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SOUTH CHINA SEA (July 7, 2016) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) patrols the South China Sea. Guided-missile destroyers are multi-mission anti-air warfare, anti surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare combatants, which operate independently for support of carrier and expeditionary strike groups and surface strike groups. Curtis Wilbur is on patrol with Carrier Strike Group Five (CSG 5) in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Burke/Released)

Soldiers from the North Carolina and Alabama National Guard join their Moldovan peers for Operation Fire Shield 2019 hosted by Moldova, Sept. 12 at Bulboaca Training Area, Moldova. Here, a Moldovan soldier checks a gun line before firing. Fire Shield’s mission is sharing knowledge and best practices between the NCNG and ALNG artillery experts Moldovan Soldiers and officers and other nations attending the annual event. The NCNG has teamed with Moldova for more than two decades via the State Partnership Program designed to increase peace and stability across Europe. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan, North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs/Released)

Must attribute with link to: www.ptpioneer.com

Stability ball plank Exercise

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sweden required a strong air defense, utilizing the newly developed jet propulsion technology. This led to a pair of proposals being issued by the Saab design team, led by Lars Brising. The first of these, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft, which bore a resemblance to the American Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The second design, which would later be picked as the winner, was a barrel-shaped design, codenamed R 1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile upon closer study.

 

The original R 1001 concept had been designed around a mostly straight wing, but after Swedish engineers had obtained German research data on swept-wing designs, the prototype was altered to incorporate a 25° sweep. In order to make the wing as thin as possible, Saab elected to locate the retractable undercarriage in the aircraft's fuselage rather than into the wings.

 

Extensive wind tunnel testing performed at the Swedish Royal University of Technology and by the National Aeronautical Research Institute had also influenced aspects of the aircraft's aerodynamics, such as stability and trim across the aircraft's speed range. In order to test the design of the swept wing further and avoid any surprises, it was decided to modify a single Saab Safir. It received the designation Saab 201 and a full-scale R 1001 wing for a series of flight tests. The first 'final' sketches of the aircraft, incorporating the new information, was drawn in January 1946.

 

The originally envisioned powerplant for the new fighter type was the de Havilland Goblin turbojet engine. However, in December 1945, information on the newer and more powerful de Havilland Ghost engine became available. The new engine was deemed to be ideal for Saab's in-development aircraft, as not only did the Ghost engine had provisions for the use of a central circular air intake, the overall diameter of the engine was favorable for the planned fuselage dimensions, too. Thus, following negotiations between de Havilland and Saab, the Ghost engine was selected to power the type instead and built in license as the RM 2.

 

By February 1946 the main outline of the proposed aircraft had been clearly defined. In Autumn 1946, following the resolution of all major questions of principal and the completion of the project specification, the Swedish Air Force formally ordered the completion of the design and that three prototype aircraft be produced, giving the proposed type the designation J 29.

On 1 September 1948, the first of the Saab 29 prototypes conducted its maiden flight, which lasted for half an hour. Because of the shape of its fuselage, the Saab J 29 quickly received the nickname "Flygande Tunnan" ("The Flying Barrel"), or "Tunnan" ("The Barrel") for short. While the demeaning nickname was not appreciated by Saab, its short form was eventually officially adopted.

 

A total of four prototypes were built for the aircraft's test program. The first two lacked armament, carrying heavy test equipment instead, while the third prototype was armed with four 20mm automatic guns. Various different aerodynamic arrangements were tested, such as air brakes being installed either upon the fuselage or on the wings aft of the rear spar, along with both combined and conventional aileron/flap arrangements.

The flight test program revealed that the J 29 prototypes were capable of reaching and exceeding the maximum permissible Mach number for which they had been designed, and the flight performance figures gathered were found to be typically in excess of the predicted values.

 

In 1948 production of the type commenced and in May 1951 the first deliveries of operational production aircraft were received by F 13 Norrköping. The J 29 proved to be very successful and several variants and updates of the Tunnan were produced, including a dedicated reconnaissance variant and a dedicated all-weather fighter with an on-board radar, the J 29D.

 

The J 29D variant originally started its career as a single prototype to test the Ghost RM 2A afterburner turbojet with 27.5 kN (2,800 kgp/6,175 lbf). The new engine dramatically improved the Tunnan’s performance, esp. concerning the start phase, acceleration and climb, and was eventually adopted for the whole J 29 fighter fleet in an update program, leading to the J 29F variant.

 

However, at the time of the RM 2A trials, Sweden was more and more in need for a suitable all-weather aerial defense for its vast, neutral airspace in the vicinity of the Soviet Union. Only a single flight of the Swedish Air Force, F1 in Hässlö, operated roundabout thirty radar-equipped fighters, and these were outdated De Havilland Mosquito night fighters (locally designated J 30).

 

The highly successful J 29 was soon considered as a potential air-intercept radar carrier, offering a much more up-tp-date performance and deterrent potential against would-be intruders. Consequently, Saab started the development of an indigenous all-weather fighter on the basis of the Tunnan (originally coded “J 29R”). The work started with aerodynamic trials of different radome designs and placements on a Tunnan’s nose, e .g. inside of the circular air intake opening or above it. No major drawbacks were identified, and in 1955 the decision was made to convert thirty J 29B daylight fighters for the all weather/night fighter role. These machines officially inherited the designation J 29D.

The J 29D’s compact radar, called the PS-43/T, was designed by CSF (Compagnie Generale de Telegrahpi Sans Fil) in France after the Swedish specification. It had a wavelength of 3 cm with an effect of 100 kW, and it was to have a spiral scan pattern. Range was 15-20 km, only a slight improved against the Mosquitos’ bulky SCR-720B radar set, which only had a range of 12-16km. But the system’s compact size and the ability to be operated by the pilot alone meant a serious step forward. 34 sets were delivered together with blueprints in 1956, and the PS-43 radar system was later modified and adapted to the Saab 32 Lansen, too.

 

The structural modifications for the radar-equipped Tunnan were carried out in the course of the ensuing J 29F update program, which had started in 1954. Beyond the afterburner engine and dogtooth wing updates for the day fighters, the J 29D also received a re-designed nose section which now featured a thimble radome for the PS-43/T, integrated into the upper air intake lip, reminiscent of the F-86D’s arrangement. The air intake itself kept the original circular diameter, but the opening was slightly wider, raked forward and featured a sharper lip, for an improved airflow under the radome. Overall performance of the J 29 did not suffer, and the conversion took place swiftly thanks to a simple replacement of the nose section in front of the windscreen and the installation of a shielded tracking monitor in the cockpit.

 

Experiments with a heavier cannon armament (consisting of four, long-barreled 30mm guns in the lower fuselage) for the J 29 in general were conducted in parallel, too. But, despite showing no negative effect on the J 29’s handling or performance, this upgrade was not introduced to any of the J 29 variants in service and so the J 29D kept its original four 20mm cannon as main armament, too. Additional ordnance consisted of optional racks with 75 mm/3 in air-to-air rockets under the inner wings against large aerial targets like bombers. A pair of drop tanks could be carried on the outer pylons, too, and they were frequently carried in order to extend range and loiter time. Other loads, including bombs or unguided air-to-ground missiles, were possible, but never carried except for in practice.

 

The last converted J 29D was delivered back to the Swedish Air Force in late 1956, just in time to replace the last active J 30 Mosquitos in service, which had been gradually phased out since 1953. In parallel, the radar-equipped J 33 Venom was introduced into service, too, since the small number of J 29Ds had in the meantime turned out to be far from sufficient to effectively cover the Swedish air space against large numbers of ever faster jet bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. The J 29D fulfilled its role and duty well, though, and was just as popular as the daylight fighter versions.

 

Initially, all J 29D were delivered in bare metal finish, but they were soon adorned with additional markings on fin and wing tips for easier recognition and formation flights. A few all-weather fighters of F1 Flygflottil experimentally received the blue/green camouflage which had been adopted for the S 29C reconnaissance aircraft, but this was found to be ineffective at the typical altitudes the interceptors would operate. As a consequence, the scheme was quickly changed into the much lighter livery of the former J 30 and J 33 fighters, although the bare metal undersides and the formation markings under the wing tips were retained – even though this practice was confined to F 1 and not consequently carried out among all of the fighter squadron's J 29Ds. Some J 29D furthermore carried various forms of black ID bands for quick identification in war games, but unlike the day fighters, these markings were limited to the undersides only.

 

From 1963 onwards all frontline J 29Fs were equipped with AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-seeking air-to-air missiles, designated Rb 24 in Swedish service. This update was also carried out among the J 29D fleet, and the new, guided missiles considerably improved the aircraft’s capabilities.

 

Anyway, the J 29D’s small number remained a fundamental problem that prevented bigger success or even export sales, and due to the quick technical advances, the J 29D remained only a stopgap solution. The much more capable Saab 32 Lansen had been under development and its dedicated all-weather fighter variant, the J 32B, had already entered service in 1958, replacing the mixed and outdated lot of radar-equipped fighters in Swedish service.

Nevertheless, the J 29D soldiered on, together with the rest of the J 29F and S 29C fleet, until 1970, even though not in front line duties anymore.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 10.80 m (35 ft 4 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)

Height: 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)

Wing area: 24.15 m² (260.0 ft²)

Empty weight: 4,845 kg (10,680 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,375 kg (18,465 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Svenska Flygmotor RM2B afterburner turbojet, rated at 6,070 lbf (27 kN)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,060 km/h (660 mph)

Range: 1,100 km (685 mi)

Service ceiling: 15,500 m (50,850 ft)

Rate of climb: 32.1 m/s (6,320 ft/min)

 

Armament:

4x 20mm Hispano Mark V autocannon in the lower front fuselage

Typically, a pair of 400-liter (106 US gallon) or 500-liter (132 US gallon) drop tanks was carried on the outer “wet” pylons

Further air-to-air ordnance initially consisted of 75 mm (3 in) air-to-air rockets, from 1963 onwards the J 29D could also carry up to 4x Rb 24 (AIM-9B Sidewinder) IR-guided air-to-air missiles.

Optionally (but never carried in service), the J 29D could also deploy a wide range of bombs and unguided missiles, including 145 mm (5.8 in) anti-armor rockets, 150 mm (6 in) HE (high-explosive) rockets or 180 mm (7.2 in) HE anti-ship rockets

  

The kit and its assembly:

Sweden is a prolific whiffing territory, and the Saab 29 offers some interesting options. The all-weather Tunnan was a real Saab project, and things actually got as far as the aforementioned radome shape test stage. But eventually the project was fully dropped, since Saab had been busy with standard J 29 production and conversions, so that this aircraft never materialized, just as the projected side-by-side trainer Sk 29 of the same era.

 

However, I recently came across a nice Saab 29 book which also covers some projects – including drawings of the radar-equipped Tunnan that never was. My converted model with the thimble radome and the raked air intake is based on these drawings.

 

The basic kit is the Heller Saab 29, which I deem superior to the Matchbox Tunnan, with its mix of raised and engraved panel lines and overall rather soft detail (despite the surprisingly nice cockpit). Anyway,, the Heller kit has its flaws, too, e. g. a generally weak material thickness, lack of locator pins or other stabilizing aids and some sinkholes here and there.

 

The kit was built mostly OOB, with as much lead in the gun tray as possible - and it actually stands on its own three feet/wheels! The only major change is the modified nose section. It sounds simple to graft a radome onto the Tunnan's nose, but the rhinoplasty was challenging. The whole front end had to be renewed, based on the profile drawings and sketches at hand.

 

The thimble radome is actually a recycled drop tank front end from a Hasegawa F6F Hellcat. The raked, lower aitr intake lip comes from a Matchbox Mystère IVA - but it lost its splitter, was reshaped and had the OOB air intake duct glued into place from behind. Once the intake was glued into its place, a wedge opeing was cut into the area in front of the canopy and the drop tank radome adapted to the gap, a step-by-step approach, since I wanted to have the radome slightly protrude into the airtake, but also keep a staright line in front of the windscreen.

 

Additional details include new pitots on the wing tips and some additional antennae. The heat shield for the afterburner engine is OOB, as well as the streamlined drop tanks and their pylons. I just added an additional pair of pylons (from an Acedamy MiG-23) to the inner wing, holding a pair of AIM-9Bs.

  

Painting and markings:

Finding a suitable, yet “different” scheme for the J 29 night fighter was not easy; most J 29 were left in bare metal, some carried dark green upper surfaces and some S 29C wore a paint scheme in olive green and dark blue. I eventually settled for the RAF style paint scheme that had been adopted with the J 30 Mosquito and J 33 Venom night fighters – not spectacular, but different from the Swedish early Sixties norm, and it subtly underlines the J 29D’s role.

 

The scheme was lent from RAF Venom night fighters (which was used on the Swedish J 33, too), and of the upper surfaces I used RAF tones, too: Humbrol 163 (Dark Green) and 165 (Medium Sea Grey). However, I did not want to use the grey on the lower surfaces, since I found that scheme a bit too uniform and British, so I painted the lower surfaces in NMF, with a waterline at medium height - higher than the camouflaged S 29C’s and lower than the early, camouflaged J 29A fighters (with an experimental all-green upper surface).

 

The bare metal finish was created with acrylic Aluminum (Revell 99) and Polished and Matt Aluminum Metallizer (Humbrol) added on top, highlighting single panels. Around the engine bay and the exhaust, a base with Iron (Revell 91) was laid down, with Steel Metallizer (Modelmaster) on top.

Under the wing tips, green formation markings (again Humbrol 163) were added, as well as black ID stripes (cut from generic decal sheet material). Other, Swedish adornment, like the roundels, codes or squadron markings, was taken from the OOB sheet, a PrintScale sheet for the J 29 and leftover decals from a Heller J 21.

 

Interior details were painted according to Swedish standard, thankfully there are many good pictures available. The cockpit interior became grey-green (Revell 67 comes very close to the real thing) with light grey dashboard and side consoles. The landing gear wells medium (Revell 57) grey with some dry-brushed Aluminum, while the wheel discs became grey-green, too.

  

An interesting result, through relatively little effort: the dog nose changes the look of the tubby J 29 a lot, it looks much sleeker and somewhat German now – but somehow also more retro than the original aircraft? The different paint scheme looks unusual, too, despite being relatively down-to-earth. This will certainly not be my last modified J 29, a two-seat trainer would certainly be another cool and reality based Tunnan whif?

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Logo of the Austrian National Bank

Headquarters Vienna, Austria

Central Bank of Austria

Currency€

To ISO 4217 EUR

website

www.oenb.at/

Previous Austro- Hungarian Bank

List of Central Banks

Oesterreichische Nationalbank, at Otto-Wagner -Platz No. 3, Vienna

The Austrian National Bank (OeNB), Austria's central bank as an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurosystem. It is instrumental in the design of the economic development in Austria and in the euro area. Legally, the OeNB is a public limited company.. However, it is also subject to further enshrined in the National Bank Act regulations resulting from its separate position as a central bank. In the framework of the Eurosystem, the OeNB contributes to a stability-oriented monetary policy. At the national level, it cares about the preservation of financial stability and the money supply and manage foreign exchange reserves to hedge against the euro in times of crisis. The guideline values in terms of the tasks of the Austrian National Bank are "security, stability and trust".

Contents

1 History

1.1 1816 to 1818

1.2 1818 to 1878

1.3 1878 to 1922

1.4 1922 to 1938

1.5 1938 to 1945

1.6 1945 to 1998

1.7 From 1999

2 The OeNB as a modern central bank

3 Legal form and organs

3.1 Legal framework

3.2 organs

3.2.1 General

3.2.2 General

3.2.3 Board of Directors

4 Tasks

4.1 Monetary policy strategies and monetary policy decision-making process

4.1.1 Economic analysis

4.1.2 Production of statistical information

4.1.3 Contribute to international organizations

4.2 Implementation of monetary policy

4.2.1 use of monetary policy instruments

4.2.2 Reserve Management

4.2.3 Money Supply

4.3 Communication of monetary policy

4.4 ensure financial stability

4.4.1 Financial Stability

4.4.2 Payment System Stability and payments

5 The OeNB in the European System of National Banks

6 President / Governors

7 See also

8 Literature

9 links

10 Notes and references

History

1816-1818

As long as 50 years before the founding of the National Bank the Habsburgs carried out first experiments with securities in the form of paper money. Finally, in the 18th Century the issue of banknotes transferred to a state independent institution, while the issue of paper money called "Banco notes," founded in 1705 by the "Vienna City Bank" took place in 1762.

In wartime governance took back control of the money issue, so there was an inflation of Banco-Zettel 1796-1810. The state ordered the forced acceptance of paper money in private transport, which led to a fast-growing discount on bills in the market. 1799 was therefore one for 100 guilders paper money only 92 guilders in silver coins, and at the end of 1810 the value of the paper florin had fallen to 15 % of the nominal value of the Banco-Zettel. Later, the Habsburgs declared a devaluation of the Banco-Zettel in the ratio of 5:1. This act was considered by the business community as a sovereign default, which the paper money experienced a rapid devaluation.

At the end of the Napoleonic wars the Habsburg multinational state ( → Habsburg Monarchy) faced a new challenge: the restoration of a European balance. Church, the nobility, the army and the bureaucracy as elements in the Ancien Régime were not sufficient to solve this problem, a well -founded economic situation was needed. Moreover, one could not ignore readily the laws of supply and demand.

In this regard, were the first June 1816 by Emperor Francis I two patents issued (later to distinguish the "main patent" or "bank patent"), the "privileged Austrian National Bank", conceived as a public company, had to constitute itself as soon a possible, propose the emperor three of its directors for selection of the governor and take up their activity provisionally on 1 July 1816.

The National Bank had henceforth a monopoly on the issuance of paper money, which led to a slowdown in the Austrian monetary system and an increase in the value of paper money. The economy was again a solid source of money keeping constant the value of money regardless of the spending plans of the State. The equity of the Bank justified this by share issues.

Initially comprised the activities of the bank - under temporary management - the redemption of paper money and the issuance of shares. The full effectiveness attained the National Bank until after the issue of 1,000 shares and the associated possibility of shareholders to set the management themselves.

1818-1878

On 15 July 1817 recieved the National Bank as the "first Bankprivilegium" the exclusive right to unrestricted issue of banknotes and in this context a special position in terms of Rediskontgeschäfts (rediscount business). Beginning of 1818 the definitive bank management was ready. Part of it were among leading figures of Viennese society, including the banker Johann Heinrich von Geymüller and Bernard of Eskeles. From 1830 to 1837 the Office of the Governor was held by Adrian Nicholas Baron Barbier.

In the countries of the Habsburg Monarchy, which were characterized in large part by an agricultural oriented activity pattern, some regions showed a lively commercial-industrial growth. The goal now was to create a system of economic exchange between these areas. Successively established the National Bank branch network and thus guaranteed a uniform money and credit supply. From its headquarters in Vienna this network extended over early industrial areas and commercial centers in Eastern and Central Europe to the northern Mediterranean.

Trade bills and coins were preferred assets of the National Bank, less the supply of money to the state. With the exchange transactions, the National Bank supported the economic growth of the monarchy and secured at the same time the supply of silver coins in the event that the need for these increases in exchange for bank notes, contrary to expectations. 1818 was the National Bank, however, by increasing public debt, due to high spending in times of crisis, not spared to make an increase in the government debt positions on the asset side of its balance sheet.

The patent provisions of the founding of the National Bank not sufficiently secured against the autonomy of governance. At the center of the struggle for independence, this was the question of the extent to which the issue of banknotes must be made on the basis of government bonds. In 1841, a renewal of Bankprivilegiums got a weakening of the independence by pushing back the influence of the shareholders in favor of the state administration. During the revolution of 1848/49 followers of constitutional goals received great support from senior figures in the National Bank. For about a hundred years, the Austrian branch of the Rothschild bank (from which from 1855, the "Royal Privileged Austrian Credit-Institute for Commerce and Industry", the later Creditanstalt, was born) was playing a leading role in the banking center of Vienna. Salomon Mayer von Rothschild was involved during the pre-March in all major transactions of the National Bank for the rehabilitation of the state budget.

Special focus the National Bank was putting on the development of the premium that was payable at the exchange of banknotes into silver money in business dealings. The increase, which corresponded to a depreciation of the notes issued by the Bank should be prevented. From an overall state perspective, the increase of the silver premium means a deterioration in terms of the exchange ratio towards foreign countries, influencing the price competitiveness of the Austrian foreign trade adversely. The stabilization of the premium were set some limits. Although the height of the emission activitiy was depending on the Bank, but also the price of silver and the potential effects of increased government debt materially affected the silver premium. Especially the 1848 revolution and conflicts in the following years caused an increasement of the silver premium.

Mid-century, the private banking and wholesale houses were no longer able to cope with the rapidly growing financial intermediation of the Habsburg monarchy. New forms of capital formation were required. From an initiative of the House of Rothschild, the first by the government approved and private joint-stock bank was created. This formation was followed in 1863 and 1864 by two other joint-stock banks, whose major shareholders included important personalities of the aristocracy, who possessed large liquid funds. Overall, grew with these banks the money creation potential of the "financial center of Vienna".

The central bank faced another difficult task: with its limited resources it had to secure sufficient liquidity on the one hand and on the other hand prevent the inflationary expansion of the money supply. Through close contacts with the shareholders of Vienna was a financial center (informal) ballot, especially in times of crisis, easily dealt out. In contrast, it gave differences of opinion in the Fed Board, which required enforcement of decisions.

In 1861, Friedrich Schey Koromla became director of the National Bank. On 27 December 1862 experienced the Bankprivilegium another innovation. The independence of the National Bank of the State was restored and anchored. Furthermore, was introduced the direct allocation of banknotes in circulation by the system of "Peel'schen Bank Act", which states that the fixed budget of 200 million guilders exceeding circulation of banknotes must be covered by silver coins. In 1866, when the German war ended in defeat for Austria, the compliance of the system was no longer met. The state felt itself forced to pay compensation for breach of privilege. This balance was supported by a law of 1872, after the National Bank may issue notes up to a maximum of 200 million guilders and each additional payment must be fully backed by gold or silver.

1873 the economic boom of the Habsburg monarchy was represented in a long-lasting rise in the share price. A now to be expecting break could by the behavior of the Vienna Stock not be intercepted, so it came to the "Great Crash of 1873". The in 1872 fixed restrictions of the circulation of notes for a short time have been suspended. Contrary to expectations, the money supply in crisis peak but only outgrew by nearly 1% the prescribed limit in the bank acts. The banks and the industrial and commercial companies survived the crash without major losses, although the share prices significantly lay below the initial level.

The years with high growth were followed by a period of stagnation.

1878-1922

As part of the compensation negotiations between Austria and Hungary in 1867, the National Bank was able to exercise fully their Privilegialrechte, the Kingdom of Hungary but now had the certified right, every ten years exercisable, to found an own central bank (bank note). As resulted from the first 10 -year period that furthermore none of the two parts of the monarchy wanted to build an independent money-issuing bank (Zettelbank), was built on 28 June 1878, initially to 31 December 1887 limited, an Austro-Hungarian Bank, and equipped with the Fed privilege. The first privilege of the new bank was a compromise in which on the one hand, regulations on liability for national debts as well as regulations limiting the influence of the government on banking businesses were included. 1878 Gustav Leonhardt was Secretary of the Bank.

