6th Jackal driver killed in Helmand - Whoop de doo the MOD now have Jackal 2 which will be safer ! Of course it will, and heavier, slower, less agile

E first introduced readers to the "Jackal" (then called a replacement WMIK - lihgtly armoured LOng Whelbase Land Rover) On June 30, 2007 -

> WMIK - Patrolling Afghanistan in a convertible

These vehicles are claimed to have, Longer range, Greater payload, Greater mobility (?) and a take your breath away top speed of "up to 80mph (130km/h)" - now how does that compare with a Toyota land Cruiser ute ?- a WMIK weighs nearly 4 tonnes all up, powered by a 4.2 litre engine. Keen observers will however note that the picture accompanying the MOD article is somewhat short on firepower , which can include "a .50 calibre machine gun or an automatic grenade launcher and a general purpose machine gun, as well as carrying up to four troops with their own individual weapons." let's hope they have ordered some guns as well. Note that no costs are mentioned.

It is encouraging to see from the picture that seat belts are provided, meaning the vehicles can be used on Public Highways throughout Europe. The Road Traffic Act as it applies to Afghanistan is not a subject upon which we can claim any knowledge, but presumably these brand spanking new WMIK's will be fully street legal in Kabul .

Big problem is of course, patrolling all day in the poppy fields , the thing will get mucky and dusty - how do you put it through the car wash

Since then we have continued to chronicle not only the weaknesses in this vehicle but also the rate of deaths / serious injuries caused by IED's and minescaused to driver's , crew etc,.

Now we learn a driver (6th to date) of a Jackal from the 2nd Bn The Rifles (Rfn Sheldon, who was from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts)did after being hit by an IED in Sangin Helmand. The Daily Telegraph report yesteday that the MOD is intrducing Jackal 2 which aims to increase safety. (They initially ordered 130 of these £600,000 death traps.

Major Iain Moodie, Officer Commanding B Company, 2 Rifles, paid tribute to the Rfman, saying: "His quick and dry wit underpinned everything and it was always great fun to be in his presence." But not now he's dead having been asked to use unserviceable sub standard equpment.

This is just another consequence of the continuous and disastrous history of procurement by the MOD.

£1.5 Mn a throw for uparmoured Rdigeback to replace Snatch Land Rovers in Afghanistan/ Iraq

£81 Million pounds is being spent by the MOD on converting US made Force Protection Inc. ( (NASDAQ: FRPT - News )vehicles - the Cougar 4x4s , into what are described by Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies as the "awesome" Ridgeback -"supplement the excellent work currently carried out by the hugely successful Mastiff. As a smaller version than Mastiff it will offer our forces first-rate protection with greater manoeuvrability and easier access to urban areas. " (MOD pic)

The contract has gone to NP Aerospace in Coventry and 157 Ridgback vehicles will be retrofitted into an "uparmoured and weaponised version" with additional protection, weapons, communications systems and specialist electronic counter-measures equipment.

NP Aerospace (473 Foleshill Road Coventry CV6 5AQ England United Kingdom UK - which is the successor to Courtaulds Bakelite Moulding ) produce 4 variants including an Ambulance or command post vehicle - to enable it to carry out different roles within Afghanistan.

All the Ridgback vehicles will feature:
* Strong axles and suspension to cope with the harsh terrain
* Weapons systems
* Additional armour
* Communications systems
* Modified seats to offer the crew more protection from bomb blasts

Top speed: 55mph Weight: 19.5 tonnes

Weapons: A mixture of weapons systems, including a 7.62 Heavy Machine Gun; General Purpose Machine Gun; Grenade Machine Gun mounted.

Some will also be fitted with a remotely controlled weapons system which will allow the user to operate Ridgback's weapons by using a camera and joystick from inside the vehicle.

This contract is on top of the procurement announced in December 2007 of the original vehicles for £150 Mn

NP Aerospace was also awarded a £61M contract to deliver Mastiff 2, the next generation of Mastiff vehicles, on 18th September 2008.

It may interest many that NP Aerospace were part of the mysteriously owned Carlyle Group, the global private equity house which bought the company for £30 million from Reinhold Industries in 2005 - then in August 2007 Morgan Crucible particpitated in a a £71 million trade buy-out (TBO) to end u[p with a minority stake.

Force Protection Inc. have a fascinating history in supplying wjhat are calle MWRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected ) vehicles to the US forces, shared traded as high as US$25 dollars 6 months ago but are trading today at US$2.05. see Tuesday, January 22, 2008 Ist US fatality in MRAP in Iraq - Force Protection slides

What this story means is that the Mastiff unveiled by Lord Drayson (now motor racing) in September 2006 which Lord Patel described as

Too Large, Too Late and incredibly expensive MOD runabouts bound for sunny Afghanistan.

Presented as a replacement (at £1/4 Mn per throw) for the inadequately armoured "snatch" Land Rovers this hugely expensive sticking plaster adds a further burden of costs of spares, and base training , and a further front line burden , of training mechanics, the need for low loaders , more back up equipment, spares to carry and a higher overhead of maintenance staff, plus their housing , catering etc., Press reports state they cost £1/4 Mn. each but the manufacturers press release at the date of order 11th August (4 weeks ago!) states the order for 85 vehicles is US$63 Mn. = approx £400,000 "The contract also includes associated spares, technical manuals, and field service support and is worth approximately $63 million. "

So now the MOD are spending at least £150 Million buying some more ( and nimbler 4 x 4 Cougars) for £150 Mn and another £81 Million = £231 Million adding things like ;

* Strong axles and suspension to cope with the harsh terrain
* Weapons systems
* Additional armour
* Communications systems
* Modified seats to offer the crew more protection from bomb blasts

Which one might assume would come as original equipment - so we make it that each of thes "awesome 4 x 4 Ridgebacks" which are basically to replace the "snatch Land Robver" will cost and eyewatering £1.5 Mn each.

The MOD provide no date for delivery.

Britannia will rule the waves - the follies of Empire Pt. 3,456

The Stock Market may tumble, the currency may crumble, but it looks like we are starting to spend serious moolah on the 2 seriusly useless aircraft carriers the Navy wants.

Orders / contracts placed worth £235 million,are announced today for gas turbines, generators, motors, power distribution equipment, platform management systems, propellers, shafts, steering gear, rudders and stabilisers.

1. Thales UK, together with BVT, Babcock Marine, BAE Systems and MOD, have formed the catchy titled Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) to manufacture and assemble the new carriers. Thales UK has responsibility for leading the power and propulsion element of CVF. The company is responsible for procurement, systems design, overall systems integration, ship integration (with shipyards), programme management and safety analysis. Thales has reached a sub-alliance agreement with Rolls-Royce, Converteam and L-3 Communications

2. Rolls Royce (Bristol, Dalgety Bay and Portsmouth):
* MT30 36 MegaWatt Gas Turbine Alternator sets
* Total package integration of the propulsion plant
* Shaft lines and propellers
* Steering gear including rudders
* Stabilisers to keep the ship level and enhance operation of weapons systems
* Low voltage electrical distribution system.

Converteam (Rugby and Glasgow):
* High voltage equipment
* Electric power control and monitoring system
* Propulsion equipment
* High voltage system and electric propulsion system analysis.

L3 Communications (Bristol and Barrow):
* Integrated Platform Management System (provides automation needed to control and monitor the power and propulsion systems)
* Condition Monitoring System.

3. A contract for emergency Diesel Generators has previously been awarded to Wartsila Lips Defence, which will provide a dedicated power supply to retain a fire fighting capability, even in the unlikely event of a total loss of electrical power.

Ina novel arrangement ,each carrier will have two propellers powered by two electric motors which will make them the largest warships in the world to use electric rather than mechanical drive technology.

