For a variety of reasons the Scimitar and Sea Vixen seem to be the only UK aircraft in the 1960s which can operate from HMS Centaur and provide a decent sized airgroup for Ark Royal, Eagle, Victorious and Hermes.
They arrived in service much later than their US counterparts and the RN were eager...
alternate history
cold war
fleet air arm
great britain
naval aviation
northatlantictreatyorganisation
nuclear battlefield
royal navy
tactical nuke
what-if
The UK nuclear deterrent has become after the NHS a political commitment for both Tory and Labour PMs to show their metal. But an earlier Tory PM, Harold Macmillan had his doubts as did Sir Winston Churchill.
Macmillan got on well with the new young US President. Kennedy for his part saw the UK...
1960s
alternate history
cold war
great britain
kennedy administration
macmillan government
northatlantictreatyorganisation
nuclear battlefield
tactical nuke
united states
If the Soviet Union had been run more pragmatically in the 70s like China was after
Deng's modernisations and the Cold War had continued after 1989 one area of great interest would have been tanks.
If the Soviet Union had been an active player in 1990 Saddam Hussein would not have invaded Kuwait...
I've been trying in vain to assertain if there was proposed outgrowth variants of the by Daimler-Benz Spähpanzer Luchs 8x8 armoured reconnaissance vehicle?
I'm particularly interested as to the adoptability of the Spähpanzer Luchs turret ring size and if larger and heavier armaments were...
G'day folks, consider this. The TSR2 goes into service and later requires a SLEP, what engines are avaulable and could a big wing be fitted/would it be an improvement?
alternate history
cold war
great britain
northatlantictreatyorganisation
nuclear battlefield
raf bomber command
raf strike command
royal air force
strategic bomber
strategic reconnaissance
tactical reconnaissance
united kingdom
Germany was experimenting with various VTOL aircraft during the cold war
in the end they didn't go for any of them.
in this alternate scenario.. what if Germany did order some into production?
1. Which design would be the most likely to lead to operation? they had the VAK 191, DO 31 (this...
alternate history
bundesmarine
cold war
federal republic of germany
jet age
kommando der marineflieger
luftwaffe
marineflieger
northatlantictreatyorganisation
nuclear battlefield
v/stol aircraft
vstol
vtol
west germany
So we know some time in the early 80s, France split with the UK, West Germany, Italy and Spain, and developed the ACX into the Rafale, and the others made the Typhoon.
the disagreement stemmed from a carrier variant.
What if in this scenario, France never left and somehow the five of them...
1980s
alternate history
armeé de l'air
cold war
france
french fifth republic
future european fighter aircraft programme
great britain
italian republic
italy
kingdom of spain
northatlantictreatyorganisation
west germany
western europe
While some weird dudes are celebrating the epitomized image of an autocrat*, the french AdlAE discretely commemorates one of its hero pilot (Poet and novelist), Mr Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Free French air Force pilot, Croix de Guerre with palms, MIA, with the birth of its most famous...
air force of the ivory coast
armeé de l'air
armée de l'air du cameroun
armée de l'air et de l'espace
armée de l'air republic of togo
cold war
cold war ii
egyptian air force
federal republic of germany
forces aériennes françaises libres
france
luftwaffe
nigerian air force
northatlantictreatyorganisation
post-cold war
qatar emiri air force
royal canadian air force
royal moroccan air force
royal thai air force
world war ii
As said in the tin.
When you think about it, it would avoid an immense amount of suffering and money waste.
Kind of
- screw the Tigers
- screw CVA-01
- screw Spey Phantoms
do we agree all three above were expensive boondoggles ? so good riddance (sorry, that's the radical in me... !)
Also...
alternate history
cold war
escort cruiser
fleet air arm
great britain
harrier
harrier carrier
naval aviation
northatlantictreatyorganisation
royal navy
v/stol aircraft
vstol carriers
I apologize if the explanation turns out to be silly, but i'm looking at videos of the Kongsberg NSM. Test shots are seen launched and cruising with the engine intake on top, and then there's models at defense shows with the intake on the bottom. What is going on here?
A variety of threads cover the attempts by the USN to develop an airgroup suitable for its Sea Control Ships (SCS). The ships themselves have been well covered and individual VSTOL programmes have their own individual threads.
What I want to do is compare what actually happened with what might...
great britain
italian republic
northatlantictreatyorganisation
royal navy
royal spanish navy
united states navy
v/stol aircraft
vstol
vstol carriers
vtol
Hello,
I'm looking for warships designed by Nevesbu (B.V. Nederlandse Verenigde Scheepsbouw Bureaus). Specifically for surface vessels, though I don't want to discourage discussion around their submersibles.
So far I'm aware of a couple of designs:
Project 1047 (files attached, source: Klaas...
cold war
interwar period
kingdom of the netherlands
koninklijke marine
netherlands
nevesbu
northatlantictreatyorganisation
royal netherlands navy
world war ii
1969
1970s
1980s
airborne forces
airmobile
bundeswehr
cold war
deutsches heer
fallschirmjäger
federal republic of germany
military history visualized
northatlantictreatyorganisation
post-cold war
west germany
After the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 the US replaced its land based medium range ballistic missiles in Europe. While the Minuteman ICBM was the main national deterrent system, the role of countering Russian missiles aimed at Western Europe was taken on by Polaris (later Poseidon) submarines...
alternate history
cold war
great britain
icbm
medium-range ballistic missile
mrbm
nato
northatlantictreatyorganisation
nuclear battlefield
united kingdom
united states
western europe
I checked, no thread for this one.
It was developed by RCA between early 1956 and september 1958 when it was canned. Before and after these dates, ( sigh...) the prefered option was the MX-1179 / MA-1.
While the Sparrow II missile is well known, Astra 1 remains kind of mystery. It has been...
... instead of re-inventing the wheel in the 70's.
The idea is to blend together, Zumwalt "cheaper decks" (SCS / VSS / CVV) and the too few carrier designs from Europe. To bolster NATO fleets on one side, and the USN on the other - more flattops on both sides of the Atlantic.
That is...
1970s
aircraft carrier
alternate history
cold war
naval aviation
naval sea systems command
naval ship systems command
navsea
navships
northatlantictreatyorganisation
royal navy
united states navy
vstol carriers
western europe
Here's a really interesting account I found on Project Terminated, by Ronnie Serrano:
'... a couple drawings were done by Pierre Mion for the U.S Navy in the late-1960s which shows using converted Fletcher-class destroyers into makeshift "Harrier Carriers". The plan at the time is to convert...
140mm
1986
1989
2000 ad
alvis
cold war
fighting vehicles establishment
great britain
mbt-95
northatlantictreatyorganisation
nuclear battlefield
project 7308
rarde
royal ordnance
tank
tank design
the armoured archives
vickers plc
Did Canada ever consider the A4 Skyhawk for its carrier aviation and Norway reinforcement role (instead of F5)? Would have been able to operate with USN/USMC.
air command (canadian armed forces)
alternate history
canada
canadian army
cold war
force mobile command
force mobile command (canadian armed forces)
maritime command (canadian armed forces)
northatlantictreatyorganisation
royal canadian air force
royal canadian navy
what-if
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