They know that they don’t know:

The Navy is 90 percent sure its current estimated cost to operate and maintain the controversial Littoral Combat Ship is off target, according to a draft Government Accountability Office report obtained by BreakingDefense.

It’s almost like the whole programs is tango uniform.

Been a while since Linkzookery has been spotted. Murdoc’s slowly trying to get things spun up again around these parts.

X-51A Waverider Achieves Hypersonic Goal On Final Flight
Scramjet scrams in excess of Mach 5.

The Dreaded Wyoming GOP Facebook ‘Hatef–k’ Rapist Has Been Apprehended
It’s not going to be too long before no one even notices rape claims anymore, and that will be a terrible thing for the real victims. It will be portrayed as misogynists and a war on women, but it will really be the fault of the leftie feminists. And the media that breathlessly parrots the lies.

Navy unveils squadron of manned, unmanned aircraft
HSL-35 “Magicians” will have 8 manned helicopters and 10 MQ-8B Fire Scouts. It will operate from Littoral Combat Ships.

LCS Crew Discovers Seawater in Freedom’s Lube-Oil
First deployment.

The Future is ….. a Frigate
Murdoc has long wondered where the 21st-century FFG-7s were.

Navy commissioning amphib Anchorage on Saturday
USS Anchorage (LPD 23) is the seventh San Antonio-class ship.

Dick’s sporting goods sales plunge after adopting politically correct anti-gun policy
What a bunch of…punks.

No hijacking by Somali pirates in nearly a year
Attacks still occur, but all have failed since May 12, 2012. It’s amazing what effect shooting back has on criminals.

Iraq to Receive Final Three C-130Js
Will operate a total of six of the J model Hercs.

The U.S. Has Much, Much More Gas and Oil Than We Thought
Remember, 10 years ago anyone who was skeptical about Peak Oil had their head in the sand. It turns out that they did…but they were looking for more oil. And found it.

Local NBC Reporter Hilariously Denies Soviet Flags Present At May Day Rally: ‘What Do They Represent?’
Just pretending? Or down the memory hole?

Army says no to more tanks, but Congress insists

It’s the inverse of the federal budget world these days, in which automatic spending cuts are leaving sought-after pet programs struggling or unpaid altogether. Republicans and Democrats for years have fought so bitterly that lawmaking in Washington ground to a near-halt.

Yet in the case of the Abrams tank, there’s a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on a weapon the experts explicitly say is not needed.

“If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way,” Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, told The Associated Press this past week.

$7.5 million for each upgraded M1A2SEPv2. Murdoc’s usually in favor of more better equipment, but pumping dollars into the good old military industrial complex while simultaneously cutting budgets to the point where the Army is planning to cut 8 brigades is a bit much.

Abrams Main Battle Tank platoons position themselves on the battlefield in order to lay suppressive fire during Hammer Strike, a brigade level live-fire exercise conducted by the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, at the Udairi Range Complex near Camp Buehring, Kuwait, Wednesday. During the mission, the brigade combined ground maneuver, field artillery, attack aviation and Air Force assets to engage and destroy targets, displaying its lethal firepower to the many Kuwait military counterparts on hand. Hammer Strike was a culmination of the training the Sledgehammer Brigade and their Kuwaiti counterparts have been conducting for the past four months.

Let’s all pray for a speedy reunion with his older brother.

Yes, Murdoc ran the Boston Marathon again this year. Yes, he was there when the bombs went off. But he was a couple of blocks away and he, his family, and everyone he knows that was there was fine.

Army removes XM25 from service after incident

The Army’s XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement system has been removed from service after a training accident injured a soldier in Afghanistan early last month.

A soldier was injured during a Feb. 2 live-fire training event during which the primer of a 25mm high-explosive air burst round ignited as a result of a double feed, according to Army spokesman Matthew Bourke.

The injuries were superficial.

The Army really hypes this thing, but Murdoc has heard that the 25mm round is lacking in lethality.

Just beware.

A Lack of Swordsmen May Lead Saudis to Abolish Beheadings

Is this what progress looks like in Saudi Arabia? The kingdom is considering ending execution by beheading in favor of firing squads, reports the Egyptian English-language news website Ahram Online. A committee consisting of representatives from the Ministries of Interior, Justice and Health says there are shortages in government swordsmen and argue that a change to execution by firing squad would not violate Islamic law, the Saudi daily newspaper al-Youm writes. According to an official statement from the committee, “This solution seems practical, especially in light of shortages in official swordsmen or their belated arrival to execution yards in some incidents.”