A bit of a dive into military developments of the last 5 years (1969-1974) to look at some patterns and see where things may be heading. Additions from the notes to relevant years come in brackets after the event text.
Aircraft and Aircraft Weapons
1969
May 6: First flight of the Hughes XV-21 quadjet heliplane, one of several American VTOL projects designed to compete with recent British advanced developments.
May 8: 60,000 South Vietnamese, British and Commonwealth troops launch Operation Ladder in Long Khanh Province, a localised offensive aimed at clearing and destroying remaining VC strongholds. Operations are supported by long range artillery and the new Hawker-Siddeley Salamander turboprop ground attack aircraft, which ably augments the Bristol Strikemasters and refurbished de Havilland Vampires used for tactical close air support.(The Hawker-Siddeley Salamander's closest @ equivalent is a combination of the Pucara and OV-1 Mohawk)
September 9: Completion of a record-breaking round-the-world flight by a specially modified Vickers Swallow supersonic jet with its designer Barnes Wallis onboard for the historic event, among other celebrity guests.
November 8: The Armstrong-Whitworth Argonaut strategic intruder enters service with the Royal Air Force, being the first aircraft of its type to be developed since the Second World War and featuring innovative elements of flying wing design. (The Armstrong-Whitworth Argonaut is a genuine intruder, designed to fly into Soviet airspace and engage fighters, bombers and SAM sites. It bears some resemblance in role to the F-117, but doesn't have the same stealth characteristics; it has some other features that enable its missions. Think active stealth)
November 27: The Soviet General Staff issue requirements for a Perspektivnyy Frontovoy Istrebitel ('advanced frontline fighter') and a Perspektivnyy Lyogkiy Frontovoy Istrebitel ('advanced lightweight frontline fighter') designs to counter Western developments. (The PFI is the Su-27 and the PLFI is the MiG-29)
1970
August 26: Introduction of the Fairey Rotodyne Avenger, a new heavy attack variant carrying a large armament of rockets, guided missiles, cannon and bombs. (The Fairey Rotodyne Avenger is a very powerful heavy attack ship without an @ parallel)
September 8: Deployment of the first Hawker-Siddeley Hurricane squadron of RAF Germany, a move described as considerably increasing its capability and qualitative edge over the Soviet Air Force. It is regarded by the RAF as a superior fighter/interceptor than the Phantom, whilst being equally capable in the fighter-bomber, ground attack and atomic strike roles. ( The Hurricane is a bit of a game changer, giving a big edge; the Spitfire even moreso. When combined with the Harrier, Tornado, Lion, Phantom, Lightning and Thunderbolt, RAF Germany, or the tactical air forces intended to fight WW3 on the Continent, are well equipped)
September 19: Entry into active USAF service of the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. Capable of a top speed of over Mach 3 and a combat radius of 1250 miles, over 2400 of the supercruising Eagles are projected as being ordered for Tactical Air Command, USAFE and the Pacific Air Forces Aerospace Defense Command. (The DE F-15 is a very powerful plane with a few interested foreign states already making inquiries)
September 24: CIA assets report the operational testing of a new Soviet heavy strategic bomber over the Urals.
November 10: Maiden flight of the Lockheed Jetstar 'jumbo jet', a four engine very long range counterpart to the Boeing 747, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, Convair-Bell 1550 and the Curtiss-Wright Super Condor. Noted Daily Planet journalist Clark Kent opines that the United States’ aviation industry is approaching the verge of having too many major companies in some particular aircraft markets.
November 29: RAF Middle East issues an approving report on the performance of the Sopwith Camel supersonic VSTOL assault transport in operational testing in Aden, highlighting its flexibility and speed of response, but also noting that its armament and versatility could potentially lead to inter-service disputes as to its proper control, given the recent RFC acquisition of Hawker-Siddeley Harrier jet fighters. The concluding paragraph puts the matter pithily: "We set out to get a transport, but ended up with a genuine army co-operation plane that can perform the full range of missions, with all that entails."
(The Sopwith Camel is a versatile and effective aircraft. The most analogous utility plane is the Westland Lysander in its originally envisaged form - artillery spotting, liaison, recon and close air support - with tactical transport thrown in. Another way of thinking of it is as a fixed wing VTOL equivalent in part to the Mi-24 Hind, or indeed the Valkyrie assault transport from Warhammer 40k. They are designed to be part of a rapid response system:
A.) Supersonic strategic airlift take infantry, airborne or commando forces from Britain to other key hubs, such as Singapore, Rhodesia or Suez
B.) Operational airlift (Camels) shifts them to intermediate staging points or directly into target locations and then supports them along with RAF fighter bombers and bombers
C.) Tactical airlift takes them directly to the battlefield or target locations in helicopters and Rotodynes)
1971
January 23: The United States Air Force conducts a formal ceremony to mark the retirement of the last Lockheed C-130 Hercules in active service, with the new and superior McDonnell-Douglas C-15 acting as a welcome replacement; the Hercules remains the backbone of Air National Guard and USAFR transport wings. (The C-130 Hercules is retired after an honourable 18 year career, being replaced by the result of the Advanced Medium STOL Transport project, which has its roots back in a story set in 1960 (From Sea to Shining Sea) which set out the requirement for better transports and got the ball rolling)
March 10: A full squadron of RAF Avro Vulcan bombers sets off for a round the world flight, to culminate in a live fire exercise in Western Australia testing new air launched cruise missiles and the newest Blue Steel variants. (RAF Vulcan air exercises are designed to test their evolving role as ALCM/ALBM/Blue Steel stand off missile trucks, as the penetrator role is taken over by the Mach 3+ Victories and Avro 730s)
March 16: The Royal Israeli Air Force places an order for 250 Hawker-Siddeley P.1204 Hurricanes to replace its current fleet of Merlin fighter-bombers, with the British Hurricane being currently in production being the first of two decisive factors in its success over the Convair YF-16, with the other being its subsidised cost under Commonwealth defence agreements. Rigorous operational and simulated combat testing of the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle, Supermarine Spitfire and Dassault Super Mirage 2000 for the frontline air superiority role is ongoing, with the new aircraft planned to provide a long range compliment to the RIAFs English Electric Lightnings and the multi-role swing fighter force of F-4 Phantoms and de Havilland Tornadoes.
March 19: The US Army and the CIA begin development of a powerful new helicopter with a number of innovative attributes in Project Airwolf, with a goal of fielding the world's most versatile VTOL aircraft to equip various special operations groups. (Project Airwolf is designed to compete with the likes of the new Sopwith Camel VTOL as well as to open up new capabilities for aerial insertion of SF)
April 9: First flight of the Embraer Vespa, Brazil's first supersonic jet fighter. The project has been quite controversial since its initiation in 1963, with the performance of the Vespa left behind somewhat by the rapid development of cutting edge foreign aircraft and the cost being decried as excessive by a number of political groups, but it represents a large step forward for Brazilian aviation and technology. (The Brazilian Vespa is similar to the Helwan HA-300 of @ in role and purpose)
April 21: The USAF begins testing a special 'laser' ray gun suitable for use in fighter and bomber aircraft, with the advance of miniaturization technology now being sufficient to permit practical application of the principle first seen in the Martian heat rays of 1898 and later bought to service in the great skyships.
May 24: The first regular flight by the Soviet Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 supersonic jet airliner between Moscow and New York via Heathrow takes place, with the refueling stopover very carefully observed by intelligence officers and aircraft aficionados alike.
June 3: A USAF paper on the future of the B-47 Stratojet states that it will be retired from regular service by 1980, giving it a total service life of 32 years. It’s place in SAC’s Bomber fleet is to be the B-76, whilst the replacement for the B-52 is on track to enter service by the end of the 1970s. ( The B-47 sticks around for a while longer; on the flip side, we are likely to see the B-52 go earlier)
July 4: Unveiling of several new US aircraft at the Independence Day air show in Washington D.C., including the North American-Convair F-20 long range interceptor and F-21 fighter-interceptor and the Boeing FB-111. (- New US aircraft displayed at the Independence Day air show show some different developments to @; the FB-111 is a larger plane equivalent to the proposed FB-111H)
August 4: The Bristol group is renamed the British Aircraft Corporation, with English Electric Aviation remaining as the other major independent group within the broader BAC arrangement.
October 2: RAF English Electric Lightnings shoot down an Indonesian Air Force MiG-25 that accidentally violates British airspace near Singapore, surprising Soviet advisors in Djarkarta with the performance of their new air to air missiles. The Red pilot is rescued by a Royal Navy patrol boat and returned to Indonesia on October 19th after negotiations. (The RAF has some new AAMs that surprise the Sovs, or rather new versions of its standard Firebolt SRAAM and Skyblade MRAAM, which are the equivalents to the Sidewinder/Sparrow of the US)
October 13: The North American-Convair F-16 Falcon enters initial test service with the United States Air Force. The lightweight single engined tactical fighter is expected to fill a variety of roles in TAC and the forward deployed air forces and is regarded as a highly versatile and maneuverable design. With a top speed of Mach 2.5, a combat ceiling of 60,000ft and a combat radius of 500 miles, the F-16 has attracted attention from a number of European, Asian and South American states, with Byzantine Greece being particularly interested.
October 17: Jane's All the World's Helicopters publishes an article on the leading countries by civil rotary fleets of 1971, with the superpowers unsurprisingly leading the world, lead by the United States with 10,296, the USSR with 3862, Britain with 2579 and China with 1535; the Soviet 'civil' helicopters and rotodynes are all state owned and are regarded as military assets in the event of crisis or conflict.
November 28: The US Army retires its last unit of CH-47 Chinooks from active service, with their heavy lift role taken over by the Kaman Super Rotodyne. The Chinook fleet saw particularly hard service in Vietnam, where over 200 were lost.
1972
January 11: Howard Hughes unveils the model for an innovative new biplane supersonic jet airliner. Hughes had been secluded from public life for a number of years, apparently engaged in intense study of the works of the Arabian madman Abdul Alhazred.
January 27: Royal Navy test pilots begin preoperational flights of the English Electric Scimitar supersonic carrier fighter-bomber and Fairey Firefly naval strike plane.
March 14: The USN begins the last phase of initial competitive trials of fighter prototypes for the VFAX F4 Phantom replacement programme, with the Northrop Grumman P-540, the Vought Model 1800, McDonnell-Douglas Model 263 and the Lockheed-Martin CL-1250 considered to be very closely matched. The VFAX programme calls for a minimum of 2846 fighters for the USN and USMC and is thus regarded as one of the major aviation ‘crown jewel’ contracts of the 1970s.
March 31: The first USAF nuclear powered strategic bomber patrol begins as a new part of Operation Chrome Dome, with the Boeing B-72 taking off from Carswell AFB on a 24 day patrol flight over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is armed with 12 Skybolt ALBMs, 12 AGM-98 LRAMs and 8 of the new AGM-87 supersonic strategic cruise missiles, in addition to its self defence armament of AAM pods, autocannon turrets and laser rayguns.
April 5: The Canadian Air Ministry publishes a White Paper. on ‘The Future of the RCAF’, setting out its planned timetable for modernisation, most notably including requirements for a new multirole fighter and fighter-bomber; replacement of the Avro Arrow air superiority fighter/interceptor and the Canadair Swiftsure attack/strike bomber; and a significant increase in strategic missile defences.
April 13: Operation Skyshield XXII takes place in the skies across the Continental United States, with over 2400 jet fighters of the USAF’s Aerospace Defense Command attempting to intercept 576 SAC FB-111s, B-47s, B-52s and B-70s and 96 RAF Bomber Command Avro Vulcans. One squadron of the British bombers approaches using a circuitous southern route, coming in across the coast of Louisiana at very low level and simulating a launch of their Bristol X.12 and Avro Blue Steel IV missiles at targets throughout the Southern states. (Skyshield XXII is similar in effect to Sky Shield II, but coming from a different direction. It has become an annual exercise pitting the best of BC and SAC against ADC as a means of constant testing and maintaining readiness; contrast this with the downgrading of fighter and missile defences during the 1960s and early 1970s in @ with the decreasing Soviet bomber threat. Here, the ICBM is a serious threat, but the 1950s anti-air posture remains alongside it, with some new SAMs having a limited ABM capacity (based on the earlier developmental history of the Patriot, which saw those capacities deliberately downgraded) in addition to the dedicated ABM forces of Nike Zeus, Spartan/Sprint and Excalibur)
April 28: The Imperial Korean Air Force places orders for 240 Fairchild-Republic A-10s and 120 North American-Convair F-16 Falcons to replace their older F-86D and F-84 jets. Their continual close preference for United States warplanes is in slight contrast to Japan, where the production of domestic jets is seen as the paramount course of action, with acquisition of American and British types decreasing from previous trends. (The IKAF is still a very firm and good US customer for arms and military aircraft. In general, the guaranteed/close to guaranteed US markets are in Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Thailand and South Vietnam), South America (Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay and Ecuador) and Central America (onduras, Santo Domingo, El Salvador, Haiti, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Los Altos and Yucatan). There are many states that still buy a lot of 'Made in the USA' arms/aircraft whilst having their own niches, such as Germany and Turkey, whilst the British have the Commonwealth, the Middle East and Persia, the Balkans (Byzantine Greece, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia), the Benelux Union, Portugal and Scandinavia as the markets where they dominate; Argentina, Brazil and Chile still buy mainly British, but are trying to develop their own arms industries with varying degrees of success)
May 16: The USAF reaches its peak operational strength of 240 RB-74 Condors, the American designation of the Supermarine Eagle TSR-2, as a tenth and final squadron is stood up with the retirement of the last active reconnaissance versions of the B-58E and B-68 with Tactical Air Command. Their strike role with TAC, SAC, USAFE and USAFPAC is in the process of being replaced by the Lockheed-Martin B-75 Marauder II light bomber and Convair-North American B-76 Liberator II medium bomber. (USAF TSR-2s are joined by the B-75/B-76 combo, which are twin and four engine bombers respectively from the BX programme; the B-76 medium looks like a B-1A, whilst the B-72 is a third smaller)
August 23: First deliveries to the USN of the McDonnell-Douglas A-4R 'Skyhawk II', a lightweight supersonic multirole light attack jet based on the now legendary Douglas A-4 Skyhawk (although looking similar, it bears relatively few common parts and the relationship is more reminiscent of that between the Vought Crusaders and Crusader IIs) suitable for operation on new light and escort carriers, as well as airborne platforms; the USMC has expressed strong interest in acquisition of the type for a continued light attack capacity, in addition to the planned VAX strike aircraft. The replacement of the North American A-5 Vigilante and Boeing F-111B carrier-based bombers with the VBX a new plane based on the Boeing FB-111 and North American B-73 Retaliator continues at expected pace, with the Marine version to replace their bombers being seen as the less complicated aircraft. The United States Marine Corps Future Air Systems Plan makes specific provision for a light attack role alongside the VAX, VBX and VFAX, in addition to the Harrier VSTOL ground attack fighter, the Tomcat, Phantom fighter-bomber and Starburst interceptor. ( New Skyhawks are an unexpected turn, but come from a changing requirement for a light attack plane; they look similar and have the same name, but there is a lot different 'under the hood', like the comparison of the Crusader and Crusader III. The VBX will be a big bugger of a plane indeed and the Marines get Tomcats. The final aircraft referred to is the Lockheed-Martin F-13 Starburst, a very hot fighter-interceptor)
October 5: The Royal Air Force begins operational testing of a new holographic active camouflage system for tactical and strategic aircraft. It is hoped that this development, in concert with new radar absorbent materials for aircraft skins and specialist arcane repellent paints, will increase the capacity for operation over increasingly complex contested airspaces.
