We’re Long Overdue for Due Diligence in Defense.....

We have not had all of our frigates retired? They have not been trying to expidite not only the retirement of ships, but rushing them to the scrapyards at the same time? Our Reserve fleet has not been almost eliminated?

Funny, but I see the opposite. More and more equipment is broken, with no funding to fix or replace it. And what we have now is generally a decade older then it was 10 years ago. Most people do not get it that most of our equipment is 30-40 years old, and getting older every year. With no new systems on the horizon or being developed to replace them.

It must feel nice to make such statements. To bad the reality is vastly different.

 

Feel free to provide cold, hard stats to back up your claim.

LOL.

I look forward to that.

 

An Assessment of U.S. Military Power ->http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/

U.S. Army -> http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/us-army/

U.S. Navy -> http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/us-navy/

U.S. Marine Corps -> http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/us-marine-corps/

U.S. Air Force -> http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/us-air-force/

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Capability -> http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/us-nuclear-weapons-capability/

 

World terrorism has greatly increased since Obama ceded Iraq to terrorists. They now have a de facto state. Its spread in Africa, and central and eastern Asia as well.

Obama is a pushover to terrorists.



And he's beat the military down like it owes him money-which he likes to spend on his pet social programs.

Thats how weak presidents do, Kameraden.

 

Wow, is that really so hard to do?

The last frigate was retired last year. Do you really not know this, or are not able to look it up?

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/end-of-the-ghetto-navy-is-in-sight-as-last-usn-frigate-1678669074

The remaining TICOs range from 24 to 31 years old.

These things are all easy to find out. But let me list a few more systems, ok?

The PATRIOT, our primary ground based air defense system dates back to the Reagan Administration, 1984. That is over 31 years ago. The last new launcher was built in 1988, over 27 years ago.

The Arleigh Burke class destroyers were rolled out in 1989, 26 years ago.

The B-2 bomber? 1989.

F-15 and F-16? 1976 and 1978.

The B-1 bomber? The last one was built in 1988, 27 years ago.

We have not made a new M1 Abrams, came out in 1980. We have not gotten a new Abrams since 1995, 20 years ago (all they do now is refurbish already existing hulls).

MLRS? 1983, the last one was built in 1989.

Ohio class SSBN? They were built from 1976 to 1997. The oldest has been in service for 35 years, the newest just over 18 years.

Look, I can go on and on, but what is the point? The fact is, far more of our systems date literally to the Reagan Administration then have been built since then. But please, now you can give us a sample of the systems that we are now commonly using that is newer then that. Because I can go on all day about those that are not.

As case in point, I was in charge of a PATRIOT launcher from 2008-2012. Interestingly enough, I was the only person in my entire battalion that was older then the launcher I was in charge of. My launcher and truck dated to 1985.

Then we have the grand-daddy of them all, the B-52. Still in active service to this day, our most commonly used bomber. The last one was built in 1962, and we literally have 3rd generation B-52 pilots in service now.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-flew-Cold-War-grandfather-flew-Vietnam.html

So there you go, there are some facts, figures, and references. I actually have made a game out of taking new soldiers assigned to me to the motor pool and teach them how to do maintenance on their vehicles. And most are shocked when I show them the data plates, and show them that the vehicle they are now in charge of is older then they are.



That is pretty standard for a data plate for an M998 HMMWV, the most commonly used version in the military. Delivery date? July, 1987. Over 25 years ago.

Here is a big hint known to most in the military. We almost never get "new equipment". We turn in one that is worn out, and it is sent out for "depot level maintenance", where everything is stripped down and rebuilt. And in replacement we get a vehicle that the depot has already rebuilt. Then 2-9 months later some other unit will get our old piece of equipment after it has been rebuilt.

 

Note, IIRC reading about the Marine Corps is that they miss naval gunfire support so much that they had to designate a specialized force of 4 M-1 Abrams tanks to support potential landings.

 

If there are tanks landing with the troops. Which happened almost never.

Tanks need to move around, and on a beach there is almost no place for them to move. And the range of their cannon is horrible.

The M1A1 has a 120mm smooth bore cannon, range of 4,000 meters. That is less then 2.5 miles to Americans. An 81mm mortar (Battalion level) has a range of just under 6,000 meters. Even a 60 mm mortar (Company Level) has a range of just under 3,500 meters. And considering the fact that tanks are a Division level asset in the Marine Corps (1 Battalion of 14 tanks per Division), that is not many tanks.

Not sure where you read that, but it does not match with what I know of the Marine Corps operations doctrine. Before you can bring in tanks, you need to secure the beachhead. Landing a Battalion of 155mm howitzers (24 km range) or HIMARS rockets (300 km range) makes a hell of a lot more sense then landing tanks to provide a half-assed artillery support.

 

It was in the nonfiction book focusing on elements of the military published under the Tom Clancy name (but not by him).

Marine, Fighter Wing, SSN, Armored Regiment, Airborne, Special Forces, Carrier, I think that covers all of them.