Nordic countries militaries

It gets better as the Norwegian Navy has confirmed that the captain was asleep in his cabin whilst the officer in command is only 26 and a year out of training.

Allthough the VTS and the tanker knew it was there they had not obeyed the rules and notified the Fedje VTS control centre who and what they were. They were also whizzing along, for the size of ship and location, at 17 knots whilst the tanker was probably just over 4 knots.

Communications included this gem

Tanker to frigate: Turn starboard immediately!

Frigate responds: Can't go starboard, we'll end up on the beach.

Tanker to frigate: You have to do something now! (no response)

Tanker to frigate: Turn!

Tanker to frigate: We're going to have a collision here.

Translation by Chris Hansen at The Warzone.

JohninMK wrote:It gets better as the Norwegian Navy has confirmed that the captain was asleep in his cabin whilst the officer in command is only 26 and a year out of training.
.......

Sounds like something I would do but then again I am not Navy captain...

PapaDragon wrote:

JohninMK wrote:It gets better as the Norwegian Navy has confirmed that the captain was asleep in his cabin whilst the officer in command is only 26 and a year out of training.
.......

Sounds like something I would do but then again I am not Navy captain...

On twitter I saw they called him "hero" because he send the ship on the rocks

Isos wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

JohninMK wrote:It gets better as the Norwegian Navy has confirmed that the captain was asleep in his cabin whilst the officer in command is only 26 and a year out of training.
.......

Sounds like something I would do but then again I am not Navy captain...

On twitter I saw they called him "hero" because he send the ship on the rocks

That's probably the Captain taking command in his pyjamas. Just imagine what he said on entering the bridge!

Then the rocks holding the cable mountings cracked under pressure. Sad end to a hi tech beauty.

All the electronic is dead now. Even if they save it, it will need a deep modernization/replacement of everything inside.

Video with english translation

I believe thats the VTS radar/audio recording.

Some pretty interesting stuff there:
Previously its been said that HI turned the transponder on at 0kt, ppl have suggested that it was after the collision.
I think we see a running 30s average, starts at 0.0 then climbs to over 17kt over next 30s then stabilises.
Since the 'NATO Frigate' tag doesn't show up till after the collision I think the 0kt track is manually set by VTS, maybe the 'NATO Frigate' also.
Looks like the length of the green tail indicates speed so it was being tracked by the radar for some time already at the start, going pretty steady speed.
(I'm curious where the VTS radar is, presumably is setup to track ships over most of the fjord, audio indicates the VTS had seen HI for a while so apparently no huge benefit from stealth efforts)

From the audio HI wasn't intentionally grounded to save the ship from sinking, it continued apparently on momentum post-collision into the shore within 5mins, HI radios that 'we've hit the shore' rather than 'we grounded it' & they don't seem to have any significant idea of the extent of damage by then.

Tug from the port was already on the move before called in by VTS, presumably heard the collision (2km from where the tugs tie up via Google Earth).

Update: U.S. Navy officer could face questions in Norwegian frigate collision:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/18/europe/norway-frigate-sinking-us-sailor-scli-intl/index.html

if he was involved, Norway will have a good excuse to leave NATO & join the EU force!

Military parade in Finland

The Swedish army received the first four 120-mm self-propelled mortars Grkpbv90

The Swedish defense procurement agency Försvarets Materielverk (FMV) on February 1, 2019 reported that HB Utveckling AB, which is a joint venture of two Swedish divisions of BAE Systems - companies BAE Systems Bofors AB and BAE Systems Hägglunds AB - transferred the land forces of Sweden to conduct military tests The first four pre-production 120-mm self-propelled Granatkastarpansarbandvagn 90 mortars (Grkpbv90, the project was previously known as Mjölner), made on the chassis of the CV90 infantry fighting vehicle.



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3520971.html

Current live feed of frigate slowly being raised by 3 crane ships/barges.

