Author: Michael

BAE Systems has been awarded a contract modification to deliver 20 additional combat vehicle (CV)-90 Mjölner mortar systems for the Swedish Armed Forces.
Valued at approximately $30m, the contract has been awarded by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV).
The new order will be executed by the company’s Swedish subsidiary joint venture HB Utveckling. It combines BAE Systems’ Bofors and Hägglunds manufacturing capabilities.

Work under this contract will be carried out at the company’s Hägglunds facility in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.

Melvyn Leffler, Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq (Oxford University Press, 2023) Historians have always faced the problem of deciding how much to trust their sources, given that their sources often lie, mislead, sugarcoat, deflect, and rationalize. In the foreign policy realm, this problem intensifies because there are only a […]
The post Confronting the Iraq War: Melvyn Leffler, George Bush and the Problem of Trusting Your Sources   appeared first on War on the Rocks.

Several US Army conventional 155 mm artillery projectiles outfitted with Northrop Grumman’s Precision Guidance Kit. (US Army/Northrop Grumman)
US defence company Northrop Grumman will begin integrating Military Code (M-Code) global positioning system (GPS) capability into the company’s precision guidance systems for medium- and long-range artillery systems.

The Canadian Department of National Defence announced on 26 January that Canada would contribute four Leopard 2A4 MBTs to Ukraine. (Rheinmetall Canada)
Canada will follow Germany’s lead and send four Leopard 2 main battle tanks (MBTs) to Ukraine, the minister of national defence announced on 26 January.
The Canadian Armed Forces will provide Leopard 2A4 tanks and training on how to use them, and could send more pending maintenance and sustainment discussions, said Defence Minister Anita Anand during a televised briefing.

M1 Abrams main battle tanks from the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) participate in NATO Exercise DISPLAY DETERMINATION ’87.

Neanderthal – “an uncivilized, unintelligent, or uncouth person” 
Something happened to Lloyd Austin between 1997 and 2003. In 1997, he was the brigade commander of 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. I arrived as a new infantry platoon leader in 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, at that time and by all accounts, infantry officers I respected spoke highly of him.

The U.S. Navy temporarily closed four dry docks for submarines at two facilities after a report on seismic issues found potential problems in the event of major earthquake.
As a result, the dry dock at the Trident Refit Facility at Bangor, Washington as well as dry docks 4, 5 and 6 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility 15 miles away in Bremerton, Washington suspended service pending a further investigation. The temporary closure was announced on Friday, Jan. 27.

UNSPECIFIED, UNSPECIFIED – JANUARY 07: Contract workers load a Hellfire missile onto a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), at a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016. The U.S. military and coalition forces use the base, located in an undisclosed location, to launch drone airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, as well as to distribute cargo and transport troops supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.

The military and technical collaboration between Turkey and Pakistan keep getting stronger. Regarding military hardware, the two countries work together on naval advancement in addition to ground and air systems.
The Turkish company STM recently handed over to the Pakistan Navy the PNS Khalid [S-137], the second conventional submarine to be refurbished as part of the Agosta 90B project. Turkey has never before shipped a foreign submarine after it had been upgraded.

And why it has no place in military service

Guest post by Thomas Klocek, USNA ’69
The current climate of being “woke” is all about oneself. It is political correctness on steroids. It rewards conformity to ideological perspectives rather than real performance. It does not look at others, their needs (except when “virtue signaling” – trying to make yourself appear to be taking the moral high ground), or how to work with them.

Russia will react to reports that Ukraine expects the delivery of Western tanks. Challenger 2 and Leopard will come from Kyiv’s European allies, and Washington will send Abrams. Logically, Moscow will not be idle and began to show it immediately after the news of future supplies to Ukraine.
On January 14, an improved Mi-28NM helicopter was observed in Ukraine days before the decision to deploy tanks to Kyiv. Almost five years ago, this version was first employed in combat in Syria.
So delighted is Russia with the chopper that it placed an order for 100 of them.