I think there is a subtle but substantial difference. During the UK’s membership of the EU, everyone was focused on a global strategy with other Europeans top at mind. Regardless of your view on Brexit, the UK focus is now more broad and therefore can and needs to build strategic relationships with ...

I think there is a subtle but substantial difference. During the UK’s membership of the EU, everyone was focused on a global strategy with other Europeans top at mind. Regardless of your view on Brexit, the UK focus is now more broad and therefore can and needs to build strategic relationships with ...

Whilst the "quantity has a quality all of its own" argument is well made, why does RN need dedicated MCM vessels in numbers if the direction of travel is towards a mothership? I still see the original MHPC requirement, but would also expand it to include the role as a small RM Littoral pl...

Fassmer have alternatives and I feel the 120 variant is closer in terms of LOA. Interesting that Fassmer claim the top speed of the MPV120 is around 22knts. Significantly faster than a Bay for example. Lots of capability for a modest outlay. Agree, nice - however, what I believe is the gap is a low...

What does that actually mean a global player, For me it is an acknowledgment that things that impact the UK doesn’t stop at the channel, and as such being a Global Player means having options to influence events around the globe and protect your interests. As a Global Player we should be engaged as...

You build out not in, your argument is the argument for building trident. You then have the question of deterrence and against what, where the hypothetical can end up at anything to suit pre conceived ideas. Trident is very different - it is for two purposes (a) to make enemies think twice about nu...

And on your priority list the one you highlight as your second priority is the only priority because all your other ones are mute without it. Possibly, but “U.K. defence” needs to start outside of the Atlantic. Having the ability to strike at those that want to strike you, forces them to think abou...

I would say that the main lesson from Afghanistan is that the UK cannot rely solely on the US to project influence on the main stage. To be a credible enabler it needs to be able to wield credible level of power (not necessarily at scale), and logistics, to act as a nucleus for future coalitions of ...

One of the designs I’ve been interested in is the Fassmer MPV70 mk II. Whilst the default design has a reasonably sized working deck for containers, integrated mast, CMS and two stern launched interceptor boats, I would replace the deck with a T26 style mission bay and add a hangar on top at the sam...

Not wanting to get into fantasy fleets, but the following is a reasonable aim for a balanced 2035 surface fleet IMO: RN - 2 x CVFs - 6 x T45s - 8 x T26s - 3 x T83s (based on T26 with AAW and ASW capabilities) - 8 x T31s - 10 x River OPVs/Sloops - 6 x MHC/Survey/MROSS PSVs - 1 x Ice Patrol Ship - 18 ...

My concern is whether such a vessel is going to be large enough for MCM duties and possibly littoral ASW going forward. Littoral ASW should be based on a ASW Helicopter/ UUV combination backed by more simple ASW Sonars on T31s and OPVs/Sloops. I think a third batch of the River Class with a mission...

Have no problem with say 4 Serco operated PSV's but would not waist RN money and crews on them I don’t have an issue with them being under a RN crew / budget - we are hollowing out our RN small ship fleet which will lead to issues with training and also flexibility of use. We need to look at this i...

And how different is that from a Hunt or Sandown? Alternatively if the mothership is also one of the 24 escorts then it's always taking an escort away from the rest of the fleet. Not much apart from the close defence weapons Tempest414 refers to. But currently we have the requirement to provide the...

SD67 wrote:Silly question for the experts - does the "Mothership" really need to be a frigate?

No, as long as you have escorts for them when they are needed to do anything with a threat level above a constabulary role.

SW1 wrote:You can have all the money and ambition you like but it counts for nothing if you don’t have the political will to see things thru to the end.

Absolutely agree - it will be the curse of the western world till it’s too late.

Lack of funding and ambition in our armed forces (remember the “first tier or not” discussions) were very much part of her premiership also.

Scimitar54 wrote:Err. Doy you mean the B3 ?

Yep have fixed

We are way off course of the thread, but ultimately the RN is heading towards a fleet of 5 B2 Rivers and 5 assorted Survey Ships by late 2020s. I personally think that a class of 12 evolved Rivers for the MHPC role would be a good idea replace the Echo class, some of the capability gap left from the...

step 4 : Grow the LRG to 1 x LHD , 1 x Wave , 2 x Escorts + 2 OPV's ( For LHD put in what you like ) I don’t believe the strategy is (nor should it be) to create the modern equivalent of war fighting Forces A, I or Z EoS. The UK naval strategy seems to be lower level forward presence (OPVs, MHCs, S...

I agree with ABC123, keep all the Rivers for EEZ protection, Falklands and Gibraltar and come up with an alternative solution for vessels to be forward based in Singapore. That’s ultimately what will happen with the T31s. But agree all of this could have been prevented if a B3 was built for the las...

Maybe now the quick fix for two B2's going East is to fit 2 x 20mm , 2 x 12.7mm & 4 x miniguns and turn over the 30mm to air bust rounds for limited air defence They already have 2 mini guns so not sure there is much benefit. Would like to get a couple of adaptable remote mounts port and starbo...

Detecting drones is also not easy, and you need either good radar and/or good IR scan system. So, when anti suicide-drone capability is required (as I proposed), it suddenly become a lot more complex than a single simple 30mm gun Agree, as the attack on the tanker MV Mercer Street has shown this is...

As everyone knows (war)ship classification isn’t a science and is a sliding scale of capability with multiple dimensions. The River B1s are classic OPVs, the B2s with additional sensor, survivability and aviation capabilities are different. IMO they are not OPVs, but nor are they Corvettes. The Khar...

The EU never said the UK would be unable to access the service either. Just that it could no longer be involved in the management and production of the program. Umm, the point of Galileo was to have secure access to an alternative to GPS with access to military standard data. Even though the UK was...

Tempest414 wrote:They will most likely leave Forth on as FIGS and keep one B2 in the Med the Type 31's will probably be split 2 in the home fleet and 3 EoS

More likely to keep two B2s on FIGS (or FIPS) and WIGS.