For a number of European states, they have participated for some time in a NATO nuclear sharing effort, in which those states arm combat aircraft with a nuclear weapon provided by the United States and have available a core capability which can be used in sync with NATO concepts of operations. – NATO EU states will accept this as Germany honouring its defence commitments while US will be happy (France probably had no-F35 / keep with FCAS as their stipulation for supporting this) Nuclear deterrence is back on the agenda for NATO and the United States. About SEAD/DEAD variant : taken alone, German decision was probably good, but it’s once again a failure in cooperation and planning in Europe. This was almost certainly an optimistic projection, but there remains a number of questions about the weapon to be carried at what altitude and what mission profile. ( Log Out /  Although I think the F-35 will become redundant much quicker than many expect, it’s obvious it would have a longer service life with the Germans than the F/A-18 platform could ever hope for. A car was overturned and roofs were destroyed when a tornado struck overnight in northwest Germany in the latest spate of storms in Northern Europe. The Europeans, on the other hand, have been increasingly worried about Russia’s aggressive foreign policies – a fear which Donald Trump doesn’t seem to share. Which brings us back to the quest for a US solution. Of course, Germany could simply walk out of the nuclear sharing NATO effort, and replace Tornado not as a DCA but with a single conventional only platform. And the Super Hornet as a two-seat aircraft can evolve into a good asset to launch and control such assets, or to command assets launched by other aircraft as well.”. Sure, it’s a political / positioning decision. 26, 2020, which German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has not yet formally approved. Airbus made the case that the Eurofighter could be certified by 2025 which would meet the projected deadline for retirement of Tornado. Still, I’d consider the 30+15 solution the best *possible* outcome for the nearer future. Featured Photo: A German air force Tornado from the Tactical Air Force Squadron 51, Schleswig Air Base, Germany, breaks away from a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, after receiving fuel over Germany, April 29, 2020. The CDR noted that there is a long-standing exchange officer program with the Luftwaffe at VAQ-129, the Growler training squadron. But I’m still unsure about this whole nuclear thing in NATO. – Boeing would have been happy to take a small order – given everything – but likely suggested a wider order with a better economy of scale and possible opportunity for B-61 integration as part of the package rather than being an extra cost. Working through those security and data managing aspects of the aircraft could provide a useful learning curve for the Luftwaffe going forward. You’ll probably agree with me when I say: serves them right! Today’s and tonight’s Freising, Bavaria, Germany weather forecast, weather conditions and Doppler radar from The Weather Channel and Weather.com ( Log Out /  At the same conference, Eurofighter made a splashy announcement of their EW build out of their aircraft. The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany.It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part of the RAF's commitment to the defence of Europe during the Cold War.The commander of RAFG doubled as commander of NATO's Second Allied Tactical Air Force. German internal politics aside, it is an interesting and not illogical choice: – The Growlers make sense as an up-front replacement for the ECRs and could be pushed through from a political perspective for the Luftwaffe in order to maintain their specialist EA / SEAD capability (lacking the F-35s of UK / Italy) Sgt. The Tornado Gr.4 arose from a collaborative project between Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom to produce a multi-role high-performance combat aircraft. The fighter-bomber carrying a gravity bomb hasn’t been intended to attack such targets for decades. With the caveat that this is based on actually getting an inked German order before the HX decision is made, it would be a small additional credit for the two aircraft. And Germany and project Tempest is interesting to think about, for the project is more about leveraging 4th/5thgeneration aircraft and shaping the way to 6th generation than building a new fighter. The F-35 would also have a real chance of actually being able to deliver the B-61 if the situation would arise, unlike the Super Hornet (or any other non 5th-generation fighter for that matter). Airbus expects an updated industry solicitation for Germany’s multibillion-dollar Tornado replacement program, for which the company will offer an electronic attack-capable Eurofighter. As noted, the F-16 has seen service in Europe in the nuclear strike role, but the light multirole aircraft isn’t really the obvious place to go looking for a Tornado replacement, and in any case Lockheed Martin haven’t been interested in offering it to countries that are potential F-35 buyers. Besides the Tornado IDS fleet (more on this later), Germany operate the survivors of 35 Tornado ECR. I don’t think so. Tornadoes were reported in Kentucky, Arkansas and Alabama, and five million people were still under tornado watches. Germany abandoning its dual-capable aircraft could even mark the beginning of the end for nuclear burden sharing in NATO. UK and Italy can live with it and no one cares what Spain thinks. Eurofighter ECR was a good idea but it should have been anticipated and promoted in other european countries as a way to fill a capability gap in many european air forces as well as building an alternative to the Growler in european industry. And clearly, Germany can leverage the fruits of Project Centurion. With the USN discontinuing further buys, this is signficiant for Boeing export efforts and especially their Finnish campaign. "If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking. The logical solution, which has been reported to be in the work for quite some time, is a one-to-one replacement with new-built Eurofighters. Increasingly, the US has been seeing NATO as but a tool to further American interests in places like Iraq, a notion not shared by many European nations. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Finnish blogger in reserve, defence and national security. Even though the defense press has announced this, the German government has not. A German think tank is calling on Germany’s defense ministry to reconsider Lockheed Martin’s F-35 as a successor for the country’s Panavia Tornado fleet. DCA aircraft are specially configured for a nuclear mission including special radiation “hardening,” to make their electronics more resistant to the electromagnetic pulse and other radiant energies associated with a nuclear explosion. Tornadoes in europe If you made one of these clips or are featured and want it taken down just message me on Youtube! Less than a minute. The German Tornado-fleet form part of NATO’s nuclear sharing agreement, under which Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey have US tactical nuclear weapons stored in their country for delivery by their Air Forces. On 5th of May, the #German AF unveiled #Typhoon 30+96 at Nörvenich #Airforce base in flashing special colours. The B-61 might not be as superfluous as those would think who seem to consider the efficacy of its means deployment only against targets of a high strategic value. The buildup of the Russian missile arsenal, short, medium and long range, with clear violations of INF limitations are designed less to create a so-called anti-access and area denial capability than an arsenal designed to make the recovery of classic conventional deterrence seem beyond reach in Europe. In January, a total of 275 tornadoes were reported, with 285 being confirmed. It *does* beg the question why even allies should make their ally’s foe their own if the ally had picked that fight *unilaterally*. Germany is no exception, The idea that NATO is a nuclear alliance is generally seen as a key part in it’s strategy to deter other nuclear-armed states (i.e. Presumably, there would be synergy between Growler and Pegasus which could be leveraged. The Project Quadriga jets are roughly corresponding to the standard offered to Finland, which also share the Tranche 4 designation. It’s just politics within Germany. The Rafale is designed from the outset to be able to perform the nuclear strike mission, being “entry first-capable” as the French puts it, and there’s little denying that the ASMP-A offers a significantly greater chance than the B61-12 of getting through and putting your bucket of sunshine on whatever it is you don’t want to exist anymore. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. A system produced tornadoes across Idaho and Montana. But moralistic arguments alone will hardly entice Russia to the negotiation table. A tornado carved "a path of destruction" through the German town of Roetgen, sweeping away roofs and breaking windows, firefighters said. Without forward-deployed US nuclear gravity bombs and European dual-capable aircraft to carry them to their targets, NATO would have much less to offer in exchange for Russia’s estimated 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons. The ECR as such is not part of the offer to Finland, but “as with any technology developed by the Eurofighter consortium, the option of an ECR will be available to Finland as a future growth option.” The options also include picking just the parts of the concept deemed suitable for Finnish needs. Nevertheless, the prospect is an intriguing one and raises a number of key questions. A third option, which purportedly the one taken, will be to buy Super Hornets for the nuclear mission and Growlers for the EW mission. Germany has also announced that it will order more Eurofighters beyond the Quadriga buy as part of a two-type solution to its Tornado replacement requirement. Both the Super Hornet and the Eurofighter are also fully multirole, although their designs are optimised somewhat differently, meaning that with the exception of the nuclear strike and EW-missions, they could stand in for each other if the need arises. I mean, just think of NATO’s recent decision to show Turkey a cold shoulder over her Syrian calamity. Credit: Luftwaffe pic.twitter.com/NETwYSxFmu, — Eurofighter Typhoon (@eurofighter) May 11, 2020. Recently, the defense press has asserted that the German government has approved a mixed buy of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, and Eurofighter EF-2000 fighters for the Luftwaffe to replace its remaining fleet of 90 Panavia Tornados. Featured Photo: A German air force Tornado from the Tactical Air Force Squadron 51, Schleswig Air Base, Germany, breaks away from a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, after receiving fuel over Germany, April 29, 2020. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. It’s also completely nonsens that a buy of around 45 F-35’s would risk the FCAS with France. 1 was an F0 that … RAF MILDENHALL, SFK, UNITED KINGDOM 04.29.2020 Photo by Tech. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. 3s is about as good as local industry could possibly have expected https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/1982-08-19.pdf, The Big Dance that wasn’t to be – Corporal Frisk. The Super Hornet is dubbed an interim solution because it clearly is. The Eurofighter has already replaced the Tornado in British service, and isn’t necessarily a bad choice. This is part of the issue – if Germany is to buy a stop-gap SEAD-jet, there is just a single alternative on the market today, namely the Growler. FCAS is safe, Tempest continues and the overall value of European airpower increases. 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