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It works on two levels - firstly, as the name of a racecar driving German superhero, given to very fast pursuits and patrolling the Autobahn to fight crime in a cool sportcar and dark costume.
Secondly, though, it is the closest German translation of Cart Man, providing another level to the character.
Should I ever get the time/win the lottery, that could slot into a DE German tale set in the late 60s/early 70s involving some superheroes and villains, so consider it me planting a potential joke for possible future harvest.
I also like that Chuck Norris being a literal superhero passes without any objection or issue.
October 1: TSR patents a new arcane animation process that converts high quality paintings and pictures to enchanted animated cartoons of exceptionally high quality. The follow-up to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons animated series now under production, itself following on the successful reception of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, is envisaged as being a serial initially focused on Gary Gygax’s Greyhawk fictional world, with a long term vision of encompassing campaign settings now under development at TSR. One of the company’s senior business executive gnomes, upon realising the scope of broader earnings from the patent alone, contracts a firm of construction wizards from the coast to build him a new lakeside tower on the shores of Lake Geneva.
October 8: A young American schoolboy in the San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, having been tutored in the exotic Oriental martial art of karate by his apartment block's handyman, wins the Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championship through the employment of the very advanced Double Crane kick to subdue his opponent. The young tow-headed lad had earlier been subjected to moves that some judges have decried as unethical, including targeting of a previously injured knee, and finds it difficult to stand when being presented with his trophy by renowned karate champion Chuck Norris and his visiting Japanese guest, Master Hamato Yoshi.
October 18: USAF ANG F-104s attempt to intercept a very large UFO over the Great Plains, with the over 2000ft long object seeming to consist of three long cylinders and one offset disk, and capable of climbing at a tremendous rate. One Starfighter, piloted by Captain John Christopher, manages to capture a number of blurry images of the supposed flying object, which are subsequently classified and taken to Washington for examination by the relevant authorities. The event, which is classified to the highest level possible, represents a change in previously observed patterns of behaviour by UFOs, with some authorities concluding that this may have been some sort of different object, possibly the product of experimental magic.
October 25: The reputedly finest soldier in the Ugandan Army, Captain Alexander Kakule, leads a mission which succeeds in penetrating the secret headquarters of the much feared Tiger Brotherhood and killing or capturing its leadership. The Tigers were purportedly associated with the undercurrent of criminal violence and discrimination against Uganda’s ethnic minority populations, which was one of the factors which precipitated the British lead intervention of 1971. During the operation, a mistaken radio message leads to concerns that Captain Kakule had been injured or killed, but these fears are assuaged by the successful end of the raid. The transition from residual Commonwealth military forces, which currently consist of a reinforced brigade of the King's African Rifles, to Ugandan Army control has been largely successful, which some observers ascribe to the core of professional non-commissioned officers in the latter force, who have been very well trained by the British, and the large number of officers and senior NCOs seconded from the British Army and colonial forces.
October 27: Dr. John Smith of the League of Nations U.N.I.T. organisation announces the successful interception and neutralisation of a 250ft wide asteroid that had the potential to come into close proximity with the Earth on its next orbit, with 36 missiles launched from Royal Space Force, USSF, SKS and ARES cruisers near the L4 Lagrange point between Earth and Minerva. Dr. Smith claimed that the operation demonstrates the expanding reach of Earth’s planetary defences, with further installations envisaged under the planned Stellaris Program; this is to consist of a network of twelve enlarged 'deep space' arrays positioned around the L2, L4 and L5 points of the Earth-Luna, Earth-Minerva and Earth-Bellona systems.
October 31: A number of strange things occur over the night of Hallowe'en in the small Indiana town of Hawkins, with a weird luminescent aura akin to Cherenkov radiation spotted around the secretive Hawkins National Laboratory, a strange shower of meat and blood rain akin to that of Olympia Springs in 1876 occurring in the early evening just as children were about to commence trick or treating, and a succession of strange lights being spotted in the sky, which are later ascribed to natural swamp gas. Several children come home quite late, and are chastised for their clearly imaginary (and likely sugar-inspired) tales of time running slower along particular backroads, whilst the Hawkins Police Department is unable to find the older rapscallions responsible for allegedly placing a blue London police box in the town square, although a young man and elderly professor from out of town are issued with a speeding fine for going a little fast down the Kerley and West Cornwallis Road in their Delorean sports car.
(This month has taken a fair bit longer than usual, not due to its complexities, nor anything bad in real life, but through classic distraction. I was dabbling with a piece on DE Computer Roleplaying Games, and searched up 'Gold Box improvements' with reference to the SSI Gold Box AD&D games of 1988-1994. I unfortunately (for my time's sake) found that an enterprising fellow has been remastering these decades old games and subsequently spent most of August plowing through 5 of them in a case of clear nostalgia baiting. I think I've escaped, for now...)
Regarding the interception of the asteroid, I'd love it if you added a reaction a week or so later in which a West German astrophysicist - or even better, a naval officer (maybe my expy?) sardonically explains on a conference, publicly, that he has a much better idea, more elegant: Landing spacecraft on an asteroid that basically are little more than giant propulsion engines and having them angled upward/outward perpendicula to the asterouid's axis to simply push the asteroid off course, explaining that on a cosmic scale, the deviation of roughly 30 meters to the nautical mile per degree of deviation means the difference between impact and a near miss or the difference between a near miss and a yawn. Ending with a comment that the Americans surely love their fahrpahr and spectacle.
I mean, 30,000 kilometers deviation at 1.8 MEEELION *puts little finger at corner of mouth* kilometers distance is nothing to be sneezed at. And interception would likely occur at much larger distances. And the deviation achieved could be even bigger, too.
(Yes, I know that the deviation would more accurately be a very flat curve, not a line, but the linear example is so agreeably more digestible to the mind of absolute STEM imbeciles like me)
An eminently sensible, rational and straightforward approach, which has much to commend it for the likes of our own world.
On Dark Earth, there are more than enough hints and suspicions that threats may be more than simply natural asteroids, although one could hardly call the threat of an asteroid benign or anything like that. There is a growing body of opinion that the Fall of Atlantis must have been due to some sort of large and unexpected bolide impact, and that occurrence may not have been the only time that Earth had been so devastated in the long millenia of prehistory. This is one factor driving the overt interest in planetary defence, with the others including the malign (if pitiful) presence of the Space Nazis and the remote possibility of something coming visiting in light of the 1966 interstellar signal. In light of that background, there is a feeling, not just among the Americans, that having more active planetary defence mechanisms might not be the worst idea; the Soviets in particular have a love of firepower that makes the Americans look a bit restrained and sensible in some respects, the British, whilst appreciating subtlety, aren't averse to solving problems explosively, and the French, well, don't want to feel left out.
That all said, the idea of a German space conference is an interesting one, and I'll try and work something into November involving different positions from North, South, East and West Germans, and something from the young Kaiser, who is an interesting fellow.
Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2026 1:08 pm
An eminently sensible, rational and straightforward approach, which has much to commend it for the likes of our own world.
On Dark Earth, there are more than enough hints and suspicions that threats may be more than simply natural asteroids, although one could hardly call the threat of an asteroid benign or anything like that. There is a growing body of opinion that the Fall of Atlantis must have been due to some sort of large and unexpected bolide impact, and that occurrence may not have been the only time that Earth had been so devastated in the long millenia of prehistory. This is one factor driving the overt interest in planetary defence, with the others including the malign (if pitiful) presence of the Space Nazis and the remote possibility of something coming visiting in light of the 1966 interstellar signal. In light of that background, there is a feeling, not just among the Americans, that having more active planetary defence mechanisms might not be the worst idea; the Soviets in particular have a love of firepower that makes the Americans look a bit restrained and sensible in some respects, the British, whilst appreciating subtlety, aren't averse to solving problems explosively, and the French, well, don't want to feel left out.
That all said, the idea of a German space conference is an interesting one, and I'll try and work something into November involving different positions from North, South, East and West Germans, and something from the young Kaiser, who is an interesting fellow.
My headcanon has Mr. von Jotunheim be an irrepressible nerd in the body of an assault tank (think former naval special forces turned giddy boy playing with very expensive toys, clad in navy blue with broad stripes on his uniform sleeves as head of the Imperial Office for War Technology Research and Acquisition. Maybe an ADHD/AuDHD/latent magic related affinity for technology that leads to regular flashes of brilliance, and even more batshit insane ideas that are quietly shelved by himself as soon as he has smacked the Good Idea Fairy (which he suspects is a real fairy) with his beloved flyswatter he MacGyvered as a boy from a piece of tyre rubber, a resin he cooked up on the fly and a gnarled tree branch to keep entirely too big wasps at bay..
Might as well go all out in a worl where everything is turned to eleven
(The only thing my expy and I have in common is the size and the ADHD (possibly AuDhD, diagnosed last December) and the naval background. Case in point: The whole backstory spontaneously materialized in my noggin in about a second when I read your reply and demanded to be set free)
Whatever the origin, the idea is just brilliant and fab. It not only has my seal of approval, but can play into my future plans for a short story set in Germany. The Good Idea Fairy of course can be a real fairy (with a bit of a penchant for going a tad too hard on the black lotus), who has stuck around with the Konteradmiral since being rescued by him from some sort of dire fate. The only thing such a duo need is some sort of long-suffering secretary/assistant to play off and curb their 'interesting' edges.
Pursuivant to Jotun’s mention of Germany, a few more notes courtesy of my inability to sleep:
- The biggest difference for DE Germany of 1976 is that there isn’t a divided Germany, or at least not in the way we think of it, with the GDR being a strange and perhaps unnatural Stalinist flourish in East Prussia
- The unified nature of the country not only makes for a different demographic, economic and political entity, but a distinctly different social and cultural one as well, with less of a Rhineland/Bonn ‘feel’, if that makes sense
- There are a few more discernible internal differences and quasi tensions betwixt East, West, North and South
- An undivided Berlin lies behind the extensive defensive barriers dubbed ‘The Berlin Wall’, given its proximity to the Oder and the Iron Wall
- Politically, the country is a tad more to the right, which manifests itself in not having a strong Far Left; the RAF, who are still active, complicate things
- There hasn’t been the same need for migrant manpower with the addition of @ East Germany, such that the notion of Gastarbeiter never really emerged, and Germany remains markedly more homogenous; there were some Italians and Austro-Hungarians in 1955-65ish, but without Turkey in the Western Alliance, that population simply hasn’t come to pass, with but a few thousand competed to over a million
- One manifestation of this is suffering street food, with doner kebabs being unheard of, at least under that name and style; there is more of a leaning towards the Greek versions
- There is a Kaiser on the throne, albeit a constitutional one. His Chancellor, to use the traditional wording which has as much practical effect as in Britain, is an interesting chap…
- The German military has a bit of a different look to the Bundeswehr, particularly in respect to uniforms; I’m not 100% committed just yet, but my vision is something of a cross between the Imperial German Army of c. 1900ish and the Bundeswehr dress uniform, with nary a beret to be found
This post was bought to you by the numbers 6 and 7, the word ‘insomnia’ and the letter ö.
