Tech Archives

Buying for the Big War, or the Small One?

By Charlie

I've often written about the divide in the military over the focus of our mission: to fight and train for the next "big war" or to prepare to fight the many "small" wars (which we currently find ourselves in.) That is a bigger question than it seems, because the type of war you plan to fight trickles down to the equipment that is purchased by the Pentagon, the training that troops receive, and the strategic focus that force employment entails.

Here's a relevant example of this debate in real time: The Osprey vs. the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, or the Marines' new "swimming tank."

The Marines have given the Osprey (haunted by past technical issues) a good report card from a successful tour in Iraq, and have deemed it the next primary air mover for the Corps. The Osprey is a great example of a "small war" acquisition, because it facilities a very COIN-centric task: moving a rifle platoon a large distance at high (safe) altitude very quickly.

The EFV was developed to do a more "traditional" Marine Corps task: a beach assault under fire. However, that task is very "big war," and may have security repercussions with the proliferation of anti armor weapons and anti ship missiles. Also, it has had massive cost overruns:

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that major development flaws have pushed up the cost of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program by 168 percent per tank and pushed the production deadline back by eight years.

The Defense Department says it will acquire 593 of the amphibious assault vehicles from General Dynamics at a total cost of $13.2 billion, compared with an earlier projection of 1,025 tanks for $8.4 billion, according to a House Oversight Committee report released on Tuesday.

So if you are the Marines (imagine that) what do you buy? Ospreys or EFVs? This is akin to the Army's continuing issues with FCS, and how it is relevant to the COIN fight. One simple question (big or small) drives this entire process.

Great Article on Distributed Warfare

By Charlie

UAVs are getting bigger and better, with the Reaper now carrying the same combat load as the F-16. As remote combat systems mature in theater, who knows what is next?

Air Combat by Remote Control

The airman who fired that missile was 8,000 miles away, here at Creech Air Force Base, home of the 432nd air wing. The 432nd officially "stood up," in the jargon of the Air Force, on May 1, 2007. One year later, two dozen of its drones patrol the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan every hour of every day. And almost all of them are flown by two-man crews sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of a "ground control station" (GCS) in the Nevada desert.

Are remotely-driven Strykers, Bradleys, and Abrams that far off? The thought of a remote-controlled armor division is almost as implausible now as dropping bombs from airplanes must have seemed in 1914. However, the question now is with the success of the very human-intensive tactics of waging COIN neighborhood by neighborhood, will robots take the place of soldiers on the battlefield?

I doubt robots can fill the gap, but the "big war" types may latch on to this technology as the solution to the "next big one," while could better serve as an enabler for our current COIN operations.

Army Embraces Distance Learning

By Charlie

So you're back from your first (or second) (or third) deployment, and returning home... only to have your next assignment orders a couple hundred miles away for a training course. This has been a minor issue in retention for a while, but the Army seems to have devised a way to get ahead of it. Distance learning (online classes) have been used for years in the civilian sector -you can now take college courses online, in addition to a litany of corporate training that many companies have put online to lesson their training budgets. Now the Army has caught on. I think this is a good thing, because of the following:

-It frees up teachers and brick and mortar facilities at schoolhouse installations. These buildings and instructors can be re purposed to better streamline the force.

-It allows the troops taking the training to do so without being separated from their families, especially after long deployments.

Using distributed learning techniques, such as MTT (mobile training teams) and distance learning, is already happening in the force, and is another example of the Army getting it right:

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 27, 2008) - Mobile training teams are taking Basic NCO courses on the road and allowing Soldiers who recently redeployed home from Iraq to attend without spending more time away from their Families.

Thirty-eight sergeants and staff sergeants graduated Friday from a 25U radio operator maintenance BNCOC course at Fort Hood, Texas. NCOs attending from the 1st Cavalry Division at Hood and the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, had returned home from Iraq within the last few months.

Normally, the course would have required the NCOs to spend more than six weeks away from their Families at Fort Gordon, Ga., said Command Sgt. Maj. John L. Murray, commandant of the Signal Regimental Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

"The NCOs that graduated were so thankful to the Signal Center for coming to Fort Hood and conducting this MTT," said Murray who attended the graduation at Fort Hood Friday. "I must have been thanked a hundred times from Families that were so grateful that their spouses could come home at night after training, after such a long deployment."

MRAP Review

By Slab

In January, my team traded out our well-worn M1114 Up-armored HMMWV for a 4X4 JERRV, one of the models of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles purchased by the Marine Corps. We were pretty excited to have the new vehicle, especially after our first look inside. I mean, the thing looks like the Cadillac Escalade of tactical vehicles. The IED threat in our little slice of Al Anbar had long since dropped to non-existent, but it felt good to have something that was specifically engineered to combat the threat, you know? It didn't take long for the novelty to wear off, however, and by the end of the deployment we had taken to operating mainly from a Humvee again. The MRAP is a superb EOD and convoy security vehicle (the acronym JERRV stands for Joint EOD Rapid Response Vehicle), but it is merely a passable utility and/or fighting vehicle. The thing was obviously designed with the EOD mission in mind, and if any operator input was incorporated into the design, it clearly did not come from the infantry community.

On the good side, it is obviously better equipped to resist blast-type mines and IEDs than any other vehicle in the inventory. On top of the increased protection, the MRAP has a fantastic communications system installed, much better than what we had in our Humvee. Most ANGLICO Humvees look like Monster Garage rejects - additional antennas installed in weird places, additional radios installed in all sorts of unauthorized fashion, all trying to maximize the communications capability of our vehicles. Here we had a vehicle that came with brand new multiband radios, all tied in to an intercommunications system. Although many of the comm capabilities are completely unnecessary for most units, it almost seemed like this thing was made for ANGLICO. In addition, the designers were definitely looking to improve crew comfort in these things - the seats are much more comfortable than the ones in a Humvee, the Vehicle Commander's (VC) seat was MUCH roomier than in a Humvee (even my 155 lb ass ends up wedged between the door and the Blue Force Tracker mount in a Humvee), the air conditioning system was top-notch, etc.

