VBAT OVER THE ATLANTIC: A VBAT vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) flies above the flight deck of the expeditionary fast transport vessel USNS Spearhead. VTOL “drones” small and large can be used for surveillance, and the caption says that’s this VBAT’s mission. In central Africa VTOL drones (comparable in size to the VBAT) have been used to carry vaccines and other critical medical supplies to remote villages. Earlier this year China’s navy began deploying a small VTOL drone on its smaller warships. Per the article, these types of VTOL drones “can operate off smaller ships and patrol boats and have better endurance and stability (in high winds) than heavier helicopter UAVs.”

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM’S PLANET X OR A VERY SMALL BLACK HOLE? A Science Magazine short but informative take — straight, no sensationalist chaser.

YOUR SUNDAY MORNING WAKEUP: Laying down fire. Soldiers assigned to Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment engage the opposing force (OPFOR) during a live-fire exercise.

COMING ASHORE IN ALASKA: A USMC humvee exits a Navy LCAC and meets the mud of Adak Beach, Alaska. The landing (mudding?) took place during Arctic Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise (AECE) 2019. Per the caption the exercise “tests expeditionary logistical capabilities in the Arctic region and prepares joint forces to respond to crises across the Indo-Pacific.”

RELATED: Diplomatically countering threats to Arctic real estate.

DIPLOMATICALLY ATTACKING VENEZUELA’S SOCIALIST DICTATORSHIP:

Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his regime wage what amounts to a slow war of oppression and starvation on their own people. Thanks to the regime’s catastrophic socialist economic policies, life for Venezuelans lacking regime connections is wretched.

So they flee.

Read the entire column.

B-2 LEADER: Somewhere over the North Sea a B-2A Spirit bomber leads a delta formation consisting of two F-15C Eagles and two Royal Air Force F-35B Lightning IIs.

DIPLOMATICALLY ATTACKING VENEZUELA’S SOCIALIST DICTATORSHIP.

GALAXY ABOVE: A C-5M Super Galaxy flies over the 2019 Thunder Over Dover Air Show, Sept. 14, 2019, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Big plane? In this photo Marines off load a Navy MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopter delivered by a C-5. The C-5M is a “refurbished” and modernized C-5.

A COUNTRY TOO FAR: Iran is overextended in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. A StrategyTalk podcast discusses the situation.

F-35S ARRIVE IN VERMONT: As the caption says, Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing is the first Air National Guard unit to receive the stealth aircraft. The wing will ultimately deploy 20 F-35s. Photo taken September 19.

GLOBEMASTER DEPARTS SYRIA: A USAF C-17 Globemaster takesoff from a coalition airfield in Northeast Syria. Photo snapped June 26, 2018. Given the dust, it’s a good bet the field is what the Pentagon euphemistically calls “austere.” Two years ago I wrote a column about the Pentagon’s airlift and sealift deficits. The mainstream media recently rediscovered the sealift shortage.

But here’s an excerpt focusing on the C-17:

Many people thought ending C-17 production was foolish. The plane has admirers around the globe, and not just in military circles. It can land on primitive airfields and has earned a stellar reputation for delivering aid in natural disasters and humanitarian crises.

Would Congress be willing to fund more? That is not a likely prospect, unless more international buyers appear. There are reports of renewed international interest. Several nations fly C-17s, including India, Australia, Canada, Qatar and Britain. Note McDew and McCain mulled the combat loss of U.S. strategic transports. U.S. adversaries have developed extended range anti-air defenses, and that is evident in Asia. Replacing C-17 combat losses requires a “reserve” of some size. If the U.S. “pivot” to Asia is for real, America and its allies will need more C-17s.

