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CAN Enhanced (Permanent?) Fwd Presence in Latvia

Programs for new designs were what I was thinking of.

Now, buying a healthy fleet of any or all of these would have made total sense.
Looking at the AMARC website there are apparently 30 Cobra's and 27 Yankees sitting in the desert after recent Marine retirement. Still two decades younger than the CH-146. 57 Newish birds is a nice start.
 
Distance certainly wasn't a concern.

Culture is a bigger one.
I think it's about a seven hour train ride to Berlin and most bases are a train change or two and several more hours away yet. Reading between the lines on the announcement it looks like this will be a foreign posting for several battalions on an accompanied basis. My guess is that the average Haus-spouse from Bavaria and Westphalia won't be too happy leaving their families and friends behind. for a multi-year posting.

It's not quite as simple as going for a one-time bachelor party for several thousands of young soldiers away from their homes and families for many months on end.

On top of that they'll have to build a brigade-sized garrison and sustain it indefinitely. That increases their base infrastructure by about 10% with an extra-national supply line. Lithuania is supposed to fund the bill for that but they are already signals from Vilnius saying it will be problematic. Lithuania has only four brigades (one a reserve one) and their pay and accommodation standards are much lower than what the bureaucratic and standards-happy Germans will demand. (They're not Brits for whom mouldy barracks are au rigueur. There are some estimates this will cost Germany some € 5 billion. It's easy to see why the German army is signalling concerns with the plan.

🍻
 
I think it's about a seven hour train ride to Berlin and most bases are a train change or two and several more hours away yet. Reading between the lines on the announcement it looks like this will be a foreign posting for several battalions on an accompanied basis. My guess is that the average Haus-spouse from Bavaria and Westphalia won't be too happy leaving their families and friends behind. for a multi-year posting.

It's not quite as simple as going for a one-time bachelor party for several thousands of young soldiers away from their homes and families for many months on end.

On top of that they'll have to build a brigade-sized garrison and sustain it indefinitely. That increases their base infrastructure by about 10% with an extra-national supply line. Lithuania is supposed to fund the bill for that but they are already signals from Vilnius saying it will be problematic. Lithuania has only four brigades (one a reserve one) and their pay and accommodation standards are much lower than what the bureaucratic and standards-happy Germans will demand. (They're not Brits for whom mouldy barracks are au rigueur. There are some estimates this will cost Germany some € 5 billion. It's easy to see why the German army is signalling concerns with the plan.

🍻
Precisely, a posting to the Baltics is probably more looked at by Germans as like being posted to rural Appalachia than an exciting overseas adventure.
 
They might as well just stay home then, rather than have their government make promises they can't keep. From the Poles' stand point it is still a win because part of their concern has always been facing both the Germans and the Russians again. At least this time they can be pretty sure the Germans will stay home.
 
When all of your subs are tied up at the pier awaiting maintenance, and none of them are operational...and the navy has to reject brand new combat ships from being delivered because they already list to one side...AAAANNNDDDD you need an extension of a few months to get ready for Mali because you don't have enough aircraft to replace the 3 medevac birds + escorts...

And your budget is that big?



yupp, definitely time for a review of overhead...which can sadly only really be made to happen by that same overhead..
 
They might as well just stay home then, rather than have their government make promises they can't keep. From the Poles' stand point it is still a win because part of their concern has always been facing both the Germans and the Russians again. At least this time they can be pretty sure the Germans will stay home.
What contemporary experience in NATO circles are you basing this on?
 
When all of your subs are tied up at the pier awaiting maintenance, and none of them are operational...and the navy has to reject brand new combat ships from being delivered because they already list to one side...AAAANNNDDDD you need an extension of a few months to get ready for Mali because you don't have enough aircraft to replace the 3 medevac birds + escorts...

And your budget is that big?



yupp, definitely time for a review of overhead...which can sadly only really be made to happen by that same overhead..
Perun’s episode on India mentioned that “German defence companies do two things well - expensive and submarines”.
 
When all of your subs are tied up at the pier awaiting maintenance, and none of them are operational...and the navy has to reject brand new combat ships from being delivered because they already list to one side...AAAANNNDDDD you need an extension of a few months to get ready for Mali because you don't have enough aircraft to replace the 3 medevac birds + escorts...

And your budget is that big?



yupp, definitely time for a review of overhead...which can sadly only really be made to happen by that same overhead..
Bold to call the AOPS combat ships
 
When all of your subs are tied up at the pier awaiting maintenance, and none of them are operational...and the navy has to reject brand new combat ships from being delivered because they already list to one side...AAAANNNDDDD you need an extension of a few months to get ready for Mali because you don't have enough aircraft to replace the 3 medevac birds + escorts...

