XBradTC

I don't know why, but I found this guy fascinating. Very charming, very well presented.  

Via USNINews.

ARLINGTON, Va. – France is sending 350 sailors and naval aviators to deploy with a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier this spring as their nuclear-powered carrier finishes scheduled maintenance, French officials told USNI News. 

The April to May deployment will occur just before France’s aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) is expected to complete a major maintenance period which started in 2015. The aircrews will do carrier qualifications aboard USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), but the intent is to accomplish more than qualifications or cross-deck operations, Capt. Jean-Emmanuel Roux de Luze, French Naval Attaché to the U.S. told USNI News.

“We want to demonstrate our ability to integrate with U.S. military services,” Roux de Luze said. “We want to show we do maintenance, demonstrate we can load weapons.”

French Navy Dassault Rafale M fighters and Northop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye aircraft will at first fly with U.S. airwings out of Naval Air Station Oceana, in Virginia Beach. French sailors will work with their U.S. counterparts maintaining the aircraft, Rouz de Luze said. The unspecified French forces will then board Bush and operate as part of the air wing.

It's unclear if they'll go with the airwing for the entire 6 month deployment, or just through the workups. Either way, it will be interesting to watch. 

We're deeply saddened to learn of the passing of CAPT John W. Young, USN (Ret.) at the age of 87.

John Young may not be the household name that Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin are, but he was for many years one of the most accomplished and influential test pilots and astronauts.

Young joined the Navy after college, did a tour on a destroyer, and was then selected for Naval Aviation, earning his Wings of Gold in 1954. After a routine tour with VF-103, he was selected for the prestigious Navy Test Pilot School.
As a test pilot, Young evaluated both the Vought XF8U-3 and the McDonnell F4H-1. Among other achievments, Young set two time to climb records in the Phantom.

Selected for the second group of US astronauts, Young joined NASA and the Gemini Program in 1962. In 1965, Young flew as pilot of the first manned Gemini mission, Gemini 3, with Guss Grissom as Mission Commander. Young would fly as Mission Commander for Gemini 10, with Michael Collins as his pilot, in 1966.

With the completion of the Gemini Program, Young joined the Apollo Program. In May of 1969, Young flew to the moon aboard Apollo 10 as the Command Module Pilot, orbitng the moon solo while Mission Commander Tom Stafford and Lunar Module Pilot Eugene Cernan orbited in the Lunar Module in the final dress rehearsal for the actual moon landing that would make Armstrong and Aldrin famous.

After a series of crew shuffles, Young would again fly to the moon aboard Apollo 16, this time as Mission Commander. Charlie Duke served as Lunar Module Pilot, with Ken Mattingly as the Command Module Pilot. Young would make three moonwalks during the mission, and set a moon speed record with the lunar rover.

Young very nearly became the Mission Commander for Apollo 17 as well, when Eugene Cernan injured his knee playing softball. Cernan healed soon enough, so Young served instead as Backup Commander for Apollo 17.
1974 saw Young appointed as Chief of the Astronaut Office. At the time, he was deeply involved with the development of the Space Transportation System (STS) better know as the Space Shuttle.

April 12, 1981 would see Young as Mission Commander and Robert Crippen as Pilot take the space shuttle Columbia on her first mission, a 2 day test flight.

Young's six and final spaceflight would be as Mission Commander of STS-9, a 10 day mission with the first Spacelab module.

Young retired from the US Navy as a Captain in 1976, but remained with NASA as Chief of the Astronaut Office until 1987. Young remained with NASA in a variety of roles until his retirement in 2004, making him the longest serving astronaut. Even after retirement, Young, until very recently, continued to consult with NASA, and routinely attended the Monday Morning Meeting at the Astronaut Office in Houston.

A few years ago, the Marines dropped the M249 SAW in favor of the M27 Individual Automatic Rifle as the primary automatic weapon for the Marine Rifle Squad. 

And as it turns out, the Marines liked the M27 so much, they're going to adopt it pretty much as the standard rifle for all Marine Infantry. 

 

After more than a year of speculation, the word comes straight from the commandant of the Marine Corps: Grunts, including those outside the squad, are getting the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle — and a whole lot of other goodies to boot.

Military.com first reported in November 2016 that the Marine Corps was eyeing the idea of fielding the weapon more broadly within the infantry, and had issued M27s to members of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, the service's experimental infantry battalion, to observe how it improved their effectiveness.

Currently, the M27 is carried by only one member of each infantry fire team: the automatic rifleman.

With the battalion's deployment to the Pacific at an end, Marine leaders are considering a list of 41 different recommendations generated by the unit, and M27s are at the top of the list.

In an interview with Military.com in late December, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller confirmed that a decision had been made to move forward with fielding the M27 more widely within the infantry.

Every Marine in an infantry squad, he said, will receive the high-end rifle. And while not every Marine in a grunt battalion will carry the IAR, others outside of the squad will also be issued one.

 

While the H&K 416 based IAR is much more expensive than an M4 carbine, the relatively small numbers of Marine Infantrymen means it's a relatively small cost associated with the switch. With a solicitation for up to 51,000 rifles, that would be a cost of about $150 million. Considering the cost of an F-35B, that's chump change. And considering the Marine ethos regarding rifles, it would be money well spent.