Haig World War 1 Collection on Flickr

The National Library of Scotland have added 2000 photographs to Flickr's public Commons collection. The most interesting photographs are probably the ones from the papers of the papers of Field Marshal Haig, an extraordinary set of photos from the fighting in World War 1.

Taranis revealed

The BAE Systems Taranis stealth UCAV demonstrator has been rolled out ahead of a planned first flight in 2011. Part of Taranis' purpose is to prove the UK can develop a stealth UCAV and if the UK decides to go ahead with Taranis a production version could be in service before the end of the decade. That will depend on a number of factors however such as money.

Briefings : Bomb disposal, M51, Sky Warrior

• Dragon Runner counter-IED robots have been criticised as useless by unnamed members of the Army bomb disposal team. The main problem appears to be it can't move over uneven ground. Which would seem to be a bit of a drawback in Afghanistan.
• France has test fired a M51 SLBM from the submarine Le Terrible. The unarmed missile test is intended to validate the missile under operational conditions.
  
  
• The Block 1 MQ-1C Sky Warrior UCAV for the US Army has entered production. 34 Sky Warriors will be built in total. The Sky Warrior will fulfill the armed MALE role and replace the RQ-5 Hunter and RQ-7 Shadow.
• Norway has launched (or rather an Indian rocket has) the AISSat-1 ship-tracking satellite. The nano-sat (a 20cm cube) will track ships in Norwegian territorial waters by picking up the signals from their AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders.

Briefings : UK Afghanistan kit, Tejas, CH-53K

• £189 million worth of new equipment is to be provided from reserve funds for British troops in Afghanistan. The bulk of the money is going on improved communications and ISTAR equipment though also extra body armour, gunsights and logistics will be bought. British troops are to leave Sangin this year and be redeployed to the central part of Helmand.
• India has rolled out the Naval version of it's Tejas fighter. NP1 is a two-seat trainer and has a number of changes over the land-based Tejas apart from the usual (stronger landing gear, arrester hook) including a leading edge vortex controller to cut speed on approach and nose modifications to improve downward visability. NP1 is due to fly before the end of the year.
  
  
• Germany, Israel and Taiwan are very interested in the forthcoming CH-53K heavy lift helicopter due to enter service with the US Marines late in this decade.
• Twenty armoured cars, used on the streets of Northern Ireland, have been drafted into help police on the British mainland catch a gunman on the run in Northumberland.

Briefings : Brimstone, French defence cuts, Military blogging (updated)

• A new version of the Brimstone guided missile is to be tested on RAF Tornado GR4s. The tests will be carried out in 2011 to clear the missile ahead of it entering service with the RAF at a later date. The new version of Brimstone is intended for a "low-collateral, precision-attack capability deployable against manoeuvring and fixed targets in short- to medium-range close air support or counter-insurgency operations". So it should enter service just in time for our pull out from Afghanistan.
  
• France is to cut it's defence spending by 3.5 billion euros as part of it's efforts to cut it's deficit. That amounts to less than 4% of the defence budget and may be off-set by some asset sales. Current procurement programmes will not be affected it is claimed.
• The Dutch may pull out of the JSF's initial operational test and evaluation phase. Spain is reducing it's P-3 upgrade programme to just 4 aircraft.
• In comparion to recent moves by the Chinese military to ban it's personnel from blogging the British forces in Afghanistan have launched a mass blogging initiative by personnel writing regular posts from the front line. Posts have been written by personnel from the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
• The 1940 sinking of the British troopship Lancastria saw the loss of up to 6000 lives and is Britain's worst naval disaster yet news of the loss was suppressed at the time to not give the Germans a propaganda coup. Survivors and supporters are now trying to get the ship's resting place recognised as a war grave. 
• The first Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring is linked to the city of Birmingham (my home) apparently. City dignitaries including the Lord Mayor were given a tour of the new ship.
• Freeze the wages of public sector workers, hooray! Wait that includes 140,000 service personnel, boooo!

MOD signs contract for ASCOD SV

The MOD have signed a £500 million contract with General Dynamics UK for the development phase of a new Scout armoured fighting vehicle. The Scout is derived from the ASCOD SV which is already used by some NATO armies. The MOD contract will result in 7 development vehicles, eventually the Scout will replace the Scimitar in Army service.

In related news the awarding of the armoured vehicle contract to General Dynamics UK has led BAE Systems to close it's Radar Road plant in Leicester after they were unsuccessful in bidding for this contract.

Briefings : Drug haul, Mantis, B-1B

• T42 destroyer HMS Manchester has helped capture drugs in the Caribbean worth £1.5 million in the UK. A Lynx helicopter from the destroyer detected a drug runner's speed boat off the island of Montserrat and directed a police boat to intercept. Twelve 25KG bales of cannabis were later found.

• BAE Systems has completed a successful flight test programme with it's Mantis MALE UAV demonstrator in Australia and has now been returned to the UK. It will be rebuilt ready for some further ground based testing. Its not known if it will fly again. BAE will roll out it's Taranis UCAV demonstrator later this month.

• Britain and Spain are meanwhile engaged in a spat over the use of airspace by British military airspace for exercises off Gibraltar. 
• South Korea wants a big increase in it's defence spending to boost it's armed forces in the face of a greater threat from the North. 
• The B-1B fleet is being considered as the sacrificial lamb as the USAF looks at cuts but the bomber has received some support from the new commander of forces in Afghanistan General Petraeus.