The gripen in service with EPTS has visited the UK about twice it's based in linkoping

I assume this will be a contracted service and the uk will simply be buying an hours based service with the service provider owning and operating whatever a/c they put fwd.

The Belgians and the Dutch cover each other's qra tasking because neither country can afford to sustain or upgrade there fighter forces to maintain numbers. The Dutch fleet will fall to just 30 odd f35s the Belgians will buy in to the same a/c program as the Dutch so that this arrangement will conti...

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2017-09-07/britains-sentinel-recon-aircraft-gets-upgrade Raytheon UK and the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) may have taken another step toward retaining in service the Sentinel R.1 aircraft equipped with a dual-mode reconnaissance radar. They are believed...

It is compared to a 12 month deployment ever year which is what the harrier force were doing and why it got broke.

So how many times has the grey merlin force sent 9 a/c to a ship then in its 20 years of service?

Dmerefield It's not a/c numbers it is sqns deployed. Aircraft fleet numbers are purely sized to allow each Sqn/force achieve there required combat ready crew quota or in other words the budgeted force elements at readiness while having enough spare for deep maintenance and attrition loses to be cove...

Gd luck to mounts bay over the coming days sadly it would appear she is going to be extremely busy. The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin is heading for the crown dependencies hopefully it will weaken or head back out to sea.

James k Going on exercise once in a while is NOT 24/7 combat operations 365 days a year for 3 years at a time. One of those 3 sqns was the naval strike wing a FAA Sqn . Why did only 1 Sqn of army air corp apaches out of 6 get deployed to Afghanistan, why has the FAA only managed to get 9 merlins to ...

Because pure a/c number aren't that relevant, there was just 3 operational sqns and it is the people that man them being few in number that cause problems. There is a 5:1 ratio required to sustain a deployment without creating overstretch for a/c sqns.

Acc The 58 to the first gulf war drew from 11 front line sqns and a fleet of 250 a/c 30 went to the second gulf from 7 sqns and a fleet of 150 a/c. 24/7 operations demanded a higher crew to a/c ratio that normal. The force size allowed 6-8 a/c to be permanently maintained on southern watch for decad...

If you think there absurd then using any historical measure of actual uk deployed aircraft what size of fleet do you think we need to sustain 16 a/c deployed on operations every year? Surely that is the definition of a continuous capability it is deployed every year. The only fleets I know of is the...

we will have sufficient availability for QE's first deployment in 2020-2021 (ca. 18 airframes for arguments sake, plus the helicopters and possibly a few USMC F35s; still looks like an impressive airing to me). Presumably we will be ok for PoW's first We'll not have 18 a/c available for QEs first d...

Really?? the US marine corp has 8 lhds I believe which I guess allows them to deploy 3 or 4 a year?? Now the navy lot will know better but I guess the air group usually includes 4-6 harriers per ship which I guess will be replicated with f35 so that would mean the us marines plan to deploy to ships ...

I would assume that one or the other carrier will deploy for at least 6 months every year in carrier strike role. I would say that means even if it was 18 a/c deployed at least one, more likely 2 full sqns deployed each year, which will mean others will need to be working up for the other carrier to...

The need for large numbers (16 plus) of fastjets to be deployed solely at sea is and remains questionable for the uk. This assumes we will always have the choice of where, when and who we go to war with. This is and remains a questionable assumption. Short of defence within the NATO area yes we alw...

It will depend on a lot of factors but for that level of commitment you would need a force approaching the size of the tornado gr force in 2001, around 7 operational sqns. Around 140 a/c fleet and probably a purchase cost of something like another 16 billions pounds. you would also probably need to ...

The split buy and additional f35 purchases will only happen as typhoon approaches it OSDs in the 2030s. The first and most important mission for the RAF is air defence of the UK and the falklands. Whichever a/c replaces typhoon must take that mission on. If f35 has to take this mission on, f35a is t...

A or B talk is pointless the current configuration of the fast jet fleets are unlikely to change (unless there cut further) anytime soon the carriers will have to make do with whatever the 2 f35 sqns can generate until well into the 2030s. There's no money to expand the fast jet fleets.

The rivers have proven they are capable of deploying to the falklands, the Caribbean, the med and obvious maritime security patrols around the uk. Theres little reason why those areas cannot have a RN presence based on something like a river for presence and security. Personnelly the spainish BAMS v...

Or he just tells the truth which many do not wish to hear.

The RN is incapable of crewing its current escort fleet, ships tied up and us coastguard engineers required for specific trades due to previous service chiefs prioritising equipment over people. We can comment all we want about x number of additional warships but without crew there useless. It's ok ...

Or the delay between type 26 number 1-3 and type 26 number 4-8 maybe longer than envisaged!

The RN will deploy a single carrier group to a location, ff/dd maybe detached to other tasking in that area this will be sole uk deployment. The bulwark and Albion will be lucky to survive.

Opvs will likely take on south Atlantic and carribean tasks most likely.

If you read the NAO report on carrier strike it specifically states with the introduction of carrier strike the navy will fundamentally change the way it deploys. Instead of standing patrols the navy will deploy as a carrier task group and conduct support to casd that is all.

It is pointless quoting fleet numbers as a basis of what helicopter numbers are available. The reality is commando helicopter force has only 12 merlin available for operational deployment. The remainder support training/maintenance and uk maritime CT. As for the grey merlin the force has reduced fro...

I would agree, i hope this is remembered when statements are being made about what exactly 2 sqns of f35s will be able to do and deploy.