Obama at Ft. Hood.
Category: Military
Brazilian Defense Minister Doubts Sincerity of US Technology Transfer Promises
He talks about extensive difficulties in getting essential technology transferred as a part of contractual obligations:
According to the minister, the most controversial matter among the suppliers is the technology transfer issue and he emphasized that, in this area, the United States doesn’t a have a favorable history.
“The trouble with the United States,” he stated, “are past issues. The past is a big example of technology transfer embargo. We experience this here today at the Cetex.”
Jobim revealed that during his visit to the technological center he heard reports by military men stating that American companies would supply technology for the finishing of military equipments, such as batteries and propellers, only in ten years.
While the quote is unclear, and I think intentionally so, I believe that this is a shot across the bow regarding the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet’s AESA radar, the APG-79.
Truth be told, with the obvious issues with the Superbug’s aerodynamics, it’s the slowest of the three finalists, and the under-wing environment is noisy, hence the “splayed” arrangement of its stores pylons (see picture), required for safe stores separation, which increases drag.
Additionally, it’s significantly larger size vs. its competitors, about 20% more than the Rafale, and about double the Gripen, which necessarily increases the cost per flight hour, makes it clear that its sensor suite, and the ability for Brazil to modify these systems to meet its needs, becomes paramount to Boeing’s bid.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Die
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Where is the White Persian Cat?
Well, it appears that some sharp-eyed satellite imagery analysts have spotted what they think is a China’s anti-satellite laser installation in Google™ Earth™ pictures.
This conclusion is actually somewhat controversial, as there are any number of non-hostile applications, such as astronomy and precision satellite tracking (which would involve a low power laser range finder) that could explain these installation
You can find larger pictures here, which include two other similar Chinese installations.
Kos Owns Tom Tancredo
Markos “Kos” Moulitsas slaps down Tom Tancredo.
When Tancredo claims that all the veterans hate the VA, and would much rather have vouchers, Kos responds, “I’m a veteran, I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight in a war that I supported in Vietnam.”
Tancredo stormed off the set when Kos was not forthcoming with an apology.
Awww….Kos hurt his widdle feewings….Poor Tom Tancredo….He had to go off and cry.
It starts at about 2:50 in the video.
H/t What Would Jack Do for the vid.
I’ve Been to Fort Hood
And the shootings there are a bit of a shock.
I was there for an SCA event in the 1990s. I recall a couple of Apaches flying over while we were dressed in medieval garb, which was kind of surreal.
Australia Looking to Bug Out of Afghanistan
Do the Australian government is looking to complete the mission in “shortest time-frame possible,” according to Defense (Defence?) Minister John Faulkner
It should be noted that the Australians have been in with the Americans on everywhere that the US has fought for the past 100 years, including Vietnam, so this is not a good indication of the direction of military involvement of allied forces.
Basically, there is not a whole bunch of goodwill left for operations in Afghanistan after the Bushie’s fiasco in Iraq, even with a new president.
OK…….Count Me Dubious
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Slat Armor
TARIAN
RPG-30
RPG-30 in Action
There are a number of systems to deal with RPGs and similar threats, such as the US and Israeli active protection systems that shoot down incoming rounds, the slat armor used to predetonate HEAT rounds (shown, top), the cloth based TARIAN armor also used to predetonate armor (shown, Bottom), and now Textron has come up with the Tactical Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Airbag Protection System (TRAPS), which uses sensors to detect an incoming round, and than uses an airbag to detonate the warhead far enough away from the hull to minimize damage. (no pictures, sorry)
There are a number of reasons that I am dubious.
The first is that it combines all the disadvantages of a passive system (single use) with those of an active system (expensive sensors), and also because it would appear to be particularly vulnerable to the tandem round system used in the RPG-30. (bottom 2 pictures)
I would also note that it does seem to suffer the same problem as all such systems developed under the Aegis* of the Pentagon:
The progress of TRAPS has not been as fast as one might expect. It was first unveiled at an Army trade show back in October 2006, after spending $3.5 million in Pentagon cash the previous year. Phase II testing is still to take place, and an operational system will be some way down the line. Janes notes the timing of the latest tests –- Textron is bidding to be part of the Army’s new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.
It’s running late, and it appears to be over budget.
A Level of Class that You Would Never See Out of Bush and His Evil Minions™
How will Fox call this Communist?
Or for that matter, his Dad, who instituted the shameful news blackout on the repatriation of the bodies of servicemen killed in action.
I have been disappointed about a lot of things, but his going to Dover Air Force Base to honor troops killed in Afghanistan is a demonstration of Menschlichkeit.
Bush Jr. spent his entire term avoiding things like this, because he’s a coward with no integrity.
The picture on the left is him saluting* the men as they are transported off the transport
Video below.
*I know that this is a picayune observation, as this is a genuine show of respect, but I thought civilians weren’t supposed to salute, could someone with military experience please inform me on the finer points?
