Archive for February, 2008

Air Force dumps Boeing for Northrop, Airbus

Northrop Grumman and the maker of Airbus planes beat out Boeing Co. to win a $35 billion government contract to build military refueling planes, the Air Force said Friday.

I was telling someone yesterday that if the Europeans ended up winning, I was going to take it on faith that it was the right decision. My reasoning was that the KC-30 program must be better overall, because Boeing was the “easy” choice if the KC-767 was close. EADS, the “difficult” choice, would only get picked if there was a noticeable gap between the two programs.

Now if I could just believe it.

I’m thinking that maybe Boeing wishes that there hadn’t been so much corruption in the earlier KC-767 deals that ended up getting canceled, and I wonder how much (if any) of the reasoning behind this decision was to teach a lesson.

UPDATE: Northrop Grumman release: U.S. Air Force Selects Northrop Grumman to Provide the New KC-45A Aerial Refueling Tanker

So it’s the KC-45A. Well, bring it on. If this plane doesn’t knock everyone’s socks off, there’s going to be hell to pay. Murdoc’s optimistic, though will probably be unforgiving if it turns out to be a bad move.

UPDATE 2: From the comments:

Yeah, they’ll “manufacture” these tankers in Alabama just the same way I “manufactured” my kids bicycles in my living room on Christmas Eve.

Special 29th February edition!

Defense Dept To Announce Refueling Tanker Winner 5 PM ET
Lawsuits to be announced at 5:03 PM ET.

Chinese Submarine Fleet Is Growing, Analysts Say
This continues to be a troubling subject.

1 of every 100 U.S. adults behind bars, report says
Every February we’re treated to one of these reports. If it’s such a problem, why don’t people stop breaking laws?

Slain girl cried ‘I’m sorry’ in final moments
Based on the information in this story, I think I’ve got a way to keep the number of prison inmates from growing by one.

Japan drops charges against U.S. Marine
Rape charges withdrawn by the accuser. US military will still investigate.

2nd Infantry Division Relocation Delayed Until 2015
Frikkin’ ridiculous.

The Meaning of “Natural Born”
This is one of the more stupid discussions surrounding this presidential campaign season. And that’s saying something.

Iraqi Army to Ditch AK-47 for M-16s
New divisions have been getting M16s for a while, but now the rest of the army will make the switch, too. Some folks are all up in arms about it. Yawn.

Newly designed rifles for America’s most elite troops
CNN covers the SCAR.

‘Virtual Fence’ Along Border To Be Delayed
What?!? A ‘virtual fence’ on the border was ineffective? Who could possibly have seen that one coming?

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Dates Set
The Third Annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous in Reno will be October 9th-12th.

Pirate Busting, Bofors Style
Complete lack of context, but who doesn’t love videos of the 40mm Bofors in action?

Hunt continues for Nazi treasure
Plunder buried by the Nazis in a man-made cavern near the Czech border?

C4ISR problems could delay cutter construction
Shielding and security problems with the ship’s command and communications suite causing problems.

DCNS To Modernize Two Ecuadorian Subs
South America getting a bit tense?

Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor
The 6-ish millimeter field for rifle rounds keeps getting more crowded.

Departure deadline could be death knell of the USS Orleck
Murdoc wants a surplus Navy ship for MOHQ. How do I go about getting one?

NASA Issues Draft Report On Environmental Issues To Wind Up Shuttle Program
NASA developed this draft programmatic environmental assessment to help make informed decisions on the best options for disposing of shuttle assets.

I don’t understand. Why is Hillary running ads for the McCain campaign?

Also, recall that in 2004 Hillary wondered why no one had sent the Clintons a thank-you note for building the military that performed so well in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Huge front-page news: Pew: Majority now believe U.S. effort in Iraq will succeed, 53-39

Okay, just kidding. The story doesn’t seem to have registered with any of the big online news outlets, even the hyper-Republican FoxNews.com. Detailed info here, basic numbers are to the right, and here’s a summary:

Public perceptions of the situation in Iraq have become significantly more positive over the past several months, even as opinions about the initial decision to use military force remain mostly negative and unchanged.

The number of Americans who say the military effort is going very or fairly well is much higher now than a year ago (48% vs. 30% in February 2007). There has been a smaller positive change in the number who believe that the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals (now 53%, up from 47% in February 2007).

Opinion on the critical question of whether the U.S. should keep troops in Iraq is now about evenly divided, the first time this has happened since late 2006. About half of those surveyed (49%) say they favor bringing troops home as soon as possible, but most of these (33%) favor gradual withdrawal over the next year or two, rather than immediate withdrawal. Similarly, just under half (47%) say that the U.S. should keep troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized, with most of these (30%) saying that no timetable should be set.