For a motorized infantry mission, however, the MRAP's shortcomings are many. It handles atrociously offroad. The suspension is incredibly stiff, with the end result being that you must be tightly strapped in to survive the jostling in the back of the vehicle. Well, my radio operator sits in the back, and those wonderful radios I mentioned before are placed in such a way that the only person who can readily access them is the gunner. Someone that I would prefer keep his attention oriented, you know, outside the vehicle. My radio guy can certainly reach around the gunner's legs and work on the radios, but not if he's tightly strapped in trying to survive the ride.

Because we frequently live and fight from our vehicle, we have to carry an assortment of odds and ends for our radios, weapons, and ourselves. Things like water, MREs, ammunition, spare barrels for the machinegun, and spare items for the radios. The jostling that I just mentioned makes it nearly impossible to store any of these items in the interior of the vehicle without significant modification. We tried removing one of the seats and putting in a wooden box with space for some of these items, but many items were tossed completely out of the box and ended up strewn about the floor of the vehicle. There is a complete lack of weapons stowage for passengers in the rear of the vehicle, and the weapons racks for the driver and VC are designed for M16s, not M4s. One aspect that seems to elude many tactical vehicle designers is that motorized infantry typically store their sustainment load (i.e. rucksacks) externally (see below). This allows the vehicle's internal space to be utilized for items that I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, which must be readily accessible throughout the day. Sustainment items can typically wait until a long halt of some sort before they are needed. Yet, the MRAP has no provision for strapping a rucksack to the outside of the vehicle.

7-tons and HMMWVs with rucksacks stored externally just before the invasion of Iraq in 2003

The MRAP is a vehicle that is well-suited for a particular niche, but due to pressure from people such as our lawmakers in Congress, it has been pressed into service in roles that it is not suited for. For a unit that never leaves a paved surface, and rarely spends more than 24 hours outside of some sort of operating base at a time, the MRAP's protection and communications capabilities make it a superb asset. For units that must remain expeditionary, be able to operate in a wide variety of terrain and pursue the enemy wherever he is found, the MRAP is ultimately a poor choice, and I in retrospect I am very glad that Gen Conway is reducing the number of these vehicles on order. Personally, if given the choice, I would take an M1114 or M1152 HMMWV over the JERRV 4X4, and would seek other means to reduce the IED threat through such things as tribal leader engagement and refining mounted patrol TTPs.

For more reading on the subject, try Defense Tech. As you can see, Christian has been leveling similar criticism since last year. Christian's article is one of the more down-to-earth articles I've seen on the subject. He and I had a good discussion about personal body armor at the Milbloggies last year, it looks like we are of generally the same opinion on the MRAP issue as well.

Update: I should point out that the Defense Tech article I referenced above is over a year old. DT's Ground Vehicles category has more articles on MRAPs.

Upgraded TV

By Charlie

Old and Busted:

Samsung tx-r3079wh:

New Hotness:

Samsung 40" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV

I just want you all to know, its been painful to leave my apartment and go to work. HD plus enormous screen plus Call of Duty 4:

Stryker MGS Gunnery

By Charlie

Cool, Background:

In applying lethal effects as part of the Combined Arms Company, the MGS will survive on the battlefield by taking advantage of the high levels of threat and situational understanding resident in the Brigade formation. It will engage enemy positions and targets as part of the Combined Arms Company from ranges and locations outside the enemy's kill zone capability. It will avoid high risk terrain profiles. Its inherent mobility and agility will enable it to deliver precision fires from alternate and successive positions outside the enemy's acquisition and fire delivery reaction time.

The Mobile Gun System configuration carries a General Dynamics 105mm tank cannon in a low-profile, fully stabilized, "shoot on the move" turret. Its armor protects the three-soldier crew from machine gun bullets, mortar and artillery fragments on the battlefield. The Stryker Mobile Gun System can fire 18 rounds of 105-mm main gun ammunition; 400 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition; and 3,400 rounds of 7.62-mm ammunition. It operates with the latest C4ISR equipment as well as detectors for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Robots March Forward

By Charlie

UPDATE: This is the MULE from Lockheed (thanks, anonymous)

Anyway, robots are robots. Here are some more:

So does this put us one step closer to the Imperial Walker?

Lockheed Martin MULE Program Completes Key Review, Begins Work on Final System Design

DALLAS, TX, February 27th, 2008 -- The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) vehicle program successfully completed its System Preliminary Design Review (PDR), signaling a new phase in the program’s development as part of the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization initiative. As a result of this recent review, Lockheed Martin will now begin to transition from the concept maturation phase into detailed design work.

The MULE/ARV-Assault Light, a 3.5-ton class vehicle for the FCS program, offers an extraordinary capability that will support the U.S. Army’s transformation to a lighter and more mobile fighting force. The robot’s unique mobility will enable it to go everywhere the Soldier can go and more. It will allow Soldiers of the transformed Army to use technology to perform a number of dull, dirty and dangerous jobs performed by Soldiers today, freeing troops to focus more effectively on the success of their mission.

The MULE/ARV-Assault Light’s highly mobile platform is a unique 6x6 independent articulated suspension. Coupled with in-hub motors powering each wheel, the suspension system provides extreme mobility in complex terrain, far exceeding that of vehicles utilizing more conventional suspension systems.

Here's a video of this [another] system, which has some interesting real-world applications if it can be successfully fielded.

