Current Military News

@al3xanderthegr8

People say that carriers are obsolete because:

Hypersonic missiles are getting increasingly more powerful, to the point where it isn’t possible or economical to defend a carrier. Not only that, hypersonic missiles might have a longer range than carrier aircraft in the future (based on my own research, the F-35 still has a longer combat radius than most current missiles, though that’s because the Zicron doesn’t exist).

Submarines are getting quieter, to the point where they can easily destroy carriers.

Carriers are too big of a target. Some people use this argument and extend it to all surface ships.

If you’re curious, I personally disagree that these developments are too big of a problem, making them obsolete. Just my opinion.

People say tanks are obsolete because:

Tanks are easier to be targeted by anti-tank missiles, which have longer range than tanks.

Tanks are too expensive.

Aircraft have gotten more powerful to the point where they can replace the role of tanks.

Keep in mind my summary might be wrong, this is just what it seems reading some articles saying they’re obsolete.

Not sure how many of you guys are interested in or aware of this, but I posted a while back about a Jalopnik website called Foxtrot Alpha. It was the best website I had ever come across in terms of current defense reporting, intelligent military/policy commentary, military journalism with connections and simply very fun, interesting and meaningful content. That was entirely due to the blog’s principal author Tyler Rogoway.

Probably in light of a bit of Gawker Media cost-cutting, Rogoway departed for the Time website The Drive, where his content should have a similarly uncharacteristic, but successful fit with a predominantly automotive parent site.

I cannot emphasize enough how abnormally great Tyler’s writing, insight and depth of content is for a non-subscription journal website. His writing is fresh, pertinent, entertaining and thoughtful. If the only place you get your defense news is Fox or MSNBC, you are living in the dark ages. You really ought to try out Tyler’s new blog (and even look up some of the still amazing content leftover on Foxtrot Alpha).

Foxtrot Alpha:  http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/

The War Zone (new home):  http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone

Tyler’s focus is predominantly aviation, but he has done excellent articles, features and small pieces on every other imaginable military element from ships, subs, tanks, defense spending and policy, special ops warfare, drones, etc… Some of his best articles are those written by ex-military members detailing their stories from time in service. Extremely fascinating. Here are just a couple must reads from back on FA:

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/godspeed-rogoway-1771288681
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-air-force-initiative-to-replace-the-a-10-warthog-is-1771018719
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/just-because-lockheed-says-they-can-build-a-mach-6-jet-1765367071
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/navy-carrier-built-for-f-35s-is-done-being-rebuilt-so-t-1766741771
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/that-time-an-sr-71-made-an-emergency-landing-in-norway-1765436508
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-distinct-voice-of-the-f-a-18-hornets-bitchin-betty-1764527531
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-fact-that-none-of-the-2016-presidential-candidates-1762222982
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/need-an-f-4-phantom-get-on-down-to-cals-bargain-used-f-1760770835
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/watch-these-62-ton-m1-abrams-tanks-drift-trough-the-fri-1759785734
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-is-what-a-full-broadside-from-a-ticonderoga-class-1759358448
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/blast-across-the-desert-floor-and-launch-off-a-carrier-1758297224
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-unlikely-struggle-of-the-family-whose-neighbor-is-a-1741346156

There are many, many more.

Here is today’s latest from The War Zone:

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/3383/what-it-was-like-flying-and-fighting-the-f-16n-viper-topguns-legendary-hotrod

Here’s a BBC article about the military custom of saluting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30679406

The chart mentioned in the story…

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/28119/20101014145X_Pecking_Order_CompU.pdf

…has some suprisingly amusing cartoons for an official government publication dealing with a serious topic like military ranks.  Then again, I once heard a rule of thumb on shipboard behaviour supposedly given to enlisted sailors: “If you see something, salute it.  If it doesn’t salute back, pick it up.  If it can’t be picked up, paint it.”

The last starfighter is a fun movie, but it’s less of a controller than it is an Arcade game.

Great article marc!

Enjoyed it.

Wait…. Anna Smith is… DEAD?  when did this happen? i watch TV and they never nentioned it. Im watching the E! channel right now and still no word.

You would think the news would report this after all she was so talented as an actress. :roll:

I watch Fox, CNN, BBC and ABC when I can. I figure between the four of them, I get the vast majority of the actual facts and they’ll contradict each other on their spin. Kinda like white noise filtering out the spin while the facts slip through.

Agencies I avoid like the plague:

CBS (can we say Dan Rather? Can we say 3 instances of falsified reports either purposly or because of ineptitude in their reporting ability during the elections? Can we say spin???)

I also tend to avoid NBC/MSNBC mainly because it’s owned by Microsoft and I don’t trust corporations that sell products or services to protray the news correctly.

While I have tons of reasons to distrust Spanish, French, German and Canadian news agencies, from their actual papers, I’ll refrain from specifics because I don’t have enough time to sit around scanning articles into PDF form and posting them right now. Suffice it to say, the fiction they print in their daily periodicals is humorous at best, evil at worst.

@cystic:

well, it seems more effective than the North A. circus of justice - applying judgements from one case to another etc. Current jurisprudence looks more like a patch-work quilt than the smooth material of the Talmud.

Well, the notion of laws being fair did not come up yet :)…
i must admit, that north american system is (like the former minister of justice in germany said) “crappy” :)