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[morris]

Princess Ingrid Alexandra flies in F-16 during military engagement

Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway paid a visit to the Royal Norwegian Air Force base in Bodø on Saturday, continuing her engagements with the Norwegian military as she nears her 18th birthday nex…

royalcentral.co.uk

Sitting on the F-16's backseat, she was allowed to take control of the plane and pilot it as it flew over Northern Norway.

 

[muck]

^^
Very reasonable response by Russia considering NATO political hysterics about location of the Russian army units on Russian territory.
This political saga shows NATO as an aggressor who disregard principal of sovereignty of Russia in their attempt to justify the waste of taxpayers money so NATO top political brass can keep filling up their pockets.
I just hope that NATO greedy and silly politicians won't subject poor European people to horrors of another "great" European war.

Surely, if Russia gets to act aggressively in what it considers its rightful sphere of influence, then China has to have that same right? Wouldn't that make AUKUS an hysterical aggressor, too? You can't have it both ways, Morris.

 

[morris]

Are you saying that China doesn't have right to exercise her army within China's borders just like any other country or do you mean that AUKUS has it's troops stationed right on the China's borders like NATO does on Russia's borders?

 

[muck]

Are you saying that China doesn't have right to exercise her army within China's borders just like any other country or do you mean that AUKUS has it's troops stationed right on the China's borders like NATO does on Russia's borders?

I'm saying that I seem to remember you liked the idea behind AUKUS; and if that is so your comment above would smack of hypocrisy.

AUKUS was formed in response to China acting evermore aggressively in territories Beijing considers her rightful sphere of influence. Russia, on the other hand, acts evermore aggressively in territories Moscow deems her rightful sphere of influence. Are you telling me Australia gets to be worried about China, but NATO doesn't get to be worried about Russia for doing the same thing (and then some)?

Even better, Russia demands that NATO rescind its promise to defend any state which (by exercising its sovereign right, I might add) joined NATO after 1997. So, about that: Do you think China has a right to demand that Great Britain and America should revoke their pledge to defend Australia?

I don't think you do.

 

[morris]

I'm saying that I seem to remember you liked the idea behind AUKUS; and if that is so your comment above would smack of hypocrisy.

AUKUS was formed in response to China acting evermore aggressively in territories Beijing considers her rightful sphere of influence. Russia, on the other hand, acts evermore aggressively in territories Moscow deems her rightful sphere of influence. Are you telling me Australia gets to be worried about China, but NATO doesn't get to be worried about Russia for doing the same thing (and then some)?

Even better, Russia demands that NATO rescind its promise to defend any state which (by exercising its sovereign right, I might add) joined NATO after 1997. So, about that: Do you think China has a right to demand that Great Britain and America should revoke their pledge to defend Australia?

I don't think you do.

You sound confused, It is not Russia or AUKUS but NATO who acts aggressively.

 

[muck]

It's Russia, not NATO which's amassed 100,000 troops along her border with Ukraine. It's Russia, not NATO who's sent entire brigades worth of troops into the "rebellious" Donbas on the pretext of preventing an allegedly upcoming "genocide". It's Russia, not NATO who's threatening to go to war should her demands not be meet. Demands, I hasten to say, which are obviously unacceptable to any sovereign power, and which would be tantamount to denying that the peoples of Eastern Europe have a right to make their own decisions and chose their own alliances.

Russia is acting aggressively in what the Kremlin considers her rightful sphere of influence.

So is China.

In response to China's acting aggressively, Australia has entered into the AUKUS alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States, and is conducting a major force build-up. AUKUS is in the exact same position and fills the exact same role as NATO. Nay, given the much larger distances Beijing's policies are actually much less of a threat to Australia than Moscow's are to Eastern Europe. Please don't try to convince me you actually think that Australia wouldn't feel threatened by a PLA corps suddenly appearing in Indonesia.

If AUKUS has a right to feel threatened by China, then NATO has a right to feel threatened by Russia.

 

[Mark Sman]

4 US Marines killed in Norway Osprey crash identified

With Marine Corps assistance, the bodies of the four Marines were able to be recovered and are currently being transported to the United States.

www.militarytimes.com

4 United States Marines killed in Osprey crash, Norway confirms

The Marines, assigned to the 2nd Marine Air Wing, were in Norway as part of the biannual Cold Response exercise.

www.marinecorpstimes.com

U.S. tiltrotor aircraft crashes in northern Norway during exercise

The aircraft had a crew of four when it went missing in bad weather north of Saltfjellet just inside the Arctic Circle.

thebarentsobserver.com

This was part of Cold Response 2022, a NATO exercise.

Exercise Cold Response 2022 – NATO and partner forces face the freeze in Norway

What does it take to defend, fight and survive in an Arctic environment? What do you do if you fall through the ice while wearing 20 kilograms of military gear? Cold Response 2022 is a long-planned exercise bringing together thousands of troops from NATO Allies and partners, testing their...

www.nato.int

 

[Mark Sman]

Not that this has any relevance to current events.

