Links of Interest 30-1-21

 Russian Navy expects to add 40 ships this year.

China launches 2nd Type 054A/P frigate for Pakistan Navy

Philippine Air Force (PAF) receives 2x former USAF C-130H

USAF B-52 and Saudi Arabia F-15 "presence patrol" mission

USMC 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing gets COVID-19 shots before deployment

Pentagon Hints It Could Abandon the JEDI Cloud Effort

"In the document, the department argues that it still urgently needs an enterprise cloud to meet mission needs but it is willing to look at other options if the court battle continues. DOD originally selected Microsoft for the $10 billion contract in October 2019, but work halted when AWS challenged certain evaluation criteria. DOD awarded JEDI to Microsoft a second time in September and AWS renewed its protest." 

US Army heads into future tactical unmanned aircraft rodeo next month

 

Links of interest 18 September 2015

Notice what countries are buying to address threats where the F-35 just isn't needed.

That includes this Turkish F-35 weapons mod. This shows that an F-16...or even F-4,  with that weapon, or a JASSM, or JASSM-ER is more cost effective than the Wonga.

And while on the topic of failed programs: the struggle to make the Littoral Combat Gyp useful.

Should Australia get Reaper UCAVs? I think so. I also like the naval ISR version of the platform.

They can scribble all they want about this. With a new PM, the Soryu involvement as a Collins submarine replacement is probably dead. After all, it was, a rigged game.

And here, an accurate Syria cartoon.

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Links of Interest 19 November 2011

While Canada's Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino appears to be a "talking point puppet" on defence issues, there are two more.

More issues with the mistake jets, but not to worry the talking point puppets mentioned above state that it is our only option. Even if that is demonstrably wrong.

While the U.S. could go to war and never miss a STOVL fighter. The want of STOVL forced one major aerospace company to submit to a buyout, another to lose the JSF competition and the "winner" to face a dark and uncertain future.

Finally, a look at a time when the U.S. Navy knew how to manage its fleet.

Links of interest- U.S. News -

-Leak Offers Look at Efforts by U.S. to Spy on Israel
-Poll illustrates California voters' anger
-Members of debt panel have ties to lobbyists
-After winning key right, gays press for more from military
-French consulate awards 15 WWII veterans in Smyrna

Links of interest, 30 August 2011

Chicken hawks on parade and what little Australian public support there is for the war in Afghanistan-War.

$3B of approvals which allow various weapons systems projects to continue forward.

Spin-off from SU-35 project: Russia and India discuss 'Super' SU-30.

With hundreds of F-35 orders missing on the books, these guys can take their time. Or maybe they can't. Investors were expecting their money based on a lot of now; non-existent orders.

I think this is a bit much. The real lesson from Libya is that if you are going to topple a dictator, violent extremism as the end product is hardly an improvement. Big victory there; yeah I'm seeing it now. And, it isn't like they fought back much. Get real.

Links of Interest 14 July 2011

Nothing new here? Australian government bureaucrats don’t tell the truth or mislead in hearings to our elected officials.

And, more on the U.S. Navy’s trouble with maintaining operational equipment and ships. Money wasted on the F-35C takes away cash better used to keep the fleet moving.

Another failure for I.T. people that should know better.

The reputation of the U.S. in the Middle East is getting worse. Is that even possible?

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Links of Interest 10 July 2011

Russia is the last original contender standing in the space race. Early-on it moved ahead. Later, the U.S. moved ahead. Today, the U.S. has called it quits. If the U.S. needs to put people in to space, it will hitch a ride. This is only one sign that Rome is falling.

In Australia, some people are now just waking up to the fact that over-the-horizon radar has limitations.

How did the Gaza flotilla crowd get minimized? Read here.

The Navy’s still lives in their own fantasy world. Meanwhile, so does the USAF. After a break of many years--see this parked F-102 with the IRST bulb in front of the canopy--the USAF decides to put something close to infra-red search and track capability back on fighter aircraft; sorry, really old fighter aircraft (F-15C). Unfortunately it takes up a centerline hardpoint which is normally used for external drop tanks--instead of doing it the way Japan does with the F-15J.

The U.S. Defence budget is still huge and what do you get? A pauper USAF.

With the F-22 still grounded; the end of F-22 production and the expensive disaster known as the F-35 program, yeah; Rome is falling.

Links of Interest 24 June 2011

Marketing desperation is just that; there is no plan for India to look at the F-35.

Iraq still has the potential to get worse.

With a calendar specific as opposed to a event specific strategy now set by the U.S., expect the same to happen to Afghanistan. The enemy can now feel confident about waiting us out.

And remember, that “victory” of removing the Taliban from power in 2001 was all about small forces backed up with a lot of precision air power. By itself, that won’t build a nation; if one considers Afghanistan worthy of being a nation...

Pakistan’s ISI holds a lot of the Afghan cards. Pakistan is dangerous all the way around. Maybe someday we will realize that fact.

With that, here are some very interesting statistics on the Afghan conflict.

RAND has released a report (summary and full report-PDF) that suggests the USAF put more effort into wargaming against Iran.

Interesting for RAND that they would make the following dangerous assumption.

The 2010 F-35 stealth fighter aircraft agreement with the United States is another example of building capabilities with an eye toward Iran, particularly since a stealth capability would be critical if Iran acquires the S-300 advanced air defense system from Russia.

Which variant of the S-300 and with what accessories? Good luck.

The top uniformed guy for Australian Defence has retired. I am still trying to figure out what he did that was of any great value.

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Links of interest 15 Jun 2011

Aviation Week and Defense Technology International's Bill Sweetman has three interesting reads starting out with this sporty video.

Explained in this post A life on the ocean wave.

Then Bill looks at confirmation of China's 2 J-20 stealth prototype stealth fighters along with something that is just as dangerous: AESA capability on the J-10B. I wonder how they approached cooling with that new radar setup?

Peter Criss and Gary Bates take another look at problems in the Defence justice system.

What do you do if you want to see more defense spending? You use fear.

Links of Interest 18 May 2011

The guy that has helped to give us the bulk of the infamous project concern list by virtue of his position as the head of the Defence Material Organisation will take on the role as a representative for non-U.S. F-35 partner nations as the co-chair of the Joint Strike Fighter Executive Steering Board. This is a rotating duty between partner nations. Should we worry?

And while they do fire some people for bad Defence work, it isn't always permanent and they don't seem to fire the high profile ones that are really causing the damage to the tune of billions per year.

Even though victory was declared with getting Osama, the Germans are still not happy about the U.S. drone strike campaign in Pakistan. Can we leave now? Afghanistan is not in our national interest.

Light bulbs. The fanatics--along with industry--got us the overly expensive light bulbs. I can see a black market industry for proper light bulbs. Tunnels going under the Mexico border and all that.

And finally this shot from a passenger on an airliner going from New York to Florida of the shuttle Endeavour launch.