Sending in the Navy

As it proved during last year's tsunami, the Navy is racing to help the needy in New Orleans.

The Navy is sending four ships to the Gulf Coast with water and other supplies for those hit by Hurricane Katrina, but officials are urging service members not to try to return to their military bases in New Orleans.
Navy bases in Gulfport, Miss., and New Orleans were evacuated and suffered heavy flooding and wind damage. Officials are gearing up to fly over the bases to get a detailed assessment of the damage...The four amphibious ships will be leaving from Norfolk, Va., in the next few days. The Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida will be a base for the relief effort.

Good News sort of

This is blunt but true, from Thomas Barnett:

Sad to watch the news coverage, which always seems to wallow in the suffering of others with a weird sort of pomp and circumstance. We hear the word "chaos" a lot (Aaron Brown on CNN seems addicted to it), when scattered looting hardly seems to add up to "chaos." But the media love hyperbole, and natural disasters give the talking heads a chance to break out all the over-the-top terms with abandon, demonstrating yet again how they "hold us together" during these desperate moments.
Still, as bad as it got today along the Gulf, it's important to remember that there's really no place on earth better than America to experience a natural disaster. Frankly, you're better off being a dog in the U.S. than being a human in most of the world when a serious disaster hits. No, there's never "enough" response, but there's more here in the U.S. than you ever see anywhere else, and that demonstrated resiliency should teach us something about ourselves and our networks.

Our prayers go out to those who are suffering, as well as those getting looted.

On the Blogs

Austin Bay says, This is our Tsunami, and the Astonishing News Network .

Thomas Barnett says Asia is more dependent on imported oil than the US.

Murdoc says Germany blames Bush on the hurricane, and the Pentagon Flag is destroyed .

Winds of Change has some interesting historical analogies: New Orleans as Roman Pompeii, and the Arabs as Pre-war Japan, and Necessary Wars.

Conservative Voice discusses Moronic Environmental Theories, and the Children of Looters.

Powerline on the Lousiana Flood of 1927 and on evidence ommited from the 9/11 commission report. Also on John Roberts and Reagan.

I get emails...

I received an email from someone who didn't agree with a recent oped I wrote titled "Bush Stands Alone". I won't mention the name or the entire email, just this exert:

Now for my comments Bush deserves to stand alone in front of an Impeachmentcommittee as Pat Buchanan stated not as the leader of the most powerfulnation in the world. This man has done more damage to our constitutionalRepublic than any other President although I would have to add Bill Clintonas a close second along with our self serving Senate and Congress.

and my reply in full:

Thanks for your comments. I am not a Constitutional Scholar so I can't give a scholarly answer. Writing is a passion for me so I can only give you an answer from the heart. When terrorists invaded American soil on September 11th, killing 3000 innocent civilians, in my heart I pretty much gave Bush carte' blanche to do what ever it took to get back at the enemy. I believe an attack on America is an attack on all its citizens, not just those who voted Republican, Democrat or whatever. Some people say we attacked them first or whatever. I think now the point is moot. We can't sit back and let people bomb us, so we hit them back.Now the war has turned from revenge to trying to change the culture in that part of the world, which I think a noble effort. Such revolutionary change will not happen overnight, so I expect we may be over there a while. Would our enemies do the same for us? Of course not! Will they withdraw into their into their tents and "live and let live"? Definitely not! And lets not forget the millions of Islamic citizens living in Europe and America who may be straddling the fence and would be emboldened if we quit in Iraq and elsewhere. Imagine a 9/11, or the threat in every small town in America. It would be blackmail on a national scale.I don't expect to change your mine by my philosophy, any more than you have changed mine. But please lets agree on this: Lets get behind our President, win the war so the troops can come home, and pray our children have a world free from the threat of terrorism, and you and I can sit in our rocking chairs in our old age.

Successes in Iraq

CentCom has posted a new list of successes in Iraq. Here is a brief exert and read the rest at their site. Good job people!

Some of the Iraqi citizens benefiting from reconstruction this week were school children. Several projects were completed across the country, including school buildings. The Iraqi Security Forces continued to display their capability, and local citizens contributed to the security of their communities.
Children in Dobak Tappak village of Al Tamim Province received much-needed school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a non-governmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a Coalition forces-run program known as “Operation Provide School Supplies,” which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the U.S.

Cindy's War-Updated

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan may be the best thing to happen to the Pro-war effort. It seems the lefty Sheehan has produced so much indignation on the Right, that a new movement has begun, called the "You Don't Speak for Me Cindy Tour", led by Move America Forward. Read on:

The “You Don’t Speak for Me, Cindy” Tour continues to grow in momentum with supporters gathering at their final California stop on Wednesday and making two stops in Arizona – in Phoenix and Yuma.
Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org) has organized the tour to bring military families together to express the fact that they DO support the troops AND the mission they are serving in Iraq.
The tour is led by Deborah Johns, Co-Founder of Northern California Marine Moms. Johns’ son, William, has served two tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and is likely to serve a third tour.

There's nothing like a threat to our Freedom to get America motivated. What Sheehan and other's like her don't get is we're not fighting communist in far away jungles anymore, but an enemy who may be in our own back yard. Remember 9/11 anyone?

Update- Here's NewsMax take on Sheehan's backfire:

"Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan's Bush-bashing protest has apparently backfired, with a slight plurality of Americans saying her antics have actually made them more likely to support the Iraq war, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday.Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed said Sheehan has had no impact on how they view the Iraq war.
But 10 percent say the tart-tongued Californian, who blames Israel for terrorism and said she wants to curse out the president to his face, has actually made them more pro-war.

Powerline has a different take on this.

Mil Links

Humvee comes to the end of the road

Canada's Arctic Eye

Block 40 F-16

U.S.S. Monitor Cat Story?

Buffalo Roams the Battlefield

Real War News

Don't listen to the nay-sayeers about the Iraqi Constitution says this article from Britain. The Iraqi's have come a long way:

Iraq, a country with no tradition of democratic values and institutions, is emerging from decades of totalitarianism under Saddam. The murderous violence that has blighted the country since coalition forces freed Iraq from his tyranny is almost wholly the consequence of the activities of imported fanatics, whose blind and bitter dedication to the massacre of innocent people is equalled only by the nihilistic futility of their cause. Iraq's native, democratic politicians are in fact making significant progress towards agreeing a document that will provide a framework for a peaceful and democratic future.
It is not an easy task. It is also not one which the arbitrary deadlines that have been imposed on the talks about the constitution have helped. As President Bush has noted, it took the Americans 13 years to get from the Declaration of Independence to an agreed constitution. The Iraqis have been asked to do the same in a few months.

