International Military Discussion

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Rishi_Tri
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Rishi_Tri »

Defense procurement processes across the globe are as complicated as Indian. Sample this ..

Seoul advances maritime helicopter procurement
Jon Grevatt, Bangkok - Jane's Defence Industry
20 May 2019

South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has issued a tender to procure a second batch of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters for the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN), it has been confirmed to Jane's .

The programme - the Maritime Operation Helicopter (MOH) batch-two procurement - features the acquisition of 12 helicopters for about KRW900 billion (USD804 million). Under the MOH batch-one programme, Leonardo delivered eight AW159 Wildcat twin-engine multimission helicopters to the RoKN in 2016.

The new tender, in the form of a Request for Proposals (RFP), comes after Leonardo emerged as the sole vendor for the batch-two programme in early 2018 after other bidders, including the US government, declined to respond to an RFP because of concerns about the value of the deal.

The acquisition was then restarted in line with DAPA's procurement rules that state a single-source contract is only permissible after two failed open tenders. In a subsequent tender later in 2018, Leonardo emerged again as the sole bidder, although the US government retabled an offer at a late stage in mid-November 2018, prompting DAPA to restart the competitive bidding process.


Leonardo's offer is a direct commercial sale, while the US is looking to secure a deal through its Foreign Military Sale (FMS) mechanism.

On 20 May both Leonardo and Lockheed Martin confirmed to Jane's that they will bid for the MOH batch-two programme. Leonardo said it will again bid with its AW159 while Lockheed Martin confirmed that it will position its MH-60R Seahawk Romeo maritime multimission helicopter for the RoKN requirement.


https://www.janes.com/article/88659/seo ... rocurement
brar_w
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by brar_w »

Is Israel Flying F-35s In Iraq To Hit Iran Missile Shipments?
Reports are emerging of Israeli strikes inside Iraq targeting Iranian ballistic missile shipments. If true, the reported F-35Is missions targeting two Iranian bases would represent a sharp escalation of Israeli attacks on Iranian forces operating in the region, and mark the first Israeli strikes in Iraq since the bold 1981 bombing that destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nascent nuclear program.

The London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that Israel attacked one camp in Salah-Din Province in northwestern Iraq using F-35I aircraft, contradicting initial reports which claimed an unmanned aircraft carried out the strike. Adding to that report, Al-Arabiya said the bombing killed several Hezbollah officers along with members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Reports indicate that the target was home to Iranian-produced ballistic missiles concealed in food refrigeration trucks.

Major Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, former head of the IDF’s military intelligence arm told Breaking Defense that Iraq is a logistical artery for Iran, allowing Tehran to ship weapons and forces to Syria and Lebanon....
brar_w
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by brar_w »

Another peril of taking FMS notifications as unit price (they are not contracts, just estimates for 100% product and services that are approved [ seldom do customers buy 100% of what is approved or at a price that is estimated]) –

Lockheed contract $800 Million for 14 aircraft ($57 Million). Add about $10 Million in additional cost and that will be the current best guess for fly-away price of the F-16V at a new site and at low volume. Roughly comparable to Boeing’s SH URF at its legacy St Louis site at a 24-36 annual production volumes
Lockheed Martin Corp., doing business as Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $799,955,939 firm-fixed-price incentive contract for F-16 aircraft production. This contract provides for the production and support of 14 Slovak Republic F-16 block 70 aircraft. Work will be performed at Greenville, South Carolina, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2024. This contract award involves 100% foreign military sales to the Slovak Republic. This award is the result of a Slovak Republic conducted competition. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $799,955,939 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8615-19-C-6053).
https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/ ... e/1922486/
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

In a naval confrontation with Iran, Great Britain can find neither ships nor friends
WASHINGTON – It was a knife-twist that originated in Florida, but it was felt across the Atlantic.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing Monday on Fox News via a live feed from the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, was asked by anchor Brian Kilmeade what the United States’ role was in helping the United Kingdom get its tanker back, which was seized by Iran in a tit-for-tat raid at sea after the U.K. seized an Iranian tanker suspected of smuggling oil to Syria.

