I just wanted to touch on some aspect that came out after President Macron’s peculiar post.
Historically France's deterrence relied on the classic triad of Sea (SLBM), Ground (SRBM/IRBM) and Air with the AN-11 and AN-22, analogous to the US' B61/83. 2/22 
Being the most important sensor on China’s first rank destroyers, equivalent to the US Navy’s SPY-1/6s, understanding the “Dragon Eye” is critical to correctly evaluate the capabilities of the Chinese navy. 2/17 
Since the War in Ukraine of 2022, and to some extend the Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020, there has been prolific debates on how drones from the TB-2 to the FPV are changing warfare, making expensive legacy systems like tanks, jets or air-defense now obsolete. 2/15 
A first overall comment is that S-300P TELs differ significantly from previous Soviet TELs with fully enclosed missile cannisters and cold-launched ejection. The disposition allowed for easier missiles handling, maintenance and 360° launch capability. 2/11 
As we saw in the previous part, in the S-300P systems threats are detected by the long-range radars transferring the tracking data to lower level dedicated engagement radar at the battery level. 2/14 
Like older Soviet SAMs using the P-12/14/15/18s, the S-300P uses dedicated long range early detection radars. Due to their high price (command post + RLO was roughly the price of a full battery), they were only at the brigade/regiment level directing 2-6 batteries. 2/16 
The Panoramic Sensor and Intelligence Module (PSIM) is a fully integrated mast hosting coms, EW, radars but also the entire Combat Information Center ! 2/10 
This part of the series will give an overview of the different systems that came out of the development and latter iterative upgrades of the S-300P family. 2/24 
By the mid-1960s, with the fielding of the long-range S-200 and the layers of medium range S-25, S-75 and S-125, the USSR was effectively able to defend itself against most threats from the US. 2/17 
I see a lot of people being confused when referring to this system, switching between Hirm, Grom-2 or Sapsan, hopefully this thread will clarify the situation. 2/19 
Following the Russo-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreement on industrial, scientific and technical cooperation of the 18th November 1993, the Luch design bureau received an X-35 (Kh-35) missile from Zvezda-Strela. 2/20 
While the genesis pf the YJ-18 is unclear, it seems to originate from the studies launched by the PRC in 2000 to support its A2/AD strategies and counter the Aegis Combat System. CASIC’s Third Academy led the design process for this new class of anti-ship cruise missiles. 2/17 
In light of recent events with the unveiling of the US’s new AIM-174B, let’s discuss the threat it’s mostly meant to counter, the YJ-12. 2/17 
In the early 1970s, seeking a replacement for their ageing P-15 Termit, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) expressed the need for a new anti-ship missile, kick-starting a new prolific family of Western inspired missiles still in use today. 2/23 
In the late 70s, the emergence of new Soviet supersonic antiship missiles like the SS-N-22 Sunburn started to worry NATO member states. As such in 1975 the NATO Project Group 16 started to work on a new antiship missile to replace the Exocet and Harpoon. 2/16 
The tragic story of the AGM-129 is representative of disruptive but troublesome programs like the B-2 or F-22. Designed to fight a bygone enemy, they brought significant improvements in stealth to a post Cold-War world that no longer had a need for them. 2/28 
On the opening night of Operation Desert Storm on the 17th January 1991, the US launched a massive salvo of 288 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles. This destructive power left a lasting impression on many nations including France. 2/21 
In the mid-2000s, the US Navy concluded that the legacy Harpoon would not be enough anymore in light of the worsening security environment at sea, along with the rise of the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy as a credible near-peer adversary. The US needed a new ship-killer. 2/16 
The need for guided missiles to defend Navy assets became evident following the use of the German Fritz-X guided glide bomb, sinking the Italian battleship Roma on the 9th of September 1943, damaging the USS Savanah on the 11th. 2/27 
Regarding ballistic missiles, especially nuclear tipped ones, the focus is often on their destructive powers and on the questions of deterrence or proliferation, so for a change this thread will dive in the underappreciated world of ballistic penetration aids. 2/24 