Military Thread: Humanity Hanging from a Cross of Iron

[kanisatha]

12 hours ago, Gorth said:

Sounds familiar. Before there was such a thing as home computers, much less internet, it was company names like Airfix, Revell, Matchbox and similar that had my interests

 

Acrylic paints and some brain matter dissolving glue was always on my little work desk in my room. Had airplanes hanging from the ceiling and the shelves lined with everything from WW I tanks and battle ships to models of famous historic sailing ships.

Same.   SInce I was living in a small Asian developing country, the only company that sold there was Matchbox, and I had almost all of their models. On the rare occasions when family members happened to travel to London, I got a few Airfix/Revell kits. But no paint. So when I came to the US for college, I bought all the main 4th gen jets in 1:48th scale and had them made up beautifully and fully painted such that they were the envy of everyone in my dorm (keeping in mind I was attending an aviation-specializing college as an aerospace engineering major).

[Gfted1]

Pentagon successfully tests hypersonic missile.

[kanisatha]

Six Times the Speed of Sound: Will the Air Force Get an SR-72 Spy Plane?

[ComradeYellow]

Number of countries China has military presence: 1, Djibouti.

[Zoraptor]

There's definitely US forces in New Zealand as well. The supply for their Antarctic bases is run out of here, and while the bases are (theoretically at least) civilian much of the supply is done by the USAF from Christchurch.

[kanisatha]

US military personnel being present in many countries is not at all a meaningful thing to look at. The US is a global superpower, and as such will surely have military personnel in many countries in the form of attaches, liaisons, trainers, advisors, etc. The US has alliances with more than 60 countries around the world whereas other big powers like Russia and China have such alliances with only a handful of states. And, again because of its unique global status, it also faces lone/small group-attacker threats to its people and consular offices in foreign countries much more so than any other country, and as such often has a small tactical response unit attached to its embassy in some countries.

China has plenty of military personnel in many countries in Asia and Africa. It's just that those forces are often masquerading as construction workers, "security" personnel, and the like.

Edited March 24, 2020 by kanisatha

[Guard Dog]

What is the future of the US Marine Corps

The short answer seems to be a return to it's roots as a rapid reaction force. The Corps was never intended to be a self contained war fighting entity. Beginning with WW2 it became that and has performed well at it. But it is a small service. A tool for a specific purpose. IMO it makes sense to use a wrench to turn a bolt and a hammer to drive a nail. 

[Darkpriest]

 

[Orogun01]

 

[Gorth]

Just a curiosity. One of those little forgotten pieces of military history from a different age (before ICBM's)

A large military exercise... where results got classified for half a century because it didn't fit the official line.

 

 

[kanisatha]

Secret NGAD fighter flies, sets records, raises a lot of questions

Edited September 19, 2020 by kanisatha

[Sarex]

Seems Turkey has tested the S400 against F22 and F35 and was able to detect them.

[Zoraptor]

That article is not exactly... definitive in its conclusions. They infer that Turkey could detect them because they didn't publicly complain about not being able to.

(They almost certainly can detect them by using detection bands where the stealthing is ineffective, the trade off is that those bands are a lot less useful for guiding missiles to target. Since Turkey was part of the F35 program they may well know a decent amount about its stealth capabilities and how to exploit any weaknesses)

[ComradeYellow]

Russians have been designing advanced new weapons systems since the early 2000's.  Apparently a drunk off power U.S. political class didn't seem to protest and gave them the "whatever" in response when they implied they would.  I don't think they're so nonchalant now. 

I like competition so hey, have at it.  The U.S. political elites could use a good rattling.

[Sarex]

36 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

That article is not exactly... definitive in its conclusions. They infer that Turkey could detect them because they didn't publicly complain about not being able to.

(They almost certainly can detect them by using detection bands where the stealthing is ineffective, the trade off is that those bands are a lot less useful for guiding missiles to target. Since Turkey was part of the F35 program they may well know a decent amount about its stealth capabilities and how to exploit any weaknesses)

Hence the "seems", I don't know. What I do know is that my country gave most of stealth material from the shot down f117a that we could recover to China. A lot of if was taken by the local populace and the tales I heard is that people went from door to door and offered a huge chunk of change for any parts of the plane. Those people could have very well been the Russians, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that the S400 was upgraded to track "stealth" planes reliably.

[Gfted1]

US-developed hypersonic missile hit within 6 inches of target, says Army secretary.

Maybe we should make a ginsu version for the extreme overkill lulz.

