LEMV.

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NOTHING like this has been seen in at least eighty years ever since the time of Billy Mitchell? A military blimp of extraordinary size, ready for deployment to the combat zone, a throw-back to a time of yesteryear, AND as they say, amazing! NOT itty-bitty but BIG!

The LEMV [Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle] an aerial vehicle designated for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, surveillance, extended loiter time and endurance - - "hang time" if you will!

"Army Readies Its Mammoth Spy Blimp for First Flight"

"TAMPA, Florida . . . Northrop Grumman has finally penciled in the first flight of the giant surveillance airship it’s building for the U.S. Army. The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle — a football-field-size, helium-filled robot blimp fitted with sensors and data-links — should take to the air over Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first or second week of June [2012]"

Optional use of the LEMV touted as a supply airship, a cargo carrier!!

"The LEMV can do more than hover and spy. It’s also a potentially useful cargo carrier. The current model can carry 20 tons of supplies. A scaled-up version could carry hundreds of tons — and at a fraction of the cost of fixed-wing airplanes."

The U.S. Army at one noted for having MORE AIRCRAFT THAN THE AIR FORCE AND MORE BOATS THAN THE NAVY!! At least that was the case up until the mid 1960's. NOT sure of what the case is now.

And does the 3,000 foot [1,000 meters] rule apply to the LEMV? Army "aircraft" only able to operate BELOW 3,000 feet [1,000 meters] the remainder of the airspace reserved for the air force. The 3,000 foot rule still applies?

Air ships traditionally very subject to the weather, turbulence, buffeting, inclement conditions, etc. So will be LEMV?

coolbert.

Commando?

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From the Voice of America [VOA] only today a headline that startles:

"US Denies Sending Commandos to Spy on North Korea"

"U.S. military officials are rejecting a report suggesting that U.S. military commandos have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence on Pyongyang's underground military installations."

"The Diplomat, a Tokyo-based political journal, on Monday carried a report alleging that a senior U.S. special operations commander revealed the supposed commando program at a conference in Florida last week."

"The Diplomat [says] that both U.S. and South Korean commandos were taking part in the reconnaissance mission"

American and South Korean commandos BOTH it is alleged.

My instantaneous reaction to this headline was: "let it not be so!!"

Parachutists engaging in intelligence gathering missions of this sort during the Cold War were quite common for a period of time and were found to be almost 100 % uniformly unsuccessful!! Agents nabbed almost at leisure by the communist adversary with the loss of life stupendous!!

That intelligence as sparse as gleaned with hindsight found to be for the most part disinformation those parachute agents captured and forced to engage in a "playback operation"!!

Operating in such a manner [parachutists] against a totalitarian dictatorial government as harsh and as cruel as the North Korean very difficult if not impossible. Far less gained that the losses are worth!!

coolbert.

Military Slaves.

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From the Daniel Pipes web site we have some extracts of an article originally posted by Dr. Pipes as of 2000. The military slave and the apparantely "unique phenomenon" of such an institution in the Islamic world. Thanks to Dr. Pipes in all instances. The level of scholarship is indeed that of scholarship.

"Military Slaves: A Uniquely Muslim Phenomenon"

I think most students of military hisotry are familiar with the Janissary of the Ottoman Empire or the Mamelukes of the various Egyptian Islamic dynasties. Military soldiers professionals their entire adult lives, having been raised from an early age to be military men, owned by the ruler, and beholden only to same.

Children having been enslaved [Christian in the case of the Janissary and Circassian in the case of the Mameluke] knowing no other life than that of the soldier and as described a tradition and "phenomenon" perhaps UNIQUE to the Islamic world?

"Even a cursory glance at the history of Muslim peoples reveals the extraordinary role played by men of slave origins in the armed forces. They served both as soldiers and as officers, then often acquired preeminent roles in administration, politics, and all aspects of public affairs."

A tradition and "phenomenon" last for a period of a thousand years [1,000] and hardly confined to the Ottoman or Egyptian Islamic empires.

"In History"

"For a full millennium, from the early ninth century until the early nineteenth century, Muslims regularly and deliberately employed slaves as soldiers. This occurred through nearly the whole of the Muslim world, from Central Africa to Central Asia, from Spain to Bengal, and perhaps beyond. Few dynasties within this longtime-span and broad area had no military slaves."

The status of the military slave much enhanced beyond that of the "ordinary slave"! The military slave not subject to the endless toil of the domestic or field slave, that military slave having a role in society and opportunities not available to the "ordinary slave".

"Far from being lowly domestics or servile laborers, they enjoy the respect and the power of soldiers. Although slaves, they are part of the ruling elite; they bear arms, have access to the ruler, fill important positions, and enjoy the amenities of wealth and power. Indeed, they enjoy many advantages which most free men cannot attain and, as a result, their slave status carries with it no stigma. On the contrary, it becomes a badge of distinction; slavery, in an extraordinary reversal, gives access to power and social superiority which free birth might deny. Far from considering it a humiliation, free men covet this status and slaves jealously guard it. None of this, of course, holds true for ordinary slaves."

That carrying of arms ["bearing arms"] it should be recognized as normally only a "right" as conferred to free men, not to slaves. PRIVILEGES AND ADVANTAGES AVAILABLE TO THE MILITARY SLAVE EVEN INDEED THAT "MOST FREE MEN CANNOT ATTAIN"!!

It should be noted that the Mameluke prowess in battle according to all accounts was awesome, the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut the high water mark of Mongol conquest no one other than those military slaves of the Egyptian able to vanquish the Mongol in a similar manner.

During the American Civil War it was SUGGESTED by both Robert E. Lee and Patrick Cleburne that enslaved blacks be armed and enlisted into the forces of the Confederacy. Suggestions rejected without discussion or comment.

coolbert.

Shinmiyangyo.

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Before there was the Korean War there was the Korean War.

More correctly called the Korean Expedition [1871]. Called by the Koreans Shinmiyangyo.

A punitive military expedition on the part of the American naval Asiatic Squadron, the result of verbal misunderstandings on the part of both warring parties, an abortive action not resulting in any decisive conclusion.

"The United States expedition to Korea, the Shinmiyangyo, or simply the Korean Expedition, in 1871, was the first American military action in Korea."

"on June 1, 1871, a punitive expedition was launched ten days later after the commanding American admiral failed to receive an official apology from the Koreans. The isolationist nature of the Joseon Dynasty government and the assertiveness of the Americans led to a misunderstanding between the two parties that changed a diplomatic expedition into an armed conflict."

This was too the last time [?] widespread use was made of NAVAL INFANTRY? Sailors going ashore carrying small arms and fighting as infantrymen. That American on-shore contingent the preponderant number of which was sailors [a mix of sailors and marines]!

Comments:

* That large number of decorations for valor [Medal of Honor] for one minor engagement would not have been the case today. At the moment [1871], the only medal for valor in combat as issued by the American military was the MoH. Today the standards for awarding the MoH have changed dramatically.

"Nine sailors and six Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor, the first for actions in a foreign conflict."

* The American naval officer in most senior command it should be noted possessing extraordinary powers to conduct diplomacy and even initiate hostilities at his discretion. This was a prerogative of naval officers of the period, not having the rapid means of communication as is the case today.

* Only several years [1866] prior to the American Expeditionary Force engaging in combat with the Koreans, the French also had done the same, in a similar manner, but with even less productive results. Korea at the time was referred to as the "Hermit Kingdom" due to the extreme and deliberate isolation as imposed by the local rulers. [sounds just like today at least for North Korea, doesn't it?]

Punitive military expeditions to redress a grievance legitimate or otherwise used to be quite fashionable but nowadays and for some time has given way to diplomacy and so much the better for it I would think. These type of events make for lurid and overblown reading in the history books and make for bad feelings that quite often last for a long time.

coolbert.

NCW.

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From that previous AGS blog entry:

"Even more important is that the AGS is linked [as are other weapons on the DDG] to a net-centric capacity. An input from a variety of sources all simultaneously to provide targeting info very accurate"

The DDG-1000 destroyer having a primary [?] mission of naval gunfire and missile fire [tactical Tomahawk] directed against inland targets, DDG highly dependent on net-centric warfare [NCW], one ship able to shoot more accurately faster and with greater lethality against those targets that will hurt than enemy the most. Greater efficiency and optimal use of resources.

"hit em' as hard as you can, as fast as you can, where it hurts them the most, and when they ain't looking!!"

Within the military context NCW allowing for a minimum of shooters to do the most damage the quickest and most efficient way!

That mass of sensors at all echelon levels the data can be accessed for targeting.

"Net-centric: (Also spelled "netcentric"): Participating as a part of a continuously-evolving, complex community of people, devices, information and services interconnected by a communications network to achieve optimal benefit of resources and better synchronization of events and their consequences."

Military planners adopting and advocating the NCW concept using the Wal-Mart net-centric business model as the paradigm to be adopted. "Just-in-time" delivery of products to stores when needed and ONLY when needed. Efficiency and productivity greatly enhanced!

"Their [military planners] model was Wal-Mart. Here was a sprawling, bureaucratic monster of an organization . . . that still managed to automatically order a new light bulb every time it sold one. Warehouses were networked, but so were individual cash registers. So were the guys who sold Wal-Mart the bulbs."

"this technology to facilitate 'just in time' delivery of products, thereby eliminating the need for large warehouses.  An example of this is how Wal-Mart operates business:  each Wal-Mart store is networked together, and each night, the sales figures from all stores are sent to headquarters.  Wal-Mart has prearranged contracts with the vendors of the items they sell that allow them visibility into this data, as well as an arrangement to automatically initiate shipment of items directly to stores when a particular item’s stock (that the vendor produces) has become depleted."

NCW consisting of those entities that have access to and at the same time providing input and feedback to the network. Entities categorized as sensors, decision makers and shooters.

Sensors allowing the battlefield to be "seen" and consisting of but not limited to:

* Reconnaissance satellites.
* U-2 "spy" aircraft.
* Drones [including organic to the DDG] at all existing echelons.
* SLAR-MTI [side-looking-airborne-radar/moving-target-indicator].
* UGS [unattended ground sensors].
* ANGLICO.

"the military advantage gained by integrated, networked and inter networked information flow. Specifically, NCW (Network Centric Warfare) is a new approach to how we might conduct future warfare that consists of networking the war fighting enterprise – shooters, decision makers, and sensors . . . Its purpose is to 'achieve shared awareness, increased speed of command, higher tempo of operations, greater lethality, increased survivability, and a degree of self-synchronization.”

All the data from the sensors tied together with a vast and redundant communications network highly reliant upon space satellites. A continuous process of download/upload occurring between sensors, decision makers and shooters.

This stuff is not easy to understand or is it? You almost need to be an Information Technology [IT] professional to grasp? Or am I wrong?

And the complications for existing hardware are vast? Different types of computers in use, all having different speeds, different operating systems, different programs and operating within that network of computers the uplink/downlink speeds all varying? This stuff is complex but not within mental reach. These various images accompanying this particular blog entry are illustrative and explanatory? I have tried.

NCW is not on the future, NCW is NOW!

coolbert.

Cristero.

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"a pharmacist, a priest and two ranch hands"

Well, I do find this to be interesting.

Thanks to the web site NewsMax, the famous actor Andy Garcia starring in a new movie the focus of which is the Cristero War.

"Andy Garcia's New Movie Echoes Current Church Vs Government Battle"

"The Cristero War, also known as the Cristiada, took place between 1926 and 1929, pitting Mexican forces with support from the Mexican government against the Catholic Church. The country’s government at the time sought to eradicate 'superstition' and 'fanaticism' in Mexico by desecrating religious objects, persecuting clergy, and writing anti-clerical laws."

The Cristero War, Those Mexican insurgents the major commanders of which were a pharmacist, a priest, and two ranch hands. Amateurs in opposition to the professionals and having a marked degree of success. Insurgents whose staying-power and determination went way beyond any reasonable expectations. A peace between the warring factions finally being brokered by the American ambassador to Mexico [an action for which one normally wins the Nobel Peace Prize].

Normally portraying religion in a favorable light and highlighting the determination of religious believers devoted to their cause is not something Hollywood does easily. So this is all a surprise?

The Cristero War as originally covered in the media of the day by the fascist sympathizer Leon De Grelle. That Cristero War to this day commemorated by the Mexican vaqueros, a long-ride honoring all  that died memories lasting a long time in some parts of the world.

coolbert.

NECC.

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Thanks to StrategyPage we have the story of the NECC.

An anachronism enjoying a comeback? Something the U.S. Navy has not used in over one hundred [100] years now again institutionalized and in vogue:


"The USNs Neo-Marines"

Naval Infantry! Understood to be NOT marines. Sailors trained to go ashore and fight as soldiers, carrying small arms and using infantry tactics, in the old fashioned way as was once common but has not been the case for a long time!

"May 21, 2012: The U.S. Navy has decided what to do with its 'brown water navy', including three Riverine Squadrons, now that they have no overseas assignment [last assignment was in Iraq]. The coastal and river force sailors are going to be divided between bases on the U.S. east and west coasts. There they will assist with coastal and river patrol duties. The riverine force contains 2,500 active duty and 2,000 reserve sailors."

This is NECC!

"The navy officially established its 'Naval Expeditionary Combat Command' (NECC) in 2005. This organization eventually reached a peak size of 40,000 sailors, all of whom were trained to work, and fight, on land."

"This organization contains sailors trained and equipped for land operations the navy believes it should be involved in. Some of these are still on the water, like riverine operations (small gunboats and troop carriers to control rivers and coastal waters against irregulars) and naval infantry to defend navy land bases in hostile territory."

Sailors trained to engage in ground combat if and when the need arises. A flexible military force able to respond to a variety of threats. Conceivably able to expand rapidly, those active duty and reserve folks at cadre level trained to assume command positions and roles beyond what is necessary in peacetime.

Once again, naval infantry and NOT marines. Please do not confuse!

coolbert.