Think We Have Troubles

We are often quick to criticize the US Military's procurement troubles, such as getting new armor to Hummers in Iraq. According to this article from Canada, things could be worse!

What the chief of defence staff must do now is persuade his political masters that while our troops are facing these wartime risks, the corrupted, incompetent and woefully backlogged procurement system cannot continue to idle along at the present pace.
At a morale-boosting speech to service members in Moose Jaw, Sask., recently, even Defence Minister Bill Graham admitted the present situation is unworkable. One of the problems of procurement in the military is that it takes too long, he said. To emphasize this understatement, he explained that the average military acquisition of any significance in this country takes 12 years...Over the past 12 years, Canada has had no fewer than nine defence ministers and seven chiefs of defence staff. With government white papers being drafted in 1987, 1994 and 2005, the trend has been to rewrite our defence policy every seven to 11 years, which is notably less time than the average equipment purchase. Coincidence?

There's Good News: For us. Read on:

For a more current example of the old axiom Where there's a will, there's a way, one need only look at the U.S. example on Iraq. Since its virtually unopposed intervention devolved into a bloody insurgency in the summer of 2003, the American military has designed, tested and built new armoured truck cabs and retrofitted all of its support vehicles in theatre, providing soldiers with better protection against roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. In contrast, Canada's entire fleet of 24-year-old army trucks has been overdue for replacement since 2001.

I started to post about America's Medevil Shipbuilders, but I'll wait, for now.

This is Cool!

The Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator (AESD), Sea Jet, funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), is a 133-foot vessel located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, Acoustic Research Detachment in Bayview, Idaho. Sea Jet will operate on Lake Pend Oreille, where it will be used for test and demonstration of various technologies. Among the first technologies tested will be an underwater discharge waterjet from Rolls-Royce Naval Marine, Inc., called AWJ-21, a propulsion concept with the goals of providing increased propulsive effiency, reduced acoustic signature, and improved maneuverability over previous Destroyer Class combatants. More here.

A Cindy Patriot

This was in the NYT's letters page:

To the Editor:
I am only one small voice in this country, but I feel confident that people want to be optimistic about their lives and their country.
As I watch this country become so divided over the war, I wonder why the news media will not come together and support what our country is doing for another country. How long will our young brave individuals in our military continue to volunteer for all of us, given the constant barrage of negative information?
I remember Sept. 11 so very well and feeling that if there was ever a time we could depend on our neighbors, it was after those attacks. It was one of the only times I truly felt that this country was united.
This is again a time we need to unite, regardless of our political preferences.
Cindy Crawford Morristown, N.J., Aug. 24, 2005

God bless you Cindy!

Weapons Taking Charge

I look to the new weapons being produced today as being more important than the Cold War era platforms we once depended on for our defense. I see advanced cruise missiles and precision guided weapons (PGMs) as once day being smart enough to pilot themselves without the need of an expensive platform such as the B2 bomber and the F22 Raptor fighter. A case in point:

Lockheed Martin has developed a new way to adapt its advanced strike weapons to existing aircraft interfaces, saving time and money and, most importantly, getting important weapons into the hands of the warfighters sooner...As an example, Lockheed Martin engineers modified the operational flight program software of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) so it responds to the F-16 aircraft's existing Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) interface.
Basically, the aircraft "thinks" it is carrying and launching a JSOW from its wing. JASSM then uses the existing, proven interface from captive carriage right through the weapon launch sequence. Only minor changes to the JASSM software were required to make the integration work.

Eventually PGMs and missiles will displace the older systems, such as the fighter, tank and aircraft carrier. You can also add the littoral ship, UAVs, and light armored vehicles as the platforms of the future, far cheaper than legacy vehicles, and more relavent to today's warfare.

Casualties in War

In a previous post, I asserted that the number of US casualties in Iraq don't compare to those during the same 3 year time period during the Vietnam War 1965-68. Going by this it seems our struggle in Iraq has been wildly sucessful. Here are some thoughts from Powerline on the subject:

One wonders how past wars could have been fought if news reporting had consisted almost entirely of a recitation of casualties. The D-Day invasion was one of the greatest organizational feats ever achieved by human beings, and one of the most successful. But what if the only news Americans had gotten about the invasion was that 2,500 allied soldiers died that day, with no discussion of whether the invasion was a success or a failure, and no acknowledgement of the huge strategic stakes that were involved? Or what if such news coverage had continued, day by day, through the entire Battle of Normandy, with Americans having no idea whether the battle was being won or lost, but knowing only that 54,000 Allied troops had been killed by the Germans?
How about the Battle of Midway, one of the most one-sided and strategically significant battles of world history? What if there had been no "triumphalism"--that dreaded word--in the American media's reporting on the battle, and Americans had learned only that 307 Americans died--never mind that the Japanese lost more than ten times that many--without being told the decisive significance of the engagement?
Or take Iwo Jima, the iconic Marine Corps battle. If Americans knew only that nearly 7,000 Marines lost their lives there, with no context, no strategy, and only sporadic acknowledgement of the heroism that accompanied those thousands of deaths, would the American people have continued the virtually unanimous support for our country, our soldiers and our government that characterized World War II?

Shameless Plug

Here are two articles posted by yours truly on Opeds.com:

Bush Stands Alone

How to Reform the Media

On the Blogs

Murdoc on the Iraqi Marshlands, "Its called Courage", and the Hollywood Nation.

Winds of Change and Thomas Barnett on "Peak Oil". Also Winds on Network Centric Warfare, and on American Propoganda (I'm all for it!).

Blogs for Bush on Able Danger and says The Left Don't Support the Troops! Duh? Also on Cindy Sheehan. Plus, why John Bolton is at the UN.

Powerline disagrees with Bill O'Reilly , and discusses the Big Picture in Iraq. Also on the poor press coverage of the War. On Cindy Sheehan , Pat Robertson , and Michael Graham.

Iraq War Today on Walter Reed Hospital protestors (!) and Little League Values.

