The German Ministry of Defence has announced that it will procure 35 F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
“Congratulations to Germany on procuring the F-35A. Germany is the ninth foreign military sales country to join the program,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, F-35 Program Executive Officer.
“We look forward to working with them to deliver the F-35 Air System to meet their national defence requirements.”
The agreement includes a comprehensive package of engines, role-specific mission equipment, spare and replacement parts, technical and logistic support, training and armament.
“It is an honour to formally welcome Germany to the F-35 Lightning II Program. Germany’s participation ensures the F-35’s European alliance continues to strengthen and grow through interoperability with NATO and ally nations.” said Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the F-35 programme.
“The F-35 is the most advanced, survivable, best value fighter giving pilots the critical advantage against any adversary, enabling them to execute their mission and safely return home.”
Lockheed Martin say here that it has been a committed partner to the Bundeswehr for more than 50 years, and the F-35 opens “another chapter of supporting Germany’s interests for national and European security”.
“By the 2030s, it is expected that over 550 F-35s will work together from more than 10 European countries, including two full U.S. F-35 squadrons at RAF Lakenheath. As a cornerstone for interoperability with NATO, the F-35 is the only 5th Generation fighter available today to strengthen Germany’s operational capability with allies. Connectivity has become increasingly more important as the battlespace continues to evolve, and the F-35 is positioned to play a critical role in that change and contribute to 21st Century Security missions.”
To date, the F-35 operates from 26 bases worldwide, with nine nations operating F-35s on their home soil. There are more than 875 F-35s in service today, with more than 1,845 pilots and 13,350 maintainers trained on the aircraft.
The French will not like this news as they may fear Germany will not be so committed to their sixth generation project. For Germany it makes sense as they need it for their
NATO nuclear sharing programme.
It’s very hard to ever give the French news they will like. Kind of like walking around on egg shells all the time. They don’t play well with others. The FCAS won’t ever get off the ground. Atleast Germany will have something to replace typhoon with even if it will kill off what remains of their aviation defence industry.
Jim wrote:
If FCAS ever sees the light of day I will buy a hat and eat it
They are moving forward with the SCAF program to have a demonstration flying in 2029, well, if political infighting doesn’t happen.
Uh huh, so it says on paper anyway
Yeah they have gotten to the press release stage so they are already neck and neck with the Russians 😀 Let’s see what happens on the lead contractor issue which I still don’t think is solved, then when the aircraft carrier issue crops up let’s see how willing the Germans are to pay for Frances new plane. Germany and France have a weird relationship like they both think they should act like they like each other while secretly hating each other. I don’t think I can name a successful project they have completed together. Anything they have “cooperated” on tends… Read more »
“ they have gotten to the press release stage so they are already neck and neck with the Russians” To be up with the Russians you have to have built a scale model? “I don’t think I can name a successful project they have completed together.” Usually where there are other nations in the room who won’t stand for the French line of work share and design authority. Mind you the Germans usually promise to order 5x the number of units they need/want (and have no budget to pay for) to gain workshare and then reduce the buy and hang onto… Read more »
Rather seema as though they deserve each other as partners? 🤔😳😉
…seems…
Well summarised.
It is why the French have nuclear weapons.
A French defence site has reported that the French government has possibly called the PANG aircraft carrier program calling it into question. Link
Coll, good link, will be interesting to see how it plays out for the french. they seem to be minded about an export market for carriers and planes which PANG wont give them.
I very much doubt they will be able to export the PANG aircraft carrier. By the time it’s built it would have cost nearly $8 billion to build. They might as well get the CATOBAR variant of the QE carrier, and then they would be able to afford 2.
I bet they wish now they didnt pull out of the Queen Elizabeth project….
I’m sure they could still buy the QE CATOBAR plans and reconfigure them for a reactor. There’s a nice wikipage on the proposed French aircraft carrier PA2.