F-35 in Finland

On May 23, F-35A aircraft from the 421st Fighter Squadron [US Air Force] from Hill Air Base (Utah) flew to Aviano Air Base in Italy. After a short tour of cities and countries of Europe on June 13, they moved from German Spangdalem to Finnish Turku.



On 15-16 June, the Turku Airshow airshow was held in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Aviation Association FAA (Finnish Aeronautical Association) and the 75th anniversary of the end of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1941-1944 (the continuation war).



Also in the airshow took part the Swedish Gripend, the French Rafaled, the English Typhoons, the Finnish aerobatic team Midnight Hawks performed, the owners of historical aircraft demonstrated their cars in the air. But the participation of American F-35 was not originally announced.

On Monday, May 17, both American aircraft flew out of Turku and, flying over the Baltic Sea, landed in Norwegian Orland, where they worked together for two days on training flights, and then returned to Spangdahlem.

It should be noted that the F-35 first appeared in Finland, and most likely this event is directly related to the upcoming competition for the project HX

Most of the resources of the Runet with Pont use the name of the program, such as for solidity, but none of them explains why the HX? It turns out that this construction of the abbreviation is considered traditional for the rearmament programs in the modern air forces of Finland:

H = Hornet - the first letter is derived from the name of the car being replaced;

X = it happened with the United States, but it gradually got accustomed almost everywhere that the letter X is usually used as an identifier to designate promising models of weapons and military equipment.

The HX program began in 2015 to replace the F / A-18C / D Hornet fighter-bomber in the country's Air Force, which will expire in the years 2025-2030. Five multipurpose fighters are participating in the Finnish tender. In addition to the only fifth-generation aircraft, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II decided to risk four more applicants of the 4 and 4.5 generations - the Boeing F / A-18E / F Super Hornet, the Saab JAS-39E / F Gripen, the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon (now BAE Systems). As you can see, almost all of them except Super Hornet took part in the air show in Turku on Saturday and Sunday, and Gripen, Typhoon and Rafali demonstrated their capabilities in flight, and Lightning 2 showed only in static exposure.

Obviously, in such a simple way, manufacturers are trying to increase their chances in the competition. But no matter how hard they try, the prelude of the main fight will unfold with the advent of the new 2020, when the tests of the applicants begin. Within two weeks, each fighter will undergo a 10-day test program at the Finnish aerodrome of Pirkkala. For example, flights of the F-35 will begin there on February 7. Unfortunately the Finns, they themselves will not be able to check the car in flight - the F-35 does not have a double version. They will be piloted by either US Air Force pilots or factory testers.

Then, throughout the year, the Air Force specialists will analyze the test results, and then will transmit their recommendations to the government, which should make a decision on the acquisition in 2021. This is where the fun begins.

Already, the program promises to be the largest arms contract for Finland with a framework value of 7-10 billion euros, and this amount does not include the purchase of weapons and equipment, as well as the cost of maintenance and modernization during the life cycle of new machines. But with an estimated demand of 100-120 multi-role fighters for the defense of Finland, a request for information in 2016 involved the purchase of up to 64 new cars, and later four parliamentary parties proposed reducing their number to 48.

According to the schedule of the project, the fighters of the program HX should appear in Finland in the years 2025-2030.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3685337.html

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3685337.html

George1 wrote:

F-35 in Finland

 On May 23, F-35A aircraft from the 421st Fighter Squadron [US Air Force] from Hill Air Base (Utah) flew to Aviano Air Base in Italy. After a short tour of cities and countries of Europe on June 13, they moved from German Spangdalem to Finnish Turku.



On 15-16 June, the Turku Airshow airshow was held in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Aviation Association FAA (Finnish Aeronautical Association) and the 75th anniversary of the end of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1941-1944 (the continuation war).



 Also in the airshow took part the Swedish Gripend, the French Rafaled, the English Typhoons, the Finnish aerobatic team Midnight Hawks performed, the owners of historical aircraft demonstrated their cars in the air. But the participation of American F-35 was not originally announced.