Rise of the SysAdmin

As John Boyd was to the Persian Gulf War, Thomas Barnett is the new strategist for the War on Terror. Barnett wants to divide the military into two parts, the Leviathan for major combat operations, and the SysAdmin force for the clean up and peacekeeping afterward. According to his latest blog, the Bush administration is getting the message:

I see the SysAdmin as roughly 1/2 military and 1/2 civilian, with the latter broken into a quarter each of police and development experts. So when I see something like this, or I see the Reserves and Guards retraining 100k infantry into military police, I'm pretty certain the pieces are coming together.
And yes, they will come together no matter how well or how badly the public perceives Iraq to be going. They come together because the Pentagon sees a future it cannot escape, and so it adjusts to this unfolding reality.

Al-Hurra TV

The two US funded TV and radio programs in the Mid East is doing very well says this article. "Al-Hurra and Radio Sawa was inteded to improve America's image in the Arab world, and it appears its doing the job.

Three-in-four Arabs who watch or listen to US-government funded Al Hurra television and Radio Sawa find their news content reliable, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

and:

The surveyed showed that 77 percent of people surveyed consider Al Hurra's news reliable, while 73 percent find Radio Sawa's news credible. In Egypt Al Hurra's credibility jumped to 92 percent from 70 percent a year ago, the survey showed. In Jordan it rose to 68 percent from 46 percent and in Lebanon to 79 percent from 53 percent. The survey was conducted among 14,000 people in face-to-face interviews in nine Middle Eastern countries in May and June. It has a 2.6-percentage-point margin of error.

Now if we could only get something like this in the US...

Bush's Speech

President Bush's speech at the Veteran's of Forieng Wars yesterday. I though it one of his best, out of a lot of excellent speech's since 9/11. Here's the transcript if you missed it.

Army Recruitment is Up

Powerline is reporting this really good news which has been overshadowed in the news by Cindy Sheehan.

Every one of the Army's 10 divisions — its key combat organizations — has exceeded its re-enlistment goal for the year to date. Those with the most intense experience in Iraq have the best rates. The 1st Cavalry Division is at 136 percent of its target, the 3rd Infantry Division at 117 percent.

MiLinks

The Army must not be a scapegoat

Canada flexes its muscles

Navy Does Queen

Lockheed Tests Loitering Attack Missile

More Progress Made

I was just sent this from CentCom that updated previous information I posted, and thanks to Tod Tidyman for his help with this.

SUCCESSES THIS WEEK IN IRAQ (12-18 AUGUST 2005)BAGHDAD, Iraq – Some of the Iraqi citizens benefiting from reconstruction this week were school children. Several projects were completed across the country, including school buildings. The Iraqi Security Forces continued to display their capability, and local citizens contributed to the security of their communities.Children in Dobak Tappak village of Al Tamim Province received much-needed school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a non-governmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a Coalition forces-run program known as “Operation Provide School Supplies,” which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the U.S. More than 600 children will return to renovated or rebuilt schools in Maysan Province when school starts this fall. This week, renovation on the Al-Eethnar Mud School was completed, and the Al Eethar Mud School was replaced at a cost of $87,000, benefiting 500 students who attend classes there.In addition to reconstruction on schools, eight newly constructed schools in Wassit and Babil Provinces are receiving new furniture before the start of the school year. Each of the school projects will receive office desks and chairs, file cabinets and new student desks. Collectively, 400 three-student desks will be proportionally divided among the schools, based upon the number of students.More reconstruction projects in Sadr City started this week, including the $13 million electrical distribution project for sectors one through eight. When complete, an estimated 128,000 people will have a reliable source of electricity. The project includes installation of power lines, 3,040 power poles, 80 transformers, 2,400 street lights, and power connections to individual homes, complete with meters. Construction started on the $3.8 million Al Rayash Electricity Substation project in Al Daur District of Salah Ad Din Province, located between Tikrit and Bayji. The project, which is expected to be completed in early December, will provide reliable service to 50,000 Iraqi homes and small businesses. An electric distribution and street lighting project in Daquq was completed on Aug. 17, providing new overhead distribution lines and street lighting in the community. Approximately two million people will benefit from the Baghdad trunk sewer line, which was completed this week. Workers cleaned and repaired the Baghdad trunk sewer line and its associated manholes and pumping stations. The $17.48 million project restored principal sewage collection elements in the Adhamiya, Sadr City and 9-Nissan districts of Baghdad, and will provide for the intended sewer flows to the Rustamiya wastewater treatment plant. In Basrah, construction is complete on phase one of the $865,000 Basrah courthouse project. This five-phase project is expected to be entirely complete in October of 2005. This main courthouse in Basrah, expected to hold a number of high profile trials, continues to operate during construction. Iraqi subcontractors are working on the project, and employing an average of 70 local Iraqi workers daily.Iraqi security forces benefited from reconstruction projects this week as well. A patrol station in the Karkh district of Baghdad Province was completed, as was a $390,300 border-post project on the Saudi Arabian border. A division headquarters building for the Iraqi Army in Salah Ad Din Province was also completed this week. The $7 million project includes a single-story building with a concrete roof and interior office space to accommodate the unit. Additionally, a $2 million firing range in Taji was completed this week.To accommodate additional detainees, a new prison project was started in Khan Bani Sa’ad, a mountainous municipality in the Ba’quba District of Diyala Province. The $75 million project will house up to 3,600 inmates. The entire site is approximately 550,000 square meters, which includes an educational center, medical facilities and administration buildings. The project will employ approximately 1,000 Iraqi workers during construction.In another move that highlights the increasing turnover of security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, generals from Iraqi and Coalition forces joined local tribal leaders at a ceremony where Forward Operating Base Dagger in Tikrit, one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces, was officially handed over to the 4th Iraqi Army Division this week. Iraqi Security Forces continued training this week. In Taji, Iraqi soldiers completed a Strategic Infrastructure Battalion Train-the-Trainer course. The 90 graduates will go on to serve as instructors at an Iraqi Army training base. A class of future IA non-commissioned officers graduated from their primary leadership development course on Aug. 15 in Tikrit. Iraqi Army unit training also included combat lifesaving, staff training, computer skills and weapons training.This week, the 1st Iraqi Army Brigade succeeded at implementing the first Non-commissioned Officer Academy in the country. Iraqi soldiers from the most recent class were the last group to be instructed by the U.S. Soldiers who had developed the training. During Saddam Hussein’s regime, an NCO corps did not exist in the Iraqi Army. The class will continue after the U.S. instructors leave, and will be taught by NCOs from the 1st IA who assisted earlier courses.Baghdad police continued to demonstrate their capabilities this week. Iraqi Police Service officers in the New Baghdad District conducted a variety of operations including raids involving over 450 officers. Police confiscated 30 AK-47 rifles, two hand guns, and one machine gun during the raids. They also arrested 30 suspected insurgents, three of whom were targeted in the raids. In addition, police at the Al Khanssa Police Station in Baghdad captured a kidnapper involved in the abduction of a local physician, whose family paid a ransom to have the victim released. Following the arrest, police officers recovered the doctor’s vehicle as well as the ransom money paid by his family.Iraqi Army soldiers found a weapons cache under a vehicle in Rawah this week. The cache contained two light machine guns and 3000 rounds of ammunition, nine AK-47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition, one NATO machine gun and 200 rounds of ammunition, four concussion grenades, one fragmentary grenade without fuses, and various other ammunition.Based on two separate tips from Iraqis, Coalition forces discovered weapons caches that contained rocket-propelled grenades and two launchers, 16 mortar rounds and a launcher, and five boxes of anti-aircraft ammunition hidden in northwest Baghdad.Another tip led Coalition forces to a large cache of artillery shells in the early hours of Aug. 16. The shells were apparently intended for use as improvised explosive devices. The 25 to 30 individual rounds, located inside a building within Al Anbar Province, were destroyed after security forces confirmed there was no one in the building.After a local Iraqi identified his neighbors as insurgents, Iraqi Army soldiers and Coalition forces conducted a joint cordon and search operation in northwest Fallujah and detained two suspects.Iraqi Security Forces killed terrorist Abu Zubair, also known as Mohammed Salah Sultan, in an ambush in the northern city of Mosul this week. Zubair, who was wearing a suicide vest when he was killed, was a known member of Al Qaeda in Iraq and a lieutenant in Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi’s terrorist operations in Mosul. He was being sought for his involvement in a July suicide bombing attack of a police station in Mosul that killed five Iraqi police officers. He was also suspected of resourcing and facilitating suicide bomber attacks against Coalition, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi citizens throughout the country.Local Iraqi citizens, along with the growing Iraqi Security Forces, are contributing to the security of their communities. Reconstruction efforts also provided Iraqis with improved basic services, paving the way for a safe and secure environment.

