Le Grande Armée

French Army Falling Apart, Documents Show
Most of France's tanks, helicopters and jet fighters are unusable and its defence apparatus is on the verge of "falling apart", it has emerged.

From the UK Telegraph:

According to confidential defence documents leaked to the French press, less than half of France's Leclerc tanks – 142 out of 346 – are operational and even these regularly break down.

Less than half of its Puma helicopters, 37 per cent of its Lynx choppers and 33 per cent of its Super Frelon models – built 40 years ago – are in a fit state to fly, according to documents seen by Le Parisien newspaper.

Two thirds of France's Mirage F1 reconnaissance jets are unusable at present.

In 2006, France's total military forces were comprised of 254,900 personnel. In this respect they rank behind:
#1 China (2,255,000
#2 USA (1,474,000)
#3 India (1,325,000)
#4 North Korea (1,106,000)
#5 Russia (1,037,000)
#6 South Korea (687,700)
#7 Pakistan (619,000)
#8 Turkey (514,850)
#9 Vietnam (484,000)
#10 Iran (420,000)
#11 Germany (284,500)

(Source: Based primarily on material in the IISS Military Balance 2005-2006, London, Routledge, 2005 plus data drawn from USPACOM sources and US experts. Some data estimated or corrected by the authors.)

The disclosure comes just ten days before President Nicolas Sarkozy announces a major reform of the armed forces, with a defence white paper outlining France's military priorities for the next 15 years.

He is expected to argue that the situation can only improve by reducing the number of France's operational troops from 50,000 to 30,000, and its fighter aircraft, as well as closing military bases.

Instead of fixing busted tanks and fighter jets, the French want to reduce the number of men who need them. France's 2008 defense budget will drop to about 2% of GNP; the US is about 4%.

The Bear Shows Its Teeth

Thursday morning we had a reverse E911 call up warning Town of Geddes residents that a bear was spotted rummaging around a residential section. The section was right across the Rt 695 arterial from my backyard.

The bear was treed later that day and tranquilized so it could be transported out of the area. On Friday the three year old, 200 pound bear was killed by the DEC because this is not the first time it has been removed from a residential area. Last fall the same animal was breaking into garages in the Waterloo area and eating bird seed stored in garbage cans.

At that point, the bear went to Class 1 - the highest level of threat, Wasilco said. He was a bear with no fear of humans and no future: If authorities ever caught up with him, he was going to be killed.

But this bear didn't show its teeth. It is another Bear that alsomade the news. On Friday, May 9th, Russian conducted it's first military parade through Moscow since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The parade followed Thursday's explusion of two US military attaches.

The old May Day parades and WWII celebrations were to showcase Russian military might to the West. The Russkies would goose step by the thousands past the walls of the Kremlin followed by tanks, armored personnel carriers, mobile missile launchers, anti-aircraft vehicles and whatever else they could paste caterpillar treads and a cannon on (such as the dreaded Stolichnaya Vodka Delivery Assault Vehicle). Russian leaders would review the farce from on top of Lenin's Tomb.


Because it was a charade. Many of these weapons were assigned to units whose primary duty was to train to march in these parades. Some *ahhh* weapons are more deadly than others. You can view the parade in its entirety - 65 minutes - if you want, but listen to how the announcers keep pounding your ears with the notion that this is an exhibit for the Russian people only for historical celebration and what a shame that there aren't many WWII vets still alive, especially after Stalin killed millions of them. Oh, and the Russkies might want to sell a few of these T-90's if they can.

I Want One Of These Too!

The Israeli's have raised the stakes on terrorist acts. Now there is a silent stalker, an inhuman force that will kill remorselessly, that has no heart, experiences no regrets... and runs on batteries.

Meet the VIPeR.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli defense firm on Thursday unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades.

The VIPeR, roughly the size of a small television, was invented as part of Israel's efforts to develop weaponry that could reduce the risks to its forces from hand-to-hand fighting against Palestinian or Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

It's the size of a small TV and it comes with its own limited remote control, it can only "turn off" terrorists.

The manufacturer, Elbit Systems Ltd., said that the VIPeR's small size and dual treads enable it to move "undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels".

As well as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment, the VIPeR can carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade. The weapons would be aimed using an onboard video camera.

Now there is something else for terrorists to worry about. Let them lose sleep.

Can you imagine about a hundred of these things coming towards a terrorist hidey-hole? There just has to be a remote camera capability in order to record the good natured hijinks.

Maybe we'll see some footage on America's Deadliest Home Videos.

I assume the two antennas on the back of the unit are for motion and armament control.

According to Elbit, which has close links with the Defense Ministry, Israel plans to deploy the VIPeR among its infantry units after field tests. The robot could also be of interest to foreign police units or U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oh, I'll bet someone is interested. There's gotta be some cool nicknames for this thing.