Current Events in Europe

From Jane's [excerpt]

Don't worry darling, it's only a refueling plane Thu Mar 27, 11:28 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - It may be the biggest honeymoon secret ever -- from 2011, newlyweds can start their dream trip on a Royal Air Force mid-air refueling plane, and the chances are they will be blissfully unaware of their luck. Britain's military is leasing a fleet of aerial tankers from a private consortium led by Airbus parent EADS in a landmark outsourcing deal to be unveiled on Thursday. The converted A330 passenger jets can carry 60 tonnes of fuel to refuel up to four fighters far away from base or else serve as transporters carrying 300 troops and their equipment. Offic…

Aviation Week report

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 Defense Aerospace Dutch Parliament Votes to Cancel First JSF Aircraft (Source: defense-aerospace.com; issued May-21, 2010) (By Dutch JSF analyst Johan Boeder; edited by defense-aerospace.com) THE HAGUE, Netherlands --- The Dutch Parliament’s Lower House voted yesterday to cancel the order for the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, and to stop Dutch participation in the program’s Initial Operational Test and Evaluation phase. It also voted to direct the defense ministry to begin anew the Request for Proposal and the complete evaluation of the F-16 replacement program, for which a final decision is due in 2012. The basis for yesterday’s vote is…

From Aviation Week Dutch Refuse To Consider Super Hornet Jul 2, 2008 By Joris Janssen Lok The Netherlands defense ministry refuses to include Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in an evaluation of potential candidates for its next-generation fighter requirement. Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor also will not be considered, despite a direct request from the country's Parliament to include both U.S. fighters in an evaluation of potential alternatives to the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The Dutch appeared to be firmly committed to the F-35A ever since they joined the JSF System Development & Demonstration program as a Level 2 partner in 2…

Link to the report here (pdf)

Dynamic Mongoose 2017, yearly ASW exercise, starts near Iceland (Even with participation of Icelandic OPV Tyr), from 26 June to 8 July 2017: http://navaltoday.com/2017/06/27/nato-submarine-drill-dynamic-mongoose-starts-in-iceland/

Eight retired submarines to be transported to Severodvinsk this summer Bellona Four civil crews from Severodvinsk are preparing the submarines for transportation at the navy base in Vidyaevo. 2005-06-08 19:00 Total eight nuclear submarines of 671RTM (Victor-III) project will be tugged from the Northern fleet bases to the Zvezdochka shipyard for scrapping in July and August, Interfax reported. Three subs located in the Ura Bay, two – in Zapadnaya Litsa, and three – in Vidyaevo. The dismantling works will be sponsored by Canada, which promised to allocate $18m for this purpose. This Canadian initiative is the part of the one billion Canadian dollars obli…

From Defense Aerospace Enter the Dragon (Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued Nov. 17, 2008) The Royal Navy's latest addition to the Type 45 destroyer fleet, to be called HMS Dragon, roared its way into the Clyde from BVT's shipyard at Govan today, complete with an 18 metre long Welsh Dragon attached to its bow. Dragon will join her sister ships as one of the largest and most powerful warships in the world. As well as providing air defence over a wide area, including for the future aircraft carriers, the Type 45s will be highly versatile and able to conduct a variety of operations. They will be able to carry up to sixty Royal Marines Commandos and their…

Eshera - Russia's secret military base? By M. Alkhazashvili TheMessenger Weeks after the signing of the agreement about the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia, sensational information about the existence of a secret Russian submarine base in Abkhazia has surfaced. The submarine base is alleged to be found in Eshera, a town in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia. This information can not be verified by Georgian officials, as Georgian representatives are barred from entering the territory of Abkhazia. Rumors have long circulated about the existence of a Russian military base in Eshera. Current reports about the existence of the base are being c…

From http://www.defensenews.com Estonia To Probe Arms Transport on Sunken Ferry By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TALLINN The Estonian government has set up a commission to investigate reports that the doomed passenger ferry that sunk in 1994 had transported military equipment, the government announced March 3. “The aim of the expert commission is to look into the possible transport of weapons, which a Swedish inquiry has established,” a government spokesman said, adding that it would present a final report by Sept. 1. The panel is headed by a state prosecutor and includes representatives of other law-enforcement agencies. Swedish reports in January claime…

EU Creates New Rapid Reaction Forces By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BRUSSELS DefenceNews The European Union on May 23 launched two new “battle group” rapid response forces, part of a growing number of such units able to rush to crisis zones worldwide. France, Germany and Spain agreed to set up one such force, while Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Germany also signed an agreement to create another at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels. The force is a “concrete contribution to the rapid reaction capacities that the European Union has decided it wants to have,” French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on the sidelines of the Brussels ta…

From Jane's Greek flagship heads EU's first naval force By Tim Fish and Lauren Gelfand 16 December 2008 The Hellenic Navy's Hydra-class frigate, HS Psara , sailed from Salamis naval base near Athens on 10 December to serve as flagship for the EU's first-ever operational naval force (EU NAVFOR). EU NAVFOR Somalia was approved by the European Council on 8 December, at an estimated cost of around EUR8.3 million (USD11.2 million), to provide anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa under the banner of Operation 'Atalanta'. A spokesman told Jane's on 15 December that the first phase of the deployment will include naval vessels from France, Germany, Spain an…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovYHAEVloRQ

CV32: useful info here for all the scenario designers From Jane's Euro Hawk UAV makes first flight By Gareth Jennings 08 July 2010 The Northrop Grumman/EADS RQ-4E Euro Hawk high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) signals intelligence (SIGINT) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California, on 29 June. The flight, which lasted approximately two hours, began at Northrop Grumman's Palmdale manufacturing facility and concluded at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, some 36 km away. The aircraft flew to an altitude of 32,000 ft. James Kohn, Euro Hawk programme manager, told Jane's that, with the ground trials having alrea…

From Defense Aerospace Go-Ahead for the Development of the Euro Hawk; Development Contract Signed After Approval of the German Budget Committee (Source: EADS Military Air Systems; issued Feb. 1, 2007) Germany’s EuroHawk will consist of an EADS-developed sensor suite fitted to a Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. (Northrop Grumman photo) MUNICH --- The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded a EUR 430 million contract to EuroHawk GmbH, a joint venture company formed by EADS and Northrop Grumman Corporation, for the development, test and support of the Euro Hawk unmanned signals intelligence (SIGINT) surveillance and reconnaissance system. The Euro Hawk Unm…

From Jane's Defence Weekly Aiming for the high ground By Rob Hewson Editor Jane's Air-Launched Weapons London In the global market (excluding Russia and China) the US dominates the industrial and operational landscape in two ways. With the largest deployed air force it obviously has the largest weapons requirement. US manufacturers will always be supported by this single, fiercely protected market that guarantees sales. For example, the US Air Force (USAF) plans to replace its AIM-9M Sidewinder stocks (about 4,400 missiles) on an almost one-for-one basis with the AIM-9X (4,000 missiles) by 2012. No other customer has this kind of buying power. Europe's missi…

Who else can understand or appreciate the Russian opposition to Europe based missile defense?

Very interesting official briefing for fishing vessels and ferries in the current Joint Warrior 16-2 exercise in Scotland (a pity only the MCM ships are named, but a lot of intersting operational details, including sea grid use in submarine operations): http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/qhm/clyde/documents/20160928-jw162-brief-for-fishing-vessels-and-ferries-u-sosm-v2.pdf?la=en-gb