Current Events in Europe

There's a Harpoon Classic scenario depicting a very similar mine clearance operation. Check it out on StrategyZoneOnline archives: MCMForceNorth.

From DefenseNews U.S. To Take Over Baltic NATO Air Patrols in October By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, VILNIUS The United States will take over NATO patrols of the air space of the three Baltic states in October, the Lithuanian defense ministry said March 16. The announcement came after Lithuanian Defense Minister Gediminas Kirkilas held talks in the United States with his U.S. counterpart Donald Rumsfeld. “Kirkilas stressed the importance of NATO air police mission in the Baltics and expressed satisfaction that Americans will take over the mission from October to December,” the statement said. Four Norwegian F-16 fighters have been deployed at Zokniai air ba…

It's a summary of several sources, feel free to ask details if needed. Jan

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

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…

Source: http://www.eurofighter.com/medialibrary/me...322&CategoryID=

Looks like cold war-type operations never end. Navy searches for submarine in waters off Helsinki coastline Laboratory analysis fails to reveal source of unusual underwater sound The Finnish Navy searched for a possible submarine in the coastal waters just south of the capital Helsinki a little over a week ago. The search began after an unusual sound was detected by the Naval Underwater Surveillance Unit on the island of Isosaari, just ten kilometres off central Helsinki, at nine o'clock in the evening of Saturday, August 5th. The search for the elusive audio trace continued well into the following day. A Rauma-class missile boat and the Coast…

From Defense Aerospace Franco-Italian Horizon Programme: Chevalier Paul Launched (Source: DCN; issued July 13, 2006) LORIENT, France --- The Chevalier Paul, the second of two Horizon anti-air warfare (AAW) frigates for the French Navy, was ceremonially launched at DCN's Lorient shipyard on Wednesday 12 July 2006. The event was organised jointly by DCN and Horizon SAS. In addition to representatives of the main Horizon partners, the guests of honour included Laurent Giovachini, deputy director of French defence procurement agency DGA and director of weapon systems. The launch marks an important milestone in this Franco-Italian naval cooperation programme. …

From Defence Talk The French air force took delivery of its first batch of the Frence-made Rafale fighter planes on June 27, with the manufacturer of the long-delayed jet, Dassault Aviation, still looking for the first foreign order for the aircraft. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin attended a ceremony at an army base in Saint Dizier, northeast France, where 20 models of the Rafale were delivered. The Rafale, which is the successor to the Mirage jet, entered service in the French navy in 2004 and 10 models are based on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, The Charles de Gaulle. French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who attended the cere…

Naval base has 19 warships in mothballs and just 16 on active service By Stewart Payne (Filed: 13/06/2006) Telegraph For the first time since the 1982 Falklands conflict the number of warships at Portsmouth naval base on active service has dropped below the number decommissioned and awaiting disposal. The home of the Fleet has 19 redundant ships compared with 16 on active duty but in dock. Although these figures may be used as further proof of the scaling down of the Senior Service, the Royal Navy said the situation had only arisen because a further 27 ships were at sea. A spokesman said: "We like to keep our ships busy, and that is good value for the t…

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…

From Jane's Defence Weekly Meteor fired for the first time Robert Hewson Editor, Jane's Air-Launched Weapons London Europe's Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) programme has taken a major step forward with the launch of the first test missile on 9 May, Jane's has learned. The first Meteor was fired from a Saab JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter aircraft over the RFN Test Range at Vidsel, northern Sweden. The launch in May was the first time that the Meteor's propulsion system had been fully tested under real-world conditions. The firing was intended to verify the missile's ability to transition from rocket-boosted to ramjet-powered f…

From DefenseNews NATO Stages Major Naval Exercise By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BRUSSELS About 6,000 military personnel from 17 NATO member states are due to begin a large-scale exercise on March 24 off the coasts of Denmark and Germany to test their rapid reaction capabilities, the alliance said. The maneuvers, codenamed “Brilliant Mariner 2006”, are due to last until April 6 and will take place chiefly in the North Sea and the Baltic. More than 60 warships, five submarines and 13 aircraft will take part, according to the allied maritime component command based at Northwood in Britain. The exercise is the last in a series preparing for maneuvers NATO is due to moun…

France, Britain Sign Carrier Pact DefenseNews By REUTERS, INNSBRUCK France and Britain signed an accord to jointly construct three aircraft carriers on March 6, with France agreeing to pay 100 million pounds ($176 million) in phases towards the design work. Britain hopes to deliver the first of two new aircraft carriers to the Royal Navy sometime around 2012, while France wants one new ship by about 2014. "This project is important to both our countries and the signing of this agreement today is a major step forward for our cooperation on future aircraft carriers," British Defence Secretary John Reid said at a joint signing ceremony with French count…

Ministry Of Defence (National) ROYAL NAVY TAKES EARLY DELIVERY OF WORLD BEATING SUBMARINE DETECTION SYSTEM The Royal Navy has taken delivery of a world class new naval sonar system five months ahead of schedule, Defence procurement Minister Lord Drayson announced today. The high tech underwater detection system, known as Sonar 2087 is a vital defence capability needed by the Royal Navy in order to detect a new generation of increasingly stealthy, and potentially deadly, submarines which often operate close to shore - making them very hard to detect. Ordered in 2001, as part of a programme worth over £300M, the system, which is one of the most advance…

Russian fleet to leave Crimea in 2017: Hrytsenko 5tv.com Russia will withdraw its fleet from Ukraine by the year 2017. Defense minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko made the announcement in Sevastopol on Thursday. He said that preparations for the Russian fleet's withdrawal should already be underway, as relocating the fleet is a process that will take many years. Hrytsenko was in Sevastopol for launching of a new Ukrainian naval ship. The "Ternopil" corvette class ship joins the country’s 40 ship strong fleet. On the same day Hrytsenko announced that the country's only submarine, the Zaporizhya, will be taken out of service.

Here's an excerpt from an interesting article on the Meteor AAM. It's a long one so check out the link. Meteor Approaching Arming the Typhoon, Rafale, and Gripen eDefenseOnline by Michal Fiszer Feb. 8, 2006 Despite still being in the relatively early stages of development, the Meteor missile has achieved a significant number of program milestones, including a few key ones in the latter part of 2005. On Sept. 7, 2005, the first Meteor Ground Handling Training Missiles (GHTMs) were flown on a Rafale fighter at Istres in southeastern France. The Meteor GHTM represents the dynamic properties of an operational missile such as size, mass, and aerodynamic conf…

From Jane's RN launches first Type 45 destroyer By Katy Glassborow, JNI Reporter The first-of-class of the UK Royal Navy’s (RN’s) Type 45 anti-air warfare (AAW) destroyers, HMS Daring, was launched today at the BAE Systems shipyard at Scotstoun on the Clyde, Scotland. When the eight planned destroyers begin to enter service in 2009, they will provide the RN with an advanced AAW capability, particularly pertinent as the service is phasing out its FA.2 Sea Harriers this year. As such, the Type 45’s will provide a much needed air-defence capability against missiles and enemy aircraft, using such technology as the Sampson radar. Slippage of the original i…