European Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura said:

I've recently followed the Merlins story at defence24.pl, now noticed this text in English so I share it
AW101s for the Polish Navy: It’s Only the Beginning

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The helicopters will be used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR) tasks. The contract for the procurement of helicopters is expected to be signed by the end of the month.

The Polish Navy planned to acquire eight maritime helicopters to replace its ageing 10 Mi-14 helicopters currently in operation with its naval aviation (eight Mi-14PLMKs and two search and rescue Mi-14PL/R). However, in 2018, due to financial reasons, the Ministry of National Defense of Poland reduced the number of naval helicopters planned for acquisition to four, postponing the purchase of another four.

In February 2017, the Polish Defense Ministry began negotiations on the purchase on a competitive basis for eight (initially) maritime helicopters with three companies: the Polish factory PZL Mielec, representing the American Sikorsky Aircraft (owned by Lockheed Martin; the MH-60R helicopter was offered), the Polish factory WSK PZL -Swidnik, representing Italy’s Leonardo (AW101), and Airbus Helicopters (H225M Caracal). In March 2017, only WSK PZL-Swidnik / Leonardo and Airbus Helicopters submitted their offers. However, in June 2018, the Polish Ministry of National Defense decided to reduce the number of procured naval helicopters to four and revise a number of technical requirements for them, after which, in December 2018, Airbus Helicopters refused to participate in the tender, and the Leonardo Helicopters AW101 became the only candidate.

The cost of the contract for the purchase of four AW101, according to Polish media reports, will be about 90 million euros.

The offset package agreement signed on April 8 includes nine commitments, the main of which is the planned creation of a AW101 helicopter maintenance and repair center jointly with Leonardo on the basis of the Polish aircraft repair plant Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze Nr 1 S.A. (WZL-1) in Lodz. Leonardo also pledged to provide technical support for the operation of the acquired helicopters for 10 years.

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gelgoog said:

I think Polish helicopter manufacturing capacity is really underused.
They should license a light or medium helicopter from somewhere else in NATO and manufacture it.

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The German Defence Ministry estimates it will cost nearly 9 billion euros to keep its aging fleet of 93 Tornado fighter jets flying until 2030, according to a classified document provided to German lawmakers this week.

The steep cost forecast includes 5.64 billion euros to maintain the warplanes, which first entered service in 1983, 1.62 billion euros to design replacements for obsolete parts, and 1.58 billion euros to procure them, according to the document, which was viewed by Reuters.

Germany in January decided to pick either the Eurofighter or Boeing Co’s F/A-18E/F fighter jet to replace its Tornado fleet in coming years, dropping Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter from a tender worth billions of euros..

But neither the F/A-18 nor the Eurofighter, built by Airbus, Britain’s BAE Systems and Italy’s Leonardo SpA, are currently certified to carry U.S. nuclear weapons, as required under Germany’s obligations to NATO.

That means Germany will be dependent on its Tornado fleet until it gets new certified planes - a process that could take years.

The estimate came in response to a query by lawmakers from the opposition Free Democrats, who have criticized the ministry for dropping the F-35 - the only aircraft already certified.

The ministry did not specify the cost of operating the Tornado fleet until 2035, the current target, despite a specific request to do so from the lawmakers, and said it could adjust the retirement schedule.

Parliamentary sources said the estimate was even higher than expected at around 100 million euros per plane, and it would be cheaper to purchase new aircraft.

However Germany’s sluggish defense procurement process, and the complicated process of certifying new aircraft to carry nuclear weapons, meant any new warplanes were unlikely to enter service until 2025 or even later.

Of Germany’s 93 Tornado jets, 85 are operated by the Luftwaffe, or air force, but not all are equipped to carry nuclear weapons. The remaining planes are used for training.

The current Tornado fleet has a combat readiness rate of under 40 percent, according to sources familiar with new ministry data. Germany in past years had published such data, but this year made the readiness of its weapons a classified matter for security reasons.

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Jura said:

this one is interesting:

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officials said the

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's salvage so far has cost Kr 640 mil (about $74.5 million or €65.6 mil). New steel already has been ordered to seal the hull and refloat the ship in 5-6 weeks even as the ship is surveyed. 2/3

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The Royal Norwegian Navy frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad was refloated on April 10, less than six weeks after she was transported to the Haakonsvern navy base from the seafloor in Hjeltefjorden.

Prior to her raising and transport, the frigate spent several months almost completely submerged after colliding with with commercial tanker Sola TS on November 8, 2018.

The frigate was transported to Haakonsvern in an operation carried out by Norwegian authorities and heavy lift vessel operator BOA Management.

After over a month of welding operations, which focused on the underwater portion of the frigate’s hull, Helge Ingstad was floated out from the chartered submersible barge “Boa barge 33”. Work on the ship will continue in a dry dock at the navy base and a final damage assessment report is expected to be completed before the end of the summer.

The report is expected to have a significant influence on the Norwegian defense ministry’s decision on whether the ship would be restored or scrapped.

HNoMS Helge Ingstad collided with a tanker in the Hjeltefjorden fjord near Bergen at 4:26 (local time) on November 8. Following the collision, all 137 crew were evacuated while the frigate was intentionally grounded in an attempt to prevent her from sinking in deep water. However, the frigate slipped from the rocks and sank almost completely,

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.

The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board’s (AIBN) preliminary report into the collision blamed both ships’ watchstanders for the accident.

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further claimed that the frigate’s Spanish builder Navantia was responsible for the ship’s eventual sinking.

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Jura said:

... the German concept of putting just a 5" and one or two launchers (and not adding for example anti-submarine sonar/torpedo tubes) on a destroyer-big hull is ... puzzling

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Germany’s defense procurement agency BAAINBw officially received the lead F125 frigate from the shipbuilding consortium on April 30.

Representatives of the ARGE F125 consortium handed the frigate in an official ceremony at the Wilhelmshaven naval base.

FGS Baden-Württemberg, the first of a total of four units in the class, had already been delivered to the navy in 2016 but was

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for rectification of software and hardware issues identified during trials.

Baden-Württemberg is now set to be commissioned in June 2019 after a two-year delay.

The German Navy and shipbuilders will spend the next seven weeks preparing the ship for an operational test ahead of the commissioning.

FGS Baden-Württemberg as lead ship in the class has been experiencing problems ever since it started trials. In addition to hardware and software integration, the frigates have a

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. They list 1.3 degrees to starboard and are overweight, an issue that could possibly complicate future upgrade options.

The 7000-ton frigates are replacing the eight Bremen-class frigates currently in service with the German Navy.

They will be armed with HARPOON and RAM missiles, a 127 mm naval gun, two 27 mm and five 12.7 mm guns. The 150-meter ships will have a complement capacity of 190 persons and a maximum speed of 26 knots.

The ARGE F125 consortium which is responsible for the delivery of ships comprises thyssenkrupp Marine Systems as the lead company and Fr. Lürssen Werft in Bremen.

Pre-fitted bow sections were manufactured at the Fr. Lürssen Werft shipyards in Bremen and Wolgast. Construction of the stern sections, the joining of the two sections and further fitting out was carried out at Blohm+Voss Shipyards in Hamburg under the direction of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.

The final ship in the class

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.

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Jura said:

probably
Feb 18, 2015 was the first time I criticized this thing, and maybe dozen times since then; now
Germany finally accepts delivery of lead F125 frigate FGS Baden-Württemberg

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Air Force Brat said:

So they list because they lack capacity to ballast their structure properly??? that seems odd to have an issue like that in this day and age, on the other hand, shipbuilding is kind of a "lost art" isn't it???

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