The General Assembly and the General Council formed the unit of the bank management. Two directorates and major institutions - in Vienna and Budapest - represented the dual nature of the bank. 1892-1900 followed a long discussion finally the currency conversion from guilders (silver currency) to the crown (gold standard) with "Gold Crown" said coins.

Since the new banknotes were very popular in the public, now many gold coins piled up in the vaults of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. This period was characterized by a balanced combination of price growth and damping, the "per capita national product" grew while prices remained mostly stable. Against this background, it was easy for the Fed to encourage a new wave of industrialization.

With a third privilege in 1899 conditions were established under which the bank could be put into the financial services of the two countries, on the other hand there have been important innovations that paved a good exchange policy. By 1914, the exchange ratio of the Austro-Hungarian currency was unchanged with only minor fluctuations. In contrast, was the by conflicts marked political development.

The expansive foreign policy quickly led to high costs from which had to be shouldered by the central bank a significant part. The stability of the currency was in danger. Shortly after the beginning of World War I in 1914, laid down the Military Command to indemnify any seized property with double the price. There was an increasing scarcity of goods, connected with an ongoing expansion of the money supply and finally the increase in the price level on the 16-fold.

The resulting cost of the war of the Dual Monarchy were covered to 40% on central bank loans and 60% through war bonds. Over the duration of the war, the power force built up in recent decades has been frozen at the end of the conflict in 1918, the real income of the workers had fallen to one-fifth of the last year of peace.

With the end of the war the end for the old order had come, too. The decay of Cisleithania and Transleithania caused in several successor states, despite the efforts of the central bank to maintain the order, a currency separation (see Crown Currency in the decay of the monarchy, successor states). First, a separate "Austrian management" of the bank was introduced. It was encouraged to shoulder the shortcomings of the state budget of the Republic of Austria founded in 1918.

The new South Slav state began in January 1919 stamping its crown banknotes. The newly founded Czechoslovak Republic retained the crown currency (to date), but their printed banknotes in circulation as of February 1919 with indications that now these ar Czechoslovak crowns. (The country could an inflation as experienced by Austria avoide.) In March 1919, German Austria began to stamp its crown banknotes.

The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 10 September 1919, by Austria on 25 October 1919 ratified and which on 16 July 1920 came into force, determined the cancellation and replacement of all crown banknotes of all successor states of Austria-Hungary as well as the complete liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian Bank under the supervision of the war winners. The last meetings of the Bank took place mid 1921 and at the end of 1922.

After a period of overvaluation of the crown the dollar rate rose from 1919 again. 1921, had to be paid over 5,000 Austrian crowns per dollar. In addition to the significant drop in the external value existed in Austria rising inflation. End of 1922 was ultimately a rehabilitation program with foreign assistance - the "Geneva Protocol" - passed which slowed down the inflation.

1922-1938

With Federal Law of 24 July 1922 the Minister of Finance was commissioned to build a central bank, which had to take over the entire note circulation plus current liabilities of the Austrian management of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. With Federal Law of 14 November 1922, certain provisions of the law were amended and promulgated the statutes of the Austrian National Bank. By order of the Federal Government Seipel I 29 December 1922, the Board of the Austrian Austro-Hungarian Bank issued authorization for the central bank union activity with 1 January 1923 have been declared extinct and was made ​​known the commencement of operations of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank this day.

The statutes of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) secured the independence from the state, the independence of the Bank under exclusion of external influences and the corresponding equity. First, the stabilization of the Austrian currency was at the forefront. With the Schilling Act of 20 December 1924 was the schilling currency (First Republic) with 1 Introduced in March 1925, it replaced the crown currency. For 10,000 crowns now you got a shilling.

As an important personality in terms of the order of the state budget, Dr. Victor Kienböck has to be mentioned. He was in the time from 1922 to 1924 and from 1926 to 1929 finance minister of the First Republic and from 1932 to 1938 President of the Austrian National Bank. Through his work remained the Austrian Schilling, also beyound the global economy crisis, stable. Under this condition, the Fed was able to cope with the large number of bank failures of the past.

1938-1945

According to the on 13th March issued Anschlussgesetz (annexation law) , the Reichsmark with order of the Fuehrer and Chancellor of 17 was March 1938 introduced in the country Austria and determines the course: A Reichsmark is equal to one shilling fifty pence. On the same day, the Chancellor ordered that the management of the to be liquidated National Bank was transferred to the Reichsbank.

With regulation of three ministers of the German Reich of 23 April 1938, the National Bank was established as a property of the Reichsbank and its banknotes the quality as legal tender by 25 April 1938 withdrawn; public funds had Schilling banknotes until 15th of may in 1938 to accept. All the gold and foreign exchange reserves were transferred to Berlin.

The Second World War weakened the Austrian economy to a great extent, the production force after the war corresponded to only 40% of that of 1937 (see also air raids on Austria). To finance the war, the Reichsbank brought to a high degree banknotes in circulation, which only a great victory of the kingdom (Reich) actual values ​​would have been opposable. Since prices were strictly regulated, inflation virtually could be "banned" during the war.

1945-1998

In occupied postwar Austria about 10 billion shillings by Allied military occupying powers were initially printed, which contributed to significant price increases.

With the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria by the Austrian declaration of independence of 27 April 1945, it came to the resumption of activities of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. By the "Fed Transition Act" of July 1945 preliminary legal regulations for the operations of the Bank have been established. The restoration of the Austrian currency was their first big job. The goal was the summary of all currencies, which at the time were in circulation, and their secondment to a new Austrian currency. The "Schilling Act" of November 1945, the basis for the re-introduction of the Schilling (Second Republic) as legal tender in Austria. The next step was to reduce excess liquidity to make necessary funds for new business investment available and to make the external value of the shilling for the development of the economy competitive. First, however, less changed the inflationary situation and also the shilling was still significantly undervalued in relation to other currencies.

The "Currency Protection Act" of 1947 brought a significant change in the monetary overhang. Some deposits have been deleted without replacement, others converted into claims against the Federal Treasury. The following exchange operations also significantly reduced the amount of cash: banknotes from 1945 were canceled and exchanged for new schilling notes in the ratio 1:3. Only 150 shillings per person could go 1-1.

To control inflation, the social partners came to the foreground. The associations of employers and employees set in 1947 prices for supplies, wages were also raised. This was the first of the five "wage-price agreements" of the social partners. In 1952, inflation was held back by limiting the use of monetary policy instruments by the National Bank. Also, the external sector slowly relaxed after the end of the Korean War.

In 1955, the Austrian National Bank was re-established by the new National Bank Act as a corporation and the by the National Bank Transition of Authorities Act (Nationalbank-Überleitungsgesetz) established provisional arragement abolished. The National Bank Act stipulated that each half of the capital should be situated at the federal government and private shareholders. In addition to the independence of bank loans of the state, the new National Bank Act also contained an order that the central bank must watch within their monetary and credit policies on the economic policies of the federal government. From now on also included within the instruments of the National Bank were the areas open market and minimum reserve policy.

The Austrian economy increasingly stabilized, through good fiscal and monetary policy a high growth could be attained, with low inflation and long-term maintenance of external equilibrium.

1960, Austria joined the European Free Trade Association and participated in the European integration.

In the sixties came the international monetary system based on gold-dollar convertibility into currency fluctuations and political reforms were necessary. First, the loosening of exchange rate adjustments between several states was an option. However, U.S. balance of payments problems brought with it restrictions on capital movements, and then the Euro-Dollar market was born. In 1971, the convertibility of the U.S. dollar was lifted.

1975 interrupted a recession increasing growth time. International unbalanced ayments caused very extensive foreign exchange movements, whereby the intervention force of Austrian monetary policy has been strongly challenged. Their task now was to control the effect of foreign exchange on domestic economic activities to stabilize the shilling in the context of constantly shifting exchange rates and to control the price rise appropriately. Since the inflow of foreign funds reached to high proportions, so that the economic stability has been compromised, the policy went the way of the independent course design in a pool of selected European currencies.

The collapse of the economy forced the policy makers to a new course with active mutual credit control, subdued wage growth, financial impulses in supply and demand, and interest rates are kept low. This system of regulation, however, kept back the need for structural change, so it had to be given up in 1979. In the same year a fire destroyed large parts of the main building of the Austrian National Bank in Vienna. The repairs lasted until 1985.

Target in the eighties was to strengthen the economic performance using a competitive power comparison. The findings from the seventies stimulated the Austrian monetary policy to align the Schilling course at the Deutsche Mark to ensure price stability in the country. In addition, the structural change was initiated by inclusion in a large area. Stable, if not necessarily comfortable environment of monetary policy was a prerequisite, to secure the companies long-term productivity gains and thus safeguard their position in the economy.

Initially, this development stood a high level of unemployment in the way. Growth until the second half of the decade increased, at the same time increased the competitiveness and current accounts could be kept in balance.

In the nineties, the annexation of Austria took place in the European Community. 1995 Austria became a member of the European Union (EU) and joined the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System. In 1998, the Central Banks (ESCB) have established the independence of institutions or bodies of the European Community and the governments of the EU Member States through an amendment to the National Bank Act of the Austrian National Bank to implement the goals and tasks of the European System. Thus, the legal basis for the participation of Austria in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was created in 1999.

As of 1999

The Austrian National Bank, and other national central banks including the European Central Bank ( ECB), belongs to the European System of Central Banks.

On 1 January 1999 was introduced in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union in Austria and ten other EU Member States, the euro as a common currency. The European Central Bank is henceforth responsible for monetary and currency policy, decisions in this regard will be taken in accordance with the Council of the European Central Bank.

Since May 2010, the OeNB is in full possession of the Republic of Austria, after originally lobbies, banks and insurance companies were involved with 50 % of the share capital in it. In 2011, the National Bank Act was adapted by an amendment (Federal Law Gazette I No. 50 /2011) in this circumstance, a renewed privatization is thus excluded by law.

The OeNB as a modern central bank

With the withdrawal from the retail business in the sixties as well as the first major internationalization and implementation of a strategic management in the seventies, the OeNB went on the way to a future-oriented central bank. Another major reform of banking began at the end of the eighties.

In terms of global development, the OeNB established in 1988 as a service company and expanded its guiding values ​​- "security, stability and trust" - to the principles of " fficiency" and "cost-consciousness". The business center was optimized and strategic business experienced through targeted improvements a reinforcement. Be mentioned as examples are intensifying domestic cooperation in the area of ​​payments by encouraging the creation of the Society for the Study co-payments (STUZZA), the liberalization of capital movements, the professional management of foreign exchange reserves, the improvement of the supply of money through the construction of the money center and the internationalization of business activities through the establishment of representative offices in Brussels (European Union), Paris (OECD) and the financial center of New York.

After Austria's accession to the EU in 1995, the OeNB participated in the European Monetary System (EMS ) and its Exchange Rate Mechanism. The integration in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was the next step towards further development of policy stability. Since the conclusion of the Maastricht Treaty, the Austrian National Bank has very fully considered its role in the ESCB and created a basis for inclusion in the community. The profound economic and monetary policy of Austria was also a reference that qualified the OeNB to actively participate in the monetary future of Europe, a greater harmonization of the statistical framework and monetary policy instruments with a view to the euro system, the preparation of the issue of European banknotes, and the establishment of operational processes and organizational integration of business processes within the ESCB being specific objectives of the OeNB.

In the following, it came, inter alia, to the establishement of an economic study department, of an education or training initiative and to strengthen the position of payment transactions through the TARGET system.

A in 1996 created "OeNB master plan" provided important points for the upcoming transition to the euro.

In May 1998, a new pension system came into force, by which new employees were incorporated into a two-pillar model.

1999, Austria's participation in the third stage of EMU was manifest. The Austrian National Bank - as part of the ESCB - became the owner of the European Central Bank and received new powers in this context in the sense of participation in the monetary policy decision-making at the level of the European Community. With the introduction of the euro, monetary policy functions of the General Council have been transferred to the Governing Council. However, the implementation remains the responsibility of national central banks.

Activities of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank were or are, for example, the further professionalization of asset management, the expansion of the network of representative offices by opening a representative office in the financial center of London, preparation of the smooth introduction of euro cash in 2002 and the participation of the OeNB on the creation of the "A-SIT" (Center for secure Information Technology Center - Austria) and the "A-Trust" (society of electronic security systems in traffic GmbH ) in order to promote security in information technology.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oesterreichische_Nationalbank

www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S. Army Africa supports Burundi's peacekeeping efforts in Somalia

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

BUJUMBURA, Burundi – When U.S. Army Col. Steve Smith recently joined discussions with Burundian generals about how Burundi conducts peacekeeping efforts in Somalia, he was leading the way for U.S. Army Africa partnerships on the continent.

 

In mid-January, Smith led a team to work with Burundian officers on ways to enhance Burundi’s leadership capacity as their military prepares to deploy its next rotation of peacekeepers to Mogadishu. Smith, of the U.S. Army’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute and Lt. Col. Ronald Miller, an Africa expert from U.S. Army Africa headquarters, held discussions with senior Burundian military officers at the Ministry of Defense in Bujumbura.

 

“We discussed the U.S. military’s way of planning for operations at the brigade level, using what we call MDMP, the military decision making process,” Smith said. “We also talked about how U.S. Army officers run a brigade-level command post.”

 

Burundi and Uganda share peacekeeping duties under the African Union Mission in Somalia, an operation designed to stabilize Somalia’s security situation following decades of war and chaos. African peacekeepers in Somalia face daily challenges as they mentor Somalis in security operations and work to counter extremist groups like al-Shabaab.

 

The U.S. Army effort is part of a larger effort by the U.S. government to support Burundi in its peacekeeping efforts, said Brig. Gen. Cyprien Ndikuryio, chief of Burundi’s land forces. The U.S. has helped with training and equipment, followed by these senior leader discussions, he said.

 

“My colleagues and I are senior officers. One of them, or I, could be appointed to higher responsibilities in Somalia’s peacekeeping mission and use what we have learned,” Ndikuryio said.

 

Until now, Burundi’s military planned missions similar to the way Belgian and French militaries work. The Ugandan People’s Defense Force, Burundi’s partner in AMISOM, already employs a planning system that is similar to the U.S. military, Smith said.

 

“It’s incredibly important for Burundi, as they are working alongside other armies using the U.S.-based model, to promote interoperability and overall efficiency,” Smith said.

 

In 2006, Burundi ended its 12-year civil war. Since then, Burundi has made strides toward partnering with its East African neighbors and the United States.

 

In October 2009, Burundian troops took part in Natural Fire 10, a U.S. Army Africa-led humanitarian and civil assistance exercise held in Uganda. During that time, Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa, visited Bujumbura to watch Burundian troops undergoing training with the U.S. State Department-led African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program.

 

Burundian senior leaders then asked U.S. Army Africa to help with a familiarization event on brigade-level peacekeeping operations. Leaders from PKSOI at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania offered their expertise for the event.

 

“This effort in Burundi has been a great opportunity for the U.S. Army to engage with a partner nation’s land forces on the continent,” Smith said. “There’s a tremendous potential here, a great thirst for knowledge.”

 

Smith’s Burundi assignment also benefits PKSOI in their efforts, he said.

 

“I’m taking back with me a better understanding of U.S. Army Africa operations and what’s happening on the ground in Africa,” Smith said. “That knowledge will help PKSOI plan to support future missions.”

 

The talks came at a key time for the Burundian military, as they prepare to deploy a new rotation of peacekeepers to Somali.

 

“This support was very important and effective,” Ndikuryio said. “We appreciate this cooperation with U.S. Army Africa. We hope to interact with the command in the future.”

 

Cleared for public release.

 

Photos by Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

 

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 24, 2020) An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the “Archangels” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, Detachment 6, delivers stores to the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) as the ship conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the fleet replenishment oiler USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194). Germantown, part of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven (ESG 7), along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)

Leica M240, Summilux-M 35mm ASPH FLE

 

My favorite F12 video:

Killing Tires With a Ferrari F12 -- /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjp1xjOzJqY

 

The Ferrari F12berlinetta[3] (also unofficially referred to as the F12 Berlinetta or the F12) is a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive grand tourer produced by Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari. The F12berlinetta, debuted at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, replaces the 599 series grand tourers.[4] The naturally aspirated 6.3 litre Ferrari V12 engine in the F12berlinetta has won the International Engine of the Year Awards 2013 in the Best Performance category and Best Engine above 4.0 litres. The F12berlinetta was named "The Supercar of the Year 2012" by car magazine Top Gear.

In 2014 it was awarded the XXIII Premio Compasso d'oro ADI. Accepting the award was Ferrari’s Senior Vice President of Design, Flavio Manzoni.

 

Engine[edit]

The F12berlinetta uses a 6,262 cc (382 cu in), naturally aspirated 65° V12 engine of the Ferrari F140 engine family. Engine displacement is shared with the FF, but the F140 FC version installed on the F12 produces 740 PS (544 kW; 730 hp) at 8250 rpm[5] and 690 N·m (509 lb·ft) of torque at 6000 rpm, making it the most powerful Ferrari roadcar to date, only surpassed by LaFerrari. This allows the F12berlinetta to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in an officially reported 3.1 seconds, 0 to 200 km/h (120 mph) in 8.5 seconds and a top speed of over 350 km/h (220 mph).[1][2][6]

The engine of the F12berlinetta has been designed to be more efficient than that of the 599, as well as more powerful. The engine management system is fitted with Ferrari's HELE start-stop system to reduce fuel consumption when idling. Ferrari reports that the F12berlinetta can achieve 18 mpg-imp (15.7 L/100 km; 15.0 mpg-US) – a 30% improvement over the 599 – and produces CO2 emissions of 350 g/km.[4]

 

Transmission[edit]

Similar to the California, 458 Italia, FF and LaFerrari, the F12berlinetta transmits power through a 7-speed dual-clutch automated semi-automatic gearbox operated by the driver using paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. Compared to similar models, the F12berlinetta uses shortened gear ratios to match the power of the engine.[2][3]

 

Chassis[edit]

The F12berlinetta is built around an aluminium space frame chassis co-developed with Scaglietti. The chassis is made up of 12 different aluminium alloys and improves structural rigidity by 20% over the 599, whilst reducing weight by 70 kg (150 lb). The centre of gravity has been lowered by around 25 mm (1 in). The F12berlinetta's weight distribution is 48% front, 52% rear.[7]

Similar to other contemporary Ferrari models, the F12berlinetta uses Ferrari's third generation CCM3 carbon ceramic disc brakes with ABS, SCM-E magnetorheological suspension, an electronic LSD, ESP Premium stability control and F1-Trac traction control. The car's stability and traction control, suspension and other settings are controlled by the Manettino dial mounted on the steering wheel.[3]

Tires[edit]

The F12berlinetta is fitted with Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, with the tyre codes 255/35ZR20 at the front and 315/35ZR20 at the rear.[8]

 

Aerodynamics[edit]

The F12berlinetta makes use of aerodynamic techniques based on Ferrari's 599XX and Formula One programmes, developed with wind tunnel and CFD testing. A notable feature is the Aero Bridge, an air channel running from the bonnet, through the flanks and along the sides of the vehicle, creating an effect that increases downforce. Another feature is Active Brake Cooling ducts, which open to direct cooling air only when the brakes are hot, keeping them closed at other times to reduce aerodynamic drag. The F12berlinetta produces 200 kg (440 lb) of downforce at 200 km/h (120 mph) – an increase of 76% over the 599 GTB – and has a drag coefficient of 0.299.[1][2][3]

 

Performance[edit]

Ferrari reports that the F12berlinetta is capable of lapping the Fiorano test circuit in 1 minute, 23 seconds; three seconds slower than LaFerrari, a full second faster than the 599 GTO, two seconds faster than the Enzo, two seconds faster than the 458 Italia, two seconds faster than the 430 Scuderia and three and a half seconds faster than the 599 GTB.[1]

Design[edit]

The body of the F12berlinetta is designed by the Ferrari Styling Centre and Pininfarina, and shares some styling elements with other recent Ferrari models. This includes a front grille similar to the FF and headlights shared with the FF and 458 Italia. The interior, based on the FF, features new "Frau leather" upholstery with aluminium, Alutex, and carbon fibre trim, and has increased luggage space compared to the 599.[2][3]

The body computer system is developed by Magneti Marelli Automotive Lighting.

One-offs and specials[edit]

 

Ferrari F12 TRS[edit]

 

The F12 TRS is a unique one-off with barchetta body based on the F12berlinetta, made for a customer by Ferrari under its Special Projects programme. It made its public debut in Sicily at Ferrari Cavalcade in June 2014. Designed in-house by the Centro Stile Ferrari headed by Flavio Manzoni, it was inspired by the 1957 250 Testa Rossa, reiterpreted in a modern key.[9][10] The Ferrari F12 TRS also took part to the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.[11]

Ferrari SP America[edit]

The Ferrari SP America is a F12berlinetta-based one-off coupé completed in 2014, like the F12 TRS an offspring of Ferrari's Special Projects programme.[12]

 

Ferrari F60 America[edit]

The Ferrari F60 America is a limited production roadster derivative of the F12, celebrating 60 years of Ferrari in North America.[13] It was built by Ferrari in ten examples, according to the manufacturer all already spoken for at the time of the car's public introduction in October 2014.[14] The open-top configuration pays homage to US-only limited production convertible Ferraris of the past, such as the 275 GTS/4 NART Spider. Compared to the F12, the F60 has all-new bodywork; it uses a light removable soft top instead of a conventional convertible top. Each of the ten examples built features an asymmetrical cabin design with red trim for the driver's area and black for the passenger, American flag detailing in the center of the backrests of both seats, and classic blue and white North American Racing Team livery.

 

Touring Superleggera Berlinetta Lusso[edit]

At the March 2015 Geneva Motor Show Carrozzeria Touring unveiled the Touring Superleggera Berlinetta Lusso, an one-off two-seater, three-box coupé based on the F12berlinetta.[15] Carrozzeria Touring made the car on a client's request, rebodying the F12 in aluminium alloys and carbon fibre; a small production run of five examples was announced.[15]

 

Source: Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F12berlinetta

 

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Logo of the Austrian National Bank

Headquarters Vienna, Austria

Central Bank of Austria

Currency€

To ISO 4217 EUR

website

www.oenb.at/

Previous Austro- Hungarian Bank

List of Central Banks

Oesterreichische Nationalbank, at Otto-Wagner -Platz No. 3, Vienna

The Austrian National Bank (OeNB), Austria's central bank as an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurosystem. It is instrumental in the design of the economic development in Austria and in the euro area. Legally, the OeNB is a public limited company.. However, it is also subject to further enshrined in the National Bank Act regulations resulting from its separate position as a central bank. In the framework of the Eurosystem, the OeNB contributes to a stability-oriented monetary policy. At the national level, it cares about the preservation of financial stability and the money supply and manage foreign exchange reserves to hedge against the euro in times of crisis. The guideline values in terms of the tasks of the Austrian National Bank are "security, stability and trust".