October 23: Formal reestablishment of United States Army Aviation as a distinct combat arm. The main portion of Army Aviation strength lies in its various helicopters, ranging from the thousands of UH-1 Iroquois transports and utility helicopters to the attack helicopters, such as the AH-1 Super Cobra light attack helicopter, the AH-56 Cheyenne in the medium attack role and the YAH-X heavy attack rotary aircraft still under development. The acquisition of a fixed wing capacity such as the Harrier jump jet under the terms of the 1968 Fort Hood Agreement promise to further enhance their capabilities.
November 18: Hawker-Siddeley begin active development of a successor to the P.1154 Harrier supersonic VSTOL jet fighter, with the P.1256 design utilising new, powerful engines, a more highly swept and larger wing and innovative new offensive and defensive systems. On the same day, the last Vickers Valiant in service with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force is formally retired at No. 962 Squadron's base at RAF Mona, with the redoubtable strategic bomber having served for 25 years; a total of 1624 saw service the RAF and RNAS alone.
November 22: The Royal Israeli Air Force announces that it will acquire 200 Dassault Super Mirage 2000 air superiority fighters in a surprise result, with the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle having been the more fancied contender in the international air press; speculation follows that the more flexible 'multirole' capacity of the French plane gave it the edge over the American Eagle and British Spitfire.
December 22: The current operational fleet of the Boeing Dyna-Soar is formally reclassified as the SRBL-2, reflecting its role as a spaceplane reconnaissance bomber now equipped with laser rayguns. Research and development on the adaption of current larger NASA and civilian single stage to orbit aerospaceplanes to a military role continues.
1973
January 11: Vickers unveils its new prototype supersonic jumbo jet to the public at Brooklands, with the new VC25 Victoria, capable of carrying over 500 passengers over transcontinental ranges at speeds over 2500mph, being described as not only the successor to the VC7 and VC8, but as a ‘New Comet’ in terms of its potential to revolutionise global aviation.
February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments.
March 15: Signing of an agreement for the acquisition of a specially modified variant of the Boeing F-111 by the Royal Air Force, after protracted discussions over the last decade. It is intended that the type be operated as a very long range ground attack/fighter-bomber and escort alongside the de Havilland Tornado and Hawker-Siddeley Phantom, particularly in the Mediterranean and Scandinavia, with a secondary role supporting the Vickers Thunderbolt in the strike mission. Some American observers draw a link between the British agreement and expanded U.S. orders of the Harrier.
March 30: The Vought-Republic YF-18 is announced as the winner of the USN’s VFAX contest. The YF-18, based on the Vought Model 1800 and the supersonic variant of the A-7 Corsair II, is a twin engine fighter/attack plane with a substantive range, performance and payload that is to replace the now venerable F-4 Phantom II in the next decade.
April 5: The United States Navy begins test flights of the Boeing YP-10 Triton strategic very long range maritime patrol bomber and the Lockheed-Martin XP-12 Sea Lord ASW patrol seaplane. The former 250t four turbofan powered aircraft has a design range of over 5000 miles and an endurance of up to 24 hours, whilst deploying a full range of anti-submarine torpedoes, nuclear depth bombs and sea mines as well as defensive weapons; it is intended to replace a large part of the current USN fleet of P-3 Orions in conjunction with the smaller and more flexible twin jet North American-Convair XP-15 Catalina II.
April 18: Opening of a special exposition of Byzantine Greek military equipment and prowess in Adrianople, displaying new indigenously designed armoured vehicles, body armour, automatic cannons and the new Hellenic Aircraft Chímaira ground attack aircraft and the Romaios Aerospace Sigma supersonic fighter jet.
May 17: The Air Ministry issues Specification B.24/73 for the development of a very long range strategic heavy bomber to augment and possibly eventually replace the RAF’s fleet of Avro Vulcans. It calls for a multi-engine supersonic jet bomber capable of carrying a bombload of 60,000lb to a range of 6400nm at a cruising speed of 875 knots at 75,000ft, with considerably greater maximum speed, altitude and bombload and provision for a range of defensive armament. Avro, Vickers, Handley-Page, Armstrong-Whitworth and BAC are invited to submit designs for the ambitious specification. This move towards the future is accompanied by C.25/73, a curious shift to the recent past, which sets out a requirement for an updated and enlarged version of the Bristol Britannia powered by the new Rolls Royce Severn 16000shp turboprop engine; the ostensible fuel economy advantages of the engine present a compelling case in the considerably different strategic circumstances of 1973 compared to 1964.
August 8: Opening of the Royal Air Force Exposition 73 at RAF Farnborough, displaying the full range of combat aircraft operated by the RAF and a number of prototype warplanes, including the BAC P.96 fighter, the Hawker-Siddeley HS.1236, the de Havilland DH.187 and the Gloster Gladiator battlefield ground attack fighter. The exposition also makes pointed note of the increased production capacity of adjacent Royal Aircraft Factory after the completion of the expansion project of the last five years.
August 30: First flight of the Sikorsky Vertibird quad tiltrotor VTOL aircraft, an ambitious multirole assault transport/gunship equipped with an integrated 37mm autocannon and a number of other cutting edge classified capabilities. It is designed for a combat range of 750 miles with a maximum speed of 350mph and can carry a reinforced platoon of troops or 64,000lb of equipment and supplies.
October 17: First flight of the BAC P.96 experimental triple sonic ‘super fighter’ at RAF Filton. It is one of a number of aircraft being considered for the interceptor/battlefield fighter mission by the Air Ministry as the RAF looks to the new challenges of the 1970s and 1980s.
1974
January 14: The Hawker-Siddeley Hawk enters service with the Commonwealth air forces as part of the joint training units of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, with over 1000 jets to be procured by the RAF and RN alone. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Eden turbofan with 12500lbf of thrust (20000lbf reheat) to a top speed of Mach 1.6, the Hawk is described as having a combat radius of 500 miles when configured as a light fighter.
March 10: The USAF, after protracted discussions with the Department of Defense, initiates an exploratory feasibility study into potential operation of a land based variant of the Vought-Republic YF-18 as part of the mooted replacement of the A-7, F-4 and certain other aircraft. The Air Force had been somewhat reticent to even explore the possibility out of concern that a new type could mean reduction in planned numbers of F-15s and F-16s; this eventuality was removed with the new budgetary projections put forward by the Reagan Administration.
April 20: The Royal Air Force takes delivery of its first operational squadron of English Electric Super Lightnings, an advanced multirole fighter-interceptor with a top speed stated as being in excess of Mach 3.6 and a range of 1000 miles. Powered by twin Rolls-Royce RB.125 Severn reheat turbofans with 29625lbf and 42500lbf reheat, the Super Lightning is also equipped with thrust-vectoring for what is being termed as 'supermaneuverability', an intelligent digital flight control system and an active electrically scanned array radar with integrated advanced infrared search, track and rangefinder system and an intelligent computerised voice communicant, whilst it is armed with four new design automatic 25mm cannon, up to 16 air to air guided missiles and 8 self defence 'micromissiles' (depending on configuration) and two laser rayguns fitted in the wing roots.
May 13: The Royal Israeli Air Force issues a requirement for an advanced supersonic multirole trainer with a secondary strike fighter-bomber mission, with the expansive specifications hoped to draw the interest of other Commonwealth partners for shared funding and potential exports. Discussions with the United States for potential participation have stalled, after an earlier agreement in principle for the Israeli ordering of new build F-15 Eagles and Skyhawk IIs tantalisingly offered a path forward.
May 21: Unveiling of two new French prototype jet airliners, the Nord-Renault 4250, a medium range wide body twin engine carrying 300 passengers out to 3000 miles at Mach 1.25; and the Sud-Dewoitine S239 Pacifique, a four engine long range 'jumbo jet' capable of carrying 500 passengers to 5500 miles at Mach 2.
June 22: RAF Fighter Command initiates a study on its strength requirements into the 1980s. It is thought that the increasing multirole capabilities, range and armament of the new generation of Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker-Siddeley Hurricanes, English Electric Super Lightnings and the planned Very Long Range Fighter Interceptor, in concert with enhanced ground and air based missile defences, will allow for a moderate reduction in the statutory minimum strength of Fighter Command. This change of view is further motivated by the considerable air defence capability of RAF Strike Command’s fighter force of Phantoms, Tornadoes, the planned Harrier II and the BAC light strike fighter-interceptor being developed in concert with Saab and Dassault.
August 21: The USAF selects the Northrop-Grumman YF-17 as its new lightweight fighter-bomber under the LWFB programme to replace a number of current aircraft, including the Northop F-5 in the battlefield fighter role, complementing the current F-15s and F-16 under the planned 'High-Medium-Lo' force mix. As well as the public selection of the YF-17, the Air Force also gives formal authorisation for the development of a 'stealth' attack fighter and a multi-role stealth fighter and initiates a longer term programme for the development of a stealth advanced tactical fighter.
September 4: The Farnborough International Airshow concludes with the spectacular unveiling and first flight of the English Electric P.42 Starblazer, a Mach 5+ ramjet powered multirole reconnaissance, strike and lifter aircraft designed for use by both the RAF and Royal Space Force; the Starblazer lands at Idlewild Airport some 87 minutes after take off. In his article on Farnborough '74, Dutch aviation journalist Roel De Heer, after lovingly detailing the new Fokker Donderslag fighter, describes the reception of the Super Lightning, Supermarine Victory and new models of the Supermarine Excalibur, Avro Arrow, Hawker-Siddeley Concord and Vickers Swallow as evidence of 'the envelope of high speed flight being ever pushed forward by the British Empire'.
September 27: The Northrop-Grumman YA-12 is selected as the winner of the VAX competition to replace the USN and USMC (and by extension USAF) A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II attack bomber fleets of attack bomber, prevailing over the Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas and Lockheed-Martin designs. Powered by two 25000lbf General Electric turbofans, the YA-12 has a top speed described to be in excess of Mach 1.5 whilst being able to carry 24000lbs of munitions in its weapons bay, fuselage and wing stations out to a combat range of 1200nm, which compares favourably with the nominally equivalent Soviet Pe-27 Foghorn, whilst the maximum bombload exceeds that of the British Blackburn Buccaneer, in service with the RN and RAF.
Warships
1969
March 17: Commissioning of the Royal Australian Navy's new aircraft carrier HMAS Adelaide in Sydney; her sister ship Perth is due to join the fleet in 1971.
June 20: Laying down of the first atomic powered super battleship of the Royal Canadian Navy in Halifax.
1970
September 15: Two Royal Israeli Navy guided missile destroyers begin their first major operational deployment with STANAFORMED. Whilst Soviet naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea have increased in strength, Allied Forces Mediterranean have undergone their own modernisation with the replacement of warbuilt British, French and Italian ships.
1971
July 28: Entry into service of HMS Ocean, first of a new series of modern commando carriers designed to carry the Royal Navy's amphibious force into the 1980s and beyond. The Ocean class are designed to operate with the Fearless class amphibious cruisers and the proposed amphibious assault super battleships, with the latter providing the first British Empire counterparts to the USN's Freedom class and the Soviet Slavas. (The Ocean class commando carriers are much larger than the earlier converted aircraft carriers, with additional armament and accomodation for more troops)
August 12: Commissioning of the new RAN aircraft carrier HMAS Perth. The RAN is partway through its modernisation programme, with new construction replacing its wartime and late 1940s escort and cruiser fleet.
September 1: In a busy day for the Royal Navy, the new nuclear guided missile super battlecruiser HMS Tiger is commissioned at Portsmouth Dockyard, whilst the name boat of the Sovereign class atomic submarines is commissioned at the Vickers shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness and the DLGs Edinburgh and Dublin at Thames Ironworks and Palmers in Jarrow, respectively.
November 1: Sir Christopher Cockerill unveils his latest advanced hovercraft at an exposition at Cowes, the Hoverfreighter. A joint project of Saunders-Roe and the NRDC, the 6,000t vessel can carry 100 containers of cargo and 200 passengers at 150 knots. The Royal Navy is known to be interested in an amphibious assault tank landing ship version following on from the success of the earlier Argent class super hovercraft. (Hovercraft are seen as the vehicles of tomorrow, lying at the white hot cutting edge of technology)
1972
April 14: Delivery of the first British built warships for the IJN since 1912, with Armstrong-Whitworth built Azuma and Nisshin (a pair of missile cruisers adapted from the RN's Large Patrol Ship) handed over at Elswick. Discussions between London and Tokyo of potential cooperation in development of the planned Type 23 general purpose guided missile frigate are ongoing.
July 10: Commissioning of the 12th and final vessel in the Enterprise class of nuclear aircraft carriers, USS Franklin, bringing the USN once again to an active strength of 28 fleet aircraft carriers, along with 10 anti submarine light aircraft carriers and 10 escort carriers. Four new CVANs of the successor Ticonderoga class (Shiloh, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and Ticonderoga) are under construction with a further four ordered (Philippine Sea, Antietam, Khe Sanh and Leyte Gulf) ordered, with Ticonderoga due to commission in November. The Ticonderogas are larger than their older sisters, carry a range of new missile and gun systems as well as increased ammunition stocks and field the world’s largest carrier air groups. (12 Enterprises seems a lot, but takes the historical intent for 6 CVAN-65s in @ and then extends it out further over the 1960s where there was a historical gap in US carrier construction. Here, Franklin was laid down in 1968. The Ticonderogas following them are the equivalent to the Nimitz class CVNs of @; no carriers apart from FDR have been named after politicians or admirals, messing up the nomenclature. The Nimitz class DDGs will be a Kidd/Tico class equivalent built in Spruance numbers)
August 29: Commissioning of the Royal Canadian Navy’s first atomic guided missile super battleship, HMCS Canada, replacing the older battlewagon of the same name which saw service in the Second World War, Malaya, Korea, the Middle East War and Vietnam before decommissioning in 1969.
October 27: The USN begins experimental deployment of several new antiaircraft weapons systems aimed at replacing 1950s era anti-aircraft guns. The Colt 25mm revolver autocannon in twin, quad and octuple mounts has a minimum rate of fire of 1200rpm per gun and an effective firing range of 5000 yards is designed to replace the postwar variants of the Hotchkiss and Oerlikon, whilst the Bofors L/70’s place is taken by the General Defense Mk 25 50mm autocannon, which fires at 480rpm per gun out to an effective range of 12000 yards. Joining the twin 37mm Legion Close Weapons System is the Phalanx, a quad 25mm Gatling autocannon with integrated radar and fire control for direct point defence against the new generation of sea skimming anti-ship missiles.
December 15: An end of year supplement of Janes Fighting Ships reverts from the organisational order employed since the mid 1960s whereby submarines were listed between aircraft carriers and cruisers in national ship lists to the previous traditional arrangement. The section on the Royal Navy contains details on the four planned Glorious class nuclear supercarriers intended to replace the Malta class aircraft carriers and the postulated general purpose guided missile cruisers, and concludes with a section noting that the Superb class battleships, when they leave service in the coming two years, will be the last British Empire warships that saw service in the Second World War. (Jane's Fighting Ships corrects the tendency (from @ also) of the 1960s to classify submarines (and amphibs for some reason) right up at the start of their national sections; this event also allowed me to signpost the ending of the WW2 warship era, which begs for a short, short story)
1973
February 1: Commissioning of the USN’s newest nuclear supercarrier USS Shiloh at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Fore River Shipyard, freeing up one of capital ship sized slips across the country for President Reagan’s planned defence expansion; Bunker Hill is under construction at the American Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden, NJ until mid 1974 and Valley Forge at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, NY is due to be commissioned in the second half of 1975. The battleships Maryland and New Mexico are approaching completion at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard, CA and the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, PA, respectively, with 1972's commissioning of South Carolina and Arkansas at San Francisco Navy Shipyard, CA and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY. It is thought that these, combined with the completion of USS Ticonderoga at Newport News Shipbuilding late last year, will provide scope for the acceleration of the next projected South Dakota class and the next batch of Ticonderogas.