LCS-2 Breaks 50 MPH
Say what you will about the LCS, and I agree with a lot of them, over priced, behind schedule, under-armed for their displacement, and under-crewed, but when you stomp the throttle, they go like a scorched cat:
The Navy’s need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.
Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.
I have no clue as to their endurance when going this fast, but my guess is that they would need to refuel if they wanted to cross the Pacific at this speed.
Video from an builder’s trials after break:
Ready, Fire, Aim
The USAF is looking at how new technologies might provide a diction for the service’s future:
The study will look 20 years ahead, with an eye toward implementing near-term investment decisions aimed at producing relevant military systems. “We are not talking about pie in the sky,” Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said last month.
The problem ain’t technology, it’s the contracting, and cost control. At the rate things are going, all of the USAF’s budget will go to just buying one aircraft somewhere around 2075.
After all, the F-22 already costs almost ½ as much as the first nuclear aircraft carrier, the Enterprise.
Their future is bleak until costs come under control, which is true of most of the military, but the US Air Force appears to be in the worst position regarding this.
Obyekt 279 Soviet Tank Photos
I was looking at Pravda article about Libyan arms purchases, and and came across a photo gallery for the Soviet obyekt 279 heavy tank, which they mischaracterized as the T-10.
It comes in at about 60 metric tons in the late 1950s, which makes it a very heavy tank for its day, as does the 130mm rifled gun it sported, along with twin treads on either side to improve mobility.
Interesting, but by the time it hit test, the ATGM had largely eclipsed the heavy tank, which was replaced by the by the MBT, the T-54s on the WarPac side, and M-60, Leopard I, and the AMX-30, which were all at least 10 tonnes lighter, and the Centurion/Chieftain which was at least 10t lighter.
Avent Upgrade “Feasable” for F-35 Engine
Essentially, they are looking at adaptive versatile engine technology (Advent) technology, which could change engine bypass ratio in flight.
Interestingly enough, this was a part of the architecture for GE F120 engine, which lost to the P&W F119 in the F-22 raptor, from which the F-35’s F136 engine was derived.
What’s Up With Petraeus Disrespecting a Foreign Head of Government?*
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Gen. David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, left, shakes hand with Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, prior to their talks at the Prime Minister’s residence in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday.
General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan, meets British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street, in London, on October 1, 2009
OK, so I’m reading an article regarding differences between the Pakistani and US Military, and I see this picture, with that caption.
What’s wrong with this picture? The fact that General David Petraeus is meeting with a prime-minister of an allied country in his fatigues (I know, technically the Army Combat Uniform) at the Prime Minister’s residence, not some air field named Camp Middle-of-Nowhere.
While I understand that the chain of command for the US military goes through the White House, and not the Pakistani PM’s official residence, it seems to me that when one shows up at such a place, whether you civilian or military, you should wear something that involves….You know…A tie.
Notice when another 4 star General, meets another Prime Minister, one who has a lot less skin pigment, and speaks English with near native fluency, somehow or other the tie comes out
My guess is that this is not about racism, but rather about the way that Petraeus has sold himself, as America great warrior™, and he therefore wants to be seen by the press and the public as a warrior, and so he wears a “battle uniform”, but that’s psychoanalysis from a distance, and if you do that you become Charles Krauthammer, and I really do not want to head down that road.
*In a parliamentary system, the PM is head of government, and a president (or monarch) is head of state. In the United States, the President is both.
Russia’s Adopts Nuclear First Strike Policy
While worrisome, it represents a reversal of the Soviet/Russian “no first strike” policy adopted in the 1980s, but it should be noted that this new policy will not will be effectively identical to that of the US, which has repudiated calls for it to take a “no first strike” policies since the 1980s.
It’s nothing to tear one’s hair out about, unless you are Georgian President Saakashvili, where it might be seen as a shot across the bow towards NATO involvement in the region….But then again, he doesn’t tear out his hair, he chews on his tie.
“In situations critical for national security, a preventive nuclear strike against the aggressor is not ruled out,” he said.
The section of Russia’s military doctrine about the opportunity to use nuclear weapons was formulated to preserve the status of a nuclear power for the Russian Federation. The document states that Russia can apply nuclear deterrence against potential enemies to prevent aggression against Russia and its allies.
I think that the video below puts everything in decent perspective:
GE Promises 56,000 Lb Thrust F136
Bradley Perrett at Ares notes that GE/Rolls Royce has had this this thrust number floating around since at least 2002, and would compare quite favorably to the 43,000 lbs of thrust available in the F135.
It’s clear that the F136 has a larger core than the F135, but at this point GE/Rolls is arguing that this can allow for greater reliability, and perhaps a few hundred pounds more thrust in STOVL mode for the F-35 JSF
The latter looks significant, as the Royal Navy is looking at a “shipborne rolling vertical landing,” basically a relatively low speed (under 150 km/h) non-arrested (!) landing on a carrier to increase bring-back weapons load and to reduce wear and tear on the engines, for vertical landings.
