Archive for May, 2007
Kill Crazy Bank Robber Captured by CCW Licensee
He shot four, killing two, and took a hostage. They should have explained to him that robbing banks, killing people, and taking hostages is illegal, and they should have arrested the CCW licensee for endangering bystanders.
The search in the Triangle of Death continues
I have no doubt we’re doing all we can, but I’m not terribly optimistic at this point.
Get Terrifyingly Clean With Gasmask Showerhead
“A truly unforgettable feature guaranteed to make any home on the planet impossible to sell.” Somewhere is someone who thought this up. They must be stopped.
Murtha Brazenly Violates Ethics Rules Once Again
Jack Has Completely Lost It, part 173.
Speaking of jackasses: Bill Maher Thinks he Knows More than the Troops about Iraq
Once upon a time I liked Maher.
More delicious Linkzookery below!
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50 heavily armed men abduct 7 police: four them of them found dead, three missing, gun battles leave 20 dead. About a thousand people so far this year shot or decapitated.
Iraq? No, northern Mexico…
Northern Mexico? Thank goodness we’ve got the border locked down so tightly.
(via Instapundit)
Technology refresh key for maintaining submarine fleet
We all know how bureaucratic the military procurement process is, and we all know how a lot of gear, particularly computer-based electronic equipment, is outdated by the time it actually hits the field.
In many cases, Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) equipment can fill the requirement. COTS seems to be getting more and more popular as our forces struggle to keep up with mission requirements and the traditional system continues to be bogged down.
Case in point:
Captain Brian Vance of the Program Executive Office of Submarines in San Diego made the comments at the Navy League Symposium in Washington last month.
“We want to maximize COTS usage,” Vance said. Open architectures and open source software are all in play, Vance says. He mentioned that the Navy plans to build on the success of the Acoustics Rapid COTS Insertion program-better known as A-RCI.
A-RCI is a sonar system upgrade installed on all classes of Navy submarines. The system integrates and improves the processing of data from sensors including the towed array, hull array and sphere array. These improvements are achieved by use of COTS-based hardware and software that speeds processing while enhancing fidelity. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for A-RCI.
The A-RCI program provides common sonar systems within an open systems architecture that exploits commercial computing technology, enabling powerful algorithms to detect and classify the slightest underwater sounds.
Seems to me, particularly with all the advances being made in sound processing software and the unimpeded growth of computing hardware capabilities that going more open with this makes sense.
The current submarine technology insertion period is approximately two years, Vance says. The Navy’s goal is to get that down to 35 days per submarine
With the cutbacks in the sub fleet and the various ASW programs, our sub and anti-sub forces need all the advantages they can get.
This morning on the way into work I heard a local news report about how Michigan farmers are already finding themselves short of migrant workers to work in the fields and orchards. Michigan probably relies on migrant workers for this sort of work about as much as any state, and it’s easy to understand why a shortage of such workers would be alarming.
A) Is there really such a shortage? This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything about any sort of shortage of immigrants of any kind.
B) The main reason that migrant workers can’t work, we were told, was that they “don’t have the paperwork”. Don’t have the paperwork? Why don’t they have the paperwork? Did they lose it?
C) Nowhere in the news story was the word “illegal”.
D) Interestingly, the story before the migrant worker story was about how Michigan unemployment is up again. The umemployment rate in the Wolverine State is 7.1%, compared to a national average of 4.5%.
Hmmm. Too few migrant workers. Too many resident workers. Farmers short of help.
If only there was something that could be done about this.
UPDATE: Here’s a WOOD-TV News story about the migrant shortage. Nothing new, though they tacked this bit on at the end:
Less supply creates more demand, making prices at the grocery stores rise.
Look, Murdoc’s no economics major, but “less supply” does not “create more demand”.
10 people wanted asparagus, but there was only enough asparagus at the store for 8 of them. POOF! Suddenly, 13 people wanted asparagus instead of 10?
