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.

From Ares A pic showing how similar the Rafale and Typhoon really are in size and planform ...

CV32: This portion in particular was interesting ... From Defense Aerospace [excerpt]

From Maritime News http://www.marinelink.com/news/constructio...gate342743.aspx The Yantar Shipyard in the Baltic area of Kaliningrad is to start the construction of a new Krivak IV class frigate for Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

From RIA Novosti [excerpt]

From Flight Global [excerpt]

Hi, Was at Portsmouth naval base this morning and got some close up looks at HMS Dauntless and Dragon, Lot of work going on around the main mast of Dauntless and I notice neither ship currenetly had Phalanx mounted. I guess this will happen just before deployment down South. As an aside I took a photo of some equipment just aft of the Sea Viper Launchers. I think I've seen something similar before, however wonder if any of you guys could tell me what it is...... survival equipment / decoys / storage / etc. The picture can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383808@N08/...73009/lightbox/ Regards... Roger

The main shipbuilders' union isn't happy.

From RIA Novosti [excerpt] Interesting graphic provided with the story:

From DefenseNews [excerpt

From Air Force Magazine, Feb 2012 issue [excerpt]

Names for the S-80 class boats (in French), from Mer et Marine: http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=118768 Isaac Peral, Narcis Monturiol, Cosme Garcia and Mateo Garcia de los Reyes.

From RIA Novosti [excerpt]

From RIA Novosti [excerpt] CV32: Nice shot of the Yury Dolgoruky.

From RIA Novosti [excerpt] CV32: Goes without saying that the plan is optimistic, but even so I expect they will have better luck with an established design like the Project 636 [improved Kilo] than was had with Project 677 [Lada].

From Defense Aerospace “You Are Going to Build Two BPCs” (Source: French Ministry of Defence; issued July 23, 2010) (Issued in French only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com) The French head of state [President Nicolas Sarkozy] told employees of the STX shipyards that they would build the imminent Russian order. The procurement contract for two ships of the Mistral-class is to be signed by year-end. “Together with our Russian friends, you are going to build two Mistral-class BPCs (Bâtiments de Projection et de Commandement). We are negotiating the contract, bt the final decision to go ahead is certain,” the President told employees of the STX s…

Great series of hi rez photos of the first production Sukhoi Su-34 'Fullback' strike jets at Air Power Australia.

From Flight Global [excerpt]

From RIA Novosti [excerpt]

From RIA Novosti [excerpt]