Archive for December, 2005
Jay Tea at Wizbang, in Through the looking-glass, notes that Leftie and Rightie bloggers seem to play against type in the way they conduct business.
Der Commissar, in Statist versus Libertarian Blogging, has a theory about why that is so and Murdoc thinks he’s on the right track.
I usually find that, political persuasion aside, big Leftie blogs are more like message boards than the “blog” model I appreciate. And Murdoc pretty much hates message boards.
As for the actual participants themselves, when considered apart from the “business model” of the site in question, I usually find myself thinking of Leftie writers and commenters in the same vein that I regard marchers in anti-war demonstrations. I know that that isn’t a fair comparison in many (or maybe even most) cases, but when trying to form opinions from the comments left on my site and others, that is nearly always the impression that I come away with.
Not to say that the Righties always have it, um, right. I often disagree with many on “my side of the aisle”, but even when at odds over the points and positions, the manner of discussion and the style of thinking fits in with how I believe the world should work.
Obviously, all of the above is a gross generalization. But, as such, I don’t think it’s an unfair one.
David Axe, a fellow contributor at Defense Tech, is in Iraq again. And he saw (get this) a garbage truck. Not exactly your typical Defense Tech fare, is it? But
In five trips to Iraq totalling five months, these are the first garbage trucks I’ve seen — and they’re the best evidence so far of the development of civil society — if not in all of Iraq, then at least here in Kurdistan.
And talk about “improvised explosive devices”:
The garbage is so dense in places that during hot summers, it spontaneously combusts, fueling putrid garbage fires that burn uncontrolled for days. The upside of garbage fires is that they keep down the populations of vicious wild dogs that live in the garbage, venturing into the cities at night to terrorize pedestrians and domestic animals.
Swedish Submarine Continues to Play Important Role in Joint Training
In a July 2004 post, Murdoc wrote:
We cannot let our enemies get ahead of us in the submarine game. The threat of Chinese or North Korean subs would keep American carrier groups farther from the action than we want in the event of a war, and much of our current overwhelming naval advantage would be squandered.Maybe what we should do is pick up one or two good diesel boats from an ally and crew them with top-notch personnel as a red team in a sort of submarine Top Gun. Base one sub on each US coast, provide a team of trainers and advisers to work with ship and air crews, and practice like we want to play. [emphasis added]
Well, instead of picking up our own diesel boats, we’ve contracted the work out to the Swedes. In Navy News Stand:
The Swedish submarine HMS Gotland participated in a Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) Dec. 6-16 with Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Carrier Strike Group, off the coast of Southern California.According to Swedish Liaison Officer Lt. Cmdr. Peter Ostbring, Gotland and her crew played a number of roles during the joint exercise, which mutually benefited the U.S. and Swedish navies by enhancing overall anti-submarine warfare (ASW) proficiencies and further strengthening the relationship between the two countries.
Denmark Orders 45 Tracked CV-90 IFVs, Orders Rise to 1,170
On Monday, MO noted a Strategy Page post on the new German Puma IFV. Today, Defense Industry Daily notes that the Danish military is buying 45 CV90-35 MkIII Infantry Fighting Vehicles. The CV90-35 is the newest model of the popular CV90, and sports a Bushmaster III 35/50 cannon and advanced fire control and optics. Here’s a pic:
See DID for much more info and more pics.
Buckethead at the Ministry of Minor Perfidy has done some digging into the showdown at the border story I noted recently where US Border Patrol and law enforcement personnel were outgunned by military-looking types who took a drug-loaded truck across the Rio Grande.
The post is a must-read. It’s a bit lengthy. That’s because it’s well-researched and digs into a big issue.
For some reason, this story and the many others which highlight the grave danger along our southern marches just don’t gain any traction anywhere. Buckethead writes
This should be worrying to anyone. The Border Patrol is unable to patrol the border. Local law enforcement can’t fill the gap. Hundreds of thousands of people cross the border without our say-so every year. And when the border patrol does attempt to intervene, the response is ever more often a violent one, and the border patrol agents are outgunned.As I’ve said many times before, it really doesn’t matter what you feel about immigration. Whether you favor lots of immigrants or none, illegal immigration is, well, illegal, and should be stopped. And further, having a complete lack of control over the border is a serious problem in an era where terrorists would like to kill large numbers of Americans.
