Jura The idiot
General
... and now keeping A-10 is not a "treason" either LOL (referring of course to what Maj. Gen. James Post uttered https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/us-military-news-thread.t1547/page-387#post-335639
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
... and now keeping A-10 is not a "treason" either LOL (referring of course to what Maj. Gen. James Post uttered https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/us-military-news-thread.t1547/page-387#post-335639
WASHINGTON — A US government watchdog agency has given passing marks to the Army's massive aviation restructure plans, a potential blow to the National Guard, which opposes a key piece of that plan.
The 49-page Government Accountability Office's (GAO's) report found that the Army's proposal is less expensive than a Guard proposal and better meets mission demands. This follows two other analyses that backed the Army's plan, which is dubbed the Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI), over the Guard's proposal.
The Army, in a letter included in the report, largely welcomed its findings, while National Guard Association of the United States spokesman John Goheen called the GAO's report, "pretty superficial." Goheen said he anticipatesa congressionally mandated commission, which was seated last month, to study the issue and report in 2016.
"What we'd like to see the commission undertake is really look at ARI critically, and look at the Army's presumptions," Goheen said.
The Army, according to Goheen, has been "cherry picking policies," to back its plan. Although National Guard troops are supposed to be notified of a deployment with a longer lead time than regular army units, Goheen said the Guard would gladly deploy at the same rate as the regular Army. He invoked National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Frank Grass' statement in a 2013 memo that the Guard is, "all in."
Anticipating budget and end-strength cuts, the Army launched ARI to reorganize its combat aviation capabilities which, if implemented, would cut 10,700 positions and divest the Army of 800 less capable helicopters — for a savings of $12 billion in procurement costs and $1 billion annually.
Under ARI, the active component would divest itself of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior fleet and pull Apaches from the National Guard to fill the gap, providing UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in return. The Army would also close three of its 13 combat aviation brigades, and has so far named only the 159th at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, which lost 2,400 soldiers in the inactivation.
Arguing that the removal of the helicopters would degrade its role as a combat reserve, the Guard offered a counterproposal in 2014 that would allow it to retain some AH-64s. The Army argues the Guard proposal would result in unacceptable operational risk.
The GAO report was ordered in the 2015 defense authorization law to compare the components' underlying assumptions, their capacities and the Army's cost analyses. One of the key differences is the Guard believes that ARI is a permanent solution to short-term budget problems.
When, in classified war-fighting scenarios, the Army assumed it would take the Guard three months to complete predeployment training, both the Guard and Army proposals met more than 90 percent of combat demands. However, when the Army used the historical length for Guard training, four months, the Guard met only 83 percent of demand in the final four months of peak demand period for major combat operations.
GAO gave the nod to the Army's cost analyses, which found the Guard's proposal would be $220 million to $420 million more expensive than the Army's because the Guard's proposal included 11 more Apaches. Further, the Guard proposal would create risk because it would take 104 more Apaches to offset, at a cost of $5.5 billion, and $338 million annually to sustain, according to the Army.
Maj. Gen. Gary Cheek, Army assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and policy, said the Army welcomed the GAO's affirmation of its methodology and proposal overall.
"The Army leadership, as well as the leadership of the Department of Defense," Cheek said, "agree with your assessment that the Army's plan for ARI, which includes moving Apaches from the National Guard to the regular Army, as well as Black Hawks from the regular Army to the National Guard, is cost effective and better supports homeland defense, and better meets the demands of our classified war-fighting scenarios."
The 49-page Government Accountability Office's (GAO's) report found that the Army's proposal is less expensive than a Guard proposal and better meets mission demands. This follows two other analyses that backed the Army's plan, which is dubbed the Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI), over the Guard's proposal.
The Army, in a letter included in the report, largely welcomed its findings, while National Guard Association of the United States spokesman John Goheen called the GAO's report, "pretty superficial." Goheen said he anticipatesa congressionally mandated commission, which was seated last month, to study the issue and report in 2016.
"What we'd like to see the commission undertake is really look at ARI critically, and look at the Army's presumptions," Goheen said.
The Army, according to Goheen, has been "cherry picking policies," to back its plan. Although National Guard troops are supposed to be notified of a deployment with a longer lead time than regular army units, Goheen said the Guard would gladly deploy at the same rate as the regular Army. He invoked National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Frank Grass' statement in a 2013 memo that the Guard is, "all in."
Anticipating budget and end-strength cuts, the Army launched ARI to reorganize its combat aviation capabilities which, if implemented, would cut 10,700 positions and divest the Army of 800 less capable helicopters — for a savings of $12 billion in procurement costs and $1 billion annually.
Under ARI, the active component would divest itself of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior fleet and pull Apaches from the National Guard to fill the gap, providing UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in return. The Army would also close three of its 13 combat aviation brigades, and has so far named only the 159th at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, which lost 2,400 soldiers in the inactivation.
Arguing that the removal of the helicopters would degrade its role as a combat reserve, the Guard offered a counterproposal in 2014 that would allow it to retain some AH-64s. The Army argues the Guard proposal would result in unacceptable operational risk.
The GAO report was ordered in the 2015 defense authorization law to compare the components' underlying assumptions, their capacities and the Army's cost analyses. One of the key differences is the Guard believes that ARI is a permanent solution to short-term budget problems.
When, in classified war-fighting scenarios, the Army assumed it would take the Guard three months to complete predeployment training, both the Guard and Army proposals met more than 90 percent of combat demands. However, when the Army used the historical length for Guard training, four months, the Guard met only 83 percent of demand in the final four months of peak demand period for major combat operations.