March 22: Commissioning of two Type 22 anti-aircraft warfare frigates into RN service, the first of sixty such vessels under construction, ordered or projected. They are broadly similar to the Type 21 ASW frigates, carrying the Hawker Siddeley Red Fox or 'Sea Dart' missile in place of some of the latter type’s anti-submarine weapons, and are to be followed in turn by the Type 23 general purpose/ASUW frigates.
August 11: The defence policy of the Reagan Administration continues to take shape, with projections for shipbuilding in 1974/75 calling for a a total of six SSN nuclear attack submarines and increased orders for guided missile cruisers and destroyers. Design of a new class of large nuclear powered guided missile super cruisers, a guided missile ocean escort to complement the Knox class Joint Anti-Submarine Frigate and a new type of light surface combatant are underway at various stages of completion, with a requirement for a new SSBN to carry the Undersea Long-range Missile System also featuring high on the list of naval priorities. The USAF has indicated that it would regard the retention rather than the replacement of the B-52 Stratofortress favourably, as the Advanced Global Strategic Bomber programme continues to make steady if unspectacular progress, with the B-52's payload and range having proved its mettle time and again in the Far East and Africa
August 26: The Royal Navy's East Africa Station establishes a new patrol off the coast of Somalia in response to rising incidences of suspected pirate activity, suspected slaving ships and low level Somali provocations along the Kenyan border. The light aircraft carrier HMS Justinian, the frigate HMS Ambuscade, the sloop HMS Skylark and the corvettes Pansy, Dunvegan Castle and Osborne Bay are assigned, in conjunction with HMKS Kenya of the Royal East African Navy and HMIS Nilgiri and a RNAS Buccaneer squadron operating out of St George's Island.
November 6: Commissioning of the Royal Navy's 10th atomic supercarrier, HMS Implacable, at Harland & Wolff's shipyard in Belfast in front of her sponsor, Princess Victoria of Wales, and a crowd of over 60,000 onlookers. Her sister ships Incomparable and Insuperable remain under construction at Armstrong-Whitworth in Elswick and Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, which, allowing for Eagle, Hermes, Glorious and Singapore currently undergoing maintenance and overhaul at Rosyth, Chatham, Swan Hunter and Fairfields, has been arranged to allow for available slip for the laying down of four new supercarriers over the coming three years at John Brown, Harland & Wolff, Beardmores and Yarrow's new shipyard in Haven, Pembrokeshire.
December 14: Launch of the Royal Navy's newest nuclear attack submarine, Trafalgar, lead boat of her class. The 18,000t, 525ft long submarine is armed with eight 32" torpedo tubes and a number of smaller tubes for anti-torpedoes; two dozen Lionheart cruise missiles and an unspecified number of Hawker-Siddeley Paladin supersonic anti-ship/ground attack missiles, de Havilland Blue Moon medium ranged strike missiles, anti-submarine missiles and anti-aircraft missiles; and other classified capabilities.
1974
February 28: The Admiralty announces a new series of classifications for the Royal Navy’s escort fleet, to consist of destroyers, frigates, sloops and corvettes to be joined by a renewed submarine chaser type, with the Flower class light corvettes being reclassified to reflect their inshore and littoral role, particularly in the North Sea.
May 11: The United States Navy's Eighth Fleet formally completes the shift of its headquarters to Falmouth in Cornwall from their temporary bases in Scotland, with the forward deployed task forces supporting USN activities across Northern Europe and the Eastern Atlantic.
June 6: Commissioning of the Royal Navy’s newest atomic super battleship, HMS Monarch, at Vickers shipyards in Barrow, by her sponsor, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Defence remains under construction at Swan Hunter, Wallsend, along with the newest quartet of Vanguard at John Brown, Lion at Scott Lithgow at Greenock, Warspite at Palmers, Jarrow and Dreadnought at Thames Ironworks, Tilbury.
July 14: Commissioning of USS Pegasus, the first in a new class of hydrofoil Fast Attack Strike Craft designed expressly for littoral operations, particularly around the Americas and Eurasia. The Pegasus class is the first of several new lighter surface combatants whose development was first postulated in the Torry Plan of 1963, named after then CNO Admiral Rockwell Torry, with the others being the Navy's first dedicated corvette design, the 2500t New London class, and the intermediate multipurpose 1200t Hawk class Light Combat Sloop.
August 28: The Royal Navy atomic powered supercarrier Majestic is laid down at John Brown, being the longest warship to be constructed in Britain at 1625ft long and having a waterline beam of 187ft. Upon completion, she will have a design displacement of over 254,000t and operate an air wing of at least 160 aircraft, at a cost of £360 million exclusive of aircraft; Majestic's design incorporates new electromagnetic catapults, laser rayguns, defensive missiles and gun systems and repellatron beams.
August 31: The Soviet guided missile destroyer Otvazhny is sunk in a magazine explosion after a missile misfiring incident occurs during fleet exercises in the Black Sea. Soviet Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Kuznetzov orders an inquiry into firing procedures, safety drills and the armament of the 1960s generation of Soviet destroyers, with his protege Admiral Gorshkov to chair it; the lessons are to inform decisions for the new Sovremenny class guided missile super destroyers now under construction.
Tanks and Armoured Vehicles
1969
February 22: The British Joint Special Intelligence Committee reports that a new Red Army main battle tank is entering production. It is believed to be 54t, has a main armament of a new 130mm gun and is powered by a gas turbine engine.
April 20: The British Army begins testing of an armoured vehicle equipped with an advanced heat ray in the Kalahari Desert, utilising recent advances in arcane batteries to enable the hitherto large weapons to be carried in mobile battlefield vehicles. (Mobile heat rays have been under development since the War of the Worlds, but the problem of power supply has held them up until now. . Those captured by the British in the 1890s were reverse engineered and tinkered with for over 30 years until they could utilised effectively, initially on skyships and airships, but they never really found an ideal niche. On land, in tactical combat, it offers some advantages, but these continue to be tested and refined into two major streams. The first is a directed energy weapon/laser cannon a la Warhammer 40k, whilst the second is a more genuine heat ray for anti-personnel use: something like the Area Denial System, which can cause pain on its lowest setting all the way up to a beam of superheated energy that can set groups of enemy personnel on fire without vaporising/disintegrating them like some of the film versions of the Heat Ray.)
October 23: Initial production of the new Crusader main battle tank begins in Leeds and Sheffield.
1971
December 4: British Army Crusader main battle tanks successfully penetrate the frontal armour of captured Soviet T-64 and T-68 tanks at a range of over 1.5 miles in gunnery tests on Salisbury Plain. (The Crusader is a very powerful MBT when we work out what type of penetration its gun is achieving at over 2500 yards)
1972
June 9: The US Army begins design work on a successor to the new M-70 Marshall main battle tank in response to intelligence reports of new Soviet development projects. With production in full swing across the five major tank manufacturing arsenals in the United States, it is anticipated that there will be scope for export orders of the Marshall by 1976. (The M-70 is effectively a US only equivalent to the MBT-70 in period, but with a 125mm gun and the DE equivalent to Chobham armour, with performance/protection/firepower around the level of the M1A1 or equivalent. General practice for the US Army post WW2 has been to have a new generation of MBT every 10 years or so, which means that a new, much more advanced and formidable tank is being designed for the 1980s)
July 14: France unveils a range of new military hardware at the Bastille Day Parade in Paris, lead by the new AMX-32 main battle tank and followed by the 27 ton AMX-10 mechanised infantry fighting vehicle, new self propelled 155mm, 194mm, 220mm, 240mm and 320mm artillery systems, the Pluton SRBM, the swift Peugeot jeep replacement, the rugged Renault ERC 8x8 armoured car and the formidable Panhard VRBC 12x12 armoured reconnaissance tank destroyer/assault gun.
July 16: Production of the US Army’s new family of Mechanised Infantry Fighting Vehicles begins, with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle to be produced in Infantry Fighting Vehicle, Cavalry Fighting Vehicle, Battlefield Command Vehicle, Battlefield Air Defense, Engineer Fighting Vehicle, Combat Fire Support Vehicle, Anti Tank Missile Vehicle and Armoured Personnel Carrier variants. The main IFV is a 32 ton vehicle protected by advanced armour capable of carrying up to 12 infantrymen at a top speed of 55mph and is armed with 40mm automatic cannon, TOW missiles and a heavy machine gun; the CSFV assault gun version armed with a 105mm gun is intended to augment the Army’s tank and tank destroyer arms.
1973
January 3: The War Office authorises the procurement and storage of new production Chieftain main battle tanks for Army Reserve and Home Guard units and for War Emergency Reserve Stocks, utilising refurbished production lines at BMC’s Royal Mechanizations and Aero tank plant in Birmingham. The day also sees the initiation of a new programme of rotational regular service for Territorial Army and Army Reserve divisions, with the 49th (Wessex) Division and the 25th Infantry Division beginning their 12 month stints after half a year of preliminary training.
June 20: Unveiling of the prototype Tanque Argentino Mediano in Buenos Aires. The 36t tank is much lighter than the MBTs in used in the first world, having been designed as a cheaper alternative to them for rougher terrains and militaries with more modest budgetary restrictions, and is praised as such in the Argentine technical military press until the field tests of July 13th against the M60 and Chieftain.
June 29: Japanese industrial defence scientists demonstrate a new model of a Toyota utility vehicle that is capable of transforming into an off-road armoured vehicle. Whilst the concept has been dismissed as a mere novelty by some, Prime Minister Yukio Mishima is heard to remark approvingly that “they are more than meets the eye” to inventor Dr. Tenma and his accompanying child android.
December 5: The British Army of the Rhine begins reorganisation of its 120 forward deployed battle groups, including the fielding of new assault guns, tank destroyers and heavy mortars, extensive guided missile systems, Light Artillery Rocket Systems, reinforced detachments of armoured heavy infantry and upgunned variants of the FV432 and FV525 in infantry battalions.
December 19: The War Department issues an extensive requirement for a successor MBT to the M-70 Marshall; and for an upgraded longer ranged version of the M109 self-propelled howitzer and a doubled barreled variant. The chief military news of the day, though, comes in the form of the timetable for the planned increase in the divisional strength of the U.S. Army, with the 11th Infantry Division and 13th Armored Divisions to be activated in 1974/75, the 17th Infantry Division in 1975/76 and the 14th Armored Division in 1976/77, taking the force to 24 infantry, 16 armored and 2 mechanised cavalry, 6 airborne and 2 air cavalry divisions, the Ranger and Commando Divisions and the 4 artillery divisions for a total of 56. No changes are to be made to the strength of the Army National Guard, but the Army Reserve could be in line for an increase pending the results of a complex study into mobilisation requirements.
1974
April 5: The Israeli Army begins development of a distinct indigenous variant of the Crusader main battle tanks, with a view towards filling their own particular needs and offering a new multipurpose fighting vehicle to Commonwealth and foreign markets.
April 22: The British Army's Armoured Trials and Development Unit begins a series of tests at Bovington of prototypes of the proposed Mobile Combat Vehicle, a multi-tracked armoured vehicle bridging the roles between tanks and mechanised infantry fighting vehicles.
Artillery
1969
May 27: The British Army of the Rhine begins introduction of the Royal Ordnance L324 375mm Long Range Heavy Cannon, a new mobile strategic artillery piece. (The L324 375mm Long Range Heavy Cannon is designed for heavy very long range fire support and interdiction on a mobile platform)
September 28: The British Army begins experimental deployment of the L132 36pdr super velocity antitank gun. (The L132 is a lightweight 105mm gun that is being trialed for use by certain forces. A comeback for anti-tank guns? Maybe. There is also a much lighter 75mm weapon under development (akin to ARES) )
1970
July 30: Introduction of the Royal Ordnance L204 25pdr multirole airborne field/anti-tank/infantry support gun, a new lightweight weapon utilising advanced technology and materials to fulfill its different missions. It is also intended to be carried on the new FV625 Squire Lightweight High Mobility Tactical Vehicle in the light assault gun mission. (The Royal Ordnance L204 25pdr multirole airborne field/anti-tank/infantry support gun is not just a bit of a mouthful, but represents a different response to the lessons of various conflicts. It isn't quite on the level of the Soviet towed 125mm AT gun, but the guns haven't quite gone extinct yet)
November 23: The Royal Artillery introduces a new rapid-fire computerised multi-directional barrage designed for support of rapidly advancing mobile infantry and armoured units alike, utilising a full range of its new guns, howitzers and rocket launchers. (Royal Artillery tactics continue to evolve, but not just down the path of @. Whereas on Earth, the rolling/creeping barrage was progressively abandoned after WW1, here there have been slightly different developments. Larger armies and different weapons result in different tactical evolution, including a perceived role for tactics that emerged from positional warfare)
1971
December 15: Testing begins on an experimental prototype British Army twin 2.5” SPAAG on Salisbury Plain; many officers in the Imperial General Staff have questioned the need for such a weapon, advocating instead a 42mm Gatling cannon with integrated missiles.
1972
August 25: Publication of the Appleby White Paper on the Royal Artillery, a study of its current equipment, projected procurement for the 1970s and future programmes. It endorses the formerly contentious attachment of 125mm armed field regiments and LARS batteries at brigade level in concert with divisional artillery brigades of 6” and 8” medium and heavy artillery; for its support of the retention somewhat maligned U.S. 175mm long range gun at corps and field army level; expanded procurement of wheeled self propelled guns for both coastal defence and expeditionary warfare; formation of specialist heliborne artillery regiments for operation of projected soft recoil aerial guns; and the procurement of very long range variants of the Hawker-Siddeley Javelin for high precision tactical missile strikes. It is notable for its length of clauses and sentences, extensive footnotes and a seeming relish of complex verbosity and sesquipedalian expression.
1973
May 14: The Kustartilleriet of the Royal Swedish Navy begins deployment of the new Bofors 125mm light coastal defence gun in fixed single and twin mounts and in the mobile role; it is intended to fill the role between the mobile 105mm and 152mm guns and the heavier 152mm, 254mm, 375mm and 610mm pieces. The new Swedish gun is thought to have been designed for maximal capacity with the British Royal Ordnance 125mm Light Gun and the US M125 as part of the latest manifestation of the longstanding Anglo-Swedish Defence Pact, along with the joint development of a new mobile assault gun system, provisionally designated the Infanterikanonvagn 105.
1974
March 1: The British Army completes Project Martello, the modernisation of the Army Reserve and the Territorial Army’s contributions to the air and coastal defences of Home Forces with the acquisition of the final tranche of new dual purpose fully automatic anti-aircraft/anti-surface guns; a total of 1284 125mm, 2648 3.75” and 4672 2.5” guns are emplaced under Martello at over one hundred locations around the coast of the British Isles, augmenting the heavier guns of Coastal Defence Command and the residual anti-aircraft defences manned by the Home Guard.
Missiles
1969
March 22: First operational test firing at of the Royal Navy's new submarine launched medium range strike missile, the de Havilland Blue Moon, fired from HMS Jellicoe at a target range in Kenya from a distance of 1246nm.