Iraq is Not Vietnam!!!!

According to a Republican Senator, Iraq has become another Vietnam. Not quite. Three years in Iraq our casualties total nearly 2000. Three years in Vietnam they totaled 35, 000. Iraq is NOT Vietnam and there is no draft!

Progress Made

This was issued by CentCom. Did I miss this on CNN?

Progress Being Made
- Audited more than 1,200 km of the fiber optic backbone network and performed emergency repairs, reconnecting 20
- Rebuilt three major bridges-Khazir, Tikrit and Al Mat bridges-critical to moving people and commercial products
- Rebuilt a substantial portion of the Iraqi Republican Railway line connecting Basrah with the port of Umm Qasr including
physical track construction, installing culverts, and repairing gatehouses. The remainder of the work has been
handed over to the Ministry of Transportation (MOT). This work allows shipments of bulk cargo from the port to Baghdad
and throughout the country.

- Worked directly with the World Food Program (WFP) and Coalition Forces to re-establish the Public Distribution System
(PDS) in less than 30 days, avoiding a humanitarian food crisis and providing food security throughout the country.

- Iraqi workers in Baghdad finished the $3.6M Al Amari Water Distribution project this week. The project can produce approximately 250 cubic
meters of potable water daily and service about 2,000 families in the Al Amari and 9-Nissan areas of Baghdad.

Mil Links

The Case for Appeasement

What’s Really Happening With the U.S. Future Combat System Project

"The Great Raid" Review

Falklands’ war film in Spanish film festival

Iraq's air force being rebuilt from the ground up

CVN-21 Sparks Fly

On the Blogs

Austin Bay on democracy coming to Saudi Arabia.

Winds of Change on Promoting Democracy and Winds of War.

Blogs for Bush on a Pro-American Rally (Really!) and bad news for Cindy Sheehan.

Transterrestrial discusses a Vatican Army.

Daily Pundit on blogswarms and Instapundit.

Mom has a question at Iraq War Today.

Air Cushion vs IED

Found this at the Washington Times (scroll to bottom):

Some outside experts say the way to outfox the enemy is to develop air-cushioned vehicles that can travel off-road. The vehicles could take one of thousands of different routes from point A to point B with the entire Iraqi desert as their highway. With so many travel route options, it would make IEDs useless, the experts tell us. They further say that developing a new family of air-cushioned vehicles would be a good way to transform the military for future battles against terrorists. What better way for special operations troops to get around, they ask.

Al Qeada Loses Steam-Updated

What they heck was this? Is Al Qeada losing steam? First the London bombings, which were an utter failure in that it back-fired, and now this:

U.S. Ships Escape Damage, Israel Hit in Jordan Rocket Attack
Aug 19 (Bloomberg) -- Rockets fired from Jordan landed near two U.S. warships killing a Jordanian soldier and striking a nearby Israeli town. The attack was claimed by an al-Qaeda group that said it bombed an Egyptian resort in the region on July 23.
Three Soviet-designed Katyusha rockets were used in the simultaneous assault on Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba and near an airport across the border in Israel that serves the town of Eilat, the Jordanian state-owned Petra news agency reported.
The soldier died and another was wounded when one of the rockets hit a Jordanian Armed Forces warehouse close to the U.S. naval vessels Ashland and Kearsarge, Petra said. No U.S. Marines or sailors were hurt and the ships pulled out to sea, U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Commander Charlie Brown said by phone from Bahrain where the fleet is based.

First the MSM say we are losing the war. And then they blow off a sailor's hat. Compare this to the USS Cole, Madrid bombings, and 9/11.

Murdoc on this with lotsa links.

