Dave Majumdar for The National Interest: Early next year in February, the first of Russia’s new production Tupolev Tu-160M2 Blackjack supersonic strategic bombers will take to the air. The new bomber is essentially a prototype of a next generation variant of the venerable Blackjack, the first generation of which was built during the 1980s in […]
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Strange message about deterrence from Danish general
Danish Chief of Defense Bjørn Bisserup has given a comprehensive interview to defense website DefenseWatch (in Danish). The interview was published on the same day that I published my review of Gerasimov’s speech, and what a difference. Unfortunately it seems to me that the Russian general has a much more realistic approach to the challenges […]
Denmark reopens listening post to eavesdrop on Russia
The Danish Defense Intelligence Service is building a listening post on the island of Bornholm in order to eavesdrop on Russian radio communications. That reports Danish newspaper Politiken. The mast will be 85 meters high, and the newspaper writes that it will be focused on the VHF frequency band. That sounds like a very narrow […]
Sale of Patriot missiles to Poland approved
The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of Patriot missiles to Poland, reports Reuters: The proposed sale includes 208 Patriot Advanced Capabilty-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, 16 M903 launching stations, four AN/MPQ-65 radars, four control stations, spares, software and associated equipment. In addition, Poland is authorized to buy U.S. government and contractor technical, […]
Germany will probably replace Tornado with F-35
It looks like Germany might join the F-35 family around 2025. According to Janes the Joint Strike Fighter is the preferred choice as a replacement for the Tornado. The Tornado will retire around 2030, and the transition to its successor will take about five years. It makes a lot of sense to replace the Tornado […]
Confusion in the Kremlin is a terrible idea
Michael Hikari Cecire in The National Interest arguing that NATO should react asymmetrically to military provocations from Russia: “What would this look like in practice? Exhaustively fortifying the Baltic States is likely a strategic nonstarter, as even a perfect defense would likely only invite Russian countermoves elsewhere. Instead, Western states might link Russian provocations with […]
General Gerasimov describes state of Russia’s armed forces
Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov held a speech on 7 November 2017 where he described the state of the armed forces.
Russia struggles with air-independent submarines
Most modern submarines are built with air-independent propulsion (AIP), but Russia still has not been able to make it work. This means that Russia still builds Kilo-class submarines with a propulsion system that is technologically outdated. A submarine without AIP needs to recharge the electrical batteries ever so often through a snorkel operation that puts […]
Sweden settles on US Patriot missiles
Sweden will buy Patriot missiles to replace the country’s old Hawk air defense system. Political turmoil has preceded the 10 billion kroner deal.
Still waiting for easy access to each other’s territories
While on the topic of NORDEFCO memorandums of understanding, has anyone seen any implementations of last year’s agreement to create easy access to each other’s territories for military capabilities?