Recent content by calculus

Wasn't exactly sure in which thread to put this, but it's a very interesting article suggesting the days of towed artillery may be over. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2024/06/13/artillery-goes-trucking-to-survive-drones-swarming-the-battlefield/

Not a ringing endorsement on the performance in real battlefield conditions of some of the most vaunted Western weapons systems. Especially interesting for Canada is the takeaway that the M777 is too delicate, and burns through barrels. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-us-weapons/

More bad news for one of the ships (Constellation class) that Alan Williams loves to point to as an option to continuing with the CSC. https://www.twz.com/sea/navys-new-constellation-class-frigate-is-a-mess

Aren't the first few tranches to be trained at Luke AFB? I thought I had read somewhere that 4 of the first Canadian F35s would be delivered to Luke for use by Canadian students.

This is interesting. Australia is apparently forgoing any customization to its proposed class of 11 "Tier 2" frigates. A truly MOTS purchase. They cite time as the leading factor in this decision, but I believe AUKUS has strained the Australian defence budget to such a high degree that cost is...

6000. The original design was 4500, but was updated to 6000, presumably to accommodate the larger radar.

Another customer for SPY-7: https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2024/taiwan-navy-relaunches-frigate-project-to-feature-lockheed-martin-an-spy-7-radar

Meanwhile, in Poland: https://www.canadiandefencereview.com/news/hanwha-ocean-pledges-mro-tech-transfer-to-polish-industry

According to the link below, Canada will be one of the users of the upgraded SM2 missile (the Block IIICU) https://www.navaltoday.com/2024/05/06/raytheon-pens-344-million-deal-for-us-navys-missile-development-program/

AUKUS nuclear sub program in trouble. Can't say I'm surprised. https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/start-thinking-now-about-alternatives-to-aukus-pillar-1/

Stumbled across this CFC paper from a few years ago. It contains a lot of interesting information on the rationale for AEW, the numbers of aircraft (6), the type of aircraft, some suggestions on basing, and a rough staffing model. Quite well written, and an interesting comparison between the E-7...

The article The article suggests that the UK paid $2.33Bil (US) for 3, so perhaps 5 or 6?

This is interesting: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/canada-plans-spend-5-billion-aew-aircraft?elq2=75530bb96f914ac08178d3dfc4a82b9f&sp_eh=e94179ca52d219b366db98a6c69e7503628ec39669975061009f9d2231609f5a

This is the best article I have seen on the Type 23 life extensions. The comments are particularly interesting. In any case, presumably many of the issues described with regards to structural issues are being faced by our ships...

This should be a cautionary tale for those who push nuclear subs on this forum. Even with an increase to the Australian defence budget to 2.4% of GDP, significant cuts to other programs will be required to support that acquisition...