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[BravoZulu]

German offshore patrol vessels that will be used to patrol the country’s North Sea and Baltic coastlines are set to receive BAE Systems-built 57mm naval guns.
The first gun system is scheduled for delivery in 2020.
German shipbuilder Fassmer is building three 86-meter OPVs for the German federal police force, Bundespolizei.
BP 81 Potsdam, the first of three units, was delivered to the German coast guard in May this year.
The OPVs feature a flight deck that accommodate the Super Puma medium helicopter and have enough storage space for five mission containers. They can also launch and recover two interceptor boats.
“The Bofors 57 Mk3 is a versatile naval gun with firepower and range that exceeds expectations when compared with similar, medium calibre naval gun systems. That’s how our 57 millimeter system has earned its reputation as the deck gun of choice for ships operating in coastal environments,” said Ulf Einefors, director of marketing and sales for BAE Systems’ weapons business in Sweden.
The 57 Mk3 naval gun is also in use with the allied navies and coast guards of eight nations, including Canada, Finland, Mexico, and Sweden, as well as the United States, where it is known as the Mk110 naval gun.

German offshore patrol vessels getting BAE's 57mm naval guns

German offshore patrol vessels that will be used to patrol the country’s North Sea and Baltic coastlines are set to receive BAE Systems-built 57mm naval guns. The first gun system is scheduled for delivery in 2020. German shipbuilder Fassmer is building three 86-meter OPVs for the German federal...

navaltoday.com

 

[BravoZulu]

The French defense ministry has pinpointed three Marine Nationale La Fayette-class frigates (FLF) that will be receiving mid-life upgrades.
From 2021, the lead ship FS La Fayette, along with third and fourth ships in the class, FS Courbet and FS Aconit, will benefit from an upgraded ships’ platform and combat systems.
The navy operates a total of five ships in the class.
One of the highlights of this overhaul will be the addition of a hull sonar, the ministry said, giving the three FLFs new capabilities to fight under the sea.
Other improvements will include the installation of a Sadral close-in weapon system armed with Mistral missiles, replacing the current Crotale.
Work will include renovation of electronic and IT systems used to manage the vessel’s installations (propulsion, steering gear, power generation…). The frigates’ current combat command system will be replaced by a version derived from the one used on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, and the tactical data links will be modernized.
The upgrades, which will take place in Toulon, will allow the ships to remain in service beyond 2030.

France pinpoints three La Fayette frigates for mid-life upgrades

The French defense ministry has pinpointed three Marine Nationale La Fayette-class frigates (FLF) that will be receiving mid-life upgrades. From 2021, the lead ship FS La Fayette, along with third and fourth ships in the class, FS Courbet and FS Aconit, will benefit from an upgraded ships’...

navaltoday.com

 

[BravoZulu]

Germany:
for more than a decade, German defense contractor Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, or KMW, has been pitching an armored turret with a massive 155mm howitzer as a relatively low-cost way to turn various tracked and wheeled military vehicles into highly mobile artillery pieces. The company has yet to find a launch customer for this system, which looks like it was ripped straight off the deck of a large warship. But with various countries, including the United States, now investing heavily in new artillery systems there could be renewed interest in the concept.
It has since demonstrated other versions on the German company ARTEC’s Boxer 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle and, most recently, on the Italian Iveco Trakker 8x8 truck. The Trakker-mounted variant features supporting outriggers to stabilize the vehicle during firing. KMW has proposed installing AGM’s in fixed and semi-permanent positions for base or coastal defense purposes, as well.

 

[muck]

The company has yet to find a launch customer for this system […]

The system is poised to be adopted by the German Army in the upcoming decade. The jury is still out on the specifics, and in a break with German military tradition mortars are purportedly set to become a domain of the artillery corps (see below). Generally speaking, though, the plan goes as follows:

Six new artillery battalions are to be raised.

One is to be equipped with materiel declared to be "existing", probably pertaining to a number of PzH2000s currently in storage and of which some have been sold over the years.

Another battalion is to be put under the command of Air Assault Brigade 1 and – in all likelihood – will be equipped with a lightweight system, maybe even a towed artillery piece or a self-propelled mortar like the Wiesel 2 mortar carrier.

The latter is conjecture on my part, based on the articles published in ES&T over the past twelve months; but considering the airmobile nature of the brigade and the fact that governments count every penny in military spending, I guess it is safe to say AASLT BDE 1 will have to make do with the least expensive and most lightweight solution possible.

That leaves us with four battalions, which per the German TO&E should be equipped with 24 artillery guns in three batteries each.

However, the announcement to put mortars under the artillery corps's control has made me nervous. It could be interpreted as the intent to come up with a jack of all trades-organization to master both asymmetric and conventional warfare – but just as easily it might've been some genius's idea to save money: Swap expensive artillery systems for ordinary mortars. After all, they both just go boom, right?

At any rate, there is a projected demand for at least 96 additional artillery guns. KMW's 155mm artillery modul has already won the contest, so there's only one question left: which platform to mount it on. Trucks would be cheaper but not conducive to the requirements of mobile warfare, as all guns are poised to go to mechanized brigades. That leaves us with the Boxer.