Aging Air Force Wants Big Bucks Fix

By Charlie

Keeping up our (odd) habit of following Air Force news:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Air Force officials are warning that unless their budget is increased dramatically, and soon, the military's high-flying branch won't dominate the skies as it has for decades.

After more than seven years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Air Force's aging jet fighters, bombers, cargo aircraft and gunships are at the breaking point, they say, and expensive, ultramodern replacements are needed fast.

"What we've done is put the requirement on the table that says, 'If we're going to do the missions you're going to ask us to do, it will require this kind of investment,'" Maj. Gen. Paul Selva, the Air Force's director of strategic planning, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"Failing that, we take what is already a geriatric Air Force," Selva said, "and we drive it for another 20 years into an area of uncertainty."

Not being the expert here, I know that the US Air Guard handles a lot of the strategic airlift tasks, especially in EUCOM. When I caught a ride on an aging KC-135, built in the 1950’s, the pilots joked that the aircraft was the older than any of its passengers. Replacing worn out equipment, especially transports that carry a large amount of service members, seems like a no-brainer to me. BUT, here’s the price tag:

An extra $20 billion each year over the next five — beginning with an Air Force budget of about $137 billion in 2009 instead of the $117 billion proposed by the Bush administration — would solve that problem, according to Selva and other senior Air Force officers.

Yet the prospects for huge infusions of cash seem dim. Congress is expected to boost the 2009 budget, but not to the level urged by the Air Force. In the years that follow, a possible recession, a rising federal deficit and a distaste for higher taxes all portend a decline in defense spending regardless of which party wins the White House in November.

Again, if this requirement is put on the table, it should be funded. I just hope I’m not on the first 60+ year old airframe that drops out of the sky due to age.

Thursday Night MLRS

By Charlie

For no particular reason, here is a BM-21 in action:

Ospreys Successful in Iraq , so far

By Charlie

Behold!

VMM-263 -- the "Thunder Chickens" -- has flown five Aeroscout missions, one raid, more than 1,400 combat sorties, and maintained an average mission capable readiness rate of 68.1 percent during its deployment, the service reported.

The squad took over the entire range of combat medium-lift assault support missions in support of Multi-National Forces -- West from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363 to include battlefield circulation, raid and Aeroscout operations, helicopter/tiltrotor governance, and tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel.

The Ospreys flew everywhere throughout the battlefield from Baghdad to Al Qaim, providing an operational capability over distance and time that has "effectively collapsed the battlespace," the Marines say.

Anyone in the OPFOR audience flown in one of these things? I'd like to hear a review.

Build it Bigger!

By Charlie

The search for a helicopter that can lift more continues. Popular Mechanics:

Army doctrine over the past 10 years has focused on positioning medium-size mechanized brigades (of about 1000 troops) deep in the rear or flanks of an enemy, where weak defenses and surprise favor the attacker. Humanitarian aid and disaster response also require access to undeveloped areas. Currently, though, this requires good airfields at both ends of the supply line.
...
“The Future Combat Systems family of vehicles originally were to weigh between 16 and 18 tons,” says Wilson, who rails against mounted aerial maneuver. “The armored fighting vehicles now weigh 30 tons, the weight of an M2/3 Bradley, because the lighter vehicles did not have sufficient survivability.” In other words, Iraq’s roadside bombs convinced the brass to plan for heavier forms of medium-size vehicles that could better stand up to explosives.
...
Such decisions have a ripple effect. Many of the Army’s newest and planned vehicles don’t fit in a C-130; the tedious work-around is to fly the parts in on two planes and then spend hours assembling the vehicle. The Army may want helicopters that can lift 30 tons, but no Navy ship could carry more than a couple of them. There are no easy answers, but military planners do have a number of proposals. The Pentagon says that decisions will be made by the end of 2008.

Their answers:

1. Massive Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
2. New Fixed-Wing Airplanes
3. Precision Airdrops
4. Converted Container Ships
5. Aircraft With Folding Wings and Rotors
6. Blimps With a Mission

FYI, the heaviest lift helicopter is the Russian-made Mi-26. It can lift 20 tons, Chinooks carry about 12 tons.

Brads weigh 30 tons (the Abrams weighs about 60). A Stryker weighs about 16 (minus any add-on armor). Add to that fuel, ammo, extra equipment, plus soldiers, and that weight dramatically increases. Significant engineering challenges exist in inserting these vehicles vertically,. As far as resupply operations go, I like the idea of precision airdrops using GPS. Big, ugly war machines still have their place on a 4GW battlefield, and air mobility is essential in regions that lack infrastructure.

While the engineers work out how to build the next great helicopter, here's what the Army is doing with the ones we've got now: Previous post on updates to Army Aviation.

Breaking: The Osprey is Totally Rad

By John

Proof, suckers.

Is the C-17 Worth the Price Tag?

By John

If we were going off of lift capacity and range.... maybe.

Add the "stop-on-a-dime" short field landing ability.... probably.

Throw in engines capable of producing totally rad mini-tornadoes... definitely.

10,000 E-mails?

By Charlie

Haven’t exactly been keeping up with my Google Mail account (which I primarily use for the website…)

Everyone’s Launching Satellites

By Charlie

The Germans and the Chinese seem to be making some gains in the quest for the final frontier:

German Spy Satellite Launches Into Space

Chinese Satellite Heading for Lunar Orbit Showcases Ambitious Space Program

I wanted to mention this because the enormous technological advantages that the US military enjoys are due in part to our early mastery of space technology. Satellites provide imagery, GPS ability, communication, and have become the cornerstone of US ground, naval, and air operations in all military theatres. So here’s a question: what if you could pluck one or two enemy satellites out of the sky?