Sounds like Captain John Christopher was being very enterprising in catching even a blurred image of the UFO.
I wonder if he will have a son called Shaun Geoffrey Christopher, who will also be in the USAF in the future?
“Frankly, I had enjoyed the war… and why do people want peace if the war is so much fun?” - Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2026 6:00 pm
Sounds like Captain John Christopher was being very enterprising in catching even a blurred image of the UFO.
I wonder if he will have a son called Shaun Geoffrey Christopher, who will also be in the USAF in the future?
Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2026 6:00 pm
Sounds like Captain John Christopher was being very enterprising in catching even a blurred image of the UFO.
I wonder if he will have a son called Shaun Geoffrey Christopher, who will also be in the USAF in the future?
Perhaps becoming an astronaut too.
Westray: That this is some sort of coincidence. Because they don't really believe in coincidences. They've heard of them. They've just never seen one.
Bernard, he was quite enterprising indeed, as the opportunity was quite fleeting; it is perhaps well that his Starfighter wasn't able to get closer to the object, as that may possibly have lead to some form of confusion, as if tomorrow were yesterday.
He will have a son, and he is destined for greatness, as Jem alludes to, but not in the form of a mere jaunt to Saturn or as just an astronaut, as Rocket J Squirrel speculates. As said son is not yet born (but has been conceived in this case, albeit not yet known), he will be coming of age in the final years of the 20th century, and into his prime in the first decade of the 21st. On current projections, it is around that timeframe that the U.S. starship is due to be completed, give or take a few years.
(The largest issue with that project is, naturally enough, propulsion technology, but given the use of Orion from the mid 1960s, NERVA type engines for many NASA and USSF rockets, spaceplanes and shuttles by the second half of the 1970s, and the advent of the fusion revolution, then by the late 80s, there will be the first generation of fusion powered impulse engines capable of doing Earth to Saturn in 120 days, or Earth to Neptune in 240; roughly 0.07c. That is useful for the outer solar system, but not for a starship. For those purposes, something along the lines of the Ministry of Space's Project Daedalus , which is looking at advanced fusion engines and matter/antimatter drives for a target of 0.3 to 0.5c ; similar studies are being conducted in the USA, Soviet Union and China, and greater horizons lie beyond them...)
Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2026 2:46 am
October 1976 Sneaky Sneak Preview:
October 1: TSR patents a new arcane animation process that converts high quality paintings and pictures to enchanted animated cartoons of exceptionally high quality. The follow-up to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons animated series now under production, itself following on the successful reception of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, is envisaged as being a serial initially focused on Gary Gygax’s Greyhawk fictional world, with a long term vision of encompassing campaign settings now under development at TSR. One of the company’s senior business executive gnomes, upon realising the scope of broader earnings from the patent alone, contracts a firm of construction wizards from the coast to build him a new lakeside tower on the shores of Lake Geneva.
October 18: USAF ANG F-104s attempt to intercept a very large UFO over the Great Plains, with the over 2000ft long object seeming to consist of three long cylinders and one offset disk, and capable of climbing at a tremendous rate. One Starfighter, piloted by Captain John Christopher, manages to capture a number of blurry images of the supposed flying object, which are subsequently classified and taken to Washington for examination by the relevant authorities. The event, which is classified to the highest level possible, represents a change in previously observed patterns of behaviour by UFOs, with some authorities concluding that this may have been some sort of different object, possibly the product of experimental magic.
The episode of Star Trek referenced here is the only one I’ve seen, and that was a few weeks ago. It’s not bad, and I like any ‘time slip to the 20th century’ concepts.
This will be the only time we’ll ever see any reference to those wizards. The particular collectible card game which made their fortune won’t eventuate, with role playing games, board games, and miniature war games cornering the market.
TSR will remain with Gygax, albeit with some professional business managers and advisors, and the likes of Lorraine Williams won’t be among their ranks. The TSR power struggle between Gygax and the Blume brothers in the early 80s did come from the unsound company structure to begin with, which set up a likely conflict; not everything that came out of the Blume period of control was all bad, and not all of Williams’ stewardship was entirely unnecessary. On Dark Earth, Gygax began with a small fortune and other boons from a genie, which allowed for both a different company structure and getting in professional advice from the getgo.
The big substance of this event is that TSR will be the beneficiaries of a very lucrative patent which will allow for the funding of a range of magazines, adventure modules, rulebooks, campaign settings, miniatures, graphic novels, gamebooks, television programmes, films, radio shows, records, action figures and licensed computer and video games; not that these would necessarily be loss makers in and of themselves.
Across the Atlantic, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson will found Games Workshop and retain control of it, with a range of particularly British games and products, which will include Lone Wolf, Dragon Warriors, Way of the Tiger and Tomb Raider, in addition to Fighting Fantasy and a somewhat different Warhammer; I do have a fair few details on the last.
Other players in the RPG market will be GDW, Avalon Hill, Chaosium, Steve Jackson Games (the American), West End Games, FASA, Iron Crown, Palladium, White Wolf and R. Talsorian.
Suffice it to say that the RPG market will be the basis for what we’ve understand as ‘multimedia franchises’.
Have you taken a look at the quite new tabletop game "Trench Crusade"? The premise is batshit, The ideas are batshit. The artworks are batshit on crack. It's Warhammer turned to 11, which in turn is fantasy/scfi/space magic turned to 11.
I hadn’t heard of it before now, and as I know next to no one, the chances of playing any tabletop games whatsoever aren’t large.
The premise seems novel, but I don’t go for any GRIMDARK properties at all, be they game or novels, so it wouldn’t be likely to play a significant role or even have a strong thematic influence.
Dark Earth, like its author, isn’t cynical enough nor does it glory in depravity nor does it provide a pitch black wicked world without end. I try to work in elements of both Nobledark and Grimbright as well as good old Noblebright/traditional heroic fantasy without subversion.
Notes as referred to above:
“For me, the grimdark tone and frequent voyages into self parody detracted from what was a very good idea. Apart from these meta-issues, my overall views are:
- It combines fantasy and Earth parallels very well, but in some areas goes overboard
- The 'European' portion of The Old World seems rather too small
- Apart from The Empire, the other countries are, at best, an afterthought
- It can be very much characterised as at the low end of high fantasy
- The grimdark atmosphere is very much rooted in the 1980s. There is no triumph to be had, only a slow, inevitable loss to the forces of Chaos
- The elves are close to irrelevant, the dwarves a shadow of their former might, dragons an afterthought and the likes of trolls and ogres simply jokes
- The Renaissance/late Medieval mixture of technology and social developments is promising
- 'North America' is simply turned into a nightmare realm of the Dark Elves”
“Dark Earth Warhammer
…one setting that will develop in the former of tabletop roleplaying games, board games, gamebooks, computer games and miniature wargaming will be Warhammer Fantasy, or to be precise The Olde World; the Dark Earth version is distinguished by the extra 'e' slapped in there, which makes all the difference.
It won't be a child of 1980s Britain, with all the cultural baggage and stylistic influences that created. The grimdark atmosphere of WFRPG and WF is very much rooted in the 1980s. There is no triumph to be had, only a slow, inevitable loss to the forces of Chaos, whilst it exists at the grimy, dank lower end of high fantasy. The European portions of the @ Old World were small, and comparative afterthoughts apart from The Empire. The elves are close to irrelevant, the dwarves a shadow of their former might, dragons an afterthought and the likes of trolls and ogres simply jokes, whilst 'North America' is simply turned into a nightmare realm of the Dark Elves and South America/Lustria is the domain of Lizardmen.
The Dark Earth Version/The Olde World, or TOW for short, will be a tad different:
- Fundamentally, it is not a Grimdark setting, nor a Noblebright one, but Nobledark: The world is incredibly dangerous and twisted, but there is good and it can win through the efforts of the valiant and heroic. Not everyone is cynical or corrupt, but there is plenty that is more than what it seems. Consider it the full range of alignments, in D&D speak, from Lawful Good through to Chaotic Evil
- A larger Europe area containing more distinct countries/states with their own characters
- The Great Ocean (@ Atlantic) is much, much wider and full of perils
- The Empire has 12 separate lands
- Mordheim is not being hit by a comet, but remains as a twisted and wicked city secretly run by the damned
- Sylvania is not completely ruled by vampires, but is a larger entity with light and very dark shadow
- Albion is remodelled as an Arthurian/medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom, rather than a blasted barbaric wasteland (this is where the 1980s British taking the pee came to the fore) that is quite large and increasing in power, but still tertiary compared to the Continental states
- The Wasteland becomes a more expansive analogue of the Low Countries and a player in its own right; very much inspired by the Early Modern Netherlands of @. More of the initial Westerland.
- Norsca is not completely chaotic, but is a mixture of chaotic barbarian tribes in the north and good kingdoms in the south and on the coast
- Sticking up towards Norsca is the Kingdom of Daneland, a rugged yet rich peninsula that is a combination of the Hanseatic League and medieval Denmark
- An analogue to Switzerland in a noble, democratic principality called Weissbergen stuck between Bretonnia and the Empire
- The Border Princes become a closer analogue to South Eastern Europe/the Balkans as a regional grouping, with some specific states, and a lot of crumbling Hammer-esque feel to it
- As well as Estalia and Tilea (Spain and Italy), there is a kingdom which is the remnant of a fallen empire, Hellasium. It is an equivalent to the Byzantine Empire, with the once thriving city of Magnapolis a shadow of its former glory. It covers the equivalent territory to Greece, Albania and Macedonia, so isn't quite an also-ran
- Across a narrow strait lies Hattusa, or a version of Anatolia. It is beset on its eastern border by the Badlands. It is a mixture of the Seljuk Turks and an evolved Hittite
- Between Hattusa, the Badlands and Nehekhara is a small, fertile area ruled by Crusaders; I'm yet to come up with a definite name, but something similar to Outremer could work
- Araby takes on a far more powerful and sophisticated character, with distinct areas or sub-empires in the form of Maghariba, Araby Proper and Suwmaria
- To its east lies the vast Parsian Empire
- Nehekhara flourishes as a mortal empire under the Priest Kings in the tradition of Alcadizaar the Conqueror, with some dark deep secrets
- Ind, Nippon and Cathay are far more detailed and powerful, along with the large kingdom of Joseon
- A vast uncivilised waste lies north of the Darklands, Barbaricum, populated by human tribes not all corrupted by Chaos. They are a mix of good, evil and large amounts of neutral/self interested. Parallels to Conan.
- The Eastern Steppes are ruled by Hobgoblin Khanate and other groups.
