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Pentagon Opts to Upgrade Littoral Combat Ship Design – gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News
WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday approved the U.S. Navy’s plan to meet its requirement for 52 small warships by upgrading the coastal warships designed by Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia’s Austal, instead of starting from scratch with a more costly new design.
Hagel said he accepted the Navy’s recommendation to make the current ship designs more lethal and survivable by adding an array of missiles, radars and other equipment.
“The Navy’s new proposal, like the LCS, will continue to have its critics, but considering the context of our broader naval battle force and the current strategic and fiscal environment, I believe it represents our best and most cost effective option,” Hagel said in a statement.
via Pentagon Opts to Upgrade Littoral Combat Ship Design – gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News.
It was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Hagel, likely at the urging of Bob Work, would take this path of least resistance. And least return on investment. Everything about LCS has been PowerPoint promise driven. Why should that change now?
CDR Salamander has a nice rundown on the changes to come.
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F3H Demon
Before there was the magnificent F-4 Phantom, there was the McDonnell F3H Demon.
McDonnell Aircraft was formed in 1939, and aside from a prototype or two, it spent most of World War II building parts and subassemblies for other airplane manufacturers. About halfway through the war, McDonnell began designing what would become the US Navy’s first all jet fighter, the FH-1 Phantom. Only 62 Phantom’s were built, but for a new company to manage to snag such an important contract was a significant break. Moving from a parts supplier to an aircraft designer and builder was a big business step.
As soon as the FH-1 was underway, it became apparent that a larger, more powerful plane with the same general layout would be a better fit for the Navy. Soon production shifted to the F2H Banshee.
The Banshee was a very successful design, and served throughout the Korean War alongside the better known Grumman F9F Panther series. Almost 900 Banshees would serve in the US Navy, Marine Corps and as the only carrier borne fighter of the Royal Canadian Navy.
But even as the Banshee was rolling off the production lines, the era of the straight winged subsonic fighter was clearly nearing an end. The performance of swept wing F-86 and MiG-15 jets in Korea, and the era of supersonic flight ushered in by the Bell X-1 in 1947 meant the next McDonnell product would be a swept wing supersonic jet. Not only that, advances in radar meant it would be intended to serve as an all-weather air defense platform for the carrier group. And so McDonnell began development of the F3H Demon.
Advances in avionics, and aerodynamics were very rapid in the 1950s. The problem was, advances in jet engine design was rapid, but not universally successful. And McDonnell and the Navy made a bad bet that the Westinghouse J40 engine would be successful. It wasn’t. In fact, the J40 engine was a disaster, with atrocious reliability problems. The first production run of 58 J40 powered F3H-1 Demons were grounded, useful only for ground maintenance trainers.
McDonnell convinced the Navy to switch to the less powerful (and still not terribly reliable) Allison J71 engine. Roughly 450 Allison powered Demons would roll off the lines, with later models armed first with Sidewinder missiles, and then the early AAM-2-N Sparrow missile.
The Demon was not considered a failure, but nor was it genuinely considered a successful design. The much larger, more powerful F4H Phantom II would sometimes be called “twice the jet the Demon was” because it had not just two engines, but two crewmen as well.
Still, the Demon did have its good points. It has excellent visibility from its cockpit, and was generally considered a very pleasant airplane to fly, if a somewhat underpowered around the boat.
And speaking of the boat, here’s some home movies of some Demons operating from USS Hancock (CVA-19).
The Demon would have a relatively short service life, entering squadron service around 1956, and with the last leaving the fleet in 1964, replaced by the Phantom.
H/T to Cybermodeler
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Frontiers of Flight Museum
Our friend Vmaximus visited the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field, TX, and was kind enough to share some photos with us.
And there’s a couple of opportunities to play Name That Plane.
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HMCS Whitehorse incident results in drinking ban on navy ships – British Columbia – CBC News
Canadian sailors will no longer be able to drink aboard ships, unless the vessel is tied up or an exception has been made for a special occasion such as Christmas or a barbecue.
The order was made today by navy commander Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, and it follows an order in July for HMCS Whitehorse to abandon an exercise in San Diego and return to port in Canada following three allegations of drunken misconduct.
Norman said the policy change will help prevent instances of alcohol-fuelled misconduct.
via HMCS Whitehorse incident results in drinking ban on navy ships – British Columbia – CBC News.
Six months from now, the CBC will have a headline bemoaning poor retention, and the mystery of why people are fleeing the RCN.
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Chick Flicks and War Movies
Guys, you know you hate it when your woman wants you to take her to see The Notebook, and you’re in the mood for Blackhawk Down.
Well, now there’s a solution!
Mad props to Mr. Chumpo, inspired by a stupid joke thread on TheH2 (maybe not quite Safe For Work).
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The Ferguson Protesters Are Barking Up The Wrong Tree
The various groups protesting about the death of Mike Brown at the hands of Ferguson PD Officer Darren Wilson are venting their frustration at what they see as a police department that faces no consequences for killing a black man. In fact, all the credible evidence shows that Brown attacked Wilson, and that Wilson’s subsequent use of deadly force was justifiable as a matter of self defense.
