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  • Intelligence: Gorgon Stare Versus ISIL

    The recent (September 22) start of the bombing campaign against ISIL (the bad al Qaeda) in western Iraq and eastern Syria came as no surprise to those in Iraq who had spotted, and sometimes captured video of, American recon jets (F-15Es, known to be based in Qatar) and UAVs (also based in the Persian Gulf) flying over or towards ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria. This was part of a weeks long effort to find and then confirm the location of targets for the bombing and cruise missile attacks that began on the 22 nd .

    F-15Es have the range and capacity to haul a surveillance pod (in addition to their normal powerful surveillance and targeting sensors) to quickly gather lots of details on potential targets. Then there were the photos showing up online of American MQ-9 UAVs carrying the latest version of the Gorgon Stare surveillance system. This is a device that is designed to gather lots of data over a wide area. And on a long endurance UAV like the MQ-9 Gorgon Stare is a formidable intelligence tool.

    via Intelligence: Gorgon Stare Versus ISIL.

    One of the strengths of the MQ-9 Reaper system isn’t so much that it can carry and deliver bombs and Hellfire missiles, but that it can loiter over a target for 24 hours. Coupled with signals intelligence and traffic analysis, it is a very powerful tool for discerning the enemy’s order of battle and dispositions. It’s not a perfect system, by any means. But it is much better than taking only the occasional snapshot of the enemy.

  • AG Holder Resigns

    Attn. General Holder Testifies At Senate Judiciary Hearing On Justice Dept Oversight

    The news broke a bit ago that Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation.  His six years as the senior law enforcement official in the United States has been particularly damaging to the civil liberties of American citizens.   Holder’s race-baiting tactics, which include refusing to investigate and prosecute cases which he believed reflected poorly on “his people”, was typical of his lack of integrity and character.  Appointed by the first black President as the first black AG, Holder more than anyone else made skin color an issue.

    Holder also was in constant full-court press in executing his boss’s Alinsky-esque plans to treat political opposition as enemies, use the powers of government for extralegal persecution of those opponents, and curtailing individual freedoms in order to promote a politically-favored class, his own.  His conduct while in office has been blatantly dishonest, most notable being the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal which took the lives of a US Border Patrol agent, hundreds of Mexican civilians, and unknown US citizens at the hands of the criminal elements Holder was responsible for arming.  Worse, Fast and Furious was an effort to make a case for draconian gun control measures and the disarming law-abiding American citizens.  His testimony regarding the scandal was unadulterated lies and evasion, again typical of his lack of character and integrity.   Holder was made to recant some of his falsehoods when proof came to light that he had not only been briefed on the operation, but briefed on several occasions, and in detail.

    There were other scandals.   There was the subpoena of phone records of AP reporters without cause, for which Holder was responsible but faced no consequences.  There was his leaking of Justice Department information to Media Matters so that they could dutifully spin the scandal stories.  There was Holder’s active role in ensuring that IRS officials would not be brought to trial during his tenure for their use of their government apparatus in persecuting political opposition.

    Inexplicably, it is to a man like this that many Americans are willing to cede their Constitutional rights under due process in determining Federal Government actions to kill US citizens without conviction, or even trial.  Holder, and men like him, in the star chamber of “informed Government officials” making decisions on who presents a “threat” and who does not, with the winners being awarded a Hellfire for their troubles, is perhaps the worst of situations I can imagine.

    Eric Holder is a malignant tumor to the liberties of a free people.  A race-baiting, gun-grabbing, lying, cheating, bullying Communist of the most corrosive ilk.  You can bet he is not going of his own accord, despite what his public proclamations might be.  Someone has something on him, big enough that Obama wants him under the bus, otherwise he would not be going anywhere.  No matter what it is, Holder can be guaranteed a Presidential pardon from Bath House Barry, or from Hillary Clinton, if we are faced with that particular catastrophe. Holder is an enemy of freedom, and of the Constitution.  He is without honor, without any redeeming value whatsoever.

    Whomever replaces him should face extreme scrutiny in the confirmation process.  One hopes those who love freedom have the courage to apply that scrutiny.

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  • Daily Dose of Splodey

  • Strike on an ISIS motorpool

    Courtesy of Funkers350

    While I suspect ISIS doesn’t set up a motor pool the way the US Army does, at any event, they tend to be an area target. Normally, an area target would call for an area weapon, such as the Mk20 Rockeye cluster bomb.

    But due to the dud rate of cluster bombs, and the resulting threat of unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians, the US is reluctant to use cluster bombs. Other countries have signed a ban on them, but the US has not. But they have been notably reluctant to use them.

    So how do you cover an area target if you can’t use cluster bombs? You could simply use a bigger bomb. But that’s not terribly effective. The largest bomb in routine use is the Mk84 2000lb bomb, and the various guided versions, JDAM, LGB and whatnot, that use the Mk84 as a warhead. The effective radius of a Mk84 against a soft target is pretty hefty, but not terribly much greater than a 500lb Mk82. As a general rule, you’ll cover more area with 4 Mk82 bombs than one Mk84.

    The bombs seen in this clip were almost certainly either 500lb JDAM bombs using a Mk82 warhead, or, possibly, 250 pound Small Diameter Bombs, or SDBs. The nice thing about the SDB is that its very compact design means a single strike fighter can carry quite a few of them.

  • "Allahu Akb-OUCH!"

    This one has been around a while, but still worth a giggle.

     

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  • Jennifer Griffin on Twitter: "Love that #UAE pilots who bombed #ISIS #Syria led by female commander. Maj Mariam Al Mansouri. #ladyliberty http://t.co/VJb49bOvds"

    Jennifer Griffin on Twitter: “Love that #UAE pilots who bombed #ISIS #Syria led by female commander. Maj Mariam Al Mansouri. #ladyliberty http://t.co/VJb49bOvds”.

  • Good Morning.

    This will brighten your day.

  • Which one of my minions will build this for me?

  • TAH Anniversary; Eight years of terrorizing idiots : This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

    So, it was eight years ago that This Ain’t Hell took root in my fertile mind after a few years of honing that mind in forums from Paratrooper.net to the History Channel. It took a few more years to latch onto the Stolen Valor thing. We didn’t start the Stolen Valor thing, but we brought it to social media and the popular culture. We have spawned some of the better Stolen Valor sites and set the standard on the internet for outing phonies. It helps having the finest legal mind in the stolen valor community on staff and some of the best military records researchers an email away. Most of them are named in the lawsuits against us.

    via TAH Anniversary; Eight years of terrorizing idiots : This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here.

    Happy Anniversary to one of the best, oldest MilBlogs around. Jonn and the gang at TAH provide entertainment galore, lots of stories for me to steal, and provide a valuable public service in their relentless efforts to highlight and hold accountable those who would steal accolades and goodwill reserved for the brave men and women of the Armed Forces.

    Oh, by the way, it’s Jonn Lilyea’s birthday too! Wish him a happy one.

  • Combat Debut of the F-22

    Via Aviation Week

    The U.S. Air Force’s most expensive fighter, the twin-engine F-22, has finally attacked a target during a combat deployment.

    A pilot flying the Lockheed Martin Raptor attacked an Islamic State (IS) target early Sept. 23 in a successful engagement, says Lt. Col. Edward Sholtis, a spokesman for Air Forces Central Command.

    This is an ironic debut for the fighter, which was criticized for decades as a costly boondoggle in air-to-air dominance technology. The addition of ground attack came only after years of development as an afterthought.

    One doubts that was a target set no other platform could strike. On the other hand, the Air Force is tired of hearing critics complain the F-22 is too expensive to risk in combat.