#Flights to Visby Airport

[alexbkrieger13]

Visby has an airport and swewnt take chartered flights, so it would be stupid of them to take the bus to take a ferry to the mainland of Sweden to then go by plane to helsingfors, when they could just fly from Visby directely.

The bus definetely took the ferry to go to Visby though, but it will be left at home in Sweden while the players travel to Finland

i mean i don't expect the to drive to finland

[whittlebaggett8]

10 of the most powerful weapons NATO has to take on Putin’s Russia, Defence Online

For seven decades, the NATO alliance has practiced collective defense and deterrence.

NATO’s most “powerful weapon,” according to Jim Townsend with the Center for a New American Security, is the “unity of the alliance.

NATO needs to prepare for a high-end fight as Russia modernizes, pursuing hypersonic cruise missiles and other new systems, another expert said.

For seven decades, the NATO alliance has practiced collective defense and deterrence against evolving international threats, and over the years, its capabilities have changed accordingly.

NATO’s most “powerful weapon,” according to Jim Townsend with the Center for a New American Security, is the “unity of the alliance,” but the individual allies also possess hard-hitting capabilities that could be called upon were it to face high-level aggression.

Heather Conley with the Center for Strategic and International Studies believes that Russia is likely to continue to press the alliance through low-end influence and cyberwarfare operations. Still, she explained to Defence Online, NATO needs to be seriously contemplating a high-end fight as Russia modernizes, pursuing hypersonic cruise missiles and other new systems.

So, what does that fight look like?

“I’ve always likened it to a potluck dinner,” Townsend told Defence Online. “If NATO has this potluck dinner, what are the kinds of meals, kind of dishes that allies could bring that would be most appreciated?”

“If a host is looking to invite someone who is going to bring the good stuff, they are for sure going to invite the United States,” he explained, adding that “in all categories, the US leads.”

Nonetheless, the different dinner guests bring a variety of capabilities to the table. Here’s some highlights of the many powerful weapons NATO could bring to bear against Russia.

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter

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Capt. Andrew “Dojo” Olson, F-35 Demonstration Team pilot and commander performs a dedication pass in an F-35A Lightning II during the annual Heritage Flight Training Course March 1, 2019, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

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U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alexander Cook

“The air side of the NATO equation is led by the United States with the F-35 and other various aircraft,” Townsend told BI.

The fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is an aircraft that rival powers have been unable to match its stealth and advanced suite of powerful sensors.

Read More: US Air Force F-35s wrecked their enemies in mock air combat – even the new pilots were racking up kills against simulated near-peer threats

While some NATO countries are looking at the F-35 as a leap in combat capability, others continue to rely on the F-16, an older supersonic fighter that can dogfight and also bomb ground targets. And then some countries, like Germany, are considering European alternatives.

Eurofighter Typhoons

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The RAF Typhoon performs a low flyover at Liverpool airport prior to landing.

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Getty Images

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a capable mutli-role aircraft designed by a handful of NATO countries, namely the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain, determined to field an elite air-superiority fighter. France, which walked away from the Eurofighter project, independently built a similar fighter known as the Dassault Rafale.

Observers argue that the Typhoon is comparable to late-generation Russian Flanker variants, such as the Su-35.

While each aircraft has its advantages, be it the agility of the Typhoon or the low-speed handling of the Flanker, the two aircraft are quite similar, suggesting, as The National Interest explained, that the Eurofighter could hold its own in a dogfight with the deadly Russian fighter.

Bombers

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A B-52 Stratofortress deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., sits on the flight line at RAF Fairford, England, March 14, 2019.

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U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Tessa B. Corrick

The US provides conventional and nuclear deterrence capabilities through the regular rotation of bomber aircraft into the European area of operations.

Read More: A big batch of B-52 bombers is flying into Europe amid heightened tensions with Russia

American bombers have been routinely rotating into the area since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, according to Military.com. That year, the Pentagon sent two B-2 Spirit bombers and three B-52s to Europe for training. The B-1B Lancers are also among the US bombers that regularly operate alongside NATO allies.

US P-8A Poseidon

“There’s also the maritime posture, particularly as Russia continues to rely on a submarine nuclear deterrent. We need a stronger presence. That’s why we’re seeing Norway, the US, UK do more with the P-8As,” Conley, the CSIS expert, told BI.