This physical arrangment allows the primary power untis - gas turbine driven generators that power them to be located high in the ship which provides greater space in the hull and providws greater resilience to battle damage.

The pic shows some aircraft using the decks - what they will be and where they will come from is a decision not yet finalised. More pics here

PS: Dear Worried of Wolverhampton : Just think of the 2 CVF's and the aircraft they may eventually field ,as say, 20% of the cost of nationalising the Bradford and Bungle.

Psst - wanna buy a (very) short range supersonic fighter ...er, well it's dropped one bomb so far ..aircraft that's taken 20 years to design , build .

UK tries to offload Typhoon fighters

The Financial Times has a most extraordinary story today - in trying to deal with a looming £2 Bn deficit - say 1/9th of the taxpayer funded "loans" that have gone down a Black Hole on the Tyne - are hawking around the Typhoon / Eurofighters the MOD have "ordered but can no longer afford." see post Saturday, May 17, 2008 Typhoon production to be halted, one carrier scrapped. see also Thursday, November 22, 2007 Typhoon Order faces Axe - Exclusive

Please note there is as yet no commitment (and probbly no money) for the Joint Strike Fighter which will litter the decks of the 2 mega aircraft carriers just commissioned.

Bae will exact severe financial penalties for cancelling or cutting Tranche three which everybody at Bae Warton has known for months will never be built. see Wednesday, April 02, 2008 Typhoon Tranche 1 final deliveries made - contract decisions loom for Tranche 3

India , Japan and Saudi are touted as likely prospects but unlikely buyers .

The Eurofighter contract, designed by lawyers to discourage countries such as Germany from cutting back orders, is written so tightly that it would be almost as cheap to take delivery of the aircraft as to incur the penalties.

To date the Eurofighter has dropped 1 (one) bomb , and that was when accompanied by a second plane that "lit" the target. Wednesday, November 21, 2007 RAF Typhoon drops bomb in sea off Wales. They can fire rockets, but fully loaded the already short range is dramatically reduced, as is the aerobatic peformance. The German machine gun is installed but will never be used.

There have been several cases of the nose wheel , which is under software control, failing to emerge when landing. Thursday, May 01, 2008 Typhoon crash - software fails.....again

MOD electronic sniffers to improve battlefield sensing and awareness ?

This is SATURN (although SATAN may be a better name), it is the winning entry in the “Grand Challenge” competition, launched by the MoD in 2006 to produce a vehicle capable of identifying threats encountered by UK troops on current operations.

Entrants could be autonomous flying or ground vehicles capable of identifying threats such as marksmen, vehicles mounted with heavy weapons, IED's, roadside bombs and armed militia.

Team Stellar led by Julia Richardson,representing members Stellar Services Ltd, Blue Bear Systems, Cranfield University, SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems Ltd, TRW Conekt, and Marshall Specialist Vehicles - who make Bomb Disposal Robots and remote controlled diggers, finally beat off six finalists (out of 23 original entries) to win the R J Mitchell trophy (he designed the Spitfire) . This is described as integrated system with one high flying and one mini UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), and a UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) with a control station fusing data from visual, thermal and radar sensors.

Baroness and ex MP Ann Taylor was ecstatic .. "It is this type of vision and dedication which makes the United Kingdom a world leader in science and technology." she said and then carried on .. "in universities, schools and even garden sheds across the nation."

Team Swarm consisting of Swarm Systems, the University of Essex, the University of Surrey, Orrcam, Ardware and Scazon was awarded the prize for the “most innovative idea” after designing a multiple autonomous quadrator (flat helicopter with four rotors) called Owls, capable of flying in swarms, allowing them to view the area from all angles using high resolution visual cameras.

Team Thales despite their name had a solid academic base University of Reading, the University of Bristol, CARVEC, Ryland Research and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network (STEMNET), which included three schools Chilton Trinity Technology College, Woking High and Amersham School.

They were awarded a prize for “best use of national talent” for their use of a mini helicopter fitted with daylight and thermal imaging technology alongside two custom built ground vehicles.

Will they be sniffing out the Taliban or nests of Russian Spetnatz troops in Georgia in the Ukraine any time soon... ? Well they don't look really battle ready yet Sir.

Meanwhile can we have some more helicopters ...and a few trained pilots, crews, mechanics ? New troop transport aircraft and tankers to replace the 42 year old ones we struggle with, maybe some armoured land rovers, the new Nimrod AIWACS to replace the 37 year old ones we daren't re-fuel ... and possibly a clear idea what the fuck we are doing in Basra and Helmand.

PS : For those interested there is a fascinating site run by amateur UAV enthusiasts here .. here is a pic from Thomas in France from his UAV ... a good Picasa public library of his pics is here.

Here is an unexpected use of UAV's during the Olympics

Israel's part in arming Georgia, and the risky game of Russian Roulette they have been playing

The Jerusalem Post had a fascinating little piece about Israel's trade with Georgia.

As ever it concerns arms sales - this time from Israel to Georgia which had been investigated by the downmarket newspaper Ma'ariv.

1. At an unstated date and source the Russians sent a letter to Foreign Minister and wannabe Prime Minister, ex Mossad , daughter of leading post war terrorists Tzipi Livni, asking Israel to refrain from selling state-of-the-art weaponry to Georgia, and stating that Moscow had acceded to similar requests by Jerusalem in the past. Israel has repeatedly asked Russia not to sell top-line weapons systems to Syria and Iran.

The NYT has Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov saying ,"Those who have been supplying arms to Georgia, they should feel part of the blame for the loss of life," (including US and Ukraine) and that , "foreign leaders "who have been appeasing Mr Saakashvili's intentions, and helped create the feeling of impunity inside the Georgian , should think twice about whether this is right." (Impunity os the diplospeak street cred phrase these days - it means throwing your weight about)

The situation in South Ossetia is widely believed to be one of the topics of discussion (not the ladies gymnastics team event) over the weekend in Beijing between President Shimon Peres and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

2. Former government minister (2001) and Tel Aviv mayor (93-08) Roni Milo was heavily involved in arms sales to Georgia, as a representative of Elbit and the Israeli Military Industries, and that Brig.-Gen (res.) Gal Hirsch, one of the senior officers who left the IDF after coming under blistering criticism following the Second Lebanon War, was heavily involved in Georgia in providing training for infantry and elite units.The former division commander has lately turned to private enterprise, after writing a book defending his actions.

The "official" line is that now only sells defensive weapons to Georgia. Israeli companies had sold some $300 million worth of military equipment to Georgia according to Ma'ariv.

3. Israeli defense officials were embarrassed (?) in April when an Israeli-manufactured drone was shot down by the Russians, and again in May when another drone, and a state-of-the-art Israeli rocket system called Lynx, were on display at a Georgian military parade. (pic)

The BBC had a nice story with a video of a Russian MiG-29 shooting down the unarmed Georgian drone over Abkhazia , this was supplied to the BBC as a feed from the drone which Georgia supplied, and ends with the drone exploding.

Fragments of the drone were put on display in public in Sukhumi, the Abkhaz capital. Garry Kupalba, deputy defence minister of the unrecognised Republic of Abkhazia (except Russia) , told reporters the drone had been shot down by an "L-39 aircraft of the Abkhaz Air Force". He also identified the drone as an Israeli-made Hermes 450.

This is from the same stable as the ones the UK has bought from Israel for use in Afghanistan now they cannot re-fuel Nimrod's for surveillance.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was apparently conveing a meeting of senior ministry officials yesterday to deal with the Russian-Georgian flare-up, amid concern that Israeli arms sales to Georgia could harm relations with Russia - and lead to them selling arms to Syria / Iran.

Coincidentally, Israel's new envoy to Georgia, Yitzhak Gerberg, was scheduled to leave for his new post on Saturday. Despite the situation on the ground, he left as scheduled.

