De noordflank

Gestart door dudge, 11/10/2013 | 12:48 uur

Harald

Exercise reveals NATO vulnerabilities to Russian hybrid threats in North Atlantic

NATO is currently digesting the lessons of a tabletop exercise held at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington, DC, in February 2017 that confronted participants - including former senior alliance officials - with Russian asymmetric threats in the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap, Jane's has learned.

The two-day exercise, dubbed 'Forgotten Waters', involved 70 participants divided into teams representing France, NATO, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States dealing with increasingly escalatory steps by Russia, played by Western experts. Among the participants were former NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow and General Philip Breedlove (ret'd), former Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

http://www.janes.com/article/70206/exercise-reveals-nato-vulnerabilities-to-russian-hybrid-threats-in-north-atlantic

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

Forgotten Waters: Minding the GIUK Gap   
(maar even hier gepost, maar heeft linken met verschillende andere topics, zoals Orion vervanging, Walrus vervanging, M-fregat vervanging)

Geography still rules, despite the conceits of the jet age and the information age. Geography is where any discussion of the strategic environment must begin. To know a country's geography provides clues to its intentions better than any wiretap of its national security meetings.

The geography that concerned us in the "Forgotten Waters" exercise described in this paper is the North Atlantic passage between Greenland and Iceland to the west and the United Kingdom to the east: the GIUK Gap, as it was known throughout the Cold War. The key here is precisely the geography that cannot be seen from above: the underwater domain where the slope and composition of the bottom, as well as nearly isothermal temperatures, make for ideal sound propagation. This geography is further complicated by pipelines, communications cables, and economic exclusion zones. Indeed, below the surface of a boisterous ocean is a critical strategic world.

The GIUK Gap forms the principal choke point between Russia's great Northern Fleet and its strategic interests in the North Atlantic and all points south. The Russians, as a resurgent power, have modernized their military forces, but they still face the same geographical limitations as in the past. For a Russian warship to get from icy northern waters to the eastern Mediterranean, it must pass through the GIUK Gap.

If American warships are sent with large numbers of troops and materiel to reinforce Europe, they must cross Atlantic waters infested with Russian submarines, surface vessels, or aircraft that transited south through the gap. It is here that the geographies of North America and Europe meet and intermesh.

Because the GIUK Gap made for a perfect strategic gateway during the Cold War, the West invested heavily in capabilities there to keep the gate shut. Almost three decades since the Berlin Wall fell, the Gap is returning to its Cold War importance, but it is yet underappreciated by contemporary policymakers.

NATO faces threats from all directions, so how can the Alliance also pay attention to the North Atlantic? How can it rebuild military capabilities and skillsets for this region when resources are constrained? Should the NATO members in the region adopt a defensive posture and protect convoys, or should they adopt an offensive posture and venture out to hunt subs, or perhaps both? Such questions, pondered by World War II naval planners, are once again relevant.

The Forgotten Waters tabletop exercise concentrated on what is hidden from view, but is critical nevertheless. And something new and even larger informed this exercise: the vast increase in container shipping over the decades, underwater cables for electronic communications, and the growth of the American, Chinese, Indian, and other navies have made the seas as important as the dry land.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/183353/forgotten-waters%3A-minding-the-giuk-gap.html

Click here for the full report (18 PDF pages) on the CNAS website.
https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/forgotten-waters

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.


Sparkplug

Defence Ministry: UK Offers Finland Place in Joint Expeditionary Force

(Source: Finnish Broadcasting News; yle; issued Feb 05, 2017)

The Ministry of Defence announces that the UK offer for Finland to join the seven-member Joint Expeditionary Force will be analysed in detail. The possibility of a new military cooperation will next be looked at in the autumn.

The United Kingdom has offered Finland and Sweden the possibility of joining in the UK-lead Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a military rapid reaction force made up of seven countries.

"The cooperation offer is based on Finland and Sweden being in a so-called enhanced partnership with Nato and we have a good history with joint operation with the UK," unit chief Janne Kuusela from the Defence Ministry says.