Update- Here's the official US Navy version:

No U.S. Sailors or Marines were injured in an apparent rocket attack Aug. 19 that missed two U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Jordan, officials reported. "At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time, a suspected mortar rocket flew over the USS Ashland's (LSD 48) bow and impacted in a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3)," U.S. 5th Fleet officials said in a statement. "The warehouse sustained an approximate 8-foot hole in the roof of the building." According to news reports, a Jordanian soldier was killed and another severely wounded when the rocket hit the warehouse. A second rocket hit near a Jordanian hospital and a third partially exploded, damaging a road and a car. A third rocket reportedly landed in the nearby Israeli city of Eilat, with no casualties and only minor damage.

When Will We get the Good News?

My brother and I were discussing subject over the phone, about the amount of negativity on Iraq from the news. Even Bush-friendly Fox News constantly begins its broadcasts with "More deaths in Iraq today". Then I come across this article:

Rosemary Goudreau, the editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune, has received the same e-mail message a dozen times over the last year.
"Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq?" the anonymous polemic asks, in part. "Did you know that 3,100 schools have been renovated?"
"Of course we didn't know!" the message concludes. "Our media doesn't tell us!"
Ms. Goudreau's newspaper, like most dailies in America, relies largely on The Associated Press for its coverage of the Iraq war. So she finally forwarded the e-mail message to Mike Silverman, managing editor of The A.P., asking if there was a way to check these assertions and to put them into context. Like many other journalists, Mr. Silverman had also received a copy of the message.
Ms. Goudreau's query prompted an unusual discussion last month in New York at a regular meeting of editors whose newspapers are members of The Associated Press. Some editors expressed concern that a kind of bunker mentality was preventing reporters in Iraq from getting out and explaining the bigger picture beyond the daily death tolls.

Thanks to James Taranto at Opinion Journal.

9/11 on Film

It seems that at least three studios, including Oliver stone are making films about September 11, 2003. Actually I welcome these even if they are poorly done or "preachy". At least Hollywood is finally coming to grips after their initial blackout of terrorists films immediatly after the attacks. I think it does the country a load of good to keep reminding us again and agian of this terrible day in our history. Here's the story:

Universal Pictures unveiled plans on Tuesday for a big-screen thriller about the September 11 attacks on America, becoming the third major studio to set its sights on a subject Hollywood initially bent over backward to avoid.
As America nears the fourth anniversary of the bloodiest attacks on its soil, filmmakers and TV producers are clamoring to dramatize events surrounding the suicide hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and ignited the U.S. war on terrorism.
In addition to films in the works at Universal and two rival studios, several new made-for-TV projects are expected to focus on what happened when Islamic militants crashed two jetliners into New York's World Trade Center, a third plane into the Pentagon and a fourth in Pennsylvania.
While Hollywood's embrace of the 9/11 story may seem exploitative to some, Paul Levinson, a media scholar at Fordham University in New York, called it a "healthy" sign that the popular culture is coming to terms with the calamity.

On the Blogs

Winds of Change discusses a favorite movie from my youth "Red Dawn".

Murdoc plugs your truly!

Blogs for Bush on Casey Sheehan, American Hero ( I said Casey!), on Able Danger.

Austin Bay on Able Danger and Instapundit. , also Powerline.

Strategypage on Israeli lessons for Americans in Iraq.

A "stupid question" at Transterrestrial.

Navy Pushes DDX

War at Sea has moved to the littorals, and with its planned DDX destroyer the US Navy is preparing to continue the Cold War. This giant $3.5 billion dollar battle cruiser will apparently be used to interdict pirates in wooden dhows, or motor boats armed with explosives in port. This is the nature of the enemy which we are facing, unless you count the heir to the old Soviet Fleet, the Chinese Navy. This country is purchasing million dollar submarines, and hundred thousand dollar cruise missiles from our old foes to deal with the multi-billion dollar US buildup. Weaker navies like North Korea and Iran can buy surplus Russia subs for a few $100 thousand, and armed them with missiles and torpedoes to deal with our handful of DDX, which is all we can afford. Read this:

The Navy, seeking a greater role as the United States wages wars far inland, is pushing an expensive, experimental destroyer it says will be able to bomb targets well away from shore.
The Navy is trying to improve its ability to conduct fire support -- using heavy guns to assist Marines or soldiers ashore, much like land-based artillery does. The frequency of such naval fire support missions have declined during conflicts of the last half-century, and the Navy has turned to expensive cruise missiles instead of guns to hit targets farther inland.

and:

The first DD(X) is projected to cost $3.3 billion, but sister ships would be cheaper, the Navy says. Since 2004, however, the Navy's estimated costs per ship have gone up almost 50 percent for ships built after the first of their class, the Congressional Research Service says. One proposal before Congress would cap the price per ship at $1.7 billion, forcing the Navy to redesign the DD(X) to something smaller and probably less capable. The Navy also has reduced the number it wants to buy, from between 16 to 24 down to between eight and 12, prompting fears that the military won't give shipyards enough work and force one to close, the congressional researchers reported recently.

There's good news: As I stated in a previous post, the Navy intends to finally adhere to it’s From The Sea... strategy, in place since 1992, for building a real littoral navy. The DDX, which is to the Navy as the F/A-22 fighter is to the Air Force, is still going ahead, despite all logic to the contrary.

Will Air Force Cancel its Fighters?

The LA Times says the Air Force is considering cancelling both its only jet fighter programs, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F/A-22 Raptor. If this is true it will mean a major turn of events for the future military.

ACCORDING TO MEDIA reports, the Defense Department is considering canceling two supersonic jet fighters that are on the Pentagon's drawing board: the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.There is no doubt that even with the defense budget at historical highs, the Pentagon cannot afford the $1.5 trillion worth of weapons that the military services would like to purchase. ...The F/A-22 Raptor is the most unnecessary weapon system being built by the Pentagon. In fact, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld tried to do away with it in the summer of 2002 but backed off when his Air Force secretary threatened to resign over the issue....The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is another story. It is an ambitious program to build three related, but slightly different, aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Current plans call for building 2,443 planes for all three services at a cost of $245 billion, or about $100 million per plane — about one-third the cost of the F/A-22.

I agree with all this, though I do think the JSF program could be scaled back considerably without adverse effect on America's defenses. New precision weapons and unmanned combat vehicles (UCAVs) have greatly boosted aerial striking power, which could safely mean a reduction in the number of JSF purchases as low as 500. The best buy would be the S/STOL version which all services could utilize, the Navy especially on small carriers (yeah right!).

