Mish-Mash (British Theme)

A Question of Staffing

A person recently e-mailed me and asked me whether or not there were any white wolves at the White Wolf Mine. You be the judge. He's not covered in gore from his latest kill, more's the pity. The wolf is fastidious by nature. Maybe he doesn't want his camouflage scheme messed up?

LSP, he's not holding a Chinese menu in his paw - not a British wolf. Even so, if you run into him, don't fear the reaper. 

Dark Side of the Moon (the album)

I've been listening to Pink Floyd since the above captioned album came out. I was in Scotland (a serving American officer) when I first heard it. There was a lot of music in that era like Thin Lizzy that I listened to and I still like it. Yes, it dates me. I mentioned Metalica to a friend the other day and -- uh, I guess that dates me too. 

BREXIT

The British elites are calling for another vote. And if they don't get the results they want, they will call for still another vote. Elites are like that everywhere. They wanted another referendum on President Trump vs Crooked Hillary in the hopes that the results would change (maybe change the way that votes were counted - it's working very well for Democrats).  They are your betters and feel that they deserve to rule. Will Britain stay in the EU so that millions more military age Muslim men can pour across the border to make the nation more Sharia compliant? I guess that it's up to the Brits.

Picking on the Tommys

(LINK) The knife crime epidemic spreads farther across the island and the national response has been to ban knives rather than to deal harshly with the people who sink them into their fellow Brits for fun and profit.

The US has a gang problem too. The solution is to cage them for the rest of their lives. And it works, but it's expensive. Texas executes murderers (God bless Texas) to send a message.

And to my point...the parts of the country where citizens can carry what sort of firearm they want, as they are moved to has shown a severe downturn of violence and little or no knife violence. 

Though the map doesn't show it, the increase of knife crimes is directly proportional to the rise of Muslim gangs. It's literally illegal to say that or publish figures in the UK. Crime will increase. Good luck Old Blighty.

(h/t John D)

MiG's and Missiles

Pakistan vs India

Context and Precedent

Pakistani F-16 Fighting Falcon

It's tough to tell the players without a program. So a little background. The Pakistan Air Force has 45 American made F-16's in inventory. It also has 100 PAC JF-17 Thunder, or CAC FC-1 Xiaolong, is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation of China.

China helped Pakistan develop its nuclear energy and weapons program and has had a long relationship with them. Russia has been a military equipment supplier to India and has helped the Indians keep their sixty year-old MiGs in the air.

Pakistani/Chinese JF-17

On 27 February, Pakistan announced that it downed two Indian Air Force fighter jets. India claimed it downed a Pakistani F-16 fighter and said eyewitnesses watched it crash in Pakistani Kashmir. Pakistan denied that any of its F-16s participated in the air attack on the 27th.

On 28 February, Pakistani Prime Minister Khan confirmed that only one aircraft, an Indian MiG 21 was downed, and its pilot taken into custody. Pakistani air crews celebrated the first air-to-air kill by a Chinese-designed, Pakistani-assembled JF-17 Thunder fighter jet. The unit, based at Kamra air force base, posted images of their celebration to the web. 

Indian MiG 21

The Fly in the Ointment

On 28 February, Indian authorities recovered in Indian Kashmir and displayed for the media the identification plate of a US-made AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-Air Missile (AMRAAM). Only Pakistani F-16s supposedly are fitted for those missiles.

On 1 March, the Indians presented the missile information to the US Embassy and asked for an investigation.

On 3 March, the US requested Pakistan to explain the AIM-120 AMRAAM found in India. The US sold F-16s and their weapons to Pakistan with the understanding they would not be transferred and would be used only to defend Pakistan. The action on the 27th was a Pakistani air attack.

The Pakistanis continue to deny that an F-16 was involved. They claim a Chinese JF-17 made its first kill. They have not said what weapon downed the Indian MiG-21 Bison.

If the Pakistani claims are accurate, then Pakistan has outfitted a JF-17 with the US AIM-120 AMRAAM. That means that Pakistan has transferred to China the technology for the US AMRAAM in violation of its end use certificate.

A Few More Details

China has developed its own version of a medium range, beyond-visual-range missile which is reputed to be comparable to the AIM-120. With the US technology, it also has the means to improve its missile and to develop countermeasures to US missiles. This can alter any air encounter between Chinese and US and Allied aircraft, such as in defense of Taiwan. It also alters Indian air force calculations.

The Indian government and army still claim that the AIM-120 fragment means that Pakistani F-16s participated in the fight. Such use would violate the terms of sale because this was an offensive Pakistani air operation.

On 4 March, Indian press also still makes sensational claims that India downed an F-16. Expert analysis of the imagery posted by Indian press confirms that the aircraft the Indian eyewitnesses saw crash was their own MiG-21 Bison. The Indian press concocted a completely fraudulent biography of a Pakistani pilot who was supposedly mistaken for an Indian and beaten to death by Pakistanis. The name and the entire narrative are fake.

Prime Minister Modi lamented the poor performance by the Indian Air Force, both in the airstrike against Pakistan and in defending Indian air space.