Read More: Submarines are increasingly lurking in seas around the world, and the US Navy’s high-tech Poseidon is there to hunt them

Facing emerging threats in the undersea domain, where the margins to victory are said to be razor thin, NATO allies are increasingly boosting their ability to hunt and track enemy submarines from above and below the water.

While there are a number of options available for this task, the US Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol plane, which was brought into replace the US military’s older P-3 Orions, are among the best submarine hunters out there.

Frigates

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Norwegian frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad (front) leads Turkish frigate TCG Oruçreis, Belgian frigate BNS Louise Marie and a Swedish Visby-class corvette during Trident Juncture.

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NATO/LCDR Pedro Miguel Ribeiro Pinhei

Another effective anti-submarine capability is that provided by the various frigates operated by a number of NATO countries.

“The NATO allies, in particular Italy, France, Spain, all have frigates that have very capable anti-submarine warfare systems,” Bryan Clark with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments told BI.

“They have active low-frequency sonars that are variable-depth sonars. They can find submarines easily, and they are very good against diesel submarines.” These forces could be used to target Russian submarines in the Eastern Mediterranean and into the Black Sea.

“Norway and Denmark also have really good frigates,” he explained. “They could go out and do anti-submarine warfare” in the North Sea/Baltic Sea area, “and they are very good at that.”

AH-64 Apache gunship

The Apache gunship helicopter, capable of close air support, has the ability to rain down devastation on an approaching armor column.

The attack helicopters can carry up to sixteen Hellfire missiles at a time, with each missile possessing the ability to cripple an enemy armor unit. The Hellfire is expected to eventually be replaced with the more capable Joint Air-to-Ground Missile.

The Cold War-era Apache attack helicopters have been playing a role in the counterinsurgency fight in the Middle East, but the gunships could still hit hard in a high-end conflict.

German Leopard 2

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The Leopard 2A7 main battle tank of the German Armed Forces participates in the ‘Land Operations’ military exercises during a media day at the Bundeswehr training grounds on October 14, 2016 near Bergen, Germany.

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Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

The Leopard 2 main battle tank, which gained a reputation for being “indestructible,” is a formidable weapon first built to blunt the spearhead of a Soviet armor thrust and one that would probably be on the front lines were the NATO alliance and Russia to come to blows.

While this tank, a key component of NATO’s armored forces, took an unexpected beating in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, it is still considered one of the alliance’s top tanks, on par with the US M1 Abrams and the British Challenger 2.

Observers suspect that the Leopard 2, like its US and British counterparts, would be easily able to destroy most Russian tanks, as these tanks are likely to get the jump on a Russian tank in a shoot out.

US Nimitz-class aircraft carriers

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The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and ships assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) transit the Atlantic Ocean while conducting composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) on February 16, 2018.

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US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Scott Swofford

A last-minute addition to last year’s Trident Juncture exercise – massive NATO war games designed to simulate a large-scale conflict with Russia – was the USS Harry S. Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and its accompanying strike group.

The carrier brought 6,000 servicemembers and a large carrier air wing of F/A-18 Super Hornets to Norway for the largest drill in years.

“One thing the NATO naval partners have been looking at is using carriers as part of the initial response,” Clark told BI. The US sails carriers into the North Atlantic to demonstrate to Russia that the US can send carriers into this area, from which it could carry out “operations into the Baltics without too much trouble,” he added.

Read More: The US Navy’s Truman carrier strike group is bringing 6,000 more sailors to NATO’s biggest war games in years

America’s ability to project power through the deployment of aircraft carriers is unmatched, due mainly to the massive size, sophistication and training regimen of its carrier fleet. The UK and France also have aircraft carriers.

PATRIOT surface-to-air missile system

PATRIOT, which stands for “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target,” is an effective surface-to-air guided air and missile defense system that is currently used around the world, including in a number NATO countries.

There is a “need for an integrated air and missile defense picture,” Conley told BI. “That is certainly a high-valued protection for the alliance.”

Read More: Poland signs nearly $5 billion deal for US Patriot missile system facing Russia

NATO is also in the process of fielding Aegis Ashore sites, land-based variants of the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, that can track and fire missiles that intercept ballistic targets over Europe.

US Virginia-class submarines

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The U.S. Navy submarine USS North Dakota (SSN-784) underway during bravo sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean.

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U.S. Navy Photo

Virginia-class submarines, nuclear-powered fast attack boats, are among the deadliest submarines in the world. They are armed with torpedoes to sink enemy submarines and surface combatants, and they can also target enemy bases and missile batteries ashore with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

These submarines “could be really useful to do cruise missile attacks against some of the Russian air defense systems in the western military district that reach over the Baltic countries,” Clark told BI.

“You can really conduct air operations above these countries without being threatened by these air defense systems. So, you would want to use cruise missiles to attack them from submarines at sea.”

The post 10 of the most powerful weapons NATO has to take on Putin’s Russia, Defence Online appeared first on Defence Online.

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[eatcreatesleepstudios]

Travel Blog #5 - The End is Near

It’s time for the final chapter of the Tour d’Europe! This edition will be all about Develop: Brighton in England and the hardship of setting up a booth. Embark one more time into the world of showcasing with Patrick.

A stormy day

It was time to leave Vienna again and continue my travel up north to England for Develop: Brighton. This time the journey there had again been quite stressful.

From Vienna I was flying first to Cologne, from there to London and then with the bus down to Brighton. Due to a storm my flight from Cologne was delayed. Although I had reserved enough time for the transition from London Heathrow airport to the central bus station, a 90 minutes delay is not what I had accounted for. Even with the massive delay, the bus was missed by the measly amount of five minutes. This was especially annoying because just in the morning we had rebooked the bus due to a mix up in the dates. Thanks to modern technology and the tremendous help from Johannes late in the evening, we managed to book a new ticket fifteen minutes before the next bus would leave at 9pm.

By the time I finally arrived in Brighton, after ten hours of travelling, the clock was already approaching midnight. Although I like the architecture and general feel of Brighton quite well, but it can be a tourist nightmare in Summer. Especially teenagers from all around Europe like to visit Brighton and have a fun time partying. Ever experienced one of those beach clubs in South France or Italy which only play super popular music? That’s how it feels.

Luckily my sleeping arrangement was only a five minutes walk away and soon I was able to rest my bones for the night. 

Where is my booth?

The day started quite well with a misspelling of our company on the lanyard: 

You can really see here how much influence the music culture in England has on the minds of its inhabitants. Eat Sleep Create, Repeat? It was a quick fix but didn’t deliver the best first impression. The next throwback came right after, when I got told that I’m not able to attend any of the talks because my exhibitor badge doesn’t grant me access to them. Since the first day was only reserved for setting up, I’d have liked to attend some of them because the other two days I wouldn’t have time anyway while showcasing Crest.

What was impressive though, was the size of the expo. The whole conference was inside a hotel and I didn’t expect them to have a huge hall hidden in the building. The information beforehand had been sparse, I knew I would have a table somewhere, not much more. I walked around the expo and looked at all the signs to see if Crest was mentioned somewhere. But nothing. I checked everything twice before I walked into the organizer’s office. It turned out there was no sign for Crest. This is how the booth looked liked in the beginning:

As you can see there was nothing. Even the chair was from the booth next to me. The booth was also way bigger than what I had expected and unlike other developers I didn’t have a banner to fill out the huge white wall. Thanks to a friendly staff, I got a table and two chairs about half an hour later. 

A little bit later he also brought a white cover for the table and professionally put it on. There was quite some science behind doing that to make it fall perfectly. This is how the booth looked like in the end without the laptop that I’d attach the next day:

In hindsight I could have plastered the white wall with stickers or just something to make it stick out more, especially since I just had my laptop this time and no big monitor like at ReVersed in Vienna. After the booth was set up, it was a smooth sailing. In the evening the storm that had caused the delay in Cologne had arrived in Brighton and it felt like the world was about to end but other than that nothing exciting happened. My energy level had gotten also quite low at that point from all the exhibiting and I was still not fully recovered from the cold.  Luckily we have the socially accepted drug called coffee, otherwise the last day would have been terrible. It took me two cups until I didn’t sound like a lifeless robot anymore. 

