north atlantic treaty organisation

The 'Massive Retaliation' era ~1957-1967 appears to have skewed Defence Projects and Procurement compared to what occurred previously and what occurred in the 'Flexible Response' era where conventional forces were given much greater priority compared to nuclear forces. This made me think that if...

The rest of the article can be found reproduced in the JPRS / West Europe Report (15th June, 1983) linked below, pdf pages 7 - 14: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA373042.pdf A bit more of the history, in particular the post-Cold war part of it, can be found in the archived Forecast...

It may come as a surprise to think that the British (BAE specifically), would consider upgrading the Hind. However, Western upgrades to the Hind are relatively common, with the French company SAGEM and Israel’s Elbit offering upgrades, and South Africa’s ATE offering the significantly modified...

The USN acquired 142 Lockheed EC121s in the early 50s to mount long-range early warning barrier patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific. The main strength was 5 sqns for each ocean with various cats and dogs supporting units. The barrier patrol lasted until 1965 and afterwards the USN transferred 30...

I tried searching, but wasn't able to find out if this was discussed before. And if this topic is in the wrong forum, could it be moved to the correct one, please? Anyway, I'm curious about Lockheed's Extensible Launching System for the Mk.41 VLS. Extensible Launching System What caught my eye...

I know we already discussed that in this topic, https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/mirages-i-iii-5-prototypes-projects.36283/ But I want to split this subject in another thread,the tenders of that contest are, - Nord N-1540,N.1541,N.2540,N.3540,N.3541 & N.5010 Harpon - SNCASE SE.5020 &...

Was it Edgar Schmued or Welko Gasich/Lee Begin that designed the F-5 or not?

View: https://x.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1818080247754948968

The possibility of the UK avoiding the 1965 aircraft cancellations has been discussed ad nauseam. I don't propose to get into it here - assume a collective delusion of the UK government, the discovery of a massive gold deposit, or intervention from extra-terrestrial intelligences, as you see...

Just came across Operation Downfall, and was pondering. What might be the political situation that would warrant the plan coming to fruition? What projects would be pursued and put into production, and what wouldn't? Who would win the war? Perhaps the 3rd world war would be caused by a...

Although the excellent AH1 Cobra was deployed to Europe in the 1970s and received TOW missiles to help it kill Soviet armour, noone else in NATO could afford it. That left W Germany sticking six HOT missile launchers on its Bo 105 light observation helicopter and the British Army SS11 missiles...

I should have posted this yesterday (the birthday was actually the day before but I only saw it on Thursday). Group Captain John 'Paddy' Hemingway DFC: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0717/1460456-raf-hemingway-birthday/...

Nothing in military history has given the RAF such a hold on the public imagination as the gallant Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of the Battle of Britain. Sadly in the postwar nuclear world their successors have only been tasked with wartime defence of key military infrastructure in the UK. It...

The fledgling Lufftwaffe and Marineflieger appeared to be interesting in buying British in their earliest days. Of course this was the worst possible time to deal with the British, so every effort fell over. Wiki referencing Wood. The German Defence Ministry first expressed interest in the...

Currently, the Italian Carrier Strike Group "Gruppo Navale 31" after a short stop in Singapore is participating to the "Pitch Black" exercise with the Australian Navy. The CSG 31 is composed by the aircraft carirer (and flagship) ITS Count of Cavour and by the FREMM Alpino, the Cavour has a...

Stumbled across some early 1950s NATO documents concerning the defensive arming and equipping of Merchant Ships. SGS.1 and the 4" Mk 25 are briefly mentioned, although unsurprisingly the vast majority of equipment intended for DEMS was supposed to come from US stocks. There are more documents...

https://www.twz.com/land/norways-nomads-short-range-air-defense-system-unveiled

The time has come for Europeans to look into the abyss. (US Friends forgive this, but we in Europe have to plan for whatever you decide. We know its your call not ours) In the next year or so the US may decide to withdraw from NATO. Since only France has nuclear weapons which do not depend on US...

When the UK gave up carriers in the 60s the alternative was supposed to be a family of helicopter, ship and sub launched missiles. In the event while Wasp helicopters did get AS12s it took nearly a decade before Exocet equipped some destroyers and frigates. Sea Skua for Lynx did not arrive...