Norwegian Coast Guard In Line For New Patrol Ships

Norway is building a trio of multirole patrol ships for operations in its northern Arctic waters. The Jan Mayen class features a strengthened hull for operations in ice up to 3 feet (1 m) thick. Heating cables are woven throughout the ship to prevent icing from sea spray hitting the cold hull. Armament includes a 40-mm main gun and two Protector remote weapon stations with 12.7-mm machine guns. It can carry mines and torpedoes that can be deployed from medium helicopters, which can operate from the aft flight deck and hangar.

BAE Systems is working with the University of Manchester in England to develop novel flight control technologies. The Magma uncrewed aerial vehicle employs wing circulation control and fluidic thrust vectoring instead of conventional control technologies such as rudders and ailerons. Wing circulation control involves blowing air at supersonic speeds over the back of the wing to generate lift, while fluidic thrust vectoring uses blown air to deflect the exhaust to change the direction of travel.

NATO has been developing the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) system to integrate various theater missile defense systems into a single, coherent, deployable network. The alliance provides the battle management command, control, communications and intelligence (BMC3I) element and facilitated integration, while member states supply the sensors and weapon systems. Integrated systems include Patriot and SAMP/T air defense systems, AN/TPY-2 radars and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system.

New to the database this month is Australia’s Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels, the first of which is fitting out ahead of service entry. Other maritime records include the Dutch Johan de Witt-class amphibious ship, Swedish Trossbat-class support ships, Chinese Yu-6 torpedo and Russian AK-630 close-in weapon station.

Also updated this month were the Chinese JH-7 Flounder strike jet; Russian Tu-214 special-purpose aircraft, French Iguana explosive ordnance disposal robot, Brazilian EE-9 Cascavel armored reconnaissance vehicle, Saudi Al Masmak protected vehicle and South Africa’s Mongoose 3 interceptor missile.

The order of battle for the Bahamas has been made current, including the latest on the stalled Sandy Bottom modernization program. The order of battle for Guyana has also been updated.

Recent high-profile attacks by people radicalized by online right-wing communities has brought the growing threat again into the public eye. Andy Oppenheimer reviews the threat in “When Online Radicalization Enters the Real World.”

Following significant gains in the late summer and fall, Ukraine faces new challenges as it seeks to eject Russian forces from its territory. One of these challenges is maintaining supplies of weapons from the West. Reuben Johnson has the story in “Winter Wars.”