ran

erm ... I once climbed up a bicycle lane sign at night while singing Queen's Bicycle race, doing as if I was pushing a bike with my feet ... needless to say that I was drunk and thank god digicams didn't exist back in those backward times ... Well, it was all pretty nice, unfortunately I couldn't be in Toulouse and I haven't been able to catch the live take off and the landing as I was too busy, but I know a few people working at Airbus industries who were looking at the flight on a large screen in one of their hangers, and they're still celebrating . Now, I hope the A380 will make a good job in what it's intended to do .... and Ican't help but imagine the possibilities in matter of military deployment with one of these beasts in place of the air force A310-300 along with a few A400M ... Talk about force projection ... (now, you just have to find an airport where to project the flying whale though )

€0.80 here at my office

You better watch out for any insulted scandinavians.. It was precisely aimed at them Englishmen are just fair game

ain't that the flag of some scandinavian country ?? just kidding, don't lynch me

The ofp forum joint UK/US detachment arrives and starts making old tired jokes about french military and get their throats cut during the night? with a slight variant if I'm around ;)

Back in my time, we'd just get a wooden stick and we'd push an old tyre around with it ... just kidding I was more into meccanos and small plastic soldiers (pre-painted Starlux ones mainly) to go with my Solido vehicles . (and I don't even thinks there were any legos around, at least in France, back when I was still messing with this kind of stuff)

Quite interesting Seems like the swedes have a pretty high opinion of themselves héhé I don't read this kind of stuff either usually (yes, the state of our defence industry is something I genuinely care about aslong as the things i'm given to play with work ), but some parts were pretty interesting

Swedish swedish report on french defence industry Just came accross this one, it's a few months old, did you get to read it Denoir ?

that's a good start

This made me laugh first time i read it lol. Oddly enough, I didn't find this funny... go figure ...

ouch .... did the photographer live up to develop this picture ? Minus two fingers and an eyebrow, but I'm alright I know(knew) people who"ve been less lucky with this kind of toys

ouch .... did the photographer live up to develop this picture ?

Dynamite fishing is a no-no I prefer offensive handgrenades personnaly

hmm french army desert camo trousers ... I'm wearing a pair of those as I type

As a french humorist said here "he's been dying for roughly 20 years now". He's never been the same again since he's been shot at ... I'm somewhat atheist (I have to admit I tend to believe only when it reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally suits me though) but I have to say he was great man, he did a lot for peace around the world and for the reform of the church aswell. Now, look forward for the TV broadcast under all angles of the Vatican buildings and long long live reports from the medias during the conclave.... (he's not dead yet, but tonight, tomorow, in 3 days or in a week, I'm pretty sure he'll be gone).

http://dboy.cpgl.net/France/FaMas/f_es200402.jpg http://dboy.cpgl.net/France/FaMas/f_es200401.jpg look at what they did to my baby ....... -edit- http://www.giat-industries.fr/asp/fr/pdf/fr_ftech_famas.pdf the DGA (the organism responsible for the acquisition of everything related to weapons and french armed forces) notified the GIAT of its will to get roughly 20 000 FAMAS F1 rifles taken to the FAMAS surbaissé standard, a lower-profile FAMAS ... and this is to be done before 2008 normally... It's the carrying handle which made all its look ... and now they're removing it ... raah

as long as it works ... you could give a skilled man the last of the WWII vintage self-loading rifle and he could do anything with it. What the hell is up with this dick wagging contest ? It's a rifle, it shoots bullets. (says the man who's been disgusted by the "facelift" of his once beloved gun)

Depends of the kind of RPG warhead. The reactive armor on IFV would be counter-productive, the goal is not to make the killing of your infantrymen easier but to offer them fire support.

french spelling ;)

steel debris + plasma in fusion + concussion = bad for the people around

why not? the Isrealies did it http://www.defense-update.com/features/du-1-04/reactive-armor.htm Why not ? Because the goal is not to kill or incapacitate nearby ally infantrymen (they aren't called IFV's for nothing). The GIAT proposed a reactive armor set for the AMX10P, which has been quickly ruled out by the french army.

The 10P is in my eyes somewhat obsolete. I wouldn't mount one anymore like I did in the 80's. It's just weak, thin skinned and is well worth a VAB T20 in my eyes. It isn't much use if it's not revalorized soon with newer up to date systems and protective devices. I hope we'll get our VBCI quite fast to replace this old scrap of steel. It has seen action in the Balkans: Bosnia as you pointed out but also Kosovo iirc by the way.

If you can get your hands on a DVD edition of Dien Bien Phu or the 317th section by Pierre Schoendoerffer, buy them without hesitation. Scemo di guerra, or Le fou de guerre, a 1985 movie, the last one of a famous french comedian, Coluche, is quite original and interesting. It's about an Italian military doctor during the north african campaign.

Don't spam But you have to admit that the good sense would make you leave all the needless shit in the camp on on the back of the logistics trucks. You don't need 2 weeks of supplies on the turret neck of your toy. IIRC there were a lot less blue on blue accidents involving armored vehicles this time than in GW1 especially due to more efficient IR panels and better Night Vision equipment.

Being tazzed is not fun at all IRL by the way ... hopefully didn't make me crap or pee my pants ...