Contents

1 History

1.1 1816 to 1818

1.2 1818 to 1878

1.3 1878 to 1922

1.4 1922 to 1938

1.5 1938 to 1945

1.6 1945 to 1998

1.7 From 1999

2 The OeNB as a modern central bank

3 Legal form and organs

3.1 Legal framework

3.2 organs

3.2.1 General

3.2.2 General

3.2.3 Board of Directors

4 Tasks

4.1 Monetary policy strategies and monetary policy decision-making process

4.1.1 Economic analysis

4.1.2 Production of statistical information

4.1.3 Contribute to international organizations

4.2 Implementation of monetary policy

4.2.1 use of monetary policy instruments

4.2.2 Reserve Management

4.2.3 Money Supply

4.3 Communication of monetary policy

4.4 ensure financial stability

4.4.1 Financial Stability

4.4.2 Payment System Stability and payments

5 The OeNB in the European System of National Banks

6 President / Governors

7 See also

8 Literature

9 links

10 Notes and references

History

1816-1818

As long as 50 years before the founding of the National Bank the Habsburgs carried out first experiments with securities in the form of paper money. Finally, in the 18th Century the issue of banknotes transferred to a state independent institution, while the issue of paper money called "Banco notes," founded in 1705 by the "Vienna City Bank" took place in 1762.

In wartime governance took back control of the money issue, so there was an inflation of Banco-Zettel 1796-1810. The state ordered the forced acceptance of paper money in private transport, which led to a fast-growing discount on bills in the market. 1799 was therefore one for 100 guilders paper money only 92 guilders in silver coins, and at the end of 1810 the value of the paper florin had fallen to 15 % of the nominal value of the Banco-Zettel. Later, the Habsburgs declared a devaluation of the Banco-Zettel in the ratio of 5:1. This act was considered by the business community as a sovereign default, which the paper money experienced a rapid devaluation.

At the end of the Napoleonic wars the Habsburg multinational state ( → Habsburg Monarchy) faced a new challenge: the restoration of a European balance. Church, the nobility, the army and the bureaucracy as elements in the Ancien Régime were not sufficient to solve this problem, a well -founded economic situation was needed. Moreover, one could not ignore readily the laws of supply and demand.

In this regard, were the first June 1816 by Emperor Francis I two patents issued (later to distinguish the "main patent" or "bank patent"), the "privileged Austrian National Bank", conceived as a public company, had to constitute itself as soon a possible, propose the emperor three of its directors for selection of the governor and take up their activity provisionally on 1 July 1816.

The National Bank had henceforth a monopoly on the issuance of paper money, which led to a slowdown in the Austrian monetary system and an increase in the value of paper money. The economy was again a solid source of money keeping constant the value of money regardless of the spending plans of the State. The equity of the Bank justified this by share issues.

Initially comprised the activities of the bank - under temporary management - the redemption of paper money and the issuance of shares. The full effectiveness attained the National Bank until after the issue of 1,000 shares and the associated possibility of shareholders to set the management themselves.

1818-1878

On 15 July 1817 recieved the National Bank as the "first Bankprivilegium" the exclusive right to unrestricted issue of banknotes and in this context a special position in terms of Rediskontgeschäfts (rediscount business). Beginning of 1818 the definitive bank management was ready. Part of it were among leading figures of Viennese society, including the banker Johann Heinrich von Geymüller and Bernard of Eskeles. From 1830 to 1837 the Office of the Governor was held by Adrian Nicholas Baron Barbier.

In the countries of the Habsburg Monarchy, which were characterized in large part by an agricultural oriented activity pattern, some regions showed a lively commercial-industrial growth. The goal now was to create a system of economic exchange between these areas. Successively established the National Bank branch network and thus guaranteed a uniform money and credit supply. From its headquarters in Vienna this network extended over early industrial areas and commercial centers in Eastern and Central Europe to the northern Mediterranean.

Trade bills and coins were preferred assets of the National Bank, less the supply of money to the state. With the exchange transactions, the National Bank supported the economic growth of the monarchy and secured at the same time the supply of silver coins in the event that the need for these increases in exchange for bank notes, contrary to expectations. 1818 was the National Bank, however, by increasing public debt, due to high spending in times of crisis, not spared to make an increase in the government debt positions on the asset side of its balance sheet.

The patent provisions of the founding of the National Bank not sufficiently secured against the autonomy of governance. At the center of the struggle for independence, this was the question of the extent to which the issue of banknotes must be made on the basis of government bonds. In 1841, a renewal of Bankprivilegiums got a weakening of the independence by pushing back the influence of the shareholders in favor of the state administration. During the revolution of 1848/49 followers of constitutional goals received great support from senior figures in the National Bank. For about a hundred years, the Austrian branch of the Rothschild bank (from which from 1855, the "Royal Privileged Austrian Credit-Institute for Commerce and Industry", the later Creditanstalt, was born) was playing a leading role in the banking center of Vienna. Salomon Mayer von Rothschild was involved during the pre-March in all major transactions of the National Bank for the rehabilitation of the state budget.

Special focus the National Bank was putting on the development of the premium that was payable at the exchange of banknotes into silver money in business dealings. The increase, which corresponded to a depreciation of the notes issued by the Bank should be prevented. From an overall state perspective, the increase of the silver premium means a deterioration in terms of the exchange ratio towards foreign countries, influencing the price competitiveness of the Austrian foreign trade adversely. The stabilization of the premium were set some limits. Although the height of the emission activitiy was depending on the Bank, but also the price of silver and the potential effects of increased government debt materially affected the silver premium. Especially the 1848 revolution and conflicts in the following years caused an increasement of the silver premium.

Mid-century, the private banking and wholesale houses were no longer able to cope with the rapidly growing financial intermediation of the Habsburg monarchy. New forms of capital formation were required. From an initiative of the House of Rothschild, the first by the government approved and private joint-stock bank was created. This formation was followed in 1863 and 1864 by two other joint-stock banks, whose major shareholders included important personalities of the aristocracy, who possessed large liquid funds. Overall, grew with these banks the money creation potential of the "financial center of Vienna".

The central bank faced another difficult task: with its limited resources it had to secure sufficient liquidity on the one hand and on the other hand prevent the inflationary expansion of the money supply. Through close contacts with the shareholders of Vienna was a financial center (informal) ballot, especially in times of crisis, easily dealt out. In contrast, it gave differences of opinion in the Fed Board, which required enforcement of decisions.

In 1861, Friedrich Schey Koromla became director of the National Bank. On 27 December 1862 experienced the Bankprivilegium another innovation. The independence of the National Bank of the State was restored and anchored. Furthermore, was introduced the direct allocation of banknotes in circulation by the system of "Peel'schen Bank Act", which states that the fixed budget of 200 million guilders exceeding circulation of banknotes must be covered by silver coins. In 1866, when the German war ended in defeat for Austria, the compliance of the system was no longer met. The state felt itself forced to pay compensation for breach of privilege. This balance was supported by a law of 1872, after the National Bank may issue notes up to a maximum of 200 million guilders and each additional payment must be fully backed by gold or silver.

1873 the economic boom of the Habsburg monarchy was represented in a long-lasting rise in the share price. A now to be expecting break could by the behavior of the Vienna Stock not be intercepted, so it came to the "Great Crash of 1873". The in 1872 fixed restrictions of the circulation of notes for a short time have been suspended. Contrary to expectations, the money supply in crisis peak but only outgrew by nearly 1% the prescribed limit in the bank acts. The banks and the industrial and commercial companies survived the crash without major losses, although the share prices significantly lay below the initial level.

The years with high growth were followed by a period of stagnation.

1878-1922

As part of the compensation negotiations between Austria and Hungary in 1867, the National Bank was able to exercise fully their Privilegialrechte, the Kingdom of Hungary but now had the certified right, every ten years exercisable, to found an own central bank (bank note). As resulted from the first 10 -year period that furthermore none of the two parts of the monarchy wanted to build an independent money-issuing bank (Zettelbank), was built on 28 June 1878, initially to 31 December 1887 limited, an Austro-Hungarian Bank, and equipped with the Fed privilege. The first privilege of the new bank was a compromise in which on the one hand, regulations on liability for national debts as well as regulations limiting the influence of the government on banking businesses were included. 1878 Gustav Leonhardt was Secretary of the Bank.

The General Assembly and the General Council formed the unit of the bank management. Two directorates and major institutions - in Vienna and Budapest - represented the dual nature of the bank. 1892-1900 followed a long discussion finally the currency conversion from guilders (silver currency) to the crown (gold standard) with "Gold Crown" said coins.

Since the new banknotes were very popular in the public, now many gold coins piled up in the vaults of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. This period was characterized by a balanced combination of price growth and damping, the "per capita national product" grew while prices remained mostly stable. Against this background, it was easy for the Fed to encourage a new wave of industrialization.

With a third privilege in 1899 conditions were established under which the bank could be put into the financial services of the two countries, on the other hand there have been important innovations that paved a good exchange policy. By 1914, the exchange ratio of the Austro-Hungarian currency was unchanged with only minor fluctuations. In contrast, was the by conflicts marked political development.

The expansive foreign policy quickly led to high costs from which had to be shouldered by the central bank a significant part. The stability of the currency was in danger. Shortly after the beginning of World War I in 1914, laid down the Military Command to indemnify any seized property with double the price. There was an increasing scarcity of goods, connected with an ongoing expansion of the money supply and finally the increase in the price level on the 16-fold.

The resulting cost of the war of the Dual Monarchy were covered to 40% on central bank loans and 60% through war bonds. Over the duration of the war, the power force built up in recent decades has been frozen at the end of the conflict in 1918, the real income of the workers had fallen to one-fifth of the last year of peace.

With the end of the war the end for the old order had come, too. The decay of Cisleithania and Transleithania caused in several successor states, despite the efforts of the central bank to maintain the order, a currency separation (see Crown Currency in the decay of the monarchy, successor states). First, a separate "Austrian management" of the bank was introduced. It was encouraged to shoulder the shortcomings of the state budget of the Republic of Austria founded in 1918.

The new South Slav state began in January 1919 stamping its crown banknotes. The newly founded Czechoslovak Republic retained the crown currency (to date), but their printed banknotes in circulation as of February 1919 with indications that now these ar Czechoslovak crowns. (The country could an inflation as experienced by Austria avoide.) In March 1919, German Austria began to stamp its crown banknotes.

The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 10 September 1919, by Austria on 25 October 1919 ratified and which on 16 July 1920 came into force, determined the cancellation and replacement of all crown banknotes of all successor states of Austria-Hungary as well as the complete liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian Bank under the supervision of the war winners. The last meetings of the Bank took place mid 1921 and at the end of 1922.

After a period of overvaluation of the crown the dollar rate rose from 1919 again. 1921, had to be paid over 5,000 Austrian crowns per dollar. In addition to the significant drop in the external value existed in Austria rising inflation. End of 1922 was ultimately a rehabilitation program with foreign assistance - the "Geneva Protocol" - passed which slowed down the inflation.

1922-1938

With Federal Law of 24 July 1922 the Minister of Finance was commissioned to build a central bank, which had to take over the entire note circulation plus current liabilities of the Austrian management of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. With Federal Law of 14 November 1922, certain provisions of the law were amended and promulgated the statutes of the Austrian National Bank. By order of the Federal Government Seipel I 29 December 1922, the Board of the Austrian Austro-Hungarian Bank issued authorization for the central bank union activity with 1 January 1923 have been declared extinct and was made ​​known the commencement of operations of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank this day.

The statutes of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) secured the independence from the state, the independence of the Bank under exclusion of external influences and the corresponding equity. First, the stabilization of the Austrian currency was at the forefront. With the Schilling Act of 20 December 1924 was the schilling currency (First Republic) with 1 Introduced in March 1925, it replaced the crown currency. For 10,000 crowns now you got a shilling.

As an important personality in terms of the order of the state budget, Dr. Victor Kienböck has to be mentioned. He was in the time from 1922 to 1924 and from 1926 to 1929 finance minister of the First Republic and from 1932 to 1938 President of the Austrian National Bank. Through his work remained the Austrian Schilling, also beyound the global economy crisis, stable. Under this condition, the Fed was able to cope with the large number of bank failures of the past.

1938-1945

According to the on 13th March issued Anschlussgesetz (annexation law) , the Reichsmark with order of the Fuehrer and Chancellor of 17 was March 1938 introduced in the country Austria and determines the course: A Reichsmark is equal to one shilling fifty pence. On the same day, the Chancellor ordered that the management of the to be liquidated National Bank was transferred to the Reichsbank.

With regulation of three ministers of the German Reich of 23 April 1938, the National Bank was established as a property of the Reichsbank and its banknotes the quality as legal tender by 25 April 1938 withdrawn; public funds had Schilling banknotes until 15th of may in 1938 to accept. All the gold and foreign exchange reserves were transferred to Berlin.

The Second World War weakened the Austrian economy to a great extent, the production force after the war corresponded to only 40% of that of 1937 (see also air raids on Austria). To finance the war, the Reichsbank brought to a high degree banknotes in circulation, which only a great victory of the kingdom (Reich) actual values ​​would have been opposable. Since prices were strictly regulated, inflation virtually could be "banned" during the war.

1945-1998

In occupied postwar Austria about 10 billion shillings by Allied military occupying powers were initially printed, which contributed to significant price increases.

With the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria by the Austrian declaration of independence of 27 April 1945, it came to the resumption of activities of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. By the "Fed Transition Act" of July 1945 preliminary legal regulations for the operations of the Bank have been established. The restoration of the Austrian currency was their first big job. The goal was the summary of all currencies, which at the time were in circulation, and their secondment to a new Austrian currency. The "Schilling Act" of November 1945, the basis for the re-introduction of the Schilling (Second Republic) as legal tender in Austria. The next step was to reduce excess liquidity to make necessary funds for new business investment available and to make the external value of the shilling for the development of the economy competitive. First, however, less changed the inflationary situation and also the shilling was still significantly undervalued in relation to other currencies.

The "Currency Protection Act" of 1947 brought a significant change in the monetary overhang. Some deposits have been deleted without replacement, others converted into claims against the Federal Treasury. The following exchange operations also significantly reduced the amount of cash: banknotes from 1945 were canceled and exchanged for new schilling notes in the ratio 1:3. Only 150 shillings per person could go 1-1.

To control inflation, the social partners came to the foreground. The associations of employers and employees set in 1947 prices for supplies, wages were also raised. This was the first of the five "wage-price agreements" of the social partners. In 1952, inflation was held back by limiting the use of monetary policy instruments by the National Bank. Also, the external sector slowly relaxed after the end of the Korean War.

In 1955, the Austrian National Bank was re-established by the new National Bank Act as a corporation and the by the National Bank Transition of Authorities Act (Nationalbank-Überleitungsgesetz) established provisional arragement abolished. The National Bank Act stipulated that each half of the capital should be situated at the federal government and private shareholders. In addition to the independence of bank loans of the state, the new National Bank Act also contained an order that the central bank must watch within their monetary and credit policies on the economic policies of the federal government. From now on also included within the instruments of the National Bank were the areas open market and minimum reserve policy.

The Austrian economy increasingly stabilized, through good fiscal and monetary policy a high growth could be attained, with low inflation and long-term maintenance of external equilibrium.

1960, Austria joined the European Free Trade Association and participated in the European integration.

In the sixties came the international monetary system based on gold-dollar convertibility into currency fluctuations and political reforms were necessary. First, the loosening of exchange rate adjustments between several states was an option. However, U.S. balance of payments problems brought with it restrictions on capital movements, and then the Euro-Dollar market was born. In 1971, the convertibility of the U.S. dollar was lifted.

1975 interrupted a recession increasing growth time. International unbalanced ayments caused very extensive foreign exchange movements, whereby the intervention force of Austrian monetary policy has been strongly challenged. Their task now was to control the effect of foreign exchange on domestic economic activities to stabilize the shilling in the context of constantly shifting exchange rates and to control the price rise appropriately. Since the inflow of foreign funds reached to high proportions, so that the economic stability has been compromised, the policy went the way of the independent course design in a pool of selected European currencies.

The collapse of the economy forced the policy makers to a new course with active mutual credit control, subdued wage growth, financial impulses in supply and demand, and interest rates are kept low. This system of regulation, however, kept back the need for structural change, so it had to be given up in 1979. In the same year a fire destroyed large parts of the main building of the Austrian National Bank in Vienna. The repairs lasted until 1985.

Target in the eighties was to strengthen the economic performance using a competitive power comparison. The findings from the seventies stimulated the Austrian monetary policy to align the Schilling course at the Deutsche Mark to ensure price stability in the country. In addition, the structural change was initiated by inclusion in a large area. Stable, if not necessarily comfortable environment of monetary policy was a prerequisite, to secure the companies long-term productivity gains and thus safeguard their position in the economy.

Initially, this development stood a high level of unemployment in the way. Growth until the second half of the decade increased, at the same time increased the competitiveness and current accounts could be kept in balance.

In the nineties, the annexation of Austria took place in the European Community. 1995 Austria became a member of the European Union (EU) and joined the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System. In 1998, the Central Banks (ESCB) have established the independence of institutions or bodies of the European Community and the governments of the EU Member States through an amendment to the National Bank Act of the Austrian National Bank to implement the goals and tasks of the European System. Thus, the legal basis for the participation of Austria in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was created in 1999.

As of 1999

The Austrian National Bank, and other national central banks including the European Central Bank ( ECB), belongs to the European System of Central Banks.

On 1 January 1999 was introduced in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union in Austria and ten other EU Member States, the euro as a common currency. The European Central Bank is henceforth responsible for monetary and currency policy, decisions in this regard will be taken in accordance with the Council of the European Central Bank.

Since May 2010, the OeNB is in full possession of the Republic of Austria, after originally lobbies, banks and insurance companies were involved with 50 % of the share capital in it. In 2011, the National Bank Act was adapted by an amendment (Federal Law Gazette I No. 50 /2011) in this circumstance, a renewed privatization is thus excluded by law.

The OeNB as a modern central bank

With the withdrawal from the retail business in the sixties as well as the first major internationalization and implementation of a strategic management in the seventies, the OeNB went on the way to a future-oriented central bank. Another major reform of banking began at the end of the eighties.

In terms of global development, the OeNB established in 1988 as a service company and expanded its guiding values ​​- "security, stability and trust" - to the principles of " fficiency" and "cost-consciousness". The business center was optimized and strategic business experienced through targeted improvements a reinforcement. Be mentioned as examples are intensifying domestic cooperation in the area of ​​payments by encouraging the creation of the Society for the Study co-payments (STUZZA), the liberalization of capital movements, the professional management of foreign exchange reserves, the improvement of the supply of money through the construction of the money center and the internationalization of business activities through the establishment of representative offices in Brussels (European Union), Paris (OECD) and the financial center of New York.

After Austria's accession to the EU in 1995, the OeNB participated in the European Monetary System (EMS ) and its Exchange Rate Mechanism. The integration in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was the next step towards further development of policy stability. Since the conclusion of the Maastricht Treaty, the Austrian National Bank has very fully considered its role in the ESCB and created a basis for inclusion in the community. The profound economic and monetary policy of Austria was also a reference that qualified the OeNB to actively participate in the monetary future of Europe, a greater harmonization of the statistical framework and monetary policy instruments with a view to the euro system, the preparation of the issue of European banknotes, and the establishment of operational processes and organizational integration of business processes within the ESCB being specific objectives of the OeNB.

In the following, it came, inter alia, to the establishement of an economic study department, of an education or training initiative and to strengthen the position of payment transactions through the TARGET system.

A in 1996 created "OeNB master plan" provided important points for the upcoming transition to the euro.

In May 1998, a new pension system came into force, by which new employees were incorporated into a two-pillar model.

1999, Austria's participation in the third stage of EMU was manifest. The Austrian National Bank - as part of the ESCB - became the owner of the European Central Bank and received new powers in this context in the sense of participation in the monetary policy decision-making at the level of the European Community. With the introduction of the euro, monetary policy functions of the General Council have been transferred to the Governing Council. However, the implementation remains the responsibility of national central banks.

Activities of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank were or are, for example, the further professionalization of asset management, the expansion of the network of representative offices by opening a representative office in the financial center of London, preparation of the smooth introduction of euro cash in 2002 and the participation of the OeNB on the creation of the "A-SIT" (Center for secure Information Technology Center - Austria) and the "A-Trust" (society of electronic security systems in traffic GmbH ) in order to promote security in information technology.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oesterreichische_Nationalbank

This is a static version of this interactive map:

www.futureatlas.com/Issues/Stability/Stability.htm

 

The map is color-coded:

-- dark blue: most stable

-- light blue: stable

-- yellow: borderline

-- orange: in danger

-- red: critical

 

Data sources

· “Failed States Index Scores 2009,” Fund for Peace.

· “Failed States Index,” ForeignPolicy.com, June 22, 2009.

 

Usable with attribution and link to: www.futureatlas.com

PHILIPPINE SEA (August 02, 2019) Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Taliana Canales, from Winterhaven, Fla., left, directs Damage Controlman 3rd Class Alexa Castillo, from Albuquerque, N.M., center and Culinary Specialist Seaman Claude Miquale, from Emporia, Va., as they run with chock and chains on flight deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85). McCampbell is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Isaac Maxwell/Released)

IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton (center), moderates a panel including Miguel Castilla (left to right), Former Minister of Economy and Finance, Peru, Joaquin Levy, Minister of Finance, Brazil, Nathan Sheets, Treasury Under Secretary, United States and Carmen Reinhart, Harvard University at the 2015 High Level Conference on Latin America - Rising Challenges to Growth and Stability in a Shifting Global Environment on Monday, June 1 at IMF Headquarters in Washington, D.C. IMF Photo/Ryan Rayburn

Premier Danielle Smith has named her new cabinet, a team dedicated to building on a solid foundation of stability, informed decision-making and good governance.

 

The 25 members of cabinet, a decrease from the previous 27, includes a mix of experienced and new ministers who represent Alberta’s diversity. As a team, they will govern for all Albertans and work to ensure Alberta realizes its full potential.

 

Alberta’s cabinet will be made up of the following ministers:

 

Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Relations – Danielle Smith

 

Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services – Mike Ellis

 

Minister of Advanced Education – Rajan Sawhney

 

Minister of Affordability and Utilities and Vice-chair of Treasury Board – Nathan Neudorf

 

Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation – RJ Sigurdson

 

Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women – Tanya Fir

 

Minister of Children and Family Services – Searle Turton

 

Minister of Education – Demetrios Nicolaides

 

Minister of Energy and Minerals – Brian Jean

 

Minister of Environment and Protected Areas – Rebecca Schulz

 

Ministry of Forestry and Parks – Todd Loewen

 

Minister of Health – Adriana LaGrange

 

Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism – Muhammad Yaseen

 

Minister of Indigenous Relations – Rick Wilson

 

Minister of Infrastructure – Pete Guthrie

 

Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade – Matt Jones

 

Minister of Justice – Mickey Amery

 

Minister of Mental Health and Addiction – Dan Williams

 

Minister of Municipal Affairs – Ric McIver

 

Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services – Jason Nixon

 

Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction – Dale Nally

 

Minister of Technology and Innovation – Nate Glubish

 

Minister of Tourism and Sport – Joseph Schow

 

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors – Devin Dreeshen

 

President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance – Nate Horner

 

Cabinet members will work collaboratively to accomplish the work that Albertans voted for, including continuing to grow and diversify the economy, keeping life affordable, reforming the health care system, tackling crime, providing help for those struggling and defending Alberta’s interests.

 

U.S. Army Africa Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, takes notes during the Marrakech Security Forum in Marrakech, Morocco, Jan. 20.

 

U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Davis

 

Dozens of scholars, politicians and soldiers gathered in Marrakech, Morocco, Jan. 20-22 for the second annual convocation of the Marrakech Security Forum.

 

U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, attended the event, which was hosted by the African Federation for Strategic Studies (FAES) with support from the Moroccan Center for Strategic Studies (CMES).

