1980s

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...

This about British German join Venture in 1972 on Future Main Battle Tank for 1980s View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMPjN3ubzc View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJi3b2ojwHg View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z53bG3ANCHw View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwHrocEOCiI

This month's 40th anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas war does not happen because for some reason or another Argentina does not invade. The most noticable change would have been in the Royal Navy. HMS Invincible would have been sold, becoming HMAS Australia. HMS Hermes would have followed in...

We have a whole bunch of threads, alt-history or not. But no full blown TL so far. The POD: May 1972, common sense prevails: Convair Model 200 carries the day over Rockwell NAR-356. It becomes the XFV-12 interceptor for Zumwalt Sea Control Ship. Even after that one is canned, two prototypes are...

What would happen if the usaf f-15 project was canceled by congress and the usaf was forced to use the navys f-14 like what had happened with the f-4.

Wiki has quite a good summary of the abortive attempt in the 1980s to design a common escort ship for NATO navies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFR-90 The thread about the Kidds for the RN reminded me of this programme. It ought to have been possible to design a ship flexible enough to...

Margaret Thatcher's defeat to Michael Foot in Britain's 1983 general election came as no surprise to television pundits. Rising unemployment and failure to reduce inflation despite government cuts, including to the Armed Forces had made the public fed up and willing to try a new course. Prime...