Current Events in Europe

This morning watched a three ship German naval group depart Portsmouth UK comprising frigates Emden and Hessen and the supply ship Frankfurt Am Main. One thing I noted was that the Emden had her Harpoon launchers removed. The support struts were there but not the tubes themselves. I guess this represents Germany following the lead of other countries in determining that SSM's are not required in the current environment.

German Navy Pursues Sub-Launched Missile By MARTIN AGÜERA, MUNICH DefenseNews In the next legislative term, the German Navy hopes to revive an effort to develop a submarine-launched missile that may ignite a multinational development and marketing effort, said officials and industry executives. The weapon would be intended to work against anti-submarine warfare helicopters, small surface and littoral targets, industry officials said. Last year, the German military’s central procurement agency, the BWB in Koblenz, began to explore the idea through a working group dubbed IDAS, for Interactive Defense & Attack System for Submarines. The group is compose…

Hello I was browsing through the german navy ships (Lutjens, Bremen) and the DM4A1 torpedo come up (324mm), I searched arround and found nothing on it. Anyone has any information about it ? Thanks a lot

Germany axes Euro Hawk drone program (DefenseNews)

Germany Christens First of New Frigate Class (DefenseNews)

From Aviation Week [excerpt]

Due to financial reasons all 206A will leave the navy within June 2010..... If i can find an english source i´ll post a link. As a replacement two new 212 will come...

From Aviation Week [excerpt]

Russia Shows New Hypersonic Missile on Two MiG-31 Aircraft in Victory Day Rehearsals (The Aviationist)

From Flight Global DATE: 30/03/10 SOURCE: Flight International Saying goodbye to the 'Mighty Hunter' By Craig Hoyle The UK Royal Air Force will mark the end of an era in its proud maritime patrol heritage on 31 March, when the last of its British Aerospace Nimrod MR2s will be retired from use. Commemorated during a formal ceremony at RAF Kinloss in Scotland late last week, the occasion will bring to an end 41 years of operations with the Nimrod: a type derived from the world's first jet airliner, the ill-fated de Havilland Comet, which first flew in 1949. Having been selected in 1965 to meet the Ministry of Defence's Operational Requirement 381, the …

BBC News: Govt U-Turn over Fighter Planes BBC Reporting that the UK Government has now agreed to switch back to the F-35B variant of the JSF.

From Portsmouth News [excerpt]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram December 13, 2005 Greece Buying 30 More Lockheed-Made F-16s By Bob Cox, Star-Telegram Staff Writer Greece has reached agreement with the U.S. government to buy 30 F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. with an option to purchase an additional 10 aircraft. The sale, which is contingent on Greece and Lockheed signing the contract, would extend F-16 production and hundreds of jobs at Lockheed’s Fort Worth plant through 2009. But it won’t save the jobs of hundreds of other F-16 workers due to be laid off in 2006. Greece's order comes just in the nick of time for Lockheed, which had said it needed a firm sale befor…

Greece Refuses Delivery Of First Type-214 Submarine NavyLeague By AMI INTERNATIONAL INC. The Greek Ministry of Defense and Hellenic Navy have refused to accept the first Katsonis-class (Type 214) submarine being built by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Germany, citing a variety of concerns. Sources indicate that the Hellenic Navy has identified the following as among the continuing problems with the submarine, dubbed Papanikolis: * The submarine is reportedly highly unstable while surfaced; * The air-independent propulsion system has lower output power than specified; the unit must be shut down after several hours of sailing due to higher than …

Greece Rethinks Eurofighter Deal By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ATHENS Originally posted to DefenceNews Greece is reconsidering a project by the former Socialist government to buy 60 Eurofighter jets for its air force, the defense ministry said here on April 9. As both the Greek prime minister and defense minister are due to visit the United States in the coming weeks, the press here is speculating the government may choose the U.S. F-16 instead. “The government has so far made no decision concerning the choice of company from which to buy the fourth generation jets. All options remain open,” defense ministry spokesman Stephanos Guikas told AFP. “A d…

From DefenseNews Greek, Turk Ships Avoid Row over Territorial Waters By KAROLOS GROHMANN, REUTERS, ATHENS Greece and Turkey avoided on May 30 a repeat of a 1996 standoff that led them to the brink of war, when a Turkish navy ship left a disputed area in the Aegean sea following the arrival of the Greek coastguard. The Greek vessel had rushed to help a Greek fishing boat that had been ordered by the Turkish ship to leave the area near an uninhabited island in the eastern Aegean. It was over that same island, known as Imia in Greece and Kardak in Turkey, that the two NATO allies almost clashed 10 years ago. War was averted after U.S. intervention. "The Turkish s…

In the wikipedia, OOB of the Greek Air Force, including inventary of missiles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_Air_...e#Modernization

Another commercial succes for the Gripen. This plane is unofficialy seen as the next belgian combat aircraft, but not untill 2015-2020. Jan

From Flight Global [excerpt]

A handy guide to defence related acronyms in the European sphere (and beyond) has been issued by the European Defence Agency. You can find it (in PDF) here.