- North of that are the Northlands, occupied by the Kurgans and other classical Warhammer Chaos Warrior/barbarian groups
- The Chaos Wastes are separated from Barbaricum and Norsca by an icy sea
- A much bigger Mesoamerica between Lustria and Vesperia, the northern continent of the New World
- Some presence of Dark Elves in the far north of Vesperia, mainly underground, but a heck of a lot of continent in between them, filled with native tribes, civilisations, wonders and space for future development (in game terms)
- Likewise, Lustria has Lizardmen in the jungles, but other cultures, human and otherwise, in other locations
- The Southlands has a lot more human content, with multiple kingdoms, tribes and groups, along with Lizardmen cities in the interior jungles, Savage Orc tribes competing, and a few uncontacted kingdoms far, far away; think Zulus and Great Zimbabwe
- Ulthuan is a lot further away from continents to the east and west, sitting in the middle of the Great Ocean around 1500 miles away from the nearest points of The Old World and Vesperia
- The High Elves are not so much distant as withdrawn to rebuild their strength, follow a prophecy and expand *upwards*
- The Dwarves aren't quite a broken civilisation with most of their holds overrun, but are fighting a hard, centuries long struggle with no end in sight. Theirs is the Forever War, but there is no choice but to fight
The 'feel' and tone of The Olde World/DE WFRP is one grand wonder and great peril; of being beset on all sides by tremendous odds, yet having a fighting chance; of it being at its darkest moment just before the dawn.”
Well, stuff that didn't used to be legal. Goodness knows these days; it seems par for the course, based on the type of games which are frequently produced, both tabletop and on the electric computer.
1975
January 4: Royal Navy nuclear attack submarines assigned to the Far East Fleet begin operations in a fourth general operational area in addition to the northern station covering the East China Sea, the central station in the South China Sea and the southern group operating out of Singapore, providing more extensive coverage of both Chinese and Soviet naval operations and land based targets in China and the Soviet Far East; in the latter capacity, their new Blue Moon long range strike missiles and newer marks of Lancelot cruise missiles have greatly increased the relative firepower available to the Far East Fleet.
February 14: The Admiralty releases a secret paper on future Royal Navy surface ship options and plans following on from the current Town class DLGs, residual 1950s and 1960s guided missile destroyers and the Type 22 and 23 frigates. Once the last tranche of Towns and the W and Z classes of destroyers are completed, it is intended that the next class of destroyer will be based around a standard 10,000t multirole hull with potential for different specialised versions. The projected Type 23s, to be laid down from 1977/78, are to be followed in the mid 1980s with a multi-role guided missile frigate, which will replaced the 64 Hunt and 72 River class now in reserve and the 36 Tribal class.
March 15: Commissioning of the first of the Royal Navy’s new Red class super fast attack craft, HMS Red Dwarf at Vospers shipyard in Portchester. The 525t boat, equipped with a rapid fire 2.5” gun, 4 Sea Eagle and 12 Cormorant SSMs and capacity for light self defence guns and missiles, has a top speed of over 70 knots and is designed to allow RN Coastal Forces to maintain their qualitative superiority over the Soviets. The commissioning ceremony is inadvertently attended by worlds famous Royal Space Force pilot Commander Ace Rimmer, who parachutes onto the quay next to the Solent after ejecting from an experimental rocket powered air speeder.
April 12: Commissioning of the United States Navy's latest Ticonderoga class supercarrier, USS Valley Forge, at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, by Second Lady Barbara Bush, bringing the USN's fleet to a total of sixteen CVANs, with a further four (Philippine Sea, Antietam, Khe Sanh and Leyte Gulf) under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding, American Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, U.S. Shipbuilding in Quincy and Bethlehem Shipbuilding at Fore River.
May 29: Argentine begins domestic licensed construction of a new guided missile destroyer based on the general parameters of the British Type 42 DLGs, albeit reduced in size and limited in armament by Buenos Aires’ finance. The Hercules class represent some of the largest and most modern warships yet built in Argentina, and are intended as close escorts for her new carrier.
July 13: Challenger, the first boat of the Royal Navy's new class of atomic cruise missile submarines is laid down at Vickers yard in Barrow, with five further boats (Champion, Caradoc, Columbia, Crispin and Cymric) to follow at Armstrong-Whitworth, Cammell-Laird, Scott Lithgow, Harland & Wolff and Swan Hunter over the next two years. The Challengers are designed to carry a very large number of Lionheart cruise missiles in new vertical launch tubes modelled on those of the strategic ballistic missile submarine fleet, along with a strong armament of Blue Moon strike missiles and Paladin anti-ship missiles. Construction of the Trafalgar class nuclear attack submarines continues at scheduled pace, whilst the supercarrier Incomparable and the battleship Defence are due to commission in November and December respectively.
August 3: The Admiralty finalises the armament suite of the new Type 23 anti-surface warfare frigates due to begin construction in the second half of 1977, with the ships to carry two twin 125mm mounts, an increased number of Paladin and Sea Eagle anti-ship strike missiles in the new Vertical Launch System cells, and an innovative new type of dual-purpose rocket torpedo.
August 25: Unveiling of a new advanced Anglo-American amphibious warship concept incorporating capacity for war machines and power armour equipped infantry in addition to tanks and armoured fighting vehicles on a new Landing Ship Tank. The ship is to have a displacement upwards of 8000 tons, carry two helicopters, be armed with a Medium Calibre Gun, two Light Medium Calibre Guns, smaller guns, self-defence missiles and a pair of rocket launcher pods, and carry up to 32 main battle tanks, up to 500 troops and various other vehicles and war machines. It is considered that the LST still has a role, despite the development of the hovercraft, in the heavy landing mission in particular potential theatres of operations.
October 7: A great fleet review at Simonstown in South Africa is reviewed by the Prince of Wales as part of his tour of Southern Africa. Along with the ships of the Royal South African Navy and contingents from Prydain, New Avalon, Canada, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand and India, the review features the Royal Navy amphibious battleship HMS Royal Arthur and the versatile Antarctic patrol ship, HMS Terra Nova, the French guided missile cruiser Suffren, and, providing the most substantive interest for many observers, the new US cruiser Los Angeles (CGN-218) and her Soviet counterpart Komsomolets, their newest 30,000t guided missile cruiser.
November 20: Decommissioning of USS Montana, the lead ship of the last remaining class of Second World War battleships in service with the United States Navy; her sister ships Kansas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Louisiana and Georgia are the last such USN warships remaining on active duty, with the last wartime cruiser decommissioned in 1974, the final warbuilt Gearing class destroyer in 1972 and the last Essex class anti-submarine warfare aircraft carrier, USS Oriskany, being paid off in August. The Reagan Administration is currently considering the utility of proposals for conventionally powered supercarrier and submarine designs to augment its currently projected construction programme.
November 22: Des Moines class guided missile cruiser USS Oregon City collides with the aircraft carrier Coral Sea off the coast of Malta, sheering off 40ft of the cruiser's bow and causing several spotfires which are extinguished by the automatic fire suppression runes emplaced upon her. Five sailors are killed and dozens are injured in the accident, which will lead to an extensive investigation and an eventual court martial of the cruiser's skipper, which results in his acquittal. After emergency repairs in Malta, Oregon City is subsequently judged as not having sufficient remaining service life to justify a full repair, and is decommissioned in April 1976.
December 11: Jane's Fighting Ships features an extensive editorial on USN nomenclature, with the development of new DEGs of the Oliver Hazard Perry class not only blurring the line with destroyers, but representing such a clear advance on previous destroyer escorts that perhaps the foreign terminology of 'frigates' should be employed; the complicating factor of that terms being used for the DLGs, which are distinct from destroyers, is seen as not insurmountable. Other changing aspects, such as the growing size of carrier air wings for the next generation of ships, play their role in the changes in the type of ships that the USN and other Western fleets are fielding; in particular, the advent of the new F/A-18, now in testing, promises to see an increase in the size and capability of American carrier wings that is being carefully observed by Britain and France.
1976
January 5: Launch of the first atomic powered supercarrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, HIJMS Taihō, at Yokosuka, with a crowd of thousands in attendance. Taihō and her projected sisters are viewed as Japan's most significant move towards full spectrum operations and the capacity to counter the likes of the Pacific Monster.
January 16: Commissioning of the latest atomic powered guided missile super battleship of the United States Navy, USS New Mexico BBGN-110, at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. In addition to her main armament of 24"/50 heavy guns and her Solaris and Tomahawk strategic missiles, New Mexico bristles with a full range of offensive and defensive missiles, guns, heat rays, lasers and rockets, including 256 new Colt 25mm autocannons in thirty two octuple mounts, 128 General Defense Mk 25 50mm autocannon in thirty two quad mounts, 6 Legion 37mm twin and 12 Phalanx 25mm quad Close-In Weapon Systems and a number of strange box-like turrets that are yet to be officially identified or acknowledged. Some foreign observers considered the latter to be a new missile system, whilst others believe it to be some sort of sensor; whatever their purpose, there is more to them than meets the eye.
February 11: The first boat of a new class of Soviet SSBN is laid down under tight security at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea. The enormous 244 metre long submarines are to carry upwards of 30 SLBMs of a new design, and are equipped with a new, highly stealthy pump-jet propulsion system. Despite the extensive efforts made to keep away prying Western eyes, the laying down is observed by a British wizard of the Secret Intelligence Service arcanely transmogrified into the form of a long distance duck.
March 12: Defence contractors begin refurbishment of the chain of twelve naval and four army Maunsell Forts in the Thames Estuary, with the seaborne platforms being strengthened and reinforced in order to support new radars, missile batteries and laser ray guns. Should testing prove this programme to be successful and efficient, there are plans for its extension, initially around further strategic estuaries along the East Coast of England, extending the depth of shore based radar and missile defences in the face of the evolving threat from the Soviet Union's air and rocket forces. A secret long term option is in place for the positioning of a large Floating Fortress in the vicinity of the Dogger Bank, which is not without its critics in high echelons of the Admiralty and Air Ministry.
March 14: A Soviet Navy battlegroup based around the battlecruiser Kursk begins its passage from Djakarta through the Sunda Strait into the Indian Ocean moves, ahead of an exercise off the East Coast of Africa. The increasing Soviet forays into the Indian Ocean have increased some calls by some advocates for the acquisition of a number of new ‘Aircraft Carrier(s) Medium’ or CVVs to augment the hulking atomic supercarriers of the USN in such secondary and tertiary theatres; there is a similar school of thought being cultivated across the Atlantic by elements in the Admiralty, and initial discussions on some measure of possible cooperation have been fruitful.
March 25: Publication of a White Paper on the future of the Royal Indian Navy, outlining projections for the production and entry into service of at least six new aircraft carriers by the year 2000, along with new indigenously designed classes of cruisers and destroyers and the ambitious goal of building India's first completely indigenous super battleship. The projected fleet is to grow steadily, with an initial procurement level of half an escort flotilla each year until 1980 to be followed by an increased rate of construction as a major new naval shipyards at Cochin and Waltair to join current facilities in Bombay, Karachi, Calcutta and Madras. India is to acquire a number of atomic submarines from Britain in order to train and familiarise its submarine forces with the particular exigencies of nuclear propulsion, along with officers being detached to the RAN and RCN for experience in the type.
