Search found 178 matches

by albedo
07 Feb 2024, 19:30
Forum: Joint Service
Topic: F-35B Lightning (RAF & RN)
Replies: 6067
Views: 1723580
United Kingdom

Re: F-35B Lightning (RAF & RN)

We'd need at least one other base and hundreds of people for this fleet alone to hit 138. Just out of sheer curiosity, if there were to be enough 'extra' F35's to justify it, which previous but currently non-active airfield is still close enough to being operational to be worth reactivating? Any of...
by albedo
29 Jan 2024, 18:03
Forum: Royal Navy
Topic: Type 45 Destroyer (Daring Class) (RN) [News Only]
Replies: 1992
Views: 554772
United Kingdom

Re: Type 45 Destroyer (Daring Class) (RN) [News Only]

Brilliant ? £80bn to save 15 minutes on a journey from London to Birmingham. Seriously OT I know so apologies, but FFS why do people keep saying this??? The prime purpose of HS2 always was to allow a much better service for intermediate stations on the existing West Coast route and also allowing mu...
by albedo
19 Dec 2023, 16:11
Forum: Royal Navy
Topic: Current & Future Escorts - General Discussion
Replies: 19147
Views: 7055479
United Kingdom

Re: Current & Future Escorts - General Discussion

The entirety of UK defence is being moulded around the 2% NATO minimum spend. That is barely enough in peacetime and it is becoming ever clearer that it will be completely insufficient if a major conflict appears. I doubt anyone here would disagree with you. But if you're going to achieve this in t...
by albedo
17 Nov 2023, 13:36
Forum: British Army
Topic: RBSL Challenger 3 (Future) Main Battle Tank (British Army)
Replies: 349
Views: 64979
United Kingdom

Re: RBSL Challenger 3 (Future) Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Neich capabilities are always tempting low hanging fruit for government defence cuts... I guess you mean niche capabilities? They may be niche in terms of current capabilities, but invaluable I'd argue to maintain memory and experience of how to use that particular type of capability, ie to retain ...
by albedo
03 Nov 2023, 09:53
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

Any thoughts on the Zaluzhny essay/article in The Economist that concedes that the Ukraine war has apparently reached a deadlock? He seems to hold out little prospect of a material change now from stalemate/deadlock and thinks that, for example, the delivery of F16 is now too late to be offer a deci...
by albedo
02 Nov 2023, 12:14
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

I think ORYX stopped because he needed to "get a life" - there was just too much work involved. He regularly asked people NOT to send him money & donated anything he was sent to Ukrainian causes. That may well be true and I'm sure that's part of the picture. But there was also a lot o...
by albedo
02 Nov 2023, 10:14
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

It would be interesting for a breakdown of equipment losses comparing artillery ,auv,s and other methods ,in considering which are the most effective . This is available in various places, though not necessarily in the level of detail that you might ideally like - independent analysts can only real...
by albedo
03 Sep 2023, 16:15
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

Well-argued strategic analysis of the future of the Ukraine war:

by albedo
27 Aug 2023, 21:22
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

I'm really not sure what these international aid comparisons are meant to show for two reasons: 1. How do you arrive at an honest figure for a country's contribution? It really makes no sense to use the original production cost (sometimes inflation-corrected) for equipment manufactured years ago and...
by albedo
23 Aug 2023, 16:06
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

mrclark303 wrote: 23 Aug 2023, 13:45 Absolutely tip top, I assume Storm Shadow dropped the hammer 👍
Early reports are saying Harpoon or Neptune, presumably modified versions to hit land-based targets. Maybe some more definitive info will emerge. Storm Shadow use does seem to have tapered off recently for whatever reason.
by albedo
22 Aug 2023, 13:56
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

Just wondering which sources of information on the Ukraine war that people here find most credible? The source that I like most for daily updates are the YouTube videos from ATP Geopolitics (Jonathan Pearce) like this first one from today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EPTd_aEBEc How he manages r...
by albedo
21 Aug 2023, 20:39
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

https://twitter.com/johnsweeneyroar/status/1689911186794405888?s=61&t=-w58-AqEK8dlq02bHexwZA That's a bizarrely pessimistic piece and doesn't accord with what most other informed commentators are saying. The expectation among the more serious voices always seemed to be that progress on the sout...
by albedo
16 May 2023, 18:42
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

