Everybody, it's Steve talking to you from my garden.
It's springtime here in the UK. I'm in the northern hemisphere.
We don't get many days like this.
So I'm doing it for my garden. That's that's it.
I'm apologising for it. I hope you guys are well.
If you're a subscriber, you're listening to this.
I wanted to just let you know, thank you for supporting the
channel and to give you a heads up as to what's coming up in the
next 4 weeks or so, the content I'm going to be releasing to
you. If you're not a subscriber but
you're listening to this thinking that sounds
interesting, you can become a subscriber.
You can go to tempcentury.com and hit the subscribe button,
take out a plan. So this month really is going to
be French Air Force Month, which is for me a very interesting set
of subjects. So my guest, Benji joined me on
three occasions. I think we did two hours each,
so you know, it's probably 6 or 7 hours of content, but it's
fascinating. It's fascinating with technical
point of view because he talks about Mirage, Mirage F1, Mirage
F1 CT, talks about the capabilities of the aeroplane,
talks about the missions, talks about the stores, talks about
the avionics, talks about the electronic warfare, talks about
what it's like to operate, how you BFM.
It's absolutely fascinating and he also talks about his time
flying super estimate on exchange with the French Navy.
Again talks about the challenges of flying that aeroplane on and
off of the shoulder wall. Also talks about Exocet, talks
about the mission set, talks about how you plan anti
shipping. It's really interesting and he's
very candid, as much as he can be.
For me, one of the most fascinating elements of these
three interviews with him is his discussion of combat.
So as most of you all know, the French have been busy for many
years in North Africa. So he talks about Djibouti, he
talks about going out and flying in Libya in 2011.
And he was also part of the first detachment of supraton
dads to go to combat in Afghanistan, which I think was
2011. I interviewed him a couple of
months ago, actually. So I'm stretching my my memory
with that might have been 2007. But anyway, it doesn't matter.
He talks about that as well. And again, he's really candid
about the learning experiences, how they work with coalition
partners, providing close air support to the guys and girls on
the ground. And I don't think that really
any of this stuff is available in English language anywhere.
I mean, there might be some French, French language stuff
somewhere on the Internet, but as far as I'm aware, this is the
first time it's been covered. And, and it fulfils one of my
ambitions, which is to expand the scope of the Channel.
I do a lot of US and UK centric stuff.
And I really would like to start working with guys and girls who
have different experiences from different air forces.
So it helps fulfil that obligation.
But like that desire, I hope you enjoy it.
I think you will. And if you again, if you're
thinking about subscribing, you know, these would be good
episodes to subscribe for. And then the final episode that
I'll be releasing in the next month or so is the episode I had
or conversation I had with Cinco Hamilton, who ran the Air forces
or this or the Department of the Air Force's AI evaluation and
sort of developmental tests and, and operational test type
affair. So he was responsible for
looking at how AI can be incorporated for the war fighter
into aerospace programmes for the Air Force.
So he has a really interesting perspective.
He has lots of experience as a fighter pilot and then as a test
pilot. And so his insights into how you
can make AI work for you as a war fighter at the pointy end of
the spear, again, very, very interesting.
I'll release that episode in full actually to everybody.
You won't have to be a subscriber if you want that
episode. And the only reason I'm going to
do that is because Cinco is also has written a book.
And I'd like to help him get the message of his book out into the
public space and to help him sell copies of that.
So if you're not a subscriber, you'll get that full episode.
And in fact, that will be the next episode to drop, which will
be in about two weeks or so. Anyway, that's what's coming up.
I just wanted to let you guys know, keep you in touch.
Sorry for the poncy sunglasses and being out in the garden.
I'm not trying to be pretentious.
It's just a nice day. I wanted to make the video and
talk to you guys. And so this is what it ended up
being. Whatever is happening in your
world, I hope you're well. I appreciate your time and your
support. I'll speak to you soon.
Cheers.