"The responsibility ... falls to the United Kingdom to take care of their ships," Pompeo said.

America’s top diplomat went on to say that the U.S. had a role in policing the Strait of Hormuz, but that “the world has a big role in this, too, to keep these sea lanes open,” he continued. “I’m convinced we’ll do that.”

It was a loaded answer, and the subtext wasn’t missed in the United Kingdom: The U.K. has the responsibility to protect its own ships, but doesn’t have the Navy it needs to do it.

Like the U.S. Navy, the Royal Navy has seen a decline in the size of its fleet since the 1980s, only in the case of the Royal Navy, it had fewer ships to lose to start with. The U.S. Navy has struggled to maintain its global commitments with a fleet of 290 ships, and it has seen a 52 percent decrease from its 1987 peak of 594 ships. The U.S. Navy is today pursuing a goal of 355 ships.

But during roughly the same time period the Royal Navy has lost more than 40 percent of its fleet, that stood at more than 130 ships. Today’s Royal Navy numbers fewer than 80 ships.

Both fleets made similar decisions to focus on high-end capabilities to the detriment of good-old fashioned capacity, trusting to allies and partners to help make up shortfalls where necessary. But the U.S. is tied up on other missions, is renewing its focus on fighting big powers like Russia and China, and is hoping against hope to get itself disentangled from Middle East conflicts. So Iran’s seizure of a British tanker, with no Royal Navy assets close enough to stop it, has exposed the shortcomings of a capability over capacity trades that Britain made since the end of the Cold War, experts said.

“About $88 trillion of global [gross domestic product] is being borne by seaborne assets, and they are being protected by fewer than 1,000 gray hulls in the world – talking about the United States and its allies and partners,” said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and analyst with Telemus Group. “And those who would align themselves against us – Iran, Russia, China – they are choosing to interpret the global international system differently.

“The British pulled back in order to consolidate their resources on the high end. And now they have tankers that are being taken at sea. So you can't have it both ways. That's why I've been arguing for a balance between war-winning capabilities and peace-preserving capacity.”

The draw-down was a deliberate strategy that bet a lot on the U.K.’s relationship with the United States, said Bryan Clark, a retired U.S. Navy submarine officer and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

“The UK’s strategy, if you look at their most recent [Strategic Defense and Security Review], they say is that ‘Our job is to plug into a U.S.-led force in support of some larger operation, whether that is against a great power or against someone like a Libya,’” Clark said.

“And they’ve designed a Navy and a force that’s like a small version of the U.S. Military, with the idea that they plug that in to the US military. And that led them to pursue those two aircraft carriers, submarines, and if you look on the ground, they’ve got some really high-end units, but they’re really small. They are designed to plug in.”

The primary focus for the Royal Navy is to build its two new aircraft carriers, along with the escorts necessary to defend it, to augment a US force in a large-scale operation. The U.K. is also building a new ballistic missile sub to contribute to deterrence patrols. That strategy, however, leaves little for holding down presence in places where the U.K. has national security interests, Clark continued.

“It doesn’t leave a lot of money left over for the low-end capabilities you’d need for maritime security patrol, for example," he said. "They’re not designing a global, full-spectrum military. They’re designing a military that can plug in with the US for large-scale operations.”

That strategy works, however, only if the U.S. is willing to commit forces to help protect British interests. But with the advent of the Trump administration and its “America First” policies that demand a greater share of the burden from allies, the faith that America will always be there may no longer be well founded.

‘Too Small’

Nobody missed the point when Pompeo told Fox News that the U.K. had to look after its own ships.

Immediately when the news broke, U.K. national security Twitter became inundated with grumpy and sarcastic tweets about the “special relationship” between the U.S. and U.K.

But they needn’t have been surprised.

In June, the Pentagon’s number two officer, Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, told a group of reporters that the rising threat to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz was not solely the responsibility of the United States.

“I think there is a military role in defending freedom of navigation,” Selva said. "The question will be to what extent the international community is behind that effort.

“I’m not suggesting for a moment that we don’t have a significant role to play in that space. But it will require an international consensus before force is used with one specific caveat: If the Iranians come after U.S. citizens, U.S. assets or U.S. military, we reserve the right to respond with a military action. They need to know that, it needs to be very clear.”

