“The Planning Assumption for Service Entry for Future Cruise /Anti-Ship Weapon on the T26 Frigate and Typhoon aircraft is 2027 and 2030 respectively.” I am a bit confused as I was under the impression that timescales for FCASW were slipping back into potentially the 2030's, hence the possibility of...

I was thinking maybe bringing Japan into MBDA buying out the french as part of the broader Tempest collaboration They wouldn't be interested, Japan still has issues around exporting military gear (not just legislative, their kit is usually uncompetitive on price). But the French also see their MBDA...

Frankly the way things are going I’d be surprised if MBDA stay together. There was talk a while ago of Leonardo selling its stake, with BAE in the prime position to buy it...would lead to BAE having a 62.5% stake... Truth be told when you look at the product line-up, which despite the multinational...

A rather direct and refreshing statement...

I hope news likes this manages to suppress some of the 'Should have been CATOBAR crowd'....the reality of a rather less capable ship seems to have surprised French commentators as well....seems like you can't get a Nimitz equivalent on that tonnage after all...I suspect the first of many disappointm...

https://twitter.com/RollsRoyce/status/1473606752100827138?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet Rolls Royce Press Release Rolls-Royce has agreed to work with IHI Corporation to develop and deliver a future fighter engine demonstrator. The engine demonstrator programme will be a criti...

Apologies, I'm a bit late to the party! However was having similar thoughts earlier about eventually replacing the Wildcat fleet with NMH, To be honest we should never have built Wildcat in the first place. AW139 was available years before, and AW149 at the same time, and addressed all of Lynx's sh...

Certainly, Russia has used such experience in Syria to develop new weapons and techniques in using and countering drones is it fair to suggest that this provides some significant advantage over other conventional airforces? There's lots of speculation around drones and swarms. But one is absolutely...

Shame a cannon was not used. It would have been a good bit cheaper ! Actually not....the current stockpile of Asraam is going to be life-expired shortly, replaced by completely new build Asraam Block VI (CSP) from 2022/23 onwards....so by firing this one off we've actually avoided having to pay for...

Repulse wrote: ↑16 Dec 2021, 12:45 I wonder though if any money from selling the Tranche 1 Tiffies goes back into RFA coffers?

There will be as many takers for the UK's Tranche 1 Typhoon as there will be for Austria's, Spain's and Germany's...none.

Spain orders additional typhoons Great news for the UK as well, over 35% UK content (usually c45% but with the Hensoldt radar it probably drops a little). This and Quadriga for the Luftwaffe means a fair bit of work for the UK, all we need is the Saudi's to follow up with their 48 additional aircra...

Caribbean wrote: ↑14 Dec 2021, 16:17 Didn't we retain a couple of the land-based Phalanx systems? not much, but at least they didn't get rid of all of them

Nope. They were borrowed from the RN, they were dismantled and re-worked back to Phalanx 1B's...now back in the pool/on ships.

Lord Jim wrote: ↑06 Dec 2021, 22:20 I believe the ratio of launchers to Radars for CAMM is 3:1, though it could be as low as 4:1.

Number of Giraffe AMB is in double digits...

N.B. - LRIP 13 and 14 have been affected by COVID delays. Given the completion dates of the LRIP 13 a/c delivered in Oct 21 it is possible that we might see the remaining 3 a/c of that LRIP delivered in the first part of 2022 rather than at the tail end of the year that we have gotten used to. LRIP...

Some very good news....suspect this is between Zephyr and Phasa 35. There are other, foreign, systems out there in a much earlier phase of development than Zephyr...the key word is 'ultra persistent' though...the use of 'anywhere in the world' is also interesting. Solar powered HAPS have struggled i...

To replace it maybe we should look to a non powered SPEAR or adopt the curret French modular weapon used on the Rafale which seems very good at its job, though I cannot remember its name for the life of me. They are developing a unpowered Spear, its called SpearGlide. Other spiral developments are ...

Defiance wrote: ↑09 Dec 2021, 11:10 That only matters if the US has a requirement for a Hellfire-class weapon to be deployed by fast air.

They do, both the JCM and JAGM were designed to be used by Fast Air...JAGM integration on platforms is still in the distant future though.

That's my point. Lockheed developed a brilliant missile they've exported far and wide for years, all of a sudden they're supposed to just roll over and let a European manufacturer become the lead provider to the US for an updated system? I think when most people are talking about the US not purchas...

I doubt that many. UK has more Giraffe AMB than that already, 5 additional sets were ordered in 2014 on top of the systems (that have since been upgraded) ordered in 2004....apparently the UK is the largest land user of Giraffe around, and its not the only radar in use. Other unmanned radars can be...

Probably the UK "rejecting it due to the common "Not Invented/Built Here" syndrome even though some of the services liked it a lot" To be fair its not integrated on Typhoon... I'd prefer that we ordered SpearGlide and a 'SpearSimple' version from MBDA, keep leveraging that inves...

Arguably the investment in lower-yield weapons in the West has been driven by the need to provide accurate effects while keeping collatoral damage to a minimum in a COIN environment. Maybe it's an ROE/experience problem which plenty of nations haven't had to face for decades, so they don't see the ...

Appears on UK, Germany and KSA are using it. The missile doesn't seem to be selling well with Eurofighter operators, who are perhaps sticking with Maverick missiles? Or none at all? Germany don't use it. They've been thinking of using it for years but have never bit the bullet. Current operators ar...

I'll finish it off...

Another update....Qatar is getting ASRAAM (presumably Blk.VI, the new version with CAMM improvements and UK seeker). Not seen it announced but it has appeared in BAE's annual report to shareholders....which means its done. They're also getting Meteor and Brimstone... CAMM/CAMM-ER customers to date: ...

Finally fit, like the Canadians two double launchers for lightweight Torpedoes, in our case initially Stingray, but later what ever follows on from the Mk54 being purchased for the P-8. Stingray Mod 1 isn't going anywhere on Merlin and surface ships. After that it will be the Future Lightweight Tor...