Ghost of a flea: You will be paid for like any other free man. You will be paid in blood.

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February 24, 2009

You will be paid for like any other free man. You will be paid in blood.

The Swedes are set to deploy the first fully armed and operational* stealth ships in the world. The first two Visby-class corvettes** will enter service by the end of 2009.

"A warship's survivability can be built on one of two premises: invincibility or invisibility,'" the company says in a statement (pdf). "For nations with deep pockets and imposing military budgets, invincibility is the chosen high-ticket objective. For countries with more limited material resources, the more affordable choice must be invisibility, to which stealth is the obvious path."

Small point: A warship's survivability also depends on a friendly port to return home to. Something to think about as the Swedes make nice with their jihadi colonists so the jihadi colonists will be nice when they are in charge.

Larger point: If anthropology had ever got anywhere as a science we would know how to trigger a Swedish swarm phase. Vikings sound like a better deal than corsairs.

* I just like saying fully armed and operational.
** A cutaway view of the Visby class corvette for the curious.

Comments

The last "swarm phase" was a matrix of a collapse of Imperial power, rising temperatures in the 9th C., and an exploding population. Our Swedes only get one of those three; sorry, but it's another group that's in their "swarm phase" right now... our grandchildren will read about it in their madrassas (our male grandchildren, only, of course).

Posted by: Clayton Barnett at February 24, 2009 11:56 AM