you read the report, are you seeing another common theme? We are “holding back more of that autonomy and probably accelerating those cultural tendencies that are creating officers that are less confident and less competent and less comfortable exercising command,” he said. Again, you get what you reward. You promote what answers the bell. That is why who you select for senior leadership is so important; they establish rewards and promotion standards. “Ducks pick ducks,” said another, recently retired, career surface warfare officer. “So now those admirals that we have and that were in charge were successful being micromanaged. And so now they view [micromanagement] as success.” ... “And so, this level of micromanagement just flows up. And, again, it's evolved for a reason. You want to have metrics. You want to track things. And so, the command autonomy that people aspire to is no longer one that is what it might have been in the past.” ... “there’s always this underlying administrative concern that’s looming over the fleet, and I don’t think it’s because people don’t think tactics are important. I just think that’s not the thing that we spend our days being told is important.” Back to time being finite; words and the dedication of time by senior leadership signals priorities. Priorities get action. Recommendations and Conclusions: As some of these are repetitive to comments above and others discussed here for years, I'll let you read them for yourself. There are a few things that are clear - and here are my points to them; Congress will need to force any change if we desire change this decade. At some point, we will need civilian leadership who will defund the billets driving fear, especially in the expanding political and sociological games being played by our Navy (see recommendation #6). Admirative burdens must be cut dramatically. The lowest hanging fruit here would be something as simple as awards and repetitive "required training" on issues that are only there from fear of the media; "We conducted training...not my fault." (see recommendation #8). Find out what is creating "fear" and go after it with a blow torch and a pair of plyers. They end the report with a solid quote: Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in testimony that “the United States does not have a preordained right to victory on the battlefield.” Unless changes are made, the Navy risks losing the next major conflict. I'll just end to repeat my previous comment for emphasis: the present Navy's uniformed senior leadership under the expected civilian leadership for the near future is not structured, inclined, or positioned to make these changes. We are well past the luxury of waiting for better luck, we are out of time. Congress must act. Now. You can read the full report here, or view the embed below. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jyu_OAqzhFY:o5lyS6EGNNw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jyu_OAqzhFY:o5lyS6EGNNw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jyu_OAqzhFY:o5lyS6EGNNw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jyu_OAqzhFY:o5lyS6EGNNw:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/jyu_OAqzhFYView the full article