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[morris]

That man began his career decades ago by signing a paper saying he's not at liberty to comment politics and somehow he's not at fault?

Do you have the photo copy to post here?

 

[morris]

Indeed, high-ranked military figures are not supposed to voice their political opinions in Western countries. In contrast, in Russia, even sport and politics are mixed up.

Did you serve in military?

 

[muck]

Do you have the photo copy to post here?

Any German soldier has signed that paper: his service contract, binding him to the Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung der Soldaten ('Law on the Legal Status of Soldiers'). Which contains, amongst a great many others, the following proviso in its § 15: Im Dienst darf sich der Soldat nicht zu Gunsten oder zu Ungunsten einer bestimmten politischen Richtung betätigen. ('While on active service, a soldier must not engage politically in favour or disfavour of any issue.') Political neutrality is the bread and butter for the uniformed services of any democracy. That's not a novelty.

 

[Musashi]

Did you serve in military?

Es ist scheißegal.

Haha, I got you.
Luckily, I remembered about this event, as it was published in the Polish Internet a few years ago:

Why Australia’s defence chief pulled out 3 of his officers from a press conference

At a press event, defence chief Angus Campbell deftly intervened to tell Australia's defence minister to take political questions without his officers in the frame.

theprint.in

So, it’s actually the way round. There are actually reliable Australian officers who confront politicians.

QUERSCHLÄGER!!!

 

[morris]

^^
I have no time to waste on woke persons.

 

[Musashi]

^^
I have no time to waste on woke persons.

On the other hand, you have some spare time for writing one-liners that don't contain any arguments.

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In Russia, such a general would not have the balls to confront a minister.

 

[morris]

On the other hand, you have some spare time for writing one-liners that don't contain any arguments.

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get a haircut and stop trolling, your problems are not mine.

 

[Picanha]

I beg to differ. Multi-national cooperation is the right way if the collaborating countries have similar requirements. However, pack too many countries with too diverse a set of requirements together and you'll end up with something like the Tiger attack helicopter. Heck, even neighbouring France and Germany struggle to agree on which direction FCAS is supposed to take.

If one requires a sports car and another a pickup truck, they'd best not try to design a pickup truck also capable of breaking speed records. In theory we could all save a whole lot of money if we joined forces to create Europe's sixth generation fighter jet. But all potential synergetic effects of the merger could easily be lost in the industry's struggles to reconcile competing concepts and requirements.

Sure but from a pure technical perspective you have just more talent and experience.

Airbus had great success with the A400M as a "Green aircraft" .

They should more or less know if it should become a sports car or a pick up. But what Sports car is the question.

Hardest part is then getting all on board to agree. Not the development itself.

 

[muck]

Airbus had great success with the A400M as a "Green aircraft" .

Did they, though? It's finally matured into a capable transporter, but it's development history was plagued by bickering between Berlin and Paris over over pieces of the economical pie, which led to an extremely advanced but highly unreliable engine prior to the upgrade. Airbus itself caused massive delays to the A400M when it withdrew many engineers from the programme to sort out problems the A380 development team had run into.

 

[muck]

In other aircraft news, the new German government – having pledged to make arrangements for a replacement of the ageing Tornado strike fighter within a year of taking office – has announced it will re-evaluate the decision of Angela Merkel's administration to select Boeing's F/A-18 E/F and EA-18 as a surrogate. This news comes amidst mounting pressure on Berlin to beef up NATO's military credibility on the continent.

Contributing to NATO's nuclear deterrent had given the left-leaning three-party coalition under new Chancellor Olaf Scholz quite the headache. The coalition eventually reaffirmed its commitment last December under the impression of rising tensions with Russia. Additionally, Scholz's liberal junior partners had expressed concerns over the military rationality of the "Super Hornet", asking that the Lockheed Martin F-35 be reconsidered.

At this point, it is unclear to which stage the assessment process will revert. The selection is complicated by the need to also replace the electronic warfare variant of the Tornado, a capability held available within NATO only by the USA, Italy and Germany. Originally, Berlin had eyed a variant of the Boeing F-15, the F/A-18 E/F, EA-18, F-35 and a yet-to-bedeveloped Typhoon ECR, alongside more ground attack-optimised Typhoons.