That concept is the 21st century equivalent of calling artillery on a battlefield command post: it disrupts the flow of information, intelligence, orders, and command and control of subordinate units.

However, that brings me to this story in the WaPo:

Space Defense Program Gets Extra Funding

While wrestling with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is preparing weapons to fight the next battle from space, according to information in the 621-page, House-Senate conference report on the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill.

The $459 billion bill, which awaits President Bush's signature, provides $100 million for a new "prompt global strike" program that could deliver a conventional, precision-guided warhead anywhere in the world within two hours. …
Conferees added $100 million above the Bush administration's request for nearly $200 million to accelerate "space situational awareness." That is code for protecting U.S. satellites in space and being able to attack the enemy's satellites.

"Counterspace systems" that would warn of impending threats to U.S. satellites, destroy or defend against attackers, and interrupt enemy satellites are in the Bush budget for $53 million. Conferees gave them another $10 million.

Another $18 million would go for research into a second-generation counter-satellite-communications system; it would explore and develop capabilities "to provide disruption of satellite communications signals in response to U.S. Strategic Command requirements," …

Part of the funding will also go toward work on integrating this system, which detects enemy threats to U.S. satellites, with the offensive counterspace and counter-satellite-communications programs. …

Protecting our technological edge (even in space) is complimentary to our efforts in the war on terror. I remember that each time I look at my GPS and get an accurate grid.

Weapons Bleg

By Charlie

With all of the talk about the DC gun ban being declared unconstitutional, it got me thinking of the need to purchase another firearm. The holiday season is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate it than to get myself a handgun for Christmas!

I was thinking about something in a .45, such as the Glock Model 21, Heckler & Koch USP DA/SA, or the Smith & Wesson 1911.

However, our audience is vastly more knowledgeable in cases such as these. Leave a comment and advise me which gun to get!

Cutting the JIEDDO?

By Charlie

Here’s a little more knowledge on the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization/Task Force (JIEDDO) that came up in the news today:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2007 – If Congress does not come through with a supplemental bill President Bush will sign, money for defeating the largest killers of American personnel in the war on terror will run out Dec. 1, a senior official said here today. Retired Army Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, told Pentagon reporters that the organization will have to stop funding new initiatives and just maintain operations.

“We’re out of (funding) new stuff now; we’re going to have trouble sustaining current contracts after the first of December,” Meigs said.

This group is on point for combining efforts to defeat the threat of IEDs to troops in the field. The organization began operating in October 2003 as the Army IED Task Force, which became JIEDDO in July 2005. This organization has been at the forefront of “cracking the code” of the defining weapon of this war, and crafted both technological and tactical ways of defeating both the bombs and the networks that emplace them.
Here’s the write up on Global Security.org:

During the early stages of the IED problem, Task Force officials believed that technology was the best way to defeat the threat.

“The first items that we helped with were the up-armored Humvees, the add-on armor to protect from the blasts and the small-arms protective inserts that go inside the outer tactical vests,” said Col. Lamont Woody, deputy of the JIEDD TF. “Since then we have gone on to counter radio controlled initiators that the enemy has been using. In other words, we have gone out and tried to figure out how we counter the radio controlled threat.”

Since 2003, the JIEDD TF has invested about $378 million toward the acquisition of technology to counteract radio-controlled devices used to detonate IEDs. The devices, called Countering Radio-Controlled IED Devices – Electronic Warfare, or “jammers,” exist in six vehicle-mounted forms to detect and prevent potential IEDs.

“We have done a lot of research and study, and started to get the production lines in America spun up to get the actual jammers on the vehicles and to the troops that are deployed,” Woody said. “Our goal is to reduce the casualties and to make sure that the troops have the very best TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures), and the very best equipment that we can provide them.”

JIEDDO can credit impressive statistics to its efforts so far:

According to JIEDD TF statistics, there has been a 45 percent decrease in the rate of IED casualties since April 2004. An estimated 30-40 percent of IEDs are found and rendered safe before they are able to be detonated.

Another point: these guys are at the forefront of a combined inter-agency combined arms fight against the enemy. The information they gather will help all war fighters abroad and law enforcement back home understand the threat that IEDs pose, and how to neutralize it and save lives.

Freaky Deaky Helmet Picture of the Day

By John

Good gawd. This thing could keep me up at night.

This nightmarish dome cover is being developed by the Brits for the new F-35. Apparently it has some sort of Superman x-ray vision capability.

An MoD spokesman said: "Unlike other jet aircraft the JSF, which is planned to replace the Harrier, does not have a traditional head-up display

Instead the computerised symbology will be displayed directly on to the pilot's visors, providing the pilot with cues for flying, navigating and fighting the aircraft. "It even will superimpose infra-red imagery on to the visor to allow the pilot to look through the cockpit floor at night and see the world below - like something out of Terminator.

Hmmm, imagine the possibilities.

Hotel Tango: Defense Tech

Totally Rad Military Gizmo of the Day

By John

A sub-launched helicopter.

And yeah, it actually carries peeps.

Active Denial System is... uh, Active

By John

It ain't just a system in Egypt...

though, given the overall crabbiness of the Cairo street... maybe it should be.

Update: Linky

Hotel Tango: Danger Room

Weird Ass Helicopter Video of the Day

By John

Stupid Russians and their freaky deaky whirlybirds.

Hotel Tango: Pinch, who writes that the vid is an: absolute perfect synchronization of the video camera shutter speed and the rotation of the chopper’s rotors.

Phew. I thought that Ivan had perfected hovercraft technology.

Air Force Adopts Army Aircraft

By Charlie

...a very small one...