It’s also worth noting that while only 14% of respondents currently support immediate withdrawal, a year ago (before the surge) that number was only 18%. Basically, only Democratic leadership and hardcore anti-war/military/Bush extremists have supported an immediate and unilateral surrender.

It’s also interesting that while the number calling for immediate withdrawal has shrunk by over 20%, the number calling for gradual withdrawal “over the next year or two” has remained constant. I continue to believe that the “next year or two” timeframe, much like the ever-popular “six-month” timeframe, is usually widely accepted as some sort of reasonable indeterminate length of time that everything gets. I would bet that the “next year or two” numbers from previous years are similar to the current ones, as well.

Finally, I once again don’t really get the “will we succeed in Iraq?” responses. While I have long maintained that we won’t know if our efforts in Iraq will ultimately pay off until the current young Iraqi children and their offspring are grown and running the country (two to four decades in the future), it seems to me that poll questions about our chances of success are necessarily intended to reflect short- and mid-term results. If this is indeed the case, we’re looking at some highly mobile goal posts if only 60% of respondents are sure that we won’t fail. A commenter at Hot Air sums it up nicely:

I mean, Saddam is dead, the WMD’s are gone, Iraq is sovereign, elections were held.

As I noted recently, no matter how much progress is made,it’s Never Fast Enough.

Harry leaves Afghanistan after media leak

LONDON – British Chief of the Defense Staff Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup confirmed Friday that the army will pull Harry out of Afghanistan after news of his deployment there was leaked.

Harry, third in line to the British throne, has been serving on the front line with an army unit in Helmand, one of Afghanistan’s most lawless and barren provinces since mid-December.

Murdoc would like to thank the leakers and especially all the members of the media who helped make this happen.

You’re assholes.

I’ve finally managed to get rid of the need to go to a separate page to post comments. You should be able to post comments directly from the individual post now, just like in the good old days.

I tried something new and it appears to have worked perfectly the first time. Obviously, this is a terrible situation. I just can’t figure out what’s wrong. If anyone notices anything odd, please let me know.

I will be working on fixing the styling of the comments next.

UPDATE: Fixed a problem. I’ve currently got a shabby confirmation page after you post a comment. I will be getting rid of it soon.

A commenter left this:

The latest Balkan fools are the United States and the European Union, which have rushed in to recognize what Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica rightly calls the “fake state of Kosovo.” Why is it a fake state? Because there are no Kosovars, only Serbs and Albanians. Each group seeks to unite Kosovo with its homeland, historic Serbia or Greater Albania. An independent Kosovo has the half-life of a sub-atomic particle.

It’s an excerpt from Fools Rush In by William Lind

If he hopes to accomplish more than Bush, Obama needs better advisers

Politicians rely heavily, on almost every subject, on advisors to get them educated and keep them current. And nobody really expects Obama or Clinton or even McCain, who was a Navy aviator, to know anything about ground combat. But one does expect the candidate to employ advisors who know what they are talking about and to prevent their candidate from embarrassment.

The criticism is directed at the recent remarks about seized Taliban weapons and lack of ammunition, but they could apply to a wide range of military issues, including Obama’s claim that after withdrawing all the troops from Iraq, he’d send some back “if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq.” As John McCain pointed out, al Qaida is in Iraq, operating under the name “al-Qaida in Iraq.”

Then, instead of debating the issue, Obama tries to shift the debate to one about whether Iraq should have been invaded or not. Instapundit posts a letter from a reader which includes

This has been a rhetorical trick that Obama has used a lot when he gets hit for saying something stupid. He never admits being caught and he changes the subject to a different talking point as fast as he can, claiming that he wants to be about the “future.” Given his tendency to make bizarre and naive statements about foreign policy, I have to wonder how long he can get away with it.

Obama is a decent speaker, fairly charismatic, and probably preferable to Hillary. But he is not ready for the big office. Not by a long shot. His apparent total ignorance of anything related to the military other than “invasion of Iraq = B-A-D” should trouble anyone. But I know that it doesn’t, and that’s even more troubling.

McCain’s Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out

Born in Panama Canal Zone to a deployed military family. I’d like to see who, exactly, is making these queries.

Army plans to cut length of combat tours in Iraq

LA Times:

Moving to relieve strain on troops, the Army plans to reduce the length of combat tours from 15 months to one year after the troop buildup in Iraq winds down this summer, top officials told Congress on Tuesday.

Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said he would trim combat tours once the Pentagon fulfilled plans to reduce the number of Army brigades in Iraq by July.

I don’t know how do-able it would be in practice, but cutting National Guard deployments should be given priority over numbers and/or lengths of active Army deployments.