Tag: Afghanistan
Now That’s Just Being Greedy!
A member of B Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, manning an observation post while out on patrol recently in Hemand province, Afghanistan.
When Is a Ladder Not a Ladder
Back in February last year I bemoaned the lack of engineering technical expertise within DE&S, not that it isn’t there but what is there is obviously in short supply which results in the MoD having to buy in technical consultants or contract specific projects. In years gone by, when the MoD was technical skills rich [...]
VTOL Flying Wing
VTOL Technologies Managing Director, Ashley Bryant, asks the question, is there a need for new low-altitude VTOL UAV concepts for military and commercial applications? Does the optimum VTOL UAV architecture already exist for urban, mountainous and maritime UAV operations or should there be further investment in the development of optimised VTOL UAV platforms, to specifically [...]
USMC Panzers to Afghanistan
The U.S. military is sending a force of Abram’s main battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time This is another shift that signals a further escalation in the aggressive tactics signalled by the replacement of General Stanley McChrysta with General David H. Petraeus. Special forces missions have seen a rapid increase and the formerly restrictive rules [...]
The Next 6 Months in Afghanistan
It is always said that the next 6 months will be pivotal but with the change in command and a new aggressive campaign against the Taleban is there a flicker of hope in Afghanistan? 16 Air Assault Brigade formally took over as the lead formation of Task Force Helmand from 4th Mechanized Brigade on Sunday [...]
Extra Tornado’s for Afghanistan
Announced today is the deployment of an extra pair of Tornado’s to Afghanistan to join the 8 that are already there. Using the latest figures from the UK Defence Statistics the RAF has 106 GR4′s in the Forward Available Fleet. So with ten in theatre, that is less than 10% of the available fleet and [...]
Change the Nameplate Above the Door
As we all know, General Stanley McChrystal has had his resignation accepted by President Obama for allowing the now infamous Rolling Stone article to go to print. There are any number of theories floating around as to why he did this; vanity, a push for political power with an eye on the Presidency, a sneaky [...]
A Beautiful Strategy
As the new government finds it feet and starts looking at our involvement in Afghanistan it would seem a new strategy is in the offing. That strategy comprises of two broad elements 1. Get the fuck out of dodge 2. Pretend it was a victory After years of failure in Afghanistan the new strategy will [...]
Off to Kandahar Then?
The MoD has just released a couple of choice quotes from Liam Fox about Afghanistan. Speaking about the role of UK troops in Helmand, Dr Fox said: “I think that we should be having our forces deployed where they are going to have the greatest effect in terms of the overall strategy of the coalition [...]
Canadian Armour in Afghanistan
Some interesting footage of the Leopard main battle tank and Kodiak armoured engineer vehicle in Afghanistan. The UK has deployed the Trojan combat engineering heavy armoured vehicle but not Challenger 2 citing terrain restrictions in the Green Zone as the main reason for not deploying them There was some talk of a request being turned [...]
Not So Quiet on the Westland Front
THE MOD has announced the contract to re-engine the remainder of the Army Air Corps (AAC) Lynx Mk 9 helicopters, to bring them up to Mk 9A standard. The contract, worth £41.8milllion, has been awarded to AgustaWestland and will see the final 10 airframes upgraded. These are in addition to the previous 12 which began [...]
Beers all round then
Great story from Sean Rayment in the Telegraph about the ‘battle of crossing point one’ in Afghanistan that pitted a platoon of Grenadier Guards against an unknown force of Taleban. Excellent reporting, however, does anyone else here wonder about a few issues thrown up in the article; lack of Javelins, no close air support and [...]
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