If the NAO report didn’t wake people up to how overspent the budget is nothing will. I’m amazed people still think the lpds survive that long if the two carrier do come on stream. At best both are mothballed. Would suspect the bays are being relieved from there presence duties to either be scrapped...

And bribes. Lots of bribes.

Agree very much with that last thought. Hull lines are a delight to the eye.

Royal Navy twitter. Two more sections have been completed, ready to be added to the already-joined forward segment of HMS Glasgow at BAE Systems’ yard in Govan, while the RN’s traditional paint scheme has been applied to units pieced together in what will eventually be an 8,000-tonne jigsaw. see &q...

They weren't kidding when they said not much could be seen of the aft section with all the covering tarps. Makes you wonder what secrets are being hidden away

Thanks Jonas.

Where do you see these 64 Mk41s fitted on the current design ? I can see the possibility of 48 up front but none anywhere else with out losing the mission bay. IMO 64 is not enough for a modern AAW / multi role vessel. When you take in to account the 48 on the T45 is questionable for AAW, add to th...

The only option is a greater tax take. Bingo! Now any old Chancellor will know that it is either the price (tax rates) or the volume (of the underlying... which can only increase through A. growth, or B. by widening the base, by catching all the tax evaders, AKA donors to the Conservative party) - ...

A mere 1.5% of the cost of a railway line so you can get to Manchester 15 minutes quicker to satisfy all those tens of people that say they just have to get to Manchester 15 minutes quicker. You probably knew this already but, for the record, speed is not the main justification for HS2. The central...

A mere 1.5% of the cost of a railway line so you can get to Manchester 15 minutes quicker to satisfy all those tens of people that say they just have to get to Manchester 15 minutes quicker. Or the price of maybe 3 Tempests and their unmanned sidekicks. Or 1 Astute. Or 10% of a Successor. Seems cheap.

1. Type 45s cost about 650 million to build on average. About a third of that was the PAAMS system. 2. First person on this forum that pounded the drum for a type 26 derivative replacing the t45s was ArmChairCivvy. Thought he was bonkers. 3. Clearly the t26 needs to be stretched by at least 30m for ...

@ck7 Interesting ramble never the less. There's really two parts to both ventures. There's the manned fighter/controller that gets all the headlines and then there's the unmanned sidekick that does all the down & dirty stuff. In the Euro effort, France leads the manned bit and Germany leads the ...

I just remember reading that when they went on their first NATO exercise, they had no AAW capability because it hadn't been installed yet. No problem with that, it happens, but it does put a dent in their costings.

Regardless of potential inaccuracy, good spot @Coop !!

Ah but did they have any missiles?

Ron5 wrote: 5. In the UK, the base IH design won in a two horse politically decided, race. Way too soon to say its a failure or a success but when it enters RN service it will be significantly different from the original IH's Agree What :o They dropped the ABM capability? Never fear! - Let's add th...

Here's an interesting thread from a sometimes contributor here that puts a different perspective on RN escort numbers:

Sorry but I don't know how to do the twitter stuff properly

https://twitter.com/EngageStrategy1/sta ... 2903872513.

Latest source for Type 31 data e.g. budget:

https://researchbriefings.files.parliam ... P-8807.pdf

Even with all the manning issues, there seems to be enough crew to have both carriers active. An event we were promised by the pessimists, we would never see.

@Nigel Copying and pasting large sections of brochures is nice but not conclusive. The IH design was thrown out of both the Canadian & US frigate competitions for various reasons. It didn't last long in Australia either. One comment for the US was that the ship would require so much redesign to ...

IHO Things now utterly pointless to discuss: 1. What to call the Type 31's: they are frigates because the RN says so. Type 31 frigates to be precise. 2. Whether to cancel or change the Type 31 contract: it won't be. 3. Whether to change the Type 31 equipment configuration: it won't change, what you ...

Cheeky !!! :lol: :angel: any freebies gatefully received.... :D There's a local website where folks have been complaining about the noise of the F-35's using Davis Monthan. I'm sure the authors would let you have a few just to keep the peace and quiet :D Yes, it's the right type. Marine F-35B's fly...

Almost a hangar full, getting giddy at the thought (sarcasm)

The T31 is clearly a frigate, being built from an existing NATO Tier 1 frigate hull, to current NATO warship standards of stability, survivability and shock resistance. The RN calls it a frigate so any debate on that is pointless but I would like to point out that over the next year or two, a large...

The narrative also ignores the point of many studies where the best way to avoid risk and generate numbers is to get hulls in the water in relatively simple configuration before adding the more sophisticated systems thereby also avoiding some of the obsolescence issues that allow costs to spiral. A...

Thanks Jensy!