No U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers Deployed in the Pacific

[Picaro]

Trump told Putin there would be ‘hell to pay’ if Russia invaded Ukraine​

Former President Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin delayed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as long as he did due to a conversation between the two world leaders.

Trump recounted the conversation he had with Putin during an exclusive interview with Fox News host Bret Baier on Monday, in which he said there would be “hell to pay” if Russia invaded Ukraine.

“With Putin, I have a very good relationship. I mean, I haven’t spoken to him in a long while, but I had a very strong relationship,” Trump said. “He wouldn’t have done it if it were me. He did it after I left.

“I thought he might do it,” Trump added. “Look, I talked to him. I said, ‘If you do it, there’s going to be hell to pay. It’s going to be a catastrophe. Don’t do it.’”

Putin showed hesitation in launching an invasion after that conversation, according to Trump."

Trump told Putin there would be ‘hell to pay’ if Russia invaded Ukraine - Washington Examiner

Yes, he didn't suck up to him, he threatened to wipe Putin's ass out. But you now think Trump's policy will be to abandon them, and you support Biden's' foot dragging? Talk about cognitive dissonance. That's what happens when you rely on tard sites like FreeRepublic and Town Hall for a peer group.

 

[Picaro]

The PEntagon implemented a program to modernize the military, setting up a liaison operation in Silly Con Valley designed to keep military tech up to date and not perpetually 30 years behind. Of course it meets resistance from both Parties re its budgets and military contractors who make a lot of money building the old out-dated crap and don't want to have to expend capital to upgrade their gear. This is a direct result of 'privatizing' everything, especially research and development. It used to be that the military was itself the cutting edge of tech research, spawning all kinds of private industry as spinoffs. Naturally with everything financialized all that gets choked to death and bankrupted in pursuit of dividends. TRump's agenda to on-shore industry is still the best plan, but both Parties' establishments much prefer labor racketeering overseas.

 

[Mushroom]

The PEntagon implemented a program to modernize the military, setting up a liaison operation in Silly Con Valley designed to keep military tech up to date and not perpetually 30 years behind.

And ultimately, that means nothing, and we just end up with bandaids put on decades old equipment. It helps to a degree, but there comes a point you have to simply replace it because the bandaids are not enough anymore.

Most people really have no idea how old most of our equipment really is. The vast majority of our PATRIOT launchers are 4 decades old or more. The same with our M1 tanks and M2 Bradley's. Our newest Ticonderoga class cruiser is over 30 years old, our oldest still in service are 40 years old and being retired next month. Our newest bombers are close to 30 years old, and our oldest is now 62 years old.

Most of our equipment is literally holdovers from the Reagan Administration. When I first started working on the PATRIOT system almost 20 years ago, it was already a joke that I was the only one in my unit that was older than the equipment I operated. We are now 17 years later, and kids who were in grade school at that time are now being trained to use it. We can only do upgrades for so long, eventually you simply have to replace it eventually.

And much equipment like PATRIOT has been modernized, to a degree. The PAC-3 MSE is a huge leap over the older PAC-3. Which was yet another on the PAC-2. But all are still bandaids on a system that is far more ancient than most people even realize. First fielded under President Reagan, first tested under President Ford. And the program actually originated in the Kennedy Administration. The Army has known about the shortcomings in the system for decades now, and was actually funding a replacement program way back in 2004. First tested in 2010, then the funding was pulled and the program cancelled (even though Germany has continued the program on their own). And instead of getting the newer and more modern system by 2012 as promised, we got yet another update on 4 decade old equipment in MSE.

The problem is that you are thinking like a great many bean counters that never actually have to use the equipment. The last HMMWV I drove before I retired was built during the Reagan Administration. Now granted, most of our HMMWVs still in service actually fate to only the Bush 41 and Clinton Administrations, but that is still over 3 decades ago. How many people and companies are still daily operating vehicles over 3 decades old?

And the military is not the only government agency in that boat. Almost the entire Postal Service fleet is still using the Grumman LLV, which is yet another Reagan era program and first fielded in 1986. The newest one in service was built in 1996 when President Clinton killed the program. This is yet another example of equipment that people in the government are forced to use equipment 3-4 decades old, because the government can't get around to actually ordering a replacement until long after they should have. But that is finally being resolved there, as the replacements in the NGDV is finally supposed to start arriving in the hands of Postal Carriers by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the average UPS or FedEx vehicle is no more than 15 years old. At that time the company generally replaces them as they are aware it becomes more expensive to maintain an aged fleet than it is to simply replace them.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

No U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers Deployed in the Pacific​

The deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) from 7th Fleet to 5th Fleet has left the United States with no deployed carriers in the Pacific Ocean, at a time when they are needed most.​

No U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers Deployed in the Pacific - Naval News

The U.S. Navy is facing a shortfall of deployed carriers in the Pacific as the buildup in the Middle East continues. The lack of carriers has left a critical gap in the West Pacific. The departure of USS Abraham Lincoln coincides with the change in homeport of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) from...

www.navalnews.com

25 Aug 2024 ~~ By Carter Johnston

The U.S. Navy is facing a shortfall of deployed carriers in the Pacific as the buildup in the Middle East continues. The lack of carriers has left a critical gap in the West Pacific.
The departure of USS Abraham Lincoln coincides with the change in homeport of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) from Yokosuka, Japan to Bremerton, Washington. The Ronald Reagan‘s replacement, the USS George Washington (CVN 73) still in San Diego on a scheduled port visit.
The U.S. Navy’s other Pacific-based carriers are in port or in their maintenance availability period. Out of six carriers in the Pacific, the USS Carl Vinson recently participated in RIMPAC 2024, the USS Nimitz recently completed a six month planned incremental availability period for maintenance, the USS Ronald Reagan recently completed a homeport shift to Naval Base Kitsap, and the USS George Washington will remain in San Diego until the crew and equipment swap from USS Ronald Reagan is complete.