What the report says, can also be read across to the two QE class carriers. Both the Franco-German (Spanish) and UK, Italian and Japanese FCAS aircraft, are going to be substantially bigger and more importantly heavier than a Typhoon, let alone a Rafale. As they will both have internal weapons bays and substantially more internal fuel. Needed to increase the range, thereby reducing drag due to no longer carrying things under the wings. But also to substantially reduce the aircraft’s radar cross section. Which therefore requires more internal volume and makes the aircraft much much bigger! As the report says… Read more »
Db nice summary, 90m emals for heavy 6th gen carrier based planes is an expensive aspiration.
If FCAS happens…
With Japan now firmly embedded in the program. It will be very difficult for the UK Government to bail on the project. If the MoD and BAe are wise they will write up a similar clause into the contract as per the two carriers. Whereby the penalty for not going through with the program will cost the Government more than the asking price of the jet etc. The French, German and Spanish effort, is where I see issues of getting the program to fruition. Getting all 3 Countries to agree on anything, especially if it is not in France’s favor.… Read more »
Je ne pense pas pouvoir nommer un projet réussi qu’ils ont réalisé ensemble.
the Transal
I agree you have to wonder if Germany will bother with a second 5th generation aircraft. Especially since it’s only just order a load more tranche 4 typhoons so it’s going to be operating typhoons well into the 2050s to 2060s…possibly even 2070 which does not leave much space for the Franco German plane.
I think you have highlighted the issue that concerns France the most. Germany does not need the plane but wants the work share that the higher order number comes with.
Much the same as it’s participation in Typhoon and all the problems it caused.
Will also mean that the Germans will be less willing to pay for ongoing upgrades of FCAS as with Typhoon.
The French did a great job at upgrading Rafal while the UK had three hands tied behind its back with Italy, Spain and Germany all unwilling to invest in CAPTOR E and other developments.
“but wants the work share that the higher order number comes with”
What high order numbers: this thing is unlikely to ever significantly export anywhere?
It will be in competition with Tempest and Uncle Sam’s Gen6 offering(s).
UK, Italy, Japan (and probably Sweden) won’t be interested.
The big issue with Uncle Sam’s offerings is ITAR and FMS and the total lack of control over the software. Most people who have bought F35 don’t appreciate being told ‘no’ or ‘wait in the queue unless you want to hand Uncle Sam’s ITAR and FMS weapons off the platform’.
I think by decade end Poland’s decision will make a big impact. As things stand there’s no chance they would buy Franco/German and if the US don’t play ball there is every chance they could be a big customer even participant in our project if all goes well and where they lead others will follow as they increasingly become a European defensive powerhouse.
The US is unlikely to offer their 6th generation replacement for the F22 to other countries, for the same reasons they didn’t export the F22.
Maybe
That would be a boost for Tempest!
Wasn’t there a rumor the the US did offer the f22 to ally counties including the UK but it was rejected due to cost?
Australia, Japan, and Israel all expressed an interest in purchasing an export version, and the DoD did do an internal study over a possible export variant. No doubt LM/Boeing would have happily sold an export version too. But Congress upheld the ban on the F22 being exported to protect classified features and technologies. Although it’s technology resulted in it being expensive to build it’s cost further ballooned due to the number cut. With the the collapse of the USSR and a focus on asymmetrical warfare, the number ordered was cut from over 700 to under 200, resulting in the development… Read more »
Japan was interested but then US Congress slapped a no-export restriction on it.
Possibly, however, would not totally discount the feasibility of one trial learning by US military-industrial complex. To restate the obvious–a large pot of defense gold is rumored to be at the end of the rainbow..
Then this is your chance we will see how this works out… The tempest is going to be a massive success…. Or maybe not so much. Billions of dollars and time will tell
Like ground attack capabilities too till too late (thx to Tornado perseverance) which undoubtedly cost exports of Typhoon.
Although RAF were still keen on the Tornado GR7/9 combo.
So for a long time it wasn’t a UK priority either.
Germany didn’t want to spend any money, Spain wasn’t paid off, Italy were too chaotic to see the point of it and formed a committee compete with a full set of rubber stamps to argue about it, Austrians wanted out…..
The real problem was the investment in Tornado stopped too so it got very dated very quickly and the core of it wasn’t really suitable for a digital rework.
