western europe

Today on October 16 2020, the Spanish division of Airbus presented its proposal for a new advanced trainer, the AFJT (Airbus Future Jet Trainer or Airbus Flexible Jet Trainer), to a small number of media. The AFJT is expected to replace the C-101 and F-5M in the Spanish Air Force. Links...

It is generally written in histories of Concorde thst the aircraft was not large enough and had insufficient range. But with the benefit of hindsight and the actual operations of British and French airlines might a smaller executive jet version have been a better bet and might still be in...

Back in the 1960s Boeing was telling everyone that its Supersonic 2707 transport would be the must-have airliner for the 1970s. Some 26 airlines took out options on the plane. There is a comprehensive thread about the US designs on this site, but no illustrations of the artwork Boeing must have...

As a kid I spent a lot of time browsing through Janes Fighting Ships in our local library. One of my favourite group of ships were the big cruisers which were the hallmark of major European navies. The most modern of these were the helicopter carrying Terrier armed ships of the Italian navy plus...

One of the things that always puzzled me in the 70s was how the West German Air Force replaced its NATO light fighter bomber competition winning Fiat G91 with the Dornier Dassault Breguet Alpha Jet. The Germans had the money to buy a raft of different planes for this role ranging from Jaguars...

This one is not really feasible but it does produce some interesting models or artwork. The USAF had its Hound Dogs in service from the Cuban Missile Crisis well into the 70s. If politics and other considerations had not got in the way, permutations of NATO Hound might have served on the...

I had always been puzzled by who in NATO apart from the US received nuclear missiles. The UK received Corporal (range about 75miles) while Belgium, France, Germany, Italy as well as UK got Honest John(12 miles or so) It then gets interesting. The UK comes up with Blue Water (range 50-60 miles)...

G'day gents I've just finish listening to a great and informative seminar titled: Technology-Strategy Seminar: NATO's AirLand Battle Strategy and Future Extended Deterrence (Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2013) Found the views and experience of Dr. Jim Tegnelia and Dr. Rich...

G'day all I'm just going through some old documentation (yes hand written notes, so it's undoughtedly 1990's) and came across the following: "In early 50′s, the new Bundeswehr consideration to produced modernized Panzer V Panther tank with upgraded armament and electronics, but they elected to...

Lets assume the EFA negotiations fail but with a twist, namely that Britain also needed an carrier plane along with France. So France and Britain go their own way to develop something more along the likes of Rafale and Germany stays separate. So under the circumstances what would Germany, Italy...

Not trying to provoke either side of the current debate but I am old enough to remember a time when the 6 original members of the European Community discussed the setting up of a full blown EDF in the 1960s. It was never a runner politically but had it been, I imagine the following equipment...

Dear friends, as far as I remember, in the early Nineties, a few alternatives were envisaged by the 4 Participating Nations (UK, West Germany, Italy; Spain) to reduce the Aircraft cost, in the wake of the end of the Cold War. These ranged from a single-engined EFA to a existing-engine powered...

In the 1960s children's comic TV21 Alan Fennell enlarged on the puppet shows of Gerry Anderson by creating a fictional world of 2065. He even provided a back history in which a limited nuclear in Europe had been started by an accident in 2028. A Prime Minister talking to an Air General (sic)...

As ESA discuss European Manned Spaceflight was a battle between Hermes Shuttle and Capsule Fraction Here the 1989 Proposal of ERNO "LaReCa" short for Large Ariane 5 Return Capsule It feature: -A large reusable Capsule for various mission -The use of full potential of Ariane 5 rocket...

"A400M: The Horror, The Horror" May 2, 2014 by Michael Bruno in Things With Wings Source: http://aviationweek.com/blog/a400m-horror-horror

Hello there, long time lurker, first time poster as they say, so my first post is a spot of a challenge. The Cold War instead of ending when it did thanks to Mr Gorbachev being a realist, has continued through to 18th October 2012, NATO forces are now in the process of being reduced, so think...

What a guy ! http://www.nfb.ca/film/defender/

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a209811.pdf http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a239308.pdf

ESA made in beginn 1990 several study for advance Ariane 5 rocket, what let to big Ariane super lourd concept 1991 also they study this interesting Idea Ariane 5 with TWO Vulcain (HM60) engines with each 800 kN thrust and 220 tons fuel in EPC The Idea behind the concept is this Problem...

The more I read about the nuclear politics of the 60s defence decisions the more I am astonished at the annoying involvement of the Germans. It seems that from joining NATO onwards they either agitated to have their own fingers on the nuclear trigger, or later, as put by Helmut Schmidt, they...