likewise, derogatory comments are made about every new aircraft or system entering service. As has been remarked upon, mostly by people who have had no first hand experience of the product.

Ignoring the fact that vis ID plays a significant part in some, but by no means all QRA, and bearing in mind that QRA won't always be done in the UK, surely the jets you have doing QRA should be meteor capable? Ideally of course, but beggers can't be choosers. You know better than I whether they co...

Tinman wrote:but then your back to fleets within fleets, tranche three will be able to BVR with meteor, launch brimstone or storm shadow, tranche one can't.

You use T1 solely for UK air defence/QRA which then releases later tranches for their swing role use.

O'h dear, is that a miaow.

If this is true, I cant see there being more than 10 T26s Defense Minister Penny Mordaunt was blunt when answering a question about the strength and shape of the U.K. Royal Navy at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in September. Referring to the next big surface ship program, the Type 26 frig...

Asked by Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) Asked on: 28 October 2015 Ministry of Defence European Fighter Aircraft 13893 To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the consequences for the UK's capability of the retirement in 2018 of the 53 Typhoon aircraft purchased in tran...

ArmChairCivvy wrote:- France winning a $3Bn deal
with the Lebanon (various military equipment);

Which was completely funded by Saudi Arabia.

Add a few million for the engine to your price as that is costed separately. http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/feature/5/163182/f_35-engine-unit-costs-continue-to-grow.html I do tend to find though that 'defense-aerospace.com' seems to have a certain biase against the F35 in any form, ...

No these industries are not very strong, yes we are building warships reliant on the UK government orders. Yes we are building nuclear subs, but still with the help of the US. No we could not produce a 5th generation aircraft on our own, not without massive investment by the government, which we wi...

A400 landing on grass :-

We are already reliant on US kit, Successor submarines have a very large input of US/UK equipment probably more than you think. The main weapons system is of US design/manufacture. No use of a British warhead without the means to deliver it. F35B completely reliant on the US. Typhoon many critical ...

Sadly uk manufacture has been in decline for years. It has now got to the point where the education system is no longer turning out plumbers, electricians, painters, joiners, welders, machinists, fitters, technicians, engineers, and the list goes on. Any regeneration of manufacturing would therefor...

4. To maintain a base of expertise that will allow for domestic development of future weapons systems or to take a major role in future multilateral development projects. I think that is one of the most important points. Not all of our kit needs to be UK produced, but at least something from each s...

All this speculation based on uproven facts, from unamed 'sources' from one unreliable sunday newspaper.

This was one of the more interesting written questions asked in Parliament yesterday 2nd Nov. I very much look forward to the reply. "Asked by Douglas Chapman (Dunfermline and West Fife) Asked on: 02 November 2015 Ministry of Defence 14355 To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many ser...

No other credible outlest have jumped on the band wagon for P8 cancellation so either someone has been fitted with a .38 implant, the press has been muzzled (not really likely no matter how much we want it), or the 'leak' is more of a wet patch. I dint think the leased airframes are more than a tem...

Reaction engines, the UK's best hope for a real space industry has seen a large investment from BAE. Great to see the company being invested in by british companies, would be a shame to see it go to forign owners like so many of the UK's engineering sector. Well you can never accuse BAE of being st...

IF that article is true then no one in the appropriate acquisition team in the UK or stateside knew about it as of yesterday @ 2015. The leak is either BS, comes from the office of the minister or minister for procurement (that is verging on instant dismissal), or from the treasury. Maybe Downsizer...

OMG please don't say they are going for the P1, or I am going to have to eat my hat. :oops: Don't worry, you can always do a Paddy Ashdown if the P-1 is selected. Since we'll install some British equipment on it and call it the Vigilant or something you should be able to get out of your sombrero sc...

OMG please don't say they are going for the P1, or I am going to have to eat my hat.

From the mod media blog, and this is the best your going to get from them :- Aircraft Procurement " The Sunday Times carries an article speculating on the potential progress of a contract for submarine-hunting P-8 Poseidon aircraft. Our position is here: The MOD continues to assess future requi...

As I said previously, all those things mentioned in the article such as costs etc, have been known for months if not years. Fallon has been in his post long enough to have made any such decision long before now.

I wonder who the Sunday Times 'sources' are this time.

This story seems more than a little strange to me, after the years that we been involved in P8, and the discussions that we know have taken place on the UK acquisation of them that we now find them 'Expensive' We will have known for a while down to the last dollar what they are going to cost, so I w...

downsizer wrote:The organisation I've just left has been put on a war footing to man "new assets" post SDSR. Make of that what you will.

Have they ordered their P8 squadron patches ?

At the risk of stirring the maelstrom again: 3 OTU airframes leased stateside in 2016, 1 of which is 'ours already' and then 3 + 6 bought over the next 4 budgetary years from within the conveniently unallocated Boeing serials. Sources: none I would care to share, if I'm wrong I will eat a hat of th...