The Luftwaffe may currently believe it will be operating Typhoons until the 2060’s, but the threat environment will dictate rhe pace of change. RAF may have similarly believed biplanes were the future design of aircraft at the end of WW I.
I would agree with you if you were talking about the UK, France or US, but this is Germany we are talking about. They consider military a dirty word (even more so than Japan had done until recently). They still had their phantoms flying until 2013, When the UK and US had full retired them 20 years before and started the retirement process 30 years before in the 1980s. After all it’s likely they will still be flying the tornado types into the early 2030s. Germany does not really rationally consider anything around defence or world order threats such as… Read more »
Methinks the in vogue terminology might be ‘freeloader.’ 🤔😳😉
Are we absolutely certain Prussian predilections will not surface again in the future?
Ahh, I understand…the adoption of the French philosophy of being willing to fight to the last drop of Anglo-American blood? 🤔😉
Its been known about for half a year, there were only two aircraft that could perform the nuclear sharing with US B61 free fall nuclear bombs, the F-18 and the F-35 and the US withdrew the nuclear type certification from the F-18 so there was only one aircraft they could use to fulfill their NATO obligation.
Hmmm…could nuke certification become a potential future growth option of Tempest? 🤔😳😉
Will F-35B be certified for nuclear weapons carriage and employment in the future (post Block 4)? Weapon bays may not physically accommodate current inventory B-61s, but if I read the tea leaves correctly, several new weapons may be introduced.
This is good news for the British airo industry. 15% of each of these will support the British airo industry. The strategy of being a partner in lots of programs has paid of.
I’m guessing the A variant?
Yes says A in the article.
Ah thanks must have skipped that part.
Fifty years, F104!
Ouch.
Probably quicker than us.
Contract value for 35 aircraft with spares, engines and support given as €8.4b by Defense News. So €240m each. Reuters reports a total contract value of €10b, which may include some weaponry. These costs are becoming absurd and mean that numbers, even in US fleets, will fall further.
There must be a lot of air forces that need something more affordable and reliable that can offer a high proportion of the F35s( claimed) capabilities at a fraction of the price.
Let’s hope Tempest can deliver.
The thing is the F35A isn’t any more expensive than Europe’s 4.5 gen jets. So capability wise you get more for the same costs. India bought 36 Rafael for 7.8b euro and that was a few years back. So with inflation its about the same price.
I don’t think the Indians would ever have been allowed the full fat F35 as there is far too much Russian defence cooperation going on.
From what I read due to Pakistans developments with China they are rather keen to get their hands on F35 as quantity and quality from Russia is hardly looking a great option for them any time soon and of course dropped out of the Russian 5th Gen project which was effectively financing it. But yes difficult to see the US willing to have full spec F35s sold there in the near future.
Agree, mentioning India was really to highlight how much nations pay for 4.5 gen airframe and what it costs compared to the 5th Gen F35. In defence terms the difference is pocket change. May as well go for the F35, which is what any nation who is allowed to buy is doing.
There isn’t enough public detail about precisely what these contracts cover. The widely quoted purchase price of an F35A is $80m. The difference between this and the €240m covers spares including engines but does seem very large. We know that the operating costs of F35 are far higher than other aircraft ( except the F22) partly because of its complexity and partly because of its unreliability, with a very low time between critical failures. However the contract is made up, the overall cost means operational fleets are bound to shrink further. For Tempest to succeed it will need to be… Read more »
Yes there’s a big difference between the sticker price and the contract price in which there lots of things included like simulators, training of flight and ground crew, spares etc. So the best comparisons are when a nation buys a new type. Don’t disagree with the sentiment that full blown fighter jet are very expensive and that cost curve is not sustainable. One problem is when you have them you do need to fly them if nothing else to keep your training current so using them in part for some sorties make some sense but there has to be a… Read more »
I doubt Tempest will be a cheap alternative to the F-35. The Japanese are the design lead and are seeking an F-22+ type air superiority fighter. The UK Tempest is likely to be a derivative of that airframe tweaked to perform as a multirole fighter.
Ummm…believe that might be better rephrased as the Japanese will be co-equal leads in design. BAE, RR, et. al., bring substantial talent to the table.
