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: Has Russia's Army Changed Little Since 1945?
In case you missed it on Substack: Little Green Men Don't Threaten Estonia
In case you missed it on Substack: A Non-Kinetic Blockade?
In case you missed it on Substack: New Boss Same As the Old Boss
"France warns of escalation of war with Iran", and reassured everyone that obviously France would not be the one to do so.
Have people been beaten with the green energy clue bat enough to change course? Tip to Instapundit.
Sunday afternoon and already communists were out protesting to protect Iran. Those black-on-yellow signs are signature colors for the ANSWER scum.
Whenever a top Russian speaks--as they did on America's attack on Iran--I want to drop MOPs on them. But business before pleasure.
We built at least 20 GBU-57 MOPs and used 14 on Iran. One source said the total was 50. So plenty left.
If Iran attacks our forces in CENTCOM in response to Midnight Hammer, we should hammer Revolutionary Guard targets, especially naval assets. The IRGC is a pillar of the regime.
China is a-hole: "A Chinese flotilla of cutters, warships and maritime militia harassed Philippine government vessels resupplying fishermen at Scarborough Shoal on Friday."
China works to catch up with American UUVs.
The Army is working to get a prototype for a longer-range M109-52 self-propelled howitzer. The God of War demands an offering.
Should officer and NCO ranks be merged because experienced NCOs report to inexperienced new officers? Because civilians can't enter the system mid-career? The former has always existed. For the latter, restore the old parallel specialist ranks that survive today in the Army as Specialist/Corporal E-4s?
Arguing withdrawing 4,500 troops from South Korea risks war with North Korea if there is a war with China over Taiwan. Losing South Korea sure ends its power projection role.
I can't imagine Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz because it shuts down their oil exports, too. And then America and its Gulf allies and allies from farther afield will open the strait while bombing Iran's oil export infrastructure.
I keep hearing we failed at nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. I basically reject that we were nation-building. We had to leave a friendly government or what's the point of regime change? Is Somalia anarchy really the objective? But you know what was a failed nation-building attempt? Obama's Iran nuclear deal.
Canada is being strategically stupid out of spite. The EU won't defend Canada. The EU just wants the power to make this deal.
Hmmm: "An Azerbaijani man suspected of espionage had thousands of photographs of a U.S.-Greek military facility on the island of Crete stored on various devices, authorities in Greece say." A similar arrest on Crete of an Iran-linked Azerbainani man was noted.
I suspect talk of the MOP attack on Fordow penetrating air shafts rather than drilling through rock is misinformation to disguise the weapon's capability by pointing to a construction error for the success. Just my speculation, of course.
Thank goodness Lincoln didn't have to cope with such a law in 1861.
Monitoring sailor health in real time for the ability to perform duties.
Impressive, but I judge on outcomes and not inputs: "Last month the U.S. Navy carrier Truman/CVN-75 carried out the largest series of airstrikes in naval history, using nearly 60 tons of missiles and bombs." Will the Houthi stay down just glancing nervously at the skies? But a crippled Iran sure helps.
At the risk of stating the obvious, yeah, Golden Dome would be a big deal--if it works.
Sure: "The Army is expecting to take on a larger role in protecting the homeland as the Defense Department develops the Golden Dome missile defense architecture, a service official said recently." Before World War I, coastal defense was a major Army mission.
LOL: "When and if President Trump addresses the NATO conference that begins in The Hague today, I trust that he’ll announce the withdrawal of the US from the alliance." Because he criticizes it? Oh, please. Face it, America exiting NATO is an EU wet dream. SO THAT HAPPENED: Article V & NATO rearms.
Suspiciously light on who is carrying out the syringe attacks in France.
Well that's interesting: "U.S. lawmakers want an ammunition production and storage facility at a former American naval base in the Philippines."
U.S. Space Command general discusses Golden Dome. This should help.
To be fair, strength is way down from peak strength in those commands: "any conversation about reducing U.S. troop presence in U.S. Central or European Command appears to be on hold."
A large Chinese UUV that can carry four torpedoes or eight naval mines.
Sanctions aren't a silver bullet: "Economic sanctions against Russia are not working, at least in the short term." But they do cause problems that waste Russian resources. And coping isn't thriving.
Unrest in our major non-NATO ally, Kenya.
It's bigger! It's badder! Ladies and gentlemen, it's too much for Mr. Incredible!
Restoring the Marine Corps as America's global response force. I had thoughts on that in Joint Force Quarterly in 2000 (pages 38-42).
China has an export version of its J-35 stealth fighter. What does China leave out? Or do they just sand the skin and hit it with hammers prior to delivery?
Central Asia is a hotspot for financing and recruiting jihadis worldwide. Is the hidden good news that the Arab world is starting to contain its jihadi problem?
Ah, that leaked "low confidence" DIA assessment on the American strike on Iran that minimized the effects assumes Iran retains enriched uranium it can process to make some bombs. So the infrastructure is more than set back a few months. Honestly, I worry Iran's backup facilities are in North Korea.
The Guardian, illustrating their article with ANSWER protesters, says Israel and America can't remake the Middle East with bombs. Sure. But Iran with nuclear bombs sure could destroy the Middle East. Baby steps, people.
It's the only military threat, so ... "NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte assessed that Russia is the largest existential threat to NATO members today and that Russia is preparing for a protracted war with NATO." The EU could take on the non-military migrant threat instead of undermining NATO to push America out.
