nuclear battlefield

IOW - earlier & greater cooperation with SAAB and the British companies, while the cooperation between the later and the French and other European NATO is much smaller? Draken was powered by the British engine, Viggen was supposed to be powered by the Medway, while the Gripen should've been just...

Ever since the first Zeppelin raids in World War 1 the vulnerability of the civilian population of the UK to attack from the air has been a major factor in shaping our armed forces. The tile "Air Defence of Great Britain" comes from the organisation set up to meet the only air threat imagined in...

What if Saddam never invaded Kuwait and never being throw up??? What would be the state of Ba'ath Iraqi armed forces?

I saw a B58 Hustler for the first time the other day, I was surprised by how small it was. I also finally understand what the combination fuel-weapon store is and does. Was the design too specific and limited to remain in service beyond 1969? Could it have carried SRAMs or other advanced...

The 'Massive Retaliation' era ~1957-1967 appears to have skewed Defence Projects and Procurement compared to what occurred previously and what occurred in the 'Flexible Response' era where conventional forces were given much greater priority compared to nuclear forces. This made me think that if...

I know we already discussed that in this topic, https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/mirages-i-iii-5-prototypes-projects.36283/ But I want to split this subject in another thread,the tenders of that contest are, - Nord N-1540,N.1541,N.2540,N.3540,N.3541 & N.5010 Harpon - SNCASE SE.5020 &...

Apart from on the pages of Eagle comic there is no such thing as the Royal Space Force. 1957 ;saw not just the infamous Sandys White Paper but also the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union. PM Macmillan and Defence Secretary Sandys realise how vulnerable this makes the West and Britain in...

Just came across Operation Downfall, and was pondering. What might be the political situation that would warrant the plan coming to fruition? What projects would be pursued and put into production, and what wouldn't? Who would win the war? Perhaps the 3rd world war would be caused by a...

Nothing in military history has given the RAF such a hold on the public imagination as the gallant Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of the Battle of Britain. Sadly in the postwar nuclear world their successors have only been tasked with wartime defence of key military infrastructure in the UK. It...

The fledgling Lufftwaffe and Marineflieger appeared to be interesting in buying British in their earliest days. Of course this was the worst possible time to deal with the British, so every effort fell over. Wiki referencing Wood. The German Defence Ministry first expressed interest in the...

The US Navy in the 1980s deployed an impressive range of non-AEGIS cruisers. Long Beach was the largest and oldest of the nuclear ships and the only one to start life as a cruiser. The remainder started as frigates then became DLGNs. Bainbridge and Truxtun were one-offs followed in the 70s by 2...

I have the Lost British Projects 1/72 scale resin model of the Bristol 204 which includes two small underwing pods which are shown in the drawings to be found on this esteemed site - but what are they?

In the late 1970s Sandia explored the design of a maneuvering glide bomb, the Extended Range Bomb: "Aerodynamic Design of an Extended Range Bomb" https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/3.57916 "TIGER -- A technology to improve the delivery capability of nuclear bombs and the survivability of the...

https://daviddoylebooks.com/aircraft-usn-usmc-jet-aircraft/aj-savage-9kbz5

In 1960 some 64 Canberra B2 & B6 in 4 sqns based in Britain and assigned to SACEUR were replaced by 24 Valiants in 3 sqns. Despite the significant decrease in numbers this was considered a net benefit because of the Valiant's all weather capabilities. By 1964 the RAF still had 9 sqns of Canberra...

This is a thread on Twitter (X) showing a series of weird & wonderful ideas, mostly nuclear armed AAMs and mostly American. since today is 1 April, it’s possible they’re an April Fool’s Day joke but I though you might enjoy them anyway.

A few days ago I stumbled across this ASROC training video from Periscope Films and I was surprised when I checked the board that no specific thread for the ASROC has been posted so hear goes: Now for some stats from the RUR-5 ASROC wikipedia page: Detonation of W44 warhead launched by an...

Have I missed something? Have I overlooked something? See Chris Gibson's (new?) Avatar ...

In a September 20, 2020 article posted on Wavell Room, defense and international affairs analyst Dr. James Bosbotinis examines the United Kingdom’s options for investing in long-range strike capability. One option briefly explored is for the UK to purchase surplus B-1 or B-52 bombers from the...

The headline is a bit misleading as the article talks in terms of anti-satellite weapon not a weapon to drop onto the planet. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/white-house-plans-brief-lawmakers-house-chairman-warns/story?id=107232293