A decade ago I spoke with a several logisticians who said the U.S. needed another 60 or so C-17s. At that time the USAF had about 200 C-17s. I understood the additional 60 they wanted to mean in addition to aircraft already on order. Per the 2017 column, the Pentagon has approximately 220 now, so the supply guys wanted 280. In 2017 I spoke with an Australian defense adviser. Australia had eight C-17s (and still does). He said considering Australia’s location (Pacific Ocean distances as well as continental size) Australia needed six to eight more C-17s. He lamented the fact the production line shutdown in 2015. The UAE bought the last two C-17s built before Boeing ceased production. Here’s a photo showing a low-level formation of C-17s. Final photo: 25th Infantry Division paratroopers jump from a C-17 near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

COMMEMORATING OPERATION MARKET GARDEN: 75 years ago this week the Allies tried to invade Germany using an “airborne carpet” to capture and hold key bridges in Holland. Allied armor units would then cross the bridges and smash into northern Germany. But the Allies went a bridge too far. In the photo, Dutch military re-enactors wearing U.S. 82nd Airborne Division uniforms parachute from a Douglas C-47 Skytrain. The parachute drop was part of commemoration ceremonies held in Groesbeek, Holland. The photo was taken September 18, 2019.

HOW THE NEW YORK TIMES DISTORTS AMERICAN HISTORY: Commentary Magazine relies on logic and facts to resist the NYT‘s distorted “1619 Project.”

Considered strictly as an exercise in historical understanding, and in deepening the public’s understanding of a profound issue in our national past, the Project represents a giant missed opportunity. It passes over the complex truth in favor of an exaggeration bordering on travesty. And if it has any influence, that influence will be as likely as not to damage the nation and distort its self-understanding in truly harmful ways—ways that will perhaps be most harmful of all to Americans of African descent, who do not need to be supplied with yet another reason to feel cut off from the promise of American life.

MORE:

…what we are to make of the New York Times’ decision to take on this project in the way that it has. Is it the proper role of a journalistic organization, especially one as powerful as the Times, to promote and advocate for a particular interpretation of American history? Do such actions constitute responsible journalism? Do they contribute to the solution of our current problems through the introduction of honest, unflinching, and fair-minded consideration of the issues raised by the American experience with slavery?

Or are they doing something far less creditable, less balanced, and more polemical, using a distorted and one-sided account of our history to intervene in our current political wars, in ways that can only broaden and deepen those conflicts, and turn them into far worse forms of warfare?

MORE:

It seems fairly clear that, to the extent that the Times’ assessment draws upon slavery scholarship, its sources have been scholars associated with the so-called new history of capitalism. They seek to link the alleged productivity of slavery to the triumph of capitalism in America—and thereby seek to transfer the stain of slavery to every malady of present-day American life, from income inequality to climate change to the decline of unions to the Great Recession of 2008.

Far from downplaying the effects of the legacy, these scholars play it up, finding it to be massive and all-determinative. In the process, as economic historian Philip Magness has brilliantly pointed out, they have virtually rehabilitated the claims of antebellum Southern planters that “Cotton is king,” and that slavery was the true source of the bulk of the nation’s wealth. For example, Cornell historian Edward Baptist’s 2014 book The Half Has Never Been Told argues that the wealth piled up by the minutely managed institutions of slavery was the source of all subsequent American wealth. Baptist asserts that almost half of the economic activity of the United States by the year 1836 was a product of slavery. That stunning statistic was cited recently by the journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates in his testimony before Congress, in favor of reparations for slavery.

The only problem is that Baptist’s statistic is demonstrably wrong…

The article, written by Wilfred M. McClay (a professor at Oklahoma University), absolutely eviscerates the NYT‘s 1619 Project. At one point McClay says the it is part of the “Times’ journalistic battlefield preparation for the 2020 election.” So perhaps we should call it the Desperate Democrats’ 2020 Political Propaganda Project?

75 YEARS SINCE PELELIU: U.S. Marines in 1st Marine Division assaulted the small Pacific island on September 15, 1944. Senior officers thought the island would be secured within four days. But Japan had fortified the island. In late September the U.S. Army’s 81st Infantry Division landed on Peleliu to reinforce the Marines. The battle ended on November 27 — with almost 2,400 American dead.