So far the U.S. offered to provide intelligence for an escort mission but has also said it will only escort U.S. shipping through the straits.

But that the Royal Navy isn’t large enough to hold down such a mission to protect its ships on its own is something even the Ministry of Defense leadership openly acknowledged this week.

“We have three of four vessels going through 100 nautical miles of waterway every single day,” said Tobias Ellwood, the MoD’s personnel and veterans’ chief, in an interview Sunday on Skye News. “It’s not just us, it’s the international community there is well. But it is impossible for us to escort each individual vessel.

“If we want to continue playing a role on the international stage, given that threats are changing, all happening beneath the threshold of all-out war, then we must invest more in our defense, including in the Royal Navy. Our Royal Navy is too small to manage our interests across the globe.”

Little Help?

The talking points from US about the UK needing to protect their own ships have been consistent, even as Pompeo and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford have tried with middling to no success to piece together a coalition of willing partners to patrol the straits, being dubbed “Operation Sentinel.”

The U.K. has had its own issues finding a little help from their friends. A United Kingdom-led effort to organize a European mission to defend shipping in the Gulf has so-far fallen on deaf ears, with both France and Germany demurring when asked to pony up some assets for the mission, according to a Wednesday report in the Financial Times. Both Germany and France have cited concerns about escalating the situation.

So far, both efforts have been a relative debacle.

The U.S. position to date is in line not just with the Pentagon’s messaging, but with the Trump administration’s America First policies.

“It seems consistent with this idea that we want NATO to take responsibility for its own defense,” said Clark, the CSBA analyst. “In that view, this is an example of a country with far-flung interests that has failed to invest adequately in their defense. It fits perfectly in with that argument.

“It’s consistent also with Mike Pompeo’s effort on Operation Sentinel: It’s a way to pressure other countries like Britain and Japan and even potentially China and India to fork over some capabilities to help defend their shipping.”
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

Wary of Trump’s Hard Line on Iran, Europeans Decline to Join Escorts in Gulf
Aug. 1, 2019

BRUSSELS — With tensions rising with Iran, the United States and Britain have been shopping for European support to bolster patrols in the Persian Gulf around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage way for global oil supplies.

But so far the American requests for help to escort shipping in the Gulf have been met with silence or rejection, including a blunt “no” on Wednesday from Germany.

Nor have nations like France, Germany, Italy or Sweden yet responded favorably to Britain’s suggestion of a European escort force, separate from the Americans, even after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the gulf.

The refusals have underscored the divergent policies toward Iran and are aggravating distrust and resentment on both sides: Washington accuses its European allies of free-riding on its efforts to secure the Persian Gulf, while the Europeans argue that Washington created the problem in the first place by trying to kill off Iran’s oil exports.

Many European leaders have worked to keep their distance from President Trump and his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran to avoid being seen as aiding that policy. Nor do they see the logic of imposing sanctions on the Iranian foreign minister, who presumably would be Iran’s representative in any new negotiations — though Washington has done so.

On Wednesday, senior American officials described the foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif — who defends his government’s policies as zealously as does his American counterpart, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — as being a “propaganda arm” of Tehran.

The Europeans are unlikely to move unless Iran takes more provocative action. European nations with navies understand that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is a strategic interest, but they are reluctant to join the United States in patrolling the waterway, wary of being drawn into someone else’s war.

“In ordinary times there would have been a positive response,” said Robert Malley, the director of the International Crisis Group and a former member of the National Security Council under President Barack Obama. “But now there is a fear of being seen as too closely associated with the United States.’’

The Europeans support the 2015 deal that was intended to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and have been working to salvage it since Mr. Trump abandoned the agreement last year. Tensions have escalated as Tehran presses for relief from new American sanctions.

‘‘Whatever efforts Europeans make, even if parallel efforts, in Iranian minds it will look like two pieces of one move,’’ he said. ‘‘So it’s hard to disentangle themselves from a U.S. policy they see as having provoked this crisis.”