April 17: Strategic Air Command begins introduction of the AGM-85 Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM), a Mach 4.5 weapon with a maximum range of 250 miles, on B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress bombers; integration on the B-70 Valkyrie and other bombers is to follow. Testing of a long range strategic cruise missile is ongoing. (The SRAM entering service here has the range of the @ SRAM II with a much higher speed. It will be followed by a long range ALCM and a medium range weapon. These, in addition to Skybolt, give SAC a fair bit of flexibility going forward.)
June 24: Production begins on a conventionally armed long range variant of the Hawker-Siddeley Lance tactical ballistic missile, itself a licensed version of the American LTV MGM-52 Lance. This is the first stage of what has been dubbed within the War Office as 'The Missile Plan', a programme for the expansion of the British Army's tactical strike range beyond the battlefield.
December 27: The first squadron of Royal Air Force Blue Streak LRBMs equipped with five new Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles apiece becomes operational.
1970
January 30: Imperial China tests a powerful new ballistic missile in the Gobi Desert, causing a frenzy of reaction by foreign intelligence observers regarding its characteristics.
April 25: The British Army orders a new version of the refurbished Robin Hood rocket as a conventional tactical battlefield strike missile. (The old Robin Hood gets a new lease of life, shifting its role from a short range nuclear missile to a conventional strike missile with a ~35 mile range. It has the advantage of being faster and more accurate than the Soviet FROG-7, but is an interim measure)
May 13: The British Army and Royal Navy complete the first stage of Project Chamberlain, the emplacement of new long range heavy coastal defence missile batteries to augment legacy coastal artillery. (Project Chamberlain (named after PM Joseph, rather than his second son) is a reaction to the growing Soviet surface fleet through the emplacement of 12 batteries of missiles around the British and Irish coast and a further 12 through the Commonwealth and Empire)
August 28: Introduction of the USN’s new submarine launched ballistic missile, the UGM-98 Triton, which provides a considerably greater range of 4800nm compared with the first generation Polaris and a much greater throw weight of up to ten MIRVed 100kt warheads.
October 19: Production of the BGM-85 TOW (Tube Launched Optically Tracked Wire Guided) anti tank guided missile begins in the United States. (The TOW is a bit hotter in performance than the @ version, having greater penetration of 25" with its improved shaped charge warhead)
December 19: Testing begins on a new Multirole Shoulder Launched Anti-Tank Rocket at British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada (The MSLAR will develop into a useful man portable missile augmenting the Green Apple (broadly analogous to the Dragon)
1971
May 29: Operational test service of the British Army’s new mobile SAGW, the English Electric Broadsword, begins on Salisbury Plain. It is intended to replace the current Super Thunderbird units of the Regular Army and Royal Marines; and the 24 Royal Air Force Bristol Bloodhound fixed SAGW squadrons by the end of the 1970s as an augmentation of the Bristol Blue Envoy very long range missile force and their putative replacement. ( The English Electric Broadsword is intended to replace the Thunderbird and a large number of Bloodhounds and has a very hot performance and range comparable to the Patriot and SA-10; it has an anti-aircraft and anti-missile capacity)
1972
February 6: The Royal Air Force begins fielding of new mobile medium range strategic missile squadrons in Malta, Minorca and Cyprus, in the first wave of modernisation of Mediterranean based deterrent and defensive missiles. The deployment of Black Arrow II MRBMs to the Mediterranean island bases not only provides coverage for much of Soviet Central Asia, but also provides for a reinforcement of deterrent options over the Middle East and North African shore. They are scheduled to be followed by squadrons equipped with Violet Friend anti-ballistic missiles and the new very long range Bristol Broadsword multi-role surface to air guided missiles; discussions are underway regarding further deployment of certain weapons systems to the British bases on Crete
May 1: The May Day parade in Moscow features a number of new armoured vehicles including the T-72 main battle tank, several surface to air missile systems, a 10” self propelled gun and the previously unseen R36M long range ballistic missile.
May 7: The United States Air Force introduces two new long range intercontinental ballistic missiles into active service, the LGM-75 Peacemaker (a 156 inch superheavy design) and the MGM-100 Ranger, a smaller mobile LRBM designed for road mobile and railcar launched versions. The Peacemaker is to be deployed initially in reverse inclination basing, which, combined with dedicated defensive ABM batteries around the strategic missile fields, is aimed at increasing survivability and associated deterrence. Neither of the newer missiles is intended to completely replace the current arsenal of Minutemen and Titans, but to allow the phasing out of earlier models in favour of their current production runs, or the so-called 'Double-Double Track Decision'. (New USAF ICBMs provide a real superheavy in the form of the Peacemaker (based on the ICBM-X that preceded the WS-120A) and the Ranger (the @ Midgetman). That they will be fielded alongside Minuteman and Titan is a sign that the US ICBM arsenal is not fixed at 1054, but going to grow. The majority will be Minutemen by virtue of 1960s production, but the new elements add to the strategic complexity that the Soviets and others must confront. The 'Double Double Track Decision' is a bit of an Easter Egg, using the terminology of the @ NATO Double Track Decision for a different missile policy, just adding to some jarring dissonance)
July 9: Military officials from the U.S. Department of Defense and British Ministry of Defence meeting in Bermuda sign an agreement for coordination of the cooperative development of new cruise missiles for use by USN and RN warships, based on the existing Lionheart and Regulus missile families. A separate agreement in principle for licensed production of a British version of the AGM-102 air launched strategic cruise missile for deployment on RAF heavy bombers; deployment of USAF ground launched cruise missiles in the United Kingdom and other parts of the British Empire; and for cooperative development and fielding of new specialised missile launcher ground vehicles and long range cruise missile for the British and U.S. Armies was already reached at the end of June. (Anglo-American cooperation on SLCMs, GLCMs and ALCMs is designed to spread the costs)
1973
October 15: The USAF, US Army and USN begin joint operational testing of the new AGM-125 ‘Tomahawk’ supersonic cruise missile, along with the first test flights of the new production F-111K long range strike bombers by USAF and USN test squadrons in California and Florida.
1974
January 25: The Soviet Union conducts a test launch of a new long range ballistic missile from a test facility deep within the USSR to a target range in the Northern Pacific Ocean. It is suspected that the new UR-500 is capable of carrying up to 20 multiple independent reentry vehicles.
August 14: The first RAF squadron equipped with the new Saunders-Roe Golden Arrow superheavy LRBM becomes operational in the Scottish Highlands. With a throw-weight of 50 tons to a range of 10,000 miles or 32 tons to 15,000 miles, and a 250” solid fuel first stage, the Golden Arrow is designed to carry a large number of maneuverable reentry vehicles, as well as having a secondary role against space based threats. It will augment the Blue Streak as the land based missile element of the British Empire’s strategic quintet.
Air Defence
1969
January 30: The Committee of Imperial Defence approves the third stage in the Long Range Missile Defence of the United Kingdom plan, authorising the procurement of the third and fourth tranches of the Violet Friend anti-ballistic missile, full deployment of the Black Beauty medium range missile, development of twenty new Blue Sky short range defensive missile sites and four Skyguard energy weapon facilities. Further interception sites are to be built in the Low Countries and Scandinavia pending agreement with the relevant foreign powers.
1970
June 27: Completion of the final stage of the Sentinel Program, the fielding of a comprehensive anti-ballistic missile defence system across the United States, integrating the USAF’s Excalibur ABM and US Army’s Spartan and Sprint missiles. (The Sentinel Program's completion does provide quite an effective ABM shield over the USA against an early-mid 1960s level threat, but the growing size of the Soviet arsenal, MIRVs and more necessitate new technologies. The race never stops)
1972
August 1: Signing of an agreement in Washington D.C. by representatives of the United States, Canada and Britain for cooperative development of the next generation of anti-ballistic missiles. The general principles call for a three layered system of short, medium and long ranged interceptor missiles and a network of ground, sea, air and space based solid state phased array radars, with there being some internal speculation that it might offer some means to resolve the long running dispute over ABM control between the United States Army and United States Air Force. (The tripartite cooperation between Britain, Canada and the USA is not a takeover of either of the Anglo-Canadian or American programmes, nor a merger. Canada and the United States have broadly similar and indeed analogous missile defence threats, so already have requirements that work towards what they want and need. Britain faces a different threat, being closer to the USSR, with the majority of the Soviet missile threat coming from medium ranged weapons with a flight time of ~12 to 15 minutes; new missiles under development will halve that. This isn't a joint programme, but cooperative development, whereby three existing programmes are combined as far as possible under an overarching whole; there is some small possibility that the US will take the next generation long range missile, the British the medium range and the Canadians the short range, but this arrangement isn't written in stone)
1973
May 21: The Committee of Imperial Defence authorises the fourth stage of the Long Range Missile Defence of the United Kingdom Plan, which will complete the deployment in the British Isles of 640 Violet Friend long range ABMs (with a top speed of Mach 10, a ceiling of 500 miles and a maximum range of 750 miles), 640 Black Beauty medium range weapons (Mach 6, 250 miles ceiling and 250 miles range) in both their mobile and silo based versions; and 1280 Blue Sky short range point defence missiles (Mach 12, 25 mile ceiling and 50 mile range) by the end of 1975. Additionally, in the medium term, four further Skyguard energy weapon facilities are to be established, providing direct coverage over the west and south; RAF Fighter Command's 48 Bristol Blue Envoy squadrons are to be equipped with advanced new long range Mark IV missiles and four airborne battle stations equipped with air launched Black Beautys; the Army's Air Defence Command will increase to forty squadrons of English Electric Broadswords in the home air defence role; and the Royal Navy is to increase the assignment of missile cruisers to the Home Fleet from three to five.
December 28: The Imperial Japanese Army begins experimental testing of its first domestically developed anti-ballistic missile system, the Mitsubishi Type 72. Japan has previously indicated its inclination for acquiring a production licence for the new United States' MIM-104 'Patriot' Field Army Ballistic Missile Defense System (FABMDS) surface to air missile, the highest performance and newest SAM in the Free World, which is currently in initial production to replace the US Army's MIM-23 HAWK medium range SAMs and the MIM-20 Plato TBMD missile, so that the Type 72 is seen as a higher performance asset with a strategic role.
Small Arms and Individual Equipment
1969
March 30: The British Army introduces new general service body armour adaptable to a full range of operational climes and theatres.
July 7: British Army cooks and arcane gastronauts complete the arduous testing process for a new series of military rations. Twenty four improved ration pack variants are to be produced, each providing five meals and assorted additional accompaniments, designed to support a soldier in the field for one day.
September 3: The Imperial Japanese Army introduces a new design of modern katanas. (The new IJA katanas are quite handy and their presence indicates that Japanese military practice still makes use of the sword)
September 21: The British Army successfully concludes Project Knight, the secret operational testing of powered battle armour suits and associated weapons systems in the Kalahari Desert by MD1. The Board of Ordnance authorises the production of an initial set of 250 suits for the next stage of field testing with the 1st Infantry Division in Germany. (Project Knight will result in a section of heavy infantry/power armoured infantry per company, with all the capacity for heavy weapons and options that comes with that. A bit of influence from both Fallout and 40K)
1970
October 16: Indian Army intelligence officers report the presence of several new types of Soviet general purpose and heavy machine guns in the hands of dissident tribesment in Northern Afghanistan.
1971
July 12: The Wonka Chocolate Company completes the prototype of a medicinal chocolate bar for the British Army, with the 3 oz bar combining enriched minerals, vitamins, fibre and 800 calories of energy with an anti-inflammatory, a pain killer, temperature stabiliser and healing accelerator as well as microdoses of ketamine and D-IX. It is anticipated that the bar will be included in emergency ration packs along with American proton pills.
1973
September 21: The British Army of the Rhine completes the first phase of the experimental deployment of experimental heavy infantry powered combat armour developed in Project Knight in one section per infantry company. The armour suits, proof against weapons up to 20mm cannon, are viewed as too expensive and slow for general use at this time, whilst an accompanying effort to develop a man portable electrical gun proved to run up against insurmountable technical difficulties; joint development of a larger multipurpose electrical railgun by the Army, RN and RAF has encountered greater success, but remains at a very early stage.
1974
June 26: Soldiers of the Queen, the British Army's weekly documentary programme carried on all three networks, leads with a special feature on the 'British Infantryman of the Year 2000', forecasting that the 21st century Tommy could be equipped with an advanced long range automatic rifle, light portable missiles capable of disabling a tank, powered body armour, rocket packs, a special helmet with completely integrated infravision and a handheld computing device linking him in with his commanders and the other soldiers of his company.
July 11: A Sikh marksman of the Indian Army's Corps of Guides records the longest sniper shot on record during operations against revolting tribesmen in the foothills around the Khyber Pass on the North West Frontier, destroying a machine gun nest with an L79 25mm heavy automatic rifle at 2987 yards.
July 30: A special conference of a sub-committee of the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington D.C. agrees upon a raft of logistical cooperation arrangements between the military forces of the USA and the British Commonwealth, with field rations, personal equipment, war machines, and tactical signals equipment being the first to be addressed. It is considered that the advantages of coordinated production and some degree of relevant standardisation are even more marked given recent projections of the probability of a more protracted and largely conventional war due to ongoing scientific advances.
September 22: A conference of the ABC Armies group (comprising the United States of America, Britain and the Commonwealth) agrees upon a range of measures to streamline ration and personal solider equipment cooperative development, including an agreement for the exchange of stable military bread and waybread biscuits for a number of American ration components, development of a cereal option, the standard use of plasticised retort pouches and innovative weight saving enchantments which have reduced the weight of British ration packs by 75%. The provision of coffee remains something of an area of difference, with Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and Prydain remaining staunch tea consumers, whilst the United States has its preference for coffee and the North American dominions of Canada, Newfoundland and New Avalon lying somewhere in between the two.
Military Industrial Complex
1969
May 1: Operations begin at the Springfield Army Tank Plant in Springfield, Indiana, the newest and largest tank factory in the world. It is projected as building up to 150 M-70 Marshall tanks per month, with the cheap, plentiful power supplied by the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant being one of the major reasons for the selection of the location. (The Springfield Army Tank Plant is more modern than Detroit and Grand Blanc (GM), Marion (Ford) and Lima (Chrysler), but they will all work together for tank and armoured vehicle production. The big ace in the hole is Willow Run, which has stayed in Ford's hands and has been planned for re-conversion to military production. Springfield also has a lovely nuclear power plant and Monty Burns has a fair bit of political clout.)
1971
January 31: American armaments corporation Stark Industries announces that it has been forced to declare bankruptcy.
1972
March 10: The British Ministry of Munitions authorises the construction of a further ten underground depots across the British Isles to contain the expanded stockpiles of the Imperial Strategic War Reserve. Recent stocktaking of the existing supplies has identified the need to replace older support vehicles and dispose of obsolescent artillery and ammunition kept in storage since the aftermath of the Great War. The overall size of the war reserve is based upon the maximal munitions and equipment requirements of the mobilised armed forces for a year of full scale conventional conflict.
July 31: The Ministry of Munitions issues a new directive on monthly artillery shell production quotas to the Royal Arsenal Woolwich and the Imperial Arsenal Nottingham; the National Factories at Gretna, Stirling, Mullingar, Elenydd and Banbrow; Royal Ordnance; and the principle private manufacturing firms, outlining a expected shift in total capacity to two million units of field calibre and above in ordinary operations.
1973
June 22: Opening of the British Army Equipment Exhibition at Pegasus Village in Aldershot, organised by the Sales and Aid Department of the War Office and showcasing the military vehicles, missiles, weapons and equipment produced by the forty two Royal Ordnance Factories and 320 large and small firms directly engaged in defence production. Britain's position as one of the top exporters of arms in the world over the postwar decades remains a significant source of foreign earnings and the emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East offer great future potential alongside traditional clients in South America and Europe. Orders for British tanks alone contribute hundreds of millions of pound to the country’s economic health every year.
