Hachiman - Week of January 6-10, 2024
Housekeeping Note
Happy New Year from Hachiman. My kid had her Christmas vacation the second half of December, and Popular Mechanics is kind of dead, so I decided to put the newsletter on a two week hiatus. It was a good decision.
This newsletter is going to be pretty short. It’s still pretty dead out there, at least if you ignore all of the talk about the U.S. annexing Greenland, Canada, etc.
Land Warfare
This section has suffered from a chronic lack of news. I think it’s time to face the fact that land warfare news of interest to the casual reader comes very slowly.
Nuclear Warfare
🔔 “NNSA completes B61-12 Life Extension Program”, Department of Energy.
The DoE has reported it completed the conversion of older B61 nuclear freefall bombs to the new B61-12 standard. The B61-12 program took approximately 400 older -3, -4, -7, and -10 B61 variants and refurbished them to the new -12 standard.
The bomb is approximately 12 feet long and weighs approximately 825 pounds. The bomb has an adjustable yield of 300 tons of TNT, 1.5 tons, 10 kilotons, and 50 kilotons. For reference, the Mk. 84 aircraft bomb is packed with .5 tons of high explosives, while the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, was 15,000 tons, or 15 kilotons.
The B61 bomb is delivered by aircraft. Thanks to anti-tampering and other safety measures it is extremely difficult to make it go off without actually dropping it from an airplane, and having authorization to do so.
Sea Warfare
🔔 “China Suddenly Building Fleet Of Special Barges Suitable For Taiwan Landings”, Naval News.
The barges are reminiscent of the Mulberry Harbours built for the allied invasion of Normandy during World War Two. Like those, these have been built extremely quickly and to novel designs. Although there appears to have been a smaller prototype as early as 2022, the batch of these barges have appeared only recently.
No navy has built Mulberry Harbors since World War II. There’s only one real reason a navy would build Mulberry Harbors, and that’s to support an amphibious landing.
That having been said, China would need to build many more of these for a successful invasion.
🔔 “China Launches ‘40,000 Ton’ Catapult-Equipped Amphibious Assault Ship Sichuan in a Bid to Rival the U.S.”, The Aviationist.
China has launched its first Type 076 warship, Sichuan. Sichuan is a hybrid aircraft carrier/amphibious assault ship. Not only can she launch fixed wing aircraft via an electromagnetic catapult system, she also has a well deck for embarking and disembarking Marines via watercraft. This goes a step beyond the U.S. Navy’s America class amphibious ships, making her the most versatile vessel of her kind.
Sichuan is shorter than most conventional carriers and will likely operate drone aircraft instead of manned aircraft. These could include the GJ-11 “Sharp Sword” stealth combat vehicle and the WZ-7 reconnaissance drone.
It’s unclear how many of the ships China will ultimately build, but a good guess is probably between four and eight.
🔔 “Navy Plan to Buy 85 New Ships Will Cost $1 Trillion, CBO Says”, U.S. Naval Institute News.
The U.S. Navy’s plan to grow the battle fleet from 296 ships to 381 will cost $40 billion a year over thirty years, or $1,200,000,000,000.
Ships constantly age out, so the Navy must accelerate its purchase of ships to get to its goal of 381 in 30 years. According to the Congressional Box Office, the author of the report, “the Navy would buy 364 ships over the next 30 years—293 combat ships and 71 combat logistics and support ships.” The net total would rise just 85 ships.
The total also does not include personnel costs—or the cost to pay sailors to crew the ships.
Most of the fleet’s growth would come in the form of the upcoming DDG(X) destroyer, which will replace early Burke-class destroyers, and the Constitution-class frigate. The submarine and amphibious ship fleets would see modest gains. Under most scenarios the U.S. would build six aircraft carriers over 30 years, but only to replace aging ships—the total U.S. carrier fleet would remain unchanged at 11 ships.
The Navy also wants to leverage the manned fleet with a new unmanned fleet of about 134 ships, for a total of 515 ships of all types.
Ukraine/Russia 🇺🇦🇷🇺
“Ukraine renews attack on Russia's Kursk region”, BBC.
Ukraine’s Army went on the offensive again in Russia, seizing more territory inside the country that invaded it three years ago. The amount of territory captured is fairly modest.
Ukraine is seeking to improve its negotiating position if the Trump Administration forces it into peace negotiations with Russia.
🔔 “First Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to be delivered to Ukraine in coming weeks”, Air Data.
The Ukrainian Air Force is set to receive its first three Dassault Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets. It’s the second type of Western fighter Ukraine will operate after the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Unlike the F-16, which was operated by over a dozen friendly countries capable of donating equipment, weapons, and expertise, the Mirage 2000-5 fleet will be completely dependent on France to maintain and operate. The F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 share nothing in common, including weapons systems. While the fleet will get by as long as France is a reliable partner, the Mirages will likely be retired at the end of the war.
Middle East 🇺🇸🇾🇪🇮🇷
🔔 “CENTCOM Forces Strike Houthi Advanced Conventional Weapon Storage Facilities in Yemen”, Department of Defense.
TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted multiple precision strikes against two Iranian-backed Houthi underground Advanced Conventional Weapon (ACW) storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen, Jan. 8. The Houthis used these facilities to conduct attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
There were no injuries or damage to U.S. personnel or equipment.
The strikes are part of CENTCOM’s effort to degrade Iranian-backed Houthi attempts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region.
The U.S. and Houthi rebels are in a low-level war, or maybe a high-level war at a low tempo, it’s hard to decide.
Los Angeles Wildfires 🇺🇸🔥
“DOD Assisting to Combat So-Cal Wildfires”, Department of Defense.
The California Air National Guard is operating two Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System units, a palletized firefighting system that can be loaded onto C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. A C-130 equipped with MAFFS can drop 28,000 pounds of water or fire retardant on an area 1/4 of a mile long and 60 feet wide in less than five seconds.
The U.S. Navy is also offering the use of ten MH-60 helicopters, which use water buckets to fight fires.
Hachiman’s A/V Department — Video of the Week
The Cakes of War
The holiday season is always big for military cakes…even if the cakes have nothing to do with the holidays.
Editor’s observation: the U.S. Army consistently has the lowest effort cakes of the armed services. Don’t join the Army for the cake.
Slipping in an extra Navy cake this newsletter because of the expression on the Secretary of the Navy’s face. The man in barely in control.
