12 has always been the case. So... In the runup to the next election the Tories can either promise the Northwest that the Typhoon line will stay open well past 2022, or that the F-35 line will stay open past 2048? Difficult political decision they have there me thinks. I have no clue why you think t...

Dropping to 48 does sound crazy since: 1) according to those with understanding of the matter (i.e. Not me) it isn't enough to provide the airwings for the carrier(s) 2) it doesn't seem to generate any savings (until the next parliament, or the one thereafter perhaps) 3) it would surely cause huge ...

Gabriele wrote:Tier one to Tier "get the fuck out of here, you thief (of workshare)".

Our tier 1 status was not based upon number of orders.

As for not believing it as ever you have no grasp of politics.

60 sounds about right, with the RAF probably retaining a squadron. Wouldn't mean a shortage of darts on the carriers as the USMC will take them up. As for reputational damage it would be very slight, no-one really believed we were going to buy 138 anyway. Also they know that pushing the F-35 could r...

Lots.. AESA, higher thrust engines ( EJ200 has a long way to go), conformal tanks, strike ability, EW... There's an awful lot you could do with the Typhoon yet, I'd imagine the chief selling points for the Japanese would be it's range ( especially with uprated engines), Meteor, Asraam and agility. M...

The Yanks will be fine with it, they never believed we'd buy the full 138 anyway. Don't get me wrong, Trump will try to twist May's arm but as he repeatedly threatened to cancel it he isn't exactly on strong ground. Meanwhile redesigning the Typhoon for Japan makes an awful lot of sense on just abou...

The anchor in the parking space?

Amazing just how small the hangar was in comparison to the rest of the tub.

The administrators in the MoD Meriv. They might not sound powerful if you aren't from the UK but those paper clips don't administer themselves and there's 59,000 of them... Almost as many as the RAF and Navy combined. More if you count those contracted out to the private sector. Defence decisions ar...

Given the rate that T26s will be built another three would see some change in the 2040s.. As to getting the rest of Nato to step up to the plate, it isn't working. Even if it did do you think they'd prioritise frigates? Germany is arguing it's defence budget at the moment, though despite promising 2...

Current German defence budget proposal is for 1.23% of GDP in 2022.

Hence the Newport summit agreement from 2014 that Germany would increase their budget to 2% within a decade is effectively toast.

Tempest414 wrote:Harland & Wolff are part of the Babcock's team and raped up in the Arrowhead 120 bid for type 31

Not exclusively I believe.

Pretty likely they'd get something out of any winning bid.

Is the Kareef that the Leander is based on Merlin capable? Nope, which is why the 'Leander' isn't either. The only good thing in the design is the 57mm. It's a minimal effort bid, which itself is as the result of BAes manipulation of the T26 program. The interesting thing here is the exclusive agre...

BAe, Boeing and LM all ditched at the PQQ stage. Leaves Cobham/Draken, Babcock/Elbit and Thales/Textron. Hence Daggers and the like, Textron Scorpions or the Babcock / Elbit bid which is completely opaque to me. Anyone know anything about it? Supposedly one more with previously mentioned vapour ware...

I am not sure I agree with you. We cannot afford not to buy them! Maybe I didn't make it clear.. In my opinion a split buy is madness. Reducing the currently ordered number of B's ( 48 ) nigh on enemy action. Tiffies instead of B's ( not sure where this has come from) doolally. I wasn't stating my ...

Why wouldn't we want to buy all 138? I thought it would be interesting to compare this against the actual number of delivered Tornados 385, Hawk 126, Jaguar 200, Typhoon 160, Harrier 90 ...... Because we can't afford them. Nothing complicated about it.. Inter service rivalry and politics as ever. W...

Lasers are perfectly legal against anyone using scopes and the like.

Could also easily be argued that a HUD or HMS represents similar or the same.

Because it's cheaper to design for a certain life on the assumption it's replacement will be ready.

This will cost billions.

All four Vanguards now need refueling apparently. My understanding was that only one was previously planned for.

Which is going to have some pretty serious repercussions and likely indicates that Dreadnought is going to be late.

Sharkey Ward had a good wibble about something similar quite some time ago...

It was merely a rumour though as the RN wouldn't accept her with only one lift working it's difficult to know whether to credit it or not.

Can't say I've seen the lifts in operation.

If one of the lifts doesn't work it might give credence to the rumours of hogging.

She's an impressive beastie though, lets hope the new secdef gets his tarantula out to frighten the treasury...

The one page handout is for pigshit thick journos Donald. So they can write about toothbrush sized guns. :) The very fact that there are requirements for shock, CBRN and ballistic protection tells you that it has nothing to do with commercial. Except maybe the heads, galleys and whatnot. Merely take...

No. T31e is not an escort because - its hull standards (shock, NBC, firefight, fludding) is basically of civilian standard = damage control is low Thought I'd posted direct quotes from the RFI a few pages back which show the requirement to be the opposite... In fact I'm pretty sure you posted an ex...

Considering the LPD disbanding issue coupled with "anyway T31e is not an escort" aspect, I propose the following scenario: Maybe I'm confused.... So definitionally ( not mine of course I hasten to add) T23 is an escort, but we should cut them. T31 isn't an escort and they are useless. Bay...

Cutting Type 23s now for what reason?

It's escorts we are short of... Unless you think that something sans CIWS with a mere medium calibre gun and CAAM isn't capable enoug..

Oh wait.