My journey back to Sweden had been mostly long. After getting up at 5am to catch my bus back to London, my last connection from Stockholm to Visby was unsurprisingly delayed again. Altogether it took over 13 hours of travelling again until this Tour d’Europe was over for good and I got my well-earned rest.

Next time in the Travel Blog: Gamescom! After the success of the first season, the cast got bigger and will feature Emma & Martin additionally to Patrick. 

[eatcreatesleepstudios]

Travel Blog #1 - Accidentally Business Class

Welcome to our first travel blog, where we’ll tell you about the adventures we had while showcasing Crest around the world. Because our first showcase trip lasted two weeks altogether, we decided to make this a weekly blog as well until all adventures are wrapped up, which are quite a few as we can promise you!

The first chapter marks the beginning of the two week long trip to the Netherlands, Austria and England, altogether eight days of showcasing Crest. Since Patrick was taking this endeavor all by himself, this post and the following are written in first person from his perspective. Now let the madness begin!

The Journey to INDIGO

Thursday morning 8am, stressed out. I had a little bit more than two hours until I had to go to the airport for my first flight to Stockholm. In this time the regular blog had to be finished and other preparations to be taken care off. But the thing that I was most stressed out about: the roll up banner. 

Ours was a little bit wider than the standard, 80cm in total. 60cm is the common width and totally fine to be taken as hand luggage on a plane; with 80cm I wasn’t sure if it would work. In my head I had already all kinds of excuses prepared in case they wouldn’t let me board with it. 

11.30am I arrived at Visby airport. Security check no problem, got a few strange looks but otherwise everything went fine. But that’s usually the case. Security checks don’t care about the size of your luggage if it’s not completely oversized. The real test would be right at the gate when boarding the plane.

The beautiful but wide banner

I had almost an hour left to come up with all kinds of excuses until we finally started boarding. As always, I was one of the last to board the plane. Why would you stand in line to be on the plane before everyone else and then wait quenched like a sardine in a tin can until the rest has boarded? I rather chill a little bit longer in the, most of the times, comfy seats by the gate.

When it was finally my turn to scan my ticket, I casually hung my - way to heavy - backpack full of flyers and electronic stuff on one shoulder and tried my best to hide the size of the roll up, which was clearly not really possible. The long pole ended around the same height as my head was. But nothing happened. No fucks were given. Not even a comment. Nothing. Well, I still wasn't INSIDE the plane.

I made it! When I got in, I immediately spotted one completely empty overhead compartment right near the entrance. I just wanted this roll up to vanish and be completely sure that I will not have to check it in afterwards and pay insane amounts of money for it. Said & done. Pretty happy, that it all worked out, I sat down and took a deep breath.

Just before we lifted off I noticed a sign on the top of the left sided seat on the row in front of me: 

SAS Plus 

On this side of the sign

Turns out I was sitting in the business class! That explains why this row had still been empty as well as the overhead compartment. So much to keeping a low profile and not drawing any attention to myself or the luggage!

I was not ready to move. I just sat there and waited if somebody would say anything. Up in the air one of the flight attendants walked up to me... and asked if I would like a coffee or tea. I gladly took some coffee after all the stress; I also haven’t had time for one earlier on. 

This is actually working! I couldn’t stop smiling about the absurdity of the situation, especially later on when I got asked if I would like a turkey or cheese roll. I’d never been treated so well on a flight and been given so much special attention, although it had been the complete opposite than what I’d wanted in the beginning.

Full and happy, I landed in Stockholm. I had two hours until my next flight to Amsterdam. From there I'd take a train to Utrecht, the city where INDIGO would take place.

I checked my flight ticket on the phone again. For the first time I noticed a big letter with a number, labeled SEAT on it. I checked my ticket for the previous flight again. Yes, I would have had an assigned seat, obviously not the one I had chosen. 

I'm used to low-cost flights without designated seating, that I had never even considered having something as a seat number. My head had been too busy worrying about the roll up. Needless to say, next flight I took the correct seat. I didn’t want to stretch my luck. There were still two weeks to go on this trip.

Travelling, it never gets boring.  

Next week I’ll tell you all about the crazyness that happened at INDIGO, including ripped clothes and prison cells!