I can believe it. There would be lots of duplication of roles and missing out on the huge economies of scale the Americans can provide. The UK is actually in a very good position industrially speaking, manufacturing 15% of every F35 is a massive deal so native assembly is small compared to this. Be...

I can imagine if they HAD repainted them, the DM would be howling with indignation about cutting personnel then spending £3mn on a paint job which wasn't needed.

Personally if what the Yanks have going on works, why bother? From a plane geek perspective, I love the snoopy look anyway.

Just gunna chuck this into the mix. I like the article & think there's decent enough discussion in the comments, but I still favour P-8 + AAS. Hopefully it bears fruit.

http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2015/07/j ... -poseidon/

I don't envy the bloke who has to drop the Paveway's if the ship they're aiming at has a self defence suite which is complex enough to require a major saturation attack to defeat.

~UNiOnJaCk~ wrote:This. From all i have heard about the proposal it was an abortion of an idea.

Agreed, I liked the idea in theory but a sea bird she ain't.

http://www.pymes75.plus.com/military/index.htm

Set up by a MP.net user of the same name IIRC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33455728

I like Mark Urban, probably the best at what he does at the BBC because he's got a decent military/defence repertoire.

French SF are getting around it by getting a pair of KC-130's too IIRC.

Probably why BAE Systems are developing expendable drones which can be deployed by the P-8 equipped with MAD booms, it's all about the network.

The fantasy fleet is strong with this one.

Don't expect to see more than 2 escorts of any flavour on a routine basis. That's all the Cougar deployments have ever had IIRC. Any more would be on an 'as-needed' basis.

I'd have loved us to have kept Vanguard, you can find a video ~4-5mins long talking about breaking her up. It felt funny watching them cut the gun barrels off.

10 sets in total I believe.

I'm putting my money on 2018, no sooner IMO. Seedcorners have already extended. And who said the training had to be done in the UK? ^This. In my head I imagine staged leasing of airfares similar to C-17 procurement with gradual training in the US in the short/medium term then brought over here like...

so we can send 8 less capable wildcats to sea and give ships much more flexibility. Remember Merlins also have to cover the RFA's so thats less airframes available for frigates and destroyers Bold claim, especially considering that's not entirely true. If you're talking ASW then true, but arguably ...

On the subject of upgrading the other 8, I think it should be one of the priorities . Surely it cant cost massive amounts and it will be a very useful capability, especially if we need to renew the focus on sub hunting. Looking at the past costs you could estimate 100-150 million which seems like a...

I assume that the manning of the carriers would be provided on the basis that only one would be in service at any one time. It could be difficult (to put it mildly) to find an entire extra crew, trained and experienced in operating the carrier, at short notice. And that's assuming the spare carrier...

Old RN wrote:One key question surely is whether we ever expect to have both CVFs at sea at once? Falklands 2.0?

Only in the case of a national emergency could that be considered. Anything less and then that'd be a no. But that's just my opinion.

Why do those 8 need to be upgraded to HM2 and included in the fleet? The fleet of 30 will sustain 25 in the forward fleet, with 14 of those earmarked for the carrier (which is plenty for AEW/ASW). The remaining 11 have to cover other deployments like Type 23 when in reality there's usually never mor...

A capable Sim. aboard QE will be a huge benefit to the crews, so surely a compartment will be dedicated to this aboard ship? Certainly man-portable size would be sensible. http://www.sldinfo.com/the-royal-navy-and-the-royal-air-force-prepare-for-cross-domain-transformation-the-f-35-and-the-queen-el...

Are we really having a discussion on the semantics of blimp versus airship?

Claims Ambush hasn't made her maiden voyage, pretty sure she was alongside in Brazil not too long ago.