A short reflection regarding GNP;

In europe school and healthcare tends to be less expensive (or even free of charge) than in US. This makes the GNP go down quite a bit in european countries, since they’re paid by taxes and therefore not regarded as an income in GNP calculations. In US they are.

The cost of free healthcare/insurance in Sweden is three (!) times bigger than the armed forces per year. Add public schools and universities (which are totally free of charge) and you’ll understand that it’s quite important to know how these GNP’s are calculated. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to compare US GNP with Swedish GNP for example.

regards,
Castor

I think this says it all, Aurel and Fonk:

“MIDS-LVT is a multinational, multiservice cooperative program sponsored by five NATO countries (United States, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain) with the US Navy as lead service for US applications and overall program manager.”

Source: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/systems/mids-lvt.htm

France may be a proud member of the team but their american colleagues are in charge of the program.

Having said that, I still see a bright future for pan-european projects such as Neuron. And I definetely think that this is the way to go, in order to compete wih our american friends. In 2015-2020, JSF will be the frontrunner, not Gripen, not Rafale, not Eurofighter. If europe is interested in being competetive at this time, they better come up with something like a UCAV. If they do, they have a chance of regaining the current lead.

regards,
Castor

“With a purchase of 126 aircraft, I doubt the Swedes would want to miss the bucks that come with it”

I understand that you are not very familiar with swedish export regulations and swedish politicians. It was ruled out earlier, that exporting Gripens to Pakistan was out of the question due to the tense in the region (ie Kashmir) – therefore the same goes for India.

And as Anders said in an earlier post; going against all these laws would cost the government its power due to the fact that they are dependent on the greens and the left wing who both opposes swedish arms exports in any kind.

regards,

Castor

IL-2 all the way!

“Pre-emptive strikes – I thought the French were opposed to that sort of action?”

The french made a pre-emptive strike? Yeah right.

During shallow water operations, a diesel sub always has the possibility to shut down the diesel engines and run on electricity. If the sub stays still at the bottom of the sea, running on batteries – it’ll be almost impossible to find it.

The problem with using nuclear subs in this kind of tactis is that you always need water to be pumped in order to cool down the reactor systems. And pumping cooling water means producing noise.

Why do you guys think US Navy hired a complete Gotland-class (AIP) submarine for ASW-training purposes?

What I mean is that you shouldn’t overestimate a LA-class submarines chances in shallow water operations. That’s acompletely different ball game then what it was originally designed for…

And how did they fund the 747? 😀