UK Defence Forum

Do we still train to get right down in the weeds so to speak or is that another skill set our pilots have lost? Staying under the radar horizon was always key to Anti-ship operations, especially now most Russian (and Chinese) vessels are basically mobile double digit SAM batteries, with the naval e...

ArmChairCivvy wrote:Is our test installation on land the 7th in that reference?

Yes, I was including the installation above Portsmouth.

ttle use training to use a weapon that you have no plans to buy. Amidst all the loss of capability over the years thats one thing we forget, is there any martitime strike experience left in the RAF (or FAA for that matter)? It was build up over years with Buccaneer, then Tornado, but has been gone ...

Halidon wrote:If the RN pursues such an upgrade for Type45, tagging the carriers onto that buy makes a ton of sense.

You'd think so. If the UK has 9 S1850, and 7 are upgraded leaving the remaining 2 as S1850M might actually cost more in the long run.

topman wrote:w crates?

I think he means crates of ASM's generously loaned from our ever accommodating friends in the states..

The Singapore purchase/trial seems a little odd. There are some reports that they're considering the B version for the ability to disperse their forces. A perfectly valid idea in the constricted environment of Singapore. But I would have thought that they would have been able to make that assessment...

yone think the RAF with reintroduce Maritime Strike with anything other than possibly the P-8? Is there any chance that whatever weapon is chosen to replace the Harpoon could be integrated on to the Typhoon? Harpoon was mentioned as one of the weapons the RAF would be getting with P-8, alongside Mk...

200 missiles is quite a small number its also likely they will be delivered over a period of time. These will likely be predominantly for f35 as meteor integration maybe some considerable time away. I'd wager that 200 Amraam D would actually be a very significant, if not the main component of the U...

The Government only willing to actually purchase necessary things once servicemen start dying? Nooo, that'd never happen... So yeah, you're bang on. Given the about turn on aircraft guns following experience in Iraq and Afghan you'd hope that the necessity for the lesson to be learned again would h...

Easily when we talk about shelf life (fuel & battery circuits); however it is not just calendar years, but also air hours (in this case I believe it to be 1500... so you can just use a pair for all of those hours, and then discard them - in the case of C5s) I think there may be a question about...

Why would you do that ideally you only want 1 bvr missile meteor and should/are working towards that. Meteor is on typhoon now why delay force role out or limit it to units that will at some point get an AESA radar a/c when we don’t know exactly when that will be. Because we're getting up to 200 Am...

Gabriele wrote:For whatever reason, the gunpod was never supposed to be part of the british IOC. Procurement of the pods was left for later. Part of block IV, unless it is postponed further.

Why do I get the feeling this will be pushed back and back until we finally need them desperately...

P-8 should also be one of the smoothest entry's to service ever. Apparently there are numerous complete RAF crews who have over 1,000 hours on type from serving with the USN as part of the Seedcorn initiative.

However, not so sure about the logical link between AESA and Meteor: will there be a range advantage from moving (gradually) to AESA on Typhoons? What there certainly will be is the gain in "see, but not be seen" - once you've acquired a target, you can track it without advertising yr pre...

I get a sense from reading these comments there maybe some confusion between a Tranche 3 typhoon which is production build configuration and effectivity of the aircraft and p3e upgrade to typhoon. My reasoning for focusing the Meteor on the Tranche 3 Typhoon is primarily on them receiving the AESA ...

UK bought 200 AIM-120D IIRC... Sorry thought it was 120, that may be the figure for the number of C-5 that we have (all of the ex-RN Amraam B's have long gone). Just to add the only notices I've seen to date have been 'approval' to buy 'up to' 200 missiles as per the usual US process, along with a ...

- just that for half a decade any OpFor, by just knowing what platforms are in the air, would be able to tell their capabilities and thereby plan their 'counter' Realistically, Amraam C-5 on a T1 Typhoon is still superior to any Russian platform they are likely to come up against for the next 10 ye...

We're clearly missing some capabilities, off the top of my head...with suggestions.. One more.... - A MALD-J type jammer. Actually pretty easy for the UK to generate. MBDA SmartGlider or SPEAR (for powered version) body, stick a BriteCloud inside and fit a much larger battery/fuel cell power source...

I think the 'inners' for those that we have got refurbed... but the number of them in total is not much off from 10! Given the age of the platform, you'd think the Germans would be looking to incorporate those systems into a newer more survivable platform, for the UK with the Fuch's being an orphan...

About Spear 3, are they integrated on F-35B? Because they are on that picture, in front of the F-35B. Same thing with Meteor, not integrated, because they will use AIM-120D. Not yet. They will be in block 4. But...until then UK F-35B will only be external cannon ( EDIT - As per Gabi none have been ...

If we are serious about being able to protect forward air/ air-supply bases, the RAF Rgmnt should have a similar capability; does not matter if it is with the army, as long as they train together for deployments - what would you rather drop from a commercially sourced drone: a single hand grenade, ...

Stormshadow certainly would have been a very big lump to hang under an F-35 wing! I believe that particular plan has been abandoned now though. Storm Shadow and Brimstone integration on F-35 were abandoned over 4 years ago. Makes sense as SPEAR can carry out the Brimstone mission, albeit its larger...

Should have declared it on New Year's Eve, or better still as a Christmas present. We need to show that we are aiming to get ahead of the programme at every opportunity, not just scraping through or behind it. Let us hope that the RAF never delay deployment to a Carrier by 10 days (or longer). You'...

The other angle..in the bottom right