I'm sorry but I'm not convinced. The eu is becoming a federal state and France will have little more say in it's own affairs than we did as eu members. The UK/eu relationship is uncertain and there is a great deal of hostility from the eu in negotiations. Once that is all sorted out and the nature o...

I was thinking more of Mastiff and since you mention it the Bulldog is also well a protected vehicle, old as it might be. The combination of Mastiff, Ridgeback and Husky within the infantry battalions of the new strike brigades with logistic support by Wolf Hound would enable them to train and opera...

I hope they suspend the project again and keep it on hold until the financial situation at the MOD has stabilised and more urgent matters dealt with. This project is desirable but nothing more, there are already sufficient in service vehicles to partially fill any capability gap but other capability...

Nothing that helps the German or other eu economy is in any way good for the UK.

Apparently the MOD haven't even factored in the costs of just five Type 31's in the ten year spending plan. Just five? with the six type 26's that'll leave a fleet of just eleven frigates! I thought there was a commitment that the RN wouldn't shrink any more than it has already. https://www.nao.org....

British Army 408 delivered (227 still in service, including 59 used for training or held in reserve) So what happened to the balance of the vehicles? They've not been scrapped or sold have they?

But I believe that basing assets in a foreign country with which we have no formal relationship, a country which in the fullness of time is likely to be fully subsumed into a larger Federal nation, and has some political hostility to the UK is also pretty damned stupid! Hard to believe that I was so...

We still have all the Challenger 2's, mostly in storage and a small number of Challenger 1 (as gate guards and training aids). Last time I was at Ashchurch in 2007 only a few sheds were occupied some being used for commercial car storage. It has already been confirmed that the UK's vehicle storage d...

Hard to believe that I was so unclear. The hypothetical example of our submarines being in French hands in 1982 was only made to show the folly of letting any other nation control your military assets. As for not needing the vehicles in the Falklands how does that work, if in 1982 we deployed CVR(T)...

And we won't be a part of the EU. From my perspective that's good, very good, but it does complicate the idea of having our equipment in a country with which we have no ties. Imagine it's 1982 again and John Nott has decided to base our submarines in France and do simulator training in the UK, are t...

Two things are, firstly we won't have any bases in Germany and secondly we won't be a part of their eu. That creates a whole new political and diplomatic environment in which these things take place. If the men are here and their equipment in Germany what are they going to train on? Are the Germans ...

If the men are here and their equipment in Germany what are they going to train on? Are the Germans going to let us have our vehicles if needed for a non eu/NATO task? Are they then going to allow our ships to use european ports to load equipment for a conflict they might not agree with? Who is goin...

Defence priorities seem to be - 1 Spend as little as possible on defence 2 Gain as much as possible from selling defence estate 3 Don't order anything unless you can delay payment until another government is in power 4 Rely on the services to always manage and get politicians out of trouble It is tr...

We are similar to France? Oh sweet Jesus, that's the worst thing I've read in a while, I suddenly feel dirty and abused. :oops: She was built cheaply. She wasn't built to last. Her crew is needed for Prince of Wales. Retirement is reasonable I hope cooperation with France strengthen, you are the mos...

RM are doing pretty well, RAF a Regt are good for numbers but the inclusion of women is leading to some confusion and a possible reduction in standards (obviously it won't be called that). The RM won't take women yet but when they do are expecting some to transfer from the RM Band Service, who have ...

Yes, they do completely different jobs in a completely different way after carrying out completely different training under completely different management, leadership and funding. In addition their rivalry often spills over into hatred, contempt and sometimes violence. Not sure if this is correct p...

None of this makes particularly pleasant reading


http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/pl ... es-1048495

Strike Brigades conjures up images of fast movement, lets examine that for a moment. Even if the units or part units are to be held at high readiness when they receive the order to move they'll have to recall troops on leave, courses etc. That takes time. Meanwhile since these "Strike Brigades&...

As an aside to the main topic here 1 Rifles have just deployed to Kenya. The big news about this that no one noticed is that they had to leave behind the volunteers from 6 Rifles that were supposed to deploy with them because there was no money to pay them, nor even to feed and transport them.

This sort of background activity is why simply calling soldiers "marines" does not work. It is a complex skill set of it's own and without properly trained, equipped and experienced amphibious forces across the whole spectrum of the operation, then all you really have is passengers and pas...

Is Wildcat definitely going?

shark bait wrote:I would really like to know why the RN are perusing rotary wing drones over fixed wing drones?

A bunch of fixed wing drones to cover the gaps left by the manned Wildcat looks like a strong way to go.

We have a lot of spare Gazzelle we could convert

donald_of_tokyo wrote:A think a Lynx-based UAV is in a different class to MQ8C. As different as Wildcat vs Merlin. I prefer MQ8Cs.
As you know UAV is very expensive. MQ8C is much more expensive than manned version Bell 407. The same thing will happen to Lynx, I'm afraid.

Why have surface ships anywhere?

Halidon wrote:Yeah if you're preparing for a shooting war in the Arctic you invest in subs, not bigger deck guns for patrol vessels.

Nice plan, but plans never survive first contact. When conflict comes you use what you have, not what you wish you had. Yes it might well be a conflict zone, which is why Canada wants to increase its submarine arm. in the mean time it is receiving OPVs to patrol the new navigation route across the n...

With the Arctic set to be a possible area of conflict in the future that type of thinking is less than enlightened

Lord Jim wrote:Well it is only an Arctic OPV rather than a combat vessel, so is armed like our Rivers.