Current Events in Europe

From Flight International DATE: 10/06/08 SOURCE: Flight International The Great Survivor By Craig Hoyle The latest version of the RAF’s Nimrod – over budget and 13 years late – prompted a political crisis. Can the troubled programme finally deliver on its promises? BAE Systems expects to conclude flight test activities on its three Nimrod MRA4 development aircraft late this year, but is still seeking a commitment from the UK Ministry of Defence to fund their conversion to the full production configuration. Nine MRA4s are under contract for the Royal Air Force, with the MoD having signed a deal for the surveillance aircraft plus an option for three re…

From RIA Novosti Russia could focus on tactical nuclear weapons for subs 12:43 | 23/ 03/ 2009 MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia may prioritize the development of nuclear-powered attack submarines armed with nuclear-capable cruise missiles in the future, while maintaining its fleet of strategic subs, a senior Navy official said. The Russian Navy maintains a fleet of about 60 submarines, including 10 nuclear-powered strategic submarines, over 30 nuclear-powered attack submarines, diesel-electric submarines and special-purpose subs. "Probably, tactical nuclear weapons [on submarines] will play a key role in the future," Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev, deput…

From http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/09/08/breaking-the-ice/ [excerpt]

Improved Russian Nuclear Attack Submarine Kazan to Deliver in 2016 (USNI Blog)

Russian Ground Forces OOB (Institute for the Study of War, pdf)

From BBC News Russian President Vladimir Putin has sacked the head of the navy, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, a month after a mini-submarine accident. Seven Russian sailors who were trapped in the vessel in the Pacific had to be rescued with help from abroad. The crew, facing dwindling air supplies, were saved after three days. Mr Putin did not give any reason for Mr Kuroyedov's dismissal. He named Mr Kuroyedov's deputy, Admiral Vladimir Masorin, as his replacement. Mr Putin said that since Mr Kuroyedov had taken office in 1997, there had been progress in restoring "a significant part of the navy" and planning its development. But he added that in th…

From Aviation Week Typhoon Numbers Traded To Secure a Deal Mar 23, 2009 By Andy Nativi and Douglas Barrie The four Eurofighter nations will likely halve their next order for the Typhoon combat aircraft. Expected to be included in the U.K. numbers will be Royal Air Force aircraft diverted to meet a Saudi Arabian order as part of its commitment—a precedent that other partners will also be able to follow. Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. are in the final throes of Tranche 3 negotiations, with further meetings expected by the end of this month. Failure to secure a deal shortly means a gap between production batches is increasingly likely, with an unwelcome…

The main body of this is published tomorrow.

Tales of the unexpected: mystery remains over Central Europe ATC blackouts (Jane's) Reminds me of the cyber warfare operation that pre-empted our (Soviet) offensive during the Global Thunder MBX years ago.

MH17 – The Open Source Evidence (Bellingcat, pdf)

BBC News Story

From Defense Aerospace JSF Scores Best In Candidate Comparison (Source: Dutch Ministry of Defence; issued Dec. 18, 2009) The F-35, better known as the Joint Strike Fighter, best meets the requirements drawn up by the Netherlands for the successor to the F16. This emerges from the findings of the candidate comparison that the State Secretary for Defence, Jack de Vries, today sent to the House of Representatives. “The F-35 is the best multi-role combat aircraft and by around 2015 will certainly be able to carry out all six main missions successfully.” The F-35 also has the greatest operational availability. In addition, the capital costs of the F-35 are the low…

From Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russian Nuclear Forces, 2010 (PDF)

From Mer et Marine (in French). All the designs awesome, but sometimes condictioned by the general lines of LCS or DDG-1000. F-110, of some 5000 tns, and F-111, of some 4000 tns. http://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/les-etudes-se-poursuivent-sur-la-future-fregate-espagnole

BBC News story Rest In Peace. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

From Mer et Marine: The forward island for the CVF Queen Elizabeth delivered (in French, with pics): http://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/lilot-du-futur-hms-queen-elizabeth-va-bientot-rejoindre-lecosse

Mostly soft propaganda, but sometimes some data of interest, both news reports and short articles (in English): http://www.ruaviation.com/news/

From RIA Novosti [excerpt] CV32: The entry for this class was recently updated in the HCDB. The vertical launch system, in particular, is pretty formidable.

Navy set to keep 30-year-old ships in service over £3.6bn carrier delays JAMES KIRKUP POLITICAL EDITOR (jkirkup@scotsman.com) Scotsman.com THE Royal Navy could be forced to delay the retirement of Britain's ageing aircraft carriers because of delays in the programme to order replacement vessels, the Ministry of Defence has admitted. The decision would mean the mainstay of Britain's naval power in the next decade will be two ships which are both more than 30 years old. The prospect of prolonging the life of HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal will only heighten concerns about the state of the Royal Navy. Commanders led by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jon…

From Aviation Week A400M Takes Flight Dec 11, 2009 By Robert Wall The Airbus Military A400M took to the air at 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 11 — the culmination of a two-decade long struggle on Europe's part to develop a next-generation airlifter. Powered by its four 11,000-shaft-horsepower Europrop International TP400D engines, MSN001 took off from the EADS facility in Seville with Airbus's chief military test pilot Ed Strongman at the controls and Ignacio "Nacho" Lombo in the right seat. Eric Isorce is the senior flight test engineer, joined by Jean-Philippe Cottet, Dider Ronceray, and Gerard Leskerpit. Around 50 engineers in each of the two main ground faciliti…