Nathan

I built one of those, many years ago. At the time I was very pleased with the result and it is the only model aircraft that I kept but I don’t think it would be up to modern standards.

I’m sorry, I just assumed the people calling for the RN to be used in the Chanel to intercept small boats, instead of Border force, had some sort of idea of what they should then do.

The border force can already identify and intercept small boat crossings. What would you have the RN do that border force can’t? I’m assuming you don’t want to murder these people at sea or use armed force (against France) to return them to French territory?

Freshly hatched Common Hawker dragonfly.

Amazing thing to see, as you say, build a pond and wildlife arrives to fill it. Your dragonflies are much earlier than ours which normally only start emerging in late June or early July.

The painting looks excellent. Not so sure about the sculpting of Mrs Loring’s hands and arms - wouldn’t fancy my chances in an arm wrestling contest.

A Bridge Too Far is a Hollywood view of Market Garden. My two books are based on facts, primary sources. Why and where did Market Garden fail? Purchase Lost at Nijmegen. All Market Garden facts from primary sources? Purchase Little Sense of Urgency

(Time again to promote my two books, something I tend to forget to do regularly. 😟) If you like to collect all available facts and form your own opinion about Market Garden please visit my website pre-jump.nl. (I have no marketing department so a repost is really appreciated.)

Isn’t there a saying about armies preparing to fight the last war?

Yes but that is for topping up any usage. They don’t set off with empty fuel tanks, food stores and weapons magazines.

Two padlocks I think. One for the captain, one for the 2ic.

They go in for service about every 8 years, I read. And presumably they don’t stop working if they go a day over so you’d think there’d be time to sort out our own servicing processes. Agree no time like the present to start though that publicl might be a bit inflammatory.

68, I read. Not sure whether that is what remains now after test firings or the original buy.

Even the USN regrets going for the Constellation. Looked like a low-risk choice with a great spec - not turned out that way.

German officers stand around a table, field kitchen and radio operator nearby,

Finally finished my German battalion HQ base in 15mm for 'O' Group, using Peter Pig figures and lots of scratch-building.

smallitalianwars.blogspot.com/2025/02/germ...

He and his cult members have been parroting Russian propaganda for ages. No coincidence that so many of them are anti-vax, climate-change denying conspiracy theorists.

"Shell shock": 'cowering in the wreckage' was a description I heard on a US defence podcast at the weekend.

Have you ever even been to the UK? The majority aren’t struggling to that degree and, for those that are, it isn’t because of the less than 0.2% of GDP we are spending on Ukraine to try to contain Russia’s aggression before it gets really expensive.

We also need to be in the Atlantic, Norwegian Sea and patrol the GIUK gap, for which aircraft carriers are essential. Whilst airfields can’t be sunk, you can predict exactly where they will be and the workshops, stores and aircraft shelters easily targeted.

Still in build (on dry land) and still hasn’t been formally named.

It isn’t 10 x any credible estimate. You really think Russian battlefield care is so much better than anyone else has ever achieved that 90% survive? I’d be surprised if they aren’t down at or below WW2 levels.

It is a typo. That’s the estimate for losses/casualties - killed, injured (could even be the same person two or three times) and captured. Assessment from credible people I’ve heard is that it is fairly accurate - as much as can be in the circumstances.

Surely that’s the estimate of casualties - killed, injured and captured. Killed would be a fraction of that.

Sudan would be a surprising choice for a Mediterranean naval base :-)

From the BBC he’s given a few pardons, including Anthony Fauci. In what sort of mad world does a US President have to take such measures to protect a public servant from persecution by his conspiracy-theorist successor, for doing his job according to the scientific consensus?

There are lots of other F-35 users. I wonder what they do for MSD - do they all rely on the US-UK-Canada to supply updates?

Unless some whistleblower comes forward, I think it is unlikely the US has a secret software veto on UK use because so many UK people have been involved in writing the software.

Whilst I agree it would be possible to use this to achieve a US veto on use of F-35, if your speculation about having it all encrypted and with an expiry date is correct, they could equally use the flight control software (in the same way) or cut off access to spares.

Thanks for all that, food for thought. Another reason for a shared MDF is efficiency and cost saving - like we have a shared spares system for F-35 and the US & UK have a common stock of Trident missiles (albeit each owns a particular number) that are maintained at the same facility in the US.

But that and the other things I’ve found suggest it is basically a threat / target library and geographic data for likely operational areas that lets the aircraft better identify enemy assets - not a flight plan or something that needs to be updated for every flight.

How would you describe the role of the MDFs? From the little that I’ve found, I can’t see how they give a veto on any particular mission.

You are quite right - my apologies, don't know where I jumped to MQ-9 from, though the fact that they all look so similar does always leave me a bit confused! Even so, the Mojave is a lot heavier than the Predator with much more engine power, even if the wingspans and lengths are similar.