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According to media reports China will double the number of its Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Divisions (AMID) from two to four. Initially, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fielded two AMIDs, one stationed in Guangzhou, the other in the Nanjing Military Region, with a total number of about 30,000 men. Now total manpower in the AMIDs will be around 52,000 – 60,000. These new amphibious forces are meant to complement the roughly 20,000 strong elite PLA Marine Corps in future conflicts over the East and South China seas as well as Taiwan, although the PLA Marine Corps and the AMIDs still lack a joint command system.

In comparison to the PLA Marine Corps, the AMIDs are mostly suitable for conventional large-scale amphibious assaults, such as would occur in a full-scale invasion of Taiwan. However, as a report by the U.S. Department of Defense on military and security developments in China notes: “Large-scale amphibious invasion is one of the most complicated and difficult military operations the PLA might pursue in a cross Strait contingency. Success would depend upon air and sea superiority, rapid buildup and sustainment of supplies on shore, and uninterrupted support. An attempt to invade Taiwan would strain China’s armed forces and invite international intervention …. China does not appear to be building the conventional amphibious lift required to support such a campaign.”

via China Just Doubled the Size of Its Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Divisions | The Diplomat.

Interesting. As the article notes, the PLAN doesn’t have sufficient lift for one division, let alone four.

The quality of Chinese amphibious shipping, like much else of their navy, has greatly increased in recent years, though the size hasn’t increased greatly. While China doesn’t have the heft to invade Taiwan,* they do have enough to seize other contested areas, and might have enough to stage operations against Vietnam.

*Taiwan seems increasingly resigned to an eventual reunification with the mainland through political and business dealings.

U.S. Army weapons officials will not evaluate an improved version of the service’s Cold War-era 9mm pistol, choosing instead to search for a more modern soldier sidearm.

In early December, Beretta USA, the maker of the U.S. military’s M9 pistol for 30 years, submitted its modernized M9A3 as a possible alternative to the Army’s Modular Handgun System program — an effort to replace the M9 with a more powerful, state-of-the-art pistol.

via Army Rejects M9A3 Proposal, Opts for New Pistol | Military.com.

Good. I hate the M9. Yes, LT Rusty, I know you love your 92.

I’m right, you’re wrong.

Having said that, the pistol for general issue is pretty much the least important small arms program out there. The SOF guys just go out and buy what they want anyway. And for the regular forces, if you’re worried about performance in a firefight, you need to pick up an M4.

Not that a good pistol isn’t handy. It’s just not nearly the issue that all the emotions attached to it make it out to be. And I say that as a guy who was very emotional about turning in an M1911A1 for an M9.

The EA-6B Prowler—one of the United States’ oldest warplanes—won’t be around in a few years. But until then, the bulbous, twin-engine jet will spend its time scrambling Islamic State’s radios and cell phones.

Navy Prowlers attached to the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush first jammed Islamic State last year. But the Navy’s EA-6Bs left the area in November as the Bush returned home.

Now the Marine Corps is flying the EA-6B over Iraq from an undisclosed air base, officials with the Marines’ Middle East headquarters tell War Is Boring.

via Bzzt! Marine Corps Jets Are Jamming Islamic State — War Is Boring — Medium.

Co-author Spill has been spending a lot of time studying Electronic Warfare lately. One of the interesting concepts emerging in the EW community today is the use of assets such as the EA-6B and EF-18G (and AESA radars such as the F-35’s) for network intrusion and disruption. That is, can a jammer actually attack the internet? I can see the means of disruption on telecom portions of it, but what about actually attacking the codes and packets? I don’t know. But I’ll bet people are trying to figure out a way.

A VERSATILE VESSEL

Imagine, if you will, a vessel that could provide fire support, conduct anti-submarine warfare, launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at enemy targets, and could even fight a number of enemy surface vessels. It displaces about 9,100 tons, and could go 33 nautical miles per hour.

Sound like a useful asset? You’d probably say yes. Now, here is the part that will knock yoru socks off. The United States Navy actually had 31 of these vessels in service – and threw thirty of them away in the 2000s, some of which still had decades of life left.

Those vessels were the Spruance-class destroyers. The lead ship entered service in 1975, and would be less than forty years old. The youngest of these vessels, USS Hayler (DD 997), was only twenty years old when she was decommissioned, stricken, and sunk as a target.

via MISSING THE SPRUCAN | Soldier of Fortune Magazine.

I have a strong suspicion that the Navy deliberately let the SpruCans deteriorate in service, then quickly sank them (as opposed to selling them to friendly nations) to ensure that the DDG-51 Burke class would remain in high rate serial production. Having 31 capable destroyers would make it that much harder to buy 60+ Burkes.

CDR Salamander, always with an eye to intrepidity, chose to honor Egyptian President Al-Sisi’s call for an Islamic reformation as this week’s Fullbore Friday.

For a bit of background on the status of Egypt, and the craven Obama administration foreign policy, I’m simply going to steal URR’s comment over there.

Notice that the Obama Administration facilitated the overthrow of Mubarak, a US ally who maintained a peace with Israel, for rule in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood, who is allied with Al Qaeda and is the spiritual progenitor of AQ. The same Muslim Brotherhood that enthusiastically supported Hitler and the Final Solution, incidentally, and has never recanted those views. Ever.

Then, when MILLIONS of Egyptians took to the streets to overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Sisi assumed power, the Obama Administration immediately turned its back on the Egyptian government. Military and fiscal aid slowed to a trickle or stopped altogether. Even though Al-Sisi re-established peace with Israel and is fighting the Islamists when and where it finds them.

Sorta makes you wonder which side ol’ Barack Hussein is on, dunnit?

One has to wonder two things. How long does Al-Sisi have to live before being murdered? And what part will the Obama Administration and by extension, the US Government play in that murder?

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today that SSN 795, a Virginia-class attack submarine, will bear the name USS Hyman G. Rickover.

Mabus named the submarine to honor U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the man credited for developing USS Nautilus (SSN 571), the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine.

via Defense.gov News Release: Navy Names New Virginia-Class Attack Submarine.

This is the second nuclear attack sub to be named after ADM Rickover. The first was an early Los Angeles class boat, now decommissioned.

We’re generally weary of the SecNav fooling around with the naming conventions for commissioned vessels, but in this case, we’ll make an exception. First, the submarine service has a history of naming the occasional ship after a prominent person, outside naming convention of a particular class of boats. Second, while Rickover was indeed highly political, he wasn’t particularly partisan.  Third, it could have been much worse.