That much was clear late Wednesday, when the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, a Social Democratic member of the shaky governing coalition, said that his country would not be joining the Americans.

The Social Democrats, junior members of the coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, have been particularly critical of American policy toward Iran. That includes Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal as well as his efforts to force new concessions from Iran by trying to cut off its oil exports.

“Germany will not take part in the naval mission proposed and planned by the United States,” Mr. Maas said. “We are in close coordination with our French partners. We consider the ‘maximum pressure’ strategy to be wrong. We do not want a further military escalation; we will continue to focus on diplomacy.”

Germany’s refusal was criticized by the American ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who is known for being blunt and undiplomatic. Mr. Grenell said that as a leading international economic power, Germany should want to secure one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.

“With global success comes responsibility,” Mr. Grenell told the regional daily Augsburger Allgemeine. He added: “America has given a lot to help Germany remain part of the West.”

Some in Germany share that view, and it was indicative of the strains in the governing coalition that Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a Christian Democrat viewed as a likely successor to Ms. Merkel, had said earlier on Wednesday that the American request was being “reviewed.”

Jan Techau, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund, called the German decision and the shallow debate behind it a case of ducking responsibility.

“First, for us it’s the classic reluctance to get involved militarily,’’ Mr. Techau said. ‘‘But then there’s the argument that the Americans caused this and destroyed the Iran deal and we’re not going to go out there to alleviate the problems they created.”

Also troubling, he said, was the silence on the British request for a European convoy. “On the one hand we say with Trump that it’s a European moment and we must take our own fate in our hands,” Mr. Techau said. “Yet now when there is a clear issue of interests there is nothing.”

Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, said he agreed with the German decision.

“The Trump administration has put us in a situation where everybody is talking of a risk of war, of creeping escalation,” Mr. Perthes said. “Now the Trump administration is trying to send a military signal and wants its allies to get into the act. It is only right for Germany to say no.’’

“We cannot be part — should not be part — of a U.S. mission that couldn’t be seen other than being an escalatory move,” he added.

France has been cautious for similar reasons.

“All our actions only have one aim: to de-escalate and to lower tensions,” said an adviser to the French defense minister. “We won’t do anything that doesn’t go in that direction. A coalition that would look like it was directed against Iran would not be likely to reduce tensions.”

A senior French official was blunt: “We have intense military cooperation with the Americans. But on Iran, we won’t follow automatically.”

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, told lawmakers last week that France was working with Britain and Germany on a “mission for monitoring and observing maritime security in the gulf” — something less kinetic than naval escorts.

“This vision is at the opposite of the American initiative, which is the choice of maximum pressure to make Iran go back on a certain number of its objectives,” Mr. Le Drian said.

Italian officials said that they had not received a direct request for naval help in the Persian Gulf, and European Union officials said that there had not been a request for force generation from any member country.

The same goes for its frustration with the largely successful American effort to cut off its oil exports.

Mr. Malley of the International Crisis Group said Iran might now be exporting only 100,000 barrels of oil a day. “That’s very hard for Iran to continue living with, and it will react in ways that could provoke the war President Trump doesn’t want,” he said.

Iran announced small breaches in its compliance with the nuclear deal and seized the British-flagged tanker, arguing that Britain had seized an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar in violation of the nuclear deal.

Tehran is also trying to separate the Europeans from the United States.

But if Iran were to seize more tankers, Mr. Malley said, the Europeans might join a naval escort group, whether it aids the Americans or not.

“Further military buildup in the region would increase the risk of miscalculation,” said Ali Vaez, Iran project director of the Crisis Group.

“The reality is that there is no military solution,’’ Mr. Vaez said. ‘‘Having escorts for the ships would address the symptom of this crisis, not the root causes.”

Manish_P
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Manish_P »

Question to the knowledgeable. Is the 'Strix' in development? How effective would it be against a MBT (especially a moving target), given that the least armored part is the top.

Image
Wickberg
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Wickberg »

Manish_P wrote:Question to the knowledgeable. Is the 'Strix' in development? How effective would it be against a MBT (especially a moving target), given that the least armored part is the top.