 

[digrar]

'Unacceptable': Smoking Ban For Recruits At Army Foundation College Harrogate

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall said it is "unacceptable" that the majority of recruits are smoking by the time they graduate.

www.forces.net

'Unacceptable': Smoking Ban For Recruits At Army Foundation College Harrogate
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall said it is "unacceptable" that the majority of recruits are smoking by the time they graduate.

8th September 2019 at 3:50pm



Teenagers joining the British Army's principle training centre are to be banned from smoking from next week.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall, the commanding officer of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, said smoking "isn't compatible" with the college's philosophy of "health, fitness and developing potential".
He made the announcement on Twitter.
"Most recruits don’t smoke on arrival, yet most do by graduation. This is unacceptable," he wrote.
"We stand for health, fitness and developing potential and smoking isn’t compatible with this philosophy.
"We are banning it for recruits from next week and will be smoke-free for all in 2020.”

Vaping is also included in the ban.
Lieutenant Colonel Hall’s decision has been met with a mixed response online.
Fraser Reid tweeted: "Great step. I just don't understand why anyone would start in the first place.
"Hopefully this will be imposed across other training establishments over time and significantly reduce smoking across the Army."
Keiron Stainsby disagreed and said: "Basic training is one of the most stressful things I’ve endured and I can safely say if people had to stop smoking during it they wouldn’t of coped."
Another person was also concerned by the policy: "I don't think this is a good move sir, there is a reason that most start smoking, and you control most of a young squaddies life as it is, a fag and a brew is what makes it bearable."

According to the Army’s website, the Foundation College “plays a vital role in providing basic military training and developing future leadership“.
The College runs a 20-week course and a 40-week course, with new recruits expected to spend their first 6 weeks living in on-site accommodation before they are allowed a visit home.
Later in the course, there is leave allocated at Christmas and during the summer, with some additional weekends off.
Lieutenant Colonel Hall said he hoped his new rules would “discourage smoking amongst new recruits and reverse the recent trend we’ve seen in recruits taking up the habit”.


In January, a Freedom of Information request by the Times revealed as many as 7,200 troops are not currently medically fit enoughto be sent abroad.
Some critics have raised concerns about how the policy will affect instructors and course leaders who were previously allowed to smoke on-site as long as it was not in front of trainees.
Replying to one tweet, Lieutenant Colonel said: "Role modelling is a very important influencer on the behaviour of our recruits. Staff don’t smoke in front of them but we need to go further."

Excellent, don't have a problem with this at all.

 

[muck]

Vaping is also included in the ban.

That grounded in science, though? I'd always believed that e-cigs were unable to induce obstructive pulmonary diseases.

 

[TheKiwi]

Who needs Science, when you have emotions to tell you what to do.

 

[muck]

So true.

 

[muck]

Swiss Army's Riverine Company receives 14 new patrol boats ()

The radar-equipped 'Watercat 1250' by Finnish manufacturer Marine Alutech has a complement of 5 and carries 15 personnel. It is armed with a remote-controlled M2 heavy machine gun. All hulls will be named after figures of ancient mythology.

 

[muck]

Heckler & Koch contracted to upgrade British L85 assault rifles to A3 standard with new foregrip, new upper receiver, new safety and new lightweight system parts ()

Portugese armed forces select Glock 17 Gen5 as new standard-issue sidearm ()

 

[BCNTM]

Incredible moment £1.6bn US stealth bomber with call-sign DEATH comes in to land at RAF base

DRAMATIC photos show the world’s most secretive warplane — which uses the call-sign “death” — coming in to land. The nuclear capable United States Air Force B-2 stealth bombers were returning to th…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[BCNTM]

Royal Navy Type 31 frigate order goes to Babcock

Boris Johnson says the £1.25bn order for five Type 31e frigates will safeguard 2,500 jobs.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[muck]

German Chief of Defence eyes radical reforms of German Federal Defence Forces to fight "uncontrolled growth of bureaucracy" and "bloated command structure" (): Radical reforms could see traditional branches of Germany's military abolished, replaced by a "flat hierarchy" of "cross-sectional domains" for land-, sea-, air- and cyber-warfare

Well, I'll be damned. Should there really be someone in command who's learnt from mistakes? Apparently, General Zorn is genuinely entertaining the thought of axing dozens of useless uniservice commands.

The word "cross-sectional" is a massive eye-opener here; it seems as though the plans entail smashing the bloated structure of Germany's six uniformed services (army, air force, navy, medical service, central support service, cyberwarfare service) for the sake of a structure with as little pooling as possible, with every "domain" being put in charge of all the forces it requires to complete its mission. Gone would be the days when the army needs the central support service to move from A to B, gone would be the days when the navy needs the air force for aerial anti-surface warfare, (…)

 

[muck]

German and Italian regulators okay introduction of Vulcano GPS/SAL precision-guided artillery ammunition ()

Coming in two calibers (127 mm and 155 mm) and deployable from all guns of said caliber, Vulcano is a precision-guided artillery ammunition with a range of 80 km (127mm) resp. 70 km (155mm) capable of hitting both stationary and moving targets. It is armed with a multi-role tungsten fragmentation warhead and can be guided either through GPS or laser illumination. According to the manufacturers, Vulcano boasts a CEP of 1 m. Germany and Italy intend to buy the ammunition for their PzH2000 self-propelled howitzers and numerous warships.

