Latest news with #Hägglunds
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Anchorage's fin whale skeleton recovered after warming weather, soft mudflats complicate efforts
Apr. 30—Update, Wednesday: Volunteers with Vulcan Towing in Anchorage helped Museum of Alaska director James Grogan extract almost all of the remaining bones from a fin whale on Cook Inlet mudflats on Tuesday. All that remained of the whale was a pool of tissue and blubber, floating off the coastal trail to the west of Lyn Ary Park in the Turnagain area. The bones are now at the Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, where they will be cleaned in a process that uses microbes to strip away remaining flesh and then rearticulated into a planned display for the public, Grogan said. Original story: James Grogan woke up Monday discouraged: It seemed his dream of recovering a complete skeleton from the 48-foot fin whale that washed up on the Anchorage mudflats in November might be slipping away with the tide. With permission from federal wildlife officials, he and dozens of volunteers disassembled much of the carcass in March. Back then, the mudflats near Fish Creek estuary were still frozen enough to walk, ride a bike or push a stroller to the whale. Thousands of people, including whole classes of schoolchildren, made the trek out to see the juvenile female fin whale, the second-largest species of cetacean on earth. The bones had been trucked up to Wasilla, where Grogan hoped to clean them and eventually rearticulate the fin whale skeleton into an educational display at the Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, where he is the executive director. But the plans ran into a snag. In March, the ground had been too frozen to pry out much of the whale's structure, including the spine. The group had been forced to leave the RV-sized carcass in the mudflats, with the hopes that spring melt would bring more favorable conditions. In recent weeks, the remains drew dozens of birds, including juvenile eagles and ravens perching on the vertebrae like barstools. Winter became spring and the mudflats softened, posing a new set of troubles for recovery of the whale, which sat firm near the Fish Creek estuary. Last Thursday, Grogan and a few volunteers used a rugged amphibious all-terrain Hägglunds vehicle to get out to the whale before a series of high tides. It was sketchy, Grogan said: The softened mudflats were like quicksand, and the vehicle almost got bogged down, leaving deep ruts. "It put us in a bad position," he said. Grogan felt it was so dangerous that he wouldn't return to the whale in a vehicle. Then, high tides floated the carcass, sending it west. The question was whether he and his volunteers could keep up — or get back out to the animal to try to remove heavy vertebrae from squelching mudflats. "She's actually working her way down the coastline to the west," Grogan said Monday morning. "We're trying to keep up with her, but the mudflats are too dangerous for us to get out." He sounded resigned. "If we have to wait much longer, the ocean might take her back," he said. "Which is great, but we'd sure like to have the rest of the skeleton." He said he'd been "calling people like crazy." "Do you know anyone with a crane?" he asked. Then, Monday afternoon, Grogan got a welcome phone call from MaryBeth Printz, a longtime Turnagain neighborhood resident who visits the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail daily. Printz reported that the whale carcass had been lifted by the tide and deposited at a favorable spot for Grogan's interests, right on the beach to the west of Lyn Ary Park. By late afternoon, Grogan was out at the pungent carcass, along with a volunteer from Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services. Together, they worked to stake down the whale's vertebrae so that another high tide wouldn't wash the rest of the animal back into the channel of the inlet. Still, the job of disassembling what was left of the whale seemed major, with two people hacking away at a mountain of gelatinous tissue. Each vertebrae was about 15 pounds, he said. Grogan jokingly recruited joggers and bikers passing by on the trail, covering their noses with shirts. "Come on down," he said. "I'll get you some gloves." There was talk of using a towing boom truck to try to lift the whale, but arrangements needed to be made for safe use of the trail and permission from the city, according to Grogan. At high tide Monday night, the diminishing remains of the whale were partly submerged in silty gray water, but looked firmly tied to the beach. Grogan said he was calling anyone he could for help, equipment, ideas. Tuesday would bring another afternoon low tide and a chance to try again.
Local Sweden
07-03-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
How Sweden's defence industry is ramping up production
What has happened to Sweden's defence budget? Sweden's defence budget stands at 142 billion kronor for the year 2025, almost double that of the 2022 budget. Just under 60 billion kronor of that is tabled for "procurement of equipment and facilities". The defence budget is scheduled to rise to 186 billion kronor by 2030, but is likely to increase significantly more rapidly than that. "We're going to have to go up in a big way," Ulf Kristersson, Sweden's prime minister, told TT last week, talking about what percentage of GDP Sweden should spend on defence. Sweden's defence minister Pål Jonson, meanwhile, has spoken of the need to for the defence industry to increase its tempo. "I think increased production is an extremely important aspect in the possibilities we have to build up a stronger defence rapidly," he said. "We are working intensively in the government offices to develop a new defence industrial strategy built around increased production, increased innovation and also increased cooperation between defence companies, government agencies and universities." Who are the main players in the Swedish arms sector? Saab. Saab is the biggest defence company that is considered entirely Swedish. It makes the Gripen fighter jet, the Global Eye surveillance aircraft, and the NLAW, a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon which has been effective in the Ukraine war. It also owns Saab Kockums, which makes submarines and naval vessels such as the CB 90, a rapid combat boat. Hägglunds. Hägglunds, which has been owned by the British defence company BAE Systems since 2004, makes the CV90 combat vehicle and the Stridsvagn 123B, a tank based on the German Leopard design, which Sweden's government ordered 44 more of in January. Bofors. Bofors, which has been owned by BAE Systems since 2005, makes the Archer self-propelled howitzer system, several of which Sweden has sent to Ukraine, BONUS, an intelligent munitions system, Excalibur and 3P. It also makes the naval guns 57Mk3 and 40Mk4. Volvo Defense and Scania Defence both make military trucks and personnel carriers, primarily for road-based military logistics. Defence tech Sweden's dynamic tech scene has long turned its focus on defence, and there are both established companies and a lot of new startups. MilDef makes rugged IT hardware for military use, including laptops, servers, switches, routers, and intelligent displays. It also produces military software and integration services. Karl Rosander, who founded the podcast platform Acast, has launched Nordic Air Defence, which aims to build a low-cost drone interceptor. Saab So far in 2025, Saab has received a 700 million kronor order from BAE Systems Hägglunds to provide its Tank and Anti-Aircraft System (UTAAS) sighting and fire control system for CV90 combat vehicles it is producing. It has received a 1.7 billion kronor order to upgrade and modernise the German air force's Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile systems. In October 2024, Saab received an order worth 1.3 billion kronor from the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its , to be delivered between 2025 and 2027. It has also received a 400 million kronor order from Sweden for ten new CB90 combat boats, and an 800m kronor order to modernise Sweden's coastal anti-ship missile capability. In 2023, Sweden gave Saab a 390 million kronor order for new targeting systems for its existing fleet of Gripen planes. Hägglunds In January 2025, Sweden ordered 44 new Stridsvagnen 123A tanks from Hägglunds, for delivery between 2028 and 2031, and an upgrade to its 66 existing Stridsvagnen122 tanks to the same standard as the new tanks, work which will be completed between 2027 and 2030. In December 2024, it signed a contract with the company for 50 new CV90 assault vehicles, building on an earlier contract signed in May 2024. Bofors In September 2023, Sweden gave BAE Systems an order worth about 5 billion kronor to deliver 48 more of its Archer artillery systems for delivery in 2025. The UK has also ordered Archer systems. MilDef MilDef in November 2024 won a 63 million kronor order from the Swedish government to supply Command and Control Systems, and in October 2024 it won a 200 million kronor order from BAE Systems to supply rugged IT equipment for the new generation of CV90 assault vehicles.
