Current Events in Europe

Ripe scenario fodder here, folks ... From Telegraph Financial crisis: Iceland nationalises bank and seeks Russian loan The Icelandic government has seized the country's second-largest bank and pleaded with Russia to hand it a £3bn life-line loan in order to stave off "national bankruptcy" as it continued to come to grips with its harsh new economic realities. By Rowena Mason, in Reykjavik Last Updated: 12:35AM BST 08 Oct 2008 Prime Minister Geir Haarde rushed emergency measures through the Nordic nation's parliament to nationalise Landsbanki and give the country's largest bank, Kaupthing, a £400m loan to bolster its balance sheet. Landsbanki has…

If New Looks could kill: Russia’s military capability in 2022 (IISS, 15 February 2022)

If Russia Started a War in the Baltics, NATO Would Lose — Quickly (Foreign Policy)

If Scotland Votes for Independence, Its Going to Need an Army (War is Boring blog)

Images of Russian Project 955A SSBN reveal design changes (Jane's)

From http://www.defensenews.com Indian Bid for Patriot Missiles Would Cause Crisis: Pakistan By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ISLAMABAD Pakistan said Feb. 23 that any bid by India to buy U.S.-made Patriot missiles would plunge the region into crisis and threaten an ongoing peace process between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said that Islamabad, a front-line ally in what the U.S. calls its “war against terrorism,” had conveyed its concern to Washington over New Delhi’s interest in the anti-ballistic missile system. “This is our stance — that this step would be counterproductive, this would erode deterrence, that this wo…

Indian Navy retires fleet of Tu-142M maritime patrol aircraft (Jane's)

From DefenseNews [excerpt]

Investigation made final conclusions on Kursk submarine tragedy — Kremlin (TASS)

From Defense Aerospace HMS Invincible Retires Early (Source: Thales UK. Issued Aug. 4, 2005) The Royal Navy's flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, has been retired from service in Portsmouth six months early. She had been in service since 1977, and was deployed in the Falklands war. She was honoured on her final trip by a fly-past involving Sea Harriers, Sea King helicopters, the Lynx Pairs Display Team and RAF Chinook helicopters. With the Ark Royal currently undergoing a major refit and due to re-enter service late next year, Invincible's retirement leaves the Illustrious as the only aircraft carrier in operational service. In 2012 the MoD…

The main shipbuilders' union isn't happy.

Israel buys 2 German subs By YAAKOV KATZ Jerusalem Post In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear power, Israel signed a contract with Germany last month to buy two Dolphin-class submarines that will, according to foreign reports, provide superior second-strike nuclear capabilities, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The submarines will be assembled in Germany and provided with a propulsion system allowing them to remain underwater for far longer than the submarines currently in the Israel Navy's fleet. According to sources close to the deal, the submarines will be operational in the near future. The Post has also learned that the navy is considering ins…

Ónly 5xF-35A available at start, apparently equipped with only 4xAIM-120C-5. IOC from 1 March 2018: https://theaviationist.com/2018/03/08/the-italian-f-35a-stealth-jets-declared-operational-in-the-air-to-air-role/

From Flight International DATE: 03/11/08 SOURCE: Flight International Italian navy recapitalises By Luca Peruzzi To cope with new challenges from conventional and asymmetrical threats and provide a more flexible and capable organic capability, the Italian fleet air arm is involved in a recapitalisation programme that will see legacy rotary- and fixed-wing assets replaced with new-generation platforms including Agusta­Westland AW101 and NH Industries NH90 helicopters, and in the mid-term, Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIs. Meanwhile, navy fleet power projection capabilities are being significantly enhanced with the delivery in 2008 and entry into service n…

From DefenseNews Italy Finds Fremm Funds By TOM KINGTON, ROME Italy’s Cabinet agreed April 29 to allocate long-awaited funds to launch construction of 10 multimission frigates for the Italian Navy. The Ministry of Industry will provide around 400 million euros ($515.9 million) to kick-start the program with France, which is building 17 of the so-called Fremm frigates. Rome’s Ministry of Defense will then continue paying for the Italian frigates, which will cost around 350 million euros each. Sen. Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri said the decision confirmed funding for the first tranche of six Italian frigates. The cabinet decision followed pressure from …

From Flight Global [excerpt]

From Defense Aerospace Italy Awards Order for Four FREMM Frigates (Source: compiled by defense-aerospace.com; posted Feb. 1, 2008) PARIS --- The Italian Ministry of Defense has signed a contract for the second batch of the FREMM multi-mission frigate program it is developing jointly with France. No value has been provided for this contract, which covers four additional ships. The contract was awarded to OCCAR, the European Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, which is acting as the program’s joint executive, Italian Defense Undersecretary Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri told reporters during a Jan. 31 media event in La Spezia. This contract brings the tot…

Italy retires last Atlantique (DefenseNews)

British Destroyer Versus the Russian Navy (War is Boring blog) British Royal Navy Type 45 class destroyer HMS Dragon closely "escorting" the Russian Navy's Kirov class battlecruiser RFS Pyotr Velikiy in the English Channel on 8 May 2014.

From RIA Novosti [excerpt] CV32: The Ivan Gren class already appears in the HCDB.