• Schiffsmädchenjunge
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    1418 hours ago

    The Rafale can carry the ASMP, a french nucular cruise missile and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gripen could be upgraded such that it can do so as well.

    • @a887dcd7a
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      1117 hours ago

      Kay. Coming from Germany it is about the nukes of our … ehm… “friends”. We still use the Tornado from 1974 because of incompabilities of our Eurofighters.

      • @[email protected]
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        68 hours ago

        That is mainly because Germany does not want to give the US all the blueprints of Eurofighter, rather then it being technically impossible to do.

        • @a887dcd7a
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          16 hours ago

          Might be the reason, but doesn’t change the situation. I heared the RAF Typhoons are years ahead and also able to carry nuclear bombs.

          Anyhow flooding the zone with Mirrages, Rafaels, Gripen and Eurofighters would be nice 😊

          • @[email protected]
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            219 minutes ago

            The UK does not have nuclear capable Eurofighter either. The only operational nuclear weapon system in British service is Trident, which is a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

            As for Eurofighter of each Tranch are mostly the same design. However a Tranch1 Eurofighter is a much less capable plane then a Tranch3 one. The big difference is that the UK is replacing its Tranch1 Eurofighters with F-35 and Germany is waiting longer for Tranch4 Eurofighters, which will been completed 2030. There are also some differences in the weapons they carry and some different targeting pods and the like, but nothing insanely big.

          • trollercoaster
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            35 hours ago

            The difference is mainly that the UK has their own nuclear warheads, so adapting a plane that’s partially manufactured by them to those bombs is a pretty straightforward task that doesn’t require sharing of secrets with an increasingly hostile “ally”.

            • @a887dcd7a
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              14 hours ago

              Thanks for explaining. I was under the impression they can carry US made warheads, but this makes much more sense.

              • trollercoaster
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                4 hours ago

                That’s just a guess from me, but since the UK has a domestic nuclear weapons programme, it would make a lot of sense to them to develop their own bombs and equip their own aircraft for dropping them.

                A different part of the UK’s nuclear deterrent is awfully US dependent, though, they chose US made Trident ballistic missiles as carrier system for their submarine launched strategic warheads.

                • @a887dcd7a
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                  24 hours ago

                  Dated March 2023 this article is not so explicit about Typhoon being capable 😬 So they bought the F-35 (but remanufactured the electroings much like Israel).

      • @[email protected]
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        511 hours ago

        Does that matter though? e.g. if you do a nuclear strike, wouldn’t you bring enough support to make sure the nuke reaches its target?