Google translated article from the below, appears to shed some more light on Ukraine's possible Brimstone purchase. From the text it appears to be nailed on for the first 2 boats, with a potential for sales on helo's by the sounds of it. Then they'll switch to the larger Ukrainian Neptune missile th...

https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/2021/10/reflections-on-the-royal-navys-indo-pacific-engagement An interesting article...some valid points...and this... "On that front, the experimental deployment of the Royal Navy’s Crowsnest airborne early warning system, on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s Merlin he...

SW1 wrote:Be interesting to see the RN setting up fast jet training and engineering support all on its lonesome. Or is it just the shinny bits at the end…….

They could just contract it out like the RAF did...

Timmymagic , nothing like a bit of inter service politics exaggerated by the media to cloud the waters. Although not keen to add bureaucracy, should the option of having a Joint Expeditionary Air Command being considered like the JHC? Indeed. The Prince of Wales being unable to sail seems to have b...

ArmChairCivvy wrote:"809 Naval Air Squadron was supposed to stand up in 2023, may now be 2026"

See also the re-profiling of UK deliveries due to covid and Turkeys removal, and failure to agree FRP pricing for the final 13 aircraft to be delivered in 2023, 24 and 25.

The example of slashing the £50mn SRVL trails shows that the ownership vs accountability question needs to be answered PDQ. Seem to remember that that was due to Prince of Wales being unable to sail to the US East Coast due to a flood causing a huge amount of electrical systems damage. Unless he's ...

Defence Secretary visited MBDA's new facility at Bolton...interesting view of Meteor being assembled.

UK in talks with Ukraine in regards to selling Brimstone....could be significant as it would be the first surface to surface (and naval) sale. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britain-in-talks-to-sell-missiles-in-first-arms-deal-with-ukraine-7fmdddsmk (subscriber link) It appears this is in its Se...

Lord Jim wrote:How old are the Point class?

Coming up to 20 years for the 4 we've still got. They've been worked hard, but arguably not as much as a similar vintage commercial vessel. Should have another 10 years work left in them at least before maintenance costs get to be an issue, they are very simple ships.

Ron5 wrote:Looking for a contracted service?

Point Class contract is up.

The hope would be that they are just re-contracted...

Only joking..

Errr.....P-8 number 7 has been named...

But I do wonder with only 7 boats in the water, what are the chances of a long term presence staging out of FBW a bit like the OPV’s once all the nuclear infrastructure is in place to handle boats long term Very little realistically. The UK SSN force will actually drop to 6 boats temporarily in due...

Perhaps why Zephyr back in the US, US Army interest, Project Convergence will include testing the Zephyr following its recent testing at Yuma. Possibly, but I suspect the reason is due to the break up of a Zephyr on launching at Airbus' site in Australia (not at Woomera). I wonder if they discovere...

PhillyJ wrote: Big event on PWLS that day, nipper has to be in his nbr1's all day!

Thats the Pacific forum thing isn't it?

Looks like Italian Eurofighter will get the AESA radar CaptorE MK2 Yes they confirmed a month ago, not a massive surprise as Leonardo are Italian, but they were umming and ahhing over Radar 0 at one point. The first 2 Italian built Typhoon's for Kuwait, equipped with AESA Radar 0, took to the sky f...

This all looks impressive. But unless I'm missing something, it does seem very dependent on clear skies for most (all?) of its imagery. So, fine for the Arizona desert, but less so for eg wintertime NW Atlantic conditions. Just like all imagery systems. But there are lots of other payloads in devel...

To be honest I think this tally's with what sensible people have been expecting from the Israeli's. External tanks, no mention of CFT's (for obvious reasons), networking system changes to integrate with their own systems. Suspect they might try and integrate Python 5 on the external rail at most, fo...

Just a quick note on the imagery quality. Zephyr 8 in its original configuration delivered imagery to NIIRS 6 standard. It should now be capable of delivering NIIRS 8 level imagery.. NIIRS 6 Imagery standards Distinguish between models of small/medium helicopters (e.g., HELIX A from HELIX B from HEL...

Flight testing was in Yuma, Arizona. 2 Zephyr 8's were in use and in the air at the same time (N467TN and N469TN) along with another earlier Zephyr variant (I believe it was the Zephyr 7)...both the 8's are listed as owned by Bank of Utah Trustee...at least one of the two is UK MoD owned so this mus...

Plenty of BMT designs that can carry unmanned platforms...ranging from cheap and cheerful to more complex. 4 each of these and the RN would be set for decades... Salvas - Diving support, USV and UUV support, Minehunting, Surveying...what more could you want. Could even do heavy repair on it like Dil...

The T26 mission bay springs to mind. The capability that folks on here are dying to scrap The Mission Bay is the crowning glory of T26. It makes all other surface combatants out there look horrifically unprepared for the unmanned future (apart from the Independence Class LCS...USN had the right ide...

Some rather unexpected but very good news....spotted by HI Sutton. Looks the RN may have another, more advanced XLUUV to play with shortly....if we're really lucky we might see an order for the Moray in due course... https://twitter.com/Strikepod/status/1447923447649218565 https://msubs.com/unmanned...

BAE Inc 11th October PR another option for C-UAS, successfully tested its APKWS 2.75"/70mm at Yuma. APKWS uses semi-active laser guidance and recently modified its software for the rocket to strike a target at a steeper angle of attack, increasing max range by 30%, current range 1.1 to 5 km wh...

I don't think any of the sailors would have ben laughing when the Kamikaze hit the ship with a bombs of up to 800 kg despite taking numerous hits from the Oerlikon 20mm and Bofors 40mm shells. An anti-ship missile is the modern day equivalent of an unmanned Kamikaze. No one is talking about using 3...