No doubt this will put a stop to all those youthful "trekkers" spending their holidays in the Georgian mountians, watchingbirds and collecting butterflies.

Today (Monday) the JP reports that Israeli diplomatic officials were in contact throughout Sunday with their firendly Russian counterparts. They deny any talk of crisis in Israeli-Russian relations as a result of the Russian-Georgian conflagration and past sales of Israeli arms to Tbilisi. Of course.

Israel has sold an estimated $300 million to $500m. worth of weaponry and military training to Georgia over the last decade.

It appears that Tzipi's Sunday get together has resulted in her Foreign Ministry instituting a complete ban on sales to the region, concerned they would infuriate the Russians and spur Moscow into selling more advanced weapons to Iran and Syria.

It is worth noting a story Azerbaijan buys Israel-made military hardware and technique dated August 7th -Israel-made 5.56mm Tavor TAR-21 submachine gun has been bought for some units of the Azerbaijani Army.

Azerbaijan has also bought military supplies and rockets from various military firms in Israel. Azerbaijan’s armory includes 120mm and 160mm Lynx rocket plane produced by TAAS company (assembled at the base of KamAZ 63502), as well as 300mm EXTRA rockets, pilotless vehicles Orbiter and Aerostar produced by Aeronautics company.

A part of these arms and supplies was demonstrated during the military parade on June 26.

Israel’s Soltam company is holding talks on export of 122mm Semser self-propelled artillery and Naiza rockets to Azerbaijan. Also reported “Voennie vestnik Izrailya"

Arms. Somebody somewhere is making 'em, selling 'em, using 'em.

UPDATE & PS : Ex Diplomat Craig Murray on his website does a why oh why which is worth looking at for his perspective views on on EU energy (in)security but betrays the diplospeak mind ..2 August 10, 2008 There Are No Good Guys, But We Must Be Most Wary of Russia
"An immediate ceasefire is required now and a de facto Russian annexation of South Ossetia must not be permitted ..." and having framed that policy, what exactly do we do to persuade that nice Mr Putin with his hands on the gas and oil taps ? Talking nicely to him ?

A, " de facto Russian annexation of South Ossetia " seems to have happened. In less than 3 days ditto Abkhazia. Which are effectively the direct and fairly predictable consequences of installing Russian "peacekeepers" there after the 1992 fun and games.

Ex-envoy: Georgia modelled its army after IDF ynet

"Georgian government officials used to tell me that they wanted to model their army after the IDF," former Israeli ambassador to Georgia Shabtai Zur told Ynet Sunday evening amid the country's bloody feud with Russia over the separatist region of South Ossetia.

Travel Advisory Issued for Georgia, Jews Being Evacuated
Yeshiva world News 10th August 2008

Assisting in closing defense packages with Israel is Georgia’s Defense Minister, Davit Kezerashvili, a fluent Hebrew-speaker and former Israeli.

Deals were made for items including anti-aircraft and communications systems, as well as turrets for armored vehicles and communications systems. One of the people who profited from such arrangements is Roni Milo, a former Public Security Minister who represented Elbit.

Gal Hirsch, a former IDF brigadier-general, one of the senior officers compelled to step down following the Second Lebanon War, also provided tactical training, working with Georgian military officials to establish commando units mimicking Israel’s Sayeret Matkal.

He is a partner in a firm called Defensive Shield.

There is also 61-year-old former IDF Major-General Yisrael Ziv, who heads a security consulting firm.
2 Israeli firms say they left Georgia before fighting Haaretz Tuesday 12th August 2008

Two Israeli security companies, Defensive Shield and Global CST, announced yesterday that they had completed their projects in Georgia before fighting between that country and Russia broke out on Friday. The two are among several Israeli companies advising Georgia on security
matters, training its army and occasionally supplying it with weapons.

Defensive Shield, owned by Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, said all its employees, including its subcontractors, are no longer in Georgia. It said it completed the work it had been contracted to do, and that all its contracts with Georgia had been approved by Israel's Defense Ministry. Security systems services company Global CST, managed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Israel Ziv, said it finished its work in Georgia at the end of July.

A retired senior Israeli officer who recently trained troops in Georgia said yesterday he was surprised that the Georgians faced off against Russia, since they have a much smaller army. "They got into an adventure that I wouldn't have chosen to get into, based on the level of professionalism I saw in my visits to the Georgian army," the officer said. "Who knows where this will end." "This is an army that was in the process of disintegrating over 15 or 16 years," the officer added. "This process required reconstruction, and that's where the Israelis entered the picture, along with companies from other countries.

verything was very, very basic. We dealt mainly with basic training for the units. It will take a long time until the military forces there will advance to a high professional level.

The Georgian army cannot under any circumstances be a serious rival to the Russians at present." The officer also stressed the difference in military might: "Georgia is a small country, with barely 4.5 million people," he said. "They have a small army - to be honest, not much different from that of a Third World country.

" The Georgians began reorganizing their army in 2002, with American assistance. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the Georgian army has primarily been comprised of remnants of Red Army units.

Klimov jet engine sales pitch reaches a climax at Farmborough

How the cunning Russkis sell their jet engines at Farnborough...ooops adults only, are you over ..er.. 21 ? You don't look it, take a peek anyway..Just watch that "cobra " strike on those big , powerful thrusting jets, screaming sidewinding on a "Cobra" strike as the missile fails to penetrate the Sukoi jockey's airspace ..oooh

Thank goodness the authorities have stopped all that. Let's hope BAE don't do any of that sort of thing .. or did for the Al Yamamah .. Typhoon deals.

PS : Boeing say Dreamliner's OK, doing fine, OK, no weight problems, certainly not on the stretch versions, no problems... share price is well up in a bad week...
Maybe it was US$119 a year ago.737 sales are booming ... A380..coming to New York, San Francisco, superb luxury Emirates .. fluff man, I'm telling you fluff. Passenger mile seat costs are lower .. don't give me that BS man..the tanker deal is ours ..nudge, nudge , Know what I mean ?

It's a strong bet that Boeing and Airbus don't use tactics like the Klimov...

The European A400M airlifter - a plane to be proud of.

It was 26 years ago in 1982 that European air forces started to talk about building their own military transport aircraft (now excitingly called an "airlifter")and 3 years before design studies commenced. In Spain this week the first airframe of the A400M was rolled out which will, with a wing and a prayer will fly before Father Christmas comes calling (scheduled initially for January this year, then May, then July, then the "summer" and now September). France expect their first plane in the first half of 2010, 6-12 months behind an original target of 2009. (EADS pic here)

The national air forces (This forms the buying consortium (Organisation Conjointe de Coordination en matière d’Armament), the contractual body representing all seven European customer nations.)who have so far ordered 180 planes at launch in 2003 to replace their ageing Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules and Transall C-160 aircraft, France (50 planes), Britain (25), Germany (60), Belgium (7), Luxembourg (1), Spain (27), Turkey (10) will get a superb aircraft that will double the airlift capacity to 37 tonnes up to 4,700 nm. The A400M is designed to carry all loads and vehicles (Cargo Box 3.85 m x 4.00m) in the European Staff Requirement (ESR) inventory, serve as an aerial delivery platform and act as an in-flight refueller for both fast jets and helicopters.

Norway couldn't wait to replace their ageing Hercules and have ordered 4 C-130Js, a slightly strecthed C-130 at a maximum of US $304 million…in November 2007.

Only 2 weeks ago on June 11/08: Boeing delivered the United Kingdom’s 6th C-17 Globemaster III to the Royal Air Force (RAF) which represented an additional 2 aircraft to the 2000 initial 7 year lease deal mutated into an outright purchase. This 6th purchase was quietly slipped in by part time SCottish Defence Secretary in a written answer to a Parliamentary question on July 26th last year. THis pleased both the RAF who like the plane and Boeing who want to keep the production line running.