 On Monday, May 17, both American aircraft flew out of Turku and, flying over the Baltic Sea, landed in Norwegian Orland, where they worked together for two days on training flights, and then returned to Spangdahlem.

 It should be noted that the F-35 first appeared in Finland, and most likely this event is directly related to the upcoming competition for the project HX

Most of the resources of the Runet with Pont use the name of the program, such as for solidity, but none of them explains why the HX? It turns out that this construction of the abbreviation is considered traditional for the rearmament programs in the modern air forces of Finland:

H = Hornet - the first letter is derived from the name of the car being replaced;

X = it happened with the United States, but it gradually got accustomed almost everywhere that the letter X is usually used as an identifier to designate promising models of weapons and military equipment.

The HX program began in 2015 to replace the F / A-18C / D Hornet fighter-bomber in the country's Air Force, which will expire in the years 2025-2030. Five multipurpose fighters are participating in the Finnish tender. In addition to the only fifth-generation aircraft, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II decided to risk four more applicants of the 4 and 4.5 generations - the Boeing F / A-18E / F Super Hornet, the Saab JAS-39E / F Gripen, the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon (now BAE Systems). As you can see, almost all of them except Super Hornet took part in the air show in Turku on Saturday and Sunday, and Gripen, Typhoon and Rafali demonstrated their capabilities in flight, and Lightning 2 showed only in static exposure.

Obviously, in such a simple way, manufacturers are trying to increase their chances in the competition. But no matter how hard they try, the prelude of the main fight will unfold with the advent of the new 2020, when the tests of the applicants begin. Within two weeks, each fighter will undergo a 10-day test program at the Finnish aerodrome of Pirkkala. For example, flights of the F-35 will begin there on February 7. Unfortunately the Finns, they themselves will not be able to check the car in flight - the F-35 does not have a double version. They will be piloted by either US Air Force pilots or factory testers.

Then, throughout the year, the Air Force specialists will analyze the test results, and then will transmit their recommendations to the government, which should make a decision on the acquisition in 2021. This is where the fun begins.

Already, the program promises to be the largest arms contract for Finland with a framework value of 7-10 billion euros, and this amount does not include the purchase of weapons and equipment, as well as the cost of maintenance and modernization during the life cycle of new machines. But with an estimated demand of 100-120 multi-role fighters for the defense of Finland, a request for information in 2016 involved the purchase of up to 64 new cars, and later four parliamentary parties proposed reducing their number to 48.

According to the schedule of the project, the fighters of the program HX should appear in Finland in the years 2025-2030.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3685337.html

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3685337.html

If the VKS didn't already have the F-35's effective RCS, they do now lol!

I don't think Russia was ever worried about the F-35. Probably about the F-22 early on during the collapse years but that's about it. There are other aircraft in the U.S arsenal that require worry. The F-35 definitely not soo much - as long as you keep up. Biggest asset it has it its standard AESA radar.

Follow up to SR-71 with an offensive capability should worry.

ATLASCUB wrote:I don't think Russia was ever worried about the F-35. Probably about the F-22 early on during the collapse years but that's about it. There are other aircraft in the U.S arsenal that require worry. The F-35 definitely not soo much - as long as you keep up. Biggest asset it has it its standard AESA radar.

Follow up to SR-71 with an offensive capability should worry.

I suppose you mean the USAF strategic bombers? Shockingly enough only a fraction of them are fly-worthy. It's said only 1/3rd of the B-1B/B-2 Spirits are actually combat duty ready, with the B-2's having the added bonus of 40 hours of maintenance for every 1 fly hour, and the B-52's having something like an average 60 years on their airframes. You would think that would be a high priority, surprising facts considering how the neocons are so bellicose in nature.

Finland received all purchased Leopard 2A6NL tanks

According to the Finnish Defense Forces, they received all 100 German-made Leopard 2A6NL main tanks purchased under the 2014 agreement from the Dutch army. The last batch of purchased Leopard 2A6NL tanks was delivered from the Netherlands by sea to the seaport of Helsinki Vuosaari on October 25, 2019.