UPDATE 2: Yes, I realize that the likelihood of 10 people all wanting asparagus is astronomically small. It was a hypothetical scenario. Like the “widget”, people who “wanted asparagus” don’t really exist. Not in statistically relevant numbers, anyway.
Iraqi soldiers switching over to M-16s and M-4s
Not new news, but worth mentioning as Stars & Stripes has a good article up:
In a major shift of weaponry, the Iraqi army is crossing over from the AK-47 assault rifle to the American-made M-16 and M-4 rifles, U.S. military and Iraqi officials have confirmed.
The first class of Iraqi recruits has already been issued M-16s instead of AK-47s, American officials said, and as many as 1,600 Iraqi troops will be using the standard American-issue weapon by the end of May.
The U.S. command issued a statement saying that –the Iraqi government made the decision to crossover from standard AK-47 assault rifles as part of the reshaping of their military and security forces.”
Under the new program, officials said, Iraqi army officers will be issued M-4 rifles while rank-and-file soldiers will receive M-16A4 models.
The M16A4 is the flattop version of the standard A2 model, allowing the use of M1913-compatible equipment in place of the “carry handle”-style rear sight. (Murdoc’s poodle shooter is an A4-style carbine, click here for a pic of the thing without the rear sight.) The Marines opted for the M16A4 rather than the XM8 back in 2004, and by now I think that most of the Corps has them.
Am I the only one curious to see if the Iraqis are patient with the slightly temperamental M16/M4? These folks have been AK users their whole lives, and though I can’t see anyone really wanting to switch to an AK after using a finely-machined AR with accurate ammo, I’m wondering if we’ll be hearing about griping over the need to, you know, actually CLEAN the weapon from time to time.
Maybe the Iraqis will end up with the XM8 or the HK416…ouch.
What do MO readers think about issuing US weapons to the Iraqis? The plans include selling them M60 tanks.
The opening of a new Norman Podhoretz piece titled The Case for Bombing Iran:
Although many persist in denying it, I continue to believe that what September 11, 2001 did was to plunge us headlong into nothing less than another world war. I call this new war World War IV, because I also believe that what is generally known as the cold war was actually World War III, and that this one bears a closer resemblance to that great conflict than it does to World War II. Like the cold war, as the military historian Eliot Cohen was the first to recognize, the one we are now in has ideological roots, pitting us against Islamofascism, yet another mutation of the totalitarian disease we defeated first in the shape of Nazism and fascism and then in the shape of Communism; it is global in scope; it is being fought with a variety of weapons, not all of them military; and it is likely to go on for decades.
What follows from this way of looking at the last five years is that the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq cannot be understood if they are regarded as self-contained wars in their own right. Instead we have to see them as fronts or theaters that have been opened up in the early stages of a protracted global struggle. [emphasis Murdoc's]
I’ve long called this struggle World War 4, and I often refer to the “campaign” in Iraq. This might seem like splitting hairs so some, but many times in conversation I’ve found myself unable to communicate effectively with someone who fails (or refuses) to see that we’re in locked in a World War.
Podhoretz points out some parallels with earlier times that bear thinking about:
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Murdoc’s a little late to this game, but if you’d take a few minutes to take the Blog Reader Survey for MO, I would sure appreciate it.
It takes about 12 minutes or so. Many of the questions are optional. (When you get to the questions about alcohol, you’re almost done…)
Please take Murdoc’s Blog Reader Project survey if you have a few extra minutes.
Run-in changes lawmaker’s stance
Cleveland:
It’s funny how a gun can instantly change your perspective on things, make you wish you could rewrite history.
State Rep. Michael DeBose, a southside Cleveland Democrat, discovered this lesson the night of May 1, when he thought he was going to die. That’s the night he wished he had that gun vote back.
Actually, I’m pleasantly surprised that DeBose publicly says he’s going to get his CCW. And that his wife will, too. Too often, it seems, that politicians and others in “positions of power” either publicly claim to oppose concealed carry while carrying themselves, or they use the privileges that come with their position to carry anyway. Or they merely ignore the law.