Stryker Goes to Sea

Here’s is some good news in contrast to the last article I wrote. The Army is planning on using its new Spearhead catamaran to ferry its Stryker Brigades to the world hotspots. Spearhead is a fast, 40 knot + vessels which have been used extensively in the War on Terror, with great success. What’s neat about this vessels its ability to move into shallow coastal waters, which is inaccessible to larger warships like carriers and destroyers. From the article:

Hawaii will become the testing ground next year for two of the Army's latest high-technology weapons: the Stryker combat mobile vehicle and a 318-foot high-speed cargo catamaran.
Maj. A.J. Hedeen, Army watercraft combat development spokesman, said yesterday the 700-ton Theater Support Vessel 1X will operate in island waters next year. It is capable of carrying 23 Strykers and their complements of soldiers.
Hedeen acknowledged that the future of the so-called USAV Spearhead is tied to the success of the Strykers.

and

The Army said that to move the 25th Division's Stryker Brigade 400 miles by a high-speed vessel, like the Spearhead, would take 14 trips, each voyage taking 10 hours. Soldiers assigned to the Stryker unit could accompany each vessel.
That would be compared with 26 trips using the landing ships now used by the Army, but each vessel would take 40 hours of transit time and the soldiers would have to be moved separately.
Using the Air Force's C-17 transport cargo jets would be faster (one hour) but would mean 254 sorties. Hickam Air Force Base will establish a new squadron of C-17s in January to support the Strykers at Schofield Barracks.

Looks like the Army is once again leading the way while the Navy is dragging behind.

DDX Keeps going and going...

War at Sea has moved to the littorals, and with its planned DDX destroyer the US Navy is preparing to continue the Cold War. This giant $3.5 billion dollar battle cruiser will apparently be used to interdict pirates in wooden dhows, or motor boats armed with explosives in port. This is the nature of the enemy which we are facing, unless you count the heir to the old Soviet Fleet, the Chinese Navy. This country is purchasing million dollar submarines, and hundred thousand dollar cruise missiles from our old foes to deal with the multi-billion dollar US buildup. Weaker navies like North Korea and Iran can buy surplus Russia subs for a few $100 thousand, and armed them with missiles and torpedoes to deal with our handful of DDX, which is all we can afford.

There’s good news: As I stated in a previous post, the Navy intends to finally adhere to it’s From The Sea... strategy, in place since 1992, for building a real littoral navy. The DDX, which is to the Navy as the F/A-22 fighter is to the Air Force, is still going ahead, despite all logic to the contrary.

On the Blogs

Murdoc on "The Man Who Predicted 9/11", and says DoD recruiting is up! Good News!!

Winds of War at Winds of Change.

Blogs for Bush on the French economy or lack thereof, and says Cindy Sheehan is Grandstanding. So do I. Murdoc has more on this subject.

Victory!

"Combat Zone: True Tales of GIs in Iraq"

This is not an ad, but a recent article at the Wall Street Journal gave this comic a good plug, calling it a "patriotic take" on the war. I'm a big comics fan and this is very exciting. From the publisher Marvel Comics:

Combat comics are taken to a whole new level! Three months in the lives of the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq are chronicled in this groundbreaking series by long-time embedded journalist Karl Zinsmeister ("Boots on the Ground: A Month with the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq") and penciler Dan Jurgens (Thor, Superman).

Looking forward to it!

Conventional ICBMs

Here an interesting post at Arms Control Wonk which discusses arming old Minuteman missiles with conventional warheads:

A big story in a tiny little newspaper today.
The forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review may recommend that the Air Force convert 50 Minuteman III ICBMs to a conventional role, relocating the missiles to Vandenberg AFB in CA from their current home at picturesque Malmstrom AFB, Montana (pictured above).
At least that is what Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) told told the Minot Daily News:

I think this idea has possibilities. Imagine a war breaks out somewhere and no US forces are nearby. A couple of ICBMs equipped with precision guided bombs and the aggressor is stopped in his tracks within minutes. No long range bombing missions, no months of preparing our troops to throw back the invaders. The problem is, how would you convince other nuclear powers, say Russia or China you aren't launching a first strike on their countries. Guess they have to work the bugs out before this happens?

Military Industrial Complex vs the Market

Here's more on the decline of America's defense indistries from the Heritage Foundation:


-Congress has tried repeatedly over the years to steer defense contracts in directions that would supposedly shore up or expand America’s military-industrial capacity. Yet these efforts have nearly always interrupted the natural tides of the market and led to unintended consequences, including inefficient practices, high prices and limited choices for the military. America’s war-fighting institutions have consistently achieved better results when they have relied on the free market to decide where and how products should be made.

and:

Consider the Navy. Ours is the most capable in the world, and no other nation builds warships as well as we do on the whole. But the U.S. does not manufacture aluminum-hulled ships, even though the Army and Marine Corps find aluminum-hulled catamarans manufactured in Australia to be of great value to their war-fighting strategies. So to get those weapons, we must look overseas.

On the Blogs

Strategypage says the brake problems on the F/A-18 Hornet are exagerated.

Austin Bay discusses a possible seperatists movement in Western Canada.

Thomas Barnett discusses D-Day vet Jimmy "Scotty" Doohan.

Murdoc discusses terrorists using bomb laden suicide dogs. (Where's PETA when you need them?)

Winds of Change on the French Slave Trade.

Blogs for Bush says the NARAL add on John Roberts "is blatantly false".

Crying Time for Terrorists

Support for Bush on the Iraqi Conflict is down, which is encouraging to me because I know its always darkest before the dawn. Those who took the poll obviously are responding to the countless barrage of bad news from the War on Terror coming from the media, who would like nothing better than to see America stumble again. Makes good ratings. If I am crazy in thinking we are winning this war, then I'm in good company. Here's what Ann Coulter writes:

Consider the intriguing diary entries of British jihadist Zeeshan Siddique, reported in The New York Times this Monday ... Siddique was captured last April in Pakistan by that country's security forces. ...In addition to heartwarming entries like the one on the pope's death -- "Allah will throw him in hell" -- a number of Siddique's diary entries suggest that it's not all sunshine and song for the Islamo-fascists these days. Day after day for six weeks, it was nothing but bad news for Siddique -- except for the good news about the pope's death, Saul Bellow's death and the Prince of Monaco's death, all of which cheered him considerably.
After visiting his fellow jihadists in early March, Siddique reports that he received "bad news" -- and something tells me it wasn't about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. He writes: "The relaxing place was done over" and "7-8 of the guys taken whilst asleep." He was told "guys need 2 make a move soon. Cant stik round."
A week later, he is informed by someone, probably not the Prince of Monaco, that "the situation is really bad" and he should "just sit tight & wait it out until things get a bit better." Oddly enough he is also a Mets fan, so this spring was an all-around bummer for Siddique.

