Arise HMS Agamemnon

Your weekly dose of defence news, biased opinions and poorly curated content. You’re welcome.

Just days after drones intruded into Polish airspace, Russian fighter jets have now crossed into Estonia. NATO forces scrambled to intercept the MiGs, with Italian F-35s escorting them back to Kaliningrad. The constant probing is starting to irritate NATO members, with Poland warning Moscow not to “whine” if future incursions see jets getting shot down, with the US seemingly in agreement.

HMS Agamemnon was officially commissioned on the 22nd September by The King, who welcomed the sixth Astute-class attack submarine into service. The milestone is good news for the Royal Navy, but raises serious questions over how it took 12 years to build. This comes at a time when China is producing the entire Royal Navy’s surface fleet every four years. Yikes.

UK Space Command has carried out its first joint satellite manoeuvres with US Space Command, practising “close-proximity” operations around a British comms satellite. It doesn’t sound that exciting but when you factor in these satellites are moving at 11,000km/hr you probably do need to make sure your speed=distance/time calcs are right. The exercise marks a new phase of military integration in orbit, with space increasingly treated as an active arena rather than an inaccessible backdrop.

Big events from the past, covered in brief and probably inaccurately.

In Autumn of 1745 came the first significant engagement of the Jacobite uprising when Bonnie Prince Charlie pulled off a textbook flank at Prestonpans. Wrapped in morning mist, the Jacobite army slipped around the government line and hit them where they least expected. The result? Panic, a rout, and the Redcoats legging it after just a few minutes of fighting.

Proof that sometimes all it takes is fog and a good sidestep to win the day. The winnings didn’t last and eighteen months later the Jacobites were defeated at Culloden, along with the dream of a Stuart restoration.

Changing things up? This is where we briefly look at career options from across the civvy world - everything goes here so expect some absolute drivel. Sometimes Forces Assist can help place you, sometimes we can’t. Either way we can offer advice.

Quite a lot of guys ask us about learning on the job - obviously that is a thing, but there are also lots of free courses out there where you can learn while still serving.

We talked about this in detail on our Insta:

Over at Forces Assist we’re always looking for qualled up drivers nationally and we have some great jobs going around Cambridgeshire currently. If you have driving qualifications and are looking for work then head to forcesassist.com to start conversations.

If you have a mate who is keen we’ll give you a decent cash injection for the intro.

Cheers,

Team Forces Assist