Commentary:
Joe’s parting gift to the Chinese.
Taiwan will be conquered in less than one day, if China now chooses.
What's to worry? We now have fewer carriers than we had deployed in the Pacific in December 1941 and nothing bad happened...

We have sufficient land-based air assets in Japan, and Korea, to prevent China from being stupid. What are they going to do by invading with a small landing force that will be decimated before it leaves China's territorial waters?

 

[Mushroom]

Yes, he didn't suck up to him, he threatened to wipe Putin's ass out.

The problem is that President Trump is a populist, and was far better at talking than in actually doing anything.

I knew a hell of a lot of people who were very vocal about him in 2016. In saying that he would reverse the 8 years of neglect we saw in the military during the Obama Administration. Because during those 8 years we saw equipment increasingly falling apart with no money in the budget to fix it. And instead of actually going in the field and doing training, we were actually doing training in our own buildings because it was cheaper. And most expected that to turn around.

And were then disappointed when in 2020 we were still the exact same. Instead of the typical 8 years of drawdown under a Democrat then 4 years of expansion under a Republican, we saw 12 years of drawdown. A hell of a lot I knew that were applauding when he won the election were pissed off with him at the end of his term. Because he did absolutely nothing to help the military, and literally continued the budgets, troop numbers, and policies of his predecessor. That has been going on now for 16 years, and we all know that no matter who wins, it will continue for the next 4 years.

So you like the populist, great. But what has he actually done for the military while he was in? For all the talk about making the military stronger, he actually maintained all of the manpower requirements of the administration before him. We had no new equipment programs started, and even many that were well under way before President Obama cancelled them were not picked up again. You know, the kinds of things that were typical of a Republican Administration following a Democratic one.

You know, like the B-1 Lancer. Yet another Kennedy era program, with initial testing during the Nixon and Ford Administrations, cancelled during the Carter Administration, and brought back under the Reagan Administration. I know that was also what happened with both THAAD and MEADS. Cancelled or frozen under Democrats, a lot of us were looking forward to seeing them come back under a Republican. Which never happened. And no matter what will likely never return unless we get a real Republican in 2024.

Most in here know I absolutely detest politics and the political types. But we who actually served in the military know what the Trump Administration was like. And it was just four more years of the Obama Administration policies with no change.

 

[Mushroom]

We have sufficient land-based air assets in Japan, and Korea, to prevent China from being stupid.

No, not really. And air based assets are only of limited use, that is something everybody should be more than aware of.

And if a war goes hot, how are we going to get supplies to those forces? You are aware that the majority of our supplies are shipped by sea, right? This was one of the largest concerns during the Cold War, that the Soviets would be playing havoc on our supply lines and we would be spending far more resources trying to prevent that than would actually be occupied on the battlefields themselves.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

No, not really. And air based assets are only of limited use, that is something everybody should be more than aware of.

And if a war goes hot, how are we going to get supplies to those forces? You are aware that the majority of our supplies are shipped by sea, right? This was one of the largest concerns during the Cold War, that the Soviets would be playing havoc on our supply lines and we would be spending far more resources trying to prevent that than would actually be occupied on the battlefields themselves.

Carriers have nothing to do with protecting supply lines. That is not their mission. An LHA/D can do that just fine.

 

[Mushroom]

The PEntagon implemented a program to modernize the military, setting up a liaison operation in Silly Con Valley designed to keep military tech up to date and not perpetually 30 years behind.

I want to hit on this one more time, because this should give an idea what I am talking about.

One of the "bandaids" I know about first hand was a big modernization that the PATRIOT system got in around 1997 was an upgraded electronics suite as part of the PAC-2/GEM upgrade. And one of them was a huge update to how the newer software was uploaded into the equipment. Instead of having to roll out a special computer to update the equipment from floppy disks, the update allowed them to hook up a external drive and update the software from that.

The external disk chosen? The Iomega JAZ drive. Really cool and modern state of the art equipment, when that was fielded in 1997. And by 2012, all of our equipment was still being updated with JAZ drives, equipment and disks that had not been made for a decade by then. And I actually talked about it with our Maintenance Chief, and he said that was a problem Army wide. That they all knew an update was required, and they were increasingly having problems with having operational JAZ drives and disks to work with. That is a case where even the bandaid put on almost 3 decades ago is long obsolete, and it needs yet another bandaid. But none of the beancounters are interested in spending the money to just fix it right the first time.

 

[Mushroom]

Carriers have nothing to do with protecting supply lines. That is not their mission. An LHA/D can do that just fine.

I am talking about issues the Navy is having in general.

And exactly what LHAs are going to be available to do that kind of mission, if they are busy rushing forces to a theater? You don't think our amphibious groups are going to be much too busy moving Marines and their equipment instead of running around protecting shipping? Between the two classes, we only have 9 of them (and half of them have to remain in other theaters so will not be available). It was 10, but one was destroyed in a fire 4 years ago. And our updated America class LHAs are a huge update over the Tarawa class LPH that I served on.

But our Wasp class LHDs? Most of those are 30 years old or older now. And our oldest one is 15 years old. Now granted, our amphibious ships are often among the oldest ships in our fleet. God knows I am aware of that, as when I was on the old USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), it was already over 25 years old and showed it. And would serve another 5 years before finally being retired after a massive steam explosion during the Gulf War.

I still laugh in that I remember serving on the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) in 1987. That was still a new ship at the time, only entering service two years before. That was a huge improvement over the Iwo, but even that ship was retired 2 years ago because it is too old.