lørdag 21. desember 2024
Kl 1020 i dag skjedde noe vidunderlig - Det går mot lysere tider....
...... selv om skyene på horisonten er ganske så mørke.
Ubåt - Tyskland øker sin bestilling av U-212 CD til 6 båter - DefenseNews
En kan ikke se bort i fra at det kan bli et fregattsamarbeid også. (Red.)
Germany triples submarine order to six boats in joint buy with Norway
Dec 19, 2024, 04:16 PM
PARIS — Germany will buy four more submarines from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to increase the number of boats to six, part of a joint purchase with Norway that may also see the Nordic country increase its order, according to the German defense ministry.
Norway plans to buy an additional two submarines on top of four already ordered, the Bundeswehr procurement office said in a statement on Thursday. The two countries in 2021 had announced plans to jointly buy six 212 Common Design submarines from ThyssenKrupp in a deal worth about €5.5 billion (US$5.7 billion).
Germany announced the submarine contract extension as part of €21 billion in defense spending approved by the Bundestag, the country’s parliament, on Wednesday. Other approvals including the go-ahead for the F127 anti-air warfare frigate, Elbit Systems’ PULS rocket artillery, missiles for the Patriot air-defense system, reactive armor for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle and the development of sea-to-air missiles.
“The cooperation with our Norwegian partner will provide our two armed forces with new opportunities for deployment in the context of national and alliance defense, particularly on NATO’s northern flank,” Annette Lehnigk-Emden, the head of the Bundeswehr procurement office, said in the statement.
The 212CD submarines for Germany and Norway are on schedule, ThyssenKrupp said in a separate statement. The yard started production in September 2023, and the six vessels for the German Navy will be delivered starting in 2032, with one boat every year through 2037. The Norwegian Navy is scheduled to receive its first submarine in the new class as early as 2029.
The 212CD submarine will have a length of about 74 meters and a beam of 10 meters, and displace around 2,500 tons when surfaced. The vessel is based on the 212A submarine in service with the German Navy, which has a length of around 58 meters and a displacement of 1,500 tons.
Advance payments related to the order expansion will have a positive impact on cash flow in the current financial year, ThyssenKrupp said.
The company says it invested more than €250 million at its location in Kiel, Germany, to add production capacity for the submarine program with the construction of a new shipbuilding hall. ThyssenKrupp also acquired additional shipyard capacity at the former site of MV Werften in Wismar to build submarines and surface vessels.
“With the expansion of the 212CD order, other countries could join this project in the near future,” ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems CEO Oliver Burkhard said in a statement. “Our strong position has now become even stronger.”
The close cooperation with Norway will allow for synergy in operations, logistics and maintenance, which should boost operational availability and reduce costs, according to the defense ministry’s procurement office.
ThyssenKrupp had offered an expeditionary variant of the 212CD, with an increased length of more than 80 meters and displacement of more than 3,000 tons, as its candidate for a submarine tender by the Netherlands. The Dutch in March awarded the contract to France’s Naval Group, which was offering a smaller, conventionally-powered version of its Barracuda submarine, with a surface displacement of 3,300 tons and a length of 82 meters.
As part of the spending approved by the Bundestag, Rheinmetall together with partner blackned GmbH won an order for IT-system integration worth about €1.2 billion over 10 years, the company said in a separate statement. The order is part of a Bundeswehr program to digitalize land-based operations, with Rheinmetall accounting for around €730 million of the contract volume, and the remaining €470 million for blackned.
As part of the same program, a project company set up by Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland won a six-year contract worth roughly €2 billion to equip around 10,000 Bundeswehr vehicles with digital radio equipment. Each company will account for half of the order value, with the work to start in mid-2025 and the equipment conversion complete by the end of 2030, KNDS said in a statement.
“The new technology will increase the command-and-control capability of the army units fundamentally, and improve the interoperability within the Bundeswehr and with NATO allies,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in the statement.
Helikopter - USAF Combat SAR enhet får nye maskiner - Stars & Stripes
Denne saken viser at gamle, gode Black Hawk stadig kommer i nye varianter og med oppgraderinger. Det er verdt å merke seg når Norge snart må bestemme seg for nye maskiner til Hæren og Speialstyrkene. (Red.)