April 26: The Admiralty's Trade Division and the Ministry of Shipping complete their annual review of the Merchant Navy's disposition of vessels suitable for military service in the event of mobilisation as Ships Taken Up From Trade. Of the Merchant Navy's total of 9625 vessels with a gross tonnage of 102,678,143 tons, a total of 25 liners, 69 container ships, 54 refrigerated freighters, 78 tankers, 97 cargo ships, 264 ferries and 226 trawlers, along with all 24 merchant submarines and 10 atomic powered merchant ships, have been earmarked as suitable for naval use and ranked according to their level of utility, size, provision for armament and conversion capacity. Current contingency plans call for the use of the North Sea ferry fleet for the transport of British reinforcements to the Continent in the event of a crisis, whilst the more modern trawlers which have been constructed to naval standards would be employed primarily for coastal minesweeping and support duties by the Royal Naval Patrol Service and 24 container ships, again built to a dual purpose design, would be rapidly converted to merchant aircraft carriers. Light, medium and anti-aircraft guns and missile systems continue to be stockpiled for use in the event of war, but there are recommendations for some level of rationalisation of these armaments.
May 7: USN and RN representatives sign a memorandum of understanding for the joint design and development of new classes of conventionally powered Medium Aircraft Carriers and Destroyer Escorts. The former are projected as displacing up to 87,000t, deploying a full sized air group, having a top speed of 35 knots and being equipped with a fully modern suite of defensive missiles, guns and lasers, whilst the latter are envisaged as being between 7200 and 7500 tons, and carry an armament of two Medium Calibre Guns, fore and aft vertical launch systems carrying a variety of surface to air and anti-submarine missiles, a number of other unspecified systems still under development, and operate two helicopters. The U.S. Navy is considering a requirement for at least 8 conventional carriers and 80 destroyer escorts, whilst the Royal Navy has identified a potential role for 6 carriers and 64 destroyer escorts; there is a perceived utility in being able to replace current carriers in service with New Avalon, South Africa and New Zealand, in addition to certain other potential export orders.
September 2: Joint formal design work on the United States Navy/Royal Navy Medium Aircraft Carrier begins, with a view towards ships possibly being authorised for FY 1979, whilst the first operational squadron of F/A-18s goes to sea aboard USS Intrepid and the XBQM-108A Vertical Attitude Take-Off and Landing unmanned fighter, the brainchild of the Naval Ship Research and Development Center, is tested aboard USS Caine. Across the Atlantic in Britain, HMS Unicorn, the Royal Navy's latest atomic supercarrier, is commissioned in a ceremony at John Brown on the Clyde, with her sponsor, Princess Victoria of Wales, being in attendance at the service conducted by the Chaplain of the Fleet, the Very Reverend Father John Shandor.
Air Warfare
1975
January 7: The Force Aérienne Royale Vietnamienne stands up a new wing of McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom fighter-bombers, bringing their total to three Phantom wings, along with over 450 other tactical aircraft. The lion's share of South Vietnam's air defence remains under the purview of the United States Seventh Air Force, which still operates 144 F-15s, 192 F-16s, 360 F-4s, 144 F-5s and 144 F-111s in Indochina.
April 17: Establishment of the Royal Air Force’s first composite Rapid Deployment Wing, No. 373 Wing at RAF Lyneham, consisting of special purpose combined squadrons made up of flights of Fairey Rotodynes, Hawker-Siddeley Skyblazers, Sopwith Camels, Hawker-Siddeley Harriers, de Havilland Tornadoes, Vickers Thunderbolts, Armstrong-Whitworth Warspites and Supermarine Eagle TSR-2s, with the last aircraft type in the new configuration combining electronic warfare, tanker support and communications capabilities with their bombing role. The new force, based out of RAF Kingswell and commanded by Wing Commander Peter Tyson, will operate in conjunction with troops of the Royal Air Force's Joint Special Warfare Group and the RAF Regiment.
July 6: Kaman, Bell, Sikorsky and Hughes are all invited to submit designs for the joint US Army, USAF and USMC VLRH VSTOL competition for the development of a jet powered aircraft capable of carrying up to 250 passengers or 50 tons of payload to a range of 1800 miles at a speed equivalent to or in excess of 675mph, whilst equipped with certain air to air self defence systems.
July 19: First secret flight of the experimental Focke-Wulf FW-500 Nachtmahr low observable strike plane, a joint project of the Luftwaffe and Kaiserliche Marine, at a the top secret German testing base in the Namib Desert. Konteradmiral Harro von und zu Jotunheim, the long time champion of the ambitious Nachtmahr project is heard to remark that, if war comes, the Soviets will remember why they fear the night. The Nachtmahr, with a combat radius of 1500km with an internal load of four 1000kg bombs or strike missiles, has a top speed of Mach 0.96 and apparently has the radar cross section of a football.
August 11: USAF and RCAF fighters are scrambled to intercept two Soviet Tu-95 strategic jet bombers in airspace near the Aleutian Islands, with the Red planes subsequently escorted until they fly back over the Soviet Komandorski Islands. Copious photographs are taken of the bombers, as is customary, with a number of hitherto unseen pods and what appear to be defensive installations mounted on the aircraft.
September 23: US Army air cavalry units begin testing the XM-204 125mm Soft Recoil Howitzer on mounting aboard Kaman Rotodynes as part of a broader effort for the development of integrated aerial artillery for air-to-ground fire support of heliborne assault units. It is scheduled that test flights and operations will also incorporate the almost entirely dormant force of the 24 M-105 flying tanks left on Earth (with the other 26 remaining vehicles being employed for testing of plasma shields and other advanced top secret weapons systems in the subterranean ranges beneath Edison Base on the South Pole of Luna) in a considerable surprise. Proponents of Aerial Rocket and Missile Artillery contend that airborne howitzers provide at best a limited capacity that does not justify the redirection of funding and assets away from their own weapons systems, but, in the words of Brigadier-General F. Burns, USA, "They just would say that, wouldn't they?"
October 14: An RAF Bomber Command Avro Vulcan suffers an inflight emergency and explodes over RAF Luqa in Malta, with the crew capsule managing to eject and just evade the conflagration. The aircraft wreckage lands on Sanctuary Street in Zabbar, but almost miraculously, there are no fatalities on the ground amid three dozen casualties; one of the fuel tanks just managed to miss a school in a particularly fortunate occurrence. The Vulcan had been engaging in a training flight from RAF Waddington to Malta and thence to Singapore, and was not carrying nuclear weapons at the time.
October 19: The Royal Australian Air Force issues requirements for a very long range fighter-interceptor, a multirole strike fighter and a tactical battlefield light fighter to replace their current fleet of Fairey Delta IIs, Avro Arrows and Hawker-Siddeley Merlins in the former two cases, and to provide for a forward deployable, versatile air support aircraft in New Guinea, Timor and Northern Australia.
October 21: Publication by the Air Ministry of an RAF operational requirement for a versatile multirole light strike aircraft capable of carrying out bomber, fighter, reconaissance, strike and ground attack missions.
November 28: Maiden long range flight of the Fairey Delta III strategic fighter from Barton Aerodrome to RAF Akureyri in Iceland, with the 1632 mile jaunt taking 36 minutes on account of civilian air traffic over the Inner Seas. The Delta III is powered by two new Rolls Royce Severn Mk II turbofans and has a combat radius of 1350 nautical miles, a combat ceiling of over 80,000ft and a top speed of well over Mach 3.2.
December 8: The Anglo-American Joint Intelligence Committee estimates that, including reserves, the Soviet Union would be able to deploy 4000 tactical aircraft to the Middle Eastern theatre in the event of a general war, 12,000 to Central Europe, 4000 to Southern Europe, 5000 to the Far East and up to 3000 against India, in addition to the bomber threat to Britain, North America and Japan by the Strategicheskaya Dal’naya Aviatsiya ; the improvements anticipated in the next generation of Soviet tactical fighters is considered as presenting a significant challenge to Free World air forces.
1976
January 15: Establishment of ten British Empire Composite Air Squadrons, to be based in the South Atlantic, North Atlantic, West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, South Africa, Mediterranean, East Indies, South Pacific and North Pacific, and structured along the lines of the three squadrons of the RAF's No. 373 Rapid Deployment Wing, consisting of 6 Hawker-Siddeley Hurricanes, 4 de Havilland Tornadoes, 4 Vickers Thunderbolts, 4 Fairey Rotodynes, 1 Hawker-Siddeley Skyblazer, 2 Sopwith Camels, 1 Armstrong-Whitworth Warspite gunship and 2 Supermarine Eagle TSR-2 electronic warfare/tankers.
February 10: After much deliberation, the US Air Force selects a heavily modified land-based version of the Northrop-Grumman F-14 Tomcat for its requirement for a medium ranged fighter-interceptor for service with Air Defense Command. Studies had shown that the baseline F-14 would be up to 1.7 times more effective in the postulated role than a McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle, and subsequent modifications to the ADCOM Tomcat, including a stretched fuselage, conformal fuel tanks and capacity for up to 12 AIM-54 missiles, increased this relative effectiveness to 2.36:1. An initial order for the first batch of 480 ADCOM Tomcats, or sufficient aircraft for 6 wings, is to be placed in the 1976/77 budgetary year; it is intended fill the gap between the projected active duty ADCOM force of 288 F-20s and 864 F-21s.
March 1: A Strategic Air Command RC-135 and its RB-74 Condor and F-108 escorts on regular patrol over the South China Sea south of Taiwan encounter a hitherto unknown Chinese jet bomber, seemingly on a test flight. Several very long range pictures of the elusive aircraft, provisionally given the designation H-8, are taken, with the bomber being of a similar size to a B-52, having eight engines and possessing a large crescent wing in the manner of the older models of the Handley-Page Vengeance. Whilst a number of analysts question whether the revelation of the bomber was a deliberate by Imperial China, and if so, for what purpose, the official line presented by SAC is that this new development goes to show that U.S. efforts at bomber modernisation have even greater justification. The timetable of the development of the planned replacement of the B-52 Stratofortress continues to progress forward, with competing prototypes expected to fly in 1977; the replacement of the aging B-47 and B-58 medium bomber fleet with the new B-76 Liberators will be complete in the latter half of 1976; the new tranches of the B-70 Valkyrie and B-72 nuclear powered bomber are in production; the FB-111 programme for an intermediate bomber is in full swing; and the fielding of new ALCMs, ALBMs and SRAMs on the B-52 force is providing it with a new scope of life in strategic terms.
March 17: The USAF begins a new programme for an attack bomber to replace the A-6 Intruder, separating from the USN's VAX programme due to diverging requirements, with the AB-X specification calling for a mission radius of 850 miles, a top speed of at least Mach 1.5 and a bombload of at least 24,000lb. It is intended that the aircraft compliment the current A-10 attack fighters in the ground attack role, but also be able to strike targets immediately beyond the battlefield airspace; some critics regard the entire notion of the attack bomber as obsolete in light of the F-111 and other long range strike planes, contending that USAFE commanders are perhaps a little over-bedazzled by the RAF's Buccaneers and Tornadoes, whereas other commentators regard the aircraft as filling a discernable role between fighter-bombers and longer ranged strike fighters, strike bombers and light bombers. An RCAF liaison officer is briefly hospitalised after biting his tongue too much during a briefing on the issue, later indicating, partly by mime, that the Canadair Swiftsure is apparently chopped liver, whilst his RAF counterpart mumbled something about 'replacing Canberra, again' before going out for a walk that may take some time. Whatever the outcome of the question of attack bombers, it comes at a pivotal time for aviation developments for the putative European theatre, with new aircraft being revealed recently by the Swedes, the French Rafale, the multirole fighter development of the de Havilland Tornado and BAC's next generation agile combat air superiority fighter-bomber.