October 15, 2007: The U.S. Army’s Raven UAV (RQ-11A) (VIDEO) has now been adopted by the U.S. Air Force. Last year, the U.S. Marine Corps replaced their Dragon View UAV with the Raven. In addition, all three services are using the newer Raven B. Nearly 4,000 Ravens (mostly the “A” model) have been produced so far. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) is also a big ser. In Iraq, Raven’s have flown over 25,000 sorties so far.

The big advantage with Raven is that it’s simple, reliable, and it works. A complete system (controller, spare parts and three UAVs) costs $240,000. The UAV can be quickly taken apart and put into a backpack. It takes off by having the operator start the motor, and then throwing it. This can be done from a moving vehicle, and the Raven is a popular recon tool for convoys. It lands by coming in low and then turning the motor off. Special Forces troops like to use it at night, because the enemy can’t see it, and often can’t hear it as well.

The Raven is a great example of how the high-technology advantage we have can be used to produce a simple, durable piece of equipment that troops can employ on the battlefield with little train-up.

Hey Look...

By John

...a Red aircraft carrier. Or a "destroyer," if you're Japanese.

View Larger Map

The linked article, -written last year- said this:

"I am convinced that before the end of this decade, we will see preparations for China to build its first indigenous aircraft carrier," said Rick Fisher, the Washington-based vice president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center and an expert on the Chinese military.

You don't say. This is the Russian boat Varyag by the way, not an indigenous Chicom construct. Chinese bought it on the cheap. Really.freaking.cheap.

A Chinese company Chong Lot Travel Agency bought the Soviet-made Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier VARYAG (Viking), lacking an engine and a rudder (John says: haw haw!), from Ukraine for US$20 million in 1998, and wanted to tow it to Macau from the Black Sea and convert it into a floating casino.

Construction of the Varyag began in 1985. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ownership of the carrier was transfered to newly independent Ukraine. Ukraine halted construction in 1992, when the vessel was about 70% complete. The total estimated cost of the ship was about US$2.4 billion, and more than US$500 million was needed to complete her construction.

Varyag is now under very sophisticated upgrading at Chinese naval base Dalian where it had been tied up for three years after a towage lasted 627 days.

Still, building/buying a carrier is one thing. Developing the finely tuned, highly skilled craft of carrier flight operations (something the US has perfected over decades), might take a little longer. Probably longer than it took the US Navy, communists being communists.

Hotel Tango: Reader John

The Physics Behind Agincourt

By John

Interesting stuff.

The Physics of Medieval Archery

Don't let the word 'physics' put you off - read the article for an insight into how modern science can help us understand the history of the weapon we now use for sport (and ignore the formulae if you must!) [John says: Will do!] It is generally believed that the main factor responsible for the English victory at the battle the Agincourt in 1415 was the longbow. Gareth Rees describes from a physicist's point of view why we believe this simple weapon was so devastatingly effective.

If you're really hurting, I'm sure Bullnav can explain it to you.

Hotel Tango: Ace of Spades

You Don't Need Stealth Tech

By John

....to defeat a state-of-the-art radar system. Just a computer geek and a laptop.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the Israelis struck a construction site at Tall al-Abyad just south of the Turkish border on Sept. 6. Press reports from the region say witnesses saw the Israeli aircraft approach from the Mediterranean Sea while others found unmarked drop tanks in Turkey near the border with Syria. Israeli defense officials admitted Oct. 2 that the Israeli Air Force made the raid.

The big mystery of the strike is how did the non-stealthy F-15s and F-16s get through the Syrian air defense radars without being detected? Some U.S. officials say they have the answer.

U.S. aerospace industry and retired military officials indicated today that a technology like the U.S.-developed “Suter” airborne network attack system developed by BAE Systems and integrated into U.S. unmanned aircraft by L-3 Communications was used by the Israelis. The system has been used or at least tested operationally in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last year.

The technology allows users to invade communications networks, see what enemy sensors see and even take over as systems administrator so sensors can be manipulated into positions so that approaching aircraft can’t be seen, they say. The process involves locating enemy emitters with great precision and then directing data streams into them that can include false targets and misleading messages algorithms that allow a number of activities including control.

A Kuwaiti newspaper wrote that "Russian experts are studying why the two state-of-the art Russian-built radar systems in Syria did not detect the Israeli jets entering Syrian territory. Iran reportedly has asked the same question, since it is buying the same systems and might have paid for the Syrian acquisitions."

Ahhh makes me think of Patton: "Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man." Integrated anti-air defenses haven't really been all that effective since the Vietnam era, and I'm starting to think that they're obsolete technology.

I hope the cyber nerds in the Pentagon take note though. Based on this Syrian example, imagine the devastation that a successful hack could do to our net-centric military.

Hotel Tango: Danger Room

Blast from the Past

By John

Boy, how's that for timing? I was just making fun of this flying Gremlin the other day...

Iran shows off new fighter jet:

Iran unveiled on Thursday a new home-grown fighter jet amid growing tensions with the United States, saying the plane could "blind the eyes" of its enemies.

State television showed pictures of two "Saegheh" (Thunder) fighters -- said by Iran to be similar to the American F-18 -- taking off in tandem and then landing for a ceremony at Tehran's Mehrabad airport.

"This fighter plane has been researched, designed and built with indigenous means and this new generation of fighter plane is entering industrial production," Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

"Our forces like a thunderbolt will blind the eyes of the enemies of our land," he added. "And in the battlefield of defending our land, just like a thunderbolt, they will set ablaze the enemies' camp."

He went on to say that the Saegeh could defeat the F-18 in dogfights, out maneuver the F-22, and merge with other Saegehs to form Voltron.

So what's with the stupid thunderbolt talk? Mostafa sounds like an Iroquois Medicine Man. No doubt the Saegeh's radar will spot enemies with the eyes of hawk, and strike with the strength of bear. PR note to Tehran, if you're going to show off your crappy new military equipment, leave the Dances with Wolves talk at home.