My guess, as is Mr. Perrett’s, is that the 56,000 lbs is the number that they are designing to for the purpose of creating a margin which would allow for reduced maintenance and capacity for upgrades.
In order to go from 43,000 lbs of thrust to 56,000 pounds of thrust in the JSF, I think that there would have to be some major airframe modifications, because there has to be more air flowing through that engine to get that performance, so I would expect significantly altered air inlets, no small change in a stealth aircraft, to realize that thrust level.
One interesting aside in the article, is the “cost” of the lift fan system that was chosen as the winner in this competition: both the GE/Rolls and P&W engines for the original fly-off for between Lockheed-Martin’s X-35 and Boeing’s X-32 delivered a lot more thrust in wingborne mode using when configured Boeing’s direct lift concept.
Thrust-Vectoring EJ200 for Typhoon
So it looks like Eurojet is looking at getting into the thrust vectoring game.
It also looks like they will be selling it on improved economics, based on the use of lower thrust settings for takeoff and landing, and improved straight-line performance through reduced trim drag, rather than any massive increase in agility.
This is not surprising: At the speeds at which combat generally occurs, aerodynamic surfaces just work better.
For all the play over airshow maneuvers like the Cobra, etc., you have to be out of energy and very slow for them to work, which mirrors Colonel Fornof’s talks on dealing with the thrust vectoring F-22 and Su-30MKI, where he says that using thrust vectoring creates opportunities for the opposing aircraft to shoot you down.
Sounds like the old truism of air combat, “Speed is life,” remains true.
Video:
Rafale Video Pr0n
H/t The DEW Line, for this rather pretty bit of aviation videography:
Chinese Copy Pentagon
Only it ain’t a military installation, it’s a shopping mall near Shanghai.
So, the Chinese intend to defeat us with shopping malls….We’re Doomed.
I saw what shopping malls did to Portland, Oregon, and it wasn’t pretty.
Khe Sanh in Pashtun
Whatever those words are that apparently sound a lot like Camp Keating, the combat outpost where US troops were greatly outnumbered and besieged 5 days ago, resulting in 8 US fatalities, and well over 100 Taliban dead.
So, now, after the many words about the “casualties inflicted on the enemy,” the US Army is bugging out of the camp.
I do not mean in any way to diminish the bravery and the sacrifice of our troops, rather I am disparaging the leadership and competence of senior officers. The location of this forward base appears to have been an invitation to disaster.
This entire affair sounds like the Battle of Khe Sanh in miniature: It was a day, instead of months, and it was perhaps 500 combatants on both sides, as opposed to about 30,000 on both sides, but you have the siege, the asymmetric fight, the declaration of victory by the US military, and then the withdrawal from the position.
The echos of Khe Sanh are eerie.
End of Stealth?
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Bistatic Radar
Typical RCS
So, Joint Force Quarterly has an article on the end of stealth (PDF link for article)
Certainly, the air forces of the world have been trying to make Giulio Douhet’s vision of strategic bombing vision reality for many years, and stealth technology had the potential of reducing the costs of striking a target to something approaching the Italian general’s original vision.
Of course, even in the case of air supremacy over the target, WWII over Germany and Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and both Iraq wars, it turns out that air power, at least without Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been an abject failure at winning wars.
While I do agree with the basic thesis of the article, that improvements in processing technology, particularly in processing power available in compact packages,which allow for intermittent signals from disparate platforms to be fused into a coherent picture.
The author Arend Westra, places a high degree of value on what he calls “bistatic’ and “passive” radars, where the receiver is well removed from the transmitter, and, in some cases, the transmitter is something like a civilian TV or radio facility.
I am far more dubious of the capabilities of such systems for a number of reasons:
- They have multiple points of failure.
- For the United States in particular, civilian broadcasting infrastructure, because of its ability to transmit civil defense instructions and “enemy propaganda”, these are considered militarily significant infrastructure whose locations are well known, and are hit early in any war.
- As an interesting philosophical aside, by the standards of the United States, the World Trade Center towers were legitimate military targets, because they were festooned with civilian radio and television transmitters.
- I think that using processing will be cheaper than new technology.
This is not to say that I think that these sorts of systems won’t be deployed, as there is already an existing civilian infrastructure to piggyback on, but that they will be a part, and for anyone with half a brain a small part of a total system.
I think that as we move to the future, that any sort of strike package heading into an integrated air defense system will do with the Israelis did, where the idea of somehow blocking or flooding the network used to integrate the various sensors will become the most significant part of any mission planning.
I think that the biggest impact will be in the arms market, where nations concerned about air attacks may very turn toward increasingly sophisticated Russian air defense systems.