Current Events in Europe

Underwater hide-and-seek Deeper sections of the Baltic in the Archipelago Sea offer an excellent hideout for foreign navy submarines HELSINGIN SANOMAT By Tommi Nieminen The Finnish Navy's Rauma-class fast attack craft Porvoo picks up a Helsingin Sanomat journalist and photographer from a small jetty tucked away in Lappohja, not far from Hanko. It feels a little strange, to be honest, that this compact Navy warship is able to use a little marina like this. Just next door there are a couple of dozen small boats on a sandy beach, still face down in their winter hibernation. The freighter Metallica is tied up at the quay attached to the local steelworks…

From Defense Industry Daily Upgrading the Admiral: Russia’s Kuznetsov 08-Apr-2010 15:11 EDT Russia’s “heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers” have received a lot of unfavorable attention from India’s snake-bit deal to refurbish the Admiral Gorshkov; in fairness, however, the Russians haven’t had much more luck with their own ship. Launched in 1985, it was not commissioned until 1995 – and since then, it has endured extremely long dockings and seen only limited deployment. When it’s operational, the The 55,000t Admiral Kuznetsov is a big step up from the smaller Kiev Class’ combination of Yak-38 Forger V/STOL jets and naval helicopters, flying navalized SU-25 close air …

From DefenseNews Posted 11/01/06 10:04 U.S., France In Fierce Debate On Role of NATO Ahead of Riga Summit By PASCAL MALLET, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BRUSSELS A fierce debate is raging in the heart of NATO, with the United States and France in opposing corners, ahead of a summit in Riga, Latvia this month. The disagreement centers on the future role of the North Atlantic military alliance, especially over transforming it into a global force. That row became very public on Oct. 30 with the publication of a plea from French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie against diluting NATO’s role into that of a global partnership engaged in ill-defined missions. On the sa…

US and NATO apparently retiring fast and irreversibly from Turkey! http://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/us-moves-nuclear-weapons-from-turkey-to-romania/

CV32: Potentially useful scenario fodder here, folks. See US Dept of State news release/fact sheet [excerpt]

From DefenseNews U.S. Discussing Missile Site in Europe with Poland, Others By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, WASHINGTON The United States is discussing with Poland and other countries possible sites in Europe for a missile interceptor base capable of protecting the continent against long-range missile attack, a senior defense official said Nov. 16. The official said the discussions have been under way “below the radar screen” since 2002 but indicated the U.S. government is now nearing the point of making decisions on whether and how to go forward with such an initiative. “There have been a handful of countries — Poland is one, but there are several others — with …

From Air Force Times Air Force mum on nuclear bombs at Ramstein Inspection list indicates weapons were removed By Bryant Jordan - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jul 10, 2007 19:38:03 EDT Maybe they’re gone or maybe they’re not. Officials with U.S. Air Forces Europe simply will not say whether the Air Force removed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, up to 90 nuclear bombs, as was reported July 9 by the Federation of American Scientists. “On issues associated with nuclear weapons, we follow the longstanding Air Force policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any specific location,” Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Jess…

U.S. Navy Feared Crappy Russian Aircraft Carrier Might Sink (War is Boring blog)

U.S. Navy Ship Encounters Aggressive Russian Aircraft in Baltic Sea (Seapower)

From Aviation Week U.S. Ponders Georgian Air Defenses Aug 13, 2008 David A. Fulghum U.S. analysts are beginning to address the question of why the Israeli Air Force was able to penetrate Syria’s Russian-made air defenses, while the Russian Air Force was not able to finesse Georgia’s Russian-made air defenses. That Russian-built and designed air defenses are exploitable was shown in the Israeli Air Force’s total shutdown of Syrian air defenses prior to bombing a suspected nuclear site last year (Aerospace DAILY, May 2). But Russia apparently didn’t have or didn’t use the digital keys to unlock the Georgians’ network. There are indications from U.S. analys…

A pivot to Europe? US to commit more forces to NATO efforts in Eastern Europe (Stars and Stripes)

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…

A PDF document comparing 2008 defense spending between the USA and Europe (courtesy of the EDA): http://www.eda.europa.eu/WebUtils/download...aspx?fileid=828

From Defense Aerospace US, Europe Still Split on NATO's Role (Source: Deutsche Welle German radio; issued Jun 9, 2005) At the NATO Summit on Tuesday, Europe and the US will discuss the direction the alliance will take. Behind all the talk of harmony are some major differences on how much political power the organization should have. In the days after he made them, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's comments that NATO was no longer the "primary venue" for discussing global strategy offered a cue for every one to jump into an increasingly controversial debate. US President George W. Bush saw in them a threat to sideline the security organization and t…

From Defense Aerospace US, Poland, Reach Tentative Deal on Missile Defense (Source: Voice of America news; issued July 2, 2008) STATE DEPARTMENT --- U.S. officials say the United States and Poland have reached a tentative agreement under which part of a U.S. missile defense system will be based on Polish soil. The deal to station interceptor missiles in Poland still requires top-level Polish government approval. A senior Bush administration official says the two sides have finalized the text of a draft accord, under which Poland will join the Czech Republic in hosting a regional U.S. defense system aimed against an anticipated long-range missile threat from I…

From Defense Aerospace U.S. Argues Against EU Lifting Arms Embargo Against China (Source: US Department of Defense; issued July 21, 2005) WASHINGTON --- The European Union lifting its arms embargo against China would bring "serious and numerous" consequences, according to a Defense Department report released this week. The European Union has embargoed arms sales to China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. In the past year China has run an intense lobbying effort to have the ban lifted, a move strongly opposed by U.S. officials. "We think the Chinese would be able to obtain in Europe a lot of military or dual-use technologies that would be of g…

From Stratfor GEOPOLITICAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT 06.12.2007 Russia: Using Missile Defense as a Geopolitical Lever By George Friedman Russian President Vladmir Putin threw a classic Cold War curveball during his chat with U.S. President George W. Bush at the G-8 summit. Having totally opposed the creation of a U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Poland and the Czech Republic, Putin suddenly shifted his position, saying he might go along with a BMD system under certain conditions. The system, he said, would be acceptable if the United States used a Russian radar system placed in Azerbaijan and based its interceptor missiles anywhere else, such as on s…

The ASW Destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov has just departed Portsmouth UK after a 4 day port visit. Recently returned from the Horn of Africa and the Eastern Med, the Kulakov was open to the public for a short time on Sunday. battered and a bit rusty she was still an impressive sight . I'll post some pictures of the open day and her departure shortly.

Who could blame it? From Flight International Victor bomber accidentally becomes airborne during taxi demo By David Kaminski-Morrow UK air accident specialists are not intending to investigate an unusual incident at an air show during which a Handley Page Victor bomber unexpectedly became airborne during a high-speed taxi demonstration. The incident occurred during the Cold War Jets Open Day at the Bruntingthorpe airfield, south of Leicester, the scene of the recent restoration to flight of an Avro Vulcan. Bruntingthorpe's Victor, XM715, had been participating in the 3 May event when it became briefly airborne, apparently reaching a height - based o…

Here's a video that shows operations at F21 Wing at Lulea-Kallax Air Base in northern Sweden. Link