 

Prof. Mohammed Benhammou of FAES, the event organizer and moderator, welcomed participants and turned the floor over to Pieter de Crem, the Belgian Minister of Defense.

 

Hogg spoke next, describing the structure and mission of USARAF and its higher headquarters, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), and discussed the threats all countries face from terrorist movements to their stability and well-being.

 

Following the initial plenary session, participants broke up into discussion groups. Hogg attended a session that focused on redefining the threats and security risks against stability and development in Africa in general, and the Sahel region in particular.

 

The discussion provided considerable, high quality food for thought, said Lt. Col. Uli Calvo, North Africa Desk Officer, Security Cooperation Directorate, USARAF.

  

“The conference was focused on the developing threat of AQIM (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) in the trans-Sahel region in Africa, and just basically terrorism around the world,” he said.

For instance, a Belgian participant presented a synopsis of responses to terrorist activities in Indonesia during the past decade, and a Mexican delegate discussed the evolution of the war waged there against narcotics networks.

 

“That was the primary focus,” Calvo said.

 

A second plenary session focused on Algeria, which Hogg had recently visited. The theme was “From the GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) to AQIM: The transformation of the Algerian terrorist group to a branch of al-Qaida.” A range of scholars and government representatives made presentations on the subject of the group’s evolution, which also proved very interesting, he said.

 

Among the discussions were two competing views of how terrorism evolves, Calvo said.

 

One view sees terrorist organizations and activities as driven by poverty, while another view ascribes the motivation to political injustice.

 

“I think that the conventional wisdom is that poverty is the root cause of terrorism,” Calvo said. “But the problem with that is that you’re criminalizing the poor. There are regions in Africa, and around the world, where poverty is widespread but instances of terrorism are statistically insignificant.”

 

The debate continues.

 

Other themes over the course of the three-day forum included discussions of AQIM’s activities and strategic objectives; its evolution from jihad to narcoterrorism; the interconnections among illegal trafficking, terrorism and political conflict; AQIM’s accommodation with criminal gangs; connections between regional terrorist movements and global organizations; and the development of regional strategies for combating terrorism in the Sahel.

 

Throughout the course of the forum, Hogg was continually greeted by participants he had met on previous trips to the continent and by individuals who had heard of him and wanted to make his acquaintance, the great majority of them from sub-Saharan Africa, Calvo said.

 

Hogg also spoke with reporters from RTM (Radiodiffusion-Television Marocaine) and 2M TV, the official government television channels, and to Radio Africa 1, a French radio network with a wide reach across the continent.

 

“General Hogg’s response to reporters, the main thing he stressed was international cooperation — that countries with experience and expertise in responding to terrorism should help nations in the trans-Sahel build their own capacity to deal with it,” said Calvo.

 

“Sharing their experience and lessons learned should help individual countries devise local solutions to local problems,” he said.

 

Hogg also had to reiterate that neither U.S. Army Africa nor AFRICOM have any plans to establish a headquarters on the African continent, a notion that remains current in African perceptions and African media despite consistent clarification the contrary from American officials over the past several years.

 

Hogg and his party had the opportunity while in Marrakech to take a cultural tour and gain a first-hand insight into the power of tourism as a bulwark of the Moroccan economy, said Calvo.

 

“I think this visit was beneficial to the CG (Commanding General) in a couple of ways,” said Calvo. “First, it exposed him to new developments having to do with AQIM and counterterrorism. And secondly, he was able to get a taste for Morocco in advance of his first formal visit there later this year.”

   

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

 

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Logo of the Austrian National Bank

Headquarters Vienna, Austria

Central Bank of Austria

Currency€

To ISO 4217 EUR

website

www.oenb.at/

Previous Austro- Hungarian Bank

List of Central Banks

Oesterreichische Nationalbank, at Otto-Wagner -Platz No. 3, Vienna

The Austrian National Bank (OeNB), Austria's central bank as an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurosystem. It is instrumental in the design of the economic development in Austria and in the euro area. Legally, the OeNB is a public limited company.. However, it is also subject to further enshrined in the National Bank Act regulations resulting from its separate position as a central bank. In the framework of the Eurosystem, the OeNB contributes to a stability-oriented monetary policy. At the national level, it cares about the preservation of financial stability and the money supply and manage foreign exchange reserves to hedge against the euro in times of crisis. The guideline values in terms of the tasks of the Austrian National Bank are "security, stability and trust".

Contents

1 History

1.1 1816 to 1818

1.2 1818 to 1878

1.3 1878 to 1922

1.4 1922 to 1938

1.5 1938 to 1945

1.6 1945 to 1998

1.7 From 1999

2 The OeNB as a modern central bank

3 Legal form and organs

3.1 Legal framework

3.2 organs

3.2.1 General

3.2.2 General

3.2.3 Board of Directors

4 Tasks

4.1 Monetary policy strategies and monetary policy decision-making process

4.1.1 Economic analysis

4.1.2 Production of statistical information

4.1.3 Contribute to international organizations

4.2 Implementation of monetary policy

4.2.1 use of monetary policy instruments

4.2.2 Reserve Management

4.2.3 Money Supply

4.3 Communication of monetary policy

4.4 ensure financial stability

4.4.1 Financial Stability

4.4.2 Payment System Stability and payments

5 The OeNB in the European System of National Banks

6 President / Governors

7 See also

8 Literature

9 links

10 Notes and references

History

1816-1818

As long as 50 years before the founding of the National Bank the Habsburgs carried out first experiments with securities in the form of paper money. Finally, in the 18th Century the issue of banknotes transferred to a state independent institution, while the issue of paper money called "Banco notes," founded in 1705 by the "Vienna City Bank" took place in 1762.

In wartime governance took back control of the money issue, so there was an inflation of Banco-Zettel 1796-1810. The state ordered the forced acceptance of paper money in private transport, which led to a fast-growing discount on bills in the market. 1799 was therefore one for 100 guilders paper money only 92 guilders in silver coins, and at the end of 1810 the value of the paper florin had fallen to 15 % of the nominal value of the Banco-Zettel. Later, the Habsburgs declared a devaluation of the Banco-Zettel in the ratio of 5:1. This act was considered by the business community as a sovereign default, which the paper money experienced a rapid devaluation.

At the end of the Napoleonic wars the Habsburg multinational state ( → Habsburg Monarchy) faced a new challenge: the restoration of a European balance. Church, the nobility, the army and the bureaucracy as elements in the Ancien Régime were not sufficient to solve this problem, a well -founded economic situation was needed. Moreover, one could not ignore readily the laws of supply and demand.

In this regard, were the first June 1816 by Emperor Francis I two patents issued (later to distinguish the "main patent" or "bank patent"), the "privileged Austrian National Bank", conceived as a public company, had to constitute itself as soon a possible, propose the emperor three of its directors for selection of the governor and take up their activity provisionally on 1 July 1816.

The National Bank had henceforth a monopoly on the issuance of paper money, which led to a slowdown in the Austrian monetary system and an increase in the value of paper money. The economy was again a solid source of money keeping constant the value of money regardless of the spending plans of the State. The equity of the Bank justified this by share issues.

Initially comprised the activities of the bank - under temporary management - the redemption of paper money and the issuance of shares. The full effectiveness attained the National Bank until after the issue of 1,000 shares and the associated possibility of shareholders to set the management themselves.

1818-1878

On 15 July 1817 recieved the National Bank as the "first Bankprivilegium" the exclusive right to unrestricted issue of banknotes and in this context a special position in terms of Rediskontgeschäfts (rediscount business). Beginning of 1818 the definitive bank management was ready. Part of it were among leading figures of Viennese society, including the banker Johann Heinrich von Geymüller and Bernard of Eskeles. From 1830 to 1837 the Office of the Governor was held by Adrian Nicholas Baron Barbier.

In the countries of the Habsburg Monarchy, which were characterized in large part by an agricultural oriented activity pattern, some regions showed a lively commercial-industrial growth. The goal now was to create a system of economic exchange between these areas. Successively established the National Bank branch network and thus guaranteed a uniform money and credit supply. From its headquarters in Vienna this network extended over early industrial areas and commercial centers in Eastern and Central Europe to the northern Mediterranean.

Trade bills and coins were preferred assets of the National Bank, less the supply of money to the state. With the exchange transactions, the National Bank supported the economic growth of the monarchy and secured at the same time the supply of silver coins in the event that the need for these increases in exchange for bank notes, contrary to expectations. 1818 was the National Bank, however, by increasing public debt, due to high spending in times of crisis, not spared to make an increase in the government debt positions on the asset side of its balance sheet.

The patent provisions of the founding of the National Bank not sufficiently secured against the autonomy of governance. At the center of the struggle for independence, this was the question of the extent to which the issue of banknotes must be made on the basis of government bonds. In 1841, a renewal of Bankprivilegiums got a weakening of the independence by pushing back the influence of the shareholders in favor of the state administration. During the revolution of 1848/49 followers of constitutional goals received great support from senior figures in the National Bank. For about a hundred years, the Austrian branch of the Rothschild bank (from which from 1855, the "Royal Privileged Austrian Credit-Institute for Commerce and Industry", the later Creditanstalt, was born) was playing a leading role in the banking center of Vienna. Salomon Mayer von Rothschild was involved during the pre-March in all major transactions of the National Bank for the rehabilitation of the state budget.

Special focus the National Bank was putting on the development of the premium that was payable at the exchange of banknotes into silver money in business dealings. The increase, which corresponded to a depreciation of the notes issued by the Bank should be prevented. From an overall state perspective, the increase of the silver premium means a deterioration in terms of the exchange ratio towards foreign countries, influencing the price competitiveness of the Austrian foreign trade adversely. The stabilization of the premium were set some limits. Although the height of the emission activitiy was depending on the Bank, but also the price of silver and the potential effects of increased government debt materially affected the silver premium. Especially the 1848 revolution and conflicts in the following years caused an increasement of the silver premium.

Mid-century, the private banking and wholesale houses were no longer able to cope with the rapidly growing financial intermediation of the Habsburg monarchy. New forms of capital formation were required. From an initiative of the House of Rothschild, the first by the government approved and private joint-stock bank was created. This formation was followed in 1863 and 1864 by two other joint-stock banks, whose major shareholders included important personalities of the aristocracy, who possessed large liquid funds. Overall, grew with these banks the money creation potential of the "financial center of Vienna".

The central bank faced another difficult task: with its limited resources it had to secure sufficient liquidity on the one hand and on the other hand prevent the inflationary expansion of the money supply. Through close contacts with the shareholders of Vienna was a financial center (informal) ballot, especially in times of crisis, easily dealt out. In contrast, it gave differences of opinion in the Fed Board, which required enforcement of decisions.

In 1861, Friedrich Schey Koromla became director of the National Bank. On 27 December 1862 experienced the Bankprivilegium another innovation. The independence of the National Bank of the State was restored and anchored. Furthermore, was introduced the direct allocation of banknotes in circulation by the system of "Peel'schen Bank Act", which states that the fixed budget of 200 million guilders exceeding circulation of banknotes must be covered by silver coins. In 1866, when the German war ended in defeat for Austria, the compliance of the system was no longer met. The state felt itself forced to pay compensation for breach of privilege. This balance was supported by a law of 1872, after the National Bank may issue notes up to a maximum of 200 million guilders and each additional payment must be fully backed by gold or silver.

1873 the economic boom of the Habsburg monarchy was represented in a long-lasting rise in the share price. A now to be expecting break could by the behavior of the Vienna Stock not be intercepted, so it came to the "Great Crash of 1873". The in 1872 fixed restrictions of the circulation of notes for a short time have been suspended. Contrary to expectations, the money supply in crisis peak but only outgrew by nearly 1% the prescribed limit in the bank acts. The banks and the industrial and commercial companies survived the crash without major losses, although the share prices significantly lay below the initial level.

The years with high growth were followed by a period of stagnation.

1878-1922

As part of the compensation negotiations between Austria and Hungary in 1867, the National Bank was able to exercise fully their Privilegialrechte, the Kingdom of Hungary but now had the certified right, every ten years exercisable, to found an own central bank (bank note). As resulted from the first 10 -year period that furthermore none of the two parts of the monarchy wanted to build an independent money-issuing bank (Zettelbank), was built on 28 June 1878, initially to 31 December 1887 limited, an Austro-Hungarian Bank, and equipped with the Fed privilege. The first privilege of the new bank was a compromise in which on the one hand, regulations on liability for national debts as well as regulations limiting the influence of the government on banking businesses were included. 1878 Gustav Leonhardt was Secretary of the Bank.

The General Assembly and the General Council formed the unit of the bank management. Two directorates and major institutions - in Vienna and Budapest - represented the dual nature of the bank. 1892-1900 followed a long discussion finally the currency conversion from guilders (silver currency) to the crown (gold standard) with "Gold Crown" said coins.

Since the new banknotes were very popular in the public, now many gold coins piled up in the vaults of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. This period was characterized by a balanced combination of price growth and damping, the "per capita national product" grew while prices remained mostly stable. Against this background, it was easy for the Fed to encourage a new wave of industrialization.

With a third privilege in 1899 conditions were established under which the bank could be put into the financial services of the two countries, on the other hand there have been important innovations that paved a good exchange policy. By 1914, the exchange ratio of the Austro-Hungarian currency was unchanged with only minor fluctuations. In contrast, was the by conflicts marked political development.

The expansive foreign policy quickly led to high costs from which had to be shouldered by the central bank a significant part. The stability of the currency was in danger. Shortly after the beginning of World War I in 1914, laid down the Military Command to indemnify any seized property with double the price. There was an increasing scarcity of goods, connected with an ongoing expansion of the money supply and finally the increase in the price level on the 16-fold.

The resulting cost of the war of the Dual Monarchy were covered to 40% on central bank loans and 60% through war bonds. Over the duration of the war, the power force built up in recent decades has been frozen at the end of the conflict in 1918, the real income of the workers had fallen to one-fifth of the last year of peace.

With the end of the war the end for the old order had come, too. The decay of Cisleithania and Transleithania caused in several successor states, despite the efforts of the central bank to maintain the order, a currency separation (see Crown Currency in the decay of the monarchy, successor states). First, a separate "Austrian management" of the bank was introduced. It was encouraged to shoulder the shortcomings of the state budget of the Republic of Austria founded in 1918.

The new South Slav state began in January 1919 stamping its crown banknotes. The newly founded Czechoslovak Republic retained the crown currency (to date), but their printed banknotes in circulation as of February 1919 with indications that now these ar Czechoslovak crowns. (The country could an inflation as experienced by Austria avoide.) In March 1919, German Austria began to stamp its crown banknotes.

The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 10 September 1919, by Austria on 25 October 1919 ratified and which on 16 July 1920 came into force, determined the cancellation and replacement of all crown banknotes of all successor states of Austria-Hungary as well as the complete liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian Bank under the supervision of the war winners. The last meetings of the Bank took place mid 1921 and at the end of 1922.

After a period of overvaluation of the crown the dollar rate rose from 1919 again. 1921, had to be paid over 5,000 Austrian crowns per dollar. In addition to the significant drop in the external value existed in Austria rising inflation. End of 1922 was ultimately a rehabilitation program with foreign assistance - the "Geneva Protocol" - passed which slowed down the inflation.

1922-1938

With Federal Law of 24 July 1922 the Minister of Finance was commissioned to build a central bank, which had to take over the entire note circulation plus current liabilities of the Austrian management of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. With Federal Law of 14 November 1922, certain provisions of the law were amended and promulgated the statutes of the Austrian National Bank. By order of the Federal Government Seipel I 29 December 1922, the Board of the Austrian Austro-Hungarian Bank issued authorization for the central bank union activity with 1 January 1923 have been declared extinct and was made ​​known the commencement of operations of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank this day.

The statutes of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) secured the independence from the state, the independence of the Bank under exclusion of external influences and the corresponding equity. First, the stabilization of the Austrian currency was at the forefront. With the Schilling Act of 20 December 1924 was the schilling currency (First Republic) with 1 Introduced in March 1925, it replaced the crown currency. For 10,000 crowns now you got a shilling.

As an important personality in terms of the order of the state budget, Dr. Victor Kienböck has to be mentioned. He was in the time from 1922 to 1924 and from 1926 to 1929 finance minister of the First Republic and from 1932 to 1938 President of the Austrian National Bank. Through his work remained the Austrian Schilling, also beyound the global economy crisis, stable. Under this condition, the Fed was able to cope with the large number of bank failures of the past.

1938-1945

According to the on 13th March issued Anschlussgesetz (annexation law) , the Reichsmark with order of the Fuehrer and Chancellor of 17 was March 1938 introduced in the country Austria and determines the course: A Reichsmark is equal to one shilling fifty pence. On the same day, the Chancellor ordered that the management of the to be liquidated National Bank was transferred to the Reichsbank.

With regulation of three ministers of the German Reich of 23 April 1938, the National Bank was established as a property of the Reichsbank and its banknotes the quality as legal tender by 25 April 1938 withdrawn; public funds had Schilling banknotes until 15th of may in 1938 to accept. All the gold and foreign exchange reserves were transferred to Berlin.

The Second World War weakened the Austrian economy to a great extent, the production force after the war corresponded to only 40% of that of 1937 (see also air raids on Austria). To finance the war, the Reichsbank brought to a high degree banknotes in circulation, which only a great victory of the kingdom (Reich) actual values ​​would have been opposable. Since prices were strictly regulated, inflation virtually could be "banned" during the war.

1945-1998

In occupied postwar Austria about 10 billion shillings by Allied military occupying powers were initially printed, which contributed to significant price increases.

With the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria by the Austrian declaration of independence of 27 April 1945, it came to the resumption of activities of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. By the "Fed Transition Act" of July 1945 preliminary legal regulations for the operations of the Bank have been established. The restoration of the Austrian currency was their first big job. The goal was the summary of all currencies, which at the time were in circulation, and their secondment to a new Austrian currency. The "Schilling Act" of November 1945, the basis for the re-introduction of the Schilling (Second Republic) as legal tender in Austria. The next step was to reduce excess liquidity to make necessary funds for new business investment available and to make the external value of the shilling for the development of the economy competitive. First, however, less changed the inflationary situation and also the shilling was still significantly undervalued in relation to other currencies.

The "Currency Protection Act" of 1947 brought a significant change in the monetary overhang. Some deposits have been deleted without replacement, others converted into claims against the Federal Treasury. The following exchange operations also significantly reduced the amount of cash: banknotes from 1945 were canceled and exchanged for new schilling notes in the ratio 1:3. Only 150 shillings per person could go 1-1.

To control inflation, the social partners came to the foreground. The associations of employers and employees set in 1947 prices for supplies, wages were also raised. This was the first of the five "wage-price agreements" of the social partners. In 1952, inflation was held back by limiting the use of monetary policy instruments by the National Bank. Also, the external sector slowly relaxed after the end of the Korean War.

In 1955, the Austrian National Bank was re-established by the new National Bank Act as a corporation and the by the National Bank Transition of Authorities Act (Nationalbank-Überleitungsgesetz) established provisional arragement abolished. The National Bank Act stipulated that each half of the capital should be situated at the federal government and private shareholders. In addition to the independence of bank loans of the state, the new National Bank Act also contained an order that the central bank must watch within their monetary and credit policies on the economic policies of the federal government. From now on also included within the instruments of the National Bank were the areas open market and minimum reserve policy.

The Austrian economy increasingly stabilized, through good fiscal and monetary policy a high growth could be attained, with low inflation and long-term maintenance of external equilibrium.

1960, Austria joined the European Free Trade Association and participated in the European integration.

In the sixties came the international monetary system based on gold-dollar convertibility into currency fluctuations and political reforms were necessary. First, the loosening of exchange rate adjustments between several states was an option. However, U.S. balance of payments problems brought with it restrictions on capital movements, and then the Euro-Dollar market was born. In 1971, the convertibility of the U.S. dollar was lifted.

1975 interrupted a recession increasing growth time. International unbalanced ayments caused very extensive foreign exchange movements, whereby the intervention force of Austrian monetary policy has been strongly challenged. Their task now was to control the effect of foreign exchange on domestic economic activities to stabilize the shilling in the context of constantly shifting exchange rates and to control the price rise appropriately. Since the inflow of foreign funds reached to high proportions, so that the economic stability has been compromised, the policy went the way of the independent course design in a pool of selected European currencies.

The collapse of the economy forced the policy makers to a new course with active mutual credit control, subdued wage growth, financial impulses in supply and demand, and interest rates are kept low. This system of regulation, however, kept back the need for structural change, so it had to be given up in 1979. In the same year a fire destroyed large parts of the main building of the Austrian National Bank in Vienna. The repairs lasted until 1985.

Target in the eighties was to strengthen the economic performance using a competitive power comparison. The findings from the seventies stimulated the Austrian monetary policy to align the Schilling course at the Deutsche Mark to ensure price stability in the country. In addition, the structural change was initiated by inclusion in a large area. Stable, if not necessarily comfortable environment of monetary policy was a prerequisite, to secure the companies long-term productivity gains and thus safeguard their position in the economy.

Initially, this development stood a high level of unemployment in the way. Growth until the second half of the decade increased, at the same time increased the competitiveness and current accounts could be kept in balance.

In the nineties, the annexation of Austria took place in the European Community. 1995 Austria became a member of the European Union (EU) and joined the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System. In 1998, the Central Banks (ESCB) have established the independence of institutions or bodies of the European Community and the governments of the EU Member States through an amendment to the National Bank Act of the Austrian National Bank to implement the goals and tasks of the European System. Thus, the legal basis for the participation of Austria in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was created in 1999.

As of 1999

The Austrian National Bank, and other national central banks including the European Central Bank ( ECB), belongs to the European System of Central Banks.

On 1 January 1999 was introduced in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union in Austria and ten other EU Member States, the euro as a common currency. The European Central Bank is henceforth responsible for monetary and currency policy, decisions in this regard will be taken in accordance with the Council of the European Central Bank.

Since May 2010, the OeNB is in full possession of the Republic of Austria, after originally lobbies, banks and insurance companies were involved with 50 % of the share capital in it. In 2011, the National Bank Act was adapted by an amendment (Federal Law Gazette I No. 50 /2011) in this circumstance, a renewed privatization is thus excluded by law.

The OeNB as a modern central bank

With the withdrawal from the retail business in the sixties as well as the first major internationalization and implementation of a strategic management in the seventies, the OeNB went on the way to a future-oriented central bank. Another major reform of banking began at the end of the eighties.

In terms of global development, the OeNB established in 1988 as a service company and expanded its guiding values ​​- "security, stability and trust" - to the principles of " fficiency" and "cost-consciousness". The business center was optimized and strategic business experienced through targeted improvements a reinforcement. Be mentioned as examples are intensifying domestic cooperation in the area of ​​payments by encouraging the creation of the Society for the Study co-payments (STUZZA), the liberalization of capital movements, the professional management of foreign exchange reserves, the improvement of the supply of money through the construction of the money center and the internationalization of business activities through the establishment of representative offices in Brussels (European Union), Paris (OECD) and the financial center of New York.

After Austria's accession to the EU in 1995, the OeNB participated in the European Monetary System (EMS ) and its Exchange Rate Mechanism. The integration in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was the next step towards further development of policy stability. Since the conclusion of the Maastricht Treaty, the Austrian National Bank has very fully considered its role in the ESCB and created a basis for inclusion in the community. The profound economic and monetary policy of Austria was also a reference that qualified the OeNB to actively participate in the monetary future of Europe, a greater harmonization of the statistical framework and monetary policy instruments with a view to the euro system, the preparation of the issue of European banknotes, and the establishment of operational processes and organizational integration of business processes within the ESCB being specific objectives of the OeNB.

