I post at The Dignified Rant: Evolved on Substack. Help me out by subscribing and by liking and sharing posts. I also post here on TDR seven days a week, including Weekend Data Dump and Winter War of
2022. I occasionally post short data dump-type items on my Substack "Notes" section.
In case you missed it on Substack: America is Not Defending Europe
In case you missed it on Substack: South Korea as a Power Projection Platform
In case you missed it on Substack: Is Putin Embracing China to Expand Russia's Empire?
In case you missed it on Substack: Why Will the Navy Sail in Harm's Way?
Via Instapundit: "Why don’t we have modulars for ships? A warehouse of CIWS guns ready to bolt onto merchant ships in wartime? Containerized weapons?" You can't say I haven't tried.
Killing jihadis is fun and easy: "The U.S. military has carried out more than two dozen airstrikes on targets in Somalia in the first five months of this year, double the total number of strikes in 2024."
The U.S. has brought up the idea of selling an export version of a new F-47 to Japan.
Guess who Russia is honoring now?
The Navy will begin fielding an anti-ship Tomahawk cruise missile by September. Is this sub-sonic missile a "game changer"? Sure, every missile counts toward overwhelming Chinese navy defenses ...
China spies on American forces in the Philippines using fishing and tourism as cover.
Is it a "grave mistake" to lift American sanctions on Syria when it is run by Sunni jihadis who are projecting an image of reasonableness? Probably. But our Gulf Arab allies likely want to bring a Sunni-run Syria back into the fold rather than risk it returning to Iran's orbit. We won't change the regime, eh?
As we watch Russia squirm after Ukraine smashed up its long-range bomber fleet, let's not get cocky. Pearl Harbor is a danger right now, not just on December 7, 1941. CONUS is no longer a sanctuary.
Psychological traits to excel in basic training.
Keep in mind that the Ukrainians almost certainly had foreign help with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for their spectacular special forces drone attack. Google Earth won't cut it for something like this.
America puts limits on using the weapons it sells. China has no limits. America likes the status quo while China--which has prospered under the status quo--bizarrely doesn't care if the status quo is disrupted.
Learning to use small drones in the Army.
During the Iraq War, insurgents would set up rockets in vehicles that were disposable weapons to attack an American base. These were basically unguided suicide drones, no? Ground-based Phalanx were used to defend against such rocket (or mortar) attacks. Could Phalanx down suicide drones?
Are South Korean voters in a circular firing squad mood?
Romanians are divided on admiring or fearing Russia. Don't forget that in the Cold War, Romania wasn't considered the most reliable member of the Warsaw Pact. My memory is that Romanian air defenses were more aligned to oppose the Soviet Union.
Much as America reacted to persistent enemy terrorism and insurgency with the timely Iraq Surge COIN strategy and Awakening that flipped the Sunni Arab tribes to our side, Israel is going into Gaza to stay. Will the Gaza clans be the source of an Awakening there?
Paris deadly soccer-inspired riots? It's always something.
America will reduce its military presence in Syria to one base at Hasakah in the northeast. Supposedly this rejects a century of American policy toward Syria. It has been the same since the place was a French colony? I learn something new every day.
What the Army does. Timely for the 250th anniversary.
As a rule, I'd rather Europeans focus on punching Russia instead of poking China.
Act of war: "Federal agents have arrested a University of Michigan scholar from China on charges she tried to smuggle a biological pathogen into the United States characterized as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon that can be used for targeting food crops." Tip to Instapundit.
America has too many FOGOs and too few skilled in kinetic warfare rather than joint political warfare. In World War II there were fewer than 10 stops between a grunt and the top officer. Today it is 20+
Hmm: "China is undergoing an unprecedented series of economic, demographic and medical disasters." Interesting that China's flawed Covid 19 vaccine was discovered to be "hurting more than helping."
I don't trust CATO or the Quincy Institute to value defending America. FFS, Golden Dome will never get good enough to stop a serious nuclear attack. At best it will provide a limited defense for our ability to project power overseas.
The transition from Minuteman III to Sentinel.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 did not say Taiwan has no right to independence. It only said mainland China should own the existing UN seat. Are countries starting to act on that reality?
Well it's not like Sudan is the Queen of the Victim Prom!
The forum for foreign policy conventional wisdom faceplants on Gaza. Israel is not escalating the war--Hamas did that with a rape, murder, and kidnap invasion 20 months ago. Nor is Israel creating a "forever war". Hamas did that, too. Israel is trying to end the war once and for all. Good hunting, I say.
An idea so crazy it just might work! Please alert the Germans.
Problems in the former Soviet Union. Russia is the most obvious as it tries to reclaim its title of Upper Volta with (fingers crossed, comrades!) nukes.
The orange-hued end of the long American century? LOL. In the future, when people speak of the American Century, you'll need to ask them to be more specific.
Can the Chinese maintain the memory of Tienanmen Square and China's bloody suppression of calls for liberty in the face of legal warfare? I assume China wants robots to replace potentially unreliable soldiers for carrying out the next bloodbath.
