"No it's... looks like a government-financed website. That are the vibes it gives me."
You have been referred to a reputable reference source which most SPF members have been familiar with since childhood. You have rejected that referral because it "looks like a government-financed website." But 30 seconds of online research would have revealed that your "vibes" are wholly inaccurate.
Jane's has been publishing identification guides and analysis for 124 years. If anything about the Jane's Information Group smacks of 'government' to you, consider the possibility that it is government agencies which have been aping Jane's. Not the other way around.
I'm not sure how far back one can easily trace the ownership of Jane's. But, after a few minutes research, here is a list of owners for the last four decades:
1980-2001 - International Thomson Organization (ITO, later Thomson Corporation)*
- * Toronto, ON, Canadian newspaper holdings
2001-2007 - Sold to Woodbridge Co. Ltd. (Toronto, ON, a Thomson family holding company)
2007-2019 - Sold to UK data-tech group, IHS Inc. (Englewood, CO,* IHS Markit Ltd. after 2016)
2019-Present - Montagu Private Equity LLP (London, UK, a buy-out investment group)
So, plenty of rich, powerful people involved in the past and present ownership of Jane's, but nary an overt government-controlled investor to be seen ...
Although Fred T. Jane was an artist, like you, he wanted to write science fiction novels. Jane was also an avid wargamer - which, in part, led to him publishing his compiled research as Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships in 1898. His approach has formed the basis for identification guides ever since. That alone deserves some respect and fewer ill-informed "vibes".