May 10: Air Defence Command's and Tactical Air Command's plans for coordinated force increases and modernisation are approved, providing for an increase in TAC's fighter force by at least two air superiority and multi-role fighter wings per numbered air force and formation of a dedicated 'Silver Blade' central force of ADC fighters capable of deployment to any of the major quadrants of continental air defense, overseas holdings or allied countries at the direction of the President. This comes off the back of the establishment of two further Numbered Air Forces under TAC and one under SAC to control increase forces under the Kennedy Administration and the first stages of President Reagan's presidency, and the establishment of United States Northern Command for control of air, sea and land forces operating in Canada, Newfoundland, Greenland, Mexico, New Avalon and the British colony of Bermuda. The Department of the Air Force has issued production capacity requirements to the major US aerospace companies, with the goal of increasing tactical fighter production from the current annual level of 3200 to an interim one of 3600 by utilising latent capacity at Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Curtiss-Wright. Further research and development on armament upgrades and logistical coordination is to take place at the new defense facility at Mount Carmel Air Force Base at Axtell near Waco in Texas.
June 18: The Red Air Force begins initial production of the Mikoyan MiG-29 advanced frontline fighter, one of six tactical aircraft that sit at the centre of its plans for the 1980s and beyond, with the others being the Su-27, which is in final operational testing; the Yakovlev Yak-90 battlefield fighter-bomber; the Su-25 close air support attack fighter; the MiG-27 strike fighter and the Polikarpov I-329 fighter-interceptor. Whilst the distinct qualitative edge between the East and West seems to be distinctly growing in regard to aircraft complexity and capability, the Soviet 'Big 6' aim to ameliorate this trend insofar as Frontal Aviation is concerned. The MiG-29 in particular is considered to be a capable match for the American F-16s, F-17s and F-18s and the British Hurricanes and production orders for over 800 airframes have already been made.
July 24: The British Ministry of Defence issues a fulsome press release on a number of significant new defence programmes, with the announcement of the choice of the BAC design for the Royal Air Force's future Multi-Role Fighter; the awarding of the contract for the development of the Type 24 General Purpose Frigate to Armstrong-Whitworth, with the indication that at least 60 ships are envisaged as being built during the 1980s; and the War Office's selection of the Vickers Silver Moon general support tactical battlefield missile and the de Havilland White Rider SRBM to augment the Army's current array of Lance, Blue Water and Black Prince. The accompanying announcement that British and Commonwealth troops deployed to Uganda since Operation Oblivion on September 12 1972 are to complete their full withdrawal by the end of August, with only residual advisors, technical experts, specialist training teams, the High Commission's security force and the regular brigade of King's African Rifles remaining to support the Ugandan Army's transition to regular operations.
August 26: Maiden flight of the Hawker-Siddeley P.1256 AVSTOL experimental supersonic jet fighter, which is being developed as an expedited successor to the now famed Harrier jump jet in a joint RAF/RN/RFC programme. The P.1256, due in part to its larger wing, has a superior combat radius of 575nm compared to current VSTOL fighters and is being tested with a range of innovative new avionics and electronic warfare systems, and is projected as being armed with several new advanced multipurpose weapons systems. Whilst there is a general intent for it to potentially replace the fleet of Harriers and Sea Harriers currently in service, the projected expense of the aircraft has lead at least one Treasury official being invalided off to St Dympna's Hospital for the Elderly Deranged after having put his underpants on his head, stuck two pencils up his nose and saying the word 'wubble'.
Armoured Vehicles
1975
March 18: Western intelligence sources in the Soviet Union indicate sighting a number of apparently new armoured vehicles, including self propelled 122mm and 152mm howitzers and 130mm and 180mm guns, a new light tank with a 100mm gun, and what appears to be heavy assault guns and tank destroyers.
June 9: The Imperial German Army issues for a requirement for a replacement for the Leopard main battle tank, with Krauss Maffei, Rheinmetall, Krupp, Daimler-Benz and Hanomag invited to submit designs for consideration. Such a new tank capable of taking on the postulated Soviet armour of the 1980s presents a significant design challenge, with the precise incorporation of new emergent technologies in gun design, armour, engines and mobility promising to be an exacting task.
1976
January 23: The Red Army begins testing of a new model of the BMD airborne combat vehicle, the new APT-125 multirole medium tank (aviadesantnaya plavayushchiy tank) which is capable of both airborne and amphibious deployment to a far greater degree of utility and efficiency than previous vehicles, and the latest development of the Bronetransportyor 8x8 wheeled armoured personnel carrier class of vehicles. Additionally, Western intelligence sources indicate that a new improved version of the MT-LB multipurpose tracked armoured carrier, equipped with modernised armament, wider tracks, an improved engine and innovative new protective armour, has been approved for full production, with monthly output from the Kharkov Tractor Plant and the Stalingrad Tractor Plant expected to top 300 a month apiece by the end of the year. The last development is seen as increasingly important by Soviet defence officials, who have long decried the absence of an appropriate equivalent to the versatile M113 or FV432 in the Red Army.
March 24: The German Army issues a requirement for a new main battle tank for the 1980s to succeed their current generation of Leopards, with the vehicle of at least 60 tons to be capable of overmatching current and projected Soviet vehicles, be protected by advanced composite armour, carry a main gun of at least 125mm with compatible ammunition with the United States, Great Britain and France and have superior speed and mobility to foreign competition. It is intended for the development of the vehicle to be carried out in parallel with the construction of new armoured vehicle manufacturing facilities, so that productive capacity is ready by 1980/81 to begin to theoretically deliver over 200 tanks a month.
May 22: Opening of an Anglo-American-Canadian tank conference in Washington D.C., which seeks to discuss potential coordination of emerging technologies in the area of armour, active protection, propulsion, main armament, specialist ammunition and electromagical warfare systems for the next generation of future British, U.S. and Canadian main battle tanks. Standing NATO agreements on the number of tanks contributed to SACEUR's command by the three nations and the exigencies of MBT purchases by many of the medium and smaller European states make the development of the putative successors to the Crusader and M-70 Marshall a matter of keen interest across the West, and the East.
Artillery
1975
November 12: The Australian Army carries out tests of new very long range strategic artillery pieces in the remote deserts of Northern Australia under the auspices of the extremely ambitious Commonwealth Strategic Long Range Gun programme, which, under the direction of Dr. Gerald Bull, aims to develop two variants of a mobile ultraheavy strategic artillery piece capable of ranges out to 1250 miles, utilising ballistic data from existing strategic weapons in the mountains of Wales and Scotland and the guns of Dover and Singapore. It is envisaged that a nominally mobile weapon could provide significant additional capacity in a number of theatres; critics of the programme point at the difficult of actually achieving significant mobility for any such piece, as well as the sheer mechanics of transporting sufficient ammunition when the shells in question are the height of a hill giant.
Small Arms and Infantry
1975
April 15: Former President John F. Kennedy makes a public appearance at the unveiling of new U.S. Army small arms at Fort Bragg, firing the SR-25 semi-automatic sniper rifle and M249 light machine gun and declaring approvingly that the latter 'really tore up that grassy knoll!', in reference to the target hill. The much anticipated new U.S. service rifle competition is still ongoing, with an adapted version of the current 7.62mm M-16 being trialed competitively with an American built variant of the FAL and British, German, Swedish and French rifles for comparison.
May 8: British infantry assigned to Home Forces begin testing new weapons systems and formation assignments on a battalion, brigade and divisional level, with infantry sections now equipped with an 84mm Carl Gustav rocket launcher in addition with the L25 Longbows assigned at platoon; antitank grenades distributed to section grenadiers; new miniguns assigned to battalion support companies; Royal Artillery anti-tank and infantry support gun batteries attached to brigades; and each divisional headquarters to be assigned a dedicated independent defence company. Additionally, wizardly training numbers now permit the assignment of a full circle of three fully equipped battlemages per battalion, considerably raising the potential for deployment of arcane combat spells and devices.
August 21: Fabrique Nationale opens a new small arms manufacturing plant in Pont Llanio in Wales, with the facility projected to employ more than 2500 people, and the Belgian firm having been attracted by lucrative British government incentives, and ongoing negotiations regarding a British Army order for a modified version of the new FN Minimi as an automatic rifle. Long term discussions on a potential new British service rifle continue at a fairly slow pace, with a number of different calibres and guns proposed, along with simply upgrading the current L1A1 and L2A1 combination, such as the current integration of laser sights.
December 20: The British Army selects a new design of power armour for its heavy infantry units, along with what is described as a revolutionary new series of flying reconnaissance ‘eyebot’ drone (designated Eyebot Duraframe Subject E) and a range of heavy weapons suitable for both infantry, vehicle and war machine mountings. A concurrent review of general individual equipment recommends the fielding of fireproof Kermel underwear (known to soldiers as ‘vindaloos’), new ballistic weave combat battle dress uniform, a tactical gambeson and Sablon flak jacket and varying sets of body armour; and confirms the acquisition of the FN Minimi in the section automatic rifle role, with a number of weapons to be procured in the new experimental .308” round, to be known as 7.62 x 45mm in the bizarre metric measurements employed on the Continent.
1976
February 29: The War Office approves a raft of further measures aimed at increasing the firepower, lethality, efficiency and heavy capability of current British Army infantry battalions without necessarily increasing the number of units. Chief among them is the provision of a specific Heavy Weapons Section in each infantry company, to be variously equipped with new anti-tank rifles and belt fed assault blunderbusses, automatic rocket launchers, semi-automatic individual rocket blasters, man portable grenade machine guns and the British versions of the successful American micro- and mini-guns; the attachment of additional Royal Machine Gun Corps units at brigade and division level; and approval of the proposed inclusion of automatic rifles in infantry sections.
June 28: The Imperial German Army issues a requirement for a new service rifle and general purpose machine gun to equip its infantrymen in the 1980s, and for several new armoured vehicles, including a Schützenpanzer IFV, a general purpose APC and two separate types of Waffenträgers, whilst the Luftverteidigungskräfte outlines an ambitious plan for a range of new gun and missile based defensive system. In the afternoon, the first of the latest class of atomic powered submarine of the Kaiserliche Deutsches Marine, U-1000, is launched in Hamburg, representing the largest and most capable U-Boat ever operated by Germany.