These are used (max capacity 75 tonnes) to transport major items to theatre in Afghanistan and Iraq, such as Chinook and Apache helicopters and Tornado F3 fighters.


An optional 5-tonne crane can be installed at the rear of the fuselage of the A400M allowing loading and unloading of fully loaded military pallets by asingle loadmaster. Side seats can carry 54 troops or with central seating 116.

So far there have been few export customers South Africa (8) (original partners in the Franco-German Transall C-180) , and Malaysia (4) but Airbus Military (Airbus Military is controlled by EADS / Airbus, Spanish unit EADS-CASA, as well as TAI of Turkey and FLABEL of Belgium.) bravely talks up sales of 200 planes without including the possibility of sales to the US China or Russia and the CSIR.

Major problems have ben experienced and now claimed to be overcome with the enormously powerful TP400-D6 engines, (11,000 shp) the most powerful turboprop engine designed . It has been fathered by a specially created international consortium comprising Rolls Royce (28 %), Snecma (Safran) (28 %), MTU Aero Engines (28 %t) and Spanish Industria deTurbopropulsores (ITP )(16 %). Turboprops provide the optimum combination of take-off and landing performance, cruise fuel efficiency and tactical mission performance such as manoeuvring on the ground, steep descents and air-dropping - optimal cruise speed is Mach 0.72.


This novel engine with offset gearbox incorporates a Ratier Figeac FH 3868 propellor 17.5 feet diameter blades with a carbon spar and a composite shell with just a 10" clearance at the tip from the fuselage. A polyurethane coating is applied on the shell to protect against erosion. Electrical de-icing is used along the leading edge. The outer part of the blade leading edge has a nickel guard to protect against erosion.

Propeller control is integrated into the FADEC, which cuts pilot workload. The FADEC controls the blade pitch angle in order to maintain the propeller at a constant, optimum-efficiency speed. It also provides an autofeathering capability upon automatic detection of an engine failure

Individual plane costs remain secret but the whole project is expected to cost €20 billion. EADS have already booked losses of €1.4 billion on the fixed price contracts with governments caused by delays.

GAO upholds Boeing Bid Protest for EADS/NG KC- X Air Force Contract FA8625-07-R-6470 -"Buy America" campaign pays an early Dividend, war not over yet

EADS CEO Louis Gallois was a model of calm this morning when he spoke to Lord Patel prior to the publication of the U.S. Government Accountability Office's "Bid Protest decision" on the protest by Boeing (69 page protest June 18, 2008) of the contract FA8625-07-R-6470, issued by the Department of the Air Force, for up to 179 KC-X aerial refueling tankers (see pic) . The initial contract announced on February 29, 2008, for EADS and their partners Northrop Grumman Corp. was to supply an initial 80 of their innovative and low cost tankers to the Air Force.

It is worth noting that on Page 2 the GAO say,"Our decision should not be read to reflect a view as to the merits of the firms’ respective aircraft." which doesn't lighten the burden on the Pentagon of the GAO's damning indictment and conclusion ; "We recommended that the Air Force reopen discussions with the offerors, obtain revised proposals, re-evaluate the revised proposals, and make a new source selection decision, consistent with our decision."

Louis' early morning calm will have evaporated as the GAO have backed Boeing’s protest on the contract award process for the EADS / Northrop Grumman contract , saying the Air Force made errors during the process and recommended that the Air Force should reopen the bidding and obtain revised proposals for the squilion billion dollar contract.

The Air Force (as does the RAF) need to replace their fleet of ageing aerial tankers - some dating back to the Eisenhower administration.

It is more than a battle over planes. It is a trans-Atlantic battle. Gallic and Teutonic pride, lost jobs , lost contracts as delays pile on delays. This involves not only the major players directly, but many hundreds of global subcontractors and suppliers depending on the outcome.

The February decision wounded the pride of Boeing ,who see the Air Force an essential teat for Government cash - and some claim, is a hidden subsidy for their civilian plane programs. To some it was proof (if needed) of the growing influence of foreign influence pedlars at the Pentagon - rather than , as some would claim ,signs of US technological leadership being eroded and overtaken , and plump overfed and complacent aerospace contractors used to getting contracts having to sharpen up their act.

Boeing have always held the inside track and their decision to protest about the Air Force choice whilst reflexive , carries some worrying baggage. Whatever the decision it delays provision of a much needed fleet and force requirement - in a global world they will have upset some major players with their multi million "Buy America" campaign - not least the Northrop Grumman workers in Mobile, Alabama , and NG managment who counter claim how they support American jobs on the contract. see pic (clickto enlarge or goto the website for more info) .

Boeing claimed the Air Force decision-making process was flawed (which is rich , considering their recent history of bribery and influence mongering - resulting in jail for a former senior Air Force procurement official and a former senior Boeing executive) and that their rebuilt and revamped Boeing 767 ( a smaller plane than the Airbus 330) — would cost less over the life of the plane than the EADS-Airbus tanker. They also questioned the maths of the Air Force when it concluded that the costs of the two planes were about equal - a point the GAO have upheld.

The GAOsay in the 6th of their 7 stated objections (page 3) -"6. The Air Force’s evaluation of military construction costs in calculating the offerors’ most probable life cycle costs for their proposed aircraft was unreasonable, where the agency during the protest conceded that it made a number of errors in evaluation that, when corrected, result in Boeing displacing Northrop Grumman as the offeror with the lowest most probable life cycle cost;..." sounds fairly damning. "Errors in evaluation" ...these guys are spending Billions of tax payers dollars.

If the decision is reversed (and the Air Force are given only 60 days by the GAO to resolve the issue) the GAO say the contract FA8625-07-R-6470 should be cancelled , and the Air Force pay Boeing's bid protest costs.

Boeing shares rose nearly US$3 on the news, about 5% ,but then settled back , up 50 cents. EADS shares reacted promptly and fell 50 E cents of about 3.5%. The Northrop Grumman website has an official response from Randy Belote, Vice President of Corporate & International Communications , "We respect the GAO’s work in analyzing the Air Force's tanker acquisition process. We continue to believe that Northrop Grumman offered the most modern and capable tanker for our men and women in uniform. We will review the GAO findings before commenting further." (see NG KC25 website)

This show won't be over until the fat lady has sung her song.

The Washington summer will be loud with well paid counsels hornswoggling, wheeling, dealing, ducking and diving, and sweaty browed Pentagon procurers busy at their lap tops - the result ? Yet more delay, a lower initial cost and an untidy and grubby compromise that will allow Boeing a share of the spoils.

Everyone has to win, their must be no losers. Watch out for Boeing having to ditch some over priced unwanted projects like the Hummingbird... and some lobbyists hospitalised with hernias hauling their wallets to the bank.

PS: An Associated Press report in the International Herald Tribune says "The Government Accountability Office said Wednesday that it found "a number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman." - those words do not appear in the official bid protest report on the GAO website and haven't been attributed to any source by AP. ... the lobbyists lies , counter lies, claims, and counterclaims have just begun.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 The GAO Reminds Us Why The Republicans Can't Be Trusted to Defend America

Chinook - National Audit Office - yet more MOD procurement shambles exposed

"The Department was unable to say who was responsible for the flawed procurement of the Chinook Mk3." Page 23 The National Audit Office have published their Value for Money Report on Chinook Mk3 Helicopters (More correctly now Mk2/2a) - The Executive Summary provides a brief and horrifying tale of incompetence, waste and stupidy by the MOD, which like a dog returning to its vomit, Edward Leigh Chairman of the Defence committee now likes to call a "Gold Standard procurement Cock Up" he had peviously said the MOD might as well have bought 8 turkeys.