In the following, it came, inter alia, to the establishement of an economic study department, of an education or training initiative and to strengthen the position of payment transactions through the TARGET system.

A in 1996 created "OeNB master plan" provided important points for the upcoming transition to the euro.

In May 1998, a new pension system came into force, by which new employees were incorporated into a two-pillar model.

1999, Austria's participation in the third stage of EMU was manifest. The Austrian National Bank - as part of the ESCB - became the owner of the European Central Bank and received new powers in this context in the sense of participation in the monetary policy decision-making at the level of the European Community. With the introduction of the euro, monetary policy functions of the General Council have been transferred to the Governing Council. However, the implementation remains the responsibility of national central banks.

Activities of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank were or are, for example, the further professionalization of asset management, the expansion of the network of representative offices by opening a representative office in the financial center of London, preparation of the smooth introduction of euro cash in 2002 and the participation of the OeNB on the creation of the "A-SIT" (Center for secure Information Technology Center - Austria) and the "A-Trust" (society of electronic security systems in traffic GmbH ) in order to promote security in information technology.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oesterreichische_Nationalbank

Drawing on the experience of the Korean War, in 1952 the US Navy issued a requirement for an all-weather fighter. The requirement was stringent: the aircraft would have to be supersonic, and yet still be able to have a landing speed no greater than 100 mph for carrier operations. The Vought aircraft company (formerly Chance-Vought and later Ling-Temco-Vought), smarting from the utter failure of the F6U Pirate and F7U Cutlass, needed something to save the company, and so staked everything on the V-383 design. It was certainly ahead of its time, using area rule for supersonic performance, a dogtoothed wing for stability, an all-moving tail, and titanium to lower weight.

 

The most important innovation, however, was the variable-incidence wing: when taking off or approaching a carrier, the wing could be angled upwards, allowing the V-383 to retain plenty of lift while keeping the cockpit level—an important consideration coming aboard a carrier. For weapons, the V-383 would use a standard 1950s-era mix of 20mm cannon and an underfuselage tray of rockets. With the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile beginning to enter service, Vought added two fuselage-mounted hardpoints for those as well. Though it faced stiff competition, the V-383 won the contract in 1953 as the XF8U-1 Crusader, which first flew in March 1955. Development was smooth and uneventful, and F8U-1s began reaching the fleet in 1957.

 

Fighter pilots fell in love with the Crusader for its nimble handling, high speed, and sleek appearance, but they also found it was a handful to fly. Even with the variable wing, it landed hard and fast on carriers, leading to enough accidents that it initially earned the nickname “Ensign Eliminator.” Deploying the variable wing at high speeds would cause the Crusader to go instantly out of control and disintegrate. Because of its length and low-mounted intake, carrier deck crews referred to it as the “Alligator,” and it was difficult to move around, especially on the smaller World War II-era Essex-class carriers it was often assigned to. Though faster and far more manueverable than its contemporaries--the F3H Demon, F4D Skyray, and F11F Tiger—it was also less forgiving. Problems with stability led Vought to add ventral fins in the F8U-3 variant, which also deleted the rocket tray, as it was seldom used. Despite all the problems, its performance was phenomenal: Crusaders were used to set a number of flight records in the early 1960s.

 

The Crusader would get its combat baptism in the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Key West and Guantanamo Bay-based RF-8As made low-level runs into Cuban airspace to confirm the existence of Soviet nuclear missiles. It would be Vietnam, however, where the F-8 would make its reputation. Though the F-4 Phantom II was supposed to be the last word in fleet air defense design, the eventual replacement of the Crusader, the F-4’s lack of internal cannon and relatively poor dogfight manueverability put it at a disadvantage against less advanced, yet smaller and more nimble North Vietnamese MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters.

 

The F-8, on the other hand, was equal to the MiG-21 in all respects and, if it couldn’t turn with the MiG-17, it had better performance in the vertical and could stay with the MiG in long fights. F-8s would claim 19 MiGs during the Vietnam War for the loss of only three in air combat, a kill ratio unmatched by any other American aircraft. Though the majority of kills were actually made with Sidewinders, the fact that the F-8 still had four cannon as a backup gave pilots the confidence to stay in combat and engage in close-range dogfighting, although the cannon had a tendency to jam in high-speed turns. It was no wonder that Crusader pilots proudly proclaimed, “When you’re out of F-8s, you’re out of fighters.” In South Vietnam, Navy and Marine Corps pilots used the F-8 for attack missions, which, despite not really being designed for it, it proved to be superb in the close air support role, dropping bombs or firing rockets, and making gun passes at increasingly close proximity to friendly troops. 170 F-8s would be lost to all causes during Vietnam.

 

The F-4’s shortcomings and the F-8’s ability kept the Crusader in the fleet, longer than anticipated—the F-8 would become the first aircraft in US Navy history to remain in service over 20 years. Subsequent F-8H and F-8J variants would remain in service until the end of the Vietnam conflict, and in fleet service until 1976, and in Reserve units for a little longer; reconnaissance RF-8Gs were the last American Crusaders in service, and were not retired until 1987. Even then, the type persisted in service: though ex-Navy F-8H Crusaders supplied to the Philippine Air Force were grounded about the same time due to a lack of spares, French Aeronavale F-8(FN) Crusaders would remain in service until 2000 after almost forty years of service, including participation in the Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts of the 1990s; these aircraft were replaced by Dassault Rafales, two generations ahead of the venerable F-8. Of 1219 Crusaders built, today 17 are known to survive, none flyable.

 

An early F8U-1A (redesignated F-8A in 1962), BuNo 145349 joined the fleet in 1960, assigned to VF-62 ("Boomerangs") aboard the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) until 1964, when it was reassigned to VF-162 ("Hunters") aboard USS Oriskany (CV-34). It didn't remain on the ship long, and never saw combat: after only a few short months aboard the Oriskany, it was reassigned to VU-7, a utility squadron. It was retired in 1968 while assigned to NAS Olathe, Kansas. At some point in the 1980s, it was donated to the Pueblo Weisbrod Museum in Colorado.

 

After being outside for awhile, 145349 was nicely restored in the colors it wore while with VF-162 aboard the Oriskany--though 145394 was not there to see it, VF-162 was heavily involved in operations over Vietnam. It looks a little naked without weapons pylons, but this view shows the F-8's four 20mm cannons quite well. It's always a treat to see a F-8, especially one in good condition.

Aston Martin DBS is a 6.0-litre V12 powered, race-bred, two-seater shaped by the aerodynamic demands of high performance, with an exquisite interior that marries beautifully hand-finished materials with the very latest in performance technology. Race-derived materials and components and Aston Martin’s unrivalled hand-build expertise makes the DBS a luxury sports car without equal.

 

Aston Martin DBS Specifications:

 

Body:

- Two-door coupe body style with 2+0 seating

- Bonded aluminium VH structure

- Aluminium, magnesium alloy and carbon-fibre composite body

- Extruded aluminium door side-impact beams

- High Intensity Discharge headlamps (dipped beam)

- Halogen projector headlamps (main beam)

- LED rear lamps and side repeaters

 

Engine:

- All-alloy, quad overhead camshaft, 48-valve, 5935 cc V12. Compression ratio 10.9:1

- Front-mid mounted engine, rear-wheel drive

- Fully catalysed stainless steel exhaust system with active bypass valves

 

Projected Performance figures:

- Maximum power: 380 kW (510 bhp/517 PS) @ 6500 rpm

- Maximum torque: 570 Nm (420 lb ft) @ 5750 rpm

- Maximum speed: 307 km/h (191 mph)

- Acceleration: 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 4.3 seconds

 

Transmission:

- Rear-mid mounted, six-speed manual gearbox

- Alloy torque tube with carbon-fibre propeller shaft

- Limited-slip differential

- Final-drive ratio 3.71:1

 

Steering:

- Rack and pinion

- Servotronic speed-sensitive power-assisted steering

- 3.0 turns lock-to-lock

- Column tilt and reach adjustment

 

Wheels & Tyres

Wheels:

- Front: 8.5" x 20"

- Rear: 11" x 20"

 

Tyres:

Pirelli P Zero

- Front: 245/35

- Rear: 295/30

 

Suspension:

Front:

- Independent double wishbone incorporating anti-dive geometry

- Coil springs

- Anti-roll bar and monotube adaptive dampers

Rear:

- Independent double wishbones with anti-squat and anti-lift geometry

- Coil springs

- Anti-roll bar and monotube adaptive dampers

 

Adaptive Damping System (ADS) with Track mode

 

Brakes:

Front: Ventilated carbon ceramic discs, 398 mm diameter with six-piston calipers

Rear: Ventilated carbon ceramic discs, 360 mm diameter with four-piston calipers

 

Dynamic Stability control (DSC) with Track mode, including anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), emergency brake assist (EBA) and traction control.

 

Dimensions:

Length: 4721 mm

Width: 1905 mm excluding door mirrors, 2060 mm including door mirrors

Height: 1280 mm

Wheelbase: 2740 mm

Fuel tank capacity: 78 litres

Weight: 1695 kg

 

Interior:

- Semi-aniline leather and Alcantara interior

- Matrix alloy facia trim and Iridium Silver centre console finish

- Carbon-fibre door trims and door pulls

- Auto-dimming rear-view mirror & garage door opener (USA and Canada only)

- Sports seats with ten-way electric adjustment, including height, tilt and lumbar adjustment

- Memory seats & exterior mirrors (three positions)

- Dual-stage driver/passenger front airbags

- Side airbags (sports seats only)

- Heated seats (sports seats only)

- Heated rear screen

- Automatic temperature control

- Organic Electroluminescent (OEL) displays

- Trip computer

- Cruise control

- Hard Disk Drive (HDD) satellite navigation system*1,2

- Bluetooth telephone preparation*1

- Powerfold exterior mirrors

- Front and rear parking sensors

- Tyre-pressure monitoring*1

- Alarm and immobiliser

- Remote-control central door locking and boot release

- Battery disconnect switch

- Battery conditioner

- Tracking device (UK only)

- Boot-mounted umbrella

 

*1 Not available in all markets

*2 Includes Traffic Messaging Channel (TMC) in Continental Europe

 

In-car entertainment:

- Aston Martin 700 W premium audio system with Dolby® Pro Logic II®

- MP3 player connectivity

 

Optional Equipment:

- Lightweight seats with six-way adjustment, including front and rear height adjust (Does not include side airbags or heated seats feature. Not available in USA or Canada)

- 20" alloy wheels with graphite finish

- Satellite radio system (USA only)

- Piano Black facia trim and centre console finish

- Leather storage saddle

- Personalised sill plaques

- Auto-dimming interior rear-view mirror*1

- Auto-dimming interior rear-view mirror with garage door opener (Europe only)

- Alarm upgrade (volumetric and tilt sensor)

- Tracking device*3

- First-aid kit

- Ashtray and cigar lighter

 

*1 Not available in all markets

*3 Complies with UK Thatcham Category 5 requirements. Excludes subscription. Standard in UK.

By buying already weak animals, FAO created markets where they had collapsed - improving the financial stability of affected pastoralists.

 

Read more about FAO and El Niño.

 

Photo credit must be given: ©FAO/K. Cornett. Editorial use only. Copyright FAO

Almost two years after the presentation of the EU Global Strategy and more than a year after Jean Claude Juncker’s white book on the future of Europe, the European Union still struggles with major challenges and threats that seem to undermine the stability of the security environment within its borders and in its neighbourhood. In the aftermath of Brexit and with the proximity of to the European Parliament elections in 2019, the third International Conference Europe as a Global Actor (Lisbon, May 24 & 25, 2018) will discuss the role the EU can play in the current global transformations, as well as the domestic and external obstacles it faces as a global actor.

The Center for International Studies of ISCTE-IUL organized the third edition of the International Conference “Europe as a global actor”, on 24 and 25 May.

The opening lecture was given by the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, on May 24, at 09:30 am.

The Conference Program also included a debate on the state of the Union with the presence of Portuguese MEPs, panels and round-tables on the challenges of the Common Security and Defense Policy, the future of European security and defense, the EU’s relationship with other global players and the future of the European Union as a global player. In addition to the presence of several invited scholars, in plenary sessions moderated by Portuguese journalists, the program also included the presentation of communications by around 40 international researchers in this area of knowledge.

 

May 24th

 

9h00 | Registration – Floor 2, Building II

 

09h30 | Opening Remarks (Aud. B203) – session in Portuguese

 

Keynote Speaker: Augusto Santos Silva, Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs

Helena Carreiras (Director, School of Sociology and Public Policies, ISCTE-IUL)

Luís Nuno Rodrigues (Director, Center for International Studies, CEI-IUL)

 

10h45 – 11h00 – Coffee Break

 

11h00 | Round Table I: CSDP: challenges and opportunities (Aud. B203)

 

Moderator: António Mateus (RTP)

 

Laura Ferreira-Pereira (Universidade do Minho)

Jochen Rehrl (EEAS – ESDC)

Ana Isabel Xavier (CEI-IUL)

  

12h30 – 14h00 – Lunch

  

14h00 – 15h45 | Parallel Sessions I

 

Panel 1 –The future of European Security and Defence (Room C201)

 

Moderator: Ana Isabel Xavier (CEI-IUL)

 

Stefano Loi (CEI-IUL): “The PESCO agreement and the future of the European common defence”

Lorinc Redei & Michael Mosser (University of Texas at Austin): “The European Union as a Catalyst in European Security”

Patricia Daehnhardt (IPRI-NOVA): “The EU and transatlantic relations: the end of the Euro-Atlantic security community?”

   

Panel 2 – The European policy on migration and asylum (Room C301)

 

Moderator: Giulia Daniele (CEI-IUL)

 

João Barroso (CEI-IUL): “The EU and the refugee crisis: a literature review”

Tommaso Emiliani (College of Europe): “EU Migration Agencies: More “Guarding”, Less “Support for Asylum”? An Assessment of How the European Board and Coast Guard and the European Asylum Support Office Pursue Their Relations with Third Countries in Light of the So-Called ‘Refugee Crisis’.”

Emellin de Oliveira (NOVA): “The Securitization of Migration through Technology: an analysis of the PNR Directive”

   

Panel 3 – The state of the Union and the future of Europe: reflections and scenarios (Room C302)

 

Moderator: Ana Lúcia Sá (CEI-IUL)

 

Luís Machado Barroso (CEI-IUL; IUM) & Marco António Ferreira da Cruz (IUM): “It is not enough to be… It needs to be seen”: the analysis of EUGS implementation 1st Year report”

Ricardo Alexandre (CEI-IUL): “The Western Balkans Euro-fatigue and the impact on EU of potential alternatives to integration”

Dina Sebastião (University of Coimbra): “The persistence of Portuguese Atlanticism as a block for a supranationalization of European defence policy”

   

15h45 – 16h00 – Coffee Break

   

16h00-18h00 | Round Table II – The EU & other global players (Aud. B204)

 

Moderator: Helena Tecedeiro (Diário de Notícias)

 

Thomas Diez (University of Tübingen)

Maria Raquel Freire (CES-UC, Coimbra)

Luís Tomé (Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa)

Bruno Cardoso Reis (CEI-IUL, Lisbon)

  

18h00 – 20h00 | Parallel Sessions II

 

Panel 4 – Brexit (Room C401)

 

Moderator: Bruno Cardoso Reis (CEI-IUL)

 

Sanja Ivic (Institute for European Studies, Serbia): “The Question of European Identity in Light of Brexit”

Allan F. Tatham (Universidad San Pablo-CEU): “‘Breaking up is Hard to Do’: The evolution of the EU’s withdrawal criteria”

Christopher Pitcher (ISCTE-IUL): “‘I voted remain’ a look at the social and political divides within Brexit Britain through qualitative analysis of the narratives and attitudes of British citizens who voted remain”

Luana Lo Piccolo (ISPI – Milan): “Brexit: an increasing fragmentation of the international architecture”

   

Panel 5 – The EU and its Neighbourhood (Room C402)

 

Moderator: Cátia Miriam Costa (CEI-IUL)

 

Petar Georgiev (Council of the EU): “Pursuit of greener pastures in the Eastern neighbourhood: reconciliation of EU’s security interests and normative ambitions”

César García Andrés (Universidad de Valladolid): “The role of Ukraine within the European neighborhood policy and its effects on relations with Russia”

Mónica Canário (CEI-IUL): “Why do we need a real gender policy in the EU?”

Filipe Lima (CEI-IUL): “The EU and Israel and Palestinian Conflict”

   

Panel 6 – Transnational threats (Room C502)

 

Moderator: Ana Margarida Esteves (CEI-IUL)

 

Sofia Geraldes (ISCTE-IUL): “Digital Battlefields: Assessing the EU soft security actorness countering social media information warfare activities”

Marc de Carrière (Amarante International): “Going beyond NATO’s Article 5: A EU-NATO Blockchain to deter cyber warfare”

Davoud Gharayagh-Zandi (IRS; Shahid Beheshti University) & João Almeida Silveira (FCSH-NOVA): “The European Union security actorness within EU-Iran relations in the Post JCPOA Era”

Henrique Miguel Alves Garcia: “Radicalization in Belgium and EU security environment”

 

Susana Pedro

Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department Fabio Natalucci, Global Head and Director of Climate Business of the IFC Vivek Pathak, Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance, Global Policy Initiatives at IIF Sonja Gibbs, and Head of Climate Change at IDB Invest Hilen Meirovich take part in the Global Financial Stability Report: Analytical Chapter 2 Launch Event moderated by Justin Worland, Senior Correspondent for TIME Magazine, during the 2022 Annual Meetings take place at the International Monetary Fund.

 

IMF Photo/Cory Hancock

7 October 2022

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: CH221007007.arw

 

Closeup. I love it! The chunky Lego tire reminds me of my childhood, and symbolizes that this switch is to be used for off-roading.

 

When you flip the switch off, the stability warning and ABS warning lights will come on on the dash. They will stay on until you restart the vehicle, even if you flip the switch back to on. The computer basically gives up on things when you cut the connection like that, and won't try to set it up again until you restart.

 

But you will be free to do donuts, just like in the old days before the Safety Nazis came for us.

 

In the old days, people crashed and died a lot, too. So be careful.

Secretary Wilkie Speaks at VSO Conventions, Tours VA Facilities

 

Customer service, stability and quality care for Veterans remain top priorities for Secretary Robert Wilkie at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He reinforced that pledge as incoming VA Secretary while visiting medical facilities and attended national Veteran engagements in three states last week. Secretary Wilkie served as keynote speaker at the American Legion’s 100th National Convention in Minneapolis, MN. He called members of the nation’s largest wartime Veterans service organization “powerful advocates” and said “let me thank you, thank the entire American Legion past and present for everything you have done to make this the last best hope of man on earth.”

 

In referring to his prime directive of customer service, Secretary Wilkie said “we have to talk to Veterans, we have to listen to Veterans, because every major advance and relief for those who have ‘borne the battle’ has come through the efforts of Veterans themselves, not waiting on the slow machine of government to move.” He also lauded the passing of the MISSION Act in making it easier for eligible Veterans of all eras to navigate the system and ensure they receive the best health care possible whether delivered in VA facilities or in the community.

 

While in Minnesota, the Secretary also visited with patients and was given an expansive tour and briefing by leadership at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. The facility has an excellent reputation and is known worldwide for its strong research and academic services focused on Veterans. The facility is recognized for its overall performance and rated a 5-Star. Secretary Wilkie was particularly impressed with the advancements in prosthetic technology that is now available to Veterans there.

Secretary Wilkie was also welcomed at Fort Snelling National Cemetery which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is the final resting place for Minneapolis area Veterans dating back to the Revolutionary War era with more than 225,000 interments.

 

The Secretary then headed to Dallas, TX to visit with Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) leadership and speak to hundreds of attendees at the PVA’s 8th annual Heath Care Summit & Expo. The Secretary reinforced his top priorities and his commitment to working hand in hand with health care professionals saying “as the Secretary of this department, I am the temporary custodian of the flame that first burned on Revolutionary fields in the 1700’s, it is a flame that you all carry and are trusted with and my pledge to you is to be part of your team.” He went on to say, “I am honored to serve with you and I thank you for carrying on the most noble mission in the federal government.”

 

Secretary Wilkie also engaged with Veterans and leadership at the VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS) in Dallas. Topics of discussion included progress in suicide prevention and mental health awareness outreach, innovative surgical care procedures and modernization efforts. As VA’s second-largest health care system, VANTHCS is available to 600,000 Veterans that live in the northern Texas and southern Oklahoma region.

 

At the final stop in Cleveland, OH, the secretary served as a keynote speaker for the unveiling of a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument and Medal of Honor ribbon cutting ceremony alongside retired U.S. Marine Corps warrant officer and VA Veterans service representative Woody Williams. Williams received the Medal of Honor during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Secretary Wilkie also participated in several media interviews including Cleveland’s Morning News in which he told the host “the Gold Star Families…have given the most of all of us and they remind us every day why all of us sleep soundly at night.”

 

Photos Courtesy Dept. Veteran Affairs

By now, the thunderstorms that had been tailing me since Catskill Park were getting closer, so I apologize for the quality of the shot. Three shot panorama, stitched using Hugin.

 

The abandoned Rosendale Trestle, in Rosendale NY has an interesting history. It is a 940-foot continuous truss bridge and former railroad trestle. Originally constructed by the Wallkill Valley Railroad to continue its rail line from New Paltz NY to Kingston NY, the bridge rises 150 feet above Rondout Creek, spanning both Route 213 and the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. Construction on the trestle began in late 1870, and continued until early 1872. When it opened to rail traffic on April 6, 1872, the Rosendale trestle was the highest span bridge in the United States.

 

The trestle was rebuilt in 1895 by the King Bridge Company to address public concerns regarding its stability, and it has been repeatedly reinforced throughout its existence. Concern over the sturdiness of the trestle has persisted since its opening, and was a major reason Conrail closed the Wallkill Valley rail line in 1977. After the rail line's closure, Conrail sold the bridge in 1986 for one dollar to a private businessman who tried unsuccessfully to operate the trestle as a bungee jumping platform in the 1990s. A similar attempt was made the following decade. The trestle was seized by the county in 2009 for tax nonpayment, and is being renovated as a pedestrian walkway for the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.

 

Though the trestle was difficult to build, and viewed as weak by modern standards, it was remarkable for its time, and can be considered the "most awesome part" of the Wallkill Valley rail line. Construction on the bridge's abutments began in August 1870, but work on the superstructure did not begin until the following year due to problems with quicksand during the excavation. Sections of the superstructure were built in Paterson, New Jersey. The bridge originally had seven wrought-iron spans and two shorter wooden spans; the longer spans were each 105 feet in length. The bridge cost $250,000 to build, and followed a Post truss design.

 

By 1885, the bridge supports were reinforced and the track was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge. In 1888, the Wallkill Valley Railroad received a permit from the town of Rosendale to "construct and maintain abutments to support [the] trestle"

 

The bridge, while remaining in use, was rebuilt by the King Bridge Company between 1895 and 1896; the trestle is the only railroad bridge featured in the King Bridge Company catalogs of the 1880s and 1890s that remains standing. The renovation converted the bridge's structure from iron and wood to steel to allay public concerns about its strength. The renovation raised the bridge's piers by 8 feet and made the bridge straighter, as the original design had a curve on the southern terminus.