NATO Enhanced Forward Presence receives first multinational ammunition warehouse

Today (23 March) the Chiefs of Defence of Belgium and Estonia formally opened the first Multinational Ammunition Warehousing Initiative (MAWI) location in Estonia.

www.nato.int

NATO leaders will decide on next steps to protect and defend all Allies

NATO leaders will meet in Brussels tomorrow, 24 March 2022. They will address the consequences of President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, discuss the role of China in this crisis, and decide on the next steps to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defence.

www.nato.int

 

[muck]

The President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda, and his German counterpart Olaf Scholz have announced tonight that in response to the Russian aggression against neighbouring Ukraine, the German "enhanced forward presence" battle group stationed in that country will be increased in size to a brigade. Their declaration also suggests that prepositioned stocks will be moved to Lithuania in order to facilitate shorter reaction times in the event of a crisis. (Source, German) [A German brigade has about 5,000 troops, muck.]

 

[Redav]

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[Hiryu2.0]

https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/290622-strategic-concept.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1kXZFLBBXxxQj4LF7G0pMSrqOLkrRgbyjwcpGsFIp1Bv1KclzNIHJwTUw

 

[NoOne]

German F-35 Buy Official

Some interesting points:

1) Delivery time frame is similar to Polish F-35s despite the Polish order coming several years earlier. Maybe because of B61?
2) Poland did not order additional weapons for their aircraft at the time of their purchase. More aircraft should demand more weapons I think?
3) This is a huge change in direction for German procurement strategy and should be welcomed by NATO.

 

[pigmode]

US Army 173rd Airborne Brigade Team Up with German Paratroopers for Wet Silk Training

U.S. paratroopers or “Sky Soldiers” with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and German paratroopers with the 26th Airborne Brigade 'Saarland' conducted ...

militaryleak.com

 

[snowmanca]

German F-35 Buy Official

Some interesting points:

1) Delivery time frame is similar to Polish F-35s despite the Polish order coming several years earlier. Maybe because of B61?
2) Poland did not order additional weapons for their aircraft at the time of their purchase. More aircraft should demand more weapons I think?
3) This is a huge change in direction for German procurement strategy and should be welcomed by NATO.

It is also plausible Poland was more effected by priority given to counties that contributed to the upfront development costs, the last of that group only started getting their orders in 2018 (the year before Poland ordered theirs). Plus at this point the production line seems to have worked out the initial kinks, has ramped up a lot, and continues to optimizing itself; to the point per unit costs are reported to be getting on par with the Gripen, granted I have not heard anything so optimistic on the operating/maintenance after acquired.

 

[Hiryu2.0]

It is also plausible Poland was more effected by priority given to counties that contributed to the upfront development costs, the last of that group only started getting their orders in 2018 (the year before Poland ordered theirs). Plus at this point the production line seems to have worked out the initial kinks, has ramped up a lot, and continues to optimizing itself; to the point per unit costs are reported to be getting on par with the Gripen, granted I have not heard anything so optimistic on the operating/maintenance after acquired.

Hungarian Air Force Gripen aircraft cost $28-30 000 per flight hour to operate.
......
In various comparisons, the cost per hour flown of fighter aircraft is often mentioned, with staggering differences. In the literature, we find figures of £70,000 (!) for the RAF Typhoon fighter-bomber and $5,000 per flying hour for the Swedish Gripen. Of course, they do not include the same items. In the case of the Typhoon, the amount spent on the development of the type, the airport infrastructure, personnel costs, the cost of armaments, and the money required for periodic repairs and subsequent upgrades throughout its life were allocated back. The figure for the US F-35, with similar factors taken into account, is $30,000, since the amount spent on development is spread over a much larger number of units and the planned service life is not just 6,000 but 8,000 flight hours by default. The Swedish calculation method, however, only includes the direct costs of operation and not the other factors listed above, so the comparison is not realistic. Yet this mistake is made in many writings.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

 

[NoOne]

It is also plausible Poland was more effected by priority given to counties that contributed to the upfront development costs, the last of that group only started getting their orders in 2018 (the year before Poland ordered theirs). Plus at this point the production line seems to have worked out the initial kinks, has ramped up a lot, and continues to optimizing itself; to the point per unit costs are reported to be getting on par with the Gripen, granted I have not heard anything so optimistic on the operating/maintenance after acquired.

All very good points. Thanks.

 

[Hiryu2.0]

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[pigmode]

^ For a second there I thought I was seeing Huey's in the lower-left pic.

 

[Hiryu2.0]

Minister: Estonia, Finland to integrate coastal missile defense systems

Finland and Estonia will integrate their coastal missile defense which would allow the countries to close the Gulf of Finland to Russian warships if necessary, Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) told Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

news.err.ee

 

[Mike1976]

Minister: Estonia, Finland to integrate coastal missile defense systems

Finland and Estonia will integrate their coastal missile defense which would allow the countries to close the Gulf of Finland to Russian warships if necessary, Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) told Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

news.err.ee

EnC1rCLm3nT!!!