Anyway, Mostafa's awful proud of this thing, considering the fact that Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer shot down like, five of them while riding the highway to the danger zone in 1986.

Oh, but that was before Iran added the second stabilizer.

Well played, Tehran. Well played.

Hotel Tango: F-18 (and one time F-5) driver Lex, who asks:

So this is the aircraft the Iranian Air Force Chief of Staff intends to use to “punish” Israel if that country attacks their nuclear program? Slap a dihedral tail on a forty year old airframe, paint it up like a Blue Angel and call that progress?

To save my life, I can't find the link..... but I'd point out that these are the same jokers who used a Blue Angels photo on the Iranian Air Force website. At least they've stepped up their fakery, y'know?

Return of the Tank

By John

Hey look, Armor is back!

My Bomb's Bigger than Your Bomb

By John

Hey, it's like a conventional version of the Cold War arms race....

WASHINGTON, September 13 (RIA Novosti) -

The U.S. has a 14-ton super bomb more destructive than the vacuum bomb just tested by Russia, a U.S. general said Wednesday.

The statement was made by retired Lt. General McInerney, chairman of the Iran Policy Committee, and former Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

McInerney said the U.S. has "a new massive ordnance penetrator that's 30,000 pounds, that really penetrates ... Ahmadinejad has nothing in Iran that we can't penetrate."

He also said the new Russian bomb was not a "penetrator."

Not a penetrator??

Read More »

Sleep Through Those Bombs

By John

I think I owe an apology to my buddy Noah Shachtman. He's been in Iraq for some time now and I'm just getting around to linking his war diary. Noah's specialty is military tech, but -being the pro that he is- Shachtman understands that the real benefit of embedded reporting is soldier focused human interest stories. So, he wisely mixed the two genres.

The first time he was blown up, Sergeant Mike Crenshaw didn’t even notice. It was May, on a small road near Taji, north of Baghdad. “We were doing route clearance” – sweeping the road for bombs – “when we heard rocks raining down on us. Then we get a call on the radio, asking us if we were OK. We were like, ‘Hunh? Did something happen?’”

The second time he was blown up, Sergeant Mike Crenshaw was barely phased. “There was this loud boom and this big flash. The thing went off right underneath us. But we kept on driving,” he says. “I think one of the axles was bent a little bit.”

Back in the States, there’s a raging debate about how many Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, the military should really be buying. There’s talk about whether all the extra armor on the MRAP is really worth it, or not; after all, the insurgents are already building MRAP-busting bombs. They’ll always build bigger bombs. But for Crenshaw, there’s no question. He loves his MRAP. So much so, he hardly ever gets out.

I've heard the same debate. Friend of mine just returned from the sandbox, and he was adamant that nothing can stop these new copper IEDs that Iran is sending into theater. Something about how super heated copper melts just about everything....

Course on the other hand, I've heard that these new Buffalos stop "just about everything." Soldiers love them, and for that reason alone, I just can't see the Army making cuts to the program.

*Update*Let's evaluate how they perform under combat conditions....

You know what? On second thought, if these things can't repel a glowing Autobot laser sword, what's the point?

Upgraded Warthogs

By Slab

Hershel Smith of The Captain's Journal has a piece on the upgraded A-10C Warthog. With the new mods, the A-10C now has capabilities nearing those of the AV-8B Harrier. Herschel believes in the A-10 as a counterinsurgency tool. Excuse me if I withold judgment for a while.

Update: My entry was cut a bit short, and I didn't get to elaborate much. Mike points out in the comments that it's not fair to blame the A-10 drivers for the incident in Nasiriyah. Indeed, the battalion air officer was found to be ultimately culpable for the incident, and as Richard Lowery will tell you in Marines in the Garden of Eden, 1/2 was embroiled in a chaotic and confusing situation, with an entire company of Marines farther north than anyone suspected at the time. However, I'm not completely willing to give the A-10 community a pass on this one. A-10s attacked friendly units on several occasions in Operation DESERT STORM. One A-10 made multiple passes on a Marine convoy that was south of a berm that clearly delineated the boundaries of where they were allowed to engage. They killed 7 LAV crewmen during the opening stages of the Battle for Khafji, and 9 British soldiers in another incident. In Operation Iraqi Freedom, A-10s attacked AAVs from 1/2, and a few days later attacked a British patrol from the Blues and Royals north of Basra. Last year, a section of A-10s strafed Canadian troops during Operation MEDUSA, and killed Pte Mark Anthony Graham. There are too many incidents to be ignored, and while every A-10 pilot may not be a blue-on-blue waiting to happen, is it any wonder that Marines, especially our terminal controllers, get apprehensive when these guys are on station?

Bolt from the Blue

By John

I don't know about you guys, but there's just something I love about the word "scramjet."

Is this thing going to be like ICBMs? Motto: Delivery in 30 minutes or less, or the next one's free?

Click the image for more.

Picture of the Day: Welcome Home

By John

Elmendorf AFB is the third recipient of the Air Force's new toy....

Six F-22 Raptors taxi following touchdown at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, during a ceremony marking the aircraft's arrival Aug. 8. The F-22s will join the active duty 3rd Wing and Air Force Reserve Command's 477th Fighter Group here. The 477th FG becomes the first Air Force Reserve unit to operate and maintain the F-22. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown). Photo Courtesy of the US Air Force.

Dragon Skin SOV 2000 Certification Revoked

By Slab

The Department of Justice announced yesterday that they are revoking Pinnacle Armor's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) certification for the SOV 2000.1/MIL3AF01. Some of you may recall that Soldiers For The Truth loudly trumpeted the SOV 2000's certification back in December of last year. What many overlook is that the SOV 2000 was certified for Level III, which does not include armor piercing ammunition, and was not being considered to replace the Interceptor.

