Briefings : SDR, Karrar, North Korea

• The Strategic Defence Review trash talk continues, both Queen Elizabeth carriers could now be "scrapped" (well only QE itself could be scrapped of course as work hasn't begun on the 2nd carrier yet). The Red Arrows could also be under threat, doubt it though.
• Upgraded Desert Hawk UAVs have arrived with British forces in Afghanistan. The latest version has improved cameras and a better wing for operation in the country.
• Iran have unveiled their Karrar "attack drone", the latest of a seemingly endless array of indigenous weapons. However do any of these toys actually make it to serial production? The Karrar anyway can carry 4 missiles or bombs and has a range of 1000km.
• A North Korean MiG-21 is said to have crashed in China when it ran out of fuel. US analysts believe it was due to a navigational error however not an attempted defection. Another suggestion is that it was heading to a Chinese air base for maintenance though there are no confirmed maintenance agreements between China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
• Perhaps cyber warfare is a better bet for the DPRK, North Korea have apparently created official Facebook and Twitter accounts as part of their info-war against the decadent West.
• One of the A400M prototypes visited RAF Brize Norton and allowed for a photo-op alongside a Hercules and a C-17.

Briefings : Trident cuts, RN cuts, CVF

• The RUSI has called on the UK nuclear deterrent to be cut to save costs. It says there is no longer a need to maintain a continuous patrol. This would delay the need to order a replacement for the Vanguard fleet and one presumes 3 ships could be bought instead of 4.
• The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force could bear the brunt of cuts in the strategic defence review according to reports. The RN could lose its base at Plymouth and 8 minesweepers. Though local MPs say they will fight to save Devonport. Much of this is inter-service jockeying of course.
• The MOD is investing in an electromagnetic catapult system for its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers just in case its procurement of STOVL JSFs fail. Construction of the first carrier has begun at Birkenhead.
• Boeing is trying to extend the C-17's production life with a "slimmer" version. The C-17FE is a more fuel efficient version with a narrower fuselage and improved engines and wings. Ironically Lockheed are looking at a wider version of its iconic Hercules.

RAF Hercules crash lands

A Hercules C1 has made a wheel up landing at RAF Brize Norton. The incident happened late last week and blocked up the runway which is the main transport hub for the British air bridge supporting operations in Afghanistan. The Hercules was on a training flight when it crashed, there were no injuries reported. The ageing C1s are gradually being withdrawn of course.

Briefings : A400M, Green military, Afghan AF

The UK is likely to spell out it's share of the increased contributions by partner nations to the A400M air lifter project. The increase in money the UK will provide is said to be "miminal" but the RAF's order will drop from 25 to 22 planes the first of which is expected in service by early 2014. The MOD has also published it's Sustainable Procurement Strategy which aims to make the UK military "greener" (no jokes please). Recent MOD policies have certainly reduced the military's carbon footprint: less ships, less planes and less troops for less CO2!

RAF fighters have been scrambled twice this month in response to possible hijacked airliners. The ultimate reason for the fighters is to shoot the airliner down if necessary to prevent 9-11 style mass casualties though this decision can only come from the PM, Home Secretary or Transport Secretary. The Cessna 208 Grand Caravan is thought to be the favourite to win a contract for 60 light transports which the US will provide for the Afghan Air Force.

Briefings : UK/France, A400M, K-8

Britain and France may be moving closer together on matters of defence. Financial and geopolitical pressures may be forcing the two countries to think about a more shared defence future. When Royal Navy Rafales land on Charles de Gaulle i'll believe it! In other UK defence news, some more on Skynet 5D.

Now the A400M's future seems secured EADS are being bullish about the air freighters' future saying it could replace the C-130 as the world military transport of choice. We'll see. Venezuela have received 8 K-8s from China.

Briefings : Iraq, A400M, Iran missile

Today the PM had to face the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry, what he said was no surprise really. He said the decision to overthrow Saddam was right, he rejected he had starved the military of funds while Chancellor and that the military got everything they asked for. He admitted the reconstruction phase had been badly planned though tried to blame the Americans for that.

EADS have struck a deal with it's European partners over the A400M to amend the contract. Though Spain want the UK to reduce the amount of work it gets out of the project unless it pays more.

Jane's say the next generation Iranian missile / space launch vehicle Simorgh shows similarities with the North Korean Unha-2 missile. The USAF is considering whether to keep the production tooling for the F-22 after production ceases. Russia will destroy all of it's chemical weapons by 2012.