I’m also surprised this story made the papers.
It’s a bit sad when I’m so surprised that things happen the way they ought to happen.
Last night I posted on the recent (well, continuing) questions about the viability of the Stryker on the battlefield. But, as we all should know, nothing is perfect. Even the M1 Abrams tank: U.S. To Add Survivability Gear To Tanks (subscription only):
The U.S. Army will field its tank urban survivability kit in Iraq this summer, outfitting the M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams with additions such as reactive armor, belly armor, thermal sights for the loader and a second .50-caliber machine gun.
The package, known as TUSK, was on display at the 2007 Armor Warfighting Conference April 29 to May 3 here.
–The guys can’t wait,” said Capt. David Centeno, assistant product manager of the TUSK program. –They need this stuff. Every time I go [to Iraq] they ask, ‘When will we get it?’”
Centeno, fresh off a recent trip to Iraq, will return in July to coordinate the fielding of the kits, which will begin in earnest in September, he said. In all, 565 kits will be sent to Iraq over a year.
–The goal is by fall next year, all tanks will be fitted with TUSK,” Centeno said.
MO has covered TUSK before, and for background and images, see The M1 Streetbrawler. (And note that I linked, back in early 2005, to a story entitled Tanks take a beating in Iraq. Sometimes I wonder how good something would have to be to be acceptable to the press…)
And it’s not going to stop with this roll-out.
As the Army begins fielding TUSK, work continues on TUSK II, which will include a rear-view camera for the driver.
Centeno said he hopes to field the cameras in May or June 2008. A similar camera also is in the works for the Bradley armored vehicle.
Also part of TUSK II are 360-degree barriers to protect the tank commander and the loader.
TUSK III is in the works and could include remote-operated weapons systems. Testing is under way to determine which system would work best for the Abrams, Centeno said.
The remote-operated weapon system is shown in the M1 Streetbrawler picture, but apparently won’t be part of the TUSK I program.
UPDATE: Trampoline armor to the rescue?
Associated Press: Stryker Losses Raise Questions
The press seems to be catching up to the fact that one of the central battles in this summer of “the surge” is shaping up in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. As noted two months ago, Stryker infantry units are leading the “surge” into the region, in pursuit of insurgents, terrorists, and militiamen who fled Baghdad when the “surge” was first announced. Though the increased mobility afforded by the 8-wheeled light armored vehicles is a great advantage when fighting in a fluid and shifting environment, all isn’t perfect:
A single infantry company in Diyala lost five Strykers this month in less than a week, according to Soldiers familiar with the losses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information. The overall number of Strykers lost recently is classified.
In one of the biggest hits, six American Soldiers and a journalist were killed when a huge bomb exploded beneath their Stryker on May 6. It was the biggest one-day loss for the battalion in more than two years.
“We went for several months with no losses and were very proud of that,” a senior Army official said in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment publicly. “Since then, there have been quite a few Stryker losses.”
The problem certainly seems to be IEDs, and even critics are quick to point out that many of larger bombs being encountered lately, including the much-feared and much-hyped explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), threaten not only Strykers but Bradleys and Abrams tanks, as well. But as the concept of the Stryker is based around the idea of more mobility at the expense of armor protection, the concerns are justified and warrant a close look.
The Stryker is basically an armored truck, designed to wheel troops into the fight and bring some extra firepower and advanced communications and navigation equipment along for the ride. It was never intended to take the punishment that a Bradley fighting vehicle can take, but it’s speed and relatively quiet operation give it benefits that the tracked mechanized infantry just don’t have. Lesser protection and weaker firepower, however, can obviously be a problem in the wrong situation.
The question is, are fights like the combat in Diyala the “wrong situation” for the Stryker to be in?
“It is indeed an open question if the Stryker is right for this type of warfare,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior analyst with the Brookings Institution. “I am inclined to think that the concept works better for peacekeeping. But based on data the Army has made available to date, it’s hard to be sure.”