Total costs to date are £422 million (not including "further expenditure required to sustain the Night Enhancement Package which is currently being negotiated with industry and is therefore commercially sensitive. ") .. nor any attempt to address the costs and problems of training, in field maintenance etc., etc., see Page 18 .. requirement to "increase aircrew by 40 (prince William maybe? )and engineers by 60 personnel", ..." Current training flight simulators do not match the requirements for flying the current Chinook helicopters." ...but don't worry ..."
the Department will modify the existing Chinook flight simulators before the end of 2009." Madness.

The full report makes even better reading as an alternative to the Beano, eg.Page 8

The Department had failed to specify access to the source code in the original procurement and therefore had no leverage with which to negotiate with Boeing for release of the source code. Boeing and its sub-contractors, for their part, in seeking to protect their intellectual property rights, resisted the Department’s requests for access to the source code. Even if it had been able to access the source code, the Department estimated that it might take up to two years to analyse the source code with no guarantee that the code would be written in a way which might make it comprehensible for analysis purposes.

The final solution is to make the Chinooks revert to the older less capable Mk2/2a which is not a simple process....

Converting the helicopters involves removing the existing Mk3 hybrid digital/analogue cockpit and replacing it with the analogue cockpit fitted to the Mk2/2a, fitting a health and usage monitoring system, United Kingdom specific communications equipment and defensive systems.

Or the little nugget on Page 22 ..from HM Treasury ..

The value of the Chinook Mk3 aircraft has been written down at present to a value equivalent to disposal or use as spares, but this is because of prudent accounting practice, and is not a reflection of future intent.

..and in a Kafkaesque caveat;

The option to sell the aircraft remains open pending satisfactory completion of
this technical and industrial preparatory work.

Friday, March 30, 2007 MOD to get 14 more 'copters. 8 refurbed turkeys and 6 on the borrer from the Prince of Denmark we remarked "Of course any costs of conversion will increase because it will only be on undertaking the job that they will discover the levels of cannibalism that will have been going on....".

Therefore it is no surprise to read in the Guradian report on the fiasco today, "Not all the RAF's Chinooks are in good condition and some have been cannibalised for spare parts to keep others flying in Afghanistan. "

Finally in the light of concerns about airworthiness of aircraft expsed at the inquest on the Nimrod crash it is interesting to note the special conditions relating to the new Night Enhancement Package package ...

The modified Chinook Mk2/2a helicopters were released to service as safe to fly, by the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, on the basis that the safety and operating risks associated with the ergonomic aspects of the Night Enhancement Package were outweighed by the increased operational risk if the Chinook Mk2/2a helicopters were to operate without the Night Enhancement Package and could be mitigated by training procedures and time bounding the risks.

See pics from report at head of post. Click to enlarge. Just remember each 8 year old Chinook 3 AKA 2/2a has (so far) cost £53 Mn each , about the list price of a Boeing 737.....and we ferry troops around in 42 year old VC10's ad TriStars to operate Nimrods made 38 years ago.

Cameroon exploding lakes now feed the troposphere with CO2

Lakes Nyos and Monoun in West Cameroons both occupy craters in a supposedly extinct volcanoe and the area , is like many volcanic regions dotted with gaseous springs. Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in Sub-Saharan west Africa, is an active volcano

On the 21st August 1986 Lake Nyos erupted and a cloud of stifling CO2 of volcanic origin which had built up in the lake spread far and wide and fast. CO2 is very soluble in water and being heavier stays at the bottom of the lake, some event made the stratification of the lakes supersaturated layers unstable and like the release of a champgane cork , the CO2 escaped in a single event.

So massive and dense was the cloud that it killed more than 1700 people and livestock up to 25 km away. Two years previously a similar but unreported at the time,a lethal gas burst ocurrred in the nearby Lake Monoun killing 37 people.

At a UNESCO Conference on the lake Nyos disaster, in March 1987 at Yaounde J.C.Sabroux coined the event a "limnic eruption" .

A French team, led by Adelin Villevieille (then Director of the French Delegation aux Risques Majeurs) and J. C. Sabroux was inspired by the gas lift technique used at the time for extracting methane from the stratified lake Kivu at Gisenyi (Rwanda) to heat the local brewery and suggested a de-gassing of the lakes to prevent further such disasters.

This project proceeded over several years and with funding from the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). The French Embassy in Yaounde and, the Cameroonian Government the Lake Nyos project was initiated,

A degassing column set up at Lake Nyos in January-February 2001. On the 31st January a perfectly stable jet, 50 m high, soared upwards above the calm waters of Lake Nyos : the degassing of the lake had begun.

Since then extremely aggressive corrosion put all of the metal parts of the column (bolting, dolly axles, etc.) out of action. In July 2003 all these metallic components were replaced by stainless steel parts.

Since then the column has functioned perfectly (cf. images of the 50 m high jet, transmitted twice daily by satellite see above and link here ) and has brought the process of enrichment of the deep layers of the lake in dissolved gas to a halt.

A similiar project was undertaken using 3 degassing columns was inaugurated on the 18th April 2006 in the presence of Her Excellency Madame the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation and of His Excellency the French Ambassador to Cameroon. Since that time the entire installation has functioned perfectly.

Lake Nyos is is bounded on it northern part by a narrow natural dam consisting of poorly consolidated volcanic pyroclastic rocks. If the dam happened to collapse it could lead to devastating floods which could affect a downstream area as far as Nigeria, 100 km away. A mitigation plan is under consideration involving using sensing monitors to identify strains and suggested civil engineering works to make the structure more resistant to erosion.

A website by Michel Halbwachs provides a fascinating history of the whole 20 year project. (A good history of the Lake Kivu methane project is here)

Just imagine the lunatics in Whitehall are trying to reduce CO2 emissions and here is a project designed uniquely to liberate it.

PS : Just happened to notice that Mr. Guillaume GISCARD d’ESTAING, son of former French President and General Manager of SOFEMA, met 74 year old President BIYA recently and reviewed the march past on National day May 20th. SOFEMA is Sofema is an international group providing global services organized around its core businesses : Aeronautics and Defence. SOFREM Shareholders include Dassault, Thales, EADS, Safran, nexter and DCN.

Another recent visitor was General William E. WARD, commander of AFRICOM, the unified command in charge of all American military activities in Africa, and he also got the chance to have a chat with President BIYA who has been President for 26 years. James SWAN, Assistant Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs at the United States Department of State also popped in to see him March.

Useful factoid the US Embassy in Yaounde is on Avenue Rosa Parks. the Abassador Jane garvey does not mince her words ...addressing the American Chamber of Commerce Parfait Garden Hotel, Douala, Cameroon, October 9, 2007 she said ..."I know that many people are discouraged by the slow pace of reform in Cameroon. I was disheartened to see that Cameroon fell even further—to 154—in the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report and failed to improve in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. Unfortunately, as you know better than me, the private sector continues to be hamstrung by a cumbersome bureaucracy, pervasive corruption and a dilapidated infrastructure. Without improvements in this area, Cameroon will not be able to generate the growth and employment it so badly needs."

More recently on April 24, 2008 she said..."Cameroon has taken some positive steps in fighting corruption. The recent detentions of two former ministers and a half dozen other senior officials who are alleged to have stolen tens of billions of CFA from the people of Cameroon are indications of the government’s determination. "

Coroner grounds entire RAF Nimrod Fleet Des Browne another Scots politician , part time Defence Minister ready for a lonely walk in the countryside ?

We brought attention of our readers on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 to the start of the inquest into the deaths of 14 servicemen, who were killed when their RAF Nimrod MR2 XV230 crashed in Afghanistan on 2nd September 2006 is being presided over by Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker - RAF Nimrod MR2 XV230 crash Inquest opens today.

