If the reported £11.5b price tag for the type 26 program is correct and we don't get the 1 for 1 replacement of our type 23s , 13 vessels in total then heads must roll in the Gov/mod end of. :evil: Totally agree with you SB , as soon as the Gov can find excuses to cut numbers they will , I remember ...

Lockheed Martin receives a order for 55 f-35s A/B/C versions worth 5.37b dollars . The order includes 6 f-35b for the UK .

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defens ... /75128086/

What about winglets? Don't they smooth airflow - and Airbus do tend to fit them to their other planes. Good point ! Airbus have been leading the way in use of winglets and sharklets on cilivian aircraft for a number of years , they have incorporated them into the c295 military light transport/AEW v...

Looks like my speculation was wrong the first time around when we discussed the problem: " Surprisingly, the airflow problem is generated by the airlifter’s wings, rather than propwash from the large TP400 engines. Airbus has asked a research institute to investigate whether it would be feasib...

Just found this article about the progress which is being made regarding the configurations qualification program for the A400m , it brings up a interesting point on the subject of helicopter refuelling from the a400m or should I say why they believe they can not , which although was brought up a fe...

@rec I really very very much doubt a hi/low mix of mpa aircraft coming into operation , two new but different airframes , two different supply chains it's just not going to happen , not in today's budgets As for the the sea hurc this too is a long shot , nice concept but that's all it is , LM couldn...

That is unless you can develop the worlds best missile, which then turns a low risk platform into a very deadly platform, and may be worth such an investment. In that instance having it integrated in both the sylver and MK41 could be an advantage because the export market is bigger. So I can see po...

the gov will not in my opinon pay to have two different cruise missiles plus two different anti ship missiles in our armoury 1. SPEAR Cap3 for internal F35B carriage, give the legacy SS's to non-stealthy Tiffies 2. Anti-ship (and other things) JSM - internal carriage only on F35As (and C's if they ...

Thing is, if the proposed missile meets the Perseus specification it will be the most advanced anti-ship and cruise missiles. If we are duplicating a capability provided by an ally, then I agree we should not bother and buy a ready made product. I just think this type of program is a luxury , and s...

Tbh I'm not sure this is good news , is this just cooperation for the sake of cooperation ? , politics ? , To me it seems a waste of money really , and does seem we want to reinvent the wheel again :roll: , We choose the US MK 41 vls for the type 26 , which its main benefit is that it opens up a vas...

There are solid plans for a bigger zephyr. The one proposed in this thread is just the first commerical itteration they are using to fund the development of the bigger variant. Your right SB , Airbus does seem to want to expand and advance the zephyr , if they can achieve what they say they can the...

Never head of the Ikhana before. If it's a high altitude variant of the Predator then it would be handy. As for the Zephyr I thought the plan was for an even bigger version with more solar power & a bigger payload. Some more info on the Ikhana and Altair UAVs . http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armst...

After its vists to Georgia , Malaysia , South Korea , ZM405 as continued its world tour touching down at a Air base in Japan. It's Great news that everything seems to going really well , it's a great advertisement for the A400m and its capabilities , just hope this world tour turns into a few sales ...

Wasn't there also reports of Russian satellites positioning themselves between US military satalites not so long ago ?

Seems to me Mr Putin could of learnt a few lessons from what the US did during the Cold War , and is looking at possible trying to tap into civilian and military communications ?

How many final flights has this thing had? Not sure how many actual last flights it's had tbh , but there have been numerous fly overs cancelled due to public safety. One event which was cancelled was just down the road from me in Roy chadwicks birth place in a town called Widnes , the Vulcan was d...

Maybe if the gov wants a high flying UAV which can carry a decent payload they should look into NASA Ikhana UAV , not as high flying as the Altair prototype UAV but was designed for NASA so it could carry out high attitude scientific experiments , sure it's max attitude and endurance doesn't match z...

From what I can gather there's another week or so to go yet of planned exercises , so I'm guessing there's still time for a type 45 to show up .

I understood from the article the tests related to ballistic missiles certainly there were reports the type 45 had been involved in trials for this but not if this upgrade had been introduced for the type 45 . I get what your saying but wasn't that what TECC was all about ? To follow on from the su...

@shark , I was wondering what if BAE actually shocks me and puts together a favourable sales package :roll: which results in a export sale of say 2-3 type 26s , considering our own predicted drum beat of construction being between 1-2 years when the line is operational , would the facilities on the ...

@Gab , thanks for the additional info , it does seem strange that there are no reports of a type 45 taking part , considering these exercises where arranged back in early 2014 , and where set up to coincide With the RN TECC programs timetable for field testing which was set for late 2015. it just do...

Bit of a mystery tbh , it seems forces Tv are reporting today that HMS Dauntless was taking part in the exercise but according to the Royal Navy hms Dauntless is still along side in Portsmouth , plus there's a nice video covering the ships involved in the bmd exercise on the link below , it only sho...

@jonas , unlike other ppl I do not declare myself a expert or a professor of defence studies , but as this is a defence forum I would of thought members could discuss topics , if you don't agree with them fine , that's your right but to disregard ppls opinions outright as if they are not worthy beca...

Especially considering that the are slower, shorter ranged and using hand-me-down equipment from their predecessors. Having said that, they will still be far in advance of the T23 which themselves are one of the best ASW frigates at sea today. It seems to me , but I could be wrong that the type 26 ...

Especially considering that the are slower, shorter ranged and using hand-me-down equipment from their predecessors. Pretty much the point. I sense some cynicism in that post though, they're still modern systems. Tbh I can understand that cynicism and think it's justified to a certain degree , the ...

Looking at some of the threads and the common histories of the major commonwealth countries Like Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In my humble opinion the UK might at times be better going in common with them into some projects and vice versa. But in those projects the countries should be on an e...