1/ I was raised in Western Australia by a family with conservative values. From a very young age I knew the importance of our alliance with America. Since WW1 we have stood with our American brothers and sisters to fight against those that wish to do us harm. As an 11yo I was...

#Iran #Iraq #USA
Exactly a year ago, at 17 minutes past midnight (12:17), an Airbus A350 belonging to Ajnihat al-Sham flight arriving from Damascus landed at Baghdad airport with 5 Iranian commanders onboard, including Sardar Qassem Soleimani A #US SOF team was waiting close by.+

#Iran #IRGC brigadier general booked his flight under a different name. He was the first to leave the plane followed by his close companions. Abu Mahdi, along with two of his close aid-de-champ and his security trusted man (Sayyed al-Jaberi) were waiting on the runway.+

As the two cars drove away, at 12:37 (past midnight) two US MQ-9 Reaper drones fired 230 mph laser-guided Hellfire missiles, incinerating the bodies of Soleimani, al-Muhandes and all their Iranian and Iraqi companions.

A team of #US SOF guided the drones and later collected samples from the scene and took close pictures. During that day, on the 2d of January 2020, the US took unusual measures around the embassy and had more flights in the sky than agreed with the Iraqi government.

The 31st of December 2019, Pr. @realDonaldTrump called #Iraq PM Adel Abdel Mahdi and asked him to intervene with #Iran to de-escalate following the US killing of 28 Iraqi security forces at al-Qaem and the reaction of their companions in arms against the US embassy in Baghdad..

In 1997, the Clinton administration created the "1033" program, whereby the Pentagon gave away its "surplus" equipment to local law enforcement agencies, leading to the nationwide militarization of America's cops.

1/

In the decades since, 1033 became a $5B industry: beltway bandits lobby their pals in the DoD to place massive orders for weapons and materiel which are immediately declared "surplus" and transfered to undertrained cops

Opponents of this program hypothesized that it would obey Checkhov's Law: "A machine-gun in the police armory in Act One will go off by Act Three. And then again, and again, and again."

3/

They were right.

Empirical studies show that cops who get milspec penis surrogates through 1033 murder the fuck out of the people who pay their

But 1033's defenders insisted (without any evidence) that turning Deputy Dawg into a USMC Fallujah Street Patrol Cosplayer seriously improved the quality of US policing.

They were wrong.

5/

#Vietnam
Did we get [duped] by the government into a WAR???
You decide!
#DarkToLight

The #OMFV industry day last week provided some clarity and a few new angles on the requirement. A few highlights and thoughts below

(Image an old NGCV concept art, not from recent industry day)

Unsurprising desire to prioritise survivability, stated as #1 priority. At this stage specifics are unclear, but for contemporary ATGM/KE you need APS, ERA & some rather fancy composites. Even then overmatch will be tough in conjunction with mobility/transportability aspirations

Firepower requirements to engage infantry up to tanks, and helicopters. So an ATGM essential, and high elevation cannon. Given need for unmanend turret (see further down), could mean high profile turret, or loss of swept volume inside vehicle to allow that big 50 mm to elevate

The OM is back in OMFV. Clear statement that

"The OMFV should allow commanders to choose between manned or remote operation based on the tactical situation."

Not a small request, will be interesting seeing how contractors answer it. I note that it is 9th of 10 reqs for priority

"Each OMFV vehicle will be crewed by no more than two Soldiers who will be positioned in the hull. Squad members can perform crew duties prior to dismounting the OMFV but the vehicles must remain operational after dismounting."

So an unmanned turret and single commander/gunner