 

From the time of its reconstruction to its eventual closure, passengers continued to have concerns over the trestle. The "speed, weight, and positioning of rolling stock on the bridge" was monitored, and it was repeatedly reinforced to "carry the ever heavier loads of modern railroading". In the 1940s, steam engines carrying heavy loads over the bridge caused the catwalk on the west side of the bridge to shake. By 1975, the rail line had deteriorated to the point where federal regulations allowed only 8-mile-per-hour traffic over the trestle, though engineers were instructed to only go as fast as 5 miles per hour. The sturdiness of the bridge, specifically the stability of its piers, was a deciding factor when Conrail (then-owner of the Wallkill Valley rail line) closed the Wallkill Valley Railroad in 1977.

 

Ulster County foreclosed on the entire property in April 2009 after non-payment of taxes. The Wallkill Valley Land Trust and Open Space Conservancy placed a bid on the seized land and purchased the bridge and land in August 2009. The Land Trust agreed to pay all outstanding taxes before receiving full ownership and adding it to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. Ownership of the trestle will be transferred to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Association and the town of Rosendale.

 

Following an engineering survey by Bergmann Associates – the same firm that inspected the Poughkeepsie Bridge prior to its conversion to a walkway – the bridge was closed to the public in June 2010 for repairs.

 

The surface of the walkway will be either wood or concrete. When the renovations are complete, the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail will be continuous for almost 24 miles from Gardiner to Kingston, and the trestle will be fully open to the public for the first time since the rail line closed. In February 2011, a Bergmann Associates employee used the trestle as a case study in a seminar on adaptive reuse of defunct railroad bridges. By late March 2011, the estimated cost of renovating the trestle had risen to $1.1 million, and the expected time to completion increased to two years.

 

A campaign to raise $500,000 for the renovation began on March 27, 2011; by June 30, about $50,000 had been raised, and a lawsuit brought by [the former owner who defaulted on taxes] over the ownership of the trestle was pending before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The former owner claims that he retains ownership of the property because only the state, and not the county, has the right to seize the trestle, which is "forever railroad under 19th century eminent domain legal doctrines – long forgotten by modern jurisprudence". The trestle has been the site of numerous picnics, barbecues, and at least one wedding.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Rosendale Trestle

It is a surprise to learn, that before the last day of May this year, I had never been inside St Clements.

 

To my reckoning, I have been here twice before, neither time was the door unlocked, and so I assumed this was always the case. But as with most of the churches we visited when Simon was down, with the exception of Lower Hardres, they were all open, and I was able to add I think six interiors to my record.

 

St Clements is easy to reach, it is beside the A259 coast road, and is now famous for being the final resting place of Derek Jarman, I have posted shots of his grave previously.

 

So, with the fame, it was used in a Rank film as well, and ease of access, it is well visited, and yet, it has an air of stability and not having been renovated, at least in Victorian times. The cream coloured pews are wonderful, as is the balcony and the width and unusual structure of the church.

 

Over to you, John:

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

One of the most-visited Marsh churches, built on an artificial mound to protect it from the floodwaters. There is a Norman nave enlarged by the addition of aisles in the thirteenth century. Because of its virtually unrestored state it has many items of interest, the uneven floor creating a very rural atmosphere. The two hagioscopes to either side of the chancel arch are unusually large and little more than holes knocked into the wall. The rood loft staircase discovered in the 1920s still has its medieval door-frame - a rare survival indeed. In the north chapel is the mensa of the medieval altar. The delightful altar rails are early eighteenth century and present a run of very close-set balusters. The box pews and gallery are, of later eighteenth-century date and were repainted for the Rank film, Dr Syn. The large Royal Arms of George III are dated 1800 - the lion has a particularly smug expression! An interesting and unusual sight is the font, the capitals of which are carved with different figures. They date from the fourteenth century, and are much worn, but with patience one can still pick out details of the grotesque animals. The twentieth century film-producer Derek Jarman is buried in the churchyard and is commemorated by a headstone simply bearing his signature.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Old+Romney

 

Pink pews. It's just not what you expect from an otherwise conventional 12th-century village church with walls of shaggy Kent ragstone and a silver-grey shingled spire. However, St Clement's at Old Romney is full of them: handsome Georgian box pews, painted a tasteful shade of blush with black edges and white highlights. It is smart as a bandbox and looks as though it was interior-designed by Agent Provocateur. All that is missing is a cross-dressing vicar.

 

In fact, all that is missing is a vicar, because Old Romney – along with half of Romney Marsh's 14 medieval churches – is suffering an interregnum. The last incumbent left in October and a new one has yet to be appointed. Signs outside the churches urge visitors to contact a "Focal Minister" by phone.

"What's new?" the marsh dwellers might say. The area has a long history of neglect by the rest of Kent, let alone the rest of Britain. For centuries it was seen as remote and quite weird; alien – often dangerous – territory for outsiders. Even in medieval times, vicars appointed to local parishes often never visited them, let alone lived there.

I went to meet John Hendy, a retired teacher who is churchwarden of St George's at Ivychurch, near the middle of the marshes, and tour organiser for the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust. This was started by the artist John Piper, the journalist Richard Ingrams and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, among others, and has a glittering list of members.

It has raised quantities of money for restoration since its foundation in the early 1980s, when the churches were in deep decline. This spring, John is organising the first "open" guided tour – rather than the normal private group tours – of four or five marsh churches, which will be repeated in the autumn.

 

The name "Romney Marsh" is used collectively for four marshes – Romney, Walland, East Guildford and Denge – occupying 100 square miles of England's south-easternmost corner. The land was reclaimed over centuries from a vast lagoon of sand and shingle formed by debris sliding off the Weald.

Hamlets formed on the islets (most marsh churches are on man-made mounds) and the fertile salt marshes around fed the famous Romney Marsh sheep, or "Kents". On the coast were busy trading settlements; Hythe and Romney, and later Rye, Winchelsea and Lydd, became part of the 11th-century Confederation of Cinque Ports.

But while trade and smuggling boomed, the marshes themselves remained sparsely populated. They were riddled with dykes, ditches and drains; the instability of the land made building difficult, there were no grand estates and people got marsh ague from the standing water. The Black Death was catastrophic and there was the threat of French raids. So why are there so many fine, if often tiny, parish churches?

"Well, this church, for example, was a statement of power by its benefactor, the Archbishop of Canterbury," John explained, gesturing at St George's. "It was propaganda, rather than a reflection of the size of the population, which probably wouldn't have been very different." Church appointments were often political stepping stones; pinned to a pillar is a list of past rectors who soared to glory as bishops, archbishops and deans.

St George's is not tiny. In fact, it has an illusory quality: from the churchyard gate it looks small, with a squat, embattled tower and sturdy, rubbly walls, but past the south porch it appears to double in size, with a surprisingly long nave. It calls itself "The Cathedral of the Marshes" (mind you, so does All Saints in Lydd, whose nave is 66 feet longer, at an impressive 199 feet) and many of its characteristics are shared by other churches that I see that day.

There are the huge beams of wood and vertical "king posts" supporting the gabled roof; there are the rough, whitewashed walls that become smoother and grander in the chancel; there is a Lady Chapel with a blocked-up Early English window and medieval floor tiles in ochre, red and black, and a St Catherine's Chapel with a piscina (a stone basin with a drainage hole, down which water from the Mass was poured).

There are Georgian text boards and a royal coat of arms. Along the south wall is a long stone seat. "Originally, there would have been no pews," John said. "People would have stood or sat on straw strewn on the floor. The elderly and infirm were allowed to use the stone bench; that's where the expression 'going to the wall' comes from."

From St George's tower we could see the discreet spires of St Mary in the Marsh and Old Romney to the east and Lydd to the south-east. Brookland and Fairfield were to the west. In the distance was the smudge of Dungeness Power Station, with its daisy chains of pylons radiating across the land.

As we visited four more churches that afternoon, I was struck by their individual quirks. St Mary in the Marsh has a scratch dial – a primitive sundial, so that the bell ringer would know when to ring the Mass bell – clearly visible on its sunny south wall. St Clement's has an ancient font on pillars carved with faces and Green Men, and a door through which the image of the crucified Christ would have been taken down from the rood screen at Easter. St Augustine's at Brookland has a separate belfry, plonked beside it like a shingled rocket and a rare lead font carved with signs of the zodiac and seasonal farming tasks.

The two that moved me most, though, were the tiny church of St Thomas Becket at Fairfield, its original wattle and daub long since replaced by brick and cement, but marooned in a peaceful marshland landscape with only sheep for company; and the large church of St Nicholas at New Romney, which used be on the quayside until massive storms silted up the port in the late 13th century, destroying the town's livelihood. The pillars in the nave have a tide mark from those momentous floods.

As for the pink pews, apparently they were painted that colour by the Rank Organisation in 1963, while a film was being made about the fictional marsh resident Dr Syn (vicar by day, smuggler by night), and the parishioners liked the colour so much they decided to keep it. See? Quirky. Let's hope the new vicar measures up.

 

(written in 2008)

 

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/souther...

Shows the typical trapezoidal shape, set back from the vertical for added earthquake stability.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, speaks during the bank's financial stability report news conference at the Bank of England in London, U.K., on Thursday, June 26, 2014. Carney waded into Britain's property market today, limiting the number of riskier mortgages to prevent an unsustainable buildup of consumer debt derailing the economic recovery. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Mark C

Must attribute with link to: www.ptpioneer.com

Stability ball knees to elbows abdominal exercise outdoors exercising

The tail provides additional stability

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 19, 2020) Electrician's Mate 2nd Class Alexander Grube, from Allentown, Penn., loads an ammunition belt into an M240 machine gun during a live-fire training exercise aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18). New Orleans, part of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven (ESG 7), along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kelby Sanders)

Is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American country of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.

The country covers an area of 5,128 square kilometres (1,980 sq mi)[6] and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous smaller landforms. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands; Tobago is much smaller, comprising about 6% of the total area and 4% of the entire population which is estimated at 1.3 million (2005). The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.

Trinidad and Tobago was a Spanish colony from the times of Christopher Columbus to 1802, when it was ceded to Britain. The country obtained independence in 1962. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals. Trinidad and Tobago has a sound macroeconomic framework and a long tradition of institutional stability. It scores relatively well in many of the 10 economic freedoms, and its economy has grown at an average rate of close to 7 percent over the past five years. The government has tried to diversify the economic base, and the country has evolved into a key financial center in the Caribbean region.

 

History

Please go to

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago

 

Geography

Please go to

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago

 

Other info

Oficial name:

Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

 

Independence:

31 August 1962

 

Area:

5.128 km2

 

Inhabitants:

1.450.000

 

Languages:

English [eng] 2,600 in Trinidad and Tobago (2004). Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English

More information.

 

Hindustani, Caribbean [hns] 15,633 in Trinidad and Tobago (1996). Ethnic population: East Indians are 41% of the population. Alternate names: Trinidad Bhojpuri. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bihari

More information.

 

Spanish [spa] 4,100 in Trinidad and Tobago (2004). Fishing villages and communities of the southern peninsula. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Castilian

More information.

 

Tobagonian Creole English [tgh] 36,000 (1990). Tobago. Alternate names: Tobagonian Dialect. Dialects: Closest to Guyana and Saint Vincent. Classification: Creole, English based, Atlantic, Eastern, Southern

More information.

 

Trinidadian Creole English [trf] 9,600 (2004). Trinidad. Classification: Creole, English based, Atlantic, Eastern, Southern

More information.

 

Trinidadian Creole French [acf] 3,800 in Trinidad and Tobago (2004). Trinidad, villages of the Northern Range, fishing communities in the islands, and coastal settlements along the peninsula to the west of the capital especially (I. Hancock, ms.). Alternate names: Patois, Patwa, Lesser Antillean Creole French. Classification: Creole, French based

 

Capital city:

Port of Spain

 

Meaning country name:

Christopher Columbus encountered the island of Trinidad on July 31, 1498 and named it after the Holy Trinity. Columbus reported seeing Tobago, which he named Bella Forma, but did not land on the island. The name Tobago probably derivesfrom the tobacco grown and smoked by the natives.

"Kairi" or "Iere" (old Amerindian name for Trinidad): Usually translated as The Land of the Hummingbird, although others have reported that it simply meant island.

 

Description Flag:

The flag of Trinidad and Tobago was adopted upon independence in 1962. The red stands for 'people's generosity and sunlight', white for 'equality and the sea' and black for 'tenacity and vocation of unity'.

In blazons, the flag is Gules, a bend Sable fimbriated Argent.

 

Coat of arms:

The Coat of Arms of Trinidad and Tobago was designed by a committee formed in 1962 to select the symbols that would be representative of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The committee included noted artist Carlisle Chang and the late designer George Bailey. The shield has the same colours (black, red, and white) of the nation's flag and carry the same meaning. The gold ships represent the Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta: the three ships Christopher Columbus used on his journey to the "New World." The two birds on the shield are hummingbirds. Trinidad is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Hummingbird" because more than sixteen different species of hummingbird have been recorded on the island. The two larger birds are the Scarlet Ibis (left) and the Cocrico (right), the national birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Below these birds is our nation's motto, "Together We Aspire, Together We Achieve."

 

Motto:

"Together we aspire, together we achieve"

 

National Anthem: Forged from the Love of Liberty

 

Forged from the love of liberty

In the fires of hope and prayer

With boundless faith in our destiny

We solemnly declare:

Side by side we stand

Islands of the blue Caribbean sea,

This our native land

We pledge our lives to thee.

Here every creed and race finds an equal place,

And may God bless our nation

Here every creed and race finds an equal place,

And may God bless our nation.

 

Internet Page: www.ttconnect.gov.tt

www.visittnt.com

www.izatrini.com

 

T.T. in diferent languages

 

eng: Trinidad and Tobago

ces | cym | dsb | hsb | slk: Trinidad a Tobago

est | fin | sme | vor: Trinidad ja Tobago

afr | fry | nld: Trinidad en Tobago

arg | lld | spa: Trinidad y Tobago

dan | fao | nor: Trinidad og Tobago

ina | roh | srd: Trinidad e Tobago

bos | slo: Trinidad i Tobago / Тринидад и Тобаго

ind | msa: Trinidad dan Tobago / ترينيداد دان توباڬو

mlt | zza: Trinidad u Tobago

ast: Trinidá y Tobago

aze: Trinidad və Tobaqo / Тринидад вә Тобаго

bam: Tirinidadi ani Tɔbago

bre: Trinidad ha Tobago

cat: Trinitat i Tobago

cor: Trynses ha Tobago

crh: Trinidad ve Tobago / Тринидад ве Тобаго

deu: Trinidad und Tobago / Trinidad und Tobago

epo: Trinidado kaj Tobago

eus: Trinidad eta Tobago

fra: Trinité-et-Tobago

frp: Trinitât-et-Tobagô

fur: Trinitât e Tobago

gla: Trianaid agus Tobago

gle: Oileáin na Tríonóide agus Tobága / Oileáin na Tríonóide agus Tobága

glg: Trindade e Tobago

glv: Trinaid as Tobago

hat: Trinidad ak Tobago

hrv: Trinidad i Tobago

hun: Trinidad és Tobago

ibo: Trinidad na Tọbego

isl: Trínidad og Tóbagó

ita: Trinità e Tobago; Trinidad e Tobago

jav: Trinidad dan Tobago

jnf: Trinidad et Tobago

kaa: Trinidad haʻm Tobago / Тринидад ҳәм Тобаго

kmr: Trînîdad û Tobago / Тринидад у Тобаго / ترینیداد و تۆباگۆ

kur: Trînîdad û Tobago / ترینیداد و تۆباگۆ

lat: Trinitas et Tobagum; Trinitas et Tabacum

lav: Trinidāda un Tobāgo

lin: Trinidadi mpé Tobago

lit: Trinidadas ir Tobagas

ltz: Trinidad an Tobago / Trinidad an Tobago

mlg: Trinidada sy Tobago

mol: Trinidad şi Tobago / Тринидад ши Тобаго

nds: Trinidad un Tobago / Trinidad un Tobago

nrm: Trinetaée et Tabago

oci: Trinitat e Tobago

pol: Trynidad i Tobago

por: Trindade e Tobago; Trindade e Tabago; Trinidad e Tobago

que: Trinidad Tobago-pas

rmy: Trinidad ťai Tobago / त्रिनिदाद थाइ तोबागो

ron: Trinidad şi Tobago

rup: Trinidad shi Tobago

scn: Trinidad e Tobagu

slv: Trinidad in Tobago

smg: Trinidads ėr Tuobags

sqi: Trinidad dhe Tobago

swa: Trinidad na Tobago

swe: Trinidad och Tobago

tet: Trindade no Tobagu

ton: Tuliniteti

tuk: Trinidad we Tobago / Тринидад ве Тобаго

tur: Trinidad ve Tobago

uzb: Trinidad va Tobago / Тринидад ва Тобаго

vie: Tri-ni-đát và Tô-ba-gô

vol: Trinidadeän e Tobageäns

wln: Trinité eyet Tobago

wol: Tirinidaad ak Tobaago

bul | mkd | rus: Тринидад и Тобаго (Trinidad i Tobago)

bak | tat: Тринидад һәм Тобаго / Trinidad häm Tobago

chm | kom: Тринидад да Тобаго (Trinidad da Tobago)

alt: Тринидад ла Тобаго (Trinidad la Tobago)

bel: Трынідад і Табага / Trynidad i Tabaha

che: Тринидад а Тобаго (Trinidad a Tobago)

chv: Тринидадпа Тобаго (Trinidadpa Tobago)

kaz: Тринидад және Тобаго / Trïnïdad jäne Tobago / ترينيداد جانە توباگو

kbd: Тринидадрэ Тобагорэ (Trinidadră Tobagoră)

kir: Тринидад жана Тобаго (Trinidad ǧana Tobago)

kjh: Тринидад паза Тобаго (Trinidad paza Tobago)

krc: Тринидад эм Тобаго (Trinidad ėm Tobago)

kum: Тринидад ва Тобаго (Trinidad va Tobago)

mon: Тринидад ба Тобаго (Trinidad ba Tobago)

oss: Тринидад ӕмӕ Тобаго (Trinidad ämä Tobago)

srp: Тринидад и Тобаго / Trinidad i Tobago

tgk: Тринидад у Тобаго / ترینیدد و تابگا / Trinidad u Tobago; Тринидад ва Тобаго / ترینیدد و تابگا / Trinidad va Tobago

tyv: Тринидад биле Тобаго (Trinidad bile Tobago)

udm: Тринидад но Тобаго (Trinidad no Tobago)

ukr: Тринідад і Тобаґо (Trynidad i Tobago)

ara: ترينيداد وتوباغو (Tirīnīdād wa-Tūbāġū); ترينيداد وتوباجو (Tirīnīdād wa-Tūbāgū)

fas: ترینیداد و توباگو / Terinidâdo Tobâgo / Terinidâd va Tobâgo; ترینیته و توباگو / Terinitevo Tobâgo / Terinite va Tobâgo

prs: ترنیداد و توباگو (Trenīdād va Tōbāgō)

pus: ترنيداد او توباګو (Trinīdād au Tobāgo)

uig: ترىنىداد ۋە توباگو / Trinidad we Tobago / Тринидад вә Тобаго

urd: ٹرینیڈیڈ و ٹبیگو (Ṫrinīḋæḋ va Ṫabego); ٹرینیڈاڈ و ٹوباگو (Ṫrīnīḋāḋ va Ṫobāgo); ٹرنیڈاڈ اور ٹوباگو (Ṫrinīḋāḋ ôr Ṫobāgo); ترینیداد اور توباگو (Trīnīḋāḋ ôr Tobāgo); ترنیداد اور توباگو (Trinīḋāḋ ôr Tobāgo)

div: ޓްރިނިޑާޑް އެންޑް ޓޮބެގޯ (Ṫriniḋāḋ enḋ Ṫobegō)

heb: טרינידד וטובגו (Ṭrînîdad və-Ṭôbagô); טרינידאד וטובאגו (Ṭrînîdâd və-Ṭôbâgô)

lad: טרינידאד אי טובאגו / Trinidad i Tobago

yid: טרינידאַד און טאָבאַגאָ (Trinidad un Tobago)

amh: ትሪኒዳድና ቶባጎ (Trinidadənna Tobago); ትሪኒዳድና ቶቤጎ (Trinidadənna Tobego)

ell-dhi: Τρινιδάδ και Τομπάγκο (Trinidád kai Tompágko); Τρινιντάντ και Τομπάγκο (Trinintánt kai Tompágko)

ell-kat: Τρινιδὰδ καὶ Τομπάγκο (Trinidàd kaì Tompágko); Τρινιντὰντ καὶ Τομπάγκο (Trinintànt kaì Tompágko)

hye: Տրինիդադ և Տոբագո (Trinidad yev Tobago)

kat: ტრინიდადი და ტობაგო (Trinidadi da Tobago)

hin: ट्रिनिडाड और टोबैगो (Ṭriniḍāḍ ôr Ṭobægo)

ben: ত্রিনিদাদ ও টোবাগো (Trinidād o Ṭobāgo)

pan: ਟਰੀਨੀਡਾਡ ਤੇ ਟੋਬਾਗੋ (Ṭrīnīḍāḍ te Ṭobāgo)

kan: ಟ್ರಿನಿಡ್ಯಾಡ್ ಮತ್ತು ಟೊಬ್ಯಾಗೊ (Ṭriniḍæḍ mattu Ṭobægo)

mal: ട്രിനിഡാഡ് ആന്റ് ടൊബാഗോ (Ṭriniḍāḍ ānṟ Ṭobāgō)

tam: ட்ரினிடாட்டும் டொபாகோவும் (Ṭriṉiṭāṭṭum Ṭopākōvum); ட்ரினிடாட் டொபாகோ (Ṭriṉiṭāṭ Ṭopākō)

tel: ట్రినిడాడ్ టొబాగో (Ṭriniḍāḍ Ṭobāgō)

zho: 特立尼达和多巴哥 (Tèlìnídá hé Duōbāgē)

jpn: トリニダード・トバゴ (Torinidādo Tobago)

kor: 트리니다드 토바고 (Teurinidadeu Tobago)

mya: ထရီနီဒက္န္ဟင့္တုိဘာဂုိ (Tʰáẏinideʿ hnĩ́ Tobʰago)

tha: ตรินิแดดและโตเบโก (Trinidǣt læ Tōbēkō)

khm: ទ្រីនីដាដនិងតូបាហ្គោ (Trīnīdād niṅ Tūbāhkō); ទ្រីនីដែតនិងតូបាហ្គោ (Trīnīdæt niṅ Tūbāhkō)

 

U.S. Army Africa photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Davis

 

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) hosted its second annual C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference Feb. 2-4 at Caserma Ederle, headquarters of U.S. Army Africa, in Vicenza, Italy.

 

The communications and intelligence community event, hosted by Brig. Gen. Robert Ferrell, AFRICOM C4 director, drew approximately 80 senior leaders from diverse U.S. military and government branches and agencies, as well as representatives of African nations and the African Union.

 

“The conference is a combination of our U.S. AFRICOM C4 systems and intel directorate,” said Ferrell. “We come together annually to bring the team together to work on common goals to work on throughout the year. The team consists of our coalition partners as well as our inter-agency partners, as well as our components and U.S. AFRICOM staff.”