Briefings : A400M, New Armour, Combat SAR

EADS has reached a deal in principle with it's seven European partners about extra funding to cover some of the cost overruns during development of the A400M transport. EADS will get 3.5 billion euros extra though that will still leave them with a short fall of 1.7 billion.

The MOD Investment Approvals Board will meet today to select who will build 2 new armoured vehicles for the Army. The FRES Specialist Vehicle and Warrior IFV upgrade contracts could be worth up to £5 billion. For FRES SV BAE's CV90 is up against General Dynamics UK's ASCOD SV. BAE is up against Lockheed Martin for the Warrior Capability Sustainment programme.

Type 42 destroyer HMS Nottingham has been officially decommissioned. The future frigate FSC will apparently be the Type 26 when its built. Argentina has gone to the UN for help with their Falklands dispute though the UN have pretty much told them "so what" (in nice diplomatic language of course).

The USAF has abandoned looking for a large helicopter for the combat search & rescue mission and instead may buy 112 Sikorsky UH-60Ms to recapitalize it's fleet. Australia have ordered 7 Chinooks and plan to decide on the helicopter to replace it's Seahawks next year.

Briefings : A400M, Taleban, Nuclear tests

The seven European partners backing the Airbus A400M project have agreed to offer loan guarantees worth 1.5 billion euros to keep the project going after Airbus threatened to pull the plug. This is on top of 2 billion euros extra funding previously agreed.

The second-in-command of the Taleban is said to have been captured in Pakistan, though the Taleban are denying it. British troops are reported to have been warned the Taleban may try a high profile retaliatory attack after losing their stronghold of Showal. CDR Salamander takes a look at Moshtarak now the dust has cleared and the change in NATO strategy.

French soldiers were deliberately exposed to radiation during nuclear tests conducted in Algeria in the 1960s to “study the physiological and psychological effects of atomic weaponry on humans” a leaked confidential report states.

Briefings : A400M, SAC film, 146

EADS will ground the A400M next Monday if a deal cannot be reached to agree extra funding for it's development from the European partners.

A film made by Strategic Air Command at the height of the Cold War to reassure the public but never shown has been found in the US National Archives. SAC Command Post was a 17 minute film intended to counter the anti-nuclear message in films like Dr Strangelove. The Royal Australian Air Force's F-111 fleet has been grounded following an engine fire. The type is due to be withdrawn from service at the end of the year.

Is China punishing the USA for the Taiwan arms deal by buying Airbus A320s for Air China rather than Boeing 737s? Well maybe though the A320 is now being built in China anyway. BAE Systems is saying the BAE 146 could be a stopgap transport aircraft for air forces affected by delays to other types... like the A400M?

Briefings : A400M, Ambush, FRES

The A400M's maiden flight did not proceed quite as smoothly as was originally reported. A software glitch meant that one of the engines had to be shut down.

There was a fire aboard the Astute class submarine Ambush which in final construction and will be launched soon. The fire was said to be small and did not damage the superstructure.

The US are advised to change their strategy in Afghanistan away from fighting to reconstruction by a Russian General who served there when it was the Soviet Union's turn to find out they couldn't tame that land.

Former Defence secretary John Hutton has called the FRES programme to produce the Army's next generation of armoured vehicles a "shambles".

Briefings (23/01/10) : A400M, US defence budget, DPRK base

There have been "zero major issues" with the A400M so far into it's test programme. It has now conducted 7 test flights. Indeed the aircraft seems very good, the only problems appears to be political and financial...

Seven major weapon programmes could be for the chop under plans for the 2011 US defence budget. The C-17 and JSF second engine are again in the gunsights.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il secret (well no longer surely) mountain base has been revealed. Mount Baekdusan has been excavated and would be his command centre in the event of an invasion (or coup).

Briefings (22/01/10) : UK in Haiti, A400M, Light Patrol Vehicle

RFA Largs Bay will depart later this month from Southampton and will arrive in Haiti in February. It will carry supplies from the British government and NGOs and will also provide a sea base for UK personnel involved with the recovery effort.

The Foreign Office has a short fall of £110 million and will have to cut back on it's anti-terrorism efforts in Pakistan it is claimed by the opposition.

The UK has conducted load tests of the A400M using a mock-up of the transporter's hold.

Supacat have unveiled it's contender for the British Army's new light patrol vehicle to replace the Snatch Land Rover in Afghanistan. The SPV400 has been delivered to the MOD for trials.

New Zealand have ordered the removal of coded Biblical messages from US made gunsights they are using in Afghanistan. Microsoft are to publish an urgent security patch for Internet Explorer after it was revealed it was security holes in IE that enabled Chinese hackers to attack Google and other US companies.

