Archive for the ‘Military & Defense’ Category
Here is a handy graphic found at Instapundit:
Defense vs. Non-Defense Spending, 1960-2010
I’ve made this argument many, many times in conversation. I am always shocked when so few people believe that the spending on the military is less than on other programs. It’s consistently like 80%-90% who don’t believe me.
Remember the bump over the past three years when someone tells you how Bush’s wars are bankrupting America.
From Boeing’s RealAmericanTankers.com site:
Navy Times reports that the GC(X) program is deleted in the budget the Navy submitted yesterday and postpones the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.
With its shipbuilding dollars the Navy would buy two Virginia-class submarines; two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers; two littoral combat ships; one America-class big-deck amphibious ship; the first in a new class of Mobile Landing Platform auxiliaries; and one Joint High Speed Vessel. The Navy would also extend the lives of four air-cushioned landing craft; buy one oceanographic ship; and pay for one new variety of “ship-to-shore connector,” a potential replacement for the air-cushioned landing craft.
As for aircraft, in fiscal 2011 the Navy would buy 13 F-35B Lightning II fighters for the Marine Corps; seven F-35C fighters, which fly off Navy carriers; 22 F/A-18E and F Super Hornets; 12 EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets; four E-2D Hawkeye advanced airborne warning planes; and seven P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol planes.
Also in the budget are plans to stand up four additional squadrons of EA-18G Growlers for land-based operations. But the “fighter gap” remains unaddressed.
Neptunus Lex writes a bit about the T-50, a supposed fifth-generation fighter from Sukhoi:
The Sukhoi T-50 prototype, a “fifth generation” fighter, completed a 47-minute maiden test flight in Russia’s Far East. The project, three years behind schedule, has been shrouded in secrecy during almost two decades of development and aims to rival the F-22 Raptor flown by the US Air Force, which began flight tests in 1997.
Lex notes this about the F-22:
Curious place the Raptor found itself in: Too valuable to export, not valuable enough to build.
He also notes that the photos of the T-50 don’t make it look nearly as stealthy as they claim. The comments section is quite interesting.
Stormbringer has a good write-up of The Pueblo Incident.
I don’t think I knew that the Pueblo was a museum ship in the DPRK.
Anti-War Demonstrators Use Unique Defense During Tacoma Trial
Two women were arrested and charged with civil disobedience after they used their bodies to try to block Stryker vehicles outside Fort Lewis in August 2008. The vehicles were returning from Iraq through the Port of Tacoma and were on their way to be repaired at Fort Lewis.
The two women, Patricia Imani and Brianna Herrera, admit that they lay in the offramp from Interstate 5 in an effort to block the Strykers.
Both women said they should be found not guilty because they had to protest and although it was illegal, it prevented a greater harm.
“We have an obligation to resist, not just a right to resist. That is what these protests have been about since we started to do the human blockades against the Strykers,” Imani said.
I’ve pointed out this jackassery a number of times over the years, including another time when the idiots were trying to prevent Strykers from returning from Iraq.
“People have been against this war for over eight years and the fact that people came out to resist these wars and take responsibility and stop the crimes of their government, those are the people who should be supported,” Herrera said.
Even if you try to translate that quote into a coherent and complete sentence, you should be left asking: Eight years?
Earth to moron: We invaded Iraq in 2003 and it’s now 2010.
Here’s her buddy:
“I think this is exciting and this enables us to show that this act of civil resistance. Breaking a lesser law is very important to uphold higher laws,” Imani said.
Murdoc wonders what these people have against complete sentences and rational statements.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) maneuvers off the coast of Haiti Jan. 23, 2010. Carl Vinson and Carrier Wing (CVW) 17 are supporting Operation Unified Response after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused severe damage in Haiti Jan. 12, 2010. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker, U.S. Navy/Released)
Reminds me of America and its stupid aircraft carriers.
Via Military.com:
(UPDATE: moved below the fold to prevent autoplay on MO home page)
Read the rest of this entry »
On an Instapundit post about the US Army being told to stop distributing food in Haiti:
For the NGO community [in Afghanistan], to be seen co-operating with the US military was the kiss of death. NGO co-ordination meetings specifically warned against co-operation with the US military, as opposed to UN agencies. The supposed reason was that they wanted a clear line between the “killers” and those that were “there to help”. They would actually COMPLAIN that the military was out doing things like rehabilitating wells and such, whining that these were things that should be left to the aid agencies. The irony of the fact that we were all sitting in a meeting, DISCUSSING it, while the US military had already been out DOING it, was completely lost on them.
This calls for immediate discussion!
Saw this at the General Dynamics booth at the 2010 SHOT Show:
XM806 .50 Machine Gun at 2010 SHOT Show
Weight 40 pounds (weapon only), 62 pounds (ground mount system)
Recoil 325 pounds
Dispersion Less than 1.1 mils, one sigma radius
Range Lethal and suppressive out to 2,000 meters
Ammunition .50 caliber (M33 ball, M8 & MK211 API, M903 SLAP)
Feed System Belt feed, M9 link (compatible with M2 feed system), Left hand feed, right hand eject of cases and links
Rate of Fire 265 shots per minute (cyclic), 40 shots per minute (sustained)
Reliability 6,000 MRBF (threshold) / 10,000 MRBF (objective)
Dimension 8.3Wx7.3Hx64.5L max. inches (56.7L charged)
Environmental Operationally insensitive to conditions
Applications Two-man portable emplaced with no sandbags, Unmatched vehicle mount options for a .50 caliber weapon
Safety Fires from open bolt position