 

[muck]

Belgian F-16 crashes in France; lightly injured pilots eject, though one is left trapped in high voltage power lines – rescue operations underway ()

A speedy recovery to both pilots. That's an aweful situation to end up in.

 

[Fluff]

Belgian F-16 crashes in France; lightly injured pilots eject, though one is left trapped in high voltage power lines – rescue operations underway ()

A speedy recovery to both pilots. That's an aweful situation to end up in.

Light injuries.

On the bright side he will get 2 ties, one from Martin-Baker and one from the Electricity board.

 

[BravoZulu]

Finland:
On September 19, 2019, the Finnish government approved the procurement of four new multipurpose corvettes valued at more than EUR 1 billion.
As Naval Today earlier reported, the ship quartet will be designed and constructed at Finnish Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) shipyard.
The design phase for the four Squadron 2020 vessel will resume with immediate effect and construction of the first vessel will start at the shipyard in 2022, Rauma informed.
The combat system, including weapons and sensors, will be provided by Saab, accompanied by necessary design and installation services by RMC. In a separate statement, the Finnish Ministry of Defence said that Aker Arctic Technology Oy will provide ship-class propellers and propeller shafts.
The agreements on the construction of vessels, the supply and integration of the combat system and the supply of propellers and propeller shafts will be signed in Turku on 26 September 2019, according to the defense ministry.
A total of EUR 1,232 million was allocated to the Squadron 2020 project in the 2018 budget. The share of the construction contract to be concluded with RMC is EUR 647.6 million and the share of the propeller shaft contract with Aker is EUR 27 million. Price of the Saab combat system is EUR 412 million.
The total cost of the Squadron 2020 project is EUR 1,325.48 million, which includes the EUR 22 million risk reserve for joint acquisitions and the EUR 83 million for the ITO20 anti-aircraft missile system already purchased for the ship class.
The Squadron 2020 project will replace a large number of the Finnish Navy’s existent fleet, consisting of seven vessels. The multipurpose Pohjanmaa-class corvettes will be delivered by 2026 and will be taken into operational use by the Finnish Navy in 2028.
“Through this agreement, Finland will once again have a domestically built fleet, which supports our country’s security of supply,” Jyrki Heinimaa, CEO of RMC, commented.
Furthermore, according to Heinimaa, the project is also vital in strengthening the Finnish maritime industry and research conducted within the industry.
“Projects such as Squadron 2020 enable new innovations and technology solutions to be utilised in a broader spectrum within Finnish shipbuilding,” adds Heinimaa.
During the process of constructing the vessels, the shipyard will also develop the readiness to provide life-cycle services for the vessels following their delivery to the navy.

https://navaltoday.com/2019/09/19/finnish-govt-approves-procurement-of-four-squadron-2020-corvettes/

 

[BCNTM]

Battle of Arnhem: Mass parachute drop marks WW2 assault

A 97-year-old British veteran, who recreated his WW2 jump, says his jump was "thoroughly terrifying".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[BravoZulu]

France:
To speed up the renewal and modernisation of the Land Force (Armée de Terre), the Military Programming Law LPM 2019-2025 foresees an increase of the orders of armoured vehicles and an acceleration of their deliveries.

Following this document, 50 percent of the medium armoured vehicles (Griffon, Jaguar, Serval) will be delivered by 2025. The breakdown of the deliveries is as follows:

* Griffon: deliveries started in July 2019. 936 units to be delivered by 2025.
* Serval: deliveries to start in 2022. 489 units to be delivered by 2025.
* Jaguar: deliveries to start in 2020. 150 units to be delivered by 2025.
On top of these vehicles, 122 Leclerc MBTs will be renovated from late 2021 to 2025.

These vehicles are the “tools” of the Scorpion programme. The Scorpion program is designed to renew and modernise the combat capabilities of the Army with modern and interconnected armoured vehicles. This programme is made of mainly the following “bricks”:

* the SICS information system intended to provide command and tactical control in collaborative combat (the heart of the "Scorpion revolution");
* 2 multi-role armoured vehicles (the Griffon and the Serval) available in several versions and intended to replace the VABs currently in service;
* 1 armoured reconnaissance and combat vehicle (the Jaguar), to replace the AMX10RC, the ERC Sagaie armoured vehicle, and the VAB HOT;
* the renovation of the Leclerc tank (integration with the Scorpion system, reinforcement of tank protection and increase of offensive capabilities).

 

[Fish&Chips]

That grounded in science, though? I'd always believed that e-cigs were unable to induce obstructive pulmonary diseases.

https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201811-2087OC