The agreement on the purchase in the Netherlands of 100 Leopard 2A6NL main tanks taken out of service by the Dutch army and stored was concluded by the Ministry of Defense of Finland on January 20, 2014. The purchase price amounted to 199.9 million euros. The tanks were transferred to Finland in several batches in 2015-2019, the first batch of 20 vehicles was delivered to Finland on May 14, 2015.

Since 2016, the Leopard 2A6NL tanks in the Finnish army have been the main armament of the Armored Brigade in Parola, and also are in service with the Karelian Brigade.

Finland previously acquired from 2003 to 2012 148 Leopard 2A4 tanks from the German Bundeswehr. Of these tanks, 100 were commissioned as linear (now less than 90 remain in service), six were converted to Leopard 2R barriers, 10 to Leopard 2L tank bridges, and seven to Marksman anti-aircraft self-propelled guns, and the remaining 25 were used as a source of spare parts.

The Netherlands at one time became the first foreign customer of Leopard 2 tanks, having received 445 German-made tanks under a contract from March 1979 from 1981 to 1986, subsequently modified to the Leopard 2A4NL level. Since 1993, the number of Leopard 2 tanks in the Dutch army has undergone constant reductions, and these tanks were actively sold to other countries. In 1993-1998, 188 Dutch Leopard 2A4 tanks were upgraded to Leopard 2A5NL, and in 2001-2006 180 of these 188 were upgraded to Leopard 2A6NL.

In April 2011, the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands decided to completely withdraw from service the entire Leopard 2A6NL tanks (by that time 73 vehicles remained in active service) and finally sell off the former Dutch tank fleet. Back in 2008, 38 Leopard 2A6NL tanks (including one without a tower) were sold to Portugal, and 20 to Canada. In 2013, another 20 Leopard 2A6NL tanks were transferred to the manufacturer - the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) - by which they were upgraded to the Leopard 2A7 version for the Bundeswehr, and by agreement of 2015, the Dutch army leases 18 of these upgraded tanks from Germany for use . 100 remaining in the Dutch storage Leopard 2A6NL acquired Finland.








https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3820452.html

HX Challenge 2020 benchmarking as part of Finnish new fighter tender

In Finland, the HX Challenge 2020 competition program for comparative testing of five pre-selected aircraft types continues as part of the HX tender for a new fighter for the Finnish Air Force, designed to replace the Boeing F / A-18C / D Hornet fighters currently in service in the period 2025-2030.

For the testing of each of the five types of fighters during the HX Challenge 2020, seven working days are allocated. Approved test schedule:

Eurofighter Typhoon: January 9-17, 2020
Dassault Rafale: January 20 - 28, 2020
Saab JAS-39E Gripen: January 29 - February 6, 2020
Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II: February 7-17, 2020
Boeing F / A-18E / F Super Hornet: February 18 - 26, 2020

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3921645.html

Finland and Latvia will jointly develop a new armored personnel carrier based on the Patria 6x6 platform



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3921140.html

Tests by the Norwegian army of the first K9 self-propelled howitzers

Sweden carried out nuclear tests way back in the 70s

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/04/27/sweden-admits-nuclear-test-says-it-will-not-build-bomb/29ecd3bc-80fe-4786-848c-c995ad6192c5/

Sujoy wrote:Sweden carried out nuclear tests way back in the 70s

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/04/27/sweden-admits-nuclear-test-says-it-will-not-build-bomb/29ecd3bc-80fe-4786-848c-c995ad6192c5/

Cant read the article but the headline is somewhat false. All Swedish research on nuclear weapons was pretty much on paper. There were some small reactors built to test the possibility to create weapon grade material but nothing ever came out of it. By the late 1960s the plan was more or less cut, and by 1972 the program was totaly cancelled.