Image
Strix has been in service for 25 years and is pretty effective.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

"AI is making it easier to kill (you)"

NYT:

https://nyti.ms/2PUeyRZ
Shwetank
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Shwetank »


More balanced view than the Greek jingoistic viewpoint common in west, wasn't simply quality vs quantity.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Kartik »

Image

Ukraine trials 2S22 Bogdana wheeled 155mm artillery
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has started trials of the 2S22 Bogdana, a wheeled self-propelled howitzer (SPH) armed with a 155 mm ordnance. The first trials were conducted with wooden blocks, as opposed to a munition, which is designed to test whether the barrel can handle the necessary pressures.

The first trials are expected to be completed by mid-2020, at which point there will be state-run tests. Adoption within the Ukrainian Army is not expected until 2021-22, according to Ukrinform, Ukraine's national news agency.

Development was initiated following the combat experienced by Ukrainian units facing separatists and Russian forces in 2015.
Watch this development closely going ahead. Pakistan has been trying to get closer to Ukraine for weapons programs with their price points being rather affordable. If this Bogdana 155mm wheeled SPH works out, it will likely be evaluated by PA too.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Kartik »

France orders Griffon self propelled 120 mm mortars

Image
The Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), the French armaments procurement agency, on 30 December awarded a contract to a consortium composed of Nexter, Arquus, and Thales for 54 MEPAC 120 mm self-propelled mortar carrier versions of the Griffon 8×8 multirole heavy armoured vehicle, Thales announced in a press release on 24 January.

MEPAC will be equipped with the Thales Rifled, Recoiled, Mounted Mortar (2R2M) system. The company said the mortar, which features a semi-automatic loading system and rifled barrel, would increase the mobility, precision, and protection of the French Army.

The DGA and the three companies have been working on the design of MEPAC since November 2018. Thales said the rear compartment of the Griffon will be modified to accommodate the 2R2M, its crew, and mortar rounds. In addition, roof hatches will be installed so the top of the vehicle can be opened and closed as need be. A joint French Ministry of Defence-army-DGA fact sheet on MEPAC said the mortar could be operated under armour and placed in and out of battery nearly immediately.

After qualification of MEPAC, the first vehicles are scheduled to be delivered to the DGA by the end of 2023, with deliveries continuing until 2027.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Shwetank »

Shameek
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Shameek »

Found this channel recently. He makes videos summarizing special operations with some footage and pictures as well. Apologies if posted earlier.

YouTube Link
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by k prasad »

Rheinmetall Sets Three New Distance Records for Indirect Fire in South Africa
https://www.defense-aerospace.com/artic ... 76-km.html
At a test fire event on 6 November at the Alkantpan Test Range in South Africa, Rheinmetall demonstrated its extensive expertise in the world of indirect fire.

In the presence of international partners and customers, the Düsseldorf, Germany-based defence contractor proved how new technologies can be used to boost the performance of systems that are already in extensive use around the world – those which meet the NATO standards set out in the Joint Ballistics Memorandum of Understanding (JBMoU) as well as non-JBMoU systems.

During the event, three new maximum effective range records were set using various guns.

- A G6 howitzer with a 52-calibre gun achieved the longest range ever attained with a conventional 155mm artillery round: 76 kilometres;
- the 52-calibre gun of PzH2000 self-propelled howitzer lobbed a shell 67 kilometres.
- Finally, a field howitzer with a 39-calibre gun attained a range of 54 kilometres.

...
Coupled with technologies from Rheinmetall Waffe Munition and Nitrochemie, Rheinmetall Denel Munition artillery shells exceed previous maximum effective ranges when fired from any conventional 155mm artillery system currently in use.

The maximum range of over 76 km was achieved with a non-JBMoU-compliant gun. This gun served as evidence of the feasibility of a new howitzer with a range of 83 km.

Working in close cooperation with the German procurement authorities, Rheinmetall plans to develop and manufacture a new 155mm gun of this type, which will feature a significantly larger chamber and a longer, 60-calibre barrel.

The gun should be able to fire existing JBMoU-compliant rounds as well as new ammunition families. On the one hand, these new ammunition types will be optimized with respect to stresses occurring in the new gun, but will also be able to be fired from legacy JBMoU-compliant guns.