With the F-15 having been eliminated on cost reasons, the F/A-18, EA-18 and Typhoon entered the final selection phase in 2019. In a somewhat controversial move, the F-35 was not selected over French concerns for a negative impact on the Franco-German FCAS 6th generation fighter programme. Industry observers believe progresses made in passive radar technology by sensor specialist Hensoldt also contributed to that end.

The German Air Force publicly states a requirement for some 90 aircraft. (Source, paywall)

– It seems to me the F-35 could come out on top this time. Boeing's recently announced offer to having parts of the Super Hornet built in Germany could be a panic move on their part. Some of the F-35 programme's weaknesses have been solved – or at least become solve-able – since the late 2010s. And the situation in Ukraine would now justify not to merely seek a stand-in solution until FCAS becomes ready.

With Donald Trump not being president anymore, the taboo against concluding multi-billion deals with the US has fallen. Last but not least, Hensoldt has introduced the Kalaetron family of jammers which could reduce the time Airbus requires to churn out the Typhoon ECR (which would eliminate the best argument in favour of the F/A-18 E/F). I'll never understand why the consortium didn't develop that EW variant before it was needed.

 

[BravoZulu]

Germany:
28 Jan 2022, thyssenkrupp Marine Systems handed over the frigate “RHEINLAND-PFALZ” to the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) in Hamburg. With that, all four ships of the F125 class, which thyssenkrupp Marine Systems built together with the NVL Group in the ARGE F125 consortium, have been successfully delivered.

The ship was handed over to the BAAINBw, represented by the Head of the Acceptance Commission, Matthias Rohde, and the responsible project manager at the BAAINBw, Marc Steffens, during a ceremony in Hamburg, which was kept low profile due to the pandemic. On behalf of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, Programme Manager Patrick Buggenthin signed the handover papers. Representing ARGE, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Rolf Wirtz said: “We have now delivered all of the type F125 ships. The other three vessels are already in the in-service phase and have since proven their technical capabilities and reliability. We are convinced that the fourth vessel, the “RHEINLAND-PFALZ”, will also be successful. We wish the ship and crew ‘fair winds and following seas’. Full operational readiness of all ships for the German Navy remains our most important goal.

The first ship of the F125 class is scheduled to enter service in mid-2023. In order to create the necessary conditions for this phase, a comprehensive support contract regarding the technical logistic support (TLS) for the F125 frigates was concluded between ARGE F125 and the BAAINBw at the end of last year.

The completely redesigned vessels of the F125 class have highly complex systems and around 28,000 sensors that enable a very high degree of automation, making it possible to reduce the required number of crew members by about half compared to previous frigate classes. Moreover, the ships can remain in their theatre of operations for up to two years. Besides the traditional tasks of national and alliance defence, they are designed for conflict prevention and crisis management as well as for intervention and stabilization operations in an international context. In addition to the ability to engage targets both on land and on water, they are equipped with air defence systems and helicopters.

https://www.thyssenkrupp-marinesyst...ems-hands-over-frigate-rheinland-pfalz-128536

 

[Picanha]

Did they, though? It's finally matured into a capable transporter, but it's development history was plagued by bickering between Berlin and Paris over over pieces of the economical pie, which led to an extremely advanced but highly unreliable engine prior to the upgrade. Airbus itself caused massive delays to the A400M when it withdrew many engineers from the programme to sort out problems the A380 development team had run into.

Its the program manager but anyway

https://www.flightglobal.com/defenc...-says-airbus-programme-manager/143899.article

In other aircraft news, the new German government – having pledged to make arrangements for a replacement of the ageing Tornado strike fighter within a year of taking office – has announced it will re-evaluate the decision of Angela Merkel's administration to select Boeing's F/A-18 E/F and EA-18 as a surrogate. This news comes amidst mounting pressure on Berlin to beef up NATO's military credibility on the continent.

Contributing to NATO's nuclear deterrent had given the left-leaning three-party coalition under new Chancellor Olaf Scholz quite the headache. The coalition eventually reaffirmed its commitment last December under the impression of rising tensions with Russia. Additionally, Scholz's liberal junior partners had expressed concerns over the military rationality of the "Super Hornet", asking that the Lockheed Martin F-35 be reconsidered.

