UK Defence Forum

RichardIC wrote:It's not anything to do with "our fish" because HMG caved in on that one.

Did they?

It really depends if your strategic horizon is 5 minutes or 5 years.

Ron5 wrote:Sure, they're in the mail.

Daily or Sunday?

Whilst the PMs announcement last month was most welcome.... What did he actually announce apart from confirming the things that have already been announced previously? The commitment to the T32 is pie in the sky at this stage. On our current trajectory RN escort numbers are likely to fall slightly ...

Perhaps the debate should be whether we might now need a US style Coast Guard with maritime law enforcement powers covering fisheries and environmental protection, customs and policing at sea. Its probably the super efficient RNLI that has stopped such a setup being formed before now. A properly re...

ArmChairCivvy wrote:Why would they?

Exactly, that's the bit we won't know until the IR is released.

The BAE “Frigate Factory” in Osborne South Australia cost the Ozzie taxpayer 550m AUD, which is about 300m£. The facility at Osborne is truly impressive and much more capable than what Babcock are proposing at Rosyth. Babcocks intentions are clear, what I want to know now is, are BAE now going to c...

the treasury could see the line for infrastructure improvement cost and said that had to be removed. How do you know that Although many suspect the reason why it was deleted I'm not aware this information was ever openly in the public domain. I'd be interested to see a source quoted to back that up.

Credit to Babcock for committing to such a level of investment on what is a pretty modest contract. https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/1337343942103339009?s=20 https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/12/babcock-invests-in-advanced-shipbuilding-facility-for-type-31/ Now we just need the Frigate...

Nuclear powered for a cool $6bn.

https://www.marinelink.com/news/frances ... ier-483735

Personally I think two QE's was a much better option.

From today's Telegraph, Exclusive: Military cuts of £1bn over next year, with Navy Reservists suspended for first time Sweeping savings to the Armed Forces will also see drill nights and training weekends paused Royal Marines Commando Reservists training in Norway The military is to make £1 billion ...

Bit of a Ding-Dong here but good to see some tough and sustained questioning about insufficient escort numbers and how limited T31 capabilities will actually be as currently configured. https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/e9df01f0-500d-4618-93d2-965ceedb633c?in=11:30:44&out=11:46:10 No sign of...

If HMG is in hurry, I think UK shall just keep T23 longer. Not ideal but a simple solution. T32 exactly needs this kind of money. Original 10 years equipment budget never included T32. An increase of £20bn to £30bn for RN over 10 years is sizeable. At £2.5bn to £5bn for the 5x T32 hulls that still ...

I think we need to be more fair here you can't compare first steel cut to ship hand over and a gov thinking about a new ship and it being on front line ops. A-140 should go from first steel cut to hand over in 36 months and this from a cold start yard If Babcock can stick to the proposed schedule i...

From today's Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/12/06/sink-swim-shipbuilders-flood-cash/ Sink or swim for shipbuilders after flood of cash A shortage of skills could yet frustrate the Prime Minister’s bold ambitions to safeguard both the industry and union “As long as I can remembe...

Interesting, the page on Japanese 30FFM project quotes a displacement of 5500 to 6000 t, 130-140m length which sounds alot like a type 31. But the speed is over 30kts and "very high speed" is listed as a key requirement (mother needs to keep up with her children?). If we're following the ...

Just need official conformation now.

Moved across, 2035 - 2009 = 26 I wasn't suggesting commissioning and decommissioning like for like, hence growing the number of escorts as the T4X's start to enter the fleet. On the current trajectory, even with the addition of the T32's, the fleet size will not increase within the next decade. If s...

shark bait wrote:....the Navy will not be decommissioning these lightly worked destroyers after 25 years.

Who said anything about decommissioning the T45's after 25 years?

That tight window is the reflection of how the build was batched, to get them quickly out of the way and move on, to the carriers. ... T4(X) discussion will soon pick up speed Exactly, there is now a very strong argument to increase the speed of the T26 construction phase in an effort to get the fi...

What changed your mind? I'm not sure I have changed my mind, more a case of the parameters becoming clearer. If the T32 is to become a large, simple but spacious host for a myriad of offboard systems specialising in Littoral ASW and MCM then there is no point re-developing the wheel. It's a simple ...

I am not sure to be honest but I could see on a very tight budget the RN would go for an Absalon but would ask for the odd small change here or there, I only say this as I can’t see them just saying Yh we’ll take it exactly as is. If RN wanted Absalon it would have been the T31, perhaps it should h...

Mover across. "The Rolls-Royce Mission Bay Handling System, will enable efficient movement of craft and containerised mission packages within the mission bay [and it] also features a launch and recovery capability" First and foremost a baseline must be set and then everything can flow from...

Jake1992 wrote:....modified Absalon if real tight.

Modified how?

NickC wrote:....the Vestdavit Mission Ease Boat Handling System to launch USV/boats up to 14 metric tons).

It is hard to imagine a less efficient system. The space required by 4 RHIBs or 4 ISO's is ridiculous.

The height of the deckhead is the limiting factor.

Just like how the T26 started out! Back to the future! I suspect OMT have been constantly extolling the virtues of Absalon since the IH design was chosen and RN maybe like what they see. The PPA is also a massively capable GP design and I suspect RN is keeping a close eye on that too. The PPA is ae...