BF-19 arrived with the Marines; years away from entering service

Marine Corps gets its first JSF, but that plane (singular) is years away from entering service.


Yes, it's always fun to write about the F-35 Lightening II or as it is better known as, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The Marine Corps sent out stuff last week saying they finally got their first one. Yes, it's a F-35B which is supposed to replace the Hornets and the Harriers fielded by our beloved Corps.

Yet, the new plane (singular) doesn’t have weapons, or any of the special gadgets that comes with the jet, pointed out Wired’s Danger Room blog. SO why is this a big deal? Well, the plane is way over budget, has created misgivings it can even do what it is supposed to do – essentially replace nearly all the fighters in the US’ arsenal and not be the most expensive jet in the history of ever.

The plane arrived Friday and is dubbed BF-19 because it’s the 19th copy of the B-model. And who said the Pentagon wasn’t clever. From Danger Room:

BF-19 is part of the Pentagon’s Low-Rate Initial Production of the stealthy JSF, meaning it was expensive — no less than $200 million — and assembled while Lockheed and the military were still working out the plane’s precise configuration. In April the Defense Department paid Lockheed $65 million to fix identified problems on dozens of F-35s it had already manufactured, presumably including BF-19.

JSF flight testing began in 2006 but is only 25 percent complete. As such, the list of things the F-35 still doesn’t have is a long one.

The Air Force is getting JSFs to replace the F-16s, the F-16s and the A-10s. Those are the A-models and the Navy is to get the C-models which can land on carriers, likely replacing their Hornets. But the Marines are really depending upon the JSF as Danger Room points out in the statement below. I'll note for myself that t here is also something about having Marines back up Marines that the service branch likes. Their training is with Marine pilots out at the 29 Palms and while sure, the Air Force and the Navy back them up. — no one is saying they don't and can't and wouldn't in the future — the Marines like to do things their way.


Of all the military branches acquiring F-35s through history’s most expensive weapons procurement effort, the Marines need the stealthy jet the most.  The Corps’ existing Hornet and Harrier fighters are old and too few in number, especially after a Taliban attack on an air base in Afghanistan in Septemberdestroyed 1/15th of the Harrier fleet. “We have equipment that has got to be recapitalized,” Marine commandant Gen. James Amos said last year.

What’s more, the amphibious branch is already working with the Navy to build two multi-billion-dollar aircraft carriers specifically intended to carry F-35s. The Corps has more JSF pilots in training than it has frontline jets for them to fly.

So it is goingt to be interesting. We have a fighter jet that is costing a fortune, with dozens of problems and overalls but that the DOD is committed to replacing several airframes with. 

Many score and 50 years ago….

150th anniversary of the Gettysberg Address






What World of Warcraft has to do with the Iron Dome and Gaza

From the Danger Room blog: Israeli gunner on Iron Dome got his start plaing World of Warcraft.

I had written about this a few months ago but just seems appropriate to repost it and Danger Room, the Wired Magazine blog where it came ffrome, felt the same way.


People in the army describe him variously as a geek and an ace. But the geek who grew up playingWarcraft is now a highly prized soldier on the cutting edge of real war craft. He’s the Israeli army’s top rocket interceptor.

It's an interesting story and one that is hugely important right now given the importance of Iron Dome in the ongoing hostilities over in the Gaza Strip. Here are some pictures from the fighting from the Washington Post's Web site.
The truly tragic thing about all this is the fighting is not going to solve a thing. Both sides know that but yet they are drawn into conflict because of what they perceive the other side has done. Tragic. I'll post more later. 

Lecture at Peoria Public Library on little-known World War II unit

Washington man details the 139th Evacuation Hospital, a unit in the US Army during World War II that helped to liberate concentration camps.

I found out about this too late so I am going to be out of town but it seems pretty cool. The author, Richard McDonald, wrote about his father's unit which was forgotten and lost to time until his book. From his home page:

Some military units who participated in the Second World War have been left uncredited for their participation and contribution to the resolution of the devastating war.

Inside The Gates: The Nazi Concentration Camp at Ebensee, Austria  tells the story of such groups – the men and women behind the liberation of the Konzentrationslager (KZ) Ebensee Concentration Camp.

If you get a chance, check it out.

So who blinks first – Gaza City or Tel Aviv?

Israel’s gamble in Gaza is pretty risky stuff but the Jewish state deserves to defend itself.


The past few days have been tension-filled in Israel and in Gaza. Let's face it. This is awful. I don't see how anyone can be satisfied with a situation where Gazans are living in poverty and have terrorists running their daily affairs nor can I see Israelis worried about when the next missile or rocket is going to land on their heads.

Here’s the deal. Israel has launched dozens of air strikes against targets in Gaza, saying Hamas, the organization in charge is launching rockets at their cities. Naturally, Hamas disagrees and says they are launching rockets at Israel to fight back. Circular, I know.

Let’s not forget that in 2008, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Cast Lead….


It's a huge gamble for Israel, reports Foreign Policy Magazine because no sane person will deny they have the right to response but the issue is how do you respond when the group you are fighting seeks your elimination, refuses to recognize you and puts their military hardware in the midst of a civilian population

The western way of war stresses proportionality, which, in Gaza, means that Israel must limit its strikes–particularly on infrastructure and other targets that directly affect civilians. The logic of deterrence, by contrast, stresses disproportionate punishment: the enemy must suffer.

​Easy to say but it's much mor than that. There is tremendous suffering on both sides of the border. Here's a blog post from an Israeli who is spending the year in Peoria.

In Israel every level of danger has a certain color. The red color is the highest level of danger. The instruction on the Israeli radio is to stop the car in the side of the road when you hear the Red Color alert and to lie down next to your car. You can never know when or where it will catch you and that is the reason why kids can’t go to schools and kindergartens. Universities cancelled classes. Houses are ruined, cars are broken and schools and apartments are bombed.

Awful, I know but something needs to be done. Hamas isn't going to go away and Israel must cope with that. The Palestinians too much realize Israel is their neighbor. Deal with it.  Foreign Policy has this to say which I agree with in theory though I don't see how it could work in practice.

In the short run, the United States should press the Morsi government to broker a deal: a development that would not only end the current crisis but also indicate that Morsi can be a responsible leader who can work with Washington. In the long run, the United States, and the world, needs to make the choice between resistance and governance sharper for Hamas. There must be more and real rewards if Hamas moves toward becoming a regular government that eschews violence. Allowing more normal economic activity and more people to go to and from Gaza would show Hamas that the world will let it govern Gaza. At the same time, there must be serious and sustained punishment for any continued rocket attacks or other violence with the international community maintaining economic pressure on Hamas and accepting that Israel will hit Hamas hard to keep its deterrence credible. But Cast Lead showed that any military campaign, no matter how devastating, can only deter Israel's enemies for so long. Israel and the international community need to take some bold political risks in trying to bring Hamas into the fold — or else start preparing for the next war.

Look at the West Bank. You haven't heard much in the way of terrorist activity over there and they have the start of a middle class. Gaza is dirt poor and people are desperate. Egypt is key in all this. They have the power and the juice around the Arab world to pressure Hamas, I think, into moving more towards what is above — a real government and not a terrorist organization.