[Zoraptor]

3 hours ago, Sarex said:

Hence the "seems", I don't know. What I do know is that my country gave most of stealth material from the shot down f117a that we could recover to China. A lot of if was taken by the local populace and the tales I heard is that people went from door to door and offered a huge chunk of change for any parts of the plane. Those people could have very well been the Russians, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that the S400 was upgraded to track "stealth" planes reliably.

I think it's very likely- close to certain- that they can detect stealth planes more or less fine. It's being able to do enough fast enough with that detection which I think is the more pertinent question. Even 20 years later you could still shoot a stealth plane down with a S-125 so long as you know when and where to fire the missile; it's the when and where which is the difficult part and that gets a lot more difficult as the range of the missiles increases to the distance a S400 is capable of.

The interest in the salvage was probably for the electronics/ avionics more than the stealth tech per se. The geometry of RCS reduction is not all that advanced and even a layman can infer the basic principle of it via observation. The stealth tech they might well have been interested in was the radar absorbing materials, but even then finding something that absorbs radar wavelengths isn't that difficult. IIRC the US was also still having difficulties with that paint perishing rapidly from sunlight and water at the time that F117 was brought down.

[Guard Dog]

https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/10/22/end-the-navys-vessel-exception-give-sailors-and-marines-the-due-process-afforded-to-every-other-us-service-member/
 

I never knew there was a vessel exception for NJP. I’ll tell you one thing though, turning down NJP for a court-martial is not something you do lightly. NJP is not a trial, it’s punishment. Agreeing to it is pretty much the same as pleading guilty. However the punishments that it hands out can range from extra duty, fines, minor restrictions or the loss of a rank. Usually they are on the lighter side of that. Court-martials however start with loss of rank and go up from there. If you go to a court-martial you better win. 
 

sometimes it’s wiser to take the lesser evil. Even if you are not guilty. If it’s something minor it will not even interrupt your career.

[ShadySands]

NJP is generally the best route but since it's commander's discretion I've seen some really lopsided outcomes. We had a corporal and a gunny both get busted for the exact same thing, drunk driving, and the CO gave them vastly different punishments. I know it ended the gunny's chance at promotion but not much else happened to him while the corporal didn't just get the book thrown at him, he was beaten with it.

Edited October 23, 2020 by ShadySands

[BruceVC]

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-security-ship-idUSKBN27A0LY

Here is a good special forces story, performed by the British SBS, not to be confused with the elite British SAS

The Special Boat Service (SBS) are water trained special forces...similar I suppose to the Navy SEALS ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Boat_Service

Go UK special forces, nice to see successful military operations 

 

 

 

[Guard Dog]

 

Quote

This recent West Point graduate is Alex Idrache. He grew up in a slum in Haiti, and he tells the story of how U.S. soldiers were deployed to his neighborhood following the earthquake there several years ago. He says their presence was the first experience of "hope" he recalls in his childhood.

He remembers looking at his dad and asking him who the people were that were helping. His dad looked at him and said, "They are American soldiers." He looked back at his father and said, "One day, I will be an American soldier."

His father knew the situation in Haiti was unworkable and tried for several years to obtain a visa to come to the United States. After being denied for several years, he was finally granted a spot in Baltimore. He purchased a ticket on a boat for his family and left Haiti. They arrived and Alex, remembering his dream in the slum several years prior, looked for a way to join the U.S. Army. He found a national guard program that allowed him to join the Army in exchange for citizenship. He didn't hesitate.

After a series of fortunate occurrences, he was given one of the few spots at West Point for prior enlisted soldiers. Despite his severe lack of formal education, he graduated as an honor graduate (top 5% physically and academically) and the top student in the Physics Department. This picture was taken just prior to tossing his hat in the air, the realization of a dream that began 10 years ago in a slum in Port-au-Prince

Cool story. Good luck and Godspeed 2nd LT. Idrache. Many thanks!

[Malcador]

58 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

He looked back at his father and said, "One day, I will be an American soldier."

So sad to see a kid aim so low, he could have at least aspired to be a Marine.

[Guard Dog]

@ShadySands, @ManifestedISO Our motto was "Always Faithful".  But it was not to a President nor to a government that we pledged fidelity It was to the country, our countrymen, our bothers and sisters in arms, and to ourselves. Years have passed since we turned away from battles and watches. The service we gave fading from all memory but our own.  But once a Marine always a Marine. Always faithful we remain. Happy Birthday my brothers!

[Gfted1]

Meet The Army’s Future Family Of Robot Tanks: RCV.

[Gfted1]

Pilot In A Real Aircraft Just Fought An AI-Driven Virtual Enemy Jet For The First Time.