This provided the reader with a brief introduction to the principal problems highlighted in the official RAF crash enquiry. It is worth noting that immediately after the crash all air-to-air refuelling on the Nimrod fleet was suspended and that suspension remains in force. Nimrod was named for the 'mighty hunter' described in the Bible (Genesis X, 8-12) . Nimrods in Afghanistan operate in their Intelligence Surveillance Targeting Acquisition Reconnaissance (ISTAR) role. This will have a crew of 12 or 13 depending on the role and the RAF claim fly for around 9 hours without air-to-air refuelling. The plane is based in the Gulf States and does not operate FROM Afghanistan so much of the time in air is flying to and from work.

This week the BBC reports that a senior engineer from BAE Systems told the inquest that his predecessors, who made the Nimrod some 40 years ago, failed to fit a fire protection system on a key area of risk on the aircraft.

Subsequently BAE's Head of airworthiness Tom McMichael when giving evidence claimed that if the evidence heard was correct, the Nimrod fleet were at the time of the crash and for 37 years been flying in an unairworthy state . The fact that the dry bay was not fitted with a fire-suppressant system meant it should never have been passed fit to fly, he said.

At an "acceptance conference" in August 1968 it had been decided the Nimrod was airworthy.On the 2nd October 1969 the RAF took delivery of its first aircraft, the Maritime Operational Conversion Unit (MOCU - later 236 OCU) at St Mawgan in Cornwall .

As a consequence, yesterday Mr Walker, Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire, (whose writ does not extend to the skies over Afghanistan) said he was considering a number of safety recommendations, including the grounding of the entire Nimrod fleet.

Thirty recommendations were made after the 2006 crash report and Des Browne in a letter to Westminster SNP leader Angus Robertson, who represents the Nimrod home base of RAF Kinloss, said that said 21 were being implemented, three considered and six put "on hold" "because they were related to air-to-air refuelling. "

Angus Robinson is quoted by the BBC saying ""The secretary of state has assured MPs that Nimrods are safe, however as he makes clear in his letter not all the necessary changes have been made.

"It must be concluded from Des Browne's letter that current risks to the Nimrod aircraft are not 'as low as is reasonably practicable', and this is not acceptable."

Coroner determines that entire RAF Nimrod fleet should be grounded

Coroner Andrew Walker today , recorded narrative verdicts on the deaths of the airmen .

In summing up he stated that the Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy". Mr Walker said that opportunities to spot inherent dangers on the 37-year-old plane were missed and that a design fault which led to it exploding went unnoticed.

Mr Walker said in his view the entire Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to service" nearly 40 years ago. The men could not have known this on the day of the crash, he added.

The BBC's Rob Watson said the ruling was "quite extraordinary" and would clearly be embarrassing for the government.

"Clearly his judgement creates a huge problem and embarrassment for the Ministry of Defence, which has declared the aircraft safe and which sees the surveillance plane as vital to the mission in Afghanistan," our defence and security correspondent said.

On BBC4 World at One News , Retired Air Vice Marshal Tony Mason , now a professor at Birmingham University said the coroner's remarks were "well founded" .. and pointed to the unique role of the Nimrod in Afghanistan which can only be partially replaced by unmanned craft (now deployed) , and space satellite observations.

It is worth remembering what Ian Liddell-Grainger MP (Con. Bridhewater) said on Tuesday 17th April 2007 after a visit to Afghanistan .

" .....the wreckage of the RAF Nimrod that came down last September was still in the desert. The plan was to lay a wreath there for those killed in the accident, but the last resting place of this huge aircraft was slap bang in the middle of an effective Taliban firing range. So I had the great honour of laying a wreath at the memorial in the Kandahar base on behalf of the Knight family...."

Replacing Nimrod

Lord Patel discussed at length the problems facing the replacement of Nimrod. Wednesday, January 30, 2008 AirTankers - MOD PFI financing suffers from Ambac credit rating downgrade - will / can the banks agree a financing deal ?

No 1 . Nimrods need re-fuelling - which has had different problems.

In 1996 the RAF were told that they could have 24 converted Airbus A310s re-fuelling tankers. This has now been whittled down to 14 owned by PFI partners - 14 available at any time and the rest with a notice period. The aircraft are to be owned by the private sector partners, who are meant to be able to charter them out whenever available.(See MOD Press release 6/6/07)

Now the Government / PFI funding of a desperately needed new fleet of Airbus tankers for the Royal Air Force - a 27 year 13 Bn projecty has hit the buffers. The AirTanker consortium (Cobham EADS, Rolls-Royce, VT and Thales) - will supply the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) based on the supply of A330-200 aircraft with banks led by Deutsche Bank, the initial £2.5bn expected to raise a combination of bank debt and a bond issue supported by guarantees provided by Ambac.

In January Fitch's Ratings credit re-rating of Ambac below AAA - and maybe followed by further downgradings has made those guarantees unattractive to bond buyers. Spreads on monoline-wrapped bonds have suddenly shot up with market concerns about the ability of the insurers to stand behind their commitments.

That suggests the Government and the AirTanker consortium are likely to revert to the original plan to finance the deal solely through bank debt - involving a higher (and probably variable) interest rate.Discussions continue unresolved.

The Nimrod (MRA.4 ) replacement program is now 8 years overdue and 800Mn over budget and introduction has been delayed delayed until 2010 (at least) . It is worth remembering that these originated in the 1993 ASR420 issued calling for a Replacement Maritime Patrol Aircraft (RPMA) for the RAF, the initial name of Nimrod 2000 was quietly dropped as production delays set in.

A fixed-price contract was awarded in December 1996, under which existing MR Mk 2 aircraft fuselage and empennage structure would be re-lifed and reassembled, with redesigned wings and current technology BR710 turbofan engines. The most controversial decision taken by BAe to reduce costs in their study to determine the design for the MRA4, was to refurbish and reuse the fuselages of a number of old Nimrods for the new aircraft. This contract was determined to have In-Service Date (ISD) of April 2003 in 1999 with "re-baselining talks with BAE a new ISD of March 2005 was agreed.

Fortunately under the Smart Procurement Initiative, the Nimrod MRA4 had been identified as one of the pilot Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) in November 1998, led by Air Commodore Barry Thornton. (It was the same Barry Thornton who was reported saying on BBC 4 news today at 3 pm saying the Nimrod fleet was "safe" to fly.)

It was 2003 when assembly of the first prototype MRA.4 (ZJ516) to be carried out. Unfortunately, when the second set of Airbus-build wings were offered up to the second prototype fuselage, it was found that they didn't fit.

The first prototype MRA.4 took to the air on 26 August 2004 . In September 2004 a round of politically inspired defence cuts sponsored by far sighted Gormless Gordon at the Treasury resulted in the planned order for MRA.4 being reduced from 18 to 'about 12'.

On March 27th the Times reported New maritime reconnaissance and attack aircraft, Nimrod, should be scrapped, MPs say. The Commons Defence Select Committee in their 10th report had just suggested that the new Minister for Defence Equipment and Support [Baroness Taylor of Bolton] needs to look closely at this programme to assess whether it is ever likely to deliver the capability that our Armed Forces require within the timescale needed.” If it doesn't , the MoD should withdraw from this programme, they add. The MPs are concerned that the MoD “does not appear very alarmed” by the rising cost of the programme.



For those who enjoy reading the deviousnes of public oficials put under the cosh to explain cost overruns we recommend the section where the Committee draw their attention to the Nimrod MR4A.

One fascinating bit is when DE&S Chief Operating Officer, Mr Gould explained that Regarding the age of the MRA4 aircraft, Mr Gould told us that most of the aircraft was new, such as the wings, engines and undercarriage. The fuselage was not new. - Indeed it wasn't. It finds it's origin in the original Comet (circa 1950's) upgraded by the brainy boys at (then AVRO) BAE Chadderton who sklapped on a lower fuselage bubble in the early 1980's.

