UK Defence Forum

Doesn't add a great deal but from Chief of Defence staff to the Defence Committee on Tuesday https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/652/pdf/ Q10 Mr Jones: May I ask you about one of the issues that came out of last week’s NAO report, “Carrier Strike”, on the fleet solid support vessels. Again...

Makes you appreciate how large the hangar on QE is. https://preview.redd.it/65ljozjl95t31.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=02557fbc526d97ced7d4497d9cf3c0feb79dc9db Pictured with five fast jets on CDG and four on QE. CDG seems to have an E-2. QE pic caption says there are five Merlin.

According to this it was Merkels successor in her party, but seems to be a bit more wishful thinking than anything likely to happen anytime soon, if at all. Yeah, but she also said "(we)... have to do other things as a priority." Which is usually code for not wanting to contradict someone...

Wasn’t it floated last year as a “joint” European carrier based off the next french design, I believe Merkal was in support of the idea. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/03/11/the-strange-case-of-a-european-aircraft-carrier/ I missed that. Floated in a newspaper column, so not an offi...

inch wrote:possible french / German second of class carrier

Where on earth has that been proposed?

PIN published last week seeking potential interest in "execution of global repair and maintenance" for both Batch 1 and 2 Rivers. https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:312174-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0 Short description of nature and scope of works or nature and quantity or value of su...

Timmymagic wrote:I remember when it was 12 and 12, then 12 and 8....now 8 and 6...

I think 12 and 12 was only ever wishful thinking and supposition on here and places like it.

Biproduct of Huawei lobbying perhaps? Either way, better optics. Nope, don’t understand a word. However I think it’s becoming more and more likely that the carriers will be rotated, like the LPDs, with one in service and one at extended readiness. It may not be adopted as official policy but, de fa...

https://twitter.com/navylookout/status/1280402419571179520?s=21 @NavyLookout claiming next year’s carrier deployment will involve 14 F-35s - 8 UK AND 6 USMC. With no guarantee there will ever be more than 48 UK F-35s (including three trials aircraft in the US) it’s not looking hopeful that an embark...

[quote="ArmChairCivvy"]I wonder why the platform has changed the treatment of the piccie, overnight. Was there some copyright issue?

You're not logged in.

The LPDs are still relatively young and can probably do another 20 years of service. The albions are getting on for 20 years old. If the choice is to fwd deploy vessels then they need to be efficient, simple to operate and reliable. I usually try not to quote without providing a link - but this was...

It will take some political strength and direction, but it is more important than ever the UK has a laser focus on its strategic direction. Did you manage to type this and keep a straight face? Love a little irony. CANZUK partnership for global foreign and security matters (and contribution to glob...

Roders96 wrote:For what it's worth on the jobs front:

It's very interesting but completely off-topic. Just hopes this stops two pages of chit-chat about the economy on the QE carriers thread.

Oh yes.

No, using the assets you have based on the priority requirements you now have makes sense. Trying to retain assets which no longer meet the priority requirements, or waste money building new ones whilst binning assets that can is Madness! Sorry, is that the fantasy fleet priority requirements or th...

At £500m USD that are getting expensive for what they are and if the price rises further the T31 programme will have been a disaster for RN, UK PLC and the British taxpayers. So what would you do about it without rewinding the clock or spending money you haven't got?? The "without rewinding th...

Sounds as though the mods to PoW have been binned off. Yes, binned. I posted the relevant detail at the top of this page. Basically it was some flight deck modifications and accommodation for two companies of RM. 25 The planned alterations included: flight deck modifications and aviation support fo...

dmereifield wrote:Is this correct?

Sorry, which bit specifically? But yes, Pinstriped's conclusions are all in the report.

I think his latter point is potentially but unintentionally misleading. There aren't enough spares for the F-35s to keep one carrier at high readiness and one at very high readiness.

Having read the full report, it's grim. Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP) is progressing on a wing and a prayer. There's lots of things that are unfunded and lots of increasingly urgent questions that can't be answered. Resources are spread absolutely paper thin. There is no wiggleroom anywher...

Having read many of the news articles on the NAO report I'm at a loss to know why they think merlin mk 4 is due to go out of service at the end of 2021! It's a misreading. Maritime Intra-Theatre Lift The Department’s interim solution, using Merlin Mark 4 helicopters, ends in December 2021 but will ...

What this seems to indicate is:

Massive commitment to new sleeve patches.

The LPDs aren't being replaced.

Repulse wrote:Even the £500mn can make a difference somewhere else

Reducing the overdraft. That is literally the only difference it could make. Please stop fantasising.

donald_of_tokyo, it’s simple go option 1 - £2bn means either 3 more T26s or not having £2bn cuts elsewhere. Except in reality it would just mean cancelling Type 31. Period. And as they're under contract and long-lead items are already on order you would still end up paying a hefty slice of the bill...

Jensy wrote:"The Australian changes being made to the Type 26 design, including the incorporation of CEA Technologies’ advanced phased array radar, remain within the agreed weight and space envelopes of the Hunter Class design."

So this means that the Royal Navy's T26s are growing too?