Do you mean buy the (now) São Paulo from Brazil (since the Clemenceau has been scrapped)? Or commission DCNS to build a new ship of the class? Or buy the designs from DCNS and build one ourselves? No no back in the 60's as an alternative to the CVA01 which was cancelled. Most probably would not hav...

Agreed. These are great vessels, especially when the finance is considered. Cheap to procure and only 10 million a year to operate! Should have never sold one off. I wonder if we can buy it back one the canberra class comes fully online. Not a chance of off loading Choules, we need her and both Can...

when does HMNZS Endeavour go out of service and are there any plans for her replacement? There is a RFI for her at the moment, havent heard anything lately but the was some thinking in the line of a JSS, something the lines of Karel Doorman(A833) but I think the budget might get in the way of that ...

It's a what if thread, We all know that the RN had designs for a mini Forrestal class carrier with CVA01 and was dropped as cost saving measure, but has the RN ever considered the French Clemenceau saving money with an existing design, and going American for an air group of A4 Skyhawks with S2 Track...

In September 2013, it was announced that 809 NAS was to be reformed to become the first Fleet Air Arm squadron to be equipped with the F-35B Lightning II. The squadron will operate alongside 617 Squadron (The Dambusters) of the Royal Air Force, and both will be stationed at RAF Marham, Norfolk, whe...

In September 2013, it was announced that 809 NAS was to be reformed to become the first Fleet Air Arm squadron to be equipped with the F-35B Lightning II. The squadron will operate alongside 617 Squadron (The Dambusters) of the Royal Air Force, and both will be stationed at RAF Marham, Norfolk, whe...

Any idea yet on how the are planning the Joint Strike Wings, I imagine Squadron size will increase from 9 to 12 but what about the Squadron themselves will their be an increase in fixed wing NAS for the FAA?

Seeing how its fun to speculate but would we need the 4800 crew and 108 F-35 for 3 carriers? seeing as one would always be in dry dock we would never have all 3 at see at the same time. Did we ever operate all 3 invincible's at the same time? Yes you would unless you mothball a carrier. A single cr...

Seeing how its fun to speculate but would we need the 4800 crew and 108 F-35 for 3 carriers? seeing as one would always be in dry dock we would never have all 3 at see at the same time. Did we ever operate all 3 invincible's at the same time? Yes you would unless you mothball a carrier. A single cr...

I've got a sweet spot for these grand old dames of the sea, most have start under the 1942 light fleet carrier design and 8 nations using various sub-class Colossus and Majestic.  It's a pity that with hindsight that the CVA were not taken up at the time build, and had a build start in the late 60 e...

Surely the answer to this 'two big versus three/four small' debate is to simply build a third QE class? All the advantages of three carriers and all the advantages of big carriers ;) Yep that would be the most logical thing to do, but that idea also increases your manpower(4800)and minimum aircraft...

Gabriele.  We both have differing opinions on the matter, I haven't change the numbers of aircraft or manpower requirements for 2x CVF or 4x light carriers over the life of the program those numbers do not change. But let's look at your points of your last post. I looked into the $ a bit more it's a...

It is rather moot I will agree. It's what we've got and to me it is clearly the right option. What I think is a better discussion (and more realistic) is would 2 small carriers be good to work along side the bigger ones as future Albion replacements Yes of course, scuttle bug is that you may or may...

downsizer wrote:It's a bit of a moot point being as we've got what we've got surely?

Your not wrong, can't change the past one built and another building, all it's comes down to now is funding with past history not being kind.

Hi guys On the 2x QEC or 3 cavour debate, the QEC class as you know is expected to serve the best part of 50 yrs, if the samaller carriers only last 35 yrs you still should factor this into the added costs of this shorter service life expectancy into the more smaller vs larger debate, as said befor...

@R686 Your one and only argument for claiming two Cavours are as capable as one QE is that the two Cavours can carry 36 F-35B's and 8 helicopters. Carrying & operating are two very different things. Incorrect, So are saying that because Cavour is smaller it cannot operate aircraft in an efficie...

@R686 Your one and only argument for claiming two Cavours are as capable as one QE is that the two Cavours can carry 36 F-35B's and 8 helicopters. Carrying & operating are two very different things. Incorrect, So are saying that because Cavour is smaller it cannot operate aircraft in an efficie...

Just a quick question, the population of the islands are stated as about 2500 is that including the garrison on the island or are they exempt from the statistics? Falkland Islands Census 2012 On page two it explains that the total usual resident population in 2012 was 2,932, however that includes s...

I'd like of some of what your drinking or smoking if you think two Cavours are in any way comparable to one QE.  Care to expand on your reasons, as you have seen some of mine. I expect you also think three Cavours are as good as one Nimitz! Nope totally diffrent ball game, even compared to the QE I...

Just a quick question, the population of the islands are stated as about 2500 is that including the garrison on the island or are they exempt from the statistics?

Any idea what they are planning on the future submarine fleet, could the RCN hop into bed with the RAN and the Collins replacement?

How much do the Kiwis spend on their defense? Don't they only have like 2 combat battalions? 2 infantry battalions,an armoured regiment, an artillery regiment, a signals regiment, a engineer regiment, a logistics regiment and a SAS regiment in the regular (non TF) force. Certainly not large, but ad...

@Tony Williams. A lot of people may agree that three is a minimum number of vessels, its not going to happen as there is no bottomless pit of money to pay for them. As it stands we may struggle to get enough aircraft for one ship due to the high costs involved. The problem is of course that the MoD...

I would expect the government to remove one of the bays before losing an L.P;D. That's the second time in a couple of weeks I heard that another Bay might go, certantly the RAN would be interested but seeing how they had so many takers for the last sale I think they might do something diffrent to w...

Hobart is in the water and not due to be commsioned till 2017, just wish that they would make a second batch to increase the RAN availability for overseas missions and have enough for our own task group concurrently. http://www.asiapacificdefencereporter.com/articles/617/Air-Warfare-Destroyer-projec...