If they work as is claimed in the Telegraph then really we should be ordering a few thousand for ourselves as well. The downside is that this sort of thing will probably lead to a global 'drone race' where countries hold larger and larger stockpiles to overwhelm air defences. That is surely inevita...
by albedo
03 May 2023, 15:05
Forum: Royal Air Force
Topic: Future UK Combat Aircraft (Project Tempest)
Replies: 4067
Views: 950019
United Kingdom

Re: Future UK Combat Aircraft (Project Tempest)

More background dissection to the Bronk paper here:

by albedo
17 Apr 2023, 21:22
Forum: Royal Air Force
Topic: Future UK Combat Aircraft (Project Tempest)
Replies: 4067
Views: 950019
United Kingdom

Re: Future UK Combat Aircraft (Project Tempest)

...but hey looks good but still a 5th gen looking design like the Turkish/ south Korean ,and FCAS 6th design etc to my unknowledgeable eyes lol, suppose it's down too what's onboard tech GCAP that's making it 6th gen ? ,Think I've got in my brain the 6th gen designs from America and China without v...
by albedo
28 Mar 2023, 20:48
Forum: British Army
Topic: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)
Replies: 2323
Views: 1031477
United Kingdom

Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

RunningStrong wrote: 28 Mar 2023, 20:22 Gunnery exchanges have been common for decades.
Yes, I'm sure. Just quite a coincidence that the exchange gunner happened to figure in this particular video. Not suggesting anything sinister or similar in it, but just caught my eye.
by albedo
28 Mar 2023, 16:13
Forum: British Army
Topic: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)
Replies: 2323
Views: 1031477
United Kingdom

Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)



Interesting to see the US-uniformed instructor/evaluator (?) there as part of the training team.
by albedo
10 Feb 2023, 21:44
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

See there have been sirens throughout Ukraine today and still ongoing:

https://tryvoha.com/en

NB Luhansk oblast is always red - not sure why.
by albedo
20 Jan 2023, 20:48
Forum: Royal Air Force
Topic: Eurofighter Typhoon (RAF)
Replies: 2804
Views: 763362
United Kingdom

Re: Eurofighter Typhoon (RAF)

Not saying it's an easy call, but if you want a UK domestic arms industry then you can't be TOO choosy who you sell it to. The UK market for all types of arms is just too small to support domestic manufacture without export into a very competitive international marketplace or participation in big wo...
by albedo
18 Nov 2022, 20:59
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

Seems like a reasonably informed analysis of the air war in Ukraine thus far: (Don't be put off by the redtop title)

by albedo
29 Mar 2022, 19:10
Forum: Royal Navy
Topic: Type 26 Frigate (City Class) (RN) [News Only]
Replies: 5461
Views: 1464394
United Kingdom

Re: Type 26 Frigate (City Class) (RN) [News Only]

I think the best way to put it is that both coherent and incoherent beams obey the inverse square law, but in different ways. A point source's power varies according to the surface area of a sphere (4πr2) whereas the coherent beam varies in proportion to the cross-sectional area of the beam (πr2). ...
by albedo
28 Mar 2022, 12:29
Forum: Royal Navy
Topic: Type 26 Frigate (City Class) (RN) [News Only]
Replies: 5461
Views: 1464394
United Kingdom

Re: Type 26 Frigate (City Class) (RN) [News Only]

Lasers - Light and other electromagnetic radiation is subject to the Inverse Square Law (the major physics barrier) which explains the drastic laser light fall-off in power with increasing distance of the target eg at 2 km only able to deliver 1/4 of the power at 1 km, at 3 km its down to 1/9th, at...
by albedo
27 Mar 2022, 15:36
Forum: Royal Navy
Topic: Type 26 Frigate (City Class) (RN) [News Only]
Replies: 5461
Views: 1464394
United Kingdom

Re: Type 26 Frigate (City Class) (RN) [News Only]

The old joke in the US R&D community comes to mind "lasers are the weapons of the future ... and always will be". The problem with this sort of 'joke' is that it denies the possibility of major technological advances. Look at what the advent of REBCO magnets has done for the prospects...
by albedo
15 Mar 2022, 21:35
Forum: Conflicts
Topic: The war in Ukraine
Replies: 1163
Views: 85525
United Kingdom

Re: The war in Ukraine

Might be of interest:
by albedo
06 Feb 2022, 13:06
Forum: Joint Service
Topic: F-35B Lightning (RAF & RN)
Replies: 6067
Views: 1723580
United Kingdom

Re: F-35B Lightning (RAF & RN)

There's also been some additional commentary on YouTube (up for a few days now) here:



And also a follow-up video with the new crash footage: