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[muck]

It's called a passive radar, but it does not receive radar signals. Unless Hensoldt lied and ran a normal radar along, of course. Strictly speaking, though, the passive radar is as incapable of receiving radar signals as a clock radio is capable of receiving sattelite phone calls. They work with totally different frequencies.

And their press release suggests that Hensoldt merely used ADS-B transponders to cross-check whether or not the aircraft they were tracking where indeed the F-35's. That's hardly surprising, considering the congested airspace the flights took place in. Besides, the objections posted in that article seem to ignore the distinct possibility to extrapolate a stealth jet's position through the use of both passive radar and conventional air defence radars.
A signal received by one but not the other should be worth looking at, right?

 

[Fluff]

Situation 1 - Peacetime, 1 intruder, normal number of civilian aircraft, and TV is transmitting.

So best time for a single attack would be dark, while civ aircraft are flying, so 2000 - 2300.

There are 10 aircraft in the air, 1 of which is stealth, 9 civilian, on your ATC radar and your AD you are seeing 9 targets all identified.

On your Stealth Radar you see 10 targets, 9 presumably cross referenced to your civilian traffic.

In writing this, I would zoom my F35 right under your 747, your not going to see me.

Sit 2 - wartime

No civ traffic, some mil transport and combat aircraft, CAP etc. of your own.

So you have an extra target on your stealth 'radar'. So what , its nighttime, so you will struggle to acquire me, other than realatively short range.

Anything active you are going to steer toward me, I'm going to launch on, and still your babymilk factory mysteriously suffers total structural failure.

Sure it concerns me, but you could almost assume there are Stealth aircraft up there, so what, what system is going to target me?

Reminds me of GW 1, Iraq placed all its AA at the end of the runway, and when they heard a plane fired it vertically. Because the Tornadoes had to fly down the runway to drop the airfield bombs. Stealth aircraft - fire all AA guns. As good as any other plan. Probably lose a lot of citizens, but thats probably not an issue for the countries we are talking about being on the receiving end(no pun intended)

 

[muck]

In writing this, I would zoom my F35 right under your 747, your not going to see me.

Out of curiosity, has that ever been done in some sort of conflict?

 

[muck]

With USA not enthusiastic to certifiy Eurofighter for B61, Germany set to buy F/A-18F/ EA-18 ()

According to German media, the US DoD has informed its German counterpart that the Eurofighter Typhoon cannot be certified to carry the B61 until the latter half of the 2020s. This announcement is understood to make it virtually impossible for Airbus to secure the silverside of this multi-billion contract.

This is because even though the Tornado could be operated long enough to await the introduction of a Typhoon tactical nuclear bomber, its skyrocketing operating costs of soon-to-be about 70.000 € (77.000 $) per flight hour are generally regarded as prohibitive.

The German Air Force has a TOE-requirement of up to 96 new strike-fighters by 2025 to replace its ageing 85 Tornadoes. 47 of these are assigned to the ground attack role, with about 40 airframes capable of deploying the B61 nuclear gravity bomb; the other 38 break down into the ECR electronic warfare and RECCE variants. Pretty much all the signs are pointing to their replacement by 40 Eurofighter Typhoons as strike-fighters, 30 F/A-18F as tactical nuclear bombers and Reccelite-carriers, and 16 EA-18 for SEAD as an interim solution.

 

[Fish&Chips]

Now that is interesting news. Are there any other non-US aircraft than the Tornado that have been certified for the B61 business?

 

[muck]

Not according to Wikipedia, for what it's worth.

 

[Fluff]

Out of curiosity, has that ever been done in some sort of conflict?

I'm not aware of any, but that doesn't mean it hasn't.

Also seem to remember it from a novel.

I mean some of the intercepts of airliners that were out of comms, the fighters don't always make themselves visible to the airliner pilots - and in flight refueling shows fighters can be close to 'airliners', so I cannot see any practical issue, could be moral issues, if they are spotted and someone decides to fire a missile, which target is it going to go for?

 

[BCNTM]

"A German radar vendor tracked the F-35 jets in 2018 from a pony farm. But it turns out the aircraft were flying with radar reflectors and ADS-B transponder (that could have made the task easier)."

Let's Talk About The Story Of A German Radar Vendor That Claims To Have Tracked Two F-35s With Passive Radar

A German radar vendor tracked the F-35 jets in 2018 from a pony farm. But it turns out the aircraft were flying with radar reflectors and ADS-B

theaviationist.com

VW PR department - this radar collects all emissions

 

[Navor]

Pretty much all the signs are pointing to their replacement by 40 Eurofighter Typhoons as strike-fighters, 30 F/A-18F as tactical nuclear bombers and Reccelite-carriers, and 16 EA-18 for SEAD as an interim solution.

But there might be another 33 EF added to those 40 you mentioned. IIRC they want to replace the Tranche 1 Eurofighters with neweer ones (Tranche4). So that might look more like 33+40EF and 30 F-Model Super Hornets plus 16 Growler.

