Month: October 2017
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Fire on Polish submarine
Poland’s Kilo-class submarine Orzeł has had a fire accident while docked in Gdynia, reports Naval Today. The damages are so bad that it is uncertain that Orzeł will ever come into service again. Orzeł is Poland’s only Kilo-class submarine. Poland also has four Kobben-class submarines but they have all passed the 50 year mark and […]
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F-35 arrives in Norway on Thursday
The first three Joint Strike Fighters will arrive in Norway on Thursday, according to this official statement by the government. Officially the three aircraft will be received at a ceremony on Friday, November 10 at the Ørland Main Air Station. Norway has already received seven F-35s that are being used in USA for training. In […]
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Missile defense is not as effective as Donald Trump believes
Overconfidence in the missile defense can lead the United States to make dumb foreign policy decisions and neglect relationships with allies.
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Latvia receives first howitzers
Latvia has received the first batch of self-propelled howitzers. The 155 mm/39 self-propelled howitzers M109A5Öe are part of a deal with Austria to buy a total of 47 armored vehicles. All of them are of the M109 family, but only 35 are howitzers. The remaining are 10 fire control vehicles and two machines for training […]
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Russia’s ship with ballistic missile radar could literally save the world
The Russian ship Marshal Krylov has been updated to make it possible to track ballistic missiles. The story in Izvestia caught my attention because of a rather bold statement that the ship is now able to detect launched missiles anywhere in the world, which seems like a marvelous technical breakthrough given that the earth is […]
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Lithuania increases defense spending to meet 2 percent goal
Lithuania will increase defense spending to hit the NATO target of 2 percent of GDP in 2018, reports AFP according to digigataljournal.com. With that the total number of NATO countries to meet the goal is up to eight: United States Greece Britain Poland Romania Estonia Latvia Lithuania AFP quotes Lithuania’s defense minister Raimundas Karoblis for […]
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All of Germany’s submarines are broken
A few weeks ago I passed the German submarine U 35 in Kattegat, and as always the encounter with a submarine caused a bit of attention on the bridge. She was heading North, and we suspected that she was going to Skagerrak for some test dives. Turns out we were right. Unfortunately she also hit […]
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Baltic Fleet strengthened with airborne regiments
The Russian Baltic Fleet will be strengthened with two airborne regiments, reports Interfax. It is not quite clear what kind of regiments it is going to be, so the technical effect is somewhat unclear. But the message is that the new regiments will enforce the Baltic Fleet noticeably, and that the troops will be stationed […]
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From Homo Sovieticus to Putin’s man
Many Western politicians are still reluctant to acknowledge that there is a fundamental and incompatible difference in values between themselves and the current Russian leadership. At least in Denmark we often hear well-meaning politicians argue that Russia is not really a threat, and that we can continue advocating human rights and democracy while simultaneously pursuing […]
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Is Finland setting the example for military leadership?
Finland is getting positive attention for their approach to military leadership and the remarkable defense preparedness of the Finns.
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Estonia enhances electronic surveillance of border
Estonia is projecting electronic surveillance of the Narva River with a bit of foreign funding, reports err.ee. The project includes a radar, cameras, electrical connections, a communications solution, and more. The idea is to improve the guarding of the border and increase the chance of detecting illegal border crossings. Given Lithuania’s problems with keeping Russian […]