More good news: Remember me writing something similiar a while back on What the Terrorists are Thinking?

The New Hannibal

There’s little doubt in my mind America’s reason for going to war in Iraq in 2003 was to take the fight to the enemy. The Offensive has been the key to victory in countless wars since ancient times and into the Modern Age. Napoleon was the great practitioner of offensive warfare, and is often considered the Father of Modern War. In 1940 Hitler’s mobile tank armies easily overran the more numerous allied armies who expected a repeat of the static combat of the Great War. The German blitzkrieg tactics ran rings around slower thinking generals who had too much faith in defensive war. The offensive was later turned on the enemy with great effect by General Patton in France, against the Arabs by the Israelis, and by America in two wars with Iraq.

Throughout the Clinton Era, so called experts predicted a new “Age of Barbarians” with terrorists armed with nuclear bombs holding entire countries hostage. These alarmists prophesied a “Fortress America” with citizens fearful to leave their homes, and armed guards patrolling the streets. President Bush has effectively bypassed this defensive mentality by invading Afghanistan and Iraq (but only after being provoked by 9/11). Skeptics have not only used this offensive policy to blast the administration, but have resisted even the minimum security measures at home which they once claimed to be necessary to fight the terrorists.

Those who continue to blame America’s presence in Iraq as the reason for the terrorists being there are misguided. They were there long before we came, and if not for the Army, would be here in America as well. President Bush positioning the military in the heart of enemy territory may be the greatest strategic move since Hannibal crossed the Alps.

On the Blogs

Murdoc and Say Anything on the Air America scandal (funny), and Transterrestrial.

Blogs for Bush on roadside bombs made in Iran, and Defense Tech.

Instapundit says Its Not Your Father's Army.

Billion Dollar Boondoggle

The Navy just received its latest class of Legacy warships, the San Antonio. Supposed to ferry our amphibious forces into the 21st Century she is in fact a billion dollar boondoggle riddled with defects according to Strategypage:

The 25,000 ton ship, the first of a class of twelve, is two years late, and $400 million over its original budget of $830 million. But that’s not the major problem. While the ship performed well on its sea trials, inspectors came up with a list of 37 major deficiencies.

and:

Fixing all the problems are expected to push the ultimate cost of the ship, which is actually a small aircraft carrier that carries a reinforced battalion of marines, up to $1.8 billion. The problems with LPD-17 are, to many navy admirals, all too common these days. The navy is not happy with the firms currently building warships. But these outfits are well connected politically, and cannot be pushed as much as the navy would like to.

This loudly showcases the state of America’s shipyards, the last relics of the Military Industrial Complex which we were warned of by Dwight Eisenhower. Riddled with corruption, archaic management ideas, and dependent on government handouts, they are kept on life support through Congressional favors, who care not for America’s defenses, but for votes. In contrast the Navy has also received a real 21st Century warship from private shipyard Titan. This is the Sea Fighter (FSC-1), first of the littoral ships, which at $50 million is called an “Affordable Weapon” in this article:

Hunter said sacred cows in both Congress and the Navy had to be slaughtered to develop the Sea Fighter.By finding funds outside the normal defense appropriations process, and by ignoring special interests such as traditional ship builders and Navy officials who "want to keep building big slow ships," Hunter said he, Issa and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, helped military and private industry visionaries "conspire to beat the bureaucracy."

On the Blogs

Austin Bay says Britain's George Galloway is Lord Haw Haw. I agree!
and the Air America Scandal.

Instapundit on Air America.

Blogs for Bush on the A-Bomb 60th Anniversary, and Transterrestrial.

Iraq War says This Will Make You Proud.

Thomas Barnett agrees with me (and the President)

Thomas Barnett is a respected strategist with the Pentagon and an author who wants to spread democracy and capitalist globalization to poorer states, especially those who breed terrorism. President Bush obviously agrees and has started the ball rolling in Iraq. This article says Barnett also agrees with Bush on some things:

Barnett argues that America's strategy ought to be the protection and expansion of the Core and the gradual elimination of Gap regimes that resist globalization and liberal democracy. He supported the invasion of Iraq for the same reasons as Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy defence secretary turned World Bank chief: both hoped the event would set off a Big Bang across the Middle East, act as a catalyst to bring democracy and a market economy to the region; and shrink the Gap. Though this view terrifies European elites, Barnett is not the caricature they may imagine. He opposes those in the Pentagon who believe that China will take over the Soviet Union's erstwhile role as America's superpower enemy. Instead, he argues, America should welcome the development of China; work with it to expand the Core against the Gap; and hope for minimal violence when the Communists eventually lose power as a result of the economic boom of recent years.

The same article Goes on to discuss the increasing irrelevance of platforms (carriers, fighters, tanks) in today's warfare, something I discussed in a previous post:

Barnett's old boss is a man called Art Cebrowski, brought into the Pentagon by Rumsfeld immediately after 9/11 to advise on "defence transformation". Cebrowski is the godfather of what is called Network Centric Warfare: the concept that war is being transformed by a shift from simply building ever-more technologically advanced and expensive platforms (such as stealth fighters or aircraft carriers), to network-centric warfare, where the emphasis is on networking platforms to leverage their effects via "information dominance".
In this vision, the sensor, command and control, and engagement "grids" of Network Centric Warfare locate and destroy targets across the globe, from individual sensor to soldier to ship to unmanned drone to satellite. This "system of systems", it is argued, will fundamentally alter the nature of warfare because it will largely eliminate what until now has been the most important fact of human conflict: the inherent uncertainty of a complex world that produces "the fog of war".