The JEF is made up of the UK (as the lead nation), Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Norway. The coalition, says Kuusela, aims to develop the UK's rapid reaction military performance together with allied countries.

Last year both Finland and Sweden signed a framework agreement on defence cooperation with the United Kingdom. The JEF-offer is being considered in Finland both internally and jointly with Sweden.

"Joining this force has to do with Nato, because the idea originated within Nato and the force acts within Nato's scope as exercised by the states in question. They can decide for themselves whether to invite non-Nato countries in," Kuusela says.

The defense chief says that any future collaboration would not involve any new hardware purchases for the Defence Forces – using and developing existing assets is what JEF seeks to do.

"Joining this force would have to somehow benefit Finland's defense capabilities," says Kuusela. "We think that Finland's military performance needs to be updated in the current global security environment, so the offer is quite interesting. But this will be carefully hashed out and only brought into the political sphere if we consider JEF worth joining."

Should the Ministry decide to accept the offer, the next steps would be taken in autumn, 2017.

Sweden to Consider Military Partnership With UK

(Source: The Local.se; issued Feb 05, 2017)

The Swedish Armed Forces is looking into the possibility of joining a military partnership led by the United Kingdom.

As well as the UK, six other Nato countries - Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands - are Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) members.

"We have also held discussions with Finland and will undertake a joint analysis of potential participation in JEF. We will coordinate our position on this," Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

JEF has no standing forces, but participating countries provide various units that can respond in a crisis situation.

The Swedish Armed Forces is scheduled Monday to begin discussions of a potential Swedish contribution.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/180878/uk-offers-finland-slot-in-joint-force%3B-sweden-tempted.html
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

Sweden reactivates RBS15-based mobile coastal defence systems

Robin Hughes, London - IHS Jane's Missiles & Rockets - 30 December 2016


An RBS15 Mk 2 anti-ship missile being fired from a Scania 3 series 8 x 6 mobile coastal defence platform during trials on the Baltic Coast in early 2016 Source: Swedish Defence Material Administration

Key Points
. System reconstituted to RBS15 Mk 2 standard
. First firing trials of a land-based RBS15 Mk 2missile conducted in the Baltic Sea in early 2016.

The Swedish Armed Forces has reactivated a land-based mobile RBS15 coastal defence capability on the Baltic coast, some 16 years after it was decommissioned due to budget cuts.

Rear Admiral Thomas Engevall, Chief of Defence Logistics within the Swedish Armed Forces and responsible for materiel acquisition from Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) told IHS Jane's that the armed forces issued a 'challenge' to Saab Dynamics in early 2015 to determine the feasibility of reactivating and reconstituting the original RBS15M3-based coastal defence system capability to an operationally acceptable-standard within a one-year timeframe.

"Saab was challenged in the springtime of 2015 to look into whether this could be achieved or not. FMV awarded the contract - and a year later we fired. So from challenge to shooting it took a year, but a contract was signed a bit later than the issue of the challenge - so actually the contract time was a bit shorter than a year," Engevall said.

The spur for this initiative, said Engevall, was a high-priority directive from the government to significantly increase operational capability across the entire Swedish Armed Forces by 2020. While the re-activation of the RBS15 mobile coastal systems for the Swedish Navy was not directly specified in the directive, it was clearly 'in the spirit' of the given task. "That directive was issued by the government, and all our efforts are now going into this. So, essentially we have reacted to the political will - but we have also demonstrated that we are able to do things like this."

Stefan Öberg, Vice-President, Saab Dynamics, Head of Missiles Business Unit, told IHS Jane's that the regenerated RBS15 capability was achieved in close cooperation with both the FMV and the armed forces.

Want to read more? For analysis on this article and access to all our insight content, please enquire about our subscription options ihs.com/contact

To read the full article, Client Login

(335 of 827 words)

http://www.janes.com/article/66614/sweden-reactivates-rbs15-based-mobile-coastal-defence-systems
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

Norway receives State Department approval to buy five Boeing P-8As   ( € 1,68 miljard euro => € 335 miljoen per stuk ; dit is incl. support, training e.d. )

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2016 - The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Norway for P-8A Aircraft and associated support. The estimated cost is $1.75 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on December 20, 2016.

