I can understand your stand point, but the same argument applies. Degrade what to make it cheap? Credibility? Firstly, what capability is required? It’s clear what the GA offerings are capable of but is that level of performance absolutely necessary or is it just a product of conflicts in Syria, Af...

Another excellently written piece. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/20/us-navy-carrier-groups-marines-fleet-ops-israel-hamas-iran/ . The US Navy is preparing for combat ops on a scale not seen for many years The first shots at sea were fired yesterday. Si vis pacem, para bellum The most heav...

The protector air vehicle is not what makes it expensive, the unit price is around your unit price it’s all the things that go around it. All the associated costs need to be lowered, other companies are starting to do it and as they do they will start to gain ever greater market share. GA show no s...

How are you going to make it cheaper than Mojave or MQ9s? Degrade the communication suit? Degrade the radar? Degrade the auto-pilot? Degrade the endurance? Conversely I would start with a totally different mindset: what can you do to the Bayraktar TB2 to make it 10 times better. Not easy but not im...

It will not however be cheap a lot of things required to support it. They definitely will not be cheap.….It'll be expensive, and it's worth it. They need to made much less expensive. Even if they cost 10x the cost of a Bayraktar TB2 they would only be £15m to £20m each. They need to be regarded as ...

£45m well spent.

Great news for Belfast.
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/a ... rade-work/

Mojave is not cheap and expendable. Nor is anything currently operating in the eastern med in a contested airspace. Cheap and expendable UAVs do not need a large flat deck to use. Mojave is just the gateway. The next-generation variants will be cheaper, more capable and therefore more numerous. The...

Dangerous times.

It does nothing of the sort, it enforces that the UKs ambition has to fit its budget. Struggling to follow your argument there. The UK has a finite budget and a tiny fleet. Therefore surging assets is the only way to provide both presence and capability at a cost that the budget will withstand. The...

We can fly drones from Cyprus, but again what are they there for? You don’t need an lhd to fly male drones if you have p8 and male drones that can fly from a base right beside the trouble In the context of the Eastern Med we don't need a carrier as we have Aki This point in particular is very inter...

1 x ARG = 1 x LPH , 1 x MRSS , 1 x T-45 , 1 x T-26 It is worthy of consideration of what would ideally be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean right now to support LRG(S) which looks more than a little threadbare? Would another CSG, this time from the UK really be helpful or an unnecessary escalation ...

Getting closer.

The Australian A$535 million/£280 million upgrade to turn Osbourne into a state of the art shipyard for the Hunter, the cost looks very reasonable considering that the 8 T26's costing £10 billion, the impression is it makes the upgrade to Govan shipyard look half-hearted. Well it was also supposed ...

We get very little oil and gas from the Middle East 90-95% of both is from the Atlantic or Mediterranean coasted countries. You can read about it here I am not disagreeing with your point, simply that the ramifications are global in nature and cannot be ignored. If another nation steps in then grea...

At least, none of them is the end of the world. Politically the Albions are virtually uncut-able without an announcement of some form of replacement. It certainly won’t happen before the election unless RN go big with a pair of LHDs or similar. Whatever is ultimately chosen it’s pretty clear that r...

I’m suggesting none at all. There’s many areas in the world that produce oil, and many nations that require oil very little of ours comes from gulf most goes east. Lets say oil and gas which it more relevant. If Hormuz closes what happens next? A massive global spike in oil and gas prices. Countrie...

Do u need to replace a bay in the gulf? Are you suggesting a land based alternative? Is it a priority area? It is if you don’t want the global oil price to achieve astronomical levels Do we need littoral strike ship/groups are they a priority? Not until you need them. The rest of the time they are ...

Trent providing presence.

The disposal of the Albion's is likley to stir controversy, but should be seriously considered. The Albions are now the problem and not the solution. RN needs to admit that. A lot of things would need to drop into place to make it acceptable, and that goes beyond giving the Bay class a facelift. Ag...

So your only answer is to increase debt…..but the fantasy spending without allocated, costed and sustainable budget means we get even less for our money. You are not going to meaningfully reduce the national debt by cutting defence. The funding level is now so low that it can’t be cut any further o...

Perhaps a realistic way forward is to accept the Navy will be 20% smaller… Great, so then cut a CVF which then allows a FSS and 2x Tides to be cut? Problem solved. Why stop there? Reduce the escorts by 20% so delete a T45 and two T26. Perfect. Drop two SSNs and a SSBN and the 20% cut is looking bet...

…Bulwark's crew could be moved to the 3 Bays, which should free up enough RFA crew to bring Fort Victoria and both Waves back into active service. It may only be a temporary solution until the 3*FSS come into service at the end of this decade. Are the Albions coming back? If the answer is no then t...

Could post this in various threads but I shall put it here as the lack of RN escorts available to respond is apparent. Fantastically well written, it’s certainly worth a read. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/16/us-navy-aircraft-carriers-for-eisenhower-israel-hamas-iran/ . US aircraft carrie...

They're a rare example of what a high performance navy should look like. The RFA model as currently configured is completely unsustainable. The threat of strikes is just too limiting. Are the 6x MRSS, 3x LSV and second MROSS going to be RFA alongside 3x FSS and 4x Tides? Totally unrealistic IMO. Th...