Here, 83 kilometres serves as the benchmark, since the course correction fuse necessary for precision at these ranges reduces the attainable range by approximately ten percent. This means that the maximum effective range of 75 kilometres specified by the German procurement authorities is attainable.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by darshhan »

X-posted

Meanwhile Israelis are continuing to shaft Iran in different ways. The latest events are probably retaliation for the sins of Hamas.

Fire & Explosion Hit Iran Steel Factory In Third Major Incident In 5 Days
A large fire broke out Saturday night at a steel factory in the southeast city of Zarand in Iran. It's the latest in a mysterious string of blasts and 'accidental' blazes at sensitive sites to beset the Islamic Republic, raising questions of possible Israel sabotage akin to what happened a year ago in the summer of 2020.

"The governor of Zarand told the Iranian Fars News Agency that no injuries were caused in the incident and that the incident was under control," The Jerusalem Post reports. "The incident was reportedly caused by the sudden overflow of molten material in the blast furnace, with the governor stressing that no explosion occurred." But some early videos show otherwise.
...........

Social media videos showed a sizable blaze which appear to have triggered a significant explosion, however, resulting in debris and what looks like molten steel flying into the air.

Even if Iran suspects that Israel is behind some of these latest incidents over the past month, Tehran officials are likely reluctant to go public with accusations given negotiators are reportedly on the cusp of a nuclear deal in Vienna, and as the country is gearing up to vote for a new president this month.

Israel has vowed to thwart a deal by any means possible, with embattled PM Netanyahu lately openly verbalizing he's willing to consider any level of action even if it causes "friction" with the United States.

.........
One Middle East news source reviews the recent string of fires and explosions hitting key Iranian assets as follows:

Three days earlier, a major fire tore through the Tehran Oil Refining Company in the outskirts of the Iranian capital.
Another explosion followed by a fire sank Iran’s largest naval vessel in the Sea of Oman, near it shores, on June 2.
On May 23, nine people were injured in another blast at a plant producing explosive materials in central Iran...
three days later, a pipeline explosion at a petrochemical complex near Iran's Gulf coast left one dead.


......
And there are others which barely made it into international headlines over the past two weeks, as Jerusalem Post notes:

"At least one fire has been associated with an Iranian military site, with The Guardian reporting that a blast hit the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), which produces a variety of aircraft, including drones, for Iranian and pro-Iranian forces in Iran's Isfahan Province."

............
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by jamwal »

https://twitter.com/JaidevJamwal/status ... 2570804233
Onyx launch video.

Compare video quality it with the grainy shitty Indian videos with someone with a frog in throat saying countdown numbers.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums – again
A French Army tank crewman has leaked a portion of the Leclerc Main Battle Tank’s classified manual on the forum for popular online game War Thunder, the second time a leak of tank specifications has happened.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Cyrano »

French Annual Defense Expo in Paris from 28 to 30th in Paris at La Villette exhibition hall.

https://lafabrique.defense.gouv.fr/#
Thèmes covered:
Le salon sera organisé en 14 espaces thématiques :
- Parcours jeunes
- Dissuasion Nucléaire
- Aéroterrestre
- Cyber
- Soutien
- Résilience
- Europe
- Renseignement
- Énergies, climat et environnement
- Aéromaritime
- Innovation
- Aérospatial
- Reconstitution historique
- Recherche et formation
I will try to attend if time permits and post anything useful. If any forumites are/will be in Paris at that time, I'll be happy to go visit the expo together and host La Jirga de Paris .
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Rakesh »

Japan to enable fighter jet and missile exports to 12 nations
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Intern ... 12-nations
27 May 2022
India, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines among destinations.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by ks_sachin »

Can they give us submarine technology?
Admiral, please use your good offices to facilitate that....
Rakesh
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Rakesh »

ks_sachin wrote:Can they give us submarine technology?
FWIW....

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6905&start=1520#p2551431
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/1 ... 1062837249
The Pentagon is discussing China’s request for a meeting between the defense chiefs, the senior defense official said.

Austin and Wei spoke on the phone for the first time on April 20. The U.S. side has long sought stronger crisis communications mechanisms with China.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by bala »

Rajnath Singh hands over 12 high-speed guard boats to Vietnam

June 9, 2022

https://infra.economictimes.indiatimes. ... m/92103368
NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday handed over to Vietnam 12 high-speed guard boats built under a USD 100 million Line of Credit granted to the Southeast Asian country by India. The boats were given by Singh at a ceremony in Hong Ha shipyard on the second day of his visit to Vietnam. "It gives me great pleasure to join this historic ceremony marking the successful completion of the project to build 12 high speed guard boats under the $100 million Defence Line of Credit by India," he said at the event. The initial five boats were manufactured at the L&T Shipyard in India and remaining seven were built in Hong Ha shipyard. "I am confident that this will be a precursor to many more cooperative defence projects between India and Vietnam," Singh said. "This project is a glowing example of our 'Make in India - Make for the World' mission," he added. The defence minister said India would be "greatly pleased" if "close friends like Vietnam" become part of the country's transformation in the defence manufacturing sector.

India and Vietnam on Wednesday inked a vision document to further broad-base the "scope and scale" of defence ties by 2030 and sealed a logistics support pact to allow their militaries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. The documents were signed after Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang held "fruitful" talks. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support is the first such major agreement that Vietnam has signed with any country. The defence ministry said India and Vietnam continue to have the "most trustworthy relations in contemporary times with broader convergence of interests and common concerns". Vietnam, an important country of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), has territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea region. India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea. India and Vietnam are boosting their maritime security cooperation in the last few years to protect common interests.
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Re: International Military Discussion

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https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/06/1 ... -unveiled/

New TMG/Heavy artillery 8×8 155/52mm Morana was unveiled

Morana SPH is built on the experience of the Czech company, which has so far achieved the production of self-propelled howitzers Dana M2, Dana M1, and ShKH vz. 77 Dana and 2S1 Gvozdinka. The last self-propelled howitzer in the portfolio of the Czech manufacturer is 155mm Dita and a quick look at it shows that 155 / 52mm Morana is built based on 155mm Dita.
An example of iterative product improvement process. If ever there was one.
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Re: International Military Discussion

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NRao
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Re: International Military Discussion

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A topic of interest to Indian def planners. A 50 page PDF:

Evolution Not Revolution. Australia's Defence AI Pathway

________________________

Following people, rep their nations, plan on collaborating on "AI Defense":

Image
NRao
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

This is an Israeli developed technology.

NRao
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by NRao »

Soon we will need a catch-all thread: "International Fallout"

Meanwhile, cooking in Japan (and, at times I wonder if Indians will be willing to join the JSDF in some form):

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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by Hriday »

Patricia Marins @pati_marins64 is providing a lot of quality military information in Twitter. Recently she was saying that Iran probably emerging as a dark horse in ballistic missile technologies and a major source of the research papers on these technologies. She also mentioned that Iran probably had complete SAM solutions from short range to long range S-300 class capabilities.

Patarames@Pataramesh recently tweeted about Marv equipped Iranian ballistic missiles with a depressed trajectory which makes its interception very hard.

Don't know how much of the above is true. As per news reports Iran had managed to precisely hit Iraqi airbases with ballistic missiles in the past. If their tweets are true then it could flow to other Islamic countries including Pakistan.
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by titash »

Hriday wrote:Patricia Marins @pati_marins64 is providing a lot of quality military information in Twitter. Recently she was saying that Iran probably emerging as a dark horse in ballistic missile technologies and a major source of the research papers on these technologies. She also mentioned that Iran probably had complete SAM solutions from short range to long range S-300 class capabilities.

Patarames@Pataramesh recently tweeted about Marv equipped Iranian ballistic missiles with a depressed trajectory which makes its interception very hard.