The Air Force tested a 500-pound anti-ship JDAM as part of their Quicksink program. How many could a B-21 carry?
Best buddies: "'Kim Jong Un affirmed that the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will, in the future, too, unconditionally support the stand of Russia and its foreign policies,' it said, using the North's official name." Very interesting.
America still supports NATO: "'There are no plans at the moment for the US to withdraw troops,' said Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General[.]"
Japan responded to the Doolittle Raid with a determination to sail off to Midway to finally crush America's Navy. Will Russia do something similar after Ukraine's Spider's Web operation?
Making it a NATO lake: "Poland and the Baltic states are accelerating efforts to acquire new submarines and vessels that will broaden their capabilities suitable for the sea’s shallow waters."
Keep Ukraine's air and sea drone achievements in context: "One of the more intangible but vital items Ukraine received from NATO was a constant stream of data on where the Russian forces were and what they were up to."
The Army is looking at advanced obscurants to degrade enemy sensors. I saluted the cited author's article at the time. More countermeasures to degrade small, cheap drones will arrive.
Establishing logistics to fight ashore in INDOPACOM. The author notes that few address land warfare in that region. I'm one of them. Obscure. But still published on that unpopular issue.
Will France fight this Battle of Tours 2.0? "France is now facing 'below-the-radar Islamism trying to infiltrate institutions, whose ultimate aim is to tip the whole of French society under sharia law.'" The problem has long been obvious.
Putin has no way out of his invasion of Ukraine? Putin may not be interested in peace. But peace may be very interested in Putin. And yeah, Putin absolutely has a way out.
Is there much point in debating the defense priorities of the British Strategic Defense Review? "Much of what it suggests will cost money – almost certainly more money that the current government has budgeted." But focusing on Europe instead of a global trade-supporting role is good post February 2022.
The Air Force and Army are looking forward to hypersonic missiles.
Another BRAC process starting? Three rounds of that required my attention in the Michigan State Legislature, defending Michigan bases.
Fear is the beginning of European wisdom: "NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Ministers would focus on air and missile defence, long-range weapons, logistics, and large land manoeuvre formations."
America continues to work with allies in Iraq and Syria to kill ISIL jihadis.
USNI embeds with the Philippine Coast Guard in the South China Sea. I did want this kind of exposure.
The Gaza Awakening? "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has 'activated' some clans of Palestinians in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas[.]"
From the "Well, Duh" files: "The U.S. Air Force needs to do more to protect its Indo-Pacific bases, including from evolving threats such as drones, according to a California-based think tank." Or from the "I Can't Believe You Needed a Think Tank to Tell You That" files.
Optimism about Serbia. Has Russia lost some more Slavs allegedly in need of rescue by Moscow?
Xi's willing accomplices (hat tip): "For years, China has been engaged in a systematic effort to target U.S. universities, using Chinese students to conduct extensive espionage and intellectual property theft on elite campuses across the United States — which has helped fuel China’s technological and military growth."
Not a shock: "The largest commercial shipping companies continue to avoid the Red Sea and Suez Canal, despite a recent cease-fire agreement between the United States and Houthis intended to make the trade lanes safer." I did warn about the limits of even serious bombardment.
North Korean troops fighting for Russia are getting experience. But does it matter? "North Korea currently has one of the world’s largest armies with over a million soldiers, few of whom do anything except serve as slave labor for superior officers."
The LSM to move Marine SIFs around is almost "shovel ready". But is it PLAN ready?
Pity the new radar couldn't have been designed to fit in the existing F-35 fuselage.
The Budget Wars begin. Gotta say I didn't expect the Navy to lose a battle.
Should Golden Dome be based on commercial services?
I'm not going to say that trolling for internal terror threats isn't useful to catch and deter terrorists of all stripes. But damn it, the capability can all too easily be turned against political opponents. I don't know how to have one without the other.
Corruption is the unifying factor causing energy-rich Iraq to have inadequate domestic energy and other basic services. I had hoped a foundation of domestic energy would help Iraq repel Iranian influence. Consider my Pucker Factor elevated.
I'm always conflicted about reports of China's massive military modernization. While I suspect there is some level of hollowness, I also don't think the PLA has to be as awesome as advertised to be victorious.
Religion of Peace® update: "Over the last fifty years, Islamic terrorism has accounted for 85 percent of all terrorist related deaths. Nearly 70,000 attacks killed over a quarter million people." We're collateral damage in an Islamic civil war over whether the killers represent Islam or not.
Please do not try to generalize lessons of a long-planned special operations attack using infiltrated small drones.
That seems prudent: "Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is evidently making good on an election campaign pledge to reclaim the Port of Darwin, a harbor in Australia’s Northern Territory, from Chinese control."
The mission was not defeating Islamist terrorists: "The Wagner Group has announced it is withdrawing from Mali following what it called 'the completion of its main mission' in the West African country." The mission was sending migrants flowing into Europe.
