I'm no expert on British politics, but my take is that is generally is a bad thing if the speaker reminds people to behave *before* the PM even has started speaking...

Yes, Kongo is probably the only time it has been effective, and that was effectively put an end to by the Tunnan as you noted.

The Israelis with absolute air superiority and desperate to use every airframe they had to help their ground forces in 1967 opted to withdraw the Fouga from frontline missions after heavy losses proved using it for combat was a stupid idea.

You know what I don’t want, personally?

I don’t want any “this is not who we are” hand-wringing statements from politicians.

Because this obviously what the UK is now. The question is, how are the people who run the country going to deal with that reality?

Unsurprising that Germany goes down the AEGIS & Mk 41 route, more surprising that a country with a bunch of different close-range air defence solutions opts for the Mk 38.

I mean, he wasn’t even onboard. Of course it’s going to crash!

An overnight transition to alternatives is obviously not happening, and in many cases bring other weaknesses or alternative costs, but it is also fair to say people tend to overlook how much of the transition has already taken place (says the guy driving a 1.5+ ton diesel as his personal car 🙃).

Agree, and the same is case for Finland as well. If anything this latest crisis has - again - showed that basing the better part of our economy on energy sources that are found almost exclusively in locations controlled by authoritarians and/or suffering from instability leaves us vulnerable.

We (once again) kindly urge journalists to include IMO numbers of the vessels they write about because Dark Fleet tankers in particular may change names and flags by the time the articles have done their rounds for the week.

Thanks,
/TT

Well, no one can argue that you're just a partisan hawk if you criticise all parties equally 😎

Nope, we do have a national ID card available as well (it used to be that the driver license was the commonly used ID, but after a reform meant that wasn't accepted anymore, they rolled out a credit card-sized ID card as well, which costs a few euros extra to order when renewing your passport).

...the election day obviously also being on a weekend, and the local station usually being within a handful of kilometers in case you live in any kind of urban/suburban setting.

Largely the same in Finland, with the voting pass only needed to be shown in case you do early voting, as on the election day itself if you show up at your local station they will simply cross-reference your ID with the roll of names of local citizens who haven't voted early.

Heading to Hormuz: Destroyer USS Michael Murphy Breaks Radar Silence Less than an hour ago, major commercial ship-tracking portals (VesselFinder and MarineTraffic) picked up the AIS signal of the American guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112). The Arleigh Burke-class ship is currently sailing in the waters of the Persian Gulf, heading toward the critical choke point of the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel’s kinematics show […]

Btw, the ship was dark in AIS for over 40 days. So what ever its doing, its ment to be seen

www.itamilradar.com/2026/04/11/h...

That’s what Patria is proposing, but it’s an industry proposal, not a FDF-programme.

The thing that worries me about Trump's rant about NATO being a paper tiger (and Putin also thinking so) is that we have historical precedents for people not believing in the alliances of their adversaries, and in one case it ended up causing a four year-long world war with perhaps 20 million dead.

The coastal batteries will be truck-mounted, but there is the K9-on-a-truck concept which certainly is a strong contender.

It also has some rather spectacular images, such as this one courtesy of Marko Leppänen, showing a Finnish 152 mm Giatsint-B firing with a full charge during the sunset years of its career in Finland.

Back in 2020 I wrote a four-part series on the then-current state of the Finnish artillery and how the future looked. Parts of it are rather outdated, this was way before the Ukraine War, FPV-drones, and a number of other developments both within the FDF and outside of it, but it gives a background.

The source of more surplus guns is likely that these are guns which would be heading for MLU to be modernised if they would remain in service, and now ROK can instead buy newbuilt ones while we get the used ones cheap (although granted we also will have to do some modifications and overhauls).

Having enough K9 for operational fires and replacing 2S1 in the mechanised and tracked motorised units would be very nice. Another possibility is that we have identified a need for more higher-level assets. Regardless of role and purpose, this is a significant add to the artillery, which is nice 👍

The issue with the tactical fires is that with the retirement of the older 152 mm howitzers, the sole guns left in that role are 122 mm ones (the majority being the towed D-30, but also seeing a number of 2S1 Gvozdika).

Finland more than doubling the number of K9 howitzers in the arsenal, going from 96 to 208, through an order for 112 used SPGs. If earlier K9 order and M270 cover the gap in operational fires left by the M-46 and Giatsint-B, this could mean the ~130 towed 155 mm guns can be moved to tactical fires.

To be fair it did so.

Like, 5-10 years and a troop surge or two later, depending on your exact definition of calming down, but still... 😶

Also, feels like it’s time to bring up this classic once more 😎

They are extremely cute, I just question whether paying 546.8 MEUR for them really is the great deal it’s made out to be? 🤔

The only way to ensure it isn't mistaken for Australia or India 😁

Canadian WWII posters by the way have something for everyone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