Archive for January, 2008
For those who want to do something in memory of Major Andrew Olmsted, killed in Iraq recently, the family has asked that donations be made to
Capt. Thomas Casey Children’s fund
P.O. Box 1306
Chester, CA 96020
Via Hook.
From the Department of Let’s Hope They Only Read The Headline comes this:
Hopes for Vehicle Questioned After Iraq Blast
The article notes that the first confirmed death of an American aboard an MRAP hit by an IED occurred in Iraq on Saturday:
The military has been careful to point out that the new vehicle is not impervious to attack, and that a sufficiently powerful bomb can destroy any vehicle. Still, a forensic team was flown in immediately to inspect the charred wreckage, from which wires and tangled metal protruded, to determine whether the bombing had revealed a design flaw.
–It’s a great vehicle, but there is no perfect vehicle,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Adgie, commander of the battalion that lost the soldier.
Three of the four people aboard suffered only broken feet and lacerations. Pending the results of an investigation, it is unclear yet whether the gunner was killed by the blast or by the vehicle rolling over.
Reading the article reveals no “questions” about the MRAP that I can find. In what appears to be a fairly straightforward news report (particularly considering the source), I guess they had to resort to headline trickery to get their message out.
There are, in fact, some questions about the MRAP. But this incident and the fact that for the first time a soldier has been killed by an IED while in one, hasn’t sparked them.
UPDATE: And this isn’t the first time a soldier has been killed in an MRAP, anyway.
Marines with Weapons Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Pendleton, Calif., fire M249 squad automatic weapons during an unknown distance shoot at the Udairi Range Complex during sustainment training here Jan. 17. Photo by: Sgt. Bryson K. Jones
From Marines.mil, which has more pics.
Murdoc has been negligent for not mentioning Christian Lowe’s posting on Military.com.
Lots of great stuff, including everybody’s favorite helicopter/airplane troop transport here and here.
U.S. Moves Ahead On Guided Tank Round
120mm Mid-Range Munition (MRM) — Tank round with a range of up to 12km.
Navy Granted Authority To Use Sonar In Training Off California
President Bush exempted them from new restrictions. The Natural Resources Defense Council is going to file papers with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to try and challenge the exemption.
Pre-Communist Russia
How can you tell it’s Pre-Communist? No lines for bread.
Chess master Bobby Fischer dies at 64
“Watching” the illegal re-match with Boris Spassky on Prodigy in 1992 is one of my early wonder-at-the-internet memories. He called the Soviet players “Commie cheats” and was basically considered a loose cannon. Murdoc’s type of chess player.
Nagging non-smoking workers get burned
Telemarketing firm manager fired three because their non-smoking was causing disruptions. Only in Amer…wait, this was in Germany.
I meant to post this the other day, but a piece in the Wall Street Journal is probably worth looking at: Airbus’s Military Project Misfires. Sorry, but the link is subscription only.
At issue is the A400M, a four-engine turboprop military transport and tanker, and things aren’t going terribly well:
When Airbus started work on the A400M almost a decade ago, it promised to apply its expertise in handling the cost-obsessed customers and brutal competition of commercial aviation to the world of defense procurement. Instead, Airbus stumbled on problems that have long dogged military contractors: politics, technology and weak project management.
The A400M is Europe’s bid to create an all-purpose airlifter that countries around the world badly need. The four-engine propeller plane, which can carry troops, equipment or humanitarian aid, fills a big gap between two existing U.S. planes: Lockheed Martin Corp.’s smaller C-130 and Boeing Co.’s much larger, jet-powered C-17. Goldman Sachs estimated in a research report in September that the A400M could grab around one-third of the market for military-transport planes over the next 20 years, translating into orders for some 500 planes valued at as much as $60 billion.
But Airbus’s expertise in commercial jets wasn’t so easy to transfer to defense contracting, Mr. Ring conceded. “The logic was wrong,” he said, because the engines and military systems “were more complex than expected.”
The numbers on the plane look good, but like most military systems, particularly those adapted from commercial platforms, making those numbers work in the real world has been a struggle.
An especially thorny issue has been the engines for the plane. Initially, an engine based on an existing Pratt & Whitney design was planned, but when some European customers said they’d only buy the A400M if it used a European engine the decision was made to use a totally new design, the TP400 by Europrop.
When the first test flights of the A400M are made this summer, the engine probably won’t be certified.
Military programs, usually worth bazillions of dollars, are always caught up in this sort of thing. It’s not good, and it sure would be nice if a couple of head-busters would make a major effort to clean things up a bit, but it’s not unusual at all. Sadly.
This is all worth pointing out, though, because the US Air Force is shortly going to be deciding on a new tanker, and the two competitors are the KC-767 by Boeing and the KC-30 by EADS, of which Airbus is a major part. A major argument being made against the Boeing planes is that Boeing has a sordid history when it comes to this program and that they’ve had a lot of issues getting their plane, based on the 767 commercial airliner, to perform up to design specs.
Looking at Airbus’s issues with the A400M should help illustrate that Boeing isn’t the only one with this sort of problem. Boeing isn’t the only supplier who exists withing a broken military procurement system. Does this clear Boeing to do whatever it wants to do? Of course it doesn’t. But I’ve said before that, all things being equal (or even close to equal), going with Boeing is probably a better decision. As a taxpayer, I’m certainly willing to pay a little more for a Boeing, though I am not unaware of the fact that the “Buy American” argument has lost a lot of power in this age of globalization and internationalization and free trade. Plus, as I pointed out last week, EADS promises to do much of the KC-30 work in the US if their plane is chosen.
If the KC-30 is truly the better plane and the better deal, then it’s the right choice. But don’t choose it simply because Boeing has issues while conveniently ignoring the fact that Airbus has issues of its own. And, even in this age of globalization, don’t forget that it’s a questionable practice (at best) to outsource your defense work. Blackfive asked Can We Risk Allowing Airbus to Build our Air Fleets? a couple of days back.
It may surprise some to learn just how vital our fleet of tankers is. In today’s war, in fact, we are far more dependent upon our tankers than on our jet fighters. Even in a “big war” scenario, the F-types are going to need the flying gas stations to get to and stay in the fight. Unglamorous they may be, but they are crucial to our military.
May the best plane win.
I’ve been encountering a weird error where MO’s main page somehow gets republished with no posts. I suspect that it must have something to do with the scheduled post tool, so I’m going to disable that and see if it makes a difference.
Once again, my apologies. I’ve been running MT4 on GunPundit for months with zero problems, but I’ve obviously had issues since upgrading over here.
The commenting system is back on, though.
A Rudy McRompson Administration?
And this in the comments:
McCain’s probably in the best position to get the nomination at a brokered convention, since being his VP is much more of a prize than being the VP of any other candidate, due to his age (most likely to not seek a second term for health or personal reasons) and electability (much better to be a sitting VP than the losing VP candidate).
Politics posts will grow a bit more common here as things heat up, but it’s not really Murdoc’s thing and there are plenty of others posting on it day and night.
James Rummel just read World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks.
He posted a review at Chicago Boyz and discusses anti-zack weaponry over at Hell in a Handbasket.
I thought the book was decent, though Murdoc isn’t really into the whole zombie thing.
Ex-lawmaker charged in terror conspiracy
A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.
Siljander served in Congress from 1981 to 1987. He was elected by special election to replace David Stockman, who resigned to take the position of Director of the OMB under President Reagan. He served the state’s 4th Congressional District, which is a large one in the center of the state north of the most densely populated areas and included Mt. Pleasant. (Traverse City is also in today’s 4th District, but was not when Siljander served.)
If convincted, he should get the full treatment.