The UK government calls it a partnership, which might be a better description. Fingers crossed both the Japanese and the UK get the plane we need, that’s the main thing.
It all comes down to money and if the Japanese are paying for it then they will get what they want.
First I’ve heard that Japan are going to be the design leads.
It’s BAE who have a full scale mock-up of something. The Japanese have a flying demonstrator for some of the technology they want to use in their next-gen air superiority fighter, but it’s not intended as a basis for what it will be.
Indeed Bae is one of very few Companies around who have the ability to generate such an aircraft which is why technology transfer was so important in the negotiations between the two Countries. Japan alone despite its specific expertise presently does not have the ability to generate such an aircraft. Bae has both the stealth and aerodynamic expertise, plus cockpit/pilot facing technology and software expertise here though even they have had to do a lot of work to recruit and train that talent as there has been such a gap since they actively designed such an advanced airframe. Japan always… Read more »
Mitsubishi X2 seemed a pretty good stab at a 5th Gen Aircraft.
Yes, and it was actually flying. I think we’ll end up with something like that to be honest.
X-2 was just a flight demonstrator, it couldnt carry weapons though it did have a radar. It also only completed 34 of 50 planned test flights indicating there may have been an issue with the design.
‘Lead’ is a loaded word, I didn’t mean it in the power politics way, but I stand by my original comment that Japan and the UK will work on a common solution together, which will essentially result in a fighter that the Japanese can accept ‘as is’ but the UK will tweak for UK requirements. But who knows, we might just go with the base version down the line.
It’s not Japan, but the article talks about Italy’s partnership.
Link
Interesting. As usual in these types of projects, everyone wants a slice of the cake!
Yes. It was my understanding that it was going to be this equal spit in the first place.
Quite a nice graphic about these next gen fighter projects at Janes: https://www.janes.com/defence-news/air-platforms/latest/gcap-sixth-generation-jet-to-potentially-fly-by-end-of-decade
Cheers for that.
I hope you are wrong. Looking at the impact on UK F35 numbers of its continuing high costs, if Tempest isn’t cheaper to acquire and operate, we will never have the funds to acquire meaningful numbers. One area where I believe costs might be contained is the way in which stealth is achieved. If the airframe shape has a low RCS, then the additional costs of renewable stealth coatings ( the F22 is reportedly worse in the regard than F35), might not be needed. The US government has never had effective control of the F35 programme. Lockheed Martin even claim… Read more »
Yes, absolutely. Apparently, the B21 has gone even further in this respect with a durable stealth coating and multiple other factors that are projected to make it much cheaper to operate than the B2. One thing is for sure, Tempest will be the best choice for the UK, for our industrial base, and our wallet. On the positive side, stealth is expensive for everyone, even our enemies.
The German purchase price includes maintenance support (free parts and servicing), but only until 2030 ~5 years.
Just wondering what – if any – are the stealth differences across the three F-35 variants? RCS for each the same?
RCS is the same across the A and B and marginally larger for the C as it has a bigger wing. The main difference is in Range and manuverability with the B and C being limited to 7 G and short super sonic sprints less they f**k up the stealth coating. Internal carriage is not a big issue now especially with new 5th Gen weapons like SPEAR coming online soon and special versions of JSM and Meteor for internal carriage on the F35B. Bring back is also less of an issue with SRVL and with the new engine the F35B… Read more »
When the Prince of Wales deploys to the US later next year, SRVL is a big part of the traning package
Jim, JSM only fits internally in the A variant fella. It’s too long for the internal bay on the B, don’t believe that there is much in it about a foot or so, but to long nevertheless. Not sure about the C though.
If we buy JSM, it will be dangling off the wing pylons.
Its because in the B variant the Liftfan intrudes slightly into the payload bay.
Cheers, all I knew was that JSM is to long for the payload bay.
Wonder whether that flight restriction is phrased in that manner in the manual? 🤣😂😁
“SPEAR coming online soon and special versions of JSM and Meteor for internal carriage on the F35B.”.
How soon is soon….
Depends who is saying soon and how soon they think soon will be.