The Russian army has become a motorcycle gang club.
Big conventional wars are won with factories. A whole lot of truth to that. Although Soviet casualties versus American casualties in World War II demonstrate that there different ways to use what the factories produce.
Possible: "A reporter asked Trump during a press conference at the NATO summit on June 25 whether it is possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine, and Trump responded that 'it's possible'" As in you can't rule out sanity breaking out in the Kremlin.
Good: "Fort Lee in Virginia will become the first base to be named after a Buffalo Soldier." Really, honoring Pvt. Fitz Lee with the same name as a Confederate general is the ultimate victory dance.
I had assumed one or two of our SSGNs would have participated on a strike on Iran, and one did.
Marines remain in the Philippines in a serial "rotational" presence.
Late in the Cold War it was "kill people and break things", if I recall correctly: "At a basic level, America's Air Force exists for [a very simple] capability -- 'to kill people and blow sh-- up[.]'"
No advantage lasts forever: "The rise of quantum sensing is could someday overcome the advantages of stealth aircraft[.]"
The Turkish PKK has decided to disarm and disband. Is the 40-year separatist campaign over?
Better inside the tent pissing out: "North Korea has extended the service obligation for new recruits from eight to ten years for men and from five to seven years for women. This change is imperative because North Korea is running out of military age men." The 2021 reductions are thus partially reversed.
Well that's a take: "Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel was "crushed" during the two countries' brief war[.]"
Fleet counter-drone weapons tests.
Maybe: "While establishing its sphere of influence over Europe will remain Russia’s priority, Russia could go to war to support China in the event of a U.S.-China conflict in the Asia Pacific." Russia can't help and hold off a rearmed NATO. And does Russia want China in the Arctic? Russia might stall its entry.
Ve haf vays of making you shut up. Can you even believe Vance expressed concern?
Iraq's fragile stability. You can't argue Iraq isn't better than it was before 2003. But America must wage the Phase IX war in Iraq.
Gotta love that Islamic struggle for personal growth: "More than 200 gunmen on motorbikes have attacked a Niger army base near the border with Mali, leaving at least 34 soldiers dead, the country's defence ministry said." No, really. You have to--under threat of death.
Via Instapundit, did Israel agree to end the Hamas War? It would exile Hamas (and other jihadis?), allow Gazans to emigrate to certain countries, and involve Arab states running Gaza. This is an opportunity if details can be agreed on.
I'm pretty sure this is from the "Well, Duh" files.
The Air Force F-15EX force will grow from 98 to 129 planes.
Ukraine's Black Sea operations against Russia are shaping American and NATO ideas about naval warfare? I bet! One lesson is that NATO's ISR network has enabled Ukraine to operate against Russia in the Black Sea. Best get one of those, eh?
Break up the Air Force into separate services for "Tactical Air, Space, Strategic and Lift"? Seems a bit ... much.
U.S. and South Korean troops conducted live-fire exercises 20 miles south of the DMZ.
Bravo Putin! "Germany will more than double its military spending by the turn of the decade under a new defense spending proposal approved by the government this week." Strategersky.
The foreign volunteers helping Ukraine fight and cope. But no firm number on volunteers who are fighting. I suspect the world is less significant than North Korea's expeditionary force.
Iran has spent decades boasting of its power. This year exposed its weakness. Israel's 2024 raids on Iran's air defenses reminds of America using no-fly zone patrols to take out Iraqi air defenses in the months before the March 2003 invasion.
Astroturfing Western separatism from deep in mullah-run Iran. Tip to Instapundit.
LOL: Israeli and American strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure "may have hardened Iran’s resolve to pursue a nuclear weapon, not abandon it[.]" Iran's mullahs wanted nukes and was willing to wreck Iran to get them. Obama didn't persuade them. But now they really want them? The Stupid is is strong in this one.
I bet the vast majority are innocent: "Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests and multiple executions of people suspected of links to Israeli intelligence agencies, in the wake of the recent war between the two countries."
Is he genuinely seeking close ties with Israel? "The new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa was previously an Islamic terrorist but was determined to establish a lasting and legitimate government." It hard to believe he isn't pretending to be moderate even as his base murders Christians. I want to be wrong.
I'm certainly willing to consider we did not get everything nuclear related in Iran. I assume we want Iran to give up surviving enriched uranium in talks. But destroying it isn't off the table for America or Israel. Perhaps Iran is trying to find an overseas sanctuary for it.
Armed groups are outside the deal: "Both sides of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have committed to disarming and disengaging their alleged proxies." But maybe it will help.
Meanwhile in the Axis of El Vil.
Reflecting on the Korean War begun 75 years ago. South Korea has come a long way.
No Lots of Blood for Oil Lithium: "Russian forces have taken control of a lithium-rich area near the village of Shevchenko in Ukraine’s Donetsk region[.]"
Russian ammunition depots blow up without needing Ukrainian special forces help.
Aid: "France is also spending a lot of money to triple their munitions production. This will enable France to send Ukraine more munitions while restoring French munitions reserves depleted to supply Ukraine." Ukraine really likes the French Caesar truck-mounted 155mm artillery system.
Spanning a water gap: "Military units from four [NATO] countries on Saturday carried out a large crossing of troops and heavy vehicles of the Rhine River in Germany during combined drills."
