Clark Griswold

Any news or rumint on KC-10 divestment?

Interesting times ahead. It Seems a Chinese Missile Drone Just Crashed in Nigeria Is Beijing selling killer robots in Africa?

Don't expect too much to change. First Beheading Occurs Under New Saudi King

Go big or go home. Airliners Landing on an Aircraft Carrier? By Kris Hull on May 7th, 2014

Foot insert mouth procedure complete. I am sure not meant in the sense of Benedict Arnold but really a poor choice of words. General: Praising the A-10 to Lawmakers is ‘Treason’

From FoxtrotAlpha: The BOLT117 Paved The Way For New Guided Bombs Being Used Against ISIS

Because we believed LM when it said "just the tip"

Too bad - many a hazy post and pre Died memories (I think) were had there. Preferred getting off-base in Cambridge but that was not often. Last time I took a USAF aircraft there - it was Prestwick - out of the way but nice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What about the Smokehouse?

Article's title and a play on words Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The future is here. And it's kinky. Robot Handjobs Are The Future, And The Future Is Coming

While I have been the grateful recipient of military spending, made transitioning from AD to the ANG seamless as the orders flowed, I have say that while there is room for some excess military spending to keep the industrial base & force highly capable, we are not a good jobs program. Military Spending: A Poor Job Creator By William D. Hartung January 2012 For some towns / areas of the US, an increased military presence as an economic stimulator is acceptable but those are few and far between. The fat we keep around weighs down the organization and detracts resources but that pork is how we get things done in our consensus based democracy. I think our military (mostly our procurement) is a symptom of a problem that we as a nation face, our founding fathers designed our government to need an unusually large amount of consensus to get things done at the large scale, they really meant for state governments and counties to administer the civil needs of the nation as that was the scale of life then. Now fast-forward 200+ years and we live at a totally different scale but fundamentally have the same government system for the big things needing a really large amount of consensus to get the big things done, so in our diverse and sometimes divisive nation, we horse trade with other people's money to get things done, and as we have seen in the military, we get tanks the Army doesn't want and aircraft programs purposely distributed to make them unkillable because everyone has a piece of the action even if it is over budget, underperforming and way behind schedule, reference Flawed F-35 Fighter Too Big to Kill as Lockheed Hooks 45 States. This problem translates to the modern military, we have a military designed for a large scale conventional war on multiple fronts but with no incentive to change or reconfigure when circumstances warrant it because the authority is actually so distributed and the laws so Byzantine it is almost impossible to get anything done. And even when the probability of a large scale conventional war is a possibility and increasing as China / Russia strengthen capabilities and probe the resolve of the West, it continues with business as usual.

Didn't think Algeria would have such a good IADS but then with Libya as your neighbor, not a bad idea. I completely agree that the AF needs its own EA aircraft and to not really only on stealth only. MALD-J kinda fills that hole (sts) but having a dedicated platform for EA would be better (no shit). I am sure with all the money out there and the huge budget increases coming for the AF, getting this aircraft will be no big deal. /sarcasm off

Advert featuring woman’s breasts causes 500 accidents in a DAY among Moscow’s distracted male drivers - before being impounded by police

Not sure exactly what's wrong with the AF but here's an example of what was right about it from back in the day. Mission first, bureaucratic bullshit second. Spies Helped the USAF Shoot Down a Third of North Vietnam’s MiG-21s The American pilots had to keep the NSA in the dark

The answer/work around may eventually be an LO Sniper Pod like the weapons pod on an International Roadmap Hornet or an LO UAV wingman who gets to carry ATP & VDL making himself more of a target instead of the manned platform. Who knows and it may be as Brabus said a non-issue as it will just have to be accepted as the way it is since it was not a specifically CAS designed aircraft, just like 16s, 15Es, etc... What keeps fueling criticism, doubt and general distrust of the whole thing is the constant dribble of all these pesky details. Makes me think that there are bigger limitations that no one wants to admit.

So no VDL, no IR pointer and it may need to carry a pod to do this as there are no plans to add this. Nice. Is The F-35's Targeting System Really 10 Years Behind Current Systems? Newest U.S. Stealth Fighter ‘10 Years Behind’ Older Jets

Agreed. The technique of Command Presence has been misconstrued, we don't wimpy cops but we don't want bullies either.

Excellent article. Ranges on several points to come down pretty hard on how the modern military has evolved into what it is now. The Tragedy of the American Military The American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win. James Fallows JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Prepare for this counseling / down-day fun in your future... just a matter of time

Glad to see the tanker finally flying, still skeptical of the 3D boom system, seems a bit Rube Goldberg but whatevs, it's a done deal.

If you've got 15 minutes this is a good summary of why Russia is the way it is. Understanding the Russian mindset

No disagreement there, I don't see our rich uncle cutting the USAF a bigger check anytime soon so a good solution aircraft to a lot of missions is better than a perfect solution aircraft to just one or a couple. But I should like a candle and not just hate all over the F-35. From BreakingDefence.com : New F-35 Prices: A: $95M; B: $102M; C: $116M

TLAR They didn't mention LO characteristics that could help keep the price down (maybe) but a price tag at $20 million or below and $15K per hour to fly seems very hopeful. Just my opinion, if a dedicated attack platform is ever going to happen again it will have to happen in conjunction with another acquisition or a serious foreign military sales. Maybe selecting the KA-50 Golden Eagle as the T-38 replacement then trying to get the TA-50 Light Attack variant is a possibility but remote at best. Hate to be so pessimistic but so many GOs, Cols, and their brothers have sold the F-35 as the solution to replacing aging 10s & 16s that admitting to needing a dedicated CAS platform is admitting that either they lied or made a mistake. The bureaucracy is not known for issuing mea culpas.