I assume the F-35A is to replace Tornado for Nuclear Strike and the FCAS to replace Typhoon at some point? or be used for another role in the future? 13 DECEMBER 2022 “The Eurofighter EK will be developed in a stepped approach, with the AARGM missile being integrated for the SEAD/DEAD mission, ahead of a jammer pod for an airborne electronic attack mission.” LINK 16 DECEMBER 2022 “With the LOA now signed, a contract for 35 F-35As for the Luftwaffe is expected to be finalised shortly. (Lockheed Martin via Janes/Gareth Jennings) Germany has formally joined the international Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning… Read more »
Correct. Just like Tempest will replace Typhoon. NGAD will replace F22 ect.
Indeed it is. But its a bit of a Hobsons Choice in that the US effectively refused to certify a non US aircraft to carry the B-61, an estimated 20 of which are stored at Beuchel AB, as they quoted 3-5 years to do the work on a Eurofighter, work that will be included in the F-35 Block 4. Initially Germany went for the F-18E/F and EF-18 Growler but earlier this year switched to the F-35A and an upgraded Typhoon for ECR, maximising European content as far as it could.
Typhoon ECR is likely going to be very expensive to developer and it would have been less expensive to buy F18 – so the ECR is about politics. The F35A is the only choice for Germany if they wish to carry US nukes.
Interesting, Luftwaffe will presumably not operate under the two man rule for release of nuclear weapons? 🤔
The UK had Jaguar and (I think) Harrier deploying nuclear weapons.
Both single seat.
If that is what you mean of course.
The UK’s freefall nuclear bombs didnt have arming codes either, it was simply turn a key to arm.
I guess not. The bombs still require to be released by the US on base then loaded onto the plane.
Thought Germany were to buy F18 super Hornets has this been drop ?
Yes, back in March. As a guess I suspect the the US made the strategic decision that the F-35 sales was a bigger potential disrupter of EU future aircraft plans than the F-18 package. So Boeing had to back off.
Going to apologise for backing Putin and his rapist rabble of an army?
He has conveniently forgot about the illegal invasion of Ukraine by the rape squads of Pooptin, certainly while it remains a complete Russian cluster fuck and the Ukrainians are currently on top of the game. They are still receiving NATO platforms, systems, weapons and Int, which will continue for as long as it takes. Not sure if he understands that a destroyed Russkie wagon, or a dead rapist, is just as good as if a NATO member, or a Ukrainian was pulling the trigger. That’s what NATO kit was built for and that’s what its doing, regardless of who is… Read more »
I’d say it’s more likely that the Luftwaffe coming to their senses. After they were told it would cost an arm and a leg to integrate the B61 on Typhoon by the US (funny that!). But also that the Super Hornet would need substantially aerial refueling to reach certain targets, along with a full attack support package. The F35 was a no brainer. The A version has over twice the combat radius as the Hornet. Its much lower RCS means it can penetrate further without being detected along with the need for less support.
Was that in March when you were cheering on Putins army to take Kiev scumbag?
US F35 to carry US nukes. Simple really.
Keep up the F18 has had its Nuke capability removed🙄
How are the Orcs progressing any good news?
US dropped the nuclear certification of the F-18 so no point in having a common fleet of Growlers and bombers for logistics/training anymore. Then easier to split between more Eurofighters and a small number of F-35’s.
Elsewhere in Germany as reported by the Guardian:
Yes I was wondering if anyone had read that today. So much for vaunted German reliability and at least we now know it’s not only Ajax that is managing to get things wrong. Indeed German defence has been an absolute shitfest for years in the expectation land wars were a thing of the past. Good job they have Poland to protect them.
So you have the option of not making it to the front line or going deaf in the process 😂 What an absolute shit show, it looked very promising too!
Time to stop faffing about and invest in some of these at a fraction of the cost.
You could get eight in the back of one of these and they
rarely break down!
LINK
Oh i can beat that:
lol, only requires a union jack to gold plate them 😂
“Good job they have Poland to protect them.” Oh the irony !
Lack of spare parts, maintenance or an inherent design problem I wonder ?