GAO gave the nod to the Army's cost analyses, which found the Guard's proposal would be $220 million to $420 million more expensive than the Army's because the Guard's proposal included 11 more Apaches. Further, the Guard proposal would create risk because it would take 104 more Apaches to offset, at a cost of $5.5 billion, and $338 million annually to sustain, according to the Army.
Maj. Gen. Gary Cheek, Army assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and policy, said the Army welcomed the GAO's affirmation of its methodology and proposal overall.
"The Army leadership, as well as the leadership of the Department of Defense," Cheek said, "agree with your assessment that the Army's plan for ARI, which includes moving Apaches from the National Guard to the regular Army, as well as Black Hawks from the regular Army to the National Guard, is cost effective and better supports homeland defense, and better meets the demands of our classified war-fighting scenarios."
Naval Today said:
These are very valuable, and realistic exercises.
At least five submarines will run various individual and group attack and recon scenarios against individual and groups of vessels from ten countries. Thirteen surface vessels in all.
In addition, three MPA aircraft from France and Germany, will join in and assist in finding and prosecuting the subs. That will mean Atlantique II and P-3C Orion aircraft respectively.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Well it's in for some stiff competition. The Early Fav for the Modular Hand gun system was and likely still is the Springfield Ma made Smith & Wesson Military and Police.
but of course that is assuming there is a MHGS
but of course that is assuming there is a MHGS
House Wants to Cut Army’s M9 Replacement Money
Apr 30, 2015 | by Matthew Cox
The U.S. Army's effort to replace its M9 9mm pistol with a new Modular Handgun System may be facing another hurdle now that lawmakers in the House want to kill the service's $5.4 million fiscal 2016 budget request.
The language in the House Chairman's mark-up of the fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Bill comes three months after the Army announced it was delaying the MHS competition in late January.
The program would replace the 30-year-old , made by Beretta USA, with a more-powerful, modern handgun. The began working with the small arms industry on in early 2013, but the effort has been in the works for more than five years.
The effort to replace the M9 could result in the Defense Department buying 500,000 new pistols during a period of significant defense-spending reductions.
The Army's decision to delay the launch of the MHS competition followed a about the December decision of the service's Configuration Control Board to deny Beretta USA's submission of a modernized version of the M9 pistol, the M9A3, as a cost-saving alternative to MHS.
Beretta unveiled its M9A3 in December as an engineering change proposal to the current M9 contract. The improved M9 features new sights, a rail for mounting lights and accessories, better ergonomics and improved reliability, according to Beretta USA officials.
The formally rejected the M9A3 proposal in a Jan. 29 letter because it went beyond what a traditional ECP is supposed to do. As a result, Army officials said they could not alter the original M9 contract and the M9A3 would have to be submitted as a brand new pistol, the source familiar with the letter said.
The service decided to delay the MHS program to give Army weapon officials time to improve the formal request for proposal to the small arms industry, according to Army officials.
The proposed congressional language in the House mark-up rejected the Army's $5,417,000 request for "HANDGUN" under Procurement of Weapons & Other Combat Vehicles. The language cites "schedule delay" under the entry.
It's too early in the budget process to know if the Army will get this money since the Senate still has to do its version of the 2016 defense spending bill mark-up.
MHS is set to cost at least $350 million and potentially millions more if it results in the selection of a more potent pistol caliber, according to small arms experts.
Current plans call for the Army to purchase more than 280,000 handguns from a single vendor, with delivery of the first new handgun systems scheduled for 2017, according to Program Executive Office Soldier officials. The Army also plans to buy approximately 7,000 sub-compact versions of the handgun.
-- Matthew Cox can be reached at [email protected]
Nice to see them conducting these exercises to work up the LCS into inclusion with the Burkes and exercising how the two can operate together in the various war fighting modes.Naval Today said:
The LCS, as they receive upgrades to their weapons packages, and the new SSC will be used like frigates in these groups.
Naval Today said:
This article is a GREAT example of how the US Navy is using its numerous Arleigh Burke destroyers (currently 63 of them) while they are deployed. This is quite a list of operations, exercises, training, and responses for her deployment:
- Maritime security operations in the region.
- Theater security cooperation efforts in the region.
- Participated in an International Mine Countermeasure Exercises
- Conducted a pass exercise with the Turkish Navy
- Took part in a Ballistic Missile Defense Exercise
- Conducted a Squadron Exercise (SQUADEX) with HMS Chiddingfold & HMS Atherstone
- Participated in regional Joint Air Defense Exercise, Spartan Kopis
- Participated in exercise Iron Magic
- Participated in exercise Operation Inherent Resolve.
- Pioneered US Navy DDG as an integrated part of the Charles de Gaulle (R91) CSG
- Supported Operation Inherent Resolve
- Supported Operation Arromanches
- Conducted plane guard duty with Charles de Gaulle & frigate FS Chevalier Paul (D621)
- Joined in ASW operations with French Alouette III & Dauphin helicopters
- Completed 59 flight quarters and two vertical replenishments
- Set record for Approach, Assist & Visit ops with Visit, Board, Search & Seizure teams
- Conducted intelligence gathering operations on Piracy in the Arabian Gulf area
- Provided safety of life at sea with a stranded dhow with an engineering casualty
- Provided safety of life at sea with tanker Alpine Eternity, who collided with an oil platform.
In addition, that is a really nice picture of the vessel.
Jura The idiot
General
kinda related (I put two parts in bold):
source: