I'm duplicating the Weekend Data Dump on Substack. You can read it there if you prefer. Or if you really want to comment online.
Help me out by subscribing on Substack and by liking and sharing posts. I occasionally post short data dump-type items on my Substack "Notes" section.
In case you missed it on Substack: Be Careful About Diluting Army Attention in Operations Other Than War
In case you missed it on Substack: Could 50mm Cannons Equip American Tanks?
In case you missed it on Substack: So We Have a Modularized Auxiliary Cruiser Gap Now
In case you missed it on Substack: America's Interest in Europe
Oh? “War on Iran Could Provoke a ‘Shiite Jihad’[.]” Somebody, somewhere will always urge inaction in the face of threats by urging America to “let the Wookie win.”
STRAC is back! “The Air Force plans to conduct no-notice inspections of units to test their combat readiness, a senior Air Force official announced last week.”
U.S. forces in South Korea: “A Stryker brigade from Washington state has begun arriving in South Korea to assume the U.S. Army’s latest rotational mission on the peninsula[.]”
Good: “Israeli Iron Fist active protection system’s ability to down incoming drones [was demonstrated.]” It made no sense to me for this not to be possible.
Mowing the jihadi grass is still an American job: “This past week the United States and Kenya broke ground on a major expansion of a key air base in the country used by the U.S. military for counterterrorism operations.”
I’m not sure if Bosnia is safer keeping a separatist-leaning ethnic Serbian component; and Bosnia’s existence rests on separatism. But can the European union sort it out and keep a lid on violence? Let’s recall the 1990s era of American military intervention there.
Is Nigeria stepping up to fight jihadis?
The first Columbia-class SSBN is on track for delivery to the Navy in 2030.
Makes sense that the Navy needs specialized 5.56mm ammo to reduce shipboard damage. But is being boarded a big threat these days?
The State Department is calling together key countries to work together on critical minerals.
The frenemy of my enemy is my friend.
What’s the reason for Xi’s purge of top military officers and what is next for the PLA? I want to know if it is to prepare for war (when near, appear far), protect the CCP monopoly on political power (the core mission of the PLA), or protect Xi himself.
Interesting article on the foundations of actions against Venezuela in the Tripolitan War. In my view non-lawyer view, Congress has options to approve war by action or inaction. But I am on the lookout for more such articles.
This view from Australia sounds right: “US partners must aim for military resilience, strive harder to work with each other, and expect to handle second-order crises without much—or maybe even any—help from Washington.” And for Australia.
Macron is a lame duck. He may hope to fail up—as the EU seemingly encourages.
The scramble for the Arctic. POLARCOM, anyone?
Don’t listen to Iran’s threat. Iran has been waging a regional war for close to five decades. An American attack would just be another of our intermittent participation.
Are cracks really emerging in Iran’s regime?
Breathe, people: “The U.S. and Canada cannot divorce and go their own way.”
Ugh: “Last year the Islamic terrorist Taliban rulers of Afghanistan shut down the Afghan internet. The Taliban took this drastic action to deal with Afghans gaining access to immoral material. Internet shutdowns for political reasons have become more common in nations like India, Iran, Iraq, Senegal, and Syria.”
American SOUTHCOM operations are stretching Russian military resources: “A heavy Russian cargo plane that previously brought air defense systems to Venezuela arrived at a military airfield near Havana, Cuba’s capital[.]”
I was 25 when I enlisted: “New Army recruits are entering the service later in life than previous years, with the average enlistment age at 22.7, according to Army data.”
WTAF!!! If true, serious retaliation against the mullahs is long overdue. Which may be why the allegation has been raised now, of course. But inflicting pain is no less valid—if true.
The new Navy frigate proposal will be a true low-cost frigate rather than the cancelled Constellation which is what I’ve described as a Burke Lite.
Trump’s gunboat diplomacy has overstretched the American military? Fewer than two dozen warships and a small fraction of our planes and Army units are deployed in the Caribbean and CENTCOM. If that overstretches us, it is damning of the size and readiness of the military.
This is more of a sales pitch for a Ukrainian company than a real assessment of the value of cheap drones in modern warfare.
America and India signed a trade deal.
Renaming the South China Sea won’t mean China will think of it as their territory any more than the Gulf of America means we own that. Far more effective at stopping China would be renaming INDOPACOM to PAINCOM.
Defining insurrection: “When a state moves from declining assistance to actively blocking federal officers, detaining them, threatening them, or using state force to prevent the execution of federal processes, it crosses the line from spirited federalism into open defiance.” Tip to Instapundit.
Perhaps: “In short, a total war against Iran would represent a disastrous scenario for the region.” But total war isn’t in the cards. And the very existence of the mullah regime has been a disastrous scenario for the region for many decades.
Anything but more panzers, infantry, and artillery.
American forces no longer dig in to hold South Korea. They can project power to resist China.
Does Vietnam plan for an American invasion? Or is this just a ploy to make it seem like Vietnam isn’t almost totally worried about China? I’m calling BS on this report.
The Arctic has so many ways to kill you are get you killed. POLARCOM, perhaps?
The European defense industry expands.
Foreigners take home lessons learned fighting for Ukraine: “Many of the volunteers for the International Legion were from South America and found their drone knowledge a lucrative career for legal and illegal organizations.”
The Pentagon is looking at small companies for mass production of small suicide UAVs.
AFRICOM sent a team of officers to Nigeria to help kill jihadis.
The Coast Guard and Navy are watching Haiti during its latest crisis, known as Tuesday.
I don’t get why it is news that an Army supply unit would use aircraft to move supplies. Yet ground transport is needed for volume.
If Ukraine’s plan to kill or seriously wound 50,000 Russian troops per month relies on Russians attacking, Russia can adjust how many troops it loses.
Britain’s top naval commander says Russia still prioritizes their Northern Fleet, especially submarines, despite the war. This is something from the “Well, Duh” files. And also, the “Uh Oh” files.
Arguing drones are an evolution and not a revolution.
A Golden Dome won't make the America's defense infrastructure at home secure.
Calm down about a PLA “space carrier”. China has actual weapons to use. FFS, the unbridled enthusiasm for space fantasy is amazing.
Securing the Panama Canal by ejecting Chinese influence.
Who is funding a proto-insurgency in American cities?
A post-ceasefire “steel porcupine” to make Ukraine “indigestable” to a future Russian invasion must not be passive. It must include the ability to counter-attack and restore the line of control.
I can’t imagine Iran agreeing to any nuclear missile program terms that would satisfy America—let alone Israel. I assume Iran is buying time. And so is America before its assets are in place.
The growing campaign against Russia’s shadow tankers.
Ukraine’s growing campaign against Russia’s defense logistics foundation.
The Pentagon has made deals to ramp up SM-6 and Tomahawk missile production.
The U.S. hit ISIL targets in Syria again.
Marine helicopters will get the ability to conduct long-range strikes at maritime targets. Explain to me again why the Marines gutted their infantry regiments?
America and India have “deepening security ties”.
OPFOR Journal reports: “Russia, Belarus, Iran, Myanmar and North Korea issue a joint statement pledging the creation of a new security regime for Eurasia: ‘Towards a Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century’[.]” Interesting.
Taiwan will deploy ATACMS missiles to islands near China. Embarking the PLA to invade Taiwan now requires a little more Chinese preparation.
Are new night vision technologies too much for our monkey brains in crisis situations?
China will use ICBMs with conventional warheads. That’s an expensive way to bombard something. And is their CEP good enough to destroy targets without nuclear warheads? Still …
I still hold that the loudest voices of division are a minority of the minority active on social media who are unfortunately amplified by reporters too lazy to look beyond their phones and by politicians frightened that the real world resembles the online super-active insane minority.
Targets in Iran are assets (including nuclear related) that can strike American bases and ships; help Iran’s mullahs stay in power; and export oil. The first prioritizes land-based aircraft and subs, so ship-based systems can defend. The choice between the latter two tells us if we think the mullahs will fall.
Iran’s plan to win? Or to bluff and deter America? Iran has been battered the last 2+ years. And waging a regional war against America since the Islamic revolution.
The world is the tough place and this is sadly correct. Syria’s Kurds were in the end game once Assad fell.
Iran claims it seized to ships carrying smuggled fuel.
Why is China building so many coal power plants? To rub the West’s face in our suicidal green stupidity, of course.
The U.S. will export liquified natural gas to Ukraine.
I feel like my pucker factor should be red lining over CCP-linked biolabs in America. Tip to Instapundit.
How can Russia race for more nukes when they are so broke? And all America is trying to do is replace the aging systems we have.
I’m worried about Europe. It will get ugly. Will Russia pounce or watch?
Russia’s Arctic ambitions are stymied by sanctions.
American strikes on drug smuggling boats continue.
Putting carriers on offense. Are we spending too much to defend carriers?
The Navy wants NEREUS for “mature and proven below-the-surface capabilities to enable DMO, with a focus on seabed and subsurface warfare mission needs.”
What I find interesting about North Korean troops flying drones and other tasks is that the North Koreans don’t want to be cannon fodder any more.
I’ve long worried about the propaganda problem of a big explosion on a carrier: “Iran’s intense focus on U.S. aircraft carriers is not merely theatrical propaganda but a ‘deliberate strategic fixation’ designed to exploit the platform’s symbolic weight.
The search for the enemy center of gravity is of course valid. But sometimes it can seem like a search for the magical shortcut that bypasses the ugly nature of war.
Overcoming domestic shipbuilding woes in the Coast Guard. But ignore the FREMM part. That Constellation frigate was cancelled at the two under construction.
Don’t fear the end of New START, which only restrained America. Honesty, I assume only a small fraction of Russia’s arsenal works.