The GOP has recently begun paying this issue some lip service, but we don’t need words. We need results. I know it’s difficult. That doesn’t mean it’s not vitally important.
Murdoc would like to suggest that the military conduct more training exercises along the border. Beginning right now and continuing until no one wants to harm America. I recommend Strykers, but let everyone play.
Go read the post. In the meantime, I’m sending a note to Michelle Malkin about it. This is great work.
Both Officers’ Club and Strategy Page have posted great pics of C-17 Globemaster III formations recently, so Murdoc decided to join in the fun:
A formation of C-17 Globemaster III aircraft flies over Charleston, S.C., Dec. 20, 2005, demonstrating the strategic airdrop capability of the U.S. Air Force. A total of 17 aircraft from the 437th and 315th Airlift Wings at Charleston Air Force Base are performing the largest-ever formation of C-17s from one base. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
Click for bigger version. Super-size it at the Joint Combat Camera Center.
These images remind me of a great pic the DoD posted in the early days of the Iraq invasion showing a long line of C-17s waiting for their turn to take off. At the time, I showed it to a couple people and said that that pic, as much a pic of our tanks or bombers or soldiers, represented the overwhelming might of the US armed forces. Do not underestimate the importance of logistics to a modern army.
Hell, don’t underestimate the importance of logistics to any army. Ho Chi Minh Trail, anyone? Euphrates ratlines? We might not be able to totally shut down the supply lines that feed the insurgents/terrorists/rejectionists, but we’re working hard to choke them off the best we can. And Raghead Jimmy can’t call division to request an air drop.
UPDATE: Here’s an Air Force Link story on the flight with more pics.
I had read this earlier, and in fact it is the article that made me decide to post on GPS. But i couldn’t find it yesterday when I wrote the post on the new generation of GPS satellites. But here it is:
DSB Task Force Wants More GPS 3 Satellites in Three Orbital Planes
The Defense Science Board is looking at the future of the GPS program, specifically at the next next-generation of sats planned to begin operating in about 2013:
The task force believes the GPS 3 constellation should be deployed in three rather than six orbital planes, with 10 satellites per plane, which is how the European Space Agency’s Galileo system is being designed. According to the report, this will make it easier to sustain the overall constellation. In order to accomplish this, the report’s authors state that efforts must be made to shift to a three-plane constellation before any next-generation satellites are launched.
A lot of good stuff there. Go read.
Alan Mulally interview, Dec. 19, 2005
Noticed this in the Seattle PI:
Some in Congress say Boeing’s future tanker platform should be the 777 and not the 767. I asked Mulally if the 777 will work as tanker.Absolutely. The most compelling data is the capability of the 777-200LR freighter. It will clearly be the center piece of freighters going forward, along with the 747-8. We have that fundamental capability in the airplane. It would make a phenomenal tanker, or troop transport. I can see why people would want that to be considered.
There’s a lot of other interesting stuff in there on Boeing’s production and plans, from the 787 Dreamliner numbers to 777 production line changes to the 747-8, a jumbo using the 787 engines. Worth a read.
Air chief looking ‘beyond a Sherpa replacement’
From Inside the Air Force via USAF AIMPoints:
Air Force officials began commenting about the still-conceptual Light Cargo Aircraft (LCA) effort late this summer, shortly after the Army began seeking industry input on platforms that could replace its venerable C-23 Sherpa fleet. The Army has dubbed its replacement platform the Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA).“While the Sherpa replacement is valid for them for sure,” [Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael] Moseley said the Air Force wants the Army to examine “what do you do in the future on the nonlinear battlefield and how do you survive the threat array and how do you resupply those forces.
The recent passage of the defense budget by the House includes $1.1 billion to continue development of the DD(X) program and $716 million to begin construction of the first ship at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi:
Monday’s action ends a dispute between the House and Senate that threatened to scrub the DD(X) program and force the Navy to continue building less-expensive DDG-51 destroyers.Bath Iron Works, which would help build half of the 12 ships planned, would get a $50 million down payment. The legislation also includes $50 million for BIW to modernize DDG destroyers in an effort to reduce crew size.
Bath Iron Works had been hoping for authorization to build one more DDG-51 in order to avoid a gap between the classes in its yard, but no dice.
