Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

They refused to supply the ammunition, I can't remember where the blokes got them in the end but Belgium annoyed quite a few people. At the end of the day, Belgium didn't do themselves any favours.

Back then the UK used the FN-FAL, right? I think the Canadians were using it too, so if Belgium refused to sell the ammunition to these assault rifles; the British might purchase the ammunition from Canada.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

Back then the UK used the FN-FAL, right? I think the Canadians were using it too, so if Belgium refused to sell the ammunition to these assault rifles; the British might purchase the ammunition from Canada.

I believe it was larger calibre ammunition Belgium wouldn't supply, Radway and other UK factories in UK produced small arms ammunition by the millions, so that was not the problem. I can't exactly remember but I believe it was the US supplied us with what we needed.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

I believe it was larger calibre ammunition Belgium wouldn't supply, Radway and other UK factories in UK produced small arms ammunition by the millions, so that was not the problem. I can't exactly remember but I believe it was the US supplied us with what we needed.

I heard/read the British Intelligence tried to buy every Exocet missile on the black market, if they couldn't, the Intelligence destroyed them, meanwhile the British Government tried to convince France to not sell them to Argentina. The US even provided the UK with satellite pictures and all the US known about Argentina

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

I heard/read the British Intelligence tried to buy every Exocet missile on the black market, if they couldn't, the Intelligence destroyed them, meanwhile the British Government tried to convince France to not sell them to Argentina. The US even provided the UK with satellite pictures and all the US known about Argentina

From what I understand the Falklands war put the US in a very awkward position, as the US were allies of both Britain and Argentina.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

From what I understand the Falklands war put the US in a very awkward position, as the US were allies of both Britain and Argentina.

I will take a plunge into the Falklands War; the last documentary I watched about it was the 20th Century Battlefield. A father and son thing, their last name is Snow, I think. The son has a TV show called Battle castle going on right now (Discovery Channel)

If I remember correctly; India faced a lot of problems to get spare parts and ammunition after they purchase the howitzer 77 from Sweden, the Swedish left-wing government disliked India’s conflict with Pakistan.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

I will take a plunge into the Falklands War; the last documentary I watched about it was the 20th Century Battlefield. A father and son thing, their last name is Snow, I think. The son has a TV show called Battle castle going on right now (Discovery Channel)

I've never heard of a TV show called Battle castle.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

If I remember correctly; India faced a lot of problems to get spare parts and ammunition after they purchase the howitzer 77 from Sweden, the Swedish left-wing government disliked India’s conflict with Pakistan.

This is the problem with buying military hardware from another country. I remember Britain bought a load of 22 rimfire ammunition from India years ago because it was cheaper then the British manufactured, most of it misfired.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

I've never heard of a TV show called Battle castle.




This is the problem with buying military hardware from another country. I remember Britain bought a load of 22 rimfire ammunition from India years ago because it was cheaper then the British manufactured, most of it misfired.

BattleCastle is on History Channel, my bad, sorry about that. I add the trailer for it. Dan Snow is traveling around and visiting old castles in Europe and one in the Middle East, how they were built and what happened to them. Interesting for people into that kind of history.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GosN_DWuQx8"]Battle Castle.TV: Series Trailer with Dan Snow now airing on History TV in Canada - YouTube[/ame]

The Swedish affair with the howitzer deal to India was a political bomb, when the Swedish government refused to sell spare parts, new howitzers, and ammunition. The arm manufactory (Bofors) sold the Indians things under the table, but a whistleblower exposed to whole thing.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

The Swedish affair with the howitzer deal to India was a political bomb, when the Swedish government refused to sell spare parts, new howitzers, and ammunition. The arm manufactory (Bofors) sold the Indians things under the table, but a whistleblower exposed to whole thing.

That seems strange as Bofors was taken over by BAE a massive British arms manufacturing company, it even supplies the aft fuselage, tails, fins, electronic warfare system, and various other sub-systems for the F-35 Lightning II.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

That seems strange as Bofors was taken over by BAE a massive British arms manufacturing company, it even supplies the aft fuselage, tails, fins, electronic warfare system, and various other sub-systems for the F-35 Lightning II.

The whole arm manufacture sector is a very complex thing to figure out, who owns what. The risk for similar events as what Belgium did is perhaps lesser today. The thinking behind this is to get the European arm manufactures to be one, more or less. Countries are so dependent on to get what they need, for the European battle groups, the Petersberg's tasks etc. So if one doesn't want to do something, that country might lose the supplies for their own forces.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

The whole arm manufacture sector is a very complex thing to figure out, who owns what. The risk for similar events as what Belgium did is perhaps lesser today. The thinking behind this is to get the European arm manufactures to be one, more or less. Countries are so dependent on to get what they need, for the European battle groups, the Petersberg's tasks etc. So if one doesn't want to do something, that country might lose the supplies for their own forces.

I agree totally, but do yourself a favour and check out the BAE website and see what they are up to, what they produce and where, I was amazed. They even took over Denel here in South Africa.