December 1: Opening of a new large integrated tank and armoured vehicle manufacturing plant in Wingfield, Adelaide, connected by rail with Port Adelaide and the Adelaide to Darwin and planned Adelaide to Brisbane national railways. The 240 acre facility will initially build Super Centurions for service in New Guinea and the South Pacific before shifting to other vehicles in line with the current plants in Bankstown, Sydney and Essendon, Melbourne. Further facilities are planned by the Hawke Government in Perth and Brisbane, in addition to the Imperially funded Commonwealth Arsenal in Albury.
Training, Facilities, Exercises and Organisations
1969
April 8: The French Army begins renovation and modernisation of certain ouvrages of the Maginot Line for use in the atomic age as hardened underground command facilities in addition to their residual role as border fortifications.
May 10: Deployment of the Canadian 32nd Airborne Brigade to the expansive Commonwealth base complex at Tobruk as part of the Middle Eastern Strategic Reserve alongside British, Australian, South African and Gurkha units. Tobruk is being increasingly built up to serve as a replacement for Alexandria, which is seen as being of less military utility in the light of Egyptian strategic divergence; the Suez-Sinai base remains the fulcrum of the British Empire’s position in the Near East.
July 1: Beginning of Exercise Capricorn, a major Western Alliance air defence exercise over France, the British Isles and the Low Countries. (Capricorn is designed to test air defences against the developing Soviet threat of third generation jet aircraft. The RAF in particular faces Long Range Aviation heavy bombers coming in from the Norwegian Sea, both bombers and strike aircraft from the Baltic over Scandinavia and anything that can get through the contested airspace over Germany)
October 10: Over fifty warships from the Royal Navy and ten other Commonwealth fleets begin Exercise Scythian, a large scale anti-submarine warfare exercise in the Caribbean Sea aimed at testing a number of new weapons systems including the Calypso long range ASW mortar and the Sepoy ASW homing rocket torpedo. (Exercise Scythian sees some interesting new weapons tested. The Sepoy is equivalent to a souped up Sting Ray in a heavier 'calibre', whilst Calypso is similar to some of the Saab/Bofors developments, albeit with a bit more 'oomph'.)
November 22: Opening of a new expanded international terminal at Entebbe Airport, Uganda, built with Commonwealth funding by an Israeli construction conglomerate and designed to serve as a dual use civilian/military facility for Imperial forces in East Africa.
December 9: Construction is completed of the Federal Reserve Bunker inside Mount Pony, Virginia, a deep underground storage facility designs for the safekeeping of bullion and currency in the event of nuclear war.
1970
March 4: British and Commonwealth forces in Malaya begin to consolidate their deployments to the major base areas at Butterworth, Kuala Lipis and Johore.
March 27: The Royal Israeli Air Force carries out a multi layered air defence exercise over Sinai and the Eastern Mediterranean.
June 22: Commencement of the British Army’s Summer Manoeuvres, Exercise Marlborough, with two field armies of the Regular Army and Territorial Army engaging each other across Southern England. In the largest military exercise since 1964’s Warhammer, a range of new armoured vehicles are utilised for the first time, including the Crusader main battle tank and the Anglo-American-German LARS 5” wheeled multiple rocket launcher, as well as the latest artillery in the form of the 375mm howitzer. Press coverage of Marlborough further highlights the new protective kilts worn by the Scottish regiments and the modern manifestation of the fearsome Highland charge. (Exercise Marlborough highlights the larger scale/size of the British Army, as well as a few interesting new weapons systems in the 5" LARS and the 375mm howitzer. The latter is very long range and bad for your health if you are in the area of its rounds impacting. I slipped in the bits about protective kilts and Highland charges to show that some seemingly old fashioned aspects (in this case of uniform and tactics) remain in some convoluted form; the charge is really a bayonet charge with some extra swords for good measure)
August 23: Three USN CVLs and two RN CVEs take part in Exercise Burgundy, a joint anti submarine warfare training exercise in the Caribbean Sea in conjunction with West Indian, Newfoundland and New Avalon escort ships. The new carriers collectively deploy over 150 helicopters and rotodynes in addition to new ASW planes and Harrier jump jet fighters, giving their task force a very powerful capacity against submarine threats. (The CVLs and CVEs ship a lot of helos and ASW planes, making a submarine campaign a difficult proposition)
October 13: Beginning of the largest Warsaw Pact military manuevers conducted to date, with over 490,000 troops involved across Poland, the GDR and Bukovina.
October 30: American, British and Canadian troops newly arrived from South Vietnam take part in Exercise Kangaroo 70, an Australian war game based on the defence of Darwin and Northern Australia against a foreign invader.
1971
January 3: Beginning of a NATO aerial combat training exercise at Nellis AFB in Nevada, pitting the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle up against the Supermarine Spitfire, the Saab Viking, the prototype Dassault Super Mirage 2000, the Avro Arrow 4 and the Messerschmitt Me-529 (The various Western air superiority fighters have characteristics based on the circumstances of their individual nations. Germany is on the frontline, so needs a plane that can get up very, very fast. Sweden is in a similar boat, but has more of an all-round/multi role emphasis. The French and British have a requirement for a bit more range so that they can both protect their airspace and fight over Central Europe, whilst Canada and the USA emphasise range and endurance even more)
February 11: Commonwealth defence ministers sign an agreement for the coordination of training and organisation of their various national special operations forces.
March 6: Beginning of Exercise Brave Defender, a large scale nation-wide home defence exercise involving every branch of the British Armed Forces. RAF Fighter Command and the Army’s Anti-Aircraft Command are to conduct a two week simulated campaign against bombers and cruise missiles under the auspices of Air Defence of Great Britain, whilst the Royal Navy are to engage in mining, countermining and ASW operations and over 600,000 personnel from the Regular Army, Army Reserve, Territorial Army and the Home Guard engage enemy commandos, airborne landings and sabotage operations along with other tasks of home defence.
March 28: Expansion of the British air, naval and army base at Trincomalee, Ceylon is completed; the project is seen as a key in cementing British power East of Suez along with the so-called 'superbases' in Aden and Singapore and supporting island facilities.
June 5: Opening of the newly refurbished Imperial Mobile Warfare Training Centre in the Sinai, Israel, a facility for the operational training of British Commonwealth mechanised forces, joining the joint tropical and jungle warfare centre in Australia, the desert warfare centre in South Africa, the mountain warfare centre in India and the large expeditionary warfare centre in Suffield, Canada.
October 6: The Israeli Defence Forces completes a surprise simulated test of its emergency mobilisation system, with their computers modelling a successful call up over 800,000 reservists over 48 hours, along with the activation of the Army's six reserve divisions and movement of units to their wartime stations. Fast mobilisation is seen as the key factor in the defence of Israel, as, in the event of a war, the IDF would be required to hold the line for between 72 and 96 hours before allied reinforcements could arrive in strength.
October 23: NORAD begins testing a new supercomputer simulation system to game out the course and outcome of various nuclear war scenarios, with the 255 initial scenarios ranging from the predictable 'US First Strike' and 'USSR First Strike' to the more unlikely 'Uganda Offensive' and 'Caspian Defense'.
December 1: Beginning of the annual Operation Christmas Drop, with the USAF airdropping over 2 million pounds of humanitarian supplies, food and toys over the islands of Micronesia.
1972
February 17: Beginning of Exercise REFORGER 72, the eighth annual NATO exercise for the reinforcement of American, Canadian and British forces to Western Europe and largest Western Alliance military exercise of any sort since the British Exercise Warhammer in 1963. The REFORGER airlift is the first such exercise to feature both the Boeing C-240 Skylord ultraheavy strategic transport airlifter alongside the Lockheed-Martin C-150 Galaxy eight engine superheavy military cargo aircraft(each capable of carrying eight MBTs or 250t of cargo). (REFORGER 72 is more than just the annual exercise in that it sees not only new transport aircraft (making the task of 12 divisions in 12 days viable) and new equipment on land, but is the first real post Vietnam exercise, with many units and commanders shifting back to Europe)
May 5: A joint USN, RN and RCN exercise testing new models of counter torpedoes against heavyweight anti-surface torpedoes deployed by attack submarines, including the USN's advanced new Mark 48, commences around Floating Fortress 2 in the North Atlantic. Further research and development of supercavitating defensive torpedoes for deployment by Allied nuclear submarines and other undersea platforms is ongoing in secret Allied defence facilities.
June 14: Beginning of Exercise Omdurman, the large scale combat stage of the Summer Manouevres, which sees the British First Army (reinforced by the I Canadian Corps) simulate a defence and counter invasion against the British Second Army (reinforced by the Commonwealth and Anzac Divisions) across East Anglia. It includes a simulation of the new ‘missile barrage’ doctrine in the initial throes.
July 20: The US Department of Defense begins talks with Britain and Egypt over American employment of certain inactive British Commonwealth air and land bases in Egypt for logistical use for its planned expansion of Middle Eastern Command. Existing American facilities in Southern Israel are faced with certain hard limitations on their scope for future expansion.
July 25: The French Army completes the first phase of modernisation and renovation of certain ouvrages of the Maginot Line as part of the general increase in its conventional defences along the eastern borders of France. Whilst some military thinkers have described the fortifications as completely obsolete in the atomic age, they have been given a new lease of life with adapted roles as hardened underground headquarters, communications facilities, logistical centres and reinforcement bases for the Grande Armee in Western Germany.
July 26: Beginning of Exercise Red Flag 1, an air combat training exercise for the fighter forces of Tactical Air Command held at Nellis AFB, close to the ‘convention city’ of Las Vegas. Previous international fighter exercises and the similar 'Top Gun' training establishment created by the USN's fighter forces at NAS Miramar in California have been driven by the 1970 and 1971 symposiums on the air combat lessons of the Vietnam War for US and Western fighter forces. Red Flag 1 is statistically notable for the participation of the USAF's 1st Fighter Wing, equipped with the new F-15A Eagles, and the new F-4S Phantoms of the 990th Fighter Wing, representing a mixture of the old and the new.
October 14: Opening of a new joint RAF/RN/British Army base in Akureyri, Northern Iceland, with the King of Iceland hailing the facility as the latest display of strong Anglo-Icelandic amity.
November 1: Beginning of Exercise Trelawny, a large home defence exercise carried out in Cornwall by the British Army's South Western Command, involving over 100,000 regular, reserve, Territorial and Home Guard personnel. One part of the exercise sees the fishing town of Portwenn apparently taken over by Soviet paratroopers disguised as Americans; any resemblance with an incident several years previous where a local policeman mistook visiting American paratroopers of the 13th Airborne Division as being secret VDV personnel was described by Army spokesmen as entirely coincidental.
1973
April 13: Opening of a secret new RN submarine base and research facility in the isolated Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The new base is the latest in a chain of significant bases and missile sites across the vastness of the Indian Ocean, with the above top secret research into the lost land of Lemuria around the Grand Chagos Bank being a particular focus of the undersea endeavours.
April 29: Arrival of a British reinforced armoured field force of two brigades in Haifa for Exercise Long Lankin in the Galilee, along with a staff mission to examine logistical infrastructure and proposed basing areas for British, Commonwealth and Imperial forces in the event of a major global war. Their secondary and rather more confidential purpose is to collate maps, photographs, film and other data on terrain, infrastructure and conditions for examination and simulation by the Imperial General Staff's new advanced intelligent supercomputing engine, as well as updating artillery fire plans for the new generation of the Army's guns.
August 14: British Mediterranean Command stages Exercise Gyrfalcon, a joint exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, consisting of amphibious forces operating from Cyprus, covered by the Victorious carrier group, conducting landing operations on Crete, contested by a force based around HMS Formidable operating from Malta. The RAF contingents of both sides demonstrate the long range capabilities of the Avro Arrow and newly acquired F-111s.
October 9: Beginning of the Imperial German Army's Exercise Panthersprung 73, a coordinated response to a mechanised invasion by 3. Armee and 4. Armee, formations including units from the regular Hee, the Reserverheer and the Landwehr (formerly the Territorialheer). The new Leopard main battle tanks, Marder armoured infantry fighting vehicles and the Jaguar infantry fire support vehicles impress foreign observers and umpires alike, whilst the Flakpanzer self propelled anti-aircraft guns provide a dual role with their automatic 88mm guns; a pair of British generals remark that they are rather glad that the latter were not around in North Africa and France.
1974
January 4: Exercise Stopwatch, a surprise test of the emergency mobilisation and deployment of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force's fighter defences begins in the British Isles, with a total of 624 de Havilland Spectres, 972 Hawker-Siddeley Hunters, 528 Supermarine Sunstars, 432 English Electric Lightnings, 576 Gloster Javelins and 648 Fairey Deltas successfully taking part in the first day of the exercise.
January 9: The British Army of the Rhine and RAF Germany begin a rolling series of winter exercises across Western Germany, the Low Countries and France, involving participation of the Army’s new Field Forces, testing of advanced missile systems and the fielding of new armoured vehicles by the attached Commonwealth Corps.
February 5: Beginning of Exercise Starboard, with American, British and Canadian troops joining Israeli Army forces in war games in Galilee and the Golan. The heavy fortifications along the Israeli-Syrian border are usually held by the Israeli 1st and 4th Mechanised Divisions, opposing three Syrian corps, but Starboard sees them reach their wartime strength of a reinforced corps, with allied units simulating both enemy forces and projected reinforcements.
February 19: British forces assigned to the Imperial Strategic Reserve begin Exercise Corporate Lance, a test exercise of global surge deployment capacity, with 120 long range Shorts Belfasts, 84 Vickers VC10s and 72 Armstrong-Whitworth Atlases flying the 1st Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division, 3rd Commando Brigade and 64th Gurkha Brigade from Aldershot to the Falkland Islands via Ascension, with ten squadrons detached from Fighter Command and Strike Command beginning deployment to the Prydain and the Falklands and a squadron of Avro Vulcan strategic bombers flying non stop from Malta to Capetown.
February 25: Opening of a new joint USAF/RAAF base in Barkly, Northern Australia, with four 24,000ft runways and considerable suspected underground support facilities and missiles defences supporting the deployment of Strategic Air Command B-52s and B-70s in Indochina and the South Pacific. It is thought that RAAF Barkly has a dual role in supporting planned USSF orbital bombers and NASA space planes.
August 4: Four Royal Navy and five U.S. Navy aircraft carriers (Ark Royal, Audacious, Invincible and Indomitable and Shiloh, Intrepid, Enterprise, United States and Kitty Hawk, take part in Exercise Northern Wedding, a NATO training exercise simulating the challenges involved in a wartime reinforcement of the Atlantic Alliance's northern flank with landings staged on the Shetlands, Faroes and Iceland, opposed by RAF Vickers Thunderbolts and F-111s operating from Irish and Scottish airfields. Northern Wedding has been staggered from Exercise Reforger '74, 'Certain Unity', in order to prevent any perception of escalatory intent.
September 2: Beginning of Exercise Bold Guard, a large NATO exercise in Western Germany and Denmark involving British paratroopers and airmobile infantry simulating Soviet landings and assaults, as part of the broader REFORGER 74 exercise, which involves over 350,000 U.S. personnel crossing the Atlantic by sea and air.
Units, Formations, Orders of Battle and TOE Changes
1969
January 18: The Royal Syrian Army forms a sixth armoured division, bringing the collective Arab regular military forces to a total of 50 divisions.
April 3: Announcement of the retirement of Free Polish Armed Forces by the Polish Government in Exile. The heritage of certain units will be perpetuated by newly raised British Army regiments, whilst the five operational Polish Air Force squadrons will be amalgamated with the Royal Air Force, with preferential recruiting for members of the Polish exile community in Britain.
