Iran Scorecard: The Fight Continues

2 F-35 stealth fighters hit 4 F-15 Strike Eagles lost 7 KC-135 Stratotankers damaged (one lost) All of those aircraft are a big maybe; fratricide, friendly fire, we don’t know yet. To be fair, let’s suppose not a single aircraft suffered Iranian fire but 11 Reapers drones are confirmed hit. The after-action historical analysis will determine the air war losses, we simply don’t know. During the Iraq War in 1991, the US and coalition forces lost approx 41 aircraft. BUT Ten expensive radar systems taken out including lower-value assets like the AN/TPS-59 but also including the one billion...

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Blackadder Was Ahead of His Time: The UK Military Death Spiral

"Tomorrow we attack the Germans" "Let me guess Sir, we climb out of our trenches and do a frontal assault" "Damn it, Blackadder, that's supposed to be a secret" "We've tried it 17 times before and always failed" "Ah, but they will never expect it an 18th time!" *** Please listen to Winston Marshall's discussion appended below. Presently, the UK would have a hard time projecting a brigade size element and support in a Continental expeditionary footprint. Shocking paragraph in Stringer’s assessment: “Put in stark terms - and this is largely hidden from the British electorate - not one...

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Ep 079 “Iran, Salvo Competition and the Inevitable Stalemate”

Ep 079 “Iran, Salvo Competition and the Inevitable Stalemate”

I'll discuss Iran and the grunt math of salvo competition. Buppert’s Law of Military Topography: “Mountainous terrain held by riflemen who know what they are about cannot be militarily defeated.” For other insight on Iran, I recommend CG episodes 061 , 067 and 078. References: The Boogeyman of 21st-Century Warfare: Drones Why the US is facing strategic defeat Points of Resistance and Departure: An interview with James C. Scott Lester Grau and Charles J. Bartles Mountain Warfare and Other Lofty Problems: Foreign mountain combat veterans discuss movement and maneuver, training and resupply...

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Radar Follies: The Delicate Golden Thread

What happens when billions of dollars of Western radars are shattered and decimated? Once fire direction can’t translate & collate Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) inputs to operable cueing and precise targeting for munitions, efficacy of fires falls off a cliff. You can have mountains of missiles and munitions but the tyranny of angles and location in a dynamic conflict demand precision targeting. These billion+ dollar radar architectures are complex with long lead times to completion. The cost means the templating geographic coverage does not have very much...

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Ep 078 “Iran and I Lost: The American Empire Tilts Again”

Ep 078 “Iran and I Lost: The American Empire Tilts Again”

I am back from moving and health setbacks. With Western conflict in Iran escalating and in train, I discuss the vagaries and verities of the nuclear gambit in Iran in the Middle East and what this will mean to the future of warfare for the reminder of this century. I assess how the RMAs rapidly displacing centuries-old conflict norms are going to look for the remainder of the century. Buppert’s Law of Military Topography: “Mountainous terrain held by riflemen who know what they are about cannot be militarily defeated.” For other insight on Iran, I recommend CG episodes 061 and 067....

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The Navy Woke Wake: Haze Gray and Raw Sewage Underway

No urinals on the USS Ford. This is a feature and not a bug. The main issue is breakdowns with the ship’s Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer (VCHT) system, which controls its toilets and sewage collection. The system is split across ten independent zones and supports more than 600 toilets on the ship. Acid flushes can clear and restore the system, but according to that 2020 GAO report, each flush costs the Navy $400,000. Approx 15% of the crew are female. "Nine hot dogs for every bun" as my Navy colleague would mention. Don't look away when you see the video footage of the toilets...

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Update February 2025: The Pause That Refreshes

I have not published an episode for a month which is unusual to those of you used to my fortnightly cadence. Well, I am moving and that has caused some difficulties in time management. We have relocated and now we are looking for a house while in temporary arrangements. Then, I happened to have what is best described as a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) which may be related to TBI[s] that were discovered in 2019 most likely related to my proximity to three IED explosions. This was sort of a mini-stroke and caused some articulation/elocution problems that made my speaking voice rather...

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Harry the Handbag’s House of Cards is About to Collapse

I loathe the British Royal family. I loathe the Markle couple and Harry the Handbag even more. Piers Morgan, love him or hate him, has done a standup and stunning expose on Meghan Markle’s financial skullduggery. AMEX is going to blow this terrible fraud complex to smithereens. The discovery process in this case in Calizuela is going to be quite revealing. loathe the British Royal family. This will impact the Royals in the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTtK32lvbSw

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