RAF suspend VC10 passenger operations

Passenger operations with the RAF's ageing fleet of Vickers VC10 have had to be suspended. The RAF say "There are some areas where further investigation must be done to ensure that our airworthiness arrangements are at least as effective as for civilian aviation." The VC10s are due to remain in service until 2015 (some dating back to the mid-1960s), and are certainly a wonderful sight, we'll miss them when they are gone.

Briefings (19/01/10) : New rifle, A400M, Chinese hacking

British troops in Afghanistan are to get L129A1 Sharpshooter rifles. 440 have been bought as part of a UOR. The rifle, which fires 7.62 rounds, will be more useful in long-range firefights.

Flight International look at the A400M project problems and concludes that it is too big to fail.The First Sea Lord warns against spending cuts to the Royal Navy.

In the light of the knowledge security flaws in Internet Explorer allowed Chinese hackers to attack Google the French and German governments have advised it's citizens to not use IE, however the British government and armed forces are to continue using it (IE6 too, blimey!) Meanwhile foreign reporters in China say their Gmail accounts have also been hacked. McAfee say the cyber attack was "ultra sophistocated", the most sophisticated cyber attack outside of the defence industry.

Italy is investigating what caused one of it's Predator A Plus UAVs to ditch in the Adriatic while on a training flight. India are set to buy 29 MiG-29Ks for it's Navy, no doubt for use on an ex-Soviet aircraft carrier India is still yet to receive despite paying billions.

A400M project at risk

EADS' CEO Louis Gallois has issued a warning that the A400M project cannot continue beyond the end of January unless European customers agree to increase funding of the development costs. EADS had made a "mistake in accepting a fixed price contract on a programme with huge technical challenges and an unrealistic schedule" but aid partner nations shared the blame for insisting on production sharing and engine choices. A400M cannot be allowed to jeopardise the whole Airbus business, the CEO of Airbus has said. However with defence budgets coming under increased pressure this may not be the time to ask for more cash.

Briefings (11/01/10) : Reconstruction, Indian C-17s, JSF

The Tories say they would expand the role of the Army in reconstruction if they win the next election. A stabilisation and reconstruction force would be created to perform work like repairing bridges and local infrastructure in places like Afghanistan. Funding could come from other departments like international development.

Boeing say India is interested in buying 10 C-17s, seems everyone wants them at the moment but they are pretty good after all. Flight International's DEW Line blog has a photo of the F-35B prototype engaging it's lift fan for the first time.

Images of the wreck of the Australian hospital ship Centaur have been seen for the first time, 60 years after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in WW2.

Briefings (09/01/10) : Chinook, Afghanistan, A400M

Following on from the leaked MOD documents that indicated problems with the Chinook Mk2 engine control software before the Mull of Kintyre crash the Chief of the Air Staff has said that the FADEC software was not to blame. This was later attacked by the former chief test pilot of the Chinook Mk2 and said the original pilot gross negligence verdict was unfair.

How to rebuild the Afghanistan army, by someone who helped rebuild Liberia's army.

The A400M turbulence continues, France is insisting the project continues though Germany appears unwilling to put any more money in. Staying with France the French helicopter carrier Jeanne d'Arc retires in May after a 50 year service, and could become a helipad for the rich!

Briefings (08/01/10) : Iran, Winter weather, C-17, India-China

The Guardian is reporting that British troops tried to rescue recently released hostage Peter Moore back in 2007 when he and his fellow captors were apparently being taken across the border into Iran. More recently the armed forces have been, as you would expect, helping snow covered Britain after the former superpower was reduced to chaos by some snow in January.

The UAE has increased it's C-17 order from 4 to 6, the RAF are no doubt glad the C-17 production line is being kept open for as long as possible as i'm sure they'd like a few more! India and China, the 2 possible future superpowers, will expand security co-operation following high-level talks.

A400M to fly today

The Airbus A400M is due to take off for it's maiden flight today (within minutes of writing this if i have my times right). The first test flight will be from Airbus' factory in Sevilla in Spain. To rather dampen the joy Airbus have said the price of the plane has increased by 3%  which customers "have to accept".

Update : its up! Check out the video.

A400M on track for first flight by end of year

Some good news on the much troubled and delayed A400M project. Flightworthy engine control software is expected to be received by Airbus Military this week which will help keep the air lifter on schedule for it's first flight before the end of the year. The full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) software has contributed to much of the A400M's delays but is now finished... more or less. Ground runs of the engine could begin in November.