1970
May 10: Establishment of the British Army’s newest infantry regiment, the Queen’s Own Mountain Regiment, joining the Rangers, Gurkhas, Commandos and Royal Dwarven Mountain Legion as specialist forces trained in alpine, cold weather and high altitude operations. (The Queen’s Own Mountain Regiment’s creation reflects two things - the British Army evolving to fit its anticipated battle fronts in Scandinavia, Austria and India/Afghanistan; and being in a situation where new units are being established, rather than the insidious creeping process of amalgamation and force reductions. The Army has shrunk a little from its peacetime 20th century peak, but not hugely so. The general structure of 6 Guards regiments, 6 Rifle regiments and 100 Regiments of Foot has not changed since the late 19th Century, with variations being on the number of regular battalions; it grew from 236 in 1960 to 256 from 1965-70 with the shifting of 20 TA battalions to regular service as was done in the @ Boer War. In @, most 2nd Battalions went after India went independent, followed by further amalgamations and culling through the 50s and 60s. The most significant difference is a toss up between the 100 Regiments of Foot vs 68 in 1900 post Childers Reforms and having 6 Rifle Regiments vs 2. This infantry force is augmented by the Paras, the Commandos, the Rangers and the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Zulus, as well as the new mountain troops. Units from Malta and Gibraltar are being bought into the ‘home regimental system’ from the Imperial/colonial regiment grouping and there is some thought that Hong Kong and Singapore’s regiments will follow)
July 15: The Premier of Argentina announces that the Argentine Army will be increased by 130,000 men over the next six years, in addition to being equipped with new modern weapons.
July 24: Completion of the rationalisation of the strength of the Territorial Army in accordance with the Barton government’s defence reforms, formalising the division between the first and second line TA and TA Reserve formations, completing the reassignment of former Anti-Aircraft Command regiments as it’s role transfers to the Home Guard and forming a number of new combat units, including the 5th Airborne Division. These expansive steps are somewhat overshadowed by the announcement of the contentious decision to form a number of Royal Flying Corps Harrier squadrons. ( The TA never losing its expansive combat division role that in @ developed from the 1957 White Paper (dropping from 10 to 2 divisions) and the late 1960s contraction. The first line units and strength have become smaller with the inactivation of AA Command, but there is still a reasonable level of capacity. In general, there is a similar tripartite structure to the US Army with its National Guard and Army Reserve formations of the 1950s in the form of the TA and the Army Reserve, with the latter being a combination of the @ ‘Ever Readies’ and a bit of 1900-1945 structures. There is still a strong push to reduce the active divisional strength of the British Army in light of the end of Vietnam, the continuing reduction of forward deployed forces in the Middle East and the capacity of a UK based strategic reserve combined with long range air lift. The RFC getting Harriers after 8 years of debate and argument is a bit of a rebuff to the RAF’s desire to control everything that flies and will be followed by some more contentious developments across the Atlantic)
August 16: The British Army formally reestablishes two cavalry brigades.
September 9: The 36th and 43rd Infantry Divisions begin arriving back in the United States, allowing for the demobilisation of Army Reserve divisions; the active strength of the Army is scheduled to fall below 4,000,000 by the end of 1970 and to its target active personnel level of 2.5 million by 1972.
November 11: Restructuring of the British Army of the Rhine begins, providing for the reinforcement of four Territorial Army divisions in the event of mobilisation and the augmentation of the two combined arms field forces attached to each corps by Territorial and Army Reserve units. The present peacetime regular strength of the BAOR, set at 160,000 men in 6 British (4 in Germany and 2 in the United Kingdom) and 2 Canadian divisions, is not scheduled to increase in the foreseeable future, but may be subject to some subsequent alterations depending on mooted increases to Commonwealth corps strength currently being debated. (Continuing British military restructuring sees the introduction of the 'field force' concept as a unit partway between the brigade and division for specific missions and purposes. There are two schools of thought - one of reorganising each of Britain's four heavy regular corps to have 4 divisions and another that advocates keeping them at 3; Canada is already moving to two 4 division corps for European service)
1971
March 24: The Jewish Legion is formally transferred to Israeli command, ending a 35 year old legal fiction that saw it formally operate under British Army control. The elite international volunteer formation, equivalent to a reinforced division in strength, won renown in the Second World War and Korea; Israeli Army High Command indicates to London that it will remain at its current basing in the Sinai for the foreseeable future.
June 17: Germany overtakes France as the largest army in Western Europe as measured by total personnel for the first time since the Second World War; the Heer remains strictly limited in the number of active divisions it can deploy, but has increased the size of the Reserveheer by eight divisions since 1965 to 24.
June 30: Bulgaria signs an agreement with Byzantine Greece for the integration of their collective field forces in Thrace and Bulgaria into a single army group command.
July 14: The US Army begins deployment of reinforced training groups and specialist teams in Central America to assist in combating revolutionary groups in the region.
July 16: The USAF expands its 'Women in the Air Force' programme, broadening the entry requirements for minimum height, strength and fitness depending on roles, whilst maintaining its exacting grade restrictions and standardised testing requirements.
August 16: Formation of an experimental British Army unit for testing of new tactics, equipment and operations similar to the successful ‘air cavalry’ employed by the United States in the recent Vietnam War.
September 7: The War Office announces that the forward deployed strength of British forces assigned to Middle East Land Forces is to be reduced to a two composite divisions at Suez and Aden and an independent brigade in Kuwait in the light of post Vietnam War rationalisation of deployments. Additionally, the capacity for airborne reinforcement by the Imperial Strategic Reserve, the prepositioning of equipment sets for heavy brigades in the Sinai, Jordan and Aden and the reestablishment of Mediterranean Command as a distinct entity responsible for forces in Gibraltar, Malta, Libya and Cyprus are seen as key factors in the decision.
October 9: The War Office announces that a further four new infantry regiments will be raised over the next year to reflect the evolving needs of the Army. (Once again, the British Army is growing rather than amalgamating regiments of foot; a definite indicator of a different world)
October 19: Swedish and Finnish military intelligence produce a joint report on the sharp rise in Red Army forces assigned to the Archangelsk and Murmansk Military Districts, with the latest attachment of a further Army (albeit one made up of four rifle divisions) seen as tipping the Scandinavian military balance towards Moscow's favour.
November 30: The Canadian Army activates a new Indian regiment to join the current Sioux, Huron and Iroquois, the Mohican Rangers.
December 17: The Committee of Imperial Defence approves plans for the moderate expansion and consolidation of British ground and air forces assigned to Mediterranean Command, the mainstay being the division of Royal Marines forward based in Malta.
1972
January 3: The British Cabinet approves a proposal for alternate National Service in the Empire Labour Service for those conscripts unsuited to the military for various reasons, including the limited number of conscientious objectors from the non-conformist churches.
February 5: The 33rd, 37th, 38th, 46th, 47th and 51st Infantry Divisions of the United States Army National Guard are formally returned to state control after their period of active service during the Vietnam War mobilisation, reducing the number of active National Guard divisions to six. The last Army Reserve combat divisions called upduring the war were deactivated in November 1971, whilst the three remaining Army of the United States divisions are due to follow them by October.
February 27: Publication of an article in The Spectator entitled The Future of National Service?. It outlines the recent British debate, not on the utility of conscription (which is accepted as a sine qua non of the defence of the British Empire by all major parties), but rather on its mechanics. The article's author, unusually writing under the pseudonym of John Bull, argues for a modernisation of the mobilisation and deployment wave system along with reforms to the structures of the Army Reserve, Territorial Army and mobilisation cadre regiments; his main contention is that the best use of National Servicemen would be in direct service in reserve formations. An editorial note at the end of the article states that a reply from A.N. Other will follow in the next issue.
March 6: The Spectator carries the reply article on National Service, A. N. Other's The Other Future of National Service. It accepts the principle for the efficacy of modernisation of mobilisation processes, but argues strongly that there could not be a separation of National Servicemen and professional soldiers within the regular Army and Reserves for reasons of inefficiency, the social injustice arising from imbalance of duty and the potential for a hollowing out of reserve capacity. The even distribution of experience derived from active service acts to increase the general combat effectiveness of units across the armed services, whilst from a practical level, the cost of a purely professional standing army would be substantially greater given the unavoidable nature of Britain's global commitments.
June 5: A report in Dagens Nyheter outlines proposals for increases in the frontline strength of the Swedish Armed Forces, including formation of a new special mobile infantry unit for Norrland operations, expansion of the Swedish Army in Germany, establishment of five new strike fighter wings, construction of new classes of missile cruisers and destroyers; and an accompanying redeployment of the Gothenburg Squadron to the Baltic proper.
August 11: The U.S. Army’s 250th Infantry Brigade, a new light infantry formation, becomes the first regular American troops to be deployed to India since 1946, with their new base in Eastern Assam to be used for specialised jungle and hill training alongside Indian, British and Gurkha forces.
September 30: The Egyptian Ministry of Defence announces that two new divisions of the Egyptian Army are to be formed over the next three years, along with plans to acquire up to 2000 modern tanks and new fighter jets.
December 5: The War Office announces that headquarters, support and certain combat elements of two airborne and two infantry divisions will be shifted to a special ‘ready reserve’ status from active duty from 1973, emphasising that they would continue to be considered as Regular Army formations.
1973
April 8: Formation of a new elite special forces unit of the Imperial German Army for counter terrorism and other special missions, with a a specific view towards action against the Baader Meinhof Gang and the International Revolutionary Army. The teams of the Geheime Sturmgruppe or Secret Assault Group are to be drawn from crack volunteers from the existing KSH, KSM and KSL, with ten such units to be established.
June 5: The Territorial Army’s 25th Infantry Division leaves Aldershot by skyships bound for Israel on the first such reserve roulement to Middle East Land Forces; much of their heavy equipment will be drawn from pre-positioned stocks in Sinai, the Negev and the Galilee in a test of wartime mobilisation capacity beyond the scope of the Continent. The 49th (Wessex) Infantry Division is to deploy by sea to Norway for support of Britain's Scandinavian NATO allies on the 10th, similarly utilising prepositioned equipment at Trondheim and Bodo.
September 9: A special report by the Joint Intelligence Committee estimates that the Red Army deploys 73 divisions in Eastern Europe and 10,000 aircraft in Eastern Europe, supported by a further 65 divisions in the Western USSR, whilst Soviet strength in the Northern Theatre opposite Scandinavia has swelled to 42 divisions and there are some indications of plans for formation of further Rifle divisions and formations of new 'Light Motor Rifle' designation.
September 17: Royal assent is granted to the Reserve Forces Act 1973, providing for the establishment of a Territorial Army Emergency Reserve, consisting of 100,000 individual members of the Territorial Army who agree to be liable to be called out at immediate notice for mobilisation and deployment around the Empire and world. ‘Ever Readies’ would receive an annual tax free bounty of £250 and additional payment for deployment. The scheme is designed to work in parallel to ordinary mobilisation plans and systems for the Army Reserve and Territorial Army and provide for different force options that can react to a range of emerging circumstances.
1974
July 25: General Alexander Haig is promoted to Supreme Allied Commander Europe, with General George Patton IV assigned command of Seventh Army, controlling US Army forces in Germany, and by extension command of CENTAG. Plans to stand up a separate U.S. Army field army in Austria-Hungary under SOUTHAG, mooted by Reagan Administration officials last year, continue to be finalised.
Arms Sales
1969
June 7: Transfer of six Foxtrot class attack submarines from the Soviet Union to North Vietnam.
August 22: Signing of a new bilateral agreement in Christiana between Britain and Norway setting out coordinated command and control for Allied forces in Northern Norway; the sale of new artillery, air defence systems, missiles and 100 de Havilland Tornadoes; establishment of four new underground prepositioned stores facilities; and expansion of the Royal Navy base at Trondheim.
December 16: Germany and Ottoman Turkey sign an extensive arms agreement worth more than $1400 million for a range of new aircraft, tanks, armoured vehicles, guns, rockets and missiles.
1970
July 18: The Arab Union orders 300 Dassault Mirage F2 fighter-bombers as part of an economic investment deal with France.
December 22: The Imperial Persian Army orders an extensive package of modern equipment from Britain, including 2500 Chieftain tanks and hundreds of other armoured vehicles.
1971
February 19: Ottoman Turkey signs an agreement for the purchase of 80 Tupolev Tu-16 Badger bombers from the Soviet Union, leading to an announcement later in the day for the transfer of 60 surplus Valiants by Britain to the Kingdom of Egypt and the Royal Israeli Air Force ordering 50 new Vickers Vimy supersonic bombers. (The Turks buying Badgers isn't a sign of any great Soviet influence per se, but rather them not being able to get bombers from any other source and Moscow being extremely keen on cracking the Middle East. The reactions are interesting, as the Israelis get a very, very powerful bomber in the Vimy (the strange bastard child of a modernised version of the supersonic Valiant variant from @ and the B-1A))
March 20: A delegation of high ranking Byzantine Greek military officers arrives in London for talks on a broad and extensive plan of military modernisation of the Imperial Armed Forces, including possible large orders for modern aircraft, tanks and missile systems.
June 25: Egyptian purchases £900 million worth of armaments from Britain, including 100 further de Havilland Spectres and hundreds of new MBTs, APCs, guns and tactical missiles.
September 18: Signing of the Anglo-Danish Defence Cooperation Agreement, providing for cooperation in weapons development, rolling deployments of British forces to Denmark under the auspices of the Atlantic Treaty and an extensive arms sales agreement.
1972
August 12: German quarterly exports of military equipment reach their highest postwar level (with the scope of said achievement somewhat limited in light of the long time restrictions on any such participation in the international arms trade by Berlin) on the back of increased sales to Arab states, Persia and the Balkans, on top of the massive Turkish arms deal that continues to enrich the Teutonic arms titans of Krass-Maffei, Krupp, Gruber-Mauser, Rheinmetall, Messerschmitt and Thyssen-Henschel.
1973
January 10: Argentina and Britain sign a new defence sales agreement, including the purchase of over 100 de Havilland Tornadoes; Buenos Aires remains interested in the purchase of modern long range strike aircraft, with discussions underway with French, American and Italian firms in addition to their traditional British suppliers.
May 27: Brazil signs defence sales agreements with the United States and Britain in response to the Argentine armament of recent years, with the former being for a range of land based equipment (headlined by 1600 M60 tanks, 2000 M113s and hundreds of modern artillery pieces) and the latter package including both land and air surplus weapons, consisting of 960 Chieftains, 800 Bristol Bloodhounds, 1200 PT.428 Rapiers, 240 de Havilland Tornadoes, 300 Hawker-Siddeley Merlins, 120 Vickers Thunderbolts and 240 Fairey Delta IIs and 240 Supermarine Sunstars along with new radar systems and 100 Vickers Vimy supersonic heavy bombers. The British aircraft order for the Imperial Brazilian Air Force comes after a decade of careful cultivation of high ranking officers and Air Ministry officials and the accompanying fillip of resource purchase agreements and investment in Brazilian industrial development.
1974
April 10: Encouraged by the extremely strong growth of the Persian economy, largely driven by flourishing oil production, Shah Kamar announces a new wave of military modernisation and expansion, with massive defence orders placed with the United States, for a package including 50 B-75 Marauder II light bombers, 250 F-4 Phantoms, 120 F-14 Tomcats, 150 A-10 Warthogs, 400 M107 175mm howitzers and 2000 air to ground missiles, and with Persia’s traditional military supplier Britain for a further 1100 Chieftain tanks, 500 Scorpion light tanks, 2400 Warrior MACVs, 400 de Havilland Tornadoes and 360 Fairey Delta IIs.
