1980s

Perhaps the most ambitious NATO programme of the 1980s was an attempt to design a common escort ship platform for NATO navies: NATO Frigate 90. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/nfr-90-and-other-pre-horizon-aaw-projects.923/ The project foundered as it became too expensive and failed to...

NAVAL FORCES 1985 had a special supplement about Thyssen Nordseewerke including this depiction of the 'Thyssen Submarine Family' (image source) Of the submarines shown, only MSV 130 and TR 1000 are unbuilt projects. The supplement has articles on both of these, but i can only find it for sale in...

Briefly mentioned here, I remember stumbling across this system on another, now defunct, website covering US sea mines. If I remember, the project dated from the 1970s, and included two variants of rising mine, one based upon a small torpedo, the other rocket-propelled.

There is information that in the 80s the Garrett GT601 gas turbine was tested on the AMX 30 tank. Does anyone have any more information about this vehicle or any pictures?

Here's a consolidation of the information I've found so far. Komatsu B78 IFV Built by Komatsu, the JSDF in the late ’70s started a project to design an Infantry Fighting Vehicle that would aid troops in the field while also providing armored fire support. Mitsubishi and Komatsu both built...

I'm trying to track down references to an SDI test that I'm pretty sure used the MIRCL laser and SeaLite beam director. The test is mentioned here: https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/1106/zstar3.html I recall this being on the nightly newscasts. After much hype about SDI, little had occurred and...

Alexis Rocher (aka MIRAGE 4000 on SPF), current editor-in-chief of the French monthly Le fana de l'aviation, informed us a few days ago of the forthcoming release of his book on the Dassault Super Mirage 4000. He also informed us that the book will exist in an English version...

A few months ago, I posted a thread on a briefing with several more or less obscure frigate concepts for the USN. One of the designs included in that brief is the PXM, which I described at the time as a rabbit hole. This thread is my attempt to chase that rabbit as far as I can go, starting from...

Does anyone know the final disposition of the Terex MX Transporter Emplacer (TE)? This vehicle was designed to support MX deployment in a system of multiple protective shelters linked by above ground roads, the so-called "Racetrack" proposal. In 1979, President Carter announced that 200 MX...

Via Slashdot: https://www.quantamagazine.org/crucial-computer-program-for-particle-physics-at-risk-of-obsolescence-20221201/

I recently bought a NIB copy of the Revell "Laser Battle Stations" model kit from 1984. There were a number of other kits released at the same time that all have connections to reports and concepts (see images) but these "laser battle stations" are a bit hard to place. They appear to be modeled...

I found this Bofors poster of the Indonesian Armed Forces' day commemoration of 1986. The poster suggests this is a SPAAG vehicle named Trinity, or at least some parts of it were. Quick search results in several examples of the Bofors Trinity turret being installed on the MOWAG Shark chassis...

Confess that this one has me stumped. What is under the port wing? My guess is that it is some kind of a drone, but it is far smaller than the only two-engine drone I can think of (CT41) other than modified Bomarc. The rest of the load-out is pretty eccentric as well - Harpoon, Maverick and is...

I'm looking for information, particularly technical specifications, of the Viper Mk 633-47 afterburning turbojet. This was developed for use on the Yugoslav J-22 and Romanian IAR-93 aircraft. It appears to be a Viper Mk 632, as licence produced in Yugoslavia, but obviously fitted with a newly...

I don't know if you have more info about this. The French magazine RAIDS, dedicated its special issue N°73 to the "Secret Projects of the French Armoured Forces" published during winter 2019-2020. I haven't managed to get hold of the magazine yet, but it mentions the AMX-APX ALLARM project with...

Many Tu-22M squadron fire cruise missile raid on enemy target and Japanese SHINKANSEN devastation screen shot from Japanese animation ″Future War 198X″. This post added Japanese SHINKANSEN devastation screen shots.

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/lc14/the-littlefield-collection/lots/r0083-armored-gun-system-close-combat-vehicle-light-ccvl/574444

HM-45 tank. It was a deep modernisation of the T-54 and T-55 tanks proposed by the Polish industry in the second half of the 1970s - comparable to the PT-91 (compared to the T-72) in terms of the scope of changes. It was abandoned by the Ministry of National Defence in favour of the USSR...

Hey everyone! I was wondering what sort of information people had on the MPWS/MPGS Piranha. This was an early 1980s submission by General Motors of Canada into the USMC MPWS, and later joint Army-Marine MPGS program. I possess LETE Annual Historical Reports covering its trials at the LETE...

The Royal Navy began the 1960s with two excellent classes of destroyer (County DLG).and frigate (Type 12 Leander) on order. In 1966 the replacement of these ships with the T42 and T22 was set in hand.. In addition the T21 gp frigate was ordered to replace other frigate classes. So not a lot of...