One of the cursed blessings of the F-35B Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) requirement, the spec that created made Fat Amy fat. Without the VTOL configuration, the extra internal volume is used for additional fuel, creating single engine jet with almost as much internal fuel as a Sukhoi Su-27. In the 21st century, long loiter time and sensors are what make an aerial platform, and for this the F-35 did achieve something, by being the smallest possible airframe to fit a large radar and fuel tank. The pointlessness of the 35B, can't even do supersonic for more than one minute without burning...

Now America needs to "turn off" the leased Trident II D5 SLBM missiles on the HMS Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant, and Vengeance, which maintain the UK's Continuous At-Sea Deterrent (CASD)and close out the agreement indefinitely. The UK can keep the Holbrook Mk-4A warheads. Around 30% to 40% of the Royal Navy's major surface combatants (destroyers and frigates) are fully operational or immediately deployable at any given time due to maintenance, refits, and crew constraints. The Royal Navy operates roughly 13 to 15 major surface combatants on paper, consisting of 6 Type 45 destroyers and...

Operation Gothic Serpent 3 October 1993 Shughart: “Gordy’s gone man. I’ll be outside.” There is no doubt Mogidishu, Somalia was a bad conflict (American has not been involved in a good one since 1871) but the valor and sprezzatura of Gordon and Shughart is off the charts. Heroes happen because events take a bad and unpredictable turn. Medal of Honor winners step into the breach when the shit hits the fan. Remember. Chasing Ghosts Episode 022 "Review and Discussion: Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On"" https://rss.com/podcasts/cgp/1065857/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHcD0tDRePI

The USAF MQ-9A Reaper fleet is down to about 135 airframes — under half the 351 counted in FY2022 — and the production line is shut, Army Recognition reported from a 23 September CRS study. GA-ASI told CRS a restart would take two to three years. FY27 asks for no new Air Force Reapers; the Navy wants five for the Marines. The service still claims 56 combat lines. Epic Fury losses were not published, of course. GEN Ken Wilsbach called the Reaper the operation’s MVP. Successor plan is Massed Modular Aircraft at ~$10 million versus $30–50 million for a Reaper, prototypes from FY28, 500 jets by...

In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt wrote Winston Churchill a letter with one of the most arrogant lines of the entire war: "I think I can personally handle Stalin better than either your Foreign Office or my State Department." He meant it. And three years later at Yalta, the world paid for it. Roosevelt's whole strategy toward Stalin was to make him like him. His former ambassador to Moscow later said FDR told him that if he gave Stalin everything he could and asked for nothing back, Stalin would respond in kind and wouldn't try to annex anything. He was talking about a man who had just starved...

After years of fighting with the sclerotic and loathsome UK Ministry of Defense to clear his manuscript for publication, the hero of the 2019 Nairobi terrorist attack has finally been able to get his book out. This is a pristine example of military power in a single man being used to achieve a singular good. During the 2019 DusitD2 hotel complex terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya, former Special Air Service (SAS) operator Christian Craighead helped rescue and evacuate hundreds of people with estimates generally ranging from more than 100 directly aided up to hundreds or over 700 people saved...