Before the #HandsUpDontShoot nonsense started, before Sharpton arrived to inflame (rather literally, given the looting) the protesters, there was a valid point mentioned in the coverage. The population of Ferguson is about 70% black, and there is apparently a feeling that they are ill served by the city services, particularly the predominantly white police department.
Setting aside the fact that black males commit crimes, particularly violent crimes, at rates that are astonishingly greater than whites, there is indeed quite a bit of evidence that the servants of the city of Ferguson have in fact come to see themselves as masters, and the citizenry as serfs whose exist solely to support them.
Ferguson, Missouri, which is recovering from riots following the August shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman, plans to close a budget gap by boosting revenue from public-safety fines and tapping reserves.
The strategy by the St. Louis suburb, which suffered a second round of violent protests last month after a grand jury refused to indict the police officer, may risk worsening community relations with increased citations and weakening its credit standing by reducing a rainy-day fund.
To close a projected deficit for fiscal 2014, which ended June 30, the municipality will deplete a $10 million capital-projects reserve, Jeffrey Blume, Ferguson’s finance director, said in a telephone interview. For the current year, the city is budgeting for higher receipts from police-issued tickets.
Emphasis mine.
Ferguson already has an astonishing number of warrants issued per capita.
…Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of $2,635,400. In 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court disposed of 24,532 warrants and 12,018 cases, or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.
That post goes on to break it down.
You don’t get $321 in fines and fees and 3 warrants per household from an about-average crime rate. You get numbers like this from bullshit arrests for jaywalking and constant “low level harassment involving traffic stops, court appearances, high fines, and the threat of jail for failure to pay.”
Tabarrok goes on to show how even something as simple as a speeding ticket can quickly become an extended journey into a hostile justice system with spiraling consequences.
This is the all encompassing state, the pervasive bureaucracy. Instead of a police force and judiciary to maintain order and preserve peace for the people, we see instead a people burdened to sustain a police force and municipal judiciary.
Does a town of 21,000 residents really need its own police department and its own municipal court system?
Where I live, the municipal police forces are actually sworn deputies of the county. The city pays the county for police services. The courts are also at the county level.
The irony is, the majority black population of Ferguson has reliably voted for Democratic candidates for years and years. You know, the party of big government, the party that wants the state to be all pervasive. The party that is utterly beholden to public employee unions, particularly the powerful police unions.
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Surplus Humvee auctions to public a first for DoD
WASHINGTON — What in the world is the U.S. military going to do with all of its surplus Humvees? For the first time, it will auction off as many as 4,000 of the workhorse vehicles for sale to the public, instead of scrapping them.
Even as controversy churns over the Pentagon’s transfer of military equipment to local civilian police departments, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) sent the first batch to auction through IronPlanet’s GovPlanet.com. Since bidding started at $10,000 a couple of weeks ago, pent up demand has yielded bids on nearly all of the Humvees — selling for off-road use only.
“We definitely see lots of interest, and we’re certainly excited to have the opportunity to sell these,” said Randy Berry, IronPlanet’s senior vice president for operations and services. “These items have been scrapped up to now … so it’s a win for the taxpayers and everybody involved here.”
via Surplus Humvee auctions to public a first for DoD.
I guess it’s news. Note that these are all soft top, unarmored Humvees, and they are also quite old. And one has a sneaking suspicion they aren’t exactly in prime material condition. That is, you’re probably going to have to spend quite a bit of money to make them operational.
And AM General doesn’t want to sell you parts or manuals. Flooding the market with surplus cuts into their sales.
Oh, and apparently, they’re not intended to be registered for legal road use.
I think you’re probably better off seeing if you can find a used H1 commercial Hummer.
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The Crap Tree 2014 | Innocent Bystanders
A tradition that Michael pimped like a meth and toad venom addled hooker on Harry Hines Blvd in December of 2006 and who am I that I would fail to mess this joint up at Christmas like the jerk that I am.
Crap Tree 2014
Peace on Earth goodwill to doofuses.
via The Crap Tree 2014 | Innocent Bystanders.
It’s officially the Christmas Season!
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Geminid meteor shower this weekend
Hope there’s clear skies for you.
The online Slooh Community Observatory will host a live webacst of the Geminid meteor display on Saturday night beginning at 8 p.m. EST (0100 Dec. 14 GMT).You can also watch the Slooh webcast directly:http://live.slooh.com/.
More skywatching info at http://www.space.com/27995-geminid-meteor-shower-peak-observers-guide.html
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U.S. Department of Defense Reading Lists
One of my favorites on the CNO’s list. The folks over at Small Wars Journal bring us a list of lists of DoD recommended reading. All services are well represent in addition to some of the recommend reading from Joint Commands, the CIA and Small Wars Journal itself. Most of these I’ve read and you may want to add some to your reading list for next year.
Throwing in the promo, you should be able to find not only the books at the Pritzker Military Museum and Library but also the recorded programs featuring some of the authors.
Or buy them at the Amazon link at the right.
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