Don't know how much of the above is true. As per news reports Iran had managed to precisely hit Iraqi airbases with ballistic missiles in the past. If their tweets are true then it could flow to other Islamic countries including Pakistan.
A close friend of mine dated an Iranian wimmens in around 2005-2006 timeframe

Based on his observations of said wimmens (and their male Iranian fellow students), he mentioned that Iranian people tend to have a few core beliefs, namely:
1. They have a long glorious history
2. They are far superior to the (stupid) arabs and can actually think for themselves
3. If it wasn't for the US (the West in general), they'd actually be a world leading/dominating country

To some degree there is data to back these thought processes. We know the Iranians kept the sanctioned F-14s up in the air for decades. They have some really smart students/faculty, send kids to elite western universities, have a strong reverse engineering skillset that has enabled them to bypass the impact of sanctions, have a nuclear and ballistic missile program. To top it all, Russia is leaning on Iran to supply some weapons currently (I've never known them to do that in the last 75 years) and Homi Bhabha/Tatas are essentially from the Iranian gene pool

ergo Hriday-ji...your statements may be quite valid
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by gakakkad »

^ I know tons of Persians and I agree.

I usually don't subscribe to any race superiority theory just as I don't subscribe to critical race theory .

The Persians I know in the us are all very smart and intellectually rigorous people . A ton of them are PhDs and physicians in specialties needing high cognitive input . None of them consider themselves Muslims and disdain for Islam perhaps exceeds your average rw Desi.

True there is a selection bias here as immigrants tend to be good . But even today Iranian universities are producing decent research output,if you consider the meager resources they have and intellectual constraints imposed by a totalitarian islamist regime.

There performance in international science /math Olympiads matches larger countries like India or us .

I also noticed a fairly decent capability gap between Persians and other middle eastern population (except the Israelis who the Persians actually match ). Also there is pretty less nepotism among them . A Persian department chair won't go out of the way in selecting other Persians . If you take syrians or Lebanese for instance ,of one dude gets in he ll make sure the whole village is in . And many people have observed similar trends . Arabs also tend to be very religious . Especially the muslims but also the Christians . I've also noticed a tendency of magical thinking among them . Like they ll frequently prescribe meds for which there is poor evidence . Apparently that's widespread in medical practice in middle east . The ones who are in research are mainly interested in seeing there names on paper and presenting on conferences etc . They are mainly in it for h&d and vanity reasons and not for science.

All this is anecdotal and all standard disclaimers apply. If felt to be ot feel free to shift to other thread .
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Re: International Military Discussion

Post by S_Madhukar »

There was a report recently of Iranian drones benefitting from collaborations with UK universities.

https://www.thejc.com/news/news/irans-s ... qRaYwvkRR0
An expert on Iran’s military, Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow at the Washington Institute, said Imperial College’s research could have significant military applications. The 30-horsepower engine discussed in the paper could be used in smaller drones, he said.

A second key piece of research — a joint study between the Centre for Propulsion Engineering at Cranfield University and the Iranian University of Science and Technology, Tehran — is also under the spotlight.

Academics there and at other UK universities have co-authored academic papers that acknowledge a military application. Others are working alongside academics at Iranian universities that have been sanctioned by Britain, the US and the European Union.

One of the key pieces of UK-Iran research uncovered by the JC was jointly produced by Ahmad Najjaran Kheirabadi, a researcher at Imperial College, and scientists from Shahrood University of Technology and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.

It examined upgrading the lightweight, two-stroke engines used to power drones, including its HESA Shahed 136, which is being used by Russia to attack Ukrainian targets.

The study examined the advantages of installing a fuel- injection system into such engines, saying the upgraded propulsion system “has benefits such as high power, low fuel consumption… high flight endurance, tolerance of extreme environmental conditions”.
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Re: International Military Discussion

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Secretive Taiwanese Cruise Missile Able To Strike Deep In China May Have Broken Cover
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/s ... oken-cover
16 August 2023
Taiwan’s HF-2E land-attack cruise missile has reportedly been in service for more than a decade, but has never been seen publicly.
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Re: International Military Discussion

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NRao
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Re: International Military Discussion

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Re: International Military Discussion

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In Berlin, there are growing doubts about the future of the new generation Franco-German tank
https://www.opex360.com/2023/09/05/a-be ... eneration/
05 Sept 2023
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Re: International Military Discussion

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An short, ad video, but has good details:

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