At this point, it is unclear to which stage the assessment process will revert. The selection is complicated by the need to also replace the electronic warfare variant of the Tornado, a capability held available within NATO only by the USA, Italy and Germany. Originally, Berlin had eyed a variant of the Boeing F-15, the F/A-18 E/F, EA-18, F-35 and a yet-to-bedeveloped Typhoon ECR, alongside more ground attack-optimised Typhoons.

With the F-15 having been eliminated on cost reasons, the F/A-18, EA-18 and Typhoon entered the final selection phase in 2019. In a somewhat controversial move, the F-35 was not selected over French concerns for a negative impact on the Franco-German FCAS 6th generation fighter programme. Industry observers believe progresses made in passive radar technology by sensor specialist Hensoldt also contributed to that end.

The German Air Force publicly states a requirement for some 90 aircraft. (Source, paywall)

– It seems to me the F-35 could come out on top this time. Boeing's recently announced offer to having parts of the Super Hornet built in Germany could be a panic move on their part. Some of the F-35 programme's weaknesses have been solved – or at least become solve-able – since the late 2010s. And the situation in Ukraine would now justify not to merely seek a stand-in solution until FCAS becomes ready.

With Donald Trump not being president anymore, the taboo against concluding multi-billion deals with the US has fallen. Last but not least, Hensoldt has introduced the Kalaetron family of jammers which could reduce the time Airbus requires to churn out the Typhoon ECR (which would eliminate the best argument in favour of the F/A-18 E/F). I'll never understand why the consortium didn't develop that EW variant before it was needed.

I think the F35 - ECR / GroundAttack Typhoon combo is just perfect as an interim solution. 24 F35 for example wouldn't hurt FCAS. And having F35s is also beneficial in the future much more than buying superbugs.

The F35 is already (nearly) B61-12 certified. And its chances of successful ordnance delivery are much higher. Overall the much better platform than a F18 or Typhoon for this role.

The F-35A Released B61-12 Joint Test Assemblies Completing Final Flight Test Of Nuclear Design Certification

The Lightning II gets one step closer to become the next Air Force aircraft, and first 5th Generation platform, to achieve compatibility with the

theaviationist.com

 

[BravoZulu]

Spain:
The first modernized CH-47 Chinook helicopter was handed over to the Spanish Army at a ceremony at Spanish Airborne Forces Headquarters in Colmenar Viejo, Madrid.

The helicopter is the first of 17 that will modernize the entire Spanish Chinook fleet. Upon completion of the modernization, all Spanish CH-47Ds will be replaced by the newer model CH-47F.
https://www.militaeraktuell.at/boeing-erster-modernisierter-chinook-fuer-spanien/

 

[BCNTM]

Vulcan Bomber XH558 Doncaster hangar plan scrapped

Efforts to raise cash to display the Cold War bomber in South Yorkshire have failed, a charity says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Picanha]

He did his duty and served Vlad well. He publicly demanded to stop the "Western warmongering". Just a few days ago...

 

[Musashi]

He did his duty and served Vlad well. He publicly demanded to stop the "Western warmongering". Just a few days ago...

The tsar knows how to reward his minions.

 

[Picanha]

German defence minister Christine Lambrecht is ordering to evaluate the F35 as Tornado replacement

Bundeswehr: Oder doch die „F-35“

Die Luftwaffe will die „Tornados“ ersetzen, dafür sollten Jets vom Typ „F-18“ kommen. Nun wachsen die Chancen für die modernere „F-35“.

www.sueddeutsche.de

A swift decision was promised.

F35 and FCAS are both possible but need more funding.

 

[muck]

I think the F35 - ECR / GroundAttack Typhoon combo is just perfect as an interim solution.

There is no interim solution for electronic warfare, though. Hensoldt's presented a new family of jammers; but since Airbus never saw fit to do the groundwork for an EW Typhoon until after Berlin had kicked the can down the road for the umpteenth time, there's no chance it will be ready in time.

The very FDP which now protacts the issue by demanding the F-35 ought to be reconsidered did criticise the last administration on the grounds that the delayed retirement of the ageing Tornado costs at least another €2 bn until 2030. That's not operating costs, that's €2 bn to keep them servicable.

This purchase should've been made a decade ago, is what I'm saying. There's no time to waste, and Berlin should pick whatever's working, affordable and most important of all can be delivered quickly to ensure a seamless transition and preservation of the tactical acumen to conduct SEAD.

He did his duty and served Vlad well. He publicly demanded to stop the "Western warmongering". Just a few days ago...

Who? What?

 

[Picanha]

Agree thats too late again.

I personally would favour the ECR Typhy/F35 mix. But I'm not sure whats coming out of that.

Availability sure is apoint but I think the F35 production is as far as to allow for a similar schedulae a F18 would require.

The F18 is simply outdated. Thats not a good investment. The F35 on the contrary can be used in conjunction with the FCAS too.


If they're clever they exert something out of this deal.

Depending on magnitude of order naturally.


The FDP is quite straightforward when it comes to defence, I like Strack-Zimmermann for example.

Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) will „weniger Geschwurbel“ in der Bundeswehr - WELT

Die Chefin des Verteidigungsausschusses, Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), kritisiert die Generäle im Verteidigungsministerium. Es sei eine „Unart, der Hausleitung nach dem Mund zu reden“, sagt sie. Auch will sie gleich drei Ministerinnen auf die Finger schauen – darunter Baerbock.

www.welt.de

There is no point in keeping fossils alive at some point the divergence between new acqusition and keeping legacy in the air makes no sense.


Edit:

Schröder

 

[Picanha]

Hensoldt advertise the Kalaetron jammer as "easy to integrate". So I don't see the problem attaching it to some new built Typhoons relatively quickly.

The certification for a B61-12 on the F18 is probably harder to realise and costs more. As you must make sure no nuclear explosion happens on the base or in the air

HENSOLDT entwickelt multifunktionalen Störsender zur Abwehr neuer Bedrohungen

‚Kalaetron Attack‘ kombiniert neueste Technologien zur Optimierung von Sensor- und Störleistung

www.hensoldt.net

Kernelemente des Systems sind ein voll-digitalisierter, breitbandiger Sensor und Effektor, ein voll-polarisierbarer, elektronisch steuerbarer Störsender und ein erst durch metallischen 3D-Druck ermöglichter, verdichteter Aufbau der Elektronikbauteile. Dadurch ist es gelungen, den AESA-Jammer in ein relativ kleines Pod-System zu integrieren, das leicht in fliegende Plattformen integriert, aber auch für See- und Landanwendungen skaliert werden kann. Als nächster Entwicklungsschritt ist die Einrüstung in ein Luftfahrzeug geplant, um die jetzt schon herausragenden Laborergebnisse in realitätsnahen Flugtests zu bestätigen.

Core elements of the system are a fully digitized, broadband sensor and effector, a fully polarizable, electronically controllable jammer, and a compacted design of the electronic components only made possible by metallic 3D printing. This has made it possible to integrate the AESA jammer into a relatively small pod system that can be easily integrated into flying platforms, but also scaled for sea and land applications. The next development step is planned to be the integration into an air vehicle in order to confirm the now already outstanding laboratory results in realistic flight tests.

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

Typhoon has some plug and play capabilities too I guess.

The F18 was removed anyway from NNSAs fact sheet of delivery systems for the B61-12 in December 2021.

NNSA Removes F/A-18F Super Hornet From Nuclear Bomb Fact Sheet - Federation of American Scientists

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has quietly removed the F/A-18F Super Hornet from its B61-12 nuclear bomb fact sheet. No public explanation has been offered for why the aircraft was removed or added in the first place. The F/A-18F was added to a “November 2021” fact sheet...

fas.org

The reason for including the F/A-18F was not stated. It could potentially indicate anticipated sale to Germany to replace its aging Tornado aircraft in the “nuclear sharing” strike mission, or that the U.S. Navy was planning to reintroduce nuclear capability on aircraft carriers (unlikely).

In response to questions from me, NNSA initially said neither of those were the reason for including the F/A-18F in the fact sheet. But after coordinating with the Defense Department, NNSA asked me to ignore that explanation saying the listing of the F/A-18 in the fact sheet was a mistake.

I have also asked the Defense Department, but it has not responded yet. Update: DOD said “there is not a requirement for the F/A-18F to be certified to carry the B61-12.”