Free Republic

Germany’s Armed Forces are most likely to stay underequipped for the next decade or so, the German Defense Chief has admitted. Meanwhile, the units are stuck with sharing gear and vehicles. At least nine brigades in the German Armed Forces, known as Bundeswehr, lack the necessary equipment and arms, the military Inspector General Eberhard Zorn said, adding that they are expected to be “fully equipped” no sooner than in 13 years – by 2031. The lack of spare parts for the military equipment also remains one of the major concerns. At the same time, he was pretty confident that Germany...

Twice failed Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's calls to her followers to “keep counteracting" Trump's lies on the border wall has backfired spectacularly on Twitter.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday stormed out of a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over an ongoing partial government shutdown, calling it "a total waste of time." The breakdown in already fraught negotiations over border wall funding, which have kept nine federal agencies shut down for 19 days and counting, appeared to heighten the possibility that Trump might declare a national emergency.

I hope this sort of shameless vanity post is OK... let me know if not. Some of you may recall a friend of mine, a retired USMC col, who went on Fox News and Fox Business and elsewhere after he wrote a scathing letter to Roger Goodell about the NFL kneelers in 2017: YouTube Now, he's done a video in support of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion Association... for anyone who may be interested. "Founded to foster connections, fellowship, social communications and support to those Marines, Sailors and the families who have served, are serving or have supported, the...

The U.S. Navy, without fanfare or notice, tested a new weapon last summer that could revolutionize surface warfare. The hyper velocity projectile (HVP) is a Mach 3 shell fired from existing guns on cruisers and destroyers. A guided projectile, HVP can drop high explosives on enemies on the ground up to three times as far as conventional ship gun ammo with a high rate of precision. It can also intercept incoming anti-ship missiles, providing an economical alternative to increasingly expensive anti-missile interceptors. According to USNI News, the guided missile destroyer USS Dewey fired 20 new HVP projectiles during the 2018...

Omaha native Leo Dulacki had quite a year in 1942. And quite a life ever since. Assigned to the carrier USS Hornet, the young Marine lieutenant was aboard when James Doolittle’s raiders took off for their impossible attack on the Japanese mainland on April 18, 1942. A few weeks later, he lived through the pivotal Battle of Midway, which turned the naval war in the Pacific in favor of the United States. And he survived the sinking of the Hornet near Guadalcanal that fall.

The Pentagon is making preparations in the event of President Donald Trump ordering the military to build the southern wall, a defense official has said. Trump recently hinted that he might take this course of action in the light of an impasse in negotiations with Democrats resulting in the government shutdown.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that all residents, regardless of citizenship status or ability to pay, will be guaranteed comprehensive health care. The recently re-elected Democratic mayor of the country's largest city announced on MSNBC Tuesday the government will pay for any and all resident's comprehensive care, including those who aren't eligible to receive comprehensive Medicaid coverage. The city's more than 600,000 uninsured residents, including its more than 300,000 undocumented residents, are included in this de Blasio guarantee.

It has recently come to light that a number of significant Japanese aircraft wrecks are currently being disassembled for recovery in the South Pacific. Located at the old Imperial Japanese Navy airfield on Balalae Island, part of the Shortland Island Group in the western province of the Solomon Islands, the collection of airframes and components importantly includes two Mitsubishi G4M attack bombers, along with the rear fuselage of another example. The G4M, better known in the west by its Allied code name, Betty, was a mainstay of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s land-based aerial bombing fleet. They possessed incredible range, although...

An image out of an arms manufacturer’s corporate calendar, posted earlier this week, offers a first glimpse at the finalized design of the Russian Air Force's new 2S42 “Lotos” self-propelled artillery gun. The depiction comes from the official “Central Scientific - Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering” (TsNIITochMash) Instagram profile, accompanied by a descriptive quote from its head artillery engineer Dmitry Melikhov. Lotos is shown on the August page, likely in recognition of August 2 as being national “Airborne Forces Day” and August 12 as national “Air Force Day” in Russia. The design closely resembles a previous scale model displayed...

[...] Growing up as a conservative Christian, I was warned about secular, liberal relativism. Nothing’s really bad, who knows, it’s all relative. We had to be careful about such slippery slopes. After the gays got us to buy into such poor logic, then would come the goats, then the children, then the Satan worship would follow. But it turns out that this sort of relativism is entirely a myth of the right. The only people who ever try to implore relative logic (at this sort of crass level) are conservatives. Trying to play "gotcha" with liberals. And it’s exhausting. I...

Project 401, "Son of Ares" Some speculate this testbed aircraft might be a more modern, low-cost, stealthy option for a ground-attack platform similar to the A-10. No one knows the reason for the extreme dihedral of the wings, a feature not made clear by the photo at left, maybe some freepers can do some meaningful speculation. The video at link shows this feature in quite some detail. .. Sometimes called "Son of Ares", this aircraft is built around the GAU-12 25 x 137 mm (see photo at right), so this round is not nearly the monster carried by the Warthog....

A veteran news reporter has quit NBC, accusing the network of pushing anti-Trump, pro-war propaganda. William M. Arkin accused the new outlet of having an "infatuation" with the "Trump circus," claiming it leads to journalists ignoring real stories as they push to turn Americans against their president. Arkin, a seasoned national security reporter, made the revelations in a biting farewell message to his colleagues.

ormer Vice President Joe Biden believes he is the candidate best placed to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, and will make a decision soon on whether he will run, The New York Times reported Sunday. Biden told allies that he is leaning toward a bid for the presidency, and will make a final decision in the next two weeks, unnamed Democrats who have spoken to Biden about his deliberations told the newspaper.

In his lifetime, James Doohan fought with Klingons, Romulans, Greek gods, and a deep space probe named Nomad. He struggled with interstellar engines, transporters, tribbles and William Shatner, but all of these fights paled in comparison to what he endured during WWII. James “Jimmy” Doohan played the resourceful, hard-drinking and loyal “Scotty” on the original Star Trek series, a number of movies and reprised his role on Star Trek: The Next Generation. What many people outside the world of Star Trek fandom don’t know is that Doohan landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944 — “D-Day”. James...

A Youtube video presentation from LLL on Russia's geopolitical posture. Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack | Russia: Resurgent or Declining Power?

Our Founding Fathers were against gun control. In fact, they wanted an armed, skilled, and dedicated citizenry able to protect the country and to also prevent tyranny. Men such as James Madison, Richard Henry Lee, and Alexander Hamilton were very clear with their views on firearm ownership. In this video, Reid discusses these points and gives a course of action against gun control.Watch

A federal judge has ruled that the $350 million misconduct lawsuit, filed by Trump ally Jerome Corsi against Robert Mueller, will move forward. On Thursday, Judge Richard Leon ordered Corsi's case against Mueller to be randomly assigned to another judge. Corsi, a longtime associate of former Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone, is suing Mueller, the Justice Department, and others, for $350m over prosecutorial misconduct, leaking confidential information to press, and unconstitutional surveillance.

BRUSSELS are likely to buckle to Britain’s key Brexit demands, due to uproar among EU countries over fears of an economic decline in the case of a no deal departure. The EU27 will give in to Prime Minister Theresa May’s demands to make the Irish border backstop a legally temporary measure. The key British demand is the only obstacle holding up Mrs May’s deal from passing in Parliament. The DUP and dozens of Brexiteers have vowed to vote down the deal this month unless changes are made to the backstop.

I was recently on a podcast with an Army LtC and Captain who are stationed in Korea discussing the history of GPS.