..../....

voor het gehele artikel, zie onderstaande LINK
http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/norway-p-8a-aircraft-and-associated-support

Ronald Elzenga

Citaat van: Huzaar1 op 05/12/2016 | 20:00 uur
Het was fijn geweest als Noorwegen met dat bewustzijn wat zou gaan investeren in haar Marine.
Haar huidige leger is al achterlijk klein.
Lijkt mij verstandig ja...hun regio heeft weer flink aan belang gewonnen bij de huidige spanningen. Ook 2% BBP graag asap.

Huzaar1

Het was fijn geweest als Noorwegen met dat bewustzijn wat zou gaan investeren in haar Marine.
Haar huidige leger is al achterlijk klein.
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion" US secmindef - Jed Babbin"

Harald

The Norwegian Government has Decided to Procure Five P-8A Poseidon  ( ... gaan wel van 9 naar 5 vliegtuigen ... , max 2 in de lucht )

The Norwegian Government decided 25th November to procure five P-8A Poseidon for delivery in 2021 to 2022. The decision taken in the Government has been proposed to the Parliament, which is expected to reach a resolution regarding the procurement mid-December.

Minister of Defence, Ine Eriksen Søreide, is pleased with the decision: "The new maritime patrol aircraft will be a formidable tool for surveillance of our vast maritime areas in the north. Norway has an important task in maintaining the situational awareness in national and adjacent waters, both on and below the surface, on behalf of the Alliance. The maritime domain is becoming more important as we speak."

Norwegian maritime areas are vast, and about seven times its land mass. These areas are now regarded with increasingly strategic importance in NATO, and this trend is expected to continue.

Norway has upheld the task of maintaining maritime Situational Awareness in the north with a high degree of regularity since 1961, when the Albatross aircraft was introduced. The regularity, reach and capability to perform underwater surveillance increased substantially with the introduction of the P-3B Orions in 1969, and the updates in the P-3Cs, introduced in Norway in 1989, was necessary to cope with new underwater technology.

The five P-8A Poseidon will replace the six ageing P-3 Orions, and three DA-20 Jet Falcons, and will again provide a giant technological leap in the domain of maritime surveillance. The maritime patrol aircraft will continue the provision of data for analysis and decision makers, both in government and in the military commands, into the future.
The regularity of Norwegian presence in the north with maritime patrol aircraft, will continue a familiar and well known scheme of operations in our maritime surroundings. The visual presence of Norwegian aircraft in areas of interest caters for stability and predictability in the region.

Although maritime surveillance has been a high priority for the Norwegian Armed Forces for more than fifty years, the new security situation prompts increased requirements with regards to situational awareness. "The P-8A Poseidon is exactly what we need to maintain our important contribution to the alliance going into the future", Defence Minister Eriksen Søreide adds.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/179230/norway-mod-confirms-boeing-p_8a-acquisition.html

Ace1

Citaat van: Thomasen op 28/11/2016 | 18:25 uur
Tsja, die Amerikaanse troep in de Doorman wil anders ook niet zo.

De spanjaarden leveren ook Gasturbines onder een licentie. De Noren en de Australiers zullen hiervan problemen gaan ondervinden in de toekomst.

http://www.navantia.es/interior.php?id_sec=3&id_pag=124

Huzaar1

Citaat van: Thomasen op 28/11/2016 | 18:41 uur
Ik weet niet wat er allemaal in zit, maar de kapotte motoren kwamen van GE dacht ik.

GE in Frankrijk. Dingen zijn uniek, w.s Frans ontwerp en Franse kunde geweest.
Dus gelukkig kunnen we Frankrijk de schuld blijven geven.

Don't buy French  :angel:
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion" US secmindef - Jed Babbin"