What's Breaking on the Blogs

Gonna try this for a while:

Murdoc on the AAV destroyed in Iraq.

Thomas Barnett and Ben Stein say don't worry about China.

Austin Bay says thanks for the A-Bomb and Winds of Change too.

Blogs for Bush on new anti-terror laws in Britain.

Scrappleface on the Air America scandle (funny) and Austin Bay, plus Powerline.

Navy sends help to a sunken Russian sub says Defense Tech.

NOSI says the new F/A-18 Super Hornet is in Trouble.

Navy Gets the Message

Its been over 13 years since the US Navy published its "From the Sea" strategy which emphasises the new littoral or coastal warfare over the blue water fleet built to fight the Soviets. Now she has commissioned a fast littoral warship called Sea Fighter which is the fleet's newest class of vessel for the 21st Century. Here's how the navy describes it:

"Today's absence of a global naval threat to the United States has replaced the need to fight conflicts in the open ocean with the requirement to project sea-based power ashore," the Navy said of the new boat.

What's taken the Navy so long? Throughout the 1990's she continued to build giant aircraft carriers, destroyers, and submarines, all the while under a budget crunch and while her huge fleet of ASW frigates were discarded without replacement. When the 9/11 attacks occurred, the frigate became the weapon of necessity for guarding out ports and policing the sealne against Al Qeda pirates.


Murdoc also reports on Sea Fighter and Defense Tech.

Tough Week

Its been a tough week in Iraq, as this Milblogger states. At times like this I think of the words of US Grant during the Battle of Shiloh, when in one day we lost thousands of troops. Grant is sitting under a tree during a downpour, preferring its shelter to that of the hospital, where the cries of the wounded and dieing are unbearable. Then along comes General Sherman, hoping to convince Grant the Union Army should withdraw:

Sherman:"You know, General, we've had the Devil's own due; haven't we today?

Grant: "Yup." "Whip 'em tomorrow, though."

The good news is: President Bush vows "We will stay the course!"

Its "War on Terror" Stupid!

The president clarifies a phrase what's been watered down recently by members of his own cabinet. The words "War on Terror" was called the more politically correct "global struggle against violent extremism" by Secretary Rumsfeld among others, as the NYT states:

President Bush publicly overruled some of his top advisers Wednesday in a debate about what to call the conflict with Islamic extremists, saying, "Make no mistake about it, we are at war."
In a speech here, Bush used the phrase "war on terror" no less than five times.
Not once did he refer to the "global struggle against violent extremism," the wording consciously adopted by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials in recent weeks after internal deliberations about how best to communicate how the United States views the challenge it is facing.

Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants, and George Bush is just the man to do it.

Change Hurts

Change of any kind always meets resistance. This is especially true for the oft criticized Sec. Rumsfeld, who is dealing with the biggest military transformation in decades while simultaneously fighting a global war on terrorism. This article says the reform is going forward in all services, but especially the Army:

Nowhere has the transformation been greater or more difficult to integrate into the service management philosophy than in the Army. There it involved transforming a heavy-division structure into a more mobile, brigade-oriented force equipped with Stryker armored vehicles. Gen. Cody said 43 of these new modular brigades were in various stages of being formed or deployed. The Army's first modular brigade, from the 3rd Infantry Division, was now posted to Iraq, while the 101st Airborne and 10th Mountain divisions were being transformed. The Army now has 300,000 soldiers overseas in 120 countries, including 116,000 soldiers in Iraq and 14,000 in Afghanistan. The 30,000 additional troops Congress insisted be added have been integrated into the Army and will make change easier. Yet, the large commitment of troops overseas has brought an unprecedented activation of the National Guard and reserves, which today constitute 60 percent of active military forces. That imbalance, the general said, causes planners to "pull out their hair" but recommitted the Army to transformation even with its "stress on the force."

Usually change is little noticed until much later. Only after Operation Desert Storm did we begin to grasp the tremendous reforms undertaking in the post-Vietnam military, the effects of which we are still feeling to this day. Rumsfeld's reforms, while much maligned now, will someday be declare the linchpin that launched America's military into the 21st Century.

Vern Clark's Legacy

Here is an interesting article on outgoing Navy Chief Admiral Vern Clark. Often criticized for depleting the fleet, he was in fact a transforming sailor, as this reads:

If he's been aggressive about phasing out the old while building newer and fewer (today's Navy has 287 ships, down from 315 in 2000) to meet shifting global defense challenges -- it may have been a lesson from the FRAM age. A corollary to this is the realization of where the Navy's real value lies: in the talents and dedication of its sailors -- the snipes and deck apes who get the most out of sophisticated systems while keeping even the most outmoded systems operational. They deserve the best -- whether the best is measured in terms of pay or quality ships.

Replacing the Raptor

The F/A-22 Raptor is probably the greatest fighter plane ever built, but with the cost of these aerial wonders at $200 million each, very few can be afforded. The Air force contends it needs the Raptor to continue American air dominance into the 21st Century. If not the F/A-22, they ask, then what? This article from Strategypage may provide the answer:

Several decades of developing software to run aircraft has made it possible to send off a fully robotic bomber, or even fighter, on many types of missions. Air forces have resisted this sort of thing for over thirty years, although cruise missiles, which are one way bombers, are regularly used. But now, all those nations that see no way of competing with the F-22, do see it as possible to build a large fleet of robotic fighter aircraft. China has a lot more software engineers than it does highly experienced fighter pilots. American air force generals fear that the Chinese are moving slowly to expand their fleet of modern fighters because everyone believes that the next generation of fighters will be robotic, and a lot cheaper than F-22s.

...This is one of those rare turning points in weapons design. Similar to when the modern battleship (the British Dreadnaught being the first), made all existing battleships obsolete. A similar thing happened when jet fighters appeared in the mid 1940s. Nearly all those 63,000 American fighter aircraft in 1945 were prop-driven, and all those pilots knew that in the next few years, jet fighters would make all those prop fighters obsolete. Now the robotic fighters are about to make manned fighters obsolete, just like GPS guided bombs (JDAM) made dumb bombs dropped by a low flying fighter-bomber obsolete.

So we find that robot planes may be the answer to the dwindling number of fighter craft in the US arsenal. Unlike what Hollywood may want you to think in the blockbuster film "Stealth", new technology is actually a good thing.