Air Defence
1975
April 29: The British Army introduces a number of new detection, weapons systems and individual equipment systems in Exercise Redgauntlet, with new 'eyebots' providing tactical commanders with an 'eye in the sky' and the improved infra-red Foefinder and Farscry systems and Vickers Skyguard laser ray guns were successfully fielded on mobile armoured vehicles for the first time. The new variants of the Marksman and Sharpshooter self propelled anti-aircraft systems, now additionally fitted with an advanced variant of the Skyflash MANPADS and Sabre missiles respectively, apparently offer an increase in the effectiveness of tactical air defence of nearly 40%, whilst the 'miniguns' fitted to armoured and unarmoured vehicles provide a noticeable increase in firepower.
May 31: Royal Air Force Fighter Command and the British Army's Air Defence Command authorise a new study into the modernisation of British air defence plans in the face of evolving Soviet threats. The integration of current system of five overlapping circles of fighter defence, the four missile systems of the short range Sabres, medium range Broadswords, long range Super Bloodhounds and Blue Envoys and airborne missile defences with new Skyguard laser raygun ground battle-stations and a planned very long range multispectrum defence missile.
October 1: Opening of the first of four new joint Royal Air Force and Royal Space Force British phased array solid state ABM RDF installations, providing 360 degree coverage out to a range of 4325 nautical miles for aerial and ballistic targets, linked up with arcanely augmented supercomputer systems and certain other special capacities, at RAF Fyllingdales in Yorkshire. The additional stations at RIAF Basantpur near Shimla in India, RAF Meiganga in Cameroon, RAF Sharjah and RCAF Clear in Alaska are designed to provide intersecting arcs of coverage with the extensive American long range radar network, the space based RDF of the RSF orbital stations and to be seamlessly integrated with the Skyguard ground based laser raygun defence stations. RAF spokesmen declare that the installations are perfectly safe, but discourages pregnant women from walking near the radars, just in case.
1976
August 10: Beginning of Exercise Elder Forest, an test of integrated air defence of the British Isles by the Royal Air Force and the British Army's Anti-Aircraft Command, which sees over 3200 tactical aircraft of RAF Fighter Command and the RAuxAF mobilised and deployed to wartime dispersal bases and fields, as well as utilising a number of roads and sections of the Royal Highways for emergency landing and launch operations. 154 RAF Regiment and 96 RAuxAF Regiment squadrons are deployed on Elder Forest, providing triple layered security for operational bases and airfields in coordination with the RAF's missile defences and the Army's long ranged Broadsword and Super Thunderbird regiments. The OpFor is provided by strike aircraft, tactical fighter-bombers and bombers of the French Royal Service Aeronautique, German Luftwaffe and USAF flying from bases in France and the Low Countries, with interception rates running at over 96% ; an anonymous RAF spokesman stated that not all capabilities had been incorporated into the exercise, and declines to expand as to whether this included the new laser raygun defence systems.
Arms Sales
1975
July 16: A delegation of Arabian Union oil sheikhs, princes and potentates arrives in London for discussions on an extensive British arms deal, purported to be for hundreds of aircraft, thousands of armoured vehicles, and a full range of advanced missile, RDF and communications systems, with the potential payment to come both through conventional monies and crude oil, which would be onsold to European and Asian buyers.
1976
January 29: German aviation industry executives arrive in South America for a special sales and promotion tour with an aim of cracking the large Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean markets, as well as those of smaller states. Paraguay in particular is very close to an agreement for the purchase of 84 new Messerschmitt fighter jets as it looks to diversify its military suppliers and replace her aging air forces.
Strategic Weapons
1976
April 18: American, British and French and Soviet negotiators in Geneva finally achieve something of a limited breakthrough, with a Soviet proposal for the removal of strategic missile from battlecruisers and cruisers being met with American, British and French agreement. An American proposal to freeze Western and Eastern land based strategic long ranged ballistic missiles at a ratio of 1.25:1 is neither accepted nor rejected outright by the Soviets, with a request to study the matter further agreed upon. Finally, the Soviet Union has indicated that, in the interests of world peace, they are prepared to cap their planned ballistic missile submarine programme at 120 boats, with the older conventional Project 629 class to be unilaterally retired as a sign of goodwill, whilst the Project 658 class are to be replaced by assorted new construction; in return, they propose that the total number of American, British and French strategic missile submarines be set at 96, 24 and 12. The Western delegations propose a recess for consideration, with talks to begin again in 2 months. The provisional agreement on cruisers and battlecruisers, whose older strategic missiles are seen as less significant with the arrival of newer generation longer ranged weapons, represents the first major area of strategic arms limitation arguably since the Limited Test Ban Treaty.
April 22: Italy conducts a test of its first experimental long range ballistic missile, successfully firing it from a special facility in Sicily to a test range off the coast of the Seychelles. The test of the Vega missile signifies that Italy may now be considered as possessing a bona fide strategic ranged nuclear triad, along with their bomber fleet and the Alfa sea launched missile, which brings with it prestige, expense and complications. The Italian Ministry of Defence has already submitted a secret estimate that actually fielding a minimal strategic deterrent force over continental distances of 90-120 Vegas would require an increase in current defence spending by at least 60%.
Personnel and Training
1975
June 3: The Department of the Army issues a study on the role of women in the United States Army, with it uncontroversially endorsing the current system, whereby females serve as nurses and as administrative and non-combat support staff through the auspices of the Women’s Army Corps. It notes that it is unlikely for women to be able to achieve the physical fitness test requirements of running 2 miles in 12:30, completing the 50 yard low crawl in 32 seconds, march 5 miles in full gear in 45 minutes, and complete a minimum of 50 push-ups, 60 sit-ups and 12 pull-ups in successive minutes.
June 30: Delivery of the first 'British Soldier Care Packages' to troops deployed overseas and in the Empire, with the idea coming from a letter from a primary school class in Surrey. Schools across Britain will progressively prepare and post hundreds per month, providing a small modicum of home comforts, foodstuffs, tobacco, socks, letters and sweets for soldiers deployed away from home around the world, and joining similar packages provided by the Women's Institute, Royal British Legion, the Church of England, the Hospitallers, the Crown Estate and Britain's richest man, Sir Charles Ratcliffe.
July 31: The War Office announces the completion of a review of the Junior Soldier Programme, whereby boys of 14 -17 have been specially enlisted and undergone dedicated and intense training and education before commencing active service. It recommends that the programme be restructured into a multi-tiered system to reflect the differing needs and management of youths, with each of the Boys Battalions of serving regiments of foot to field Junior and Senior Contingents, effectively doubling their numbers.
Units and TOE
1975
January 8: The War Office authorises the formation of four new British Army combined arms field forces assigned to SACEUR command, for potential service in the Mediterranean, Scandinavia or in Central Europe, with the planned units forming a new intermediate echelon between a brigade and a division. Additionally, a plan for the experimental formation of two ‘armoured cavalry regiments’, or brigade sized units consolidating current armoured reconnaissance regiments, for service with the British Army of the Rhine, have been approved for field testing over the next two years.
January 27: Britain and Denmark agree to a new plan for the deployment of British forces under the auspices of AFNORTH in the event of mobilisation, with a corps sized force built around Royal Marines, Commandos, and airborne, air cavalry, armoured and mechanised divisions from the Regular Army, Army Reserve and Territorial Army, to be assigned along with Canadian and Newfoundland divisions. This considerable improvement of Denmark’s defensive position is to be facilitated with new ports, air bases and prepositioned stocks of arms, ammunition and supplies, and reflects the growing Western acknowledgment of the greater Soviet threat towards Scandinavia as a whole.
May 28: President Reagan begins his scheduled visit to Europe with a speech at NATO headquarters at the Palais de Argent at Roquencourt, pledging that US land, air, sea and missile forces dedicated to the defence of the Western Alliance will stand ever firm, and be strengthened with a new generation of sophisticated equipment and modern units suited to the changing battlefields of the 20th century. Almost 500,000 US Army personnel and 250,000 USAF personnel, along with 4600 aircraft and over 1200 missiles are currently assigned to US Army Europe and USAFE.
July 2: Establishment of two new US unified combat commands for Africa and the Middle East and India, with the latter to be known as Central Command, joining the current Atlantic, Pacific, European, Southern, Strike and Continental Air Defense Commands. No permanent forces have been assigned to African Command at this time, whilst Central Command is to take responsibility for United States Forces Middle East (USFME), which has land, sea and air bases in Israel, Arabia and Persia, and USN and US Army forces based in India; it is planned that a field army based in the Continental United States will be attached at an appropriate juncture.
August 14: Reformation of the Commonwealth Corps to control Australian and New Zealand units deployed to Germany with the British Army of the Rhine, consisting of the 1st Australian Armoured Division, 2nd New Zealand Division, 3rd Rhodesian Division and 4th South African Armoured Division. There are plans for the formation to split into SARAC and ANZAC elements in due course, should the current relative peace with Indonesia and in Rhodesia hold.
October 16: The Secretary of War announces that a further six infantry divisions will be activated by 1978 in line with the Reagan Administration’s policy of Peace Through Strength and the Army 2000 reorganisation of divisional composition and TOEs, consisting of the 69th, 75th, 87th, 90th, 100th and 106th Infantry Divisions. Additionally, a number of intermediate combined arms Field Forces are to be formed in line with successful British and French practices, and further specific light infantry formations will be raised to augment current Ranger, Commando and Indian Scouts units in the light of operations in Indochina and Africa.
November 1: Kaiser Wilhelm V signs an act which authorises the Kriegsministrie to raise four further regular divisions of the Imperial German Army, bringing it to a strength of 40. Additionally, the establishment of a number of intermediate formations, provisionally designated as kampfgruppe, is authorised by separate provisions, allowing for coordination and deployment of further field forces without exceeding peacetime levels agreed upon at Stockholm in 1961. The Reserveheer, Landwehr and Heimwehr are to remain at their currently appointed levels, whilst the Ersatzheer is to continue to not organise units above regimental strength.
November 8: The Italian Comando Supremo authorises a detailed paper on modernising reforms to the structure of the Regio Escercito, including the formation of a pair of new armoured divisions, the reactivation of the 3ª Armata and the fielding of new modern mechanised cavalry units. A proposal for the removal of the regimental level of organisation has been rejected, with it to be maintained in conjunction with the existing brigade structure, as well as in the new legione formations.
November 19: The Soviet Poliburo authorises the raising of a new Combined Arms Army and a Rifle Army for assignment to the Murmansk Military District in a move thought to be at least partially motivated by the recent Storozhevoy Incident. The deployment of further Soviet forces to the High North is bound to lead to some measure of response by NATO.
December 2: Establishment of the 57th US Marine Motorcycle Regiment attached to Fleet Marine Forces Atlantic, along with the conventional 54th, 56th, 58th and 60th Marines, the 53rd, 55th and 59th Marine artillery regiments and the first of a number of Marine Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalions. Consideration is being given to establishment of a new US Marine formation suitable for operations with the proposed new Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, incorporating the Army’s Strategic Army Corps and the USAF’s Composite Air Strike Force and Air Battle Force. The ‘Motorcycle Marines’ are one of the specialised combat units being introduced alongside the U.S. Army’s forces suited for desert warfare operations in the Middle East, Africa and India.
