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No one was indicting Trump. Just pointing out that a war within your backyard where hundreds of thousands are dying and arms have to be poured in might be a teeny bit more influential when it comes to ramping up defence spending than some an aberration in transient American politics. @Fishbone...

I think that you are conflating the cause of the general increase in NATO funding as between the effect Trump had (generally minimal) with that of Russia's attack on Ukraine (generally maximal). His comments re NATO were counterproductive and generally on a par with the degree to which Mexico...

Too bad we keep cutting our old kit up or turning it into monuments or range targets. :cool:

Yup 🍻

You know me. I like to make use of what we got. Everyone here bitches about the TAPV, but to me the TAPV offers several great features: its mine resistant; it has adequate armour protection against small arms and splinters; it can adequately hold a crew of four; and it has a flat roof where...

That's not even the big issue. Real IP has to be disclosed in order to get the protection that patent laws offer. Every patent application has to adequately describe the innovative elements and is usually supported by diagrams that explain the patent's claims. Technical drawings aren't a big...

It's definitely a major factor. I often think of the time as a young reserve gunner when I would work on the automotives of my 3/4 ton. There's a lot you could do with a tool bag and some sweat. I doubt if any of the young drivers today can do much with the complex, computer-controlled mess...

I got the impression A4 hulls would do. That's my understanding as well. Agreed. However, for me, the gold standard right now is a system along the Oerlikon Skynex/Skyranger 30 or 35 with AHEAD rounds. The right size gun is there but I'm not sure that the acquisition and control systems are in...

C1 to C3 howitzer conversion and bankruptcy of the IP holder enters the chat. One other thing is that the issue of IP on parts is frequently overclaimed when no real IP exists any longer, or didn't actually exist in the first place. The trouble is organizations like DND take IP at face value...

Shortly after the MCDVs came out I was assigned as one of the ResF legal officer to advise the Reserve Force Employment Program which was one of those bright NDHQ sparks designed to make the ResF "better." My first round-table meeting with the project staff quickly made it clear to me that the...

True enough, but that generally applies to capital equipment. The vast bulk of defence expenditures are in the nature of personnel costs and O&M. ✅ That is very much one of the things that ought to high on the list of things to change. I'll spare you a repetition of my various thoughts on how...

This One question on the 30mm anti-drone capability - where's the radar?? 🍻

It's an interesting article, but the text shows that its more a question of manufacturing capacity than complexity which is the issue. That statement jumps a bit to this conclusion. The new factor here is cost. There is a difference as between manufacturing capacity per se and the cost of...

Sorry, but the cynicism in me just won't let go. The first problem that DND and the civil service needs to fix is the high cost of running DND which is unrelated to producing defence deliverables. In 2002 the defence budget was 8.5 billion. That was the end of the decade of darkness and the...

It's the right thread, but IMHO, the days of wheeled guns is far from over. I've worked on towed guns and SPs. they are different for different reasons. Regardless of whether your SP is wheeled or tracked, it can't be air dropped or moved by helicopter. That level of mobility isn't needed by...

I'm not sure that I'm a 100% on here but it seems to me that the WW2 experience was one of individual augmentees. We formed five divisions (and two separate tank brigades) that essentially went into combat but the units never changed for the duration. Canada sent formed replacement battalions...

Corps 86 was an often misunderstood and actively rejected concept that was championed by Charles Belzile when he was commander of Mobile Command in the early 1980s. It had actually started a little earlier. It had, to the best of my recollection several purposes: firstly it served as a model...

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That's an interesting post from several angles. For starters I've listened to some German reporters who seem to think this vehicle isn't so much the bridge to Leo 3 or MGCS but in fact is the initial version of Leo 3. Interestingly the speculation on MGCS was to be German Leo 2 type chassis...

Ed - I've copied this to my research folder for WAFG - arty transformation. I think that the seven stages of military endeavours may need to be shamelessly incorporated somewhere (properly cited off course) :giggle: