Good news on one side; confirmation of just what a rip-off Tranche 1 is on the other.

And one goddamn third of the RAF fleet is made up of those unupgradeable expensive things.

Afraid it is going to be the 12 REBS sets on MAN SV and that's it...

23 is growing back to Squadron strenght from next year. Probably adding a second regular troop with the third being 412 with reservists, i guess. There is also a project in the early stages for a replacement for M3 in 2027. Not bad for a capability that was on the verge of being entirely divested in...

Out of memory, they are four decks up from the water when in the bottom position. Waves of 12 or more meters would be needed.

Typhoon at half the F-35 price is describable only as bullshit, pure and simple.

Kind reminder that the 9 billion include the early 1.9 billion contribution to design phase which is a one-off. Also included are hundreds of millions of RAF Marham infrastructure. These costs would not be part of future purchases, among with others.

Step aside, QE! This is what a big ship looks like!

In the same way they got their hands on the Iveco SuperAV for the USMC 8x8 requirement. BAE needed a good product, ready now, and Italy needed a big partner with real US clout.

The 3 boats for Prince of Wales will use the same catamaran hullform of the new fleet of common-hull Workboats covering a multitude of roles. I wonder if they will be a bit less "port shuttle" and a bit more rough, to serve, if not as landing craft proper, as boats useful to land Marines a...

once sufficient B

The key word that i think is about to be shamelessly binned with the RAF jumping up on the A train and dumping the whole thing in the shit.

I just can't see how the two Tranche 1 squadrons can live on to 2030 to wait for Tempest IF F-35 purchases are not curtailed. Re-equipping the two Tranche 1 squadrons with F-35 would seem to be the most logical thing, if not literally the only chance to do anything. Where is the manpower going to co...

Shepard News reports that the UK will follow the US lead on Tomahawk modernisation, adopting the Maritime Strike package with moving anti-ship seeker. That is huge. Restores a long range anti-ship capability to the submarines and solves the ASM problem for Type 26, if VL missiles for MK41 are procur...

Well, it has to stay in service at least out to 2036 just for the Type 23, and possibly longer for the 45s, so...

The 5th is not coming back. The twitter "ISR Manager" who posted that slide has confirmed that it is not current, but refers to SDSR changes. The removal of the 5th Sentinel was successive.

In other words, historical interest only. Don't read too much in it.

It's been only months since they downsized the fleet and reduced the number of crews. I struggle to believe that the 5th is coming back. That slide is more than a little puzzling.

That assumes that you have a friendly airport available And that from said airport you can deploy the system to an appropriate mothership or a point on the shore near enough to the minefield to be within range of the USV control. Range is not unlimited. The ability of Type 26 to deploy a USV to loc...

Interesting option from France as MAURIC & ECA Group unveil OCTOPODA range of MCM motherships carrying unmanned systems. https://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/news/defence-news/2018/october-2018-navy-naval-defense-news/6549-mauric-eca-group-unveil-octopoda-range-of-mcm-motherships-carrying-...

Manchester will be there for sure. Liverpool has to be in as well. Edinburgh is still a good bet, even though the simple fact that the SNP has a habit of claiming ownership of anything named for a Scotland something makes me want not to use it...

The UK controlled a BAC 111 and three simulated ucavs from a Tornado all the way back in 2007. Hope the know how has not been squandered.

The article implies that the T23 LEP included also a new CMS; was that dropped at the implementation stage? It is progressing, as far as i know. It is a DNA2 product on the new Common Shared Infrastructure that began to enter use in 2014, first on HMS Ocean as part of her last refit then on HMS Mon...

Important video on the future of amphibious capability. The Littoral Strike Group in its new form is planned to be tested in 2022 (second major deployment for the carrier) and the group must have LPDs and "RFAs", according to Colonel Lenny Brown Royal Marines, who mentions how important th...

There are no established Recovery and Repair variants for Boxer as of yet. There might be ideas, even "designs" (there are various levels of design maturity, however, and that would be a long discussion), but nobody has yet procured any recovery or repair variant. According to some reports...

Better. Crew doesn't need to dismount and it has traverse. Archer is a wheeled self-propelled howitzer. CAESAR is an auto-cannon, aka a cannon stitched on the back of a truck. Literally.

The Specials want 3 of the latest SEAL Swimmers Delivery Vehicle, the MK11, to replace the old ones. Will go into the Astute class CHALFONT dry deck shelters. http://www.dsca.mil/sites/default/files ... 8-36_0.pdf

Just in time, too, as CHALFONT Sqn is formed up within Fleet Diving Group.

I have no clue how to read that notice. It makes no sense. The UK has 41 mounts, not 50, and most of them should already be at that standard. 5 mounts were purchased new recently and i assume they were delivered at the latest standards, the others have been upgraded (quite slowly, in truth) over the...