Nuclear Weapons
1970
January 27: British introduction of new series of tactical nuclear warhead for use in gravity bombs, submarine torpedoes, strike missiles, depth charges and battlefield rockets. (The new British tac nuke is similar to the WE.177, but with some more optional settings and a fitting name)
February 18: Satellite and seismological data indicates a suspected underground atomic event in Sumatra. Jakarta denies any knowledge of any such event. Not that there was an event. (The underground nuclear event in Sumatra is an attempted test that turned out to be a rather disappointing fizzle. Whilst there isn't public follow up, it does get the attention of Australia, Britain, the USA and India)
March 8: New Zealand conducts an underground nuclear test in South Australia.
October 14: In what is considered to be an incredible coincidence, four nuclear tests are conducted on the same day by different countries, with the United States and Britain conducting underground tests of new ICBM warheads in Nevada and South Australia, whilst the Soviet Union tests a nine megation warhead beneath Novaya Zemlya and China conducting an atmospheric hydrogen bomb test in the Gobi Desert. ( In @, there were 3 nuclear tests on a single day in October 1970; here, Britain is also testing out a new ICBM RV)
December 26: US defence satellites detect a strange double flash over the southern Indian Ocean that seems to match the signature of an atomic initiation; subsequent aerial sampling does not detect any significant traces of radiation in the atmosphere. ( Something happened over the South Atlantic; it seems similar to the @ Vela Incident, but that might be deceptive, as both South Africa and Israel are both open nuclear powers)
1971
March 14: American and Soviet diplomats fail to resolve intractable differences over a proposed treaty on the militarisation of the seabed and oceans, but ongoing strategic arms negotiations achieve something of a milestone, with the U.S. delegation signalling that it would be willing to consider capping its land based and sea based missiles at 3000 and 2000 respectively; given that the Soviet Union currently deploys 1426 LRBMs and 964 modern SLBMs on 32 Yankee, 20 India and 10 Hotel class atomic ballistic missile submarines and 12 battleships, this provides the beginning of an opportunity to catch up with the West. (The seeming breakthrough in US-Soviet strategic arms talks isn’t necessarily one; the US advantage is still over 2:1, with MIRVs adding more, along with a new generation of coming superheavy ICBMs. An equivalent to @ SALT is extremely hard in the face of quite larger British and French arsenals that aren’t limited to a minimal deterrent)
May 9: The defence ministers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland sign an agreement for the renewal of joint civil atomic development; in combination with extremely secretive German engagement with the Yugoslav, Turkish and Spanish atomic weapons programmes, this indicates a potentially different motivation.
July 1: Beginning of the Grommet series of U.S. nuclear tests with the Diamond Mine test at the Nevada Test Site; some attached personnel are heard to comment that patrolling the Mojave makes one wish for a nuclear winter.
July 21: The Soviet Union conducts a semi-atmospheric nuclear test at Semipalatinsk in the Kazakh SSR, causing some political consternation in the West as to the most optimal countermeasures to take.
August 23: US Space Force satellites detect a double flash over Soviet Central Asia, with USAF airborne sampling aircraft picking up the signature of what is thought to almost certainly be an atmospheric nuclear test.
September 5: The United States’ ambassador to the Soviet Union presents the Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko with a note outlining Washington’s concerns regarding the apparent Soviet atmospheric atomic test, which was officially denied.
September 29: An Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War is signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China.
November 6: The United States conducts an underground nuclear test on Amchitka Islands in the Canadian Aleutians under Project Cannikin, with the successful test of the W101 thermonuclear warhead having a yield of 5 megatons.
December 11: Strategic Air Command begins a revision of the Single Integrated Operational Plan to accommodate the increased number of targets in the National Strategic Target Data Base and the significantly increased US strategic nuclear warhead arsenal.
1972
February 21: Completion of a new level of the top secret deep level nuclear shelter beneath the White House amid regular revisions of plans for continuity of government, with the new facility providing equivalent protection to Strategic Air Command’s Deep Underground Support Centers.
March 28: Britain conducts an underground nuclear test in Outback South Australia in the first test of Operation Athelstan, with a new series of warheads for tactical and intermediate bombs, missiles and ground, naval and aerial artillery shells requiring substantial practical testing; secret subsidiary preparation of the test site on Christmas Island in the exigency of a resumption of atmospheric testing in response to feared Soviet moves remains at this time purely precautionary.
May 31: France conducts an underwater hydrogen bomb test at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia as part of the development of its new strategic missile warheads. Current planning calls for the fielding of several new wings in the deep Sahara Desert of Algeria and Chad to match the current deployments on the Plateau d'Albion and Massif Central.
December 2: The Soviet Union announces that it will conduct a partially atmospheric nuclear test in 1973 as part of their Peaceful Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy programme, with the experimental data to be utilised for the atomic construction of the Pechora-Kama Canal, planned as employing 247 15 kiloton devices. The news is largely overshadowed by the coverage of the launch of Orion 7 from the orbit of Luna on its 5 year voyage to Orcus and Pluto.
1973
May 16: A joint Anglo-American Peaceful Nuclear Explosion is conducted by the US Department of Energy and British Ministry of Atomic Energy at the Nevada Test Site to test a new experimental device designed for potential use in the construction of a Nicaragua Canal, exploitation of the Athabaskan oil sands and iron ore mining in the Pilbara region of Australia.
July 21: France conducts a further semi-atmospheric thermonuclear test at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia, on top of a successful firing of the prototype Matra ASLP missile carrying a dummy TN72 warhead at a target ship.
1974
January 10: France conducts an underground nuclear test deep in the Sahara Desert in Algeria, with the new warhead for the S5 heavyweight LRBM yielding 4.2 megatons.
July 5: The Soviet ambassadors to the United States, Britain and France pass on official notes indicating that the Soviet Union is giving notice of its right of withdrawal from the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, under Article V of the Treaty, citing the need to conduct a limited but unspecified series of underwater and partially atmospheric tests at some point in the near future. NSA and GCHQ sources note an increased amount of signals traffic occurring between Moscow and certain closed cities in the Northern Urals, whilst a British source alleges that the withdrawal is actually preemptive cover for the eventuality of a need to use thermonuclear weapons against certain facilities with the USSR which have had...issues...of late.
Other
1969
May 18: The British Ministry of Defence begins a comprehensive review and modernisation of The War Book, the master plan for British mobilisation, military operations, grand strategy, operational deployments, contingency war plans and strategic atomic warfare contained in a single magical volume enchanted with its own intelligence. The process aims to link up the mighty artifact with the growing networks of intelligent supercomputers that coordinate much of the British economy and war machine.
July 27: The Strategic War Plan Committee issues a report on proposed changes to US mobilisation programmes and the incorporation of new strategic airlift and sealift assets, stating that the long desired goal of '12 in 12', or the movement of 12 divisions across the Atlantic to Europe in the first twelve days after M-Day, will be reached by 1972.
August 31: Australia conducts a simulated test of its mobilisation system using a newly imported super computing engine. The exercise demonstrates a need for expanded stockpiles of several types of military equipment and extension of dedicated military railways, but succeeded in the call up of over 600,000 reservists and their simulated deployment.
October 3: Completion of the Skynet satellite system, a multipurpose British Empire military project for the provision of global communications, radionavigation and reconnaissance.
1970
May 2: A secret agreement for the coordination of Finnish and Swedish stay behind forces is concluded in Karlskrona amid increasing moves to broader Scandinavian defence cooperation; sale of the Saab Viking jet fighter to Finland is thought to be imminent. (The Viking is a very good, high performance fighter that has had a bit of difficulty getting new markets due to a little bit of extra cost. Getting Finland as a market would be a great boon. The stay behind cooperation, across NATO lines, reflects the close ties between Sweden and Finland)
August 2: Western intelligence sources indicate the increased presence of Soviet forces in Africa, including elements those drawn from the Black Russian minority and trained Africans. Evidence is also presented of the issuing of new Soviet small arms, including their new assault rifle and general purpose machine gun.
October 5: Twelve experimental military reptiles escape from a secret research facility in Arizona, eating the well-intentioned radical scientist who clandestinely attempted to smuggle them out to freedom.
December 27: The New York Times publishes its biannual ranking of European military powers, placing Germany at the head of the list above France, followed by Italy, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania and noting that both major communist states were on a rising trajectory. (The rankings of European military powers is quite straightforward, with it being useful to note that Britain isn't classified as a European power by the NYT on account of the Channel, but even more based on its global role and position. This is a bit of a change in DE over time, as the early days of the Barton government saw the JFK administration trying to nudge them to a more Eurocentric direction/view; this didn't work and there is a considerable focus on the Middle East, India and the Orient, so much so that in many ways the strategic centre of the British Empire can be said to lie in the Indian Ocean)
1971
April 8: Completion of a new British contingency plan for the defence of Ireland, updating the most recent version formulated during the Korean War with new provisions for aid to the civil power in the event of disorder or disasters, utilisation of the expanding modern transport network of railways and smaller airports and support of the elven and dwarven states in the central forests and mountains. ( Plans for Irish defence are not driven by an overt internal or external threat, but rather a much more robust emphasis on defence by the British establishment. Ireland is the back door into the rest of the British Isles in their view. The whole business of Home Defence is treated more seriously, as the @ policy of "We're going to be atomised, so no use spending or trying anything" (very much simplified) is not in place. There are very serious experts looking very seriously towards the post-nuclear age of modern warfare, something that we have never had)
July 2: British Army scientists test their latest arcane supercomputer by programming a simulated reenactment of the hard fought close victory at the Battle of Isandlwhana with modern weapons, resulting in a much quicker and more decisive triumph in 16 minutes and 24 seconds; a variant featuring close air support cut this to 5 minutes and 32 seconds, but requests to try out a tactical nuclear solution were refused on grounds of being a bit silly.
November 8: The United States Army fields a new series of military robots, the Robotron 386, an articulated wheeled automaton armed with twin machine guns suitable for mobile sentry operations.
1972
September 14: Completion of the highly secret British Commonwealth Strategic Defence Reserve Plan, setting out specific reserve equipment and munition levels to be maintained by component nations, new regional underground prepositioning centres and scheduling of the construction of new factories in distributed locations to facilitate the various goals.
October 19: The British War Ministry commissions a research paper on the possible applications of an 'air cavalry' type unit in the British Army, following on from the successful American employment of heliborne soldiers in the Vietnam War. It is thought that the use of modern long range assault versions of the Fairey Rotodyne and advanced VSTOL aircraft such as the Sopwith Camel offer particularly useful and intriguing capacities for air assault forces.
October 28: Delegations of the Arab Union and Egyptian general staff meet in Baghdad for discussions of potential cooperation on weapons development and modern tactical operations under the auspices of the Baghdad Pact.
1973
May 7: Opening of the Royal Military Exhibition, a special exposition of Britain's land, sea and air forces and their equipment, held at the Royal Exhibition Centre at Earl's Court. The prize exhibits are a new RAF Supermarine Spitfire, the Army's new Medium Combat Vehicle version of the FV525 Warrior and the Royal Navy's new Coastal Forces hydrofoil Super Fast Attack Missile Craft.
October 5: A cassette strip in the Israeli Armed Forces main computer system in Jerusalem gets stuck whilst changing to a different program during a mid morning test, causing a systems error that triggers emergency mass mobilisation of the Israeli Army and Royal Israeli Air Force and begins activation of war measures in accordance with the Israeli War Book. The alert is rescinded after a confused 32 minutes by Defence Minister Sir Moshe Dayan and Field Marshal Yitzhak Rabin.
November 13: The Air Ministry, Royal Air Force and Ministry of Education initiate the Junior Pilot Aptitude Programme, identifying potential future RAF pilots through examination of academic, physical and aptitude testing data at junior secondary level in public and state schools and channeling the best scoring boys through the Air Training Corps, Air Cadets and Air Experience Flights on direct paths towards flight training.
1974
April 21: Launch of the first of the U.S. Department of Defense’s highly advanced Navstar World Positioning System satellites into a geosynchronous orbit by a Saturn IV rocket from Cape Canaveral.
July 19: The Egyptian Ministry of Defence begins a new review of the next steps in its ongoing armament, expansion and modernisation programme, with an unspoken aim of diluting the relative political power of certain current commands and officers who regard the ongoing British Imperial presence in the Suez Canal Zone as something of an imposition upon future ambitions.
September 24: In a day of many British military developments, the Admiralty issues a requirement for a new class of conventional attack submarines to replace the aging Oberon class and a joint requirement with the Air Ministry for a general purpose helicopter to success the Bristol Bulldog, whilst the War Office places orders for development of new war machines and power armour, along with full scale production of the new 50pdr anti tank gun performance and certain new weapons for the Royal Machine Gun Corps. A further Ministry of Defence study on the feasibility of a separate airmobile division and the incorporation of field formations of modern cavalry consequently receives little attention.
Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
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Simon Darkshade
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jemhouston
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Great update
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
It is more of a compilation putting various updates together to show some trends and patterns over time. It particularly illustrates the changeover of a new generation of US aircraft and weapons systems in general.
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Paul Nuttall
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
If you are going to do that that, you could have called it 'Bird of Prey' or at least after a bird of prey.Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 3:20 pm
November 8: The Armstrong-Whitworth Argonaut strategic intruder enters service with the Royal Air Force, being the first aircraft of its type to be developed since the Second World War and featuring innovative elements of flying wing design. (The Armstrong-Whitworth Argonaut is a genuine intruder, designed to fly into Soviet airspace and engage fighters, bombers and SAM sites. It bears some resemblance in role to the F-117, but doesn't have the same stealth characteristics; it has some other features that enable its missions. Think active stealth)
Last edited by Paul Nuttall on Sun Mar 09, 2025 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Paul Nuttall
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 3:20 pm
October 23: NORAD begins testing a new supercomputer simulation system to game out the course and outcome of various nuclear war scenarios, with the 255 initial scenarios ranging from the predictable 'US First Strike' and 'USSR First Strike' to the more unlikely 'Uganda Offensive' and 'Caspian Defense'.
Ummh, the lead designer....whats his name?
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
There was no appropriate bird of prey name starting with A, not that it would have been appropriate in existing nomenclature.
The only other possible reason I can find is some sort of Star Trek reference, which means nothing to me, as I’ve never watched the show.
The only other possible reason I can find is some sort of Star Trek reference, which means nothing to me, as I’ve never watched the show.
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Very much not Stephen Falken.Paul Nuttall wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 9:49 pmSimon Darkshade wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 3:20 pm
October 23: NORAD begins testing a new supercomputer simulation system to game out the course and outcome of various nuclear war scenarios, with the 255 initial scenarios ranging from the predictable 'US First Strike' and 'USSR First Strike' to the more unlikely 'Uganda Offensive' and 'Caspian Defense'.
Ummh, the lead designer....whats his name?
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Paul Nuttall
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 9:50 pm
The only other possible reason I can find is some sort of Star Trek reference, which means nothing to me, as I’ve never watched the show.
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
This shouldn’t be a surprise, as I’ve said virtually exactly the same thing earlier in this thread, and you reacted with a similar post on September 12 2023, albeit with question marks rather than shocked face emoticons.
I’ve never watched any of the television series of Star Trek; I don’t watch much television full stop and will never see them before this current job kills me. I’ve seen the films with Shatner and Nimoy, which are of varying quality, and that was enough for me.
I’ve never watched any of the television series of Star Trek; I don’t watch much television full stop and will never see them before this current job kills me. I’ve seen the films with Shatner and Nimoy, which are of varying quality, and that was enough for me.
