Free speech folks

In regard to foreign policy, I don't think Romney is the sharpest tool in the bag. Neither is the current U.S. President.

However, absent from this discussion are:

1. The imporantance of free speech above all.
2. And, a bulling Chinese communist leadership which is affecting Pacific rim security.

I did wonder about this:

And of course we should be encouraging the positive forces unleashed by the Arab Spring.

What "positive" forces? Those that make government sponsored religious extremism even more efficient in the finest traditions of fascism?

If an uprising is unwilling to produce a country that can exercise free speech above all else, the effort is not worth backing by the U.S.

At any price.

Even if the current U.S. Secretary of State has little concept of the notion.

Poor analysis

Not the best analysis.

As Lockheed Martin has found out with the both the F-22 and the F-35, fifth-generation fighters are hard to get right: the F-22 was recently grounded with a system problem that was causing pilots to black out, while the F-35 is behind schedule, over budget and testing the patience of the U.S. Air Force to the limits.

So, because a U.S. deskilled and groupthink-rich environment has such problems, those same problems will be there for the Chinese? Well, that is an environment that would have people shot for doing what the U.S. military-industrial-congressional-complex has done.

Also, I am curious how many communist factories let you drink your lunch under a tree in your pick-up truck?

And, the U.S. only has one fifth-generation fighter. The other that marketing pukes are trying to push as such is a complete disaster.

I suspect that Chinese problems will be somewhat different.

The key challenge facing Chinese designers is not in coming up with a stealthy platform, but the systems that go inside it. These include electro-optic sensors and an AESA fire-control radar – a generational jump in technology that comes as standard on F-35s and F-22s; stealthy coatings; and reliable engines. The latter are a particular bugbear for China, which has for years relied on Russian technology to power its fast jets. Many Western observers believe the Shen Fei is powered by two Russian-sourced Klimov RD-93 turbofans, reinforcing perceptions that this particular weakness is holding China back. The fact that the same images show that these engines appear to be ill-fitting suggests that Shenyang may be following the lead of Chengdu, which is believed to be trying out a number of different engines on the J-20.

The author needs to use a push mower on a warm summer day while wearing winter gear. Then maybe he will understand the concept of "thermal issues" with the F-35 and the show room options he claims work in an unproven and troubled weapons system that is way short of real operational testing.

As for the avionics, I would think the Chinese will not over reach like the U.S. has with the Just-So-Failed. They might use something like, oh, I don't know, a HUD, instead of a helmet/display fubar.

Engines? Yeah sure. And, we will see.

Free money

LOL:

The United States was also spending some $600 million over the next five years to fund “clean energy development, child health and nutrition programs, and efforts to help make Indonesia’s government more transparent and open,” Clinton said.

BTW, the U.S. is over $16T in the red. But yeah, handing out cash that doesn't belong to you.

DOD official on the road, misleading valuable allies

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is on the road helping Lockmart sell defective mistake jets.

He spins this fairy tale for Japan:

“It’s the linchpin of tactical aircraft inventories for the United States for decades to come, so we’re completely committed to it.”

Interesting, as it is unlikely to take on Pacific anti-access threats. That and no one knows what it will cost or how many we can afford to field.

The biggest alleged customer of the F-35, the USAF, certainly has worry.

Carter continues perpetuating the Ponzi-scheme.

“I wouldn’t have told you this three years ago, but I can tell you now: I think it’s getting on the path to finishing its development [and] ramping up to full-rate production.”

Add him to the witness list when the lawyers start eating this program alive.

The rest of the article explains how dumb it is to be a JSF Partner Nation member mooching for "best value" while off-sets are handed out to FMS customers.

Play nice now

Not mentioned in this piece is that communism only understands force.

That means we have to try to persuade Washington not to confront China, as it is doing now, but to work with it. We should also try to persuade China that it, too, must accept a continuing role for America in Asia. Both will have to do a lot of compromising.

Maybe the communists will act nice if we tell them to pretty-please, stop bullying the Philippines over South China Sea areas the communists have no claim over.

Australia's strategic direction

Some in Australia have great hope, that if they are nice to Communist China, everything will work out fine.

This read from Woolcott today is interesting. He writes about political balance between the U.S., China and Australia.

In the following quote, I agree with the last part (in bold).