Aviano crew marks end of Pave Hawk helicopter era
with farewell mission
By
Brian Erickson
Stars and Stripes • December
20, 2024
A
U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter operated by the 56th Rescue Squadron
flies over Aviano Air Base, Italy, Feb. 12, 2020. Airmen from Aviano bid
farewell to the Pave Hawk on Dec. 18, 2024, as it flew its final active-duty
mission before the base's transition to the HH-60W Jolly Green II. (Thomas S.
Keisler IV/U.S. Air Force)
AVIANO AIR BASE,
Italy — U.S. airmen here took their final active-duty flight this week in a
rescue helicopter that the Air Force is phasing out after decades of use in
saving the lives of American personnel the world over.
The HH-60G Pave
Hawk was bid farewell Wednesday by members of the 56th Rescue Squadron and 56th
Rescue Generation Squadron, as they get set to join the rest of the service
in switching
to the HH-60W Jolly Green II and its advanced capabilities.
Retirement of the
Pave Hawk has been in the works since 2010. The helicopter is made by Sikorsky,
which also produces the Army’s Black Hawk.
Over the years,
the Pave Hawk has flown missions ranging from combat rescue to humanitarian aid
delivery and disaster response, a U.S. Air Forces in Europe — Air Forces Africa
statement said.
It served as the
Air Force’s primary combat search and rescue helicopter, pulling off both
daytime and nighttime recoveries of service members in hostile environments.
“Today marks the
end of an iconic chapter in our Air Force history,” Col. Beau Diers, the 31st
Fighter Wing’s deputy commander, said in the statement.
Aviano received
its first HH-60W helicopters on December 13 and is scheduled to receive its
full order by October 2025.
An
HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter from the 56th Rescue Squadron lands in Aviano,
Italy, Dec. 17, 2019. Aviano Air Base had its last active-duty mission in a
Pave Hawk on Dec. 18, 2024, continuing the service's phaseout of the
helicopter. (Rebeccah Woodrow/U.S. Air Force)
The Pave Hawk’s
replacement has better avionics, threat detection and countermeasures as well
as greater fuel capacity, the Air Force statement said.
The Jolly
Green II can carry two pilots, two gunners, two paramedics and two litters,
while the fuselage can be mounted on either side with .50-caliber and 7.62 mm
machine guns, according to the Air Force.
The upgrades reflect
a focus on protecting crews and evacuees in hostile environments, Air Force Air
Education and Training Command said in a statement earlier this month.
The name Jolly
Green II pays homage to the Vietnam War-era Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green and
HH-53 Super Jolly Green, whose crews are regarded as the pioneers of aerial
combat search and rescue, the Air Force said in 2020.
Because of its
size and olive green color, the HH-3E was nicknamed after advertising icon the
Jolly Green Giant.
Phaseout of the
Pave Hawk began in 2022. The Jolly
Green II’s first operational use came in September of that
year, when it flew a patient from Valdosta, Ga., to Tampa, Fla., the Air Force
said.
In December 2022,
the HH-60W debuted in the field with a casualty evacuation operation in the
Horn of Africa, according to a Defense
Department report.
fredag 20. desember 2024
Moldelandingen kategoriseres som alvorlig luftfartshendelse - X
Ingen ting tyder på vanskelige landingsforhold. Jeg vet ikke noe om vann på banen og sånt. Av bilder ser det ikke ut til å være snø på banen.
Det sies nå kl 19 at det kom en snøbyge like før landing som førte til glatt bane. Det ligger an til kategoriseringen operativ risiko. (Red.)
We’re following reports of a Norwegian 737 that has overrun the runway in Molde, Norway. flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/
Active METAR at the time: ENML 191750Z 29012KT 260V320 9999 -SHRASN SCT012 BKN025 03/M00 Q0984
Droner - UAS Vision oppdateringer
Kalashnikov Buckshot: ‘Worse Than Nothing’ Against Drones?By The Editor on Dec 20, 2024 07:53 am New videos on
Russian social media analyzed in detail at The Armourer’s Bench website provide
a do-it-yourself guide for creating anti-drone buckshot rounds for the
ubiquitous AK-74 assault rifle. This seems to be something of a trend, which is
not surprising when infantry combat is rare and drone attacks are frequent.