Or enjoy Para 129. " At the end of 2006-07, the Nimrod MRA4 programme had experienced a forecast cost increase of some £687 million, almost 25% greater than the approved cost, and has experienced further cost growth in 2007-08 of some £100 million. Given the huge cost growth seen on this programme, we are concerned that the MoD does not appear very alarmed by the additional cost growth in 2007-08, referring to it as "just a little less than three per cent of the total programme cost". The programme has also experienced further slippage in 2007-08 which now totals 92 months, some 7.5 years. "

Finally ...

"This is a programme that has been beset by one problem after another and neither the MoD nor the contractor appears to be able to get a grip on it. We hope that the new Minister for Defence Equipment and Support will look closely at this programme and consider whether it is ever likely to deliver the capability our Armed Forces require in the timescale needed. If it is not the MoD should withdraw from the programme."

Watch this space.
When (if) the MR4 gets into service it should have a range of over 6000 miles, an endurance of over 15 hours, carry a much wider range of offensive weapons and have a significant ISTAR capability.In service it will add precisely the Network Enabled Capability sought by the MOD and considered essential for the type of conflicts that UK forces are likely to be involved in over the next 3 decades.

Att-en-SHUN !!!

Tumerica brings to our attention the role of the Pentagon in our lives outlined by Nick Turse in The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives (Amazon)

"From iPods to Starbucks to Oakley sunglasses, historian Nick Turse demonstrates the Pentagon’s little-noticed contacts (and contracts) with the products and companies that now form the fabric of America. Turse investigates the remarkable range of military incursions into the civilian world: the Pentagon’s collaborations with Hollywood filmmakers; its outlandish schemes to weaponize the wild kingdom; its joint ventures with the World Wrestling Federation and NASCAR."

He shows the inventive ways the military, desperate for new recruits, now targets children and young adults, tapping into the “culture of cool” by making “friends” on MySpace.

Is this as Tumerica asks...Surprising that this spying-cyborg information is allowed to escape ? Or, is it purposefully allowed to escape. Another case of fear-mongering or is it for real?

On Jan.17, 1961,President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell Presidential address warned .... "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

Blessed are the arms salesmen, for they are always with us

Here is a Review in the New York Times today of "Human Smoke -The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization ",by Nicholson Baker, Published by Simon & Schuster: 576 pp., $30

An inside look at the inexorable march of Britain and the United States toward World War II.

By Mark Kurlansky ( journalist and the author, most recently, of "Nonviolence: 25 Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea." )

Not long ago, because there is no winter baseball in this country, I was channel surfing in search of amusement and ended up watching a debate of Republican presidential candidates. Sen. John McCain was attacking Rep. Ron Paul for opposing the Iraq war. He called Paul an "isolationist" and said it was that kind of thinking that had caused World War II. How old, I asked myself, is John McCain, that he is keeping alive this ancient World War II canard? Is it going to pass down to subsequent generations? All wars have to be sold, but World War II, within the memory of the pointless carnage that then became known as World War I, was a particularly hard sell. Roosevelt and Churchill did it well, and their lies have been with us ever since.

Nicholson Baker's "Human Smoke" is a meticulously researched and well-constructed book demonstrating that World War II was one of the biggest, most carefully plotted lies in modern history. According to the myth, British and American statesmen naively thought they could reason with such brutal fascists as Germany's Hitler and Japan's Tojo. Faced with this weakness, Hitler and Tojo tried to take over the world, and the United States and Britain were forced to use military might to stop them.

Because Baker is primarily a novelist, it might be expected that, having taken on this weighty subject, he would write about it with great flare and drama. Readers may initially be disappointed, yet one of this book's great strengths is that it avoids flourishes in favor of the kind of lean prose employed by journalists. "Human Smoke" is a series of well-written, brilliantly ordered snapshots, the length of news dispatches. Baker states that he wanted to raise these questions about World War II: "Was it a 'good war'? Did waging it help anyone who needed help?" His very effective style is to offer the facts and leave readers to draw their own conclusions.

The facts are powerful. Baker shows, step by step, how an alliance dominated by leaders who were bigoted, far more opposed to communism than to fascism, obsessed with arms sales and itching for a fight coerced the world into war.Anti-Semitism was rife among the Allies. Of Franklin Roosevelt, Baker notes that in 1922, when he was a New York attorney, he "noticed that Jews made up one-third of the freshman class at Harvard" and used his influence to establish a Jewish quota there. For years he obstructed help for European Jewry, and as late as 1939 he discouraged passage of the Wagner-Rogers bill, an attempt by Congress to save Jewish children.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said in 1939 of German treatment of Jews that "no doubt Jews aren't a lovable people. I don't care about them myself." Once the war began, Winston Churchill wanted to imprison German Jewish refugees because they were Germans. What a comfort such leadership must have been to the Nazis, who, according to the New York Times of Dec. 3, 1931, were trying to figure out a way to rid Germany of Jews without "arousing foreign opinion."

Churchill is a dominant figure in "Human Smoke," depicted as a bloodthirsty warmonger who, in 1922, was still bemoaning the fact that World War I hadn't lasted a little longer so that Britain could have had its air force in place to bomb Berlin and "the heart of Germany." But no, he whined, it had to stop, "owing to our having run short of Germans and enemies."

Churchill was not driven by anti-fascism. In his 1937 book "Great Contemporaries," he described Hitler as "a highly competent, cool, well-informed functionary with an agreeable manner." The same book savagely attacked Leon Trotsky. (What was wrong with Trotsky? "He was still a Jew. Nothing could get over that.") Churchill repeatedly praised Mussolini for his "gentle and simple bearing." In 1927, he told a Roman audience, "If I had been an Italian, I am sure that I should have been entirely with you from the beginning to the end of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism."

Churchill considered fascism "a necessary antidote to the Russian virus," Baker writes.

In 1938, he remarked to the press that if England were ever defeated in war, he hoped "we should find a Hitler to lead us back to our rightful position among nations."As Baker's book makes clear, between the two World Wars communism, not fascism, was the enemy. David Lloyd George, who had been Britain's prime minister during World War I, cautioned in 1933, the year Hitler came to power, that if the Allies managed to overthrow Nazism, "what would take its place? Extreme communism. Surely that cannot be our objective."

Even more than the communists, Churchill's enemy No. 1 in the 1920s and early '30s was Mohandas Gandhi and his doctrine of nonviolence, which Churchill warned "will, sooner or later, have to be grappled with and finally crushed."

In the 1930s, U.S. industry was free to sell the Germans and the Japanese whatever they'd buy, including weapons. Not to lose out, the British and French sold tanks and bombers to Hitler. Calls by Joseph Tenenbaum of the American Jewish Congress to boycott Germany were ignored. There was no attempt to contain, isolate, hinder or overthrow Hitler -- not because of naiveté but because of commerce.

It was the Depression. There were Germans trying to overthrow Hitler, but the U.S. and Britain and their industries were obstructing that effort.Baker shows that the Japanese, as early as 1934, were complaining that Roosevelt was deliberately provoking them. In January 1941, Japan protested the U.S. military buildup in Hawaii. Joseph Grew, our ambassador to Japan, reported rumors that the Japanese response would be a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Yet according to World War II mythology, America was blissfully sleeping, unprepared for war, when caught by surprise by the dastardly "sneak attack." (Isn't it curious that Asians carry out "sneak attacks," whereas Westerners launch "pre-emptive strikes"?)***

A year earlier, Baker shows, Roosevelt began planning the bombing of Japan -- which had invaded China, but with which we were not at war -- from Chinese air bases with American planes and, when necessary, American pilots. Pearl Harbor was a purely military target, but Roosevelt wanted to bomb Japanese cities with incendiary bombs; he'd been assured that their cities would burn fast, being made largely of wood and paper.Roosevelt evinced no desire to negotiate. In fact, Baker writes, in October he "began leaking the news of his new war plan," with $100 billion earmarked for airplanes alone. Grew again warned Roosevelt that he was pushing Japan toward armed conflict with the United States, but the president continued his war preparations.

