Clark Griswold

Meanwhile… https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/04/15/pentagon-ramps-up-secret-cuba-planning-trump/89623722007/#

Already posted in the Expeditionary Missionary Position Seaplane thread but pretty much… I don’t know but a seaplane capability probably would help with a Kharg Island landing so make it happen

FAFO American Internet Troll ‘Johnny Somali’ Sentenced to 6 Months of Hard Labor in South Korea https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026/04/15/american-internet-troll-johnny-somali-sentenced-to-6-months-of-hard-labor-in-south-korea/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s cultural I think, for whatever reason I think the powers that be think these platforms are beneath the prestige of the AF. Following from that they’ll present an endless stream of arguments of why giving a nickel to small programs robs big programs, it’s a prejudice that they find reasons to justify. With the long range fires being demonstrated by our foes with TBMs/cheap drones destroying HVAAs at MOBs on the ground, the justification for some amount of conventional capabilities being based in small footprint, ACE minded assets is self evident. Tactical tanker, expeditionary capable light fighter, light attack and CCA / UCAV, etc… Just my day dreaming two cents but this sounds like the bailiwicks of a new AFSOC to be relevant in GPCs.

Concur The offense defense tango continues, offense is throwing mass cheap systems and the challenge to defense is how to answer that. Probably an all of the above is the best feasible option Defensive systems, decoys, mobile low footprint systems, etc… It seems you need a force that is composed of opposite ends of a value spectrum, some high end exquisite systems to kick things off, medium systems level and a shit ton of cheap attrition tolerant mass to constantly throw at your opponent

Yeah I get it but the unresolvable loop in the original Iran thread has reached a point where nothing more can really get done, besides there’s enough in the open source world to have discussions worth what it costs to access BO… The articles are starting to ask what this can teach us about a Taiwan scenario, what is China learning, etc…. We should discuss the big elephants in the room.

The War ZoneRegent Squire Wing-In-Ground Effect Drone Demonstrator Ma...Squire is designed to take on multiple roles and the Marines say they are monitoring the aircraft's progress.

New thread to discuss results, applicable lessons and armchair general’s opinions on the conflict. Politics for the other thread. My first salvo: UCAVs are needed now, up to full autonomous operations, less expensive persistent surface and air area denial, integrated with manned platforms. Suicide drones, more of them, conventional ones like LUCAS against fixed and large moving targets (ships) and new systems bringing direct anti personnel drones/loitering munitions linked to airborne C2 aircraft or linked to operators thru high altitude network enablers. Morale destruction and surgical targeting of the most odious members of the regime. More surface fleet combatants for naval control, greater presence over large/multiple areas Base defense and expedient shelter hardening capes growth, new decoy systems.

Last class The AviationistFinal Class of A-10C Thunderbolt II Pilots Graduates at D...The 357th Fighter Squadron graduated its last A-10C Thunderbolt II student pilots at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, marking the end of an era for the soleAnd interview with the author of Superhornet replacing Warthog

Concur The War ZoneA-10 Pilot's Compelling Case For Replacing Warthogs With...An A-10 Weapons Instructor lays out how buying F/A-18E/Fs fits the Air Force's imperatives and keeps the A-10's unique braintrust intact.For an AF variant (if the AF wanted mods), stretch fuselage a bit, add UARSSI to the CFTs, delete wing folding, maybe lighter but still STOL capable gear/airframe, adjust pylons to eliminate stores toeing arrangements

F-32 concept https://ollysaviation.artstation.com/projects/x3QRPO

Now the warthog places the probe in the basket…

The War ZoneA-10 Warthog Being Tested With Aerial Refueling Probe (Up...Beyond a win for the A-10, putting refueling probes on USAF tactical jets could be a boon of the service's Agile Combat Employment strategy.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt I hope not Probably but Germany of today won’t even keep out welfare tourist migrants who cause mayhem and chaos, now if they go hardcore and try to become the enforcer of the EU; the Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia) might have reason to start reinforcing their western borders. I’m thinking this in preparation for stabilization force in Western Ukraine if a cease fire is declared.

Germany dipping it’s toes in the water… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/04/german-men-must-apply-army-booking-holidays-conscription/

My record on 2026 predictions has been spotty at best, ok it’s been crappy but mostly in a good way… that out of the way, if we arm the Kurds in Iran we have to keep Turkey from intervening, if encourage the Baluchi and Azeris we can’t leave them hanging, if we get a ceasefire and opening of the Strait then we have to remain in theater to ensure no retrenchment on a ceasefire deal. My guess is that we are headed for a new version of Northern / Southern Watch where we keep immediate retaliation available in theater, daily patrol and observation.

And his own Dos Gringos song

Article dated 31 March not April Fools https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2026/brazil-confirms-talks-with-u-s-air-force-to-use-kc-390-millennium-as-a-new-complementary-tanker

In a stunning course reversal the USAF announced it’s abandoning its planned FUPT program in favor of a crowd sourced plan from a website called Baseops. The man originally responsible for the FUPT program, Gen Leard, is quoted as saying, “those guys on baseops really know what we need so we changed everything based on their posts and are now working with them to fix UPT” As of this post, the Air Force has decided to buy 375 PC-21s, 175 PC-24s and 50 T-54s to recapitalize the UPT enterprise. Congressional representatives were contacted and assured funding was to be approved in a week. More details on this breaking story to follow A new trainer being delivered to the 69th FTW at Jellystone AFB

Vaporware of F-35 EX and EG concepts My druthers, go with the double delta with integrated intakes

https://amgreatness.com/2026/03/30/something-dark-is-going-on-nine-top-level-scientists-die-or-go-missing-in-past-year/

Navy released RFP for T-45 replacement https://theaviationist.com/2026/03/30/us-navy-rfp-t-45s-replacement/

Red, white and blue PC-21 for the USAF About 75 to 100 hours before track select would be right in this beast.

They were just pretending to be interested in inputs to keep up appearances Saw that multiple times in my mediocre career, soliciting suggestions/applications for a position/program when the selectee was already decided on or the COA was set. But do what you can and what is reasonable, career self-immolation is rarely the right choice for anyone but an O-5/6 or above and even then only at the right time. Yeah, it’s going a certain way but I would say that the Borg could be convinced that quality is worth it in the long run. Sufficient flight hours, good equipment in reasonable quantity to keep production steady, specialized advanced flight training. This isn’t rocket science.

Ground war discussion https://www.19fortyfive.com/2026/03/a-u-s-ground-invasion-of-iran-would-face-1-million-troops-4000-tanks-and-mountains-that-favor-the-defenders/ Background material