Did anyone see the F35b landing incident video this past week? LM were testing it prior to delivery and on landing did a tail up bouncing motion along the runway with the pilot ejecting. It looked like the engine failed to shut down and the thrust tipped it up and propelled it along the runway. Very odd sequence. Thankfully it said it was a Marine bound model rather than one of ours.
Yes, comments from others suggest fuel leak feeding the engine(like an after burner) so the rear nozzle was creating far more thrust or the lift fan failed. Doesn’t matter whose it is the we need the route cause so it can be establish if its a one off or a fault that could impact other F35s. Can you imagine the same incident happening on a carrier or LPD and piling into other airframes 🙁
I’m not so sure. On the F35B in particular, the engine’s FADEC and the aircraft’s flight control software are intrinsically linked. As the aircraft was about 20ft off the deck. It looks like the aircraft starts wobbling. This could be attributed to a bad feed from accelerometers/gyros. As the flight control computer tries to work out the aircraft’s steady attitude. Normally, the computer would revert to a more basic reversionary mode. That limits the aircraft’s dynamic flight envelope based on more limited sensor feeds. But as the aircraft did a 180 after collapsing its nose wheel. It does seem that… Read more »
If they had advanced as far as the VTOL testing they would already have tested it with conventional takeoff and landing and in flight and found no issues.
Its all to do with Buckets of Sunshine and nothing else. Typhoon is not cleared for NATO Shared B61 and it would take ages and a lot of cash to get it certified. So buy F35 that is certified problem solved and cash on that budget saved plus they get a decent stealth aircraft to play with when its not needed to glass another country. UK doesnt need to worry about it as Trident covers the sub strategic role nowadays. In the future the UK I suppose could reconsider buckets of sunshine for fixed wing but ideally that would be… Read more »
Yep Germany either had to wait for the US to certify or purchase a different airframe. Introducing another type you may as well have the F35. However having a non stealth airframe carting your nukes around when there’s a stealth option seems wouldn’t have been the best decision.
cheers GB, interesting insights re Typhoon/F35 nuke options , thanks.
It’s not like we haven’t already opened Pandora’s box and forgotten how to design and build them. The warhead used in our Trident 2s is designed and built by AWE. It could quite easily fit within the casing of a 1000 pounder.
Indeed, i think that a cheap and stealthy method of delivering tactical nukes to an Eastern European (or East Asian) battlefield would be a good signal to be putting out right now.
Yep, shame there isn’t a Storm Shadow variant with a thermonuclear option.
Nuclear cruise missiles are a bad idea, because the enemy doesn’t know what warhead a cruise missile is carrying and might overreact. You only need one nutcase to tell Putin (or whoever) “there’s a nuclear missile heading towards us” and it’s the end of civilization. Using separate modes for nuclear and conventional strikes reduces the chances of escalation.
Your trident warhead was designed 100% in the United States. That is where it was tested and everything about the warhead is known by the United States. Just stop with the silliness. The magical UK weapons were tested in the desert in Nevada in the continental United States so yeah we probably had nothing to do with it.
Ah US fetish fanboy!
Mate, stop being a troll and try to broaden your knowledge. Then you wouldn’t come across as being a muppet. AWE stands for the atomic weapons establishment. It was set up in 1987 after merging the atomic weapons research establishment (AWRE) with parts of the Royal Ordinance Factories. AWRE itself was formed out of the research from Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project. So we do have a bit of history and knowledge on the subject of splitting or combining an atom to be used in a working explosive device. Secondly the weapons grade fissile material used in the warhead,… Read more »
Bravo Davey. It will make no difference whatsoever, but a good go anyway.
Perhaps you could to find the time to read this, because as usual you are wrong!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
Do you have to work hard at being a total tool!!
😆Subject matter knowledge on AWE not your thing?
More on the B61/F-35 via this LINK
“However, a jet must receive special wiring to be certified to deploy a B61. Germany’s old Tornado IDS jets are certified, but its Typhoons aren’t. The F-35 is set to receive B61 capability in its expensive Block 4 upgrade.
U.S. manufacturers claimed certifying Typhoons could take three to five year more—a claim which Germans industry argued amounted to blackmail.
However, German companies might also be reluctant to share the necessary specs with American competitors.”
