Key UK Nuclear Deterrent Link Destroyed Over Yorkshire

Comments

• tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You couldn’t make this stuff up:

  The emergency system, called Low Frequency Fall Back or LFFB and codenamed SUNFLOWER, used a “blimp” style tethered balloon or aerostat (illustrated) to lift a 1,500 metre long radio antenna.

  So the communications with nuclear-armed submarines is a 1940s-style blimp baloon? Launched in 2003 and tethered to the ground with a wire.

  I do have to ask, where are all the £billions on “defense” going? Certainly not on blimp balloons.

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  • Gladaed@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Building a tower antenna just seems expensive. Why is a blimp that bad?

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    • deltapi@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s not. In theory they should be able to quickly deploy a replacement - towers can be easily and quickly destroyed but not quickly replaced. Aerostats can be replaced as quickly as they can inflate replacements & deploy (if needed) new ground equipment.

      They can also be deployed from a ship, not as easily done as putting a tower on a ship.

      There are a ton of good reasons to use an aerostat instead of a tower.

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    • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Maybe because it’s the second decade of the Twenty-First Century and the tech should be much more advanced than 100 years-old balloons. It doesn’t provide confidence.

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  • CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “The balloon would only be needed if all other failsafes have broken or been destroyed”, the source added. “Testing is to find the weak link in rehearsal – not on the day of the crisis.”

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  • deHaga@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This is a last resort device. If they’re putting that up, we’ve been nuked and all the bases with Comms are gone

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  • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Perhaps they should temporarily replace it with the BBC’s hot air balloon.

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  • Malica@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Into the pockets of the global military industrial complex

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• Snowdrop9144@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Concerning

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