Add to this the Air Force's call for the debarment of Pinnacle Armor following their purchase of falsely labeled SOV 2000 vests, and it looks like Mr Neal has some 'splainin' to do. Mr Neal claims that the National Institute of Justice gave him verbal permission to label his armor Level III compliant eight months before the NIJ released their letter actually certifying the SOV 2000.

The saga continues.

Gatorade's Combat Uses

By John

W.Thomas Smith's latest dispatch from Iraq:

It's so easy to become dehydrated out here.

An Army captain back in Kuwait described how soldiers and Marines in combat sometimes cut open the top of an IV fluid bag, mix-in some Kool-Aid powder from an MRE, and drink it. "It tastes pretty bad, he said. "But it's almost instant rehydration, and soldiers keep fighting."

....reminded me of this bit from Robert Kaplan's superb Imperial Grunts:

....Sgt. Keith Pace of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had, among other exploits, saved a seven-year-old girl's life with a Gatorade enema. "She had spinal meningitis," Pace explained to me. "She was dehydrating fast. I couldn't find a vein for an intravenous solution. I filled an enema with a bottle of Gatorade, lifted her butt, rammed the Gatorade up her anus. It got into her bloodstream and rehydrated her."

Probably the Navy's favorite way to hydrate.

The New Air Force Gunship

By John

Is going to be stealthy?

Requirements for the Air Combat Command’s (ACC’s) bomber and the gunship are still being drawn up. But, both commands agree on some key characteristics: a degree of low observability (LO)—not necessarily full stealth—and endurance. The future gunship will look nothing like today’s lumbering platform, and it could actually wind up appearing more like a B-2. “I don’t think the transport next-generation gunship will be on a mobility platform because you are not going to need to carry around all that weight,” says Lt. Gen. Michael Wooley, outgoing Afsoc commander. “If you are not carrying around that big gun and all of that heavy ammunition you don’t need a big [transport] that is in itself vulnerable.” Wooley will be replaced by his current vice commander, Maj. Gen. Donald Wurster, later this year.

ACC has announced it will not push the state-of-the-art for its next-generation bomber, which must be fielded beginning in 2018. That time frame and limited funding are prompting the Air Force to scale back earlier aspirations for a highly stealthy platform equipped with exotic directed-energy weapons. Afsoc has traditionally latched onto the Air Force’s larger buys when procuring a platform in order to prevent having to dedicate funding to a separate development project.

Sounds cool. Maybe we'll build more than eight of them this time around.

Reapers Grab Their Sickles

By John

And set out to harvest bad guys.

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AP) - The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It's outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

The Reaper is loaded, but there's no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada.

The arrival of these outsized U.S. "hunter-killer" drones, in aviation history's first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill.

I picked up this story from Herky driver and fellow Zoomie blogger Lt Col Patrick, who writes:

The MQ-9 Reaper isn't your standard unmanned, slow drone flying overhead a battlefield providing videotape images to an Ops Center for decision-makers. The MQ-9 is a killing machine. A very lethal, fast weapon with the ability to loiter over at battlefield for up to 14 hours.

Speaking of slow drones, the Air Force is also pumping more Predators into the box to boost existing CAP numbers:

7/13/2007 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley is accelerating delivery of the Defense Department's December 2009 goal of 21 daily MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle combat air patrols, or CAPs, by one year.

At the chief of staff's request, Air Force officials coordinated deployment actions with the Joint Staff and Central Command to increase three additional Predator CAPs, boosting full motion video and rapid strike capability to the Joint Force commander in Iraq. Two of these CAPs are expected to be active this summer or early fall.

Anyway, word on the Reapers is Afghanistan first, then Iraq. These things are going to be buzzing over Waziristan like a swarm of wasps on the 11 year old who just chucked a rock at their nest.

Here's the factsheet if you want to know more.

Ahh, all that writing and not one Blue Oyster Cult reference. Good on me.

Oh hell, alright. OPFORian Mike sent this in a couple months back, how could I not repost?

Reference here if you don't get the joke. You're also lame if you don't get the joke.

Dollar Store Specops

By John

Familiar with the AC-130 Gunship? The scalpel used by the Air Force to surgically disembowel Tangos? The weapon system that is most needed, most relevant, and most useful to the grunt in this tactical level war?

Guess how many the Air Force has in their inventory?

Eight.

Eight.

Does that seem a little low to anyone else? I cringe at the mere thought of those poor crews' deployment schedule.

I'm not completely blaming the Air Force here either. They're trying to modernize the entire force on the budget equivalent of the loose change that Congress finds under the couch.

I've said it once, I'll say it again. We have got to start funding the military as if it's at war.

Yet more truth about Dragon Skin

By Slab

Recent comments on this site and others continue to show that people are unable to comprehend what they are being told about body armor. They continue to believe Murray Neal, Pinnacle, SFTT, and the rest who have hyped body armor that is heavier and less capable than the issue gear. I have trusted my life to the issue body armor, and I will do it yet again later this year.

By the way, those who trouble themselves with a little factual research will discover that the Army testers get paid the same amount whether the Army adopts Dragon Skin or not. I'll let the readers surmise as to how Murray Neal would be affected if the Army bought large quantities of body armor from his company. Why people still continue to believe that Mr. Neal is the one with unquestionable integrity is beyond me.

From WaPo:

The U.S. Army, in a rare move Monday, released a barrage of test results showing that a privately-sold flexible body armor that some families have sought for their soldiers failed extensive military testing.

Here, BG Brown gets to the heart of the matter. Bold emphasis is mine:

Holding up an armor-piercing bullet, Brown showed video of the tests, including footage of officials peering into the bullet hole in the Dragon Skin armor. "At the end of the day, this one disc has to stop this round. It didn't. Thirteen times," he said.

