What are the chances that there is a small strategic “reserve” being held somewhere?

South Africa being an example of developing then storing 6 air deliverable bombs without anyone knowing.

Governments do things very secretely sometimes, even in an open democracy. Trident seems to me to be an all or nothing scenario, without the ability to escalate or “demonstrate” incrementally if the need arises.

I’ve no idea if the first sentence I’ve posted is plausible or possible. Would the British have to declare anything, or are their facilities inspected on a regular basis? Or does this only happen to those that are declared “rogue” states or are external to “the club”?

Does anyone know if any if the various nuclear delivery profiles are still in the RAF syllabus and practiced?

Below is the latest news:

SA, Brazil to start manufacture of A Darter in 2011

South Africa and Brazil will start to manufacture the Denel Dynamics A-Darter fifth-generation infra-red guided short-range air-to-air missile (IRSRAAM)in early 2011.

That’s the word from Denel Dynamics CE Jan Wessels at a media briefing yesterday. He says the R1 billion five-year project that started in March 2007 is now roughly halfway in time and expenditure.

The A-Darter is being developed for the South African Air Force’s Saab JAS39 Gripen advanced light fighter aircraft under the programme name “Project Assegaai” and for the Brazilian Air Force’s F5EM light fighter and its future “FX” aircraft. Brazilian has said it expects the system in service by 2015.
SA is one of five countries capable of developing and building 5th generation IRSRAAM.
Wessels says the missile is due for a range of tests this November and mid-year next year.
“The next test, in November will be a live fire at a target. In the middle next year it will be fired from a Gripen, Wessels said.

The 2.9m, 89kg joint South African-Brazilian design was successfully ground test fired at the Overberg test range in the Southern Cape in February.

A Denel source who spoke under condition of anonymity at the time told defenceWeb the missile was fired from a ground launcher and performed a series of programmed extreme manoeuvres in what was the weapon’s first controlled test flight.
The source further added that the successful test showed that a number of technical challenges had been overcome “proving the development programme is still on track.”

Denel Dynamics, previously Kentron, started the technical development of the A-Darter in 2004.
Wessels says the fifth generation weapon features two major advances over older weapons: “A missile ten years ago could manoeuvre at 20G. This one can manoeuvre at 90G (and has been tested to 80G), which means you can shoot at a target behind you. That is massive technology…”

The second thing is this one images. It forms an image of the actual target and from a library it can identify that target and can be programmed to attack only certain types of targets (reducing the chance of fratricide).

Wessels adds that anti-IR missile flare decoys are also getting very sophisticated. But because the A-Darter forms an image of the target and intercepts that rather than a hotspot as in previous-generation weapons, it can lock on to the target and reject decoys.
Denel Dynamics scientists say it is currently taking six months to assemble the seeker head, which costs around R980 000 each, inclusive of a R200 000 pure sapphire crystal lens cover.

The CE adds that Denel Dynamics are still doing research work on a T-Darter radar-guided medium range air-to-air missile as well as a radar-guided variant of its short-range Umkhonto IR surface-to-air missile, in use with the SA and Finnish navies.
Regarding the Umkhonto, Wessels added that SA “wants to team up with another country but that country is not ready yet.” A medium-range version of the Umkhonto is also on the cards.

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2996&Itemid=420

Im propaply one of the last ones that specially joined couse of that (and naval section) subforums….and since its gone, Ive been hanging around like some poor homless guy without proper place to lay my head:(

Proplem with ground forces forum was that becouse none of the Balkan nations posessed meaningfull air-arm after the 90’s hulabaloo, all what was left to start pissing-contest tend to focus on that forum.

I completely agree. The ground forces forum was great, if you minused the Balkan, India/Pakistan and India/China threads and various others.

It would be great if they started it up again, but it would need to be heavily moderatored to remove the rubbish. Or perhaps access is only granted after a period of time, allowing the more moderate, longer term, genuine and muture posters to post in it. I remember the reasons given, but I’d argue it is very much within the scope of AFM. Land based equipment is designed to destroy aircraft (SAM’s, AAA etc), or military aircraft are designed to destroy land equipment. (Apache for tanks, HARM for radar, ALCM etc…

I would welcome it in a controlled forum.

The first U-boats were equipped with FMG-41g Seetakt radar from 1941. All Type IXC U-boats were fitted with this set, as well as U-boats U-156, 157, and 158. The conning tower fixed antenna array was then replaced with a rotating retractable mast antenna from 1942.

In late 1942, all U-boats were built with the improved FMG-42g.

And finally, the new FuMO-65 was fitted on some of the Type XXI U-boats.

All these were in addition to the various radar warning receivers fitted during the course of the war.

Who remembers the military/land systems section?

Hehehehehehe!

I was waiting for someone to reference the U-boat snorkels.

The Germans certainly did do experiments with RAM coatings. Sumpf and Schornsteinfeger were 2 types.

The snorkel application was one such example of their research being fitted to operational platforms.
I would not be surprised if this was extrapolated onto a coating for the Ho-229.

I too agree with Quantum.

I think it’s high time that Japan goes their own way in the fighter field. They seem to have been making moves in that direction anyway, so perhaps we may see a functional Japanese designed fighter in the not too distant future. They certainly have the skills and brains to do it, and do it well.

It would hardly be more expensive than the F-22, even if they were allowed to purchase them in the first place, and even tough Japanese post-war military products have been expensive.