Muck where did you get your numbers? A German Staffel usually operates with 17 primary assigned aircraft. So 34 fighters make up a Tactical Wing.
For the Growlers to sustain a Staffel you would need around 24 aircraft. (17 for the Staffel+ 2-4 for training,1 for testing and the rest for deep maintanence)

 

[muck]

Yes, earlier this year they ordered 33 new Typhoons as a replacement for the oldest Tranche 1 airframes. That deal is already done, though, and should have no bearing on the Tornado replacement tender.

I don't actually know the current standard strength of a Staffel (n.b. for non-German readers: a company-sized squadron), only those of the Fliegende Gruppen (battalion-sized operations groups), which I got told in person by a pilot at the Berlin Air Show a few years ago.

Wings operating the Tornado are assigned more aircraft than those flying the Typhoon. I don't know if it's planned to harmonize the structure of all air wings in the future. The provisional nature of the Tornado's service seems to suggest as much; the current strength of its parent units is mostly due to the disbandment of the German detachment at Holloman AFB, and the concentration of the ECR and Recce variants at Jagel AB.

On the other hand, it's almost a given nuclear-armed Tactical Air Wing No. 33 will continue to be an outlier organisation-wise.

In 2016, it had an inventory of 46 (*) Tornadoes. The same year, Tactical Air Wing No. 51 – which had been operating 25 Tornadoes (plus a couple of Heron UAVs in case anyone's wondering) – received 14 additional Tornadoes from Holloman for a total of 39 aircraft.

The other air wings indeed have an inventory of 34 Typhoons each.

We've been told the Tornadoes will be replaced 1 : 1, which sounds good though raises an interesting problem insofar as the current structure of the fleet is, as mentioned, provisional: It's a result of airframe losses and organisational reforms rather than a product of tactical considerations.

However, we do know for certain Berlin's asked for a Foreign Military Sale of up to 45 F/A-18F, with the option to swap a small number of Super Hornets for Growlers. The number of EA-18's that's been circulating through the press is "about 12" plus 2 type conversion trainers. The last Growler was conjecture on my part, seeing how in practice another airframe is always procured for the Materiel Centre No. 61 at Manching.

*) The 47 was a typo on my part, sorry. And as typoes do, this one too jizzed all over my post. This one contains the numbers which I believe to be correct.

 

[pigmode]

The Netherlands to buy nine more F-35s for $1.1 billion

The envisioned €1 billion acquisition will “lay the foundation” for a third F-35 squadron in the Dutch air force, a plan that government officials first floated in late 2018.

www.defensenews.com

"COLOGNE, Germany – The Dutch government on Tuesday announced plans to purchase nine more of Lockheed Martin's F-35 jets, a move that would bring the country's inventory to 46.

The envisioned €1 billion acquisition will “lay the foundation” for a third F-35 squadron in the Dutch air force, a plan that government officials first floated in late 2018, according to a statement posted on the defense ministry website.

The additional aircraft are expected contribute to the air force's objective of having four jets available for NATO missions while also performing homeland defense operations and accounting for training requirements and maintenance downtime...

Dick Zandee, a defense analyst at the Clingendael think tank in The Hague, told Defense News the announced acquisition of nine more F-35s enjoys “broad support” in the Dutch parliament. He said government leaders had already included the new aircraft spending in their annual report to NATO to show momentum in the country’s move toward spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on the military.

Government officials have told parliament that they want to give the American program office a formal notice to buy the additional jets before the end of the year, Zandee said. The Dutch want F-35s of the newest configuration, he added, which means any changes in the international delivery schedule caused by the recent Turkish expulsion from the F-35 program likely would play no role...."

 

[Kadir93]

Norway is planning a major boostup on it's military strength in upcoming fiscal years. Some acquisition plans and alternatives being discussed by the army;

• 5 more tank battalions
• 8 more SPG battalions
• 4 more frigates
• 1 more submarine
• 4 more air defense missile batteries
• 10 more ASW helicopters
• 16 more general purpose helicopters
• 1 more ASW & multipurpose aircraft
• 2 more tactical cargo aircrafts
• Rise of the active personnel number btw 40,000-45,000
  
  All in Norwegian
  https://forsvaret.no/fmr?fbclid=IwAR1KIqj8X4QGU9m_cNTh1pJBrEqtN7uCrWXhE-BbLxFTVbfGCJFoHRsN7ng

 

[PEMM]

Finland:
Defence ministry to trial co-ed quarters
Women currently living in separate accommodations say they feel cut off from their peers.

The defence ministry has said that it will begin trialling voluntary shared accommodation for male conscripts and female military service volunteers.

The ministry will roll out the fixed-term experiment at the beginning of next year in some barracks.

Defence ministry to trial co-ed quarters

Women currently living in separate accommodations say they feel cut off from their peers.

yle.fi

What is the experience elsewhere?

I fear there is going to be trouble. At least the athmosphere in rooms might become less free.

