Current Events in Europe

Hunting Red October - Sonar Top Guns By Geoff Meade Sky's Defence Corespondent Updated: 00:32, Wednesday August 22, 2007 For the first time the Ministry of Defence has opened the doors of its highly secret top gun school for sonar operators. For 30 years, during the cat and mouse game of the Cold War, when Royal Navy boats and RAF surveillance planes tracked the seas for Soviet submarines, the school was one of the services' closest guarded secrets. Sky's Defence Correspondent Geoff Meade has been allowed inside. If it wasn't for the combination locks on the doors and the notices warning operators to secure documents under lock and key before leaving…

From Aust ABC news: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-27/finland-seizes-tanker-after-underwater-power-cable-outage/104765296

From Defence Talk Moscow Sends Missiles To Belarus After Warsaw Gets US Warplanes Agence France-Presse Nov 13, 2006 - 5:41:38 AM Russia has sent anti-aircraft systems to Belarus in retaliation against the delivery to Poland of U.S.-made F-16 warplanes, a source in the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) said Nov. 10. ”Anticipating the arrival of the F-16s in Poland, Russia has sent to Belarus four S-300 anti-aircraft systems which have already been put into service,” according to a source at the headquarters of the anti-aircraft defense alliance of the CIS, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency. The CIS is made up of the former members of t…

Start of Production for the Second Batch of German Fuel Cell Submarines On August 21, about 150 guests were present when the production of the first of two Class 212A submarines for the German Navy was started by Harald Stein, Deputy President of the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement. The ceremony took place at the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems’ shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel. Both boats will be built of non-magnetic steel and equipped with an air-independent propulsion system based on the fuel cell. The second batch of these submarines for the German Navy will be constructed according to the general design for the first f…

The name Dixmude is a rememberance of a battle fought in Belgium in the WWI by the Fusiliers Marins. Is out of the, for now, tradition of name the french amphibious vessels with the name of tempest winds, as Ouragan, Orage, Foudre, Siroco, Mistral and Tonnerre. The name is a rememberance also of the old zeppelin Dixmude, ex- LZ-114, lost in 1923, and of the CVE Dixmude, ex- HMS Biter, transfered in 1945. The original link (in french): http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=111998 About CVE Dixmude: http://frenchnavy.free.fr/ships/aircraft-c...ude/dixmude.htm About Dixmude ex- LZ-114: http://frenchnavy.free.fr/menus/menu_dirigeables-ballons.htm (only a small pho…

'Conclusive proof' of foreign vessel in Sweden (The Local) See the recently released HCE scenario (by broncepulido) on this subject!

NATO Members Train for Electronic Threats Source: US Air Force May. 3, 2005 eDefense In today’s technologically advanced wartime environment, training in a realistic electronic combat threat environment is essential. Attached to the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Detachment 2, or Multinational Electronic Warfare Tactics Facility Polygone, is charged with training pilots on how to avoid surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, jamming devices, and other like defense mechanisms, said Lt. Col. Jess Palmer, Det. 2 commander. Based on a 1979 agreement, the unit, located south of Ramstein Air Base, is jointly hosted by the US, Fren…

The Borey class SSBN, proyect 955, can be cancelled after the first three units, the launching of the fourth class boat is now cancelled. Also, the launching of her new SLBM RS 30 Bulava (SS-NX-30) has failed 8 of 12 launching attempts. Also the Yaseni class SSGN, proyect 885, is failing her in service dates, none in service nor launched with the keel of the first laid-up in 1993. Also the Lada class SS, launched in 2004 and not yet in service: http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=111985 (in French, some interesting photos).

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…

Russian Air Force to get 10 MiG-31BM This Year

Russian Navy receives first Admiral Grigorovich class frigate (Jane's)

CV32: Kovalyov last week, Simonov this week ... From RIA Novosti [excerpt]

From DefenseNews Posted 10/23/07 09:03 Russia to Upgrade TU-95 Bomber AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, MOSCOW Russia has begun a "serious modernization" of its TU-95 strategic bomber, a workhorse of the Soviet and Russian air forces for over 50 years, the plane’s design bureau said Oct. 23, according to Interfax. The upgrade of the TU-95 MS, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. B-52 bomber, will include artificial intelligence technology, the news agency cited the president of the Tupolev design bureau, Igor Shevchuk, as saying. British and Norwegian fighter jets were scrambled this summer after TU-95 bombers were spotted close to Norwegian airspace, part of increasi…

From Aviation Week ARES Blog NATO's Defense Spending in Real Terms Posted by Joris Janssen Lok at 1/10/2008 4:23 AM The figures on NATO nations' 2007 defense expenditures, released by NATO, show dramatic differences in how much each nation contributes to the North Atlantic Alliance (see also related post). In real terms, current prices and current U.S. dollar/local currency exchange rates, NATO's 26 countries in 2007 spent this on defense: U.S.: $545.3 billion, that's roughly $45,500 per head of the population. Figure out for yourself what kind of car you can buy for that kind of money. U.S. military personnel number more than 1.3 million. U.K.: $63.…

From Defense Aerospace Department of Defense and Netherlands Sign Next Stage Joint Strike Fighter Agreement (Source: US Department of Defense; issued Nov. 14, 2006) Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and the Netherlands Deputy Secretary for Defence Cees van der Knaap signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to begin future cooperation in the Production, Sustainment, and Follow-On Development (PSFD) phase of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program. The Dutch, who are already contributing $800 million to the JSF Program’s development phase, plan to buy 85 conventional take-off and landing variants of the Joint Strike Fighter during the producti…

From RIA Novosti [excerpt]

From RIA Novosti Belarus asks Russia for S-400 SAM systems by 2010 - source 14:27 | 24/08/2007 MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Belarus wants Russia to supply them with the advanced S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) air defense system in 2010, a source in Russian military-industrial circles said Friday. The S-400 Triumf is a new air defense missile system developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family. Russia first demonstrated the S-400 system at an ongoing air show outside Moscow. "Belarus submitted a formal request for two S-400 battalions to be made available by 2010," the source said. He said that it is too soon to tal…

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.

MdCN completes first firing from FREMM (Jane's)

From DefenseNews Posted 01/10/08 15:27 U.K. May Delay Carrier 18 Months By ANDREW CHUTER LONDON — British defense officials are considering delaying the Royal Navy’s 3.9 billion pound ($7.7 billion) program to build two aircraft carriers for up to 18 months or longer to help plug a yawning hole in the defense budget. Partners in the BAE Systems-led alliance set up to deliver the 65,000-ton carrier have been asked to look at ways of adjusting the spending profile on the program to help overcome cash shortages at the MoD over the next three years. Britain is cooperating with France to design the carriers, which will be the Royal Navy’s largest warships ever. “O…