 

The conference focused on updates from participants, and on assessing the present state and goals of coalition partners in Africa, he said.

 

“The theme for our conference is ‘Delivering Capabilities to a Joint Information Environment,’ and we see it as a joint and combined team ... working together, side by side, to promote peace and stability there on the African continent,” Ferrell said.

 

Three goals of this year’s conference were to strengthen the team, assess priorities across the board, and get a better fix on the impact that the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command will have on all members’ efforts in the future, he said.

 

“With the stand-up of U.S. Cyber Command, it brings a lot of unique challenges that we as a team need to talk through to ensure that our information is protected at all times,” Ferrell said.

 

African Union (AU) representatives from four broad geographic regions of Africa attended, which generated a holistic perspective on needs and requirements from across the continent, he said.

 

“We have members from the African Union headquarters that is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; we have members that are from Uganda; from Zambia; from Ghana; and also from the Congo. What are the gaps, what are the things that we kind of need to assist with as we move forward on our engagements on the African continent?” Ferrell said.

 

U.S. Army Africa Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, welcomed participants as the conference got under way.

 

“We’re absolutely delighted to be the host for this conference, and we hope that this week you get a whole lot out of it,” said Hogg.

 

He took the opportunity to address the participants not only as their host, but from the perspective of a customer whose missions depend on the results of their efforts to support commanders in the field.

 

“When we’re talking about this group of folks that are here — from the joint side, from our African partners, from State, all those folks — it’s about partnership and interoperability. And every commander who’s ever had to fight in a combined environment understands that interoperability is the thing that absolutely slaps you upside the head,” Hogg said.

 

“We’re in the early stages of the process here of working with the African Union and the other partners, and you have an opportunity to design this from the end state, versus just building a bunch of ‘gunkulators.’ And so, the message is: think about what the end state is supposed to look like and construct the strategy to support the end state.

 

“Look at where we want to be at and design it that way,” Hogg said.

 

He also admonished participants to consider the second- and third-order effects of their choices in designing networks.

 

“With that said, over the next four days, I hope this conference works very well for you. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, please let us know,” Hogg said.

 

Over the following three days, participants engaged in a steady stream of briefings and presentations focused on systems, missions and updates from the field.

 

Col. Joseph W. Angyal, director of U.S. Army Africa G-6, gave an overview of operations and issues that focused on fundamentals, the emergence of regional accords as a way forward, and the evolution of a joint network enterprise that would serve all interested parties.

 

“What we’re trying to do is to work regionally. That’s frankly a challenge, but as we stand up the capability, really for the U.S. government, and work through that, we hope to become more regionally focused,” he said.

 

He referred to Africa Endeavor, an annual, multi-nation communications exercise, as a test bed for the current state of affairs on the continent, and an aid in itself to future development.

 

“In order to conduct those exercises, to conduct those security and cooperation events, and to meet contingency missions, we really, from the C4ISR perspective, have five big challenges,” Angyal said.

 

“You heard General Hogg this morning talk about ‘think about the customer’ — you’ve got to allow me to be able to get access to our data; I’ve got to be able to get to the data where and when I need it; you’ve got to be able to protect it; I have to be able to share it; and then finally, the systems have to be able to work together in order to build that coalition.

 

“One of the reasons General Ferrell is setting up this joint information enterprise, this joint network enterprise . . . it’s almost like trying to bring together disparate companies or corporations: everyone has their own system, they’ve paid for their own infrastructure, and they have their own policy, even though they support the same major company.

 

“Now multiply that when you bring in different services, multiply that when you bring in different U.S. government agencies, and then put a layer on top of that with the international partners, and there are lots of policies that are standing in our way.”

 

The main issue is not a question of technology, he said.

 

“The boxes are the same — a Cisco router is a Cisco router; Microsoft Exchange server is the same all over the world — but it’s the way that we employ them, and it’s the policies that we apply to it, that really stops us from interoperating, and that’s the challenge we hope to work through with the joint network enterprise.

 

“And I think that through things like Africa Endeavor and through the joint enterprise network, we’re looking at knocking down some of those policy walls, but at the end of the day they are ours to knock down. Bill Gates did not design a system to work only for the Army or for the Navy — it works for everyone,” Angyal said.

 

Brig. Gen. Joseph Searyoh, director general of Defense Information Communication Systems, General Headquarters, Ghana Armed Forces, agreed that coordinating policy is fundamental to improving communications with all its implications for a host of operations and missions.

 

“One would expect that in these modern times there is some kind of mutual engagement, and to build that engagement to be strong, there must be some kind of element of trust. … We have to build some kind of trust to be able to move forward,” said Searyoh.

 

“Some people may be living in silos of the past, but in the current engagement we need to tell people that we are there with no hidden agenda, no negative hidden agenda, but for the common good of all of us.

 

“We say that we are in the information age, and I’ve been saying something: that our response should not be optional, but it must be a must, because if you don’t join now, you are going to be left behind.

 

“So what do we do? We have to get our house in order.

 

“Why do I say so? We used to operate like this before the information age; now in the information age, how do we operate?

 

“So, we have to get our house in order and see whether we are aligning ourselves with way things should work now. So, our challenge is to come up with a strategy, see how best we can reorganize our structures, to be able to deliver communications-information systems support for the Ghana Armed Forces,” he said.

 

Searyoh related that his organization has already accomplished one part of erecting the necessary foundation by establishing an appropriate policy structure.

 

“What is required now is the implementing level. Currently we have communications on one side, and computers on one side. The lines are blurred — you cannot operate like that, you’ve got to bring them together,” he said.

 

Building that merged entity to support deployed forces is what he sees as the primary challenge at present.

 

“Once you get that done you can talk about equipment, you can talk about resources,” Searyoh said. “I look at the current collaboration between the U.S. and the coalition partners taking a new level.”

 

“The immediate challenges that we have is the interoperability, which I think is one of the things we are also discussing here, interoperability and integration,” said Lt. Col. Kelvin Silomba, African Union-Zambia, Information Technology expert for the Africa Stand-by Force.

 

“You know that we’ve got five regions in Africa. All these regions, we need to integrate them and bring them together, so the challenge of interoperability in terms of equipment, you know, different tactical equipment that we use, and also in terms of the language barrier — you know, all these regions in Africa you find that they speak different languages — so to bring them together we need to come up with one standard that will make everybody on board and make everybody able to talk to each other,” he said.

 

“So we have all these challenges. Other than that also, stemming from the background of these African countries, based on the colonization: some of them were French colonized, some of them were British colonized and so on, so you find that when they come up now we’ve adopted some of the procedures based on our former colonial masters, so that is another challenge that is coming on board.”

 

The partnership with brother African states, with the U.S. government and its military branches, and with other interested collaborators has had a positive influence, said Silomba.

 

“Oh, it’s great. From the time that I got engaged with U.S. AFRICOM — I started with Africa Endeavor, before I even came to the AU — it is my experience that it is something very, very good.

 

“I would encourage — I know that there are some member states — I would encourage that all those member states they come on board, all of these regional organizations, that they come on board and support the AFRICOM lead. It is something that is very, very good.

 

“As for example, the African Union has a lot of support that’s been coming in, technical as well as in terms of knowledge and equipment. So it’s great; it’s good and it’s great,” said Salimba.

 

Other participant responses to the conference were positive as well.

 

“The feedback I’ve gotten from every member is that they now know what the red carpet treatment looks like, because USARAF has gone over and above board to make sure the environment, the atmosphere and the actual engagements … are executed to perfection,” said Ferrell. “It’s been very good from a team-building aspect.

 

“We’ve had very good discussions from members of the African Union, who gave us a very good understanding of the operations that are taking place in the area of Somalia, the challenges with communications, and laid out the gaps and desires of where they see that the U.S. and other coalition partners can kind of improve the capacity there in that area of responsibility.

 

“We also talked about the AU, as they are expanding their reach to all of the five regions, of how can they have that interoperability and connectivity to each of the regions,” Ferrell said.

 

“(It’s been) a wealth of knowledge and experts that are here to share in terms of how we can move forward with building capacities and capabilities. Not only for U.S. interests, but more importantly from my perspective, in building capacities and capabilities for our African partners beginning with the Commission at the African Union itself,” said Kevin Warthon, U.S. State Department, peace and security adviser to the African Union.

 

“I think that General Ferrell has done an absolutely wonderful thing by inviting key African partners to participate in this event so they can share their personal experience from a national, regional and continental perspective,” he said.

 

Warthon related from his personal experience a vignette of African trust in Providence that he believed carries a pertinent metaphor and message to everyone attending the conference.

 

“We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but the one thing that I am sure of is that we are able to do something. Don’t know when, don’t know how, but as long as our focus is on our ability to assist and to help to progress a people, that’s really what counts more than anything else,” he said.

 

“Don’t worry about the timetable; just focus on your ability to make a difference and that’s what that really is all about.

 

“I see venues such as this as opportunities to make what seems to be the impossible become possible. … This is what this kind of venue does for our African partners.

 

“We’re doing a wonderful job at building relationships, because that’s where it begins — we have to build relationships to establish trust. That’s why this is so important: building trust through relationships so that we can move forward in the future,” Warthon said.

 

Conference members took a cultural tour of Venice and visited a traditional winery in the hills above Vicenza before adjourning.

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

 

Hosts and guests of the U.S. AFRICOM C4ISR Senior Leader Conference tour a winery in the hills above Vicenza, Italy, Feb. 3, 2011.

 

U.S. Army Africa photo by David Ruderman

 

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) hosted its second annual C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference Feb. 2-4 at Caserma Ederle, headquarters of U.S. Army Africa, in Vicenza, Italy.

 

The communications and intelligence community event, hosted by Brig. Gen. Robert Ferrell, AFRICOM C4 director, drew approximately 80 senior leaders from diverse U.S. military and government branches and agencies, as well as representatives of African nations and the African Union.

 

The conference is a combination of our U.S. AFRICOM C4 systems and intel directorate,” said Ferrell. “We come together annually to bring the team together to work on common goals to work on throughout the year. The team consists of our coalition partners as well as our inter-agency partners, as well as our components and U.S. AFRICOM staff.”

 

The conference focused on updates from participants, and on assessing the present state and goals of coalition partners in Africa, he said.

 

“The theme for our conference is ‘Delivering Capabilities to a Joint Information Environment,’ and we see it as a joint and combined team ... working together, side by side, to promote peace and stability there on the African continent,” Ferrell said.

 

Three goals of this year’s conference were to strengthen the team, assess priorities across the board, and get a better fix on the impact that the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command will have on all members’ efforts in the future, he said.

 

“With the stand-up of U.S. Cyber Command, it brings a lot of unique challenges that we as a team need to talk through to ensure that our information is protected at all times,” Ferrell said.

 

African Union (AU) representatives from four broad geographic regions of Africa attended, which generated a holistic perspective on needs and requirements from across the continent, he said.

 

“We have members from the African Union headquarters that is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; we have members that are from Uganda; from Zambia; from Ghana; and also from the Congo. What are the gaps, what are the things that we kind of need to assist with as we move forward on our engagements on the African continent?” Ferrell said.

 

U.S. Army Africa Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, welcomed participants as the conference got under way.

 

“We’re absolutely delighted to be the host for this conference, and we hope that this week you get a whole lot out of it,” said Hogg.

 

He took the opportunity to address the participants not only as their host, but from the perspective of a customer whose missions depend on the results of their efforts to support commanders in the field.

 

“When we’re talking about this group of folks that are here — from the joint side, from our African partners, from State, all those folks — it’s about partnership and interoperability. And every commander who’s ever had to fight in a combined environment understands that interoperability is the thing that absolutely slaps you upside the head,” Hogg said.

 

“We’re in the early stages of the process here of working with the African Union and the other partners, and you have an opportunity to design this from the end state, versus just building a bunch of ‘gunkulators.’ And so, the message is: think about what the end state is supposed to look like and construct the strategy to support the end state.

 

“Look at where we want to be at and design it that way,” Hogg said.

 

He also admonished participants to consider the second- and third-order effects of their choices in designing networks.

 

“With that said, over the next four days, I hope this conference works very well for you. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, please let us know,” Hogg said.

 

Over the following three days, participants engaged in a steady stream of briefings and presentations focused on systems, missions and updates from the field.

 

Col. Joseph W. Angyal, director of U.S. Army Africa G-6, gave an overview of operations and issues that focused on fundamentals, the emergence of regional accords as a way forward, and the evolution of a joint network enterprise that would serve all interested parties.

 

“What we’re trying to do is to work regionally. That’s frankly a challenge, but as we stand up the capability, really for the U.S. government, and work through that, we hope to become more regionally focused,” he said.

 

He referred to Africa Endeavor, an annual, multi-nation communications exercise, as a test bed for the current state of affairs on the continent, and an aid in itself to future development.

 

“In order to conduct those exercises, to conduct those security and cooperation events, and to meet contingency missions, we really, from the C4ISR perspective, have five big challenges,” Angyal said.

 

“You heard General Hogg this morning talk about ‘think about the customer’ — you’ve got to allow me to be able to get access to our data; I’ve got to be able to get to the data where and when I need it; you’ve got to be able to protect it; I have to be able to share it; and then finally, the systems have to be able to work together in order to build that coalition.

 

“One of the reasons General Ferrell is setting up this joint information enterprise, this joint network enterprise . . . it’s almost like trying to bring together disparate companies or corporations: everyone has their own system, they’ve paid for their own infrastructure, and they have their own policy, even though they support the same major company.

 

“Now multiply that when you bring in different services, multiply that when you bring in different U.S. government agencies, and then put a layer on top of that with the international partners, and there are lots of policies that are standing in our way.”

 

The main issue is not a question of technology, he said.

 

“The boxes are the same — a Cisco router is a Cisco router; Microsoft Exchange server is the same all over the world — but it’s the way that we employ them, and it’s the policies that we apply to it, that really stops us from interoperating, and that’s the challenge we hope to work through with the joint network enterprise.

 

“And I think that through things like Africa Endeavor and through the joint enterprise network, we’re looking at knocking down some of those policy walls, but at the end of the day they are ours to knock down. Bill Gates did not design a system to work only for the Army or for the Navy — it works for everyone,” Angyal said.

 

Brig. Gen. Joseph Searyoh, director general of Defense Information Communication Systems, General Headquarters, Ghana Armed Forces, agreed that coordinating policy is fundamental to improving communications with all its implications for a host of operations and missions.

 

“One would expect that in these modern times there is some kind of mutual engagement, and to build that engagement to be strong, there must be some kind of element of trust. … We have to build some kind of trust to be able to move forward,” said Searyoh.

 

“Some people may be living in silos of the past, but in the current engagement we need to tell people that we are there with no hidden agenda, no negative hidden agenda, but for the common good of all of us.

 

“We say that we are in the information age, and I’ve been saying something: that our response should not be optional, but it must be a must, because if you don’t join now, you are going to be left behind.

 

“So what do we do? We have to get our house in order.

 

“Why do I say so? We used to operate like this before the information age; now in the information age, how do we operate?

 

“So, we have to get our house in order and see whether we are aligning ourselves with way things should work now. So, our challenge is to come up with a strategy, see how best we can reorganize our structures, to be able to deliver communications-information systems support for the Ghana Armed Forces,” he said.

 

Searyoh related that his organization has already accomplished one part of erecting the necessary foundation by establishing an appropriate policy structure.

 

“What is required now is the implementing level. Currently we have communications on one side, and computers on one side. The lines are blurred — you cannot operate like that, you’ve got to bring them together,” he said.

 

Building that merged entity to support deployed forces is what he sees as the primary challenge at present.

 

“Once you get that done you can talk about equipment, you can talk about resources,” Searyoh said. “I look at the current collaboration between the U.S. and the coalition partners taking a new level.”

 

“The immediate challenges that we have is the interoperability, which I think is one of the things we are also discussing here, interoperability and integration,” said Lt. Col. Kelvin Silomba, African Union-Zambia, Information Technology expert for the Africa Stand-by Force.

 

“You know that we’ve got five regions in Africa. All these regions, we need to integrate them and bring them together, so the challenge of interoperability in terms of equipment, you know, different tactical equipment that we use, and also in terms of the language barrier — you know, all these regions in Africa you find that they speak different languages — so to bring them together we need to come up with one standard that will make everybody on board and make everybody able to talk to each other,” he said.

 

“So we have all these challenges. Other than that also, stemming from the background of these African countries, based on the colonization: some of them were French colonized, some of them were British colonized and so on, so you find that when they come up now we’ve adopted some of the procedures based on our former colonial masters, so that is another challenge that is coming on board.”

 

The partnership with brother African states, with the U.S. government and its military branches, and with other interested collaborators has had a positive influence, said Silomba.

 

“Oh, it’s great. From the time that I got engaged with U.S. AFRICOM — I started with Africa Endeavor, before I even came to the AU — it is my experience that it is something very, very good.

 

“I would encourage — I know that there are some member states — I would encourage that all those member states they come on board, all of these regional organizations, that they come on board and support the AFRICOM lead. It is something that is very, very good.

 

“As for example, the African Union has a lot of support that’s been coming in, technical as well as in terms of knowledge and equipment. So it’s great; it’s good and it’s great,” said Salimba.

 

Other participant responses to the conference were positive as well.

 

“The feedback I’ve gotten from every member is that they now know what the red carpet treatment looks like, because USARAF has gone over and above board to make sure the environment, the atmosphere and the actual engagements … are executed to perfection,” said Ferrell. “It’s been very good from a team-building aspect.

 

“We’ve had very good discussions from members of the African Union, who gave us a very good understanding of the operations that are taking place in the area of Somalia, the challenges with communications, and laid out the gaps and desires of where they see that the U.S. and other coalition partners can kind of improve the capacity there in that area of responsibility.

 

“We also talked about the AU, as they are expanding their reach to all of the five regions, of how can they have that interoperability and connectivity to each of the regions,” Ferrell said.

 

“(It’s been) a wealth of knowledge and experts that are here to share in terms of how we can move forward with building capacities and capabilities. Not only for U.S. interests, but more importantly from my perspective, in building capacities and capabilities for our African partners beginning with the Commission at the African Union itself,” said Kevin Warthon, U.S. State Department, peace and security adviser to the African Union.

 

“I think that General Ferrell has done an absolutely wonderful thing by inviting key African partners to participate in this event so they can share their personal experience from a national, regional and continental perspective,” he said.

 

Warthon related from his personal experience a vignette of African trust in Providence that he believed carries a pertinent metaphor and message to everyone attending the conference.

 

“We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but the one thing that I am sure of is that we are able to do something. Don’t know when, don’t know how, but as long as our focus is on our ability to assist and to help to progress a people, that’s really what counts more than anything else,” he said.

 

“Don’t worry about the timetable; just focus on your ability to make a difference and that’s what that really is all about.

 

“I see venues such as this as opportunities to make what seems to be the impossible become possible. … This is what this kind of venue does for our African partners.

 

“We’re doing a wonderful job at building relationships, because that’s where it begins — we have to build relationships to establish trust. That’s why this is so important: building trust through relationships so that we can move forward in the future,” Warthon said.

 

Conference members took a cultural tour of Venice and visited a traditional winery in the hills above Vicenza before adjourning.

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica

  

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sweden required a strong air defense, utilizing the newly developed jet propulsion technology. This led to a pair of proposals being issued by the Saab design team, led by Lars Brising. The first of these, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft, which bore a resemblance to the American Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The second design, which would later be picked as the winner, was a barrel-shaped design, codenamed R 1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile upon closer study.

 

The original R 1001 concept had been designed around a mostly straight wing, but after Swedish engineers had obtained German research data on swept-wing designs, the prototype was altered to incorporate a 25° sweep. In order to make the wing as thin as possible, Saab elected to locate the retractable undercarriage in the aircraft's fuselage rather than into the wings.

 

Extensive wind tunnel testing performed at the Swedish Royal University of Technology and by the National Aeronautical Research Institute had also influenced aspects of the aircraft's aerodynamics, such as stability and trim across the aircraft's speed range. In order to test the design of the swept wing further and avoid any surprises, it was decided to modify a single Saab Safir. It received the designation Saab 201 and a full-scale R 1001 wing for a series of flight tests. The first 'final' sketches of the aircraft, incorporating the new information, was drawn in January 1946.

 

The originally envisioned powerplant for the new fighter type was the de Havilland Goblin turbojet engine. However, in December 1945, information on the newer and more powerful de Havilland Ghost engine became available. The new engine was deemed to be ideal for Saab's in-development aircraft, as not only did the Ghost engine had provisions for the use of a central circular air intake, the overall diameter of the engine was favorable for the planned fuselage dimensions, too. Thus, following negotiations between de Havilland and Saab, the Ghost engine was selected to power the type instead and built in license as the RM 2.

 

By February 1946 the main outline of the proposed aircraft had been clearly defined. In Autumn 1946, following the resolution of all major questions of principal and the completion of the project specification, the Swedish Air Force formally ordered the completion of the design and that three prototype aircraft be produced, giving the proposed type the designation J 29.

On 1 September 1948, the first of the Saab 29 prototypes conducted its maiden flight, which lasted for half an hour. Because of the shape of its fuselage, the Saab J 29 quickly received the nickname "Flygande Tunnan" ("The Flying Barrel"), or "Tunnan" ("The Barrel") for short. While the demeaning nickname was not appreciated by Saab, its short form was eventually officially adopted.

 

A total of four prototypes were built for the aircraft's test program. The first two lacked armament, carrying heavy test equipment instead, while the third prototype was armed with four 20mm automatic guns. Various different aerodynamic arrangements were tested, such as air brakes being installed either upon the fuselage or on the wings aft of the rear spar, along with both combined and conventional aileron/flap arrangements.

 

The flight test program revealed that the J 29 prototypes were capable of reaching and exceeding the maximum permissible Mach number for which they had been designed, and the flight performance figures gathered were found to be typically in excess of the predicted values.

 

In 1948 production of the type commenced and in May 1951 the first deliveries of operational production aircraft were received by F 13 Norrköping. The J 29 proved to be very successful and several variants and updates of the Tunnan were produced, including a dedicated reconnaissance variant and an all-weather fighter with an on-board radar.

 

A trainer variant was deemed to be useful, too, since the transition of young pilots from relatively slow, piston-engine basic trainers to jet-powered aircraft was considered to be a major step in the education program. At that time, the only jet-powered two-seater in Swedish inventory was the DH 115 Vampire. 57 of these, designated J 28C by the Swedish Air Force, had been procured from Great Britain in the late Forties, but an indigenous alternative (and a more capable successor) was politically favored.

 

In 1952 initial wind tunnel tests with scaled-down models were conducted, since it was not clear which layout would be the best from an aerodynamic, structural and educational point of view. After a thorough inspection of wooden 1:1 mock-ups of alternative tandem and a side-by-side cockpit layouts, as well as much political debate between Saab, the Swedish Air Force and the Swedish government concerning the costs and budget for a dedicated Saab 29 trainer fleet’s development and production, a compromise was settled upon in early 1953: No new trainer airframes would be produced. Instead, only existing airframes would be converted into two seaters, in an attempt to keep as much of the existing structure and internal fuel capacity as possible.