 

[Picanha]

Oh man that's unfortunate ?that the Typhoon cannot be certified for the B61 so we get the super bug. Why not buy some Rafales and Asmps? The Super bug is a real oddball but doesn't threaten the FCAS

 

[Picanha]

Situation 1 - Peacetime, 1 intruder, normal number of civilian aircraft, and TV is transmitting.

So best time for a single attack would be dark, while civ aircraft are flying, so 2000 - 2300.

There are 10 aircraft in the air, 1 of which is stealth, 9 civilian, on your ATC radar and your AD you are seeing 9 targets all identified.

On your Stealth Radar you see 10 targets, 9 presumably cross referenced to your civilian traffic.

In writing this, I would zoom my F35 right under your 747, your not going to see me.

Sit 2 - wartime

No civ traffic, some mil transport and combat aircraft, CAP etc. of your own.

So you have an extra target on your stealth 'radar'. So what , its nighttime, so you will struggle to acquire me, other than realatively short range.

Anything active you are going to steer toward me, I'm going to launch on, and still your babymilk factory mysteriously suffers total structural failure.

Sure it concerns me, but you could almost assume there are Stealth aircraft up there, so what, what system is going to target me?

Reminds me of GW 1, Iraq placed all its AA at the end of the runway, and when they heard a plane fired it vertically. Because the Tornadoes had to fly down the runway to drop the airfield bombs. Stealth aircraft - fire all AA guns. As good as any other plan. Probably lose a lot of citizens, but thats probably not an issue for the countries we are talking about being on the receiving end(no pun intended)

A passive radar works on all kinds of electromagnetic waves and their reflections. They are always there unless you go back to 1850 or have erased every single emittant

 

[muck]

Finland:
Defence ministry to trial co-ed quarters
Women currently living in separate accommodations say they feel cut off from their peers.

The defence ministry has said that it will begin trialling voluntary shared accommodation for male conscripts and female military service volunteers.

The ministry will roll out the fixed-term experiment at the beginning of next year in some barracks.

Defence ministry to trial co-ed quarters

Women currently living in separate accommodations say they feel cut off from their peers.

yle.fi

What is the experience elsewhere?

I fear there is going to be trouble. At least the athmosphere in rooms might become less free.

I'll try to be objective here and point out there's two sides to this issue.

On the one hand the guys and gals of some militaries do bunk down without separation on deployment, especially in forward operating bases and the like, without units experiencing a loss of discipline or a descent into debauchery.

However, life in the barracks at home is different. The additional spare time and lack of danger does lead to boredom and more chances to kick over the traces.

Yes, there's probably going to be issues.

As for your point about "atmosphere", though: That is a non-starter for me – as is the undying argument against women in the military that they supposedly ruin unit cohesion. Having served in a unit of mostly unmotivated conscripts (like myself), I do appreciate the importance of unit cohesion.
But when I was in the German Army, we had a recession and a lotta East Germans enlisted since they couldn't find a job elsewhere, earning them a reputation as deadbeats. The disdain and shunning those people were treated with by many West Germans has left me with a lasting impression soldiers shouldn't get to decide (not even implicitely) who they serve with or under. If it doesn't work, it's their job to make it work. Just my 2 ¢.

 

[PEMM]

I'll try to be objective here and point out there's two sides to this issue.

On the one hand the guys and gals of some militaries do bunk down without separation on deployment, especially in forward operating bases and the like, without units experiencing a loss of discipline or a descent into debauchery.

They do already in Finland when outdoors or on deployment. But not in barracks. It's just a matter of having gender segragated rooms. It just makes basic stuff like showers and morning routine easier (and the likelihood of metoo moments is greatly decreased during night, as they are on separate rooms). On their free time they are free to roam in their unit like everyone else. When outdoors they are generally incredibly tired, and there is always fire guard.

You must remember we are mostly talking about 19 year old conscripts. They are incredibly dumb. And in Finland with general male conscription you have the best and the worst of whole age group there.

EDIT: During my time we had three women in our company. The amount of rumours going around was mind boggling.

 

[muck]

Decision on next assault rifle for German Armed Forces expected for first half of 2020 ()

The article also features nice shots of the most promising contenders according to the specialist press (Haenel MK556, Heckler & Koch HK416 and HK433). Having said this, these might actually not be all the weapons offered through the tender. The German department of defence has handed out a gag order for the sake of fairness. All that's known is that Sig Sauer (MCX) and Steyr / Rheinmetall have left the contest, the latter stating they felt treated unfairly.

The process has been taking so long since in October 2018, all industry offerings made so far had been rejected as "insufficient".

 

[muck]

@PEMM
Well, as I said: The barracks is a different story.

 

[Fluff]

A passive radar works on all kinds of electromagnetic waves and their reflections. They are always there unless you go back to 1850 or have erased every single emittant

No theres doesn't, it works from TV transmitters, please read their website.

There is a clear reason for this.

This is simply radar using someone elses transmitter.

Its not looking for 'Stealth' absorbing signals, how would you know the signals were absorbed, and didn't just keep going?

A key element of stealth is to not reflect back to the transmitter - the aircraft still returns some signal.

This system is looking for the returns from the TV transmitter.