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Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

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Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#111

Post by momoschili »

kragen wrote: post #88
momoschili wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

brain fart on my end, you're definitely correct that SQUIDS are not something demonstrated quite yet, I should have said Josephson junction, but even that seems more niche than I had thought when I wrote the comment.

your comment oscillates between incorrect and incoherent. squids have been demonstrated for decades (i didn't assert they hadn't been) and are made of josephson junctions, whose nicheness is not at issue in this discussion. i hope you get better because you clearly were not well when you wrote this

looooooooool indeed i was somewhere else

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#112

Post by musiciangames »

Reason077 wrote: post #89
leg100 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's questionable whether that's even possible.

Of course it is possible! Around 25% of the world's steel is already produced by electric arc furnaces. 100% in some countries, and over 70% in the USA. The UK exports 7-8 million tonnes of scrap steel every year, while producing about 5 million tonnes in blast furnaces. There's more than enough feedstock to replace all the UK blast furnace steel production with EAFs and still have some left over.

Does that apply in the case of war, which was intended by ‘strategic’? I’m reminded of Australia’s supply of iron to Japan before WWII. Which earned future prime minister Robert Menzies the nickname ‘Pig Iron Bob’.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Dalfram_dispute

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#113

Post by aembleton »

musiciangames wrote: post #112
Reason077 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it is possible! Around 25% of the world's steel is already produced by electric arc furnaces. 100% in some countries, and over 70% in the USA. The UK exports 7-8 million tonnes of scrap steel every year, while producing about 5 million tonnes in blast furnaces. There's more than enough feedstock to replace all the UK blast furnace steel production with EAFs and still have some left over.

Does that apply in the case of war, which was intended by ‘strategic’? I’m reminded of Australia’s supply of iron to Japan before WWII. Which earned future prime minister Robert Menzies the nickname ‘Pig Iron Bob’. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Dalfram_dispute

In the case of war we'd need to import iron ore anyway so, with this we can import scrap steel.

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#114

Post by kragen »

momoschili wrote: post #111
kragen wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your comment oscillates between incorrect and incoherent. squids have been demonstrated for decades (i didn't assert they hadn't been) and are made of josephson junctions, whose nicheness is not at issue in this discussion. i hope you get better because you clearly were not well when you wrote this

looooooooool indeed i was somewhere else

:-)

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#115

Post by LinuxAmbulance »

bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #100
onlypassingthru wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you've been watching the Russian invasion closely, you'll have noticed that while it's good to have friends and allies with necessary ingredients, it's even better to be as self sufficient as possible. Relying on a foreign orange cheeto might ruin your recipe for self defense.

Yeah. As a European I feel humiliating how fumbling the EU has been to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and feel glad that our American friends are around to pick up the slack even though I'd be happier if we didn't need them :-/ so thank you on behalf of my moronic continent.

It was tough watching European countries make cut after cut to their military forces, because without a military that's able to actually defend the country, there's a lot of expectations that the US will step in and do the job.

For the US, that has not been a great role to be in considering the recent past.

It's been a pleasant surprise to see European countries start to take their own defense seriously in the face of the invasion of Ukraine. When other NATO members can pick up their own slack, it makes it feel much more like an alliance of equals that can make solid contributions.

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#117

Post by tonyedgecombe »

LinuxAmbulance wrote: post #116
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's difficult to see how this won't end up needing constant infusions of cash whilst delivering very little to nothing.

Why is that?

Lack of competitive pressure.

Management by civil servants who have no stake in the business nor real understanding of the sector.

Interference from politicians.

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#118

Post by benterix »

csomar wrote: post #56
rappatic wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off-topic as far as the article above goes, but do you think it's more likely for global(-ish?) war to erupt because of Europe/Middle East compared to Taiwan? A lot of the discussion around global war pre-2022 was for the late 2020s when China attempts to invade Taiwan. I personally doubt the major global powers will allow the conflicts in Israel and Ukraine to escalate to Western countries actually engaging in comba…

War is momentum based. If the US gets dragged in a war with Iran and is also supplying Ukraine with weapons, China might perceive this particular moment as an advantage to start their Taiwan campaign. From there, more countries will see the chaos as an advantage to settle their border disputes. And there you have it, a global world war.

> From there, more countries will see the chaos as an advantage to settle their border disputes.

I doubt it. Look at what a "border dispute" did to Russia - they became a global pariah. And modern countries cannot really function in a vacuum, even most stupid/populist leaders know it. Local wars in Africa and the Middle East will continue, that's for sure, but they don't have the potential to become global, at least not now.

Re: Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes

#119

Post by benterix »

h18483djdj wrote: post #90
FpUser wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they would start a war and kill people for economy's sake? In this case what make them any different from any other war criminals?

I think that’s the point. I’m old enough to remember Bush and Blair wanting UN support for Iraq but ditched the idea when they wouldn’t get it. And young enough that my parent’s generation have never seen a war and so don’t remember why the UN was created in the first place. We live in dangerous times with very poor leaders and politics

Yeah Bush seemed surprised nobody wants to join his war. "You forgot Poland!"
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