Finally, the night before the Japanese attack, Roosevelt sent a message to Emperor Hirohito calling for talks. He read it to the Chinese ambassador, remarking that he thought the message would "be fine for the record."

People are going to get really angry at Baker for criticizing their favorite war. But he hasn't fashioned his tale from gossip. It is documented, with copious notes and attributions. The grace of these well-ordered snapshots is that there is no diatribe; you are left to put things together yourself. Read "Human Smoke." It may be one of the most important books you will ever read. It could help the world to understand that there is no Just War, there is just war -- and that wars are not caused by isolationists and peaceniks but by the promoters of warfare.

*** We have Mr Blair and others to thank for the notion of "liberal intervention" - bombing civilised nations from 20,000 feet.

US Navy's BIG, very, very expensive toy, for big boys

U.S. Navy Breaks Electromagnetic Railgun Power Record


The Office of Naval Research test fired an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. on Jan. 31, 2008, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The gun was fired at over 10 megajoules of energy – a power level never before achieved by an EMRG. The previous test firing was at the same site on October 2nd 2006.

The EMRG is one of the Navy's newest toys (just one more one in a family of the Office of Naval Research’s Innovative Naval Prototypes (INPs)) (see more Navy pics)It uses electricity, rather than chemical propellants, to launch projectiles at long-range targets

The launcher or barrel contains a pair of metal, electrically conductive rails . These are contained in a composite structure. Very strong opposing magnetic fields are generated within the launcher by a high current pulse that flows through the rails and a bridging armature positioned behind the projectile when the rail gun is fired. Propulsive force is created which accelerates at an astonishing speed propelling botht the armnature and its projectile.

After release from the armature, the projectile , travelling at a muzzle velocity of 2500metres per second (compared with 800 m/s of a standard 5" 54 or 62 gun )and is guided by a GPS system as it leaves the earth's atmosphere, beyond reach of electronic jamming. (Well thaty's the theory driving a 10-15 year research project)

Alternatively, fired directly (1 - 40 Km. range - current gunnery has limit of 20 miles) a 15 KG projectile woud arrive on target at Mach 5 (1500m/s) with 17 Megajoules of energy., twice a conventioal warhead at half the weight.

It is anticipated that with an available 80 megawatts of installed electrical power, a ship like the DDG-1000 could have the power to sustain a firing rate of 6-12 rounds per minuete.

An exotic weapon if it can be made to work reliably. There are big questions yet . Barrels wera out at present after 4 rounds, building suitable pulse networks are available to maintain direct fire weapons, but indirect fire guns with 200 mile range are still a distant possibility.

The test on January 31 st was successful .. er .. The test firing recorded at 10.64 MJ, shot an aluminum projectile 72 feet in 10 milliseconds.It takes a power of 1 joule to send an apple 1 meter up into the air. ( it was watched by Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Gary Roughead, brother to Ronald , visitor to one of Mrs Palfreys working girls)

Dr. Elizabeth D´Andrea, ONR´s Electromagnetic Railgun Program Manager (see pic) emphasises the safety aspect of the rail gun - On Board safetey is improved as explosives and explosive rounds need not be stored.

So far the Navy have spent 237 Mn. taxpayers dollars.



Work so far has involved engineers from Boeing, Charles Stark Draper Lab, Inc., General Atomics, Department of Energy (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Sea Systems Command (PMS 500), Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock and Dahlgren Divisions, the U.S. Army and United Kingdom.

The program´s goal is to demonstrate a full capability, integrated railgun prototype by 2016-2018. ...don't hold your breath. Stratfor Status report on the project after the test... and Popular Science

US$1 Bn. of contracts placed for bombs and missiles for Iraq / Afghanistan

More Bombs

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a US$116 million USAF contract for more than 4,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits.

These will be delivered as kits in 2009 and 2010. The Lot 12 production contract includes options for additional tail kits in successive Lots 13 -17, with deliveries will continue through to 2015 with a total contract value of US$590 Mn.

The Air Force and Navy have used JDAM weapons extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq. JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing 500-, 1,000- and 2,000-pound unguided free-fall bombs into accurately guided "smart" weapons. Boeing has produced more than 190,000 JDAM tail kits since 1998.

More Rockets and Rocket launchers

Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has received a $512 million contract to provide the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) to the U.S. Army and to the U.S. Marine Corps.

To quote at length from today's Press release ;

"The HIMARS system brings much more mobile and lethal dimension to Soldiers and Marines," said Lt. Col. John Chicoli, U.S. Army Precision Guided Munitions and Rockets Product Manager. "HIMARS’ exceptional mobility and transportability, together with the newest evolution of the MLRS family of munitions, bring long-range, precision fires, all-weather, near-vertical impact to theater – greatly reducing collateral damage."

HIMARS can accommodate the entire family of MLRS munitions, including all variants of the Guided MLRS rocket and Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles. Designed to enable troops to engage and defeat artillery, air defense concentrations, trucks, light armor and personnel carriers, as well as support troop and supply concentrations, HIMARS can move away from the area at high speed following missile launch, well before enemy forces are able to locate the launch site.

Because of its C-130 transportability, HIMARS can be deployed into areas previously inaccessible to heavier launchers and provides a force multiplier to the modular brigade. It also incorporates the self-loading, autonomous features that have made MLRS the premier rocket artillery system in the world.

HIMARS carries a single six-pack of MLRS rockets, or one ATACMS missile. Its fire control system, electronics and communications units are interchangeable with the existing MLRS M270A1 launcher, and the crew and training are the same. HIMARS units are currently deployed by the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

In January 2005, the U.S. Army issued an Urgent Need Statement for acceleration of GMLRS Unitary deliveries in support of counter fire operations. Lockheed Martin delivered the first 72 GMLRS Unitary rockets in June 2005 satisfying the requirements of the Urgent Need Statement. The first 900+ rockets were delivered to the U.S. in 2005 and 2006.

"In theater, the GMLRS Unitary rocket has earned the nickname ‘the 70-kilometer Sniper Rifle,’ and continues to live up to that reputation mission after mission," said Lt. Col. Mark Pincoski, U.S. Army Product Manager, Precision Guided Missiles and Rockets. "Guided Unitary has reshaped the way indirect fires are applied throughout the battlefield thanks to its 24-hour, all-weather availability and pinpoint accuracy."

It was reported to be first used in Iraq by Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery Regiment who fired eight guided rockets in Tal Afar Sept. 9 and 10,2005 killing 48 insurgents, said Maj. Jeremy McGuire, deputy of operations, Force Field Artillery, Multi-National Corps

Battery A, 3-13 FAR fired another six rockets Sept. 11, 2005 as a part of Operation Sayaid (Hunter),destroying the Mish’al Bridge and preventing its use for insurgent forces in the Al Anbar province in Western Iraq, McGuire added.

Quite what artillery, air defense concentrations, trucks, light armor and personnel carriers, they expect to have to take on in Iraq is a little difficult to gauge .. but hey the guys out there are pretty excited as this video shows.

Fox Battery - Himars Shot in Iraq - The Marine Coprs 1st HIMARS launch ever in a Combat Zone ! Biggest guns in the Marine Corps! HIMARS Highly Mobile Artillery Rocket System Fox battery's first Rocket launch in Iraq.Camp al Asad July 31st 2007 (Up loaded Aug 4th 2007)




It is best left to Rick to explain ..."The successes of these systems speak for themselves," said Rick Edwards, vice president of Tactical Missiles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "HIMARS and GMLRS, coupled with a world-class logistics footprint, are becoming ubiquitous to the urban and counter insurgency fight whenever surgical precision is needed."