 

The side-by-side arrangement was adopted, not only because it was considered to be the more effective layout for a trainer aircraft. It also had the benefit that its integration would only mean a limited redesign of the aircraft’s cockpit section above the air intake duct and the front landing gear well, allowing to retain the single-seater’s pressurized cabin’s length and internal structure. A tandem cockpit would have been aerodynamically more efficient, but it would have either considerably reduced the J 29’s internal fuel capacity, or the whole aircraft had had to be lengthened with a fuselage plug, with uncertain outcome concerning airframe and flight stability. It would also have been the more costly option,

 

However, it would take until 1955 that the first trainer conversions were conducted by Saab, in the wake of the major wing and engine updates for the J 29 A/B fleet that lasted until 1956. The trainer, designated Sk 29 B, was exclusively based on the J 29 B variant and benefited from this version’s extra fuel tanks in the wings and fully wired underwing weapon hardpoints, which included two wet pylons for drop tanks and made the Sk 29 B suitable for weapon training with the J 29’s full ordnance range.

 

The trainer conversions only covered the new cockpit section, though. The Sk 29 B did not receive the new dogtooth wing which was only introduced to the converted J 29 D, E and F fighters. The upper pair of 20mm cannon in the lower front fuselage was deleted, too, in order to compensate for the two-seater’s additional cockpit equipment weight and drag. Performance suffered only marginally under the enlarged canopy, though, and the Sk 29 B turned out to be a very sound and useful design for the advanced jet trainer role.

 

However, budgetary restraints and the quick development of aircraft technology in the Fifties limited the number of fighter conversions to only 22 airframes. The aging Vampire two-seaters still turned out to be adequate for the advanced trainer role, and the Sk 29 B did not offer a significant advantage over the older, British aircraft. Another factor that spoke against more Sk 29 Bs was the simple fact that more trainer conversions would have reduced the number of airframes eligible for the running fighter aircraft updates.

 

All Sk 29 Bs were concentrated at the F 5 Ljungbyhed Kungliga Krigsflygskolan training wing in southern Sweden, where two flights were equipped with it. Unofficially dubbed “Skola Tunnan” (literally “School Barrel”), the Sk 29B performed a solid career, even though the machines were gradually retired from 1966 onwards. A dozen Sk 29 B remained active until 1972 in various supportive roles, including target tugging, air sampling and liaison duties, while the final Vampire trainer was already retired in 1968. But by the early Seventies, the trainer role had been taken over by the brand new Saab 105/Sk 60 trainer, the long-awaited domestic development, and Sk 35 Draken trainers.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2

Length: 10.23 m (33 ft 7 in)

Wingspan: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)

Height: 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)

Wing area: 24.15 m² (260.0 ft²)

Empty weight: 5,120 kg (11,277 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,375 kg (18,465 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Svenska Flygmotor RM2 turbojet, rated at 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,010 km/h (627 mph)

Range: 1,060 km (658 mi)

Service ceiling: 15,500 m (50,850 ft)

Rate of climb: 30.5 m/s (6,000 ft/min)

 

Armament:

2x 20mm Hispano Mark V autocannon in the lower front fuselage

Underwing hardpoints for various unguided missiles and iron bombs, or a pair drop tanks

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another Saab 29 conversion of a variant that was thought about but never materialized, much like the radar-equipped all-weather fighter. The impulse to tackle this stunt was a leftover D. H. Vampire trainer fuselage pod in my stash (from the ‘Mystery Jet’ conversion a couple of months ago, from an Airfix kit). The canopy’s shape and dimensions appeared like a sound match for the tubby J 29, and so I decided to try this stunt.

 

The basis is the Heller J 29 kit, which is, despite raised surface details, IMHO the better kit than the rather simple Matchbox offering. However, what makes things more hazardous, though, is the kit’s option to build the S 29 C reconnaissance variant – the lower front fuselage is a separate part, and any surgery around the cockpit weakens the kit’s overall stability considerably. Unlike the J 29D all-weather fighter built recently, I had no visual reference material. The only valid information I was able to dig up was that a side-by-side cockpit had been the preferred layout for this paper project.

 

Implanting a new cockpit is always hazardous, and I have never tried to integrate a side-by-side arrangement into a single seater. The Vampire cockpit was finished first, and also mounted into the Vampire’s original cockpit pod halves, because I was able to use its side walls and also had the original canopy parts left over – and using the Vampire’s cockpit opening would ensure a good fit and limit PSR work around the clear parts. Once the Vampire cockpit tub was complete, the “implant” was trimmed down as far as possible.

 

Next step was to prepare the Tunnan to accept the donor cockpit. In order to avoid structural trouble I finished the two fuselage halves first, mounted the air intake with the duct to the front end, but left the fighter version’s gun tray away (while preparing it with a load of lead). The idea was to put the Vampire cockpit into position from below into the Tunnan’s fuselage, until all outer surfaces would more or less match in order to minimize PSR work.

 

With the Vampire cockpit as benchmark, I carefully tried to draw its outlines onto the upper front fuselage. The following cutting and trimming sessions too several turns. To my surprise, the side-by-side cockpit’s width was the least problem – it fits very well inside of the J 29 fuselage’s confines, even though the front end turned out to be troublesome. Space in length became an issue, too, because the Airfix Vampire cockpit is pretty complete: it comes with all pedals, a front and a rear bulkhead, and its bulged canopy extends pretty far backwards into an aerodynamic fairing. As a result, it’s unfortunately very long… Furthermore, air intake duct reaches deep into the Tunnan’s nose, too, so that width was not the (expected) problem, but rather length!

 

Eventually, the cockpit lost the front bulkhead and had to trimmed and slimmed down further, because, despite its bulky fuselage, the Tunnan’s nose is rather narrow. As a consequence the Vampire cockpit had to be moved back by about 3mm, relative to the single-seater’s canopy, and the area in front of the cockpit/above the air intake duct had to be completely re-sculpted, which took several PSR stages. Since the Vampire’s canopy shape is very different and its windscreen less steep (and actually a flat glass panel), I think this change is not too obvious, tough, and looks like a natural part of the fictional real-life conversion. However, a fiddly operation, and it took some serious effort to blend the new parts into the Tunnan fuselage, especially the windscreen.

 

Once the cockpit was in place, the lower front fuselage with the guns (the upper pair had disappeared in the meantime) was mounted, and the wings followed suit. In this case, I modified the flaps into a lowered position, and, as a subtle detail, the Tunnan kit lost its retrofitted dogtooth wings, so that they resemble the initial, simple wing of the J 29 A and B variants. Thanks to the massive construction of the kit’s wings (they consist of two halves, but these are very thin and almost massive), this was a relatively easy task.

 

The rest of the Tunnan was built mostly OOB; it is a typical Heller kit of the Seventies: simple, with raised surface detail, relatively good fit (despite the need to use putty) and anything you could ask for a J 29 in 1:72 scale. I just replaced the drop tanks with shorter, thicker alternatives – early J 29 frequently carried Vampire drop tanks without fins, and the more stout replacements appeared very suitable for a trainer.

 

The pitots on the wing tips had to be scratched, since they got lost with the wing modifications - but OOB they are relatively thick and short, anyway. Further additions include a tail bumper and extra dorsal and ventral antennae, plus a fairing for a rotating warning light, inspired by a similar installation on the late J 29 target tugs.

  

Painting and markings:

As usual, I wanted a relatively plausible livery and kept things simple. Early J 29 fighters were almost exclusively left in bare metal finish, and the Swedish Vampire trainers were either operated in NMF with orange markings (very similar to the RAF trainers), or they carried the Swedish standard dark green/blue grey livery.

 

I stuck to the Tunnan’s standard NMF livery, but added dark green on wing tips and fin, which were widely added in order to make formation flight and general identification easier. However, some dayglow markings were added on the fuselage and wings, too, so that – together with the tactical markings – a colorful and distinct look was created, yet in line with typical Swedish Air Force markings in the late Fifties/early Sixties.

 

The NMF livery was created with an overall coat of Revell 99 acrylic paint (Aluminum), on top of which various shades of Metallizer were dry-brushed, panel by panel. Around the exhaust, a darker base tone (Revell 91, Iron Metallic and Steel Metallizer) was used. Around the cockpit, in order to simulate the retrofitted parts, some panels received a lighter base with Humbrol 191.

 

The raised panel lines were emphasized through a light black in wash and careful rubbing with grinded graphite on a soft cotton cloth – with the benefit that the graphite adds a further, metallic shine to the surface and destroys the uniform, clean NMF look. On the front fuselage, where many details got lost through the PSR work, panel lines were painted with a thin, soft pencil.

 

The cockpit interior became dark green-grey (Revell 67 comes pretty close to the original color), the landing gear wells medium grey (Revell 57). The dark green markings on fin and wing tips were painted with Humbrol 163 (RAF Dark Green), which comes IMHO close to the Swedish “Mörkgrön”. The orange bands were painted, too, with a base of Humbrol 82 (Orange Lining) on top of which a thin coat of fluorescent orange (Humbrol 209) was later added. Even though the NMF Tunnan did not carry anti-dazzle paint in front of the windscreen, I added a black panel because of the relatively flat area there on the modified kit.

 

Decals come from different sources: roundels and stencils come from the Heller kit’s sheet, the squadron code number from a Flying Colors sheet with Swedish ciphers in various colors and sizes for the late Fifties time frame, while the tactical code on the fin was taken from a Saab 32 sheet.

Finally the kit was sealed with a “¾ matt”, acrylic varnish, mixed from glossy and matt varnishes.

  

An effective and subtle conversion, and a bigger stunt than one might think at first sight. The Tunnan two-seater does, hoewever, not look as disturbing as, for instance, the BAC Lightning or Hawker Hunter trainer variants? The rhinoplasty was massive and took some serious PSR, though, and the livery was also more demanding than it might seem. But: this is what IMHO a real Saab 29 trainer could have looked like, if it had left the drawing boards in the early Fifties. And it even looks good! :D

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Sept. 6, 2020) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Breanna Delafuente, from Long Beach, Miss., assigned to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) signals a UH-1Y Venom helicopter assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced) to take off from the ship’s flight deck during a visit, board, search and seizure exercise. America, flagship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, assigned to Amphibious Squadron Eleven, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Vincent E. Zline)

A Hungarian soldier assigned to the 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Brigade takes a knee during a village assault exercise during exercise Saber Junction 15 at the U.S. Army’s Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, April 13, 2015. Saber Junction 15 prepares NATO and partner nation forces for offensive, defensive, and stability operations and promotes interoperability among participants. Saber Junction 15 has more than 4,700 participants from 17 countries, to include: Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the U.S. More at www.eur.army.mil/SaberJunction. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brian Chaney)

It may down slope slightly

The last part of the stage was the most difficult: a descent on sand with an altitude change of over 1100 meters. Thanks to the stability of his Powerstar, De Rooy achieved second place: learn more about Iveco.

Back of the climate control / stability control / hazard lights panel. Decide where you want to put your switch. Do not be tempted to add a switch to the stability control / hazard lights panel. There's a fragile circuit board in there that will get in the way of any switch you try to install. I'm going to use that unused round panel visible here on the left (on the right when you're looking at it installed in the dash). Now to find something round to replace that panel and mount my switch on....

Must attribute with link to: www.ptpioneer.com

Personal training TRX stability ball 2

Sailboat with Stability and Good Performance

 

The Oz Goose is a 12ft sailboat with enormous stability from its box planform which also makes it very easy to build and a powerful sailer. It was formerly called the PD Goose.

 

The green boat is being steered by Cherrie Pinpin who just came third in the Paralympic worlds in Kiel. The white boat is Clytie Bernardi who came fourth in Kiel.

 

See Regional Agents for Australia, Hungary, Europe in menu.

 

Buy Plans Duckworks USA $36

 

This doesn't at all sacrifice good sailing performance or rough water capability. It demonstrates normal upwind speeds for body hiked sailing dinghies and downwind speeds easily in the 10 to 13 knots range when one up.

 

Or to carry three adults with good performance and response even in light winds.

 

Handles well in strong winds and big waves and if capsized comes up with no water in the cockpit.

 

Oz Goose Website for building, rigging and sailing informationBuy plan USD38Oz Goose Facebook Group

 

The stability allows it to carry a large 90sq ft mainsail. Hull weight is lighter than a Laser Dinghy. While derived from the shorter 8ft Oz Racer it has a quantum leap in both performance and capacity over the smaller boat.

 

Sails well with one to three adults

 

With the large sail and light hull (115 to 130lbs - 52 to 60kg built as specified) it has the right feel and excellent balance of well designed sailing dinghies.

 

We use the Oz Goose in five ways.

 

www.storerboatplans.com/boat/sailing-boat/oz-goose-an-ine...

UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell meets with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, ahead of the London Conference on Somalia on 23 February 2012.

 

A new fund focused on bringing more stability to Somalia is expected to be agreed as part of tomorrow's London Conference, Andrew Mitchell has said today.

 

Speaking as senior delegations from around the world begin to arrive in London, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said:

 

"We want our wider interventions to be faster and longer-lasting, working with local communities so that decisions are being made by Somalis for Somalis.

 

"We want to help Somalis find longer-term political solutions, and a key part of tomorrow will be capitalising on recent security progress on the ground."

 

The international Stability Fund – led by Britain – will help create jobs, agree local peace deals and set up police, courts and basic services in areas where there is less fighting, or which have been recently freed from militant control.

 

To find out more, please see www.dfid.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2012/uk-leads-efforts-to...

 

Picture: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development

 

Terms of use

 

This image is posted under a Creative Commons - Attribution Licence, in accordance with the Open Government Licence. You are free to embed, download or otherwise re-use it, as long as you credit the source as 'Department for International Development'.

Quoting from the X-35B STOVL Propulsion System museum caption:

 

Lockheed Martin conceived a unique propulsion system to achieve short-takeoff and verticcal landing (STOVL) flight for the X-35B Joint Strike Fighter. At the system's center is the Pratt & Whitney JSF 119-PW-611 turbofan engine that powered both conventional and STOVL versions of the X-35. Rolls-Royce developed the STOVL components. A vertical shaft-driven lift fan and a three-bearing swivel-duct nozzle created downward thrust, while roll control ducts provided stability at low speeds.

 

This integrated system enabled the X-35B to make the world's first short takeoff, level supersonic dash, and vertical landing in a single flight on July 20, 2001. The partners in its development, which also included Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office, received the prestigious Collier Trophy for 2001 from the National Aeronautics Association.

 

Transferred from the Department of Defense Joint Strike Fighter Program Office

 

Major support for the display of the X-35B STOVL Propulsion System provided by Pratt & Whitney

 

• • • • •

 

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL:

 

This aircraft is the first X-35 ever built. It was originally the X-35A and was modified to include the lift-fan engine for testing of the STOVL concept. Among its many test records, this aircraft was the first in history to achieve a short takeoff, level supersonic dash, and vertical landing in a single flight. It is also the first aircraft to fly using a shaft-driven lift-fan propulsion system. The X-35B flight test program was one of the shortest, most effective in history, lasting from June 23, 2001 to August 6, 2001.

 

The lift-fan propulsion system is now displayed next to the X-35B at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport.

 

On July 7, 2006, the production model F-35 was officially named F-35 Lightning II by T. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff USAF.

 

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

 

Date:

2001

 

Dimensions:

Wing span: 10.05 m (33 ft 0 in)

Length: 15.47 m (50 ft 9 in)

Height: approximately 5 m (15 ft 0 in)

Weight: approximately 35,000 lb.

 

Materials:

Composite material aircraft skin, alternating steel and titanium spars. Single-engine, single-seat configuration includes lift-fan and steering bars for vertical flight.

 

Physical Description:

Short takeoff/vertical landing variant to be used by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marines and the United Kingdom, equipped with a shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system which enables the aircraft to take off from a short runway or small aircraft carrier and to land vertically.

Engine: Pratt & Whitney JSF 119-PW-611 turbofan deflects thrust downward for short takeoff/vertical landing capability. The Air Force and Navy versions use a thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzle. The Marine Corps and Royal Air Force/Navy version has a swivel-duct nozzle; an engine-driven fan behind the cockpit and air-reaction control valves in the wings to provide stability at low speeds.

Other major subcontractors are Rolls Royce and BAE.

The Middle East and Central Asia Department Director Jihad Azour and Governor of the Central Bank of Armenia Martin Galstyan present the Governor Talk - MCD: Risk Management Approach to Price Stability: The Role of Policy Credibility during the 2022 Annual Meetings at the International Monetary Fund.

 

IMF Photo/Ariana Lindquist

13 October 2022

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: AL2210121652.jpg

This is a static version of this interactive map:

www.futureatlas.com/Issues/Stability/Stability.htm

 

The map is color-coded:

-- dark blue: most stable

-- light blue: stable

-- yellow: borderline

-- orange: in danger

-- red: critical

 

Data sources

· “Failed States Index Scores 2009,” Fund for Peace.

· “Failed States Index,” ForeignPolicy.com, June 22, 2009.

 

Usable with attribution and link to: www.futureatlas.com

A Soldier of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo quick reaction force (UMIR) assesses a patient during a simulated mass casualty bus crash exercise Sept. 16 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

U.S. Army photo by Sgt. James D. Sims

 

Congolese and American medical specialists participating in MEDFLAG 10 conducted a mass casualty exercise Sept. 16 as the culminating training event of the 10-day exercise.

 

The exercise followed four days of humanitarian assistance to Kinshasa residents by the combined forces.

 

Thursday’s scenario centered on a simulated bus crash resulting in approximately 50 casualties, and highlighted Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s quick reaction force (FARDC UMIR) demonstrating their techniques and skills as first responders to a catastrophe.

 

“My role was to check the level of bleeding and monitor the patient’s blood pressure once they arrived,” said Ndaya Lilian, a female UMIR laboratory technician. “Outside of the military I am a specialist in child delivery, and the experience and knowledge I gained over the last few weeks will help me out tremendously in the future.”

 

The UMIR unit demonstrated its expertise in three areas of response: picking up of casualties, triage at the advanced medical point, and a mobile surgery hospital. The hospital included three main services: emergencies, surgery room combined with intensive care and hospitalization.

 

As the exercise progressed, 1st Lt. Coty Sicble, a medical administrator with the North Dakota National Guard’s 814th Army Support Medical Company based in Bismarck, gave the audience a step-by-step narration of the action taking place. Sicble described the intense preparation and execution the UMIR members demonstrated during the exercise.

 

After the mass casualty exercise, participants conducted a closing ceremony at the Command and Staff College in Kinshasa, where the MEDFLAG 10 exercise first began Sept. 6.

 

“MEDFLAG 10 has taken place and was a moment of an intense scientific, technical, social and psychological communion in perfect harmony between the American forces and FARDC respective health services,” said FARDC Surgeon General Col. Gilbert Kabanda, during the closing ceremony, Sept. 17.

 

As part of MEDFLAG 10, U.S. and Congolese troops worked closely together to increase the combined readiness of their medical forces to respond to humanitarian emergencies. MEDFLAG is a key program in United States efforts to partner with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to further the development of a professional military that is accountable to civilian authority, and provides stability and security to the people.

 

“We can confirm, without contradiction, that MEDFLAG 10 has achieved all its objectives assigned by both military hierarchies, American and Congolese,” said Kabanda.

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica

 

Must attribute with link to: www.ptpioneer.com

Girl performing dumbbell military press with dumbbells on a stability ball.

Full quote: "Changing things from the top down works when things are stable. It's a very efficient way to do it. But in a turbulent environment the change is so widespread that it just routes around any kind of central authority. So it is best to manage the bottom-up change rather than try to institute it from the top down." Kevin Kelly

 

The interesting thing is that this was written in 1995 and was talking about organisational structure. However, I think it just as well applies to the Internet now.

 

Specifically, it ossifies the view that eschews trying to control everything - a largely pointless exercise because the Internet is systemically dynamic.

 

It's like planting seeds and then continuously trampling your garden to make sure everything is growing to your precise idea of how it should when just seeding and standing back, returning occasionally to water and weed, will work a lot better.

 

www.well.com/~bbear/kellyart.html

PHILIPPINE SEA (July 29, 2019) Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Jackson Montgomery, from Monona, Calif., fires a shot line from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85) to the fleet replenishment oiler USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194) during a replenishment-at-sea. McCampbell is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Isaac Maxwell/Released)

United States Army Africa

 

Senior U.S. Africa Command NCO offers guidance

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs

 

VICENZA, Italy – Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Ripka’s wisdom, based upon extensive travel through Africa and more than three decades in uniform, offered insight to U.S. Army Africa NCOs preparing for upcoming assignments on the continent.

 

Ripka, U.S. Africa Command’s senior enlisted Soldier, offered practical advice to NCOs during discussions recently at Caserma Ederle.

 

“He gave us an inside look at how their systems were established and how we can best proceed to assist Africans in building their capacity,” said Master Sgt. Mason Bryant. “It was extremely beneficial.”

 

During his visit, Ripka met with Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa, and senior U.S. Army Africa staff. Ripka also toured the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU), an Italian Carabinieri post in downtown Vicenza that mentors international police to improve their capability to operate in peacekeeping missions.

 

During 2009 – the U.S. Army Year of the NCO – enlisted leaders at U.S. Army Africa face new challenges. Ripka’s talks resonated through the command.

 

One session, held at the Hall of Heroes, was like a 101 college course on Africa. Ripka spoke frankly to Soldiers, stressing that U.S. Army NCOs must first educate themselves outside of the American perspective, to see the world as those in other countries do. That will help as they undertake new assignments in Africa, he said.

 

“It’s a different kind of environment. It’s not like Iraq or Afghanistan,” Ripka said. ““It takes a different kind of mentality. Everything we do in Africa rests under an ambassador’s strategic plan.”

 

U.S. Africa Command is looking to build and maintain relationships in Africa. U.S. Army Africa NCOs can help by doing what they do best – building NCO capacity, he said.

 

Ripka spends a lot of time travelling through Africa, meeting with senior military leaders in dozens of African nations. He offered NCOs a few pointers, from the differences in ranks to the subtleties of language.

 

“Keep this in mind – your words and actions will affect things long after you are gone,” Ripka said.

 

African military ranks are often based on British or other European country that previously colonized their area, Ripka said. For example a first sergeant might not have the same responsibilities of his American counterpart. A warrant officer in Africa is likely the senior enlisted equivalent of a U.S. Army sergeant major.

 

The high-tech briefing technology known to U.S. Soldiers can be cast aside in Africa, Ripka said. Trade the computer slides for a block of butcher paper, give up the laser pointer for a thick black marker, he said. Handing an African counterpart a disk of computer slides is not as useful to an African NCO as a reference card they can keep in their pocket.

 

“Give them something they can take with them, even notes on a piece of paper,” Ripka said. “They call them tactical aid memoirs.”

 

In fact, Ripka himself used little more than a dry-erase marker and a white board to make his point. He explained his thoughts on building NCO capacity using a mathematical formula of his own devise called “A way.”

 

It defined the multiplication of three figures; ways, means and three times the will. For capacity building to succeed, a nation’s military must have all three, Ripka said.

 

“The U.S. way is simply a data point Africans can use to combine with other ideas to develop their own doctrine,” Ripka said. “It must be their way.”

 

Ripka’s advice enlightened many Soldiers, to include some senior NCOs with their own overseas experiences.

 

“I took away a lot from these discussions,” said Master Sgt. Michael Toolin. “His knowledge on Africa was well received.”

 

U.S. Army photo by Rick Scavetta

United States Army Africa, Public Affairs

 

These images are cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. Request credit be given the US Army and individual photographer.

 

Official Website

 

Follow USARAF on Twitter

 

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