Well the first thing that should be done with the extra defence funding is restore the target of having 48 F-35B in service by 2024 rather than 2025 and then confirm an order of six per year from 2025 onwards.

Simple!

Prior to last week the Royal Navy was supposed to maintain 19 escorts - 6 T45, 8 T26 and 5 T31. If there's money for more than this wouldn't we be better off accelerating the development and building of a couple of T4X and increase the number of AAW destroyers to 8 before considering any more frigat...

The main article has been updated to include the European Medium Multi-Role Helicopter as a replacement for Puma and Merlin helicopters.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_178952.htm

Despite the imminent approach of Brexit the UK has shown it is still interested in taking part in multinational European collaborative projects. The Medium Multi-Role Helicopter programme was signed off on November 19th 2020 by France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the UK. For more see https://www.nato...

Except for Cyber and Space Command I doubt there's going to be very much new in the Integrated Review today.

Most of the increase will be absorbed by the NAO's £13 billion 'black hole' to cover for the failure to generate efficiency savings and the inevitable cost over-runs!

Re: Naval Command to 2030 Postby BlueD954 » 30 Oct 2020, 11:13 Not certain what this is, SPEAR 3? https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTIC ... HTML&src=0 II.2.4) Description of the procurement: Tactical precision strike 3: precision guided munition for RN/RM use in the land and maritime environm...

My choice would be to replace the Chinook HC5 with the CV-22B version of the Osprey as this was specifically designed for US Special Operations Command. As to cost. Israel was offered eight Osprey for U$1.5 billion in 2014 - a unit cost of U$188 million. We were offered sixteen Extended Range Chinoo...

The assessment below is based on the MoD’s defence equipment plan 2019 which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-defence-equipment-plan-2019 Joint Forces Command Top Level Budget 2019-29. New Equipment for Special Forces: • £1.16 billion on eight CV-22B Osprey VTOL aircraf...

The assessment below is based on the MoD’s defence equipment plan 2019 which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-defence-equipment-plan-2019 Navy Command Top Level Budget 2019-29 - £7.6 billion in Uncommitted Equipment Procurement Consolidating the budgets for Ships, Marit...

Can't see any reason (other than cost) to not fit 12 ExLS launchers each quad packed with CAMM to give a total of 48 missiles.

That provides a pretty reasonable defence.

Then, forward of this position, 8 Harpoon launchers taken from Type 23 when they retire and modernised with Harpoon II.

Yes, I sort of decided that an increase in the Defence Budget was not a likely option!

Options to cover £1.95 billion of overspending. Option 1. Cancel Bulk Buy 3 of the F-35B saving £1.87 billion and maintain the size of the F-35B fleet at 48. The advantage of this is that it is simple, easy to achieve and effects only one programme. The disadvantages are that this only provides eno...

I guess this is the international Future All-Terrain Vehicle being talked about https://finabel.org/a-joint-european-pr ... -vehicles/

If you look back over past year’s Equipment Plans it soon becomes clear that there was never a budget line for a significant E-7 Wedgetail purchase. It seems to me that the RAF were on a bit of a high after being the clear political winners in SDSR15 and they decided to push their luck a bit further...

The assessment below is based on the MoD’s defence equipment plan 2019 which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-defence-equipment-plan-2019 Air Command Top Level Budget 2019-29 - £5.7 billion in Uncommitted Equipment Procurement. Consolidating the budgets for Air Support,...

we'll just have to be satisfied with 143 Typhoon.... That is just a little on the high side. By my reckoning 139 is the current theoretical total available to the RAF. This comes from a total buy of 160 minus three Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) managed by British Aerospace, ZJ943 crashed i...

This is well worth a read https://rusi.org/commentary/uk-defence-and-2018-budget

Defence Nuclear Organisation Budget Priorities to 2028 This analysis is based on the MoD’s defence equipment plan 2018 which can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-defence-equipment-plan-2018 It examines both the Committed and Uncommitted Equipment Procurement (EPP) figure...

I am not making a judgement here about whether this latest Equipment Plan is affordable or not. Although I have to say that a £7 billion shortfall on a £186 billion budget equates to just 4% and is hardly huge in percentage terms. Also, bear in mind that even by the NAO's standards the gap has falle...

Air Command Budget Priorities to 2028 This analysis is based on the MoD’s defence equipment plan 2018 which can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-defence-equipment-plan-2018 It examines both the Committed and Uncommitted Equipment Procurement (EPP) figure for the Air Comm...

Amari is used by the RAF in Estonia and Mihail Kogalniceanu in Romania.

Basing Altogether, the programme outlined in A Better Defence Estate, November 2016 and two announcements made since then will result in the disposal of fourteen airfields by 2030. While the Strategic Approach for this rationalisation may have made sense in the world prior to Russia’s growing asser...

The price amounts to U$219 million each! When we bought 14 Chinook HC6 the contract cost was U$93 million each. That's an awful big jump for a bit of extra range! The total is more than the Poseidon purchase and considerably more than the total 10 year helicopter equipment budget!!! About half the a...

More good news ahead of the Modernising Defence Programme: Albion and Bulwark are safe https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/albion-class-assault-ships-saved-from-cuts/ all eight Type 26 are to be based at Plymouth https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-45782757 and the Type 31e programme has been re...

Good news as the price of an F-35B in LRIP 11 drops to U$115.5 million http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/196385/lockheed-says-wins-%2411.5bn-contract-for-f_35-initial-lot-11-production.html The unit cost for the first large scale production order, including 30 for the UK, rema...