Get Me This Cessna!

Normally when I think of Cessna I don't think of sexy military planes.  This new offering changes my perspective.  In truth its not really a Cessna, its made by Textron, the parent company of Cessna and is being marketed to countries like Switzerland and others with aging fleets of expensive fighter jets that may not have much of a purpose.  When you are only doing border patrols, disaster response and recon with very limited military applications (as is the case with most Northern European countries and other minimal conflict first world countries) you don't need upgraded F-16s or near current generation fighters--nor their associated cost.

So what is developed here is a low cost, low maintenance airframe that will do (reportedly) 90% of what a high end Western fighter jet will do including air to ground operations.  Dubbed the Scorpion Multirole Jet, its air to air capability appears limited without air to air radar and A2A missile capability though I'm sure in the future that will be an "option".  To me it looks a bit like a fixed wing version of the F-14 with the large canopy, dual seating and canted stabilizers.

Regardless, I could see a big market in countries like Columbia, Brazil, and most of South America and Africa and Southeast Asia as customers as well.  Counter insurgency and other low impact conflicts would seem custom made for the application of this jet.  Put a few of these together with a few Super Tucano's and you've got the start of a great little private air force....

Scorpion Jet....

Fuck You China!

Well, here's about the biggest middle finger I can think of that anyones given China in a while.

What we have here is the newly commissioned (yesterday 8/6/13) Japanese "destroyer class" Izumo.  It is classified as a "flat top destroyer" but if you're like me (and the rest of the sentient world) this looks much more like a carrier.  And it will be used as a carrier--just as a helicopter carrier only (supposedly) for now.

The 14 helicopters and "destroyer" will be used for anti-submarine, surveillance and disaster relief duties for now.  Correct me if I'm wrong however but typically you want your anti-submarine ships to be fast, small and nimble--not the lumbering, conventionally powered (the Japanese seem to still  be averse to nuclear power within their armed forces) bullseye that this ship represents.  You don't invest the capital required (some $1.2 billion) in a ship and staff it with some 1,000 crew to go hunt submarines.

While China has been busy buying old Russian carriers and trying to refurbish them and put them into service, Japan has just leapfrogged China's capability to project power in the region.  Though satellite shots show China having just begun construction on its first home built aircraft carrier this week (full construction to take about five years).

Though not nuclear powered, Japan doesn't seek here to project power across the globe and a conventional ship such as this can easily ply the waters around Japan and the South China Sea.  With the F-35B on order by Japan being a short/VTOL aircraft, the Izumo instantly becomes a massive thorn in China's side and one which they really have no counter to at the moment.  Oh, and Japan has the build of a second one of these "destroyers" already underway.

For comparison's sake here is the size of the Izumo (the largest Japanese military ship put into service since WWII)

Izumo (commissioned 2013):
Length--820 ft.
Beam--124 ft.
Weight--19,500 tons (empty)
Crew--970
Speed--30 mph
Aircraft--14 Helicopters

Gerald Ford Class American SuperCarrier (to be commissioned 2016)
Length--1,106 ft.
Beam--252 ft.
Weight--100,000 tons
Crew--4,300
Speed--35 mph+
Aircraft--75+

Kuznetsov Class Carrier (China's current carrier bought from Russia, commissioned 1990)
Length--1,001 ft.
Beam--236 ft.
Weight--43,000 tons
Crew--1,500
Speed--30+ mph
Aircraft--35

Nissan Leaf vs. Datsun 240Z Drag Race...

Here's a matchup that no one has been asking for!!  But then again...any opportunity to watch a 240Z is a good opportunity.  I won't surprise you with the ending but hearing that the 240Z went from 0-60 in some 9.4 seconds makes me feel a whole lot better about schlepping around in my 4cyl Camry every day!  Now if the Camry was about 1500 pounds lighter and ditched the grandma styling I might be getting somewhere!!