In response, Murray Neal, president of Pinnacle Armor which produces Dragon Skin, suggested that the Army lied about some of the testing, and he questioned why the Army was counting shots that "were fired into the non-rifle defeating areas."

Here's some actual statistics for you:

Brown described "catastrophic failures" by the Dragon Skin armor, and said that in 13 of 48 shots, lethal armor-piercing rounds either shattered the discs that make up the armor, or completely penetrated the vest.

"Zero failures is the correct answer," he said. "One failure is sudden death and you lose the game."

Brown added that the armor failed to endure required temperatures shifts _ from minus 20 degrees to 120 above zero _ which weakened the adhesive holding the discs together. And he said that the Dragon Skin's heavy weight was also a problem for soldiers who need to carry a lot of gear.

The Dragon Skin, he said, weighs 47.5 pounds, compared to the Army-issued Interceptor armor, which weighs 28 pounds.

Add ammo, water, radios, batteries, NVGs, and all of the other essential items, and from that 28 pound vest you end up with an 80 pound combat load at the least. Like my grunts used to say, "Ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain." 19.5 extra pounds equal a lot of extra pain. No thank you.

I will nit-pick one quote by BG Brown, however. From a DOD news article:

“Force protection is the No. 1 priority of the U.S. Army."

Um, I don't doubt that it is the No.1 priority, but with all due respect sir, I believe that is one of the fundamental problems with our tactics in Iraq. The number one priority should be winning the war, not protecting the force. It's the old "mission vs. Marines" debate, writ large, and we're getting it wrong.

Update: This was posted in the comments section at Defense Tech by Allan Bain of Evolution Armor.

Dear Patriot,

That was a very nice explaination of force and impact. Here are a few additional points to consider:

1) All the tiles sit at an angle when flat or when wrapped around the body as they are overlapped by adjoining tiles. It's called an imbricated pattern or better known as scalar armor. These tiles open a bit as they flex around the body by the tiles pivoting off each other to make the curve.

2) The tiles are true discuses, where the center is the thickest part, and they have a uniform downward slope of radius co-extensive with a radius or a segment. This is an Independant claim. All other claims are basic public domain concepts dependant upon the first claim. That is they have all entered the market well before the Dragon Skin patents.

3) The weakest point here is the point between successor tiles offset from the center, whereby you angle the test barrel receiver so that you get a perpendicular shot on the thinnest spot not supported by an overlapping disk. This is the definition of your perpendicular impact discussion.

4) Currently the armor is not tested this way in respect to the NIJ protocol or in the German lab that recently conducted side by side testing for the NBC Dateline news show. It is tested flat.

5) For scalar armor to be tested correctly it MUST be set around a fixed target around a test fixture designed to mimick the true wearing of the vest, and then impacted as set forth above so that the weakest point is attacked in a true 90 degree angle and also attacked at an angle to try and take advantage of the slight opening of the tiles as they make the bend around the body.

6) From what I gather the army did this, and the German laboratory didn't, as well as any other testing entity that has reported results on Dragon Skin.

While interceptor plates certainly possess less repeat capability as shown at the German laboratory in what appeared to be true independant testing; remember the uniform thick plannular plates represented by the Interceptor system doesn't change it's poition at all while wearing, but the scalar armor does, and that's why the NIJ has devised a different test for scalar armor. The military has simply taken it two step further; true wearing placement while testing, and extreme environmental conditioning testing. I remember very clearly giving armor to the military to train with, the boys play rough! The armor comes back looking like crap in a short period of time unless it's built tough.

The environmental testing is designed to accelerate the aging process. In service life testing and maintenance has become quite common with military body armor world wide.

Regards,

Al

By the way, if you haven't heard the name Allan Bain before, here's a little primer.

The fact is most of Pinnacle Armor's systems were invented by Allan D. Bain formally of Armor Technology Corp.. Pinnacle Armor started manufacturing after we educated Mr. Neal how to make armor by contract executed in October of 2000 that was fair and honestly fulfilled. Pinnacle Armor and Mr. Neal never manufactured any body armor prior to this date. So if you hear about Pinnacle Armor or the "Dragon Skin" armor being manufactured since 1995 your talking about armor that Pinnacle Armor never made or developed. In fact Murray Neal was a sales representative for Armor Technology from 1997 - October of 2000 a company owned entirely by Allan D. Bain, the true inventor of Dragon Skin.

Dragon Skin redux

By Slab

Now that NBC has bought into the Dragon Skin hype, from Professional Soldiers comes the best article I have seen yet. I've made a little noise in my attempts to disspell some of the myths surrounding Dragon Skin, but consider this the definitive response to NBC, Pinnacle, Soldiers For The Truth, and the rest.

This was posted today on Professional Soldiers by a gentleman who uses the handle The Reaper. He intentionally guards his identity on the internet, but I will submit to our readers that he is a very experienced Special Forces officer of unquestionable integrity. This comes to me from a friend who has met him, so it is secondhand information. Anyone who wishes to know more about him should ask him directly.

Also, the Army test results are available for public disemmination. A copy can be found here.

Dragon Skin?

There may be something better called Dragon Skin, but better than what?

Bottom line up front. From 16-19 May 2006, in Department of Defense (DoD) test protocols at HP White Labs, Pinnacle SOV 3000 Level IV Dragon Skin vests suffered 13 first or second shot complete penetrations, failing four of eight initial subtests with Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts (ESAPI) threat baseline 7.62 x 63mm M2 Armor Piercing (AP) ammunition. The Project Manager (PM) Soldier Equipment Briefing report is on line and is easily available.

More below...

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