ANALYZING THE DRONE AND CRUISE MISSILE ATTACKS ON SAUDI OIL FACILITIES:

Two previous Iranian-proxy drone attacks on Saudi Arabian petro-targets look suspiciously like rehearsals for the Sept. 14 attacks on the Abqaiq oil production complex and Khurais oil field.

The attacks, on May 14 and Aug. 17, 2019, would have provided Iran with intelligence regarding Saudi air surveillance operations while combat-testing the strike and guidance capabilities of its armed drones and cruise missiles. Those attacks should have alerted the Saudis to quickly improve the local air defenses of key oil shipment “chokepoints” like Abqaiq.

…Clarifying labels helps define key military and technological issues in all three attacks. Drone is slang for an unmanned aerial vehicle. A UAV might be autonomous (self-guided and controlled) or remotely piloted (RPV) with digital links connecting UAV and pilot. Three decades ago, UAVs and cruise missiles were distinct species, but technology has blurred some differences. An Iranian “suicide drone” that hits a target is functionally a slow, cheap cruise missile; the term Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) has emerged.

Read the entire column.

FUEL FOR A FLUTTER TEST: An F-16 assigned to Eglin Air Force Base’s 40th Flight Test Squadron refuels during flutter testing. The caption explains: “Flutter testing evaluates the vibration characteristics of the airplane at certain speeds to assess the impact on the plane and identify potential structural weaknesses.”

PROXIES AND PROXIMITY: A very close and analytic look at Iranian drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Here’s a damn key point: “The attacks are desperate acts by a desperate and vulnerable Iranian regime.”

STAND BY YOUR SHAM: Powerline continues to examine the scandals, lies and crimes of Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

WARTHOGS ALOFT AND WAITING TO BE FED: Four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs enroute to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, wait their turn to be refueled by a Utah Air National Guard KC-135R.

FRITZ X BOMB HIT AT SALERNO, 9/11/43: From the historical photo gallery – the light cruiser USS Savannah is struck by a German radio-controlled bomb, while supporting Allied forces ashore during the Salerno amphibious operation, September 11, 1943. Thanks to the damage control skills of U.S. Navy sailors, the ship survived what should have been a fatal hit. After repair the cruiser returned to duty.

VERY RELATED: Remembering Salerno. “Salerno wasn’t supposed to be a slugfest.”

PALADIN NIGHT FIRE EXERCISE IN JORDANIAN DESERT: Artillery at night. A remarkable photo.

OLYMPIA AT PEARL: The fast-attack submarine USS Olympia returns home to Pearl Harbor following a seven-month deployment.

TENACIOUS: The Republic of Singapore’s frigate RSS Tenacious steams in the Gulf of Thailand. Tenacious is participating in the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-U.S. Maritime Exercise (AUMX). The exercise is co-led by the U.S. and Royal Thai navies and includes maritime forces from the U.S. and all 10 ASEAN member states. Now, can you name the nation this exercise is designed to discourage and deter? Hint: The Communist Party running this nation is very upset about Hong Kong.

RELATED: From 2012, The Asian Pivot Towards China.

RUSSIAN BLASTS FROM THE PAST AND PRESENT: The post analyzes Russian munitions dump explosions in Siberia and the August 8th explosion of the experimental Skyfall cruise missile. The Skyfall had a nuclear-powered engine.

THE ARMY’S AGMV GETS A RIDE: 173rd Airborne Brigade paratroopers test CH-47 Chinook helicopter capabilities by sling loading their newest vehicle, the Army Ground Mobility Vehicle (AGMV). The caption says the soldiers also loaded the vehicle inside the Chinook. The photo was taken at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, on August 16. Here’s a closeup of the AGMV deployed in an exercise earlier this year. (During development the AGMV program had several names, including the Ground Mobility Vehicle and the Ultra Light Combat Vehicle.)