Ukraine has fielded more […]Read in browser » Ukraine’s Long-Range Taipan 100 Bomber Drone Aims to Disrupt Russian Supply LinesBy The Editor on Dec 20, 2024 07:39 am The KOLO Charitable Foundation
announced* the delivery of two Taipan-100 bomber drones to Ukrainian special
forces, specifically the Tymur Special Unit. This contribution, valued at
$146,000, was funded through the Hurkit crowdfunding project. The equipment
provided includes advanced systems designed to enhance the offensive and
reconnaissance capabilities of Ukrainian operators. The Taipan-100 is a
state-of-the-art […]Read in browser » Warheads in Phoenix Ghost Kamikaze Drones RevealedBy The Editor on Dec 20, 2024 07:31 am With its previously highly secretive
Phoenix Ghost family of kamikaze drones now having emerged fully into the light,
AEVEX Aerospace has been more openly discussing their capabilities. One
especially interesting detail has now emerged: the different Phoenix Ghost types
can be configured to launch attacks straight down while passing overhead, akin
to an air-bursting artillery […]Read in browser » AgEagle Aerial Systems Completes Order for eBee VISION Drones from Danish Ministry of DefenceBy The Editor on Dec 20, 2024 07:12 am – AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. has announced a recent expansion upon its existing eBee X drone fleet for the Danish Ministry of Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) with the sale and delivery of three eBee VISION drones. AgEagle CEO Bill Irby commented, “DALO’s expansion of their existing eBee drone fleet underscores the reliability, performance, […] Read in browser » de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth – the Biplane that Brought a Knife to a Gun FightBy The Editor on Dec 20, 2024 07:00 am In the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany’s advance across Europe seemed unstoppable. As the once mighty France teetered on the edge of defeat after a brutal campaign, Britain braced itself for invasion. Faced with this dire threat, British High Command made a bold decision: every aircraft capable of flight would be called upon to defend […] Read in browser » Recent Articles:Kalashnikov Concern Delivers SKAT 350 M UAV to State SpearUAV Gets $20M Contract for Advanced VIPER 300 AI-Based Loitering Munition Systems Emerging EMP Drone Threat to Our Power Grid General Atomics Gets $48M French Air Force MQ-9 Maintenance Contract Kratos Conducts First Flight Of Thanatos UCAV |
MH370 skal søkes etter igjen - BBC
Malaysia approves new
search for missing flight MH370
3 hours ago
Koh Ewe
BBC News
The Malaysian government says it has agreed in
principle to resume the search for a passenger jet that vanished 10 years ago
in one of aviation's greatest mysteries.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in
March 2014 while on its way to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
with 239 people on board.
Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777
have sputtered over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain
haunted by the tragedy.
On Friday,
Malaysia's transport minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet approved in
principle a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean
Infinity to find the aircraft.
Under a "no find, no fee" arrangement,
Ocean Infinity will get paid only when the wreckage is found.
A 2018 search for the MH370 wreckage by Ocean
Infinity under similar terms ended unsuccessfully after three months.
A multinational effort that cost $150m (£120m)
ended in 2017 after two years of scouring vast waters. The governments of the
three nations involved - Malaysia, Australia and China - said the search would
only be resumed "should credible new evidence emerge" of the
aircraft's location.
While the government has "in principle"
accepted Ocean Infinity's offer, Loke said negotiations over specific terms of
the deal were still ongoing and would be finalised early next year.
The new search will cover a 15,000 sq km patch in
the southern Indian Ocean, based on new data that Kuala Lumpur found to be
"credible", the minister said.
"We hope
this time will be positive," Loke said, adding that finding the wreckage
would give closure to the families of those on board.
MH370: The
families haunted by one of aviation's greatest mysteries
How Malaysia
Airlines came back from twin tragedies
'Best Christmas present ever'
Relatives of passengers on MH370 welcomed the
Malaysian government's approval of a new search.
"I am so happy for the news... [It] feels
like the best Christmas present ever," Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of
MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.
"This announcement stirs mixed emotions -
hope, gratitude, and sorrow. After nearly 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of
not having answers have been incredibly difficult for us," Intan Maizura
Othaman also told the papers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a
member of the cabin crew.
Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told the
Reuters news agency the Malaysian government must have a "more open
approach" to the search to allow more players to take part.
