If the enterprising bloggers could narrow the window of the start of sea trails by use of the tide tables for the clearance at high tide over the sill at Rosyth, With the clearance of the Railway bride at low tide to allow the ship to pass under. Blake (c99) had only a few days window to use the dir...

marktigger wrote:Ron would agree chinook capable deck is useful but also questionable but how much extra cost both financially & top weight would it add I'm sure pilots would appreciate the extra space but

It depends on if we use the chinook for carrier group vet rep then all platforms need to have capable deck

Why when we have eventually 138 F35,s will there only be enough for 4 frontline sqdns and a training unit circa 60 aircraft ie 78 in reserve . We need a minimum of 6 operational sqdns plus a training unit to cover maximum carrier need this would still leave circa 50 in reserve . 1 suspect the batch...

The problem is that the political fish in the S.N.P. burning desire to be Scottish presidents. But First Minister Wee Jimmiy is manipulating the situation for devo max as U.K. exits the E, U. using the situation Scotland's advantage. Pandering to the parts of her party with rolling referendums until...

The adoption of the 76 mm for the type 31 would only make sense if it was then retro fitted to the patrol craft. Especially if the navy plans to use them in constabulary duties. The type 31 would have to be equipped with a effective anti ship capability.

French group Industeel will supply steel for the new submarines' "pressure hulls", the outer part of the 15,900 tonne vessels, which will each carry 16 nuclear missiles. This was to be expected as B.A.E bought the dome press from Sheffield when the supplier dropped that part of production...

When Invincible did its first exercise the R.A.F. launches did mock F.P.B. attacks of Shetland. The complement was 9 Sea Harriers . They had problems reducing the no to 6. We attacked with an then new Rescue Target Towing Launch. in addition to the Two long range craft committed to the exercise. Whi...

[quote="shark bait"]Sell both the waves and buy another tide? That would make a lovely common fleet.[/quote Since when did the treasury short term political masters and mandarins think logically to save money long term ?

The retention and recruitment of merchant marine personal by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary has been the under reported elephant in the room . The pool of U.K. merchant marine personal has shrank to the extent that The navy might have to consider supporting training to fill post. This would need funding ...

To my thinking the use of ship tube short rang stingray torpedoes was the naval equivalent of a knife fight in a bar the weapon of last resort. Though stingray is probably got the edge on the mk54 its deployment from ship tubes let it down . More sensible to hold your target off. But a helicopter co...

Yes we have to get the finances under control, but priorities need to be reorganised as to ensure sufficient finances are available for defence The problem is that to our resent political masters defence is not a priority. Though it is the first responsibility of any government. Call me cynical but...

shark bait wrote:Isn't one of the limiting factors with Sentinel the payload growth?

The lack of payload growth caused the removal of the in flight refuelling probe as the airframe was close to the do not exceed weight
.

The treasury driven S.S.D.R.10 had some ill thought parts Sentinel is one capability that should never have been considered its usefulness was madness to give up post Afghanistan. The use post Afghanistan has highlighted its usefulness. It should be retained in service especially if the Lockheed J.S...

Would a conversion of one of the two released point ships serve as a replacement of Argus as the were built to an enhanced standard rather than a pure mercantile hull ?

I agree, although it's a sort-of virtuous circle. Having a bigger navy allows your industry to operate more efficiently, which makes your money go further, allowing you to buy more ships, giving you a bigger navy... The mind set of the Treasury is best shown in the slowing down of work thus increas...

I don't really know what the answer to this problem is, without falling back on arguments for more money and a bigger navy that can adequately support its industrial base. Our Political Masters have forgotten the first duty of government defence That has been overtaken by what keeps our electorate ...

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[quote="Engaging Strategy"] honest I think the UK needs a proper coast guard agency. Rather than several different agencies all responsible for different things in relation to the UK EEZ just have one single umbrella body with its own resources responsible for it. This was proposed in the ...

With the imminent withdrawal of the U K from the E U the retention of the batch one rivers may be sensible as the fishery protection costal protection will no doubt become a higher government priority .Manning could be mixed crews include other agencies government departments.

The Spanish government just need to shut the gates like last time I was there when they reopened them There is actually two sets of gates one on each side of the line of demarcation. The last closure was a mitigated disaster for the Spanish workers and the area over the border. The majority of jobs ...

Bililarry has to be treated as innocent till proven guilty. But then Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton are the preverbal 'Kettle calling the pot black.'

!n 1982 when the Nimrods were fitted the in flight refuelling the bespoke construction of the airframe was a major nightmare planned connections and support brackets. had to be altered and fitted. The frame in front of the bomb bay was different on every aircraft. Pipe routes had to be rerouted beca...

With the one airframe was modified to a M.R.A. fitted sentinel. Its probably covering a big hole left from the demise of M.P.A. The fleet of operational airframes has been effectively 4. The procurement of two P8s would replace the M.R.A. modified sentinel. The Lockheed J.S.T.A.R. replacement tender...

Just an of the wall idea if Wee Jimmy Sturgeon gets her whish. We could base the deterrent in Gibraltar The tunnels are there for the support . I suspect the locals would not complain and the Spanish would have something else to complain about.

When the destroyers have there diesel generator set replacement/ additional set it would be prudent to spend some of the procurement contingency money if not spent on allocated budget on removing the gym replacing it with silos. Therefore giving the destroyer added capability especially with the imp...