December 27: The British Army of the Rhine completes its currently projected buildup, with forces in Germany amounting to 8 British and 4 Canadian divisions and the Commonwealth Corps in general support, plus four combined arms field forces, one for each active corps. In the event of mobilisation, each of the 4 British corps will be reinforced by one of the Category A Army Reserve Divisions, whilst the Territorial Army's reinforced Second Army is scheduled to deploy to the Continent. Chief of the Imperial Defence Staff Field Marshal Sir Richard Sharpe, having recently accepted an extensive review of the BAOR's armament has indicated that there was now a preference for improving the capability of existing forces, particularly through new air defence vehicles, guided missiles and new emergent technological weapons systems.
1976
April 2: The War Office completes a paper laying out options for the potential growth of the British Army to face evolving threats and changing contingencies, consisting of an increase in the planned level of field forces to 14 from the current 8; the establishment of at least one of each of new types of mechanised and cavalry divisions; and the possible reactivation of the Guards Division as a fully regular formation. An appendix lays out an additional proposal to offset potential expenditure through the reduction of the British African Army, although one Ministry of Defence official remarks that said reduction seems to be the War Office’s suggested solution to quite a few problems and quandaries of late.
July 20: The first stage of scheduled reduction in size of United States Forces Vietnam from 4 US Army and 1 US Marine division to 2 Army divisions and two separate USMC Marine Amphibious Brigades is initiated, with the first formations of the 19th Infantry Division departing for Japan, and the 15th Airborne Division to follow in 1977, leaving the 4th Air Cavalry Division and 23rd Americal Division in place alongside their counterpart Commonwealth, French, European and Asian units. Meanwhile, US Army Vietnam authorises the formation of a special reconnaissance team for a clandestine investigation mission of rumours of alleged MIAs being purportedly held in North Vietnam and North Laos.
Plans
1975
October 27: The Argentinian General Staff is ordered to begin the long and arduous process of completely updating war plans for potential conflicts with Chile, Brazil, Prydain, Uruguay, Paraguay, Aranguay, Bolivia and Peru to reflect the modern strategic situation of South America, changes in armaments and nuclear questions. A second, highly clandestine detachment is ordered to prepare a top secret theoretical study on potential options and force requirements should Buenos Aires find itself in a conflict with any of the three superpowers. Premier Rodriguez's intention is to broadly focus the attentions of his staff and certain ambitious officers more outwardly than inwardly, with a view towards preserving Argentina's enviable record as the most stable South American state, and to potentially develop the capacity to distract mounting internal opposition to his domestic policies and suppression of leftist groups with external affairs of state.
December 9: The Ministry of Defence begins an overhaul of British emergency war plans and the contents of the War Book, the first significant revision since 1969, incorporating more extensive domestic security measures appropriate to an extended war, streamlined use of preventive detention and modern countermeasures to urban terrorist threats. Lengthy supercomputer studies of the ideal balance of mobilised reserves and the needs of continued operation of civilian industry and a war economy are to be incorporated into discussions, with a goal of limiting the former to between 6.25% and 7.5% of the populace to be considered.
1976
May 15: RAF Bomber Command completes its Future Forces Study, which postulates a force based around an advanced supersonic medium bomber to replace the now retiree Vickers Valiant and the Handley-Page Vengeance; the B.24/73 very long range strategic heavy bomber in combination with a new model of the legacy Avro Vulcan as a stand off missile carrier; the Supermarine Victory strategic penetrator; the TSR-2 in the strike bomber role; and the Vickers Thunderbolt as tactical interdiction strike bomber. The force structure is based on the numbers and types necessary to fulfil Britain’s statutory, treaty and alliance commitments on the size of the Royal Air Force and agreements on the deployment of specific minimum numbers of fighters, bombers, strike planes and attack aircraft across a number of theatres, concluding that ‘the bomber continues to be considered the most important and most versatile type of weapon in the aerial armies of the British Empire, as the combination of range, capacity and stand-off performance provides strategic planners and politicians alike with the broadest range of options.’ One appendix to the study does state that there may be role for a modern light attack aircraft to cater to some theatres, in conjunction with a potential Royal Navy carrier aircraft requirement, whilst another recommends proceeding with the acquisition of the Bristol Britannia II tactical transport plane.
Counter Terrorism
March 3: A crack team of French special forces storms the Société Générale in Paris, killing all but one robber and freeing all of the hostages without injury; the operation is caught on camera by a television crew conducting a live cross to the scene, leading to iconic snippets of footage being shown around the world as a sign of French military might and resolve.
March 5: Two rowing boats apparently crewed by terrorists attempting to come in to land at a beach in Tel Aviv are detected and engaged by a newly emplaced automatic 125mm gun battery at Rishon LeZion Lake, sinking both boats with ten round salvos from each of the eight guns. The raid mothership is tracked by surveillance aircraft, intercepted by a pair of RiN destroyers 65 miles off the coast of Hadera, and taken under tow into the Haifa Naval Base.
March 23: The French ambassador to Somalia is kidnapped as he departs a church service in Mogadishu. As Somali police race to locate the kidnappers, French Premier d’Ambreville summons the Somali ambassador and threatens a full blown punitive invasion of the East African country should the French diplomat not be released, completely unharmed. The Marine Royale atomic supercarrier Verdun, currently in the Red Sea returning home from a Far Eastern cruise, is ordered to change course along with her escorting battle group and proceed to within range of Somalia. Under the shadow of the French threat, Somali authorities force the hostage takers to capitulate through the mass arrest of their clan and subsequent vigorous encouragement efforts moving clan elders to requisite heights of persuasiveness; the six kidnappers are subsequently shot while trying to escape whilst en route to prison. The Somali government contemplates a complaint to the League of Nations on the coercive conduct, but the prior lack of success of Sudan in broadly analogous circumstances makes it seem to be an unproductive option.
April 24: Terrorists of the Baader Meinhof Gang assault the German Embassy in Stockholm, taking over the building and seizing 12 hostages. Whilst negotiators try to keep the terrorists occupied, a crack team of commandos from the Drabantkår's Sarskilda Angreppstvinga assault the embassy, freeing the hostages and disabling the terrorists with tactical surstromming spray.
August 4: Terrorists of the Japanese Red Army assault the U.S. consulate in Kuala Lumpur, taking 52 hostages. Within hours, the consulate is surrounded by Malay, British and U.S. forces, with the latter being flown in from Thailand on supersonic transports. Negotiations continue through the night before a heavily armed team from a hitherto secret U.S. Special Forces unit enters the building through the walls using advanced sorcery and eliminates all but one terrorist whilst concealed by special invisibility cloaks and freeing the hostages.
1976
February 2: Gunmen supporting the independence of French Somaliland take a bus with 29 French schoolchildren captive and force it to drive to the Abyssinian border. The bus is intercepted by heliborne French special forces and stormed by power armour-clad commandos utilising pacifier beams, with all children being rescued unharmed and the terrorists taken prisoner for interrogation, trial and execution. Four Orage strike bombers of the Royale Service Aeronautique rocket, bomb, strafe and napalm suspected guerrilla bases across the border in the Ogaden that evening, leading to outraged protests from Addis Ababa.
June 12: German special forces commandos of the GSG-9 team ambush a terrorist cell of the Baader-Meinhof Gang in Munich as the would-be urban guerillas attempt to leave their hideout to launch an attack on the newly opening Flughafen München. Four terrorists are immediately gunned down at close range, with the remaining two retreating back inside their fortified apartment. After a two hour siege, the walls are breached by a specially adapted urban warfare Marder fighting vehicle, and, as per new non-lethal suppression options, thousands of enraged Japanese giant hornets are pumped inside to resolve the standoff without fatalities, although certainly not peacefully; the two terrorists, suffering from more than the usual sting of defeat, are taken into custody by Munich Police.
June 15: An idiotic gang of would-be communist terrorists is arrested in a joint operation by the NIS and FBI for conspiracy to hijack the recently decommissioned Montana class battleship USS New Hampshire whilst she steamed from Pearl Harbor to Long Beach with a reduced crew for removal of remaining weapons and inactivation. The report submitted by the NIS team leader states that the hapless hooligans 'had a criminal past, but no criminal future', as their plan did not account for the battleship being escorted by destroyers as per standard operating procedure; an additional Marine detail being aboard to provide security for the remaining defensive nuclear weapons (again, as per standard operating procedure); New Hampshire's five mess chiefs all being former Navy SEALs or Naval Infantrymen, as per standard operating procedure; and that all visitors to a commissioned warship at sea are heavily scanned and vetted by the ship's wizardly detachment before their leaving the helicopter deck... as per standard operating procedure. It notes that they further had no notion of how to keep the ship's engines running without the 240 strong engineering department, no clue how to operate the navigation systems and, in general, not much clue at all. The dastardly dozen are clapped in irons in the battleship's brig and transferred ashore by Rotodyne when the vessel nears California; the incident is subsequently described as a training exercise and classified.
August 20: Egyptian special forces commandos storm hijacked Egypt Air Flight 321 as it is refueled at Luxor, having infiltrated the plane disguised as flight engineers and maintenance workers. All 102 passengers and crew aboard the Hawker Siddeley Trident were liberated without harm, whilst the three would-be terrorists are returned to Cairo to face trial, where they are subsequently found guilty of hijacking, terrorism, treachery and parking offences and sentenced to 198 years imprisonment and a two pound fine.
September 26: A team of Palestinian Arab guerillas storms the Hotel Semiramis in Damascus in an act of armed protest against what they characterise as the Syrian regime's appeasement of Israel and Western colonialism, taking over 100 guests and staff hostage. The Syrian Royal Guard is immediately ordered by the King to recapture the hotel, and an intense gun battle ensues, supported by light tanks spraying tear gas. Five terrorists are killed in the fighting, along with eight hostages, with a further 42 guests wounded in the intense crossfire. On the direct order of the King, the seven captured terrorists are immediately hanged on a makeshift gallows outside the Semiramis in a gesture meant to deter such future outrages.
Operations
1975
January 16: The Portuguese General Staff presents a report estimating that victory is in sight in the colonial campaign in Mozambique, due to the exigencies of the directly surrounding states, but that prospects in Angola are far more open, due to the impact of infiltration and support from the Congo. It states that Lisbon cannot afford the cost of a protracted campaign there by herself, and that it is likely that foreign support or intervention would be required to engineer a decisively favourable outcome.
February 10: Argentine Premier Rodriguez signs an decree ordering two corps of the regular army and 20,000 paramilitary troops of the Guardia Nacional to deploy to Tucuman Province and suppress the communist insurgency of the Ejército Revolucionario Popular and other Guevarist gangs.
May 11: A special joint platoon of British and Zulu troops move to provide security at the Karisoke Primate Research Facility in the Volcanoes National Park after scientists there had reported the presence of suspected poachers. It is thought that the recent journey by Tarzan to London to personally lobby Prime Minister Barton for increased conservation security is behind the deployment, which is to be matched by similar measures in Tanganyika and Cameroon.