In a statement, Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett
said the Malaysian government's decision was "great news", adding:
"We look forward to sharing further updates in the new year once we've
finalised the details and the team gets ready to go."
Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the
early hours of 8 March 2014. It lost communication with air traffic control less
than an hour after take-off and radar showed that it deviated from its planned
flight path.
Investigators generally agree that the plane
crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean - though it is unclear as to why
it happened.
Pieces of debris, believed to be from the plane,
have washed up on shores of the Indian Ocean in the years after the
disappearance.
A host of conspiracy theories have sprouted up
around the aircraft's disappearance, from speculation that the pilot had
deliberately brought down the plane to claims that it had been shot down by a
foreign military.
A 2018 investigation into the aircraft's
disappearance found that the plane's controls were likely deliberately
manipulated to take it off course - but drew no conclusions about who had been
behind it.
Investigators
said at the time that "the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage
is found".
Blir Svalbard selve testen på holdbarheten til NATOs Article 5? - Fosvarets forum
Jeg er ikke alene om å tro at Russland vil teste NATO samholdet gjennom selv å snik-militarisere øygruppen. Det kan begynne med at de anklager oss for det først, for deretter å komme med mottiltak (Red.)
Sjekk saken om at Russland antyder at vi vil bruke Svalbard til militære formål: https://tinyurl.com/3j5jbu85
Kommentar til innlegget i går vedr. Sola flyplass og situasjonen der - Av Jan-Petter Helgesen
Allerede for 15 år siden ringte en gledestrålende stortingsrepresentant Tore Nordtun til undertegnede som da var journalist i Stavanger Aftenblad om at regjeringen hadde satt av 70 millioner kroner til utbedringer av oppstillingsplasser og taksebaner på den militære delen av flyplassen på Sola.
Banedekket
var i så dårlig forfatning at det ikke kunne brukes uten at en risikerte at fly
og helikoptre sank gjennom dekket. Pengene måtte brukes i inneværende
budsjettår.
Omkring
30 millioner kroner ble brukt til utbedring av oppstillingsplassen for
helikoptre. De resterende pengene, ca 40 millioner kroner ble ikke benyttet til
utbedring av taksebanene som forutsatt. Beløpet ble dermed tilbakeført til
Staten ved budsjettårets slutt. Dermed har tidens tann slitt enda mer på
banedekket som i dag er bortimot ubrukelig.
Det
kan også nevnes at i 2015 opplyste daværende forsvarssjef, admiral Haakon
Bull-Hansen, at det forsømte vedlikeholdet av taksebaner skulle utbedres. Intet
ble gjort og nå har Avinor grepet til sterkere virkemidler ved å stenge Sola for
militær flyvirksomhet.
Jan-Petter
Helgesen
Spania går for Eurofighter til erstatning for F/A-18 - Airbus
Jeg leser at Tyrkia har to slike fly på besøk nå og det går rykter om en bestilling derfra også. (Red.)
Spain orders 25 additional Eurofighter
aircraft
Getafe,
Spain, 20 December 2024 – The Spanish government has signed a contract
with Munich-based, Germany, NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency
(NETMA) for the acquisition of 25 Eurofighter aircraft. Known as the Halcon II
programme, the order will cover the delivery of 21 latest-generation
single-seat and four twin-seat Eurofighter aircraft to replace part of the F-18
fleet operated by the Spanish Air and Space Force.
The agreement, which
follows a previous contract signed in 2022 for a batch of 20 fighter jets, will
see the Spanish Eurofighter fleet grow to 115 aircraft. With the first delivery
due in 2030, these new aircraft will: boost Spain’s air-power capabilities and
operations; reinforce its prominent position at the heart of NATO, and secure
the programme’s industrial footprint.
“The Eurofighter is the
most advanced and the most successful fighter jet from European production and
is the backbone of European air superiority. It is also a symbol of industrial
cooperation between nations and companies - an example of how Europe can work
in our current defence context. We are grateful for the trust of the Spanish
government in our Eurofighter and in Airbus Defence and Space. Not only is this
order an important demand and defence signal, it secures the supply chain in
Spain and across Europe,” said Mike Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and
Space.
All Spanish Eurofighters
are assembled, tested and delivered at the Airbus Getafe site (Madrid-Spain)
and its industrial footprint translates into more than 16,000 direct and
indirect jobs in Spain alone. The main national defence and technological
companies are involved in the manufacturing process.