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Paul Nuttall
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
That was 2023....time has gone on since then...though where its gone, that's another question all together.Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 10:16 pm This shouldn’t be a surprise, as I’ve said virtually exactly the same thing earlier in this thread, and you reacted with a similar post on September 12 2023, albeit with question marks rather than shocked face emoticons.
I’ve never watched any of the television series of Star Trek; I don’t watch much television full stop and will never see them before this current job kills me. I’ve seen the films with Shatner and Nimoy, which are of varying quality, and that was enough for me.
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
For others, perhaps. For myself, apart from getting worse in certain departments, it is much the same.
For posterity’s sake, I haven’t seen Star Trek, and all that stuff about Vulcan salutes and Jedi, and this very likely will not change.
For posterity’s sake, I haven’t seen Star Trek, and all that stuff about Vulcan salutes and Jedi, and this very likely will not change.
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Anyway, in meta analysis of the collation above:
- There is a very well balanced amount of aircraft detail spread out over time, with 25 American planes or plane related events, 18 British and 4 Soviet ones suggesting that a bit more from France, Germany and the Eastern bloc would be warranted in the next 5 year period
- The number of warship and naval related entries increased over time, and evolution of the depth of entries is very plain to see; there is scope for more from the Soviets and Europe
- In what is an emerging pattern, there was a bit more detail on the English speaking world's armoured vehicles, and only tantalising hints from behind the Iron Wall
- There is scope for more on artillery from the USA, Europe, USSR and Asia, right when they will be developing new systems
- Plenty more will come out on missiles, which have been reasonably balanced in coverage
- Air Defence can see more scope, with MANPADS providing one angle there
- No real small arms detailed in Small Arms does show that there it might be worth giving some rifle and MG information
- A bit more on the US MIC will be interesting and timely, particularly on the sheer range and extent of plants
- Military exercises, basing and training has been well covered, as have new units; there is scope for a few more JIC updates on Soviet strength, and a bit of a dive into TOE changes
- The big arms sales contracts have been the expected ones, where Britain has done well. There is opportunity for some large US wins
- A couple more nuclear weapons events/details would round out 1974 nicely, as would some miscellaneous events
There might be a possibility of doing some other collations of economic, cultural, political and social developments if there were interest.
- There is a very well balanced amount of aircraft detail spread out over time, with 25 American planes or plane related events, 18 British and 4 Soviet ones suggesting that a bit more from France, Germany and the Eastern bloc would be warranted in the next 5 year period
- The number of warship and naval related entries increased over time, and evolution of the depth of entries is very plain to see; there is scope for more from the Soviets and Europe
- In what is an emerging pattern, there was a bit more detail on the English speaking world's armoured vehicles, and only tantalising hints from behind the Iron Wall
- There is scope for more on artillery from the USA, Europe, USSR and Asia, right when they will be developing new systems
- Plenty more will come out on missiles, which have been reasonably balanced in coverage
- Air Defence can see more scope, with MANPADS providing one angle there
- No real small arms detailed in Small Arms does show that there it might be worth giving some rifle and MG information
- A bit more on the US MIC will be interesting and timely, particularly on the sheer range and extent of plants
- Military exercises, basing and training has been well covered, as have new units; there is scope for a few more JIC updates on Soviet strength, and a bit of a dive into TOE changes
- The big arms sales contracts have been the expected ones, where Britain has done well. There is opportunity for some large US wins
- A couple more nuclear weapons events/details would round out 1974 nicely, as would some miscellaneous events
There might be a possibility of doing some other collations of economic, cultural, political and social developments if there were interest.
Last edited by Simon Darkshade on Tue Mar 11, 2025 12:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
For Germany, I'd love to see a version of the MBB Lampyridae making an apprearance, perhaps a bit more heavily armed, but that plane has some sex appeal. End of the seventies would be a good time, taking into account the higher tech level in DE.
Maybe "shocking/surprising the US and UK and certainly the USSR"?
Maybe "shocking/surprising the US and UK and certainly the USSR"?
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
The major issue with it is that I find both the concept art and the name very unattractive, and that there may be a different niche to be filled.
As of 1974/75, the Luftwaffe has:
- The Messerschmitt Me-529 as a frontline light air superiority fighter
- The Focke Wulf FW-284 as the F-15 type heavy fighter
- The de Havilland Tornado as a fighter-bomber
- F4 Phantoms as a strike fighter
- Vickers Thunderbolts as their strike bomber
- A mixture of Harriers and the Gruber VSTOL as ground attack fighters
- The Junkers Ju-387 attack bomber
- Heinkel twin engine and Junkers four engine jet strike bombers
- The Saunders-Roe SR.187 as a pure interceptor
- The Dornier Do-462 Alpha Jet is in production with over 1800 required (based on Version 5 of the Dornier proposals here https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thread ... osals.206/)
The historical MBB TKF-90 is going to make an earlier appearance, with some souped up performance, an appropriate name and designation and extra armament goodies.
That doesn't leave an obvious niche for the development of a Medium Range Missile Fighter at this time, but by the same token, there would be research into stealth. What emerges won't necessarily look like the Lampyridae.
Germany's aviation sector as of 1974 consists of Messeschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers and Dornier; Arado has been bought up by Dornier, but still kept as a nominally separate marque name.
1 Luftwaffendivision is in the north (HQ Verden), 2 in the East (HQ Morsleben), 3 in the South (HQ Furstenfeldbruck) 4 in the West (HQ Birkenfeld) and 5 in Central Germany (HQ Niederdorla).
As of 1974/75, the Luftwaffe has:
- The Messerschmitt Me-529 as a frontline light air superiority fighter
- The Focke Wulf FW-284 as the F-15 type heavy fighter
- The de Havilland Tornado as a fighter-bomber
- F4 Phantoms as a strike fighter
- Vickers Thunderbolts as their strike bomber
- A mixture of Harriers and the Gruber VSTOL as ground attack fighters
- The Junkers Ju-387 attack bomber
- Heinkel twin engine and Junkers four engine jet strike bombers
- The Saunders-Roe SR.187 as a pure interceptor
- The Dornier Do-462 Alpha Jet is in production with over 1800 required (based on Version 5 of the Dornier proposals here https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thread ... osals.206/)
The historical MBB TKF-90 is going to make an earlier appearance, with some souped up performance, an appropriate name and designation and extra armament goodies.
That doesn't leave an obvious niche for the development of a Medium Range Missile Fighter at this time, but by the same token, there would be research into stealth. What emerges won't necessarily look like the Lampyridae.
Germany's aviation sector as of 1974 consists of Messeschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers and Dornier; Arado has been bought up by Dornier, but still kept as a nominally separate marque name.
1 Luftwaffendivision is in the north (HQ Verden), 2 in the East (HQ Morsleben), 3 in the South (HQ Furstenfeldbruck) 4 in the West (HQ Birkenfeld) and 5 in Central Germany (HQ Niederdorla).
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Simon Darkshade
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Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
October Preview:
October 6: The War Office begins a study on potential development of an improved variant of the current Army service rifles, the L1A1 SLR, on account of recent developments in the Soviet Union of a purported new assault rifle to possibly augment the AKM; it is anticipated that the study will be completed ahead of a Commonwealth military special conference on infantry weapons scheduled for mid 1975, and that there is little scope for a change of calibre given the amount of ammunition produced in the rearmament period of the last decade. Any future rifle variant would be in addition to stocks of American Armalite AR-25 rifles currently being delivered or Fabrique Nationale in Belgium’s production contract for 1.5 million of the very similar FN FALs, which will be completed in the early part of next year.
*October 7: The World Food Conference in Rome closes with 152 countries agreeing to the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, which sets a goal of eradicating those common enemy of mankind - hunger, deprivation and want - by the new millenium. Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke goes further, expansively pledging that ‘by 1990, no Asian child need be living in poverty.’
October 10: The Ministry of Labour concludes a new round of round table wage discussions with representatives of the TUC, the CBI and other key industrial and business concerns, with an agreement in principle for a standard hourly minimum wage for manual work of £1 8d for the standard 40 hour week, with additional rates for weekday overtime and Saturdays. The standard wage rate is smaller than initial trade union demands, offset by gains in extra allowances, workplace rights and conditions and new pension reforms, whilst business concerns were ameliorated by government assurances regarding the planned base corporation tax of 20%. Additional union concerns have been further ameliorated by the reduction in growth of average new house prices to £4362 due to the glut of new construction, and inflation remaining steady in the recovery from the 1973 recession.
October 15: The US Army begins a programme for the replacement of the M107, M110 and M123 self propelled heavy and superheavy howitzers, in conjunction with the M109 replacement programme, with new advanced artillery systems incorporating longer range, increased rates of fire, integrated fire control computing systems, increased survivability and composite armour, automated ammunition handling and a new engine to allow them keep pace with the projected XM100 main battle tanks.
October 23: The 1980 Summer Olympic Games are awarded to London in a narrow decision over Moscow and Mexico City, with the latter bearing the disadvantage of there being a preference against two consecutive North American Olympics. Behind the scenes, a backroom deal was sealed through the good offices of several neutral states between the Western bloc and the Soviet Union for the 1984 Olympics to be guaranteed for the Red capital; a British representative was heard to comment, sotto voce, that the irony of the year seemed to evade the Kremlin.
October 6: The War Office begins a study on potential development of an improved variant of the current Army service rifles, the L1A1 SLR, on account of recent developments in the Soviet Union of a purported new assault rifle to possibly augment the AKM; it is anticipated that the study will be completed ahead of a Commonwealth military special conference on infantry weapons scheduled for mid 1975, and that there is little scope for a change of calibre given the amount of ammunition produced in the rearmament period of the last decade. Any future rifle variant would be in addition to stocks of American Armalite AR-25 rifles currently being delivered or Fabrique Nationale in Belgium’s production contract for 1.5 million of the very similar FN FALs, which will be completed in the early part of next year.
*October 7: The World Food Conference in Rome closes with 152 countries agreeing to the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, which sets a goal of eradicating those common enemy of mankind - hunger, deprivation and want - by the new millenium. Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke goes further, expansively pledging that ‘by 1990, no Asian child need be living in poverty.’
October 10: The Ministry of Labour concludes a new round of round table wage discussions with representatives of the TUC, the CBI and other key industrial and business concerns, with an agreement in principle for a standard hourly minimum wage for manual work of £1 8d for the standard 40 hour week, with additional rates for weekday overtime and Saturdays. The standard wage rate is smaller than initial trade union demands, offset by gains in extra allowances, workplace rights and conditions and new pension reforms, whilst business concerns were ameliorated by government assurances regarding the planned base corporation tax of 20%. Additional union concerns have been further ameliorated by the reduction in growth of average new house prices to £4362 due to the glut of new construction, and inflation remaining steady in the recovery from the 1973 recession.
October 15: The US Army begins a programme for the replacement of the M107, M110 and M123 self propelled heavy and superheavy howitzers, in conjunction with the M109 replacement programme, with new advanced artillery systems incorporating longer range, increased rates of fire, integrated fire control computing systems, increased survivability and composite armour, automated ammunition handling and a new engine to allow them keep pace with the projected XM100 main battle tanks.
October 23: The 1980 Summer Olympic Games are awarded to London in a narrow decision over Moscow and Mexico City, with the latter bearing the disadvantage of there being a preference against two consecutive North American Olympics. Behind the scenes, a backroom deal was sealed through the good offices of several neutral states between the Western bloc and the Soviet Union for the 1984 Olympics to be guaranteed for the Red capital; a British representative was heard to comment, sotto voce, that the irony of the year seemed to evade the Kremlin.
Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Fair enough. Maybe I should have written "something like" the Lampyridae...and yes, the name sucks.Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 2:31 am The major issue with it is that I find both the concept art and the name very unattractive, and that there may be a different niche to be filled.
As of 1974/75, the Luftwaffe has:
- The Messerschmitt Me-529 as a frontline light air superiority fighter
- The Focke Wulf FW-284 as the F-15 type heavy fighter
- The de Havilland Tornado as a fighter-bomber
- F4 Phantoms as a strike fighter
- Vickers Thunderbolts as their strike bomber
- A mixture of Harriers and the Gruber VSTOL as ground attack fighters
- The Junkers Ju-387 attack bomber
- Heinkel twin engine and Junkers four engine jet strike bombers
- The Saunders-Roe SR.187 as a pure interceptor
- The Dornier Do-462 Alpha Jet is in production with over 1800 required (based on Version 5 of the Dornier proposals here https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thread ... osals.206/)
The historical MBB TKF-90 is going to make an earlier appearance, with some souped up performance, an appropriate name and designation and extra armament goodies.
That doesn't leave an obvious niche for the development of a Medium Range Missile Fighter at this time, but by the same token, there would be research into stealth. What emerges won't necessarily look like the Lampyridae.
Germany's aviation sector as of 1974 consists of Messeschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers and Dornier; Arado has been bought up by Dornier, but still kept as a nominally separate marque name.
1 Luftwaffendivision is in the north (HQ Verden), 2 in the East (HQ Morsleben), 3 in the South (HQ Furstenfeldbruck) 4 in the West (HQ Birkenfeld) and 5 in Central Germany (HQ Niederdorla).
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jemhouston
- Posts: 4786
- Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:38 am
Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
Who says international officials don't have a sense of irony. 
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Simon Darkshade
- Posts: 1320
- Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:55 am
Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
I do like patterns and symmetry, and what could seem more fitting than a US Olympics for the 1976 Bicentennial? Well, a Soviet games to follow; the year simply fell into place and ‘just worked’, in the words of Todd Howard.jemhouston wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 11:16 am Who says international officials don't have a sense of irony.
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Simon Darkshade
- Posts: 1320
- Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:55 am
Re: Dark Earth Timeline Discussion
I can certainly see some role for it, and I like the idea of a bit of a shock from the Germans. If you can think of a suitable name that has a good ‘ring’ to it, I’ll work you in as the ideas man behind it, perhaps as an admiral in the Kaiserliche Marine.Jotun wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 11:08 amFair enough. Maybe I should have written "something like" the Lampyridae...and yes, the name sucks.Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 2:31 am The major issue with it is that I find both the concept art and the name very unattractive, and that there may be a different niche to be filled.
As of 1974/75, the Luftwaffe has:
- The Messerschmitt Me-529 as a frontline light air superiority fighter
- The Focke Wulf FW-284 as the F-15 type heavy fighter
- The de Havilland Tornado as a fighter-bomber
- F4 Phantoms as a strike fighter
- Vickers Thunderbolts as their strike bomber
- A mixture of Harriers and the Gruber VSTOL as ground attack fighters
- The Junkers Ju-387 attack bomber
- Heinkel twin engine and Junkers four engine jet strike bombers
- The Saunders-Roe SR.187 as a pure interceptor
- The Dornier Do-462 Alpha Jet is in production with over 1800 required (based on Version 5 of the Dornier proposals here https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thread ... osals.206/)
The historical MBB TKF-90 is going to make an earlier appearance, with some souped up performance, an appropriate name and designation and extra armament goodies.
That doesn't leave an obvious niche for the development of a Medium Range Missile Fighter at this time, but by the same token, there would be research into stealth. What emerges won't necessarily look like the Lampyridae.
Germany's aviation sector as of 1974 consists of Messeschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers and Dornier; Arado has been bought up by Dornier, but still kept as a nominally separate marque name.
1 Luftwaffendivision is in the north (HQ Verden), 2 in the East (HQ Morsleben), 3 in the South (HQ Furstenfeldbruck) 4 in the West (HQ Birkenfeld) and 5 in Central Germany (HQ Niederdorla).