June 8: Over 2400 French Foreign Legionnaires land in Beirut on a goodwill mission to demonstrates Paris's continued commitment to the security and stability of the Principality of Lebanon. The deployment comes after several months of steadily escalating low level community tensions and violence between different minority groups in the Principality; Prince Charles considers that external forces will be better positioned to adjudicate between feuding parties than his own Christian forces, which have been labelled as inherently biased by some Moslem factions.
September 1: Exercise Certain Trek, the United States portion of the broader NATO Exercise Reforger 75, begins with the movement of six divisions (1st Cavalry, 2nd Armored, 6th Armored, 8th Infantry, 12th Infantry and 15th Infantry Divisions) and four armoured cavalry regiments (25th, 36th, 50th and 100th) across the North Atlantic by air and sea, along with the deployment of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Force to Denmark and the movement of hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies by the USAF. This year's exercise includes British and Canadian forces, and particularly coordinating the re-entry of forces from those states into the Continent with the US reinforcement flow, and the customary role of the Imperial German Army in the opposing force role. Soviet defence attaches are permitted extremely supervised access to public press conferences, but are restricted from entry to any designated defence zones in Germany, the Low Countries or France, as has been the case since 1947.
October 24: Publication of the maiden issue of Soldier of Fortune, an American magazine aimed at the growing market of mercenaries, adventurers and frontiersmen interested in the evolving counterinsurgency wars in Africa. Some sources place the number of active mercenaries in the Congo and Portuguese Africa at over 9000, with thousands of others variously in the employ of Rhodesia, Kenya and the new Ugandan regime in a number of roles. The first issue is notable for a photographic step by step guide modelled by Sir Christopher Lee of the newfangled ‘Mozambique drill’ of close quarter shooting.
1976
January 14: US special forces operatives of the elite Delta Force raid a secretive village in the Shan Hills of far north of Thailand, arresting a number of communist agitators and suspected North Laotian irregular commandos who had allegedly gathered to plan the next phase of a guerilla offensive across the northern reaches of Thailand and Burma. Evidence is found of the suspected presence of another special forces team of unknown origin that had apparently been observing the village immediately prior to Operation Cobra Verde.
January 24: In response to rising unrest, internecine civil strife and mounting violence between religious based factions in the Lebanon, and at the direct invitation of the Prince, the 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère and the 4e Brigade de Fusiliers Marins of the Marine Royale land outside Beirut and proceed to deploy into the capital to provide stabilisation aid to the Lebanese Army and civil authorities, with the French Army's 25e Division Aeromobile being flown in administratively to secure Beirut International Airport. A further invitation to the United States and Britain to contribute reinforcements of goodwill is accepted, with the U.S. 11th Airborne Division and the 10th Marine Amphibious Brigade and the British 8th Royal Marine Brigade, along with the British Army's 2nd Parachute Brigade, 7th Commando Brigade, the 24th Infantry Brigade and the 68th Infantry Brigade, being alerted for deployment over the coming week.
February 13: The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army and the highest ranking African in the country’s military is assassinated in an attempted coup d’état in Lagos whilst being driven through the city to military headquarters. Loyalist forces put down the revolt, retaking the Radio Lagos station, whilst the British 74th Infantry Brigade, the Vickers Valiant tanks of the 124th Royal Tank Regiment and the elite Zulus of the 5th African Division move into their emergency staging positions in and around the capital in a show of force whilst not directly intervening. The precise operations during the coup attempt are in line with the latest iteration of the ‘Barton Doctrine’, which calls for Britain to provide intelligence and training support to national militaries in Africa in order to allow them to confront internal security challenges in their own right and as a manifestation of their evolving sovereignty. No comment is issued on the role of British officers and NCOs on secondment to the Nigerian Army, or the quite active role played by plain clothed civilian ‘security consultants’ engaged by the Nigerian government.
May 11: The Red Army begins a surprise exercise in Byelorussia, following on from earlier spring exercises, and apparently testing a number of new tactics, weapons and formations in a defensive orientation. Subsequent reports obtained by Western intelligence assets indicate that there is some concern in Soviet defence ranks that the Red Army’s primarily offensive mission, training and doctrine is creating something of a potential vulnerability; the comparative lack of combat testing of Soviet heavier weapons systems has started to become more noticeable of late. There is some concern within American and British intelligence that perhaps too much intelligence of real value is being inadvertently supplied by double, triple and quadruple agents in order to keep up their cover.
May 30: The first national German Streitkräftes Tag is held, celebrating the unifying role of the German armed forces across the country, and recognising the contribution by German forces to the collective defence of the West, whether it be at home along the Iron Wall, or serving in foreign conflicts such as the late one in Indochina. With over 2.7 million personnel currently serving in the Deutsches Heer, Luftwaffe and Deutsches Marine along with almost four and a half million first line reserves, the Kaiser's armed forces are a popular national institution, albeit one that has not yet quite shed all of the historical baggage of the two world wars in the view of some Germans.
June 21: Arrival of the second major contingent of Arab League peacekeepers in Beirut, with further tranches forecast to replace the 100,000 American, French, British, Italian, German, Spanish and Canadian troops of the Multinational Force, whose presence has been extremely successful in stabilising the Lebanese capital, and in turn reducing tensions across the crucial Levantine principality. Outbreaks of violence since January have declined from the sporadic to the extremely rare, as the presence of US, French and British tanks and armoured vehicles has acted to curb the 'enthusiasm' of the disparate factions, and this breathing space has allowed Lebanese law enforcement and military forces to begin to address many of the underlying issues behind this latest unrest.
September 6: Beginning of the annual NATO REFORGER exercise, with the 1976 edition, Exercise Gordion Shield seeing the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry, 2nd Armored, 3rd Armored, 9th Infantry, 12th Infantry, 26th Infantry, 75th Infantry and 90th Infantry Divisions being moved across the Atlantic by sea and air, along with elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps and USMC 2nd MAF deploying to Denmark, Norway and Sweden under Exercise Dawn Fulcrum and the Canadian IV Corps as part of Exercise Maple Fever. Gordion Shield and the subsequent field battle simulation Lares Team are the first major exercises to feature the new UH-60 Blackhawk general purpose helicopters and the larger Boeing CH-62 Cherokee superheavy lift helicopter, along with medium tank versions of the M2 Bradley armoured fighting vehicle.
September 20: Exercise Labyrinth, the Royal Navy's autumnal large scale fleet maneuver, begins in the Western Approaches to the southwest of Ireland. It is to pit two task forces of three carriers apiece against an enemy invasion fleet of carriers, battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft, and different stages of Labyrinth are to involve nearly all types of vessel of the Royal Navy's surface fleet, from Coastal Forces and minesweepers to the escort fleet and cruisers, including the recently purchased large frigates Mermaid, Nereid, Dolphin and Porphyrios, which had been being built for Siam prior to cancellation of the order due to political issues in Bangkok. In accompanying naval developments, the first of the Navy's new cruisers, Spartan, Orion, Neptune and Lionheart, are laid down at Portsmouth Royal Navy Dockyard, Swan Hunter, Beardmores and Harland & Wolff, and a licensed production agreement is reached between the Fairey Aviation and McDonnell-Douglas regarding the latter's Skyhawk II.
Munitions and Logistics
1975
February 17: Opening of new underground British arms complexes in Skipton, Llandovery, Athlone, Ruthin and Hawick dedicated to the production of guided missiles, operated respectively by the Hawker-Siddeley, Vickers, de Havilland, Armstrong-Whitworth and BAC production groups.
March 25: The Royal Catering Corps of the British Army begins operational testing of new 12 man composite ration packs, suitable for feeding an infantry section or equivalent sized unit for a day (or more if supplemented with locally available fruit, vegetables and fresh bread), at Aldershot. Initial feedback indicates that the ten different menus provide substantial variation of foodstuffs, and that the inclusion of various sundries and ‘luxury items’, including coffee for the first time in a modern British ration, is a welcome one; the presence of irradiated haggis in Menu 10 is somewhat more of a curiosity for non-Scottish test subjects.
May 13: Initiation of Project Tamerlane, the prepositioning of munitions and equipment stockpiles in key British colonies and strategic island bases, ostensibly to facilitate the rapid deployment and reinforcement of local garrisons with forces from the Imperial Strategic Reserve. As much of the Empire continues to move towards full self government, strategic needs continue to shift. One of the preliminary recommendations in the report which lead to Tamerlane, namely that the personnel in the Colonial Regiments be transferred to War Office control, was apparently declined by the Treasury on grounds of financial considerations.
1976
January 6: The Ministry of Defence begins a review of funding and production arrangements, with a view towards grouping munitions production and procurement under the auspices of the Ministry of Munitions, facilities and establishments under the Ministry of Supply, and of issues pertaining to pensions and military veteran's benefits under a new subordinate ministry. With the anticipated completion of the much of the substantive parts of the Empire Rearmament Programme, and the ever-rising cost of new equipment, consideration is being given to a number of new steps to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the British Commonwealth's military industrial complex.
- This little collation exercise does show what I've looked at heavily and what hasn't been covered so deeply
- I did the 1969-1974 one in 2025, and it was an interesting exercise in metacognition and analysis
- Additionally, it does show up as focused on Britain, the USA, USSR and Germany, then a bit of a gap before Argentina and India, then singular mentions for the likes of Italy
- Increasing stuff from France, Israel, China, Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Indonesia, Persia, South Africa and front and centre, poor old neglected Austria-Hungary is on the agenda
- I've made an effort to have a bit more on Germany, with 8 events related directly to them, but I feel that there can be more, in the area of submarines, mine warfare, artillery, exercises/operations, logistics, war plans, infantry and probably something on fighter development
- Similarly, France does slip by a fair bit due to a lack of French readers, but apart from more on Air and Sea, they likely have some developments coming up in Tanks, IFVs/APCs, Artillery, Infantry/Small Arms, Plans, Logistics, Strategic Weapons/Missiles, Operations/Deployments and more
- A lot of stuff on Air and Naval Warfare has been included in the last 18 months, but not as much on Tanks/Armoured Vehicles, Artillery, Arms Sales and even Air Defence
- Splitting off Counter Terrorism from Operations hopefully makes sense
- All the Munitions and Logistics posts have been British; this can be balanced out with some stuff from Germany, France, the USA and the Soviets
- In general, a bit more from China across the board may be in order
- What absolutely shows up is a bit of a dearth of stuff on Strategic Warfare and Missiles; there has also been a bit less overt mention of nuclear testing
Anything from Malcolm Stoddard’s oeuvre will get a mention, as his stern, scrupulous style works well for Dark Earth, and I’ve liked him since The Campbells.
Red Dwarf and Ace was a match that was meant to be, with the name of the boat/craft becoming obvious once the class name was “Red”. The ongoing role of Coastal Forces and global commitments mean it will get a reasonably busy time of it.
(Note to self: Include more cavalry stuff to tempt Bernard further… )
