Five Good Reads

If you read one thing today, J. Bernhard "Jon" Compton's assessment on why Secretary Wynne was fired should top your list. This is an interesting assessment, because the rivalry thinking we have observed in Iraq between the Army and Air Force exists at the same level, just in different ways, between the Navy and Marines. The data revealed is also very interesting and counter to so much of the conventional wisdom put forward regarding the role of the Air Force with COIN. There appears to be data worthy of further research here, without the service rivalry interference. - check out The Armorer's analysis here

Eric Palmer has an interesting read on what the Israeli's and Greeks may have been doing during that exercise a few weeks ago. In general we see it as part of the noise, but at least it is a part of the noise you won't read anywhere else, and this noise is by someone very educated in airpower thinking.

The Federal Business Opportunities website has posted the Presolicitation for the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) . We will be getting some photography of the soon to be built platform soon. All I am going to say is if you intend that platform to be the dock, make sure you also build it to be the crane too, failure to do so will hurt the Sea Base. Yes, sea lift typically has its own cranes, but not every ship that could really benefit from a forward base does!

The USS Stethem (DDG 63) has been working with the MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV). Unmanned technology is the future of warfare. As we point out as often as possible, 21st century warfare will require fewer sailors to be deadly during wartime, but more sailors is a requirement for meeting peacetime objectives successfully. This is why motherships have to be big, not small like the LCS, because motherships have to be able to support both the unmanned technologies AND the manned technologies to be relevant towards the objectives of war and peace outlined in the maritime strategy.

Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, has an article in UPIAsia regarding upgrades to the East Sea Fleet bases. Given what we already know and this new information, we may attempt to put together an Order of Battle for the East Sea Fleet. There may already be some good OOBs out there though that we would use instead.