At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month…the guns fell silent along what was known then as the Western Front as the Allies and Germany observed the agreement to end this “War to End All Wars.” While fighting continued sporadically elsewhere, in what were fast becoming the former empires of Russia…
Project Valour-IT Update: Army is getting crabby – and too close for comfort. Come on Navy – let’s show ’em the passing game… 20 Nov 1933: Lieutenant Commander T. G. W. Settle and Major Chester L. Fordney, USMC, flying a 600,000 cubic foot free balloon, set a world’s altitude record of 61,237 feet in a…
Yep, you read the headiline right — from Reuters: MOSCOW (Reuters) – A wealthy Russian tried to buy a U.S. B-52 bomber from a group of shocked American pilots at an air show near Moscow, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday. The unidentified Russian, wearing sunglasses and surrounded by bodyguards, approached the U.S. delegation and…
If you are in the Greater NYC area today and are interested in compelling stories, you need to head over and meet Brad Peniston: The National Maritime Historical Society has invited me to talk about “No Higher Honor: Saving the Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf” tomorrow near their New York headquarters. When: noon,…
Announcing the 137th Annual Meeting of the US Naval Institute: More than ever we need you there, in person, at the meeting. I’m going and have registered – registration is free (but required) for USNI members. See you there. w/r, SJS P.S. Don’t forget to vote – while the Board of Directors may have stated…
At Marne, the industrial warfare hinted at barely half a century earlier came to fruition. On a sunny, December morning, the rules of naval warfare were inexorably altered and four years later was answered in the light of a terrible, new weapon, one that its creator was prompted to utter “I am become death, the…
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I am so ready for the Navy to bail on the F-35B/C, and develop a long range multirole strike aircraft. The air wing needs to get back some serious legs. The Navy can replace its legacy Hornets with the Rhino, and he Marines can make do with them as well – the whole V/STOL thing is just not really worth the money for the capability it brings.
I’m really not qualified to make a well informed
statement here, but here goes-
What allowed things to get this far?
Not just the F-35, but all these whiz bang
programs. The system that produced
these things is at fault. The government
and contractors share in the responsibility
(or lack thereof as the case may be….).
In the case of the F-35, SOMEONE should have
seen this coming long ago, after the F-111 deal.
Very frustrating. What to do if you scrap
the F-35? Again, no easy answers and the clock
keeps ticking….
I saw that there is a topic about “Future of Air War”. Maybe I agree with all the theories, but do we even have to talk about war? Because with the technology of today and with all the secrets that we don’t know, since “we are not prepared yet for the truth”, a war may endure only fraction of seconds, the world can be destroyed in no time…
“with the technology of today and with all the secrets that we don’t know”
“a war may endure only fraction of seconds, the world can be destroyed in no time…”
Which is exactly what was said by atomic bomb (then hydrogen bomb) advocates – right up until the Soviets, then the Chinese, then the Indians, etc. got the bomb. In the meantime there have been any number of wars of and by proxy and such. Prudence, and history, demand preparedness across a range of conflict and capability/capacity. It need not necessarily be a 1:1 match versus (a) potential foe(s) – there is merit in asymetric response.
Sitting on one’s hands, however much it might be a choice, is nonetheless a historically proven poor one.
w/r, SJS