And your budget is that big?



yupp, definitely time for a review of overhead...which can sadly only really be made to happen by that same overhead..
Germany makes us look good when it comes to submarine readiness. They have 6 newer boats, a domestic industry that makes all the parts they need and yet often have same or fewer boats operational than we do with 4 orphaned boats.
 
Germany makes us look good when it comes to submarine readiness. They have 6 newer boats, a domestic industry that makes all the parts they need and yet often have same or fewer boats operational than we do with 4 orphaned boats.
That's what I was getting at, Thank You Colin... 😅
 
Germany makes us look good when it comes to submarine readiness. They have 6 newer boats, a domestic industry that makes all the parts they need and yet often have same or fewer boats operational than we do with 4 orphaned boats.
5 of their 212A boats are back at sea, and they have two new 212CD class boats under construction.

They had some issues in the 2017-19 years, but they seem to have sorted their fleet out (other than the occasional collision, as U-36 still reported hasn’t returned to service since the May 2019 collision leaving the Norwegian Naval Base.
 
5 of their 212A boats are back at sea, and they have two new 212CD class boats under construction.

They had some issues in the 2017-19 years, but they seem to have sorted their fleet out (other than the occasional collision, as U-36 still reported hasn’t returned to service since the May 2019 collision leaving the Norwegian Naval Base.
Germany's biggest issue is they keep running out of spare parts, they aren't ordering enough spares from manufacturers, their subfleet was tied up for 2 years for lack of spare parts.
 
Germany's biggest issue is they keep running out of spare parts, they aren't ordering enough spares from manufacturers, their subfleet was tied up for 2 years for lack of spare parts.
Yeah they did however seem to sort that out.

They had two incidents that caused hull damage and got one of those fixed - but the last one has been a bit, and one wonders if it may be an effective right off and being cannibalised.

Their Army is however in tough shape. Major parts and Maintenance issues that are biting them in the ass.
 
Yeah they did however seem to sort that out.

They had two incidents that caused hull damage and got one of those fixed - but the last one has been a bit, and one wonders if it may be an effective right off and being cannibalised.

Their Army is however in tough shape. Major parts and Maintenance issues that are biting them in the ass.
My understanding is this brigade being deployed is essentially robbing most units to outfit them
 
Yeah they did however seem to sort that out.

They had two incidents that caused hull damage and got one of those fixed - but the last one has been a bit, and one wonders if it may be an effective right off and being cannibalised.

Their Army is however in tough shape. Major parts and Maintenance issues that are biting them in the ass.
Here's an example of that related to Ukraine assistance.


Makes commonality with the US look better all the time
 
Honestly no other nation on earth takes combat readiness and the supply system seriously as we do.

But hand in hand with that means we also have some niche systems, and it is also expensive gear.
 
Honestly no other nation on earth takes combat readiness and the supply system seriously as we do.

But hand in hand with that means we also have some niche systems, and it is also expensive gear.
No other nation on Earth gets an "Unfunded Priorities List" of kit that wasn't included for in the annual budget...

And no other nation equips their military with more than it asks for, either...

And no other nation has (Had? I haven't heard about it in a few years now...) the "Overseas Contingency Fund" which could be used in part to by mission specific kit...



I remember for a few years in a row...

US Navy - "We'd like funding for 14 more F-18E/F's that werent included in the budget please, we're flying the wings off of them faster than we anticipated in support of the GWOT..."

US Congress - "How does 16 sound? Shhhiiitttt, Boeing is in my district...how does 18 sound!?"



And no other nation on Earth has ever heard their army say "Please stop buying us brand new tanks! Our units are fully equipped, we have plenty of spares in the war stock, and all of our forward equipment storage sites are full!!"


😉🥂
 
And no other nation on Earth has ever heard their army say "Please stop buying us brand new tanks! Our units are fully equipped, we have plenty of spares in the war stock, and all of our forward equipment storage sites are full!!"
And because of that The US has a manufacturing capability for modern tanks at scale while other countries have empty factories that will take years to activate.

Sometimes you have to pay to stay in the game.

🍻
 
And because of that The US has a manufacturing capability for modern tanks at scale while other countries have empty factories that will take years to activate.

Sometimes you have to pay to stay in the game.

🍻
I wonder how many LAV 6's GDLS could pump out at max capacity in london for us? or others.
 
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