We are apparently using them. Other countries are apparently catching them occasionally. Glad to see the USN out there. More please.
January 17, 2020
January 14, 2020
China launches new heavy rocket
At the end of 2019, China launched a new heavy lift rocket. This rocket is said to form the basis of the Chinese plans to have their own space station as well as launch missions to Mars. The US better stop dragging its feet. (post in memory of Mike Nofsinger)
January 13, 2020
WTF?
OK, this is crazy. We need to cut this crap out. Training service members from Canada or the UK is fine. We ought not be training any soldiers from any Middle Eastern country other than Israel. Same goes for most of the rest of the world.
January 10, 2020
Paper tiger
As I’ve said, generally Russia is a paper tiger. However, that doesn’t mean they still can’t do something stupid and get a bunch a people killed. That will happen if they keep this up.
January 9, 2020
Iran 1 Airliner 0
Looks like Iran may have shot down the Ukrainian Airlines 737. The pentagon says an SA-15 Gauntlet was the missile involved. It is criminally stupid to allow airliners to be flying while your air defenses are on high alert.
UPDATE: There now appears to be video evidence to confirm that the airliner was hit by a missile.
Like a scene from the new Top Gun movie
I love this story so much. Can you imagine being one of the Iranian pilots? You’d need to go home and change your flight suit.
January 2, 2020
Germany gives up
Apparently Germany has given up the idea of even having a functioning military. Report here. I know that many of these non-ready assets are actually functional in an emergency (being “down” because of a non-essential system failure) but Germany has been free-riding in NATO forever in order to prop up its welfare state and now seems to have given up altogether. While I am on record that Russia is in many respects a paper tiger, that doesn’t mean that a country the size and importance of Germany shouldn’t have a functioning military.
December 27, 2019
US Navy acquisitions
Looks like the USN is getting a new fleet of harbor and patrol craft. Good news, I hope. (post for Jeff “Inch High” Groves who misses the smell of salt air)
December 26, 2019
Russian spy ship
A Russian intelligence gathering ship is off a US sub base off the coast of South Carolina. This is just more of Putin trying to look like he is flexing muscles. As I’ve repeatedly said Russians doing things like this is a sign of their weakness, not their strength.
China’s financial woes
China has some very dicey financial problems. Story here. Almost inevitably the Chinese economy will crash at some point. How that affects the rest of the world will depend on how entangled each country’s economy is with China. As such, it is quite possible that the current administration’s move on Chinese trade may have an unintended beneficial effect.