The acquisition was
approved by Spain’s Council of Ministers in September 2023 and includes the
aircraft, engines, and the necessary support services.
The Halcon saga
Designed to replace the
country’s F-18 fleet, the Halcon programme means a significant upgrade of
Spain’s airpower capabilities: a total of 45 (20+25) Eurofighter jets ordered
since 2022, equipped with advanced avionics, electronically-scanning radar
(E-Scan), enhanced weapon systems capable of operating Brimstone III and Full
Meteor, new sensors and improved connectivity. They will join the current
Spanish Air Force’s 70 aircraft fleet from 2026 onwards.
In service with Spain
since 2003, the country’s air force operates the Eurofighter from the air bases
at Morón (11th Wing), near Seville, and Los Llanos (14th Wing), Albacete. Gando
(46th Wing), on the Canary Islands, will soon become the next operating base.
In total, the Eurofighter
programme secures more than 100,000 jobs in Europe, which will be boosted
through latest-generation aircraft, as well as in the future, through
technological advances within the Eurofighter development.
To date, more than 700
Eurofighters have been ordered by eight nations.
To download audiovisual
assets, click here.
"Ankersleperen" har besøk av svenske etterforskere nå - gCaptain
Russia Now Primary Suspect in ‘Yi Peng 3’ Baltic
Sea Cable Incident
Total Views:
2068
December 16, 2024
By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) –
Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 remains at anchor in international waters of Denmark’s Kattegat Strait a month after the C-Lion 1 and BCS East-West Interlink cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged.
While Sweden has now scaled back
direct observation of Yi Peng 3, Danish and German patrol ships remain on standby in
proximity to the bulk carrier.
Swedish officials confirmed that
they had been in contact with the vessel’s crew to ask it to return to Swedish
waters in support of the ongoing investigation; thus far without success.
The German Coast Guard has cycled
through several of its patrol vessels, with Neustadt the
latest to arrive on site. Previously Bamberg equipped with
unmanned underwater vehicles traveled to both the location of the damaged cable
and Yi Peng 3.
Over the weekend the WSJ reported that Western intelligence
services believe the vessel’s Chinese captain was “induced by Russian
intelligence” to use the ship’s anchor to damage the cables.
A comment by U.S. Assistant
Secretary of Defense Christopher Maier on the incident seemingly confirms the
Russia connection. “Russia understands that it cannot match the United States
militarily after the setbacks in Ukraine and is looking for other ways to
pressure and disrupt Western countries,” he told Swedish daily Svenska
Dagbladet.
The waters of the Baltics and North
Sea have seen a growing number of incidents like the one surrounding Yi
Peng 3 and last year’s Newnew Polar Bear. “We
therefore expect to see more types of sabotage and other disruptive and
subversive incidents,” Maier confirmed.
The Kremlin has repeatedly called
such claims “absurd.” Fact is that after operating primarily in Asia between
2013 and 2024, without any visits to Russia, Yi Peng 3 began
changing its operating pattern in March 2024 with several visits to Murmansk
and Ust-Luga near St. Petersburg. The vessel also switched its P&I Insurance
to the London P&I Club on November 13 just days before the incident,
Equasis database records show.
Government officials in Sweden and
Germany confirmed that an investigation was ongoing, but that due to the
sensitive nature they would be unable to comment any further.
AIS signals showing Danish Navy
Patrol HDMS Rota (P525) and German Coast Guard vessel Neustadt on
scene around a nautical mile apart. (Source: MarineTraffic.com)
The German Coast Guard, after
examining the broken C-Lion 1 cable with a SeaCat autonomous reconnaissance
underwater vehicle, confirmed that the damage they observed was consistent with
that caused by a dragged anchor, including a deep furrow on the seabed. The
cable has since been repaired.
There is quite a high probability
that this is a malign activity, the recent disruption of cables in the Baltic
Sea,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Naus?da said last week.
While European officials have confirmed that China is cooperating in the
various pending investigations, it has thus far not intervened to e.g. allow
the boarding of the vessel. After more than a month at sea the Yi Peng
3 may also be running low on provisions, eventually requiring it to head
into port or receive supplies. Danish and German officials previously stated
they’d follow the vessel if it were to depart.
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