The UK needs surveillance over a massive area of ocean, so big it's unreasonable to do it with boats. There are going to be no kinematic engagements around the UK. It's likely to be hostile states and nonstate actors seeking to disrupt life in the UK through smuggling or tampering with infrastructur...

I'd argue the UK needs more maritime patrol aircraft before it needs more OPVs

So use the T31 as a fighting ship not as a patrol boat . Both! The T31 is a big and simple ship making it a good candidate for defense engagement around the world, as well as a usable second tier combatant. Being big makes the T31 much more valuable to the UK than the River Class. Defense engagemen...

It could, but blimps are difficult to use.

Perhaps a nicer solution would be a larger ISTAR drone used as a comms relay for smaller attack drones.

The T31s in their original form are redundant The T31s are looking more relevant than ever. They're equipped with a very usable suite of guns to counter fast attack craft, and equipped with the ever developing CAMM missile system which combined makes the T31 useful tier 2 escorts. Equipped with a w...

new guy wrote: ↑21 Oct 2023, 10:40 theoretically, ordering just the aircraft 50 (25 CSG, 9 RAF [= initial 16], 16 MPA) would cost: 750m

Pure fantasy

They need to be regarded as disposable in a kinetic engagement. Why is the UK not pulling together a Tempest-like consortium for a low cost Naval MALE STOL drone? This type of aircraft is in an entirely different class to Mojave/Protector/Reaper, and there is definitely space for both in UK service...

new guy wrote: ↑20 Oct 2023, 16:57 Each air frame costs £15m each.

Need to so some real creative accounting to make £1.8 billion for 16 units equal £15 million each.

They definitely will not be cheap. Each protector is costing the UK as much as a Typhoon, and it's reasonable to expect the naval variant to be equally expensive. It's still worth pursuing. Being able to operate MALE drones anywhere in the world without third party support is a unique and valuable c...

Each converted Bay could embark up to 6x Merlin sized helos plus 4x CIC on davits and one LCU sized craft plus a mexeflote. The flight deck would be Chinook capable and have two landing spots. It would take something of this magnitude to make the scrapping of the Albion's palatable. However I doubt...

No it doesn’t. Price of oil can be driven dwn particularly by the US if it wants to. This just isn't true. The US is running at capacity, whereas Saudi has the world's largest capacity, and the world's largest spare capacity which they use to manipulate the global price and bend foreign government....

We get very little oil and gas from the Middle East 90-95% of both is from the Atlantic or Mediterranean coasted countries. It doesn't matter where the UK gets it from. Saudi Arabia more or less control the price the UK pays for oil no matter where the UK imports it from. That's why the region is i...

Use funds from Albion disposals to add 3x £50m LSS conversions to the Bays. Add a permanent hanger and 4x 15m davits for CIC. Purchase both LCX and Caiman 90 style landing craft for use in Bays. The disposal of the Albion's is likley to stir controversy, but should be seriously considered. A lot of...

RFA personnel will deploy on a dual crewing model for approximately 36 days on, 36 days off, compared with a typical four-month deepsea deployment. This is good! More in line with the benefits package offered in the off-shore industry which is competing for the same talent pool as the RFA. Moves li...

The root cause of the RFAs problems has nothing to do with the Bay Class. The root cause is one of people management, especially in technical roles where employment benefits are abysmal compared to other offshore roles. The Royal Navy also have the same issue, a problem that is not fixed by changing...

The threat of strikes is just too limiting. How is it? Landing Ship Dock ( Auxiliary ) / Auxiliary Landing Ship Logistics as was their original classification, and instead being used as Littoral Strike Ships What's the meaningful difference? Politicians have changed a name, nothing else has changed...

wargame_insomniac wrote: ↑15 Oct 2023, 16:48 then Bulwark's crew could be moved to the 3 Bays

To achieve what?

The Bay Class and crew spend the most time at sea of any in UK service. They're a rare example of what a high performance navy should look like.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Looking at other images its the offshore raiding craft

The 3 bays and Argus equate to sea going crew requirements of about 290. In the future the 3 solid stores vessels require around 310 crew to be at sea. So within the decade unless there is a lot more crew being recruited the RFA will have its hands full with 4 tide tankers and 3 solid stores vessel...

This is why I see the Enforcers as sub 145m going forward but only if RN really don’t want the 3rd flattop. Long post so I won't quote it all, and will add it sounds like a reasonable action plan. A works program as you've described would be a good way to rebaseline the Royal Navy with well fleshed...

I’d be happy with another LPH, if we can afford it, but as had been said before only if more is spent on the helicopters etc to make it worthwhile. My view is pessimistic, which is we need to buy more for the two (plus Argus) we have. And it's not just helicopters. There are so many failing that ne...

These hybrid VTOL drones are way more interesting for the military because they can push out far higher sortie durations

The Royal Navy is a failing organisation. The proposal for the navy to operate another carrier/flattop is so flawed because it wipes away decades worth of structural failings. An origination is this much of a mess need to reconcile around its core value adding operations and scale back on the fantas...

SW1 wrote: ↑02 Oct 2023, 20:57 Hard to push back out of service dates when reactor life’s are finite and they won’t be refuelled.

Spending more time in port means the fuel lasts longer, so the Navy can extend the life if they wish.

Don’t discount a FloFlo as part of the MRSS procurement. I like the concept, but the US navy do not and has applied to scrap them, but that got refused. I believe that's because its very difficult to transfer vehicles between ships in all but the calmest weather. Would it be possible to do somethin...