International Defence Green and White Papers

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Well another complication has been added to UK's current defense situation the loss of a multi-year budget. Also I wish to quote from the article as this is the first I've seen in a "simple" format of what the cost of COVID-19 has meant to a major government.

"The pandemic has wiped around 20 years’ worth of growth off of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."

These type of issues will "trickle down" into budgets of any government to where decisions will have to be made to best use the funds available. Defense as history has shown, is normally the first to suffer from them.
https://www.army-technology.com/feat...nce-secretary/

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

A glimmer of hope hope coming out of the UK, with also a delay of the Integrated Defense Review release from this month until January 2021 at earliest. So far the winners are their plans to set up a Space Command, Cyber Systems (w/Offensive Capabilities), RN TYPE 26/31 Frigate Program and the RAF TEMPEST Eurofighter replacement program.

No mention of the Army Land Programs (Armor) mentioned in this article. So we "punt" again and what else is new there!?!
https://www.army-technology.com/feat...ding-increase/

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

I found this very interesting...

From the Navy Technology website...

"9. 9DASHLINE’s tweet on discovery of Chinese submarine drone in the Indian Ocean
9DASHLINE, a website providing analysis on the Indo-Pacific region, shared an article on a Chinese submarine drone being discovered near the Selayar Island in South Sulawesi province in Indonesia. The drone was found by Indonesian fishermen and may have been assessing Indonesian waters to evaluate potential ways to penetrate into the Indian Ocean.

The glider drone was found near two strategic routes between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, the Lombok Strait and the Sunda Strait. This raises concerns over the possibility of the Chinese Navy collecting significant information via the drones to utilize the two straits during future hostilities."

The next I'll call "The 2/3's you'll rarely see." USS Tennessee was the first Trident Submarine to come to NAVSUBASE KBAY in early 1990.

If you click on the "tweet" pictures they'll "blow up" for a better look.

However the above ones have a shot a little after Sunrise as it's about to transition to the Drydock controller.

In all the pictures you'll see the diesel is running to provide power (And not propulsion.) to the boat.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ph...e=BB1dt3lJ_1|4

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Putin and his advisors had made another what will become a major political miscalculation when he invaded the Ukraine. For decades (Since 1949) Finland has been "straddling the fence" with its relationship with the West and Russia.

They've pretty much maintained a position of neutrality with the exception of having become part of the Nordic Defense Cooperation (NORDEFCO) formed in NOV. 2009 the member nations being Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. There were earlier attempts for such an organization, but they failed.

But I'm sure some of you realize that three of the above countries are in NATO already, Denmark, Iceland and Norway leaving Sweden as a neutral country and as noted above Finland being nominally neutral.

So, Russia invades the Ukraine, and no one is feeling safe in Europe any longer. For many the memory of WWII is not forgotten we see it in the interviews of the grandmothers of the Ukraine.

But in particular for Finland that has fought the Russians twice in the last century, have to wonder how safe they really are sharing over an 800-mile-long border with Russia.

This has been building for a while now but more so since the invasion along with the various threats from Putin of "don't think about it and don't do it" well Putin has galvanized Europe and NATO like no one has before for many decades along with the strong support of the U.S. It would seem having ARTICLE V in your back pocket is "worth its weight in gold".

So earlier today the decision has been made after many weeks of negotiations, Sweden and Finland have both applied together to formally join NATO, it is expected this process will be fast tracked and approved by the other NATO members by mid-May
First for context:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...6683b90ba5ee4f.

Decision to join:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...638c01b1d8bcc7
https://www.business-standard.com/ar...91c0dd05a91ed4
https://www.commondreams.org/news/20...2d0bdccb9c58c1

Germany working behind the scenes to recently allow some Baltic nations to supply artillery to the Ukraine. But there has been reluctance on the part of the German government to directly themselves to supply those same heavy weapons themselves.

We have recently in the last week seen Germany offer up heavy artillery the issue is what about armor. I've already reported on KMW offering the GEPHARD and Rheinmetall the MARDER and LEOPARD A1 tank. Specifically, the MARDER 1A3 and LEOPARD 1A5 (As I predicted.) can be CONFIRMED.

So now after both domestic and foreign pressure to do more a decision is forthcoming.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ba432bc40a4daa
https://www.armyrecognition.com/defe...o_ukraine.html

Ukraine needs "Russian" ammo well, we got that covered too.
https://www.armyrecognition.com/defe...nian_army.html


Regards,
Pat