Theres two elements, theres additional wiring to the weapon pylon from the cockpit to enable arming the weapons and secondly they have an enhanced level of EMP component certification. All combat aircraft have this to a degree to make sure a powerful radar doesnt fry their electronics but it would have meant re-testing all the components individually for EM resistance as well as expanded Faraday cage protection around the control systems.
Ref nukes that these might carry I found the recent article on Warzone very interesting and quite unnerving. Its the fact they they don’t create as much fall out as you would expect and thus makes them an attractive option.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/just-how-radioactive-are-low-yield-nuclear-weapons
Only useful tactically if you have a large concentration of troops or equipment that you want to eliminate. And couldn’t you do that conventionally with precision-guided ordnance? Otherwise you’re just creating a relatively small mutual ‘no go’ area on the map.
Actually that’s what the article says theirs not high levels of radiation after a blast hence why China and Russia are looking to them to fill capability gaps, like lack.of precision ordinance.
The Soviet Union in particular would have driven their troops through the gap minutes/hours after the explosion. To not only exploit the chaos but also to make sure reserves did not form a coordinated defence. Regardless if their troops would come down with radiation poisoning. Judging by Russia’s current use of their troops and their compulsory volunteers, I’d say they’d do the same, if they used tactical nukes.
That’s the difference between a thermonuclear and a pure fission bomb. The majority of radiation that is created is due to the small fission bomb needed to kick start the fusion bomb. How efficiently it does it will also be a factor on how much radiation it produces.
I was amused by the Telegraph’s slightly ridiculous take on this story- that Germany had ‘snubbed’ the UK’s Eurofighter proposal, despite the fact that deploying Eurofighters for nuclear weapons delivery wasn’t practical and the UK has a significant stake in the F35 programme.
Yep, the UK press of from all factions does struggle to publish anything factual.
How caring of the newspaper to get its facts correct and double checked before publishing🙈 no wonder most people don’t use them anymore. In the past they could publish rubbish and most folks wouldn’t know it’s rubbish. Now 1 minute google search fact checks most things.
And Germany has also ordered 40 new Typhoons.
OT, but interesting: Forbes.com has reported that Wagner Group has been using, and losing retired Russian pilots in UKR. Contracting out gone wild.
Somewhat flippant comment inbound. Get in Ur shell scrape, batten those hatches or do whatever it is you air boys n girls do at such times(?) if you’re of a sensitive disposition.
The important thing is that everyone keeps throwing their gear eastwards, never to be seen again, so the costs of the F35 program can continue to be less painful for our American cousins as new customers come on line when they panic about capability gaps they need to cover due to their donation spree
Stories appearing saying Canada has ordered its first 16 F35’s.
Lots of correct statements in this article and the comments. Germany procured the F-35 to replace the Tornado in Büchel Air Base for the nuclear role. The package includes ammunition (not the Nukes), like Bombs AIM-9X Sidewinder (Eurofighter uses Iris-T, so Iris is not going to be integrated into the F-35) Amraam (so no Meteor integration into the F-35). So a very comprehensive package with little German participation, but an available solution. At the same time there seemingly is an agreement regarding FCAS. So only the ECR capability remains to be seen. I guess we will see more EF orders… Read more »
It seems all isn’t so rosy with team tempest. Italy has demanded equal share of tech and possible output from the progra, which isn’t too concerning other than the possible part. They have also stated they won’t agree to exclusivity and want to be able to collaborate also with other projects. I can see the tech getting sold to the highest bidder by Italy and the pulling out of tempest when it suits them to do so.
They’re simply trying to ensure their industry gets an equal share of the work, the issue is it would also require the Italian government to provide a third of the development funds.
I’m surprised there wasn’t a joint Euro effort to design and manufacture a 5 or 6th Gen aircraft. After all, everything seemed to go well with the Typhoon.
There is two European sixth gen programs and Turkey is belatedly developing a fifth gen (and will need a lot of outside assistance).
I saw an article on MSM about how Germany “snubbed” the “British” typhoon in favour of the “American” F-35. God I hate modern “journalists” 🙃 Thanks for bringing some shred of truth to the discussion.