The ANZUS treaty "should not be regarded as an absolute guarantee of American military support (which it is not), or as a political sacred cow", he writes, adding that ANZUS or the broader US alliance had led Australia into three unsuccessful wars - Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet, I wonder what some of the be-friends-with-Communist China think of this warning?

Another question requires caution. Of the two; Communist China and the U.S., which has a better chance of supporting freedom of speech and free will?

No support from Italian maker if U.S. tries to sell C-27s bought for DOD

I agree with this. It is a business. Why should the DOD be allowed to under-cut Italian sales because of poor planning?

U.S. communist appeasement tour

The gift at the bottom of every bottle of communist appeasement:

Memory loss.

The talks on Wednesday, led by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy and the deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army General Staff, General Ma Xiaotian, went ahead despite those and other tensions, including U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in September.

Flournoy told reporters that Ma had asked about U.S. intentions behind the plan to put as many as 2,500 U.S. Marines as well as U.S. war planes and navy ships at a base in Darwin.

"We assured General Ma and his delegation that the U.S. does not seek to contain China. We do not view China as an adversary. That these posture changes were first and foremost about strengthening our alliance with Australia."

Nothing to worry about at all.

The special relationship with the U.S. and Australia

Some have the solution to Pacific Rim security, as long as it includes the faulty F-35 and Lockmart song book. Fielding the Brewster Buffalo II throughout the Pacific is a plan to lose.

The U.S. President will speak before Australian Parliament today. Do not expect him to walk up to the podium; and pull out of his top-hat a hand-written 3 minute speech that is eloquent and relevant.

Australia and the U.S. have military exercises all the time. The idea of deploying a small number of Marines to Australia is if anything, a very very small part of that picture.

What it really shows in these budget troubled times is that the U.S. has a certain number of Marines that can't be used anywhere else. Since they will not contribute to hard deterrent in the region, we could save some money and remove those manpower slots from the USMC.

Not mentioned much is the waste of manpower Australia is funding for Operation: USELESS DIRT. Silly as Australian Army resources have plenty of security work to do right here in our own back yard.

Real deterrence can only be done when you have strong air power in place. Since no one is thinking about basing USAF F-22s in Australia, the idea of deterrence is rather empty.

Here in Australia, the Communist China lobby is worried about hurt feelings. Communism has more sway for some than democracy and freedom of speech. If China is the way forward, why bother funding a military at all? The Communist China lobby cares less about human values and more about making a buck. Or is it their true love of communist ideals?

You decide.

Then there is the Communist China lobby in D.C.

Australia being the farthest away they could put Marines without making communist investors--including those who invest in Congress--angry.

Minimum F-22 needs for the U.S. and its allies

So how many F-22s are needed?

For security of the U.S. and our allies, we need more of this aircraft.

Japan could use about 150 or more. Israel--given the lessening security situation over the long haul--about the same number. Australia, now with the F-111 gone, certainly could use about 72.

The U.S. Air Force--based on an actual study--needs as a minimum 380+ to support 10 deployment contingency tours known as AEF's.

All of this would give the program health to fund other variants and the FB-22.

However, now that the U.S. has no air power leadership of worth, this is all lost.

Future conventional wars will now be more costly. The loss of credible deterrent puts the U.S. and its allies at more risk.

U.S. Middle East policy can only go so far as AIPAC

Well, that was quick.

"AIPAC appreciates President Obama's speech today at our annual policy conference in which he reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the shared values that define both nations. In particular, we appreciate his statement that the U.S. does not expect Israel to withdraw to the boundaries that existed between Israel and Jordan in 1967 before the Six Day War."

When you have to issue a "clarification" to one of your important campaign donors, maybe the message was never properly thought out in the first place. I would say that pretty much covers Obama's Middle East policy as it pertains to Israel. The need for campaign dollars; the need to win the next election and so on. For the U.S., AIPAC is a big part of Middle East Policy. Even if it shouldn't be.



(image 2008 via Flickr-by wordhustlerllcs )

U.S. defense projects on Guam cut short by Japanese earthquake

Brilliant catch by Galrahn.

The Japanese earthquake has delayed their funding of U.S. defense projects on Guam.

Pakistan fires on NATO helicopter

Via the LA Times

Two soldiers are reported injured, and a U.S. official in Afghanistan says a border incident is being investigated. Relations between the U.S. and Pakistan already were strained by the incursion to kill Osama bin Laden.

Along with that, Senator Kerry is in Pakistan for a visit and the Pakistan leadership is off to China.