History, Politics And Current Affairs

It represented a Soviet tank battalion. 30 odd tanks was about the right strength for one, IIRC.

Between 1985 and late 1986, the army’s contribution was built around a reinforced light infantry battalion. From late 1986 it was reduced to a single infantry company. At the same time the squadron of Phantom FGR.2 was reduced to a flight of 6 and late 4 aircraft.

I keep asking myself if the Heer will enter the DDR. Legally under the Four Powers Agreement, they weren‘t allowed to, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure the FPA is in force at this point. :D FWIW, the Feldjäger could have acquired a specialty that was only developed in @ after the Bundeswehr we...

Thank you very much. Appreciate your comments.

I did think it would be interesting to have the Belgians be the first to enter the GDR in force.

With thanks to Matt Wiser. * D+31 * 1335 hours. Air Defence Range Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The drone began its run into the range. It was one of the brand-new Banshee Jet 40, which had only entered service in the last few months. It jinked hard as its operator made life hard for the AA syst...

I'm curious, in what way are the T.8Ns too large for the deck lifts? Everything else fit the deck lifts, right? AFAIK, they were too long. Their vertical tail was also higher than a SHAR, though I'm not sure if it would have been an issue. I have also harboured doubts about how much 'give away' a T...

Lucy has proven that she likes to climb, watch TV and read history books.

The MSAM competition is from @. I would guess that NASAMS 1 would been eliminated from the competition early on. I only have three sources for the competition and I will double check if it was the basic NASAMS 1 that was on offer. Fonfé was involved in the planning for deployment of Patriot, additio...

Thank you. I was inspired to write it after reading Wing Commander Fonfé. I had known about the competition for MSAM, but has not known just how far along in @ the planning had gone. The information about the Anglo-German LAA squadron was especially interesting.

I am beginning to wonder if the concept of using T-8N as refulling aircraft was a mistake. It was an idea I came up with about 20 years ago now ( :o ). One of the issues of operating them on an Invincible class CVSA is that they can't be taken below decks, as they were too large for the deck lifts. ...

In the conditions the division found itself, badly.

Two M60A3TTS of 1-303 Armor, 81st Infantry Brigade (Mech), in British Columbia in the winter of 1986/1987. The brigade was a Washington ARNG formation, which formed the ROUNDOUT of the regular 9th Infantry Division. The division had until a few months before been the US Army's only motorised divisio...

It briefly wore the 'Raspberry Ripple' colours of the then A&AEE when it was being tested. It's now on display in the National Cold War Exhibition at the RAF Museum Midland (RAF Cosford), in its origional colours. I saw it during a visit in the early Naughties when it was still in its A&AEE ...

Fighting on Twitter is a bit like the proverbial pigeon chess.

To bad the Victor K2 was not able to refuel a Rockwell/BAe Lancer B.1 in flight, because that would be something to see. The Lancer B.1 was modified to use the 'probe & drogue' refuelling system. So, theoretically a Victor could have refuelled one. However, I believe when they did need AAR, the...

The NHS will, if you have been on a waiting list long enough, pay for patients to go private. Which NHS Scotland did for me back in 2020. My surgeon was the same NHS consultant who had done the last surgery in an NHS hospital.

The Royal Air Force & Ground Based Air Defence Introduction Prior to the disbandment of Anti-Aircraft Command on 10th March 1955, the British Army had the primary responsibility for Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) of the United Kingdom. By the mid-1950s the network of radar directed medium and ...

There was no Type 22 called Glamorgan . D19 was the pendant number of the County class destroyer, HMS Glamorgan . It's difficult to say from that photo, but it does look like a Type 22 Batch 1. Which means that it would be either HMS Broadsword (F88), HMS Battleaxe (F89), or HMS Brilliant (F90) (HMS...